Atlanta United Give Gut Check Performance In Portland Draw

The Five Stripes close out the longest road trip of the season with a “gut check” performance on the road against Portland.

Last Stop: Portland

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There were absences to pay attention to for both sides when Atlanta United played their sixth road match in their last seven contests. This time at Providence Park against the Timbers.

There would be no Greg Garza in the back for Atlanta. Unsurprisingly, Mark Bloom got the start as a part of Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s back four alongside Leandro Gonzalez-Pires, Michael Parkhurst, and Tyrone Mears.

The most interesting aspect of the Starting XI was that Tito Villalba was up top with Yamil Asad, Miguel Almiron, and Julian Gressel in the midfield. No Kenwyne Jones in the XI, with Carlos Carmona and Jeff Larentowicz laying back . Alec Kann was between the sticks.

No Darlington Nagbe for Portland created the notion of opportunities in the midfield on attack for Atlanta United, but Diego Valeri returned for Caleb Porter’s side and looked to hook up with Fanendo Adi on offense.

Let’s just say that a draw at home is what Timbers’ head coach Caleb Porter calls “an unsatisfactory result…”

Timbers’ defender Liam Ridgewell seconded the notion of a hard-fought match, thanks to the Timbers themselves.

“It’s good to have played good soccer, but we left with our hands empty”

Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino claimed after the match, “We were the better team.”

If you’re into numbers, Atlantapossessed the ball by a 70-30 advantage (third highest margin this season) and completed 82-percent of their intended passes; but how did we exactly get to a halved result?

Offensively, when Gressel and Almiron switched (and gave Gressel the inside and Almiron the outside) on any given drive, things like this happened,

With the changes on the side, it took a while for the concrete and cherry pie-clad visitors to get in any kind of sync. It would have paid off even more for Atlanta, had it not been for an offsides call United fans wanted (that wasn’t given) on the Ridgewell equalizer. As well as this particular move from Fanendo Adi, IN THE BOX…

That didn’t get a card  or a second glance, but with it the result might have been 3-1 all over again…

Goalkeeper Alec Kann had four more saves added to his season total, now at 34, and kept Adi from getting on the score sheet on his own in the 74th minute with a sprawling save to his left.

"“I think it’s probably the best we have done all year,” Kann said postgame. “We looked comfortable playing out of the back – we knew they weren’t going to press us high like New York did and we picked our moments to be a little more direct and our moments to play out and I think we did a good job with that.”"

And what Kann says there is key: “picked their moments…”

The midfield, without Darlington Nagbe for the Timbers, was a place where United could run all day and possess the ball when they could gain possession.

Overall, let’s just say head referee Alan Kelly won himself no Atlanta friends (or Portland, for that matter) for the second time this season with what he and his whistle did (or didn’t) do…

Or, put in its simplest terms:

Atlanta has earned nine points in road matches (2-2-3), the second most in MLS this season. They now return home for a match against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday the 20th at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The questions for Tata Martino will be on the health of Greg Garza, Jacob Peterson, and Josef Martinez, and how his side will match the speed the Dynamo will bring to town.

Next: USL expansion ready for summer

Okay, Atlanta United fan, what say you about the hard-earned point in Portland?

Let us know in the comments  section below…