Atlanta United earns point at home after 2-2 draw against New York City 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.

"We were under some pressure and we tried to make adjustments at halftme about being better and just more brave," said interim head coach Rob Valentino at the post match conference. "There were individual errors. So, it is about eliminating those moments."

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 12^th 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 18^th 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 27^th 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.

In the 38^th minute, Atlanta doubled their lead off a sweet goal from Lobjanidze. Matt Freese made in the initial save on Silva’s in tight chance, but it was Saba time in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Lobjanidze catches up with Ríos for six goals on the year so far.

Silva came extremely close getting a goal of his own in the 43^rd minute. He hooked his shot from the top of the 18' but it went off the right goal post after Freese caught some of the ball with the tip of his fingertips.

They ended the first have with five shots in total, two of them making it to the back of the net. It is the first time this season they have scored twice in the first half of a match.

This was a neccesary step forward because a talking point of the the previous match against CF Montreal was that the 5-Stripes did not record a single shot on net.

"We were braver, more direct and playing in there. The goal came right away," said Valentino about improving after the match against Montreal. "The big thing is that we have to find out why we dropped off."

The second half began similarly for Atlanta as they continued to push in the offensive third of the pitch. Tristan Muyumba had the first good look of the second half. His shot went just right of the goal in the 49^th minute.

In the 63^rd minute, Muyumba had another great chance. He was point black in the middle of the penalty area, but his shot missed to the left of the goal.

NYCFC cut the lead to just one after a giveaway from Atlanta. Guzan came off his line to try and make the stop, but Monsef Bakrar shot the ball past him in the 65^th minute of the second half. Quickly after that, Atlanta made their first sub of the night; Jamal Thiaré coming in for Ríos.

Lobjanidze was subbed out for homegrown Luke Brennan in the 75^th minute while Jay Fortune came in for Muyumba.

NYCFC got a chance to tie the match after a penalty was called on Brooks Lennon in the 82^nd minute. Talles Magno scored the equalizer off a free kick. Before this night, Magno only played six minutes for New York City.

Freese made a stop just on the goal line after Thiaré tried to give the 5-Stripes the lead again.

With eight minutes of extra time, the 5-Stripes looked for another goal. They had several chances to try and regain their lead. Freese made a diving save on Silva in the 97th minute. But in the end, Atlanta United walked away with a draw after a strong first half.

They will be back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday to take on the Columbus Crew. Fans not attending the match can catch all the action, including 7:30 kickoff, on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.