Orlando City face a quick turnaround this week, looking to recover from a frustrating weekend defeat as they remain at home to host Charlotte FC on Wednesday night.
The Lions (1-6-1, 4 points) take on Charlotte (4-2-2, 14 points) at Inter&Co Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
“I love the competition, because the competition is the best way of training yourself. So we recover the players physically, and we do a lot of video sessions, which I think is an amazing tool, especially with the quality of players we have,” Orlando interim head coach Martín Perelman said. “I like these types of microcycles. I like to play; the thing I like most is to play.”
Orlando’s attack remains the primary concern following Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. The Lions generated just three shots on target and 1.2 expected goals in the defeat. Operating on short rest, Perelman needs to manage his players’ fitness to keep up the energy. Orlando City B regulars Harvey Sarajian, Ignacio Gomez and Justin Ellis provided noticeable late attacking pressure against Houston, and Perelman will need a similar impact from his young players against Charlotte.
Charlotte arrives in Central Florida coming off an impressive 2-1 road victory against New York City FC and currently sits third in the Eastern Conference, having allowed just 10 goals this season. For an Orlando squad at the bottom of the standings that has consistently struggled to finish chances, breaking down the Charlotte defensive shape requires significantly sharper execution in the final third.
“We need always to improve things, and we are in that part (working on the) small last details, but yes, the structure is there on the offensive side as well,” Perelman added. “We are working, and hopefully we can get the shape we want and that we are used to, because in this club, we have been scoring a lot for the last two years.”
Following Wednesday’s match, Orlando City hits the road to face D.C. United on Saturday night.