The play worked exactly how they drew it up.
A corner kick taken by Saba Lobjanidze lifted into the box. A header goal from Stian Gregersen.
Gregersen's finish in the 60th minute, his first career goal in MLS, equalized the match July 20 against reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew after the visitors scored the go-ahead goal in the first half.
The set piece play was so effective, Atlanta United ran it back. And it worked. Again.
Gregersen skied for a header on a Lobjanidze corner kick in the 76th minute to finish his brace. The two nearly identical goals secured three points for Atlanta United against the current third-place team in the Eastern Conference.
It was the first professional brace for the 29-year-old center back who played eight years professionally in Europe before joining Atlanta United this past offseason. And MLS recognized his accomplishment as Gregersen was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday announced Sunday afternoon.
“I feel it was a team goal," Gregersen said about scoring on a set piece. "Jay [Fortune] had amazing blocks for me, so I could get open and score. It was a fantastic serve from Saba [Lobjanidze] also. We planned to score like that, so it’s good that it worked.”
The play, drawn up by Atlanta's goalkeeper coach Liam Curran, worked to perfection. It's the second straight match that interim head coach Rob Valentino credited a goal to Curran's design. The goalkeeper coach also drew up the play the team scored earlier this week on the opening possession against New York City FC.
That goal, finished by Daniel Ríos, ended up being the fastest goal scored in club history.
"Liam's on fire right now," Valentino said Saturday. "On the kickoff and set pieces. He's doing a good job."
For Curran's set piece play, Lobjanidze served the corner kick into the box. Two of his kicks resulted in goals, and Lobjanidze was credited with assists on both. That brings the total to seven assists this season for the the winger, which leads the team. He now has 11 assists since joining MLS in 2023.
According to MLS, with the performance Lobjanidze became the sixth player in club history to record at least 20 goal contributions in their first 30 matches with the team. He joins an elite group that includes Josef Martínez, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Miguel Almirón, Héctor Villalba and Thiago Almada.
For that, the league awarded him with a spot on the bench for MLS Team of the Matchday.
"We have to try," Lobjanidze said. "You cannot score at every corner. You’re here to try your best and I tried my best and so did the team.”
