Seattle Sounders all smiles after return of Obafemi Martins, debuts of Nelson

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It wasn’t just a bad day for Orlando’s players when they lost 4-0 to Seattle. However, City is no stranger to playing in front of large crowds – with the Lions ranking second in MLS with an average of 32,973 supporters at their home matches.

As it looks to secure a playoff spot, Orlando City must solve those problems in the back. It’s a huge couple of weeks, but the energy around the team definitely seems to have changed, and today’s result will only feed into that more.

Martins added Seattle’s third goal just after the hour mark, impressively hurdling Orlando goalkeeper Tally Hall to poke the ball into the net, while Thomas struck the home side’s fourth in stoppage time. “Knowing we’re under pressure, just getting rid of it, whether it’s taking taking space defensively when we can”. During that time, the Lions won three regular season titles and two postseason championships. “They’re incredibly simple”. Nelson Valdez partnered with Obafemi Martins up top, marking his debut with his first Sounders goal early in the second half.

Two yellow cards within five minutes of one another sent 19-year-old right back Tyler Turner to the showers in the 40th minute, giving OCSC a 10-man disadvantage that proved too debilitating.

Just about everything that could have gone wrong for Orlando City in Seattle did Sunday night.

Though it comes with the caveat that Clint Dempsey also missed the bulk of that stretch, Seattle is now 9-3-0 with Martins in the lineup and 2-9-2 without him. I thought Valdez had a great debut game.

“We haven’t done ourselves any favors”.

Orlando City is traveling across the country to face a team that is both vulnerable and yet as loaded as it has been all season.

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. and the game will air on WRBW-Channel 65 and Sun Sports. “When that gets into the back of guys’ minds, they start to lose track of what is going on elsewhere on the field”. I’m a little bit concerned with our away form at this moment in time.

“We said before the game, ‘This is where the bleeding stops, ‘” Seattle captain Brad Evans said. I’m including us as a staff as well – we have to get better because certainly [Sunday] wasn’t good enough. Perhaps Adrian Heath chose this formation because the three have impressed for most of the season as defensive midfielders and he didn’t want to sit players who have performed well.