The Five Stripes could taste victory against Houston Dynamo on Saturday, but had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home.
At the very least, the point breaks Atlanta United’s five-game losing streak at home. It does nothing to improve the club’s position in the standings, as it remains 13th with 17 points and a 4-8-5 record.
Interim head coach Rob Valentino selected a 4-3-3 shape that saw long-standing team captain Brad Guzan return in between the posts. The backline consisted of center backs Noah Cobb and Derrick Williams flanked by fullbacks Brooks Lennon and Caleb Wiley. Dax McCarty and Tristan Muyumba were the midfield pairing of choice with Thiago Almada in his usual role as the No. 10. Finally, with Giorgos Giakoumakis finalizing his transfer to Cruz Azul, Daniel Rios was handed the role of single striker up top with Xande Silva and Edwin Mosquera on the wings.
A familiar face struck against the Five Stripes five minutes into the game. Franco Escobar headed the opener in after Atlanta failed to clear a corner kick. That became the fifth goal the team has conceded from a corner kick this season.
Matters only seemed to get worse for the hosts as Mosquera was forced to exit the game in the 17th minute with an injury. The Colombian winger was replaced by Luke Brennan, who brought a breath of fresh air to Atlanta’s right side.
The Five Stripes’ high press yielded its benefits in the 25th minute when Rios recovered the ball deep in enemy territory and scored after Almada’s shot was saved. The Mexican striker scored a crucial equalizer to grab his third goal of the season.
The rest of the half was characterized by Houston pelting Atlanta’s goal with shots and creating danger from transition moments. Their compactness stifled the Five Stripes’ attempts to build up and led to many dangerous counterattacks, particularly down the left side. Despite many close calls, the hosts hung on to end the half on level terms.
It was Atlanta United that broke the deadlock in the 55th minute when Silva let rip a shot from an impossible angle reminiscent of that Giakoumakis goal against New England earlier this season. With his second goal of the season, the Portuguese winger gave the Five Stripes a 2-1 lead over the Dynamo.
What followed was a very physical and heated contest that saw Atlanta United’s players fighting tooth-and-nail to hang onto its advantage.
Unfortunately, those efforts were in vain as the Dynamo found its equalizer in the 89th minute when Adalberto Carrasquilla lobbed a ball into Atlanta’s box to a wide-open Latif Blessing who fired past Guzan to make it 2-2.
Teams typically experience a bump – although temporary – whenever there is a managerial change, but tonight saw a very sloppy Atlanta United with very little visible improvement. Of course, there is the context of international absences to take into account, but the result gives very little encouragement for the team’s upcoming fixtures including its upcoming road trips to D.C. United and St. Louis CITY.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and fill out your player rating below.
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Just another brick in the wall of a crap season.
It would be nice to actually have a game or two where Almada, our supposed “star boy”, warranted a good rating.
That’s a tough one to slip away, but think on the fact that at the end of the game we had Fortune, Brennan, Cobb, etc out there. So little experience amongst those players given their age
I thought his relative lack of celebration after the Rios goal was telling. Almost annoyed at the fact he didnt get the goal on the first attempt.