Atlanta United 2 fell to Orlando City B 4-1 on Friday night at Fifth Third Stadium. Noble Okello scored his second goal of the season while Matías Gallardo added his third assist of the campaign.
Orlando came out of the gate on the front foot, creating multiple scoring chances in the opening minutes of action. In the 15th minute, Yutaro Tsukada found himself on the receiving end of a pass just outside the six-yard box to get off a shot that was stopped by Jayden Hibbert, but the ball landed at Tsukada's feet for a follow up to give Orlando a 1-0 lead.
The visitors went up 2-0 in the 38th minute after winning the ball in the midfield and initiating a counterattack that resulted in Jorge Almaguer curling in a shot into the upper right corner of goal from 20-yards out. Orlando added another in the 43rd when Luca Petrasso got on the end of a through ball in the final third on the left flank, beating his defender for a one-on-one opportunity in the box before slotting in a right-footed finish.
Orlando City claimed its fourth in the 57th minute after an Atlanta turnover in the midfield resulted in another counterattack opportunity, this time with Tsukada slotting a pass to an unmarked Shakur Mohammed at the back post to finish.
ATL UTD 2 was able to pull one back in the 69th minute after Gallardo floated in a well-placed ball off a corner kick for Okello to connect with it, heading it just past the reach of Orlando's Jose Mercado.
Atlanta United 2 (6-10-5, 26 points) will travel to take on Carolina Core at Truist Point on Wednesday, Aug. 28 (7:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV - MLS Season Pass, Soccer Down Here). Some ATL UTD 2 matches are available with an MLS Season Pass subscription, located on the Apple TV app while the remainder of matches are streamed live on MLSNEXTPro.com.
Notes:
- Midfielder Javier Armas is the only ATL UTD 2 player to appear in all 1,890 minutes this season.
- Javier Armas led all players in shots with five.
- Matías Gallardo recorded his third assist of the year.
- Noble Okello scored his second goal of the season.
Stats:
Shots: 21-14 Atlanta
Shots on target: 10-5 Orlando
Corner kicks: 8-2 Atlanta
Fouls Committed: 21-5 Atlanta
Passing accuracy: 89.6% - 87.3% Atlanta
Scoring:
ORL – Yutaro Tsukada (Unassisted) 15'
ORL – Jorge Almaguer (Freeman) 38'
ORL – Luca Petrasso (Unassisted) 43'
ORL – Shakur Mohammed (Rivera)
ATL – Noble Okello (Gallardo) 69'
*
Disciplinary:*
ATL – Javier Armas 🟨 14'
ORL – Shakur Mohammed 🟨 24'
ATL – Noble Okello 🟨 64'
ATL – Jacob Williams 🟨 89'
