Atlanta United vs Toronto FC Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta Wednesday, August 18, 7:00 PM Bally Sports Southeast MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com United home page here. ATLUTD.com preview here. Toronto preview here. Player Availability Atlanta OUT: Emerson Hyndman (torn ACL) OUT: Mo Adams (left quad) QUESTIONABLE: Jake Mulraney (lower body) QUESTIONABLE: Franco Ibarra (lower body) Toronto OUT: Ayo Akinola (torn ACL) OUT: Tsubasa Endoh (lower body) OUT: Jozy Altidore (lower body) OUT: Ralph Priso (lower body) QUESTIONABLE: Dom Dwyer (lower body) QUESTIONABLE: Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (undisclosed)
Depending on when you read this... Happy Humpday, everybody! Stripes fans will be looking to continue their celebratory feelings of late as the Reds roll into Atlanta. A few weeks ago this was identified as the first match where Atlanta would be the favorite in 10, but even that was feeling iffy. But Atlanta is playing with more joy and verve and creating chances as a result, and with the home crowd in support they're now a clear favorite over an enigmatic Toronto franchise that appears adrift without Coach Vanney. Toronto still has some talent, but it's an older side (Bradley is 34, Gonzalez is 30) that's barely seen Altidore. Still, they have scored more goals than Atlanta and it truly has been a team effort - Johnathan Osorio leads the team in scoring with 4, while 14(!) other Reds have also found the back of the net. Their new star is Venezuelan national player Yeferson Soteldo, a midfielder whose presence has relieved some of the ball handling load of Alejandro Pozeulo. Alas, national team duties and fitness issues have limited their time together, so the team's chemistry has been off and the Reds actually average fewer shots per match than Atlanta. (Playing their first several "home" games in Florida surely didn't help, and neither did their now ex new coach, Chris Armas.) Most importantly, their defence has shipped 40 goals in 19 matches. Fun stat for today: Toronto has only held one opponent scoreless - Columbus, way back in mid May! Atlanta will be keen to both keep up their (comparably speaking) high-flying attack and try to put Toronto away early. The Reds look likely to be without either of their first-choice strikers and are starting to play like they know the playoffs are out of reach. But look for Atlanta to also try to maintain possession, both to keep Toronto on the back foot but also to control the pace and not get burned out playing so soon after Sunday's scorcher vs. LAFC. Luiz Araujo IS cleared to play, but it remains to be seen if he'll start, and if he does it's possible he's subbed early as he's still getting used to the team, city, etc. Lennon also might be good to start both for fresh legs and due to his looking more productive than Hernandez on Sunday. His crosses will seem an appealing opportunity for Josef against such a porous defense. Stripes are wearing white tomorrow, so if they win that will be three in a row and each one in a different jersey. That's a cool enough reason for karma to help us out, no? Stripes explode for 3 goals and 3 pts. Hump day drinks all around.
Our new gaffer won't take charge until Saturday so Rob Valentino can pick up 3 more points at the helm. Thankfully we don't have to wait for Luiz Araujo to take the pitch any longer.
Has he played a game since Ligue 1 ended? If not, we certainly shouldn't expect him to be 90-minute match fit yet.
Even if he was 90 minutes fit, I still wouldn't expect him for 90 minutes on the pitch. I would expect him as a second-half sub. Toronto hasn't really had a ton of trouble scoring. They've had trouble keeping the ball out of their own net. We've had trouble scoring, but have had pretty decent defense. Now that we're figuring out how to be dangerous on offense, I like our chances tonight. Josef gets another one, and so does somebody else. Toronto gets a goal, and we win 2-1. We've got fifteen games to make up five points in the standings. I like our chances, especially if we get 3 tonight. For the morale of the team, this one is a must-win.
Agreed with all of this. Put the way you did in the bolded, it does seem more doable. But it's not quite that simple, IMO. At this point in the season, it's probably best to assume that both Montreal and Columbus (they're in the same hunt we're in, and they're in a better place than we are) are who they've been all this time. We're the wild card, so to speak, with a new manager and a new player coming in. But if C'Bus and Montreal don't drop in form, we're going to need an average of about 1.75 ppg to pass them both. Nobody in the East is playing 1.75+ ball but the Revs. NYC half-acre pitch FC is close. We have a roster that can match or beat anybody in the league, and we seem to have turned the corner. But we've just dug too deep a hole IMO to reach the 2021 postseason.
HT: 1-0 Barco with a deflected shot around the 21' mark. He's been a real spark tonight. Lot of guys from both teams walking it, today. Bello looks gassed. Toronto not playing a strongest lineup and it shows. They're the weakest team I've seen this far. A couple of decent runs forward but they have no A-grade ball handlers in the middle. Feel sad for Bradley, tho. Dude still getting booed mercilessly. Araujo looking dynamic, but a bit lost, which is to be expected.
Note that Toronto has some weapons to bring off the bench. Important that Atlanta either gets the next goal.
FT: 1-0 Atlanta makes Barco's goal hold up, but for the second match in a row the team played sloppy and conservative in the 2nd half. Some of that understandable once TFC brought in their horses, and for all our rose-colored glass right now Atlanta is still a flawed side. It will take time for all the attacking players to figure things out. Guzan another outstanding match, and Barco was solid, as well. Josef and Moreno had some good cracks but the former looked very frustrated and they both looked tired. On the whole I'd say it's 3 pts earned but not a strong piece of evidence this is a playoff team. Hopefully the all-star break will give Pineda time to start some improvements, but kudos to Valentino for getting results where Glass could not.
We are three points shy of the playoff line right now, with fourteen games to make up the difference. And we play DC next week, who is one of the teams on 27. That will be a tough game on the road on short rest; I'd be happy with just one point. DC will also be on short rest, and coming off a loss, so I think we will have at least a puncher's chance to take all three. I fully believe that our roster is better than our table position right now. If we continue to play with heart, we will continue to win games we shouldn't win. Seven of our remaining games are against teams currently lower on the table than us. Three more are against DC and Montreal, who are only ahead of us by 3 points. If everybody else maintains what they've done so far, we now need 1.57 points per game, which eight teams in the league have done so far this season. It's a tall order, no doubt, but certainly not insurmountable.
The good news is we play a number of those teams just above us, with many of those games at home. So those will be 6 pointers that can really salvage the season.
Agree with pretty much all of this. I'll add, being in the stands last night, I tried to watch a lot of Araujo's off the ball movement. I liked what I saw, especially considering he's barely trained with his teammates. Also, absolutely loved Josef's audacious scorpion attempt. Ball was behind him so that was about all he could try, and it wasn't a bad try. Loved even more the smile/laugh he had when it didn't come off. He looks like he's enjoying his football again.
Well, I have to say I didn't expect the East table to begin to turn in our favor so quickly. Three points back of the last spot is better than six points behind it AND behind another club chasing it. I'll gladly eat a crow sandwich if we reach the playoffs, but right now you can still color me cautious. That said, we're level on points with Columbus and ahead on GD. Why does the MLS site have us below them in the standings?
True, but he was also visibly agitated (and understandingly so) at some of the play in those last 20 minutes. Runs not being made, passes not being offered. The fact he was exasperated so often there, and having seen the same of Guzan and the defense throughout, made me think there were a lot of breakdowns on offer. Hopefully that's all down to the quick turnaround between matches plus a new player starting rather than some bona fide incompetence or coaching deficiency, or else that could bode ill for future matches. But as we said, 3 points when not at your best is still a good thing.
Jesus. They even Mickey D'd the tiebreakers. Is there nothing Americans can't destroy? I despise this league almost as much as I love this club.
Okay, this was over the top. Apologies to any who might have been offended. @GunnerJacket, if you can delete that post, please do. That said, there is absolutely no reason for a fledgling league to go rogue with tiebreakers in this fashion. There's a level of arrogance here that defies belief.
Is win-loss record not the normal tiebreaker? To my (admittedly American) mind, it seems like the tiebreakers should be: 1. Head-to-head matchups 2. Win-loss record 3. Goal differential 4. Goals for (or against) 5. Hopefully we never get this far down the list
Apparently not. In the case of Atlanta v Columbus it wouldn't matter was we split our head-to-head matches.