Matchday 4: ATL v POR, 3/18/23

Araujo again thisngame. Scored now in two straight..

 

My Apple feed is behind..

Almada, this time from the run of play...

 

We looked like the better team from start to finish tonight. Vamos Atlanta!

 

Just got home. Two thoughts.

Almada...JFC. Had a perfect angle on the first goal. It's just like Miggy....enjoy him while you can folks, cause he ain't staying long.

Otherwise, certainly enjoyed myself, but I'm not going to go all in on belief just yet. Do this against a good team, and you've got me.

 

Almada won't be here long, but he's no Miggy just yet. He's scoring more like Kratz than Almiron atm, from set pieces more than run of play. But we have scoring from five different guys over four games, which IMO is even more important going forward.

Bruh, you keep saying this like you're responding to some perceived wave of excitement. I don't think anyone is all in on belief yet. All we can ask is that they get the points we think they're supposed to get. They've done this. Asking them to beat a good team 5-1 is folly. They're not gonna do this to a good team enough for it to matter*, and it shouldn't be expected. But I do feel good about the next match. We should get a draw in Columbus next weekend (they're winless in their last two, going draw/loss. I'd favor us at home). I will consider it a good month even if we lose, but a point would make it a great month. All three points would be a fantastic month.

*we got beat bad by Chicago a few times when we were good and they weren't, so it can happen. But it doesn't prove anything.

 

Getting a point in Columbus with all the players that will be out would be fantastic!

 

This is really the first time we've had a run of games with an uninjured first-choice roster since the beginning of last season. And we finally look like we have some real options at multiple positions on the field (partially because we had to bring in starters to replace injuries last year). I think there is a wave of excitement around the team right now. We need to capitalize on it and win some more games. A 1-0 result on the road with the A- team next week would go a long ways toward that.

We are beating bad teams, yes. But over the last couple of games, we've actually looked like a good team. If Araujo could hit a target, we'd have scored about three more goals in both games.

 

Almada's free kick made SportsCenter Top Ten. I am going to miss him, so I'll just enjoy while he is here.

 

Wait, how many are gonna be out?

 

Miles Robinson
Giorgos Giakoumakis
Thiago Almada
Machop Chol
Ronald Hernandez

Hopefully they will back for the Red Bulls and Greg Berhalter sends Miles home in on piece.

 

Oh, that's right, international stuff. Just hoping nobody gets hurt...

 

Beating bad teams badly. 5-1 against any MLS team is a beat down. 3 points in Columbus with the B-team is what we need. 1 point is okay.

 

ATM I'd put Thiago as a better shooter than Miggy, with Miggy a better runner with the ball. About even on passing. But just like Miggy he won't be here longer than two years (if that); and, will probably command a larger transfer fee as well.

You obviously don't listen to the radio guys, and I'm seeing plenty of articles and tweets commenting on how Atlanta is "back". Like I said, I'm not there yet, they haven't beaten a good team, but I'm certainly more optimistic than I was a month ago.

 

Hell, I'm hoping we have him for all of THIS season. Folks are acting like he's gone in the summer window, which might happen. In that case, all we'd get out of him is profit, which MLS won't allow us to put back into the club like we should.

Ignore the FB loonies. They get excited easily.

You're right- I haven't heard the radio guys at all this year. Might be just me, but US radio soccer guys sound a bit too much like hockey guys.

 

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in the summer. There's a few factors. I know the plan was always to move him on, but I don't know if we wants to go now or would be willing to wait until the winter. He just won a World Cup. That was on the bench, but is he that interested to win a championship as the star for a MLS club? Does he keep this form up?

And it depends on where Atlanta is at. If they're mid-table it's a little more palatable. If they're still in or near the top? There's always a number where you can't say no, but I imagine what that number is depends on Atlanta's position. If Atlanta is looking like a cup contender, what's the number where the club can turn to it's fans and say "it was just too good to turn down" and the fans won't go crazy?

 

I'm not sure that number's in the realistic ballpark of Almada's worth. In that situation, emotional fans are gonna want more than the buying club is offering. And --let's face it-- they know we can invest only so much in the roster, so the rest of the money we'd get isn't going to mean much. It would be the most disappointing thing in United's short history if he left halfway thru a season where we were looking like we could win it all.

 

This team is in the business of buying young prospects from South America and flipping them for a profit. It worked with Almiron and Pity, it didn't pan out with Barco. It appears to be working with Almada. I'm OK with it. At some point, I'd like to have MLS raise the salary cap enough to make it worthwhile for the blue-collar players currently striving in Europe to come to MLS. That's when MLS will compete on the world stage for eyeballs and top players. Almada wants to go to Europe not because Atlanta United can't afford to pay him (we can), but because that's where the best competition is. MLS teams can mostly afford the prices of top players as DPs. The rest of the salary budget, though, limits their ability to buy the other 10 dudes on the field.

On a side note, Pity Martinez now plays on the same team as Cristiano Ronaldo, so maybe that sale to Saudi Arabia wasn't the worst thing in the world for him.

 

It didn't work with Pity either, we just managed to unload him.

I want the damn cap eliminated. Can we please stop Americanizing the game, and allow those Americans who understand it as it is to enjoy it for what it is? And can we do this before the rest of the world starts to take our suggestions and ruin the game globally because we're such an infuencer? In 15 years, if we're not careful, a REAL league will have playoffs and a cap.

I don't know how much longer I can stand what this country does to the game.

 

I'm not sure I want another league where it's just the Yankees or Dodgers who have a chance of winning. I like the unpredictably parity brings. Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga again for the 10th time in a row? *yawn*

Besides, after what happened to the NASL, MLS ain't about to make those same mistakes again.

 

It's far better than a league where everybody wins every once in a while (but there are no super clubs, no perennial contenders, no standout clubs) because the clubs that are willing to invest in the roster are prevented from doing so by shitty rules. If MLS had gotten rid of the training wheels, they'd have some REAL CCL titlists by now instead of one-and-done-Sheattle.

The problem in England and Germany is deadbeat owners. Actually, I don't see a problem. We're Atlanta. We can share this league with the four or five other clubs that care enough to invest in the roster, and the rest --the deadbeat clubs-- casn go to hell where they belong when they're not being cannon fodder for us. If you don't have enough money to compete perennially, don't buy a club. Simple. Or be honest with your fans and tell them that your club sucks. Don't fool them into thinking they have something special in a club whose owners won't spend. And for real, don't hinder the ambition of your fellow league opponents just because you ain't got no hopes in your head.

What happened to the NASL is this country wasn't mature enough for the game at the time. Sadly, based on reading about folks being happy about playoffs and salary caps, that may still be the truth.

You don't bring the same calibre gun out of your bedroom that you think the burglar is holding just to keep things fair. You bring a bigger gun if you own one.

 

It will be another 2-3 TV deals down the road before that happens. The cap is good for now. The NFL and NBA didn't grow overnight, it took DECADES to get where they are. Be realistic. Slow growth is fine. We have an exciting league with really good players to enjoy.