You just knew it was coming, didn’t you?
In his return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Josef Martínez struck twice to lift visiting CF Montreal past Atlanta United 2-1.
The loss makes the Five Stripes’ playoff picture even grimmer as opportunities are running out to make up the three points that separates them from the play-in game.
Head Coach Rob Valentino slightly tweaked the lineup that drew to Philadelphia Union over the weekend. He conserved the 4-2-3-1 shape, but opted for Tristan Muyumba and Bartosz Slisz as the pairing in midfield. In an interesting twist, Ajani Fortune was pushed up from midfield to play as the left winger.
Breaking its trend from recent matches, the Five Stripes posted more shots than its opponent early on. By halftime, Atlanta United had three of six shots on goal while Montreal had one of three.
Despite Atlanta’s momentum, it was the visitors who struck first through a familiar face to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd. Josef Martinez brought down the ball inside the box and tidily finished past Brad Guzan to put the Canadian side ahead in the 43rd minute.
But the Five Stripes were determined to make up the deficit before halftime and managed to do so in stoppage time. Pedro Amador crossed the ball to the far post where Daniel Rios was waiting to head it home for his 7th MLS goal.
Early in the second half, Brooks Lennon received a yellow card for a foul, so he will be suspended for Saturday’s match against New York Red Bulls due to yellow card accumulation.
Even worse news came in the 76th minute as Martínez put away a cross to reestablish Montreal’s lead.
The Five Stripes tried to level the game again, but it just wouldn’t come and the final whistle sounded to announce a disappointing 2-1 loss.
Atlanta United returns for its final regular season home game on Saturday against New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and fill out your player ratings below.
Would have been kind of funny to give us a chance to rate Josef as well.
FO got what they deserved for getting rid of Josef.
I am still of the opinion that leaving the club was best for both Josef and Atl Utd.
However, the club is absolutely getting what it deserves for being so incompetent overall that we couldnt even keep GG here for more than we did.
“It had to be him” A line I’ll never forget.
However, of all people, Brad should have known how he would get into space and create chances. I think you can see it on his face like “i should have known”.