April 28 vs Montreal Impact
Although the final score read 4-1, this match was anything but a breeze. Montreal scored early, held that lead, and attempted to sit in their own defensive third for most of the match. It worked for a while, but Atlanta finally scored in the 68th minute and the floodgates opened. Atlanta’s Kevin Kratz forged his name into Five Stripes lore after this match, thanks to a couple of beautiful free kicks.
How they won: Miguel Almiron opened the scoring on a converted penalty for Atlanta after trailing 1-0 for most of the game. Just eight minutes later, Kratz came to the rescue with his game-winning freekick. The goalscoring didn’t stop there, though. Six minutes after Kratz’s freekick, Almiron scored his second of the game. Atlanta led 3-1, but another freekick opportunity presented itself and Kratz continued his freekick masterclass, making the score 4-1.
The guts of it all: It took a lot of patience from the Five Stripes to actually win this game. Montreal had a clear plan: score, then sit back and bunker and stop Atlanta from scoring. It worked, for the most part, until Almiron finally found a way through the defense and Kratz made his heroic freekicks. Montreal’s tactics in this game reflected the same tactics teams used against Atlanta in 2017. However, thanks to the offseason acquisitions of Darlington Nagbe and Ezequiel Barco, Atlanta broke through Montreal’s defense to win the game.