Atlanta United wins home opener before another record crowd

ATLANTA » With another record crowd cheering them on, Atlanta United bounced back from an ugly performance in the season opener.

Miguel Almiron scored a goal and set up another about two minutes apart in the second half, leading Atlanta to a 3-1 victory over D.C. United before 72,035 on Sunday.

In the home opener, Atlanta broke its own singlegame mark of 71,874 for a game against Toronto last October in its inaugural season . United has now drawn three crowds of more than 70,000 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where fans crammed into standing-room-only balconies behind one goal and temporary seating was needed at the top of the massive facility.

“It was huge,” goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “We knew we had to turn things around from last week, and we were going to need our supporters’ help in that, in terms of creating an atmosphere that would be exciting for us to play in and pretty intimidating for other teams.”

Atlanta was a totally different team from the previous weekend, when it began the season with a 4-0 loss at Houston .

“I think it was the intensity that we brought,” midfielder Jeff Larentowicz said. “Last week, we were half asleep. The one thing we focused on was really giving that commitment, letting ourselves play with conviction, do the things we do best. It seemed like last week we were second-guessing ourselves. We wanted to put that away.”

The huge turnout had a lot to do with the improved performance. Atlanta attracted more fans than any team in MLS history a year ago , averaging 48,200 per game.

“The crowd’s incredible,” Larentowicz said. “It’s always good to be in front of them, and to continue to break records is really astonishing.”

Tinnerholm, Villa help NYCFC beat Galaxy

NEW YORK » Anton Tinnerholm had his first MLS goal and David Villa scored another to help New York City FC beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 on Sunday.

Tinnerholm blasted a left-footed volley to give NYCFC (2-0-0) the lead in the 22nd minute. Villa’s cross, off a feed from Jesus Medina, deflected high off Michael Ciani and Tinnerholm, a 27-year-old defender from Sweden, rifled it off the crossbar.

Sean Johnson made a diving save of a sliding half-volley by Ola Kamara in the 27th and Villa made it 2-0 in the 33rd. Medina, on a counter-attack breakaway, touched it around a defender and then fed a left-footed cross to Ben Sweatt, whose shot from near the spot was stopped by a charging David Bingham. Villa tapped the rebound into the open net.

Jonathan dos Santos, from point-blank range, re-directed a cross from Emmanuel Boateng past Johnson to cap the scoring in the 60th.