The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta United knows Seattle won't be easy
Nobody’s looking past punchless, 4-win Sounders.
Atlanta United seems to be in good position for the Supporter’s Shield, given to the team that finishes the MLS season with the most points. First, Atlanta United already leads MLS in points (40). So, it has a head start on the next closest team, NYCFC. Second, with 14 games remaining, when compared with the other contenders, Atlanta United appears to have the easiest schedule. Its opponents have an average per 20.14 points game. The opponents who remain contenders, Dallas, LAFC, NYCFC, Sporting KC and New Bulls, York Red have average points of at least 22. Third, the first of those 14 games is Seattle today at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Seattle, as a team, has scored fewer goals than Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez, 15-18. So, things are looking good for Atlanta United, right? Right? “I’m someone who doesn’t believe in easy games,” Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said. “We are a team that has some pretty high aspirations. It doesn’t matter on paper if the games are easy or not. “We can’t forget that last year D.C. United wasn’t hav- ing a good season, and we lost all three games.” Throughout the week, Atlanta United players said they won’t have trou- ble focusing on each of the re m aining games, even though just five will be played against teams currently above the playoff line in either conference. “People say it’s the easi- est run in,” defender Chris McCann said. “You have to look at this league. There are this no easy games in league. You see teams going to places away from home, slipping up. We don’t want to fall victim to that. Another tough game coming up this weekend. All you can do is focus on the next game.” Jeff Larentowicz pointed out that teams in MLS that start slow typically finish strong. Seattle is the best example, overcoming a horrendous start in which they had only two wins in their first 11 games to make the MLS Cup for the second consecutive year. They will need another similar effort this season. Bereft of goals on offense and speed on defense, the Sounders have four wins from their first 17 games. With 16 points they trail sixth-place Vancouver by 10 the points for final playoff spot in the West. Though the team has struggled, it still has midfield a solid with a maestro in Nicolas Lodeiro who can unlock a defense with one pass. Larentowicz said Atlanta United hopes to do to Seattle what it did when it faced struggling put Orlando: the team under pressure early. Atlanta United won 4-0 thanks to a goal in the third minute from Martinez. “You a w nt to get out there and the get ahead of game just to kind of solidify thoughts that they may have in their head,” Larentowicz said.