Portland Timbers 0-1 Atlanta United FC: The September of Our Discontent

Where does it say that "my ass can't pay"?

Is it possible I banked the points before the Portland Timbers cashed the check? Absolutely and with bells on. I was trying to convince both myself and the teller it would clear just fine all the way up to the 25th minute. The bluff came undone a few minutes later and all the promises of Portland’s 2026 roster couldn’t tape it back together again for another pass. It might even jeopardize next month’s rent.

The question now: how much time do I spend on this?

Portland Timbers 0-1 Atlanta United FC
What Passes for a Match Report
After a night cap of poking around other results for slivers of hope, I just picked through the highlights and sifted the final stats for anything that might have slipped my mind. For what it’s worth, I think the Timbers whiffed another good chance that recalled the back-post opportunity Ariel Lassiter side-netted and someone teed up Vincent Jannsen for an offside attempt in the second. I also believe that covers everything. 17 shots by the Timbers? No shit?

For all that, Portland looked better prepared for the chaos of the opening 20 minutes; as noted in last night’s game thread, Atlanta looked all over the place. Kristoffer Velde has it in him to force a moment of magic in those situations (hold that thought), but it was Atlanta’s Aleksey Miranchuk who did the conjuring at the 28th minute. Finn Surman’s outlet wasn’t the best choice, by any means, but Portland had the defenders to manage the mischief, so no alarms sounded when Jimer Fory’s toe-poke missed the cross. It all went to shit – and I do mean it all went to shit – when Miranchuk chopped open an inside lane and looped a shot into James Pantemis’ goal. The Timbers fell down in that moment and, like they say on the TV, could not get back up.

Portland had some free kicks – Velde’s was decent, Lassiter’s less so – Velde almost nodded home on some smart combination play around and through Atlanta’s left by Lassiter and Cole Bassett – and I think that reads every promising moment into the record and includes the rest by implication. Atlanta got hold of the game after Miranchuk’s goal and their grip never slackened much. Most of the snarling the Timbers managed rose out of the never-ending spat between Velde and Matthew Edwards – and I’d hand the mind game between to the latter on points. Atlanta laid a deep boggy trap for any attempted transition on the defensive side and created the better chances to the final whistle. The end.

Atlanta United FC Scouting Report: Dueling Works in Progress

Tough bunch to impress, too.

Week 5 feels as good a week as any for FC Cincinnati to get back on the right side of the results ledger. More to the point, starting 2025 with three straight losses on the road will hurt prospects and reputation…so, let’s not do that, yes? Let’s get into it.

Atlanta United FC
1-2-1, 4 pts., 4 gf, 6 ga (-2); home 1-1-1, away 0-1-0
Last Results: WLDL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v MTL (3-2 W); @ CLT (0-2 L); v RBNY (0-0 D), v MIA (1-2 L);

Broad Strokes
The furious, hydra-headed attack that MLS Wrap Up’s hype merchants tried to sell after Week 1 hasn’t survived opposition stiffer than Club du Foot Montreal. Then again, goals do tend to dry up against strong defensive teams – e.g., Charlotte FC and Red Bull New York (Inter Miami CF ain’t bad either) – so it’ll be interesting to see how FC Cincinnati holds up against what Atlanta throws at them. Because I’d already watched Atlanta’s one road game of 2025 (at Charlotte, bit of a blur by now), I split 90 minutes between their two most recent games, both played in Atlanta. They approached each team differently – i.e., they ran at the Red Bulls in waves reckless enough to make a World War I general say “goddamn!” versus a more measured, even tentative posture versus Miami – but I can’t say whether new head coach Ronny Deila’s adjustments followed from a general change in plan, or just fear of getting countered to death by Miami. The latter strikes me as plausible enough that I wonder whether Atlanta won’t go closer to broke versus Cincinnati. If they do go that route, Cincy will need their heads and swivels and their boots strapped right, because the Five Stripes can kick up a frenzy.

Personnel
Brad Guzan will start in goal (until the seas consume us, maybe even after), so let’s look at the rest of Atlanta’s likely line-up. Even if he tweaked the formation last week, Deila has called most of the same numbers so far: a back four with Pedro Amador at left back (know jack about him, fwiw), Derrick Williams and Stian Gregersen as (slightly shaky) center backs, and, after a couple of starts for Matthew Edwards, I expect to see Brooks Lennon at right back; because I think last Sunday’s 4-2-3-1 makes most sense from what I know of the players, I see Bartosz Slisz and Tristan Muyumba as “the 2,” Saba Lobjanidze, Aleksey Miranchuk, and Miguel Almiron stretched left to right across “the 3,” and big, new signing (or new, big signing) Emmanuel Latte Lath running wild, free and alone up top. (It could, on the other hand, look like this 4-3-3.)