ORLANDO, Fla. – A bit of history is on the line for Orlando City SC on Sunday.

The Lions (5-2-1, 16 points) are riding a five-game winning streak, their second in their Major League Soccer history, and have a chance to extend the streak to six games, a new club record.

Standing in City’s way is sixth-place Real Salt Lake (3-4-1, 10 points), City head coach Jason Kreis’ former club. Kreis coached RSL for his first stint as a head coach immediately after retiring as a player with them. He led the Western Conference side to two MLS Cup final appearance from 2007 to 2013, winning the title in 2009.

Kreis has since beaten his former team once as the Lions’ boss, as City hold a narrow advantage in the all-time record at 1-0-2.

Here’s what to expect when RSL visits City Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at Orlando City Stadium.

RSL Seeking First Road Win

The road has been difficult for the Utah side, so far, in 2018. In four attempts, RSL is 0-3-1 on the road, earning their only result in a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas in the season opener.

As for their defeats, they weren’t pretty.

In three subsequent road bouts, RSL lost by a combined score of 9-1. RSL’s lone goal came in their second road game, fourth game overall with Toronto FC, a 3-1 decision. Their other two losses were a 4-0 shutout by New York City FC and, most recently, a 2-0 loss to the 10-man Vancouver Whitecaps.

Orlando will be RSL’s final stop of a two-game road trip.

“Again, I think it’s a consistency issue and a young issue,” Kreis said after training on May 2. “I’ve gone through it with building teams before where it’s very, very typical to be one team at home and then a completely different-looking team on the road.

“That comes through confidence and consistency and experience. And so we will hope that [RSL’s road losing streak] holds true for us, but, as I said, we need to be prepared for their best.”

Joao Plata Leads Struggling RSL Attack

So far in 2018, Salt Lake’s attack hasn’t been a force to be reckoned with. Their nine total goals in eight games played is second-worst in the Western Conference and tied for fourth-fewest in all of MLS.

Leading the way, however, is Ecuadorian forward Joao Plata. The 5-foot-3 veteran has started all five of his appearances and has scored three goals on 15 shots (10 on-goal). He is also tied for eighth-most shots on-goal in MLS with six other players.

Directly behind Plata is midfielder Albert Rusnak. He has two goals in his eight starts for RSL while also tallying two assists. Forwards Corey Baird, Jefferson Savarino and Luis Silva and midfielder Damir Kreilach have also scored a goal each.

“Yeah, like I said, they’ve got other individual players that are very, very good. A young team that’s hungry, so that’s always dangerous,” Lions keeper Joe Bendik said after training on May 2. “We’ll need to take a look at ’em and make sure we can defensively organize it.”

RSL’s Defense Porous in Defeats

Salt Lake has proven it can be a prominent defensive side in 2018.

They slowed a New York Red Bulls side that was among the best scoring teams in MLS to start the season, as the Red Bulls scored 13 goals in their first five league competitions. Though it was just New York’s second regular-season game of the year, RSL still shut out a squad led by former City forward Carlos Rivas.

RSL also has one more shutout: a 3-0 decision over the 10-man Colorado Rapids on April 21.

That’s the extent of RSL’s defensive highlights, though. Their road woes have made them tied for the second-worst goal-allowing team in the West (16 goals against) and tied for the third-worst in MLS.

Their worst defeat came in the second match of the season, a 5-1 home loss to Los Angeles FC in which forward Diego Rossi scored a brace.

“You know, a bunch of those goals come in the LAFC game where they had a good start, and then they gave up a goal, and then they kinda just gave up, and they got pummeled,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who has two goals and three assists in 2018, said after training on May 2. “So, they’ve got some good players; they’ve got some new players back there…

“So, places where we feel we can exploit them–I think we’re gonna have to really attack their back line, and then hopefully we get a goal early, and then the flood gates open, and then we can get a big victory.”

For more on the Lions, as they prepare for a two-game home stand, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.