Atlanta United FC: The 5 Stripes Take a Bewildering Loss at Home
By W. M. Lawson
Atlanta United FC came home Sunday after a long and arduous four game road trip. Home field wasn’t enough, however, in a 3-1 loss to DC United.
In the pregame analysis, Alexi Lalas posited that Atlanta United FC was already among the MLS “élite”. The stipulation being that they had to continue to show that by beating mediocre teams at home. DC United was one such team. Atlanta lost 3-1.
Yes…this was a bewildering and baffling loss. Everything on paper screamed that the newest United squad would handle the original MLS United squad. Unfortunately, missed opportunities and a diminutive Argentine had something to say about it.
The early going , meaning the first five minutes, looked like Atlanta was heading for another blowout win à la Minnesota or Chicago. But missed opportunity after missed opportunity began to offer an eerie feeling. You know the one…that this just isn’t our day. It happens in most sports.
In fact, Atlanta United had 26 shots on goal to DC United’s nine. Let that sink in. Of those 26 shots, a full 1/3 were completely off the mark (9). Meaning, DC didn’t really have to defend them. Atlanta was getting shots, they just didn’t execute.
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The other aspect of this game that must be mentioned is the play of DC’s Lucian Acosta. That dude ran all over the field, waxing and weaving through traffic, and did it all day long. His ability to control the ball, and see through traffic, won that game for DC United…that and an own goal by ATL UTD.
Still, even with the play of Acosta, Atlanta should’ve won this game. They are the better team, objectively. But there are questions starting to emerge. Mainly, their aggressive style of play. Yes, it is incredibly fun to watch. And the air raid style that they open each half with, and the accompanying bombardment of shots, is very effective. Passing in space can be a thing of beauty.
When you are that aggressive, though, you have to protect against counter-strikes. This is also true of most sports. You can’t be so aggressive that your rear flank is exposed. That happened often Sunday, and bad things happened as a result
It would be presumptive to proffer that they should hold back, but this does need to be addressed. In fact, Atlanta has now blown 4 leads in 8 games played. That isn’t going to be good enough. And fair, or not, Atlanta sports fans are tired of watching that type of game.
The truth is that we are now seeing the effects of a full MLS season on an expansion franchise. While it is true that Atlanta United is a good team, they still have to learn how to play MLS ball. It doesn’t just happen. It is a process.
This game was odd. Atlanta missed dozens of shots at point-blank range, had an own goal on a ball that was played pretty well, and let a 5’2” DC United player toy with the ball on their side. That won’t happen often.
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It was a bad loss for Atlanta United FC. But they will work through this. They still sit in 6th place, currently, with 11 points (3-2-3). They have questions. They have things to go to work on. But this team can fix and alter. They will adjust.