Atlanta United Batter Nashville SC, but Lose Again
- Calum Ewing
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Credit: Atlanta United Communications
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Atlanta United was the better team for 97 of the 100 minutes played against MLS league leaders Nashville SC. However, the World Cup break was no help towards fixing the squad’s inability to be clinical in the final third, and Nashville came out of Geodis Park with a 1-0 win.
The Five Stripes returned to their MLS campaign missing their new center-back pair signed over the World Cup break, Junior Alonso and Paulo Diaz, due to VISA issues. Stian Gregersen and Sergio Santos were also out. Therefore, usual right back Tomas Jacob, who has experience at central defense with previous clubs, slotted in next to Enea Mihaj, rumored with a loan-to-buy move to Turkey. Elias Baez and Matt Edwards were no surprise starters for the fullbacks, and there were no surprises in the midfield with Fortune, Muyumba, and Cooper Sanchez. Star striker Latte Lath, underproducing so far this year, began on the bench with Luke Brennan at right wing, Miguel Almiron at left after a disappointing personal campaign with a suprising Paraguay at the World Cup, and Alexey Miranchuk as a false 9.
Nashville, top of the Supporters Shield standings with 33 points, started a strong lineup with stars Hany Mukhtar and forward Sam Surridge. Brian Schwake in goal, Matthew Corcoran in central midfield, and Ahmed Qasem at left wing added to the compete team, but the Blue & Gold were missing stars Christian Espinoza and Warren Madrigal to lower body injuries. MLS All-Star Andy Najar came off the bench.
Atlanta started off the match efficient in possession, with fluid movement from the flanks. However, their first chance came from Ajani Fortune’s central run in the 8th minute, turning past the Nashville press and taking it half the length of the pitch. Now entering the final third, Miguel Almiron waited for a central pass and ended up cutting off Fortune’s run, just for him to keep possession after it went through the Paraguyan’s legs, beating two defenders in the process. Now driving towards goal, Fortune played Almiron to his left, but being forced outside, his effort on goal caused an easy catch for Schwake at his near post.
Unfortunately for Atlanta’s best midfielder, he would go down just a minute later with an unknown injury (reported as potentially the “left hamstring” by Andrew Weibe). Able to walk off the pitch, Fortune was subbed off for Will Reilly in the 11th minute.
Nashville’s only shot of the half came in the 19th minute when a dangerous back post cross was kept in by a sliding Mukhtar. His efforts sent the ball towards Daniel Lovitz at the same post, but his header went wide of goal.
With Fortune’s absense, Atlanta conceded some possession but were defensively strong, especially Matt Edwards. The back-and-forth with no real chances continued until the 42nd minute, when Baez played a low splitting ball into the Nashville danger area from the top left corner of the box. Alexey Miranchuk masterfully let the ball through his legs towards Miguel Almiron just 8 yards out, but after his first touch, he took 3 more touches with 2 fakes in an effort to beat Nashville’s block rather than take the early shot. Almiron ended up laying the ball back for Muyumba, whose subsequent effort was blocked.
Atlanta should have had another goal just 5 minutes later. Alexey Miranchuk was brilliant again, curving a cross in behind to meet the run of Baez. However, after his first touch, Baez did not attempt a shot at the near post or even to fire a pass across the 6-yard box, taking too many touches and having a late cross attempt blocked.
That took Atlanta into the halftime break, doing well to quell Nashville’s powerful attack but failing to finish off their 5 shots (2 on target) because of indecisiveness from the duo on the left side of the pitch.
The second half began with Atlanta United dominating on the ball. There was one threatening sequence early where Baez played Almiron in the box, and a quick layoff to Miranchuk and ball across goal to Brennan soon followed. The latter’s shot was blocked. In the 59th minute, Atlanta should have had a hypothetical third goal when Miranchuk played a world-class through ball past two Nashville defenders, meeting the diagonal run of Luke Brennan from right to left behind the backline. After his first touch, Brennan hit his shot high to Brian Schwake’s left, in which the goalkeeper was able to flail out his arm and deflect the ball over the crossbar. Again, execution in the final third killed the Five Stripes.
Credit: Atlanta United Communications
Horrible injury luck continued for Atlanta as another young star, Matthew Edwards, was injured soon after Brennan’s chance. A fantastic performance from the right back came to an early end, and Ronald Hernandez came in as a substitute.
Nashville’s best chance of the game up to that point arrived after Cooper Sanchez gave away the ball and then a bad foul in recovery, leaving Hany Mukhtar over a free kick just outside the box in the left flank. His curling strike was heading to the top right corner, but Lucas Hoyos took 3 steps across before doing very well to dive and punch the threat away.
After the free kick, an injury or two and small fight delayed proceedings into the water break. Nashville took advantage afterwards. With Ronald Hernandez up high and Luke Brennan unable to cover quickly, NSC found space to float a cross from the left flank into the box. Right wing Shakur Mohammed rose high over the standing Elias Baez for a header, and Hoyos stood hopeless to an effort he likely could have dove for and saved if he wasn’t leaning back as it found home in the back of the net. The sellout crowd of 30,109 erupted for the home side, and the league leaders had a rather-undeserved 1-0 lead.
Atlanta struggled with subs to find another goalscoring chance until the 2nd minute of stoppage time. Miguel Almiron used the outside of his left foot to play through Emmanuel Latte Lath in space, but his effort from the top left side of the box was misfit and flew harmlessly wide. The frustration continues for the DP who Tata Martino put at left wing when subbed in, allowing Miranchuk to stay at the 9. Latte Lath tested out the position in the friendly versus Sporting Kansas City in preparation for the return to league play.
In response, Nashville nearly put the game to rest. A cross from Mohammed found Alex Muyl in loads of space inside the box. Muyl took a heavy first touch, allowing Cooper Sanchez to slide in for a great tackle, but the ball popped out to Andy Najar. His first-time strike was saved by Hoyos diving up to his left side, and the rebound was cleared.
Atlanta had nothing left to respond with. The needed 3 points for momentum, which would have miraculously put Atlanta only 4 points out of a playoff spot, did not show, and NSC were 1-0 victors.
I cannot imagine how Tata Martino feels now. Miguel Almiron had another poor performance, and so did Latte Lath when he came on. Mihaj played excellently, but is likely to be sold. Your substitutes made little impact with loads of individual mistakes, including Hernandez being caught out of position on the goal. Arguably your two best performers, Ajani Fortune and Matthew Edwards, are now hurt.
What now? It’s Alexey Miranchuk and nothing else! Where else can this team go with the current roster? Does the front office have the urgency to recruit new players and not just sell off strong performers like the last three years? Can Jonathan Spector do what he has been unable to do since his arrival in 2019, scout consistently well and help improve the roster? Can Chris Henderson reverse his current club track record and transform the team to win?
Unfortunately, the couple hundred away fans, and I, lean towards “no” when answering the rhetorical.
Atlanta United will next play away to rivals Charlotte FC at 8:15pm EST on Wednesday.
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