Written by Newspaper Staff Reporter Derek Oliveros
This past Sunday, Atlanta United continued their season as they faced CF Montréal at home. Atlanta’s last two home matches ended in victories, and they were looking to do the same against the winless Montréal.
The scoring started early, with Josef Martinez taking advantage of a Montréal defensive mistake and scoring from outside the box only six minutes after the game started.
As the first half continued, Montréal went on a three-goal run to give them the advantage. Going into halftime, Atlanta was down one-to-three against CF Montréal.
Heading into the second half, Atlanta needed a burst of momentum to stay in this game. In the 67th minute, Atlanta forward Dom Dwyer did the opposite of this by receiving a red card after a challenge on Montréal winger Joaquín Torres, leaving Atlanta to try and complete a comeback with only ten men.
It wasn’t until the 85th minute that Atlanta started their comeback, with star signing Thiago Almada receiving the ball after a corner kick, pushing the ball forward, and scoring his first MLS goal to put Atlanta within one goal from Montréal.
The referee added five additional minutes of stoppage time, which was just enough time for Atlanta to work with. After Josef Martinez was fouled in Montréal’s half, Atlanta was awarded a free kick. Winger Brooks Lennon stepped up to take the free kick from far out, and he was able to get the ball in the goal, even with Montréal goalie Sebastian Breza getting a hand on it.
Up to this point, Atlanta has not had much success on set pieces, and with a goal coming off a corner kick and a goal coming from a free kick in this game, it looks like Atlanta’s starting to improve in this weaker aspect of their game.
Although Atlanta was not able to get the home victory they were anticipating, they were still able to come back from two goals down to end the game at a three-to-three score. Following the international break, Atlanta United will continue their season at DC United on April second.
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