Matt Edwards, making his second MLS start, had Premier League veteran Wilfried Zaha’s number throughout the first half in Atlanta United’s match against Charlotte on Saturday.
Zaha became so frustrated that he pushed Edwards in the back after he successfully prevented Zaha from reaching a ball as it crossed the end line. Edwards recovered from the push, spun around and got in Zaha’s face.
“Not so much a message, but if you get pushed in the back, that’s my natural instincts, just turn around like, ‘Yo, what are you doing?’” Edwards, 22 years old, said. “It was one of those games where he’s getting frustrated. So he just laid off the frustration. And I had to make sure he knew that I wasn’t just a kid.”
Zaha scored Charlotte’s second goal to seal the win, but it could be argued that he benefited from a fortunate bounce of the ball that didn’t require him to beat a defender.
Edwards’ one-on-one defense resulted in Zaha being dispossessed five times, having a 20% (1 of 5) dribbling success rate, losing 81% of his duels and being held to one shot.
“I kind of wanted the matchup, just because it’s only going to push me as a player to go against better players,” Edwards said. “Even in training, I go against really, really good ones. So, for me, it’s just another challenge that I got to keep improving and keep going against those type of guys.”
Edwards did make mistakes in the match. He misread a long ball that started the sequence that resulted in Charlotte’s second goal.
“I’m trying to work on trying to stay concentrated for 90 minutes,” he said. “Last game, I lost concentration. So I think that’s my biggest takeaway from it, is just stay focused. Always do your tasks. Do your job, so you can help the team out the best.”
Edwards wasn’t supposed to be the starter on the right when the season started. Ronald Hernandez presumably was going to be the starter in place of Brooks Lennon, who underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason. But Pedro Amador, the starter on the left, suffered a hamstring injury early in preseason. Hernandez was moved to the left for Game 1, and Edwards made his MLS debut on the right.
Edwards said he didn’t know that he was going to start until he began to get a feeling during the sessions in advance of the season-opening game against Montreal.
Centerback Derrick Williams said last week that he challenged Edwards to put in the work to push to become the starters. Midfielder Bartosz Slisz said he likes seeing Edwards play because of his aggressiveness and ability to press.
Edwards said that Miguel Almiron, the winger on the right, is also pushing him to improve.
“If I don’t do well, he lets me know, if I do well, lets me know,” Edwards said. “So I think that’s part of being a pro, is we all hold each other to high standards.”
Injuries. Fullback Pedro Amador returned to training, and Lennon participated in contact portions of the session for the first time. Amador (hamstring) and Lennon (offseason shoulder surgery) missed the season’s first two matches. Lennon likely will miss Saturday’s match.
Striker Jamal Thiare (quadriceps), midfielder Mateusz Klich (flu) and Hernandez (quadriceps) didn’t participate in Tuesday’s session. Neither Klich nor Hernandez played against Charlotte. Jay Fortune started in place of Klich. Luis Abram started in place of Hernandez.
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Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule
Feb. 22 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 2
March 1 Charlotte 2, Atlanta United 0
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
May 10 at Chicago, 2:30 p.m., Apple
May 14 at Austin, 8:30 p.m., Apple
May 17 vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 25 vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Apple
May 28 vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 31 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 12 at NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 25 at Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 28 at Miami, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 5 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 12 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 16 vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Apple, FS1
July 19 vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 26 vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 30 vs. Necaxa, Leagues Cup
Aug. 2. vs. Pumas in Orlando, Leagues Cup
Aug. 6 vs. Atlas, Leagues Cup
Aug. 9 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 16 at Colorado, 9:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 24 vs. Toronto, 5 p.m., Apple
Aug. 30 at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Apple
Sept. 13 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 20 vs. San Diego, 4:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 27 at New England, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 5 at LAFC, 10:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 18 vs. D.C. United, 6 p.m., Apple
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