These are truly the dog days of the MLS season.
Orlando City will play their third match in eight days when they travel to face the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night.
The Lions (7-5-6, 27 points) will be without key contributors Facundo Torres (Uruguay) and Wilder Cartagena and Pedro Gallese (both Peru) because of international duty, and they likely will have to start backup goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar as Adam Grinwis remains in concussion protocol.
Orlando lost 3-1 against the host New England Revolution on June 17, then played to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday against visiting Philadelphia.
The Lions took a 2-0 lead against the Union on goals by Duncan McGuire — his team-leading sixth of the season — and Martin Ojeda but saw Philadelphia tie the match with a goal in the 90th minute.
Still, Orlando has lost just once in its past eight games (3-1-4).
“We have had a tremendous month just getting more consistency,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said. “We knew this week was going to be a big challenge for us. The effort by the players has been phenomenal.”
The Sounders (8-7-4, 28 points), who had last weekend off, absorbed a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday at Los Angeles FC, conceding a goal off a deflection in the opening minute.
Seattle is winless in its past four matches (0-2-2) and has dropped into third place in the Western Conference.
“The team wants to win so bad. Sometimes they just try to do too much,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “That ends up not being a good thing.”
The Sounders are without U.S. internationals Jordan Morris, who leads the team with nine goals, and Cristian Roldan. Defender Xavier Arreaga is also away with Ecuador.
Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who is tied for the MLS lead with nine shutouts, criticized the league’s scheduling during the international break.
“They’re on short rest and we’re also missing guys,” Frei said. “I don’t understand the scheduling. It is what it is, and we need to figure out ways to move forward and find ways to win with the people we have.”
Seattle is 4-1-1 in the all-time series against Orlando.
–Field Level Media