Well, that was more like it. The Five Stripes ran rampant on the road in Montreal, putting three goals past the hosts to add three more points of separation between the two bottom teams in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta took full advantage of playing one of the few teams worse than them, with goals coming from Almiron, Galoppo, and Embolo.
Here are the ratings, starting with mine followed by the average rating from our community player ratings form. As a reminder, here’s a look at the rating scale:
- 10 – world-class performance
- 9 – elite performance
- 6 – average
- 5 – slightly below average
- 3 – well below average
- 1 – poor in every level
Lucas Hoyos – Staff rating – 6.50 ; Community rating – 6.42
Hoyos didn’t have much to be tasked with, only having to stop two rather low effort shots from Montreal in order to keep the clean sheet. A late Montreal strike did rattle the top of his crossbar, but wound up in the stands rather than the net.
Elías Báez – Staff rating – 7.75 ; Community rating – 6.67
Impactful from top to bottom, Baez provided the assist to Almiron’s opener while putting in effort on the defensive end with three interceptions.
Júnior Alonso – Staff rating – 7.5 ; Community rating – 7.00
Successfully neutralized the harmless Montreal attack, and again was found all over the pitch, putting in eight passes into the Montreal third of the field. Five tackles, seven recoveries, and a clean sheet make for a good night.
Paulo Diaz – Staff rating – 7.5 ; Community rating – 7.17
Not quite as active as his center back partner, Diaz still put in a solid shift in defense, and even notched a chance created. Diaz wasn’t afraid to shoot, either, although neither was on target.
Matt Edwards – Staff rating – 7.5 ; Community rating – 6.88
Filling in for the suspended Tomas Jacob, Edwards was impressive on the right side, creating two chances of his own and adding five tackles plus eight recoveries on the other side of the ball. He’s still developing, but would certainly benefit from more minutes in any future dead rubber matches.
Mauricio Amaro – Staff rating – 6.75 ; Community rating – 6.42
Amaro didn’t have a ton of work to do against a 37 year old Alexis Sanchez, but did complete 90% of his passes, including 3/4 long passes.
Jay Fortune – Staff rating – 7.25 ; Community rating – 6.5
Fortune created the most goalscoring chances with three, although none wound up finding the back of the net. Jay was also successful in pressuring and pinning Montreal back when out of possession, winning five duels on the ground and moved the ball forward with urgency.
Giuliano Galoppo – Staff rating – 8.00 ; Community rating – 7.67
Once again, Galoppo showed his willingness to let a shot fly from anywhere. However, it ended up being a somewhat lucky tap in that fell to his feet after an Embolo header was saved as his lone goal of the night. The midfielder was active in the attack, tallying four shots total on the night.
Alexey Miranchuk – Staff rating – 7.50 ; Community rating – 8.08
Miranchuk sent a couple of off target shots over the bar, then seemed to have scored Atlanta’s fourth before the referee spotted a deflection off of his arm in the process. Miranchuk also offered a nifty backheel into the path of Fortune to set up the eventual Embolo goal. It was good to see him, alongside Atlanta’s other Designated Players, show cohesion and attacking threat in this match. We can only hope that this confidence boost lasts a bit longer.
Miguel Almiron – Staff rating – 7.75 ; Community rating – 8.08
Almiron’s opening goal was Atlanta’s only goal to not come off a rebound in front of the net, instead a slower moving rolled attempt that snuck in off the post from outside the 18 in the 22nd minute. That’s goals in two consecutive games for Miggy, who will look to continue that streak moving forward.
Breel Embolo – Staff rating – 7.50 ; Community rating – 7.42
An open play goal. At long last. It may not have been pretty, but Embolo’s been past due to find a goal, this one coming in the 60th minute after an Almiron shot was blocked right in front of him, leaving it almost impossible to miss. The weight now off his shoulders, maybe more goals are on their way.
Steven Alzate (SUB 65′) – Staff rating – 6.50 ; Community rating – 5.92
A 25 minute (plus stoppage) runout this time, Alzate had a couple off-target efforts in the 76th and 77th minutes, and completed 11/12 passes as Atlanta saw out the match. Mission accomplished.
Sergio Santos (SUB 74′) – Staff rating – 6.00 ; Community rating – 6.45
Not a lot to say about Santos, who came on with the match well decided this time. Nice to see him continue to get some playing time, though.
Cooper Sanchez (SUB 75′) – Staff rating – 6.00 ; Community rating – 6.42
Sanchez saw a bit more of the ball than Santos did, but again didn’t have much to worry about with the match well sorted. A breif, tidy appearance to see out the match.
Fafa Picault (SUB 82′) – Staff rating – 5.75 ; Community rating – 6.33
See above, but with even less of a job to do. Did earn a yellow card, though.
Tristan Muyumba (SUB 83′) – Staff rating – 6.00 ; Community rating – 6.17
Repeat. Minus the yellow card part.
Tata Martino – Staff rating – 7.5 ; Community rating – 7.08
Back in the win column, for now at least. A result against Montreal unfortunately doesn’t move the needle much, and Tata’s side will have to show the same capacity for results against better opposition if they are to prove themselves to anyone. That chance will come quickly with his former Miami side just around the corner.