Atlanta United take on the New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on May 20th, 2018. (photo Jim Stapp)
The New York Red Bulls hand Atlanta United their second straight home loss in front of 45,089 fans. The visitors weathered a tough first half and made the necessary adjustments to dominate the second half and deliver a statement win on the road.
After the first ten minutes Atlanta settled into the game and started to exert their style of play against the Red Bulls high press. They began to pressure the defense in earnest the 20th minute when they sprayed four shots on goal over the next 10 minutes. The first shot was this tantalizing close break from Miguel Almirón with a beautiful save from Red Bull keeper Ryan Meara.
21' | SO CLOSE
Miggy's a fingertip away from taking the lead#ATLUTD 0-0 @NewYorkRedBulls pic.twitter.com/skOkEhkGpu
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 20, 2018
Atlanta continued to press for the first goal came in the 26th minute off the foot of Ezequiel Barco. Then as the pressure continued to build Josef Martinez had what looked to be the second goal in the 31st minute. However, after a VAR review, referee Chris Penso waived the goal off for a foul committed on the last defender Tim Parker to gain position. The video below shows the entire sequence.
The momentum started to slip away from Atlanta and shifted completely in the 40th minute. Miles Robinson was whistled for a foul on Bradley Wright-Phillips inside of the box. New York equalized on the ensuing penalty kick from Daniel Royer in the 42nd minute to draw even before the half.
The first half looked to be going well for the home side, even if the score did not reflect it. Atlanta took two more shots on goal at the close of the half and looked to be poised to come out and regain the momentum. Atlanta United defender Michael Parkhurst spoke to the momentum shift in after the penalty kick, “Perhaps. We played almost a perfect first half. We did exactly what we wanted to do. We created three or four good chances to score. We really kept them at bay and until the penalty, so it was unfortunate that we went into the half 1-1, but the response in the second half wasn’t good enough.”
The second half was much different. New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch, “We tried to make a couple of adjustments tactically because they were putting a lot of guys on our backline and they were rotating (Miguel)Almirón, (Ezequiel)Barco and (Darlington) Nagbe. In a lot of ways, they were trying to get Almirón away from Tyler Adams, so we were trying to then talk about what kind of rotations we would want to make, how we would want to step to deal with certain moments. So, I think that was important. I thought the adjustments made at half were good and I thought overall we had good performances all across. … Very clear on what their roles were and the tactics and the game plan. Very good execution and some really good play from our team.”
The red Bulls took nine shoots and converted two of them into goals in the 51st and 55th minute from Bradley Wright-Phillips. This built a formidable lead and took the wind out of the sails of the home-side. Atlanta began to scramble and became even more careless with possession making sloppy passes and seeking to regain form. Things began to really unravel when Greg Garza picked up a red card in the 71st minute and the comeback was forced to be achieved down a man. The red card Atlanta received was the third this season, which ties them for the most of any MLS team.
The match seemed to end with a whimper. There was a somber moment after a nine minute delay in the 72nd minute due to Red Bull defender Kemar Lawrence went down and left the field on stretcher with his head and neck immobilized. The were several further attempts from Atlanta to at least pull a goal back but they were either of the mark or weak strikes easily handled by Meara.
Scoring
Ezequiel Barco got the first goal in the 26th minute. After a little give-n-go between Barco and Almirón, the pass back to Barco was deflected by Red Bull midfielder Tyler Adams. Barco collected the ball in front of goal and calmly deposited it in the back of the net.
The boat show has officially arrived in Atlanta ? pic.twitter.com/HbOyZg1Lo5
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 20, 2018
Personnel Details
Leandro Gonzalez Pirez picked up his fifth yellow card. This infraction brings a automatic suspension due to yellow card accumulation, and he will miss the next match against New England Revolution. He was lucky it was only yellow has he made a play that took down Florian Valot and could have easily been called a red card. Red Bulls head coach Jesse March called this out in the post game interview when he said, “I thought the breakaway with Valot should have been a red card.”
Leandro Gonzalez Pirez from Atlanta United defends against New York Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on May 20th, 2018. (photo Jim Stapp)
Greg Garza was shown his first straight red card in his time in Atlanta. His tackle of Red Bulls midfielder Sean Davies in the 71st minute warranted the straight red card for violent conduct.
Greg Garza from Atlanta United tackles New York Red Bulls midfielder Sean Davies in the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on May 20th, 2018. Garza was shown a straight red card for violent conduct. (photo Jim Stapp)
Line-ups
Atlanta United
- GK: Brad Guzan
- Defenders (3): Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Michael Parkhurst, Miles Robinson (Tito Villalba – 64′)
- Midfielders (5): Greg Garza, Jeff Larentowicz (Kevin Kratz – 64′), Miguel Almirón, Darlington Nagbe, Julian Gressel
- Forwards (2): Josef Martinez, Ezequiel Barco (Sal Zizzo – 72′)
Unused Substitutes
- Alec Kann, Mikey Ambrose, Brandon Vazquez, Romario Williams
New York Red Bulls
- GK: Ryan Meara
- Defenders (4): Kemar Lawrence (Conor Lade – 83′), Aaron Long, Tim Parker, Michael Murillo
- Defensive Midfielders (2): Tyler Adams (Derrick Etienne – 79′), Sean Davis
- Attacking Midfielders(3): Daniel Royer (Alex Muyl – 90+6′), Alejando Romero Gamarra, Florian Valot
- Forwards (1): Bradley Wright-Phillips
Unused Substitutes
- Evan Louro, Aurelien Collin, Fidel Escobar, Vincent Bezecourt
Up Next
Atlanta United travels to New England to face the Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. The match is Wednesday, May 30 kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Photo Gallery
Prost Amerika photographer Jim Stapp captured all the action check out his gallery here.
