By Robyn Saghini // @robynsaghini
Sunday, May 14: 1-1 Draw
Full disclosure: I haven’t rewatched the game from Sunday against Portland Timbers, so I’m going to just gloss over the finer details of it and talk about a few observations I noted while watching on Sunday. For another perspective of the game, you can read my MLSFemale counterpart, Sheba’s article here.
I have to agree with Sheba about the ball Yamil Asad took to the head and the possibility of him having a concussion and yet continuing to play. I know Atlanta United takes these injuries seriously – Jeff Larentowicz just returned from being out for two games because of a hit he took a few weeks ago. Not sure if Yamil took it seriously, though.
And I don’t disagree that the tackle that Carlos Carmona got a yellow for was far more dangerous than it needed to be. I don’t want to see him get suspended, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he is.
Things we learned this week:
- Miguel Almiron has no right foot – he had a couple of chances for goals, but either passed to someone else who missed or had a shot saved or shot with his left foot and missed.
- Asad can do more than throw ‘bows – scroll down to #1 in Matt Doyle’s weekly recap to see Asad’s backheel nutmeg pass to Almiron.
- Rookies can score goals! Julian Gressel was picked 8th in the MLS SuperDraft this year and has been having such a great start to the season that he’s already gotten a catchy nickname (Gresselmania) and his own fan-made t-shirt. On Sunday in Portland, he scored his first goal – and it was lovely.
No better way to start the second half! #ATLUTD 1 – 0 @TimbersFC pic.twitter.com/klXgHOC0h1
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 14, 2017
And, in case you haven’t seen the shirt yet, here’s the tweet I sent out after the game (that Gressel liked!):
#Gresselmania represent! Congrats on your first MLS goal, @JulianGressel!! #ATLUTD @MLSFemale pic.twitter.com/HglEukLWSu
— Robyn Saghini (@robynsaghini) May 14, 2017
And finally:
- Leandro Gonzalez Pirez is probably the best CB in MLS right now – totally my opinion, but I’m not the only one who thinks so:
Leandro Gonzalez Pirez is the most exciting center back we’ve ever seen #ATLUTD https://t.co/TJdoAqfZ6F
— Dirty South Soccer (@DirtySouthSoc) April 24, 2017
It was a much better game for us with Tito Villalba up top instead of Kenwyne Jones. Much love for Kenwyne, but he’s just not fast and this team was built for speed. The boys still need to work a bit on finishing their chances, but these numbers tell me we’ll be ok:
#ATLUTD vs @TimbersFC broken down by the numbers pic.twitter.com/ivLGnBACQD
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) May 15, 2017
For the first time ever in ATLUTD’s short history, we have back to back home games!! This Saturday, we are hosting Houston Dynamo and May 28th we host NYCFC on a correctly sized field. 😉
Featured image courtesy: atlutd.com
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