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MLS Atlanta United FC

Atlanta United Tops Sporting Kansas City 3-0

May 6, 2019 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Atlanta United FC News Release


KANSAS CITY, Kansas - Atlanta United beat Sporting Kansas City 3-0 Sunday night at Children's Mercy Park with goals from Josef Martinez and Ezequiel Barco as the club picked up its second-straight road win. With a pair of goals, Martinez recorded his 13th multi-goal game with Atlanta United while Barco scored his fourth of the season, tied with Martinez for the team lead, and dished out his first assist of the year.

"I'm very pleased, it was a very solid performance," said Atlanta United head coach Frank de Boer. "We created our chances, we almost gave nothing away and we were confident on the ball. This is what you want to see from our team."

Atlanta controlled the pace of play from the outset, dominating possession and taking six shots building up to its breakthrough in the 39th minute. Ezequiel Barco received a pass from Darlington Nagbe near the center circle and drove the ball through the middle of the field before unleashing a strong right-footed shot toward goal. Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia palmed the ball to his right, but Martinez buried the rebound while clashing with Melia inside the six-yard box.

Barco doubled Atlanta's lead right out of halftime in the 47th minute. The play again began with the Argentine midfielder sprinting through the midfield before laying off a pass to Gressel, who then returned the ball for Barco. He shed a defender off his back near the edge of the penalty area and passed to Martinez, who had the ball poked away. Graham Zusi attempted to clear the ball, but it fell directly to the feet of Barco, who took one touch to his right before blasting a perfectly-placed shot past a diving Melia into the bottom left corner.

Atlanta United continued to assert its dominance with several chances throughout the half and ultimately sealed victory in the 76th minute after Martinez scored his second goal of the night. Barco led a break down the left side and dribbled toward the top of the 18-yard box where he laid a pass off to Martinez. The Venezuelan dribbled around a Sporting defender before sending a curling strike into the top left corner. It was Barco's first assist of the season.

Atlanta United (3-3-2, 11 points) returns to action Wednesday, May 8 against Toronto FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (7:00 p.m. EST, FOX Sports Southeast, Sports Radio 92-9 The Game).

STATS

Shots: 19-10 Atlanta

Shots on Target: 8-3 Atlanta

Corner kicks: 5-4 Atlanta

Fouls committed: 12-5 Kansas City

Clearances: 17-12 Kansas City

Offside: 2-1 Kansas City

Possession: 55-45 Atlanta

Passing Accuracy: 87-84 Atlanta

SCORING SUMMARY

ATL - Josef Martinez 39'

ATL - Ezequiel Barco 47'

ATL - Josef Martinez 76' (Ezequiel Barco)

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY

ATL - Eric Remedi 66' (yellow)

ATLANTA UNITED STARTING LINEUP

Brad Guzan; Leandro González Pirez, Franco Escobar, Miles Robinson, Michael Parkhurst ©; Darlington Nagbe, Eric Remedi (Jeff Larentowicz - 70'); Ezequiel Barco, Gonzalo Martinez (Hector Villalba - 71'), Julian Gressel; Josef Martinez (Brek Shea - 81').

Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Dion Pereira, Florentin Pogba, Jon Gallagher.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY STARTING LINEUP

Tim Melia; Graham Zusi ©, Seth Sinovic, Graham Smith, Botond Baráth; Yohan Croizet (Ilie Sánchez - 65'), Kelyn Rowe (Gedion Zelalem - 65'), Felipe Gutiérrez; Dániel Sallói, Johnny Russell, Krisztián Németh.

Substitutes not used: Adrián Zendejas, Nicolas Hasler, Abdul Rwatubyaye.

ATTENDANCE

18,518

OFFICIALS

Allen Chapman (referee), Logan Brown (assistant), Oscar Michtell-Carvalho (assistant), Rosendo Mendoza (fourth), Geoff Gamble (VAR), Joshua Patlak (assistant VAR)

TEAM NOTES

Josef Martinez scored his third and fourth goals of the season

Ezequiel Barco also scored his fourth goal of the season, while also adding his first assist

Atlanta is now second in shots per game at 15.25

Josef Martinez tied a career-best with four chances created

Atlanta United tied a club record with just five fouls conceded, done twice before (July 2018 v Orlando and Oct. 2018 v New England)

Jeff Larentowicz appeared in his 398th career game, good for third place all-time in league history among field players. He is two appearances away from becoming the third field player to reach 400 in MLS history.

Check out the Atlanta United FC Statistics

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