It's Matchday 24, and New York City FC are in Hotlanta to face Atlanta United in the air-conditioned comfort of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Both teams are playing on short rest. New York City logged a pragmatic 0-0 draw with Chicago Fire on a steamy night at Soldier Field, while Atlanta failed to score in a 1-0 road loss to CF Montréal.
• Matchday 24: Atlanta United vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Wednesday, July 17, 7:30 pm ET
• Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
• Forecast: It's always comfortable inside the Benz
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Tony Husband and Ross Smith (English), José Bauz and Diego Tabáres (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Lukasz Szpala (referee), Gianni Facchini and Kevin Lock (assistant referees), Alyssa Nichols (fourth official), David Barrie (VAR), Joshua Patlak (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear their blue Triboro Kit, and the goalkeeper is back in green; Atlanta will wear their class black-and-red 17's Kit
United's result is what you'd expect for a team in the middle of a rebuild. Earlier this season, Atlanta fired former head coach Gonzalo Pineda. Then the club went on to sell their two best players: Striker Giorgos Giakoumakis is now with Cruz Azul in Liga MX, and playmaker Thiago Almada is biding his time with Brazil's Botafago before completing an expected transfer to Europe for a deal reportedly worth up to $30 million. Atlanta are vulnerable.
But this is New York City away record of 3W-2D-6L doesn't exactly shake the ground. NYCFC have just 8 goals in those 11 games, and were held scoreless six times.
New York City vs Atlanta H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 25 | 21 | 4 |
The head-to-head between these two clubs favors the home side: New York City's record against Atlanta at the Benz is 1W-3D-3L. NYCFC came oh-so-close to grabbing a second win last year, when they went up 1-2 behind a Gabriel Pereira brace. But a depleted Atlanta that was missing Almada – and that brought up players from Atlanta United 2 to fill out their roster – scored an equalizer in the 95th minute.
But New York City have never been held scoreless on the synthetic surface at the Benz: NYCFC have 10 goals in the eight games they played in Atlanta.
Andrew Leigh
New York City FC
• Player Availability: Defender Tayvon Gray (leg), attacker Malachi Jones (leg), midfielder Andrés Perea (leg), and defender Kevin O'Toole (leg) are unavailable. Midfielder James Sands is suspended for one game due to yellow card accumulation.
• Will we see Justin Haak in the midfield with both Perea and Sands out? The 22-year-old Homegrown has yet to make a start this year.
• The smart money is on seeing Christian McFarlane again in the Starting XI. The 17-year-old looked good in his first Major League Soccer start last week, and the right-back is the team's best option at the position with O'Toole and Gray out injured.
• Will we see Talles Magno play? That's the copy-and-paste question we ask every week. Late in last Saturday's game, Head Coach Nick Cushing opted to sub in defender Birk Risa to preserve the 0-0 draw rather than bring on the Designated Player to try to get the win.
• Midfielder Santiago Rodríguez is one yellow card away from serving a suspension. Cuidado, Santi.
Andrew Leigh
Atlanta United
• Player Availability: Forward Edwin Mosquera (knee) is unavailable. Center-back Stian Gregersen is suspended after earning a red card in last week's 1-0 loss to Montrél. Left-back Caleb Wiley is on international duty with the US men's national team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
• Atlanta might have lost two of their leading scorers in Almada and Giakoumakis, but forward Saba Lobjanidze has five goals in 20 appearances, and he's back with United after playing with the Georgia national team in the 2024 Euros. Lobjanidze made one appearance in the tournament when he came on as a late sub in the 1-1 group stage draw with Czechia — and failed to score the game-winner when his shot soared over the bar in the last kick of the match.
• Burning to learn more about United? Be sure to read "Oppo Research: 5 Things about Atlanta United," in which Rob Usry of Five Stripe Final tells us why Brad Guzan could be the X-factor tonight.
Matthew Mangam
