Photo: Paul Rudderow
At least one team from Philadelphia showed some fight against Atlanta yesterday.
The Union looked beaten in the 83rd minute after an own goal from Kacper Przybylko and a header from Anton Walkes had Atlanta United sitting pretty at 2-0. But a furious comeback — through a driving finish from Cory Burke and a golazo from Jakob Glesnes — earned the Boys in Blue a valuable road point.
Player ratings
Andre Blake — 6
Made all the saves he needed to make, can’t be faulted on either goal.
Olivier Mbaizo — 7
One of the better defensive performances from the Cameroonian this season, notching several key blocks and interceptions.
Jack Elliott — 5
The weaker of the two centerbacks on the night, he seemed to struggle with Atlanta’s movement in attack. Not at fault on either goal, though.
Jakob Glesnes — 9
Electric performance from the God of Thunder, capped by that goal-of-the-season caliber winner. Before that, put in a strong defensive shift, and marauded forward when the Union needed someone to add pressure.
Kai Wagner — 5
Not much to say about the left back. Seemed to struggle with service on both dead balls and crosses.
Leon Flach — 6
The kid can run all day, can’t he? There is so much to like about what Flach brings to the side — tackling, intelligence, ball control — and he turned in another good outing with Jose Martinez away.
Alejandro Bedoya — 5
A quiet night in the center of midfield. Overall, Atlanta won that area of the pitch, and Bedoya’s performance didn’t stand out.
Jamiro Monteiro — 5
Some indecision on the ball and a few unnecessary fouls from Monteiro, who was far from his sharpest. But his shot led to the first goal, and he gets credit for an assist on the second.
Anthony Fontana — 4
Tough night offensively for the Delawarean, who couldn’t finish an early gold-plated chance. Not involved enough in the offense, although Jim Curtin said postgame that they could have gotten him more service and praised his defensive work rate. Looks destined for the 60th minute substitute role once Daniel Gazdag is fit.
Sergio Santos — 4
A lot of sound and fury, signifying… what? Weird game from Santos, who spent an enormous amount of time on the ground. Does a lot of good work around the box but the finishing hasn’t been there this year. Pulled at halftime for injury, hopefully won’t miss much time.
Kacper Przybylko — 3
Maybe a bit harsh, but any time you score an own goal you’re going to suffer in the player ratings. At the other end, didn’t generate much of danger.
Substitutes
Cory Burke — 6
It took him a bit to find the game — with his teammates playing him balls better suited for Santos’ pace — and he lost Walkes on the second goal. But his tenacity to follow up Monteiro’s shot and roof the rebound over Brad Guzan turned the match around.
Jack McGlynn — 5
A 69th minute substitute, the 17-year-old didn’t stand out. He also made no glaring errors.
Matt Real — N/A
A cameo.
Geiger Counter
Ted Unkel — 6
Controlled the match well, with the Union having little basis to complain about their array of yellow cards.
I want to see more of the defensive stats from Fontana. Atlanta didn’t do much to generate chances and it seemed like Fontana’s work rate at the top of the diamond had something to do with that.
agreed. at worst, he didn’t create space on the few offensive chances the team had before subbing him off. sure, i wish he scored on that shot but it was an excellent save. i didn’t think it was a poor outing and nowhere near as confusing as santos’ performance.
Same. I feel like this was a better outing for him than we’ve recently seen, specifically because of the defensive workrate.
Sadly, the game guide for Columbus on the Union’s website says that Fontana is in concussion protocol.
CCL home game tickets on sale now.
Real-time, at the very least, it felt like Unkel’s calls were leaning in Atlanta’s favor. The Union’s cards and fouls were not at all incorrect, but it felt like similar fouls were not made going the other way – and there were some.
The biggest call went in the Union’s favor with Wagner not being called for a PK. I’m usually very critical of Unkel but this wasn’t a bad job.
I’d lower Wagners rating to a 3 for that point alone.. It should have been a PK, and that would have lost us the game.
Santos is really feast or famine. I still love his skill set. He is really good on the counter and really had some nice moves. One time where he was one on one with Sosa and got Sosa to dive in, cut inside to continue the counter and then found Kacper for a shot.
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Another one was when he got the ball in our half, bodied a guy off him, turned, kicked the ball forward and chased it down to continue the run into the opponents final third. (then he was dispossessed lol).
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But he also spends a lot of time on the ground, disappears way too much for not contributing much to the build up, and his passing/crossing is mediocre (the defense can ride him away from goal and he pretty much loses all steam).
Obviously Glesnes is getting the better score given the goal, but I thought Elliott was the more solid defender, breaking up plays and not giving up many chances.
a factor for Elliott that has been true for some games now is that other teams try to prevent Elliott from getting the ball to distribute it.
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Not criticizing Glesnes’s distribution, but Elliott’s is superior.
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Atlanta was inviting Glesnes forward and keeping him from finding Elliott.
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Of course they forgot that Thor the Thunderer has Mjolnar the Hammer.
Glesnes should get an 11.
^^^^^ what he said. give it to’em Peter….just this once….
He goes to Eleven.
Another extremely poor take on the back four. Blinded by glitz and glamour over how the game actually panned out, shocker again from the writer zzz
This +1.
I thought the defensive corps was pretty outstanding all game, and especially Jack Elliott, who made okay after play. We must not have been watching the same match, because in the one I watched Atlanta had hardly any good chances from the run of play, scored only on set pieces, one where other scorer was being marked (fairly well) by a striker, and one on a complete fluke play. Mbaizo was really good, and Elliott deserves an 8, not a 5.
+1 again.
+1 from me too