The Philadelphia Union and Orlando City are both headed to the knockout round of the MLS is Back Tournament. However, they still have something to play for in the group stage.
With a first-place finish in Group A on the line, the Union and City meet to close out the stage on Monday night near Orlando, Fla.
Philadelphia (2-1-1) was expected to make it out of the group stage. Orlando City (2-1-1), meanwhile, might be one of the bigger surprises of a tournament that's essentially behind held in its hometown - at the nearby Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.
Both sides earned six points by winning their first two games in the tournament, so the group title and a high seed in the knockout stage is there for the taking with this contest. Orlando has scored two more goals and owns a plus-1 advantage in goal differential over Philadelphia.
"It's going to be a good match," first-year City coach Oscar Pareja told Orlando's official website. "(Philadelphia is) a team that is going to create some challenges, and at the same time is going to have some weaknesses as well that hopefully we can take advantage of."
City used a stoppage-time Nani goal to rally by Inter Miami for a 2-1 victory in its tournament opener. Thanks to Chris Mueller's brace and late Tesho Akindele goal, Orlando followed with a 3-1 win over New York City FC. Mueller is off to a sizzling start on this crazy season with four goals through four matches.
"We are the ones who are growing in confidence with them, seeing them work every day, their willingness to do the right things," Pareja added. "That provides us as coaches a lot of confidence to continue."
What City needs to do is halt an 0-1-2 stretch against Philadelphia.
The Union opened their tournament with a 1-0 win over NYFC, then followed with a 2-1 victory over Miami on Wednesday. In the latter, Kacper Przybylko's 63rd-minute goal broke a deadlocked match, and ultimately held up for Philadelphia.
"A lot of things to improve," coach Jim Curtin told the Union's official website. "Obviously, it is good to get two wins in a row for the league and now to advance in this competition.
"Overall, we needed to be better. I need to be better as a coach. The team needs to be better as (the Miami match) was not a good representation of what we worked on all week."
July 18, 2020 at 11:04PM
Orlando City-Union Preview
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