Tito Villalba, Brad Guzan win weekly awards for individual brilliance against Orlando City

Héctor “Tito” Villalba wins Goal of the Week for his “rocket” goal to give Atlanta the 1-0 win over Orlando. Villalba, who just turned 23 yesterday (7/26), just won his second GotW title in just 20 starts in the MLS. He tied the man he replaced, Josef Martinez, for most goals scored this season for Atlanta with 9.

“The goal was unbelievable,” said Brad Guzan. “Leading up to it, you thought it was going to be one of those games that ended nil-nil”. The goal came in the 86th minute in a deadlocked game against Orlando off of a throw in. Villalba took a couple of touches and from about 35 yards out he took the long shot (With a bit of lazy defense from Orlando defender Jose Aja for not pressuring the shot). Orlando goalkeeper, Joe Bendik, tried to react as fast as he could to no avail as the shot curled in just above his reach.

Guzan himself won Save of the Week with a diving stop off a strong header going to Guzan’s right by Orlando’s Jonathan Spector. That was just one of his five saves to preserve the clean sheet for the red and black stripes.

Guzan, Villalba and the rest of the squad will be looked on to produce again against Orlando, who he will face Saturday 7/29 at Bobby Dodd. He’s likely to replace Josef Martinez, who will miss the game Saturday according to Manager Tata Martino.