Henrik Rydstrom believes that the Columbus Crew's slow start to their MLS campaign is due to them playing with the handbrake on for too long.

The Crew are 14th in the Western Conference after five games of their season, with their latest result before the international break seeing them lose 2-1 to Toronto FC.

Wessam Abou Ali had given Columbus a fourth-minute lead at BMO Field, only for goals in either half from Jose Cifuentes and Walker Zimmerman completing the comeback.

Rydstrom's side are on their travels again this weekend with a trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face Atlanta United, and the Columbus boss is eyeing a response.

"The [Toronto] game was quite bad, I would say," Rydstrom said. "I don't think we deserved to win the game, for sure.

"Maybe we could have got like an even result, but we didn't do enough to win the game. That's the lesson. It's still a little bit since we played with the handbrake off. 

"Very disappointed with the performance and the result."

Rydstrom's thoughts were echoed by midfielder Dylan Chambost, who was optimistic that the Crew would be able to turn things around.

"It's up to us," he said. "We're going to talk a lot again. We're going to do meetings, we're going to see what happens, we're going to work on the pitch. It's the only solution.

"We need to talk with each other. We need to work on the pitch. It's going to be okay. The group, we have a lot of quality in the team. We need to find this confidence.

"It's a tough period right now. We hit the post again tonight. We have to keep working and things are going to change.”

After three consecutive league defeats to start their 2026 campaign, Atlanta have gone unbeaten in their last two MLS matches, the latest seeing them draw 0-0 with D.C. United.

In a game lacking attacking quality, Atlanta were perhaps fortunate to come away with a point, given their opponents struck the woodwork twice.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Atlanta United – Miguel Almiron

No player has completed more dribbles (eight) or created more chances (eight) for Atlanta than Miguel Almiron, while he also has a team-high total number of assists (three).

He is yet to score in the league this season, but in his MLS career, against no team has he scored more goals against than Columbus (three, level with two other teams).

Columbus Crew – Wessam Abou Ali

Ali is Columbus' top scorer this season with three goals in five appearances, while only Max Arfsten (eight) has created more chances than his four.

He is one of two players, along with Diego Rossi (two goals) to have scored Columbus' five goals so far this season.

The pair's shots generated more than two-thirds (4.88/7.25 – 67.3%) of the team's total expected goals value with no other player on the team producing a total xG reaching 1.0.

MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN

Columbus have two points through five matches (D2 L3), equalling the worst five-match start in club history (2004, 2016).

The Crew have gone winless through their first six matches of a season only once, doing so in 2009 (W0 D4 L2), a year they went on to win the Supporters' Shield.

Atlanta have gone unbeaten in their first two home matches against Eastern Conference teams this season (W1 D1). Visitors from the same division have managed to win just two of their last nine matches at Atlanta, though the Crew are responsible for one of those (5-4 last September).

The Five Stripes also nearly completed one of the greatest comebacks in MLS history in their last home meeting with Columbus, coming from 5-0 down to lose, 5-4. Of teams that have trailed by five or more goals in an MLS match, Atlanta is the only one to come back to lose by less than three.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Atlanta United – 29.1%

Draw – 24.6%

Columbus Crew – 46.3%