The third time’s the charm, or so they say.
After a lackluster start to the 2026 season, Atlanta United kicks off a four match home stand tonight, returning to the familiar confines of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and looking to avoid being bogged down in an early rut as the team continues to emerge from a disastrous 2025. Through two matches in Tata Martino’s second tenure, the Five Stripes have yet to score, and have conceded twice in each of the two matches on the road.
It’ll be Martino’s first home match back in Atlanta colors since the 2018 MLS Cup, the pinnacle of the club’s history and a height that the organization, now in their tenth season, has been agonizingly drawn further away from since. Tonight, the team will get what might feel like a second chance at a season opener, an opportunity to start the home schedule with a clean slate and to try, as much as we all can hope, to forget the worst parts of trips to Cincinnati and San Jose from the past two weeks.
It’ll also be the first of eight Atlanta United matches on the Benz’s newly installed natural grass playing surface as the stadium prepares to host World Cup matches in the summer. Whether that has much of an impact on the Five Stripes’ home results is yet to be seen, but the lengthly injury list of the visiting Real Salt Lake squad just might tilt the scales ever so slightly in Atlanta’s favor.
While Atlanta will be without the services of two players, Jay Fortune and Will Reilly, RSL will be missing a whopping seven. That includes not only big names like Diego Luna and DeAndre Yedlin, but last week’s starting striker in Salt Lake’s 2-1 win over the Sounders, Ari Piol. Experience tells me this may not be quite the advantage it seems for Atlanta, but hey, anything helps.
What could also help Atlanta United out tonight might be some changes to the starting lineup after last weekend’s poor showing out in California. Martino remarked postgame that he was focused more on how the team played in the second half, saying his squad “started to do things well”. That second half saw the inclusion of Alexey Miranchuk, who replaced Saba Lobjanidze after a poor showing, and Pedro Amador, who surprisingly took up a role in Atlanta’s midfield three during the final 20 minutes of the match. Will we see something similar out of the gate tonight?
Newly loaned in midfielder Matías Galarza is also eligible for selection after acquiring a work visa. The 24 year old Paraguayan international from River Plate hasn’t seen competitive minutes since November, so any debut will likely be short as he builds match fitness.
As we prepare for the first kickoff of the year in the Benz, familiarize yourself with this weekend’s matchup with our preview articles below:
Atlanta United vs. Orlando City preview: 3 questions with Massive Report’s Tyler Fisher
A look at the Columbus Crew before Atlanta United faces them on Sunday in the final match before the World Cup break.
Atlanta United will let Matías Galarza’s loan expire. What about Juan Berrocal’s?
Matías Galarza won’t return to Atlanta United after the break, and Juan Berrocal is a doubt to have his own loan picked up. Here’s why it makes financial sense.
Predicting the USMNT World Cup roster
Mauricio Pochettino faces legacy-defining decisions for the USMNT this summer. Here is how the final squad could shape up.
If you’re unable to make it to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to catch tonight’s home opener in person, you can still tune in as usual on Apple TV to watch. If audio is more your speed, head to Star 94.1 for your English radio broadcast and La Mejor for Spanish.
No matter where you are, or how things look on the pitch, feel free to chime in on the match down below in our match thread for tonight as the Five Stripes finally return home.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Real Salt Lake’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Kickoff Time: Saturday, March 7th, 7:40 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Apple TV
Available Radio: Star 94.1, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
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Football IQ..is something we would assume thus coach has?..very questionable..hopefully he see who starts and who does not..here is what should be the team IMO..
ELL….ALVIRON
NEW MID…ALZARTE…#8 OR GILL
………..JACOB…….
ALMADOR….#4…GREGERSEN….EDWARDS
…………HIBBERT…………
this will give us a stronger starting eleven…and the game plan is to push the ball forward..stop playing it back… .negative passing is a not a strategy. Mids need to get the ball and turn up field
You left out the only player who has scored goals for us these first 3 games.
I agree he had scored twice..in 1 game. Honestly, since being here, he has never really done the job at creating and giving passes to have the striker pressure the defense..no matter if it was Thaire or ELL or Alviron. He cannot be the striker, he is slow, not physical, cannot hold the CAM and does not help in defense, meaning he never really tackles anyone. He is one of the people who brought that play back negative passing… I believe his roll was defined in the first game, off the bench.
I think he can be player you can bring on after the defense have been tired out from ELL and Alviron.
My team selection, from what we have seen..can be stable in defense, strong and creative in the middle, which help bring the ball forward, and in the final third the speed and attacking with good passing forward from middle. We should also bring in the young guys, Luke, Chong, Gordon…we have young talent but we play overrated by the coach players. Fortune is also a good CAM, Gregersen, is faster and physical, strong in the arial attack that #6 and #4…why are they not starting?
He hardly got to play the first two games, and has made an immediate difference in the build up play whenever he has come on. I’m pretty much not going to judge anyone based on last year, but he was also one of the only people scoring on an incredibly bad team. He’s one of the few players who’s not making negative passes, it was just last year his progressive passes were not accurate, which as I said I’m not going to judge much based on last year. And he created plenty his first half year in 24, some honestly very beautiful fast plays too.
No he’s not useful on defense, but honestly our high press so far has been bad and our backline has been contributing also very poorly to defense, so I’d be more interested in improving the defensive capabilities of our backline before I start criticizing the defensive capabilities of our front line.
If Galarza et al start to produce well in build up play (which they might), and our striker starts to score, then I’m good with considering Miranchuk a less than ideal option. But to throw out one of the only pieces of the offense that is currently working in exchange for other pieces *that have already been playing and produced nothing these past two games* is lunacy.
Galarza fixes many woes in the midfield, and Miranchuk fixes many woes in the final third. Now we need to fix the ridiculously slow defense and the shot stopping from the GK. Those fixes are right there, sitting on the bench, ready and able.
Yes. This is all or mostly fixable.
two positive note:
negative notes: everything else sucked
Passing in the final third is just awful.
Baez nooooooo
Tata does know that MLS allows for 5 subs right? use them, can’t get any worse
Do we think the players know that on a corner, you are in fact allowed to hit it into the box directly?
To be fair, that really only is effective if you have players effective in the air. Which we don’t.
Muyumba looks awful
He’s reverting to his traditional “turnover machine” role. Also looks gassed.
They expect me to PAY to watch this on TV at home… LOL….
they are not even worth pirating
This is painful. Regretting the season ticket renewal right about now.
At about 5 minutes in, we forced a turnover on their side of the field and instead of turning towards goal and getting on the front foot, Alzante, Muyumba and someone else decided to pass back and forth about 3 times and ultimately pass all the way back into our defensive 3rd. I mean, WTF?! The collective soccer IQ of this team hovers just above flat tire.
Where’s Hibbert….
And the soccer gods said, oops. Lemme fix that.
This keeper is shit..Hibbert should have stRt all games…..and please get some better defenders..they are below average. Get gregesen and Edward’s in..move Jacob to the middle. .take off sanchez..is not good
Berrocal needs to get pulled for Gregersen too.
Hoyos and Berrocal out, Gregersen and Hibbert in. Please. This defense is ruining our ability to stay in the game
Berrocal + baez out
Hell yeah. When he shoots the ball good things happen.
See you all this summer… at least the World Cup and another transfer window is coming then. And it’s about the only thing our once beloved franchise has to look forward to… all ATL Sports teams should literally be a case study on how to screw up a franchise.
Our backline has no speed and the mids are not creative and have no vision..it just a pay check..like the coach…please stop paying for for a shit product
I think those were the loudest boos against the home team I’ve heard.
This coach is a stupid and bias..where is hibbert?
well….that escalated quickly
I don’t understand the full replacement of the backline. We weren’t that bad last year and clearly these 4 idiots do not know how to defend
Both CB’s played last year.
Sure, they had a handful of starts, but they were not the main CB pairing. Gregerson is sitting there on the bench and Williams is gone.
Gotcha, yeah I’d rather see Gregerson.
Radio guys blaming Muyumba for the goal. Should have fouled the guy and not let him go.
Apple guy said that too.
Gregersen for some speed on the backline too please
Hoyos out please
That was utterly pathetic
I think MIranchuk has made a difference so far.
LL with a shot!!!! O. M. G.
Stripes AND checkers? MLS kits getting out of hand.
Why is the pitch a couple of yards shorter? I’m opposite from the Supporters Section, and the goal is off. It’s usually lined up exactly with my seat, but now it’s off by a couple of yards. You can see the seam of the turf vs the grass.
really?!? the only major change to the starting line up is to plug in Miranchuk over Saba. still not willing to start Amador over Baez? also, don’t know how effective Jacob will be at RB over having him situated in CM.
Jacob was decent in the second half in San Jose when he was moved there towards the end. Then again, a 2-0 scoreline is your context there. Muyumba at the six is a bit scary to me as a result of the move but we’ll see how it shakes out.
I think Jacob offers much more as a mid than a RB. He has looked like the best mid we have when played there. Certainly better than Muyumba. Seemed shaky at RB when he switched there last game, but maybe he’ll surprise us. Ialso don’t think Baez has looked that good compared to Amador at LB. And we’re sticking with Hoyos??? Just don’t get this.
Color me cautiously pessimistic.
We are the underdogs In this match. It’ll be exciting to win.
I’ll be there – let’s bring the energy ATL! Vamos!!
Lets get a W at home boys!!!