Atlanta United vs FC Cincy Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta Wednesday, Sept. 15, 7:00 PM Bally Sports Southeast MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com United home page here. ATLUTD.com preview here. Cincy preview here. Player Availability Atlanta OUT: Emerson Hyndman (torn ACL) OUT: Franco Ibarra (lower body) OUT: Ronald Hernandez (heath & safety protocol) OUT: Amar Sejdic (muscle) OUT: Santiago Sosa (card accumulation) Cincy OUT: Maikel van der Werff (sports hernia) QUESTIONABLE: Chris Duvall (health & safety protocols) QUESTIONABLE: Kenneth Vermeer (health & safety protocols) QUESTIONABLE: Joe Gyau (achilles)
Oldest kid has a football game for which to cheer, and the rest of the family has church, so with two chauffers required at home I will be unable to make it to the game. Luckily a friend of mine is a missionary and somehow does not have church tomorrow night, so my seats will be filled -- with the Holy Spirit, yes, but also with footy fans. I will have to find a way to listen to the game on my phone while operating my pediatric rideshare service.
I'm beginning to wonder about this whole "lower body" thing myself. Did Ibarra get kneecapped in a bar someplace, or what?
Tonya Harding is an Orlando fan. Toronto got absolutely hosed by the referee last night to give Miami the win. Multiple huge calls, and all of them went Miami's way. Including a clear goal for Toronto that wasn't given. The goal-line tech used in the Premier League seems pretty simple and nobody over there appears to complain about it. Why don't we have that? Anyway, so Miami's ahead of us on points now. Here's hoping Orlando draws against Montreal, Chicago pulls off the road win against DC, and Atlanta takes care of business against Cincinnati. Regardless of other results, though, Atlanta really needs all three points against the cellar-dwellers.
If Toyna Harding is involved don't rule out a broken penis... or as they call it in Orlando, the upper kneecap clap. Our schedule is kind. We just need to keep playing well and win at home. Hup, Atlanta, Vamos!
Because it's still incredibly expensive and MLS owners clearly don't see the ROI. They already spend an insane amount on VAR. It's easy to say that when you're not cutting the checks.
Your nods for the night: Robinson, Campbell, Franco Lennon, Mulraney, Rossetto, Moreno, Barco, Araujo Martinez
25 mins to kickoff and the venue is, comparably speaking, a ghost town. On track for our lowest crowd in MLS matches. Grrr.
HT: 2-0 Araujo opens his Atlanta account with a goal of the week candidate, picking up the ball with back to the goal about 40 yds out, spins and outraced three defenders to slot a left footed shot into the upper left corner. Just all class. Josef gets the 2nd around the 40' mark after Franco beautifully volleys an incoming cross back across the goal. Between then it was a morass of Atlanta playing down to the level of their competition. They really should get at least 4 tonight, but Cincy had 2 high quality chances.
Listening to soccer on the radio... Conti is good. I always thought he was a football guy. (he probably is but he loves the beautiful game)
4-0 is a kick in the nutz; Check Cincinnati's injury report next week. Lots of lower body injuries (broken dicks).
FT: 4-0 A deserved win over and overmatched opponent. 2nd half was much more a story of Atlanta in control. 3rd goal came from a cheeky and smooth move by Josef, who received the ball on the left channel, starter to his left, pulled it back on the outside left of the box, and slotted it into the opposite lower corner THROUGH two defenders. That was a strikers goal. 4th came off a free kick earned by Barco, who took the shot as he was pushing hard all night to get in on the goal scoring action. Almost too hard at some points. The biggest difference for Atlanta right now is their success in managing the midfield. They're not bossing it, but they're no afraid of anyone (as evidence by the volume of 1-touch pass attempts) and they're working harder to win the ball because they have confidence in their ability to do something in transition. Even without Sosa, as both Rossetto and Mulraney moved well to get open for passes and look for cutting players. Araujo is also a game changer. His speed, directness of his attacks, and his decisions with the ball are too class for this league. If he keeps this up he has league MVP potential. And when he's playing it makes Lennon a bigger threat from the wing, because defenses have to collapse on the Brazilian.
Sub notes: Pineda used the full 5 knowing we have a match again on Saturday, so Josef, Lennon, Araujo, Mulraney, and Rossetto came off. Adams came on and did fair but picked up a stupid yellow. Bello looked really good in attack but will catch an earful from Barco and Josef about once when he shot instead of crossing. Damm came on for Lennon and absolutely summed up his career by receiving a ball in the middle, beating 2 defenders, and then passing on an open shot. The most WTF moment I can recall this season.
The 10-year-old, watching on my phone in the truck while waiting for his sister to get done with cheer: "You gotta shoot that!!!" Damm really shoulda shot that. Our midfield didn't look great in the first half, better in the second. But the overall attitude of the team was phenomenal. We gave them no respect whatsoever; looked like 2018 out there. WE ARE ABOVE THE PLAYOFF LINE!!! (Miami and Philly have a game in hand, though.) I'm currently listening to Pineda's press conference and man is this guy impressive. Listening to deBoer was always painful, possibly because of his accent. But deBoer always seemed so detached from the team. Heinze only spoke Spanish, and whoever was translating for him wasn't terribly awesome, so I missed a lot of what he actually said. I never watched Martino. But Pineda clearly has the pulse of the team, is calling out specific players on our team and the other team for stuff happening off the ball. He's also doing my #1 favorite coach press conference thing: "I didn't do anything. The players did it all. My assistant coaches did a fabulous job. The training staff worked wonders this week. That one time Franco almost assisted Cincinnati's goal, that was all my fault as the coach; I should have planned for that. My bad there. I put him in a bad position." Everything good that happens is the team. Everything bad that happens is the coach. Basic leadership 101. If we don't make the playoffs, it'll be because they canceled them. That's how well this team is clicking right now.
Also, I really like that our attacking foursome is BAMM (Barco, Araujo, Martinez, Moreno). The announcers said it at some point during the second half.
God, please don't let that become a thing. Somebody will go Flintstones --it'll just take one time-- and it'll be ruined forever.