ORLANDO, Fla. (June 20, 2017) - Orlando City SC (7-5-4, 25 points) begins a three-game road stretch on Wednesday, June 21, when it takes on the 2016 MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders FC (5-7-4, 19 points) at CenturyLink Field. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET.
The match will be locally televised on WRDQ TV27 and transmitted in English on Real Radio 104.1 FM and in Spanish on La Nueva 990 AM.
“[Seattle] is a team similar to what you saw last year. Had some ups and downs, their ups are incredibly high and their lows are pretty low - I would say the same about us, actually,” Lions Head Coach Jason Kreis said. “It’s a team that is trying to find their identity, but when they are on their game they can be extremely dangerous with a lot of dangerous attacking players.”
Orlando City travels to Seattle following a high-scoring draw with Montreal Impact that saw six goals between the two teams. Lions midfielder Matías Pérez García opened the scoring in the eighth minute and earned his first goal for the Lions when he finished a cross into the box from Kaká. After the Impact equalized, Carlos Rivas found the end of Will Johnson’s deflected strike to earn his third goal of the season. Montreal added two goals in a two-minute span in the second half, but Orlando City continued battling and Jonathan Spector earned his first goal in purple after heading a cross from MPG into the top left corner for the stoppage-time equalizer.
The match was goalkeeper Joe Bendik’s 50th consecutive start, dating back to the beginning of 2016, and he is one clean sheet away from setting the Club MLS era single-season shutout record. Carlos Rivas leads the Lions with five assists, while defender Scott Sutter and midfielder Will Johnson are not far behind with three each.
On Saturday, the Sounders fell, 2-1, to New York City FC in a downpour at Yankee Stadium. Midfielder Cristian Roldan scored the Sounders’ lone goal and his second of the season in the 40th minute when he found the net on a breakaway. NYCFC forward David Villa responded 12 minutes later and notched a brace to earn his 50th and 51st MLS career goals.
Forward Clint Dempsey and forward Will Bruin lead Seattle with four goals each. Defender Joevin Jones and midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro each have five assists.
Orlando City will look to make it 3-0-0 against defending MLS Cup champions and earn its first win against Seattle. In August 2016, the Lions took an early lead when Seb Hines scored in the seventh minute but Dempsey bagged a hat trick to lead Seattle to a 3-1 win. Seattle defeated 10-man Orlando City, 4-0, in 2015.
