It’s generally thought that having a good and talented roster leads to a good and talented team which leads to the good things we all know and enjoy. Y’know like… winning. If we build a roster full of talented players for our starting lineup, what could we possibly have to worry about on a week to week basis? Oh, dear reader, if only it were that simple. Welcome to Major League Soccer.
Atlanta United are out five starters from last weekend’s win against Orlando City as they head up to Toronto. Only one, Stian Gregersen, is missing through injury. The rest, including a couple more who appeared on the bench, have proven themselves to be so good that they were called to represent their country during the international window. Atlanta, meanwhile, still has to travel and play in Toronto, all without those key players. Even Inter Miami and the New York Red Bulls agree that this is dumb, unsuccessfully requesting to postpone the match. Such is life for MLS teams with international stars.
Rants and tirades accomplish nothing at this point, unfortunately. Neither do flashbacks to last year’s 6-1 defeat in Columbus under similar circumstances. So instead, we’ll treat ourselves this evening to a higher stakes test of depth for the Five Stripes as they hit the road for just the second time this season. We should see the center back pairing of Derrick Williams and Noah Cobb take on Italian stars Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, as well as more time for guys like Dax McCarty and Jamal Thiare, at least. Atlanta United will still have the services of Saba Lobjanidze, Xande Silva, and Brooks Lennon to inspire attacks in the absence of Giakoumakis and Almada as well.
Result wise? Whatever happens, happens. Take it with an Olympic pool-sized grain of salt, in my opinion. Unless Atlanta wins. Then we’re going all the way, baby.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM ET, with actual kickoff approximately ten minutes later. As per usual, the match is available through Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass, which also has a month long free trial deal going on. Thanks, Messi. Radio coverage is provided in English on STAR 94.1 and in Spanish on La Mejor.
Before kickoff rolls around this evening, be sure to check out our match preview and predictions for all the match prep you need. Afterwards, come on down to the comment section below to let it all out… however it goes.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Toronto FC’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario
Kickoff Time: Saturday, March 23th; 7:40 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Apple TV (with MLS Season Pass subscription), Free Trial
Available Radio: STAR 94.1, 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.
Positives: Cobb played pretty well, as did Brad – he’s why it wasn’t 4-0. Silva made a difference as a sub. Saba just missed twice. Over 100 comments on the game thread.
Negatives: Hernandez was poor. Firmino was invisible. We had very few scoring opportunities without Almada and Giorgos. We did not adapt well to the cold weather.
Honestly. I’m not going to read too much into this. We’re basically playing our b team against a full strength squad. Lennon and Saba were able to create adequate chances, but without a solid target man like Giako, it didn’t matter much. But I am encouraged we were able to make diagonal chances without Almada, and our defense looked solid considering we’re missing 2/3 of our best CBs.
Uhm, I agree with you, but Toronto wasn’t full strength either. Osorio didn’t come in until 2nd half, they were missing their starting 8, Johnson, Laryea, I think one of their preferred CBs. Their losses weren’t nearly as impactful as ours, given that they still had their two best players, but I’d say it was like a TFC 7+4 or so vs our 5+6.
Sure, but they had their 2 best DPs. I’d rather have Almada and Giako than half our team of starters honestly, it’s just how MLS is
No handshake from the Toronto coach. Pineda was waiting, the guy never walked over at all.
Hernandez just made up for a lot of earlier sins.
I’d forgive him more if he had completely defended that instead of putting off Bernadeschi to make a shot off to the side.
He stopped Toronto from scoring on a 2 v 1 break. I thought he did great to stop them no matter how he did it, I don’t care about style points.
I mean sure? My point is he still had to rely on guzan to make a good save, though at least he didn’t leave guzan to make a great save. If he had at least cleared it for a corner I would’ve given him full points, and bonus points if he had regained possession.
Cobb has been decent, which is good because we have no idea how long Gregerson might be out.
Agreed. I thought he played well.
Thoughts on the night:
1) Not sure what the reasoning was, but Xande has to start. Especially when we are missing so many regular starters.
2) Firmino didn’t show up like we needed him to. Dax wasn’t amazing in possession, but I think Firmino was far too absent in the middle and never gave any outlet.
3) Hernandez is bad.
4) winning on the road is hard.
I hope Firmino improves, because he is the obvious replacement when Almada is away
Not so obvious based on what he showed tonight.
Not saying whether I agree on the reasoning or not, but a guess I would make is that the idea was to be more sound defensively, maybe steal a goal with a high press, and save Xande for when Toronto has gotten a bit tired.
He has come off at 60’ every game so far this season. Either GP really rates Wolf, or Xande is a limited minutes kinda guy. Wish we had seen him and Saba together from the top.
For us:
5) getting a good shot on goal on the road is hard.
Hernandez has a tendency to just kick the ball without a purpose, and it gives up possession.
We are playing like we are trying to limit the goal differential. Where is our urgency to get forward?
Playing against a stiff breeze making it hard to pass long
Does it also stop us from passing forward short or dribbling forward?
The excuse on the radio is it’s so cold they can’t control the ball. They did admit that Toronto is dealing with the conditions far better than we are.
is TFC 47 even wearing any shin guards?
Let’s see how the new #19 does
What is going on with Hernandez’s positioning?
He’s been horrible. Can McFadden not play LB?
I think the question is if he would be any more solid defensively. It might be out the frying pan into the fire sort of situation.
In the past, I have thought Hernandez has been good defensively and lacking offensively. Tonight he has been very disappointing.
Agreed. also, McFadden’s history is more offensive, so it’s reasonable to believe that it would make that side even worse defensively.
Not sure it could get much worse than Hernandez has been tonight.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but it is something to consider
It’s a shame he wasn’t called up
Rough outing for firmino. Our play out of the back has been poor without Almada dropping into spaces.
Felt that coming.
Hernandez is crazy bad.
Wonder if this is the coldest game he’s ever played in before.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit
Hernandez is the weak link on this defense right now
And he just demonstrated it again.
I think I’d actually like to see Xande as backup CAM sometime. I’ve noticed he’ll drift central to receive the ball and distribute very well.
Best offensive work of the game. Stared by Xande.
Starting to feel like we could get something out of this game. Xande making a huge difference.
agh, getting closer
Xande making a difference offensively immediately
wow. Toronto is out of subs. In the 62nd minute.
Radio is saying Toronto and AU both have 1 remaining due to the concussion removal of O’Neil.
Thanks.
Silva in for Wolfe
Brad’s playing pretty well again.
I agree.
Now get Fortune in.
Fortune is out on Int’l duty
Fortune is on international duty with Trinidad and Tobega.
Thx—my bad. Well, crap.
Maybe MacFadden for Hernandez? He’s looking rough.
I approached this game with this mentality – we are missing 5-6 of our starters. If we win, it would be incredible. If we steal a point with a draw, it will be a good result. If we lose, but only by 1 goal, this is the most likely expectation. If we lose by 2 or more, we probably made some key mistakes somewhere (collectively and/or individually).
For me, that makes it easier to watch and digest the game.
The only thing that has made me more optimistic is how many players TFC is missing to injury, but yeah
What a cross from Lennon, and a decent header by Thiare but not quite good enough
Tough chance. He was well defended and the ball was looping in.
I feel sorry for all of TFC’s injuries. I still want to beat them handily, especially since we’re missing so much to int’l duty, but I hope most of them get better before their next game.
Insigne off injured? :eyes:
I would like to see Wolfe move into Firmino’s CAM role, take off Firmino and put in Silva at LM. This game might have been a bit too much too early for Firmino to start.
Wolff tends to really struggle at CAM. I would like to see Silva on though
I don’t think Wolfe could struggle more than Firmino has. Is that even possible?
McCarty is struggling. Hate to see that and hope he comes around. Firmino, Thiare, and Herbandz not really impressing and/or have been invisible. But we’re playing with intensity and had some chances. Good to see the competitive spirit.
I’ve barely heard Firmino’s or Thiare’s name on the radio broadcast, which isn’t a good sign. We are playing into a stiff breeze for the 2nd half.
Somewhat fortunate to only be down 1-0, but we are in the game.
Firmino has been pretty invisible. Thiare has been getting a lot of balls, but he’s get a lot of stiff competition from air balls, so he doesn’t win it often. When he does he’s often immediately laying it off to someone else.
Firmino is looking a little slow compared to everyone else, unfortunately. Saba has been ok when he gets on ball, but he’s not getting on ball enough.
Agree Firmino has been a step behind most of the night.
Insigne has a critical injury to his central nervous “I need to get every call” system
Who was it that went down in the box? was that bernadeschi?
yes
Looks like he’s actually out. Non-contact.
Limped off the pitch.
Radio says he’s almost certainly out.
k, that was definitely all just diving
We’re doing ok, but it’s very obvious that we’re missing all 3 DPs and most starters vs a team that still has their best players. Bern and Insigne are just running around like semi-pros in a rec match. Not really a solution that I can think of either.
I think it woul help if our regular starters would pass the ball to their teammates and not the players in red so often.
Gregersen might’ve made that tackle.
Giakoumakis might’ve made some of those shots on target.
Depending on how Almada was feeling, he might’ve made some decent distributions that Firmino hasn’t made. At the very least he would’ve drawn attention away from other players.
Good reflex save by Guzan. Look like Insigne would’ve been off though.
Brad got an incredible reflex save, processed it after, and got a hug out of it too from a Toronto player lmao
GREAT save by Guzan!
We are getting worse instead of better.
Nice header by Williams, just need to keep getting shots on goal
Great free kick from Lennon, that’s why he’s one of the best assisters in the league
Weak-butt header from Williams though. Oh well.
Whelp…giveaways lead to goals.
That goal started with Williams’ extremely poor pass that went straight to TFC. The whole team was ot of shape from then on.
Welp. it was coming, we weren’t winning our 1v1s and getting pulled out of shape. regroup and start rebuilding possession so we can make some dangerous plays again.
Might have been a concussion for O’Neil. If so, the sub doesn’t count against the 5, but AU gets an extra sub too.
We need one or two of our regular starters to step up and take over, particularly when we are in possession. Saba has been poor IMO, except for his one shot. Muyumba has mishit several passes.
About time Long got called
O’Neill going into the lockercroom. It looked pretty innocuous.
Radio broadcast is speculating a finger to the eye.
It seemed eye related on the TV as well, though the commentators didn’t speculate one way or the other.
TFC going with a bit of dark arts here between ONeill and Long.
Edit: I stand corrected, apparently ONeill really had something happen if he’s going into the lockers. Hopefully everything is ok.
This is Long vs Thiare is going to be a thing this whole game
No foul against Long on Thiare? Radio guys are sure it was.
Long got away with another one.
That should’ve been a foul, Long extended the arm. He knows how to make it look like he didn’t though.
Wolfe making some things happen, being aggressive. Saba just missed on his cross, per the radio.
That was insanely close to a GOTW from Saba
It does seem we’re doing more of a high press. I would say that’s a better strength of Wolff
Surprised, a little, that Silva is not starting.
Oh wow, I had glanced over the graphic and missed that it was Wolff instead of Xande. I wonder why. More defensive maybe?
Ain’t no way this lineup is correct on google; I highly doubt this formation is correct. Firmino would be the CAM, Wolff would be a winger, and Dax would be a DM right?
Ok linking images is whack on here it seems, but google shows Dax at striker, Wolff at CAM, and Firmino in a double pivot.
I am pretty sure we will play it as you describe.
Wolfe is on the left wing.
Our starting lineup does not look too bad! i am pleasantly surprised. And we have defensive spine mostly intact, with Guzan. Williams, and Muyumba
It looked like MIA started everyone they usually start except Messi. No excuses. Has Tata ever beaten NYRB?
Yes, Tata actually has beaten NYRB. I know of 2 times.
2018 MLS Cup playoffs where Atlanta won at home in the 1st leg of a 2 leg series, 3-0.
Aug. 26 last year – I looked it up – Miami won 2-0 at NYRB. Messi played and Tata was the manager.
MLS scheduling is the worst. How can MLS be even considered a top league, when all the rest of the top leagues take “FIFA international weeks off?
I guess they like to showcase the depth of top-level talent the league has. You can do that when you’re so awesome as a league that you don’t need to have your best product on the pitch. /sarc
The alternative is to play more on Wednesdays. Why don’t they do that? It’s because fans don’t come to the matches. I’ve seen Wednesday night matches where many thousands of season ticket holders eat their tickets and make no attempt to go and there is little demand on the resell market for their tickets, so they don’t get sold. You want to convince MLS to play more Wednesday matches instead of having to play during FIFA calendar events, then frankly fans need to go in person to the stadiums.