Predicting Atlanta United’s starting lineup vs. LAFC

After a very cold 1-0 win against the most respected team in MLS, Atlanta United turns their attention to expansion side LAFC. Atlanta will be without Ezequiel Barco and Franco Escobar, and Greg Garza is listed as questionable. I miraculously predicted the lineup correctly last week and now the prediction gods are angry with me. They’re making this tougher than ever and, well, this is probably going to go very poorly.

Let’s give it a shot though. Here is the definite, surefire lineup for April 7th.*

*I’m probably wrong.

Formation: 3-5-2. Mmhmm.

Goalkeeper: Brad Guzan. Hahaha this prediction thing is easy.

Center Back #1: Chris McCann. He played very well last weekend as a center back in both the 3-5-2 during the first half and 4-3-3 during the second.

Center Back #2: Michael Parkhurst. One of the very few certainties this Saturday.

Center Back #3: Miles Robinson. Oh, man. Alright, so this is me reading through the lines a bit. The way I see it, there are three options for this third CB spot: Jeff Larentowicz, Sal Zizzo, and Robinson. However, Tata Martino did not bring Larentowicz up as an option to play at CB during this week’s media availability. He specifically mentioned Robinson and Zizzo only. The reason I don’t think Zizzo gets the call is because he was used solely as a right wingback in trainings, while Robinson was featured often as a center back.

This would be a huge decision to give Robinson his first ever MLS appearance, but Martino seemed confident in his abilities.

Left Wingback: Mikey Ambrose. Greg Garza hasn’t practiced all week. Also, with a nagging shoulder injury, why risk it? At the end of the day, this is just one match.

Right Wingback: Julian Gressel.

Central Midfielder #1: Jeff Larentowicz. He didn’t have a full week to train, but Martino said the immortal one is good to go. OK, he didn’t say “immortal”, but he did say Larentowicz is available.

Central Midfielder #2: Darlington Nagbe.

Attacking Midfielder: Miguel Almiron. Save. us.

Striker #1: Josef Martinez. Save. us. part. two. This match has 3-3 with a Josef hat trick written all over it.

Striker #2: Tito Villalba. Save. us. part. you guys get the idea.

To recap, here’s the projected lineup against LAFC.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.