Columbus Crew will host Atlanta United on Sunday, May 24 at 5:00 PM at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in the International Send-Off presented by Ticketmaster, a game that doubles as a last full-throttle statement before the league pauses for the World Cup break.
The club announced the first 7,000 supporters through the gates will receive a Crew luggage tag courtesy of Ticketmaster, and a free Youth Activity Zone will run on Nationwide Blvd from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fans who cannot be at the stadium can watch on Apple TV or listen on Alt 105.7 FM via the iHeartRadio app.
For Atlanta United the match matters on the field and on the ledger. The team sits three points out of 10th place in the Eastern Conference and wants to reverse a season-low: an earlier 3-1 loss at home to Columbus on 404 Day. Midweek form only sharpened the urgency—Atlanta suffered a 4-1 defeat to Orlando City SC in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal, with all four Orlando goals arriving in the first half.
Tata Martino, assessing that cup loss, put the fallout squarely on himself: "My responsibility. Absolutely me. It’s not the responsibility of the players." The blunt admission frames a team that needs answers from its coach as much as its roster heading into a hostile away crowd.
There are signs Atlanta can still manufacture momentum. Jay Fortune, who scored the late equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Orlando City last weekend, completed a standout match: a career-high five chances created, a team-high 22 passes into the final third and 12 final third entries. Atlanta has also shown a tendency to strike late—nine of its 14 goals this season have come in the second half.
That knack for late goals meets Columbus’s liability: the Crew have conceded 16 of their 23 goals after halftime. The numbers create a simple, watchable tension—Atlanta’s productive second half against Columbus’s late fragility—but the recent cup loss complicates the narrative because Atlanta conceded multiple first-half goals in that match.
Alexey Miranchuk acknowledged the difficulty of the assignment and framed it as a finishing task. "It’s not going to be an easy game obviously. It’s an away game against another good team. We need to understand everything, and we will do everything to finish this part of the season on a good end," he said, putting the onus on collective focus in a match that could tilt momentum before the break.
Availability remains in flux. Miguel Almirón is aiming for one final opportunity to return before the break, while Fafa Picault has been moved from questionable to out with a hamstring injury—moves that will shape Atlanta’s attack and selection. Columbus’s match guide for the day lists the usual logistics—concessions, parking and traffic information—underscoring that this is both a fan event and a competitive fixture.
From a tactical view the game promises a clash of rhythms: Atlanta’s second-half scoring pattern against Columbus’s late concessions, and the psychological rematch after the 3-1 loss earlier in the season. For Martino, who has accepted responsibility for the midweek reversal, the immediate test is practical—find a lineup and a plan that stop conceding early and take advantage of the slots Columbus have yielded after the break of halftime.
The most consequential question now is whether Atlanta can translate Fortune’s recent late-game influence and Miranchuk’s stated resolve into a single result on the road. If they do, the team will go into the World Cup pause with momentum; if not, Martino’s ownership of the cup loss will look less like accountability and more like a warning sign that the group did not respond when it most needed to.
