The Pundit Panel (Week 5, Game 2): Legion @ Atlanta United 2This one's a mystery
atlutd.com
No one got the score precisely right, but the entire panel correctly predicted a Legion win for Wednesday evening. Jacob was the only one to get the margin of victory though. The second half of this week’s doubleheader is on Sunday, with the Three Sparks traveling over to Kennesaw, Georgia for a meeting with their nearest neighbors. Here are the panel’s expectations:
| John Fuller | Jacob Harris | Kaylor Hodges | Simon Iles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prediction |  draw 1-1 |
draw 2-2 |
 win 2-1 |
draw 1-1 |
| Comments | MLS “reserve” teams are always hard to predict, none more so than Atlanta. How many first team players will they roster? How engaged is outgoing coach Tony Annan? Who will be in goal (they’ve had 4 keepers in 5 games)? That said, after their trouncing of FC Tulsa, nobody will be looking past them. Expect Aiden McFadden and Connor Stanley to cause problems enough to take a share of the spoils. | Legion have been on the cusp of everything falling into place all season so far. They desperately need it to happen Saturday. ATL 2 are good at finding the opposition net, but can leak a few goals themselves. Birmingham have to be cleaner in attack while their defense may have their staunchest test yet in this one. | This match is a confusing one because we have seen many different versions of ATL II and Legion. I don’t fully believe in ATL yet, despite their 5-0 over Tulsa. It will be a fun reunion with Bauer and it’ll be hard to contain Aiden McFadden. I think Legion will win 2-1, but it will be a nervy match. | Atlanta’s first team has a game the same weekend, so it remains to be seen whether this depletes the Twonited side the 3 Sparks come up against on Sunday. However, Atlanta have been something of a surprise package in the early going this season, so I don’t think we’ll see the thrashings of years past. In fact, I’m going to be conservative and say this will be a draw. 1-1. |
| Season to Date | 2/10 | 3/10 | 5/10 | 2/10 |
