Orlando City VS Atlanta United Match Prediction
- 2017-07-21
- 23:00:00
Atlanta United will win this match.
Atlanta United and Orlando City will meet three times this season in total, but Friday's match will be the first meeting between them.
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Bovada have the following odds available for this match:
Orlando City are at +140 to win, a draw is at +245, and an Atlanta United win is at +180.
These are two good teams here, and we are sure to be in for a treat when they meet. Both sides are very good on the ball, but Orlando have had difficulties this season possessing the ball. If that continues, they could have a real issue against Atlanta.
However, this might be a blessing in disguise as it would make them the counterattacking side here. The one issue with that, of course, is that their key man is out.
Because of the way Atlanta was playing before the break, we think they will come back and pick up from where they left off. So those odds look decent.
This is a tough match to call as Atlanta have been a little iffy on the road compared to their home form. But due to the way they played pre-break, we like their chances to get three points.
Jason Kreis has a healthy squad after the break, but he will not be able to use striker Cyle Larin after he was called up for the Gold Cup knockout rounds. Defender Rafael Ramos is the only injured party that will be missing out.
With Larin out of the lineup, there is a big hole in the Orlando City side down the middle up front. How they plug that gap will be interesting to see. We suspect that they will either rotate the front three around, or they might even play Kaka as a false nine. Either way, Kaka still has the ability to make big plays, and they should be free to play on the counterattack quite often as Atlanta stream forward throughout
OSC have two losses, a win, and two draws in their last five matches. They drew 3-3 at home to Montreal before going away to Seattle Sounders to get a 1-1 result. They were then thumped 4-0 away to Chicago Fire before returning to winning ways in Salt Lake 0-1. Last time out, they lost 1-3 away to Toronto FC.
Goalkeeper:Bendik
Defenders:Sutter, Spector, Aja, PC
Midfielders:Carrasco, Nocerino, Johnson
Forwards:Barnes, Rivas, Kaka
Tata Martino will most likely welcome goalkeeper Brad Guzan into the team for the very first time after he was allowed to leave the Gold Cup after the group stages. Romario Williams, their Jamaican forward, is still away at the tournament. Goalkeeper Alec Kann has picked up an injury, and he will be missing out for some time now. Attacking players Jacob Peterson and Kenwyne Jones also remain sidelined due to injuries.
One thing the league didn't want to see was Atlanta- and striker Josef Martinez- get a rest. The Venezuelan striker has been in fine form this season, and he picked up his form again last time out with two headed goals to show just how dangerous and diverse his game is. Now that he has had even more time to recover, he should be nearly twice as difficult to deal with for the opposition.
Atlanta United were starting to come into form, and they will hope the break didn't end that momentum. In their last five matches, they have three wins and two losses. They lost 2-1 away to DC United before getting a 1-0 home win over Colorado Rapids. Next came a 3-2 loss away to Miami in the US Open Cup. They then beat Columbus Crew 0-2 away and followed it up with a 4-2 win over the Earthquakes on July 4th in their latest match.
Goalkeeper:Guzan
Defenders:Larentowicz, Gonzalez Pirez, Parkhurst
Midfielders:Walkes, Almiron, Carmona, Garza
Forwards:Villalba, Asad, Martinez