Can Atlanta United Defend the cup?

Is Atlanta United good enough to win the MLS Cup for the second straight season?

Regular Season Overview

Atlanta United began the season with a new head coach. Their first coach, Tata Martino, left to go coach the Mexico national team after last year’s MLS Cup victory. Atlanta’s new head coach, Frank de Boer, looked to continue the early success that United has had during its first few years under Martino. Atlanta United finished the 2019 MLS season with 18 wins, 12 losses, and 4 draws. That was good enough to come in second place in the Eastern Conference. That also secured them a spot in the MLS Cup playoffs.

Playoff Predictions

United entered the MLS playoffs as the 2nd seed behind New York. Second seeds have done very well in recent history. They have gone on to advance to the MLS Cup five out of the last seven times. This stat along with Atlanta’s experience, their chances looked good going into the playoffs to make it to the Cup. Atlanta’s first playoff match up was between New England on October 19th. They ended up shutting New England out 2-0. Since they advanced in the playoffs, they were slated to play the winner of the Philadelphia versus New York game. Philadelphia won that game, so United was set to play them on October 24th. Atlanta ended up beating Philadelphia by a 2-0 score like their previous playoff game against New England. Now they are set to match up with the number four seed Toronto team in the Eastern Conference Final. Toronto is a very good team. They beat D.C. United and the number one seed NYCFC to get to the conference final. If Atlanta plays sound defense, then they have a good shot at winning this game. If Atlanta wins this game, then they will advance to the MLS Cup for the second year in a row to face either LAFC or Seattle. Both of which are really good teams.

Final Thoughts

Even with a new coach and many players being injured, Atlanta United has made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. This team has the talent and experience to make it to the MLS Cup and winning it. They just need to play the way they’ve played up to this point in the playoffs going forward. If they Win it all this year, this will show that they are a really great team. A win will also provide a boost to the city of Atlanta who desperately needs one since the Falcons are doing very poorly this season. A win might also take the sting out of the Braves losing in the MLB playoffs. Atlanta wants and desperately needs Atlanta United to repeat.