The MLS Season Pass Spanish broadcast of this game said it best: “Atlanta United is the failure of the season.”
If that wasn’t abundantly clear, the team that spent over $40 million and smashed the league transfer record for the fourth time in eight years lost 2-0 to the already eliminated New England Revolution, which had fired its coach a couple of weeks back.
Of course, the result means little for Atlanta United or its fans. The club itself has been eliminated from making the playoffs for weeks now, but as always, we have your recap of the… uhhh… soccer… game. If you can even call it that.
Head coach Ronny Deila deployed an unchanged starting lineup from the one that drew 1-1 at home to San Diego FC last weekend. Juan Berrocal got his second consecutive start alongside center back partner Stian Gregersen, while Miguel Almiron and Saba Lobjanidze provided the threat out wide as left and right wingers, respectively.
The game got off to a slow start, as both teams really struggled to put together cohesive attacking moves. After a scoreless first half, the Revs struck first after Carles Gil played debutant Dor Turgeman into space. The Israeli striker spun Stian Gregersen around like a top before making it 1-0 with a clean finish.
Just minutes later, Leonardo Campana put the game to bed by finishing a New England counterattack after an Atlanta United corner kick.
So… that was basically it. Yeah.
It was terrible, as usual. You can’t really expect anything better from this team. If the players weren’t motivated when they had a chance at qualifying for the playoffs, they sure as hell weren’t going to be with a big ol’ “e” next to the team’s name in the standings.
Something that has stood out to me after the team finished its second match as an eliminated team is the stark lack of rotation or testing of other players. There’s no better time to try out young and/or unproven players than games that don’t mean much. This was one of those games, yet players like Cooper Sanchez, Dominik Chong Qui, and Cayman Togashi received a grand total of zero minutes. Would the result have been different? Probably not, but at the very least, it gives the fans SOMETHING DIFFERENT to see that isn’t the same boring soccer they’ve been subjected to this whole season.
Atlanta United’s next stop takes it to the City of Angels, where it will face Son Heung-Min and Los Angeles FC on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 9 pm ET.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments below.
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So how bad we think the next 2 games are gonna be? Combined 10 GA, maybe a couple scored?
The lack of rotation tells me Deila doesn’t see these games as a 2026 preseason. He knows he is still being evaluated by the front office and is trying his best to win with what he sees as his best lineup. He’s coaching for his job. And still continuing to fail miserably.
Hope so. They should make a move soon for a new coach if they’re even slightly doubtful. I think a lot of us are much more than slightly doubtful.
Agreed. I’m fine with Deila rolling out his best lineup if he is coaching for his job.
And how much of this play from the players do you think could be to get that coach out? We saw it with Heinze where the players appeared to have joined together to put Heinze on the chopping block because once he was out, all of the sudden they started playing well again. Feels like we may be seeing some of that here because like i’ve said too many times before, it’s not like these players somehow forgot how to play.
They previously said he is the guy for 2026. So either they are lying about that and he knows differently, or he’s not actually having to coach for his job (yet) and he’s going against all wisdom that says “start your preseason early.”
I think since having that clear statement, there have been interviews with Chris Henderson that have hedged that statement a bit. I forget exactly what he said, and they haven’t said outright that they’re not supporting him, but had words that could be construed as “there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances, but if it gets bad enough he might get fired anyway”. Wooden spoon seems about as bad as it gets.
🤮