Soccer Down Here
The Week in Atlanta Soccer History: May 23-29
May 23
1967- Phil Woosnam scored two goals to lead the Atlanta Chiefs to a 4-1 win on the road over the Toronto Falcons.
1970- The Atlanta Chiefs won 1-0 over the Kansas City Spurs at Tara Stadium in front of 2,667 fans. Graham Newton scored the winning goal.
1981- The Chiefs lost in a shootout in San Diego to the Sockers. Brian Kidd scored the lone regulation goal for Atlanta.
1997- The Atlanta Ruckus defeated the Vancouver 86ers 3-2 at Roswell Stadium in front of 2,809 fans. Mo Suri, Stilian Shiskov (in his Ruckus debut), and Jacenir Silva scored for Atlanta.
2012- In the first meeting between two Georgia-based clubs in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the Atlanta Silverbacks defeated the Georgia Revolution 1-0 in Conyers.
May 24
1970- The Chiefs lost 1-0 in St. Louis to the Stars in front of 2,500 fans at Francis Field in the second match of a back-to-back schedule.
1980- The Atlanta Chiefs earned a shootout win at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium after a 1-1 regulation draw against the Washington Diplomats. 5,485 turned out on a Saturday. Keith Furphy scored the Atlanta goal in regulation.
1996- The Ruckus lost 5-1 on the road to the Colorado Foxes in A-League action. Lenin Steenkamp scored his second goal of the season for Atlanta.
2001- The Atlanta Beat won 2-0 in Philadelphia against the Charge in WUSA regular season play. Cindy Parlow and Marci Miller scored for the Beat.
2009- Atlanta FC qualified for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in a Region III tournament in Jacksonville, FL. They were the first amateur team from Georgia to qualify for the tournament since the 1980's.
2019- Atlanta United lost 2-1 to Real Salt Lake in MLS play. Josef Martinez scored for Atlanta.
May 25
1973- The Atlanta Apollos drew 0-0 with the Dallas Tornado in front of 3,754 at Grant Field.
1978- Bill Putnam announced that Atlanta would have a team in the new professional indoor Super Soccer League, which was set to launch on July 5.
1980- The Atlanta Wolves were defeated by the New York Freedoms 3-1 in the Eastern Final of the US Open (Challenge) Cup tournament. Tony Kyatt scored the goal for the Wolves.
1995- The Atlanta Magic withdrew from the USISL outdoor season after playing two games. They were playing at McCurry Park in Fayetteville.
1996- In a U23 international friendly ahead of the 1996 Olympics, the USA defeated Ireland 4-1 in front of 2,500 fans at Decatur High School.
2000- Melchester Rovers are first Georgia entrant in the US Open Cup since the 1980's. They started qualifying in Tulsa, OK on this date during Memorial Day weekend. Club launched in 1996, played out of Harmony Grove Park in Lilburn in 2000. They won their first ADASL title in the 1999-2000 season.
May 26
1968- The Atlanta Chiefs were set to host Manchester City, but the match was delayed by a day due to storms in the area.
1973- In the second night of back-to-back games, the Atlanta Apollos lost 5-0 to the New York Cosmos in front of 3,920 at Yankee Stadium. Joey Fink had a hat trick for the Cosmos.
1979- The LA Aztecs thrashed the Chiefs 5-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in front of 10,190.
1994- Feature in the Southside EXTRA section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that Darla Moyle was the first woman to coach a boys' soccer team in Clayton County at Jonesboro High School. She moved out of the area in the summer and did not return as coach after a 8-4 season.
2000- The Silverbacks lost on the road to the Raleigh Capital Express 4-2. Iggy Moleka scored both Atlanta goals in front of 887 fans.
May 27
1967- The Atlanta Chiefs defeated the Pittsburgh Phantoms 2-1 in front of 13,132 at Atlanta Stadium. Player-coach Phil Woosnam scored both Atlanta goals.
1968- In one of the most famous matches to ever take place in Atlanta, the Chiefs defeated the English 1st division champions Manchester City 3-2 at Atlanta Stadium in front of the largest soccer crowd in the city, state, and region at that time of 23,141. Graham Newton, Kaizer Motaung, and Freddie Mwila scored the goals for Atlanta. Legendary columnist Jesse Outlar said in the Atlanta Constitution: "Those 23,141 customers couldn’t have cheered louder Monday night if the Braves had won the seventh game of the World Series.”
1972- The Chiefs lost 4-2 on the road to the New York Cosmos. Art Welch and Paul Child scored for Atlanta.
1995- The Atlanta Ruckus defeated the New York Fever 2-1 at Adams Stadium in front of 2,285 fans. Staale Soebye scored both Atlanta goals.
1996- The Ruckus drew 2-2 with the US U23 national team as part of the preparation for the Olympics. 5,027 packed Adams Stadium for the match.
2001- The Beat defeated the Bay Area CyberRays 1-0 on the road behind a goal from Charmaine Hooper.
2015- The Atlanta Silverbacks defeated Chattanooga FC 2-1 after extra time at Finley Stadium in the 3rd round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
May 28
1982- Kevin Fouser scored two goals as the Georgia Generals beat the Detroit Express at DeKalb Memorial Stadium in front of 5,200 fans. Fouser, a Parkview HS graduate, was making his first pro start. Danny Payne scored the winning goal.
1987- Leslie Suder was named Cobb County Girls Soccer Player of the Year. She signed a soccer scholarship with the University of Central Florida and played club with Atlanta Eagles, who were the defending U19 state champions. Suder went on to be the first coach of the Georgia State women's program.
1999- The Silverbacks lost in a shootout to the Richmond Kickers at DeKalb Memorial Stadium after a 2-2 draw. 1,932 fans saw goals from Sylvan Bednar and Iggy Moleka for the home team.
2013- The Silverbacks lost 3-2 after extra time at Rio Tinto Stadium to Real Salt Lake in the 3rd round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
2014- The Silverbacks defeated Chattanooga FC 5-0 on the road in the 3rd round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
2017- Atlanta United defeated NYCFC 3-1 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Miguel Almiron scored twice and Tito Villalba scored once for Atlanta.
May 29
1968- The Chiefs followed up their win over Manchester City with a 1-0 win over the Dallas Tornado on the road. 2,959 turned out at the Cotton Bowl to see Peter McParland's winning goal.
1971- The Chiefs routed Dallas 4-1 at Atlanta Stadium in front of 6,129 fans. Nick Papadakis scored twice, Dave Metchick and Kaizer Motaung also added goals.
1971- In a college club match, UGA defeated Georgia Tech 4-0 before the Chiefs' match at Atlanta Stadium. Lenny Lockett was the player-coach for UGA. It was the 23rd win of the season for Georgia, they only had 7 losses and 1 draw coming into this season-ending match. They won 15 of their last 16. Rohan Backfish scored all the UGA goals. He was born in Germany.
1994- Chris Cook scored two goals to lead the Atlanta Magic to a 6-1 win over the South Florida Flamingos in USISL outdoor action at the old Roswell High School stadium.
2000- The Silverbacks drew 1-1 at the Hershey Wildcats. Patrick Beech's 4th goal of the season wasn't enough to overcome the home side, the Silverbacks finished with 9 players after extra time red cards to Josh Henderson and Tony Soto.
2019- Atlanta United defeated Minnesota United 3-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on goals from Josef Martinez (2) and Franco Escobar.