On Sunday, Atlanta United arrived at Red Bull Arena four points ahead of the New York Red Bulls in the Supporters' Shield race. A win and the Shield would surely be theirs: A tie would more than likely do the trick, too.
The Red Bulls were missing Bradley Wright-Phillips and Tyler Adams, lending Atlanta a golden opportunity to secure the club's first piece of silverware and continue on with their chase to break various single-season records.
But as you may have heard, RBNY stormed Atlanta off the pitch en route to a 2-0 win. There were tackles aplenty and even a little bit of controversy, by way of a non-handshake between coaches.
Now, with the Red Bulls just a point behind Atlanta with three games left in the season, the race for the Shield is on. Here's what the remaining schedule looks like for both sides.
Atlanta United |
New York Red Bulls |
|
|---|---|---|
Week 32 |
New England Revolution (H) |
San Jose Earthquakes (A) |
Week 33 |
Chicago Fire (H) |
Philadelphia Union (A) |
Week 34 |
Toronto FC (A) |
Orlando City SC (H) |
Based on the difficulty of those slates, Atlanta appear to face the slightly less rigorous path. Barring an incredible change of fortunes, none of the three teams they face will be in the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs and they have two home games, where they are 9-2-4 this season.
Meanwhile, the Red Bulls don't exactly have an arduous schedule themselves, but it's a touch more trickythan Atlanta's: Two away games, including one on the West Coast and the other at playoff-bound Philadelphia, before closing out the season at home against Orlando City.
In the Red Bulls' favor, however, is Atlanta's Decision Day visit to Toronto FC. That final game may well shape up to be more than your average meeting of teams on opposite ends of the standings. Atlanta sit six points off the league-record-setting 69 points last season's TFC side accumulated, giving the home side extra motivation to keep their names in the record books.
The Red Bulls will welcome Wright-Phillips back next weekend and are likely to have Adams back soon as well.
In the event of a tie on points, the first tiebreaker is wins. Both clubs are level on 19, so if that is also tied, it next goes to goal difference. Atlanta currently hold the edge there at +27, with the Red Bulls at +25.
