Good morning! Sydney here with this edition of the Scarves and Spikes Daily newsletter. Follow me on X, BSky, IG, and Threads.
MD -1: Atlanta United at Charlotte FC
Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Atlanta United’s first match coming out of the World Cup break was a 1-0 loss to Nashville SC on Friday. Next up: a trip to Bank of America Stadium to face Charlotte FC. Charlotte’s big signing, Allan Saint-Maximin, likely won’t be there as he works out a visa. One player we could see: Atlanta United’s new centerback, Júnior Alonso, who will be available for selection. Paulo Díaz, who was introduced with Alonso during a Monday press conference, will see his process take a little longer.
Not making the trip: Jay Fortune, who’s out three to four weeks with a left hamstring strain. Those are always tricky, so let’s hope that it’s an accurate timeline. If so, that means he’ll return for Atlanta’s home match on August 15 against the New York Red Bulls. Matt Edwards’ own hamstring injury wasn’t as serious: he’s day-to-day.
Fortune’s injury means that Cooper Sanchez’s planned release this week to the U.S. U-19s for the CONCACAF U-20 Tournament won’t occur. That’s opened up a little debate: is Atlanta United doing the right thing in keeping Sanchez home vs. spending time on the international front? I think it’s the correct call, especially in a double match week. Against Charlotte and New England, Sanchez should feature in a midfield trio along with Tristan Muyumba and, I would imagine, Will Reilly.
In fact, here’s my predicted starting XI. I’ll post it to the site tomorrow, but you get it first as an SnS Daily subscriber:
Atlanta United has been waiting for Latte Lath to build confidence. They can’t afford to wait longer
Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Good question from Latingoles’s Jose Prosopio to Chris Henderson at the Alonso/Díaz intro presser about Emmanuel Latte Lath and why things haven’t worked for him in MLS. Here’s Henderson’s response:
“I think with Emmanuel, it’s about goal scoring, it comes in streaks. And I think it’s about getting confidence when you’re in front of goal and getting him in opportunities to build that confidence every day. And I think that he’s shown that in his career before he came, of how to get into that rhythm.”
This is…I’m not sure how many times…we’ve heard “confidence” and Latte Lath mentioned in the same sentence. How long are we going to be left waiting for him to find it and be the goalscorer he was brought in to be? Maybe Tata Martino’s plan against Nashville was to bring him in as a late-match super-sub that could run at tired legs. Maybe he wanted to send a stern message. Either way, the optics of a Designated Player that was once a league-record signing not cracking the starting XI against the Supporters’ Shield leaders aren’t great.
With each passing day, Atlanta is ignoring what’s been obvious to fans for a while: Latte Lath is simply not cut out for this league. And with each passing day, an opportunity to bring in a productive, reliable, confident striker goes begging.
Who knows? Maybe the switch flips in Charlotte. We’ve been waiting for a while for that to happen, though, and I’m not sure it ever will.
Later this morning, check out my 3 Questions article with Colin Cerniglia from Charlotte Footy as he gives me the scoop on Charlotte FC. We’re also recording an Across the Pitch episode for Patreon backers only — another reason to sign up to support us on Patreon now. (Click here.)
ICYMI: Last night’s MLS Monday
Tyler and Sydney took a look at MLS’s impact on the World Cup, caught up on the biggest league storylines, and looked ahead to Robert Lewandowski and Antoine Griezmann’s debuts with their respective clubs (Chicago Fire and Orlando City) on Wednesday. Which player will ultimately have the biggest impact within the league?
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