Atlanta United will be a part of history on Saturday when it plays at Nashville in its first MLS game. More than 60,000 are expected at Nissan Stadium.
Atlanta United played its first game on March 3, 2017. Three years later, just five players (six counting Anton Walkes) are still with the team that was beaten by New York Red Bulls 2-1 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Just two of those five, Josef Martinez and Alec Kann, started that game.
Like that amazing experience, Saturday should be a night to remember. A possible launching pad for a rivalry. The Music City Men vs. the Kings of the South.
But don’t expect Atlanta United to be awestruck for a lot of reasons.
“It’s more exciting than anything,” midfielder Emerson Hyndman said. “There are no nerves or anything. We are just ready to get the season going in MLS.”
Atlanta United is used to playing in big games in front of big crowds having led the league in attendance the past three years. So, the cacophony shouldn’t be calamitous. In fact, the noise that the stadium will generate is something that Atlanta United manager Frank de Boer hopes to quiet.
“That’s the nicest thing,” he said.
So the moment and the noise won’t be problems, what about Atlanta United’s lack of history in first games?
In addition to that loss to the Red Bulls, Atlanta United was drubbed at Houston the next year and then at D.C. United last year.
Improving its form on the road is something de Boer said he’d like to see, starting Saturday. The team went 6-10-1 away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium last season. De Boer said if they could have turned 50 percent of those losses into wins, the team would have won the East.
“If we can manage that, not so inconsistent in away games, then we have a bright future,” he said. “That’s one of our goals: to be ready every game, not only in your own stadium.”
What about a lack of familiarity?
There is no film of Nashville. There are memories from which to draw. The two teams were in Bradenton, Fla. together for parts of their preseasons. That’s about as close to a scouting report, outside of knowledge of certain individual players, that Atlanta United can produce.
But Atlanta United’s players likely won’t be nearly as nervous as Nashville’s because they have already played two games, using two different formations, and getting two positive results. The first was a grind-it-out draw on the road while playing with four at the back. The second was a dominant win playing with three at the back.
“It’s a tough one,” Hyndman said. “You don’t know what to expect with a new team. We are looking to do what we want to do.”
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