Atlanta’s goals off giveaways key in first game
Breaking down Crew SC’s 3-1 loss at Atlanta United on June 17, there’s one play in particular in which the Crew failed to make the grade.
After a Niko Hansen giveaway in the Crew’s offensive third in the 67th minute, Atlanta United was off to the races. Defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez slid a well-placed pass to midfielder Miguel Almiron, who raced just inside the box before scoring inside the far post.
The goal gave Atlanta the lead after more than 40 minutes of a 1-1 score.
It was particularly damaging because it erased the work that Crew SC had done to tire out Atlanta.
Coach Gregg Berhalter and several Crew players left the game thinking that the Crew had started to break Atlanta’s high press but missed an opportunity by allowing Almiron to inject life back into Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“I would say we played it like a C-plus, B-minus, and we needed a solid B effort, B-plus effort to thwart that goal, but we were close,” Berhalter said Thursday. “Artur did a great job of getting to (Almiron), getting a body on him, slowing him down, and Josh (Williams) needs to cut the angle just a little bit, but other than that, they played it pretty well. A little bit unfortunate how it ended up, but give credit to the attacker.”
With Atlanta (7-7-3) visiting Mapfre Stadium two weeks later, Crew SC (8-9-1) hopes to correct its mistakes from a disappointing performance and string together back-to-back wins for the first time in three months.
“I don’t think we were aware enough
— GK Steffen; D Afful, Mensah, Williams, Raitala; MF Trapp, Artur, Higuain, Meram, Finlay; F Kamara. — GK Kann; D Mears, Parkhurst, Gonzalez Pirez, Garza; MF Villalba, Larentowicz, Carmona, Almiron, Asad; F Martinez
of (Atlanta’s fatigue), to be honest. Had we been, maybe we’re a little more patient, we’re not pushing the game as much,” midfielder Wil Trapp said this week. “Being away from home, seeing how much energy they’re putting forth, and then maybe kind of turning the knife a little bit on those guys instead of making it a back-andforth game where they can just kind of rest while defending with their front guys, and then just play for transition moments.”
Further contributing to Crew SC’s demise in the first game against Atlanta were two other giveaways, one from Williams in the first half, the other from midfielder Mohammed Abu in the second half. Both led to Atlanta goals.
Facing another wave of high pressure last Saturday against Montreal, Crew SC made a few mistakes but managed to limit the damage to a goal. Holding a 1- 1 score line into the 70th minute, the Crew poured it on late against a tired Impact team, scoring three times in 18 minutes to finish a 4- 1 Mapfre Stadium Channel 53, Spectrum Sports WWCD-FM (102.5), WVKO-FM (103.1, in Spanish) Crew 8-9-1; Atlanta 7-7-3
United is 2-5-3 on the road this season and has not won on the road since April 22. … Using a reserve-heavy lineup, Atlanta fell 3-2 to Miami FC in the fifth
victory.
“We were looking at videos about Atlanta. They are a very good team with very good players, so it’s going to be a difficult game,” midfielder Federico Higuain said. “When we played ( at Atlanta), I felt we were a little bit tired. Maybe now, (after a Wednesday U.S. Open Cup game), they will be a little bit tired. We’ll see.”
In more than 400 round of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday. … Former Crew captain Michael Parkhurst is expected to make his return to Mapfre Stadium.
Crew SC has led at some point in the second half in all nine of its home games this season. … Winger Kekuta Manneh scored his first goal in nearly a year off the bench last weekend against Montreal. … Crew SC has not won back-toback games since winning three straight between March 18 and April 1.
This game is the first of two in four days for Crew SC, but can the Crew avoid silly mistakes against a high press? Can Atlanta extend some of its home momentum to the road, where it has lost three straight? second-half minutes at home this season, Crew SC has trailed for less than 30. To keep that number level, the team will have to prevent critical errors against a press it knows is coming.
"There are certainly going to be some turnovers," Berhalter said. "It's, 'How do we limit that damage?'"