Eight things said by Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino, goalkeeper Brad Guzan and fullback Greg Garza on Friday ahead of Sunday’s game against Dallas at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
Martino, on the team’s health, and the three players returning from national team duty:
“(Everyone’s good) Except Alec (Kann). He’s got a little bit left to go.
“The guys had a recovery day yesterday. Today they were able to train without any problems. Miguel (Almiron) played the most minutes of the three. I spoke to him today and he told me he was feeling well. He played the most minutes. Josef (Martinez) and Brad played one game. They are all doing well.”
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Martino on Dallas:
“They are a team that’s very well organized and probably one of the best in the league in my opinion tactically. Even them playing down a man in their last game, they were able to cause a lot of problems. They played well in that last game.
“For us, this is one of the biggest challenges we have remaining in the season and that we’ve had in the past few weeks.”
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On what they are looking forward to from the new stadium:
Martino: "Just the logical differences that come with moving from one stadium into a new one. Obviously, it's a different surface, moving from natural grass to synthetic. But we know it's what we have to do."
Garza: "A lot of things. Hopefully, winning. The fans more than anything. If they made Bobby Dodd bounce as much as they did and go crazy as much as they did I can't wait to see them in this place.
“On a positive note. The people here will make this stadium as crazy as possible. If anyone has ever seen an Atlanta United game at Bobby Dodd and are waiting to surpass what was expected there, they will definitely get their money’s worth. People make it a wonderful atmosphere and it helps us on the field. In this league, it’s crazy how different you play at home than you do away. That’s one thing that’s really stuck out in my mind. Every single team in this league is exactly the same: they play very well at home and try to get a tough result always away.
“We’ve been one of those teams has done really well at home and hopefully we can continue that path at this new stadium.”
Guzan: "Besides the game part of it, the atmosphere. We are looking forward to it just as much as the fans are in terms of seeing what it's going to be about. It's going to be a first-time experience for all of us, fans included.
“We want to make sure we get off to a good start and make this place a bit of a fortress for the next eight weeks or so.
“We have to win. To make this place a fortress. To make this month a good month for us we have to win games. We know that. We know that we have some games in hand on some teams and we have to take advantage of that. We do that by scoring goals and winning games.”
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Martino, on how the team used the break:
“The last 23 days we’ve worked a lot as a group, both on the field and looking at things tactically. We’ve tried to take advantage of this time to try to get the group together because that’s going to be really important for us the rest of the season.
“It’s going to be very important for us to have everyone available because during this stretch of games players are going to have to step up for us.”
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On which position group will have it the hardest during six games in 18 days:
Garza: "I'm going to go with defense on that one. Especially with this game against Dallas. We have some pretty explosive players coming here. I think that everyone…it's a different game. Turf makes the body a bit heavier than it does on regular grass. The medical group and the trainers I'm sure will be on top of everything as quickly as possible right after the game for the next two days, and the next two days after that as well."
Martino: "I think it's the whole team. I won't say there's going to be one position group that is going to suffer more or less than the others because we work hard as a group. Our performance as a group and a team will depend upon the performance of the whole group."
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On the turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
Garza: "Use the same cleats, unless you're Ronaldinho and it's the Copa Libertadores. He came and wore tennis shoes and still kicked our butts. He's a one and only guy. I think everyone will wear cleats."
Guzan: "The way the ball bounced. When you have the environment that we have, when you've been a professional for x amount of years, you go into different environments, whether it be the heat, whether it be the cold, whether it be the turf, whether it be a crazy, hostile environment, whatever it may be you have to deal with it.
“We are looking forward to being on this field. We are looking forward to being in this stadium in front of our fans. But as a goalkeeper you have to be focused for 90 minutes. Whether the ball bounces left or right, you just save it.”
Martino: "No. We aren't going to modify anything about our game. We've played on other turfs in Seattle, Portland, but this is our turf and we are going to play on it a lot.
“We are just going to try to adapt to it as fast as we can.”
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Guzan, on the U.S. men’s national team’s results:
“No, it’s not falling. It was a massive result for us in some not-so-great conditions. That part was a plus in terms of a getting a result. We control our destiny. We go into the next two games. Sometimes people don’t understand what CONCACAF qualifying is all about. I think the game down there probably summed it up in terms of all the X-factors that go into a game probably did that day. We will go into the final two games confident. We will go into the final two games with everything to prove, everything to play for and that’s a spot in the World Cup. It doesn’t get much bigger than that.”
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Martino, on the how the team will communicate despite the noise:
“Letters. Write a letter. We will do our best. There are always ways to communicate in soccer. Maybe we will say something closest to the players near the bench to pass on the message.”
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