PSG-BAYERN PLAY IN NINE-GOAL KALEIDOSCOPE OF INSANITY (and uhhh also the U.S. Open Cup is up next)
It will probably be about the same
Atlanta United travels to face Charlotte FC tonight at something called “The Sportsplex at Matthews.” Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network and Paramount+.
We’ll be brief here.
It’s not clear how Atlanta United or Charlotte will approach this Round of 16 matchup. Both teams have played a handful of matches in quick succession. Players are gassed. And the Round of 16 isn’t so close to a trophy that teams will undoubtedly feel the need to Go For It, but not Going For It still feels kind of lame.
Atlanta United is definitely the more likely of the two to go all in on tonight. It’s fair to expect some rotation—in particular I think you’ll see Jayden Hibbert get the nod in goal for all of the U.S. Open Cup matches—but I’d bet Atlanta will play as many starting-caliber guys as possible. This isn’t a game for fringe guys from the 2s. Probably. Seriously, this could go so many ways.
Meanwhile, Charlotte might just need a break in general. Last week went as poorly as it possibly could. They got boatraced by a terrible Orlando City side on Wednesday in a 4-1 loss. They followed it up with a more understandable 4-2 loss to Nashville on Saturday. A night off for their starters wouldn’t be surprising. That includes winger Wilfried Zaha and center back Tim Ream, who both missed out on Saturday’s loss due to injury.
This seems like another match to give the Alexey Miranchuk false nine experiment a go. Cayman Togashi is out, Sergio Santos is out too and Latte Lath is [mumbles and trails off]. Playing something virtually identical to last Wednesday’s lineup against the Revs seems within the realm of possibility. With a few minor tweaks of course.
Those tweaks may include the return of Tomás Jacob to the lineup. He’s been dealing with a slight knock but is good to go for this one. He could give Matt Edwards a break after back-to-back solid performances from Edwards. You may also see Enea Mihaj return to the lineup. He got a match off against Toronto.
Beyond that, there’s really not a lot of analysis you can do here until we see both lineups. Come hang out with us on the Discord when those drop. For the rest of it, I’ll defer to Rob, who once wisely said: “A reminder about cup competitions. No one is trying to win them and they don’t matter whatsoever. Unless you win one. Then they are the most prestigious competitions on Earth and we’re the greatest.”