Atlanta United Holds Off Sporting KC for Third Consecutive Win

Starting Lineup

Atlanta United came home Sunday night carrying something it had not had this season. Momentum. Wins over the New York Red Bulls and Minnesota United had given the Five Stripes a chance to complete a three-win week against Sporting Kansas City. Sunday was Atlanta’s third match in seven days, and several players had already logged heavy minutes through the first two wins.

Adrian Gill made his third consecutive start in midfield. Paulo Díaz made his first Atlanta start beside Júnior Alonso, putting the two veteran South American center backs together for the first time. Up front, Fafà Picault again started through the middle while Atlanta waited for newly signed striker Breel Embolo to become available.

The crowd was still filling in when the lineups were announced, but the reaction grew noticeably as Atlanta worked through its starters. Lucas Hoyos received a good cheer. Tristan Muyumba got a bigger one. Gill’s name drew more again. Miguel Almirón received the loudest response of the night.

A 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City gave the Five Stripes three victories in seven days, completing a week that looked nearly impossible only a short time ago. And for the first time in a long time, the Five Stripes had reason to believe the season might still have something left in it.

View this game’s Player Impressions

1st Half

Atlanta created its own trouble in the opening minutes. Adrian Gill tried to play the ball backwards and instead sent Sporting KC forward towards Atlanta’s goal. Three minutes later, another Gill giveaway sent Kansas City towards the six-yard box. Paulo Díaz stepped across and headed the danger away. Atlanta got away with both mistakes because Sporting KC failed to make anything of them.

Gill and Sanchez alternated between dropping deep and pushing higher through midfield. Gill also drifted towards both touchlines, looking for space to distribute the ball further up the field. Behind them, Júnior Alonso was already doing a lot of the organizing, pointing teammates into position.

Fafà Picault was getting considerably less freedom. Moisés Mosquera came through him from behind in the second minute and did it again in the 10th. After the second challenge, referee Tori Penso stopped to speak with Mosquera and Sporting KC captain Zorhan Bassong.

Sporting KC was giving Atlanta room to play through midfield, and the Five Stripes began taking advantage of it. Sanchez could carry the ball forward without much pressure, while Picault and Muyumba were increasingly aggressive when Kansas City tried to play out. By the 11th minute, Atlanta had four players crowded together passing the ball around Sporting’s pressure like a rondo. They looked like they were having fun.

In the 13th minute, Sanchez sent Almirón down the left. Almirón drove into the box and used a quick fake to put Mosquera on the ground, leaving himself room to send the ball across goal. Tomás Jacob was completely alone at the back post. The ball bounced up around Jacob’s knee, forcing him to lift his leg to get a boot on it. He tapped it into the open net. One touch put it into the open net for his third goal of the season. Almirón picked up his sixth assist, while Sanchez received the second assist.

Almirón and Picault switched positions. Díaz looked increasingly comfortable on the ball, at one point stopping it completely while he waited for an option. Kansas City came back with a cross, but Gill dropped into the box and cleared it.

A through ball sent Almirón down the left with three defenders around him and nobody making the run alongside. With no passing option, he shot from the corner of the box. Stefan Cleveland parried it back across goal, but no Atlanta player was there for what would have been a simple finish.

Jacob broke forward again and Emir Karić took him down. Karić was shown yellow. Atlanta sent the free kick into the box, where Elías Báez headed it back across the six-yard area. The ball glanced off a Sporting KC player, struck the post and went out for a corner.

Almirón sent the corner into the box. Báez got a slight touch and redirected it towards Picault in front of goal. Picault jumped and did a little jig with his legs before knocking the ball into the net. The Five Stripes were up 2-0.

Kansas City continued getting forward, but its passing kept breaking down around Atlanta’s box. One promising attack ended with a cross behind Capemba, and several others were too weak to trouble Atlanta’s backline. Capemba finally got into a better position with a long run down the right. He tried to send the ball across goal, but Díaz made a huge sliding block to prevent it going further.

Gill, Sanchez, Muyumba, Picault and Almirón kept gathering into tight groups and passing freely amongst themselves. When Atlanta went forward, the passes were increasingly played into space ahead of runners rather than safely to their feet. This contrasted with earlier in the season when so many passes had been short or safely to feet. Behind them, Alonso and Díaz were constantly talking to each other and directing the players around them.

Almirón tracked Calvin Harris all the way back towards Atlanta’s 18 and slowed the run. Miranchuk came across and took Harris down. Both of Atlanta’s Designated Players were doing defensive work deep in their own half.

The half became more physical from there. Jake Davis went down near midfield and could not continue. Justin Reynolds replaced him during stoppage time, while Davis eventually made his way to the bench with ice on his knee. Kansas City kept pressing around Atlanta’s penalty area, but could not find a way through. Atlanta went into halftime leading 2-0.

2nd Half

Kansas City came out pressing higher and pushed Atlanta deeper. Miranchuk still managed to find Almirón with a ball over the top. Miguel carried it towards the edge of the box and played it back to Miranchuk, who had continued his run. Miranchuk lifted the shot over the bar. It was a beautifully worked sequence that nearly came off.

A low Kansas City cross reached the box, but Gill was there. Atlanta could not keep possession afterward. Sporting KC then won a free kick outside the left side of the 18 and sent it into a dangerous area, but the header went over.

Sporting KC sent a high cross across the six-yard box, but the resulting header went away from goal. Atlanta was getting away with the visitor’s inability to make more of those opportunities.

Báez continued pushing high from the left, often getting beyond Almirón when Atlanta moved forward. The Five Stripes were still breaking as a group. One sequence carried the ball from their own half to Sporting KC’s 18 through several well-worked through balls. At the same time, the pace was beginning to catch up with them. Atlanta was playing its third match in seven days, and the players were starting to slow.

Capemba tried to break through midfield, but Gill stepped into his path and stopped him as the two came together. Capemba shoved Gill to the ground in the collision.

Martino went to his bench in the 62nd minute. Will Reilly replaced Gill and Luke Brennan came on for Picault, who looked gassed. Brennan moved to the left wing, Báez dropped deeper and Almirón pushed higher.

Stephen Afrifa tried to break down the left, but Reilly waited for him to commit before accelerating across and stripping the ball cleanly. Miranchuk then slipped an excellent ball down the left for Brennan. Two Kansas City defenders closed around him before he could get it under control. Brennan tried to go forward again soon afterward, but again found two defenders waiting for him.

Sporting KC began finding more room down Atlanta’s left as the Five Stripes struggled to hold their shape. Calvin Harris carried the ball forward and found Stephen Afrifa inside the box. Afrifa tried to play it across to Jayden Reid, but the ball came back to him. He gathered it and drove a left-footed shot into the right side of the net.

Brennan fouled Justin Reynolds and was shown yellow. Brennan came away limping from the challenge. Díaz, who looked exhausted, came off shortly afterward for Stian Gregersen.

Sporting KC sent the ensuing free kick into Atlanta’s box and met it with a hard header. The ball flew just over the bar. From the booth, it looked like it was going in. Kansas City suddenly looked capable of finding the equalizer, and Atlanta was hanging on.

Brennan’s limp worsened and he eventually went down near the sideline. Báez then delayed a throw-in and Penso showed him a yellow card. The caution means Báez will miss Atlanta’s next match through accumulation.

Martino used his final changes in the 77th. Steven Alzate replaced Sanchez, while Matthew Edwards came on for Brennan. Brennan was able to walk around the field under his own power, but continued limping badly.

Alzate dropped into midfield alongside Reilly, while Edwards initially stayed high on the right. Kansas City continued finding space as Atlanta struggled to get up the field.

Edwards initially pushed high on the right while Alzate dropped deeper when Kansas City had possession. Edwards seemed caught between playing as a winger and dropping back as a defender, and was not up to the speed of play. Sporting KC continued finding room towards Atlanta’s box. Edwards eventually moved deeper and looked more comfortable.

Atlanta could barely get up the field and was holding on. Almirón finally carried the ball the other way and drove into Sporting KC’s penalty box. Zorhan Bassong crashed into him without appearing to make a play on the ball. Almirón went down hard, but Penso waved play on.

The crowd let her know what it thought of the decision.

Seconds later, Edwards and Jacob stripped Sporting KC of the ball and were called for a foul. The reaction inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium was deafening. By then, Atlanta had dropped almost everyone behind the ball. The Five Stripes were waiting for Kansas City to come at them and trying to see out the final minutes.

Miranchuk briefly thought about breaking forward, then checked himself and tried to hold possession instead. He and Báez lost the ball, and Kansas City came straight back. A cross flashed through Atlanta’s six-yard box at perfect heading height. Too close.

Sporting KC produced one more major chance in stoppage time. Shapi Suleymanov swung a late corner into the box and Moisés Mosquera rose above the crowd. His header went over the bar. But Atlanta survived the six minutes of stoppage.

The Five Stripes had held onto a 2-1 win. The first hour had looked like progress. The final half-hour looked like exhaustion, desperation and a team finding a way to get through it anyway.

Closing Thoughts

Atlanta has now won three consecutive matches, all in the span of eight days, and moved within three points of the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference. That would have been difficult to imagine before the World Cup break.

The most obvious change has been Almirón. He finished with two assists Sunday and now has six goal contributions in seven matches since MLS resumed after the World Cup. His 43 career assists are now the most in club history.

Paulo Díaz looked composed during his first start for the club and communicated constantly with Júnior Alonso. Cooper Sanchez again handled a significant role in midfield, while Gill recovered from a poor opening few minutes and spent much of the night covering ground across the field.

The concern came during the final half-hour. Atlanta’s legs visibly faded during its third match in a week, and the structure that had looked so comfortable during the first half became increasingly difficult to maintain. Martino acknowledged afterward that fatigue became a factor and that Atlanta struggled to recover the ball in the second half.

Still, this team found a way to finish the week with nine points.

After the match, Atlanta’s players lingered to take photos with supporters. They smiled and laughed on the way down the tunnel. Even Tata ran from side to side exchanging high fives.

For the first time in a while, it feels possible that this team has turned a corner. I’m excited to see what comes next.

Not every postgame image was celebratory. Brennan was still limping heavily when he made his way into the tunnel. Long after the final whistle, Togashi remained on the field by himself, running through an extra workout as Mercedes-Benz Stadium began to empty.