Atlanta Preps For “Battle Of Uniteds” Rematch With DC

Here’s an analogy for the next few weeks for a lot of MLS coaches and what they face.

And these same coaches hope it doesn’t turn into one of these moments.

What We Mean

With all the matches going on in Major League Soccer and Open Cup involving teams like Atlanta United and DC United challenge coaching staffs, player endurance, and stretch resources as teams try to be successful in both competitions.

What do your line-ups look like? Who starts? Who sits? How many games ahead do you plan going forward?

Atlanta United travels to RFK Stadium to face an “offensively-challenged” (to say the least) home side that hasn’t scored a goal in the run of play since this moment.

11th in the East and averaging a point per match, DCU is averaging .67 goals-per-match (10 goals for the season)

And Bill Hamid is still keeping the side in every match- even if the last time out DCU lost “only” 2-0 to Toronto FC at BMO Field. Hamid leads all of Major League Soccer in saves (67) and has made at least five saves in a match nine times this season.

Questions, Questions, Questions

If you’re head coach “Tata” Martino, you want to get your team out on the correct foot and put DC United down early and keep them from doing what they haven’t been able to do- namely, score…

The front will have some rotation of Josef Martinez, Julian Gressel, Tito Villalba, Miguel Almiron, and Yamil Asad. The head-scratching will come from the midfield and defense. Does Greg Garza stay at home to nurse his nagging injuries? Possibly.

Does Jeff Larentowicz start? Probably, but if Atlanta United has a lead, he’ll be one of the first to get substituted out. Will Mark Bloom start for Garza? Will Chris McCann get quality minutes? Kevin Kratz?

The #5Stripes Magic 8 Ball would think this would be likely scenarios on these ideas with another probable 3-point match this weekend at home with Colorado.

But The Key Here Is

With the Miami FC Open Cup match looming a week away in a tough environment, the team has to simply approach it this way.

But all the talk on paper is just that. You don’t want to look back at these two, winnable matches this week and say “woulda, coulda, shoulda…” if you end up anywhere less than 6 points short of being above The Red Line at the end of the regular season.

A lot of that activity can come from the “Peachtree Press,” the notion that Atlanta United, when they’re at full strength will press on offense and defense- something on display for the league in the win over Columbus Crew this past weekend:

"“I think when you’re talking about a team, attacking or defending, it depends on the whole team,” Martino admitted after the Crew win, “and not just a group of a few players and I think sometimes its important for us to press, because when we press, it helps us defend, but at other times I think we need to fall back because sometimes when you do press so hard, it puts our defenders in tough spots as well.”"

And you can bet Martino hopes to show this again first-hand against DC United Wednesday night.