Tata Martino expressed reluctance to make major changes to the team earlier in the season, but that’s exactly what he did when the New England Revolution came to town on Wednesday and surged back to earn a 2-1 win over Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The loss, combined with other results around the league, dropped Atlanta United to 15th place in the Eastern Conference with four points in nine games and a 1-7-1 record.
Tata Martino heavily rotated the side that fell 2-0 to Eastern Conference-leading Nashville SC on Saturday. Lucas Hoyos remained in goal, but Juan Berrocal partnered with Enea Mihaj in central defense, while Pedro Amador and Matt Edwards took the fullback positions. Will Reilly, Cooper Sanchez and Matias Galarza made up the midfield trio, while Fafa Picault made his first MLS start for the club in an attacking trident alongside Alexey Miranchuk and Saba Lobjanidze.
The Five Stripes dominated possession early and appeared to exert greater control over the match. Miranchuk led the high press, which looked more organized and helped force multiple turnovers. Despite several decent approaches, New England found the back of the net first after Alhassan Yusuf hit a first-time rocket into the top corner. However, after a lengthy video review, the goal was disallowed because Dor Turgeman was deemed to have interfered with the play from an offside position.
Atlanta opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Fafa Picault put away the rebound after Saba Lobjanidze’s initial shot was saved by Matt Turner. With this, the Haitian international marked the occasion of his first MLS start representing the Five Stripes with his first league goal for the club.
The visitors struck back in the 73rd minute when Will Sands headed home from a corner kick to level the match at 1-1. Despite Atlanta posting double the shots that their opponent did, their inability to be clinical in the final third gave New England the window they needed to get back into the match.
The Revs surged forward, taking the lead minutes later after Peyton Miller was allowed to take an easy shot just outside the six-yard box to make it 2-1. It looks like Pedro Amador should’ve gotten to the cross before Miller did, but he was too slow to react, and it cost the team big time.
Despite taking a halftime lead, the Five Stripes couldn’t stop the skid at home as its awful start to the 2026 season continues.
Atlanta United will look to get back on track when it visits Toronto FC at BMO Field on Saturday, April 25, at 1 pm EST.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments below.
Just rewatched the 77th minute. Man I feel bad for Saba but that turned the game and led to us falling behind. Is his contract up this year? He should have been gone this past off season.
Stoppage time hand ball should’ve given us a penalty.
I love the game and want to see this team do well. Unfortunately, none of our fairly compensated offensive players have the technical skills needed to compete in this league. They all run like crazy with no chemistry or tactical awareness of the field!!
Another season down the drain.
MY TAKE – changes with Amador and Edwards were good, should not have has Bercoal, Gregesen should have been the one starting. In the middle Jacob need to be the CDM, then Reily would not my goto, should have been Fortune. I like Pico starting on the left.
A better line up that may have provided better results:
======PICO =====ELL=====
===========Fortune======
Galaza================Myumba
==========Jacob======
Amador====#4======Gregesen====Edwards
=========HIBBERT================
This Coach keeps putting in Hoyos why????? it is obviously clear – to everyone —- he is not better than Hibbert.
ATL UTD are on pace to earn 15 points. This would be the worst 34 match season ever.
Forwards who can’t score. Defenders who can’t defend. The roster is a little better than last year, but still terribly flawed.
The only guys with starting ability that I’d be even remotely upset about losing at this point are Galarza and Fortune.
Only 3-4 windows and a couple of record setting buyouts away…
I wanted to blame Bocanegra, but pretty much everyone on the roster, at least those on the field last night, joined after he left. :-\
The failure to substitute earlier is inexcusable. The backup players that started, who worked very hard for 60 minutes, were clearly gassed. h
He waited 10 to 15 minutes too long for a few of them.
Always been a flaw with Martino
I definitely believe the 2nd goal would not have happened with some fresh bodies and maybe if was another fresh body instead of Saba on that breakaway, maybe we score the 2nd goal as well. At this point Tata just wants to sink with the ship
Let’s be real, Saba was never going to score that goal. He’s a poor finisher and isn’t really that good with the ball at his feet. He runs like hell and is one of our few players that will go at guys, but with very mixed results. It could’ve been the 5th minute or the 95th. He hasn’t scored in MLS play since October 2024 (vs Miami in the playoffs). He’s another overpaid, underperforming player left behind by the Lagerwey era. At least he’s off the books at the end of the season.
Tata does need to go to the bench quicker, though. It’s always been a knock on him. It’s great when it works, but leads to some late game fatigue and mistakes. And this team has zero mental toughness. It’s unclear where the on-field leadership comes from. It appears to not exist.
I don’t disagree with your assessment on Saba. At least he works hard, which can’t be said about a lot of the players on this team. If you are going to be underperforming, at least try to put some stress on the opposing team. I would have thought Tata would at least be quick on the subs since we are in a stretch where we will be playing 2 matches a week for like 3 weeks. So you would think it would be smart of keep everyone somewhat fresh.
If you were enjoying this latest tragedy from the comfort of your couch… Did you see the look on Tata’s face after Saba’s 2nd botched break-away which could’ve/should’ve resulted in the team drawing level?
The camera cut to a close-up of Tata and the looks was, “are you f*cking kidding me…?!”.
Saba looked like he was running in 3 feet of water. Must have been gassed. That’s on Tata.
I only watched it because it was on FS1. I am not paying for Apple+ for the product that this team is putting on the pitch. I also agree with Clueless Joe that Tata brought that situation on himself when he didn’t start subbing some fresh bodies around the 60th min mark
I’ve pretty much said all that can be said. Buy out ELL and Alzte. Fire all the scouting staff. Due to stubbornness and lack of substitutions; Tata should be “relieved of his duties”.
And should have been 1-3.
Arthur Blank. Your empty apology last season is exactly that. This team just finds ways to lose. They won’t be able to give away tickets. The whole experience is nowhere near entertaining. The final third and set piece play is just horrible. ATL has not scored on a corner since August 2024. That’s obviously lack of tactics. This is still my team but I am sickened by what the executives have allowed this franchise to become.