Orlando City choosing up steam heading into Cincinnati conflict

Orlando City will try to keep building momentum toward the postseason on Saturday night when they visit FC Cincinnati.

Orlando (14-11-7, 49 points) has won nine of its last 12 to storm up the Eastern Conference standings into its current fourth-place position. And the Lions are finally getting more attacking production from what many thought was one of the deeper rosters in MLS when the season began.

The latest emerging contributor is Luis Muriel, who has played mainly as a substitute in his first MLS season. He came on at halftime of Wednesday’s 2-1 home win over Philadelphia and assisted both goals, accounting for his fourth and fifth goal contributions in his last four appearances.

“I think the way he’s adapting to us, to the group, has been much, much better,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said. “Every day it looks like he’s gelling with what we want. I’m very happy with him, and I know the group values what he’s doing a lot, and it represents the unity that we have.”

Muriel now has five goals and seven assists, and Facundo Torres scored his team-leading 14th MLS goal in the victory. The tally was Torres’ 45th in all competitions, pushing the Uruguayan past Cyle Larin into the top spot on Orlando’s all-time scoring list.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati (17-10-5, 56 points) fell behind early en route to a 3-2 defeat at New York City FC on Wednesday, failing in its bid to move back above Columbus into second in the East.

Luciano Acosta scored from the penalty spot for his 13th goal of the season, but that 69th-minute tally halved Cincinnati’s deficit for only six minutes before Santiago Rodriguez also converted a PK and restored the margin to two. Corey Baird had Cincy’s other goal deep into second-half stoppage time.

“Our play isn’t good enough,” Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan said. “I don’t just put that on the players. Over the last two games my message hasn’t been clear enough or demanding enough for it to look better than it has. So, we have some work to do.”

With two matches remaining, FC Cincinnati can finish no lower than third but moving above Columbus would mean home-field advantage if the teams meet in the East semifinals.

–Field Level Media