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The Colorado Rapids started strong and played tight defense until Atlanta United FC got the only goal of the game in the 74th minute. The Pids ended up losing again, extending their losing streak to six games and giving Atlanta their first home win of the season.
First Half
Head coach Anthony Hudson made quite a few changes to the line-up heading into the match-up against Atlanta United. Congratulations to 16-year-old Sebastian Anderson, who got his first start of his professional career less than a month after joining the squad.
Our XI to face Atlanta.
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) April 27, 2019
https://t.co/Sk8LhukG8j#Rapids96 | #ATLvCOL pic.twitter.com/P2QRXFbBMd
The Rapids did well on defense by staying compact and sticking to a five-man backline, but they didn’t get many offensive chances in this first half. The Burgundy Boys’ best chance came in the 12th minute when Kellyn Acosta got off a shot but it went right to Brad Guzan. Acosta had another shot in the 33rd minute that was also saved.
On the other side, Josef Martinez had a great opportunity for ATL a few minutes later, but kicked it to Tim Howard. Leandro González Pirez put a nice ball in the box but Howard dove on top of it. Atlanta had a couple more chances in the box but weren’t able to take advantage of any of them and it was 0-0 at half-time.
Second Half
Neither coach made any substitutions to start the second half.
Julian Gressel got a header in the opening minute of the second half, sending it wide of the goal. Atlanta defender Miles Robinson also got his head on a ball but it went just over the crossbar.
In the 74th minute, Gressel snuck one in between Howard and the post to put ATLUD up 1-0.
Quality pressure up front to open the score @darlingtonnagbe ➡ @JulianGressel pic.twitter.com/3FcT4D5EGB
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) April 27, 2019
A few minutes later, Nicolas Mezquida (who subbed in around the 64th minute) dribbled into the box and wound up for a shot but was blocked. Mezquida had another opportunity late in the game, but Guzan stopped that one as well.
It’s not surprising that the Rapids had very few shots on goal. While possession isn’t always a useful indicator of how the game went, you have to have the ball to shot and score, and the Pids just didn’t have the ball very much (they had about 32% possession).