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

Dylan Butler

Philadelphia Union vs. Orlando City SC
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 7
Talen Energy Stadium - Chester
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.

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 Picault making 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

Notes: David Accam has scored six goals in seven career appearances against Orlando, twice as much as his next closest total. Additionally, only Sebastian Giovinco has more goals against the Lions than Accam. ... Philadelphia has seen just one loss in their last 12 MLS games at Talen Energy Stadium (9W-3D), conceding an average of just 0.8 goals per game and keeping six clean sheets.

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

Notes: Kljestan needs just two assists to pass Andy Williams for the ninth-most assists in league history. He has four assists in nine appearances against the Union since re-join MLS in 2015 … Orlando City has lost six of their last eight away goals (1W-1D), including three straight. They have not lost four straight road games since July 26-Sept. 5, 2015 (five games).

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)