Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions hope to get a win and head into Leagues Cup play on a high note after a rough loss last Saturday.

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1 year ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday evening matchup between Orlando City (9-6-7, 34 points) and Atlanta United (9-6-8, 35 points) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV+ (free)). It’s the second of two scheduled meetings between the two MLS Eastern Conference rivals this season and the only one in Georgia.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

The Lions are 3-8-7 in the all-time series against Atlanta in league play and 1-3-4 on the road.

The teams met previously this season on May 27 at Exploria Stadium and played to a 1-1 draw. It was a heartbreaking dropped two points for the Lions, who took the lead through Kyle Smith at the half-hour mark and held that lead until four minutes from full time, when Tyler Wolff pounced on a fortunate rebound in the box and equalized.

Atlanta went 1-0-1 in the season series in 2022. Last Sept. 14 at Exploria Stadium, the Five Stripes won 1-0 on a Thiago Almada goal despite the Lions out-shooting Atlanta, 20-10. The sides played to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting of last year on July 22 in Atlanta. Mauricio Pereyra staked the Lions to an early 1-0 lead on a beautiful free kick. Juan Jose Purata equalized in the second half, but Atlanta bombarded Orlando the majority of the game and completely controlled the midfield, out-shooting the Lions 18-3 in the match.

Orlando had a six-match unbeaten streak in the series (3-0-3) snapped on Sept. 10, 2021, as the Five Stripes won 3-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. George Campbell and Ezequiel Barco scored for Atlanta, sandwiched around a Daryl Dike own goal to hand Gonzalo Pineda his first win as manager for United.

The second of three 2021 meetings took place July 30 at Exploria Stadium, with the Five Stripes taking the lead twice on goals by Josef Martinez and Marcelino Moreno, but the Lions not only fought back twice on strikes by Smith and Silvester van der Water, but Nani scored a late game winner by heading in VDW’s cross in Orlando City’s 3-2 win. The first meeting of that season between the two rivals came on opening day — April 17 — and they played to a 0-0 draw. It was an evenly matched game, with each team firing 11 shots and getting three on frame.

The final meeting of 2020 came on Oct. 28, when Orlando City ran away with a 4-1 win over Atlanta at Exploria Stadium. Dike, Chris Mueller, Tesho Akindele, and Matheus Aias — his first in MLS — scored the goals for the Lions, with Cubo Torres preventing a shutout with a late goal for the visitors. Prior to that, the teams met in Atlanta on Oct. 7, 2020 and played to a 0-0 draw. Robinho and Nani each hit the woodwork and Brad Guzan stood on his head to prevent Orlando from taking a deserved three points in that one, while Brian Rowe held down the fort at the other end to earn a shutout in Pedro Gallese’s absence.

Back on Sept. 5, 2020, a late, unforced turnover by Kamal Miller led to Adam Jahn’s 92nd-minute tying goal that offset a Benji Michel goal in a 1-1 draw at Exploria Stadium. Orlando City finally got on the board in the series against Atlanta United with a 3-1 win on the road on Aug. 29, 2020. Junior Urso, Mueller, and Nani supplied the offense to more than counter a Brooks Lennon headed goal. That three-goal explosion snapped a three-match scoreless streak against the Five Stripes for Orlando.

Orlando City created an incredible 17 scoring chances on Aug. 23, 2019, yet finished none of them in a 1-0 home loss. Martinez scored the game’s only goal in the second half. Only 17 days earlier at Exploria Stadium, Orlando also failed to score and lost 2-0 to Atlanta, getting bounced from the U.S. Open Cup semifinals. On Mother’s Day of 2019, Atlanta United claimed a 1-0 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Pity Martinez scored the goal.

Atlanta won at the building then known as Orlando City Stadium on Aug. 24, 2018 by a 2-1 final score. Leandro Gonzalez Pirez bundled home a rebound off Joe Bendik, who misplayed Barco’s free kick to open the scoring just 21 minutes in. Scott Sutter tied the game just before the half, but Josef Martinez broke the deadlock in the second half, with only 16 minutes remaining in normal time.

Atlanta easily claimed the June 30, 2018 meeting at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 4-0. Josef Martinez and Barco each scored a goal and Miguel Almiron added a brace. Orlando lost the first matchup of 2018, 2-1, on May 13. An early penalty on a Cristian Higuita foul gave the visitors a leg up on a Josef Martinez goal from the spot and Barco doubled the lead before halftime. Justin Meram scored his first goal as a Lion to pull one back, but Orlando could get no closer. The unfortunate ending included a shower of debris coming out of the stands due to dissatisfaction with referee Alan Kelly’s decisions that night.

Hector Villalba’s two late goals in the first two meetings turned what could have been an Orlando draw and a win into a loss and a draw. The two teams kicked off their series with Orlando suffering a late 1-0 loss at home on July 21, 2017. Villalba found the net late. Villalba then scored a stoppage-time tally to rescue a 1-1 draw for Atlanta in the second meeting on July 29, 2017. Kaká scored one of his best goals as a Lion in that match to provide Orlando’s lone score.

Orlando City became the first visiting team to take any points out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a 3-3 draw in Atlanta that September. Dom Dwyer scored his first brace as a Lion (in MLS, anyway) and also assisted on Cyle Larin’s goal. Josef Martinez’s hat trick spoiled Orlando’s bid to take all three points.

Overview

Orlando is coming off an ugly 4-0 loss at Real Salt Lake last Saturday night. That snapped Orlando City’s four-match unbeaten run but it was always going to be a tough challenge to face a rested team at altitude on the end of a run of three matches in eight days. Orlando started both halves well but couldn’t find a goal and ultimately fell behind on a pair of set pieces and couldn’t recover. The Lions are 4-3-3 away from Exploria Stadium this season.

Atlanta United is an impressive 7-1-3 on the plastic grass of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will be difficult to beat despite being at home and coming off a 2-1 midweek road loss against New England on the plastic grass of Gillette Stadium. The Five Stripes are 3-0-2 in their last five home matches. Only the Columbus Crew (43) have scored more than Atlanta’s 41 goals this season. The primary source of those goals has been Thiago Almada, who has 18 goal contributions (8 goals, 10 assists) in 20 appearances (all starts). Giorgos Giakoumakis has scored nearly a quarter of the teams goals (10) but has been slowed recently by a hamstring injury that has him questionable for tonight.

Orlando City will have to deny service both to and from Almada to have a chance at a rare road victory in Atlanta.

“We had a very good game against them [Atlanta United earlier this season] here [at Exploria Stadium], it was one of our best games in terms of performance,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “They tied the game at the end and when we reviewed the game, we were very pleased with what we had. Obviously, there were things that we needed to get better at. They have changed their formations and there are things that we are evaluating, not because we are worried, but because we need to equate it into our game plan. They played in the middle of the week against New England [Revolution] and we will pay attention to that as well and see. It is important that we can reinforce what we are doing right, especially in the last month. That way we can focus on that.”

Orlando City will be without Gaston Gonzalez (thigh), Adam Grinwis (concussion protocol), Michael Halliday (thigh), and Abdi Salim (knee). Atlanta is nearly completely healthy. Joining Giakoumakis on the questionable list is center back Miles Robinson, who just returned from Gold Cup duty with the USMNT.

Match Content

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, Kyle Smith.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, Facundo Torres.

Forward: Duncan McGuire.

Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Luca Petrasso, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Felipe, Wilfredo Rivera, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, Ercan Kara.

Atlanta United (3-4-2-1)

Goalkeeper: Brad Guzan.

Defenders: Luis Abram, Juan Jose Purata, Ronald Hernandez.

Midfielders/Wingbacks: Caleb Wiley, Amar Sejdic, Santiago Sosa, Brooks Lennon.

Attacking Midfielders: Thiago Almada, Machop Chol.

Forward: Miguel Berry.

Bench: Quentin Westberg, Miles Robinson, Osvaldo Alonso, Ajani Fortune, Matheus Rossetto, Derrick Etienne Jr., Tyler Wolff, Edwin Mosquera, Giorgos Giakoumakis.

Referees

REF: Victor Rivas.
AR1: Corey Rockwell.
AR2: Brian Poeschel.
4TH: Sergii Demianchuk.
VAR: Michael Radchuk.
AVAR: Jeff Muschik.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta, GA.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ (free).

Radio:  FM 96.9 The Game (English), Accion 97.9 and 810 AM (Spanish).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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