Before Saturday’s game between Atlanta United and Philadelphia in Chester, Pa., Union coach Jim Curtin gave some of the home team’s fans a chalk talk.
He talked about lineups, goals and tactics for more than 30 minutes.
One of the tactics that he said would be very important to increasing the chances of a victory was to stay compact: no more than 30 yards between the fullbacks and striker C.J. Sapong.
It was a tactic that D.C. United and others have used well to stifle Atlanta United’s attack.
Philadelphia played it very well, until this happened.
As you can see in the video, the Union got strung out. Suddenly, there was space. Suddenly, Atlanta United split two lines with one pass to Josef Martinez, who was brought down by Joseph Yaro, resulting in him receiving a red card and forcing Philadelphia to play with 10 men for the final 38 minutes.
If you don’t think Yaro, who is 5-11, might have been able to get a head on the Greg Garza cross that Tyrone Mears eventually headed in for a score to tie the game at 2, then we will just have to disagree.
