Atlanta United (5-8-6) will host Toronto (7-10-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be televised on AppleTV, and you can follow Doug Roberson’s coverage on X (formerly Twitter) @DougRobersonAJC.
Toronto manager: John Herdman
Toronto away record: 2-5-3
Atlanta United home record: 3-5-2
Toronto goals for/against: 28/35
Toronto expected goals for/against: 25.6/26.9
Atlanta United goals for/against: 26/24
Atlanta United expected goals for/against: 29.5/24.2
Toronto key players
Federico Bernardeschi: Seven goals, five assists
Prince Owusu: Six goals
Lorenzo Insigne: Four goals, four assists
Atlanta United key players
Thiago Almada: Five goals, three assists
Brooks Lennon: Five assists
Jamal Thiare: Four goals
Injury reports (as of June 20)
Atlanta United
Out: Edwin Mosquera (knee), Luis Abram (Copa America) and Saba Lobjanidze (Euros)
Questionable:
Toronto (as of June 27)
Out: Sean Johnson (Copa America), Richie Laryea (Copa America), Jonathan Osorio (Copa America)
What was said?
“I mean, it’s a bit of a mentality thing, like when we go on the road, we know it’s going to be a fight, it’s going to be the other team might have the ball at times. And I think at the Benz, like, we always want to dominate, dominate, dominate. At times, if there’s a spell in the game where the other team has the ball, we might get a little discouraged. I think it’s just applying that same mentality that we have on the road to the home games.” – Noah Cobb
“It was a good couple results in terms of points at difficult places, difficult conditions to go into, and to find a way to get three points and then battle back and get a draw. Now need to up it even more and make sure it comes out that we are able to get three points.” – Brad Guzan
“We feel urgency. I’m telling you guys, we feel urgency, and we put pressure on ourselves to start picking up three points more consistently. But as it stands now, look, the reality is with how forgiving the season is, with how many teams make the playoffs, we’re right in the thick of the race. With two wins here, we’re back up into fifth or sixth or whatever it could be. So make sure you understand me, we’re not happy about it. We’re not happy about how we played, and we’re not happy that it’s looked how it’s looked this year, but I think calling a stretch of games make or break before a month or two left in the season, I think that would be a little bit too soon.” – Dax McCarty
Officiating crew
Referee: Sergii Boiko
Assistants: Corey Rockwell and Adam Wienckowski
Fourth: Marcos DeOliveira
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Claudiu Badea
Atlanta United’s predicted 11
Goalkeeper Brad Guzan
Centerback Noah Cobb
Centerback Derrick Williams
Centerback Efrain Morales
Right fullback Brooks Lennon
Left fullback Caleb Wiley
Midfielder Jay Fortune
Midfielder Tristan Muyumba
Midfielder Thiago Almada
Midfielder Xande Silva
Striker Jamal Thiare
For more content about Atlanta United
Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC
On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now
On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson
Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Southern Fried Soccer podcast can be found
Apple - https://apple.co/3ISD6Ve
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3L8TN0C
Google podcasts - https://bit.ly/32KlZW3
If you are going to listen to the podcast for the first time, please follow it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts ... and if you like what you hear, please give us a good rating so we can grow the show. If you have questions about the MLS team, you can email Doug Roberson at droberson@ajc.com, DM him on Twitter @dougrobersonajc or call 404-526-2527.
Stay up to date every day on breaking news, in-depth investigations, politics, sports, entertainment, food and dining and so much more by becoming a subscriber to the AJC. Go to AJC.com/start for a very special offer and unlock hundreds of original articles published daily on the refreshed AJC.com and the new AJC mobile app. Plus, access to our news alerts, subscriber-only events, AJC original shows, films and videos, newsletters, and so much more.
Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule
Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0
March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1
March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0
March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0
March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0
April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1
April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2
April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1
April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1
May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1
May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup
May 11 D.C. United 3, Atlanta United 2
May 15 Cincinnati 1, Atlanta United 0
May 18 Atlanta United 1, Nashville 1
May 21 Atlanta United 0 (5), Charleston 0 (4) in U.S. Open Cup
May 25 LAFC 1, Atlanta United 0
May 29 Atlanta United 3, Miami 1
June 2 Charlotte 3, Atlanta United 2
June 15 Atlanta United 2, Houston 2
June 19 Atlanta United 1, D.C. United 0
June 22 Atlanta United 1, St. Louis 1
June 29 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
July 3 at New England, 7:30 p.m.
July 6 at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
July 9 vs. Indy Eleven in U.S. Open Cup
July 13 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
July 17 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.
July 20 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
July 26 vs. D.C. United in Leagues Cup, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4 vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup, 4 p.m.
Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.
About the Author
