Atlanta prevails in debut in new home
ATLANTA — Finally moving into their glitzy new home, Atlanta United drew another sellout crowd, won for the first time in more than seven weeks and bolstered their playoff hopes with a 3-0 victory over FC Dallas on Sunday.
Josef Martinez, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Greg Garza scored for the MLS expansion team, which thrilled the packed house of 45,314 with a dominating performance in its debut at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
United was supposed to begin the season at the $1.5 billion stadium it shares with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, but construction delays pushed back the opening three times.
Atlanta was forced to play its first nine home matches at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium, and two other games were rescheduled for later in the season.
The scheduling resulted in United (11-8-6) having only nine home matches before Sunday's contest, at least three less than every other team in the league.
Since the team's last home game on July 29, a 1-1 draw with Orlando, it had played just three games — all on the road, posting two draws and a loss.
Even so, Atlanta remained tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference and, having played fewer matches than any other team, still in prime position to make a run to the playoffs in its first season.
The victory was United's first since a 1-0 triumph at Orlando on July 21.
Ola Kamara scored his 15th goal of the season for host Columbus in firsthalf stoppage time and the Crew tied Sporting Kansas City.
Columbus had lost six of its last seven regular-season games in the series. Kansas City snapped a two-game road losing streak.
Diego Valeri scored in his seventh straight game to tie the MLS record on Saturday.
Valeri tied the goal mark set by Raul Diaz Arce in 1997 and matched by Wolde Harris in 2000 and Carlos Ruiz in 2006.
Valeri scored in the 44th minute. He has 17 goals this season.
Jozy Altidore scored twice in the second half goal and MLS-leading Toronto FC romped at home.
Victor Vazquez and Canadian substitute Jonathan Osorio also scored to help Toronto extend its home regular-season undefeated streak to 15 games dating to October. Alex Bono made three saves for the shutout.
Nemanja Nikolic tied it in the 66th minute for host Chicago.
Michael de Leeuw squared Johan Kappelhof's deep ball with a flick pass across the top of the 6-yard box and Nikolic connected with a header down the middle of the net. into
Lee Nguyen scored in the 68th minute for host New England.
The Revs moved a point behind the Impact and Atlanta United, who are tied for the sixth and final playoff spot.
Dominique Badji scored in the 93rd minute for the winners.
The result was Colorado's first road win of the season and the first points for interim head coach Steve Cooke.. It was the first home loss of the season for Houston, which was playing its first post-Harvey game.
Ethan Finlay tied it late in the first half for Minnesota.
Kendall Waston and Yordy Reyna scored in the second half for host Vancouver.