MLS derby days are highly dependent upon the collective form of both participating teams, and going into Wednesday’s match against Charlotte, Atlanta United hadn’t exactly been strolling. But the Five Stripes played a somewhat improved game in another derby match a grand total of five days ago against Nashville, though still dropped points in that 1-0 loss.
They walked out against Charlotte and it appeared they’d taken a massive step backwards. Thankfully, a halftime tactical tweak involving getting both fullbacks forward and inside helped swing the momentum back in Atlanta’s favor, as they snagged a full 2/5 of their entire season’s away goals in the Crown City.
The lack of finishing ability is still giving this team and its fans heartache, but the big news of the day was that Latte Lath wasn’t even in the squad. Atlanta’s $22 million attacking Designated Player was reported to have been left out of the squad “as a precaution” by Chris Henderson on 92.9 The Game, who also confirmed that the team is in discussion with a few teams about Latte Lath’s future. Fafa Picault got the start in his place, and Junior Alonso received his first MLS minutes as the Five Stripes would crawl back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2. Here are the final whistle thoughts from Bank of America Stadium!
Aiming isn’t a strong suit, but everyone gets lucky
The Star Wars references will keep coming until morale improves. Elias Baez was able to solve the age old problem of putting the ball in the back of the net early in the second half, thus becoming Employee of the Month TK-714, but unfortunately his fellow storm troopers haven’t been paying the same attention in training. They tried, as they always do. And, much to every Atlanta fan’s chagrin, the shots couldn’t hit a Star Destroyer from the inside…for most of the match.
Not one to be outdone in any employee of the month contest, Miguel Almiron would find a way to poke one home midway through the second half to make the game 2-2 and set up the final in the trilogy. A game winner would’ve been beautiful, but a 2-2 draw is the definition of quitting while you’re ahead with this current iteration of Atlanta United.
Emotions
To be clear, this doesn’t erase one crumb of criticism because the draw that Atlanta United pulled today isn’t sustainable. But I’ll take an emotional roller coaster over the numbness of being dead inside that’s resided within fans over the past year and a half. It’s wonderful, actually, to see the team scrap back into a game. The squad still isn’t showing well enough to be anything more than a bottom third team, but the fact they’ve shown two matches in a row the desire to stay in a game – away from home – is a step in the right direction. That’s two away matches in a row where they’ve had moments of looking like they have some semblance of an understanding, so maybe that World Cup break with Tata got something clicking?
We have a long way to go to really see what this team is about as it evolves through the summer transfer window, but I’ll take scrounging a point by coming back from 2-0 down over blowing a 2-0 lead any day.
I’m genuinely curious to see if Junior Alonso and Enea Mihaj can form a better connection as the match days move forward, and I’ll continue to beat the dead horse about this team needing better finishers. With Latte Lath apparently on the way out, and Henderson continuing to push for a stack of signings this summer, fans can only hope the chemistry comes together quickly.