Perhaps needing a super hero in front of goal, Atlanta United used a goal from Julian Gressel to salvage a 1-1 draw with Portland on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta United dominated possession (approximately 68 percent), but couldn’t finish scoring chances. Josef Martinez, wearing a black mask to protect his broken nose, missed so many chances, including two inexplicable misses at the end of either half, that he eventually ripped off the gear in the second half. What was supposed to last six weeks lasted about 60 minutes.
The draw, with an announced attendance of 45,116, moves Atlanta United to 34 points, most in MLS. The team will host Orlando, losers of seven consecutive, on June 30. The Timbers stretched their unbeaten run to nine games.
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Atlanta United had 21 shots, 10 on target, and 18 chances (second most this season) created to get just the one goal. It’s a trend that has continued in the past few home games. Lots of offense, but not a lot of goals. The team has scored more than one goal at home just once once its past five games.
“The most important thing is that we are creating chances,” manager Gerardo Martino said. “At some point you have to think those will start go in.
“It seems like weird things are happening on some of the plays. It’s one thing to miss shots or for the goalkeeper to make a great save, but on Josef’s last chance tonight it’s difficult to explain exactly what happened.”
That last chance came with Martinez, sans the mask, diving almost into the goal, but his header from just a few feet went sideways, instead of into the goal. He was whistled for a handball, which may explain the bizarre bounce. Something similar happened near the end of the first half. He said on Friday that he worried the mask would affect his vision when looking for the ball. He declined to answer a question after the game.
Martino said he suspects the mask interfered with Martinez’s vision, but hadn’t had a chance to ask him.
After dominating possession in the first 20 minutes, Portland began finding seams within the defense and created several good scoring chances on counter-attacks. A shot by Sebastian Blanco hit the post. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan saved another on a free kick.
The Timbers broke through in the 33rd minute on a diving header by Larrys Mabiala. A free kick from the left was touched by Samuel Armenteros. Guzan saved that, but, as Atlanta United defenders stood with their arms raised looking for an offside call, the rebound floated to Mabiala to nod home at the far post. The free kick was the result of a poor tackle and subsequent yellow card to Franco Escobar. It was the Timbers’ seventh goal from a set piece, tied for sixth most in the league.
The team tried to play with three guys in the back to break up counters, or man-mark Diego Valeri or Blanco.
A Martinez attempt was blocked by several Portland defenders just before the half. Frustrated, Martinez kicked the advertising boards behind the goal before grabbing them and shaking them back and forth.
Martinez missed again in the 52nd minute, putting a spinning effort over the crossbar.
“We know he has a special personality,” Leandro Gonzalez Pirez said. “We know when he’s missing chances we don’t need to say anything to him. We just know that he thinks about the chances that he misses. He’s a goal-scorer who has scored however many goals. Tonight he missed some. That’s just how it goes. We aren’t worried about it.”
The Timbers, playing banked lines of four or five at the back, with four or five in the midfield, proved hard to break apart or through.
“They defended well,” Martino said, pointing out that attacks in the second half came from all sides, whereas attacks in the first half typically started on whatever side the ball was won.
Atlanta United continued to dominate possession and the work paid off with an equalizer from Gressel in the 56th minute. His first career goal came at Providence Park in Portland last year. Sunday’s was his seventh in his MLS career. He actually tweeted earlier this week that maybe his seventh would come against the same team in which he opened his account.
Gressel said that Atlanta United had a better balance in the second half of offense versus defense. That may have helped him score.
“When a team has a lot of numbers in the box, and defends with everybody, it’s tough,” he said. “We have enough creativity and enough players to unlock a defense like that a bunch of times.”
Darlington Nagbe, one of those creative players and who was facing his former team for the first time after being traded during the offseason, was forced off with an injury that happened just before the goal. Martino said it’s a muscle injury, possibly an abductor, but he wasn’t sure.
Villalba came on in Nagbe’s place. He ripped a shot from 19 yards that skimmed off the crossbar. He came close a minute later when he tried to poke a left-footed shot into the right corner. But he couldn’t get anything on it and Jeff Attinella scooped it up.
Villalba kept firing, hitting a dipping shot that Attinella got low to smother in the 84th minute.
Miguel Almiron charged again second later, but Attinella made the tough save.
“It was a crazy game,” Gonzalez Pirez said. “We kept attacking wave after wave. For us, the ball just wouldn’t go in tonight.”
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