Atlanta United is going to the MLS playoffs after a dominating win over Montreal Saturday, 4-1.
This year’s entry to the playoffs comes a year after missing the playoff line last year. That miss made getting to this year’s championship sweeptakes even sweeter.
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We’re baaaaaack, #MLSCupPlayoffs π€ pic.twitter.com/YnFLs6RfTe
β x – Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) September 24, 2023
“It’s very meaninful, of course,,” said ATLUTD head coach Gonzalo Pineda. “Thirty-one games and we got it, especially after last year we didn’t achieve that. For me, for Atlanta, [making the playoffs] should be the minimum requirement of the season.”
Zande Silva (30th minute), Thaigo Almada (33′), Giorgos Giakoumakis (46′) and Edwin Mosquera (’89) scored the Five Stripes goals in this game. Ahmed Hamdi got Montreal’s only goal in the 40th minute.
Atlanta is now the fifth seeded team in the MLS Eastern Conference, with 13 wins, 10 draws and 8 losses. Cincinnatti leads the conference, with Orlando City, Columbus and Philedelphia following. Atlanta faces Phily on Oct 4 in their next match.
Although they’ve made the playoffs, the team knows the road doesn’t end there, and there’s much work ahead to acomplish their main goal, a second MLS championship.
“We’ve got to try and finish as high as we can,” said Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan to MLSsoccer.com. “We know that home-field advantage is huge for us. So we want to try to finish in those top spots to be able to have that advantage.”