ATLANTA — Atlanta United won 3-2 Saturday against D.C. United in front of a crowd of 42,608at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday.
Ezequiel Barco, Josef Martínez and George Bello each scored to run Atlanta’s win streak to three matches and collect its seventh win in its last eight.
The win moved Atlanta into a playoff spot. Martínez’s goal was the 99th of his Atlanta United career across all competitions.
Barco brought Mercedes-Benz Stadium alive in the 18th minute when he scored the game’s opening goal, a world class free kick from roughly 25 yards out. Bello won a foul a minute earlier when he was taken down near the top of the 18-yard-box on the left side. Barco blasted the dead ball with his right boot, burying it into the upper left corner past a diving Bill Hamid. It was the Argentine’s seventh goal of the season, putting him into a tie for second on the team with Marcelino Moreno.
Atlanta almost doubled its lead in the 24th minute when a Julian Gressel back pass was hit weakly, and Bello ran on to the errant delivery. The Homegrown defender dashed into the penalty area and arrived one-on-one with Hamid. He took his chance on goal, but the D.C. netminder pushed the shot over the bar for a corner.
Just before the half Brad Guzan came up with a crucial save to preserve the lead. Gressel lofted a free kick into the box where it was popped in the air and presented Russell Canouse with a free header from point-blank range at the edge of the six-yard-box, but Guzan rushed out to deny the shot.
Martínez extended Atlanta’s lead in the 64th minute. Atlanta pressed D.C. in its own half which forced Gressel to misplace a pass that Barco immediately gathered and turned towards goal down the left side. Martínez made a diagonal run from right to left into the box as Barco slipped a pass in behind. The Venezuelan scored on a first-time shot to the near post for his team-leading ninth goal of the year.
D.C. got one goal back in the 75th minute. Canouse attempted a shot from distance that was blocked by Anton Walkes and fell to Felipe at the top of the box. The D.C. United midfielder took the shot on a half-volley and scored to the upper right corner to cut Atlanta’s lead in half.
Atlanta sealed the win with a goal from Bello in the 87th minute after an incredible individual effort from Moreno. The play started from a D.C. United corner kick that Atlanta cleared and played up the right side for Moreno. The Argentine received the ball near midfield and took on three D.C. defenders to get to the end line where he squared the ball across the box for Bello to tap in the game’s deciding goal. It was Bello’s first goal of the season and Moreno’s fifth assist of the year.
Martínez had a pair of opportunities to score in stoppage time, including one that hit the post in the 93rd minute, but couldn’t secure his 100th career goal before the final whistle.
D.C. United scored its second of the night in the final minute of stoppage time from a long-distance strike by Edison Flores.
Atlanta (9-7-9, 36 points) returns to action Saturday, Sept. 25 when it travels to face Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park (3:30 p.m., Univision, Sports Radio 92-9 The Game, La Mejor).
