Preview
Atlanta United head to Los Angeles for the first time in club history to meet the LA Galaxy. Atlanta looks to keep their unbeaten streak of five alive, after the draw with NYCFC last week. Before that match, Atlanta had been riding a four match win streak that was snapped by the early Support Shield leader.
The Galaxy are coming off a gutty road win in blustery Chicago. They were able to grab three points in a 1-0 win over the Fire. The match was deemed a character building win by LA Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid, “It is just a matter of our character. It’s a little bit like when we went into Vancouver where we were short a lot of players. Especially today we knew it was going to be a difficult game from the standpoint of the wind and the conditions. We had a disappointing result last week and I think it showed our character to come back and to play 1-0 at the end of the day.”
Broadcast Details
TV: FOX Sports Southeast
English Radio: 92-9 The Game (local), Sirius XM FC (national)
Spanish Radio: La Mejor 1600 AM
Pre-match coverage:
9:30 p.m.: AT&T Countdown to Kickoff (FB Live/Periscope)
10:00 p.m.: The Pre-Game show (92-9 The Game)
Atlanta United
(4-1-1, 13 points)
Atlanta is coming into this week with key personnel returning to training. Franco Escobar is back training from the concussion received a couple weeks back, and Hector “Tito” Villalba also joined in training this week. However, it is unlikely either will be involved in the match this weekend.
Ezequiel Barco looks to build on his performance last week. Barco was a second half substitute who played for the last 20 minute against NYCFC. He had missed the first five matches recovering from a right quad strain he suffered in the first week of the season. Head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said after the game. “I think that he looked good,” “Physically, I thought he looked fine. He was dynamic. I think that he was missing a little bit in his precision and when he came on we went to four midfielders and we had [Darlington] Nagbe and Jeff [Larentowicz] playing inside with Barco on the right and Miguel [Almiron] on the left.”
Squad Details
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: Chris McCann
- Injury Report:
- Out:
- José Hernández (quad strain)
- Mitch Hildebrandt (left knee sprain)
- Questionable:
- Franco Escobar (head injury)
- Hector “Tito” Villalba (hamstring strain)
- Out:
Projected Starting XI
(3-5-2)
- GK: Brad Guzan
- Defenders (3): Chris McCann, Michael Parkhurst, Leandro González Pirez
- Midfielders (5):Greg Garza, Jeff Larentowicz, Darlington Nagbe, Ezequiel Barco, Julian Gressel
- Forwards (2): Josef Martinez, Miguel Almirón
LA Galaxy
(3-2-1, 10 points)
The big signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovich has energized the club who have won two of the three matches since he was added. Last weekend he made his first start and scored the only goal in first-half stoppage time, when he headed home an Ashley Cole cross. The 36 year-old forward Ibrahimovich, has three goals in three matches.
The Galaxy are much more effective with Ibrahimovich on the pitch. They are averaging 2.6 goals per 90 when he is playing this season (137 minutes, 28 seconds), when he has not been a paltry 0.8 goals per 90 (437 minutes, 10 seconds).
Squad Details
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: None
- Injury Report:
- Out:
- Bradford Jamieson IV (concussion)
- Questionable:
- Giovani dos Santos (hamstring)
- Michael Ciani (groin)
- Out:
Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2)
- GK: David Bingham
- Defenders (4): Rolf Feltscher, Daniel Steres, Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole
- Midfielders (4): Romain Alessandrini, Perry Kitchen, Jonathan dos Santos, Sebastian Lletget
- Forwards (2): Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara
Recent Meetings
Wednesday 20 September 2017
Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Atlanta 4-0 LA Galaxy
Atlanta United FC
