by Madison Crews
Atlanta United falls to LAFC 1-0 at home on Saturday night.
It was a very back and forth match for the first half, and it stayed 0-0 going into halftime. In the 60th minute, Brad Guzan was given a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. He came off of his line to win a 50-50 ball with Mateusz Bogusz on a diving header, and Bogusz fell after Guzan clipped him on the way down. After a long review by the VAR David Barrie followed by a lengthy on-field review by referee Sergii Boiko, Guzan was shown the red card.
When asked if he agreed with the red card decision, Atlanta manager Gonzalo Pineda said, “No. Let’s leave it like that. I prefer not to expand on that, I want to keep it short with the referees.”
Josh Cohen made his MLS Regular Season debut with the Five Stripes, and Thiago Almada also checked into the match after the red card.
LAFC scored their only goal of the night in the 63rd minute on the ensuing free kick when Bogusz's shot deflected off the wall, and landed in the goal.
In the 72nd minute, Derrick Williams was subbed on for Stain Gregersen which was his first appearance back since his injury. LAFC would go down to 10 men in the 81st minute when Eduard Atuesta earned a second yellow.
Even with Atlanta playing with 10 men for the majority of it, they were able to out-shoot LAFC 12-3 in the second half, but were unable to find the equalizer and lost their fourth home match in a row.
“I think it is injuries, confidence, all of the things you can think. Then, things aren’t going our way and it seems like we keep digging a hole deeper and deeper,” said Defender Derrick Williams after the match. “All it takes is one moment though to turn things around, one win or one goal, it could change the whole season around. I feel positive inside because I know what we have in this dressing room is good enough to be top of the table and competing for a Cup. It is just getting that first win again that is the tough part.”
The Five Stripes are back in action Wednesday where they go on the road to Chase Stadium to face off against Inter Miami CF at 7:30 p.m. Pregame coverage starts on 92.9 The Game at 6:30 p.m.
(photo: Sofia Cupertino)
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