Orlando City and The Chicago Fire will each be the main contributors when they meet for the second time this month.
By trying to bounce back after the end of his long undefeated MLS sequence, Orlando aims to hand over to visit a second consecutive defeat on Saturday evening.
In the midst of a disastrous final section on Wednesday, Orlando (7-3-6, 27 points) saw its undefeated race of 12 games with a club record (6-0-6) end with a frustrating 3-2 defeat at Atlanta United.
Orlando led 2-1 when Cesar Araujo, who scored the first goal of the night, received a red card for violent driving in the 77th minute. A few moments later, Atlanta equalized, and a minute later, the coach of Orlando, Oscar Pareja, was expelled for having asserted the reservation of Araujo.
Atlanta then went from the front in the stop time, sending Orlando to a discouraging loss.
“As a team, we wanted more,” said Orlando defender Alex Freeman.
“To bounce back from (the loss), we want to get a white leaf against Chicago. We have to attack well and defend well.”
On Wednesday did not score the third time in 10 mLS matches that Orlando conceded a goal. He played a goalless draw in Chicago on May 3.
But while Orlando will be less Araujo, the fire (5-5-4, 19 points) will not have the star Brian Gutierrez (five goals) after receiving a red card for violent driving during the defeat of 3-1 Sunday at the New York City FC. Meanwhile, his other starting Mauricio Pineda is also probably due to an injury.
Chicago was in the middle of a 2-0-1 section, where he only granted two goals, before Saturday’s defeat.
“We have to continue moving,” said fire coach Gregg Berhalter. “(Our players) can grind. … We will continue, and go down to Orlando and try to get a result.”
Hugo Cuypers du fire is one of the league leaders with eight goals, but not in two consecutive league games. Martin Ojeda d’Orlando, also with eight goals, was bleached in three games in a row.
Since 2020, Orlando has been 6-1-2 against fire and has not lost against Chicago since July 2021.
– Field level media