What we’re watching in Atlanta United vs. Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake are coming off another disappointing result, having drawn 2-2 against the Colorado Rapids over the weekend. They travel to Atlanta for a midweek game against an Atlanta United side that sit in 11th in the East, and are winless in their last four games. Both teams will be fighting for a win and RSL are dangerously close to dropping a place or two in the standings.

The attack

On Saturday, Anderson Julio went down with an injury and is now listed as out for this game. This mean we’ll see Rubin and Cordova start together. RSL seem committed to the two striker system, despite it not working well on the score-sheet. This game could be a chance for the team to change things up, perhaps by giving Luna a start and relying on him and Sava to create with either Rubin or Cordova in a lone-striker role.

Savarino

In 2019 Atlanta United were the reigning MLS Cup Champions. Under Tata, Miggy and Josef were the most dangerous pair in the league, but after that season Almirón left for Newcastle and Martino took the Mexico job. There was still a lot of hype around Atlanta and Martinez remained a dangerous attacker under Frank de Boer. On 5/24/19, RSL hosted ATL and it was going to be a tough game. However, in the 94th minute Jefferson Savarino pulled out a piece of magic to give Real the 2-1 win over the champs. Since then, Sava has only gotten better, and he’s been very good for RSL in his short time back with the team. However, he seems isolated and he needs support. That could be as simple as Luna, or Cordova and Rubin finishing more chances. Either way, Sava has been critical for this team.

Struggling CBs

Justen Glad’s injury has gone from “probable” to “questionable”, which means he won’t play tonight. He’s been a major reason for RSL’s success in defense and without him, the team has been poor. Kappelhof has struggled and there isn’t the same partnership we’ve seen between him and Silva as Glad and Silva. It doesn’t help that Marcelo had a bad challenge that gave Colorado their penalty. Atlanta aren’t the highest scoring team, so this could be a chance for improvement on the backline.

RSL availability

Out: Zack Farnsworth (right ankle), Damir Kreilach (back), Bobby Wood (abductor), Anderson Julio (quadriceps)

Questionable: Justen Glad (hamstring)

With Monarchs: Jeff Dewsnup, Chris Garcia, Gavin Beavers, Julio Benitez, Jude Wellings, Axel Kei, Jaziel Orozco