Match Recap: Atlanta United VS New England Revolution
Revs convert PK for 1-0 win in Atlanta
It was a beautiful, sunny spring afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia as the New England Revolution paid a visit to Mercedes Benz Stadium. The 2:30 PM kickoff saw the roof open and a smaller but rowdy crowd ready for this matinee match. By 5 PM the roof was closing, the fans were wondering, and the Revs were going back home with all three points.
New England’s Carles Gil converted a penalty kick in the 36th minute to provide the only goal of the match after an Atlanta defender tripped a player inside the area to award the soft penalty kick. Brad Guzan in the Atlanta net guessed the right way but was unable to keep the well-placed, driven ball out of top left corner of the net.
Atlanta just minutes before the Revs PK had a goal wiped off the scoreboard as an offside decision was given by VAR in the build-up play. A driven cross into the New England area was turned away by a Revs defender to Pedro Amador wide in the left channel of the field. His cross to the back post was cut back by Brooks Lennon to Miguel Almiron who used his cultured left foot to bend a ball up over the Revs keeper into the back post for what looked to be the first goal of the match. VAR reviewed the goal and disallowed to the goal to a chorus of loud boos from crowd based on Amador being in an offside position.
The rest of the match saw Atlanta and New England take turns having good spells of possession in the defensive third and midfield but only a few times did either translate that possession into a meaningful scoring opportunity in the attacking third. Atlanta did rattle the cross bar and hit the post on two such moments while New England took very predictable shots easily dealt with by Guzan.
With the loss Atlanta now sits at 2-3-3 on the season with just 9 points earned from their first eight matches. This is the worst start to a non-covid season in franchise history.
There are so many things to unpack about this match and how this result today really sums up the season so far.
Atlanta has played six of their seventeen home matches. Atlanta is in 11th place in the East seven points out of 1st place.
Atlanta is almost 100% healthy. Atlanta is still looking for certain roles to emerge from the lineup.
Atlanta spent big money to build a winner this season. Atlanta hasn’t met expectations this early season.
Atlanta appears to have the right locker room mindset to fix these issues on the field.
Atlanta has another three-game home stand in late May after four of the next five matches are on the road.
The Five Stripes realistically have until June 1 to figure all this out, after that the season might have just slipped away…