{"id":412012,"date":"2026-09-27T12:56:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412012\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T12:56:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:56:57","slug":"orlando-city-travels-to-face-red-hot-philadelphia-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/412012\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando City travels to face red-hot Philadelphia Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orlando City<\/a> has a chance to further solidify its playoff position when it visits Pennsylvania to face the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Orlando (10-12-4, 34 points) sits seventh in the Eastern Conference<\/a>, two points behind sixth-place Philadelphia (10-10-6, 36 points). Kickoff at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa., is 7:30 p.m. A win would move Orlando past Philadelphia in the standings. A loss could see the Lions fall as far down in the table as 10th place, depending on other results.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game counts. Every game is three points or one, so it\u2019s just about preparing ourselves the best way possible to earn the points every game,\u201d Orlando interim head coach Mart\u00edn Perelman<\/a> said. \u201cAt the end of the day, it matters how you end up, how you finish, not how you are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The match pits two sides that have been playing well of late. The Union are unbeaten in their last 11 MLS matches<\/a> \u2014 a club record \u2014 and have won five in a row. They are 9-0-2 during their run.<\/p>\n

Orlando City had been on a five-match unbeaten streak before losing last Saturday<\/a> to the New England Revolution. A 2-2 game turned into a 4-2 victory when the host Revolution scored twice in stoppage time.<\/p>\n

The match falls during the FIFA international window and both teams will be short-handed. Orlando City rookie forward Justin Ellis earned<\/a> his first call-up to the U.S. men\u2019s national team after recording 11 assists in all competitions this season. The USMNT plays Saturday at Orlando City\u2019s Inter.co Stadium in a friendly against Peru. It\u2019s the first match for the U.S. men since the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Lions players Tyrese Spicer (Trinidad and Tobago), David Brekalo (Slovenia) and Marco Pa\u0161ali\u0107 (Croatia) are also away. Along with Ellis, all three started at New England. Midfielder Wilder Cartagena is with Peru.<\/p>\n

The good news for the Lions is that French star Antoine Griezmann<\/a> is expected to be back after missing the New England game<\/a> because of a thigh injury. Griezmann had scored seven goals in five straight MLS matches before suffering the injury in the second half of the Lions\u2019 U.S. Open Cup semifinal loss against the Columbus Crew.<\/p>\n

Mart\u00edn Ojeda, who scored from the penalty spot in the 88th minute at New England, leads Orlando with 12 MLS goals. He has 46 goals in all competitions for the club, one short of Facundo Torres\u2019 club record. Ojeda, a 27-year-old Argentine, also has two assists. He\u2019s scored in back-to-back matches, and scored twice in Philly\u2019s 4-3 loss to Orlando in April. The Lions are 3-1-1 against the Union in the last five meetings between the teams.<\/p>\n

Colombian midfielder Iv\u00e1n Angulo, 27, has been in form for Orlando City since MLS play resumed, adding four goals and two assists following the World Cup break.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia has not lost under interim head coach Ryan Richter, who took over when Bradley Carnell was fired May 27. Carnell was hired in January 2025 and led the Union to 20 wins and the Eastern Conference semifinals last year.\u00a0This year, though, started with a 1-10-4 record.<\/p>\n

Cavan Sullivan, 16, has been Philadelphia\u2019s key player over this run with six goals in his last six matches. Sullivan was also called up by the United States, along with Union defenders Frankie Westfield and Neil Pierre. Goalkeeper Andre Blake (Jamaica), midfielder Danley Jean Jacques (Haiti) and defender Philippe Ndinga (Gabon) are also away.<\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s match, Orlando City will be off for two weeks. The Lions next host the Columbus Crew on Oct. 10. The teams met recently, with Columbus claiming a 2-1 victory Sept. 16 in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orlando City has a chance to further solidify its playoff position when it visits Pennsylvania to face the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,1335,139,4788,141,140,2062,76046,110],"class_list":["post-412012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-soccer","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}