There are 12 days in between this weekend’s match at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the palatial home of the Atlanta Falcons, and the Friday night visit of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s LA Galaxy on May 24. In between, the Lions will also face a trip out to Cascadia for a midweek match-up against the Sounders and play host to MLS new boys FC Cincinnati in Orlando.
It’s a brutal schedule that comes as standard in MLS. It’s something that James O’Connor and his staff will already have planned for in terms of lineups and playing time. Not least after he admitted his team “lacked energy” in the second half against Toronto and “there’s a couple of days maybe we pushed a little bit too hard.