The Five Stripes returned to Mercedes-Benz Stadium and brought with them their late dramatics.
Atlanta United earned a 2-2 draw against Chicago Fire FC on Wednesday in the first of a three-game homestand. The point leaves the team 12th in the Eastern Conference with 20 points through 22 games and a 4-10-8 record.
Head Coach Ronny Deila rolled out a mostly unchanged starting lineup from the one that earned a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC on Saturday. The only difference was that Brad Guzan started in goal after not playing in the last game. The 40-year-old former USMNT goalkeeper is recovering from surgery to fix a fractured cheekbone, so he wore a protective mask for this game.
Interestingly, Guzan did not get the captain’s armband back for this game. It stayed with Miguel Almiron, who led the team last time out. This was the first time since Nov. 8, 2020, that Brad Guzan started a game without the armband.
Things quickly turned sour for the Five Stripes as Philip Zinckernagel scored an olimpico just two minutes into the game. It looked like Guzan didn’t see the ball until it bounced next to him and curled inside. This marks the second game in a row that Atlanta concedes a goal from a corner kick.
Facing an early setback, Atlanta United set out to try and level the game. It created some good early chances, using quick combination play and cutbacks from the flanks. However, the team’s finishing was poor, only putting one of its five shots on target in the first 45 minutes.
The Five Stripes quickly bounced back in the second half thanks to Alexey Miranchuk, who scored from distance with a low, curled shot to tie the game. The 29-year-old Russian midfielder now has two goals and four assists this season.
Despite Atlanta United looking like they had found some semblance of control in the game, they could not hold onto the result as Maren Haile-Selassie got past Efrain Morales and had an easy finish against Guzan to reestablish Chicago’s 2-1 lead in the 79th minute.
Just when it looked like the Five Stripes would suffer another loss at home, Will Reilly swooped in to save the day, poking home a loose ball on a corner kick to even the game again in stoppage time. That crucial goal was Reilly’s first in MLS.
After that, the referee blew the final whistle on another crazy Atlanta United game.
The Five Stripes return to action on Saturday as they host southeastern rival Charlotte FC at 7:30 pm ET at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and fill out your player ratings (back by popular demand) below.
This is not a very good team. Too many missing pieces. A few good players that are diluted out by the poor talent. Young players are not very good. They bring down the talent level. Hard to celebrate a draw at home. Good for Reilly but left not get too excited about a tap in. Right place right time has little to do with talent.
Would do a major overhaul of talent next year. Drop the lower level players and add more depth (limit young players)
Agree. This team needs better talent from 1 to 18. I’m beginning to think that the reliance on young “homegrowns” is coming at the expense of much needed depth. The “homegrowns” story is a feel good but it’s a waste of a roster spot if we are being honest. Jay Fortune may be the only one worth holding onto moving forward. I’d move on from the remainder. They aren’t good enough. Failed experiment.
This team needs to compete and it’s not going to happen with the current talent. Agree that the existing talent is being held back by less talent. Coaching is also a question mark. Perhaps we should follow DC United’s lead and move on now. Sad to look around MB last night and see so many empty seats. This will continue until the product improves. Cant improve the on the field product with the current pieces.
Y’all do realize those slots that the Homegrowns occupy can only be used for at most players like Togashi, right? Like if you get rid of the homegrowns, you can’t just get like another Hernandez or Mosquera. They’re too expensive for the slots.
What they can get you though, is players you train from the beginning to play the way you want, and get the next George Campbell, Caleb Wiley, Jay Fortune. Or to look at Homegrowns from other clubs – James Sands, Matt Miazga, Tyler Adams, Matt Freese, Brendan Aaronson, Deandre Yedlin, Alphonso Davies. Heck, if Atlanta United this system had existed earlier, we could’ve had Clint Mathis, Josh Wolff, or Walker Zimmerman as Homegrowns.
The thing with Homegrowns though is they’re home grown. You can’t just drop the current batch and go grab the starting 11 to the US U-20 NT. You have to build the ones you have, which by the way are very young, like 20 yrs old. Chong Qui is 17. And they only have as much MLS level experience as the games you’ve seen them in, so of course they’re a little green.
The Senior roster though, has some significant problems, which is why we’re having to go all the way down to the Homegrowns. We had 18 Senior roster members, 2 of which were sold/loaned since the window closed, another 2 are injured, and 1 or more are dead weight.
So yes, this team needs better talent. Leave the Homegrowns out of this though, they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing and if anything are the one bright spot this team has, that after 7-8 years of academy we finally have enough homegrowns at a good enough level to start contributing in a meaningful capacity.
How do I upvote this more than once?
Also, not to mention…
… they aren’t good enough, but the senior roster is? The homegrowns are just about the only reason to even watch games the rest of 2025. I would take about 3 or 4 Reilly’s, a couple Brennan’s, a couple Morales’, and a Hibbert right about now instead of watching another moment of Miranchuk.