Atlanta United rallies to draw with New England

Atlanta United stretched its unbeaten streak at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to 13 with Sunday’s 2-2 draw with New England.

The script was somewhat familiar.

Atlanta United took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Thiago Almada before the Revs’ Adam Buksa took advantage of two mistakes to score and take a 2-1 lead. But the Five Stripes rallied with a goal from Luiz Araujo on an assist from Almada in front of an announced attendance of 42,516. The draw keeps Atlanta United (4-4-3) above the seven-team playoff line in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta United will play at Nashville on May 21.

In a positive sign, the team has scored eight goals in its past three games across all competitions. It finished with a season-high 26 shots, five on goal, and an expected goals of 1.97 on 18 chances created. In a negative, the moments where the team switches off mentally continue to result in dropped points. New England finished with an expected goals of 1.12.

“It’s hard to talk about the game because I felt that we did so many, many things, many good things in terms of possession, in terms of creating chances,” manager Gonzalo Pineda said. “And it’s just the feeling that you can feel how passionate the team (is) about attacking, taking chances and momentum, and the environment was very good. But we couldn’t capitalize on those moments where we were dominant in the game. And, obviously, credit to the opponent, they were able to counter and create those chances, dangerous chances that we need to fix because we need to be more solid defensively.”

Pineda selected a strong 11 featuring Ronaldo Cisneros at striker with Araujo, Marcelino Moreno and Almada in support. Matheus Rossetto, who was captain, and Franco Ibarra were the central midfielders. Andrew Gutman recovered from the shoulder injury sustained in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup loss at Nashville to start at left back, with Brooks Lennon on the right. Alex De John and Alan Franco were the centerbacks, with Bobby Shuttleworth in goal. Because of injuries to Ozzie Alonso, Brad Guzan, Josef Martinez and Miles Robinson, among others, it was the 10th different starting lineup Pineda has selected in the team’s 11 games.

Atlanta United pressured New England throughout the opening 11 minutes and came within inches of taking a 1-0 lead, but Matt Turner dove to his right and pushed away with his right hand an Almada free kick just inches before the shot crossed the goal line.

The Five Stripes got their lead in the 15th minute when Almada took down a ball with his right foot, turned to his right, took one touch and hammered a shot into the goal’s left corner. It was Almada’s second goal in MLS and third in all comps.

Almada said as he was trapping the ball he could hear Moreno shouting “solo,” so he knew he was by himself and decided to take a shot.

“I think we have a bitter taste because we always want to win, whether we’re playing at home or playing away,” Almada said. “But the other team, they always are also trying to win, so I think we played well, we kept searching for the goal, kept trying to find it and, you know, we weren’t able to get it, so that’s why we have that taste in our mouth.”

THIAGO ALMADA D⚽️N'T STOP ‼️ pic.twitter.com/9uBkaxndX3
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 15, 2022

New England tied the game in the 30th minute after an Atlanta United turnover following its own throw-in. The ball was played by reigning MLS MVP Carles Gil, who played it with his left foot into space behind Atlanta United’s back line for Buksa to run onto. He slotted a shot between Shuttleworth’s legs at the near post. Shuttleworth said he should have done better.

“Silly mistakes right now that are costing us some silly goals when, if I take the first goal, we are dominating play, we have all the possession, it comes out of nothing,” he said. “So it’s frustrating but just something we have to try to improve.”

It was New England’s first shot on goal and illustrated a point that Pineda made Thursday. When Atlanta United keeps its shape, it’s hard to break down. When that shape breaks down, which it did following the turnover against the Revs, is when his team can find itself in trouble.

With that goal, Atlanta United appeared to lose its composure for the remainder of the half. That has happened to the team a few times during the past five league games in which it has won just one.

“We cannot allow us to lose 5-10 minutes of the game, we need to continue going again,” Pineda said.

New England took a 2-1 lead in the 55th minute on another goal by Buksa, who was supposed to be marked by Franco. Instead, Franco wandered toward the ball to his right and away from Buksa, who was to his left. The pass went over Franco to Buksa, who had time to chest the ball down and beat Shuttleworth.

This time, Atlanta United didn’t shut down mentally.

Moreno tried to tie the game in the 61st minute with a right-footed shot that went inches wide of the left post.

The Five Stripes got the equalizer two minutes later when Almada played in Araujo, who ran through New England’s defense, to chip the ball over Turner and tie the game at 2. Moreno was also credited with an assist, his team-leading fourth in league games. It was Almada’s second and Araujo’s second goal.

“The gaffer had a little bit go at us at halftime, saying ‘Let’s attack, attack, attack,’ “ De John said. “So we get scored on early, but I don’t think anybody’s head really goes down. You know, I think everybody’s like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ And we score quickly after that. And that’s the response that we need.”

An absolute peach 🍑 pic.twitter.com/6so0JpqNW0
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 15, 2022

Pineda inserted Emerson Hyndman for Cisneros in the 71st minute, which resulted in Araujo moving to striker.

Moreno used great control of the ball to beat several defenders and eventually lead to an Araujo shot that was deflected over the cross for a corner kick near the 85th minute.

New England’s Tommy McNamara hit the post with a shot in the 87th minute.

“I feel that the team is just as strong mentally, but we have ups and downs throughout the game,” Pineda said. “And that’s when we need to learn to be more consistent in the killer mentality that we always talk about.”

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Atlanta United’s 2022 MLS schedule

Feb. 27 Atlanta United 3, Sporting KC 1

March 5 Colorado 3, Atlanta United 0

March 13 Atlanta United 2, Charlotte 1

March 19 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 3

April 2 Atlanta United 1, D.C. United 0

April 10 Charlotte 1, Atlanta United 0

April 16 Atlanta United 0, Cincinnati 0

April 24 Miami 2, Atlanta United 1

April 30 Montreal 2, Atlanta United 1

May 7 Atlanta United 4, Chicago 1

May 15 Atlanta United 2, New England 2