Why did Atlanta United score so easily?

So, let’s watch the goal again:

The context: The game is 0-0. Time is about to run out. There is a sense of urgency.

The play starts with a Brad Guzan save.

It continues with Santiago Sosa.

Sosa looks up passes it about 15-20 yards forward to his left to fullback George Bello, who is closer to the sideline than the middle of the field.

Bello sidesteps an onrushing defender with a move to his left, bringing him a bit closer to the sideline and opening up angles for passes. There are now four Montreal players behind Bello, one to his side and five in front of him.

Bello looks up and sees Jake Mulraney in the channel between Montreal’s fullback and centerback, about 15-20 yards ahead. Heinze later said that Mulraney is a good player because he can run inside that channel or outside that channel, depending upon how many defenders the opponent is using.

Bello quickly passes to Mulraney.

Mulraney’s first touch takes him to his left, which luckily eliminates the defender to his right and isolates him against the defender on his left.

Bello continued his run with an “underlap,” cutting between Mulraney and Montreal’s centerbacks. That eliminates a Montreal centerback from moving over to try to double Mulraney because they must mark Bello.

Mulraney looks up and puts a cross into the center of the penalty box.

In that space are three Atlanta United players, with Brooks Lennon on the other side. That’s unusual because there are typically just two, sometimes one, on most crosses in most games.

Sprinting, Moreno reaches the ball and heads it into the lower right corner.

Goal.

Game-winner.

So, why couldn’t Atlanta United do this before?

What was different between that play and so many others in so many games this season?

For starters, Montreal finally lost its defensive shape to a certain degree. Like Atlanta United, it was pushing for a goal so some of its players were higher up the pitch.

Second, Atlanta United moved the ball forward quickly. Very quickly. Not sideways or backward. Forward. It’s not something it has done a lot of since giving up three goals in the second half of the Champions League against Philadelphia.

Third, when Bello received the ball and then Mulraney received the ball neither did so with their backs to Montreal’s goal. They could take the ball and move. When you watch Atlanta United right now, so many times players receive the ball with their backs squarely to the opponent goal. That’s fine if they are initiating a pass-and-move sequence. But that hasn’t happened a lot frequently.

Lastly, and I think this may be the most important, the players just played. There wasn’t a lot of thinking. They felt the urgency of the situation and did what was instinctual. I think too often this season the players have tried to think about what they were supposed to do, instead of just doing. That’s natural. Heinze is in his first year. He has very specific instructions. Eventually, those instructions will turn into instinct.

So, that’s my theory as to why Atlanta United scored so quickly and so easily against Montreal.

I just got word that my wife’s surgery was a success.