Atlanta United drew the Houston Dynamo 1-1 at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night, the first of three matches they’ll play during the Torneo de Tejas preseason tournament. The Dynamo ended up winning the subsequent penalty shootout 4-3.
Latte Lath, who didn’t play in Atlanta United’s preseason opener vs. Lexington SC on Jan. 30, made it 1-0 in the 38th minute off an assist from Will Reilly. The striker raced into the box and fired it past Dynamo keeper Jonathan Bond to open the scoring:
Houston’s new signing, Lucas Halter, leveled it in the 50th minute before the Dynamo eventually picked up the extra point in penalties.
Atlanta played this one without Steven Alzate, Cooper Sanchez, or Alexey Miranchuk. All three players are day-to-day. With Alzate absent, Will Reilly played in a midfield that included Tristan Muyumba and Tomás Jacob.
Pedro Amador was also absent from the match due to a green card appointment, per an Atlanta United spokesperson. With ElÃas Báez not in Texas as he awaits a visa, Dominik Chong Qui started at left back but was replaced by Matt Edwards in the 56th minute after suffering an apparent knee injury.
Atlanta United starting XI
GK: Lucas Hoyos
D: Dominik Chong Qui (Matt Edwards 56′), Juan Berrocal, Enea Mihaj (Stian Gregersen 56′), Ronald Hernandez
M: Will Reilly (Adrian Gill 71′), Tristan Muyumba, Tomás Jacob (Adyn Torres, 80′)
F: Latte Lath (Cayman Togashi, 56′), Saba Lobjanidze (Luke Brennan, 56′), Miguel Almiron (Santiago Pita, 71′)
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Second time Gregersen has not started – is he coming off an injury?
To be fair, the first preseason match, he played the entire 2nd half, while Mihaj played only in the first half. Berrocal is the only one that played the full 90 the 2nd preseason match. And because they are playing in this preseason “tournament”, they would just be controlling everyone’s minutes since they will play again on the 11th and the 14th. But it could also mean that Tata prefers Mihaj and Berrocal as the current top 2 CBs.
Any update on the severity of Chong Qui’s knee injury?
AtlUtd website says he will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a sprained MCL
Tough break but it could have been worse.
Great goal my Latte. Couldn’t see the build up, but it looks like the textbook goal we were hoping he would score last season.
The post above says a couple players are day-to-day…does that mean they picked up injuries in training?
I think they are just building players up since it is still early preseason and they are playing again on the 11th and the 14th
Is Amador being shopped now that we have Baez I wonder? If there is a potential buyer lined up already, I could see him being left out of any further playing.
His posts suggest he’s not in the US so it feels very likely.
I just still think it is odd that if Amador was being shopped, why have him play in the 1st preseason match? Thiare didn’t play since they were working on selling him to Columbus. Just seems really odd
Because Baez wasn’t finalized
Well Chong Qui got hurt yesterday, so we are now then back down to 1 LB, so it doesn’t seem smart to get rid a LB, I think each position needs at least 3 players.
We still got Hernandez, he can be a LB too (/sarcasm)
I feel like if he was being shipped, he wouldn’t have been part of the press release for the new kits. Working theory only though.
I guess there’s more to that rumor of Amador being shopped off than it initially seemed.
On his Instagram he’s been posting from Portugal. There has been some speculation it is about getting his green card so he wouldn’t count as against the international limit.
let’s hope, I feel like amador is a great guy to have on the team even with baez coming in.
That would make sense. I always thought it was odd that palyers have to go back to their home country for the green card interview. I did all my green card stuff in the US
Club has confirmed it is a green card appointment.
In all likelihood both will start, sometimes together, depending on the game’s tactical shift and formation. They seem to be two different sorts of players and very unlikely Tata is getting rid of Amador (certainly not this season) as he is a valuable archetype. When they play together, Baez will play a left center back role.