Orlando City

The Road Ahead: Storylines, series history and more ahead of Orlando City SC at CF Montréal

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Orlando City (2-3-2, 8 points) at CF Montréal (3-3-1, 10 points)

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec

TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (subscription required)

Radio: Real Radio 104.1 FM, (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish)

Everything you need to know for the Lions' away trip to Quebec in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:

Milestones

- Duncan McGuire’s next goal will be his 20th in all competitions for Orlando City, moving him past Daryl Dike and Benji Michel into sole possession of eighth on the club’s all-time MLS scoring charts. McGuire needs two more goals to catch Tesho Akindele for seventh and three to match Chris Mueller in sixth.

- Dagur Dan ThĂ³rhallsson’s next appearance will be his 50th in all competitions for Orlando City. The Iceland international scored his third career goal for the club in Saturday night’s comeback win over D.C. United.

- Pedro Gallese’s next win will be his 50th in MLS and his 60th overall for Orlando City.

- NicolĂ¡s Lodeiro is two appearances away from 200 in his MLS career. Lodeiro has two goals and four assists for Orlando in just 696 minutes in all competitions.

- Facundo Torres’ next goal will tie him with Nani for second in club history at 31.

Stats & Storylines

- Orlando City achieved a huge comeback win last Saturday against D.C. United, the club’s first away win in the 2024 MLS regular season and its second overall. The match marked the first time Orlando won a game while trailing after the 75th minute since last September’s famous 4-3 victory over the Columbus Crew at Inter&Co Stadium.

- David Brekalo scored his first goal for Orlando City, becoming the 67th player to score a goal in the club’s MLS era. Brekalo won just two of his 11 aerial duels against D.C. forward Christian Benteke in the game – an 18.2% win rate that is actually better than average against Benteke, the most aerially dominant player in MLS – but one of those wins came on the equalizing finish.

- Orlando City once again won the expected goals battle and now sits fourth in the Eastern Conference in both total xG and xG per game, behind D.C., Inter Miami, and Philadelphia. The Lions are fifth in the East in fewest xG allowed.

  • Orlando has a -5 raw goal differential but a +1.5 expected goal differential, a difference of -6.5 that ranks second in all of MLS, only behind San Jose (-10.3).

- The Lions snapped a three-game road losing skid in all competitions with the win, getting back on track in away contests. Orlando was 9-4-4 (31 points) in MLS away games last year, the only team to surpass 30 points on the road.

Series History

All-time vs. CF Montréal - 9-10-4, -3 GD (4-6-1, -3 GD away)

MLS only vs. CF Montréal - 8-9-4, -2 GD (4-5-1, -1 GD away)

  1. 2015 - D 2-2 (A), L 2-0 (A), W 2-1 (H)
  2. 2016 - W 2-1 (H), W 1-4 (A), L 0-1 (H)
  1. 2017 - D 3-3 (H), L 2-1 (A)
  1. 2018 - L 3-0 (A), L 0-2 (H)
  1. 2019 - L 1-3 (H), W 0-3 (A)
  1. 2020 - W 1-0 (N/MLS is Back), W 0-1 (A*)
  1. 2021 - L 2-4 (H), D 1-1 (H), W 0-2 (A)
  1. 2022 - W 2-0 (H), L 4-1 (A), L 2-0 (A/MLS Cup Playoffs)
  1. 2023 - L 2-0 (A), W 3-0 (H)
  1. 2024 - D 0-0 (H)

*game played at Red Bull Arena due to COVID-19 pandemic

Meet the opponent: D.C. United

- One of Orlando’s four away losses last season came at the Stade Saputo, with Montréal running out 2-0 winners on May 6, 2023. After a run of three straight road wins against Montréal, including a Decision Day playoff clincher in 2021, the Lions have lost their last three in Québec by a combined 8-1 margin in all competitions.

- Due to the cold climate in Canada, Montréal played their first six matches on the road this season, including an opening day 0-0 draw at Inter&Co Stadium. Montréal went 2-3-1 on their season opening road trip before beating FC Cincinnati 2-1 at the Stade Saputo in their home opener this past Saturday.

- Longtime Orlando City nemesis Josef Martínez has found himself revitalized in his first season with Montréal. While he missed a sitter against Orlando back in February, Martínez has two goals and three assists in 376 minutes so far this year, including a goal against Cincinnati last weekend.

- Former Orlando right back Ruan, who played over 100 matches for the Lions from 2019-22, has started every game so far for Montréal and has two assists on the campaign.

- New Uruguayan striker MatĂ­as CĂ³ccaro leads MontrĂ©al with three goals on the young season. CĂ³ccaro left the Cincinnati game injured in the first half and his status for the weekend is not yet known.

- On the Orlando side of things, Dagur Dan ThĂ³rhallsson and Facundo Torres have goals against MontrĂ©al in their careers, both scoring against the Canadian side in last September’s 3-0 runaway win at Inter&Co Stadium.