Atlanta United won this weekend in more ways than one: The 62,520 people who packed Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday made United’s 3-2 season-opening victory over CF Montreal one of the most-attended soccer matches in the world this weekend.
AND Mercedes-Benz wasn’t even at full capacity because of ongoing construction. This isn’t even our final form!
Take that, Europe.
We’ll dig into the win and whether we should start building that statue of Emmanuel Latte Lath yet. (He deserves some top-notch macaroni art at the very least.) Plus, the Braves debuted some new stuff in Florida, and basketball is basketballing all over the state.
ATLANTA UNITED: EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
I was going to rank the best things from Saturday’s game, but why take it from me when you can take it from members of a local Atlanta United group chat?
- Lath’s inaugural Atlanta United goal. Yeah, this is what we came for. Gio H. from Atlanta described him as “leaping like a salmon” to catch a header from a corner kick in the 41st minute.
- The return of Miggy. He’s just so great! Miguel Almiron reached Atlanta United’s 50 goal contributions club and enjoyed a very warm, very loud welcome back from the crowd. “He brought 2018 energy back to the Benz,” Gio said. (All of the group chat members were at the game.)
- Lath’s early shot on goal. The much-touted new addition showed people what the team is paying for with a nice crack in the first few minutes. “He hit top gear and twisted up a defender real good,” Jason L. from Atlanta said.
- Whose free kick? Aleksei Miranchuk and Almiron both looked poised to take a free kick attempt in the first half. “The crowd was begging Miggy to take it,” Jason L. said. He did not.
- Oh right, the winning goal. Don’t let all of the (justifiable) talk about the back line distract you from Edwin Mosquera’s pretty goal from outside the box to seal the win.
So, should we worry about ….
Flubbed leads, a late winning goal and two last-minute near misses from Montreal?
Sure, the match wasn’t a rout, and there were moments of high anxiety in the stands. (Remember, as Atlantans we are not allowed to be comfortable at any time during any game ever.)
Rolando R., from the aforementioned group chat, wasn’t impressed with the outing. “The back line looked disorganized for most of the game,” he said.
Typical Rolando.
Head coach Ronny Deila said more patience with the ball would clear up the defense’s inconsistent second-half performance. But the tight outcome is still an optimistic one, statistically speaking.
The AJC’s Doug Roberson pulled the numbers:
- ATL UTD was 11-3-14 going into Saturday when tied at home in the 75th minute. So essentially a coin toss.
- They were 2-1-0 when tied at home in the 75th minute last season, so we know they can turn on the heat when they need to.
- There’s definitely a home advantage, though. In all matches leading into Saturday, United was 17-12-36 when tied at the 75th minute.
So it’s all good. The team has proved it can handle some late-game trials. But let’s not do that again, at least definitely not on the road.
Roberson: More takeaways from Saturday’s match, including a look at team chemistry with the newbies.
Next up: Atlanta United at Charlotte FC. on March 1.
BRAVES: TOGETHER AGAIN
Credit: Gerald Herbert
Credit: Gerald Herbert
The Braves dropped their first two spring training games, but remember, this is meaningless baseball! Every ST game is an opportunity to experiment with the rotation, see some fresh arms and bats, get comfortable at the plate and try out new things. So far, the Braves are doing just that.
Some stray notes from the weekend:
⭐ Chris Sale is good at pitching: Sale was perfect through his two-inning outing against the Minnesota Twins. The Cy Young winner says he doesn’t have any benchmarks to hit this spring and is just working it out with himself to prove he’s 100% over the back spasms that kept him off the postseason roster last year.
Our friend Justin Toscano has a nice write about all of the other things Sale brings to the team, like leadership and consistency. It will have you even more optimistic for the season.
🧢 Platoon opportunities in RF: Ronald Acuña Jr. is doing well in his recovery from a complete ACL tear. He’s hitting, sprinting and doing everything he needs to be doing. (Ken Sugiura says taking it easy doesn’t come naturally to the young hotshot.)
However, he won’t be ready for the beginning of the regular season, which means the Braves are looking at coverage options in right field.
Over the weekend, they platooned Jarred Kelenic and Bryan De La Cruz in the spot — Kelenic when the team faced a right-handed Twins pitcher and De La Cruz when they faced a lefty on the Rays. Kelenic, who bats left-handed, puts up weak numbers against righties, and the Braves are watching to see whether De La Cruz can recapture the powerhouse energy he had with the Miami Marlins last season.
Balls and strikes
I don’t have room today, but tomorrow I really want to talk about the automated ball-strike experiment going down across the league. The Braves don’t have to worry about it at the moment; none of the teams they play in the preseason will be working with the technology.
HAWKS: GETTING COMFORTABLE
The Atlanta Hawks continued a middling second part of the season with a 148-143 loss to the Detroit Pistons yesterday. They’re 26-31 and sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference standings.
But! New acquisition Terance Mann is happy to be here. The Hawks snapped up the guard from the LA Clippers at the trade deadline. The AJC’s Lauren Williams gets into how he’s adjusting, from the welcoming clubhouse to learning a new playbook language.
Next up: The Hawks take on the Miami Heat at home tonight.
ONCE A GEORGIA BOY, ALWAYS A GEORGIA BOY
Credit: Matt York/AP
Credit: Matt York/AP
I thought this was super cute. Darius Slay Jr. may be with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he was born and raised right here in Brunswick. And, boy, do they appreciate him.
The city of Brunswick held a parade this weekend for the Super Bowl champ, and Brunswick Mayor Cosby Johnson even presented Slay with a key to the city.
“It means a lot, man,” Slay said in a video from Brunswick News reporter Alessandra Pontbriand. “One of my dreams come true. … (A) small kid from Brunswick getting a key to the city, that accomplished a lot, and I’ll say that, without my family and friends back at home, none of this would be possible, for sure.”
Aw.
OTHER THINGS TO KNOW
🌭 Truist Park is getting a new food hall for 2025: It will be called the Outfield Market and will showcase “a variety of Braves Country vendors.”
🏀 Recapping the second round of Georgia HS basketball playoffs: The biggest drama of the weekend came when No. 1 Woodward completed a 15-point comeback to shock No. 2 Milton.
🍌 The Savannah Bananas’ 99-year-old park got a face-lift: Grayson Stadium looks pretty good for being nearly 100 years old.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Julie Bennett/AP
Credit: Julie Bennett/AP
Oops, where did that come from? The Georgia Bulldogs put in a good show on the road against No. 1 Auburn (and Johni Broome’s basketball-attracting abilities) but couldn’t manage the upset. GGWP, boys.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We know that kids that take a break from soccer to play other sports are less at risk for overuse injuries. Oftentimes, the kids can more fully develop their bodies. They can increase their athleticism by training in other sports, and this can translate to improved performance in soccer.
Carson shared six valuable pieces of advice for staying healthy through, say, a season of youth soccer. Among them was to get some cross-training in. If you have a kid who plays sports (or you’re one of those really good amateur athletes), you’ll want to read this.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Tyler will be back Wednesday. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at aj.willingham@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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