Let’s get this thing started already, shall we?
All the hype of the last several months has all led up to tonight, as Atlanta United’s 2025 regular season campaign begins at home against CF Montréal. Miguel Almirón, Latte Lath, Ronny Deila and a full capacity Benz await as the Five Stripes enter a new era in club history.
Atlanta and Montréal previously met in the midst of Atlanta United’s shocking playoff run last season, where Atlanta fended off a CF Montréal comeback to win the single elimination Wild Card match in a penalty shootout up in Québec. Since then, Montréal have parted ways with a number of players such as our old pal Josef and captain Victor Wanyama. Giacomo Vrioni is their biggest add of the offseason, joining from New England after a 9 goal year, but will be absent due to injury. Former Fire mainstay Fabian Herbers also joined the club in an addition to the midfield.
Still, projections aren’t all that great for the Canadian side, with most in MLS’s expert predictions putting them near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Atlanta, meanwhile, have high expectations after adding two Designated Players and one of D.C. United’s, too, in the most expensive offseason the club and league has ever seen.
The first kickoff from Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set for a 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.
Be sure to check out our match preview, then head down to our match thread in the comments below to discuss all the pre-, during, and post- match happenings surrounding Atlanta United’s 2025 season opener.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
CF Montréal’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Saturday, February 22nd; 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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can someone explain why Thiare was not allowed onto the pitch after he was substituted for Miggy? We played the last 3 minutes a man down!
There is a rule introduced last year where if the player being subbed off takes too long to get off the field, then the new player is not allowed on for a certain amount of time.
That said, the refs were entirely too strict about that. I’m pretty sure other players also took about as long.
Montreal was way better than expected. Campbell looked good
Slits and clique are too slow. Fortune it’s gonna take one of their jobs.
WE HELD ON VAMOS
Can you imagine if latte lath scored a hat trick on his debut? That would have been ridiculous
Let’s see if we can hold a lead for 10 mins. How in the world is it 10 mins stoppage time!?!
Someone can’t do maths?
I’m sorry. What. 10 min.
10 minutes! What?
The….i’ll just stand there and not try for the ball…while someone else does…and I get a foul…foul.
What a goal!!! Take a bow, Edwin M!!
HUNKER DOWN BOYS!!!!!!
MAKE ME EAT MY WORDS EDWIN!!!
Neither Saba, nor Mosq are names I wanted to see come up on the sub there lol.
Mosq….scores!!!!!!
Agreed, but Worked out lol
Not the subs I would have made
Nevermind
I think we need a midfield sub, we’ve lost control of the middle.
Almiron and LL look exhausted, subs were needed 5 minutes ago
Miggy has suddenly forgotten how to play over the past 5 minutes
Wouldn’t mind seeing Silva and maybe Thaire come in and really go at the defense for 20 minutes.
Agreed
Looks like Mosq…
WTH… Edward is a liability. He has been out of position at least 5 times and been a factor in both goals allowed. Sub him now.
No one to sub him for…..
Ugh… didn’t know that. Where are our 1st team defenders?
Both wingbacks are injured and so is our number 2 CB
They keep hanging him out to dry. Passed Edwards the ball and nobody moves.
I feel bad for MLS. This guy is just something else.
Miggy is killing us down the right side. His refusal to play out wide is really harming us
Yea they’re gonna have to sell the Russian
Lol
We know there’s a second half right???
Can we start Cobb next week instead of Abram?
Although sloppy and some miscues, I’m excited from what I’m seeing from our attack this year. Unfortunately, our defense looks worse than last year. Not impressed with the left and right fullback effort and performance. That goal ‘allowed’ just after second half was horrendously bad on multiple fronts.
Well, 3 of the 4 defenders arnt our usual 1st team players
Got back to seats just in time to see the Montreal goal. Looked like just a ton of poor organization in the back line? Was it a transition?
Nope, straight from kickoff if I’m not mistaken. Terrible defending to leave him open backpost.
Our turning off the switch continues….
Sleep walking to start the half
Who is 44? That was bad defense, he created no pressure at all
Abram, who else?
Dang it. Just dang it.
Anyone know what ELL’s sticker/patch on his jersey is? Above the adidas logo
It says Debut. They do it for all the newbies.
Halftime thoughts:
My 3 half time thoughts:
1) Greg is resuming his stellar play. The man is a wall in the back and gives me so much confidence
2) will be interesting to see how Miggy and Miranchuk evolve as they’re occupying the same space a lot so far
3) I have legit high hopes for LL… he looks very talented
Told my wife the same thing about Almiron and Miranchuk. They are too close together and not familiar enough
For all the hype, set piece goal in the opener wasn’t on my bingo card. VAMOS!!!
GOAL!!!!!!!!
That’s refreshing! First of many
Is Saba’s speed wasn’t comparable to a rock he’d be our best player
Bro wut that man is a rocket
Really? The. His counterpart must be a cheetah or I was looking at the wrong guy
This is the most wild take of 2025 right now
Compared to lath and Almiron, he’s slow sure, but he’s generally one of our fast players.
Quit kicking it right to the goal keeper lol. Great movement so far
Im shocked that didnt garner at least half a look from VAR. I feel like Hernandez could have really tried to milk that.
So early on I see one potential issue with Almiron being a right winger that doesn’t actually play right. Him crashing in seems to be causing all our play to have to feed through Saba on the left
When Lennon is back he should probably thrive with that setup
Yeah I thought cross, but then realized miggy would have to do that with his right foot.
A lot of first game mistakes and rust. However, feels better than 90% of last year’s first 20 minutes.
It’s a low bar, but we look so much better than last year. We’ve actually got shots in the first 15’!
Anyone surprised it’s not almiron taking these kicks?
I was surprised too.
Here we go!
Luis Abram with the start. Hopefully our attack can outscore them because this won’t be a clean sheet…
Hello, dear Atlantistas. I will try to watch your game, as Miguel Almiron is always a great player to see. Very curious to see what your new team will look like.
My Gremio has also completely rebuilt, and we brought a coach from Argentina who might be the real deal. We did manage to win a very tough game in our Copa do Brasil this past week (Copa do Brasil, like your Open Cup, mixes teams of lower divisions with Serie A), and we had to travel over 5 thousand km to the middle of the Amazon, and nearly lost to the temperature, horrible third division field, and newly formed team, but came up with a win. Hope you can also have a good win tonight.
4-2 a reasonable prediction?
Which way?
Pssh. The good guys
Can’t wait for tonight. Taking the kids to their first game!
Didn’t someone on here come up with SLAM? I know it’s the sort of thing multiple people could come up with on their own, but I saw that AUFC is using it on their official social media, and thought that was cool.
edit: in fact, I think it was Vamos Atlanta.
It was me indeed! In fact, I came up with it on a Scarves and Spikes YT podcast in the chat! That was even before we signed Lath. Ever since then, it has spread like crazy!
Edit: My YT name is Bro Show Vlogs. But still be! I posted SLAM here under my Vamos Atlanta name a little while after.
That’s awesome! Also makes more sense than my conspiracy theory that you were actually an AUFC employee hiding amongst us. 😁
IT’S HAPPENING! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!