Info to know: Atlanta United vs. Toronto

Atlanta United (5-8-6) will host Toronto (7-10-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be televised on AppleTV, and you can follow Doug Roberson’s coverage on X (formerly Twitter) @DougRobersonAJC.

Toronto manager: John Herdman

Toronto away record: 2-5-3

Atlanta United home record: 3-5-2

Toronto goals for/against: 28/35

Toronto expected goals for/against: 25.6/26.9

Atlanta United goals for/against: 26/24

Atlanta United expected goals for/against: 29.5/24.2

Toronto key players

Federico Bernardeschi: Seven goals, five assists

Prince Owusu: Six goals

Lorenzo Insigne: Four goals, four assists

Atlanta United key players

Thiago Almada: Five goals, three assists

Brooks Lennon: Five assists

Jamal Thiare: Four goals

Injury reports (as of June 20)

Atlanta United

Out: Edwin Mosquera (knee), Luis Abram (Copa America) and Saba Lobjanidze (Euros)

Questionable:

Toronto (as of June 27)

Out: Sean Johnson (Copa America), Richie Laryea (Copa America), Jonathan Osorio (Copa America)

What was said?

“I mean, it’s a bit of a mentality thing, like when we go on the road, we know it’s going to be a fight, it’s going to be the other team might have the ball at times. And I think at the Benz, like, we always want to dominate, dominate, dominate. At times, if there’s a spell in the game where the other team has the ball, we might get a little discouraged. I think it’s just applying that same mentality that we have on the road to the home games.” – Noah Cobb

“It was a good couple results in terms of points at difficult places, difficult conditions to go into, and to find a way to get three points and then battle back and get a draw. Now need to up it even more and make sure it comes out that we are able to get three points.” – Brad Guzan

“We feel urgency. I’m telling you guys, we feel urgency, and we put pressure on ourselves to start picking up three points more consistently. But as it stands now, look, the reality is with how forgiving the season is, with how many teams make the playoffs, we’re right in the thick of the race. With two wins here, we’re back up into fifth or sixth or whatever it could be. So make sure you understand me, we’re not happy about it. We’re not happy about how we played, and we’re not happy that it’s looked how it’s looked this year, but I think calling a stretch of games make or break before a month or two left in the season, I think that would be a little bit too soon.” – Dax McCarty

Officiating crew

Referee: Sergii Boiko

Assistants: Corey Rockwell and Adam Wienckowski

Fourth: Marcos DeOliveira

VAR: Sorin Stoica

AVAR: Claudiu Badea

Atlanta United’s predicted 11

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan

Centerback Noah Cobb

Centerback Derrick Williams

Centerback Efrain Morales

Right fullback Brooks Lennon

Left fullback Caleb Wiley

Midfielder Jay Fortune

Midfielder Tristan Muyumba

Midfielder Thiago Almada

Midfielder Xande Silva

Striker Jamal Thiare

For more content about Atlanta United

Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC

On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now

On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson

Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Southern Fried Soccer podcast can be found

Apple - https://apple.co/3ISD6Ve

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3L8TN0C

Google podcasts - https://bit.ly/32KlZW3

If you are going to listen to the podcast for the first time, please follow it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts ... and if you like what you hear, please give us a good rating so we can grow the show. If you have questions about the MLS team, you can email Doug Roberson at droberson@ajc.com, DM him on Twitter @dougrobersonajc or call 404-526-2527.

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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule

Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0

March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1

March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0

March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0

March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0

April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1

April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2

April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1

April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1

May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1

May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup

May 11 D.C. United 3, Atlanta United 2

May 15 Cincinnati 1, Atlanta United 0

May 18 Atlanta United 1, Nashville 1

May 21 Atlanta United 0 (5), Charleston 0 (4) in U.S. Open Cup

May 25 LAFC 1, Atlanta United 0

May 29 Atlanta United 3, Miami 1

June 2 Charlotte 3, Atlanta United 2

June 15 Atlanta United 2, Houston 2

June 19 Atlanta United 1, D.C. United 0

June 22 Atlanta United 1, St. Louis 1

June 29 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

July 3 at New England, 7:30 p.m.

July 6 at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.

July 9 vs. Indy Eleven in U.S. Open Cup

July 13 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

July 17 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.

July 20 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.

July 26 vs. D.C. United in Leagues Cup, 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 4 vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup, 4 p.m.

Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.

Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.