Dynamo and Atlanta look to improve their score after the break

Atlanta United will open the second half of the season with a new coach in mind when they host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

Atlanta (4-8-4, 16 points) has won just once in its last 11 league matches and lost 3-2 at home to Charlotte on June 2 before the sport’s international break. Thiago Almada and Xande Silva found the net for the Three Stripes in the defeat.

Atlanta has scored one goal or less in seven of those 11 games. The team’s fade cost coach Gonzalo Pineda his job, with Rob Valentino taking over the position on an interim basis on June 3.

Valentino has held this position before, taking the reins of Atlanta in 2021 for eight games when the team fired Gabriel Heinze, Pineda’s predecessor. Atlanta went 4-2-2 in eight games under Valentino before he returned to his assistant role.

Atlanta has lost five straight home games. The team hopes to gain confidence by making the most of their scoring opportunities.

“We’ve been too robotic in the positioning of our wingers and forwards, and I’d like to see them have a little more freedom of movement,” Atlanta United midfielder Dax McCarty said. “That’s what Rob did. He came in and said, ‘I want you guys to take guys on one by one. But if the space isn’t there, go in and find the play, be a little more fluid in how we move.’”

Dynamo (6-6-4, 22 points) has collected points in five of its last seven games and settled for a 2-2 draw at Portland on June 1. Houston begins the weekend in seventh place in the Western Conference, with its 18 goals allowed, the fewest in the West.

Sebastian Kowalczyk and Adalberto Carrasquilla scored goals for Houston in the draw against the Timbers. Goals were a bit scarce for the Dynamo, who only managed to light up the scoreboard 18 times this season, tied with Dallas for lowest in the conference.

“We are not where we want to be, which is at the top,” Herrera said this week. “But we are on the right track and the team is playing well. We may not be getting the results we deserve, but we are doing things the right way.”

This is the first time the teams have played since 2019. Atlanta owns a 2-1 lead in the all-time series and outscored Houston 9-5 in these wild, offensively dominated games.

–Field level media