The shellshocked feeling of Atlanta United’s MLS Cup Playoff chances all but evaporating on Wednesday gave way on Saturday to belief that their postseason hopes still have a chance to be realized.
Sure, Atlanta didn’t necessarily cruise to a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in their regular season home finale, but their collective performance — especially in the first half — was much better than during Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to CF Montreal. They finished with nearly two-thirds of possession while outshooting the Red Bulls 20-7, including a 6-2 edge in shots on goal.
“It felt different,” interim head coach Rob Valentino said after Atlanta’s first home win since July 20. “The energy felt different, the intensity, the commitment level, and the real belief in each other felt different to me. It looked different, and then the longer the game went, I felt like they had more belief in it.”
This one wasn’t without its twists and turns, though.
With Dylan Nealis, a halfitme substitute, having been sent off in the 66th minute on a studs-up challenge of Edwin Mosquera, Jamal Thiare won a penalty that was ultimately reviewed and confirmed by VAR before Alexey Miranchuk converted from the spot.
The Red Bulls then appeared to equalize twice, one called offside after a VAR check, the other wiped out immediately due to an offside in the buildup. Both calls were by the tightest of margins.
“Yeah, we got lucky. But I’ve said before, you create your own luck, and damn right, we deserve some of that. So I’m not going to apologize for it. I’ll take it,” Valentino said. “Sorry to (RBNY head coach) Sandro (Schwarz) and them, but they’ve got their points. They’re in the playoffs. And I can’t feel sorry for anybody else at the moment.”
Some much-needed breathing room, though, came courtesy of Tyler Wolff in second-half stoppage time.
“I think it’s really easy when you feel like ‘I’ve done everything, I’ve checked every box, I’ve worked as hard as I can, It’s just not working,’ it’s easy to give up, but it’s hard to keep showing up. And I think that’s the thing. Like this is their reward tonight,” Valentino said. “And the reward then is go again and put the pressure on teams and win to put yourself in the playoffs.”
That win will need to come against an in-form Orlando City side on Oct. 19. Three points, plus some help, can get Atlanta up to as high as eighth place.
Regardless of that result, at least they’ll play a meaningful match on Decision Day.
“We still have a chance,” Stian Gregersen said in the locker room. “What can I say? It’s not over before the fat lady sings.”
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Looking at the standings, easy way to look at it is we have to win away AND at least two of these happen:
MTL loses to NYCFC at home
DC loses to CLT at home
PHI doesn’t win vs CIN at home
Yes, still a chance but unlikely; maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised
The hardest part of all of that is us winning at orlando. And none of the rest matters if we don’t…
I wouldn’t be surprised if all three of the other scenarios happen (I don’t think DC will lose, but they easily could)
I’m still beating the drum of missing the playoffs in favor of picking up extra allocation money for next season. Because with this current team, we are probably not going to get past the 1st round of the playoffs.
I dunno.
All three of the other teams are beatable (obviously, that’s why they’re still fighting for a spot in the play-in game), and if we get in and beat whoever’s left, then we play …
Miami. And we are their kryptonite. No other team took 4 points from them this year (other than Monterrey). They have 4 losses, and one of them was a 3-1 thrashing by us at Miami with Messi and the rest of Barca 2.0 playing the full 90 minutes.
Do I like our chances? Hell no. But the possibility is there to have some fun and really piss off MLS (the front office, not the teams or fans, who would love it).
Is that the full quote? You sure it wasn’t followed by a question mark? As in “We still have a chance? Get the fuck out of here! Really?”