Orlando City vs Colorado Rapids: Preview and Prediction

Match Preview for Orlando City vs Colorado Rapids

• Tournament: Major League Soccer 2017
• Kick-Off (UK): 8.55 pm, Saturday, 29th April
• Venue: Orlando City Stadium.

Orlando City SC finished 8th in the Eastern Conference standings last season. But the change in personal at the helm has so far produced positive results for one of the youngest sides in the league.

The Lions bagged 15 points from their first 6 games of the season via 5 wins and are placed at the top of the Eastern Conference Tables. The season is still young, but the team coached by Jason Kreis are already showing plenty of positives in the new campaign.

Four of Orlando’s six games so far this season are played at home and they boast a 100% win record coming into this match. All wins came by a 1-goal margin.

Colorado Rapids were one of the Western Conference play-off finalist last season after finishing the regular season at second position in the table. However, their start to the new campaign is far from convincing.

Despite starting the season with a 1-0 win over New England Revolution, the Rapids managed just 1 point from their next five matches. It is 4 losses from six, a stat that give plenty of headaches to coach Pablo Mastroeni. Moreover, scoring goals has been a major problem, while they lack discipline in defense.

Colorado lost their three away matches so far this season. The most recent was the trip to new franchise Minnesota United, a match they lost by 1-0.

Orlando City vs Colorado Rapids: Head-to-head

There have been only two MLS matches played between the two teams in as many seasons. Orlando are unbeaten with a 2-0 home win in 2015 and a 0-0 stalemate in the meeting at Colorado last season.

The only other competitive meeting between the two happened in the 2014 US Open Cup, which was won by Colorado at their home turf by a 5-2 margin.

Orlando City vs Colorado Rapids: Prediction

The pressure is on Colorado after a turbulent start to the season. They do have some key players missing through injuries in the form of Shkelzen Gashi, Tim Howard and Axel Sjoberg. With Orlando coming into this match in good spirits after the excellent start, could edge another vital win here.