The weather in metro Atlanta could not have been better when the Atlanta United players walked out of the team’s training facility onto the practice pitch on Tuesday morning. Following the team’s 3-2 season-opening victory over visiting CF Montreal on Saturday, Feb. 22, the energy and expectations for the first road game of the season at Charlotte on Saturday, Mar. 1 remain high.
The two goals allowed to CF Montreal were something Atlanta United manager Ronny Delia expressed having an issue with during his postgame press conference on Saturday night. During training Delia could be heard saying, “Yes, yes. Good” and “That’s good. Perfect”.
Atlanta is coming into Charlotte with a near-full roster. Brooks Lennon was back in training this week. He didn’t play on Saturday against CF Montreal. New signings Emmanuel Latte Lath and Miguel Almiron both looked string during training following outstanding perfomances in the season opener. Latte Lath’s two goals and Almiron’s assist and steady play in the midfield give Atlanta United supporters confidence that a rivalry match on the road is equally as winnable as a home game inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The attendance for opening night, 65,520, was the third largest crowd for a soccer match on the planet on Saturday night. Only a match in the Bundesliga and La Liga surpassed that amount of butts in seats.
The team has training scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before leaving for Charlotte.
