When Atlanta United head coach Gonzalo Pineda stood in front of a group of reporters on Tuesday, one would never have known the 41-year-old was (and is) navigating the most difficult time of his three-year tenure in Atlanta.
Atlanta United sits in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 13 points from 14 matches. The club is currently in the midst of a nine-game winless streak. To date, Pineda’s side has scored one goal in 434 minutes of football and has not recorded a win away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 11 matches.
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“Of course we want to get out of this situation,” Pineda said. “We need to keep going. We just need to keep going, head down, keep working, keep grinding, keep doing the things that we’re doing.”
The team will face a tall task to break its bad form: Atlanta United faces Inter Miami on Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, with Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez all likely to play after missing this weekend’s long-haul trip to Vancouver. Inter Miami won that game 2-1 without the star trio, and is currently leading the Supporters’ Shield standings.
For Atlanta, what started as a season with plenty of promise has instead opened old wounds from years past, just in time for a visit to the club’s first manager Tata Martino in South Florida.
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Even though Atlanta United defeated Miami 5-2 last September in Atlanta (Messi missed the game due to injury), Miami’s 4-0 win over Atlanta during last summer’s Leagues Cup group stage remains fresh in the minds of Atlanta’s supporters. Messi scored a brace that day and Atlanta was punished for naive defending and a noticeable lack of bite in midfield.
Pineda said that there is a plan to limit Messi’s influence tomorrow night.
“My players know,” Pineda said confidently. “My players know what we’re gonna try. As always, at times it’s just trying to limit the danger that (Inter Miami) can cause. (Messi) is the best (player) at the moment and we just need to limit the factors and the connections he may have because he’s not the only player in the field.”
With speculation mounting regarding his job security, on Tuesday Pineda remained steadfast in his conviction as the face of the franchise. Pineda has said recently that the short-term goal for his staff and the players was to stop the bleeding. But that hasn’t happened.
Atlanta has lost four straight matches at home for the first time in the club’s short history, which has led to disgruntled supporters and calls for a change in direction from the club, starting with Pineda.
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“I don’t listen,” Pineda said. “I put on my airpods. I put on some classical music and some opera music and I work and I keep working. I know what’s probably being said. I haven’t read it and I haven’t heard of it. But I know that it’s normal when you’re not doing good, people are going to talk bad about you.”
Pineda said that the pressure he’s facing is a part of his job, whether the team is losing or winning. He said that he feels supported by the club’s front office and that communication with the team’s technical director Carlos Bocanegra, who Pineda reports to, remains constant. It appears that for now, Pineda isn’t on an island.
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“My daily routine is the same,” Pineda said. “Working really hard along with my coaching staff, putting the hours in the building that we need to put in to prepare the players the best we can.”
Bocanegra, along with former club president Darren Eales, surprised the MLS world after they hired Pineda in 2021 when he was an assistant with the Seattle Sounders. Bocanegra and Eales have hired the last three Atlanta United head coaches. Before Pineda, Frank de Boer and then Gabriel Heinze were both fired after extended runs of poor results.
There’s some irony that Martino, who left an indelible mark at the club, could be the opposing coach who plunges Atlanta United into a similar decision point.
“That doesn’t distract me from my job,” Pineda said of sentiment around the team. “I’m trying to do it as well as I can…everything is balanced when you believe in the process and what you’re doing. We are in that process of continuing what we’re doing, trying to do it better.”
On Tuesday, the players laughed and palled around during rondos. They sprinted in unison during a warm up session and looked sharp before the tactical exercises began. If you didn’t know it, you’d assume that Atlanta United’s season is going as planned.
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Backup goalkeeper Josh Cohen will start against Inter Miami on Wednesday due to captain Brad Guzan’s red card suspension. On Tuesday, Cohen told reporters that the players have dedicated themselves to “lifting each other up” during this difficult stretch. At present, Cohen said, the sense of urgency has changed.
“Now, the messaging is a little bit like, we gotta have that fight, that drive inside. In every moment, every challenge,” said Cohen.
(Photo: Jeff Dean/Getty Images)