Atlanta United will play at Columbus on Saturday.

I think you will see a fully operational, strongest possible starting 11 for the Five Stripes as they open the second half of the MLS season.

In fact, if not for possible injuries, red cards or yellow card accumulations, I think this will be the lineup you are going to see for most of the games until the glut in September occurs.

You may see Julian Gressel move in and out of the lineup to give some players a rest. I think Gressel is a tremendous player, so his exclusion in my prediction isn’t a knock on him.

In fact, bringing Gressel and Brandon Vazquez off the bench may provide the team an offensive spark that it hadn’t had until Josef Martinez started working his way back into the starting lineup as a sub.

This will be a difficult game.

Atlanta United is coming off Wednesday’s loss at Miami. Columbus hasn’t played in a week.

Atlanta United’s road form has gone into a ditch with just one point from a possible 15 in its last five games. Columbus is 6-2-1 at home.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Georgia Southern Eagle Nation Fund donors were treated to an intimate acoustic concert, In the Round, on Nov. 14, 2025 at the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center. (AJ Henderson/Georgia Southern Athletics)

Credit: AJ Henderson / Georgia Southern

Featured

Cooling towers for Units 4 and 3 are seen at Plant Vogtle, operated by Georgia Power Co., in east Georgia's Burke County near Waynesboro, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC