There’s nothing like a good homecoming.
For Atlanta United, it’s the first time in nearly four months that the team has played a match in the city they call home, opting to spread their preseason matches out across the southeast. Now, it’s time to come home.
The Five Stripes (0-1-0) will welcome the New England Revolution (0-2-0) to the Benz this evening in front of a near capacity crowd of fans eager to see their side in full force for the home opener. Throw in a completely healthy roster on two weeks of rest against a Revs side with two losses to start the season while navigating Concacaf Champions Cup play in between and, at risk of jinxing myself here, things start to look tasty.
Either way, one of these two sides will come away with their first point(s) of the year, and if last year’s 3-3 draw at home against New England is anything to go by, things might get a little chaotic. The Revs exploded for four goals against Costa Rican side Alajuelense on Wednesday, and have DP striker Giacomo Vrioni (who admittedly hasn’t been stellar so far) back from red card suspension earned in Week One. Will they pose a threat to an Atlanta United side that can turn things up a notch on home turf?
Kickoff is scheduled for the typical 7:30 PM ET, with the actual match commencing ten minutes later as is standard these days. The match will stream on Apple TV as a part of MLS Season Pass, and be broadcast over radio in English on 92.9 The Game and in Spanish on La Mejor. Additionally, if you’ll be at the match itself, join Scarves and Spikes for a prematch live show at the Signia by Hilton (across the Home Depot Backyard from the Benz) from 5:30-6:45 at the Nest on Four sports bar!
Before kickoff rolls around this evening, be sure to check out our match preview and predicted lineups for all the match prep you need. Afterwards, come jump into the comment section below to discuss all the action around today’s match.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
New England Revolution’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Saturday, March 9th; 7:40 PM ET
Available Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (subscription required)
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
This thread will be your match thread. We don’t have many rules here. We just ask that you don’t insult each other personally and treat each other with respect. Debates can get heated and that’s fine, but name-calling and petty insults will get you banned. If you see a comment that you feel is out of line, please report it and it will be dealt with.
Listened to the game, couldn’t get on the threads during. Hope to see greater participation in the future; the comment section was hopping on the game threads last year, good or bad.
Impressions from the radio broadcast:
I don’t like leaving GG on after the hat trick. Thiare needs minutes and we know GG can be injury prone
Such an amazing goal from GG! Much better second half.
Super glad to see the goal from free play – great ball from Lennon and GG is clinical in the air. Ok – I can breath now 😉
Yea looking good now
Well #3 looked pretty damn good!!
Idk, I have a different take than everyone so far. After a couple shaky plays early on, we dominated, and just were missing the final high quality shots. I particularly liked how Slisz was just snuffing out every counter attack that came down the middle.
To me it seemed that the new turf is pretty slippery. Lots of balls bouncing further than expected, Saba completely fell that one time.
I think we were trying various passes all over. Towards the end, as NE got tired, we started unlocking them with simple switches.
Well it’s expected that we win. We’re looking good until we get close to goal.
That’s twice this ref didn’t play advantage. Why is there such a rush?
Why don’t soccer matches show slow motion on tv to see if the ref got it right?
Unless he was actually hurt, I wish he wouldn’t roll around. Just stand up and you’ve got a goal
Man… a two week preparation, and this is what we get!?! We look totally flat, discombobulated, and no true organization in the transitions as a team. I’ve been fairly neutral towards coach Pineda, but now that he has all the pieces to have a complete team, he has zero excuses left. Sadly, we actually look worse than last year at this point. That is all on the coach. This is beyond frustrating to watch. Sigh…
I still don’t understand what we’re trying to do tactic wise. In not an expert by any means but it just looks like backyard soccer except no one wants to shoot
I played soccer for almost 40 years, and I wish I could tell you… what I do know is that a 4-2-3-1 against a 4-3-3 is almost always going to result in having a man out of position in the midfield unless the defense overlaps perfectly. We aren’t doing that well, and when we lose possession in the midfield, NE is counterattacking quickly and taking advantage of us being out of position. Unless Pineda adjusts, this is going to come down to individual heroics or mistakes to decide the game.
This comment aged well
Well, considering that Pineda changed formations and two positional overlaps, I think it did… and I’m glad that he did. Though without the 2 handballs/penalty, this would be a 2-1 game. Better second half for sure. First half wasn’t good.
To me the first half was less “not good” and more “two week rusty.” They had some opportunities and weathered a few from NER, but I didn’t think it was bad.
Now, hopefully they get into more cadence with their schedule and can come out swinging like they did in the second half.
It seems like we still don’t have any speed. Isn’t that one of the best ways to win in MLS?
GG looking frustrated with the lack of service.
Story of his entire tenure here
Wow armada. Looking good on the dribble but not the shooting yet
Slisz and Muyumba are doing a good job controlling the midfield so far
New turf very green.
Very emerald-y
I’m here, looking forward to a good one!
Dang, I’m so rusty, when I went to my closet I couldn’t remember which was my original jersey and which was my 17s kit.
I can’t believe nobody comments here. We’ve lost a great resource, community.
The last matchday article had a lot of comments. Today will be busy too I expect. Except some posters will be at the game.
There’s usually a lot less for home games, many commenters go to the games
What they said, the home games, especially a fully open one, always have less commenters in these threads.
Last one was just as refreshing as it always is
On the MLS official website, Bradley Wright-Phillips has a LOT of really positive things to say about Tank. The whole article is about Tank. Well worth a read.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/giorgos-giakoumakis-atlanta-united-s-shark-is-the-definition-of-clinical