Atlanta United is mired in the worst start in franchise history, but the players’ spirit remains strong, captain Brad Guzan said Thursday ahead of Saturday’s match at Orlando.
The team has recorded only nine points from nine matches. Despite spending more than $30 million in transfer fees on attacking players, it has a goal-difference of minus-5. Few of its stats are trending up.
“The camaraderie is strong,” he said. “The group is … we know the group is what it is and who it is. And we need to be able to put our arms around each other and say, ‘This is us. This is who we are for the foreseeable future. And we need to stick together and go out there and perform.’”
The topic was broached because from 2017-19, Atlanta United’s heyday when it won the MLS Cup in 2018 and the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup in ’19, there frequently would be social media posts featuring groups of players enjoying a dinner or lawn party or sporting event.
The past few years, those posts aren’t as frequent. But just because there isn’t visual evidence doesn’t mean they aren’t happening, Guzan said.
“In these moments, it’s easy to try and start pointing at different things and whatnot,” Guzan said. “Does that happen? Absolutely. Just because you’re not seeing things? OK. It’s an area that, as a group, you’re constantly looking at in terms of how do you build that camaraderie? How do you build that relationship outside of that locker room? And that’s certainly a point that we look at, starting in preseason and throughout the year.”
Guzan would only say “things that we do off the field” when asked what the players do together.
Positing different theories as to why Atlanta United is off to a poor start is what’s left because it’s hard to pinpoint why a roster that before the season seemed capable of contending for an MLS Cup instead hasn’t scored a goal in 253 minutes and keeps providing opponents with self-inflicted gifted goals. Earlier this season, it went 275 minutes between goals.
“Football is pretty simple: You have to score goals, and we don’t,” midfielder Mateusz Klich, one of the offseason additions, said. “We don’t score goals and don’t score enough goals, and we concede easy goals. We make too many individual mistakes. We have to do better because it’s not good enough. It’s not even one player in the team we can say is having a decent season so far. So we have to turn it around.”
Everything can change with one good result, though.
Orlando is having its own issues, mired in a stretch of three consecutive 0-0 draws. But it’s above Atlanta United by four points in the Eastern Conference.
After last week’s 3-0 loss to Philadelphia, in which the Union were helped by numerous mistakes made by Atlanta United, manager Ronny Deila said he might simplify approaches to try to put his players in better positions. After reviewing, Deila said he thinks the team plays too much from the center when it’s in its 18-yard box. He said the team plays better when it plays from wider positions when near the opponent’s 18-yard box. He also wants to see better timing on the through balls. He said the team hit several against Philadelphia, but the runs by attacking players weren’t synchronized.
“It’s, again, about being real together and go into that every battle as a group and as a gang,” he said. “We’re gonna do mistakes. It’s about how we react to the mistakes.”
After Philadelphia’s first goal, it created another chance less than a minute later. That’s the reaction Deila said he doesn’t want to see.
He wants to see the camaraderie.
“We’ve seen the best teams in the world go see 1-0 down, but they keep on doing the same things,” he said. “They don’t give them anything for free. Through the game and our quality, we will get our chances, and we always get our chances, but we cannot give away then second and third because then the game is over. So, it’s about these things we are talking about.”
For more content about Atlanta United
Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC
On Bluesky @dougrobersonajc.bsky.social
On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now
On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson
Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Stay up to date every day on breaking news, in-depth investigations, politics, sports, entertainment, food and dining and so much more by becoming a subscriber to the AJC. Go to AJC.com/start for a very special offer and unlock hundreds of original articles published daily on the refreshed AJC.com and the new AJC mobile app. Plus, access to our news alerts, subscriber-only events, AJC original shows, films and videos, newsletters, and so much more.
Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule
Feb. 22 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 2
March 1 Charlotte 2, Atlanta United 0
March 8 Atlanta United 0, New York Red Bulls 0
March 16 Miami 2, Atlanta United 1
March 22 Atlanta United 2, Cincinnati 2
March 29 Atlanta United 4, NYCFC 3
April 5 Atlanta United 1, Dallas 1
April 12 New England 1, Atlanta United 0
April 19 Philadelphia 3, Atlanta United 0
April 26 at Orlando, 7 p.m., Apple, Fox
May 3 vs. Nashville, 2:30 p.m., Apple, Fox
May 10 at Chicago, 2:30 p.m., Apple
May 14 at Austin, 8:30 p.m., Apple
May 17 vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 25 vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Apple
May 28 vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 31 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 12 at NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 25 at Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 28 at Miami, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 5 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 12 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 16 vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Apple, FS1
July 19 vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 26 vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 30 vs. Necaxa, Leagues Cup
Aug. 2. vs. Pumas in Orlando, Leagues Cup
Aug. 6 vs. Atlas, Leagues Cup
Aug. 9 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 16 at Colorado, 9:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 24 vs. Toronto, 5 p.m., Apple
Aug. 30 at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Apple
Sept. 13 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 20 vs. San Diego, 4:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 27 at New England, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 5 at LAFC, 10:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 18 vs. D.C. United, 6 p.m., Apple
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
