Atlanta United vs. D.C. United Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta October 24 – 4:00 PM ET Fox Sports Southeast AJC.com United page here. MLSsoccer.com preview here. ATLUTD.com preview here. DCU preview here. Notes: - Castillo is the only expected absence from Atlanta's roster - DCU will be without several players, notably Paul Arriola and Junior Moreno - Apparently Barco's injury that caused his lengthy spell on IR was a knock/strain on his left(?) quad.
Atlanta currently sits 11th in the East, just outside of the playoffs. Making the playoffs would be a tall order in that the Stripes only have 4 games left and two of them are on the road against Orlando and Columbus, teams that are fighting for the upper ends of playoff seeding in hopes of making a deep post-season run. If Atlanta wins their home matches vs DCU and FCC 4 they'd end up with 25 points. Looking at the teams around Atlanta in the table: Montreal visits CFG:NY today, then has home matches against Nashville and Orlando and a road date with DCU. Just winning the match vs DCU puts them at 26 points. Nashville has home dates with Chicago and FCD sandwiched between road trips to Montreal and Orlando. Nash City has lost only once in their last 8 matches, so even just 3 points from their last 4 would mean they'd sit on 28 points. Chicago hosts RB:NY, then has road trips to Philly, Nashville, and Minnesota before closing out at home to CFG:NY. It's not entirely impossible to think they lose all of those but they've also only lost once in their past 6. Assuming they lose at Philly I don't see them getting more than 3 points from their last 3, leaving them on 23 points. Miami, just behind Atlanta, hosts Orlando before finishing at FCD, at Toronto, and home to FCC. 4 points is within reach from that list, putting Miami on 23 points. So from a layman's perspective the best shot for Atlanta to make the post-season would be to get at least 25 points by winning their 2 home matches and hope Chicago and Miami drop enough points to finish behind the Stripes. Atlanta would be happier if they could nick 2 or 3 more points combined from their matches with Orlando and Columbus.
I mention the playoffs because earlier this week Interim Coach Glass was speaking on 92.9 FM and offering that as the team comes together and players get healthy they're actively talking about making the post-season and, as he put it, being a "tough out" once in there. Given how they looked last week against the current front runner for the (now on the offering) Supporters' Shield it's not beyond reason to suspect an Atlanta United with Moreno, Damm, and Barco could win a 1-off match against most teams in the East. Do I think they could win the Cup? Doubtful, but a playoff appearance (and especially a possible win) would do a lot for morale and show a good sign of the team picking themselves up from the basement lows we felt weeks ago. It would speak to the impact of new players and the evolution of others, and the learning of which players on which not to rely. Which brings us to today. DCU comes in after amazingly enough recording a win last week, albeit against FCC. Those teams are currently the bottom 2 in the league. DC's 2 goals in each of their past 2 games means their offense registers about the same at Atlanta's for the year, though they're still heavily reliant on players like Kamara and Asad for their attack which means their creativity shouldn't look much better than when these teams last met. More importantly, DCU's weakness remains their defense, which is 3rd worst in the league for goals surrendered. If Moreno, Damm, and Barco ever wanted to have an impact on the offensive end today would be the day. Suffice to say today should be a day full of optimism for the team, which will no doubt be feeling how much they'll want to put on a show for whatever crowd shows up at the Benz today. (Yours truly was among those who told the team from the first day I'd sit this season out as I've an elderly father I'm tending.) Plus if things go their way elsewhere the notion of Atlanta remaining a playoff team will have merit that could inspire them this season and beyond. 3-0 to the good today.
I hate to say it, but I think DC will start to turn this thing around, and they'll use us to do it. 2-1 bad guys... @GunnerJacket do you have any idea about why the FO would stay mum about a quad injury for so long?
Lineup today: - Torres up front - Barco, Moreno, and Damm right behind - Rossetto and Adams as the deep midfielders - Bello, Robinson, Meza, and Lennon as the back 4
If so they'll have to do it with a weaker roster than Atlanta's, which you can't say about a lot of MLS sides. Atlanta's attacking midfielders should be the 3 best players on the pitch. @GunnerJacket do you have any idea about why the FO would stay mum about a quad injury for so long?[/QUOTE]Their line was that if the nature of the injury was public then Barco, already the most fouled player in the league before he went down, would be targeted by opposing defenders. I'm assuming there was more to it but am not going to fret over it.
I'm tired of hearing the 92.9 guys refer to Guzan's throws as "football passes". Every pass he makes is a football pass. These guys need to leave their gridiron culture at home when they show up for United games.
22' and so far it's mostly Atlanta but struggling to receive the ball for a clean shot. Lot of crosses in but mostly shorter players.
Overall Atlanta with more possession and opportunities but only 2(?) shots on goal. One of Rossetto and Adams is retreating too deep because Atlanta should be getting more numbers forward against an otherwise toothless DCU. Torres is also getting lost as strikers go. If he had Jahn's height his positioning would be fine, but I can't imagine the team strategy is to look for headers by Cubo. He needs to spend more time making diagonal runs or look to draw away defenders.
65' 0-0 Atlanta not making the best choices with their passes and struggling to get numbers forward. We need a a sub to see if we can bring in Hyndman and/or Gallagher.
77' 0-1 DCU use a set piece to bumble a header into the net. Miles caught on the wrong side of the attacker. Just abysmal marking.
FT: 2-1 Great run by Paredes to feed Rivas when all the Atlanta defenders had just retreated to cover space instead of players.
Setting aside what this meant in terms of conference standings the main takeaway today is how poorly they played compared to last week. Whereas against Toronto the one touch passes were connecting today sooooo many passes went lacking. That combined with DC's play made Atlanta pause in their attack, and it stifled the Stripes' momentum. I'm not hip on the idea of Moreno as a paired striker. I know he came back today but he should have played even deeper and kept centrally. He also should have another creative ball handler with him (Hyndman) so that they have more options in building an attack. Not sure what to make of Barco. Have a guest in need of attention. Will offer more later.
I can't say- I haven't actually seen us since I was at the Nashville game. It's all been radio. I feel like I should be sitting in a chair in front of a big wooden box like they did back in the day with baseball. 2021 can't get here soon enough.