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Dean Smith insisted that his Charlotte FC players would have no extra motivation when they face Orlando City SC this week as they look to get results back on track.
Charlotte were beaten by Orlando in last season’s playoffs, losing on penalties in the final game of their three-match series in the Crown’s second appearance in the postseason.
Smith’s team sit sixth in the Eastern Conference, two places and one point above their opponents, though results of late have seen them slip down the standings.
The Crown are without a win in their last three MLS games, and though Smith was impressed with his team’s displays, he acknowledged results had to change.
“There will be none that has gone. It is a new season,” Smith said. “The lads at the moment, we have done the review of the game, and it’s to get our results back on track.
“We have lost the last three league games, but our performances have not merited that. We’ve played better than we did earlier in the season. I said earlier we should have beaten New England; we had so many chances in that game.
“Then, I stood in front of the players and said Columbus were better than us and beat us fair and square, but we should have won the game on Saturday. We handed the game to Nashville with the two chances that they had and didn’t take the big chances we created.
“Results can go many different ways and there are many different reasons for results, but what you can control is performances and they have been better. That is what I keep speaking to the players about, because that is what they are in control of.”
No matter the weather, we put the work in together pic.twitter.com/QfXfxwTcoe
— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) May 12, 2025
Orlando, meanwhile, were forced to share the points in their last league fixture, with Carles Gil’s late penalty snatching a 3-3 draw for the New England Revolution.
The Lions ended the game having dominated the match metrics, finishing with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.78 from their 22 shots to their opponents 2.37 from their 15 attempts.
Only the Philadelphia Union (23) and Nashville SC (22) have scored more goals than Orlando (21), but head coach Oscar Pareja wants to see improvements in defence.
“Well, I think it was obviously very entertaining for the intensity of the game to the people that came to the stadium,” Pareja said.
“But at the end of the day, the frustration is the same about what we left on the field, because it’s another two points that we let go in a game that we had to close it and win.
“We’re scoring goals, but now we conceded too, and we have been talking about our balance and all those things. It is something that we need to work on. But I have to say as well that our thing was always bringing the initiative.
“We found a team that had good responsiveness, but I think we really proposed the game all over the field. And we should have been better when we were up 3-2, and we had a few chances just to put the game away. And we let it go.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Orlando City – Martin Ojeda
Ojeda became the second player in Orlando history to score a regular-season hat-trick on Saturday, after Cyle Larin, who has done so on two occasions.
His three goals in a 31-minute span were also the fastest hat-trick in club history.
Charlotte – Liel Abada
Abada has scored four goals this season, including each of Charlotte’s last two.
His 11 goals are tied with Patrick Agyemang for the most of any Charlotte player in the regular season since Abada made his MLS debut in March 2024.
MATCH PREDICTION: ORLANDO WIN
Orlando have lost only one of their nine matches against Charlotte in the regular season and playoffs (W4 D4), including going unbeaten in six straight. The Crown’s only MLS win over Orlando was on the road, a 2-1 victory in March 2023.
The Lions extended their unbeaten run in league play to nine straight matches (W3 D6) with a 3-3 draw against New England on Saturday. This is Orlando’s second-longest regular-season unbeaten run (12 straight in 2020).
Charlotte, meanwhile, have lost three straight regular-season matches after losing only two of their previous 14 in league play (W10 D2). They have never lost four straight matches within a single regular season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Orlando City – 51.1%
Draw – 24.9%
Charlotte – 24.1%
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