After defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 4-0 on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said the first goal for his team is to qualify for the playoffs. The players said securing a third or fourth seed, so they can host a playoff game, is crucial.
The victory moved the Five Stripes into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 46 points. With two more wins, Atlanta United will become the first expansion team since Seattle in 2009 to clinch a playoff berth. The website fivethirtyeight gives Atlanta United a 99 percent probability of making the playoffs.
The team will try to improve to 10-2-2 at home when it hosts Montreal on Sunday. Road teams have a .338 (69-172-76) winning percentage this season. It has sold out 13 consecutive home games going back to Bobby Dodd Stadium, and last week set an MLS record with more than 70,000 tickets sold for a game agaisnt Orlando City.
“We all know what the atmosphere is like here so if we can do that, that would be tremendous, goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “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.”
Atlanta United trails third-place Chicago by two points and second-place NYCFC by five points. Atlanta United has a game in hand on both teams. The Five Stripes lead fifth-place Columbus by two points despite playing two fewer games. It leads sixth-place New York Red Bulls by four points.
Atlanta United has six games remaining. Only one of its four home games (Toronto on Oct. 22) will be played against a team that is currently above the red line. The two road games at New England on Sept. 30 and at the Red Bulls on Oct. 15.
Before last week’s game against Orlando City, Martino said he thought the team needed 9-10 more points to make the playoffs. They have four from their past two games. He said the team seems to be rounding into playoff form.
“We can’t ever lose the hope to keep improving because there are always certain things to improve,” he said. “It’s true that since we moved into this Mercedes-Benz Stadium that we’ve been playing well. We’ve been great (at) attacking. We’ve been able to control the ball and defensively, I think we’ve been sound as well -- aside from the game against Orlando where we gave up three goals.
“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.”
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