Orlando are unbeaten when Griezmann scores, and Cincinnati come to town in the wild card

When Antoine Griezmann scores, Orlando City do not lose. According to MLSsoccer.com, the Lions are 8-0-4 across all competitions in games in which the Frenchman has found the net since he arrived from Atlético Madrid in July, and that record goes into a single-elimination wild-card game against FC Cincinnati on Thursday, Nov. 19, at Inter&Co Stadium.

Orlando's season looked finished in the spring. They won one of their first eight league games, Oscar Pareja was dismissed, and Martín Perelman took over on an interim basis with the team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Griezmann changed the attack. The 35-year-old finished the regular season with 14 goals and eight assists in 18 starts, and in his 15th game he became the second-fastest player in MLS history to reach 20 goal contributions. Only Lionel Messi, who needed 14 games, got there quicker. Griezmann also put together a run of 12 straight regular-season games with a goal or an assist, only the fourth player in league history to do it, according to MLSsoccer.com.

He is not doing it alone. Martín Ojeda led the club with 16 goals, USMNT forward Justin Ellis added 11 assists and Braian Ojeda's first-half volley beat New England 1-0 on Decision Day. That result put Orlando eighth: they finished level with Cincinnati on 46 points, but 13 wins to Cincinnati's 12 gave them the home game.

Cincinnati have two players who can match Griezmann's numbers. Evander led the team with 31 goal contributions, 14 goals and 17 assists, and striker Kévin Denkey scored 17 goals with five assists. That pairing is why the ninth seed is a dangerous draw for any home team, even one that has finally found its form.

History does not pick a side. The clubs have played 15 times, all in the regular season, and each has five wins with five draws. Thursday's game will be their first playoff meeting.

The winner gets Nashville SC, the Supporters' Shield winners who broke the league's single-season points record, in a best-of-three Round One series. The loser's season ends that night. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET on Apple TV.

Griezmann did not score on Decision Day, and Orlando won anyway, which is the other side of the story. Against a Cincinnati team with Evander and Denkey, though, Orlando will probably need the version of Griezmann that has carried them since July, because his goals are the closest thing to a guarantee they have had all season.