• Matchday 31: Orlando City SC vs New York City FC
• Date and Kickoff Time: Saturday, October 24, 7:40 pm ET
• Venue: Inter.co Stadium, Orlando, FL
• Forecast: Warm and a decent chance of some rain, 72F/22C
• Watch: Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham (English); Ramses Sandoval and Miguel Gallardo (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matt Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Elijio Arreguin (referee), Cory Richardson and Adam Wienckowski (assistant referees), Igor Bych (fourth official), Kevin Stott (VAR), Robert Schaap (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will be in the light blue Excelsior Kit; Orlando in its purple Perfect Storm Kit
New York City FC plays in the state of Florida for a second time in 10 days, this time making a trip to the central portion of the state to take on Orlando City SC at Inter.co Stadium.
It's must-win time for Pascal Jansen and his team because there are only four matches left and New York City comes into its Matchday 31 down in 12th place with 34 points through 30 matches, which sounds awful, until you realize it's still only two points back from ninth place and a possible playoff berth: Thank you, MLS Cup Playoffs, and your generously large field of qualifying teams.
The playoff format helps but New York City still has to help itself, and the club has zero wins across its last five matches played and has gotten one single solitary win from its last 13 league matches — against lowly Real Salt Lake, the worst team in MLS (10 points from 15 games) since the World Cup break ended.
Last time out for New York City, they played to a hugely underwhelming 1-1 draw with LAFC, capping off an unproductive three-match week against Chicago, Miami, and LAFC with one point added out of a possible nine up for grabs.
As for Orlando, only the soon-to-be Supporters' Shield winners Nashville SC and the Cavan Sullivan-led Philadelphia Union have picked up more points in the Eastern Conference since the World Cup break ended.
The Lions were down in 13th place in the Eastern Conference pre-World Cup, but the arrival of Antoine Griezmann, first player in MLS history to get 11 goal contributions in his first 13 matches in the league, turned them into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The summer revival since Griezmann got here has seen Orlando rise to seventh place and turn into a near-lock to play in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Since the league resumed post-World Cup, Orlando has scored almost twice as many goals (35) as New York City FC (18), with Griezmann accounting for 12 of those. It's a very different Orlando team from the one New York City FC faced and defeated handily in its home opener back on a crisp March afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
John Baney
New York City FC H2H Record vs Orlando
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 54 | 33 | 21 |
Going into what will be the 30th meeting between these 2015 MLS expansion rivals, New York City has the head-to-head edge, and that's largely been built on an active unbeaten streak that stretches back to the 2022 season.
Orlando hasn't beaten New York City in any of the teams' last eight meetings, with the last Lions win coming at this same Inter.co (then Exploria) Stadium on August 28, 2022, a 2-1 victory for Orlando earned early into Nick Cushing's tenure as interim New York City manager, with Tesho Akindele scoring the winning goal at 90'+6' to break NYCFC's heart deep into second-half stoppage time.
