The Herons aren’t playing coy with their intentions for this Round One Best-of-3 Series vs. the bottom-seeded Five Stripes.
“I think we’re in a good place, we’re doing things well,” left back Jordi Alba told reporters in Spanish on Thursday morning at the Florida Blue Training Center. “They’ll be a complicated opponent. We have the advantage of playing the first game here at home in front of our people, and hopefully, we can sentence the series in their stadium.”
WATCH: Player Spotlight - Messi on TikTok
IMCF carry ample momentum into the postseason. They haven’t lost a league match since July 6, a remarkable run of form that propelled them to the Supporters’ Shield – which ensures that next Saturday’s Game 2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be their sole away game of the playoffs – and a new MLS single-season points record.
“Starting the playoffs at home, I think is huge for us. Having a very important first game, that kind of sets the tone,” goalkeeper Drake Callender said on Tuesday.
“There’s still an opportunity to lift another trophy and compete. So I think it’s great, it’s great for the club. We’re on a forward trajectory and we’re viewing these playoffs as a chance to get another trophy and prove why we got the Supporters’ Shield.”
Their 6-2 comeback Decision Day win over New England provided an opportunity to celebrate all that with their home fans, plus the official revelation from visiting FIFA president Gianni Infantino that they’ve been awarded the final spot in next summer’s US-hosted Club World Cup.
That page has already been turned, they say, with the collective conviction that all of that success will mean little if they don’t follow through and win the hardware that earns them a star above their crest.
“[Celebrating the Shield] doesn’t make us lose sight that the most important thing starts now,” said head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino in Spanish.
A sequence of IMCF breakdowns gifted the Revolution an early 2-0 lead on Saturday before Luis Suárez and Leo Messi spearheaded a ferocious fightback, prompting Martino to warn his team that the margin for such errors will be far smaller in the playoffs.
“They tend to happen, this is football. And the truth is you fix them with work. We honestly played a fantastic game [vs. New England],” said center back David Martínez in Spanish. “It was a game that had everything – very good things and bad things as well. But by continuing to work, I think we’ll correct those small mistakes.”
Their attacking riches are such that it’s understandable if their defenders don’t sound particularly perturbed about making mistakes, which may be another sign of the sturdy culture their superstar veterans have helped establish in the locker room.
“The key to breaking the points record and everything else was our way of competing, of wanting to win despite leading the standings most of the year. We wanted to keep winning and playing well. And that’s how we’re heading into the playoffs: to try to win,” noted Alba. “It won’t be easy, but I’m convinced we can do it because we have a very good team and the home-field factor, which is very important.”
It’s an MLS truism that the postseason is a whole new ball game. While Miami’s organizational experience of that environment is scant – IMCF have played in two playoff games in their brief existence and lost both without scoring a single goal – much of the current squad can hark back to last summer’s Leagues Cup campaign. And Martino and utility man Julian Gressel helped ATLUTD navigate a demanding road to an MLS Cup title in 2018, which adds another facet to this Round One faceoff with that club.
“My story with Atlanta was very beautiful, we enjoyed it a lot. It was a [2017] expansion team, we enjoyed building and we enjoyed those two seasons, independent of the final result,” said Martino. “So playing against Atlanta will always be special.”
Miami are heavily favored, in part because they’ve been recuperating and preparing for Friday’s clash while Atlanta journeyed a thousand miles and back to knock off CF Montréal in Tuesday’s dramatic Eastern Conference Wild Card match. That advantage pales in comparison to the Herons’ primary trump card, however: the soft-spoken Argentine who wears their No. 10 jersey.
Messi scored six goals and added four assists last week across Miami’s rout of the Revs and his Albiceleste side’s World Cup qualifier vs. Bolivia, and appears primed and ready for his MLS Cup Playoffs debut.
“With the same natural way in which he’s capable of scoring six goals in five days,” said Martino of the GOAT. “That natural way is also how he lives his life. He’s had a normal week, working well and preparing with the others to play these finals.”
As discourse swirls around Messi’s outlook for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award, Martino insists their No. 10 ranks firmly among the world's most elite players.
“If I ask you,” countered Martino, “what player gets the ball 25 meters away from goal with seven opposing players in front of him, and there's a feeling there'll be a goal?
“There's nobody else.”
WATCH: Player Spotlight - Messi on TikTok
Atlanta United’s thrilling win in penalties in the Eastern Conference Wild Card game was the third straight win for the 5-Stripes, and as the team rides the wave of good results, they move on to meet the best team in Major League Soccer: Inter Miami CF. Game 1 of the Round One Best-of-3 Series kicks off Friday night in Miami.
No. 9 seed Atlanta United faces No. 1 seed Inter Miami CF in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Here are a few storylines heading into the Round One Best-of-3 Series between the two Eastern Conference clubs:
Inter Miami CF had a very good season to earn the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The club won the regular season title, and also broke the record for most points earned in the table (74).
The Herons boast a talented roster that includes world-class stars:
“It’s going to be hard. These are the playoffs. This is what it’s about. There are no easy games. We have to go down there, it’s another quick turnaround for us. We’re going to give it everything,” Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan said after the Wild Card win.
As the 9-seed, Atlanta United will be underdogs as they go up against the best team in the Eastern Conference, but the team has felt their backs against the wall the last few weeks and adopted the mentality that every game is a must-win.
“This is what you play for all season,” center back Derrick Williams said. “If you were to say to me, you have a playoff game against Miami, Messi and all the likes of them, you’d bite your hand off, you’d be buzzing to play it. I’m looking forward to it. We all are.”
Miami only lost four times in the MLS regular season – a major reason why they got all the way to 74 points. One of those losses came at the hands of Atlanta United. On May 29, the 5-Stripes traveled to Chase Stadium, the same site as Friday’s match, and scored three goals on Miami, two from Saba Lobjanidze, to win the 100th regular season match in club history.
The second meeting between these two Eastern Conference sides occurred later in the season on September 18. Saba scored in that match as well. Inter Miami held the lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the match, then Alexey Miranchuk delivered a banger, voted AT&T Goal of the Matchday, to equalize 2-2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and draw the match.
Although Atlanta United had favorable outcomes against Miami this season, playoffs is a whole different story. Take for example the Montréal match. Atlanta United had not beaten Montréal in 2024 and were able to win the Wild Card game against them on Tuesday night.
“To be fair, they’re in the past now,” Williams said of those first matches against Miami. “It’s playoffs. This is when everything means the most. I’m not really thinking about the past. I’m just thinking about the next game, and I know it’s going to be difficult.”
Interim head coach Rob Valentino said there was a difference between the first match against Miami in May and the second match at home in September. He expects a new fold to the playoff match. The key this time around, he emphasized, is being efficient on the ball.
“We live to fight another day, and now we go again,” Valentino said. “The mentality won’t shift from us. It’s all about the inner belief that we have and everything on the outside won’t matter.”
In case you missed it, this round of the MLS Cup Playoffs will be played as a Best-of-3 series, not a single elimination match. It’s the only round of the playoffs decided by a series.
The schedule for the series is here:
This Best-of-3 series gives the lower seeds a chance to host a playoff match, which means the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs are coming to Atlanta. Seeing the playoffs in Atlanta, especially if the 5-Stripes can get a win in Miami in Game 1, will be a huge reason to fill the seats at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“The game at hand is the one that matters,” Valentino said. “Can’t think about what’s going to happen at the next one…. Focus on this one and go for the win.”
One thing about the Best-of-3 series that will stay the same from the Wild Card game: penalty kicks. If a match is tied at the end of regulation, then the winner will be decided by penalty kicks. There are no ties and there’s no aggregate score in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
“Every game is a knockout game,” Williams said.
Atlanta United is playing good soccer. The group has not lost its five most recent road matches, beginning with 1-0 win over Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium. Recently, the team has won back-to-back on the road. First at Orlando, a win that qualified the team for the playoffs on Decision Day. Then at Montréal, a win that sent them through to the Round One matches.
Atlanta United has had an incredibly demanding turnaround going back to Decision Day – a total of three matches in six days. There are surely some tired legs with three consecutive matches on the road and a lot of back-and-forth travel.
“There’s no excuses,” Valentino said. “This is exactly where we wanted to be, and now we’re blessed to be here, and we’re going to push on.”
To advance to the next stage, Atlanta United will need to get at least one win on the road. It’s a tall task to steal a win in Miami against Messi & Co., but Atlanta United welcomes the challenge.
“You have to be on top of your game, and sometimes that’s not enough, but all you can do is really just give it your all,” Williams said. “These are the games you want to play. These are the games that I would look forward to. I always wanted to play against the best, getting to play against the best ever. It’s a challenge. Every single one of us looks forward to that challenge, and no one shies away from it.”
Join us at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Game 2 of the Round One Best-of-3 series against Inter Miami CF on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Stay up to date on the latest information about the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs including details about our Wild Card game.
Watch the entire quest for the for the 2024 MLS Cup with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
