ATLANTA — Atlanta United defeated LA Galaxy 4-0 Wednesday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to extend its home unbeaten streak to 10 consecutive matches. Yamil Asad scored twice while Josef Martinez and Miguel Almirón added goals for Atlanta, which ran its goal tally to 61 on the season.
“We can’t ever lose the hope to keep improving because there are always certain things to improve,” Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino said. “It’s true that since we moved into Mercedes-Benz Stadium that we’ve been playing well. We’ve been great (at) attacking. We’ve been able to control the ball and defensively, I think we’ve been sound as well – aside from the game against Orlando where we gave up three goals. But, we’re still not in the playoffs yet so we know we still have work to do and some things that we can still improve on.”
Fresh off MLS Player of the Week honors, Martinez continued his hot streak by opening the scoring in the 13th minute. Martinez squared one into the back of the net off a cross from Asad. The winger did most of the dirty work along the left side to create enough space for his cross. Martinez made no mistake by one-touching it past Galaxy keeper Jon Kempin. It was the 19th time this season Atlanta scored first.
Asad picked up his first goal of the night just three minutes later. The play started with Tito Villalba smashing a ball that was saved by Kempin. Almirón picked up the rebound and had his attempted shot blocked, which fell to Asad who drilled his attempt past Kempin. Four minutes later, Asad added his second of the night and his fourth in his last five matches. Almirón set it up by playing Villalba through five Galaxy defenders. The Argentine winger then found his fellow countryman alone in front of the net, where Asad tapped it in for the 3-0 lead.
Almirón got on the score sheet just before halftime. Asad picked up a loose ball and played a long through ball that Almirón beat a defender to. In alone, he chipped Kempin for his ninth goal of the season and his first since June 17 against Columbus.
Atlanta United (13-8-7, 46 points) returns to action Sunday, Sept. 24 against Montreal Impact. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FOX.
