Orlando City had an uneven start to their campaign, the first full season under the guidance of head coach James O'Connor. There was a good fight from being down 2-0 at home against New York City FC in the opener, which resulted in a draw. The next weekend, Orlando looked set to win on the road against 10-men Chicago Fire, until a stoppage-time equalizer from CJ Sapong split the points once again. But that gave way to disaster when the Lions imploded on the field in a disastrous 3-1 loss to the Montreal Impact, which was largely self-inflicted.

There are no sure things in sports, but it seemed like last weekend the New York Red Bulls winning at home against Orlando was a safe bet. Instead, Orlando dug in on the road and won at Red Bull Arena, a place where the defending Supporters' Shield winners had only lost twice in 2018.

"Not a lot of teams can go into [Red Bull Arena] and get a result," D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen told reporters on Tuesday about United's upcoming opponent. 

The Lions were on a run of having won just two of their last 28 games, dating back to May of last year, before pulling off the unlikely result in Harrison, New Jersey. Even with the addition of Nani, Wayne Rooney's former teammate at Manchester United, there didn't seem to be much improvement in the team from 2018 to 2019.

But that was before Sacha Kljestan struck for the only goal against his former employers, giving Orlando a boost that might help them drastically improve their form.

"It wasn’t the prettiest game, but Red Bulls force you to do that sometimes," Olsen added on Tuesday about how Orlando found a way past RBNY. "They showed an ability to dig in and find a way to get points."

What might have also helped Orlando on the day was a players-only meeting called by Nani before the game on Saturday. It was clear that after huge mental errors cost them against the Impact, that something needed to change within the team. So Nani, even though he is still new to the team, learning about his teammates, took it upon himself to be a leader when Orlando needed it most.

Sacha Kljestan told reporters Orlando City had a players-only meeting, called by Nani, earlier today. Nani gave a speech about mentality.

— Jordan Culver (@JordanCulver) March 24, 2019

Those sorts of meetings work sometimes, while not changing anything on other occasions. Clearly though, for Orlando, it did the trick on the night.

"I’ve seen them work, I’ve seen them not work," Olsen said about players-only meetings. "[Orlando] were in a spot where they needed to have a chat, and it obviously worked. It seemed like a group effort."

Of course, Olsen isn't much concerned with how well United's opponents are playing or not. His focus is on his own team, and making sure they are prepared for a game at a stadium where United have failed to win in two previous visits. 

The Black-and-Red were back on the training field on Tuesday after taking the weekend off. The players away on international duty were still missing, but Olsen said the session was good in getting everyone back into the groove, ahead of Sunday's visit to Florida.

"We’re not too concerned about their form as much as us getting back to work, making sure we’re ready to play a difficult game in a difficult place to play," said Olsen. "We expect a better team at home, with that belief. We have to get back to work here and make sure we’re ready for a tough game."