Orlando City SC host Nashville SC in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round series in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs at Exploria Stadium.
The Lions enjoyed their finest season in franchise history, setting club records for points (63), wins (18) and tied the club record for goals (55) while being the in-form team since the conclusion of the Leagues Cup, collecting 26 points, a league-high.
For the Boys In Gold, they've reached the playoffs in each of their first four seasons with Seattle (13) and Chicago (six) as the only teams to have longer streaks but have won just twice in their ten league matches since reaching the final of the Leagues Cup.
The winner of this series will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals against the winner of the series between third-seed Columbus and sixth-seed Atlanta, who play Game 1 on Wednesday night.
Team news
Favian Loyola (left arm) and Jack Lynn (left thigh) have both been ruled out.
Nick DePuy (lower body) is out for the season while Lukas MacNaughton and Jakob Shaffelburg are listed as questionable with lower body issues.
Predicted lineups
Orlando City SC: Gallese; Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, Thorhallsson; Cartagena, Araújo; Angulo, Pereyra, Torres; McGuire
Nashville SC: Willis; Lovitz, Maher, Zimmerman, Moore; Muyl, Godoy, Davis, Shaffelburg; Mukhtar; Surridge
Ones to watch
Duncan McGuire (Orlando City SC)
Second on the Lions with 13 goals, the 22-year-old has been one of the breakout stars in MLS this season and has benefitted from playing in front of Facundo Torres in the 4-4-1-1 formation employed by Oscar Pareja.
McGuire is also in good form recently, having contributed to at least one goal in the last five matches, one short of the club record.
Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC)
Last year's MVP is having another stellar season in 2023 with 15 goals and 11 assists and he's been particularly effective against Orlando with six goals and five assists in nine career games against the Lions.
Previous meetings
Orlando and Nashville met twice with the road team winning on both occasions, the Boys in Gold 2-0 winners on April 1 and the Lions returning the favor earlier this month with a 1-0 victory.
Fafa Picault opened the scoring in the 28th minute of the first match, taking a pass from reigning MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar and Mukhtar added a goal on 74 minutes for the 2-0 final.
Earlier this month, Duncan McGuire scored the only goal of the match a minute from halftime from a Martin Ojeda cross as Orlando snapped an eight-match winless run against Nashville.
How to watch
The match will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1 as well as live streaming on Apple TV + as Tony Husband provides the play-by-play and Ross Smith serves as the analyst.
Kickoff is set for 7pm Eastern time.