Atlanta settles for draw after sudden ending
KENNESAW — With time running out against the Charlotte Independence, Atlanta United 2 forced a turnover.
Atlanta pushed the ball forward and Jackson Conway flipped it to Bienvenue Kanakimana, hopeful for his third goal of the night.
Then, the whistle blew, signaling the end of the match Wednesday night at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
Atlanta coach Stephen Glass stormed onto the field to join midfielder Laurence Wyke in asking the head referee why the sudden stoppage occurred. To no avail, Atlanta ended the night with a 2-2 draw, extending its winless streak to 13 games.
“At the end, the referee put 3 minutes up (for stoppage time), and I don’t know if we played any of them,” Glass said. “We’re on the break when the ball comes back in play and he decides to blow his whistle because the game may be getting out of hand, but the referee is there to apply the laws of the game, not cut it short. Maybe if it goes the correct length of time, we get another opportunity.”
The referees played a heavy factor in Wednesday night’s match, on both sides of the ball, but more so on the home team.
Five Atlanta players picked up yellow cards, with captain Jack Metcalf picking up his second in a late-game skirmish and being ejected from the game. Into stoppage time, both teams began shoving and yelling at one another, resulting in two cards for Atlanta and one for Charlotte.
Because of yellow card accumulation, Conway, Metcalf, Jose Hernandez and Wyke will have to miss Atlanta’s next match Saturday at North Carolina FC.
“I just saw the aftermath. I don’t know if anything in particular happened,” Glass said of the altercation. “I don’t know which of the officials saw it, but they saw a few things that didn’t happen tonight, like the free kick that led to their goal. In this league, talking to the refs will get you in trouble, so it’s not something that I’ll do.”
Aside from the divvying up of cards, everything else seemed to go Atlanta’s way. For the first time in weeks, it was able to build a lead.
Down 1-0 in the 26th minute, Atlanta (3-11-5) responded with a goal of its own in the 32nd.
Conway worked the ball down the right side of the box and sent it to Kanakimana. Kanakimana took one touch and managed to sneak it just past Charlotte goalkeeper Brandon Miller.
Ten minutes later, Kanakimana scored again, this time by way of a wild rebound off a Charlotte defender. Kanakimana settled the ball and shot it to make it a 2-1 Atlanta halftime lead.
They were the first goals
for Kanakimana, a 19-yearold forward from the African country of Burundi, who is on loan from Czech club MFK Vyskov.
“I was happy,” Kanakimana said. “I’ve been looking for those goals for a long time, and I prepared all week. I was very happy tonight.”
In the second half, Atlanta took the foot off the gas and looked to counter anything it got from Charlotte (5-7-9). It worked well until the 71st minute.
Off a deep free kick Abdoulie Mansally sent a cross into the box, and Aaron Maund put it in the back of the net.
The tying goal put a noticeable damper on the energy that had been building.
“It always kills the sting off the momentum,” Atlanta defender George Campbell said. “We try to keep our heads high. We changed the formation, but it’s an individual thing, having to keep your head high.”
Atlanta played on, created a few changes and defended several more, but nothing could break the tie.
All four matches between Atlanta and Charlotte this season have finished as draws.
Glass and his players hope to use the effort to springboard them moving forward.
“It’s in them to do well. They’ve got the determination to do well,” Glass said. “We were always hopeful. We’ve got a number of players that can finish. We see it every day in training.”