Atlanta United 2 Survives Four Different Versions of the Same Match, Beats Connecticut United 4-1

Atlanta United 2 did not have to be at its best on Tuesday afternoon at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground. It had to be adaptable, and for most of a long, hot, disjointed afternoon, it was.

Atlanta celebrates Daniel Chica's opening goal on Tuesday afternoon. (photo: Sofia Cupertino for the SDH Network)

The final score, a 4-1 win over Connecticut United FC, suggests a comfortable day. The path there was anything but. Atlanta controlled the run of play for long stretches, broke through with a set piece goal, saw a red card issued to Connecticut that briefly seemed to help more than hurt, then had to survive a genuine scare after the Coywolves pulled within one with ten men still on the field. The 2's never stopped finding answers, and it moved them into third place in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference.

"It's key," head coach Jose Silva said. "We've had so many opportunities during the year to get inside the top three, and we always felt like when we arrived at the game, we couldn't achieve it. Today, the team is growing. It's not done, but the playoff is almost done, and now it also gives us the opportunity to fight for the second or third spot."

Solving the Press

"It's a team that presents something different," Silva said about Connecticut. "The block is really organized in a 4-2-4, and the four guys they have on top, the wingers and the striker, are probably the best team in the league on the counter. In the last seven games they've scored four in transition. They can create chances from nowhere. It was a game where we needed to be really smart with the ball."

Atlanta trusted goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert, Daniel Chica, Mohamed Cisset, and Matthew Senanou to play through that pressure rather than dropping a fifth man to manufacture an easy out. Break the first line, and the numbers flipped in Atlanta's favor everywhere else.

"If we break the lines there, it's basically free reign," Chica said. "Our midfielders move wide, Enzo can go higher, things just flip around. If we break that first line, it's usually easy to get past."

Getting there took patience, and Senanou credited the practice field for it. "It's something we work on a lot, that's credit to Coach Silva," he said.

"If we just keep passing it around, they're going to tire themselves out, and eventually that gap opens up for us to hit that play. If they want to step up and press us, that's fine. We want you to press us so we can punish the decisions you make."

The breakthrough, fittingly, came from a source this team has not always leaned on: a dead ball. In the 22nd minute, Andrew Jardines delivered a free kick to the back post, Cisset headed it back across goal, and Chica rose over his marker to get the decisive touch. The header deflected off Connecticut center back Lukas Kamrath, looped over the goalkeeper, and dropped in.

A Red Card, and a Match That Refused to Settle

Connecticut actually opened the second half well, growing more dangerous and threatening to make the one goal deficit uncomfortable. Then, in the 54th minute, the match changed. Senanou was shielding the ball in his own box when Tanyi pulled on his arm and conceded the foul. As Senanou walked away, Tanyi kicked out at him and was sent off on the spot.

Senanou, for his part, was happy to take some credit for provoking it. "I play super aggressive, and attackers don't like that," he said. "They don't like being grabbed, being locked down. It's an emotional game, and when emotions are high, reason is low. I knew if I got in his head a little, he'd react. It was probably the second or third time I'd done it, just off little grabs here and there, and he lost his emotions." The effect was immediate, he said. "It made everybody feel so much more relaxed, because they like to play on the counter. If we keep them running around a man down, they won't have the energy to counter us."

What followed was not the retreat that logic suggests. Connecticut kept trying to press with three rather than pulling into a shell, and the match got looser and stranger as a result. The move that doubled Atlanta's lead in the 66th minute started with a long ball from Jardines to Enzo Dovlo on the right, who spun away from two defenders and slid a diagonal pass toward Santiago Pita in the box. Pita got there but couldn't quite turn it in, and Connecticut center back Michael Boamah, arriving right behind him, scuffed the ball into his own net reacting to it. It looked like it might settle the afternoon.

It didn't. Even down a man, Connecticut kept playing direct and winning second balls, and that approach produced the 79th minute goal that made things uncomfortable again. Jardines lost the ball under pressure from Robbie Mora in midfield, Mora found Daniel D'Ippolito breaking between Senanou and Cisset, and D'Ippolito finished across goalkeeper Jonathan Ransom to make it 2-1.

Silva owned the lapse afterward. "When they had the red card, they tried to come with everything," he said. "We tried to be more direct to beat the lines they were creating. Instead, we tried to play through the middle, where they had more numbers, and that created the goal for them. After that, I think we answered very well." Senanou agreed. "We got a bit comfortable thinking we could play through everything," he said, "but we still had the quality to get through it."

Cameron Dunbar is one goal away from double digit goals and assists, which has never been done by an Atlanta United 2 player in a season. (photo: Sofia Cupertino for the SDH Network)

The release came in the 85th minute. Dovlo took a pass from Chica near midfield, turned and drove at Connecticut's defense, slowed down rather than forcing the issue, and found Cameron Dunbar in the box. Two touches to unbalance his defender, and Dunbar wrapped a right footed finish around him for his ninth goal of the season, his 20th goal contribution overall and his fifth straight match with one. "If you give players like Cameron Dunbar a yard of space, they're gonna punish you," Senanou said. A second Connecticut own goal in stoppage time capped it, Kamrath deflecting a cut out pass into his own net, and it finished 4-1.

The Group That Closed It Out

The most interesting detail of the closing stretch might not show up in the box score. Atlanta finished the match with a central midfield built almost entirely out of players who were not obvious choices for that job in March: Jardines and D.D. Sibrian started there, Josh Kwon and Ignacio Suarez-Couri closed it out.

D.D. Sibrian has been a vital part of the Atlanta midfield on their recent run to third place in the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference. (photo: Sofa Cupertino for the SDH Network)

"It's incredible," Silva said. "When we started the season, probably Jardines and D.D. were in a backup role, even Jardines more than Didi. We tried to create an environment for them to grow, and we feel Jardines is in good progression right now. D.D. is coming back to be the D.D. from last year. Josh Kwon, that kid is a 2010 and when he comes onto the field, he's helping the team a lot. When Ignacio comes in, he helps with his work rate, which was really important in the second half with the heat."

Enzo Dovlo's growth has been central to that trust. "What we saw from the beginning, watching him in college, is he's really vertical," Silva said. "It's difficult to find this kind of winger, one that likes to be wide and go one v one and create for himself. The second thing that's important with Enzo is he can create for others but also defend for the team. He doesn't mind sacrificing energy to help Chica in some defending areas. For us, he's a key player right now." Chica felt the benefit directly on Tuesday. "Enzo is great," he said. "He always helps me when their left back goes forward. He covers for me."

That's the deeper story sitting underneath Tuesday's result. Atlanta United 2 has spent this season handing increasingly meaningful responsibility to players who were not guaranteed a role in it, and on Tuesday those players were trusted with the engine room of a game that pushed the club to the doorstep of its first playoff appearance.

Atlanta United 2 (13-8-5, 45 points) returns to action Sunday, September 13, at Chattanooga FC's Finley Stadium, 3 p.m. ET.