Three Atlanta United players made their debuts with the team in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Charleston in the U.S. Open Cup.
Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino didn’t want to discuss individual players after the game.
Here’s my take on how they did.
Zach Loyd, right fullback. Loyd was acquired in the expansion draft after a solid career with Dallas that included 180 appearances. He suffered a concussion last season and then another injury that slowed his training with Atlanta United. However, he has been working with the team for weeks and has made several trips with the squad.
Wednesday was the 29-year-old’s first action in more than a year.
I thought Loyd played decently. He got up the field and was involved in the attack. He tracked back and provided an outlet for passes. He made a couple of nervy sliding tackles, one of which may have resulted in a penalty kick that Charleston missed.
He finished with two shots, one chance created, 49 touches, 28 passes and an 82.1 percent passing accuracy rate.
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Miles Robinson, centerhalf. Robinson was the team's first-ever draft pick, selected No. 2 in the SuperDraft in January. He played at Syracuse
He looked nervous in the beginning, particularly when trying to play out of the back, and was one of three players at fault for Charleston’s opening goal. The other two were Anton Walkes and Jeff Larentowicz, neither of which tracked Forrest Lasso as he ran across the penalty box. Atlanta United was in a man-to-man system.
I thought that Robinson grew into the game with a block and two interceptions.
“I thought Miles did great,” teammate Mark Bloom said. “Everyone did great. People don’t realize that this was a tough game for everyone really. It’s a team, we haven’t played together as a collective unit, so everybody is kind of feeling it out and nobody has really played 90 minutes so nobody is 90 minutes fit, so we’re dealing with that as well. And playing an opponent who’s really up to the game, so I thought everyone did well.”
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Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, right fullback. Wheeler-Omiunu was selected by the team in the third round of the SuperDraft. He played at Harvard.
I'm guessing that playing Wheeler-Omiunu wasn't part of the plan, but was made necessary after Anton Walkes suffered an injury in the 60th minute. Wheeler-Omiunu looked comfortable, finishing with 31 touches, 17 passes and one tackle.
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