Orlando City (3-2-4, 13 points) vs Atlanta United (2-4-3, 9 points)
When: Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
Where: Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (subscription required), FOX, FOX Deportes
Radio: AM 810 Fox Sports Radio, (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for the Lions' home match vs Atlanta in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- Orlando City will look to keep four consecutive clean sheets for the first time in club history this weekend against Atlanta. Their current run of three in a row has been done three times before in club history, all since the start of the 2023 season.
- Orlando is on a 346-minute shutout streak, the third longest in club history. The club record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal is 364, set mostly during the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, meaning Orlando would break the record if it can keep Atlanta off the board for the first 19 minutes on Saturday.
- With a win or draw on Saturday, the Lions would extend their current unbeaten run to seven, their longest streak without a loss in MLS regular season play since May 13-June 10, 2023.
- MartÃn Ojeda’s next assist, his 27th for Orlando City, will see him pass Nani for second all-time in club history. Iván Angulo is one assist behind Nani and Ojeda.
- At 17 goals in all competitions, Ojeda is now two away from entering the club’s all-time top 10 scorers. Daryl Dike and Benji Michel are tied for ninth at 19 goals apiece, while Ercan Kara is 11th with 18. Duncan McGuire is the only player on the active roster in the top 10, ranking fourth with 26 career goals.
- Ojeda is three appearances away from 100 for Orlando City in all competitions.
- Rodrigo Schlegel is two appearances away from 150 for Orlando City in all competitions.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City played to a third consecutive 0-0 draw on Saturday in Montréal, the first time the Lions have had three scoreless ties in a row in club history. City took a red card for the second consecutive match, as halftime substitute Rafael Santos received two yellow cards in a 31-minute appearance off the bench.
- Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese has completely turned his season around. After a rocky first three matches, El Pulpo has conceded just three times in his last five appearances, making 20 saves on 23 shots on target for an .870 save percentage in that span. The Peruvian went 8/10 in two matches on international duty in March as well. Gallese is up to 51 career clean sheets for Orlando City.
- Despite going three straight games without scoring a goal, Orlando remains fourth in the Eastern Conference in both goals (15, just one behind each of the top three teams) and expected goals. Orlando City’s Designated Players continue to pace the league with 18 goal contributions.
- It was a big weekend for the Orlando City Academy, as the U18 side won this year’s Generation adidas Cup at IMG Academy in Bradenton on Sunday. 16-year-old first teamer Gustavo Caraballo scored a brace in a 2-1 extra time win over Colorado in the final, notching the first goal in the third minute before a 75th minute winner.
- Not only did the Academy see on-field success, but another of its long-time players made his MLS debut this weekend. 19-year-old Zakaria Taifi, a versatile defender and midfielder who joined Orlando City at the U9 level, appeared late against Montréal after joining the team from Orlando City B via a short-term agreement.
- Homegrown center back Thomas Williams also made his season debut this past weekend, appearing for the first team for the first time since 2022.
Series History
All-time vs. Atlanta United - 5-11-7, -9 GD (3-7-3, -3 GD home)
MLS only vs. Atlanta United - 4-10-7, -9 GD (2-6-3, -2 GD home)
2017 - L 0-1 (H), D 1-1 (A), D 3-3 (A)
2018 - L 1-2 (H), L 4-0 (A), L 1-2 (H)
2019 - L 1-0 (A), L 0-2 (H/USOC), L 0-1 (H)
2020 - W 1-3 (A), D 1-1 (H), D 0-0 (A), W 4-1 (H)
2021 - D 0-0 (H), W 3-2 (H), L 3-0 (A)
2022 - D 1-1 (A), L 0-1 (H)
2023 - D 1-1 (H), W 1-2 (A)
2024 - L 2-0 (A), L 1-2 (H), W 1-0 (H/MLS Cup Playoffs)
Meet the opponent: Atlanta United
- Orlando City brought Atlanta United’s Cinderella MLS Cup Playoffs run to a swift and unceremonious end last November, brushing aside the Five Stripes by a more-comfortable-than-it-looked 1-0 scoreline after Atlanta stunned the soccer world by eliminating Supporters’ Shield winners Inter Miami in the first round. Ramiro Enrique scored the winning goal for Orlando.
- After infamously going 0-7-2 against Atlanta in the first three years of the rivalry, Orlando has gone a respectable 5-4-5 in all competitions against the Five Stripes since 2020, re-taking the lead in the Oscar Pareja Era with the playoff victory. Including interims, Atlanta has had six different managers since Pareja came to Orlando.
- That sixth manager is Ronny Deila, an MLS Cup champion in 2021 with New York City FC who came in this offseason to help develop Atlanta’s big money attack, which added league-record striker Emmanuel Latte Lath and Atlanta legend Miguel Almirón to the mix this winter. Things have not gone as planned, with Atlanta sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference with just nine points through nine games after a 3-0 thrashing at Philadelphia this past Saturday.
- Latte Lath has done his job, scoring five goals through nine games, but the rest of the team combined has scored just four times so far this season (two own goals bring the team total to 11). Almirón (2 G/2 A) has been a disappointment in his return stateside from the English Premier League, while third DP Alexey Miranchuk has just one goal and no assists through 726 minutes.
- Heading into this game, however, Latte Lath picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, suspending him for this weekend's match.
