Making new thread for the new season.

ATL has a new coach and mostly new players, we'll see how it goes!

ATL has a friendly scrimmage with somebody coming up and they are playing 2 80 minute matches in the scrimmage.

That sounds brutal!

Some past years "friendlys" which is just an agreement to play a game, from the local team, the Crew, were against international teams. I wouldn't be a bit surprised, at least from the international teams, if there wasn't a game first against the 18 years of age and younger crowd, and later a team against the adults, though it wouldn't be talked about.

That is possible because of so many players on the rosters in pre-season - they'll split the team into 2 teams and play. There's a chance someone will play in both, but not many and not the full time.

I was looking at a Timbers post and they literally replaced the whole field in a substitution in the second half. Many of the players names I knew, but they also had in there trailist 1, trialist 2, etc...

Makes sense. I feel really anxious to see if our team will be competitive or not.

Also, I hope they let fans in. I really missed going to games last year.

Timbers and Thorns announced 25% capacity for games as of April. Pick which games and the type of pod (1 person, 2 people, or 4 people) and there's a lottery (for season ticket holders, not sure about general public).

I won't be going until I get vaccinated - I am immunocompromised but not so much that I qualify for the vaccine yet, and I don't want to take the chance. It looks like May for me.

I do suspect that as vaccination percentages go up that the states and MLS will allow larger percentages (assuming the variants don't screw things up again). I do wonder if they'll allow full capacity anywhere.

I realized that somehow we are in Concacaf League. I don't know how that happened, but now would be a good time for our new players and new coach to gel.

Gonna try to go to a Crew game in the new stadium this year.

There wasn't an US Open Cup last year, so US Soccer requested CONCACAF include Atlanta as the 2019 winner.

We're in (as is Columbus as league champs and Philly as shield winner) as well, thank goodness for the MLS is Back tourney I still wish we got a star for that (or even an asterisk, lol)

Take pics and share if you remember. If I get back for an OSU football game this fall, I'm going to try to pick a week/weekend where the Crew play as well. Browns would be a wonderful trifecta.

So it was announced that AU will have their opening home game at 50% crowd capacity. I am super pumped for that. If I can get a decent priced ticket I will go.

BUT, a lot of fans were complaining that only 20% of Ga is vaccinated so it's too risky. They should just stay home then. Let the vaccinated people and the people who already had covid go.

Can't stay home forever. At some point you have to live life again.

True, but to get to that point, you have to stay on the right side of the grass....

We just drew in Honduras. It was really clear we haven't played in 4+ months, and even longer in upper 80s with high humidity. Dominated probably 40 minutes of the game, looked terrible about 15 minutes and the rest was even. We did have 4 players out, but still. Looking forward to the rematch here.

Good luck to Atl in a few minutes.

I watched your game. It was a good match! Maybe the rust will be off for next match.


Im not sure what to expect for ATL. Josef isnt starting and we have a new coach and team. And Costa Rica apparently has won/draw 16 in a row.

If we can look a bit competant, I will be happy.

Omg so ridiculous. Red card on our Goalie. Are you kidding me.

The other team totally bullied that ref into throwing a red card!

And now our Goalie is suspended for the next game also!

Holy Crap on a cracker. I don't know how we won that.

That was just non stop drama.

I liked how they played for the most part. Except the last 20 minutes.

I'll take the win.

You looked pretty good, though I couldn't watch a lot of it. Guzan was an idiot for what he did in the first half, though I thought it was a yellow and not a red. Nonetheless, it didn't hurt you.

So far, good job MLS. A win and draw away when both MLS teams are in their first games and both opponents are 15+ games into their season. I hope the others do as well.

I'm not even sure what kind of season, is this the MLS regular season or something other, I didn't think it started yet.

but first of all.

What the heck happened. How the heck does a goalie Goal keeper ever get a red card ever.

That's like a kicker getting ejected for targeting it can't happen, he's not around the action, the goal keeper is not in the mid field.

And it can't be a "red" card, what did he do pull out a weapon? ( I haven't heard of the incident yet).

It's impossible for a goal keeper to interfere with an unabaded final attacker headed toward the opposite goal with no one between the attacker and the opposite goal, virtually impossible, which makes a red card vitually impossible. (like a kicker catching an interception and returning it for a touchdown)

I was going to say, one of the nice things about the MLS

is it's still about the game on the field.

(soccer field, Americans don't say pitch)

it's not about player contracts, or off field scandals yet, most all of the news is still about the play of the game.

He came out and tripped the opposing player. I don't know your soccer knowledge so apologies if you know this already - but there's a rule called DOGSO (denial of a goal scoring opportunity) where if the offensive player would have a good goal scoring opportunity and is fouled to stop it, it is a red card.

It isn't common. Typically it is a forward gets past a defender and it is one on one with the goalie and a defender catches up and fouls him. In this case, Guzan came out and tripped him. The problem was that when the guy dribbled the ball before the trip, he was likely not able to catch up to the ball before going over the end line.

It is a judgement call, and because the Concacaf Champions League does not have VAR, it isn't reviewable. The ref in my opinion made the wrong decision.

You are right. In my last post I was mistakenly thinking
the Keeper would have to leave his own goal,
travel 80-90% down the soccer field,
and trip his own teammate about to score in the opponents goal

in order to be in position to get this type of red card, the same as you described.

Which would be so impossible, not at all probable.

Only thing I know is Goalie is a hockey word.
Soccer calls em Goal Keepers.

and I was drunk on incredulousness last post, my mistake.

Throw - its all good.

On CCL, another win and another draw yesterday, and Columbus is beating up Real Esteli badly (3-0 only 30 minutes in). Very good first round for MLS.

This is not MLS, but rather NWSL. The Thorns played at home last night in front of 25% capacity (about 6000). It was so nice to see this. I didn't go because I'm not vaccinated yet and immunocompromised, but I live next to the stadium so I got to hear it.

And this happened at the end...4 red cards. 2 for this. Let me know your thoughts on #22 in black getting thrown out of the game and suspended another game. I'm biased, but I don't see a red card there.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1380746659743735808

Wow, 4 red cards! I dont see a red card, but I dont know the rules that well. Which rule did they say she broke? She fell down and tried avoid a fight with the other chick.

Going to games, Eve? Wondered how attendance was with the COVID thingy. I assume seats are available.

I plan on going, but we will have to see how it goes. Tickets arent on sale yet for our home games, but they said 50% capacity.

Not sure what she did wrong. Fans were ticked, team was ticked, owner was ticked...apparently, they've already appealed it. I hope Edmonds gets a long suspension.

If it is anything like the Timbers (though we have 25% capacity), season ticket holders are getting first priority. If it doesn't sell out, then general public. I'm not sure how many season ticket holders you have, but that could be why you haven't seen the tickets for sale.

Good luck this week on the back half of the CCL game.

Good luck to you also!

Congrats to you...hopefully we duplicate your win

Thanks! I wasnt too pleased with their performance, but a W is a W.

Looks like your game is well in hand!

Understatement on ours...5-0 final, could have been 8 or 9. Much bigger challenge awaits us next round. Hopefully the rest of the MLS teams get through too...

Super pleased with our home opener. They played aggressive attacking ball. The kind of ball we played in 2018. Wish I was there. Let's keep it up!

Nice result.

We started our B team (5 starters on the bench, plus we're still down 4 players) because we have 5 games in 16 days...but we came out really aggressive as well, then lost control of the first half. 1-1

Second half started a little more even, though as we subbed in our starters, we dominated. It was only 2-1, but I'll take it.

Good luck this week in CCL.

So, we had a craptastic result in our first quarterfinal leg of CCL.

Overall I loved our aggressiveness. Thats the team I want.

They just need to work on finishing it. And getting back on defense.

I have high hopes for this team this year. After last year's disaster, it's so nice to see them start to turn it around.

In other news, Atlanta United and the Braves are both opening up their stadiums to 100% capacity.

So, I plan on going to the next AU home game. Can't wait to see the stadium and fans again. <3

Did your manager start his best roster for the game? I think there's a couple different trains of thought and I wonder which he took. That said, maybe it was just a bad game.

In our case, our manager has taken CCL quite seriously (we're just depleted in talent due to injury, though we get 2 back this week) to the point where yesterday's MLS game was a joke. A 4-1 loss to a bad Dallas team. He started 3 starters with a high school kid (seriously) in goal and our B (or C, lol) team. When he replaced 4 guys with starters in the 2nd half, it was better, but clearly our manager is taking Wednesday's game with Club America very seriously.

Yes, he started the best players. Josef started but he is not his normal self. They played so hard on Tuesday. Yesterday they looked exhausted, and he was resting Barco and Matinez.

I feel like they just need more time. New players, new coach.

Sorry tonight's result wasn't better. I only watched the last 50 minutes or so, but you looked like the better team.

I'm a little pissed at comcast - at 5pm I searched for soccer on the TV and it showed the game on something called pluto tv, so I turned it on. I was a little surprised that in the first 40 minutes or so they never mentioned CCL, so I looked on my phone and the game on TV was 1-0 and the real game was 0-0. I then went to FS1 and the game was on...not happy.

It was fun while it lasted. Oh well. Best of luck to the Timbers! Make us proud!

I think pluto tv is a streaming app, or I could be wrong? I usually watch MLS on fox sports. If you have fire stick/streaming you could try their app.

I've never heard of pluto tv, but it apparently was streaming an old game not the CCL game. I just don't know why comcast would send me to pluto tv for an old game and not show at all the CCL game in their search. lesson learned

I have low expectations tonight...

That wasn't pretty. Score was deceiving. We were clearly outmatched pretty significantly. Cheap PK for CA, cheaper one for us. Their first was super, their 3rd was a deflection, but they could have very easily had 4 more.

Hopefully Philly puts up better competition to them this summer than we did. Now we get to get manhandled by Seattle this weekend...oh joy

Ah well. We can focus on our league now.

Going to the match tonight! So excited! I havent been to a match since right before covid and all hell broke loose.

'Bout time. Have a blast!

Thanks! We won. We scored at the last possible moment and won! It was really nice to see the Stadium and crowd again.

The attendance was 40K which was pretty good. They didnt have the upper deck open. Most people didnt wear masks, and they werent requiring it. But then, most people were eating and drinking.

Just another interesting note. That 40K was the largest soccer attendance in the world since March 2020.

I guess we are the guinea pigs.

I have come to the realization it doesn't matter. we all will die of something. If it is this, so be it, I refuse to live under the thumb anymore.

Here is the link to the goal. It was insane.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AtlantaUnited/comments/ndd2ur/atlanta_united_10_montreal_impact_marcelino/

That had to be CrAzY!!

I read about this yesterday, congrats on the win.

We somehow beat San Jose...we had 9 players out with injury including our top 2 goalkeepers. We had to sign a guy from USL to play in the game (and he was stellar).

Wow nine players out and a win! Your team must be well coached. Congrats.

Depth I think is the biggest part, we're as deep as we've ever been. But he's a very solid coach and made some great tactical changes for this game

Timbers looking good!

It helps when LA was down a man. But apparently having 9 guys out (10 now) is a good thing - whoda thunk it?

Good luck today, big challenge ahead. I wish I could watch it, but the Thorns play today - I so look forward to soccer in person

Hope you enjoyed the Thorns game!

We tied, but I'll take that result against the best team in the league. Also, I really liked how we played. We were attacking a lot. Much better than last week where we were very timid the whole match.

It was great to see soccer live, but they didn't play very well against a really good team. Oh well, we can't win them all.

Glad the game ended in a draw for you (would have preferred a win, but a draw against Seattle in Seattle is a good thing)

I just watched the super bowl of soccer,

and had no idea what I was watching until the game ended.

stupid Europeans, I'd think one time, in watching a full at least 95% of the championship game, they would have mentioned it was the championship game.

As far as I knew, it could have been a game from 6 years ago, nobody can follow those dang European leagues or whatever soccer is.

I just happened upon this on the dial.

Hilarious! Litterally the best two teams in Europe, the champions league, and they never even mentioined it,

that it was anything more than a mid season matchup.

Unbelieveable.

And It was today, and live, that was never mentioned either,
What a missed opportunity, for all I know, every soccer game from Europe is from 3 days ago, or 12 and a half hours.

Unbelievable. Worst directing, and producing off all time.

They mentioned it several times. Maybe not that specific word but they said it. Frankly I don't know if I've ever heard "championship" for any world or European soccer tournament.

They typically call it a Final

jc

We dont have a match until June 20. I will have withdrawls.

Lol, 3 week international break. Rumor is we expect to get back up to 5 of our 10 injured players back. 2 are out for the season, so I know it can't be all 10

Im gonna go to an Atlanta Hawks playoff game in the downtime.

Im not much of a Hawks fan, but I do pull for the local teams. Like to see them do well.

I just got home from the Hawks game. I have never seen such a hyped sports crowd before. Hawks got the come from behind win. It was pretty epic.

If you get the chance, both the Euros and Copa America are on TV pretty much all day. Lots of good soccer on. And of course, MLS is back this weekend (NWSL too, I'm stoked to be going to a game on Saturday and Sunday with 80% capacity!)

Have fun at the game! Getting sports back is the best thing ever!

Atlanta United doesn't handle losing well. New coach fired after 12 games.

He should have known that sitting Josef because of a feud wasn't going to end well.

Also, the MLSPA filed greviences with the league on behalf of the players because that coach was overtraining them. They were getting injured and too exhausted to play on game day. wtf.

Welp. Another wasted year.

Columbus Crew's new stadium is pretty awesome. Haslams did good. They had a good sized crowd last night as well. Now just give us Nagbe back.

Were you at the stadium? I was in Cbus for a funeral a few weeks back and thought about going

No, but they showed it during the game. I wish I was there lol.

What an odd playoffs this year. The final 4 teams are a 2 seed, two 4 seeds, and a 7 seed. Lots of upsets.

We're one of the 4 seeds. I'm excited about hosting the Conference Finals this weekend, but being down 4 midfielders (3 to injury and 1 to a moronic red card) makes this a tough game for us. The great thing is if we win, we get to host the MLS CUP.

The other thing that is interesting - if we win - this will be 7 years in a row that either Seattle (4) or Portland (3) will make the finals.

Good luck! I'll be rooting for ya!

Thanks, every little bit helps (not really, but I like to think it does )

Wow, wow, wow. The energy in the stadium yesterday was incredible - it makes me even more excited about the game next week. NYCFC is going to be a huge challenge. As a matter of fact, FiveThirtyEight has NYCFC as favorites.

I do love the thought of being an underdog in our own stadium.

Good luck! Im so envious! But also happy for you. I got to see a Championship on my turf. And now its your turn!

What a mess getting tickets. MLS uses SeatGeek and pretty much everything with SeatGeek has been a mess, so I'm not surprised. Issues galore.

I logged in 7 minutes before the season ticket holders sale and it said I was early but I was in the waiting room and would be put into a queue once the sale started. 15 minutes later I'm still in the waiting room, and a friend said he refreshed and was in a queue. I did too. Great that they have internet technology from 20 years ago that doesn't queue properly. 30 minutes later the friend said he checked the app and was able to bypass everything and just buy tickets. I checked the app and there were very few seats available, but I tried several and finally got some not so good seats, but we're in. About 10 minutes later I got a second charge on my Amex from SeatGeek. I do have one pair in my account, which is good, but apparently one of the earlier attempts went through as well financially, but not tickets.

I emailed my ticket rep with feedback and asking what she saw on my account. I don't look forward to fighting SeatGeek for my money back, it took them a year to get them to set me up properly with the ability to sell the season tickets I can't use. Might be easier just to go directly to Amex with this...

At least we're in - looking forward to the game.

That was a super thrilling match! Sorry it didnt end in your favor. I am sure you had a blast.

I just looked up the score to see who won yesterday. So the game ended in a 1-1 tie?
Then did they just go to ‘penalty kicks’ to decide the winner of the championship?
Wouldn’t it be more indicative of an actual winning team if they played extra time of an actual game? Maybe reduce each team by a player to give more space for an actual score?
(Maybe I’m wrong and they do play extra time?)

Can you imagine if the NBA or NFL would play through regulation time then just let free throw shooters or field goal kickers decide who wins the championship?

Sorry Portland lost, but did the best TEAM really win?

They played 30 minutes of extra time. (OT) Then it was still tied. So they did a shootout. Each team took turns at a goal kick. Best of 5. NYC won 4-2.

Thanks Eve

The poor first half killed us. No clue how a team doesn't get amped up to play a championship in their own stadium. I knew we'd sit back and counter, but it seemed that they didn't expect that NYCFC would press us. That's their thing...and we seemed completely unprepared. It was one of the worst halves of soccer we've played in months. Bad timing.

When coach Gio made subs in the 60th minute is when we started playing our style of ball and the game changed significantly. Was an exciting game, nerve wracking as well. Overall I think the crowd was great and I loved that we didn't stop chanting even after it was over. The one problem was the two morons that threw the beer cans after the NY goal. I texted a buddy right away that was in that area and she said they were escorted out. Turns out they were both arrested on multiple charges.

For PortlandDawg - we tied the game literally seconds before the end of the game. Stayed aggressive in the first extra time, but became conservative in the second one - played to not lose and go to penalties and take our chances. Poor penalty taking killed us. I called where the first two were going, they were that obvious. NYCFC was definitely the better team the first 60 minutes, and Portland the better in the last 60. Nobody likes penalties, it should be golden goal (play til someone scores), but it it likely a player safety issue.

Fun experience overall. I live next to the stadium (put it this way, I locked my door at 11:10, was in line at 11:12 and in the stadium at 11:14) and saw\heard all of the stuff they do to put on the game. That was kind of cool as well. Was stoked to see Portugal. The Man play the national anthem, but hoped that meant pre-game, halftime, or post game show - but unfortunately not. In retrospect, I think it'd have been great to have Storm Large sing the national anthem, but Pink Martini may be on tour. Now onto what will likely be an interesting off season - expansion (Charlotte) and contracts...