Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Rob Valentino era, part two.
Atlanta United (4-8-4) are back following the international break a club reborn. No longer led by Gonzalo Pineda and his crew, and without services of all but officially transferred Giorgos Giakoumakis, the Five Stripes are taking their first steps into a new chapter tonight at home against the Houston Dynamo (6-6-4).
Even more are only temporarily absent, with Bartek Slisz, Saba Lobjanidze, and Luis Abram all representing their nations as this summer’s continental competitions kick off. Stian Gregersen is also still sidelined due to a hamstring injury sustained last match all the way back to the two week ago “before times” against Charlotte, giving Valentino even more selection headaches for his first match back at the helm as the interim manager. Speaking of “before times”, the last time these two sides met was on July 17th, 2019, where Atlanta piled on the goals at home after an early Victor Elis red card to win by a whopping 5-0 score. Wouldn’t that be nice?
While it’s hard to think the scoreboard tonight will be as dramatic, Ben Olsen’s Dynamo side sits a midtable seventh in the Western Conference, and holds a 1-2-2 record in their last five games. They won’t be missing as many due to international callups, and will feature 34 year old Mexican star midfielder Hector Herrera, who made last week’s Team of the Matchday in a 2-2 draw against Portland.
It’ll be a test of the mythical “new manager bump” for Rob Valentino’s Atlanta United, who seek to finally exorcise a home losing streak of five games with a result. After two weeks of preparation, we’ll find out tonight if the simplification strategy brings a payoff within the squad.
Kickoff from the Benz is set for your typical 7:40 PM ET start, with streaming coming from Apple TV with a subscription to MLS Season Pass. Radio coverage is provided in English on 92.9 The Game and in Spanish on La Mejor.
Before then, check out our match preview and predictions, then take your takes to the match thread in the comments below to discuss the pre, during, and post-match action as the newest chapter of Atlanta United’s history begins.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Houston Dynamo’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Saturday, June 15th; 7:40 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Apple TV (with MLS Season Pass Subscription)
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
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Man of the match – Mosqueras hamstring. It was nice to see Brennan
+1 …. Meh
Sarcastic thanks to all our DPs
Oh no almost Brennan. I hope that doesn’t hurt his confidence and instead just makes him determined
Has almada done anything at all? He’s not even completing passes
Is he hurt? He just got outran and he’s supposed to be really fast
Already saving his legs for thr Olympics I guess
This is why we shouldn’t time waste
Geez so deflating
Whose man was that? Looked lien 3 on 2 and Lennon had someone and Brennon had the outside
I think Lennon pinched in too much
Maybe, but no one else had the inside guy unless I just didn’t see it, so he had to. Someone was probably out of position
Looked to me like there was already a guy on 8. Lennon chose to double team him instead of hanging back. Dumb decision
Gotcha thanks
Why were we in away uniforms at home AGAIN?
well technically Atlanta is wearing their SECONDARY uniform but I think they are wearing it because it goes along with the Juneteenth theme
They’re wearing it to hopefully sell more jerseys.
Lennon has got to do better there. Great save by Guz
GUZ!!!
i guess Atlanta is going with a 4-3-3 formation to finish
There you go Wiley
Then a terrible pass… good dribbling though
We need some fresh legs, but we have nothing of quality on the bench…
Fortune will probably come on for McCarty, and I would not be surprised if Hernandez comes on for Wiley or Lennon
I’d love to see morales come on and do a formation change to a 5 back. Let Brennan cook up top
Holy carp, Dax… take the frigging shot!
Dumbass, good job Brennan baiting him into it
that was a crazy angle for a goal!
Silva has talent. Idk where he’s been
agreed, he just has the tendency to play hero ball in not necessary situations
Woooooo !
good to see Brennan consistently making plays
WOAH ON APPLE THEY JUST SHOWED A STAT THAT THIARE HAS SCORED THE SAME AMOUNT OF GOALS THIS SEASON AS ALMADA
Almada has done jack shit all year. That’s why we’re getting zero offers for him
So after the Inter Maimi game, I was talking about how we should go back to the old ways of playing like 2018: Defensive resolve and then quick counters. While I think this could work against some opponents, I don’t think it would work against all.
Instead, I think that the players need to have more freedom. i.e Brooks tucking inside. The players have so much flare. We need to play like that again with combinations. When Xande and Thiago and Tristan and those type of players get close together in tight spaces and do quick 1 touch passes with quick movements, it’s so nice to watch and creates great chances.
It still seems like several times we get a turnover in the midfield and instead of turning up field we still play all the way back to “restart” the possession. Problem is we don’t seem to have an offensive plan playing out of the back. Long ball 50/50s seem to be where most of our chances come from
Man, I feel like someone kept writing articles telling us that Luke Brennan was the real deal. No idea who that could have been.
Glad to see Escobar still knows how to score. I’d still gladly have him on our roster
McCarty falling into the sweeper role looks a lot better for the team formation
Escobar yellow. Classic Atlanta United.
yelling at the ref after picking up the yellow does not put you in good graces either hahaha
Credit to DR for netting the equalizer but we look so much more threatening with Thiare on the pitch.
The commentators mentioned a training knock for Thiare
Just cutting through our midfield.
I like this Brennan fellow.
Wiley is getting his ass handed to him
I do not understand how he’s a national team contender
he has mainly played the LW spot with u23 then LB, and his defense has always been pretty rough
Well that makes sense than. Thanks
Agreed. Have never understood it
there we go. on the board
Holy crap is Brennan killing it.
Yea he really is
Its almost laughable how poor Mosquera has been in comparison.
Brennan looking good from the start
Good luck Luke
Stupid way to get a yellow.
Why is Mosquera starting?
who else do we have to play RW
Me
looking forward to seeing another fan get tasered by security at a sporting event in a single week…hahaha
I can’t land the backflip though
cartwheel or a somersault is acceptable
Sounds like whistle douche is back in the supporters section
What’s going on with our defense? Whose responsibility for the holes
VslentinoOut
I mean they should have scored like 3 times already.
I wonder why Rios is getting the start instead of Thiare
My thought exactly.
Right?!
Announcers said he got a knock in training.
We’ll be lucky if we can even field a team here in a few weeks
“Our defense is terrified cause our club is on fire. NA-NA NA-NA NA-NA NA-NA!”
Debating whether to make the trek with the fam to see the game – prices of tickets don’t seem to match the performance of the team. My son is only interested bc of hot pretzels and I am interested because he can have 3 and it costs me less than ten dollars
Super positive article here about Rob Valentino, written by our former broadcaster and current MLS Season Pass commentator Kevin Egan. Atlanta is 2nd on his list of 3 must watch teams.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/360-view-three-must-watch-teams-at-the-season-s-midway-point
Rob has gotten it done before. If somebody is going to turn things around it could well be him to do it and he could do it as early as tonight. Also, Rob isn’t Tata Martino, so Ben Olsen’s inexplicable ownership of Tata and Atlanta United may be about to change. Could be a good one to go to tonight.
Your son is one smart kid. The pretzels with the spicy mustard (cheese dip is also good) is one of the very best concessions available at MBS in my opinion.
sold mine several weeks back and actually for a decent price (not a good price, just a decent one). i had no interest in leaving my family on father’s day weekend in order to watch what i expect to be a lackluster performance all around. prove me wrong guys!! please!!
saving my energy for thursday’s argentina match. i’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. messi is my all-time favorite player, and this will be the first time i will actually see him live.