“We have to crush some eggs to make an omelet.”
Head coach Ronny Deila has used this metaphor before. In the season premiere of the club’s video documentary Rooted In The Stripes, he said the same thing to describe preseason camp – how the team is pushing themselves in training to get fit and get better, the recipe for a delicious result.
And following training Thursday, Atlanta United’s head coach continued the theme.
Atlanta United then was in the omelet phase, going through a lighter practice after training hard – crushing some eggs – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday’s session lasted about 40 minutes, and included some playful activities on the pitch, like a relay race toward the end. Groups of three worked together to move a soccer ball from one end to a trash bin on the other side, all without using their hands.
“It’s important that we find our way to get the right load maintenance to be ready,” Deila said.
The manager wants his group to be well-rested and ready for the team’s first road match of the season. On Saturday, March 1, the group travels up I-85 to face regional rival Charlotte FC. The derby is scheduled for an early kickoff time at 2:15 p.m. but has all the makings of a primetime event with a national broadcast lineup.
When asked how nice it would be to get a win in the first road match of the season, and his first away match as Atlanta United head coach, Deila cracked a smile.
“That’d be fantastic,” he said.
“That’d be a massive boost,” center back Derrick Williams echoed later on.
Winning on the road is difficult in Major League Soccer, and Saturday’s contest will be an even harder test against Dean Smith’s new-look squad. Atlanta United faces a Charlotte FC side that revamped an attack that scored just one goal in their three matches in Round One of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
To join 6-foot-4 forward Patrick Agyemang, the club brought back Spanish midfielder Pep Biel and added Wilfried Zaha, the winger with a decade of experience in the English Premier League.
Zaha is one of the most hyped additions to MLS in 2025, ranked No. 2 on MLSSoccer.com’s list of newcomers to watch, right after fellow Ivory Coast international and Atlanta United forward Emmanuel Latte Lath. Since missing Charlotte’s opening weekend 2-2 draw with Seattle Sounders, Zaha could very well make his club debut at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday.
MLSSoccer.com describes him as “a livewire dribbler eager to combine with teammates and sniff out pockets of space to uncork shots.” Containing him, as well as the other players in Charlotte’s attack, will require a collective effort from the 5-Stripes.
“It’s about being organized, it’s about being together and compact and aggressive,” Deila said. “If you do that, they have the best chance to take qualities like him out of the game, and knowing that we have quality in the same level, maybe better, in the opposite way.”
On the opposite side, Atlanta United will be equipped with their two mainstays at center back. Derrick Williams appears to have recovered from his minor quad injury that limited his minutes against CF Montréal. Stian Gregersen started Saturday’s match and played 83 minutes.
“A positive is you got Stian [Gregersen], who’s probably one of the fastest defenders in the league. It’s always nice to know you have that beside you as a little weapon,” Williams said.
Those two anchors will look to provide direction and organize Atlanta defensively on Saturday. While fullbacks Ronald Hernández and Matt Edwards will be called on to mark Charlotte’s dangerous wingers, defending will take a full team effort.
“If you look at the most successful teams in the world, they don’t defend with just six or seven,” Williams said. “It’s the whole team. We’re going to have to press higher and talk.”
The opposite way, Atlanta United has several dynamic attacking pieces of their own, which was clear in the club’s massive 3-2 opening weekend win at home. Latte Lath put his speed and finishing on display, scoring two goals in his debut on his way to earning his first MLS Team of the Matchday honors. Miguel Almirón made his 50th goal contribution in the winger’s warmly received and highly anticipated Atlanta homecoming.
As a group, Atlanta United seeks to improve from their Matchday 1 performance. Atlanta United beat CF Montréal, thanks to Edwin Mosquera’s Goal of the Matchday and game-winning golazo, but conceded too many chances for Deila’s liking. Atlanta United took nine shots in the first half and finished with 14. Meanwhile, Montréal finished with 52 percent of the total possession and 12 shots, nine of those taken in the second half.
Extending that first half effort into a full 90 minutes will be the key to the fantastic result Deila wants.
“We know what we’re going to meet, it’s just how we execute,” he said. “To be ourselves and at the same time learn and know what they’re good at.”
