Philadelphia Union vs. Orlando City SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Philadelphia Union vs. Orlando City SC
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 7
Talen Energy Stadium - Bronx
8:00 pm ET – April 13, 2018
WATCH: ESPN, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

After opening the season with a 2-0 win over a New England Revolution team that ended the match with nine men, the Philadelphia Union are winless in their last three matches, while Orlando City SC head to Chester a (mostly) healthy and confidence bunch following back-to-back home wins.

• Kreis ready for Lions to stop living dangerously
• Did Dom Dwyer flop?
• Orlando overcome big pressure to win again at home
• Bedoya on Union attack: "Not good enough up there"

Philadelphia Union  

It hasn’t been all bad, but it also hasn’t been too good for the Union (1-1-2) through their first four games of the 2018 season.

Jim Curtin made just one change to his starting XI from a 3-0 loss at Colorado with Fafa Picaultmaking his 2018 debut after serving a three-game ban for offensive language during a preseason game.

Alejandro Bedoya, who was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 6, struck for the second-half equalizer for the Union, who stretched their unbeaten streak vs. the Quakes to five matches (2W-3D).

“We need to get more guys in the box and make more decisive runs, but it’s not good enough up there,” Bedoya said of his team’s attack. “We’ve let ourselves down, but we haven’t been playing bad so that’s a positive.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D - Fabinho (right meniscus surgery recovery), D - Richie Marquez (sports hernia surgery), D - Josh Yaro (right adductor strain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Andre Blake — Keegan Rosenberry, Jack Elliott, Auston Trusty, Matthew Real — Haris Medunjanin, Alejandro Bedoya — Fafa Picault, Borek Dockal, David Accam — C.J. Sapong

Orlando City SC      

For a second straight week at home, the Lions (2-2-1) roared late and rallied to claim all three points. They did it against the New York Red Bulls to win 4-3 and then on Sunday they battled back from down two goals to beat the Portland Timbers, 3-2.

Jason Kreis welcomed back Jonathan Spector from injury and started Josue Colman as the only two changes from Week 5.

Rookie Chris Mueller started the comeback with his first MLS goal in the 80th minute, followed by a Sacha Kljestan penalty kick two minutes later and the winner three minutes from full time by Dom Dwyer, who has three goals in the consecutive wins. Dwyer was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 6.

“Incredible” was the word of the day for Kreis.

“Incredible work rate by the guys, incredible that they stick together, incredible that they come back from two goals down,” Kreis said. “The effort and all those things were fantastic, but I still think we’ve got a long way to go, we’ve got a lot of improvement to make.”

• Suspended: None 
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar (Localized Ewing Sarcoma)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Bendik — Scott Sutter, Jonathan Spector, Lamine Sane, Mohamed El-Munir — Will Johnson, Yoshimar Yotun — Josue Colman, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram — Dom Dwyer

All-Time Series

• Overall: Philadelphia Union 3 wins, 12 goals … Orlando City SC 2 wins, 8 goals … Ties 2
• At Philadelphia: Union 3 wins, 9 goals … Orlando City SC 1 win, 4 goals … Ties 0
• Last meeting at Philadelphia: Union 6, Orlando City SC 1 (Oct. 22, 2017)

Referees

Referee: Christopher Penso
Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Jeremy Kieso
4th Official: Sorin Stoica
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic