After a heavy 5-1 defeat at Philadelphia Union, yet still buoyant after lifting the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophy last week, Orlando City SC now face fierce rivals Atlanta United at home.
With just five MLS regular season games remaining, Oscar Pareja‘s Lions still have work to do to reach the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs and currently sit only two points above the red line.
Casting our minds back to Saturday, Philadelphia Union away always looked a mighty tough assignment on paper.
Especially after the physical and emotional energy put into last Wednesday’s historic U.S. Open Cup triumph.
Runaway Eastern Conference leaders, Saturday’s 5-1 win means Jim Curtin’s side are now 10 points clear of second-placed CF Montréal.
Having already clinched 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs qualification on August 31, some might’ve thought that Union would take their foot off the gas.
This wasn’t the case at Subaru Park at all. On the night, Dániel Gazdag inspired Union to yet another thumping result against an understrength Orlando City SC side.
Ringing the changes, as expected, Oscar Pareja handed starts to depth players like Nicholas Gioacchini, Jake Mulraney, and Mason Stajduhar.
Not only scoring a penalty for his nineteenth goal of the season, Dániel Gazdag added two assists with a João Moutinho own goal, plus strikes from Mikael Uhre, Alejandro Bedoya and Jack Elliott running up the score.
At 4-0 down, Andrés Perea scored to deny Andre Blake a clean sheet, but all in all, Orlando City SC were comfortably swept aside.
Controversy did rule part way though the game however when Armando Villarreal didn’t send off José Martínez for violent conduct.
While the severity of contact was debatable, the Venezuelan clearly head-butted Wilder Cartagena but shockingly escaped without any card.
As our friend @TheEnglishLion1 pointed out on Twitter, current IFAB rules state that violent conduct constitutes “attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball”.
On this basis, Villarreal’s no-call seemed baffling, but this incident aside, Orlando City SC were well beaten on the night.
Attention now switches to a crunch game against the side our supporters love to loathe – Atlanta United.
Picking up a morale-boosting 4-2 win over Toronto FC on Saturday, this provided The Five Stripes a welcome distraction from the circus and PR disaster of Josef Martínez recently being suspended for an altercation with head coach Gonzalo Pineda.
Currently tenth in the East (36 points), Orlando City SC would love nothing more than putting another nail in the coffin of Atlanta United’s slim hopes of reaching the post-season.
Orlando City SC vs Atlanta United – 2017/22 head-to-head stats
Last meeting on July 17, Atlanta United and Orlando City SC played out a feisty 1-1 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Referee Victor Rivas produced seven yellow cards on the night. Tough challenges and gamesmanship ruled in a difficult game for City supporters to watch.
Starting strongly, Mauricio Pereyra‘s fantastic curling free-kick earned Orlando City SC an early 10th minute lead.
But the second-half was really, really poor from City’s perspective.
With Josef Martínez and former Lion Dom Dwyer waiting in reserve, the strikers entered from the bench after the hour mark.
Causing carnage, Oscar Pareja went ultra defensive and introduced Antônio Carlos alongside Robin Jansson AND Rodrigo Schlegel.
Completely losing all attacking impetus, Juan José Purata equalised on 71 minutes before a barnstorming finish.
On 82 minutes, Dom Dwyer unleashed a fierce strike that Pedro Gallese tentacled away in yet another save-of-the-season contender.
Then, in stoppage time, nemesis Josef Martínez hit Gallese’s post on the breakaway after a sloppy giveaway from sub Alexandre Pato.
Just when you thought the Lions had thrown it away, Alexandre Pato whacked a long-range strike off Rocco Ríos Novo’s post on the counter.
It was a truly breathless finish to the game!
Atlanta United 1 Orlando City SC 1 – Highlights – July 17, 2022 (Credit: Atlanta United FC)
Ever since Oscar Pareja arrived at Orlando City SC, he’s rewritten the script in games against rivals Atlanta United.
Managing the Lions EIGHT times against The Five Stripes, Papi is unbeaten in SEVEN, winning THREE and drawing FOUR.
This positive streak means that Atlanta United now only lead Orlando City SC by FOUR victories.
Orlando City SC 3 Atlanta United 2 – Highlights – July 30, 2021 (Credit: Atlanta United FC)
Compared to those early years of Atlanta United domination over Orlando City SC, it’s been way more competitive more recently.
Prior to the horrible 3-0 loss at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2021, Orlando City SC had gone SIX consecutive MLS head-to-heads unbeaten!
Add in this year’s 1-1 draw and Atlanta United have only won ONE of the last EIGHT league meetings.
Despite being more of a match for The Five Stripes, there is still frustration on City supporters’ part.
After all, we’ve only beat the side we love to hate THREE times in our MLS history.
Considering how far Atlanta United have fallen since 2018 MLS Cup, we showed too much respect in July’s 1-1 draw.
Orlando City SC form
Time and again, we’ve mentioned that Orlando City SC‘s 2022 campaign has felt like a rollercoaster ride with multiple twists and turns.
This particular statistic underlines this point.
Indeed, there have been OVER 2.5 GOALS SCORED in EIGHT of Orlando City SC‘s last TEN home fixtures in MLS.
In MLS, Orlando City SC have struggled to record emphatic scorelines and in reality, the opposition has always had a chance in games at Exploria Stadium.
Stronger home form is something Oscar Pareja will be determined to achieve in the remainder of 2022 and 2023.
Atlanta United form
The good news heading into this game is that Atlanta United have travelled poorly all season long.
The Five Stripes have failed to win their last THIRTEEN road games in MLS, going 0-5-8 in this streak.
In fact, Atlanta United have only won ONE away game in all of 2022, a 0-1 victory at D.C. United back on April 2.
In truth, this 2022 version of The Five Stripes is a shadow of the side that won 2018 MLS Cup.
As such, Atlanta United supporters are struggling to cope with the club’s newfound mediocrity after relative overnight success.
Portland Timbers 2 Atlanta United 1 – Highlights – September 4, 2022 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
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Don’t forget, Orlando City SC vs Atlanta United will be shown LIVE on Sky Sports Football at 23:00 (GMT) on Wednesday evening.
You can view our TV Fixture Tracker by clicking here.
GOOD NEWS 🚨 | @OrlandoCitySC 🆚 @ATLUTD will be shown LIVE on @SkySports Football at 23:00PM this Wednesday. 😄📺⚽👏🏽
VIEW TV TRACKER 📺: https://t.co/KV9JvpAA0o#OCTwitter #ORLvATL #OrlandoCity #DaleMiAmor #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/QtZjd9pNmP
— Orlando City UK 🏆 (@Orlando_CityUK) September 12, 2022
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