{"id":429892,"date":"2026-10-16T21:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429892\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:52:11","slug":"orlando-city-hosts-d-c-united-looking-to-shake-off-disappointing-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429892\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando City hosts D.C. United looking to shake off disappointing draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orlando City<\/a> SC\u2019s players are looking to tighten up their defense as they tighten up their place in the standings.<\/p>\n

After a 3-3 draw at Toronto FC on Wednesday, the Lions return home to host D.C. United on Saturday. Orlando City is 11-13-5 with 38 points. DC United is 7-9-12, 33 points. Kickoff at Inter.co Stadium is 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

It was a disappointing result for Orlando City, which allowed Matheus Pereira to score in the 90th minute and forge the tie for Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe table is tight to make playoffs,\u201d Orlando midfielder Eduard Atuesta said, \u201cbut we are in a good position. We just have to defend our spot, trying to keep improving in our strength, trying to be better defending to win the games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are scoring every game a lot of goals and we\u2019re playing good. We need to improve a little bit on (defense) so we are in a good position to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando City remains in seventh place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings after the midweek draw. Red Bull New York and FC Cincinnati are just two points behind and sit eighth and ninth. The top seven teams in the conference standings qualify for the postseason.<\/p>\n

The eighth- and ninth-place teams play in a wild-card match, with the winner advancing to the MLS Cup Playoffs. New York City FC and Toronto are at 33 points entering the weekend, as is D.C. United, which has a game in hand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s vital the Lions find ways to win contests and stay ahead of their pursuers in the playoff race. The Orlando offense has certainly done its job.<\/p>\n

The Lions have now scored in a club-record 22 straight games. Antoine Griezmann has recorded at least one goal contribution in 11 of his first 13 games in Orlando, while Martin Ojeda passed Facundo Torres to become the club\u2019s all-time leading goal-scorer with his penalty in first-half stoppage time against Toronto. Ojeda now has 48 goals as a Lion \u2014 15 this season.<\/p>\n

Orlando City\u2019s explosive attack has combined for 54 goals in 29 MLS games this season. The Lions face a United defense that has given up 47 goals this season. DC\u2019s last clean sheet came five games ago in a 0-0 draw against Atlanta United, and D.C. United has allowed 11 goals in its last five matches.<\/p>\n

Orlando has continued to struggle defensively, however, allowing 13 goals in the last four matches. The late goal for Toronto was yet another example of the Lions squandering a lead due to poor positioning on defense.<\/p>\n

Orlando has conceded 69 goals this season, just five away from the club record of 74 set in 2018. With five games remaining in the regular season, this edition of the Lions could soon own the dubious record.<\/p>\n

Tai Baribo leads the visitors this season with 15 goals. He had a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Red Bull New York on Wednesday and has been invaluable for the visitors. Orlando will need to shut him down if they want to earn the three points. D.C. United won the previous meeting between the sides this season, 3-2 on April 25 at D.C.<\/p>\n

As the season winds down toward the playoffs, Orlando\u2019s next match is at home against NYCFC on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n

Justin Ellis wins award<\/p>\n

Orlando City\u2019s rising teenage star, forward Justin Ellis, was named the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro Pathway Player of the Year, an award recognizing a player who demonstrated success at multiple levels of the professional player pathway.<\/p>\n

Ellis, 19, made four starts for Orlando City B during the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro season, recording three goals and two assists in four appearances, before working his way into the Orlando City SC lineup.<\/p>\n

The Wellington native has also made 20 appearances and 16 starts for the Lions in MLS action this season, recording 11 goal contributions in league play (one goal, 10 assists), as well as logging an additional four goal contributions (two goals, two assists) across other competitions this year.<\/p>\n

Internationally, Ellis also received his first call-up to the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team senior squad as part of the September-October international window. Ellis made his senior team debut Sept. 26 in a friendly against Peru at Inter.co Stadium and scored in just the fourth minute of play, the fastest goal by a USMNT debutant in the modern era. He went on to make four appearances, including two starts, and added a second goal in a friendly against Canada on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orlando City SC\u2019s players are looking to tighten up their defense as they tighten up their place in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429893,"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-429892","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\/429892","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=429892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}