(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
Sept. 14, 2017 at Sylvan Lake Park
Availability: HC Jason Kreis, F Cyle Larin, MF Yoshimar Yotún
Orlando City Are Winning Again
- Orlando City SC is coming off a 2-1 win over D.C. United on Sept. 9
- It was City’s first win since a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on June 30.
- Before City’s win over RSL, the Lions’ last win was a 2-0 victory over D.C. on May 31.
HC JASON KREIS: “[The morale’s] good. It’s good. Obviously, with the difficulties surrounding the hurricane situation, and the travel back wasn’t ideal for us, but we’re getting our engines going again. I think we’ll be ready Saturday, no doubt.”
“I’m looking to win. I’m looking to keep winning. The only objective for me this weekend is three points, and then we’ll talk about the next game after that. It’s one moment at a time and one game at a time. I know everybody thinks we’re dead. We don’t.”
F CYLE LARIN: “It felt good to get a win again, and everyone’s spirit is up and got our confidence back. And I think that’s important for us to go up there and get a win to prepare for this next game.”
MF YOSHIMAR YOTÚN (translated from Spanish): “The team’s feeling well. I think that it was exactly what we needed. When things aren’t going your way, things get a little bit tense. So it’s good to get a result and start this week off with a positive start.”
Lions Return to Atlanta
- City will next play Atlanta United FC on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
- In their first-ever meeting, Atlanta won 1-0 on a late goal on July 21.
- Eight days later, the Lions squandered a 1-0 lead in a 1-1 draw.
- Atlanta is coming off consecutive home wins in Mercedes-Benz Stadium after a 7-0 win over the New England Revolution on Sept. 13 and a 3-0 win over FC Dallas on Sept. 10.
- This will be Yotún’s first chance to play City.
- Yotún joined the Lions on Aug. 4 as a designated player.
HC JASON KREIS: “I think we’re excited. I mean, it’s obviously a fantastic stadium with a fantastic atmosphere, and who wouldn’t want to play in that sort of arena? So, I think our guys are really excited about this opportunity, and we feel like we match up well with Atlanta. Over the [two] games, we have a draw and a loss, which easily could have and, I think I would argue, should have been a draw and a win. So we go in there with confidence, and we know that this is a very dangerous team, but we think we’re capable as well.”
F CYLE LARIN: “…I think we’re excited to play there and excited to play against them again, and I think every time we played them was a good game, and we played well against them every time. And some stuff didn’t go our way. We should’ve won at least one of the games, but I think we’ll go out there, and I think we’ll get three points.”
“Obviously, [a win] would even up the series between us and them but very big. I think it’s big for us to just get up in the table and keep pushing.”
MF YOSHIMAR YOTÚN (translated from Spanish): “Yeah, it’s gonna be a tough match. The other guys have told me that it’s a direct rival, so those games are—we have to win them. Details are very important against them, and it’s the rival that we have the closest in the table, so we have to be very focused to the three points.”
“We’re not too excited because [Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s] turf. It’s a little bit difficult playing turf, but the stadium, I’ve heard, is nice. And we’re gonna go there to do our job and hopefully get the three points.”
Atlanta Boasts 1 of MLS’s Best Offenses
- So far this season, Atlanta has recorded the second-most goals with 54, behind only Toronto FC’s 59.
- Atlanta also have the second-best goal differential (+22), second only to Toronto (+33).
HC JASON KREIS: “I think they’re finding a real good form in what they’re doing in the attacking half of the field. I think they’ve had a huge rest between their games, and they’ve got everybody fresh and fit, and I think they’re just playing with some confidence, but there’s some things that obviously happened in both those games that tile the score line in their favor, and so, again, we see hope, and we see opportunity.”
“We believe that every opponent has weak points. We don’t look at the last two games and say, ‘Oh, they scored 10 and didn’t allow [any],’ and say this is a team that’s completely unbeatable. I don’t think so. Every team has weak points, and they have theirs as well.”
F CYLE LARIN: “No, I think they’re a good attacking—attacking-wise, they’re very good. They’re very fast, and I think if we do the same thing against D.C. and put teams under pressure from the beginning, we’ll win.”
“You know, I just think we can score goals on them, and I think if we go up early and get early goals, it’ll be hard for them to do what they did last night and attack so quick and fast.”
Florida Recovers from Hurricane Irma
- Hurricane Irma struck Florida during the weekend of Sept. 9, leaving more than five million without electricity.
HC JASON KREIS: “You know, I mean, it was a very scary situation to be leaving. Really an odd situation that we’re all having to travel away from our families and friends and sort of have them fend on their own for a weekend in order to play [a Major League Soccer] match, and so it was a very nervy situation to be there, trying to prepare for a game on Friday and Saturday while we were all concerned about our community, this state, our family, everybody that was left back here in Florida. So, I think our guys handled it fantastically well, and we see that the devastation was quite severe, so we’re part of this community, and we all worked together with a positive mindset to rebuild.”
F CYLE LARIN: “Obviously, we didn’t come back. We were away in Atlanta. We didn’t come back from D.C. but think it affected a lot of guys. We were away for a while, and it’s hard being away and not being home, and, to prepare for this game, I think everyone’s back and ready, and they’re ready to get a win.”
Cyle Larin Becomes Orlando City’s All-time Leading Goal-scorer
- With his 19th-minute goal in the win over D.C., Larin became City’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 43 goals in 85 games.
- The previous holder is former Lion Kevin Molino, who was traded to Minnesota United FC at the start of the season.
- Molino scored 42 goals in 144 games over six years, earning 30 of them in the United Soccer League from 2011 to 2014.
F CYLE LARIN: “I didn’t know at first. I know Kevin had the most, but I didn’t know how much he had. And I found out when he—online, when he tweeted me, but, no it feels good and just another accomplishment, and I wanna accomplish more, and I have a lot more to do.”
Orlando City’s Attacking Trio Still Meshing
- Combined, forwards Giles Barnes, Dom Dwyer and Larin have scored 14 goals and five assists this season.
- Larin leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and has also tallied two of the five assists.
- In six games and five starts, Dwyer has mustered just one assist and 10 shots (four on goal) with no goals.
HC JASON KREIS: “Well I think I’d like to see everybody improve. Certainly, we feel very good about the performance over the past weekend. Having said that, there’s still areas that we need improvement on, and I think the combinations of players—the more often that they play together, the more improvement and more comfortable those three should have together. So, not just those three players, but all the players that will play this weekend—hopefully, with more time together in this system, will mean improved play.”
Orlando City Satisfied with Final Roster Ahead of Roster Freeze
- Per roster-freeze rules, all teams must submit their final 30-man rosters by Sept. 15.
- That final roster cannot be changed through the day after the MLS Cup.
HC JASON KREIS: “Yeah, our roster’s our roster. I don’t anticipate any more moves or any additions or subtractions. So, we have the guys that we think we need to make a good push at the end of the season, to give it everything we have, to keep ourselves alive over the next several matches, to continue to fight for the last playoff spot, and once that goes away, or if that goes away, it’s about fighting for respect and dignity.”
Yoshimar Yotún Impresses Jason Kreis in 1st 4 Games
- Yotún has started all four of his appearances for City, logging 347 minutes.
- He has an assist and nine shots (one on goal) with no goals).
HC JASON KREIS: “I feel [Yotún’s] been good in every game. I feel that he’s had moments where he’s shown complete and utter brilliance. And then there’s been moments where he’s struggled a little bit, and I feel like he’s gotten better in every match, and certainly this past weekend was his best one. So, I still think that there’s a little bit more than he has in his locker that he hasn’t shown yet, and I think we’ll continue to see those things as we go through the rest of the season.”
For more on City, as they desperately try to push for the playoffs, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
