Atlanta United, on short rest, faces dangerous Toronto

Atlanta United will attempt to continue its slow climb up the MLS Eastern Conference standings when it hosts last-place team Toronto on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Atlanta United has taken seven points from its past three games and has 21 points for the season. It trails Montreal for the seventh and final playoff spot by five points. Toronto is last in the East with 15 points.

“When we played Columbus at home (July 24), that was the start of when we talked about this is the time period where teams go one one way or the other,” Valentino said. “So our message has been the same that we want to keep climbing forward and progressing forward.”

It is scheduled to be interim manager Rob Valentino’s last match in charge after he was promoted falling the firing of Gabriel Heinze in July. Gonzalo Pineda is expected to take over the team Thursday. Valentino will remain on Pineda’s staff.

Valentino said he has enjoyed being on the sideline, and he’ll enjoy getting his voice back, but that he is looking forward to working with Pineda.

“Like I said from the start, we are in this together, and it’s not just gonna be me, and it’s not just gonna be them,” Valentino said. “So when things go in a bad way, at any point in the game, or if they would have gone a different way, I’m not gonna say ‘Hey, guys, it’s you guys, not me, I have nothing to do with it. Or vice versa. It’s not all on me. It’s us together. So I’m still gonna be there.”

Centerback Anton Walkes said that Valentino deserves credit for keeping the group together during a very bad stage. Centerback Alan Franco said Valentino has given the players joy.

Since Valentino took over, the team is 2-2-2.

“It’s gonna be a shame to see him, you know, not not be the main key figure, because the amount of work he puts in, you know, he definitely deserves opportunities,” Walkes said.

Valentino’s last challenge as interim will be trying to get the team prepared with only two days between games.

Though Toronto is poor statistically, it has quality players on offense in Alejandro Pozuelo, Ayo Akinola and Yeferson Soteldo. The team has scored 24 goals, two more than Atlanta United. It has allowed 40, the first time in MLS this season to reach that mark.

Like Atlanta United, Toronto also made a coaching change during the season, with assistant Javier Perez taking over for the fired Chris Armas on July 7. It is 2-2-4 under Perez, who was named manager for the remainder of the season. The team is winless in its past four.

“It’s a difficult team, but we, we understand the rest of the recovery part from us,” Valentino said. “And making sure we’re prepared from a video standpoint, from a tactical standpoint of any adjustments we need to make in our team or ways that we can go about them. Ultimately, it’s keeping the mentality the same and making sure that they’ve everyone feels healthy, and everyone is in a good, good mental state, and they’re getting the rest and recovery.”

Southern Fried Soccer

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April 17 Atlanta United 0, Orlando 0

April 24 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 1

May 1 New England 2, Atlanta United 1

May 9 Atlanta United 1, Inter Miami 1,

May 15 Atlanta United 1, Montreal 0