ORLANDO, Florida – If Atlanta United are to mount a comeback in their 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal with Club America, their discipline in defense will be paramount.
Down 3-0 on aggregate heading into Wednesday’s second leg, the last thing Atlanta United GK Brad Guzan and company want to have happen is for things to turn into a track meet.
“When you watch them and especially the players that they have, the individual talent that they have, the free-flowing attack that they have, they’ve got guys who can hurt you from all different areas on the field, especially in the attacking third,” said Guzan in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“Depending on what they do and how they approach the game, that will certainly give us a better idea of what we are looking to do. What we can’t have happen is that the game gets completely stretched and it turns into a tennis match in which it is back and forth. We need to manage the game in that aspect, but at the same time we know that we are good enough to create chances. We know that we’re good enough to score goals and ultimately that’s what we have to do,” added Guzan.
Even though Club America will be without one of their main goalscorers in FW Henry Martin, it is still a team capable of getting goals from many different outlets, evidenced by the 31 goals they scored during the Liga MX season.
Atlanta United Head Coach Stephen Glass has been preparing his team to expect Club America’s scoring chances to be created from anywhere in the attacking third.
“Seeing the goals that they scored, they can shoot from distance, they’re very capable, the forward players are good finishers and they can score from set pieces, so they have multiple threats,” said Glass in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“We’re prepared for multiple threats, top players can produce against anything, but we feel like we’ve prepared as best as we can to be a threat to them,” concluded Glass.
