By Canadian Press

Toronto FC looks forward to testing itself against Atlanta United powerhouse

Aug 3, 2018 | 12:00 PM

While 25 points separate league-leading Atlanta United from Toronto FC, the defending MLS champions are looking forward to taking on the Atlanta powerhouse Saturday.

It’s a star-studded marquee matchup despite the distance between the two in the standings.

“It’s a good game,” said Toronto coach Greg Vanney. “For me personally, I think for the guys we’re looking forward to it. It comes at a good time because we’re trending in the right direction.”

“It’s going to show us where we’re at,” added midfielder Jonathan Osorio.

Toronto (6-11-4) enters Saturday’s match in Atlanta with four straight wins in all competitions and, after a long injury-disrupted stretch, seems finally to be getting back to its 2017 form. A three-goal second half in last Saturday’s 3-0 win over the Chicago Fire marked a return to the flowing football that marked TFC’s championship campaign.

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Vanney called it Toronto’s best half of the season in league play.

“I thought our rhythm came back, some of the swagger that we know of our group started to arrive again and the ball was moving quicker,” he said.

“So the (Atlanta) game comes at a good time,” he added. “It’s motivation for our group. They know right now that Atlanta’s the team that’s up top and rolling … I think it’s a great test for us in our sort of revival here in the second half of the season.”

When Toronto is at its best, it moves the ball quickly on offence with captain Michael Bradley and playmaker Victor Vazquez able to launch attacks. Osorio and fellow midfielder Marky Delgado are good at pushing the ball forward and Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore can give defenders fits.

Atlanta has multiple weapons of its own, ranking first in goals (48) and shots on goals (137), third in shots (338) and fourth in assists. The second-year franchise also leads the league in average attendance at 51,799.

Venezuelan striker Josef Martinez has 24 goals for the season, nine ahead of No. 2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic of the Los Angeles Galaxy. The 25-year-old Martinez has goals in six consecutive games — with 10 goals during the stretch — and has scored Atlanta’s last six goals.

Miguel Almiron, a Paraguayan midfielder with rocket-like speed, has 11 assists to trigger Martinez and the rest of an explosive offence.

“Really dangerous,” is Vazquez’s assessment of the Atlanta attack.

Martinez, who has two more goals than the entire Seattle Sounders roster, is three goals away from tying the all-time MLS single-season goal-scoring record, held by Roy Lassiter (1996), Chris Wondolowski (2012) and Bradley Wright-Phillips (2014).

“He’s a special forward,” said Vanney, a former U.S. international defender. “He’s got a nose for the goal and an understanding of how to get into the important areas around the goal.

“He’s also the type of forward that you have to respect because he’s going all out all the time … fully committed, flying through the air, through the box, through whatever he has to do to get something on goal.”

Martinez showed that at the midweek all-star game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, ignoring the raised boot of a Juventus defender to knock the ball in. The Italian champions went on to win the game in a penalty shootout after regulation time ended in a 1-1 deadlock.

On Friday, Martinez was voted MLS player of the month.

Having conceded just 26 goals in 23 goals, Atlanta is also sturdy on defence.  

Atlanta, which beat the Impact 2-1 in Montreal last weekend, has won its last two games, is unbeaten in four (3-0-1) and has lost just twice in its last 11 outings (6-1-4).

Toronto, meanwhile, has little margin for error left after its poor start in league play. Points are needed.

___

TORONTO (6-11-4) AT ATLANTA (14-4-5)

Saturday, Mercedes-Benz Stadium

WHO WILL WIN FIRST: Saturday marks just the third time the two have met, with both previous contests ending in 2-2 ties.

STILL IN DOG HOUSE: Atlanta’s teenage midfielder Ezequiel Barco, the MLS’s most expensive acquisition at a reported transfer fee of US$15 million from Argentina’s Independiente, is suspended for the third straight game for an undisclosed indiscretion.

GETTING HEALTHY: Only veteran defender Drew Moor remains out among the Toronto starters and he is close to returning. Backup striker Tosaint Ricketts is dealing with a groin strain.

PICKING UP POINTS: Atlanta is averaging 2.04 points a game, almost double Toronto’s rate of 1.05.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press