Atlanta United carried on its momentum to make it two straight wins after a 2-0 win over rival Charlotte FC in the round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup.
After an uplifting 2-1 win at Toronto FC in MLS regular season action on Saturday, head coach Tata Martino opted for some rotation in this cup feature. Jayden Hibbert took over between the posts while Enea Mihaj and Juan Berrocal held things down in central defense. Elias Baez and Tomas Jacob were the fullbacks of choice. Will Reilly was deployed as the No. 6 with Matias Galarza and Jay Fortune as box-to-box midfielders. Fafa Picault and Luke Brennan provided the width in attack, while Alexey Miranchuk returned to the No. 9 position that he’s been highly successful in this season.
The Five Stripes opened the scoring early after some beautiful combination play between Alexey Miranchuk and Luke Brennan ended in the Russian international placing a curling shot perfectly into the top corner for his sixth goal in nine games across all competitions.
Atlanta had to be patient for its second, but it came in the 71st minute when Cooper Sanchez hustled to chase down a long ball that Charlotte’s defense failed to clean up and slotted it home with ease to double the lead. That was the 18-year-old homegrown midfielder’s first goal for the first team.
With that, the Five Stripes saw out the rest of the game to secure their ticket to the quarterfinals of this historic tournament.
Atlanta United returns to MLS action on Saturday, May 2, when it hosts CF Montreal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The match will kick off at 7:30 pm EST.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments below.
No one would call that a complete performance, but what a win, and a clean sheet to boot? What’s going on here? The first 20 minutes were vintage ATL UTD, pinning the other team back, circulating the ball quickly dictating the match and creating danger. Miranchuk continues to show his class and Cooper Sanchez ran riot. A couple thoughts:
The kids: I was wondering during the match if the team just plays better without Miggy, but maybe that’s the wrong question. The team plays better with Fortune, Sanchez, Brennan, Reilly, their intensity and hunger have made the difference in these past few matches.
Hibbert: I think we saw a little of why Tata prefers Hoyos in goal, Hibbert’s inexperience almost cost a couple goals, Hoyos for all his shortcomings is better with his feet. He did well overall though, couple solid stops (ok, one of his own making)
Speaking of intensity: I get that dropping back and playing more defensively after scoring is tactically savvy, especially in a knock-out match, but the complete lack of an outlet to stretch the field made the second half very nervy, even after scoring a second. Better teams would punish ATL, we’re going to need a forward that at least knows how to win balls in the air and has an inkling of hold-up play if this team is to progress in this cup
I think with Almiron the issue is that the team tries to force the ball through him and I think his skills have diminished to the point where that is more net negative than net positive. I think a good example is how Atlanta Hawks got better after trading away Trae Young. So it could be that the team just plays more cohesively without Almiron being on the pitch.
I think maybe Almiron should just play as a left winger. use tonight’s lineup but just inset piggy ILO of Fafa. it’s worth a try
Disagree, i’d rather see him in the midfield if he steps foot on the field. I’ve always hated him as a winger. Fafa on the left, Mira center, Saba right, miggy as a 10, coop/jay as an 8, Muyumba as a 6 and the 4 at the back. Go back to a 4-2-3-1.
Well, Tata has been trying your suggestion and it doesn’t work. We lose strength in midfield and Miggy just runs all over the place. I think Miggy as true left winger would be more dangerous than Fafa and our midfield is stronger with Galarza/Fortune/Sanchez or Muyumba. I’m OK with Saba on the right also.
Miggy’s gonna run all over the place no matter WHERE you put him🤷♂️ but I agree Galarza needs to be in the mix,
Sum of all parts though. I highly doubt we’ve already tried a front 3 of Fafa/Mira/Saba with a midfield of Galarza/Miggy/Muyumba and our standard back 4 which makes me wonder how well each plays off each other.
This is the way