Atlanta United suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat tonight to Orlando City SC in Orlando, Florida. Tonight’s loss was Atlanta’s first in Exploria Stadium.
In the 29′ minute, Nani started the attack from his half and sent a solid ball to Ruan. Ruan then sent a calm pass to Daryl Dike that should’ve been stopped by Fernando Meza but somehow bounced past him. With time and space, Dike calmly set his boots and drilled a low ball past a frazzled Brad Guzan for Orlando’s first goal.
With momentum in their favor, Orlando continued to amp up the attack. Dike bullied two Atlanta defenders and setup another goal. Eventually, that goal was called off after the referee determined a shove on Fernando Meza by Dike was indeed a foul.
Things continued to get worse for Atlanta after Chris Mueller scored an impressive free kick right before the end of the first half. Nani, who everyone expected to take it, walked away from the opportunity, leaving Mueller to seize the moment. The young standout fire a rocket over the wall and easily past Guzan to make Orlando’s lead 2-0 going into the break.
In the 55′ minute, Laurence Wyke took a chance just outside the 18. The long-range effort went across the face of goal out of bounds but was close enough to get the keeper off his feet.
Orlando’s Daryl Dike continued to impose his will on the Atlanta defense and they never found a way to contain him. In the 61′ minute, he powered past Laurence Wyke and attacked down the right flank. Dike sent a low cross to Tesho Akindele who calmly scored Orlando’s third goal of the night.
In the one positive for Atlanta on the night, in the 87′ minute, Erick “Cubo” Torres scored his first goal for his new club and spoiled the clean sheet for Orlando.
But Orlando fired back at Torres’ clean sheet-stopping goal with the final nail-in-the-coffin; a fourth goal for OSC, this time by Matheus Aiás Barrozo Rodrigues.
Atlanta will return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to host FC Cincinnati on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 7PM ET for their last home match for the season.
-Jon J.
Photo: Courtesy of ATL UTD
THE PEACH REVIEW® 