Atlanta United’s season, which went from promise to despair and back to hope, ended with a 2-0 loss to NYCFC in the first round of the MLS playoffs on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
The end came in a four-minute span featuring two set pieces in the second half during which Atlanta United had no one but themselves to blame. The first goal was scored by Valentin Castellanos as two Atlanta United players watched the ball slowly bounce into the goal. The second by Alexander Callens came because no Atlanta United player reacted quickly enough to a shot that was parried off the post.
“They will have some periods of time where maybe you’re not as focused as you should be,” manager Gonzalo Pineda said. “At those moments of the game, we talked before about managing better those thoughts, and whether you can take advantage in the moments that you’re ahead of the game, or in the moment, just trying to stay calm and just solve the pressure in a better way when when the opposition is dominating you.”
That Atlanta United even made the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons was a surprise after taking just 13 points and scoring 13 goals from its first 13 league games. Gabriel Heinze, the manager of that disastrous start, was fired amid allegations that overworked the players in training in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Rob Valentino and then Gonzalo Pineda got the team back on a more positive. It finished the season as one of the hottest teams in the league but still had hanging over it the horrible record of going 1-6-8 against playoff teams.
That record was underscored on Sunday in a performance reminiscent of those under Heinze.
Playing on the tiny pitch in the Bronx, Atlanta United’s high-powered and very expensive offense appeared to be in a straitjacket. There was no cohesion between Josef Martinez, Luiz Araujo, Marcelino Moreno and Ezequiel Barco, who may have played his last game for the team because he figures to be sold in an upcoming transfer window. The team had just eight shots, four on goal, and six chances created.
“When when the field is so narrow and you put a lot of people inside and then when you go outside you don’t have as much space as you as you would like,” Pineda said. “But at the same time I think at times we should have done a better job of moving the boat faster from side to side with better moments and overloads after after switching the play.”
In a change from his preferred three centerback nucleus, Pineda switched to two centerbacks, Miles Robinson and Alan Franco, in order to get the attacking quartet of Martinez, Barco, Araujo and Moreno, and two defensive midfielders, Santiago Sosa and Matheus Rossetto, on the pitch. The wingbacks were Brooks Lennon and George Bello, with Brad Guzan in goal.
NYCFC went with a 5-4-1 formation that included Sean Johnson, a Lilburn native, in goal, with Maxime Chanot, Callens, Malte Amundsen, James Sands and Tayvon Gray as the defenders, Alfredo Morales, Maxi Moralez, Jesus Medina and Santiago Rodriguez in the midfielder, and Castellanos, the Golden Boot winner, at striker.
The first half started slowly but the intensity began to increase in the final 15 minutes with both teams creating scoring chances that proved unsuccessful.
Barco dribbled from midfield into the box before being dispossessed.
NYCFC followed with Robinson stopping Moralez at close range. That was followed by Guzan diving to his right to block a 20-yard shot by Moralez.
Franco received a yellow card in the 43rd minute for a late tackle of Sands.
That was followed by an NYCFC goal in the 44th minute by Rodriguez that disallowed for offside. But NYCFC dominated the final 10 minutes of the half.
The two standout strikers, Martinez and Castellanos, were effectively neutralized in the first half. Castellanos finished with 16 touches in first half, one shot on goal and one chance created. Martinez had 13 touches with no shots or chances created.
That quickly changed.
NYCFC took a 1-0 on a shot by Castellanos from six yards in the 49th minute. Unmarked at the back post on a corner, Castellanos volleyed a shot into the ground. The ball bounced over Guzan toward the back post. Bello watched the ball come down with neither he nor Guzan making a move to clear it.
Pineda said the team knew that Castellanos likes to go to the back post on corners. But the quick kick NYCFC took seemed to catch Atlanta United by surprise. Lennon could be seen raising his hand to signal offside on the first pass to Moralez when there is no offside on a corner. Moralez was credited with this assist.
NYCFC struck again on another set piece four minutes later on a header by Callens. The play started with Guzan palming away a 17-yard shot by Moralez. The shot bounced off the post and to Callens, who was the first to react.
“At the end of the day it was set pieces,” Guzan said. “You switch off in those moments. You give them half a second and we got punished.”
Martinez got his first real chance in the 61st minute with a left-footed shot that forced Johnson to dive to his left to make a save.
Pineda brought on Jurgen Damm and Jake Mulraney for Sosa and Araujo in the 62nd minute in an attempt to spark the offense.
Nothing changed.
Pineda said part of the tactics were to switch the ball quickly from side to side. It didn’t often happen, partially by choice and partially because of NYCFC.
There were many examples of Barco, Moreno or Araujo trying to beat their defender one-on-one. Even when they did, because the field is so small, there was another defender just a few yards away closing them down. Lennon said that was part of why the team’s attacking talent was nullified.
Guzan said the team knew that NYCFC likes to pinch opponents into one side and the team couldn’t consistently play out of that.
“We never really found our attacking point in terms of going forward and really dominating possession and creating as many chances,” Guzan said.
Atlanta United’s final record for the season was 13-9-12. Its playoff record is 6-3-1. Training camp will open in either late Jan. or early Feb. 2022.
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