Atlanta United is going through a lot right now. As a fan, chances are, so are you.
The team’s best players over the past two plus years are gone, sold. The remainder just lost in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals to USL Championship side Indy Eleven, their easiest, most straightforward and tangible path to silverware they had this year. That came on the back of a double game week of losses on the road to the New England Revolution and Real Salt Lake, conceding a combined seven goals in the process while scoring three.
Here’s hoping new DP rumors will offset the inevitable Josef Martinez legacy game about to unfold as the Five Stripes (6-10-6, 10th in East) take on CF Montreal (5-9-8, 11th in East).
Atlanta sits just one point ahead of Montreal in the Eastern Conference standings, while neither side currently holds a playoff position. However, Atlanta sits within striking distance of the next three spots up the table currently held by Toronto, Nashville, and Orlando. A result to snap the current three match losing streak in all competitions would still keep Atlanta United in the realm of playoff possibility, with the transfer window still yet to open and supply the roster with the reinforcement it so desperately needs.
The two sides meet for the first time this year, their last meeting being a 4-1 shellacking in the Benz by Atlanta, who also won in Stade Saputo earlier in the year 1-0 to sweep the season’s two match series. CF Montreal’s form has stabilized of late, but the team has conceded the fourth most goals in the league up to this point. The Five Stripes will need a better attacking performance tonight, but they could very well reap the rewards of it. Could it push them to a needed victory? Only one way to find out…
Kickoff in Quebec is set for a much more reasonable 7:40 PM ET. Streaming is available for free this time on Apple TV with an Apple ID, while radio coverage is provided as usual in English on 92.9 The Game and in Spanish on La Mejor.
Before then, head down to the match thread in the comments below to discuss all the action across the border.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
CF Montreal’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec
Kickoff Time: Saturday, July 13th; 7:40 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Apple TV (FREE with Apple ID)
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game, 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.
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I don’t understand these every-game 87th/88th/89th minute subs. Either do it sooner or not at all.
Sigh ….
And now stian will be out next game
At least it is a weekday game most people will ignore anyways.
Saba’s trying to do it all himself. Because he’s gotten no help. No one to pass to. No one passing to him.
Man, just score the closing goal or sub off Josef so I can stop having hope that something good will come of this game.
Guz v Josef … and the Guz wins
Guuuuuzzz
Montreal looks bad, and we look terrible.
Sorry Joe.
Saba and Silva lokey cooking ngl…
Please don’t drive if you’re not at home and that’s what you’re writing.
Thank God I am at home haha
No cap
Rios sucks again
Rios + Fortune = death of goalscoring chances.
Glad we threw the open cup game for this…
Why am I still watching this?
Because you are a loyal Atlanta fan who supports their team through thick and thin. I ACTUALLY WANT TO CRY RIGHT NOW WHY!!!!????
Am I? I’m kinda cheering for Josef, and I turned down free tickets to Wednesday’s game because I figured it would be torture.
Honestly, I’m not really watching the game. Kinda just glancing every once and a while lol
And….Unkeled.
Because at this point, why not?
We don’t need any DPs ….
Stian: you’ve been Unkled
I quit. Copa 3rd place for me.
I feel dread, I feel dead, I feel sad, I feel mad, we’re so bad, and RED WTH DID YOU JUST GIVE STIAN A RED CARD WTH.
Damn Stian
how is that a second yellow????
A soft as hell 2nd yelllow.
I didn’t think the first one should’ve been either. (Although I didn’t see it very well so…)
I don’t think he even touched the guy on the first.
He did elbow the guy. And as they say in the NHL, down goes Brown. It’s a weak card for sure, BUT…
Here’s the deal. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some stats on this, but in the past, head ref Ted Ukel has had numbers that show that he is more likely to give out yellow and red cards than most other PRO refs. You act on the edge and give Ted Unkel a card decision to make after you’ve already got a yellow, well, that’s just kind of a dumb move.
Yep. Stian needs to chill a bit. He gets a lot of cautions. We need him to be our best defender, only without the LGP-type misconduct issues.
Way to mark that back post runner, Hernandez.
We can’t even bunker properly.
Lazy, disinterested, sloppy. I get that we need reinforcements but this is abhorrent.
I’m dead inside
Hernandez seems to be around the guy who scores alot
And Hernandez gets caught ball watching…
And the bell rings again. *Sigh
Did Gregersen really just dish the ball off 8 yards from goal with only 1 defender in front of him…?
SHOOT THE F*CKING BALL!
Stian Moreno
Can someone convert the score from metric to American ?
Yeah, it is 32-32.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Well that was 45 minutes.
And 58 seconds.
Complete, utter boredom. We need WAY more than just 2 DP’s. Muyumba looked so promising last year…but I’m done with him.
If we were going to give up so much possession, you would think we would at least do a fast counter style…
We are, kinda. The problem, just like earlier this season, is that our passes are crazy inaccurate, so we just give the ball away as soon as we get it.
Or rather, we were.
Rios sucks
Indeed.
0.0 expected goals for the first 30 minutes
This is riveting
Don’t worry, we will have good football tomorrow with Euroes and Copa America.
To earn it we must first have suffering.
Why wait? Copa third-place game is on now.
Copa final
Montreal looks the way we used to look: lots of meaningless possession. That said, we don’t actually look improved – we actually probably look worse. We’re still just as toothless with the ball, just now we hardly have it either.
Just kind of saying “Screw it” to possession is a new tactic for the Five Stripes. I’m not saying that can’t work, but it’s definitely not what we’re used to seeing.
It’s so sad, this match thread is dead. So is our team. Also the level of play looks some amateur league. When this is all Europeans see when they look at our league, I can understand some of their comments…
I am still walking up from a nap to comment. Plus just really watching hoping that Josef gets a hat trick.
I hope Josef gets a hattrick but we manage to score 4 to win. That way, I get the best of both worlds!
Dang, you know times are rough when Xande is wearing black cleats… All hope is lost ya’ll.
Why did we wear blue today? I would think Red vs Blue would’ve made a lot more sense than Dark Blue vs Light Blue.
You read my mind
And the head referee in all black with Montreal in dark blue and black. You would think this would be the game for the red to break out the green yellow red etc
Head Ref? What ref? I don’t see one. I just see Montreal with 10 men. (Sorry terrible joke)
*12 men. Dang I can’t even deliver a joke properly…
Atlanta will continue to run the 3-4-3. Lennon back in at RWB and Cobb back at LCB. This was probably the line up they should have ran for the Open Cup match, also obviously Wiley at LWB while he was still with the team
A stat that makes me feel better about our chances is that of Montreal’s 10 home matches this year, they have only won 3.
Part of me almost wants to cheer for Montreal instead, so that Josef does well and there’s more fire on the FO to fix this.
Did anyone else find the AU app release of “Rios on fire” just a perfectly emblematic signal of how dire the situation is?
The fact that the FO is trying to get me hyped about Daniel Rios is just… sad
Martinez hat trick and he celebrates his goals… 🙁
Expecting at least one Josef goal and a 3-1 loss.
This is where I normally would be excited because they have three dudes on international duty but then I realize we are wearing our damn blue uniforms and we aren’t real good but I will watch anyway mostly to see if Josef scores a brace
I’m honestly going to be watching more because Josef is playing than because Atlanta is playing.
Also, the fact that 2 years after moving on from Josef the most exciting player on the field is going to be… post-ACL Josef is sobering