Atlanta United Defeats FC Cincinnati 4-2
May 25, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Atlanta United FC News Release
Atlanta United defender Derrick Williams
(Atlanta United FC)
ATLANTA - Atlanta United defeated FC Cincinnati 4-2 Sunday night in front of 40,919 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Four different players scored for Atlanta, including Derrick Williams, Jay Fortune and Bartosz Slisz each finding the back of the net for the first time this season. After building a two-goal lead at halftime, both sides traded goals throughout an exciting second half, but Jamal Thiaré netted a fourth goal deep in stoppage time to put away the match and give Atlanta its third home win of the season. Alexey Miranchuk also recorded two assists in his 400th professional appearance.
Atlanta United energized the crowd early, taking the lead in the 15th minute. Former Atlanta defender Miles Robinson was shown a yellow card for a hard foul on Latte Lath on the left side roughly 25 yards from goal. On the ensuring set piece, Miranchuk delivered a left-footed cross inside the six-yard box which Williams headed downward into goal for the 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Atlanta doubled its lead. Following a goal kick, Atlanta built from the back and worked the ball up the left side before quickly moving it across the field to Saba Lobjanidze on the right wing. Lobjanidze backed down his defender and dribbled into the box before firing a low cross to the edge of the six-yard box where Fortune tapped in his first goal of the season to put Atlanta United up 2-0.
Latte Lath nearly scored a third just before halftime. In the 42nd minute, Fortune lobbed a ball in behind Cincinnati's backline where Latte Lath latched on to it, running away from Matt Miazga for a 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Roman Celentano. The Ivorian attempted to dribble around Celentano to the left side, but Miazga did well to recover and cut off the angle, causing Latte Lath to place his shot into the side netting.
Cincinnati cut the lead in half in the 48th minute. Evander delivered a corner kick to the center of the box where Robinson bounced his header just past a diving Guzan.
However, midway through the second half, Atlanta restored its two-goal lead when Slisz scored his first goal of the season in the 67th minute. Lobjanidze took a corner kick from the left side and sent it to the back post where Williams headed it back across goal. The ball took a deflection off Miranchuk before Slisz tapped it home to make it a 3-1 game.
Four minutes later, Cincinnati again cut its deficit to one. After an extended spell of possession deep in Atlanta's half, Lukas Engel fired a low cross from the left side to the penalty spot where Gerardo Valenzuela took a sliding shot and placed it just under the feet of Guzan.
Atlanta defended well down the stretch, withstanding waves of Cincinnati attacks to preserve its lead. In the final minute of stoppage time, Atlanta iced the match with a fourth goal. Matt Edwards intercepted a pass and found Mateusz Klich in the center of the field in plenty of space. Klich picked out the expertly-timed run of Thiaré down the left channel where he curled a low shot around Celentano and into the bottom right corner to send the Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
Atlanta United (3-7-5, 14 points) returns to action Wednesday, May 28 when it hosts Orlando City C 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.
Match Summary
Stats
Shots: 27-12 Cincinnati
Shots on target: 9-6 Cincinnati
Corner kicks: 11-2 Cincinnati
Fouls Committed: 11-8 Cincinnati
xG: 4.3 - 2.2 Atlanta
Possession: 59-41 Cincinnati
Passing accuracy: 91-84 Cincinnati
Scoring
ATL - Derrick Williams (Alexey Miranchuk) 15'
ATL - Jay Fortune (Saba Lobjanidze) 20'
CIN - Miles Robinson (Evander) 48'
ATL - Bartosz Slisz (Miranchuk, Williams) 66'
CIN - Gerardo Valenzuela (Lukas Engel, Evander) 70'
ATL - Jamal Thiaré (Mateusz Klich, Matt Edwards) 90+4''
Disciplinary
CIN - Miles Robinson Y 15'
CIN - Obinna Nwobodo Y 38'
CIN - DeAndre Yedlin Y 90'
Notes:
Alexey Miranchuk made his 400th professional appearance and recorded his first two assists of the season
Derrick Williams, Jay Fortune and Bartosz Slisz each scored their first goal of the season
Jamal Thiaré scored his second goal of the season
Saba Lobjanidze recorded his team-leading fifth assist of the season
Matt Edwards recorded his first career MLS assist
Mateusz Klich recorded his first assist with the club
Brad Guzan made a season-high seven saves
Attendance: 40,919
ATLANTA UNITED STARTING LINEUP
GK: Brad Guzan (c)
D: Pedro Amador (Ronald Hernández - 60')
D: Luis Abram
D: Derrick Williams
D: Matt Edwards
M: Saba Lobjanidze (Will Reilly - 90+1')
M: Jay Fortune (Noah Cobb - 90+1')
M: Bartosz Slisz
M: Alexey Miranchuk
M: Miguel Almirón (Mateusz Klich - 80')
F: Latte Lath (Jamal Thiaré - 80')
Substitutes not used:
Josh Cohen
Luke Brennan
Efrain Morales
Edwin Mosquera
FC CINCINNATI STARTING LINEUP
GK: Roman Celentano
D: Nick Hagglund (Teenage Hadebe - 14')
D: Miles Robinson
D: Matt Miazga (c) (DeAndre Yedlin - 83')
D: Luca Orellano
D: Lukas Engel (Sergio Santos - 83')
M: Obinna Nwobodo (Kei Kamara - 70')
M: Evander
M: Pavel Bucha
F: Kevin Denkey
F: Gerardo Valenzuela
Substitutes not used:
Evan Louro
Alvas Powell
Gilberto Flores
Corey Baird
Brian Anunga
OFFICIALS
Guido Gonzales Jr. (referee), Jason White (assistant), Tyler Wyrostek (assistant), Pierre-Luc Lauziere (fourth), Greg Dopka (VAR), Fabio Tovar (AVAR)
Images from this story
 Atlanta United defender Derrick Williams |
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