Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda said Friday that despite his inexperience as a head coach, his experience in soccer will help him lead his team out of its funk and hopefully to the MLS playoffs.
The team played well in the first half Wednesday night against Philadelphia, but the little mistakes that have plagued the team this season continued in what became a 4-1 loss. Still, the team remains three points out of a playoff spot with Portland at Providence Park on Sunday.
The loss at the Union dropped the team’s road record to 1-8-5 and its overall record to 8-11-9. It has yet to win two consecutive league games this season.
“How you overcome that as a coach or as a manager is always kind of coming back to the main things that make you coach: passion, ideas, the fundamentals of the game,” he said. “And it’s always going through that process. But more than anything is to be tough mentally, is trying to be resilient, is absorb all the criticism that can be that is normal. ... So I understand that process. And I’m just going through the same process that I’ve been living and experiencing my whole life.”
The team has six games remaining. It might take all of Pineda’s experience acquired as a player in Mexico, MLS, the World Cup, the Copa Libertadores and his career as an assistant in Seattle to guide the team into the postseason for the fifth time, in its sixth season.
After the Timbers, which are seventh in the West and winners of their past two, Atlanta United will face surging Toronto, one of the teams it is competing with for the final playoff spot, Orlando, Philadelphia, New England, another team fighting for the final playoff spot in the East, and NYCFC. Orlando, Philadelphia and NYCFC also are above the playoff line.
“We know there’s demands here, as well from the club for the quality of players that we have,” centerback JuanJo Purata said. “We’ve talked about it. We we know that there are demands to make the playoffs. I think what I’ve seen here is that, in general, we’re playing really well but there are small mistakes that have been costly for us and allowed us to drop a lot of points.”
But first things first.
Pineda said Portland will play similarly to Philadelphia. They will be good on set pieces, good in transition and good at applying defensive pressure.
Atlanta United has struggled defending set pieces and opponents in transition.
“I think we need to continue with that process of gaining control of the game, creating and more better chances, and just believing,” Pineda said. “That they believe is very important in this moment, believe that we can punish opponents.”
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Atlanta United’s 2022 MLS schedule
Feb. 27 Atlanta United 3, Sporting KC 1
March 5 Colorado 3, Atlanta United 0
March 13 Atlanta United 2, Charlotte 1
March 19 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 3
April 2 Atlanta United 1, D.C. United 0
April 10 Charlotte 1, Atlanta United 0
April 16 Atlanta United 0, Cincinnati 0
April 24 Miami 2, Atlanta United 1
April 30 Montreal 2, Atlanta United 1
May 7 Atlanta United 4, Chicago 1
May 15 Atlanta United 2, New England 2
May 21 Atlanta United 2, Nashville 2
May 28 Columbus 2, Atlanta United 1
June 19 Atlanta United 2, Miami 0
June 25 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 1
June 30 New York Red Bulls 2, Atlanta United 1
July 3 Atlanta United 2, NYCFC 2
July 9 Austin 3, Atlanta United 0
July 13 Atlanta United 2, Real Salt Lake 1
July 17 Atlanta United 1, Orlando 1
July 24 L.A. Galaxy 2, Atlanta United 0
July 30 Atlanta United 0, Chicago 0
August 6 Atlanta United 2, Seattle 1
August 13 Atlanta United 2, Cincinnati 2
August 17 New York Red Bulls 2, Atlanta United 1
August 21 Atlanta United 2, Columbus 2
August 28 Atlanta United 3, D.C. United 2
August 31 Philadelphia 4, Atlanta United 1
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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