Atlanta United stored their MLS Cup Playoffs hopes alive with an important 1-0 win away at rivals Orlando Metropolis on Wednesday night.
After an hour-long climate delay, we have been handled to a tepid first 45 minutes by two sides who normally provide us so many fireworks. Even so, each side nonetheless traded some respectable probabilities, with the guests lacking the very best alternatives by Andrew Gutman and Luiz Araujo.
Orlando took the sport to their opponents extra in the beginning of the second half with the likes of Ercan Kara and Mauricio Pereyra flashing efforts simply off track.
However it was Atlanta United who lastly broke the impasse through one other wonderful effort from Thiago Almada – the rising expertise combining with Gutman on the sting of the field earlier than placing Antonio Carlos on the ground and ending past the helpless Pedro Gallese. No marvel he is been known as as much as the Argentine nationwide group…
Orlando piled much more strain on in a determined try and salvage a end result however by a mixture of stern defending and alert goalkeeping from Raul Gudino, the 5 Stripes held on for what may very well be three priceless factors of their battle to make the Playoffs.
Learn on for full participant rankings from Exploria Stadium…
Fulltime from @ExploriaStadium. We go once more at dwelling on Saturday. @CityFurniture | #ORLvATL pic.twitter.com/FPnzgQDn2g
— Orlando Metropolis SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 15, 2022
GK: Pedro Gallese – 7/10 – In a quiet recreation, Gallese stored his focus to make a couple of wonderful saves. Helpless for the Atlanta purpose.
RB: Kyle Smith – 6/10 – Received into some harmful areas and delivered some respectable crosses however was just a little suspect defensively.
CB: Antonio Carlos – 6/10 – Immaculate with the ball and received every little thing within the air, however was placed on the ground by Almada for the purpose.
CB: Rodrigo Schlegel – 5/10 – Dragged manner out of place for the Almada purpose to wreck an honest efficiency.
LB: Joao Moutinho – 7/10 – A strong defensive effort and all the time tried to go ahead with the ball.
CM: Mauricio Pereyra – 8/10 – Liable for a lot of Orlando’s greatest moments with some wonderful passing, and got here near placing the Lions forward within the second half.
CM: Wilder Cartagena – 7/10 – Turned in a 100% go completion price and fought onerous with out the ball.
RW: Ivan Angulo – 5/10 – A number of harmful moments however pale out of the match within the second half.
CAM: Junior Urso – 4/10 – Unusually tame efficiency. Misplaced lots of his particular person battles.
LW: Facundo Torres – 5/10 – Confirmed flashes of brilliance however could not discover a gap.
ST: Ercan Kara – 5/10 – Battled onerous however was largely starved of service.
SUB: Ruan (58′, for Smith) – 7/10 – An lively efficiency at each ends of the sector.
SUB: Benji Michel (58′, for Kara) – 4/10 – Misplaced the ball too usually, did not get going.
SUB: Andres Perea (65′, for Cartagena) – 7/10 – Added extra guile to Orlando’s play.
SUB: Tesho Akindele (74′, for Angulo) – 6/10 – Gave the Lions extra of a focus however lacked leading edge.
SUB: Jake Mulraney (74′, for Urso) – 5/10 – Failed to vary the sport in opposition to his former facet.
Thiago Almada doing Thiago Almada issues 🤩 pic.twitter.com/mW2nrGiqkT
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) September 15, 2022
GK: Raul Gudino – 7/10 – A number of shaky moments when it got here to claiming the ball, however made some crucial saves.
RB: Ronald Hernandez – 6/10 – Clear on the ball and strong with out it.
CB: Juan Purata – 6/10 – Received the job finished on the again and virtually linked with a few lengthy diagonal passes.
CB: Alan Franco – 8/10 – Performed on regardless of what appeared like a nasty wrist harm and led by instance. Considered one of his greatest performances in an Atlanta United jersey.
LB: Andrew Gutman – 9/10 – Missed a wonderful probability within the first half however made up for it with the help for Almada’s purpose and an outstanding all-round efficiency.
CM: Santiago Sosa – 8/10 – Wonderful on the ball and got here up with some large defensive performs to interrupt Orlando’s rhythm.
CM: Amar Sejdic – 5/10 – Clear on the ball however wasn’t fairly up for the struggle in midfield. Misplaced lots of 50-50 duels.
RW: Brooks Lennon – 5/10 – Is able to lethal crossing however had just about nothing to purpose for. Clear on the ball however fairly unspectacular.
CAM: Thiago Almada – 9/10 – Making an attempt to deal with Thiago Almada is like making an attempt to know water. One other golazo from the Argentine, who was a menace all evening together with his dribbling and passing.
LW: Luiz Araujo – 5/10 – Missed a fair higher probability than Gutman and blazed a couple of pictures over the bar. Deserves some credit score for sticking at it, although.
ST: Dom Dwyer – 6/10 – Had a thankless process on his personal up-front and was usually the one Atlanta United participant contained in the field. By no means relented together with his work price.
SUB: Matheus Rossetto (56′, for Sejdic) – 6/10 – A promising run out, even when he appeared a bit rusty.
SUB: Josef Martinez (56′, for Dwyer) – 5/10 – Actually did not get into the sport in any respect however did his bit defensively.
SUB: Edwin Mosquera (67′, for Lennon) – 5/10 – Tried to take the sport to the Orlando protection however was effectively defended.
SUB: Caleb Wiley (87′, for Almada) – N/A – A late sub to assist see out the match.
SUB: Ronaldo Cisneros (87′, for Araujo) – N/A – As above.
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