Saturday's Week 4 match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was shaping up as a poor home loss for Atlanta United against a CF Montréal team searching for their first win of the 2022 MLS season.
Despite taking an early 1-0 lead, three unanswered goals by Montréal in a 14-minute span saw a favorable scoreline for Atlanta quickly turn into a 3-1 deficit, with matters further complicated by Dom Dwyer’s red-card ejection in the 67th minute.
But the Five Stripes' bleak prospects brightened in a hurry. First came Thiago Almada’s first MLS goal in the 85th minute, an AT&T 5G Goal of the Week stunner that gave hope to the crowd.
That hope gave way to outright jubilation after a 93rd-minute free kick from Brooks Lennon past CFM goalkeeper Sebastian Breza secured a 3-3 draw, running Atlanta’s home unbeaten streak dating back to last season to 10 matches and sending the visitors on a quiet plane ride back to Canada.
“I don’t think it was right in the corner, I would say, but happy it went in," Lennon said. "… Once I hit it, I knew it had a chance. I hit it pretty well and the goalie was leaning a little bit.”
It marked the second straight match that ended with late dramatics favoring ATLUTD. This followed last weekend's stoppage-time winner by Jake Mulraney against expansion side Charlotte FC, which turned a one-all draw into a 2-1 win.
In Lennon’s case, the extra free-kick training Atlanta employed this year appears to have paid off, with head coach Gonzalo Pineda highlighting that additional focus in his postgame remarks.
“Not just Brooks, but we have seen a couple [of players] that are very good on that, so happy for that,” Pineda said, adding the salvaged point was a reward after a poor match. “Obviously, we want to make sure that our chances come out of [a] very different place, but this is a good addition to our repertoire.”
Lennon’s equalizer wouldn’t have been possible without a jaw-dropping strike by Almada, with the 20-year-old Argentine opening his account with his new club in resounding fashion.
“It was important for us to be able to take something from a very difficult game,” Almada said through a translator. “I think when I scored that goal, it gave all of us an extra little boost to try to come back. … The important thing is the effort everyone showed, and we want to keep that going.”
It’s the first of what Atlanta hope will be many game-changing moments for the MLS-record signing ($16 million) from Velez Sarsfield.
“With Thiago, I think we already knew that that’s a quality he can provide to the team,” Pineda said. “He’s [someone] who can score those types of golazos [and] can maybe play through-balls in behind to open the door for goals. … He was fantastic. I think in a different game, if that was the winner or something else, it could have been even better for Thiago. But I think it’s a great start with the team.”
And while it was a “very frustrated” and “down” Atlanta locker room at halftime, according to Lennon, they ultimately harnessed those emotions to turn the tables and secure an unlikely point.
“Guys were very agitated, which was normal when you’re down like that,” Lennon said. “But to be able to turn that frustration and anger into a result is a different story. You can be angry as long as you want, but you’ve got to perform on the field to pull out a result, and that’s what we did. To score two very good goals at the end was special.”
