Atlanta United must solve road woes to regain place among MLS elite

Atlanta United players have made it known that they want Mercedes-Benz Stadium to be a fortress.

And, more often than not, it has been. The 2024 season has seen them go perfect in their first three home matches with a combined scoreline of 9-1, including back-to-back clean sheets.

“Anytime we play (at home), three points are the only way,” defender Noah Cobb said after Atlanta’s 3-0 win over Chicago Fire FC on Sunday. “Especially at home with the support that we had (during the game), we felt it from the very beginning. We were full of confidence and that came from the message throughout the week.”

Message received so far in 2024. But what about away from home? That’s a different story.

Consider this: Atlanta picked up 51 points in 2023, with their record at Mercedes-Benz Stadium a respectable 10W-3L-4D (34 points). Away from the Benz, they earned 17 points (3W-6L-8D). Just two more away wins would have put them in a Top 4 spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs and landed them a pair of home games in Round One, where they would certainly have fancied their chances to move on.

That’s not to say there weren’t frustrating results at home (see: a 3-1 loss to Charlotte FC, a 1-1 draw against Toronto FC, and a 2-1 loss to Orlando City). But those games put added pressure on Atlanta to recapture those lost points on the road, which they weren’t able to fully do.

Going back a year, in 2022, Atlanta finished with 40 points, good for an 11th-place finish in the East. While their home record wasn’t as good as 2023’s, it was still decent (8W-4L-5D; 29 points). Away from home? Just 2W-10L-5D (11 points), with just 4 teams finishing with fewer away points. With that year’s 7th-place team, Orlando City, ending the year with 48 points, three more away wins would have put Atlanta in the postseason.

Taking a wider lens view, Atlanta’s away wins total in their first three seasons were 4, 10, and 6. They’ve finished with 4 or fewer in each of the subsequent seasons (not counting 2 in the COVID year of 2020). But why is that? Is it coaching? Mentality? The energy of away fans? Sometimes it’s simply coming up against a better team, as we saw against Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup.

That takes us to Saturday’s match at NYCFC at Citi Field. Atlanta have come up empty twice away from home in 2024, first against the defending MLS Cup champions and then with reduced ranks in Toronto. They’ll come into Queens missing half of its attack (Giorgos Giakoumakis and Xande Silva were both ruled out by Pineda on Thursday) plus Stian Gregersen as he continues to recover from meniscus surgery.

Meanwhile, NYC have been slow out the gate this season: Maxi Moralez and Talles Magno are out due to injury, they’ve won only once this season, and the team has totaled just 4 goals and an xG of 7.31 in 6 matches. They’re hoping Costa Rican international winger Alonso Martínez comes good after very limited action in 2023 following his arrival from sister club Lommel in Belgium. Meanwhile, Matt Freese has backstopped a defense that’s allowed 3 goals in as many matches.

Does this present a get-right-away-from-home opportunity for the Five Stripes? Even if it’s not, and even with the absence of their star striker on Saturday, Atlanta has to find a way to stack wins on the road this season. If they can’t, a team looking to fill its trophy case may struggle to do just that.