Two wins in the same week. Who would’ve thought?
Atlanta United have well and truly snapped their winless run, winning 4-2 and 3-2 over FC Cincinnati and Orlando City, respectively. Now embarking on a long stretch of road matches, can the Five Stripes show proof of concept against the dreaded Red Bulls and round the week out with what would be a monumental third victory?
A couple facts for you: first, Atlanta United has never won in any visit to the New York Red Bulls, second, Atlanta United is the only Eastern Conference team to have not won a road game this season. Neither of those facts inspire much confidence heading into tonight’s match, especially considering the Red Bulls have the second best home form in the league.
Atlanta would’ve come away victorious in their last trip to Sports Illustrated Stadium, if not for a 97th minute equalizer for the hosts back in September of last year. Most recently, these two sides played to a scoreless draw back on March 8th in the Benz. Two big wins for the Five Stripes seem to have finally lifted the weights off of the team’s collective shoulders, but just how far can it take them? Earning three points in Harrison, New Jersey, would definitely exceed any set expectations.
Brooks Lennon is back off of the injury report, but Stian Gregersen, Tristan Muyumba, and Josh Cohen all remain unavailable for selection. We’ll find out with tonight’s lineup whether Ronny Deila will continue to roll with a 5-3-2 formation that has given Atlanta back to back wins while also being a bit of a defensive liability.
Kickoff from Sports Illustrated 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.
Will Atlanta defy the odds once again and prove that there was more to the past two wins than meets the eye? Join in on the match thread in the comment section below as we find out together.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
New York Red Bulls’ Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, New Jersey
Kickoff Time: Saturday, May 31st; 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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Bad mistake and a defensive error….honestly…we had our chances to at least walk away with a point and just get all squiggly when we are around the net.
I’d like to see that off sides again – i think it was a bad call from what limited replays they showed…
+0 points
We Are Back Baby !
So “back”!
I dont know why but Jamal always seems to get more opportunities than ELL in fewer minutes per game. I can’t figure it out.
Shot right at keeper…
They are all over ELL….every chance they get they are pulling, fouling…nothing being called.
I remember they always would be doing that to Giakomakious or however you spell that.
And GG didn’t get the calls either.
I agree he gets hacked, but all strikers do, and part of the job is dealing with it. We need to figure out how to get him the ball in dangerous spaces.
That was an obvious double handed shirt grab on ELL on the break … nothing
Yep…totally killed the play…
This ref has made some decent calls but seems to shy away from the ones that count
I swear we look for our first and second options to pass backwards before we even attempt to look upfield for options
We can’t get Lath the ball. I can’t tell if he’s not making runs or if we’re missing them. But that’s an awfully expensive roster piece that is not contributing for several games now.
It’s both. But good work on that offside goal.
Who was off sides?
Replay didn’t show anyone off..????
It has to have been Williams, but it didn’t look like it on the replay
That’s pretty suspicious….
Commentators ran from that call…geez
I suspect it wasn’t clear and obviously onside, so they let the call on the field stand
Great ball from Lennon…none of our guys hustling to crash the box with him…
Shouldve been an easy goal…
Brooks Lennon in – check and MATE.
Almost as effective as Miguel Berry
Apple and Blue and Yellow uniforms are the only thing from us winning 8-0 at this point
Apple just toying with us at this point. Actually mean but okay.
At least I don’t have to watch the travesty on the field
Bruh apple has to have the worst production I have ever seen. WTH
Is yalls signal clear, then fuzzy, then clear, then fuzzy??
Or is it just me?
You mean video? For me, my internet is spotty so yes but I think it’s just because of the internet so…
Im not convinced….my signal is good but it happens on other devices as well…not just at the house….and everything else i watch on Apple is crystal clear…except MLS – it’s the only exception…
Im just gonna blame apple for now…makes me feel better
Now that you mention it, it does seem that shows on Apple TV itself are fine whereas the MLS games are sometimes… laggy?
Thanks Apple
Just me or did Apple just puke
Great, no video.
Probably for the best
If we score it’ll be now.
We need new centerbacks
Need Stian back… D Williams has been exposed lately…
New CBs, new MF, new attackers……..
lol, I was actually going to follow up my comment with “among other things”
Just need three red cards …
That was a nice two game winning streak – We Are Back Baby …. To our regular level of play
I see this. I like it
That’ll do it. Once again, we cannot win in NJ.
Not many teams can…only DC this season so far
And we remain winless on the road.
Alexei just played a nice flop to the top of the box – neither of our forwards (Miguel and ELL) moved towards it – come on guys at least one of you pretend to go for it
I told everyone that Miggy would be a bad signing……………
He sucks in 2025.
And we are stuck with him.
Haha..riiigghhht….with that argument, you could say the same thing about ELL, Saba, AM…..right now, it’s not about the individuals, it’s about the team management/coaching…
We are not technically good enough at this time to handle the RB press…we never really have been as they have always had our number….
You are so right. We are a shit franchise now. Just crap.
Strong disagree. It is about the individuals. They’re not playing well. You can coach all you want, but when you consistently make stupid mistakes, no coaching can help that.
I promise you, every coach since Miggy was 5 taught him not to hit that back pass he hit to give up the first goal. That’s on the player. Simple.
I don’t disagree about that hairbrained back pass…that was awful and all on Miggy…mistake, they happen.
Our players seem like they are backsliding collectively…as a matter of fact, I’ve made that point before – seems players get worse when they come to Atlanta…after Tata….how many players leave Atlanta and get better?
All of them.
That’s not on the individual – that’s coaching. If it was one or two players that were off…I could get behind your theory on the individuals…but with the history AND an obvious group decline…there’s something off somewhere…
FdB was a great example…when the players revolted against his gameplan and style of play and he capitulated…they went on to win a couple of trophies that year (2019)…
I wish I knew exactly what it is…but I’m not in the locker room or on the training ground so I’m in the dark…
Any thoughts im all ears…
Weird seeing Red Bulls play possession
What a way to start.
As bad as we are at playing out from the back, I can’t believe the insistence to keep doing it comes from the players. Ridiculous
FFS I barely opened my first beer and hadn’t even sat down yet. Thanks Magpie , great cross
Abram could have done better but I don’t blame it on him. Miggy… I can’t hate on you but…
I’ve been hyper critical of Miggy all season… I’m done with his shit. That was awful
surprised we are not throwing out some fresh legs to start the match, since this is the 3rd match in 7 days. hopefully it works out
They have a long break after today. I like keeping things the same. Trying to lock down a more consistent identity and see if we can keep the momentum is more important.
I would assume quite a few of our guys will get called up for international duty. I saw on the site that a bunch of our US guys are getting called up to various camps. So not exactly getting time off.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it with the line-up! Let’s see how the legs hold up
I’d actually like to see a few of the youngsters get the start today and bring some of our normal starters in as subs. Brennan at the wing, Reilly in the midfield, Cobb at CB, and maybe even Cayman at CF. None of them were with the 2’s, so I have to think they would be available for this game.
3 games in a week can be rough, let’s give these guys some minutes to get the confidence.
I won’t be mad if I don’t see Saba starting (due to load management), but he better get subbed in with the quickness if we need him.
Maybe this injury time has helped Brooks focus on making crosses that DONT hit the moon.
Regardless of the outcome, I want to see the same heart and drive we saw the last two matches.
Vamos gents, vamos
All I have to say is while it’s nice that we got back to back wins at home….this extended 6 game road trip can be a huge help (or) hindrance in our effort to climb back into the thick of the MLS East playoff race and potentially could slightly give me a little more confidence in the product on the field, but by no means am I on the bandwagon of “We’re back baby” just because we won 2 games in a row and at home at that. While this team still hasn’t shown for the greater portion of the season thus far that they want to be taken seriously….how they perform on this road trip and wanting to win as many matches out of the 6 games and not settle for draws (or) lose would be a huge step in that direction. Personally, I think if they can at a minimum go: 3-1-2 (or) better, then I think they would be in pretty good shape considering that it’s an extended stretch away from home and start to really turn the tide on what has been an extreme letdown of a season so far and start to get some people to really take notice and them seriously which is what a lot of people expected before the season started:
Predictions:
ATL UTD vs NY Red Bulls – Win (or) Draw
ATL UTD vs NYCFC – Win (or) Draw
ATL UTD vs. Columbus – Draw (or) Loss
ATL UTD vs. Inter Miami – Win (or) Loss
ATL UTD vs. DC United – Win
ATL UTD vs. Toronto FC – Win
Wildly optimistic… but I admire the confidence
I’d love a draw. 5 at back. Give RB the ball and counter. I would not play out the back
I’m sure most people don’t want to hear it, but I would not be surprised if Lennon gets the start over Saba. Lennon is off the injury report and this is Atlanta’s 3rd match in 7 days. I would not be surprised if Thiare gets the start as well. Both Saba and Latte will probably come on as early subs in the 2nd half though
Interesting I could see that happening so as to not do what happened earlier in the season (our second half against Charlotte fc 😶) where we wanted to cram our lineup with all our better players in the first half leaving us with almost nothing left for the second half.
Sports Illustrated is still around?
BEAT THE NEW JERSEY REB BULLS!!!!