After clinching a playoff spot on Sept. 23, Atlanta United FC lost on the road to the Philadelphia Union 3-2 on Oct. 4. Atlanta entered the home contest against the Columbus Crew on Oct. 7 ranked No. 6 in the Major League Soccer (MLS) Eastern Conference, and the team maintained this place with a 1-1 tie.
The first half began with a stalemate on both sides. Although both offenses were aggressive throughout the first half, saves by goalkeeper Brad Guzan and aggressive defense from Columbus kept the score at 0-0. Crucial blocks by defender Brooks Lennon also prevented Columbus from having clear scoring opportunities.
Atlanta Head Coach Gonzalo Pineda said that the team could not read Columbus’ “tactical switch” in the first half. After making adjustments though, he said it was much more of an “open game.”
“We knew that this was an opponent that was very similar to us, always wanting the ball, always disrupting,” Pineda said. “When they break through the middle, they change the pace. [It’s] very similar to what we do when we find Thiare, Brooks in the pocket or Tristan and then we change the pace and we attack with some danger. They are the same. It’s just today, they were better.”
As the second half began, Columbus had much more possession than Atlanta. In the 65th minute, midfielder Aidan Morris dribbled through the left side of Atlanta’s defense and passed to forward Cucho Hernandez in the center of the box. Hernandez scored with a right foot shot to give Columbus a 1-0 lead. Although Atlanta was trailing for much of the second half, the fans kept cheering the team on.
In the seventh minute of second half extra time, midfielder Thiago Almada took a free kick. Defender Miles Robinson capitalized on the set piece, scoring a header to tie the game. Robinson credited Almada for setting up his game-tying goal.
“Thiago put in a great ball,” Robinson said. “I was trying to start behind the defense, but obviously, without the ball, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to put it in, so I just put it on target and it was a goal.”
The team faced tough opponents in its last three games, and Lennon noted that the difficult games were a good segway into the playoffs.
“It’s good to play these teams now,” Lennon said. “We’re playing Philadelphia, Columbus and Cincinnati back-to-back-to-back. Those are three teams that are gonna probably finish in the top four. We’re gonna have to play against, I would assume, one of them. So, it’s great to see them now, and it’s almost like a playoff game before the playoffs.”
With one more regular season game left, Pineda said his goals have changed. Instead of fighting for the No. 4 spot to face a lower ranked opponent in the playoffs, he wants to shift Atlanta’s focus to preventing injuries and assessing players with yellow card accumulation and upcoming international break duty. Though Pineda thought that Columbus was “better in many ways,” he acknowledged Atlanta’s resilience.
“What I take from today’s performance, and it kind of summarizes the season, is the fight of the team was always present,” Pineda said. “[There were] many, many games where we were fighting until the end. Sometimes, we were not playing probably at our best. We’re fighting ’till the end, and that’s a signature for me of a championship team.”
With Atlanta becoming the fastest MLS team to reach five million spectators at home and 42,684 fans attending the game, Robinson believes that the team’s fighting attitude comes from the home fans “first and foremost.”
“Just the energy that comes with playing the Benz is definitely something that we appreciate,” Robinson said. “The fans continue to give us energy time and time again.”
Atlanta plays its final regular season game against No. 4 ranked FC Cincinnati at the TQL Stadium on Oct. 21.
