Atlanta United vs. Orlando City, full-time: Five Stripes dominate the Lions again

Full-time: That’s it. Atlanta hands Orlando their eighth straight loss.

78’ - Atlanta United 4, Orlando City 0: Have yourself a day, Miguel Almiron. Finally we get to see him make a mockery of the opposing defense and score from a tight angle. So many times has he had this shot save, finally he gets it to go for an amazing goal.

56’ - Atlanta United 3, Orlando City 0: Oh boy. It’s getting ugly for Orlando now. Ezequiel Barco makes it 3-0 after collecting an Almiron shot off the crossbar.

54’ - Atlanta United 2, Orlando City 0: Finally, after dominating the majority of play, Atlanta extend their lead. A deadly counter attack started by Tito Villalba was finished off by Miguel Almiron.

4’ - Atlanta United 1, Orlando City 0: What a start for the Five Stripes as Josef Martinez has scored his 15th goal of the season early on to give the home side the lead. A ball in from Julian Gressel somehow made it past three Orlando defenders to Josef for the nice finish.

Pre-game: Your favorite maybe a rivalry, maybe not a rivalry, totally, definitely is a rivalry is back. Orlando City visits Mercedes-Benz Stadium tonight to take on Atlanta United in the second match-up of the two Southeastern rivals of 2018.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two months or even worse, don’t follow us on Twitter, you probably know that Orlando has hit a bit of a rough patch in their season. And by “bit of a rough patch,” I mean the equivalent of the Titanic hitting the iceberg. The Lions are riding an impressive seven-game losing streak coming into this match-up. You just know that the Five Stripes will be aching to extend that number to eight in this one.

Before we all start pronouncing Orlando dead and buried before kickoff, let’s remember that it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Atlanta lately either. While they haven’t gone on historically bad losing streaks, they aren’t looking like the best team in the league as their points total suggests. Lack of finishing remains a problem and now individuals like Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez are starting to slump a bit.

Can Atlanta United get back to their dominant ways at the expense of their rivals or will Orlando City revive their season at the right time and add on to Atlanta’s worries? Buckle up for another fun edition of [insert clever rivalry name we’ve yet to come up with].

Note: We’re trying something new with our match threads this year. We’ll be updating the post with updates of goals and big moments as they happen. Check back every so often during the match for highlights and commentary.

Atlanta United’s Lineup:

Orlando City’s Lineup:

How to Watch

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Kickoff Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Available TV: ESPN

Available Streaming: WATCHESPN

Available Radio: 92.9 The Game (English), AT&T Countdown to Kickoff (FB Live/Periscope), La Mejor 1600 AM (Spanish)

This thread will be your match thread. We don’t have many rules here. We just ask that you don’t insult each other personally and treat each other with respect. Debates can get heated and that’s fine, but name-calling and petty insults will get you banned. If you see a comment that you feel is out of line, please report it and it will be dealt with.