Playing a team that has 10 goals in their last two games in a stadium filled to the brim with opposing fans can be incredibly daunting. Orlando City came into that exact situation this past Saturday as they took on Atlanta United and their 70,425 fans in attendance. The Lions fought their way to a 3-3 draw, silencing the record-setting crowd three times, with a goal from Cyle Larin and two from Dom Dwyer.
After the match, Head Coach Jason Kreis lauded his team’s performance in such a tough environment.
“I’m really proud of what the guys put into it,” Kreis said of his team. “I thought the effort and the mentality to respond twice after giving away goals and get the lead again, I thought, was fantastic. The guys gave us everything and I could not be prouder of them.”
With a team like Atlanta and how well they were playing, Kreis and his staff broke down game film and formulated a game plan to counteract what Atlanta wanted to do in the match.
“We weren’t going to come in here and give them space and time,” Kreis said, “We came in with a really positive mindset, a really aggressive mindset, that we wanted to try and press them in their half and cause some mistakes. I don’t know that we quite did a great job of that but the mindset was right. It wasn’t a night where we were looking to just pack it in and defend for long stretches.”
Take note, Eastern Conference.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 18, 2017
Here's how @OrlandoCitySC built meaningful possession against Atlanta. https://t.co/yFEG17CpwH
That aggressive mindset led Orlando to a huge offensive day for the team, which was able to neutralize the offense of Atlanta. Now that the team has begun to score a high volume of goals, Kreis and his team will look to take that aggressive offensive momentum and keep it going as they head to Portland this coming weekend.
