ATLUTD2 Rallies, Crown Legacy Takes the Extra Point

Starting Lineup

Atlanta United 2 hosted Crown Legacy FC on Saturday night at Turner Soccer Complex in Athens. Kickoff came at 7:39 p.m. on a humid, 82-degree night. The kind of evening where every recovery run carries a little extra weight.

By the end, Atlanta had played through a little bit of everything. An early two-goal deficit. A first-half comeback. A second-half answer. A red card. A late push. A penalty shootout that sent the extra point back to Crown Legacy.

Regulation ended 3-3. Crown Legacy won the shootout 4-3 and took the extra point. Atlanta took one point from a match it spent most of the night pulling back toward level.

1st Half

Crown Legacy put Atlanta under pressure early from a set piece. Aron John served a corner from the right in the 6th minute, and Assane Ouedraogo rose in the box for a close-range header.

Their lead doubled eight minutes later. Adrian Mendoza carried through midfield and moved the ball left to Nimfasha Berchimas. Berchimas drove to the end line, pulled Atlanta’s back line toward goal and sent the ball across for Brian Romero to finish at the near post.

Atlanta had to play from 2-0 down, but the next break went its way. Moises Tablante’s left-footed cross from the right side deflected off Wyatt Holt and hit Jack Neeley on the hand inside the box. Arif Kovac took the penalty and scored.

Atlanta tied it in the 30th through Chong Qui and Dunbar on the left. Chong Qui found Dunbar in the box, and Dunbar carried toward the line before cutting a pass across goal. Kovac arrived in the middle and finished first time with his left foot.

Atlanta had the better chances from there. Dunbar forced a save in the 34th minute, Chong Qui and Kovac both saw shots blocked, Tablante hit the crossbar, and Kovac had a stoppage-time header saved.

Crown Legacy had built a two-goal lead inside 14 minutes. By halftime, Atlanta had pulled the match back to 2-2.

2nd Half

Crown Legacy found the next goal in the 54th minute. Berchimas attacked from the left again, carried through traffic into the box and sent a ball toward Michael Ayovi. Mohamed Cisset got a touch to it, but the clearance only carried as far as Nathan Richmond. Richmond finished from close range.

Four minutes later, Dunbar turned the match again. He won the ball from Jack Neeley and broke forward. Neeley pulled him down, and the referee showed a straight red card.

Atlanta used the space quickly. In the 60th minute, Dunbar and Chong Qui combined on the left. Dunbar slipped Chong Qui into the box, and Chong Qui hit a low left-footed shot that deflected off Lazar Kalicanin and went in.

From there, Atlanta had the ball and the chances. Kovac had a shot blocked in the 63rd. Enzo Dovlo missed over in the 64th. Adrian Gill forced a save from distance in the 80th, and Chong Qui had another shot blocked four minutes later.

The pressure carried into stoppage time. Kovac had a shot blocked in the 92nd minute. Daniel Chica got to a header in the 97th. Dovlo forced a save in the 98th, then sent the final chance over in the 99th.

Crown Legacy had been reduced to 10 men for more than a half hour. It still got the match to penalties.

Closing Thoughts

Crown Legacy took the extra point in the shootout, but the night still ran through Atlanta’s attacking players.

Kovac turned a 2-0 deficit into a level match by halftime. His penalty gave Atlanta a way back in the 18th minute, and his left-footed finish in the 30th gave him his second goal of the night. He now has 12 goals on the season.

Dunbar shaped the match. He set up Kovac’s equalizer, set up Chong Qui’s second-half goal and drew the foul that left Crown Legacy with 10 men. His two assists moved him to 10 combined goals and assists on the season.

Chong Qui gave Atlanta the second answer. He helped start the first-half equalizer, scored the 60th-minute goal that made it 3-3 and finished with four shots. It was his first goal of the season.

Atlanta finished with 27 shots, eight shots on target and eight corners. It out-shot an opponent for the 10th straight match and scored three or more goals for the sixth time this season. The draw left Atlanta with one point. The performance left a clearer picture of a team that can create chances from several places, even on a night when the final point went somewhere else.