Wins have been hard to come by for Atlanta United this season, across all competitions. Before Wednesday’s Leagues Cup victory against Atlas FC, they hadn’t won since a 3-2 triumph against Orlando City back on May 28.
They’ll attempt to build off that Leagues Cup triumph when they visit fellow struggling squad CF Montreal on Saturday.
Atlanta (4-11-9, 21 points) enters the match in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, 14 points behind the cutoff line and just three points ahead of Montreal (4-15-6, 18 points). Before the MLS paused for the Leagues Cup tournament, the Five Stripes were winless in eight, going 0-4-4 during that stretch.
“Hopefully we can take that confidence (from the win on Wednesday) into the weekend,” Atlanta coach Ronny Deila said. “Now we have to try to repeat and keep consistent in our performances. Then we will get more results. Still a lot to play for this season, 10 games left, 30 points. … We’re going to take it game by game.”
While they’ve managed to create and generate 60 shot attempts over their past five MLS matches, getting those attempts on target has been an issue, with only 16 of them reaching the net. Atlanta has managed just 91 shots on target through 24 matches, tied for fifth-fewest in the league, and is third from the bottom in accurate shooting percentage at 32 percent.
Atlanta defeated Montreal 3-2 in the season opener for both sides back in February. The Five Stripes will be looking for their first road win of the season (0-7-4).
Montreal hopes to pick up where it left off before the Leagues Cup, having earned its fourth win of the season, 3-1 against the New England Revolution, to snap a four-match winless run. The Canadian side also won its first match in the Leagues Cup (on penalties) before dropping the next two.
“I think some players have discovered new facets to their game, and that’s a big positive for our team,” Montreal interim coach Marco Donadel said. “We’re also much more resilient to face the challenges that lie ahead.”
One of those challenges is winning at home, where Montreal is 1-7-3, the fewest home victories in all of MLS. Its lone triumph came back on June 28 against New York City FC. The club’s season-long offensive struggles are especially notable at home, where it’s scored more than one goal only once — in a 2-2 draw against LAFC on May 24.
Prince Owusu leads Montreal with 11 goals, while Emmanuel Latte Lath paces Atlanta with seven.
–Field Level Media
