2018 has been difficult for the Lions. Ahead of this season, expectations for Orlando City SC were high, but the results haven’t gone their way. Despite that, one thing has remained constant, the supporters.

The support through tough times has not gone unnoticed by players or coaches. “In reality, I understand that they're so frustrated with us as well because it’s probably not been fun cheering for a losing team all season,” Sacha Kljestan said. “We’re very fortunate to have very good supporters here. Not a lot of teams around the league have that type of support from the fans so we’re very lucky.”

The focus is to show a good effort at home for the fans this weekend. “I think we owe something to the people that have stuck by us and continued to support us,” Kljestan said. “Obviously we’re in a very tough moment and a win would just bring a good feeling back to a lot of people in Orlando so I hope we can do that this weekend.”

Head Coach James O’Connor is optimistic that the team will bounce back and repay the supporters for remaining loyal down the stretch of the 2018 campaign. “We will create something really beautiful here. We know what we’re doing. We need to analyze, we need to process, and then we need to make decisions. There’s a lot that has gone on, but I can promise our supporters and I can promise everyone that we’re going to get things right here.”

As the team is determined to make the supporters proud, the focus ahead of Saturday’s game is to get the level of intensity and fight that they expect from each other. The Lions will face Houston Dynamo on Saturday, September 22nd at 7:30 pm at Orlando City Stadium.