Predicting Atlanta United’s starting XI at Chicago Fire

Slowly but surely, the pieces are coming back in play for Atlanta United. While some are still missing, the team’s held its own, especially during a gritty 2-1 win against the Montreal Impact on Saturday. With a big match on Sunday against the New York Red Bulls looming, the team can’t take its eye off the ball against a struggling Chicago team that’s winless in seven matches across all competitions (remember what Frank de Boer said about wounded animals?).

Without further ado: here’s my predicted lineup for tonight’s match at the Chicago Fire.

It was tempting for me to pick Brandon Vazquez in favor of Martinez with the expectation that Martinez would come on around the last 30 minutes of the match. That being said, Martinez only played about 20 minutes against Argentina in Copa America on Friday, so he should be good to start.

As far as Pity Martinez, there have been some shouts for him to come out of the starting XI in favor of Justin Meram. Pity has underwhelmed since coming in the fold of this team - I still think he’ll eventually come good - but I don’t know if he gets benched.

I’d love to know what you think in the comments below.