Atlanta United showed fight. It showed grit. It showed something that it hasn’t consistently shown during two of the three previous playoff-less seasons.
And, on Saturday, it got its reward with a 1-0 win over New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The winning goal was scored by a very tired Giorgos Giakoumakis.
It was the first time in franchise history that it defeated its New Jersey foes in a regular season match, making it 1-8-4 against energy drink soccer.
“We want to always play,” Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda said. “Also, in the moments we needed to defend, we defended. In the moments we won the duels, we won most of those. I’m very happy with a very good performance and obviously happy that this is the first time beating the Red Bulls in the regular season in team history.”
With the victory, Atlanta United moved to second in the East, one point behind Cincinnati, with NYCFC at Yankee Stadium on deck.
Here are a few things learned from Saturday:
Atlanta United can fight. After being rolled 6-1 at Columbus last week, it was unclear if Atlanta United would try to go toe-to-toe with the Red Bulls.
Would Atlanta United, with six of the seven players back who missed the Columbus game, try to finesse its way to victory - or would it get down and as dirty as possible on a synthetic surface?
Well, Franco Ibarra put two Red Bulls players on their backsides in the first half with tackle. Giakoumakis followed early in the second half with a tackle in which he got the ball but also took out the legs of a Red Bulls player. It earned him a yellow card but showed that the Five Stripes were as comfortable with being physical as they have been known for being flashy.
“Yes, it was the game that felt more like a Scottish game than an American game,” Giakoumakis said.
Atlanta United won more duels than Red Bulls (61-59) and put more shots on goal (4-2). While it didn’t match them in yellow cards (NY 6, Atlanta 4) it did enough.
“I think when you play them you understand what type of game it’s going to be,” said goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who earned his second shutout this season. “They are direct, they understand how they want to play, and so it is up to us to make sure we compete in certain aspects of the game that are going to be difference makers; and we did that for 90-plus minutes tonight.”
The quartet makes a difference. Giakoumakis, Luiz Araujo, Thiago Almada and Derrick Etienne started at the top for the formation for the first time this season.
Etienne, Almada and Giakoumakis combined for the first goal. Miles Robinson hit a long diagonal from right to left to Etienne, who took a touch before playing it to Almada. His shot didn’t swerve but was hard enough that goalkeeper Carlos Coronel spilled it. Giakoumakis was the first to react, putting it in for his second goal this season.
“It wasn’t the easiest game that I’ve had so far but in the end we got three points,” Giakoumakis said. “It’s good to know that even in the games where you don’t perform very well, you get the three points and you move on.”
Giakoumakis said he was exhausted. He had returned earlier in the week form Europe where he was playing with Greece. His kids were sick when he returned to Atlanta but he said his wife did a great job taking care of them so that he could try to recuperate.
The quartet combined for seven fouls won, six shots, six successful dribbles, four chances created and, of course, one goal.
“I felt they did good,” Pineda said. “It was a difficult game. They didn’t have that many repetitions in the final third, so I think that is an area they can do better. But in those little moments when we broke them down, and had transitions moments, when we disrupted them, we created some dangerous situations.”
Wiley solid at left back. Caleb Wiley played a full game at left back for the first time since last season. He moved from wing to back because of Andrew Gutman’s adductor injury suffered in last week’s loss.
Wiley won possession five times, conceded just one foul, and helped limit New York’s Omir Fernandez and Kyle Duncan to three chances created and no shots on goal.
Wiley said the game was important because it was Atlanta United’s first win against them. He didn’t reference, but it was Wiley’s mistake that resulted in a penalty kick in last year’s game in Harrisonburg, N.J. that helped Red Bulls rally from 1-0 down to a 2-1 win.
“Most definitely,” he said. “This is the first time we have beaten them (in the regular season). So, it’s very important not only to me but to the whole club and the fans too.”
What’s next? While winning and breaking that hex must have felt nice, Atlanta United can’t relax because its next game is against NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, a venue that requires 90 minutes of focus because the field is so small games can turn with one pass.
Atlanta United is 1-4-2 at Yankee Stadium in regular season games. It will be Atlanta United’s third road game this season (1-0-1 in the first two road games).
“That stadium obviously presents its own challenges,” Guzan said. “We all know about it. We’ve got to deal with it. It is what it is. And so we’ll use this week to look where we can get better from today. But at the same time, we believe in each other. We believe in ourselves as a group and we’ll take the confidence from tonight and look to go into next week with that and hopefully come up with a good result.”
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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule
Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1
March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1
March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0
March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1
March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1
April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0
April 8 at New York City FC, 7:30 p.m.
April 15 at Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m.
April 23 vs. Chicago Fire FC, 4:30 p.m., FS1
April 29 at Nashville SC, 1:30 p.m., Fox
May 6 at Inter Miami CF, 7:30 p.m.
May 13 vs. Charlotte FC, 7:30 p.m.
May 17 vs. Colorado Rapids, 7:30 p.m.
May 20 at Chicago Fire FC, 8:30 p.m.
May 27 at Orlando City SC, 7:30 p.m.
May 31 vs. New England Revolution, 7:30 p.m., FS1
June 3 at Los Angeles FC, 10:30 p.m.
June 10 vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
June 21 vs. New York City FC, 7:30 p.m.
June 24 at New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
July 2 vs. Philadelphia Union, 4 p.m., Fox
July 8 at CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
July 12 at New England Revolution, 7:30 p.m.
July 15 vs. Orlando City SC, 7:30 p.m., FS1
Aug. 20 at Seattle Sounders, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 26 vs. Nashville SC, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 30 vs. FC Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 2 at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Sept. 16 vs. Inter Miami CF, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 23 vs. CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 4 at Philadelphia Union, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 7 vs. Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 21 at FC Cincinnati, TBA
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