A pair of teams seeking an offensive jolt square off Saturday night when Orlando City host Atlanta United.
Orlando (3-2-4, 13 points) hasn’t lost since March 8, but enters play following three straight scoreless draws. Last time out, Orlando mustered just two shots on goal in a road draw against CF Montreal — one of two winless teams in Major League Soccer.
The club is steadily picking up one point at a time, but head coach Oscar Pareja knows the goals need to follow.
“Obviously we are concerned about not scoring goals, but the other side is a good balance defensively,” Pareja said. “We want to keep that, but in order to add three points, we have to score goals. We have to get back to that. I like the attitude of the team. I know it seems like one point is not enough at this stage, but we know where we are going and we will keep pushing.”
Luis Muriel accounted for Orlando’s last goal on March 29. Muriel’s three goals trail team leaders Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic, who each have tallied four.
Atlanta (2-4-3, nine points) is experiencing similar offensive troubles, having gone scoreless over its last two losses — a 1-0 defeat to the New England Revolution and a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union.
To make matters worse, Atlanta will be without leading scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath. He was handed a one-game suspension for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Philadelphia. Latte Lath paces the team with five goals, followed by Miguel Almiron’s two.
Desperately needing to earn its first victory since March 29, Atlanta sees an opportunity to end a hapless stretch against its Eastern Conference rival.
“We understand what it means to our supporters, to our fans, and so for us, it’s a huge opportunity,” said Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan. “I think we’re going to go down there with the ability to say, ‘Let’s turn this thing around,’ and there’s no better place to do it than Orlando.”
Atlanta will host Orlando on May 28.
–Field Level Media
