Atlanta United vs FC Cincinnati 7/16/20 - MLS Picks & Predictions

Two clubs that lost their first matches in the return of play for MLS will face off on Thursday when Atlanta United plays FC Cincinnati. Atlanta was defeated by the New York Red Bulls in its opening match of Group E play. Atlanta gave up an early goal in the fourth minute and was not able to respond against a tough Red Bulls defense in a match that was delayed for over 45 minutes due to lightning. A shot by Atlanta’s George Bello bounced off the crossbar in the 41st minute.

Atlanta had another chance during stoppage time in the second half but shut off the left foot of Jake Mulraney was stopped by Red Bulls keeper David Jensen. Atlanta’s last chance came on a header by Adam Jahn that was pushed over the bar by Jensen. Before the MLS season was halted, Atlanta had two victories, but lost its top scorer and MVP of the MLS in 2018, Josef Martinez to a season-ending ACL injury.

FC Cincinnati was embarrassed by Columbus Crew 4-0 in its first match back from the covid-19 hiatus. In the overall 2020 MLS standings Cincinnati sits in dead last with a record of 0-0-3 and zero points. Over those combined three fixtures, FC Cincinnati has a goal difference of minus-6. 

In its first two matches of MLS play before the season was suspended, FC Cincinnati was defeated by the New York Red Bulls 3-2 and by this same Atlanta club 2-1. In the earlier matchup against Atlanta, Yuya Kubo scored for FC Cincinnati in the 64th minute to narrow the lead to one goal but the Blue and Orange could not add another and lost by the minimum.