Atlanta United injury report shows who’s available, who’s not for Charlotte match

Atlanta United centerback Derrick Williams will be available to start, but fullback Pedro Amador won’t be available to play in Saturday’s MLS match at Charlotte, manager Ronny Deila said Thursday.

Deila said he hopes Amador can be ready for next week’s match against the New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Williams said he suffered a quad strain during the preseason that reoccurred Feb. 18. He said he underwent a scan. The injury prevented him from starting Saturday’s 3-2 win at Montreal. He did come off the bench in the final minutes.

“Tried to push as much I could, but just wasn’t right,” he said.

Luis Abram started in place of Williams against Montreal. Ronald Hernandez started in place of Amador, with Matthew Edwards, a Homegrown signee, on the right. It was Edwards’ first start in a league match. He likely will start again Saturday.

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“He defended well. I like his aggression in his one-on-one defending,” Deila said of Edwards after the match. “He’s very fast and also good jumping to head, so he’s controlling that good, but we need even more over time.”

Williams said he pushed Edwards to push himself to compete for the starter’s job after Brooks Lennon suffered his shoulder injury in the playoffs.

“He’s really improved, and he’s taken on board with the manager wants, and he just needs to keep going,” Williams said. “He needs to be consistent. I think that’s the main thing with young players. You can see his build. He’s fast, he’s decent on the ball. So lot of potential. He just needs to keep working hard and just keep progressing.”

Roster addition

Fullback Dominik Chong Qui will sign a second consecutive short-term agreement for the Charlotte match. Chong Qui also signed a short-term contract last week. Players can sign as many as six short-term contracts during the season.

Thursday’s training session

Thursday’s training session was one of the shorter, and fun, that the team has had from the start of the preseason.

It ended with the players divided into teams of three, with each team juggling a ball some 50 yards and then trying to put the ball into a trash can. In each segment of the exercise, they were allowed to use one part of their body but not others. It started with using only their feet, then only their heads, then anything but feet, which resulted in some of the teams coming up with creative ways to advance the ball. One team had one player put the ball between his knees as he hopped the distance. Another team had the player cradle the ball in his abdomen, then his teammates picked him up and carried him to the trash can.

The session lasted less than an hour.

Deila said it was a lighter, shorter session because the players worked hard Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“You have to crush eggs to make a good omelet,” Deila said. “So we have been training hard. I think maybe we push a little bit too much. That’s why today we take it very down because we need to be fresh for the game because that’s going to be a big game for us.”

Deila said he uses his experience of 18 years coaching, and data, to decide when to push the players and when to relax during training.

“We have a fantastic team around me to also check these things, and it’s important that we find our way to get the right load maintenance physically to be ready,” he said.

Crews for Saturday

Rubiel Vazquez is scheduled to be Saturday’s referee with assistants Jose Da Silva and Brooke Mayo, fourth official Matthew Corrigan, VAR Carol Anne Chenard and AVAR Joshua Patlak.

Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham will be Apple announcers.

Miscellaneous numbers

Atlanta United ranks second in MLS in shots on target (57.1%), behind only San Diego (66.7%).

Atlanta United is fourth in MLS in running distance as a team (75.62 miles). Bartosz Slisz led team with 7.95 miles covered. Atlanta United averaged 71.58 miles per match last season.

Atlanta United is fourth in distance of forward passes (2,951 yards). Atlanta United averaged 2,715 last season. Deila has said many times that he doesn’t want to see his players passing the ball backward to the centerbacks.

Saba Lobjanidze is tied for sixth in the league in chances created (four). Orlando Martin Ojeda leads (seven).

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Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule

Feb. 22 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 2

March 1 at Charlotte, 2 p.m., Apple, Fox

March 8 vs. New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple

March 16 vs. Miami, 7 p.m., Apple

March 22 at Cincinnati, 2:30 p.m., Apple

March 29 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple

April 5 vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m., Apple

April 12 vs. New England, 2:30 p.m., Apple, Fox

April 19 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple

April 26 at Orlando, 7 p.m., Apple, Fox

May 3 vs. Nashville, 2:30 p.m., Apple, Fox