Atlanta united x new England revolution
What a strange week it has been in Atlanta. The main story this week revolved around Josef Martinez, who trained separately from the team this past week as they continue to contend with a shorthanded roster due to injuries and players on international duty. It will be interesting to see how the standoff between Atlanta's star striker and their coach resulted in Heinze’s firing after this past loss. On the field, their struggles continued as they produced very little offensively against Bruce Arena's men. All the better for the Revs, who ended a three-match losing streak to maintain their lead in the Eastern Conference.
Gustavo Bou's 18th-minute goal propelled the New England Revolution to a 1-0 victory over Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday evening. It was the Revs' first road victory over Atlanta, which saw their franchise-worst winless streak extend to eight games this year.
Atlanta had the first chance of the game in the 13th minute when Torres found himself on the receiving end of a nice ball from Marcelino Moreno, but Brad Knighton easily denied him. Soon after, Knighton was called into action, deflecting Moreno's long-range blast. However, New England took the lead in the 18th minute with a goal by Bou. Despite slipping inside the penalty area, Adam Buksa recovered in time to feed it to his forward partner, who beat Alec Kann cleanly to make it 1-0.
Following the kickoff, however, Atlanta appeared to have leveled the score after Sedjic's pass deflected off a Revs player and onto the foot of Chol. However, the homegrown player's goal, which would have been his first in MLS, was disallowed because he was in an offside position.
Both teams had promising spells of possession as the game picked up a frantic pace before slowing down slightly. Buksa, on the other hand, found himself in space in the 36th minute and made a great attempt to make it 2-0 before being denied by Kann.
In order to spark the offense, Atlanta coach Heinze substituted homegrown player Jackson Conway for Torres just before the hour mark. However, Knighton was barely tested in the second half as the Revs won their first-ever away game in Atlanta and handed the Five Stripes their first home loss of the season.
[Photography by ICONIC photographer Rachel Pearce]
