Something hot is brewing in the South.
Following the Gold Cup break, Orlando City will host Atlanta United in Orlando City Stadium for their first MLS matchup. The following week, the Lions will hit the road and head up to Bobby-Dodd Stadium for a rematch on Atlanta’s home turf.
It has all the components of a rivalry in the making. Less than 500 miles separate the two sides. Currently, Atlanta United sit just one point ahead of Orlando City in the Eastern Conference table, with 30 points to the Lions 29. The youngsters are confident and wild, eager to make their playoffs in their inaugural season. The Lions know what that’s like: they were in Atlanta’s shoes just two years ago.
Both sides are expecting a lot of traveling supporters. Orlando City is expecting 400-500 supporters to make the trip up I-75 for the match at Bobby-Dodd Stadium which would be the most traveling supporters in Orlando City history.
The Lions will have two weeks to study Atlanta and focus on what they need to do to find success at the end of the month. Atlanta won a thriller on Tuesday night, 4-2 against the San Jose Earthquakes. They have won three of their last five, enough to lift them to 4th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
“They’ve been really good lately,” Rafael Ramos said after the Toronto FC match. “They just went through us on the table, so of course we want to win and go back on top of them.”
Depending on how the matches go, the winners could get a substantial lift in the table. But splitting the points could result in the two sides being even more tangled. Either way, it looks like these two teams will be battling it out in the East for a long time to come.
And it all starts in just two weeks.
