Atlanta, GA- Atlanta United defeat the Montreal Impact 2-1 thanks to a breakout game from Justin Meram in front of a big home crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta head coach Frank De Boer on the win, “I’m very proud of the team, you know they played with so much discipline.” He continued, “We really deserved this win and finally we are on the right side of the score. A lot of times we have conceded a late goal against us and now we’ve got one and it feels really well deserved because they put a lot of effort in.”
The match started slowly with neither team able to create many chances early on. De Boer talked in his post-game press conference about Montreal’s slower style of play that tries to lull the opponent into creating mistakes for the Impact to run a counter on, and the slow pace at the beginning was as if the Five Stripes were being too careful on offense.
That would change in the 35th minute as Justin Meram, who is proving to be a great early season pick-up for Atlanta, delivered a ridiculous strike from outside of the box and into the top corner of the net to give Atlanta a 1-0 advantage in the first half.
De Boer was asked if he had seen Meram make that kind of shot in training, to which he joked, “He hasn’t trained that much.”
It was a big goal for Meram, as it was his first as a member of Atlanta United after being acquired early in the season. Atlanta would take that lead into the half but were quickly in for a fight.
Montreal came out swinging in the second half and would find their equalizer off of a corner in the 50th minute. Harry Novillo would get credited for the assist but would do most of the work as his shot deflected off teammate Zakaria Diallo into the net for the score and silencing the Atlanta crowd.
Momentum looked to be swinging towards the Impact late for another disappointing finish for the Five Stripes at home, but as we approached the final minutes, Justin Meram would re-emerge to put Atlanta back in front.
Brek Shea came into the game as a late substitution for Florentin Pogba and immediately made an impact with a great assist of a corner to find a wide-open Meram for the dagger. Shea has had up and down moments in his first year with Atlanta, but the two newcomers helped deliver a must-win to the Five Stripes who were playing on short rest following a disappointing 3-2 loss to Toronto on Wednesday.
This was a big win for Atlanta, as they defeated the second-place team in the Eastern Conference without their MVP Josef Martinez. When asked when to expect Martinez to return, De Boer said he would be available for their next game against the Chicago Fire adding, “We know Josef, and he wants to score.”
Atlanta will next travel to Chicago to take on the Fire next Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. est.
Written by Brian Pohl
Photo Credit: Henry Gomez / The SkyBoat
