ORLANDO, FL – Orlando City (4-6-8, 19 points) defeated the Chicago Fire (4-6-8, 21 points) on Saturday night at Inter & Co Stadium in front of 22,038 fans.
Orlando and Chicago share identical records and both sit towards the bottom of the table. The Lions are trying to improve their home performances, as they have not won a match at home since March of 2024.
“We feel very happy with the result, wining at home in front of the fans.” Said Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja “In a game that needed an extra push from us. Difficult game coming from playing on turf, plus the humidity. We did a lot of positive things, scoring goals, saw a lot of positive performances, and it was a really good game.”
In the fourth minute of the match, Facundo Torres blasted a shot from the left side of the box off a pass from Dagur Thórhallsson for the game’s first score.
Orlando continued the tough play when Ivan Angulo was tackled in the box, resulting in a Chicago penalty. Luis Muriel stepped up to the spot and put the shot in with a hesitation move to the lower right side of the goal. 2-0 Orlando.
In the 29th minute, Angulo was in the right place at the right time when he took a deflection off a corner kick and sent it straight in front of the goal, making it 3-0 Orlando.
Former Orlando City player Chris Mueller checked into the match. Mueller added to Chicago’s aggressive push, giving difficult challenges from the left side, often requiring several Orlando players to stop his attacks.
In the 50th minute, Rodrigo Schlegel was called for a handball inside the Orlando box, resulting in a Chicago penalty kick.
In the 53rd minute, Maren Haile-Selassie lined up on the ball and sent it past Stajduhar for the Fire’s first point. 3-1.
In the 60th minute, Torres got hold of a loose ball from Thórhallsson and sent a blast from just outside the center of the box to the back of the net, giving Orlando a 4-1 lead. It was Facundo’s 35th goal with Orlando City.
Chicago spent most of the second half in the Orlando third, aggressively pushing for openings for shots. The Fire had 18 shots, with 12 on target, while Orlando had eight shots in the game with six on target.
In the 69th minute, Hugo Cuypers found an opening and blasted a ball in from the center of the box, changing the score to 4-2. Cuypers’ opening was a result of a Robin Jansson error on defense.
Mason Stajduhar had a solid night in goal, with 11 saves that were key for Orlando to hold Chicago’s attacks at bay. Even though he conceded two goals, one was a penalty kick, and the other was a blast from outside. There were many more chances that he stopped that helped Orlando secure the much-needed win.
Orlando City next travels to New York to face New York City FC on Friday, June 28th at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York.
