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

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (4-8-1, 13 points) and Atlanta United (3-8-1, 10 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). It’s the first of three scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals — the first of two scheduled MLS meetings — with the two sides meeting again in Orlando Tuesday in the U.S. Open Cup and the Lions scheduled to make the return trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sept. 9.

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

History

The Lions are 5-11-7 in the all-time series against Atlanta in league play and 3-6-3 at home. Orlando City is 6-12-7 against tonight’s visitors in all competitions (regular season, playoffs, and U.S. Open Cup).

The teams last met on May 28, 2025. Orlando led 2-1 in Atlanta late on goals by Cesar Araujo and Ramiro Enrique to more than offset Alexey Miranchuk’s goal. However, Araujo foolishly got himself sent off. The Five Stripes turned the game around on Bartosz Slisz’s goal with seven minutes remaining in normal time and Jamal Thiare’s winner deep in stoppage time in a 3-2 victory for Atlanta. The teams just met in Orlando a month earlier on April 26. The Lions prevailed 3-0 on goals by Luis Muriel (from the penalty spot), Alex Freeman, and Marco Pasalic.

The rivals met in the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals, with the Lions eking out a 1-0 home victory on Nov. 24, 2024. Enrique provided the game’s only goal, and the Orlando defense was dominant, allowing the visitors just seven total shot attempts — none on target. That win pushed the Lions into their first-ever conference final.

Prior to their postseason meeting, these two teams met on Decision Day 2024, with Atlanta scoring two early goals and holding on for a 2-1 win on Oct. 9. Saba Lobjanidze and Thiare gave the visitors an early lead. Martin Ojeda pulled one back and Duncan McGuire appeared to tie the game late, but the latter goal was overturned on video review for a handball. The teams also met at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on March 17, 2024, when Orlando City fell 2-0 on goals by Lobjanidze and Giorgos Giakoumakis.

The last meeting of 2023 took place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with Orlando City capturing a 2-1 away win. Atlanta took the lead through Caleb Wiley, but Antonio Carlos and McGuire scored to lead the Lions’ comeback. The southeast rivals also met in Orlando on May 27, 2023, 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 advantage 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. On 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 that 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, outshooting 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.

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 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 strike 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 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. He 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 a crazy, 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday. The Lions gave up a two-goal lead in the second half but found a late Ojeda winner. It was Orlando’s third win in its last four games in all competitions and the team’s fourth consecutive Wednesday night win in all competitions. Orlando City will play a team below it for the second straight game, as Wednesday’s win propelled the Lions over Atlanta in the standings, although tonight’s visitors have a game in hand. Orlando City is 3-3-0 at home in 2026.

Atlanta is 1-3-0 on the road in 2026 and coming off a 2-1 loss at home to the LA Galaxy a week ago and enters on a full week’s rest. The Five Stripes have won three straight road games in all competitions (two of those in U.S. Open Cup), despite its weak away record in league play. Miranchuk leads Atlanta in goals (5) and goal contributions (7).

Orlando City’s defense will have to keep tabs on Lobjanidze, who has two goals and an assist on the season and seems to save his best performances for Orlando.

“I understand it’s true that we have two games against them, but we’re just focused on the first one, and we go one game at a time,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said ahead of the match. “Always the most important game is the next one, so that’s it, and that way we’ll prepare. We know (Atlanta) and we respect very much their coaching staff, and of course the entire club and the players. We know they have talented players and they like to be protagonists with the ball.”

Orlando City will be without Joran Gerbet (knee). Atlanta’s Almiron (knee) is listed as questionable.

Match Content

• Our Intelligence Report features info on tonight’s opponent from Sydney Hunte, one of the co-founders of Atlanta blog Scarves and Spikes. 
• The latest episode of The Mane Land PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for the match.
• Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory over Atlanta for both tonight and Tuesday.

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.

Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Justin Ellis.

Bench: Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Tiago, Tyrese Spicer, Duncan McGuire.

Atlanta United (3-4-3)

Goalkeeper: Lucas Hoyos.

Defenders: Juan Berrocal, Enea Mihaj, Tomas Jacob.

Wingbacks/Midfielders: Ajani Fortune, Elias Baez, Tristan Muyumba, Will Reilly.

Forwards: Matias Galarza, Aleksey Miranchuk, Saba Lobjanidze.

Bench: Jayden Hibbert, Ronald Hernandez, Stian Gregersen, Matthew Edwards, Pedro Amador, Steven Alzate, Fafa Picault, Cayman Togashi, Emmanuel Latte Lath.

Referees

REF: Tori Penso.
AR1: Brooke Mayo.
AR2: Kathryn Nesbitt.
4TH: Jon Freemon.
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic.
AVAR: Robert Schaap.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!