It has taken half the season, which isn’t unexpected because it is an expansion team, but Atlanta United may be starting to put a defense with its high-scoring offense.
Behind two goals from Hector Villalba, Atlanta United defeated Columbus 2-0 on Saturday at MAPFRE Stadium.
It was the team’s second consecutive shutout in MLS and moved it to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings with another game upcoming on Tuesday against San Jose at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“It was just a real good professional performance, we did what we needed to do,” Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst said.
Here are five observations from the game.
Winning on the road. The win broke a string of horrible road performances in which the Five Stripes had earned just one out of a possible 18 points across all competitions.
Leading into the game the players said they didn’t know why they were having trouble winning on the road, but most attributed it to lapses in focus.
Several times, the team would take a lead only to see the opponent score soon thereafter. It happened at Vancouver, at D.C. United and in the U.S. Open Cup game at Miami.
But it didn’t happen at Columbus. The Crew came close after the first goal, but Atlanta United was able to keep the clean sheet, its fourth this season.
“…We played a serious game, a solid game without many mistakes on our part and we were opportunists,” Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said. “We had five clear chances on goal and we converted two. I think that makes us the clear victors.”
The first goal. Villalba opened the scoring with a goal in the 27th minute. Alec Kann's long goal kick was misplayed by Jonathan Mensah, allowing Villalba to run onto the ball and poke it past Zack Steffen. Kann was given the assist, the first of his MLS career. He said he may have also had one in an USL game. Villalba declined to speak to the media.
“On the first goal, what he did well was to put himself behind Joseph (Martinez) during that long pass, finding the ball and finishing magisterially,” Martino said. “On the second goal, he completed the play in the other sector. He controlled the ball with two touches and he was able to convert.”
The tactical change. Atlanta United typically likes to play out of the back with short passes, and doesn't often play long balls down the middle of the field. It did so time after time on Saturday.
Kann said the team went with the longer passes because Columbus tried to press them, which took away the short pass opportunities.
Atlanta United has tried to play through high-pressing situations this season with mixed results.
Parkhurst said the team was disappointed to give away a goal at D.C. United on a turnover when the team was trying to play out of the back and referenced the installment of a Plan B, if the preferred Plan A isn’t available.
“We talked before the game that this was a big one for us,” Parkhurst said. “The start of the second half of the season on the road and we hadn’t been doing well. We skipped the lines when we needed to, we wanted to play out of the back. We said ‘hey let’s not give away anything, Columbus is too good of a team to gift a goal too.’ It worked out for us, the first goal is as easy as it gets. They struggled with it a couple of times, we were lucky enough to score.”
The second goal. Villalba's second goal came in the 64th minute. A deflection fell to him around 8 yards away, and he hammered a right-footed shot past Steffen.
The Argentinian Designated Player didn’t get a chance to complete his hat-trick because he cramped up immediately after scoring the goal. Martino subbed him off two minutes later because he didn’t want to risk an injury.
Villalba is tied for the team’s lead with eight goals this season.
Martinez anger. Josef Martinez was visibly angry on the bench after being subbed off. He had one good chance, but sliced it wide in the first half. The opportunity also came on a long kick from Kann and was helped by a mistake by a Columbus defender.
Martinez has seven goals this season.
Quick turnaround. Atlanta United has two full days to prepare for San Jose. The Earthquakes didn't kick off until 10 p.m. Saturday in their game against Los Angeles. They defeated the Galaxy 2-1 after falling behind 1-0.
“We need to recover and rest,” Martino said. “We need to do so quickly because it is very valuable for us to pick up another three points at home.”
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