A look ahead at Orlando City, plus where to watch it!

Orlando's Citrus Bowl.
Newcastle play the second match of their US tour this evening as they take on Orlando City in what will surely be searing temperatures in the Citrus Bowl.

The added bonus for fans that won’t be at the game is the fact that the match is being broadcast by the Orlando City website so if you feel like having a bit of a late one you can stay up and watch it online should you choose to. To get to the Orlando City website simply click this link here.

Onto team news, and I guess the biggest (and most obvious) thing is the loss of Hatem Ben Arfa. I won’t dwell on his loss too much but suffice to say that between his agent, himself, and the club the timescale for his recovery has been pegged at anywhere between three weeks to three months although nothing is official as yet.

Joey Barton, Yohan Cabaye, Nile Ranger and Mike Williamson will all play later on this afternoon for the ressies in Holland, which is worth keeping an eye on in the interim, whilst Jose Enrique is doubtful due to his “hamstring strain” which kept him out of the Kansas match whilst Shane Ferguson and Danny Guthrie are both out.

On our opponents, with the greatest of respect it’s a step down from the MLS side we faced in Kansas City as Orlando play in the third tier of American soccer (I would have said football but that would have given us a different game entirely!) so it’s hard to gauge just what test we will be faced with. Mind you, the heat is a great leveller so it won’t be easy.

Taking a stab at naming a team is often very hard to do when it comes to pre-season. In reality I’d imagine that most of the players who are out in the US will get a game tonight, but if it was up to me I’d go with a team that looks something like:

Newcastle (4-2-3-1): Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Danny Simpson, Cheik Tiote, Dan Gosling, Sylvain Marveaux, Haris Vuckic, Jonas Gutierrez , Demba Ba.

Something like that anyway bearing in mind that it’s mainly about fitness at this point. It would also give some of the younger players a chance to impress from the bench and would give young Haris a run out in his favoured position. Win-win.

I guess the most important part of the game this evening will be making sure that we don’t pick up any more injuries, certainly not to first team players anyway. A decent performance and a win would be nice, but not at any cost. Remember, the Citrus Bowl has an artificial pitch which worries me if I’m being honest.

If you are going to tune in don’t forget that the kick-off is at 00:30 UK time, which is 19:30 over in Florida.

Howay the lads!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

24 thoughts on “A look ahead at Orlando City, plus where to watch it!

  1. Interesting to see Vuckic getting a shout. He may well come to the fore this season in the hole behind the striker. Be good to see what he’s got 🙂

      (Quote)

  2. I have set up a Head to Head league which pits sides against each other with a fixture list on a weekly basis exactly the same as a standard football league works. This league will be made up of 20 teams, so is exlusive. Get in there quick. I will be posting this on each new topic until all the slots are taken. 19 to go!

    There is no prize the end of the season, just a bit of a fun.
    Joining is the same as explained on Toonsy’s article and the code is 139461-54775. 🙂

      (Quote)

  3. So worried about injuries in every match….

    And we really need another LB so you don’t have to put Ryan Taylor in your team toonsy 😯 😆

    Howay the lads!!

      (Quote)

  4. Susan,

    I know, friendlies shouldn’t cause as much fear and disdain as they do!

    Last one was too competitive in the first 45 minutes….

      (Quote)

  5. Brilliant. Thanks for the link. My mrs will be over the moon that I will be celebrating goals in the usual fashion at 1am!!!

      (Quote)

  6. I would expect with it being an American site you will have to install Microsoft Silverlight though…?

      (Quote)

  7. Same old start for theToon…….lack of players and injuries!! looking forward to see how the recenty laid turf messes up our players!! 🙁

      (Quote)

  8. So then, there is a deal in place to sell Enrique. Hence the supposed injury… Probably waiting until we get a replacement lined up before letting him go? Why is Williamson playing for the reserves?

      (Quote)

  9. Shamrock – Because williamson’s mrs is due to have a sprog and Holland is closer.

    Peter – they’ve ripped the turf up now mate as it didn’t take so it will be AstroTurf tonight.

      (Quote)

  10. The pitch wont be artificial this evening, instead they are laying a turf pitch at the request of NUFC and then donating it to local parks after the match.

      (Quote)

  11. @witters

    You say;
    If we don’t beat Orlando then Pardew must be sacked pronto!! 😉

    What about sacking him before the game cos we actually think it could happen. The fact it’s a possibility suggests he should go now. 😉

      (Quote)

  12. @TGS

    that’s madness playing on astro IMO .
    I know it’s close to the real thing but there’s no getting away from it, it doesn’t allow for give under feet and injuries are more likely on that type of surface.

      (Quote)

  13. The rate we get injuries at in pre season games we should be playing on a pitch of cotton wool and boots to match

      (Quote)

  14. @BG

    The trouble is, our squad is paper thin on quality and one or two injuries really dents our ability to produce the results.

    We still need 4 quality players in IMO and offload the deadwood even if it means losing money.

      (Quote)

  15. why dont we offer wigan 9 million and routledge for zoggy? then put an 8 million bid in for erding then its all good 😀

      (Quote)

  16. Army @ 21

    Because if you shoved coal up our owners **** he’d **** diamonds he’s that tight

      (Quote)

  17. Moreno,

    He can’t be that tight, he’d be shoving coal up his own **** and giving himselfba profit bonus at the casino.

      (Quote)

  18. JJ,

    You don’t really think he became a billionairre by selling Donnay sock for £3 a pack do you?

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *