The 2021 MLS Season is here and Atlanta United travels down to Exploria Stadium to take on southern rivals Orlando City. The 5-Stripes have had tremendous success in Orlando and will look to add to that on Saturday afternoon. Atlanta is coming off two victories in the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, while Orlando City is playing its first competitive match of the year. Let’s take a look at the Tools to the Match presented by The Home Depot.
Continue Momentum
Atlanta United defeated LD Alajuelense 2-0 aggregate in the Round of 16 of SCCL. Gabriel Heinze opted for the same backline in both matches with Miles Robinson and Anton Walkes as the center back pairing. New signing Santiago Sosa made a strong first impression in the first two matches. Brooks Lennon and George Bello provided quality play on the flanks, with Lennon creating six chances in the two matches combined.
Heinze knows that the team still has room to improve, but the team needs to play more games in order to show those improvements.
“I think you answered the question yourself. We have to keep playing minutes and minutes,” Heinze told reporters this week. “We have to improve in everything. But you can’t improve or look to improve without playing. So what we need to do is play, make mistakes, and correct them.”
Keep Mueller, Nani in check
Orlando City is coming off its best season in club history in 2020. The team finished with an 11-4-8 record and scored 40 goals, which was the fifth-highest total in the regular season last year. American winger Chris Mueller had a breakout campaign leading Orlando with 10 goals and earning a call up to the USMNT. He benefited from playing alongside Portuguese star Nani, who finished with the campaign with a team-high 51 shots and six goals. If Atlanta United wants to bring home three points on Saturday, the team will have to keep Mueller, Nani and the rest of the Orlando side in check.
Get the attack to gel even more
It was no surprise that the final touch or the final pass in the first two matches wasn’t always as crisp as the attacking players would have liked for the 5-Stripes. The good thing is that the team continued to put itself into great attacking positions against LD Alajuelense. With more minutes, that final sharpness will return. Ezequiel Barco is off to a great start, scoring the winning goal in leg one and getting an assist in leg two. Jürgen Damm picked up his first goal for Atlanta United in the second leg. The attack still has a lot more room to grow with the additions of Lisandro Lopez and the re-integration of Josef Martinez into the attack. Look for those players to form combinations with the midfielders and allow Atlanta United’s attack to thrive.
Still, the team is constantly learning under new head coach Gabriel Heinze. “We are still trying to learn every single day from Gabriel and his staff. After our first leg in Costa Rica we sat down and watched video tirelessly on the things we could improve on and what we did well,” Brooks Lennon said this week. “We have to play more games to understand the style more and more. I’m excited for a successful season ahead.”
Catch all the action on Saturday afternoon live on UniMas, TUDN or Twitter as Atlanta United travels to Orlando City to kickoff the 2021 MLS season at 3pm ET.
