Miguel Almiron looked like his old self against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
Almiron had assists on goals by Emmanuel Latte Lath, Tomás Jacob, and Alexey Miranchuk as Atlanta United won their first match of the season, a 3-1 triumph over the Union at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta United had two chances before the half-hour mark to break the scoreless deadlock. In the 15th minute, Tomás Jacob raced down the right-hand side and delivered a cross to Latte Lath, but his shot was dealt with by Andre Blake. Later, in the 23rd minute, Almiron’s cros from the left side found Miranchuk at the top of the box, but the resulting shot was just to the left of goal.
Latte Lath made good on his chance in the 29th minute, though. He caught up to an Almiron through ball, drove toward the box, and, with Blake pulled off his line, took his chance perfectly to put Atlanta ahead 1-0.
Toward the end of the half, controversy struck after the Union were awarded a penalty after Eliás Báez was whistled for a foul in the box. But Milan Iloski’s attempt from the spot rang off the left post to keep it at 1-0.
With Philly unable to cash in, Atlanta United took advantage in the 47th minute. Almiron delivered a cross from the left side of the box that Latte Lath let go through to Tomás Jacob. Jacob made no mistake with the finish as he gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
Atlanta iced it in the 68th minute on a tremendous buildup involving all three of its Designated Players. It ended with Miranchuk putting home Almiron’s third assist of the day as the Five Stripes were home and dry at 3-0.
Agustin Anello scored for the Union to end the shutout bid, but the hole was too big for Philadelphia to dig out of as their five-game unbeaten streak against Atlanta (3-0-2) came to an end. It was Atlanta’s first win over the Union since a 2-0 victory on July 2, 2023.
Can Atlanta make it two in a row? They host D.C. United next week at 7:30.
Every week, Scarves and Spikes brings you original interviews, on-site coverage, live shows/podcasts, and the analysis you won’t find at the bigger national outlets. With 2026 being a World Cup year, Atlanta United facing yet another important transfer window, the U.S. Soccer National Training Center setting up shop in the Atlanta area, and NWSL Atlanta kicking off in 2028, your support helps us do even more.
What you get on Patreon:
- Atlanta United training ground updates
- Discord access — talk Atlanta soccer with the SnS team and other supporters
- Patreon-only mailbags
- Grey Gowder’s analytical deep-dives on roster construction, the academy, ATL UTD 2, and more
Start your free trial
I do wonder if Latte would get a secondary assist on that Miranchuk goal.
It was great to see latte get out of the jam. I thought he flubbed the opportunity when the 2 defenders closed him down.
Miggy to latte, latte to Miggy, Miggy to Mira for the goal. It was a pretty sequence for the dp’s.Counter attacking works for them in a way we didn’t do last year.
That was a beautiful sequence and something we haven’t seen much of in a while. I really think the addition of Galarza opens things up. He’s a guy that improves and unlocks the guys around him. All of the goals on Saturday kind of reminded me of the early AUFC under Tata in different ways. The first one looked a lot like Miggy/Josef running at the defense with Miggy playing a nice through ball into ELL for a great look (and ELL slotted home a nice finish). Then we had the great buildup with our DPs plus Galarza and Baez combining. The third goal was nice, because Jacob filled that far post slot. Maybe ELL shouldn’t put that one in, but not sure that ball was played to the exact perfect spot for him. The great thing was we had Jacob making the run to be there to clean it up. I feel like Tito and especially Gressel scored a lot of goals just making the effort to be there and clean things up.
It’s just one game against an admittedly inferior opponent, but it was really encouraging to see the style of play take shape. I do think Galarza is going to prove a real difference maker in our central midfield. Sanchez stepped up with a nice game, and I have to give Muyumba a lot of credit for his tackling and ball winning this week as well.