Alright, that’s it. Just fold this entire franchise.
With a rivalry matchup in a knockout tournament, the Five Stripes put up a pathetic performance as Orlando City SC curbstomped them 4-1 and ended their run in the US Open Cup.
Deploying a back five for the first time this season, Tata Martino introduced significant rotation to the lineup that drew The Lions 1-1 on Saturday. Jayden Hibbert replaced Lucas Hoyos in goal behind a backline of center backs Pedro Amador, Stian Gregersen and Ronald Hernandez, and wing backs Elias Baez and Matt Edwards. Will Reilly, Cooper Sanchez and Jay Fortune formed the midfield trio behind a front two of Alexey Miranchuk and Emmanuel Latte Lath.
I’m not gonna mince words here, it was a disaster from the very start.
Orlando scored six minutes in after Latte Lath decided to stop covering his man inside the box and raise his hand, while David Brekalo scored a very easy header.
Then began a common theme throughout the first 45 minutes of Orlando finding acres of space in behind Atlanta’s sluggish backline. The hosts doubled their lead by playing a throughball that Matt Edwards was unable to deal with before Ivan Angulo played a cutback across goal to find Griffin Dorsey, who found the back of the net.
The third came after a tremendous error from Jayden Hibbert at the back. Under pressure, the 21-year-old goalkeeper gave the ball away to Tiago Souza inside the box, allowing the Brazilian midfielder to score a simple goal.
Tiago made it a brace just before halftime by beating Ronald Hernandez to a ball played in behind and comfortably beating Hibbert in a 1v1. When the teams returned to the locker rooms for halftime, the Five Stripes were already out of it on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline.
Latte Lath managed a consolation goal off the volley in the 84th minute. It was a good finish, but it came way too late to even matter.
What a disgraceful performance. This is seriously the best that this team can do in a derby game when a place in the semifinals of a cup competition is on the line? Pathetic.
Atlanta United’s final match before a break for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field when it visits the Columbus Crew on Sunday, May 24. That match will kick off at 5 pm EST.
I figured it out: the last few seasons have been karmic backlash for playing “Champagne Supernova” after we beat Minnesota for the Open Cup in 2019. Before that game, we were 1st in the East and 2nd for the shield. We lost both and the cup, and since then only mediocrity has followed.
Seems clear that Lath was a huge mistake by the scouting department. I think Miggy was too, just not as big a mistake simply because he cost less. Alexi is probably a TAM-level player, but not a DP. Galarza is the last pickup I can remember that really looks like a good move, though recency bias makes it harder to remember any other good acquisitions.
The team is a mess, and it’s going to take probably 4 windows of making the right decisions every single time to turn it around no matter who the coach is.
Almada was a good acquisition and probably GG.
I think he was acquired before the current regime took over, correct? I don’t want Boca back, but we have been even worse since he left.
i can’t fault hibbert for any of the goals. yes, he fumbled the ball on the back pass, but that was an inexcusable decision to put your keeper in that position, and a poorly executed back pass anyway. hibbert had not one, but two attackers in his vicinity. clear the damn ball, don’t hang your keeper out to dry.
that being said, there is not a single cb i would keep on this team. the only fullbacks i would keep are amador and edwards, both as bench players.
there is not a single attacker i would keep except brennan and saba, both as bench players (on the fence about togashi).
fortune, sanchez, maybe muyumba because of his development under tata, galarza, alexei (unless a good price is offered), and reilly are the only midfielders i would keep.
if almiron wants to stay as a super sub, i’m okay with that, just because of what he means to atlanta. hibbert should stay.
this is some crazy heavy lifting to do in the off season…and it’s all reliant on a front office that have consistently proven that they are NOT up to the task. sigh…
I agree it wasn’t a great decision to back pass to Hibbert in that situation, but I would say that a keeper at MLS level should be able to handle it. If nothing else, he could have bombed it downfield to clear it or kicked it out of bounds for a throw. He handled a tough-ish spot poorly. The poor footwork he showed there might be why Hoyos continues to start.
The list of players that need to be traded or, if possible, bought out is almost as long as the list of players on the squad (but start with those who have simply quit on the team). Given the limitations imposed by MLS on remaking a squad, we will not seen material improvement until the start of the 2027-2028 season.
Hard to blame a goal tender with such a defensive disaster, but Hibbert’s performance moved me from the start Hibbert camp to Hoyos…Hibbert is too exploitable.
I came here just to see what people would say about Hibbert. I still think he’s starter caliber, he is absolutely to blame for at least that 2nd (3rd?) goal he passed to the Orlando forward, but i’m not sure Hoyos would have been any better in this game where our defense was absolutely atrocious.
Good shot stopper, needs work on his distro. The season appears to be lost already (hope I am wrong) so I’d like to see him get the bulk of the minutes going forward.
I think Tata wanted to lose this game. Starting Hernandez as a center back and playing a highline.
I thought Herbert, was good. He made a lot of stops that Hoyos never would have. The goal that he is being blamed for, was due to a hospital pass from to him from the outside back.
The players did not look good because they’re all playing out a position in an unfamiliar formation. This one is all on Tata.
Yea this feels like a Tata loss to me….for some reason he just does not take USOC seriously and seeing how it was our only chance at a trophy this yr, is super disappointing😞
Tata admitted he got the tactics wrong. However, it’s not like he fielded a team of second-stringers (although one could argue most everyone is backup quality) like he used to do in Tata 1.0.