Atlanta United will continue its 2021 MLS season Sunday, hosting Philadelphia. The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Scouting Philadelphia
Coach: Jim Curtin
Record: 4-2-2
Away record: 2-0-1
Atlanta United home record: 2-0-1
Formation: 4-4-2
Goals for/against: 9/5
Atlanta United goals for/against: 9/7
Expected goals per game for Philadelphia/opponent this season: 1.43/1.39
Expected goals per game for Atlanta United/opponent this season: 1.16/1.46
Key players
Kacper Przybylko, forward, 3 goals, 2 assists
Cory Burke, forward, 2 goals, 1 assist
Jamiro Monteiro, midfield, 3 assists, 20 key passes
Kai Wagner, defender, 2 assists
Andre Blake, goalkeeper, 30 saves, 85.7 save percentage
Alejandro Bedoya, midfield, 15 key passes
Key thoughts for Atlanta United
This is going to be tough for the Five Stripes for a lot of reasons.
No Josef Martinez, who is with Venezuela. Expect to see Erick Torres.
No Emerson Hyndman, who is out after sustaining a torn ACL. Expect to see Franco Ibarra.
A Philadelphia team that rope-a-doped them at home 3-0 in their last Champions League meeting at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League series. Philadelphia knocked out Atlanta United.
You can argue that Atlanta United has more talent than Philadelphia but the Union are a better team. It has been drilled in Curtin’s tactics for years.
Atlanta United is learning what manager Gabriel Heinze wants. Just went it seemed that it was starting to show signs of understanding and execution in its last game, a 2-2 draw with Nashville, the international break came ad with it the news about Martinez and Hyndman.
Now, it doesn’t feel like the team is starting over but it kind of feels like the team is starting over.
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