SANFORD, Fla. – Orlando City SC may not be eliminated from playoff contention yet this season, but they have begun to shift their focus to the 2019 season.
Lions coach James O’Connor told reporters Thursday the team isn’t giving up on the season just yet, but have commenced the process to laying down the groundwork for the 2019 season.
“For us, we’ve been very intentional about I would say building the foundation for next year,” said O’Connor. “There’s a lot that’s actually going on that we’re probably not going to see the reward for till next year. There’s so much behind the scenes that we’re doing that I think that’s very important for next year. But equally, we still want to make sure that we try and win every game that we possibly can.”
O’Connor, who was appointed as Orlando City’s third coach in four years after Jason Kreis was fired in June, hasn’t had a positive start to his tenure as Orlando City coach.
The former Louisville City FC coach joined the Lions during a club-record eight game losing streak, which stretched to nine games in his debut during a 4-1 loss against LAFC on July 7.
While the next match that followed eventually ended the losing streak, with a 2-1 win over Toronto FC on July 14, victories have been hard to come by for the Lions.
After a club record six-game winning streak early in the season, the Lions have only one win in their last 17 league games and have nosedived down the Eastern Conference standings, with the team now sitting 12 points below the playoff line.
The combination of Orlando not yet making the playoffs in their MLS history, plus a roster overhaul in the offseason under Kreis, may have ratcheted up the pressure on the squad.
“The talk of the playoffs, I think, is something considering where we’ve been, maybe has affected the players,” said O’Connor. “But I don’t know, maybe you need to ask the players. For us, it’s trying to get the level of performance where we want it to be and try to get the wins we’re talking about.”
Forward Dom Dwyer, who leads the team in scoring with 12 goals this year, said there’s still fight in Orlando and a chance for the squad to make a run toward the postseason.
“You always want to win every game, and it’s very important for us to get some points right now,” said Dwyer. “It’s not over until the fat lady sings and we’re still involved and we’re still in the playoff fight and we’ll keep pushing for it.”
Teammate Oriol Rosell agrees.
“If we have the chance to make it, that’s our goal,” said Rosell. “Technically, we are in, so we can do it, but as James [O’Connor] said it’s game by game. We cannot think about six games later, so we have to do our job.”
