Uhhh...so who's going to play tomorrow?
Atlanta United will be shorthanded (at best) at Yankee Stadium
Atlanta United plays tomorrow, the Thursday of an international break, because…reasons? They’re also dealing with a growing injury report.
With multiple players returning on short rest from international duty, we might see something closer to a C-Team rather than the club’s first-choice lineup. Ronny Deila said that most everyone who went abroad will at least be in New York—unclear who won’t join the team—but their availability will be evaluated on a player-by-player basis.
World Famous Five Stripe Final Discord member “LegalBuzz” did some of the research early this morning (like at 12:21 a.m., bless y’all) on what the Five Stripes’ international players have been up to over the last week. To lay it out (with some added research and context):
Miguel Almirón: 89 minutes for Paraguay against Uruguay (a 2-0 win!) on June 5 and then 86 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Brazil on Tuesday. Best Guess: Not gonna play.
Latte Lath: 53 minutes for Côte d'Ivoire on June 7 and then 14 minutes on Tuesday against Canada. That game against Canada took place at BMO Field in Toronto. Best Guess: Definitely seems available to play. But Jamal Thiaré has earned a start, to be honest. This feels like a chance to get LL some additional rest and give Thiaré a run out.
Saba Lobjandize: 90 minutes for Georgia on June 5 and then 77 minutes on June 8. Best Guess: That’s a good chunk of minutes and a decent amount of travel. (He’s coming back from Kutaisi, Georgia). Even with a couple of days off, it would be a tough ask for him to go 60+ minutes. Still, he’s one of the most robust players Atlanta has. They might put him out there for a while.
Bartosz Slisz: Went 90 for Poland on June 6 and then 90 again on Tuesday. It’s…kind of crazy Atlanta has a player going 90 for Poland with regularity and he hasn’t been able to be a consistent impact guy, but we’ll stay focused here. Best Guess: With back-to-back 90s and a long trip home from Helsinki, I don’t think we’re going to see much of Bartek.
Luis Abram: Just three minutes for Peru on June 6 and then no minutes in Tuesday’s qualifier against Ecuador. Best Guess: The travel ain’t fun, but he should be good to go if needed.
Jay Fortune: Haven’t had this officially confirmed, but…Best Guess: No chance. He’s with Trinidad and Tobago getting ready for the Gold Cup.
Efraín Morales: Went the distance in back-to-back matches for Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers as Bolivia upset Chile 2-0 on Tuesday. Maybe Efraín needs more minutes? Best Guess: Too many minutes over the last week to be available, but, man, I’m kind of wondering when we see him again. He’s only 21.
Noah Cobb and Luke Brennan: They’ve been with the USMNT U-20s who are a team of ghosts and apparently play soccer in a way that makes qualitative and quantitative info unavailable. They’ve been in Cairo (Egypt, not Georgia) over the last week and supposedly played Egypt on Tuesday. Best Guess: Not gonna play.
Dominik Chong-Qui: Has been off with USMNT U-18s at something called the UEFA Friendship Cup in Switzerland. They apparently won it and DCQ apparently played a role. Best Guess: I don’t have more info than that, but I don’t expect him to play.
Alright, so if you were following along, that leaves us with…
Not gonna play
Stian Gregersen
Tristan Muyumba
Jay Fortune
Edwin Mosquera
Cayman Togashi
Josh Cohen
Efraín Morales
Noah Cobb
Luke Brennan
DCQ
Probably not gonna play
Miguel Almirón
Bartosz Slisz
Might play (but not clear how much)
Latte Lath
Saba Lobjanidze
Luis Abram
Put me in, coach
Brad Guzan
Ronald Hernández
Derrick Williams
Brooks Lennon
Jamal Thiaré
Pedro Amador
Will Reilly
Jayden Hibbert
Mateusz Klich
Matt Edwards
Alexey Miranchuk
That is…a group. The good news is that we might get to see more of Will Reilly. The bad news is that there are positions missing multiple players/all of their players.
Here’s my best shot at what this might look like tomorrow. Note: I’m going to operate as if Abram and Latte Lath can start while Saba will only be available off the bench.
This feels plausible. Maybe even workable! It’s route one as hell and it doesn’t leave you with any firepower on the bench, but, well, there’s probably not going to be any of that anyway. Reilly is going to have his hands full trying to win the ball in midfield, but Atlanta will probably sit deep and try to make a tiny pitch feel even tinier. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a trip to Yankee Stadium is coming at the right time for Atlanta.
Anyway, I tried to think of other options besides this one and I struggled. There are only three available midfielders. You could go with a back four if you needed to, but that likely means playing Matt Edwards as a center back next to Derrick Williams, starting Saba Lobanidze, and shifting either Latte Lath or Thiaré out wide. Or maybe even starting Brooks Lennon as a winger? There aren’t good answers. Tomorrow, like the FC Cincinnati trip early in the season, is about survival.
Survival and Will Reilly cementing himself as a long-term starter (probably).
UPDATE: Two short-term call-ups for tomorrow. Sanchez is a midfielder. Sessock plays on the back line.
