Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Record (W-L-D), Points, and Last 5 Results
Atlanta United: Record (3-6-2) (11) Form – LDDLL
- Orlando City (A): Lost 3-1
- Inter Miami CF (H): Tied 0-0
- Orlando City (A): Tied 1-1
- Inter Miami CF (A): Lost 2-1
- Nashville SC (A): Lost 4-2
Inter Miami CF: Record (2-7-2) (8) Form – LDDWL
- Nashville SC (A): Lost 1-0
- Atlanta United (A): Tied 0-0
- Nashville SC (H): Tied 0-0
- Atlanta United (H): Won 2-1
- Orlando City (A): Lost 2-1
Possible Absences:
Atlanta United:
- Josef Martinez (Injury)
- Jurgen Damm (Injury)
Inter Miami CF:
- Gonzalo Higuain (New signing complications)
- David Norman Jr. (Injury)
- George Acosta (Injury)
- Denso Ulysse (Injury)
Predicted Starting XI:
Atlanta United (4-2-3-1)
- Brad Guzan
- George Bello, Fernando Meza, Miles Robinson, Franco Escobar
- Mattheus Rossetto, Jeff Lawrentowicz
- Jon Gallagher, Ezequiel Barco, Brooks Lennon
- Tyler Wolff
Inter Miami CF (4-2-3-1)
- Luis Robles
- Ben Sweat, Leandro Gonzalez-Pirez, Andres Reyes, Jorge Figal
- Blaise Matuidi, Victor Ulloa
- Juan Agudelo, Rodolfo Pizarro, Lewis Morgan
- Robbie Robinson
And they meet again. This is the third time these two teams have met this season. Atlanta are yet to win against their Florida opposition, while Miami have the only win in this fixture. Just like the other games between these two teams, Atlanta come into the game struggling and Miami haven’t don’t that much better either. The biggest news coming out of both camps is transfer activity. Miami have completed the signing of striker Gonzalo Higuain to fix their biggest problem of scoring goals. Atlanta are rumored to have agreed a deal with attacking midfielder Marcelino Moreno, who is supposed to fill the hole created by Pity Martinez’s departure. However, neither of those players can play in this game, so for right now it doesn’t really matter.
Atlanta haven’t won in their last five games while Miami have won once. The two other times these teams played this season they played out fairly boring and dull matches. The first game had some terrible finishing from both teams and ended 0-0, and the second game saw Miami play a defensive counter attacking game which saw them come away with a 2-1 win. There hasn’t been enough change in these two teams to suspect anything different on Saturday either. It once again could be a rather boring game, where some goals on the counter are the difference.
Inter Miami’s starting eleven is rather self-explanatory and has stayed pretty similar this season. This is the team they used most recently against Orlando and they started Robbie Robinson the last time they played Atlanta. However, they could easily swap Robinson with Julian Carranza.
Atlanta United’s starting eleven could be anything but usual. I think Stephen Glass is going to do anything and everything he can to try to inject something into this team. I included a returning Fernando Meza which might help some of the mistakes that have been made at the back, but you can’t really say Anton Walkes has played that bad. I also included Mattheus Rossetto because I think he was one of the few players that actually has played well recently. Based on his game against Nashville, I think he could finally bring some connection from the defense, to the midfield, to the offense. And last but not least I also included Tyler Wolff, but this time playing up top. He was also one of the better players against Nashville in my opinion. I don’t think either one of Cubo Torres or Adam Jahn have played to a level that they aren’t replaceable. Wolff could give the Atlanta attack something different which could help the team in general.
In midweek Jeff Lawrentowicz said, “It gets worse,” when referring to where the team was after the Nashville game. It will be interesting to see how the team responds to what quite possibly was not just the lowest point for the club this season, but possibly in the club’s existence.
My Predicition: Atlanta United 0 – 1 Inter Miami. I just don’t think Atlanta is playing well at all and until they show me a reason to believe they can perform better I’m not going to trust them to get results. I think Miami will be able to win because we’ve seen them play a defensive style before against Atlanta which resulted in a 2-1 win. However, I also think there’s a reason they just signed Higuain. Difficulties with finishing chances will mean they only get one in the win.
The Possible Absences and Starting XI portions of the article will be updated as necessary up until starting lineups are announced