Atlanta United Beats Portland, Moves to Top of Eastern Conference
August 19, 2019 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Atlanta United FC News Release
ATLANTA - Atlanta United defeated Portland Timbers 2-0 Sunday night at Providence Park to move into first place in the Eastern Conference. Josef Martinez added to his league-record goalscoring streak, tallying for the 11th consecutive match, and Leandro Gonzalez Pirez added his first goal of the MLS season to lead Atlanta. Brad Guzan made five saves to post his league-leading 12th clean sheet of the season.
Atlanta opened the scoring for the eighth consecutive match with Gonzalez Pirez finally tapping home from short range. Off a corner kick, Josef Martinez redirected a shot on target, but it was saved by Steve Clark. The ensuing rebound ricocheted off Julio Cascante toward goal, resulting in the defender attempting to clear, but it went straight to Gonzalez Pirez, who had crashed the goal and was able to tap the ball in from a yard out.
While each team had a couple of good scoring chances through the final half hour of the first half, it ended 1-0. Atlanta immediately doubled the lead, though, a minute after the break. From midfield, Julian Gressel delivered a pinpoint through ball to Martinez, and with Clark about to rush out, Martinez immediately curled his shot into the upper right corner for a 2-0 lead.
Atlanta United (14-9-3, 45 points) returns to action Friday, Aug. 23 when it travels to play Orlando City SC. It returns to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 27 to host Minnesota United for the 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final (8:00 p.m., ESPN+).
MATCH INFO
Atlanta United 2, Portland Timbers 0
Providence Park
Portland, Oregon
STATS
Shots: 19-16 Atlanta
Shots on Target: 5-5 Atlanta
Corner kicks: 9-7 Atlanta
Fouls committed: 18-8 Portland
Clearances: 18-14 Portland
Offside: 4-1 Portland
Possession: 50-50
Passing Accuracy: 80-79 Portland
SCORING SUMMARY
ATL - Leandro Gonzalez Pirez 14' [HIGHLIGHT]
ATL - Josef Martinez (Julian Gressel) 46' [HIGHLIGHT]
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
ATL - Jeff Larentowicz (yellow) 24'
ATL - Florentin Pogba (yellow) 33'
POR - Jorge Moreira (yellow) 42'
ATL - Ezequiel Barco (yellow) 45+1'
ATLANTA UNITED STARTING LINEUP
Brad Guzan ©; Florentin Pogba, Miles Robinson, Leandro González Pirez; Justin Meram (Dion Pereira - 84'), Darlington Nagbe, Jeff Larentowicz, Julian Gressel; Ezequiel Barco (Emerson Hyndman - 72'), Josef MartÃ-nez, Pity MartÃ-nez (Tito Villalba - 88').
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Michael Parkhurst, Mikey Ambrose, Mo Adams.
PORTLAND TIMBERS STARTING LINEUP
Steve Clark; Jorge Villafaña (Tomás Conechny- 84'), Bill Tuiloma, Julio Cascante, Jorge Moreira; Diego Chara, Renzo Zambrano (Marvin LorÃ-a - 74'); Sebastián Blanco (Dairon Asprilla - 88'), Diego Valeri ©, Jeremy Ebobisse; Brian Fernández.
Substitutes not used: Kendall McIntosh, Cristhian Paredes, Zarek Valentin.
ATTENDANCE
25,218
OFFICIALS
Armando Villareal (referee), Corey Rockwell (assistant), Eduardo Mariscal (assistant), Elijio Arreguin (fourth), Alex Chilowicz (VAR)
TEAM NOTES
Josef Martinez added to his league-record 11-match scoring streak. The previous record was 9 games. Martinez has also scored in 13 consecutive matches across all competitions.
Martinez now has 26 goals on the season across all competitions. He had three in Concacaf Champions League, one in U.S. Open Cup play and one in Campeones Cup.
Jeff Larentowicz started his 383rd career game. That ranks third in MLS history among field players, trailing Kyle Beckerman (449) and Chad Marshall (404).
Larentowicz also appeared in his 414th career game. That ranks second in MLS history among field players, trailing Kyle Beckerman (479).
Leandro Gonzalez Pirez scored his first goal of the 2019 MLS Regular Season. It's his second in all competitions this season (Herediano) and third career MLS goal.
Brad Guzan's 12th clean sheet tied a team record (2017).
With the win, Atlanta moved to the top of the Eastern Conference. It's tied with Philadelphia on points (45), but Atlanta owns the first league tiebreaker, wins.
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