Going into the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday (8 pm ET | FS2, TUDN in US; TSN 5 in Canada), Atlanta United have an uphill battle to say the least after losing 3-0 at Estadio Azteca in the first leg on March 11.
Playing at Exploria Stadium the home of their rivals Orlando City, Atlanta will also be deprived of home advantage as the competition resumes following a nine-month suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t think I’d walk into our second leg three-nil down and say that we’re in the best position,” interim head coach Stephen Glass admitted in a conference call on Tuesday.
“In terms of this game as a one-off, I think we've got as good a chance of coming back and winning this one game. Whether it can be three-zero or not, it's a different matter. But we're going to do everything we can in our power to try and make it happen,” he added.
Club America last played on Nov. 28, losing 3-1 on aggregate to Chivas Guadalajara in the Liga MX Apertura quarterfinals, while Atlanta ended their season on Nov. 8 with a loss to eventual MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew on Decision Day presented by AT&T. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan said the time off with family may have been just what ATLUD needed to mentally recharge.
“I think that mental ability to recharge the batteries, and then come back in and know that we have a difficult game, but at the same time, just that freshness that you tend to see the first couple weeks of preseason when guys are away — and it was only probably about a week or two, where we were away — but just having that time off allowed guys to recharge mentally," Guzan told the media on Tuesday. "And I think that's played a big part in now coming back and preparing for tomorrow night."
It’s not going to be easy, but ATLUD feel good about how training has been going and are excited for the challenge.
“Honestly, they’re a good team but we’ve been focusing more on ourselves and what we plan to do," defender Miles Robinson said in a conference call on Monday. "Obviously, we’re going to have to score as many goals as possible and have our foot on the gas from the start of the game and try to play an attacking brand of soccer. That’s what we’re going to have to do in this game."
Winger Jurgen Damm went even further, suggesting that Club America should be the ones feeling the pressure and there’s a lot for Atlanta to look forward to on Wednesday night.
“They were eliminated by their rival club in Mexico, Chivas, so they have a lot of pressure.," he said. "This tournament is one they have to win it to quit that pressure, so they are going to come with a lot of pressure to know that if they don’t win it would be not good for the club. So I think we have everything in our favor. We’ve played on that field a lot of times, we have a lot of good players, now we have [Atlanta United 2 forward] Erik Lopez also available to play.
"So I think if we trust in us like Pumas did the first year we can have a good game and we can score three goals. It’s possible, I have that feeling, so we have to have faith and to play as we know.”
