Fighting for a bye
Orlando City faces Columbus Crew for key playoff position
It’s been three weeks since Orlando City and the Columbus Crew were originally slated to face off. After COVID-19 tests forced a delay, the Eastern Conference showdown will finally be played Wednesday night.
When the Lions host the Crew, the outcome will help determine both teams’ finish at the top of the conference standings and valuable postseason advantages such as first-round byes and home-field advantage.
Orlando City and Columbus have been neck and neck in the Eastern Conference table for most of the season, adding pressure on both sides entering this match.
“It seems like it was yesterday when we were preparing the match against Columbus,” coach Oscar Pareja said. “Now we are here again. We need to keep adding points in order to secure our spot in this position in the East.”
With 38 points apiece, a one-win advantage is the only thing keeping the Crew ahead of the Lions in the No. 3 slot in the table. A win would clinch Orlando City’s spot in the top four of the conference, moving them up one more slot in the final week of the regular season.
The stakes are high, but both teams also face a breakneck turnaround after playing in matches on Sunday. Pareja kept Chris Mueller and Nani home from Sunday’s match against Montreal, allowing two of the team’s most explosive offensive threats to rest up for the Wednesday match against the Crew.
The rest was important for the Lions, who haven’t seen a meaningful break in action since
they arrived at the MLS is Back Tournament bubble at the end of June. The past four months have weighed heavily on the team and Pareja is working to manage his players’ workload ahead of the playoffs.
“The boys have done a great job on maintaining that focus and that concentration, but at the same time, I recognize that the effort has been hard,” Pareja said. “There’s moments where we rest some players first because physically they need it, but secondly because we need their mentals fresh. … It has helped us and given us the opportunity as well to our other players to shine. … That makes us better. The rotation is a consequence of our growing, it’s not just a design for the coach.”
Injuries caused Orlando City and Columbus to follow strikingly similar patterns in the weeks since their originally scheduled match.
The Crew earned five points in October, suffering three losses and earning one win as they battled injuries. The Lions fared a bit better, picking up nine points despite nine absent players at one point during the month due to injuries and national-team call-ups.
Both sides are closer to full strength this week. Columbus beat the Supporters’ Shield frontrunner Philadelphia Union on Sunday, holding off a formidable attack to clinch a lategame winning goal. Orlando City, meanwhile, enters the match buoyed by back-to-back wins against Atlanta and Montreal.
The rescheduled match benefited both sides, allowing them to recover injured players. The Crew and the Lions each report one remaining injury apiece — Orlando City defender João Moutinho remains sidelined with a groin injury while Columbus defender Vito Wormgoor is out for the year with an ankle injury.
Most crucial for the Lions is the return of midfielder Mauricio Pereyra, who played his first match Sunday after sitting out five games with a hamstring injury. Pereyra smoothly resumed operating as the team’s offensive marshal, assisting the sole goal of the game and earning a place on the league team of the week in less than 60 minutes.
Pereyra’s organization and vision could prove critical for the Lions against Columbus. Anchored by experienced centerback Jonathan Mensah, the Crew field a highly disciplined defense that allowed a league-low 18 goals this season.
The Lions have been bolstered by moving to a 4-4-2 formation with Tesho Akindele and Daryl Dike featured as dual strikers in their last two wins. That lineup could be the key to unlocking Columbus’ defense, providing relentless pressure and pulling focus between the centerbacks to give Dike chances to score in a fourth consecutive match.
Against Columbus, the Lions are likely to see only a handful of scoring chances. They’ll need to capitalize on every opening they get because it might be the last of the game that Columbus allows.
“We have been good in the attacking side of the game and obviously they have done good things defensively,” Pareja said. “Hopefully we can have creativity, we can be strong offensively, we can keep our initiative and protagonism. … The boys have been creating a lot of chances. We have been scoring here and there, but we would like to be more precise.”