This time a year ago, as Atlanta United prepared for its first ever game, there were more questions than answers in the minds of the players.
“I was thinking, ‘oh boy, are we ready?,” Jeff Larentowicz told reporters Tuesday. “We had spent weeks in a hotel and we were kind of insulated, it felt like there was no outside anything. Did we have fans? What does the uniform look like? What does the stadium feel like? But you saw in that first game it came together and it was beautiful.”
“I remember going into our first game last year thinking I had no idea if we were going to blow them out or get blown out ourselves,” added Michael Parkhurst. “We just didn’t have a lot of experience.”
But year two is completely different than year one. With all the details around the match now a part of the players’ routine, they can hone their focus into putting it all together on the field. That’s been the focus for the past six weeks of preseason.
“The more times we’ve played, the better we’ve gotten,” Larentowicz says. “Preseason is really about integrating new players and making sure new guys know the basis of the system. You’ve got six weeks before your first game. We weren’t the final product on week one last year, but you saw how it came together and I think we can do that again this year.”
While the players are clearly keeping the entire year in perspective, that’s not to say they’re not prepared for matchday one. They say they’ve focused on preparing the team from the back forward, and the action in the final third is starting to come together.
“It wasn’t that sharp in the first game against Nashville and increasingly it’s getting better and better and today was the best it’s been,” Parkhurst says. “Hopefully they continue to progress and get on the same page and replicate [their goals on the training ground] on Saturday a few times it’ll be great.”
The season starts out with a tough fixture, on the road against a strong Houston Dynamo side. They’re a team with electric players that were strong at home last year, so Parkhurst says it will be a stern test as the team starts to hit its stride.
“It’s about having a good start on the road, you don’t want to go in there and get pounded for the first 15 minutes and be on the back foot. Traditionally, we’re a team that starts out games strong, so that does bode well for us. There’s going to be first-game jitters for the guys. It’s about getting those out of the way as quickly as possible, being sure you’re in a good position at halftime to get a good result.”
Both players pointed out the importance of starting off the season on a positive note, recapturing the magic that made the Five Stripes one of the most electric sides in MLS last season.
“Personnel has changed here or there, but the goal and the focus, the objectives on the field are the same,” Larentowicz says. “We want to be the same attacking, exciting team so that casual fans can sit down and enjoy the game.”
However, the team isn’t satisfied with last season’s result and is entering the season with a chip on their shoulder and lofty ambitions as they try to reach their ultimate goal of winning MLS Cup. When asked how the team could improve on finishing near the top of the goalscoring and win/loss columns in 2017, Larentowicz was simple and succinct.
“Well, we could always be the best team in the league.”
Saturday’s match kicks off at 3:30 EST and will be broadcast on Univision. After the match, the squad will return to Atlanta for their home debut at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on March 11th against D.C. United. Tickets for that match are still available, so make sure you get yours here.
