Orlando City’s last outing
Lions out to step up attack in Atlanta
was a 1-0 home loss to expansion side and regional rival Atlanta United. Now the Lions are in Atlanta for a rematch and ready to return the favor.
This week’s story is similar to last: one team is looking for a break, the other is on a hot streak.
Things have changed since Orlando City (8-8-5, 29 points) lost 1-0 to Atlanta United (10-7-3, 33 points) seven days ago — see: Dom Dwyer — but the themes, goals and strategies of that first meeting between Southeastern foes largely remain the same for today’s rematch.
The nationally televised game will be the last one played at Bobby Dodd Stadium before Atlanta moves into Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Fox’s pregame coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. and kickoff is scheduled for 5.
“We go into the game drawing on a lot of the positives that we did in the game here,” Orlando City coach Jason Kreis said. “Regardless of the stadium, we have to go about it with the same game plan: that we think we can disrupt things, that we think we can make things difficult for them defensively, and then we need to take our chances. We caused them all sorts of problems when we had the ball, got in and around their goal often but didn’t take our chances. So now it’s about that last piece, that last little thing that happens in the attacking third of the field.”
That should be easier now that Orlando City has Dwyer, the former Sporting Kansas City striker traded for $1.6 million earlier this week. He is available and likely will start for the Lions in Atlanta. He’s also not the only attacking
reinforcement they have this week. Cyle Larin subbed on and played only 18 minutes in the last match because he’d played for Canada in the Gold Cup the night before. He has been training all week with the group and should be ready for a full 90 minutes.
“It was a great game and there were a lot of tackles in the game, I think everyone was getting after it,” Larin said of the first match. “I think with the crowd they get in Atlanta, it should be the same [intensity] or more.”
Orlando City has extra motivation to get three points because it slipped below the playoff cutline to seventh in the Eastern Conference for the first time after losing to No. 4 Atlanta. A win today would restore their playoff position since No. 6 Columbus is two points ahead in the standings.
“Where we’re at right now, we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we have 13 games remaining,” Kreis said. “It is time to look now and recognize that our backs are against the wall. We need a reaction right now.
“Any time you play an opponent twice you oftentimes see in the second game there’s a bit more to it . ... We go into this with the mentality that we need to gain something back from this game.”
Atlanta again will be without striker Josef Martinez due to injury. He was the team’s leading scorer entering last week’s match, but Hector Villalba’s late game-winner brought him even with Martinez at nine goals on the season. The team also features standout midfielder Miguel Almiron, who has eight goals.
Atlanta’s 40 total goals is tied with NYCFC for the most in the league. The expansion side is also strong at home, winning its last five consecutive matches for a 6-2-0 record at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Midfielder Will Johnson said it’s beneficial to play a team back-to-back like this because the club can look at what worked, what didn’t and make small tweaks to get a different result.
“We know exactly what they’re all about,” he said.
That goes both ways.