Orlando City will face visiting Atlanta United in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday. However, before that comes a Saturday night MLS encounter, the first of two meetings in four days between the two Southeastern rivals.
The first match, not the one on Tuesday, is the focus for Orlando interim head coach Martin Perelman.
“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 (4-8-1, 13 points) saw a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday turn into a 3-3 match with 11 minutes remaining in regulation, but Martin Ojeda’s team-high ninth goal in the 90th minute rescued a 4-3 win for the Lions.
“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 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.
Atlanta (3-8-1, 10 points) saw its three-match win streak across all competitions end with a 2-1 loss 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 said Miguel Almiron, who missed the past month due to knee irritation, is “doing better.”
“I would say he’s probably 85 to 90 percent, but we’re being cautious and evaluating him every day,” Martino said.
Atlanta is 11-7-6 all-time against Orlando in MLS play, but has lost its last two matches at Inter&Co Stadium.
In its last six matches across all competitions, Orlando has scored three or more goals on four occasions.
–Field Level Media
