NYCFC v Atlanta United FC Preview

Preview

Atlanta United travels to Yankee Stadium to take on New York City FC on Saturday, June 9th. Kick-off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EST and will be televised on FOX Sports Southeast. The match features a battle between the top two teams in the East. This match is the first of two road trips this week against the two best teams in the east for Atlanta, who will travels to Columbus on Wednesday, June 13 to play the Columbus Crew.

Atlanta is coming off two wins in the past week, with a win in league play and a win in the U.S. Open Cup. Josef Martínez scored his 12th goal and his fifth career MLS hat trick, in a 3-1 win against Philadelphia on June 2. In Open Cup play, Atlanta used a young squad whose average ages was under 24 in a 3-0 win again Charleston Battery. Goals from 17 year old Andrew Carleton, 19 year old Ezequiel Barco and 24 year old Romario Williams lead the youth movement on Wednesday night.

New York City FC defeated Orlando City SC 3-0 in its last league match on June 2 to remain unbeaten at home, and dropped a midweek Open Cup match to the New York Red Bulls 4-0.

Head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino spoke about playing in Yankee Stadium, “I understand the field is small, but I don’t think there is any reason why we can’t go up there and have a good performance.” When asked about learning to play against NYCFC he said, “If there is anything we can learn, it’s that we should takes things away from the games we played last year at Bobby Dodd and Mercedes Benz.”

Broadcast Details
TV: FOX Sports Southeast
English Radio: 92-9 The Game (local), Sirius XM FC (national)
Spanish Radio: La Mejor 1600 AM

Pre-match coverage:
11:30 a.m.: AT&T Countdown to Kickoff (FB Live/Periscope)
12:00 p.m.: The Pre-Game show (92-9 The Game)

Atlanta United

Squad Details

Starter Chris McCann will not be available for the match. He started last weekend against Philadelphia but had to come out at the half for what Tata Martino called fatigue. The team is in good shape other than the season ending loss of Greg Garza.

Only a handful of the starters played in the midweek match as Martino went with a youth heavy squad. The starters who saw time were Julian Gressel, Leandro González Pírez, Franco Escobar and Ezequiel Barco. We was able to rest many of his key starters.

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: Chris McCann, Jeff Larentowicz, Miguel Almirón
• Injury Report:
  • Out:
    • Greg Garza (torn labrum right shoulder)
  • Questionable:
    • Chris McCann (hamstring)

Projected Starting XI
(3-5-2)

• GK: Brad Guzan
• Defenders (3): Michael Parkhurst, Leandro González Pírez, Franco Escobar
• Midfielders (5): Mikey Ambrose, Jeff Larentowicz, Darlington Nagbe, Miguel Almirón, Julian Gressel
• Forwards (2): Ezequiel Barco, Josef Martinez

New York City FC

Squad Details

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: Yangel Herrera
• International duty: Ronald Matarrita, Rodney Wallace/li>
• Injury Report:
  • Out:
    • Yangel Herrera (ankle)
    • Cedric Hountondji (hamstring)
  • Questionable:

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1)

• GK: Sean Johnson
• Defenders (4): Anton Tinnerholm, Maxime Chanot, Alex Callens, Ben Sweat
• Defensive Midfielders (2): Alex Ring, Ebenezer Ofori
• Attacking Midfielders (3): Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, Maxi Moralez, Jo-Inge Berget
• Forwards (1): David Villa

Recent Meetings
Atlanta United 2, NYCFC 2 (April 15, 2018)