Orlando City SC and New York City FC are forever linked by their shared entrance into Major League Soccer as 2015 expansion teams. Their first-ever game — a 1-1 draw at the Citrus Bowl — opened that season.
But ever since, NYCFC have grown into one of the best teams in the league, with four consecutive playoff appearances and a finish atop the Eastern Conference a year ago.
The Lions, meanwhile, have yet to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs. But a win against NYCFC Tuesday (8 pm ET | TUDN, Twitter, TSN) in Orlando would put them through to the MLS is Back Tournament knockout round, representing another step in changing the club’s mentality.
An important step in that direction, first-year coach Oscar Pareja said, was rallying to beat Inter Miami CF in the tournament’s opening match.
“It was a great victory for different reasons, but one of the most important ones is just winning at the end,” he said in a media conference call Sunday. “Usually we’re used to hearing it happens [the other way]. Just showing that, the character, the willingness of the boys just to overcome the moment when they scored first, just kept the game going, increased their tempo and their willingness to win it and the game rewarded them.”
Playing a big role in that rivalry win was Chris Mueller, whose 70th-minute equalizer helped pave the way for Nani’s stoppage-time winner. It was the 23-year-old’s second goal in three games to christen his third season as a professional.
“He’s an amazing player — one-v-one, one of the best players I’ve played with,” veteran forward Tesho Akindele said of Mueller. “You don’t a lot of times see that with an American. He’s a special talent. I think with him, he’s big on mentality. … For him the main thing is making sure his mind is in the right place and right now he looks to have his mind in the right place. When he’s in that mode, I think he’s one of the top players in the league.”
Of course, NYCFC are chock full of dangerous and creative attacking players, and they’ll come into this second Group A matchup desperate for a positive result following a 1-0 defeat to the Philadelphia Union.
“They have pacy wingers, good tactically. They like to play their fullbacks really high up, especially their right back (Anton Tinnerholm) so that’s something I’m going to have to be aware of,” fullback Joao Moutinho said. “Hopefully we can go through with our game plan and strengthen the counterattack and hopefully we’ll get that win.”
