GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Atlanta United finished up its preseason trip in Mexico with a doubleheader on Sunday against Chivas de Guadalajara and Tepatitlán FC.
Both matches were played at the Chivas facility, Chivas Verde Valle.
Atlanta United fell to Chivas 3-0 in the first friendly, conceding a penalty kick, a goal on an errant ball in the box off a corner kick and a shot in the second half.
The starters for Atlanta United against Chivas were: Brad Guzan, Andrew Gutman, Miles Robinson, George Campbell, Ronald Hernández, Franco Ibarra, Ozzie Alonso, Matheus Rossetto, Thiago Almada, Luiz Araújo and Josef Martínez.
Atlanta United had some chances today, especially when Chivas went down one man after a red card was called on a hard foul made on Luiz Araújo, but missed the finishing touch against a top-tier club in Mexico. The team had a couple looks at goal but Martínez was called offsides.
Martínez was later shown a red card and sent off toward the end of the match.
Sunday gave fans a first look at Almada playing with the Atlanta United crest. The club announced it signed the 20-year-old midfielder from Argentina on Feb. 9 and has been training with the team in Mexico. Almada continued his strong connection with Gutman on the left side. The two paired up for a takeaway and later combined with Martínez on one of Atlanta's best chances in the attack.
Head coach Gonzalo Pineda sent out the same group for the second half against Chivas. Later, Tyler Wolff, Machop Chol and Caleb Wiley came on as subs.
The match against Chivas kicked off at 10:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. local time) and the match against Tepatitlán followed at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. local time). Both friendlies consisted of two 40-minute halves.
Atlanta United lost to Tepatitlán FC in the second friendly 3-0.
The starters for Atlanta United against Tepatitlán were: Bobby Shuttleworth, Caleb Wiley, Alex De John, Alan Franco, Aiden McFadden, Noah Cobb, Tyler Wolff, Amar Sejdić, Jackson Conway, Danny Centeno and Dom Dwyer.
The start marks Dwyer's preseason debut for Atlanta United. He's been on a trial with Atlanta United, spending some time training with the club in Mexico.
We'll have more coverage throughout the day from Mexico, so stay tuned at ATLUTD.com/mexico and ATLUTD on Twitter.
