If Atlanta United and Orlando City are going to be rivals, Friday’s first meeting between the two teams wasn’t the best start.
The ingredients – some tasteful (infamous billboard; fun tifo with a Walking Dead motif), some tasteless (alleged fight before the game) – added spice.
But the ultimate fuel may have been the result.
Hector Villalba’s 25-yard thunderous strike in the 86th minute was the difference, giving Atlanta United a 1-0 win. The win moves the Five Stripes (10-7-3) to 33 points, within one of NYCFC and third place in the MLS Eastern Conference. Orlando City (8-8-5) remains in the sixth and final playoff spot.
Villalba’s ninth goal this season made up for a contest in which each team had trouble punishing the other. Atlanta United suffered from poor passing in the final third, while Orlando City was thwarted time and time again by goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
The two teams will add another chapter to the blossoming rivalry when they meet again in their next games July 29. It will be Atlanta United’s ninth and final home game at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Five Stripes will move into the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 10.
There were two personnel moves of note in Friday’s game that helped determine the outcome.
The first was the debut of Guzan. Signed in January, but unable to play for Atlanta United until first the secondary transfer window opened on July 10, and second when he was released from the U.S. men’s national team participating in the Gold Cup, Guzan make his first start for Atlanta United.
Guzan, 32, hadn’t played in MLS since 2008 when he was with Chivas USA, just before he was sold to Aston Villa when it was in England’s Premier League. He spent nine years in England, finishing his career there with one season at Middlesbrough.
He quickly showed his worth with two key stops, one a fingertip save while diving low and to his right, in the first half. The first came on a hard shot by Carlos Rivas from distance. He made another important save in the 64th minute, and punched clear a cross in injury time in the second half.
The second was the absence of Josef Martinez.
Martinez, a striker with nine goals in nine games, wore a walking boot on his right foot before Friday’s game. According to the team, Martinez has a right foot bruise and is day-to-day. His exclusion was a game-time decision.
The Venezuelan missed 10 games earlier this season after sustaining a thigh injury while on national-team duty.
Hector Villalba started in place of Martinez, with Julian Gressel moving into Villalba’s spot in the right midfield.
With Martinez, Atlanta United averages 2.4 goals per game. Without him, team averaged 1.7.
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