Welcome back our two-part weekly MLS column here at Backheeled where we break down all 29 teams in the league.
Joe’s got the West. I’ve got the East. Wilfried Nancy’s got a message to send.. Let’s do this thing.
To read up on the West, check out Joe’s rundown.
Joseph Lowery
Atlanta United
Result: 2-1 win vs. New York Red Bulls
Atlanta haven’t played well for a while, but they did enough against a bad New York Red Bulls team to keep themselves alive heading into Decision Day. They tripled New York’s shots, played with needed urgency, and got a standout performance from Alexey Miranchuk.
Alexey Miranchuk takes his leave after a goal and assist to save Atlanta United's season tonight.
— Five Stripe Final (@FiveStripeFinal) October 6, 2024
Dax McCarty will come on for the final few minutes, the final home appearance of an incredible MLS career.
He slotted home a penalty kick, created three chances, and unbalanced New York throughout the night with really creative positioning, often taking up a starting position on the right, where he and Saba Lobzhanidze would pull defenders wide, opening space for Miranchuk to jump into centrally. But I just want to highlight this perfectly-threaded assist for the game-winning goal.
Tyler Wolff seals the deal for @ATLUTD!
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 6, 2024
How about the ball from Aleksey Miranchuk though? 😤 pic.twitter.com/qU1oCx8qyH
Literally perfect. Miranchuk is giving the Five Stripes a chance in 2024, but I’m super excited to see him after a full preseason with a hopefully improved roster next year.
Charlotte FC
Result: 2-0 win vs. CF Montreal
Patrick Agyemang hive assemble!
THE DAGGER 💥
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 6, 2024
Patrick Agyemang seals the win for @CharlotteFC! pic.twitter.com/1JsH9XQKcH
The striker owned Joel Waterman in a way that’s so hard to recover from. If you look closely I think you can see his soul leave his body. Agyemang has been kept out of the team by Karol Świderski, who has been on a rather unexpected hot streak.
Since the start of September, Swiderski leads MLS strikers in xG per 96 (0.99). He’s second in shots per 96 (4.89) and fourth in goals per 96 (1.03). For a player who was clearly on the way out, he’s had quite the redemption tour. It clearly means a lot to him.
Karol Swiderski opens up about his return to Charlotte and the difficulties he faced in the first few games back. pic.twitter.com/yRQotb6l1k
— TopBin90 (@Topbin90) October 6, 2024
“Half of the fans say we don’t need you,” he said after his fourth goal in three games. “...I tried to not read this, to not check the internet… sometimes one goal can change a lot, and I think this goal in Miami - maybe someone will say lucky - but the coach always says to me to try and be in the five-yard-box, and I try to be there. Finally I scored against Miami, and now I play better.”
Sometimes it just takes a single goal for strikers to get back on track, and that’s certainly the case for Swiderski. Charlotte head into Decision Day with the best defensive record in the league – Dean Smith has settled on using three ground-covering center mids and pushing Pep Biel to the right wing of a 4-3-3-ish shape. It’s working. They now have an in-form No. 9 plus a lethal game-changer off the bench. I still want to see Agyemang given a bigger role going forward, but the current setup is working in the short term.
