Orlando City Prepares for Key Matches Against Atlanta United
Orlando City will host Atlanta United in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday, but first, the teams will square off in an MLS matchup on Saturday night. This marks the first of two encounters in just four days between the Southeastern rivals.
The immediate focus for Orlando’s interim head coach Martin Perelman is the upcoming MLS game. “It’s true that we have two games in a row against them. We’re just focused on the first one. And we go one game at a time,” Perelman said. “Always, the most important game is the next one. That’s it. In that way, we prepare.”
Orlando City (4-8-1, 13 points) recently managed to transform a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia Union into a thrilling 4-3 victory, thanks in part to Martin Ojeda’s team-high ninth goal in the final minute of regulation.
“Even though we know we need to address some things within the group … since we were up 3-1 and are not happy at all to let two goals go as easily as it happened, (we are) also happy that we managed to turn that momentum around to get three points,” Orlando captain Robin Jansson said.
On the other side, Atlanta United (3-8-1, 10 points) recently saw its three-match win streak across all competitions come to an end with a 2-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Galaxy on May 9.
“The biggest difference is we want to play the way that we played for the first 70 minutes, but what we have to correct are the errors,” Atlanta head coach Tata Martino said through an interpreter. “In terms of how we want to play and the way that we want the team to attack, the result doesn’t change. We just need to clean up the mistakes.”
Martino provided an update on Miguel Almiron, who has been sidelined for the past month due to knee irritation. “I would say he’s probably 85 to 90 percent, but we’re being cautious and evaluating him every day,” Martino noted.
Historically, Atlanta holds a 11-7-6 record against Orlando in MLS play, although it has suffered losses in its last two matches at Inter&Co Stadium. In its last six contests across all competitions, Orlando has scored three or more goals in four of them.