Orlando City faces top-ranked New England Revolution amid playoff push

As the team hunts for a top playoff spot, Orlando City faces the goliath of this Major League Soccer season in a home match against New England at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Revolution quickly became a powerhouses, led by likely MVP frontrunner Carles Gil’s 17 assists. They’ve only lost four games, outscoring opponents by 24 points while barely ceding a goal per game.

To keep pace with their competition in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Lions will need to beat a team that rarely shows weakness in their third match of the week.

“With the schedule and obviously not many days to rest and prepare, we are here trying to be very efficient on the time we share with the players,” coach Oscar Pareja said. “We understand the importance of every match and at the same time are trying to correct the things we need to from the past games and also visualize what we need to do to develop our game plan against New England.”

The Lions (12-8-10, 46 points) need the most from their biggest stars to take down the Revolution (21-4,-6, 69). Despite recording several assists, captain Luis Nani hasn’t scored a goal since August. Pareja rested the captain as a bench player in Wednesday night’s game, and he’ll be needed for the Lions to pry open the New England defense.

Stealing 3 points from the Revs would be a major boost for Orlando City as it scraps for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The Lions aren’t clinched for the postseason yet. But after solidly holding fourth place for several weeks, they’re on pace to finish in that spot for the second season in a row.

A loss to New England, however, could change all that. The six playoff spots below New England in the conference table are separated by only 8 points.

One loss could drop the Lions even with their top rival, fifth-place Atlanta United (11-9-10, 43), and even closer to elimination.

Pareja emphasized balance between offense and defense as a key to breaking down New England.

“They’re a team that has had a very good season, but we see a good opportunity for us to keep [up] our progress in the last weeks and put out not just a solid performance ... but a complete result,” Pareja said.

The teams already met once this season, a frustrating 2-1 loss in Massachusetts at the end of the Lions’ four-game losing skid.

A major difference on Sunday is location. The Lions have been increasingly confident at home, winning 8 games at Exploria Stadium and losing only 2 of their 15 home matches.

Defender Robin Jansson said the players feel this could flip the tables against New England.

“It’s going to be a hard game,” Jansson said. “We believe in ourselves, we just need to keep pushing here into the playoffs. We have to take advantage that we are on our home field.”

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Julia Poe at jpoe@orlandosentinel.com.