Jay Fortune delivered a 67th-minute equalizer for Atlanta United, who played NYCFC to a 2-2 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday evening.
Things got off to a rough start for Atlanta United in the fifth minute. Agustin Ojeda shook off Elias Baez and ventured into the box before crossing one in front of goal. The ball took a rather unlucky deflection off the foot of Matt Edwards and found the back of the net, giving NYC a 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long, though, as Atlanta went up 1-1 in the 10th minute. Baez delivered a corner kick that came off the head of Enea Mihaj and onto the foot of Tomas Jacob. Jacob fed it to Galoppo, who finished at a wide-open near post to make it a 1-1 match.
It stayed that way until the 57th minute, and again, Ojeda was involved. This time, he played a ball into the box that an unmarked Andres Perea caught up to and struck past Hoyos to make it 2-1.
But Atlanta leveled it again in the 74th minute through Jay Fortune, who came in just moments prior. Luke Brennan played a ball in to Tristan Muyumba, who settled it nicely inside the box and played it back to Fortune. Fortune had plenty of time and space to fire past NYC’s Tomas Romero to put Atlanta back on level terms once more.
That seemed to spark Atlanta United, as they had several half-chances to pull ahead. But the teams would each finish with a point, as neither side was able to find a winner. It also moved the Five Stripes to six points back of the ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta is off until October 10, when it faces FC Cincinnati.
We didn’t play horrible considering how many people were out of this game but there is still some glaring issues in our midfield that need to be addressed. And for the love of whatever you pray to, stop with the back passes while others are pushing forward into clear open space. Our attack needs to be more dynamic.
Agreed – thought I was going to lose my mind every time the players passed backward instead of moving to open players on the wings. When we did attack quickly after gaining possession, we created chances.
This, and it culminated in the most Atlanta is Bad Soccer Team moment in the dying moments of the match – you saw the ref giving the “yeah it’s about time” look at his watch, and instead of pushing the ball ahead for a last ditch effort, we passed back down the wing, and then back to the middle of our own half and… That was it. You’re tied, at home, with a small chance at playoff hopes, in possession for what will be the final play of the game, and you just… Throw it away. Just crazy. Put the fucking thing into the box and see if someone can get a head on it or scramble it in.
The announcers said the same thing.
Was an absolute bore the 40 minutes I watched from midway in first to just after NUFC 2nd goal
This is a broken record but this team still needs SO much turnover.
The speed of play is terrible, the constant cycling the ball back to GK and playing out of the back is an impossible task.
To be fair, a lot of that was not having our normal CBs who have been good playing the ball forward and not having our normal two (albeit not that much more effective) playmakers to play forward to.
The other part I think is that Amaro still hasn’t convinced that he is the answer to our #6 problem, at least not yet.
Was kinda ugly and snoozy but could have been worse.
Refs left a lot to be desired.