Orlando City SC v Charlotte FC: Smith aiming to get results back on track

Dean Smith insisted that his Charlotte FC players would person nary other information erstwhile they look Orlando City SC this week arsenic they look to get results backmost connected track.

Charlotte were beaten by Orlando successful past season’s playoffs, losing connected penalties successful the last crippled of their three-match bid successful the Crown’s 2nd quality successful the postseason.

Smith’s squad beryllium sixth successful the Eastern Conference, 2 places and 1 constituent supra their opponents, though results of precocious person seen them gaffe down the standings.

The Crown are without a triumph successful their past 3 MLS games, and though Smith was impressed with his team’s displays, helium acknowledged results had to change.

“There volition beryllium nary that has gone. It is simply a caller season,” Smith said. “The lads astatine the moment, we person done the reappraisal of the game, and it’s to get our results backmost connected track.

“We person mislaid the past 3 league games, but our performances person not merited that. We’ve played amended than we did earlier successful the season. I said earlier we should person beaten New England; we had truthful galore chances successful that game.

“Then, I stood successful beforehand of the players and said Columbus were amended than america and bushed america just and square, but we should person won the crippled connected Saturday. We handed the crippled to Nashville with the 2 chances that they had and didn’t instrumentality the large chances we created.

“Results tin spell galore antithetic ways and determination are galore antithetic reasons for results, but what you tin power is performances and they person been better. That is what I support speaking to the players about, due to the fact that that is what they are successful power of.”

No substance the weather, we enactment the enactment successful unneurotic pic.twitter.com/QfXfxwTcoe

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) May 12, 2025

Orlando, meanwhile, were forced to stock the points successful their past league fixture, with Carles Gil’s precocious punishment snatching a 3-3 gully for the New England Revolution.

The Lions ended the crippled having dominated the lucifer metrics, finishing with an expected goals (xG) full of 2.78 from their 22 shots to their opponents 2.37 from their 15 attempts.

Only the Philadelphia Union (23) and Nashville SC (22) person scored much goals than Orlando (21), but caput manager Oscar Pareja wants to spot improvements successful defence.

“Well, I deliberation it was evidently precise entertaining for the strength of the crippled to the radical that came to the stadium,” Pareja said.

“But astatine the extremity of the day, the vexation is the aforesaid astir what we near connected the field, due to the fact that it’s different 2 points that we fto spell successful a crippled that we had to adjacent it and win.

“We’re scoring goals, but present we conceded too, and we person been talking astir our equilibrium and each those things. It is thing that we request to enactment on. But I person to accidental arsenic good that our happening was ever bringing the initiative.

“We recovered a squad that had bully responsiveness, but I deliberation we truly projected the crippled each implicit the field. And we should person been amended erstwhile we were up 3-2, and we had a fewer chances conscionable to enactment the crippled away. And we fto it go.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Orlando City – Martin Ojeda

Ojeda became the 2nd subordinate successful Orlando past to people a regular-season hat-trick connected Saturday, aft Cyle Larin, who has done truthful connected 2 occasions.

His 3 goals successful a 31-minute span were besides the fastest hat-trick successful nine history.

Charlotte – Liel Abada

Abada has scored 4 goals this season, including each of Charlotte’s past two.

His 11 goals are tied with Patrick Agyemang for the astir of immoderate Charlotte subordinate successful the regular play since Abada made his MLS debut successful March 2024.

MATCH PREDICTION: ORLANDO WIN

Orlando person mislaid lone 1 of their 9 matches against Charlotte successful the regular play and playoffs (W4 D4), including going unbeaten successful six straight. The Crown’s lone MLS triumph implicit Orlando was connected the road, a 2-1 triumph successful March 2023.

The Lions extended their unbeaten tally successful league play to 9 consecutive matches (W3 D6) with a 3-3 gully against New England connected Saturday. This is Orlando’s second-longest regular-season unbeaten tally (12 consecutive successful 2020).

Charlotte, meanwhile, person mislaid 3 consecutive regular-season matches aft losing lone 2 of their erstwhile 14 successful league play (W10 D2). They person ne'er mislaid 4 consecutive matches wrong a azygous regular season.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Orlando City – 51.1%

Draw – 24.9%

Charlotte – 24.1%