Orlando City closes in on 3rd consecutive playoff appearance
The final week of the season is upon Orlando City as it attempts to secure a postseason spot with three games left.
Sunday at 1 p.m., the Lions (13-12-6, 45 points) take their first shot on the road against New York City FC, which already has clinched.
The sixth-place Lions, who last played Sept. 17 because of the international break, leave Orlando after a tumultuous week because of Hurricane Ian that left mass flooding and damage to the area and interrupted their ability to train.
A third consecutive playoff berth is in reach as they trail New York by 4 points in the standings. Orlando won the last meeting behind a stoppage-time goal from Tesho Akindele for a 2-1 victory on Aug. 28.
“New York is a rival that we all know,” Lions coach Oscar Pareja said. “At the moment it’s very crucial for both teams — one trying to place themselves in position to get them the advantage of playing at home in the playoffs and us trying to clinch.”
The top four seeds will host first-round playoff games. The top seven make the postseason.
NYCFC (14-11-7, 49 points) trailed the third-place N.Y. Red Bulls (14-10-8) by 1 point heading into Saturday night’s matches. In fifth, Cincinnati (11-8-13, 46 points) was just 3 points back.
A lot can change for better or worse in the final week, pending results from games involving No. 8 Columbus (9-7-15, 42 points) which played the Red Bulls late Saturday night, and seventh-place Miami (13-13-6, 45 points).
The Lions, who dominated Toronto FC 4-0 in its last outing behind goals from Facundo Torres, Ercan Kara and Akindele, lost practice time because of Ian but recognize their troubles are minor compared with what others in the community are experiencing.
“We’re trying to be as normal as we can on preparations understanding the challenges we all had ... the limitations we had to try to be in the building,” Pareja said. “We’re good.
“We feel bad for people who lost their homes, and worse, the people that died. It was not hard on our end. We were at home. We experienced the aggressive winds. Just being in the middle of that [is different] than what you see on TV.”
After Sunday’s match, the Lions play at Miami on Wednesday before closing out the season at Exploria Stadium vs. Columbus next Sunday.
