Atlanta United 5-1 Portland Timbers:
ATLANTA, GA–How long Thiago Almada remains a member of Atlanta United will be watched closely. For now, he is putting on command performances for the Five Stripes such as Saturday with two goals and two assists in a 5-1 thrashing of Portland Timbers.
Almada first sent Caleb Wiley on his way on a counter attack in the 25th minute to open the scoring. Just before halftime, Almada scored another world class free kick from 25 yards out to make it 2-0. If teams didn’t have enough players to worry about on Atlanta, then Gorgios Giakoumakis will fill in that void heading in Wiley’s cross in the 59th minute. Almada returned to provide Luis Araujo a long ball and the latter would do the rest in the 75th minute to make it 4-0. After a consolation goal from Tega Ikon for the Timbers, Almada completed his day with a brace to complete the scoring.
Atlanta now set the pace in the Eastern Conference on ten points, one ahead of New England, in this early part of the season while Portland sit in 10th in the West ahead of the four teams yet to win this year in the Western Conference.
Dave Williams, filling in for Jim Stapp, has the photos from Saturday’s match:
