After a tightly fought week one battle against New England Revolution II, Atlanta United 2 traveled out to Athens (go Dawgs) Sunday evening for their first home match of the 2026 MLS Next Pro season. Despite an earlier heavy downpour, Jose Silva’s boys welcomed Carolina Core FC to the Turner Soccer Complex for a match that culminated in an enjoyable 2-1 win.
The game kicked off with both sides trying to play urgently before either’s defense could settle into a rhythm. Carolina Core created a handful of half opportunities and racked up a few low percentage shots, but Jayden Hibbert only got called to significant action twice. Meanwhile, Atlanta United 2 played some very dynamic through balls interspersed with polished big switches to the point of attack, highlighted by Luke Brennan and Cayman Togashi giving Core’s back line headaches. However, it’d be an Adyn Torres to Dom Chong Qui sequence that kicked off the opening goal, as Chong Qui flew down the left wing before sending in an arrow to Cayman Togashi, who was able to slot it nicely by Carolina’s goalkeeper, Trevor Jackson.
At that point, the game became very chippy. Of the fouls that were called, four of them in the first half ended with yellow cards. Coupled with the fresh rain in Athens prior to the opening whistle, players were slipping and sliding – and likely playing up some of the contact – all over the pitch. The 2’s would head to the locker room with their 1-0 lead, though, and the momentum well in their favor.
The second half, however, started off in perhaps the most horrific manner as center back Matthew Senanou made an errant pass backwards while Jayden Hibbert had pushed higher out of net. Hibbert could do nothing but turn on the jets to try and snag the ball in time, but it ultimately rolled weakly into goal to bring the match even at 1-1. The momentum shifted widely in Carolina’s favor for the next few minutes until the 62nd when right back Daniel Chica received the ball during an Atlanta sequence from the left flank, dribbled into the attacking right side of the box against his former team, took a shot, and watched as the deflected ball sailed up and over Trevor Jackson to restore the lead.
Near the 77th minute, Carolina would knock on the door again with a wild sequence that saw the ball sent into the box before Atlanta partially cleared it out. The ball was immediately sent back in across the face of goal and directly to the feet of an undefended Mehdi Zerkane, whose shot was incredibly blocked by Seyi Fakiyesi. Atlanta United 2 would then create another decent opportunity after a quick sequence saw Luke Brennan find his way to the top of Carolina’s box, but the shot would sail just wide of the far post. For the final ten minutes of regulation – plus almost another ten of stoppage time – there were multiple dust-ups and confrontations as the emotions came to a head. Iggy Suarez, Jayden Hibbert, and Luke Brennan were all booked as they leaned into the dark arts trying to see out the match, but see it out they did to give the 2’s their first win of the season.
Statistically, the 2’s would ultimately end up with six of their twelve shots on goal, while Jayden Hibbert had to make a grand total of four saves. The win caps off an early four points for an Atlanta United 2 team trying to capitalize on the momentum from the latter half of Jose Silva’s 2025 fun and effective interim coaching stint. They’ll be taking on regional rivals Huntsville City next Sunday, March 15th at 7 back in Athens, and here’s your friendly reminder that the Atlanta United 2 matches out at Turner Soccer Complex are free to attend.
Good to see the mental recovery from a mistake coupled with an overall positive performance.
Side note, was the trialist ever revealed, and if not was it Cristo Fernández? Or did he just happen to be working with USL teams in TX at the same time?