Atlanta United vs LA Galaxy Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta Saturday, May 9 7:30 PM Apple TV MLS Match Preview AJC's United coverage ATLUTD.com Soccer with Doug Substack Galaxy home page Player Availability No suspensions. Injury reports here. Team Form ATL (3-1-7) ATL 3-1 MTL TFC 1-2 ATL ATL 1-2 NER LAG (3-4-4) LAG 1-1 VAN LAG 2-1 RSL CLB 2-1 LAG ~ Blessedly for Atlanta, Rici Puig is still out. I wish him an ongoing healthy recovery, but competitively it's obviously better for Atlanta he won't be available. Still, the Galaxy have sharpened their potency from last year. Marco Reus has bedded in nicely, Gabriel Pec is still playing well, and Jao Klauss (5 goals) is proving an able starter up top. They look more composed, and though still lacking the raw talent of their cross city-rivals, the Galaxy have shown this season they intend to fight for a decent playoff berth. Their issue is defense, which has at times looked very much like last season. For Atlanta, it seems Tata is getting closer to knowing his best XI and, most importantly, how to make them work more effectively as a unit. Still not a cohesive XI, but last week we saw (at times, anyway) better overall transition play, truly more effective pressing, and players making passes and runs that implied they knew what they were doing. More of this, please! Vamos, Atlanta, and Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! (Miss you, mom!)
Berrocal starts in place of Mihaj, but otherwise the same as last week starting, I believe. Saba and Lath ahead of Alexey. Galarza, Muyumba and Sanchez in the middle. Baez, Jacob, and Gregersen join Berrocal in the back. No Miggy on the bench.
Didn't realize it but Klaus is out for LA, and Reus starts on the bench tonight. So, that's at least something going for Atlanta.
Berrocal! ...but the ref is going to take it back. No foul on the play, the ref just didn't like the fact that we scored, apparently.
Mike and Longshoe didn't like the call, but Doug said by the letter of the law it was the right call. But there's a lot worse that usually doesn't get called in those situations, especially for the attacking team, so it's hard to accept it.
Brennan and Togashi on for Latte Lath and Lobjanidze. I like both of those subs. I couldn't tell who it was, but somebody had a nifty little nutmeg on the sideline that led to Fortune's goal.
Berrocal... man, I don't even know what he was doing on that play. The defending on this team is just abysmal.
That second Galaxy goal was not Hoyos' fault, but man watching him slowly get back to his feet after his initial save was painful. He's got to be the most un-athletic goalkeeper in the league. This guy has got to go.
90th minute, and we're playing it backwards at the midfield stripe. Once Saba came out, all forward momentum stopped entirely.