Atlanta United's comeback bid fell short as Indy Eleven advanced to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals for the first time in their history, winning 2-1 in Kennesaw last night.
Augustine Williams would start off the scoring for Indy Eleven when Douglas Martinez drove up on the right wing and played a cross to the edge of the box to Williams to give them the 1-0 lead.
Indy Eleven doubled the lead in the 83rd with an own goal from Dax McCarty. Williams played a cross into the box and McCarty tried to clear it out of the box, but it went right into the back of the net.
Nick Firmino was able to cut the lead in half in the second minute of second half stoppage time when Matt Edwards played a great ball over the top to Daniel Rios who played the ball to Firmino and knocked it into the net.
Atlanta United had a couple of great chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“I think we’re getting in decent positions and I feel like we’ve been saying that all year, but scoring the goals, we’re not doing it as often as we want to and as we should,” said Firmino after the match. “We feel like it’s so hard for us to score but teams get easier goals than us and we’re always chasing the game so that’s something to work on.”
Atlanta United now goes on the road to face Montreal this Saturday, and will be missing another key player in Caleb Wiley as he is off to the Olympics. Wiley got a great send off from the 17's last night as he was being substituted, the fans chanted his name. Carlos Bocanegra said before the match that the rumored transfer deal with Chelsea and Wiley could be completed "imminently."
“I want to maximize everything I can out of that group, I want to squeeze everything I can out of them because there is more for them to give. We have no excuses, like who’s not here it can’t affect that. I hope that those who might come challenge the environment and make it better,” said Interim Head Coach Rob Valentino. “The guys understand that, but until that happens, we have games to play. I know that you guys will continue to do your jobs and show up to the games and ask us why something isn’t happening, because we have to be better, and we have to make things work.”
✍️: Madison Crews
📷: ATLUTD
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