My ratings for Atlanta United's players following Sunday's 3-0 win over New York Red Bulls in the MLS playoff game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
Goalkeeper Brad Guzan, 8: Faced one shot, made on save. ... Distribution was good. .... Commanded the box well enough on set pieces. ... Two shutouts in three playoff games.
Centerback Jeff Larentowicz, 8: Perhaps lucky not to receive a yellow card in opening minutes when he appeared to nudge from behind one Red Bulls player into Bradley Wright-Phillips. ... Assisted on Josef Martinez's opening goal with a nicely hit cross. .... Finished with three tackles and completed 76 percent of his passes.
Centerback Michael Parkhurst, 8: Finished with three tackles and helped hold Bradley Wright-Phillips to just two shots, none on goal.
Centerback Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, 8.5: Very physical throughout with hard tackles of Bradley Wright-Phillips and Alex Muyl. ... He earned a yellow card in the 62nd minute for a professional foul of Wright-Phillips to start a counter-attack. ... Led the team with four tackles.
Right wingback Franco Escobar, 10: All over the right side of the field. ... His second goal with Atlanta United gave his team a 2-0 lead. ... Given an assist on Hector Villalba's goal. ... Manager Gerardo Martino said this is the Escobar they've been wanting to see.
Left wingback Greg Garza, 7: Whipped in diagonal after diagonal early, with few working, which is why he completed just 54 percent of his passes. ... Did create one chance.
Defensive midfielder Eric Remedi, 8: An odd game for him because he didn't need to make a tackle, nor did he create a chance. ... He worked hard to deny Wright-Phillips t he ball.
Midfielder Darlington Nagbe, 8.5: One of those games where he almost forget he was on the field until you see that he created two chances, made two tackles and completed more than 90 percent of his passes.
Midfielder Julian Gressel, 8: Quiet for most of the game, he sprinted into the penalty box to run onto a pass from Miguel Almiron. He passed to across to Escobar for his goal. It was Gressel's first assist in the playoffs. ...
Striker Miguel Almiron, 7: Limited by Red Bulls tough defense, he found space to find Gressel, who found Escobar on the second goal. ... It was Almiron's first assist in the playoffs. ... Finished with three shots, one on goal.
Striker Josef Martinez, 8: Not a meaningful touch in game's first 30 minutes, which wasn't his fault. ... Didn't matter because he gave his team a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute.
SUBS
Hector Villalba (on for Martinez, 77th minute), 9: After hitting the post, he scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Atlanta United a 3-0 lead. ....
Chris McCann (on for Garza, 83rd minute), NR:
Ezequiel Barco (on for Almiron, 86th minute), 8: His role as a super-sub is working well because of his ability to dribble out of pressure and make intelligent runs.
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