Atlanta United Held to Fifth Straight Draw With D.C. United
Miguel Almirón and the Five Stripes created chance after chance at Audi Field, but Sean Johnson and the crossbar had the last word, leaving Atlanta's playoff math no easier ahead of a trip to Portland.
Atlanta United headed to Audi Field coming off a match performance they would like to put in the rear view mirror as quickly as possible. With a third match in eight days, the trip to DC gave them that opportunity.
DC United was coming into their match day after Tai Baribo reinforced how dangerous he can be, scoring a brace in a 2-1 home win against Columbus Wednesday night. The result put the home side one point out of the play-in round in the Eastern Conference (6-7-10, 28 points, 11th place). For Atlanta United (6-14-4, 22 points, 14th place), the margins for surrendering points in a playoff chase were becoming thinner, now seven points from a post-season appearance.
For Tata Martino, Lucas Hoyos would start in net behind one change at the back. Enea Mihaj started for Paulo Díaz. Elias Baez, Júnior Alonso, and Tomas Jacob remained in place. Mauricio Amaro would again get the nod in the midfield with Cooper Sanchez and Jay Fortune. Miguel Almirón, Breel Embolo, and Alexey Miranchuk would be up top.
Martino said afterward that Díaz's absence, like several of his second half substitutions, came down to fitness rather than tactics. "There's a physical issue with him," Martino said. "Júnior's departure was also a physical issue, Fortune's departure was also a physical issue, and, I'm forgetting someone, Amaro's too. That's from fatigue."
For Rene Weiler, Sean Johnson got the nod in net. The back line would be, left to right, Kurokawa, Rowles, Bartlett, and Hefti. The midfield in Weiler's 4-4-2 would consist of Ordaz, Dozzell, Servania, and Nono. Munteanu and Baribo would start up top, two changes from the win against Crew.
It would take Atlanta United awhile to get into the rhythm of Audi Field and how to respond to a surface that looked like it had not been mown in a while and over-deployed sprinklers that made the surface slow when it came to passing on the ground.
In the 10th minute, the Five Stripes got their first chance as Miguel Almirón would send in a cross from the left looking for Breel Embolo. Sean Johnson would stretch to interrupt the path of the ball. Embolo would try to find a handle on it and his attempt would be deflected by a defender away from net, resulting in back-to-back corners.
Ten minutes later, a corner would end up outside the DC 18 to give them a chance in transition. Jay Fortune would retreat to help out and slow the rush once it met the attacking third. With passing going from center backs to the front line and the midfielders working side to side to catch DC compressed, a pass to Almirón was a step ahead of him for Sean Johnson to grab.
DC would have another chance in the 24th off a turnover. Brandon Servania tried a cross from the right looking for Tai Baribo, but Enea Mihaj would step in the way and stop the rush. Seven minutes later, Atlanta United almost had a "Goal of the Year" candidate. Júnior Alonso found Miguel Almirón on a long pass, it was chested down and the Almirón volley sailed just wide of the far post.
Mauricio Amaro would pick up a needless yellow card in the 36th minute for a foul on Louis Munteanu, and three minutes later Elias Baez needed a lengthy injury delay before the match could continue.
Almirón would have another chance with three minutes to go in the first half, but his shot inside the DC 18 yard box would end up going into the near side netting. The half would end with one added minute and a chance from Alexey Miranchuk that would go wide of the near post.
Atlanta United had the edge in play in the second 45, starting five minutes in off a second chance where Miguel Almirón had a shot go wide of the far post. Breel Embolo would work with Alexey Miranchuk to free Cooper Sanchez on the left in the 54th minute. The defense would recover just enough to disrupt the Sanchez attempt, deflecting it wide of the far post.
Rene Weiler turned to his bench first, sending on Jared Stroud, Jackson Hopkins, and Matti Peltola in the 56th minute for Nathan Ordaz, Silvan Hefti, and Brandon Servania. Tata Martino followed a minute later, bringing on Adrian Gill, Matt Edwards, and Tristan Muyumba for Jay Fortune, Mauricio Amaro, and Júnior Alonso, looking for a spark and fresh legs.
Inside 30 minutes to go, the chances would be there for the visitors on three separate occasions. The first was a shot right at Sean Johnson through traffic by Breel Embolo. The second would come off a full sprint down the right side by Edwards, who found Embolo near the penalty spot. His pass to Miguel Almirón would result in a shot where Almirón was trying to set up his favored left foot, but it wouldn't come off as planned. The third would be a block by the DC defense on an Almirón shot once again.
The match was turning feisty by then. Tristan Muyumba was shown a yellow card just five minutes after entering, and DC would have three of its own before the night was over. Kye Rowles, Kimito Nono, and Jared Stroud all picked up cautions within three minutes of each other.
Fafà Picault would be the next-to-last card Tata Martino would play, replacing Almirón, and it would almost create an instant dividend. Fafà worked down the left hand side and his cross into the DC six yard box would eventually find Embolo. His hurried bicycle kick would go off the near post, but the assistant referee would raise his flag for Embolo being offside.
Two more opportunities for Atlanta United would come up without reward. Miranchuk would shoot at Sean Johnson with three minutes of the 90 left, and Luke Brennan replaced Cooper Sanchez soon after. Then, at the death, Adrian Gill would hustle to keep a ball from rolling out of play and find Brennan waiting at the doorstep.
Brennan's header would carom off the underside of the crossbar, bounce back in his direction, but not come off with a follow-up chance before the whistle came.
Cooper Sanchez spoke about the way the match turned out afterwards. "I think we played really well in all aspects of the game except for scoring a goal, and that's football some days," Sanchez said. "It was really good from a pressing aspect, keeping the ball, moving the ball, creating chances. I thought we created a lot of chances, so the all-around aspect of the game was good. Now it's just about scoring goals and finishing that, but we can build off of this."
Sanchez pointed to what made the breakthrough so hard to find. "They're a really compact defensive team, especially when we have the ball near the box," he said. "They're good at box defending. I'd say their center backs are good at clearing the box and everything. What I've learned is that we need to finish our attacks. You can dominate a football game as long as you want, but ultimately we didn't score a goal, and we end with a 0-0 draw."
Martino was even more direct when a reporter cited the 62 percent possession and 19 chances created and asked whether Saturday was a point gained or two points lost. "No, no, clearly, two points were lost," Martino said. "No doubt about it."
The goalless draw would be the fifth straight draw between DC United and Atlanta United, helping neither side in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Atlanta United will have a long road trip to Portland next week.
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