This is not a drill: Atlanta United has won. On the road. For the first time since August 30 at Nashville SC, Atlanta has a victory away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium thanks to a 2-1 result against Toronto FC that certainly didn’t come easy.
Here are some after-the-whistle thoughts on the match.
TWO goals on the road
What a weird league. I doubt anyone had Atlanta United scoring twice today, let alone one goal.
Great to see Alexey Miranchuk breathe life into a dead match with quite the free-kick goal. (Well within Thiago Almada range, mind you.) Prior to that, Atlanta United hadn’t scored on the road in an MLS match since the aforementioned win over Nashville SC on August 30 (six matches).
That’s five goals for Miranchuk, if you’re counting. While it’s been another up-and-down campaign for him, he’s been Atlanta’s MVP so far. But if that wasn’t enough…they added another. What a great job by Cooper Sanchez and Fafa Picault to set up Tristan Muyumba for Atlanta’s second, a well-placed strike that evaded the reach of Luka Gavran.
Fafa Picault
That’s now two goals and an assist across all competitions for Fafa Picault, who came on as a second-half substitute and is gradually showing why Atlanta added him to the roster. At this stage in his career, he’s not going to be first on the team sheet, but it helps to have someone of his background and experience on the roster. (He now has more production than Emmanuel Latte Lath at this point.)
A massive sigh of relief
Yes, Atlanta United got the win. But my goodness, if they didn’t try to give it back. Emilio Aristizábal scored in the 71st minute before Jules-Anthony Vilsaint’s would-be equalizer four minutes later was wiped out on an offside call.
From there, it was just watching and waiting to see if Atlanta held on against a TFC side that has delivered plenty of drama this season. To everyone’s relief, it did. What a massive result on the road, and in a stadium that has traditionally given them nightmares. And with a good chunk of the season to go — including an Open Cup match coming up on Tuesday — hopefully it’s wind in their sails.
I just watched the highlight of the match. You know Cayman’s non-goal was clearly a goal when during the highlight they don’t even show this “ghost” offside call during the highlight.
The free kick was beautiful, Muyumba’s was a fun goal… but most importantly we didn’t concede the win. It looked very dicey at the end there, but they held it together, good job.
What can I say about ELL that hasn’t already been said? It’s sad when it seems like step down to replace your backup striker with a $20M DP. I wish Miranchuk would shoot more often. If nothing else, it might free up space for others when the opposing defenders step up to try to shut him down. Some nervy moments down the stretch, but overall a much better performance.
Emmanuel’s lattes must be decaf.
Firstly, if it’s in the stadium, it’s Almada range. Secondly: LFG
The squad functions as a TEAM better when Almiron (and ELL) isn’t playing. Without Almiron, Mira has a lot more influence and leadership.
“Well within Thiago Almada range, mind you” lmao strange to slight your leading goal scorer while trying to describe the beauty of a free kick.
What is the strange feeling?