Orlando City Drops Home Match to Chicago Fire, 3-1
Lions suffer back-to-back losses for first time in 2025 season
ORLANDO, Fla. (May 31, 2025) — Orlando City SC (7-4-6, 27 points) fell 3-1 to Chicago Fire FC (6-5-4, 22 points) at Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday night, marking their first consecutive defeats of the season and their first home loss to Chicago since 2019.
The Fire came out hot, striking early with a goal from Philip Zinckernagel in the 5th minute. The Lions struggled to recover before Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers delivered a devastating one-two punch with goals in the 31st and 32nd minutes to put the visitors up 3-0.
Orlando managed to get on the scoreboard before the break, with Alex Freeman netting in the 39th minute—his fourth career goal for the club—to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
With Head Coach Oscar Pareja serving a suspension due to a red card issued in Wednesday’s match against Atlanta United, Assistant Coach Diego Torres stepped in to lead the squad.
“The team is playing well with the ball,” Torres said postgame. “We’re getting close to the goal many times, but today, the goal closed off to us.”
Despite the final scoreline, Orlando dominated statistically, outshooting Chicago 28 to 10 in an aggressive effort to close the gap. Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.
“We had a streak of 12 games without losing. Now, we lose two games in three,” Torres added. “It’s difficult, it’s tough, but this team has shown a strong resilience. What we have to do now is dust ourselves off, let the players rest, and regain their energy. We’ll surely come back stronger because that’s the DNA of this club. Orlando has always bounced back from these moments.”
The Lions will now head into the international break after a grueling stretch of nine games in 28 days during the month of May. Their next match will be on the road against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, June 14 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
