Atlanta United will open the second half of the season with a new coach leading the way when they welcome the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.
Atlanta (4-8-4, 16 points) has won just once in its past 11 league matches and lost 3-2 at home to Charlotte on June 2 before the sport’s international break. Thiago Almada and Xande Silva found the net for the Three Stripes in the loss.
Atlanta has scored one goal or fewer in seven of those 11 matches. The team’s swoon cost coach Gonzalo Pineda his job, with Rob Valentino moving into the interim position on June 3.
Valentino has been in this position before, taking the reins for Atlanta in 2021 for eight matches when the team fired Gabriel Heinze, Pineda’s predecessor. Atlanta went 4-2-2 in eight contests under Valentino before he returned to his role as an assistant.
Atlanta has dropped five straight matches at home. The team hopes to build confidence by making the most of its scoring chances.
“We’ve been too robotic in the positioning of our wingers and our strikers, and I’d love to see them have a little bit more freedom of movement,” Atlanta United midfielder Dax McCarty said. “That’s what Rob has done. He’s come in and said, ‘I want you guys out wide taking guys on one by one. But if the space isn’t there, come inside and find the game, be a little bit more fluid in how we move.'”
The Dynamo (6-6-4, 22 points) have earned points in five of their past seven contests and settled for a 2-2 draw in Portland on June 1. Houston begins the weekend in seventh place in the Western Conference, with its 18 goals allowed the fewest in the West.
Sebastian Kowalczyk and Adalberto Carrasquilla scored goals for Houston in the draw against the Timbers. The goals were a bit of a rarity for the Dynamo, who have managed to light the scoreboard only 18 times this season, tied with Dallas for lowest in the conference.
“We’re not where we want to be, which is at the top,” Herrera said this week. “But we’re on the right road and the team is playing well. We aren’t getting the results we perhaps deserve, but we’re doing things the right way.”
It’s the first time the sides have played since 2019. Atlanta owns a 2-1 lead in the all-time series and has outscored Houston 9-5 in those wild, offense-dominated matches.
–Field Level Media