MLS Orlando City SC

Preview: Lions Return to Orlando City Stadium to Host New York Red Bulls

Published on March 30, 2018 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Orlando City SC News Release


ORLANDO, Fla. - Two weeks since its last match, Orlando City SC (0-2-1, 1 point) hosts the New York Red Bulls (2-1-0, 6 points) on Saturday, March 31. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET at Orlando City Stadium.

The match will be nationally televised on Univision and streamed live on Twitter. The match will also be transmitted on FM 96.9 The Game in English and La Nueva 990 AM in Spanish.

"[New York] is a team that's very, very cohesive. It's a team that's very direct about the way they're doing things, want to get into the opponent's half extremely quickly," Lions head coach Jason Kreis said. "It's a team that wants to high press everything. It's going to cause us problems if we're not very sharp on the ball and if we don't have ideas of where we want to get it very quickly."

This match will pit Lions midfielder Sacha Kljestan against his former team of three years. Kljestan played for New York from 2015 to 2017, compiling 16 goals and 51 regular season assists. Kljestan led the league with 17 assists in 2017 and 20 in 2016. The Anaheim, Calif., native made his Lions debut on March 17 at Yankee Stadium.

Kljestan was acquired from New York, along with $150,000 TAM, on Jan. 3 in exchange for forward Carlos Rivas and defender Tommy Redding. Both players were on City's inaugural 2015 MLS squad and Redding was City's first Homegrown signing in March 2014.

The Lions enter the match seeking their first win of the season. City began 2018 with a stoppage-time equalizer against D.C. United before dropping decisions to Minnesota United and New York City FC.

New York is coming off a 3-0 win over Minnesota on March 24. The Red Bulls will play the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal at C.D. Guadalajara (Mexico) on Wednesday, just four days after playing in Orlando.

Bradley Wright-Phillips leads New York with three goals in MLS play this season. Sean Davis and Vincent Bezecourt each have two assists while goalkeeper Luis Robles has two clean sheets in three league games in 2018.

Orlando Health, the Club's official jersey sponsor and medical provider, will have training exercises on how to stop bleeding emergencies for individuals with little or no medical training in the Fan Zone for National Stop the Bleed Day. The "Stop the Bleed" training will be located outside Gate E on Church Street beginning at 10 a.m.

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