The sand in the hourglass is dwindling on Atlanta United’s turbulent 2024 campaign. With just four matches remaining, the Five Stripes sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, in the midst of a hotly contested battle to stay above the red line by the season’s end. Tonight’s trip back up the Northeast Corridor gives Atlanta a vital opportunity against the 9th place Philadelphia Union to make up ground in the playoff hunt and provide what could be a major boost to postseason hopes.
Teams in the Eastern Conference playoff bubble, 8th through 13th place, are separated by just three points in the table, while only the 8th and 9th place teams will earn spots in a play-in wild card game. A win for Atlanta, although it wouldn’t put them into a playoff position, would bring the team even with Philadelphia on points with another pivotal game against current 10th place Montreal on Wednesday.
It almost goes without saying that Atlanta United will need to once again dig deep for a result. Atlanta nearly pulled off an incredible result at Red Bull Arena last weekend, scoring but then conceding late on to settle for only a point. Philadelphia, meanwhile, have been on an absolute tear, scoring nine goals across their last two matches, a 5-1 win against NYCFC and 4-0 against D.C. United.
Atlanta United and the Union are even all time with a 5-6-5 head to head record across all competitions. It’s a series that has come to have extra focus on it from Atlanta supporters thanks to fiery exchanges both on and off the field from players and coaches as well as… tactical disputes, to put it kindly. There’s no better place for Atlanta to put playoff hopes on the line and see how it all plays out.
Jamal Thiare will be absent due to a concussion, leaving Daniel Rios to do the job up top. Ronald Hernandez is available again after missing last week’s match against New York, but Xande Silva remains sidelined with a lingering foot injury.
Kickoff from Subaru Park 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, head on over to the match thread in the comments below to discuss the pre, during, and post-match action from Chester.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Philadelphia Union’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Subaru Park, Chester, Pennsylvania
Kickoff Time: Saturday, September 28th; 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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We need a true and better striker, who can put pressure on defenses. Rios is has been a bench and crap player since he got here. IF we can get a young skilled, with a physical presents. Our scouts need to keep looking, stop getting these European player that seem better bench and skill are very mediocre.
One shot on goal, and it went in. Sometimes you’d rather be lucky than good.
Folks won’t want to hear this, but they played a solid away MLS match tonight.
Brad saved that point
Andrew Bedoya looks straight up like a middle aged dad out there.
There’s the Philly I remember
This team is like Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd buys the moped – every time I think they couldn’t be any dumber they do something like this and totally redeem themselves
yeah, saw that coming… our CMs were getting dragged all out of position by having to cover holes in elsewhere
Sigh
I kinda wonder how we were a possession team before, when we suck (and always have this year) at making precise accurate passes.
Cleanest of sheets on both sides.
Our passes aren’t very accurate and Philly seems to be able to foul at will without it being called . So a typical trip to Union town
One downside of streaming is that it is hard to flip between Ohio State , Georgia , and United games
Save yourself the trouble and just watch Georgia and Ohio st
Absorb pressure and counter United is terrifying.
I’ve completely lost confidence that this team can pull off good results against bad teams. Let us play Miami or Columbus the rest of the season.
Keep on tanking this season for that extra allocation money. I will take a draw as well
In b4 Rios hat trick
The next two games are must wins for us to have a shot at making the playoffs
COOKED