After a brief hiatus…it’s time to get back up for the Cup.
Atlanta United returns to U.S. Soccer’s oldest tournament this evening with a short trip up I-75 to face a familiar foe in Chattanooga FC in the Round of 32 after going the Leagues Cup route last season. The Five Stripes most recently faced the independent MLS Next Pro side in a friendly to start the 2025 preseason under Ronny Deila, a match that ended 2-1 in favor of the hosts at Finley Stadium.
It is without a doubt the most viable chance at success that Atlanta United has in 2026. Along with being the most recent piece of hardware the club has won not named “AmFam” or “Wooden Spork” (seven years ago, if you’re counting), the U.S. Open Cup is the most open door back into continental competition with just five knockout matches separating MLS Clubs from a trophy lift.
While it sounds easy, Atlanta’s most recent cup history hasn’t been too flowery. Losses to USL sides Indy Eleven and Memphis 901 FC in the past two outings have not exactly been moments of pride for an organization who could definitely use some. And, as we see in cup competitions around the world, early stage matches provide a platform for player rotation. Matches like these are where players lower in the depth chart can get real time on the pitch outside of spot substitutions to show their abilities and potentially cause some selection headaches for Tata Martino. See Hibbert, Jayden.
Aside from typical rotation, a slew of first team players are listed as questionable for the match, including Stian Gregersen dealing with his wisdom teeth (that’s a first timer for me). Alzate, Latte Lath, and Lobjanidze’s statuses also open the door for some lesser seen players to get minutes here.
One Atlanta United player could get minutes in a more roundabout way- Ashton Gordon, who signed a Homegrown last year and spent the 2025 season with ATL UTD 2, is currently on loan for the season with Chattanooga FC.
CFC’s been in good form as of late, unbeaten in regulation through five matches across competitions, including a current three match win streak. They’ll be looking to keep that alive and notch an MLS cupset while they’re at it in front of a home crowd at Finley Stadium.
Kickoff up in Chattanooga is scheduled for a 7:30 PM ET start, while live streaming for the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 is handled by Paramount+. If yet another subscription isn’t your vibe, radio coverage of the match will be available on 92.9 The Game.
Whether you’re making the short trip or tuning in from home, feel free to chime in on the match down below in our match thread for tonight as the Five Stripes look to advance to the Round of 16.
Atlanta United’s Lineup:
Chattanooga FC’s Lineup:
How to Watch:
Venue: Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Kickoff Time: Wednesday, April 15th; 7:30 PM ET
Available TV/Streaming: Paramount+
Available Radio: 92.9 The Game
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Even considering the level of the opponent, from what I’ve seen tonight’s squad has some folks that should be getting more time in MLS games. The same old same old ain’t cutting it. Time to shake things up and see who can hang.
Soooo why is Pedro not starting regularly again🤔🤷♂️😒
Cause Tata likes Baez ! and no one can tell him what to do
thats a crap reason!😤
This lineup is a little weird🤔 would’ve liked to see Brennan get the start
Relegate em. Im done
clearly Atlanta isn’t taking this match seriously. we are playing with only 1 true CB and we don’t even have a back up CB on the bench as well. This is crazy…
Perfect game for lathe to find a goal and maybe some for. Why he not playing
He was listed as questionable with a leg injury so not surprising he isn’t on the roster. And the team isn’t even taking this match seriously anyways.
US Open Cup has lost so much luster that I can’t even pirate the match…
Little (irrelevant) fun fact for yall. Chattanooga’s GK Jakupovic and ATLs Miranchuk both played for Lokomotiv Moscow.
Maybe we can eek out a draw 🤞
you can’t draw in US Open Cup, if there is a tie, it will go to PKs until a winner is determined.
I’m probably reading too much into Stien’s likely unavailability for this game due to a (probable) wisdom tooth extraction, but it makes me wonder if that’s an indication that Tata isn’t really taking the Open Cup seriously. IIRC, he did not his first time around here, either.
I can definitely see missing a game the day you have them pulled (had all 4 of mine done the same day, and I wasn’t gonna be doing any running for sure), and can see the mentality being “if they gotta go, best to do it where you don’t miss any important games.”
yea, I guess it depends on when he got it pulled and how many he got pulled and if it was impacted or not. If it was impacted, it will most definitely have a lot of swelling, so it will depend on pain management.
smh…wisdom tooth? just get that sucker pulled, can’t have you missing a match due to tooth pains…
but it is good to see that Miranchuk is not on the injury list