Atlanta United lost to Orlando City SC 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Brooks Lennon scored his first goal with Atlanta United, while Jürgen Damm made his club debut and picked up an assist. Ezequiel Barco returned from an injury, coming on as a second-half substitute, and also had an assist on Lennon’s goal.
Orlando opened the scoring in the 13th minute off a corner kick. Chris Mueller delivered a ball directly into the middle of the box that Junior Urso powerfully headed toward goal. Brad Guzan was able to get a hand on it, but not enough as the ball trickled past the goal line.
Chris Mueller doubled the lead for Orlando in the 35th minute, finishing off a quick-strike sequence with assists to Daryl Dike and Benji Michel. Off an Atlanta goal kick, Mueller latched onto a second ball and played Dike near the edge of the box. Dike then played Michel through, which forced Guzan to rush out, but Dike’s extra pass to Mueller left the young American forward an open shot on goal.
Interim head coach Stephen Glass made two changes at halftime, bringing Jeff Larentowicz and Jake Mulraney on. Atlanta was able to control play for much of the second half, claiming more than 70 percent of possession and out-shooting Orlando 8-3. Lennon put Atlanta on the board in the 83rd minute, finishing off a cross from Damm. But Orlando added a third goal from Nani three minutes later to seal the game.
STATS
Shots: 11-9 Atlanta
Shots on Target: 4-3 Atlanta
Corner kicks: 9-6 Atlanta
Fouls committed: 25-13 Orlando
Clearances: 24-7 Orlando
Offside: 2-1 Atlanta
Possession: 61-39 Atlanta
Passing Accuracy: 86-80 Atlanta
Atlanta United (3-4-0, 9 points) returns to action at Mercedes-Benz Stadium Wednesday, Sept. 2 against Inter Miami CF (7:00 p.m., FS1, Sports Radio 92-9 The Game).
-Jon J.