As Atlanta United prepares for their final regular season match against Cincinnati on Saturday, they will soon turn their attention to the MLS Playoffs which will begin on October 25 with the Wildcard matches. Currently holding the sixth seed, United will play in a round one, best of three series, regardless of the result of Saturday’s match and on Thursday, President and CEO, Garth Lagerwey joined The Steakhouse, with Steak Shapiro and Drew Butler to discuss the club and the outlook on their playoff run.
“What do you truly believe is the ceiling for this team as you look towards the postseason,” Shapiro asked in regards to United’s potential of winning the MLS Cup. “Glass half full, we’re four-two-three since we changed the team. That is a playoff pace,” Lagerwey said in response to Shapiro’s question but unfortunately for Atlanta, Lagerwey pointed out that “the glass half empty, we have one total win against the five teams above us,” he added.
And while outcomes from several matches, including Atlanta’s, could see the club enter round one as high as the fifth seed or as low as the seventh seed, one thing that will be for certain is that United will be the road team in any scenario and for Lagerwey, that means “it’s put up or shut up time,” for United telling Shapiro and Butler that the club will have the opportunity to show “what we’re made of” and later mentioning the fact that Atlanta have to prove themselves on the road because the playoffs will be “a brutal slog”.
Click link above to here Garth Lagerwey’s comments in their entirety: