Impressive goals by Luciano Acosta and Patrick Nyarko sealed a comeback win over Atlanta United and simultaneously broke a drought of seven MLS games without a goal from open play. Atlanta played with fire for much of the first half with their back passing and paid for it with an ill-timed pass to goalkeeper Alec Kann. José Ortiz pressured the Atlanta goalkeeper and rushed a pass directly to Acosta, who showed his dribbling flair and slotted his shot home to the near post.
On Monday, head coach Ben Olsen predicted it was the kind of goal they would need. “We need find a way to score a goal,” Olsen said on Monday. “When you go through a rut like this, sometimes it takes a rebound [or] a little extra effort to snap you out of it."
The Black-and-Red scored a second and took the lead through Patrick Nyarko, who coolly slotted home a shot past Alec Kann and into the far-right post, courtesy of a cross from Chris Korb, who played an early ball after some nice linkup play down the right side.
“I just positioned myself in the box like I’d been doing all game,” Nyarko said. It set up well for me [and] I hit through it. Luckily it went in.” Moments before the goal, Jamaican forward Deshorn Brown, United's newest acquisition, set foot on the pitch for the first time.
United then closed out the match through relentless defense, particularly by center back Kofi Opare and left back Taylor Kemp. Late in the first half, Opare made a cool tackle in the box, snuffing out Atlanta’s counter and exemplifying United’s night defensively: calm under pressure.
After taking the lead, United stifled Tata Martino’s side with controlled passing and solid defense. Goalkeeper Bill Hamid made a stellar save to deny Atlanta forward Josef Martínez, who had come on as a substitute, and sealed the victory for the Black-and-Red.
Ben Olsen's side, who scored multiple goals in a match for the first time since their last meeting with Atlanta on April 30, now travel to Philadelphia to face the Union on Saturday, June 24, at 7 PM.
