Orlando City SC vs Minnesota United Prediction: Poor Mentality faces poor attack; pick your poison.

Orlando City are not getting any extra days off after playing in the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16 match a few days ago. They are back playing against Minnesota United in the game week 3 of the league. They have had 2 poor results in the space of a week and they need a good result in this match against Minnesota United.

Minnesota United had no engagements during midweek and whether that will play a role in this game is unknown. They settled for a draw in their last game against Columbus Crew. With a win and a draw in both games, Minnesota United are feeling confident in their abilities ahead of this game against Orlando City SC.

Orlando City SC

Orlando City SC are heading towards troubled waters as their current situation doesn't look good for a team of their standing. The 5-0 thrashing from Inter Miami in their last game says a lot of the character of the squad. It had an effect on their performance in the CONCACAF Champions League Knockout match against Tigres a few days ago. They looked unmotivated and impassioned during the goalless draw and their confidence looks to be sinking at the moment.

Orlando City didn't deserve to capitulate to a 5-0 defeat against Inter Miami, no matter the circumstances. So, Oscar Pareja’s 4-2-3-1 formation is hardly the issue here. On the contrary, they were far off in terms of stats but there were lots of mistakes during the game and that cost them dearly. 

Oscar Pareja retained the same 4-2-3-1 system against Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League and once again the team didn't live up to expectations. New signing Luis Muriel was on the pitch for 77 minutes and failed to register a single shot on target and he lost possession 10 times in the game. 

Beyond doubt there seems to be an issue with the cohesion in the Orlando City team and it's an issue Oscar Pareja needs to fix as quickly as possible before Minnesota United comes knocking.

Minnesota United

Minnesota United are confident they can get something positive from this encounter. Not necessarily because they are invincible but Orlando City are in really bad shape and they hope to capitalize.

Minnesota had a good win on the opening day of the season, as they beat Austin FC 2-1 away from home. And in the second game, they couldn't follow up with a win, but they settled for a draw instead. The 1-1 draw with Columbus Crew was a bit disappointing for Minnesota United because they were hoping to apply the advantage and press for a win.

Minnesota United coach Cameron Knowles deployed a 4-3-3 formation with the intent of breaking down the Columbus Crew team, but it didn't go as expected. The attacking setup was a turn off and Cameron Knowles had to ditch all 3 attackers during the game for tactical reasons. 

Veteran Striker Teemu Pukki was probably the worst player on the pitch in that game. He had only 10 touches in the 60 minutes he was on the pitch. He also recorded 1 shot on target and missed 1 chance.

The attacking setup is a huge part of Cameron Knowles plans and he's most likely going to shake things up in that department ahead of the game against Orlando City SC.

Head to Head

According to the h2h, Orlando City and Minnesota United have played 7 games against each other. Both clubs have won 3 games each and they played a draw once.

Analysis and Predictions

Orlando City are in a dark place at the moment and it's clearly evident in the way they play. Inter Miami were good enough to expose the distraught within the team and not many clubs can do that. Orlando needs a radical change to get back to their best but for now we'll have to watch and see. Minnesota United used to be a force back in the day but looking at their last game, it's difficult to place them. If they sort the attack quickly they might get a good result from this clash.

According to the h2h, Minnesota United are without a clean sheet in the last 6 meetings. Not teams scored in 5 of the last 6 meetings and there were less than 4.5 cards in the last 6 meetings.

• Both Teams to Score at 1.63 Odds
• Both Teams to Score at 1.63 Odds
• Correct Score 1-1 at 7.50 Odds