Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Semifinals
Orlando City SC vs. New England Revolution
Exploria Stadium – Orlando
November 29 – 3:00 PM ET
TV: ABC, ESPN Deportes, TSN 4, TVA Sports
STREAMING: ESPN App in US
Coming off memorable Round One wins, Orlando City SC and the New England Revolution square off in the Eastern Conference Semifinals Sunday at Exploria Stadium. The winner meets either Columbus Crew SC or Nashville SC for a chance to reach the MLS Cup Final.
Oscar Pareja's Lions advanced via an epic penalty-kick shootout win over New York City FC in the the club's first-ever Audi MLS Cup Playoffs game last Saturday, with defender Rodrigo Schlegel saving the Cityzens's final attempt after Pedro Gallese was sent off on a second yellow card for coming off his line early following Video Review.
The Revolution traversed a more traditional route to the Conference Semifinals, upsetting Supporters' Shield winners Philadelphia 2-0 at Subaru Park on Tuesday. It was a masterclass by Carles Gil, who set up goals by Adam Buksa and Tajon Buchanan four minutes apart to give the visitors an insurmountable lead inside the opening 30 minutes.
This is the first meeting between the teams this season, with the sides sharing the points in a wild 3-3 draw last September in the last meeting at Exploria Stadium. Nani struck for a brace, including the equalizer, as Orlando rallied from a 3-1 halftime deficit to earn the draw.
- New England's winning formula? Get Carles Gil the ball
- Seltzer: Predicting how the East, West semifinals will go
- DisCo: Orlando's Gallese fined after failing to leave field vs. NYCFC
- Orlando move on from Gallese red, put full faith in backup Brian Rowe
- Rookie sensation Dike on his road to belonging and int'l aspirations
- Matt Turner gives his thoughts on Orlando and Rodrigo Schlegel's goalkeeping skills
- MLS Cup hosting scenarios: Where the 2020 final could take place
- Revs: We're being overlooked and we want a star on our badge
- Gil masterclass leads Revs to stunning win over Shield-winning Union
- The most incredible MLS weekend ever? Here are the top 5 moments
- Ref crew from Orlando-NYCFC match won't work another playoff game this year
- Schlegel Orlando City SC goalkeeping kit on sale now!
- What happened in the Orlando-NYCFC shootout? Here's PRO's explanation
- "We just gave him the gloves and prayed": Orlando savor wild playoff win
- Orlando advance after wild PK shootout! Michel, Schlegel play hero
Orlando City SC
It was a long wait for the Lions first playoff game and they made sure it would be one their fans, and most MLS observers, will never forget. Their Round One showdown with NYCFC had a bit of everything — attacking, free-flowing soccer, physicality, sending offs and yes plenty of head scratching drama during a shootout that took 22 minutes to complete.
“I think we’ll need more time to calm down and reflect on what happened tonight,” said Lions head coach Oscar Pareja at the start of his postgame press conference. “The analysis of the game, it may wait for tomorrow when we can analyze the soccer side. What just happened at the end, I never saw it before. And this is the beauty of this game, that we're humans and full of emotions and mistakes and good things and all of that. But today the ball [was] bouncing our way.
“After what just happened I can laugh,” he later added, “but believe me, this is insane tonight.”
In the aftermath, the Schlegel goalkeeping kit became a hot seller, the officiating crew will not work another match in the postseason and Gallese's red card was appealed, and later upheld, which means the Lions will be without their Peruvian goalkeeper and Brazilian fullback Ruan, who was shown a straight red card three minutes from time.
But Pareja said he has full faith in Brian Rowe, who has filled in for Gallese during FIFA international windows.
“Brian is a very professional player, I really want to remark that," Pareja told the media in a virtual press conference on Friday. "It just tells you how much he prepared every single day and even knowing that Pedro is going to start on the next game, he's always working in the first level so don't have any doubt that the game is rewarding him. At this point, just to participate in this one game and we all feel very bad about what happened with Pedro, but we moved on and now, Brian is there. We have plenty of confidence in him."
- Updated team roster
- Injury Report:
- OUT: Dom Dwyer (F) - knee injury
- OUT: Sebastián Méndez (M) - undisclosed injury
- Suspended: Pedro Gallese (GK), Ruan (D)
- Suspended after next caution: Antonio Carlos (D), Robin Jansson (D), Andres Perea (M)
- International duty: None
New England Revolution
The Revs met the Union five times in 2020 — four regular season matches and one in the MLS is Back Tournament Knockout Round. Philadelphia dominated to the tune of four wins and a draw with their last victory coming on Decision Day presented by AT&T with the Union winning their first major trophy.
But when it mattered most, New England haded the Union their first home loss of 2020 and advanced to the Conference Semifinals following a thorough 2-0 victory. Gil was brilliant, placing a perfectly floated set piece service onto Buksa's head and then setting up Buchanan four minutes later for a goal Bruce Arena said broke the Union's will.
“As a team, we’re probably being overlooked,” Buchanan said after the match. “At the end of the day, we know what we bring to the table. If we just keep playing our game, keep up the energy and keep up the fight, we can go far."
Now, after pulling off one upset, the Revs are looking for another and continue their fine road form, which saw them win five games during the regular season.
"We know if we want to get a star on top of our badge on our jerseys we have to beat whoever we’re playing against and we know it’ll have to be on the road because we didn’t play particularly well in the regular season," goalkeeper Matt Turner said. "We believe in the quality we have in the locker room. It’s just been about finding our identity and finding our style and I think tonight our quality in the final third showed. Andrew Farrell and Henry Kessler were just rock solid, that was probably the easiest – I’ve worked a lot harder for clean sheets, let’s put it that way.”
It sounds simplistic, but Gil's insertion into the lineup after injury has been the late-season/playoff boost the Revs attack needed.
“Sometimes it is that easy or that simple to change the dynamic of a team,” Matt Polster, a summertime signing from Scottish side Rangers FC, said. “I think with other teams in the league, if you look at NYCFC, they were never the same until they got [Maxi] Moralez back. So I think it is that simple at times. Obviously as a group we still need to perform and we have. We're just now adding pieces that make us that much better.”
- Updated team roster
- Injury Report:
- OUT: Luis Caicedo (M) - right knee injury
- OUT: Cristian Penilla (F) - left foot fracture
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: Matt Polster (M)
- International duty: None
Series Matchup at Orlando City SC
- Orlando City SC: 2 wins, 19 goals
- Revolution: 0 wins, 12 goals
- 4 draws
MLS Cup Playoffs
- This is the first-ever MLS Cup Playoffs meeting between Orlando City SC and the New England Revolution
Officials
- Referee: Alex Chilowicz
- Assistant Referees: Jason White, Ian McKay
- 4th Official: Joseph Dickerson
- VAR: Chris Penso
