The first few minutes of the match was a showdown between the defenses. Throughout the first 15 minutes, there was not a shot for either team.
Atlanta would find their moments as they tallied nine shot and two of those being on target in the first half and held Charlotte to no shot on target. Atlanta had a few opportunities, but couldn't find the back of the net.
In the 50th minute, Charlotte would take the lead. On the counter attack, after Wilfried Zaha retrieves it and skips through the Atlanta defense to find Pep Biel Mas June.
"First figuring out what the problem is. Once that second half starts, every time you go into a game; the first half, second half, you always put emphasis on the first five or ten minutes because that’s what really can change the impact of the game," said Jay Fortune after the loss. "
For us, it’s figuring it out and really concentrating for 95 minutes. That’s going to be one of our biggest focuses, but, as a team, we really need to concentrate for 95 plus minutes because, as you can see, the one or two minutes that you slip up, you can lose a game.".
Charlotte would find the game winner in the 54th minute a long ball over the top was delivered to Liel Abada. He cuts in, tries a shot and Brad Guzan punched it out, but it it falls to Zaha who strikes on a one touch volley to make it 2-0.
"Communication and compactness and being hard to play against in the first half, we did that tremendously well. In the second half, not so much. In this league, there's enough good players that when the game gets open, especially a team like Charlotte, in terms of their attacking players and their ability to transition," said Brad Guzan. "There were two nothing balls that turned into really dangerous and ultimately goals for them. When you allow the game to get open like that, anything could happen in, you know today, it's it was against us, and it hurt us big time."
Unfortunately, Atlanta couldn't find anything as Charlotte FC took the three points. This is the first time in the four game series that the home team has taken the win.
"We cannot do anything with bad result. We have to do something with our performances, and then you have to keep going. This is the first loss in six games. We will come back again in this next week and bounce back," said Head Coach Ronny Deila. "That's also shows what a good team is, is about what happens when when you don't get what you want, then you have to show that we we are on the on the right spot again next week. "
Atlanta United is back in action next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as they host the New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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