Atlanta United ended its run of six preseason friendlies with a 4-0 victory over Birmingham on Sunday at Protective Stadium that included two of the prettier goals scored by the team.
In a positive sign for the team and its supporters, Josef Martinez led the way with two goals. Ronald Hernandez added another. Amar Sejdic had three well-taken assists. Three of the goals came in an eight-minute stretch over either side of halftime, which helped erase a rather poor start by the MLS team.
Manager Gonzalo Pineda said he wasn’t pleased with the slow start but was pleased that players started making runs behind the defense, and that the midfielders were able to find holes between the midfielders and centerbacks to exploit.
“I think that’s something that we need to start off better,” Pineda said. “We already addressed that, and I hope that against Kansas, we can start in a better way.”
Atlanta United will open its league season hosting Sporting KC on Feb. 27 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta United’s starting 11 was composed of Martinez with Luiz Araujo and Tyler Wolff on the wings. Matheus Rossetto, Sejdic and Ozzie Alonso occupied the central midfield with Andrew Gutman and Hernandez as the fullbacks, Miles Robinson and George Campbell as the centerbacks and Brad Guzan in goal. Not in the gameday roster were Thiago Almada, who is in Argentina securing his visa, Santiago Sosa and Franco Ibarra, who are working on green cards but wouldn’t have featured because they are recovering from injuries, Marcelino Moreno, Brooks Lennon, Machop Chol and Jake Mulraney who are out with injuries, and Emerson Hyndman, who is training with the team but is still recovering from last year’s knee surgery.
Birmingham, which started training camp two weeks ago, looked rusty early, and it gave Atlanta United a 1-0 lead. Birmingham defender Phanuel Kavita, under pressure from Araujo, tried to pass back to goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel from 25 yards. But Kavita hit the pass too hard and to the right of Van Oekel. The ball rolled past him and into the goal to give the Five Stripes the lead in the fourth minute.
Continuing a trend that started in last week’s friendlies in Mexico, Atlanta United’s offense struggled to put together passes and sequences early. It didn’t take its first shot until Martinez tried a back heel in the 20th minute.
Atlanta United’s next best chance came in the 36th minute, when Araujo got behind Birmingham’s defense but lost the ball as Mikey Lopez pressured him from behind. No penalty was called.
But then Atlanta United began to play more freely and aggressively.
It got a reward and 2-0 lead in the 42nd minute with one of the prettiest goals it has scored during the preseason. The play started with Sejdic, unpressured, lobbing a pass about 20 yards to the top of the penalty box. Rossetto, moving left to right, reached the ball first and hit a backheel to Martinez, who was moving left to right. Martinez hit a left-footed shot into the lower left corner for his first goal this preseason.
“Obviously, it’s very dangerous position to be when you have attacked like our front three,” said Sejdic, who said this was the first time in his professional career that he had three assists.
Atlanta United started the second half brightly and increased its lead to 3-0 in the 49th minute on a goal by Hernandez, who made a late run that Pineda wanted into the box to reach a chipped pass by Sejdic. With his back to the goal and only Van Oekel to beat, he turned and put a shot into the corner.
“As the second half started, we recognized we had some runs in behind, which were very important, and I just kind of picked my head up and was able to kind of see the runners, but it was definitely a little bit more fluid in the second half, definitely first 15 minutes,” Sejdic said.
Atlanta United made it 4-0 a minute later on a goal by Martinez, his second of the day on a right-footed shot from 18 yards into the lower right corner. Sejdic had the assist.
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Atlanta United’s 2022 MLS schedule
Feb. 27 vs. Sporting KC, 3 p.m., FS1
March 5 at Colorado, 6 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
March 13 vs. Charlotte, 4:30 p.m., FS1
March 19 vs. Montreal, 4 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
April 2 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
April 9 at Charlotte, 3 p.m., ESPN
April 16 vs. Cincinnati, 6 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
April 24 at Miami, 1 p.m., ESPN
April 30 at Montreal, 4 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
May 7 vs. Chicago, 6 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
May 15 vs. New England, 2 p.m., ESPN
May 21 at Nashville, 7:30 p.m. FOX
May 28 vs. Columbus Crew, 7 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
June 19 vs Miami, 4 p.m., ESPN2
June 25 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
June 30 at New York Red Bulls, 8 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
July 3 at NYCFC, 5 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
July 9 vs. Austin, 7 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
July 13 vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
July 17 vs. Orlando, 3 p.m., ABC
July 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 9:30 p.m., FS1
July 30 at Chicago, 5 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
Aug. 6 vs. Seattle, 3 p.m., ABC
Aug. 13 at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m. BSSO/BSSE
Aug. 17 vs. New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
Aug. 21 at Columbus, 6 p.m., FS1
Aug. 28 vs. D.C. United, 4 p.m., UNIV
Aug. 31 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 4 at Portland, 5:30 p.m., FOX
Sept. 10 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
Sept. 14 at Orlando, 6 p.m., BSSO/BSSE
Sept. 17 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., UniMas
Oct. 1 at New England, 1 p.m., UniMas
Oct. 9 vs. NYCFC, TBD, BSSO/BSSE
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