Guess what? It’s matchday again.
But not just any matchday… an Open Cup Quarterfinals matchday. Despite *gestures broadly*, Atlanta United sit only three wins away from lifting silverware and securing a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Kinda wild if you think about it.
Their obstacle to the Semifinals? USL Championship side Indy Eleven, who currently sit third in the Eastern Conference with a 9-3-5 record. Indy progressed past Chicago Fire II, San Antonio, and Detroit City to reach the Quarterfinal round, one of three lower league sides left of the eight remaining teams in the tournament. Indy Eleven boasts at least one name familiar to Atlanta faithful in striker Romario Williams, who joined the squad just last month as part of a transfer deal with Hartford Athletic.
The Five Stripes will look forward to this one as a way to wash the bad taste of Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Real Salt Lake out of their mouths and get a feel for winning back after dropping two results on the road last week. They’ll head back out to Montreal this upcoming weekend, so a brief reprieve to play in a somewhat familiar ground in Kennesaw will be welcome before a third straight away match in league play.
This match also presents the opportunity to see some of the more rotational squad players in action for Atlanta. Namely, we could see bigger shifts put in from guys like Luke Brennan and Nick Firmino, who haven’t seen a ton of minutes despite a lack of attacking variety in recent games from the squad. This could be a good chance for some of these players to earn a larger role before the hopeful reinforcements enter in the fast approaching transfer window.
Speaking of transfers, we could also be seeing the last of Caleb Wiley in an Atlanta United kit before he departs for the Olympic Games and amid reporting that a deal with Chelsea and a loan move to Strasbourg is soon to be made official.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET from Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, with streaming coverage of the U.S. Open Cup switching over to now be available for free on Apple TV under MLS Season Pass. Radio coverage will be provided for the match on 92.9 The Game.
As always, head down to the comments below as your match thread to discuss the Quarterfinal action at the Fraction as we see if Atlanta can make it to an open Cup semifinal for only the second time in club history.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Indy Eleven’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Tuesday, July 9th; 7:00 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Free on Apple TV
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game
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All I have is hope. All I need is hope. (And this team to score another goal)
Hooray !
The obligatory tease goal.
Assist from Brennan. No surprise there.
COME ON LES GO AND SAVE OUR FREAKING CRAP SEASON!!!!
Good team versus a bad team. Not really an upset.
“God save ATL”
“God save my gracious team!”
“Long live my once noble team”
“God save ATL”
They should make a show called “Soccer Nightmares” where someone like Pep Guardiola comes and changes the club for the better and helps them. We would be a good team for that hypothetical show…
I am just hate watching at this point
Gotta put that on frame. No surprise he did not.
Is this really the same club that took MLS by storm? We won MLS? Crazy.
Not even the same jerseys.
Nope. Just same (ish) uniforms.
That’s that
well GG boys, lets try running it back once we get the new transfers in and possibly a new coach at some point.
Hey we scored!
Passing back really does pay off !
That was soooo this season.
This is fucking embarrassing.
We just have a group of players with poor basic soccer fundamentals. This is pathetic. Just bad soccer. Some of the worst I’ve seen.
I’m done. Later
Rios for Saba. We are not serious about this game. And I say that even though Saba been quieter the second half.
why are we taking off Saba for Rios…
To end the Rob Valentino conjecture?
It’s like we think there is lava in the middle of the field.
Refs have been…not great. Brennan was being held, yet he gets the foul.
But that’s not why we are losing.
Nice save
Have we had a shot on target yet?
Just now.
Speak of the devil. And from who else. Brennan.
Bringing on the kids and the old man
may be seeing Wiley for the final time
Wiley off, maybe for the last time.
I’ve said this at least once every season for the past three years, but I swear we don’t practice counters.
finally, Brennan and McCarty coming on
since we are so good at passing back, maybe we should face our own goal and play. maybe then we can get some offense going
Well, it did result in a goal.
Good thing MLS doesn’t have relegation we’d be headed that way…
I know we suck, but I don’t think we are one of the 3 worst MLS teams currently
I think we’ll know in the 1st 5 minutes of the 2nd half if we are gonna mail it in or not. One thing about the team is they have played with effort all year so far.
I wonder if there is someone on this roster that can give some pep talk to get the team to play more aggressively. Maybe bring on McCarty and Slisz to start the 2nd half
I would think right now it would have to be McCarty since Guz is not available this game.
Gregersen doing the talking in the team huddle.
Time to multitask and watch Argentina while I watch Atlanta (is trash) United!!!
how is that not offside?
It was indeed offside. By several yards.
No one knew he was there.
A great sequence there. Saba please put in a great ball. The fans are backing you lot. Take advantage of this.
The Golazo strategy doesn’t work quite as well without Almada.
Nothing works quite as well without Almada.
I’m really starting to see the overreliance we had on him…
Not sure why their keeper is so sweaty. He’s had almost nothing to do the whole game so far.
This is a lot more fun when we have good players.
Please just put Brennan in. He feels like the only player this season who plays with any urgency and attempt to actually score.
I think it’s insane how he doesn’t start. Take out Wolf, put Saba on the left and play Luke on the right!!! It’s so simple I don’t know how one could think that Wolf is in better form than Brennen. Jeez, some real head scratches from Rob lately.
at least we are winning in fouls committed
And possession. The stats that matter.
And in passing accuracy, especially the backwards and lateral ones. You know, they ones that don’t lead to goals.
It’s sad, I am here writing and reading people’s comments more than I am watching this game. (Hint hint, the game SUCKS and so do we)
Nice thing about 3 center backs is that it prevents single strikers from getting in behind us especially with a DP … oh , wait
Down with mint jerseys , down with blue jerseys
We should’ve worn the home kit. Just wear it. Jeez. We play better in it.
We had our enjoyment in 2017-2019. Now, we must go thru the circle of soccer and suffer.
I know. That little clip of Atlanta United winning the cup was painful. That team would beat this team senseless.
It would be a mercy rule.
Even first half of 2019 was awful and boring. We have only had 2.5 years of enjoyment in 7.5 years years.
Our enjoyment was so profound, the soccer Gods have decided to strike us down with double the pain. I really hope we are nearing the light at the end of this 4.5 year tunnel of darkness and pain.
Remember when Atlanta used to hit opponents on the counter? Seems like forever ago.
Now, counters are just stuff we flip to spill the pollo con arroz.
And here we go, crashing out of the US Open Cup. Painful. Just painful.
The announcers called it a cupset in the making, but I’m not sure it would be, really. Indy right now looks like the better team, USL or no.
I agree, I don’t think it would be so crazy. A terrible MLS team vs one of the best USL sides. I don’t know why we keep calling it a “cupset” in situations like these. If the worst MLS side played the best USL side and lost, would it be a cupset just because one team plays in the lower level???
Oh look at what you can do when you attack a D on their back foot instead of constantly holding up the ball.
Looked offsides to me, but it’s not like Indy wasn’t on the front foot already.
Guess not on the replay.
there is no VAR in the US Open Cup until the semi or the finals
Referring to the replay they showed on the broadcast, but good to know about VAR.
They have VAR in this match. Quarters and on. Perhaps a typo.
Did they change that this year? Because last year, it was only Semi and Finals
Perhaps, I didn’t pay attention last year because we got out so early lol.
So frustrating how we never counter with pace and just put our foot on the ball instead.
For real, it feels like the team is being arrogant and thinking just because they are USL, we can easily break down their D. But frankly, Indy looked better at the beginning and still have had the best chances.
I don’t think they’re being arrogant. I think none of them want to be here anymore. Can you blame them? They must each be looking around thinking ” he got bought, and he got bought and he’s leaving… Man, I’m never getting out.”
I see we are still crossing into the box with no one crashing in, even with a bunch of subs on the field.
This is…not fun to watch.
not looking good early. kind of looks like we are on our backheels
with the deal basically done and dusted (by all accounts), i would be very surprised if wiley sees the field tonight.
Oh wow he is. Very surprising!!!
Doug Roberson did report that Wiley was expected to play tonight. Wouldn’t be surprised if the deal is officially announced by the team tomorrow, assuming everything is solid medically.
Thanks. It’s quite interesting; I’m going to be going from loving this guy to hating after moving to Chelsea (I’m a Tottenham fan as well don’t hate me for it. But can you really hate me for it? We are Atlanta United fans in 2024 after all :/)
well I’m Korean, so I can’t hate the Spurs either
Nice on Sonny nice one Son, nice one Sonny let’s have another one!!!
He’s going to Strasbourg. He may literally never play fo Chelsea.
I hope we try hard to win this one, and don’t treat it as purely a tryout for the kids. Being able to compete in Champions Cup next season for a new coach and 2-3 new DPs is a great opportunity to start a new era off right.
I think we’ve already seen the last of Wiley. If this was the USOC championship match and he was adamant about playing to lift a trophy and he knew the risks, maybe he would play. But a quarterfinal match in Kennesaw in front of 4,000 or maybe a lot less just isn’t all that important compared to his sale. No need to risk injury by playing him. The sale price is terrific. Usually young guys like Wiley go for the first $2-4 million offer that comes in. Strasbourg is also a good club for Wiley to join because as best I can tell, he has a very real shot at winning a starting job there. There’s no need to risk Wiley’s future tonight, even if the risk is low.
One step closer to the US Open Cup title