Atlanta United drew Nashville SC 1-1 at Geodis Park on Saturday afternoon. Polish international Bartosz Slisz scored the equalizer, marking his first goal with Atlanta United. Hany Mukhtar scored the first half goal for Nashville.
Atlanta’s first chance of the match came in the 10th minute through Saba Lobjanidze. After good buildup play on the left wing, Nick Firmino found Caleb Wiley. The Homegrown played a pass to the top of the box where Lobjanidze was open. The Georgian took a touch and fired a left-footed shot just past the far post. Soon after, Brad Guzan made his first save of the match on a deflected shot by Jacob Shaffelburg to keep the match scoreless.
In the 34th minute, Daniel Ríos picked up a loose ball in the attacking half and fed Firmino in the center of the pitch 25 yards from goal. The midfielder tried to feed Ríos back with a through ball in behind the Nashville defense, but Ríos’ first touch gave Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis just enough time to shut him down. A few minutes later, Nashville’s Tyler Boyd found space in transition and played Hany Mukhtar into the box. The German was fouled by an onrushing Brad Guzan and the referee called a penalty. Mukhtar stepped up and converted into the bottom right corner to give the hosts the 1-0 lead at halftime.
The first good opportunity of the second half fell to Nashville when Mukhtar rattled a shot off the post in the 48th minute. Guzan dove to his right as the midfielder struck it from outside the box, but the post kept the match at 1-0. In the 56th minute, Atlanta found the equalizer after its best spell of possession in the match. The visitors kept the pressure on Nashville’s defense and Slisz played a ball to the corner of the box to Tristan Muyumba. The French midfielder squared the ball back to Slisz 19 yards in front of goal and the Polish international side-footed a one-time effort into the bottom right corner past a diving Joe Willis.
The five stripes suffered another injury setback after Noah Cobb went down. “I haven’t checked too much, he is limping, he’s in some pain,” said coach Gonzalo Pineda after the match. “But I am a bit moved today because the kid, 18-years-old, you can see it doesn’t look good and the kid is upset because he had to come out and he is saying, ‘Coach, leave me some time I might be coming back.’ It just shows the passion and the willingness of this team to try to win and try to compete and to help the team.”
Atlanta United (3-6-4, 13 points) returns to action Tuesday, May 21 in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup when it travels to face Charleston Battery (7:00 p.m. ET, USsoccer.com, 92.9 The Game) in a Round of 16 matchup. The team’s next MLS match is on Saturday, May 25 when they host LAFC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass, 92.9 The Game, La Mejor). All Atlanta United matches are available with an MLS Season Pass subscription, located on the Apple TV app.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of ATLUTD