Orlando City SC hosts Atlanta United FC in the first of back-to-back matchups with just one point separating the two teams in the standings.

FINAL: @ATLUTD 1, @OrlandoCitySC 0. Villalba's golazo in the 86th minute sealed it for ATL. Spector had 2 great headers.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90'+: Perhaps City's final chance is squandered there on Toia's cross that flies wide right.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90'+: Sutter with another cross. It's a great look, but Guzan snatches it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90'+: Ball into the box to Larin, but Guzan gets a fist on it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90'+: Johnson bounces off defender, takes a shot from the right part of ATL's box. It goes high. He holds his face in hands.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90': SUBSTITUTION. Luis Gil comes on for Higuita.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

90': Higuita draws the foul about 10 yards outside the top of the box. Kaka, Rivas hovering.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

89': SUBSTITUTION. Former Lion Mikey Ambrose comes on for Villalba.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

88′: SUBSTITUTION. Laryea comes on for Nocerino, going more on the offensive.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

87′: Kaka gets it near the top-left part of the box and tries to curl it in. Almost, but Guzan is there.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

86′: GOAL. Villalba sends in a golazo past Bendik about 10 yards outside the top of the box.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

85′: Bendik dove to his right to save the curled shot. He’s having an excellent game.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

85′: Shot into the box hits Bendik square in the mitts.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

80′: YELLOW. Atlanta’s captain Michael Parkhurst is given the yellow for his foul on Rivas. Rivas drew 4 fouls in 1st half.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

79′: 🚀 Rivas said, “Screw it,” and unloaded a pretty decent shot from ~15 yards outside the box. It went high (duh).#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

78′: SUBSTITUTION. Chris McCann comes on for Yamil Asad.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

75′: Injured player for Atlanta. Both teams huddle up around. Higuita has to be held back by Bendik.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

74′: Kaka finds Higuita down the right again, and the shot goes wide left again.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

73′: Higuita finds space down the right, inside the box, and sends a shot across the face of the net. Goes wide left.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

72′: @CyleLarin comes on to thunderous applause. The crowd is behind that man.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

70′: @CyleLarin is about to enter the game. Larin played just last night, nearly 24 hours ago.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

70′: Bendik sees a clean shot by the recent sub Vazquez. The near-post shot is saved by Bendik.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

67′: YELLOW. Gressel gets a yellow on his way out for not getting off quickly enough. 😂#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

66′: SUBSTITUTION. Brandon Vazquez on for Julian Gressel.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

Keep it up 🤓 pic.twitter.com/Jp9POHzSuZ — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) July 22, 2017

63′: WOW. Spector gets his head on it AGAIN. This time off the cross from Kaka. Guzan, AGAIN, makes a diving save.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

63′: Barnes gets taken down near the right sideline. Set piece coming.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

61′: Ensuing free kick goes high. Not a bad effort, though.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

Crowd shows no mercy with a chant that is akin to 1 of Ludacris’ hits.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

59′: YELLOW. Johnson is booked on the attempted clear. He kicks the attacker instead of the ball.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

58′: Bendik comes way off his line to stop the threat. Corner from left coming for ATL.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

57′: Rivas takes it himself down the left. His low cross is cut off.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

55′: Ball is crossed into the box. Johnson almost gets to it, but it’s cleared. Toia tries to volley it; way wide right.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

53′: @Jtbendik‘s GOT HANDS! He goes up to gather the cross with 1 hand!#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

51′: Hector Villalba is NOT happy about something. He has some words and a few shoves for Spector, Toia.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

50′: Atlanta lays it off, but an Orlando City player is taken to the ground. Higuita has some choice words on the way back.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

48′: We’re back. (Computer is slow. Or Internet?) Aja fouls JUST outside the box. This is dangerous.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

I’m convinced the stadium plays “Don’t Stop Believin'” only because they know every drunk fan will sing…#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 22, 2017

HALFTIME: @OrlandoCitySC 0, @ATLUTD 0. Spector’s header in the 39th minute was best chance at a score for City.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

45′: Bendik is greeted by “Bendik! Bendik! Bendik!” chants afterward for 2nd time tonight.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

45′: Atlanta’s offense gets past Spector first, and ball is then centered for a shot on goal. Bendik gets the save.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

44′: Barnes gets a head on it, and it goes just high, but he’s called for the push anyway.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

43′: Another nutmeg, this time by Kaka. Kaka takes the corner from the left.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

42′: Corner from right for City. Rivas taking it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

41′: Some defensive miscues by City. Nearly a clean shot on goal, but Spector slides in. Then another to Bendik’s feet.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

39′: Rivas sends in the cross to Spector, and Guzan dives to his right to make the save. WOW.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

37′: Offside call saves the day in the 1-on-1 situation, but Bendik makes the save anyway.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

36′: WOW. What a 🚀 by Rivas. Kaka had the great through ball. Went straight to Guzan.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

35′: Cross into City’s box is deflected by Spector, but it goes straight to Bendik. That was dangerous.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

31′: Kaka gets it down the left side again and crosses it into Rivas low, but it’s cleared. Higuita back in, cleared again.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

30′: Rivas gets taken down near the right sideline, but no call is made.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

30′: Rivas gets tangled up. Free kick for City coming from about 15 yards past midfield.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

27′: 2-man game b/w Barnes, Kaka. Kaka to Barnes first, who ALMOST gets it back to the Captain.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

26′: Another corner from right coming after first was headed out.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

25′: Sutter started the effort with a volleyed cross into the box to Barnes.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

25′: Corner from right for Orlando. Rivas will take it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

23′: Low ball hit to Bendik, who doesn’t gather it cleanly. Spector is there, and Bendik falls on it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

22′: Johnson finds Aja’s head, who hits it high and right.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

21′: Corner from left for City after Spector sent it down the line to Toia, who got tripped up. Johnson will take it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

20′: @KAKA showing these young bloods who’s still king. Takes it down the middle, gets bumped; eventually cleared.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

19′: Rivas fouled close to right sideline. Johnson gives him some advice. Kaka, Rivas hovering.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

17′ | Kaká with a class run up the pitch from City’s half and feeds a trailing Barnes. His shot curls just wide…. 0-0 | #ORLvATL pic.twitter.com/cMpeyXO2Rz — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) July 21, 2017

17′: Kaka takes it literally the length of the field, lays it off to an open Barnes, who shoots it JUST wide right.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

16′: Corner from right coming after Toia stops the effort down the right.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

15′: Toia gets nutmegged, and it’s eventually deflected out. Perhaps best chance for ATL so far.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

13′: Cross into the box finds the head of an ATL player who fouled Spector. Went straight to Bendik, anyway.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

12′: Johnson pleads to the ref, “Why didn’t you call the foul on Rivas earlier?”#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

12′: Nocerino fouls about 20 yards outside the top of City’s box.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

10′: Nocerino flies in for the inside-the-box defense, deflecting it off the ATL player for the goal kick.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

7′: Offside called for ATL. Toia knew it.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

6′: YELLOW. Kaka gets the first yellow of the game.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

6′: Rivas to Kaka, but it’s cleared. Kaka then goes for late tackle, gets booked.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

3′: Bendik comes off his line to stop a potential goal effort. 2 ATL players around him.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

2′: Rivas is found down the right, but it ends in a goal kick.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

1′ Cross from the right for ATL goes high into the stands.#ORLvATL #MLS — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

6:55 p.m.

I’ve made it. Here are your starting lineups.

With Larin gone, Barnes, Rivas start up top in this very important game for both sides.#ORLvATL #MLS https://t.co/TWJFG56WEd — New Day Review (@NewDayReview) July 21, 2017

ICYMI: Your starting XI to face @OrlandoCitySC with Martinez out for the evening. pic.twitter.com/VN1VnqbmWv — Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) July 21, 2017

2:55 p.m.

In case anyone’s interested, I just finished a story on the Pride’s Camila Martins Pereira and Chioma Ubogagu. Both are having career seasons in their first year in Orlando, despite the latter having an injury setback midway through the year. You can read it here.

Now I’m gonna go play some basketball before it pours… (“Please no rain delay at the game tonight…”)

1:01 p.m.

Alright, I’m off to write an Orlando Pride story. I’ll be back when the game starts. If you have any questions, feel free to comment here, or you can tweet at me at @NDR_VictorTan or @NewDayReview.

See everyone at the stadium!

1:00 p.m.

Regarding trash talk between fans, Kreis said there needs to be a line.

Yeah, you know, it’s difficult for me to make a comment about that. I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about, but I do think that it needs to be said by people like me that there’s a line. And there should always be a line. And at the end of the day, this is a sport. This is not life or death. This is not war. So we need to treat it that way. We certainly give everything we can towards our jobs. There’s absolutely zero doubt about that, and often times I feel like I would give my life for the job, but the truth of the matter is I wouldn’t. And I hope that fans feel the same and can respect that.

12:59 p.m.

Kreis said during training this week that he felt the atmosphere in Orlando City Stadium has fallen off since the beginning of the season. Here’s the full quote.

Yeah, no doubt about it. We hope that our fans come early, and we hope that our fans are loud, and we hope that our fans are very supportive of us. My honest opinion would be that we have dropped off a little bit in that in the past couple games. Our last home match, in particular, from my point of view, the crowd was much diminished, and the atmosphere was a little diminished as well. And so I guess I would repeat an urgent request to the fans that we need you. You’re part of our family, and we need you there Friday night.

12:37 p.m.

July 19, 2017, marked the one-year anniversary since Kreis was announced as Orlando City’s new head coach. That came about two weeks after Adrian Heath was fired. Here’s what Kreis had to say about the milestone.

Pleased. Really pleased and happy, both in my job capacity as the head coach of this team as well as a community member of this city. Really, really pleased to be here. My family has adjusted extremely well. We all just couldn’t be happier with our lives outside of the job, and then inside of the job, it’s been really good. Has it been great? No. Would I have liked it to have been a little bit better? Yes, if we’re talking strictly about results. But I think that we still can say that we’re in a positive place. I think we still can say we believe the team has improved, and we still have a lot in front of us this year. We have a possibility. We have a job, a challenge in front of us, and we believe very strongly inside of our group that we can attain our goals.

12:18 p.m.

During the 16-day break between Toronto and Atlanta, the team got back to working on possession, among other focus points. Here’s Spector on the team’s training sessions.

It’s just given us more time to prepare. You know, we’ve had kind of a crazy schedule as of late, last couple of months, and there hasn’t been a lot of time in between games for, one, to recover, and, two, to prepare for the opposition. So we’ve had that this time around, and we should be well-rested and ready to go on Friday night. It’s a process. It’s not just been this past week. It’s certainly been a focus this past week, but, from preseason onwards, we’ve been focusing on keeping the ball and having good possession, not just in our half but more importantly in the opposition’s half. So, it’s a process, and, no, we’re not perfect yet. No team is. But it’s about limiting mistakes and making them defend for long stretches of the game. Yeah, I think it’s a mindset more than anything else. It’s gonna be down to focus and our concentration levels. You know, we know deep down what we’re good at, and we need to emphasize that and concentrate on doing those things that make us a good team.

11:58 a.m.

It’s been 16 days since Orlando City played its last game in a 3-1 loss to Toronto FC. Sebastian Giovinco did some stupid stuff in that game…

11:56 a.m.

In other non-soccer news (sort of), midfielder Antonio Nocerino is expecting his fourth child. Here’s his Instagram post announcing the child and his quote from training (in his own English words).

L’amore tra due persone permette di costruire la cosa più importante di questo mondo, LA FAMIGLIA. Ma chi davvero da un senso alla famiglia e alla vita sono i bambini , perché i bambini sono un dono di Dio e noi non smetteremo mai di ringraziare per questo bellissimo dono maschio o femmina che sia 🙏🏻. Noi ti aspettiamo ❤️ #4nocerini #13settimane A post shared by Antonio Nocerino 23 (@antonocerino) on Jul 18, 2017 at 6:16am PDT

Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m very happy because my family is happy, and my wife stay good. It’s important. I’m happy because of the son—it’s happy when you have the possibility for have the baby because the baby’s future is the life, and, in my house, I like whenever the baby because my baby is my life. I’m very happy. Thank you.

11:53 a.m.

And here’s Spector on playing in back-to-back games against the same team.

Yeah, not certainly this season [have I played in back-to-back games like this]. Obviously in the past I have, but it’s not been in the league. It’s always been maybe play ’em in the league and then in a cup competition or something like that. A lot of times there’s two completely different teams ’cause there’s a lot of changes made for those competitions. So, this is a little bit unique in that sense. But there’s still a week in between. It’s not as if it’s a mid-week game where we go and play them. So, it’s a unique situation, and certainly by the second game the teams will know each other very well.

After Friday’s home bout against Atlanta, City will travel to Atlanta just eight days later for the same matchup. Here’s what Kreis said about how his team prepares for back-to-back games against the same opponent.

[Back-to-back games] doesn’t at all [change how we prepare]. It doesn’t at all. We’re not holding anything back. We’re not thinking that we have any secrets that we’re gonna hold from them, and I’m pretty sure that they don’t have any secrets they’re gonna hold from us either. You know, we go into the first match. It’s our home match, and we go after three points. That’s our objective in every home match. We make no bones about it. And then we focus on the next match when we need to, which is after Friday night.

Been off social media all day. Looks like @ATLUTD bought a billboard ad in downtown Orlando ahead of Friday’s match. Photo: @JeremyReper pic.twitter.com/aGYejMBKN9 — Mike Gramajo (@byMikeGramajo) July 19, 2017

If you didn’t see it, Atlanta put up a billboard ad near downtown Orlando that said, “Orlando, we’re coming to conquer.” It has since been taken down. Anyway, I think center-back Jonathan Spector had a pretty good response to that.

Is this a rivalry? Orlando City SC head coach Jason Kreis doesn’t see it as one—not yet, at least. Here’s what he had to say about the upcoming matchup against Atlanta United FC tonight.

For every quote used here, check out our Notes & Quotes from this week in training.