Atlanta United will be looking to begin to right the wrongs of last season when they host San Jose Earthquakes at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
Both sides will be desperate to get off to strong starts this season, as the two sides were unable to qualify for the championship playoffs last term, with Atlanta finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference table and San Jose ending the season rock-bottom of the Western Conference.
Match preview
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After a season to forget for Atlanta where they could not qualify for the championship playoffs, it will be imperative that Gonzalo Pineda lifts his side into a more advanced position in the table this season.
However, the hosts head into this matchup having not convinced in their pre-season friendly fixtures, conceding a staggering 11 goals across the four games they played.
This has been an issue that has presented itself regularly under the tenure of Pineda, as his side conceded 54 goals across the last campaign, having leaked 17 fewer the season beforehand.
If The Five Stripes are to dream of reaching the heights that they last did in 2018 they will need to develop a stronger backbone, as they do pose plenty of threats in forward areas.
However, Atlanta will come into this fixture with great confidence that they can achieve a positive result, as they hold a very strong record against the away side, having never been beaten by their opponents.
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Meanwhile, the visitors have had a rather encouraging pre-season, having only lost one of the five matches that they competed in.
It may take a bit more than positive pre-season results to ensure that The Goonies do not face a season like their last one, as they finished at the bottom of the Western Conference in 14th position.
If they are to have a more compelling season this time around, it will be due to their defensive acumen, as San Jose conceded more than two times per game last term, letting in 69 goals in their 34 games.
It will likely be that the away side go punch for punch with the home side, as they have caused problems defensively for Atlanta in previous fixtures - the three times these two sides have faced off, a total of 17 goals were scored across the affairs.
Jeremy Ebobisse will be the key player for the Quakes in this matchup, as the 26-year-old was lethal for his side last campaign, amassing a total of 17 MLS goals despite playing for the bottom side in the Western Conference.
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Team News
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Pineda is expected to make three changes to the side that were victorious against St Louis City in their most recent outing.
Franco Ibarra is expected to be replaced in the midfield by Amar Sejdic, with Jackson Conway to make way for Derrick Etienne.
New signing Miguel Berry is anticipated to lead the line for the home side, with teenager Luke Brennan to drop out of the starting XI.
None of Machop Chol, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Tyler Wolff or Osvaldo Alonso were in training and they will all be absent for the opening game of the season.
Santiago Sosa will also be unavailable, as the midfielder is currently serving a suspension.
Luchi Gonzalez is presumed to make two changes to the side he deployed in the loss against New York Red Bulls.
Both Tanner Beason and Paul Marie are set to drop out of the defence to enable a start to the season for Jonathan Mensah and Carlos Akapo.
Ousseni Bouda will miss the opener, as the forward is currently suffering from a foot injury.
Atlanta United possible starting lineup:
Guzan; Lennon, Robinson, Purata, Gutman; Sejdic, Rossetto; Araujo, Almada, Etienne; Berry
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Akapo, Rodrigues, Mensah, Trauco; Yueill, Gruezo; Espinoza, Monteiro, Cowell; Ebobisse
We say: Atlanta United 2-2 San Jose Earthquakes
We believe that San Jose will break Atlanta's 100% win record against them and will fight their way to their first point of the MLS season at the first time of asking.
While San Jose do have defensive issues, we think that the danger they possess in forward areas has an equal capacity to hurt an Atlanta defence that has looked shaky throughout pre-season.
How to watch
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