It’s fair to say Atlanta United’s start in Mercedes-Benz has been electric: three wins out of four, with seventeen goals along the way. It’s just the start the Five Stripes needed heading into a season-defining September stretch.
“I think you’ve seen in the last few home games that the whole team, generally speaking, has come out with a great intensity at the beginning of the game,” Yamil Asad said through a translator after his man-of-the-match performance Wednesday. “We’ve been able to maintain that and get some good results.”
While it’s been an exciting stretch for the whole squad, head coach Tata Martino is still focused on improving the squad every match.
“We can’t ever lose the hope to keep improving because there are always certain things to improve,” he said through a translator. “It’s true that since we moved into this Mercedes-Benz Stadium that we’ve been playing well. But, we’re still not in the playoffs yet so we know we still have work to do and some things that we can still improve on.”
Atlanta United clearly enjoys playing at home, with the red, black and gold riding a ten-match unbeaten streak in front of their Atlanta faithful. So it’s no secret the squad is hoping to not only secure a playoff spot, but ideally a home playoff game as well.
“We all know what the atmosphere is like here so if we can do that, that would be tremendous, said goalkeeper Brad Guzan. “First and foremost we’ve got to make sure we find ourselves in the playoffs. We do that by continuing to win these games and pick up points, and then, hopefully, like you said, we can find ourselves having a home game. I think if we do that we can create some momentum and a buzz and an energy around the team and around the city and (one) that I don’t think many MLS teams can compare.”
Sunday is a match with big playoff implications, with the Montreal Impact sitting just outside the playoff spots and trying to get in. It’s become a cliché, but its an important mindset to have: Atlanta United is not thinking about seeding yet, they’re taking things one game at a time.
“Our aspiration is to get as high as we can in the table,” Martino says. “It would be very important for us to host a game here but nothing is more important than just qualifying. That’s the most important thing for us right now.”
Atlanta United will try to stretch their unbeaten home streak to eleven against the Impact this Sunday, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Tickets are still available here, but if you can’t make it, make sure to tune in on FOX, Fox Deportes, or our radio partners 92.9 The Game or La Mejor Radio.
