Antoine Griezmann Brace Sinks Atlanta United as Orlando City Win Rivalry Clash 3-2

Antoine Griezmann is not easing into MLS so much as speedrunning it. The Frenchman scored twice at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday night, and Orlando City SC beat Atlanta United 3-2 in a rivalry game that was never quite as close as the final score suggests.

Iván Angulo added the go-ahead goal, Orlando controlled the ball for long stretches and the Lions' lead survived a late Atlanta push that only produced a stoppage-time own goal. According to the AP, it was Griezmann's fourth consecutive game with a goal, and he now has six goals in that span. The guy is not here for a vacation.

Atlanta Strikes First, Sort Of

Atlanta started on the front foot. Tomás Jacob blazed a shot high in the fifth minute, and two minutes later the hosts worked a corner routine that ended in the net. Paulo Díaz nodded the ball down to Breel Embolo, making his home debut, and Embolo's effort from the right side of the six-yard box went in off David Brekalo for an own goal. 1-0 Atlanta, and the building was rocking.

Orlando answered by camping in the Atlanta half. Martín Ojeda had two looks saved by Lucas Hoyos in the 14th and 19th minutes, and Griffin Dorsey somehow sent a close-range chance high and wide in the 19th as well. At the other end, Maxime Crépeau tipped an Embolo shot from the right side of the box in the 22nd minute, his only save of the night.

The equalizer was pure poacher. In the 26th minute Joran Gerbet slipped down the right and sent a low cross toward the near post, and Griezmann beat his defender to it and finished left-footed from a tight angle on the right side of the six-yard box. It was 1-1 at the break, with Brekalo picking up a yellow card in the 42nd minute for good measure.

Second-Half Swing: VAR Says Yes

Both coaches made a halftime change. Orlando interim head coach Martín Perelman sent on Zakaria Taifi for Dorsey, while Atlanta boss Tata Martino replaced Jay Fortune with Adrian Gill. Atlanta's club site said Fortune, starting for the first time since July 17 after injury, was pulled to protect his legs.

The go-ahead goal came in the 58th minute. Robin Jansson lofted a ball forward, Ojeda collected it and squared for Angulo, who finished from the center of the box. The goal was initially flagged offside, according to Atlanta's site, but stood after a VAR review. 2-1 Orlando.

The Turning Point: Hoyos Saves Twice, Griezmann Doesn't Care

Atlanta pushed after falling behind. Luke Brennan came on for Tristan Muyumba in the 64th minute and headed wide from a Jacob cross six minutes later, and Jacob earned a yellow card in the 67th. Orlando reshuffled too, sending on Tyrese Spicer, Marco Pasalic and Wilder Cartagena between the 71st and 74th minutes.

Then the game flipped for good. In the 75th minute Hoyos made back-to-back saves on Griezmann and Spicer to keep Atlanta within one. Two minutes later Griezmann pounced on a turnover in the final third, played a one-two with Justin Ellis and slid a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner from the center of the box. 3-1. That is the gap between a good keeper performance and an elite finisher: Hoyos won the battle, Griezmann won the war.

Martino emptied the bench with a triple change in the 78th minute, introducing Fafà Picault, Enea Mihaj and Sérgio Santos. Santos missed from the right side of the six-yard box in the 89th, and the fourth official put up seven minutes of added time. In the seventh of those minutes, Mihaj powered a header across goal off a corner and it deflected in off Spicer. It was Atlanta's second own-goal gift of the night and the last kick that mattered.

Star Power

Antoine Griezmann took three shots, put all three on target and scored twice. Per the AP and Orlando's match notes, he now has 10 goal contributions (seven goals, three assists) in his first nine MLS appearances, and the club says that surpasses former Lions forward Nani for the most in a player's first nine MLS matches with Orlando. That is a historic pace by any reasonable measure.

Martín Ojeda was the busiest attacker on the field with five shots, two on target, plus the assist on Angulo's winner. Orlando says it was his 44th assist for the club across all competitions, three shy of Mauricio Pereyra's club record.

Lucas Hoyos made four saves and kept Atlanta in it longer than it had any right to be. He just could not be everywhere.

Joran Gerbet set up the equalizer, his first assist of the season across all competitions, and spoke for the visiting locker room afterward.

"We needed those three points, so pretty big win for the boys. I think we deserve it," Gerbet told Orlando's site.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Orlando held 59.5 percent of the ball and completed 579 passes to Atlanta's 377.
• Shots on target: Orlando 7, Atlanta 2. Atlanta outshot Orlando 15 to 14, but only two of those attempts tested Crépeau.
• Own goals: Both Atlanta goals were credited to Orlando players, Brekalo and Spicer.
• Saves: Hoyos made four, Crépeau one.
• Offside: Atlanta were flagged six times to Orlando's three.

What It Means

Orlando improve to 9-4-11 with 31 points and are unbeaten in four straight league matches, and the club says the win lifted the Lions to sixth in the Eastern Conference with 10 games left. They host Toronto FC on Saturday before a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal at the Columbus Crew on Sept. 16. The two clubs had drawn 1-1 in Orlando on May 16.

Atlanta drop to 6-4-14 with 22 points and are winless in three after a home loss to Charlotte FC and a draw at Inter Miami CF. They head to D.C. United on Saturday, a matchup Atlanta's own site framed as a meeting with another team still chasing the playoffs.

Closing Take

Atlanta scored twice and did not register a goal of their own, which feels like the soccer equivalent of winning a group project grade because your partner did all the work. Orlando, meanwhile, have a forward who looks like the final boss of the Eastern Conference.

"I think, again, we're in a process," Perelman said. If this is the process, the rest of the East should be nervous.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and club notes as reported by orlandocitysc.com; additional notes from atlutd.com and the AP recap via ESPN.