One month into Orlando City SC’s tenure at its 25,500-seat state-of-the-art stadium, fans have quickly helped Orlando City Stadium build a reputation as a difficult place for visiting teams to capture points. In three sold out home matches in 2017, the Lions have captured a perfect nine points and will look to keep the streak alive on Saturday when hosting the LA Galaxy in a nationally televised contest on FOX (11:30 a.m. PT, FOX/FOX Deportes).
The first and only previous matchup where Orlando played host to LA ended with a resounding 4-0 victory for the Lions in 2015 over the then defending champions. With another expected sellout at Orlando City Stadium, the team will likely rely on 21-year-old Canadian forward Cyle Larin, who ranks among the top 10 players league wide with three goals this season. Countering Larin is LA’s 28-year-old Designated Player Romain Allessandrini, whose combined three goals and two assists ranks tied for fifth in MLS.
Leading the charge for LA will also be forward Giovani dos Santos, whose 18 all-time regular season goals in MLS rank third among Mexican-born players in league history. Before dos Santos and the Galaxy take on Orlando on FOX, a fellow Mexican star in Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez will take center stage as Bayer Leverkusen hosts Bayern Munich in a Bundesliga lead in to MLS action.
