Atlanta United steal a road point from Sporting Kansas City

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The bad boys of MLS were still in form last night as a 91′ goal from Jacob Peterson leveled the game and allowed Atlanta United to leave Kansas City with a point. It’s the third game in a row where Atlanta United were able to score past the 85th minute and earn a result. And while that’s all fun, we kind of miss watching the team give their opponents no chance early on. After all, the road point was very valuable and extended United’s unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2) and puts the Five Stripes in second place with 16 road points earned – just one behind Toronto FC.

Atlanta survived a few early chances to find themselves down 1-0, but managed to keep the ball out of their own net. Once the high press began to set in, the team was able to create more opportunities to open the scoring. In the 26th minute, Anton Walkes crossed the ball in to Tito Villalba who was only able to get an off-target flicked header on the ball, suppressing the attack. 10 minutes after, Julian Gressel’s shot from outside of the box finished just wide of the net.

Jeff Larentowicz almost gave Atlanta the lead in the 49th minute, but his rocket of a free kick was pushed aside by Tim Melia. It was Sporting KC who would find the net first in the 58th minute when a controversial call* on Leandro Gonzalez Pirez allowed Benny Feilhaber to take the 1-0 lead from the spot.

* This ref couldn’t keep his hands out of his pockets. Jeff Larentowicz, Carlos Carmona, Yamil Asad, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, and Mikey Ambrose all received a yellow card last night.

Sporting Kansas City was never able to get the cushion which would come back to bite them in stoppage time when Brandon Vasquez settled a pass from Michael Pankhurst and left Jacob Peterson one-on-one with his former goalkeeper. Peterson was able to score in his first appearance since April and equalize for the Five Stripes.

The tie leveled Atlanta United with NYRB on the table with 35 points. Atlanta will have a 17-day break before playing a match again when they travel to see D.C. United – a team that has gotten the better of the expansion side in their two previous matches. Hopefully, Atlanta will be back to full strength and ready to avenge themselves on 23rd. “We hope that when we start up the season again, after this short break, they (Martinez and Garza) will be back.” said Tata Martino.

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