Atlanta, GA
Atlanta United earns point at home after 2-2 draw against New York City FC | Atlanta United FC
After a couple of weeks on the road, Atlanta United were back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to matchup against New York City FC. Seven of the 16 matches these two clubs have played against each other have ended in a draw, and this one followed suit in the pattern. In April, the 5-Stripes went up to Citi Field and pulled out a 1-1 draw. This time it was NYCFC that came from behind for the 2-2 draw.
Atlanta United got off to a great start thanks to Daniel Ríos, who has been on a hot scoring streak as of late. Tristan Muyumba got the ball down the field to Saba Lobjanidze who made a quick play to Ríos in the penalty spot. The goal was only 21 seconds in, the fastest goal scored in club history. Lobjanidze gets the assists on the goal.
Ríos now has six goals on the season after being tied with Saba Lobjanidze and Jamal Thiaré with five.
New York City FC spent the next couple of minutes trying to settle as the early goal got them out of sync. But in the 12th minute, the early excitement only continued. Keaton Parks, the captain for NYCFC, tripped Derrick Williams in the penalty area and it was awarded a penalty kick on the pitch. After some deliberation by VAR, it was concluded that it would not be a penalty kick due to an offside position.
The next promising scoring opportunity for the 5-Stripes came in the 18th minute by Xande Silva. Atlanta continued to exploit the right side as NYCFC’s Christian McFarlane had little answer for it.
Atlanta had to weather a bit of a storm as New York did not let them get back into the attacking half. Brad Guzan made a diving save in the 27th minute on Agustín Ojeda to keep the 5-Stripes up by one. Ronald Hernández, who has been strong on the left side as of late, made a block on the rebound from Ojeda.
With Noah Cobb away on international duty, the formation for Atlanta, especially in the back, looked a bit different.