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Atlanta- The Atlanta United (14-8-7) positioned themselves closer to a playoff birth after blanketing the Montreal Impact (11-13-6) at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Atlanta came out, in their usual fashion, aggressive but was only able to get one shot on goal in the first 20 minutes.
Early on in the 16th minute, Miguel Almiron came up lame after attempting a shot outside of the 18-yard inch box. He was substituted out for Julian Gressel. Almiron was full of emotion as he exited.
In the 25th minute, Joseph Martinez had a golden opportunity to score and attempted a shot but it seemed to hit off Impact’s defenseman Victor Cabrera hands but there was no call.
United was able to get another chance in the 28th minute as Hector “Tito” Villabla scored after eluding two defenders and scored on a straight on goal towards the corner of the net pass goal keeper Evan Bush. It was assisted by Carlos Carmona.
At the start of the second half, Montreal started to gain momentum by getting penetration deep into Atlanta’s territory.
Anthony Jackson-Hamel had an opportunity splitting past two defenders inside the 18-inch yard box but got off a weak shot that was stopped by goal keeper Brad Guzan.
“You have to look at the guys on the back line that provide the base to allow those guys on offense to do what they do best so hats off to them,” stated Guzan.
Atlanta stayed on the attack and Martinez was leading it. Martinez received a pass in which he had a clear shot until Cabrera jumped in his lane. Martinez continued to dribble waiting for the perfect shot and finally unloaded one that was blocked by Bush into Yamil Asad at the corner of the net. Asad fired back a shot that ricocheted off of Bush.
In the 73rd minute, the United threatened again but this time they were successful. Gressel centered a perfect pass to Jeff Larentowicz who was able to capitalize off his leg past Bush that gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
It seemed as if Atlanta got more aggressive the more they score. Martinez got a pass which cleared for a breakaway. Bush charged him and Martinez lobbed the ball over him but it rolled just wide of the net in the 79th minute.
The United has an 11 home game unbeaten streak. In Mercedes Benz Stadium, they have out scored their opponents 19-3.
This win has put them into third place in the Eastern Conference and only three points (49) behind New York City FC (52).
