Charleston Battery, we meet again.
The Magic of the Cup continues tonight in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina as Atlanta United is back for more knockout action in the historic domestic tournament’s Round of 16. The Five Stripes advanced in their introduction to the 109th U.S. Open Cup last round, a 3-0 victory over third division USL League One side Charlotte Independence.
Two weeks ago, a Nick Firmino brace and a Daniel Rios add-on all in the second half brought Atlanta their only victory in any competition since the end of March. The winless run in league play has brought United down to 12th in the Eastern Conference, currently sitting on the outside of the playoff picture. In the Open Cup, though, they sit just four wins away from lifting a trophy and earning a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup. If you weren’t already, it might be time to take this one seriously.
The Charleston Battery certainly will be. The Battery are flying high above the USL Championship as it stands, posting an 8-0-3 record and outscoring their league opponents by a combined 26-7. Last round, the Battery advanced in a thriller at Patriots Point, dodging a Cupset bid by South Georgia Tormenta in the literal last second of a single minute of stoppage time at the end of extra time as forward MD Myers completed a hat trick in the 121st minute to push Charleston to a 3-2 win, along with the right to host Atlanta United in their home stadium tonight.
Charleston also claims the Championship’s leading goalscorer, Nick Markanich, with 12 goals across 11 matches so far. Keep an eye out as well for a feature from former Atlanta United Homegrown Jackson Conway, who signed with the team at the beginning of the year, and for Charleston’s honorary captain for the match (but not playing), Ozzie Alonso. It will certainly be the toughest test Atlanta has ever gotten from their former club partner in now their fourth meeting all time in this tournament. The Five Stripes have claimed victory in each of the previous three, consistently scoring three times in their matchups in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET from Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in Mount Pleasant, just across the bridge from Charleston proper. The match will stream along with all other Open cup matches on U.S. Soccer’s website, through an unlisted YouTube stream. Radio coverage will be provided for the match on 92.9 The Game.
Before then, be sure to check out our match preview and predictions for all the match information you’ll need. As always, head down to the comments below as your match thread to discuss the action as Atlanta and Charleston compete for a spot in the Open Cup Quarterfinals.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Charleston Battery’s Lineup:
TBA
How to Watch:
Venue: Patriots Point Soccer Stadium, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Kickoff Time: Tuesday, May 21st; 7:00 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: YouTube, USSoccer.com
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game
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Well I think there are Pineda sympathizers who think we have bigger issues than just the manager spot, but Im not sure there are any Pineda lovers left.
That aside, I cant help but wonder who made the final call on the roster. I cant envision that he really thought we didnt need Saba, Silva, Fortune, and Wiley to even make the trip.
I understand not bringing GG or Almada at this stage (even if they were fully fit), but knowing that we’d have Firmino and our backup strikers, and then starting Mosquera, Brennan, Gordon, and Edwards, it just feels like we were asking to lose by not having a little more firepower on the bench. Especially when we played some better guys in the first round against a worse team.
And for all the things that can be said about Pineda, I cant think he’d be comfortable leaving that much talent at home.
Who knows.
Im not saying Boca is secretly choosing starting 11s behind the scenes. Im just saying something is not adding up and I wish there was more transparency to the fans. I feel last night was borderline disrespectful to the fans.
I guess what Im saying is that it feels to me like the club wants to have its cake and eat it too.
If I was in Boca’s shoes, Im sure Id be meeting with Pineda to get a sense of where he wanted to go with the USOC roster. So for the front office to have chosen to be in this tournament, I would have expected the FO to maybe say “we need a little more oomph than that.”
But again, who knows.
I’d guess the guys who did not make the trip were tired and/or had minor knocks – aside from Almada and GG, who we know are injured.
I doubt it was anything more than that.
Even with our backup GK, GK is still MOTM
Didn’t watch the game, but logged in for the PKs. To have a former bench forward (we traded) score a PK, one of our starting XI miss a PK, and our back-up GK get two ‘key saves’ that Guzan wouldn’t have, just about sums up this whole season thus far.
Lol the truth hurts
Guzan has been much better than I expected him to be, but idk if he stops any of those PKs.
GYOOOOOOT DAYUM. Cohen with back to back saves for the WIIIIN
Easy. Never in doubt.
Can’t believe we won after Lennon started us off with a miss.
pretty embarrassing PK attempt tbh. Let’s all remember to not let him take another one please
HOLY CRAP! Cohen is the MVP of this match…onto the next round
this Charleston turf is terrible…consistently players slipping and sliding…
I am soooo bored.
Score a goal you muppets!!!!
With Stian, Lennon, Rios, and Slizs as the only outfield players with first team experience off the bench, I would not expect a second half offensive outburst.
well Lennon came on to play as the RW, so maybe we will get some better crosses
Thiarre really should have got that in.
How many of our starting XI would start for Charleston?
Fun question. Heres my thoughts.
Definitely:
Cohen, Abram
Probably:
MCcarty, Thiare, Hernandez
Maybe:
Mosquera, Firmino
Probably not:
Morales, Edwards, Gordon, Brennan
If I knew more about their roster, I might switch the probablies and the maybes.
Great save from Cohen.
Where the hell is this game online/streaming? There’s nothing on the MLS or ATLUTD or USSoccer YT channels.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rkbbEIojjOk?si=Rm-grJHGxtZbejSy
the YouTube link is unlisted, so you have to click on the link to actually watch it on youtube
So it’s impossible to stream on the TV?
If your tv supports casting, you should be able to cast from your phone. You probably can’t open from youtube app on your tv though.
if you are able to, you could open it on your phone or chrome browser and then cast it on your tv
Got that to work, but the feed was a minute behind and I have Conti/Longshore on the radio.
The laptop will have to do.
Just FYI – While MLS does cover the tournament, and the similar Canadian Championship for our friends in Canada, since it’s not an MLS competition, all they will ever do is let you know the date and time of the match but not how to watch it.
ESPN+ covered the USOC really well for a few years but those days are gone. As far as I know, nobody has the TV rights any more.
that is an interesting starting line up…
Yeah. That’s not the lineup of a manager who fears for his job if he loses.