Report: Atlanta United positive about Darlington Nagbe’s availability for Eastern Conference Final

Darlington Nagbe played 89 minutes of Atlanta United’s last game: the second leg of his team’s 2018 MLS Eastern Conference semifinal series against NYCFC. But he was withdrawn from the squad for the US Men’s National Team’s November friendlies with a “low-grade left hamstring strain”, reportedly sustained during his tussle with NYCFC on November 11.

Dirty South Soccer reports Atlanta United is not fretting too much about Nagbe’s availability for its next test in the 2018 playoffs: the first leg of the Eastern Conference final series against New York Red Bulls.

Per DSS, relaying Atlanta head coach Tata Martino’s comments during the team’s Friday training session, Nagbe’s withdrawal from the USMNT squad was more precautionary than anything else. Martino indicated he was expecting Nagbe to return to training next week.

Few teams get this deep into the season without a few injury concerns, and Atlanta has a number of players nursing knocks that may prevent them from being considered for at least the first leg of the series with RBNY. But Nagbe is perhaps the most significant potential absentee from Atlanta’s side of the match-up. Expect his fitness to be one of the more closely monitored issues in the build-up to the game on November 25.