Facing the media after Sunday night’s big opening-leg win over NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, it’s fair to say Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino liked what he saw.
“That’s the way you have to play every game,” he said, through a translator. “Regular season or the playoffs, it doesn’t matter. That’s the attitude.”
That’s what the team emphasized all week leading up to the match. Heading on the road, on an uncommon pitch, there are plenty of things out of their control. So they focused on the things they could.
“It’s very, very difficult to play on this field,” said captain Michael Parkhurst after the match.