Random thoughts on Atlanta United doing everything but winning

It was a lower than stellar week for Atlanta United’s shrinking playoff hopes as Gonzalo Pineda’s facet picked up only one out of a doable six factors. A midweek loss to Purple Bulls at dwelling adopted by a draw away to Columbus was about par for the course so far as outcomes go for the 5 Stripes this season. As soon as once more we noticed the workforce efficiency unfold throughout the spectrum as they seemed dire towards New York however perhaps put of their greatest effort of the season in Columbus. The necessity for consistency was all the time going to be a figuring out think about incomes a playoff spot. With lower than two months of soccer left to play it simply doesn’t look like it’s going to magically seem like we had hoped.

The excellent news is that the 90 minutes in Columbus produced an epic efficiency that included the Atlanta gamers pouring their hearts and souls of their sport. The demoralizing factor is, it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient to get their second highway victory of the season. So whereas it could be an encouraging signal for people who don’t care about squeaking into the playoffs this season, when you’re nonetheless holding onto that feint hope, it’s not useful within the slightest. Maybe that’s simply the story of this bizarro season. Regardless of how properly or poor the workforce does, profitable simply doesn’t appear to be within the playing cards.

One side of the latest match that may have Atlanta followers perking their weary heads up is the person efficiency of Santiago Sosa. It’s no secret that the 5 Stripes’ midfield has been an enormous letdown for fairly a while. This was one of many few instances Sosa put in a shift the place he resembled the midfield lynchpin he was introduced in to be. Because the membership appears towards the long run and ponder their roster choices for subsequent season, the midfield can be beneath an enormous highlight. These final handful of matches may very well be make or break for some gamers within the squad to show they should be part of this mission transferring ahead. Sosa is probably going one in all these gamers and might want to replicate this displaying to indicate everybody he could be a constructing block for the long run.

[Insert useless complaining about terrible refereeing]

One other constructive signal for the long run was the substitute efficiency of the latest roster addition, Edwin Mosquera. The Colombian speedster got here off the bench and made a big effect, helping on Juanjo Purata’s game-tying purpose and having a purpose taken away as a consequence of a dodgy offside choice. Nonetheless, it’s all the time thrilling to see a brand new participant present indicators of being a productive member of the roster, particularly a younger one. Right here’s to hoping that is only the start of one thing good for Atlanta’s attacking depth.

Atlanta United host the worst workforce in MLS on Sunday because the woeful D.C. United come to city. If they will’t discover a method to decide up full factors on this one, one thing has gone horribly fallacious.