Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Orlando City SC defeated Atlanta United FC 3-2 on Wednesday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The victory moved Orlando City SC to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings with 10 regular-season games remaining.
Atlanta United FC opened the scoring in the seventh minute. Alexey Miranchuk played a cross into the box to Paulo Díaz, who headed the ball toward Breel Embolo. Embolo’s attempt deflected off Orlando City SC defender David Brekalo and into the net for an own goal.
Orlando City SC equalized in the 26th minute when Griffin Dorsey played Joran Gerbet into the right side of the Atlanta United FC box. Gerbet sent a low cross toward the near post, where Griezmann beat his defender and finished past goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos. The goal marked Gerbet’s first assist of the season across all competitions and his second all-time for Orlando City SC.
Orlando City SC took the lead in the 58th minute. Captain Robin Jansson sent a lofted through ball to Martín Ojeda, who found Iván Angulo in space for the finish. Angulo’s goal was his second of the year across all competitions and his 14th all-time for Orlando City SC.
Griezmann added his second goal in the 77th minute after winning the ball in the final third. He exchanged passes with Justin Ellis before going one-on-one with the goalkeeper and finishing Orlando City SC’s third goal. Ellis recorded his ninth assist of the season on the play.
Atlanta United FC pulled within one in the seventh minute of stoppage time through an own goal by Tyrese Spicer. The goal came after a headed ball following a set piece, but Orlando City SC held on to secure the victory.
Griezmann reaches 10 goal contributions
The brace gave Griezmann his seventh and eighth goals across all competitions in 2026 and his second brace for Orlando City SC. He reached 10 goal contributions, with seven goals and three assists, in his ninth MLS appearance with Orlando City SC. Griezmann also recorded eight goal contributions over his last five matches and surpassed Nani for the most goal contributions in his first nine MLS matches with Orlando City SC.
Griffin Dorsey recorded his third secondary assist of the campaign across all competitions. Martín Ojeda posted his second assist of the campaign and his 44th all-time for Orlando City SC, while Robin Jansson recorded his third secondary assist of the year and his eighth all-time across all competitions for the club.
Interim head coach Martín Perelman made one change to the starting lineup from Orlando City SC’s previous match against San Diego FC, inserting Martín Ojeda into the starting XI. Adrián Marín missed the match with a thigh injury, while Braian Ojeda was unavailable with a foot injury.
“I think, again, we’re in a process. We go into the last part of the season—the most stressful, beautiful and important moment of the season—and we’re ready to go. We will fight with our weapons and our organization, the talent of our players and the effort. I think it’s about this, game by game, trying to solve every game because every game we need to win,” Perelman said.
“We needed those three points, so pretty big win for the boys. I think we deserve it. Throughout the game, we played a good game. We controlled most of the ball except for the first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes, where we didn’t control the game, but I felt for the most part, we did control the game. So, a huge win for us on the road, especially a derby against Atlanta, so that’s what we needed moving forward,” Gerbet said.
Orlando City SC schedule
Orlando City SC will host Toronto FC at Inter.co Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match will air on Apple TV.
Orlando City SC will then travel to Ohio to face the Columbus Crew in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Sept. 16.
Source: Original report