Atlanta United seems to be in a perfect spot to starting walking down the Supporter’s Shield, given to the team that finished the MLS season with the most points.
First, Atlanta United already leads MLS in points (40). So, it has a head start on the next closest team, NYCFC.
Second, with 14 games remaining, when compared with the other contenders, Atlanta United appears to have the easiest schedule. Its opponents have an average 20.14 points per game. The opponents remaining contenders, Dallas, LAFC, NYCFC, Sporting KC and New York Red Bulls, have average points of at least 22.
Third, the first of those 14 games is Seattle on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Seattle, as a team, has scored fewer goals than Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez, 15-18.
So, things are looking good for Atlanta United, right?
Right?
“I’m someone who doesn’t believes in easy games,” Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said. “We are a team that has some pretty high aspirations. It doesn’t matter on paper if the games are easy or not.
“We can’t forget that last year D.C. United wasn’t having a good season, and we lost all three games.”
Throughout the week, Atlanta United’s players said that they won’t have any trouble focusing on each of the remaining games, even though just five of those games will be played against teams that currently are above the playoff line in either conference.
“People say it’s the easiest run in,” defender Chris McCann said. “You have to look at this league. There are no easy games in this league. You see teams going to place away from home, slipping up. We don’t want to fall victim to that. Another tough game coming up this weekend. All you can do is focus on the next game. Work hard for the next game.”
Jeff Larentowicz pointed out that teams in MLS that start slow typically finish strong.
Seattle is the best example, overcoming a horrendous start in which they had only two wins in their first 11 games to make the MLS Cup for the second consecutive year.
They will need another similar effort this season.
Bereft of goals on offense and speed on defense, the Sounders have four wins from their first 17 games. With 16 points they trail sixth-place Vancouver by 10 points for the final playoff spot in the West. Though the team has struggled, it still has a solid midfield with a maestro in Nicolas Lodeiro who can unlock a defense with one pass.
Larentowicz said Atlanta United hopes to do to Seattle what it did when it faced struggling Orlando: put the team under pressure early. Atlanta United won the game 4-0 thanks to a goal in the third minute from Martinez.
“You want to get out there and get ahead of the game just to kind of solidify thoughts that they may have in their head,” Larentowicz said.
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