Orlando City tied Montreal in the first home game of the season at the newly-named Inter&Co Stadium, kicking off its 10th season in Major League Soccer, continuing its record for undefeated home opener games since 2015.
The game saw the debut of two new team members, including David Brekalo and Nico Lodeiro, who earned their purple with some strong showings. Overall, the Lions dominated possession 60-40 throughout the game.
“I think we have big expectations; I want us all to know this is a long trip and we have to know how to navigate. It’s not like we’re going to score four goals in every single game. This is a process, and we’ll take the tie today. The boys came from a long trip from Canada, and probably in the first half we didn’t have the energy, but in the second half we looked much more like us. So, I’ll take the point, and the boys will move on and get ready for the next match.”
– OSCAR PAREJA, HEAD COACH, ORLANDO CITY SC
The Lions will host Canadian Premier League’s Calvary FC in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Tuesday, February 27, hopefully giving whomever they have hired to sing some more time to memorize the words in the Canadian National Anthem – following the poor performance of in this first match where the singer forgot the words at least three times.
Orlando City is scheduled to play its next home game on Saturday, March 9, against Minnesota.
