Nearly three months have passed since Atlanta United last won an MLS match. Three months.
That’s over a third of the regular season gone by without a taste of victory that wasn’t from a meaningless Leagues Cup match. It’s an absolutely brutal stretch that has sent Atlanta to dwell amongst the depths of the Eastern Conference. After last night’s matches, the Five Stripes now only clear last place D.C. United by a single point.
The sweet release of the italicized “e” will be here soon. But for now, Atlanta will host another lowly ranked member of the conference, Toronto FC, to kick off the Sunday soccer slate. An afternoon matchup awaits folks in the Benz who, truly, are watching for the love of the game.
Of all seven teams left on Atlanta United schedule, save for the season finale against D.C., this one is the most winnable of the bunch. Toronto have one win in their last seven, a surprise 1-0 victory on the road in San Diego. Two weeks ago, they added Designated Player Djordje Mihailovic to their roster via trade with the Colorado Rapids, signaling steps in a new direction for the club after parting with Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi. With Mihailovic in their lineup, Toronto FC have battled out draws with Philadelphia and Columbus. What does today’s visit to Atlanta hold?
Meanwhile, Atlanta United’s availability report listed Latte Lath as “out” for today with a hamstring injury. Jamal Thiare has made his return, though, as he dealt with a calf injury last weekend. Brooks Lennon also doesn’t appear on the list, despite leaving the Colorado match with an injured shoulder.
Will the Five Stripes make the most of their chance to bring at least some reminder of a winning feeling to the Benz this afternoon? Will the club sink any deeper into mediocrity? Will Jamal Thiare steal another goal?
We’ll find out sooner than normal, with kickoff coming at 4:00 PM ET. Streaming can be found on 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.
Atlanta Unitedโs Lineup:
Toronto FC’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Sunday, August 24th, 4:00 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Apple TV (with MLS Season Pass Subscription)
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
This thread will be your match thread. We donโt have many rules here. We just ask that you donโt insult each other personally and treat each other with respect. Debates can get heated and thatโs fine, but name-calling and petty insults will get you banned. If you see a comment that you feel is out of line, please report it and it will be dealt with.
| Get Atlanta United training ground updates, audio and video content you won’t see anywhere else, Discord access, and more. Support us on Patreon and help support independent soccer coverage here in Atlanta! Click here to start a 7-day free trial. |
Not that it would’ve given us 3 points but… Man, this MLS officiating is absolute rubbish.
The only bright spot was Hibbert, we looked lost and no idea what we were doing.
It seems like weโre pretty evenly matched against teams at the bottom of the table. At least theyโre not out classing us.
come on Almiron, you are wearing the captain’s band now…at least make it less obvious…
Larea’s such a POS.
Amador was having a good game.
Players finally starting to give up. Sad
Edit: not that I blame them
Miggy at striker is looking okay
Wow, great pass from Brennan to Miggy. And no Guz while I’m at it.
Thank goodness the Dawgs & Falcons both kickoff their seasons in the upcoming weekend/weeks, so I can actually watch some entertaining sports and won’t have to waste my Saturdays with MLS season pass on Apple TV for the remainder of this season.
Username doesnโt add up
You can be a fan of the game of soccer in general hence the remainder of this season comment which no matter the username I think everyone would agree they would rather it be over already for ATL UTD (or) have already been doing other things than spending most of their time showing up to the Benz, but at the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I need a change from this Atlanta United slop. I personally have been watching more European soccer. However, the Falcons are likely to garner some off my attention this season.
I think it’s down vote by association. There have been some really “interesting” takes from this user.
That’s cool……downvote/upvote doesn’t matter to me…….. everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it’s not the first time that a group of people have looked at things from a different perspective and truth be told that’s what makes sports so great is the diversity: among the fanbase(s) and players in general.
I’m guessing MBS will be nearly empty, but the FO will not notice or understand why. The season cannot end quickly enough, and it appears that the only way we get a new manager is to “win” the wooden spoon (we need to drop a couple of “winnable” matches first).
I was there. Wow was it boring.
Doubt Iโll watch, but hopefully these boys realize most are playing for their jobs
Oh noooo what will we do without ELL?!
Ok, got my snark out.
Remember when it was a big deal that Atlanta United was MLS winless in almost 2 months, that a coach got fired? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Havenโt won in MLS play since end of May if you want to be more depressed
Waitโฆ when was that a metric? Heinz? DeBoer? I actually donโt know the statistic.
Pineda got fired after 2 months winless other than against inter miami. Of course it’s not the only reason (in fact I don’t think it was strictly the reason given), but it was a big deal that we had gone winless that long, despite there being plenty of asterisks like both GG and Thiare getting injured during time and having to start Rios, Guzan getting injured, pretty much never having both of our starting CBs at once, etc.
That’s not to say there aren’t asterisks to the 3 months this year (and to in general only having 4 wins), but I’d argue the asterisks are less now than what Pineda had.
I see what youโre saying. So the short leash before was extended and now the patient long leash isnโt working either. Something like that?
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I’m saying myself! I think more just making the observation that the performance Deila’s team has given is objectively worse than the performance that Pineda’s teams gave, which was enough for Pineda to be fired. It makes you wonder where the line is for Deila to be fired.
I’m not stating one way or the other whether Deila should definitely be fired or not. I’m not really sure what the right course of action is here regarding the coaching staff. But the performance is definitely not there, and there’s very few excuses that don’t also apply to Pineda.
For me, there are a couple of reasons, in no particular order, to start next season with Delia still the head coach:
1) I think it would be bad overall if AU was seen as a team that will not allow the coach much say in personnel, yet fire them after 1 season when things don’t go well. Good luck hiring a proven coach if this is the reputation of the club.
2) Related to #1, Delia has had success elsewhere, so I’m open to giving him input on who we acquire in the next window (I think he likely had input on the last window). He can then build a team where most of the roster is made up of “his” players that he believes are compatible to the way he wants the team to play.
If the team is terrible again next season, there are no more excuses.