ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Guzan had a shutout in his return to Major League Soccer, Hector Villalba scored in the 86th minute and Atlanta United beat Orlando City 1-0 on Friday night in the clubs' first meeting.
Expansion Atlanta (10-7-3) has won four straight games and five of its last six. Orlando (8-8-5) has just one win in its last eight home matches.
Villalba controlled a throw-in from Greg Garza, took two touches in space and sent a shot from distance into the upper-right corner for his ninth goal of the season.
Guzan, a former English Premier League player, started in his first MLS game since 2008.
"More important than coming back into the league, it was important to go on the road and find a way to get a result," Guzan said. "Road wins for us haven't been the easiest to come by. So for us to come to a place like Orlando where we know they're a good team and take all three points is a good feeling. I knew I've been coming here for a few months now, so to finally be here and have the opportunity to go out on the pitch and play with these guys in a real game -- yeah, it's easy to say we.”
Guzan came up with two quality saves on set pieces. He dove to his right to get a hand on Jonathan Spector's header in the 39th minute and saved another header from Spector in the 63rd.
Orlando City's best scoring chance came in the 91st minute on Will Johnson's breakaway shot that sailed over the crossbar. Cyle Larin, who played 56 minutes for Canada on Thursday night in the Gold Cup, entered in the 72nd minute.
“We didn't manage the game well at the end of the game. I think that’s when we needed to have control of the possession most in this game and we weren’t able to do it," Atlanta United Head Coach Tata Martino aid. "We allowed them to get some good chances on goal so I think that’s something we need to work on, managing the last couple of minutes.”
