Here we go again… again.
Atlanta United are back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the second time this week, following Wednesday’s 2-0 lead turned 2-2 draw against a rotated NYCFC team. The Five Stripes will have a far more imposing opponent tonight though, welcoming reigning MLS Cup champs and Concacaf Champions Cup finalists Columbus Crew.
If Wednesday’s matchup looked bleak, this one looks downright apocalyptic. Columbus were on a five match winning streak before a 1-1 draw on Wednesday with Charlotte. The Crew currently sit third in the East, but have two games in hand on nearly every other team in the conference. Led by a dynamic attacking trio of Cucho Hernandez, Diego Rossi, and Christian Ramirez, alongside our old friend Darlington Nagbe in midfield, Columbus has only lost three matches in league play this year- the lowest of any team. They also boast the highest goal differential in the league, by a solid margin.
*Insert “I’m in danger” meme here.*
Atlanta will at least have one reinforcement available thanks to the opening of the transfer window on Thursday, left back Pedro Amador. Amador has been training with the team for the past week, and is now eligible for matches and a potential debut in some capacity tonight. Stian Gregersen will also be back after serving his red card suspension, giving the defense a major boost in what will be among their toughest tasks all season.
We’ll see if the Atlanta United can channel more of Wednesday’s first half, which saw a goal after 20 seconds, the fastest in team history, and a well worked team play that led to Saba converting on a rebound, and less of a second half full of individual mistakes and little to no control over the momentum of the match.
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, move on down to the match thread in the comments below to discuss the pre, during, and post-match happenings as Atlanta United tries to see how few goals they can allow.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Columbus Crew’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Saturday, July 20th; 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
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.
With a critical transfer window underway, as well as a coaching search, consider supporting our Atlanta United coverage on Patreon. We have three tiers — $1.17/mo, $5/mo., and $10/mo. — and all three give you access to bonus podcasts, content, merch discounts, and more. Help us “keep the lights on” as we provide you with Atlanta United written, audio, and video content you’ll enjoy. Click here to support us on Patreon today.
Nice win, especially since we finally scored on set pieces not once but twice. I hope this doesn’t make Garth think our next coach is already here, though.
Exactly.
If Jamal re-aggravated his shoulder injury tonight and if Rios’s ankle injury is serious enough to miss the Leagues Cup opener against DC next week, Wolff is our only 9 on the roster. Maybe Ashton Gordon and/or Karim Tmimi get a chance to play up with the first team.
We should trot out the 2s for Leagues Cup. Let the starters train and rest and be ready for a late season push
Definitely not opposed, but assuming we dont advance anyways, we are already going to be getting a bit of rest.
If we dont sign any new significant players, I agree. If we do, those games would be great opportunities to incorporate any new players.
I’m still not getting my hopes up (kidding. but in other ways, maybe not!)
Beat Columbus and Miami. Go figure.
We got the hard part down
Great game
I hate this, we’re not playing the complete game, we need to win legit
Also it’s kinda funny that we were criticizing holding on to subs, now we’re still gonna finish it with 10 men due to running out of subs lol
Nvm
We should sub out Rios if we have another sub
We’ve done our three windows I think, I don’t think we cannvm just two subs so far
well good thing we have 3 MORE SUBS…
I really hate time wasting like that. Glad we got called out for it
Finally, the drums. The loud SS that I love…
Drums came on at 90 ha
lol
clearly the guys are getting tired…can we PLEASE get some subs on…
Yeah, we’re defending a lead, like come on Rob…
Apparently they can’t get off the field fast enough
So I thought if they were done more than 15 seconds they have to go out for 2 minutes? Why didn’t Hernandez have to go outV
Didn’t bring out the training staff
It probably only counts from when play is stopped. Don’t think he stayed for 15 after the whistle.
I refuse to get my hopes up until we have at least a two goal lead
*Insert hello darkness my old friend
Serious thought needs to be given to letting Saba continue to take corners.
I wonder how our season would have looked if he and GG would have been healthy
WE GOT PURATA 2.0
Are we gonna have a repeat if the Air Force Juan Hat Trick?
I was there for it. My voice was gone…
now can we see Pedro?
Ughh, Saba would have been in clean Rios.
can we please be more aggressive in using subs…
I think our philosophy is to keep our better players as long as possible out there because we don’t have the depth anymore
Bruh, I’m sorry but Rios doesn’t even seem like a real person.
He’s really good at passing though
This statement is highly debatable…
Jeez Jamal. I didn’t even know he was in the game
We can’t give up yet ya’ll. Not on this game, not on this season. Please, we have too much potential for that. Please please please.
Damn that had some speed on it
We had Thiago Almada, Girgos Giakomakis, Saba, and Xande Silva in the attack. Same defense and midfield. My question is: What happened?
It’s ridiculous. That lineup should win in this league
Giakoumakis and Gregersen and Williams and Silva and Thiare and Rios got injured. Some horrendous luck on Saba’s finishing. Thiago inconsistent (well, consistently ineffective at the beginning of this year, inconsistent with how he can play). Loss of winner’s mentality by the rest.
GG got hurt (missed almost as many as he played this year – not quite, but close) and Almada was inconsistent. Also think Pineda’s message got a little stale and that played some role. Stan G for Miles may. be a downgrade and that may be something to blame.
By the way, GG has 2 goals in 2 matches in Liga MX so far.
As poor as Gregersen has been lately, I don’t know that you can blame the results on him quite yet. He’s missed 11 of 26 games, and only 2 of those due to cards.
Of the 6 games we’ve won this season, he’s been on the field for 4 of them.
I’m really disheartened to see us trying to get penalties so much instead of trying to be the better team.
It’s because we can’t, straight up.
Yea true
Pk all day
I doubt it, they didn’t even go to VAR
Does any actually remember being a happy Atlanta United fan for like… Idk, more than a month???
I vaguely remember before the covid times.
these inconsistent foul calls are getting really annoying
Protest https://www.instagram.com/p/C9p1QewuUlI/?igsh=cWtqNWUxNHZ6OXBt
Guess we’re going to have to add Rosendo Mendoza to the list of PRO refs who live in their own little inconsistent world.
Alright. Nobody can deny that noise right there. The call and response… I know it’s not a chant, but some great noise.
Wow, Fortune and Gregersen ball watching. Why was no one directly on Rossi for the rebound?
I haven’t been super impressed with Gregersen. If we were gonna have a DP center back why not Miles?
cause he didn’t want it. We were going to pay Miles max tam, which I think is more than what Gregersen makes. He’s only a DP for roster rule reasons.
Oh okay thanks
Just to explain a bit more, if I remember correctly, it’s because we were going to pay him max TAM but a longer contract, whereas Cincinnati paid him less but just 1 year. He wants to go to Europe, so he bet on less money for more contractual freedom with a good team to try to prove he’s still got it to go to Europe next year. At least that’s the story I think I heard.
He really needs to give up on that. He’s not that good
Nevermind
to be fair, as much as I support Guzan at goal, but he should have grabbed that. it didn’t look like the ball had that much pace on it.
Because you position yourself for the cross, not the rebound.
They still watched the rebound.
That goal was in a giveaway on an underweight ball. I notice that we’re all the time not putting enough power on the ball when we pass. Why is that? Even when we had talented players
There it is
New theory – they didn’t mic the supporter’s section because they knew we were going to be shouting expletives at the ref this match.
So I have noticed always that you can always hear other team’s SS but ours is a lot more quiet. I notice that they put mics on the field and in other places so naturally, you can hear stadiums whose SS’s are at ground level. Ours is much higher up, thus, we can’t hear them very well. Whether or not they did it because of them shouting expletives is up for debate.
I was under the impression they mounted a mic somewhere in the SS area. Cause I remember one game one of the capos or someone was banging on a metal rail or pole or something, and it was all the mics were picking up.
So, I go to the SS and I can confirm that there are no mics on the capo; at least from Apple. Atlanta United personal have their equipment but nothing else.
And that metal rail banging was this one guy with a megaphone who was banging his hand to the rhythm of the chant and his wedding ring was making that noise through the mega phone. And often you can hear the leaders who are yelling out chants on the capo stand through their mega phone.
That’s a good thing that we can’t hear them in my opinion. In not a fan of hearing singing and stuff. I guess because I’m not used to it in other sports
It’s a ticket price protest.
Why wouldn’t they be doing anything they can to give the players an advantage? Make some noise lol
The drummers are standing there with their drums and not one drum beat has occurred. They are right below me. This is not a mic issue. Good Christ. Everything’s not a conspiracy perpetrated by Boca or whatever.
Sorry for the miscommunication: I was joking. I was going on the assumption from Vamos Atlanta that SS was indeed cheering like normal, so I was assuming the mics were just off by mistake, and making a joke for a conspiratorial reason why the mics were actually off.
Cheers
Really? So are they just singing without drumming because I can most certainly hear singing…
Maybe they just don’t have anything to drum about
It’s quite odd, because 100% I hear them singing. And when I got to the SS, whenever the drums go off beat even for a second, it’s really hard to sing and chant.
I’m in the stadium. I sit right above them. They are not doing anything. Random guy here and there jumps up and tries to lead something, but overall their not doing anything.
Hmmmm, very interesting. Thanks for the info. I guess I may have been wrong.
There are four giant bass drums as always and they have not beat one single time this half
Muyumba having a real poor game and wouldn’t be surprised if he picks up a second yellow.
I’ve actually thought he’s been decent. At the very least he’s progressing the ball pretty well. I was thinking more Fortune has been kind of poor with his poor tackles.
Lol, I actually think the opposite. I feel like Muyumba losing the ball on the counters too much and outting some poor tackles, while Fortune has been ok for me.
I thought his tackle was fine and at the very least, shouldn’t have warranted a yellow.
It wasn’t more the tackle but all of his play beforehand. As well as his play on that goal.
Supporters are silent. It’s the protest against stupidest ticket price increase in history? Or is it new goal is being mediocre?
I beg to differ. I can hear the SS quite clearly right now. They are chanting “Jump for Atl ole ole” And whenever there is a decision that goes against Atlanta the crowd is on their feet booing or yelling.
Most of the supporter groups are protesting but others are not. Side note, you know what’s a better protest than not cheering? Not showing up to the game at all and keeping the supporter section empty.
The fact that we don’t know says a lot.
I’m assuming it’s not a lack of a mic? I’d have to assume it’s in protest of something, probably the ticket prices.
Fans are literally just quiet quitting.
Saying this myself as much as anyone else: don’t get your hopes up.
While I won’t get my hopes up, I will enjoy this.
We are playing how the 404 kit would be if it were a team. LOVE THIS ATLANTA SWAGGER!
Where has this team been all year???
Maybe all this team needed was some adversity.
LET THEM COOK
Penalty, but offside.
Oh Sliz…
we’re surprisingly more competitive than I thought we would be.
Dang I got my hopes up.
Interesting…Atlanta will stay with the back 4 line, but Pedro will be on the bench to start. Hernandez starting at LB. So I guess Pedro will come on at the 55-60th min mark. Thiare finally getting the start
I like the sound of that
Don’t hold your breath about Amador. He strongly projects to be an old school, no offense defense only fullback. I’d consider it a best case scenario for him to be equivalent to Hernandez with fewer give aways. My guess is by the end of the season and not later, just about all of us are going to be raising hell about him and demanding the team get someone better for 2025. I see him as a stop gap and no more.
well if he is a defense only fullback, i will take it. maybe he will be able to defend set pieces
I wonder if we go back to 3 CBs with Gregersen being back, or do we stay with a back 4 line
Back 4. Abram went to the bench.
Very optimistic; until I’m not…
NOT IN THE FACE
We all thought we’d get destroyed at Miami. It’s MLS, anything can happen.
5-0 Columbus. If you paid tickets for this game, then hopefully you have friends to talk to…