Missing chance after chance contributed to Atlanta United's 1-1 draw with New England on Wednesday. Creating chance after chance is the positive takeaway heading into Saturday's game against Philadelphia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Five Stripes had at least seven good chances to score in the second half against the Revs. Some were denied by great saves from New England keeper Matt Turner. Some were missed. Some, notably when Mikey Ambrose was bowled over in the penalty box, were missed by referee Silviu Petrescu.
“I think when a team creates as many chances as we did, at least seven chances, that’s not to blame any one player,” Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said. “I think we created a lot of chances as a team and we even created a chance at the end, when Josef (Martinez) was off the field. The goalkeeper makes a great save, but that’s looking at things in reverse for Monday’s newspaper."
Though Atlanta United leads the league in goals (27), it has also developed a habit of failing to put away scoring chances this season. It could be argued it led to the defeat to Sporting KC and made the game at Orlando City closer than it should have been before Atlanta United held on to win.
“Our attack is very dynamic,” captain Michael Parkhurst said. “We have full confidence in those guys. (Ezequiel) Barco, (Miguel) Almiron, and (Josef) Martinez, these guys are going to score on those chances. It didn’t happen tonight, but if it gets back to the mean, that means that they’re going to score the next one. Hopefully, they can spread it out a little bit and score eight in the next game. It’s good that we’re at least creating chances.”
New England manager Brad Friedel described Turner as one of the best goalkeepers in the U.S. after he made six saves. Other than Martinez’s goal in the first half, which raised his total to a league-leading nine this season, the trio couldn’t beat Turner on Wednesday.
Barco was denied three times from close-range, once when Turner got down quickly and palmed the shot off the ground and onto the crossbar.
“Reflexes,” said Friedel, who is one of the best goalkeepers in U.S. men’s national team history. “On a save like that, (it's) reading the game. He made some really good saves in the second half and the one off Barco, I just watched it before I came in here. That’s a top-drawer save.”
Almiron was stopped once by Turner and then put a volley over the bar.
Atlanta United finished with 12 shots, seven on goal.
“We create the chances, I think that we become dangerous in the second half,” midfielder Jeff Larentowicz said. “When they make offensive subs, the goalkeeper stands on his head, he makes a lot of good saves. One bounces off the cross bar, off the line, stays out of the goal. It’s kind of how the cookie crumbles sometimes, but we’ve got to push on.
“I mean, if you’re not creating chances then it’s frustrating and if you tie the game and then you think OK, maybe we didn’t deserve that, but we were creating chances, we were putting them under pressure.”
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