Atlanta United needed a win (or, at the very least a draw) against the Philadelphia Union to keep itself in the running for a top 4 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Instead, it allowed 3 goals in the 1st half of a 3-2 loss.
Gonzalo Pineda was about as angry as he’s been after a match
Here’s a small sampling of his comments:
“To me it feels that tonight we were punished. The score normally should have been 4-3 because three penalties should have been called. Based on the standard of the league and how they have been calling handballs, there should have been three penalties tonight and we should have won 4-3. But, if I need to talk to the referees about that, then I need to do it. Because the channels they have put for us doesn’t work anymore. I’m going to talk publicly about that now. If I need to say this every week before our games, I’m going to do it. We have to earn the respect.”
This has been building a bit: Pineda talked about how it seemed penalty calls don’t go their way as recently as after the Inter Miami match. Wednesday essentially was the last straw. Whether or not it was simply an attempt to rally his team and help them adopt an “us against the world” mentality, there needs to be consistency in the officiating. There’s no reason why a situation where the ball hit the hand of Nathan Harriel shouldn’t be looked at on the monitor. That, and a couple of other occurences, served as the boiling point for Pineda. (Patrons can listen to his and Edwin Mosquera’s comments in full: it’s free to sign up for the first 7 days.)…but Atlanta United didn’t do themselves any favors
Can’t go down 3-0 in the 1st half and expect to win. The problem was that Atlanta had good spells of play in the 1st half — granted, it didn’t have a ton of scoring chances, but there were periods of good play. Then it all unraveled in a span of a few minutes.
Atlanta simply needs to show the same tenacity on the road that it shows at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A top 4 spot is all but out of the picture, meaning you’ll be playing most of your playoff matches on the road.Beating the Columbus Crew at home becomes that much more important
Atlanta can’t afford to let this loss become a tailspin. It was an important match, and one where it gave a poor account of itself when it mattered, but it can’t let this carry over to the Crew on Saturday. That could lead to 1 loss becoming a losing streak, which could turn into a loss of confidence, which could lead to an 1st-round exit in the playoffs. Let’s hope a return home coincides with a return to form for the Five Stripes.