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New England heads to Orlando for a Decision Day clash Saturday afternoon, with both teams still able to improve their respective playoff positions.
Orlando City (12-14-7, 43 points) has a little more at stake, sitting in ninth place, one point behind Columbus and three behind FC Cincinnati. The Lions need a win, a Cincinnati loss at home to Nashville and either a loss or draw by Columbus at Chicago to move up to seventh place and secure the final best-of-3 opening-round playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
If the Lions win and Cincinnati wins or draws, Orlando can still clinch the No. 8 seed and a home match in the play-in round against Columbus if the Crew loses or draws against Chicago.
Orlando, however, is on a three-match winless streak, with two draws during that span. Martin Ojeda (16 goals, five assists) and Antoine Griezmann (14 goals, eight assists) lead the Lions.
“Now it’s one at a time. Now we focus on the next one. Now we are focused like we did the whole season, right? Being resilient,” Orlando interim head coach Martin Perelman said.
New England (18-11-4, 58 points) has secured at least the No. 3 seed by virtue of holding the wins tiebreaker over Chicago. But the Revolution can still move up to No. 2 with a win and an Inter Miami loss or draw against Charlotte. New England can also finish as the No. 2 seed with a draw and a Miami loss, as it would have more wins than Inter Miami. The Revolution lost 2-1 to Inter Miami last Sunday.
“We had the champion of the league in front of us, and we wanted to see where we are and how we can compete against the best teams in the league,” New England head coach Marko Mitrovic said. “This game showed us where we are and how it can help us move forward.”
Daniel Gazdag continued his recent hot stretch, scoring his second goal in as many games in the loss, and Peyton Miller recorded his fifth assist in his last five games.
New England scored twice in second-half stoppage time to claim a 4-2 victory the last time these teams met, Sept. 19 in Foxborough, Mass.
–Field Level Media
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