Atlanta United Thumps New England 4-1
Hat Trick for Giakoumakis
Atlanta United vs. New England
Atlanta Latinos Magazine – Atlanta United kicked off its home opener in style Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Buoyed by an aggressive, attacking offense and backed up by a solid backline, United thumped New England Revolution 4-1.
The match was scoreless for most of the first half. However, United earned a penalty kick in extra time. Thiago Almada banged home the kick for Atlanta’s first goal of the season.
Then early in the second half, United earned another penalty kick due to a handball in the box. This time, Atlanta’s striker Giorgos Giakoumakis took the penalty kick, which he easily converted at the 55’.
But Giakoumakis was not done. Five minutes later, he drilled home a header on a beautiful cross by Brooks Lennon. Both Lennon and Xande Silva were credited with an assist.
In the 74’, Giakoumakis made it a hat trick, craftily angling the ball high over the goalkeeper’s head. His third goal was unassisted.
New England was able to dent the scoreboard in the 83’. Carles Gil was credited with the goal, his second of the young season.
Even with that goal, Atlanta’s defense was solid. The newly acquired center backs, Derrick Williams and Stian Gregersen, played cohesively, shutting down the New England attack. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan made several nice saves on the evening.
Atlanta hopes to carry this momentum into next week, another home match against Orlando City on Sunday, March 17th.
Notes…with the hat trick, Giakoumakis is in a four-way tie for the MLS lead in scoring…it was the fifth time in Atlanta United’s history that the team scored two penalty kicks in the same match…and it was only the second time ever the team had two different players convert a penalty kick in the same match…Orlando has had a slow start to the season, having not earned a win in its first three matches…attendance was announced as 67,727.
