Atlanta United defeat New England 2-1

Atlanta United defeat New England on goal from 16-year-old Bello

Atlanta looked comfortable in a another dominant performance at home in front 45,122 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on a warm afternoon. Atlanta controlled the match throughout, possessing the ball for more than 62% of the time. Like the last match at home, the visitors did not muster much in the way of attack.

New England came with a game plan to play a very physical match. They committed 20 fouls to just five for Atlanta as well as collecting four yellow cards. All match long Atlanta players were being picked-up off the pitch from a senseless hard foul. Many of the fouls were not even attempts to play the ball, just a shove in the back or pulling on the shirt.

Atlanta United midfielder Julian Gressel on the New England physical style of play, “They’ve been a team that has been fouling a lot all year. They’re very aggressive when they press. Today they kind-of let us have it in the back, and then, once it got to the midfield, they got pretty aggressive, so we were definitely expecting that. Not really any surprises. We just had to play through it and kind of get their hand and kept going and just playing within the game.”

Atlanta United defender Leandro González Pírez added, “I think we controlled the game for a full 90 minutes. They
were able to find a goal late, I think more than anything just due to the fatigue on our part, but we were able to get the win.”

Scoring Details

Atlanta United 1 – New England Revolution 0 – George Bello (Leandro González Pírez) 17’
Leandro González Pírez took a free kick from midfield and played a nice ball forward between a pair of New England defenders. George Bello raced behind the defenders and took a touch that pushed the ball into the box. His second touch was a solid strike from his left foot that went off the out reached hand of keeper Brad Knighton into the back of the net.

A moment to remember.@_georgebello's first @MLS goal. What. A. Strike. https://t.co/IYcowNdMCJ

— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 6, 2018

Atlanta United 2 – New England Revolution 0 – Julian Gressel (Tito Villalba) 52’
Julian Gressel pushed a header to Tito Villalba at midfield. Villalba pressed forward and paused at the top of the box, he sent the ball through for streaking Gressel. Gressel took a quick strike to the far post for his 4th goal of season, his second in three matches.

Tito with the slip ✨
Julian with the slot ?

Make that 2-0 for #ATLUTD https://t.co/ybeDJ4yVkF

— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 6, 2018

Atlanta United 2 – New England Revolution 1 – Juan Agudelo (Diego Fagundez) 90+2’
Juan Agudelo received a chipped a ball into the box from Diego Fagundez. Agudelo eluded Brad Guzan and walked the ball into the net.

Squad Details

George Bello scored his first MLS goal, and became the sixth youngest player to score a goal in MLS history at 16 years, 257 days.

Miguel Almirón left the match in the 30th minute and was reported to have a left leg injury. After the match head coach Tata Martino stated, “In regard to Miguel, he is having some tests done, and we won’t know the results until later. It seems like it was a muscular injury. I think the reaction from the team was good. We played very solid in the first half. I think Miguel’s injury affected us as a team a little bit and also the fans.”

Line-ups

Atlanta United

• GK: Brad Guzan
• Defenders (3): Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Michael Parkhurst, Jeff Larentowicz
• Midfielders (4): George Bello, Eric Remedi, Darlington Nagbe, Julian Gressel
• Forwards (3): Tito Villalba (Franco Escobar – 67’), Miguel Almirón (Ezequiel Barco – 30’), Josef Martinez

Unused Substitutes

• Alec Kann, Jose Hernandez, Kevin Kratz, Andrew Carleton, Romario Williams

New England Revolution

• GK: Brad Knighton
• Defenders (4): Kelyn Rowe, Brandon Bye, Michael Mancienne, Antonio Mlinar Delamea
• Midfielders (2): Zachary Herivaux (Diego Fagundez – 69’), Luis Caicedo
• Midfielders (3): Crisitian Penilla, Wilfried Zahibo (Jalil Anibaba – 57’), Guillermo Hauche (Juan Aguedelo – 57’)
• Forward (1): Teal Bunbury

Unused Substitutes

• Cristhian Machado, Brian Wright, Isaac Angking, Matt Turner

Up Next

Atlanta United returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 3:00 p.m. when it welcomes the Chicago Fire to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the last home match of the regular season.

Record Tracking

Goal Differential
Atlanta is currently sitting on a +28-goal differential. This is tied for the fifth-best in MLS history with the 2012 San Jose Earthquakes.
Road Wins
Altanta has ten road wins, the most in the MLS in the post shoot-out era. Four teams are tied with nine wins.
Total Wins
With this win Atlanta picked up its 20th win tying the record held by the 2014 Seattle Sounders and 2018 Toronto FC.
Total Points
Currently Atlanta has 66 points. Toronto FC holds the all-time points record with 69.
To surpass 69 points, the team will need at least one win and a draw in their final two matches.
Goals
With 67 goals, Atlanta is now tied for the eighth most goals in a regular season.