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The Rob Valentino era begins tonight as Atlanta United heads to TQL Stadium for the first time to visit FC Cincinnati. How we got to this stage has already been documented so I won’t dive into things in depth here, but feel free to look back on our coverage over the past few days.
Personally, I’m interested in seeing how the team comes out under its temporary head coach, especially considering the tension that hung over the training ground during the brief tenure of Gabriel Heinze. Both Valentino and the players understand that he’s keeping the seat warm for Atlanta’s 4th permanent coach, but they also understand that getting a flagging attack kick-started right away rather than waiting until the new head coach arrives is critical if they’re to position themselves back in the playoff hunt. Oh, by the way, Josef Martinez will be available for selection.
Here’s how I think the starting XI will look.
GK—Alec Kann
LB—Anton Walkes (c)
CB—George Campbell
CB—Alan Franco
RWB—Brooks Lennon
MF—Santiago Sosa
MF—Amar Sejdić
CM—Marcelino Moreno
LW—Erik López
RW—Jake Mulraney
ST—Josef Martinez
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Not much to add, except that there’s no way Josef Martinez doesn’t start this match, right? As for the rest of the lineup, as always, let me know down in the comments what you think.