What was learned in Atlanta United’s loss to Philadelphia

CHESTER, Pa. -- Atlanta United’s defense can still be blitzed. Manager Gonzalo Pineda doesn’t like Alex Chilowicz’s decision-making.

And the Five Stripes no longer control their destiny in their bid to fulfill their preseason goal of finishing at least fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Those are a few things learned from Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Philadelphia at Subaru Park.

ExplorePineda frustrated with officiating in loss to Philadelphia

Pineda unhappy with officiating: Pineda weaved into the answer of every question asked after the match how much he disagreed with the no-calls of two handballs committed by Philadelphia that would have resulted in penalty kicks and helped his side.

“What else do we need to do to earn the respect?” he said. “Because to me it feels that tonight we were punished.”

One handball was called. It resulted in Thiago Almada’s penalty kick in the second half and cut Philadelphia’s lead to 3-1 in the 56th minute. It was his 11th goal this season.

Pineda was irate that two, one in each half and both against Nathan Harriel, were neither called nor reviewed by Chilowicz. Pineda said had that happened, his team would have won 4-3.

“It feels like it is controversial, and normally the calls from Alex go against us,” Pineda said. “What else we need to do to earn the respect? That’s my response to your question.”

Even Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said his players thought the first instance was a handball. Curtin told a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer that he’s not sure what a handball is anymore.

“We’re at a point in the game where I don’t know what the solution is, but it has to be more black and white, because there’s too much gray,” he said.

As of Thursday morning, neither Chilowicz nor the Professional Referee Organization had responded to Pineda’s comments.

Defense. The handball non-calls (and missed scoring opportunities that went along with them) were important because Philadelphia shredded Atlanta United’s defense for three goals in the final six minutes of the first half.

Atlanta United’s defense has a habit of giving up goals in bunches. In its only other loss in the past eight matches, it gave up two goals in five minutes to Cincinnati.

The scoring burst came a few minutes after the first non-call of a handball.

“The first one is right before their goals and we were dominating the game until that point,” Pineda said. “We were on top of them. Today, that was the most important part.”

Midfielder Tristan Muyumba said perhaps the team was confused after the first non-call, which resulted in it conceding the first goal to Daniel Gazdag in the 39th minute. On that play, Chilowicz could be seen talking to Brooks Lennon and Thiago Almada when Philadelphia’s Jack McGlynn quickly walked up to the group and took a free kick that eventually resulted in the goal.

Not even Chilowicz looked as if he was prepared for the restart, but he allowed play to continue.

But Muyumba said the team should have played smarter and better to not give up the two additional goals.

“I think that’s part of the game where we need to be more smart,” he said.

Mosquera. Mosquera scored Atlanta United’s second goal. It was his third this season and second in as many matches.

The goal was scored in the 77th minute and cut Philadelphia’s lead to 3-2.

Next. Atlanta United will host Columbus Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Here’s a look at the current Eastern Conference standings:

1. Cincinnati -- 65

2. Orlando City -- 57

3. Philadelphia -- 54

4. Columbus -- 53

5. New England -- 52

6. Atlanta United -- 49

The top four seeds in each conference receive home-field advantage in the best-of-three opening round of the playoffs. Atlanta United is 10-3-3 at home and 3-6-7 in away matches.

If the Five Stripes can defeat Columbus and win at Cincinnati Oct. 21, it still has a chance to finish fourth. Columbus will close its season hosting ninth-place Montreal. Philadelphia will host seventh-place Nashville on Saturday and play Oct. 21 at New England.

“We need to be focused on this game (against Columbus) and after we will see what happens,” Muyumba said. “So yes, we don’t give up on the top four.”

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1