Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The first match of the 2024 season for new interim head coach Rob Valentino began with a goal from a former Atlanta United player in the fourth minute of the match. Former Atlanta defender Franco Escobar headed in a Houston miss to give the road team a 1-0 advantage. It would end with Atlanta United in a similar position to where it was before Valentino took over for former manager Gonzalo Pineda: with a draw at home.
United drew 2-2 with Houston on Saturday night after being ahead 2-1 for nearly the entire second half. There were boos coming from the crowd of more than 42,600 following the final whistle.
The match would be tied in the 25th minute however when a long pass from goal keeper Brad Guzan was picked up by reserve Luke Brennan, who was in the game as an injury replacement for Edwin Mosquera, and resulted in multiple shots-on-gola for Atlanta. The latter of the two shots being a straight on goal from Rios, who was in the starting lineup at forward in place of the outgoing Giorgos Giakoumakis. The goal is Rios’ second of the season in seven matches.
The decision of bringing Brennan into the match belongs to Valentino, who knows this team well after having been involved as an assistant coach and interim head coach since 2018. Brennan, a member of the Atlanta United academy, immediately changed the energy on the wings upon entering the match.
After the match Valentino had nothing but positive things to say about the way Brennan played. “he didn’t start the game and all of a sudden 18 minutes in he had to step in and I think what Lukey did was awesome,” said Valentino. “He showed bravery, he went at them like a nuisance and I felt like he caused them a lot of problems.”
“You never know when your moment comes,” Valentino added.
During the three minutes of first half stoppage time Houston saw a number of solid opportunities to take back the lead and missed them all. The Dynamo had six shots on target during the first half to Atlanta’s three.
Atlanta got off to a strong start during the second half with a goal from Xande Silva in the 55th minute on an assist from Caleb Wiley. Thiago Almada nearly scored Atlanta’s third goal of the match in the 65th minute on a driving shot from 20 yards away. Atlanta had the momentum following Silva’s goal.
Houston midfielder Latif Blessing scored his fourth goal of the season and tied the match in the 89th minute following an Atlanta defensive breakdown. For the entire second half to that point there was string play in the back for Atlanta, particularly from Wiley and Guzan, who had a number of saves.
Welcome back: Franco Escobar was greeted with a warm welcome back to Atlanta from the fans that were trickling into Mercedes-Benz Stadium an hour before the start of the match Saturday night. The Houston Dynamo defender and Argentinian national had been with the team for the 2018 MLS championship. As a welcome gift Escobar earned a yellow card in the 42nd minute to go along with the goal he scored.
Honor: Coy Dumas, Jr., the longest serving MARTA employee hammered the golden spike before the match on Saturday night. Dumas spent 50 years with MARTA as a bus driver.
What’s Next: Atlanta United will play its next two matches on the road. On Wednesday, June 19, Atlanta will face D.C United (7:30 p.m. start). The two teams played in Atlanta on May 11 with D.C. winning an exciting 3-2 match. On Saturday, June 22 St. Louis SC will host Atlanta United. The match will be the first time the two teams will have met this season. Atlanta will return home to face Toronto FC on Saturday, June 29 (7:30 p.m.).