Gonzalo Pineda’s first game with Atlanta United comes against tough opponent

Gonzalo Pineda’s first game in charge of Atlanta United will come against Nashville, the toughest team to beat in MLS, at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“They are never (easy) in MLS, nothing is easy,” Pineda said.

Nashville has lost only two games this season. That’s the fewest among the 27 teams. It has 11 ties and seven wins, for 32 points. Atlanta United, on the strength of its first four-game win streak in two years, has 27 points with 13 games remaining.

A win Saturday potentially would move the Five Stripes to within two points of getting to host a first-round playoff game. Pineda said it’s very important for the team to qualify for the playoffs and host a game because of the advantage of playing in a stadium as large as its home.

Beating Nashville would be a huge step toward that.

But Nashville doesn’t lose easily. As Atlanta United learned in a game May 29, it grinds until the end. Atlanta United had a two-goal lead in that game with 10 minutes remaining. Then, Hany Mukhtar scored twice. Not only did it demoralize Atlanta United, it cost the team two valuable points.

Atlanta United returned the favor a couple of weeks later to rally to earn a 2-2 draw against Nashville at Nissan Stadium.

Those results came under since-fired manager Gabriel Heinze.

It’s Pineda’s team now, and though he will have had only four training sessions, the team should start to reflect his ideas.

Anton Walkes said that Pineda already has started to add his own wrinkles to the success started by interim manager Rob Valentino, who remained on staff.

“Football is about creating time and space for players,” Pineda said. “And that’s, that’s for me the game. So whether you create that time in space through numerical advantage, or positional advantage, or qualitative advantage, that’s always the game for me. I hope the players don’t feel like it’s a big change because that wasn’t the idea. I think there’s been just little tweaks to what they’ve been doing.”

The team’s recent success has been built on playing with three centerbacks, two wingbacks, two central midfielders, two wide midfielders and a striker. The formation has allowed Josef Martinez, Ezequiel Barco, Marcelino Moreno and new signee Luiz Araujo to take advantage of their strengths in one-on-one situations, or in space with the ball.

Getting more of that also is part of the Pineda’s wrinkles.

“We’re just trying to create that for them to perform and to be able to express themselves,” he said. “And as they do, I mean, after that you will see, and you can tell me next week if there were to many changes or not.”

It will be interesting to watch the tactical battle between the two managers.

Pineda said that Nashville has switched from a 4-4-2 to a formation that includes three physical centerbacks, two box-to-box wingbacks, three creative center midfielders and two strikers, led by C.J. Sapong and his team-leading nine goals, and Mukhtar, who has eight.

If Atlanta United starts to dominate possession, Nashville can fluidly move between formations to try to stifle the hosts.

“Obviously, there’s a challenge there,” Pineda said. “But I’m very confident also with my team. And what I’ve seen in the training sessions, it just makes me more confident in the team.”

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Atlanta United’s 2021 MLS schedule

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