Atlanta United 2 picked up a crucial bonus point as they continue to jostle for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference, as they took down Inter Miami II 5-4 on penalties on Friday after a 1-1 draw in normal time.
Miami opened the scoring mere seconds before the halftime whistle as Idoh Zeltzer-Zubida scored his ninth goal of the season (almost half of Miami’s team total) in the third minute of first-half stoppage time on the counter after an Atlanta corner. The Herons were minutes away from pulling off the upset, but Patrick Weah, who broke his goalscoring duck in Atlanta’s rout of Orlando in their last outing, suddenly found himself in a rich vein of form as he drew Atlanta level from point-blank range in the 78th minute to score for the second match running.
The draw sent the match to penalties, which began as poorly as possible for Atlanta after Miami converted their first kick and league-leading scorer Arif Kovac had his penalty saved. Atlanta were able to claw ahead, though, as Zeltzer-Zubida blazed his effort over the bar and Jonathan Ransom saved Miami’s third penalty while Atlanta dispatched their next three kicks. Weah missed Atlanta’s fifth penalty that would’ve won the shootout right then and there, but after both teams scored in the first round of sudden death, Ransom saved Miami’s next kick before an unlikely hero in defender Daniel Chica calmly slotted home his try from 12 yards to give Atlanta a vital extra point in such a tight playoff race.
This is Atlanta’s first shootout win of the season at the fifth time of asking, and while Atlanta probably would’ve hoped and expected not to need a shootout to beat the league’s basement dwellers, getting two points puts them on 42, good enough at the moment for fourth in the East on goal difference. However, only five points separate second from ninth in the table, and Atlanta have played at least one more game than all of their peers, so they may not be able to afford to drop any more points the rest of the season. The season has just three games remaining, and they’ll try to further distance themselves from the chasing pack when they face Connecticut United on Sept. 8 in their home finale.
This is another disappointing night in what has frankly been a miserable season for Miami. They’ve earned just 12 points and three total wins (including shootouts) all season, sit bottom of both the conference and league by a wide margin, and have long since been eliminated from playoff contention. Their season will also reach its merciful end in three games, and they’ll stay home for the next two of them, including a clash with in-state rivals Orlando City B next Friday.