It’s that time of year again. Major League Soccer’s two southeastern franchises will meet for the first time in 2018 on Sunday as Atlanta United travels south to take on Orlando City. The three matches between these two sides during Atlanta’s expansion season were tightly contested affairs. United led for just four minutes total over the three games but still managed to walk away with five of the nine available points.
Both teams have spent a good deal of money inside and outside the league trying to build on last year, trading millions in allocation money and spending millions in South America — which means this season’s showdowns have even more weight to them.