On Sunday, July 26th, Orlando City visit Yankee stadium for the second meeting between the two 2015 expansion teams.

Form

Orlando’s has been poor, but as we saw versus New England, poor form doesn’t mean that NYC will do anything. To be fair, though, Orlando have lost consecutive matches at their home stadium, both losing two-nil. Not the best form we’ve ever seen.

NYC are alright. Still adjusting to all the fresh faces on the pitch, NYC are very much a work in progress. With Iraola and Angelino starting to gel with their teammates, it will take time for Pirlo and, if he ever decides to play, Lampard to settle in. However, progress is better than the shit we had only a month ago, and every game should improve for us.

Lineups

Orlando SC (4-2-3-1): Hall (GK), Ashe (LB), Collin (CB), Hines (CB), Ramos (RB), Avila (CM), Ceren (CM), Rivas (LM), Kaka (CAM), Neal (RM), Larin (ST)

-Cyle Larin was supposed to be suspended with a red card from the previous match, but Orlando have successfully appealed the decision, thus making him eligible.

-Brek Shea has been a staple in this Orlando team since their inception, yet after successfully undergoing sports hernia surgery he will be out for a chunk of the remaining season, including this match.

NYCFC (4-4-2): Saunders (GK), Angelino (LB), Wingert (CB), Facey (CB), Iraola (RB), McNamara (LM), Poku (CM), Jacobson (CM), Ballouchy (RM), Mullins (ST), Villa (ST)

-With Grabavoy suspended (woohoo!) Poku should get the nod at centre mid, unless Pirlo is somehow ready to start after training for only a few days, which is always a possibility, seeing as Pirlo is all-powerful.

-Hernandez is suspended for yellow card accumulation and Diskerud is still out with the Gold Cup crew. Let’s go fourth place!

-Lampard won’t play, which is something we’re used to by now.

Final Thoughts

The high probability of seeing Pirlo at some point on the Yankee stadium pitch is enough to make the most cynical of fans at least consider deleting their angry-nycfc-reddit post.

But the main focus of this game should be beating the other expansion team so that 1. we get a valuable three points and tie them for sixth and 2. show that we’re the cool expansion team and their purple-colored-Orlando “SC” bullshit can go back to fuckin’ Universal Epcot Sea World or whatever the shit they do in that fucked up place.