Round 14 of the 2023-24 Major League Soccer season sees San Jose Earthquakes entertain the challenge of Orlando City at PayPal Park on Sunday.
Both teams will be keen to get back to winning ways this weekend after neither managed to come away with maximum points last time out.
Match preview
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San Jose were beaten for the first time in five games across all competitions as they suffered a 4-2 defeat against Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Thursday.
Amahl Pellegrino and Hernan Lopez struck before the interval to put Luchi Gonzalez's men in the driving seat after which a Jonathan Rodriguez second-half double and penalties from Evander and Felipe Mora turned the game on its head.
Consequently, the Goonies remain bottom of the Western Conference of the MLS table and will be keen to shake off what has been a rocky start to the season so far
Next up is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have been beaten in only one of the previous six editions of this fixture dating back to 2015.
Off the back of victories in three of their last four games on home turf, Sunday's hosts will back themselves to get the job done in front of their fans once again.
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Orlando City played out a goalless stalemate against league leaders Inter Miami when the teams went head-to-head at the Exploria Stadium on Thursday.
Despite seeing less of the ball, Oscar Pareja's men still managed to muster more attempts at goal but were unable to find that all-important winning strike.
With 13 points picked up from 12 matches this term, the Lions sit 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, albeit just one point shy of playoff contention.
Having netted eight times across their last three outings on the road, Sunday's visitors will be looking to put on another attacking masterclass away from home here.
Team News
San Jose's JT Marcinkowski and Daniel Britto are ruled out through knee and thigh injuries respectively, while Bruno Valdez misses out through suspension.
Twenty-two-year-old Jamar Ricketts is also out of contention for this weekend's visitors as he continues to battle with a damaged ankle.
Orlando City duo Ramiro Enrique and Robin Jansson are ruled out through ankle injuries, but the former is closing in on a return to action.
Mikey Halliday (knee) and Tahir Reid-Brown (thigh) also miss out for the home side, who are preparing to be without the suspended Cesar Araujo.
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Yarbrough; Costa, Beason, Rodrigues, Akapo; Tsakiris, Gruezo; Pellegrino, Lopez, Espinoza; Ebobisse
Orlando City possible starting lineup:
Gallese; Brekalo, Cartagena, Schlegel; Torres, Lodeiro, Smith, Angulo; Ojeda, McGuire, Muriel
We say: San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 Orlando City
Meetings between San Jose and Orlando have often yielded plenty of goals, and we expect this weekend's clash to be no different. Having said that, we can also see the teams cancelling each other out to settle for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
