Baby steps, I guess.
Despite finally scoring a goal for the first time in four games, Atlanta United couldn’t hold onto the three points in its 1-1 draw against Nashville SC on Saturday.
Head Coach Ronny Deila made some very significant changes from the starting lineup that fell 3-0 at Orlando City last week. Miguel Almiron was moved to his natural No. 10 role while Alexey Miranchuk was pushed back as a center midfielder alongside Mateusz Klich. Jay Fortune returned to the left wing while Saba Lobjanidze started on the right. Striker Emmanuel Latte Lath returned from his one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation. In the backline, Deila favored a center back pairing of Luis Abram and Derrick Williams.
The Five Stripes got off to one of its best first halves in a while, creating plenty of chances and getting several good looks at goal while not conceding a single shot in the first 45.
This spell of good play was rewarded in the 19th minute when Brooks Lennon sent in a low cross that was tapped home by Miguel Almiron. With that goal, the Paraguayan midfielder stands alone as the club’s second-leading all-time goalscorer in the MLS Regular Season. It was also Lennon’s 40th all-time assist with the club, making him the club’s all-time assists leader.
Unfortunately, the Five Stripes couldn’t carry their fantastic first half form into the second 45, allowing Nashville 11 shots while creating very little of their own. This gave Nashville the opportunity to level the game from a set piece.
Unlike some of its previous games, this one at least had some sort of bright side. The team put together some very good moves in the first half and clearly seems capable of playing good soccer, but it completely lost that rhythm in the second half and was mired in individual mistakes. Things looked a little better this time, but there’s still a long way to go if the Five stripes are going to turn this season around.
Atlanta United goes back on the road on Saturday, May 10 to face the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field before visiting Austin FC for the first time on May 14.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments below.
https://x.com/thekellyfrances/status/1919044438506021191?s=46&t=IOiRvAG-rztwLV60J25_iA
We used to always stand. The angles in the stadium are… not good. This happened in my section, I saw the whole thing. I know the gentleman as a regular in my section since day 1. Pathetic from SAFE if you ask me.
Is this a common policy in other American sports?
This is crushing to a dying, loyal fanbase IMO.
Wow….such bad form. 8 yr STH before giving them up this year and we ALWAYS stood.
Founding member and STH here. I stand every game, but i’m starting to be the exception in our section. I’m growing concerned that this will happen to me sooner or later. Sitting for a soccer game cuts the crowd energy substantially. This really sucks.
I’m curious how going from sitting to standing raises crowd energy??? Unless you are hooting and hollering and singing songs (which you can do sitting or standing), where does this substantial boost of crowd energy come from? I never understood that concept.
I’m probably projecting how standing vs sitting makes me feel on everyone else. YMMV.
I feel like the etiquette for any sporting event is stand if you want to stand and those around you need to adapt.
At the same time, at the game I was able to attend a couple months ago, there was almost no standing for extended periods. And that was a couple months ago.
I’d be curious if the complainers asked the person if they would mind taking a seat and what the response was.
I cant imagine refusing to sit if I was asked nicely given the current stadium environment.
I sit in first row (upper deck) and I’m short as fuck, but I mostly sit because I’m not an asshole (don’t ask my kids to corroborate the asshole part). If something is happening, I stand, we score, I stand (haven’t needed to stand much for that). But if it’s normal run off play and in not trying to be nice to someone trying to get the wave going, I sit.
I should downvote this for trying to get the wave going. I agree with everything else though. I got seats in the 200s for this exact reason. I have dogshit arthritic, bone on bone knees, so standing 90m for every match wasn’t going to be my thing. Also my wife is only 5-3, so not so much fun for her, and now we have an almost 4yr old who comes to almost every match (and has been for a couple years). The 200 level is great for us. Almost everyone sits, save for the plays where it looks like something good might happen (then if it doesn’t everyone kind of slowly remembers to sit). I’ve sat in the lower levels on a few occasions but haven’t done that in a while. Everyone stood the whole time. It was great! It’s not for my group for every match but was fun to do for those games. I just thought that’s how it still was down there, though.
I stand if others in front of me are standing, or if something happens, or if play goes into the corners, or if the game is just at high energy.
But I also try to not block the view of people behind me, so sometimes I’ll just sit on my seat but with it flipped up, because I’m pretty tall so I can see over the row in front of me like that.
Incase you need the rest of the story as reported.
https://x.com/thekellyfrances/status/1919122325624013060?s=46&t=IOiRvAG-rztwLV60J25_iA
I saw the commotion several rows down and over from me. I was standing, our whole row was standing as we always do. You can’t see the corners of the pitch from the seats.
Yikes.
I see this complaint/whining all the time in various online forums.
This isn’t the theatre or a movie. It’s sports. Standing brings energy.
No more #StandAll90 anymore.
But even I don’t stand much anymore unless something interesting is about to happen. And that just doesn’t happen much anymore. This team hasn’t given us much to be excited about for years.
If we get back to 2018 energy, I’ll be standing again (assuming my foot is healed by then). And hopefully so will most everyone else.
I get it, but I did grow-up in Brazil, no one ever sat for any matches, and I rooted for my home team who was…. Not great,… bounced between 1st and 2nd division all the time. But only stood all the time regardless of performance .
8 years of this club, our section always stood, even through the retched Pineda years. Not to mention that from our club section, we can’t see the corners of the field while sitting. THIS IS A THING!
So, what is the point? Why do you have to sit? If I stand, and some douche behind me decided they prefer the comfort of sitting behind me, they can watch the giant halo above me to see all the action they want. If they want to actually see the field of play and understand what is going on they will have to stand any way. I don’t understand the debate from anyone familiar with the actual view of play in that section.
If you sit, and complain about someone standing, you simply don’t understand the game, the necessity of the action on the field, the lack of view from the stands, or are just ignorant of the game. (I cannot comment from the 200 secrion). From the section this dedicated STH sat, I can say, this is a travesty. And the “newbies”, who are accustomed to other American sports can (all pun intended) sit on it.
(ScarvesAndSpikes.com – please do a story on this. If Mercedes Benz has a policy on this, it should be revisited, if not, this loyal STH should be issued an apology for prioritizing the Atl fanbase over a bandwagoner, one-offer asshole)
Sounds great for kids, older and short people. Frankly I think the behavior is self absorbed. I’ve been to plenty of intl soccer matches and am not from the US…and fine if you don’t disagree but the idea that someone who doesn’t agree doesn’t understand the game is…some kind of hubris. It’s called buying or going to your “seats” for a reason. Also, plenty of world class orgs choose to accommodate both…there are sections where standing is appropriate and where it isn’t…versus being inflexible and myopic and saying do what you want, everyone else, their preferences and limitations be damned. Some stadia also do better The kind of person who’d stand for 90 min in front of someone who couldn’t see over them is by definition inconsiderate, self absorbed and rude. Plenty of opportunity to stand up and cheer when appropriate to maintain energy. Stay classy….
Text was cut off…intended to say some stadia do better at site lines when standing with more row elevation. The line is far more people are able to see the pitch with everyone sitting than everyone standing. The axiom “just do what you want” in social settings sounds like a recipe for incivility, which I guess is par for the course now.
Understood. And respect your opinion. Just to clarify, not to debate. You can absolutely not see the touchline of any of the corners if you are sitting in the these seats. It’s bad. I admit my wording was off as I got very frustrated reading X. What I was trying to say, is that every time the ball comes to our side of the field or action happens in the corners you have to stand anyway, it is a badly designed section: so if you are sitting, there is a constant up and down to actually watch the game in front of you play out. Much easier to keep standing, which, up until this season wasn’t issue because everyone did stand. I meant no disrespect in my ill worded frustration.
As you might imagine, being that this isn’t Brasil, many US teams and stadiums have policies that address this.
For example, MB fan code of conduct.
“Guests are asked to enjoy the game from the comfort of the seat that is indicated on their ticket. Please keep in mind that when you stand, you may block the view of other guests behind you. It is not the intent to limit guest’s enjoyment of the game and cheering after great plays, but continuous standing in seating areas may negatively impact others enjoyment of the event. Continuous or excessive standing is addressed in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Fan Code of Conduct and will be monitored by stadium security.”
This has always been the case and is typical for facilities in the US.
In fact, US Soccer has a policy as well…from its Fan Code of Conduct:
Why? Just common sense and common courtesy.
People are mostly responsive with a friendly reminder. Only in a few instances has there been an accidental spilling of beverage.
So this wasn’t ever addressed in 8 years of me attending this section because we’ve always stood. Thank you for sharing, I will have to move sections to a seat where I can ever the field from my seat.
I understand the sight lines are in some cases awful. I was a founding member and was highly disappointed to discover at the first game that the view from my otherwise decent seats was obscured not from anything structural but from the barrier separating me from the fancy section. Imo it’s a terrible football stadium outside of the scale and glitz…and don’t get me started on turf for soccer.
Unfortunately the perma stand really does legit mean a lot of people will be able to see almost none of the game. The up and down is just the cost of compromise for maximizing utility as equitably as possible for all attendees. Also wouldn’t surprise me if there were actually a liability insurance, to include ADA considerations.
…if there were actually a liability insurance ‘component’…
Maybe if they gave us a reason to stand and cheer?
Touche, haha
Update, I reached out to the Benz asking about this incident and voicing my concerns about the view of the field specifically in my section. They were very courteous and understanding and agreed the narrow sight lines are very poor. They alluded that the incident that occurred was a person that might have had repeat offenses.
But also gave me the names of the SAFE officers in my specific section, and have informed them of our concerns of the field view, and they assure me (in my section) would be given much consideration before any escalation. Very responsive, understanding, and assuring that the incident (whatever happened) wasn’t the case for us as a blanket precedence moving forward. They encouraged me to introduce myself to the SAFE officers in my section before the next match, which I fully intend to do.
[…] Atlanta United breaks its scoreless drought, but can’t get the win […]
Fire the manager he doesn’t know what he’s doing
I’m glad you named this account ambiguous so it can apply for the last 3 managers and the next 3
There were plenty of time I was watching Miggy and thought, “Alexey wouldn’t be doing that.” Example, Alexey would Not be standing inside the 6. Ever. That’s why Miggy should stay at the 10. He created chaos in the first half. The second half was garbage soccer for everyone.
Jay did fine on the wing. But he’s no winger. He’s a bandaid right now.
And why in the hell did we give up soooooo many corners!?!?!?!???
Nashville got one extra corner when they headed it out of bounds, but the ref signaled a corner instead of a goal kick. It was the corner before the the goal that tied the match.
Miggy and Latte look more in sync than Miranchuk and Latte did, but there is still some understanding of positioning and runs they need to get on the same page about. But I agree, Miggy plays more like that #10 and pushing the ball forward with the dribble, not just an errant pass (which Mira had several of).
Jay as a winger, no. He got forward, but he kind of played a wide 8 more than a winger. We have mosquera (don’t get me started on him in general) to start there and even Brennan, who could use some minutes. They’re more natural wingers, start them and figure out the sub stuff later. Easier to go up 3-0 and put a more defensive setup than only be 1-0 and still trying to dictate the tempo of the game (which we gave up).
I can’t wait for us to sell Miranchuk this summer, only to wait until winter to replace him with a new DP.
I was literally falling asleep watching us in the 2nd half.
Better result than we expected, but still a long way to go.
Miggy looked good at the 10 in terms of driving the ball forward through defenders, but we need more through balls into space rather than the corner flag.
We’re basically playing with 2 DPs, because it’s becoming glaringly evident that Miranchuk just isn’t good enough for MLS. No clue how that happened, but we need to be shopping him at whatever loss it takes to open up a DP spot for a new winger.
Sorry but this is not good soccer. Not the kind of ball that the Top 8 sides should be playing in MLS 2025. I’ve never noticed a more disinterested crowd.
Wait until next week!
Bad news: more disinterested
Good news: many fewer people to be disinterested.