What a difference a year makes. The last time these two met was August 23, 2019. Atlanta United came out on top 1-0 with a goal from Josef Martinez. Atlanta was considered the better team and still had never lost to Orlando in their history. Fast forward a year and 6 days and Orlando has without a doubt their strongest team to ever face Atlanta. Atlanta on the other hand are without star man Josef Martinez with a torn acl, and just fired a head coach. This means that probably for the first time in Atlanta’s history they went into a game against Orlando as an underdog.
Atlanta United got the first great chance of the game. Gonzalo “Pity” Martinez curled in a corner kick that was powered towards goal by the head of Brooks Lennon. The header was unbelievably saved off the line by Pedro Gallese and had to be double checked by VAR to make sure he did indeed keep it from crossing the line. From that moment on, the first half was utterly dominated by Orlando. Atlanta United have struggled to defend corners lately and this game was no different. A wide open Junior Urso headed home past Brad Guzan off a Chris Mueller corner in the 14th minute. While Urso was wide open and his header was powerful, there were definitely some questions to be asked of Guzan. It was more a mistake than a good header as the ball squirmed through Guzan’s legs and across the line.
With Atlanta struggling to find their center midfielders and in turn finding it hard to pass out of the back against Orlando’s high press, Orlando got their second goal. A beautiful team move that was started by Mueller, and finished by Mueller with some intricate play from Daryl Dike and Andres Perea in between that ended up with a Mueller tap in. Orlando had another chance from a corner and continued to dominate up until halftime as they still led by two goals going into the break.
The second half was a much different story due to tactical choices from the managers. Oscar Pareja and Orlando were quite happy to sit back with a two-goal lead while Stephen Glass and Atlanta United needed to attack if they were to have any chance. After a couple halftime substitutions and eventually a return from injury by Ezequiel Barco, Atlanta United looked the more threatening of the two teams for the majority of the second half. After a couple saves from Gallese Atlanta United looked like they weren’t going to score heading into the final 10 minutes of regular time.
In the 79th minute Atlanta United subbed on debutant Jurgen Damm, who ended up making the difference. Just four minutes later his tricky dribbling, and exquisite delivery found Lennon, who by the way, was surprisingly good in the air today. His header looped back across goal and found the back of the net past a diving Gallese. It seemed to set up an exciting finish but three minutes later Orlando’s Nani called game. Pity Martinez lost the ball trying to possess out of the back (which some would question why he was in that position in the first place) and a composed Urso slid the ball across the box to Nani who tapped in Orlando’s third.
A possible penalty with Diego Carlos’ follow through cleating Brooks Lennon in the neck, as well as a couple more chances for Pity Martinez might’ve made the game interesting late but none of them found the back of the net.
This win is the first against Atlanta United in Orlando City’s history. You have to just sit back and admire the job Oscar Pareja has done for this team. They have a clear attacking identity that brings the best out of their most talented players like Mueller and Nani. Since the MLS is Back tournament Daryl Dike is showing signs of a strong, pacey, clinical striker that Orlando have lacked ever since Cyle Larin left for Europe. Chris Mueller is continuing to look more and more like a star scoring his 6th goal and providing his 3rd assist on the season. Gallese is called the octopus for very valid reasons as he made some brilliant saves today. And then they have Nani and Mauricio Pereyra as well as many others. This team is looking more dangerous than ever. And on top of all of this, they just beat their main rival 3-1 after putting out a rotated and therefore weaker lineup. Orlando fans are excited, and for good reason.
Atlanta United on the other hand struggled today. From their perspective it wouldn’t be too far stretched to say they lost the game more so than they got beat. While Orlando put in a very professional performance, Atlanta struggled throughout the game with consistency and made some mistakes that ended up costing them the game. The first big mistake being Guzan letting the ball through his legs on the first Orlando goal. The second, Pity Martinez losing the ball on Orlando’s third goal. Right off the bat if you take away those two chances the game ends in a draw at 1-1. Now of course that’s not how it works and who knows what would’ve actually happened if those mistakes aren’t made, but mistakes and struggling to find consistency seems to be a growing theme in Atlanta’s recent play.
These consistency and mistake prone problems can be highlighted by their 3-0 loss to America in the Concacaf Champions before the pandemic, as well as the three losses in the MLS is Back Tournament. However, in these games I just mentioned, the team looked terrible on the attack and defense and looked like they didn’t care. Since the firing of Frank De Boer and the inclusion of Interim Head Coach Stephen Glass Atlanta United have looked better. Some might argue they’ve looked like a whole new team. I wouldn’t go that far, but they’ve certainly improved.
This game in my eyes is obviously a negative as Atlanta lost to Orlando for the first time in their history, but I definitely saw some positives. As I said, consistency has been a problem even under Glass. However, unlike under De Boer’s reign, we saw flashes of exciting attacking play from Atlanta today. The goal was a brilliant start to life for new acquisition Damm, and Pity continues his resurgence into a whole new player under Glass. Who could’ve guessed a couple months ago that the struggling Pity would be who Atlanta is looking to to carry the team to victories?
Even with a loss today against Orlando, it’s clear to see that Glass has reinvigorated this Atlanta team. Now, with Barco back from injury and Pity Martinez a whole new player, Atlanta is looking very dangerous again. The consistency under Glass will come with time as they get used to playing attacking soccer again. And with a possible Josef Martinez return at some point this season, Atlanta United could be real contenders come the end of the season. However, today made it clear that they still have a lot to do to make that a possibility. But as of right now, it’s a possibility nonetheless.