Gazdag and New England aim to overtake Miami in the final week and finish second

Dániel Gazdag is aiming to lift New England Revolution to second place in the Eastern Conference ahead of the season's final-week match against Orlando City SC.

In their penultimate game of the regular season, New England lost 2-1 at home to Inter Miami on 1 November, with Lionel Messi scoring the winner in the 83rd minute.

That result leaves just two points between New England and Miami heading into the final week of the league. Inter Miami will host Charlotte FC at the weekend.

The Revolution have secured a play-off place for the first time since 2023, while the defeat to Miami also ended the team's four-match winning streak.

Gazdag, whose goal against Miami was his third in the league for New England since joining in September, believes that, whatever the result against Orlando, the team are in excellent form and in a strong position heading into the play-offs.

"We have full confidence in ourselves. I think we've had a really good season as a team. We've played high-quality games throughout the regular season. Our belief is high going into the play-offs. We played Orlando a few weeks ago, but this time we'll be playing at their ground, so a completely different game awaits us. Our goal, of course, is to take the three points and finish the league in second place. But Orlando are also fighting for their play-off position, so it will be a tough encounter," Gazdag said.

Orlando, meanwhile, go into the final week with their play-off place already secured, despite suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat to Charlotte in their last match.

Against Charlotte, Orlando fell behind to goals from Henry Kessler in the 6th minute and Allan Saint-Maximin early in the second half, and were then unable to stop Abdoulaye Doucouré and Rodolfo Aloko from scoring in the closing stages. Saint-Maximin was also shown a red card in the 89th minute.

For Orlando, head coach Martin Perelman highlighted the individual errors and stressed that they must not be repeated in the play-offs:

"We are very disappointed with the result. The balance of the game was upset by a free-kick error that we shouldn't make in crucial away games at this level. Towards the end of the first half we used the wings well, but overall we couldn't put the game we wanted onto the pitch. We tried to make some adjustments in the second half. Still, we can see the bigger picture; even though we don't like this scoreline, we'll recover quickly as we have in the past and prepare for the next game. We started the season in very difficult circumstances, we are a resilient team and we will be ready for the play-off battles."