Orlando City hopes to copy Orlando Magic once again in 2019

Orlando City kicks off its season Saturday after an eerily similar 2018 to the Orlando Magic. They hope they can copy the Magic’s 2019 successes and growth.

The 2018 season started off really strong. A win streak put the team in control of its own destiny. Perhaps through a little luck and some unsustainable play, the team raced to the top of the standings.

And just as quickly as the team seemed to rise, they collapsed. A long losing streak and a stockpile of injuries derailed any chance for postseason success. Or even a sniff of it.

Inevitably the coaching change came. The franchise looked to be drifting in a poor direction. And, yes, attendance and enthusiasm which seemed a given at the start of the season and for the franchise as a whole.

It left a difficult question for the franchise as they tried to find a path forward. An offseason spent more evaluating the team’s approach as much as the team’s roster.

The 2018 Orlando Magic faced a lot of those challenges. A 25-win season after an 8-4 start including a stretch where they lost 27 of 31 games ended all hopes of making the Playoffs and landed them back with the No. 6 pick.

Their neighbors at Orlando City Stadium featured a similar fate.

After winning six matches in a row, Orlando City SC was riding high. They entered a marquee, nationally televised matchup with archrival (and eventual MLS Cup champion) Atlanta United at Orlando City Stadium with first place on the line and a chance to defend their place at the top of the Eastern Conference.

That game ended in some embarrassment. Atlanta won 2-1 with Orlando City complaining about the officials (a common refrain in the Lions’ four years in MLS) and fans throwing debris onto the field in anger.

Orlando City would lose its next eight MLS matches after that and win just two games in MLS from May 13 to the end of the season in October. That included crushing losses on the road to the Los Angeles Galaxy in a 4-3  and a last-minute save and score from Wayne Rooney against DC United.

Orlando City gave up the most goals in MLS history for an entire season. Adding to the frustration of last season was the characterization by many that it was a Playoff-or-bust year. The team fired Jason Kreis midway through the season and will try to carve a new path with James O’Connor.

All this should sound shockingly familiar. Orlando City had a very similar year to the Orlando Magic last year. Their fixation on the Playoffs last year — and the additions they made including adding Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Spector, who both struggled with injuries throughout the year — was reminiscent of the Magic’s ill-fated 2017 plan to push for the Playoffs. That also ended in disaster.

And so the Lions, who open their season Saturday at Orlando City Stadium against sister team and rival N.Y.C.F.C., are facing a season of transition and opportunity. Just like the Magic were at the beginning of the season.

The Magic have defied early expectations and hung around the Playoff race. Their new coach Steve Clifford has instilled a culture and a way of playing they have taken to. That has not led to a winning record yet (this is year one) but has put the Magic in position to make the Playoffs.

Regardless of the team’s actual record, there is no denying the energy and excitement the team is feeling. This is the kind of energy Orlando City hopes to capture too.

Austin David of Orlando Soccer Journal and Community Sports Report was on Locked On Magic to help preview the season. He said the team never really bought into the system with Jason Kreis and that led to frustration in the locker room. It all sounded too familiar.

"“You talked about the similarities between the Orlando Magic and Orlando City and they are still strikingly similar,” David said. “With this Orlando City team, it’s all about buying into what the coach is preaching. It’s all about what James O’Connor is trying to get this team to do on the field. It’s all about them believing in the coach, believing in the system and believing in each other and to go out and play the game.”"

That all does sound a bit too familiar.

So too does that next part. The biggest issue the Magic have had in their revolving door of coaches is the same issue Orlando City has had — an overly ambitious and impatient front office that never took the time to lay the groundwork for a consistent winner.

The Magic appear to have remedied that in hiring Jeff Weltman. Bringing in Clifford has helped establish that base for a stronger culture to grow and the Magic are reaping at least some of the benefits so far.

Orlando is still worse than .500, but the team is tied for the final spot in the Playoffs with six weeks to go in the season. The Magic have gotten better as the season has gone on. There still feels like there is room and the possibility for improvement. But there is a clear upward trajectory and a general change of attitude.

It is hard not to call the season a success for the Magic — regardless of the final outcome. Although its ultimate success now is judged on whether they make the Playoffs. That feels like a victory in October.

Orlando City has to hope for the same kind of turnaround.

O’Connor started his work in building his culture and system last year. As David said in the podcast, O’Connor and Orlando City’s new front office worked to get rid of players who did not seem to want to be part of the team anymore. That was part of the purge.

Adding in a solid international player like Nani to go with a goal scorer like Dom Dwyer and along another playmaker like Sacha Kljestan, and it feels like Orlando City’s attack will be more potent than ever.

At the very least, it feels like Orlando City opted not to make a big splashy move and remake the roster in an offseason. The Lions found opportunities to make big moves. But that work came largely at the end of the offseason — another one is apparently on the way to address the team’s defensive shortcomings, according to The Mane Land.

There are still holes to fill, but the pressure to win now is not as great as it was in the last few years. David went on the podcast last year and called the season a Playoff-or-bust season for the team.

Orlando City hopes it can capture the same kind of positive energy their Amway Center neighbors are capturing now. The hope of a new season and the optimism around the Magic has certainly added some excitement to this upcoming season.

If the Magic can do it, why not Orlando City?