Atlanta United’s turnaround almost complete

Atlanta United is on the verge of doing something few thought possible five weeks ago when the club appeared to reach a nadir.

It fired its manager for the second time in as many seasons. It was being investigated by MLS for violating provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. It was handing the team to an assistant with no previous head coaching experience. It was playing boring, lifeless soccer.

Now, Rob Valentino not only has steadied the franchise, but it is winning and, for the most part, looking good while doing so. The team has won its past three and is within three points, or a victory against D.C. United on Saturday, of climbing above the playoff line for the first time since the beginning of the season.

Additionally, the team hired another manager, Gonzalo Pineda, who was considered among the better assistant coaches in MLS. He is scheduled to meet Valentino and the team face to face for the first time Saturday. The league finished its investigation with no serious consequences, and the team signed a bright talent in Luiz Araujo who dazzled in his debut against Toronto on Wednesday.

All the negatives about the team July 18 when the team fired Gabriel Heinze are now positives. Now, it need just needs to defeat D.C. United for its fourth consecutive victory so that Valentino can hand off the team to Pineda and resume his role as an assistant.

“Make this final push to put ourselves in a good, good spot,” Valentino said will be his message to the team Saturday. “This game could be a turning point, and we push forward and go from there.”

It won’t be easy.

Atlanta United will play without midfielders Santiago Sosa, Franco Ibarra and Emerson Hyndman. It will play its third game in seven days. It will be on the road, where the team is 1-4-6. Though winless in its past four, including playing three of the weaker teams in the East, D.C. United is 6-2-0 at home and has in Ola Kamara (11 goals) one of the best scorers in the league, and Julian Gressel, who Atlanta United supporters know can whip in an excellent cross.

Those two weapons are among the reasons that Atlanta United can’t play with the same complacency it showed in large segments of its past two games against LAFC and Toronto.

“I think we dropped off a little bit, and what we wanted to do, they kind of put us on the back foot for a good part of the second half,” midfielder Amar Sejdic said of Toronto. “The next 14 games, we need to close out games a little bit more on the front foot and manage the game a little bit better in terms keeping the ball, picking our moments where to go, and just kind of sticking to our game plan in the first minutes.”

Still, that drop off is small potatoes considering where the team was a month ago, when it had 13 points and 13 goals from 13 games and was winless in eight. The turnaround has been unexpected, and the players are keen to keep it going.

“I mean, when you’re when you’re losing games, and results aren’t going your way, it can linger in your mind a bit,” Sejdic said. “It’s not that you necessarily become comfortable with it, but it’s easier to put your head down. So now that we’re kind of in a position where we’ve got nine points in the last three games, it’s huge. It puts confidence in everyone’s feet. Now we know that we can tackle anybody.”

Southern Fried Soccer

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April 17 Atlanta United 0, Orlando 0

April 24 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 1

May 1 New England 2, Atlanta United 1

May 9 Atlanta United 1, Inter Miami 1,

May 15 Atlanta United 1, Montreal 0