For the second straight season, Atlanta United will miss the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Atlanta, with a 2-1 loss at New York City FC on Wednesday night, was eliminated from playoff contention. It’s a tough pill to swallow for a team with one of the highest-compensated rosters in Major League Soccer. It’s even harder given that, for the first time in club history, Atlanta will miss the postseason in consecutive seasons.
It sets up what should be some pivotal offseason decisions for the club under president of soccer Mauricio Culebro, with a 14-match sprint season ahead. Tata Martino was brought back to the club to help return it to prominence in MLS. It appears there’s still a long way to go.
“It’s difficult to express a message to the fans right now, because we’ve had a bad season,” Martino said through an interpreter after the match when I asked what message he had for the Atlanta fanbase. “After moments like this, I don’t think we have the right to manifest anything to explain it to the fan base.
“I think the support from the fans that we get is what we want to try to represent and identify the fans with the play on the field. But it’s difficult to express a message to them right now.”
A familiar theme
Like it had in previous matches, Atlanta United dominated much of the first half at Citi Field. Breel Embolo’s header just past the 20-minute mark appeared to put them ahead before it was correctly disallowed on an offside call after a VAR check.
It carried on what’s been one of the threads of this season: Atlanta’s inability to take advantage of opportunities. Eventually, NYC scored first on a brilliant free kick from Nico Fernández Mercau. Atlanta equalized through Embolo, but Bénie Traoré won it with a dazzling stoppage-time strike, his first goal from open play in 17 appearances with the Pigeons.
“We created a lot of chances. We just couldn’t put them away or they were ruled offside. We missed fine margins. And then, yeah, they punished us second half, especially in the last minute of the game,” Matt Edwards said. “To concede like that, it’s just not good enough for us. But it’s just a story of what we’ve done this year.”
I asked Edwards what needs to change in the sprint season and beyond to keep the team from missing the playoffs once more.
“(There) needs to be a mentality shift from all of us that we can see results out and we can get three points, and we need to get back to making our home field our fortress and not letting teams come in and get three points there,” he said.
“We didn’t win nearly enough home games. We got a lot more away points this year, but we need to make sure that we can make the Mercedes-Benz the fortress it used to be. … Our first day to the last day, we need to have that conviction, and we need to prove that we deserve to be at Atlanta United because it’s such a big club, and right now we’re not proving that we deserve to be here.”
“We’re disappointed”
Atlanta United have two matches remaining. On Sunday, their final home match of the season, they face Toronto FC. After that comes Decision Day on November 7 and a trip to Red Bull New York.
For the second straight year, Decision Day will be meaningless.
“Obviously, we’re as a team, so disappointed in ourselves. We’re disappointed because the fans deserve more. We deserve more out of this year. I think we put together some good performances at times, but we just couldn’t get the three points when we needed to,” Edwards said.
“We need to be a lot better next year as a team and as individuals and get more results and give the fans something to look forward to. No more words. We just need to put it to the test. We have to go for it, I think.”