Indiana Vassilev’s second-half goal ended St. Louis City’s scoring drought at 342 minutes, but Atlanta United rallied to post a 1-1 draw on Saturday night in St. Louis.
Daniel Rios scored in the 71st minute for Atlanta United.
Before Vassilev’s goal in the 50th minute, St. Louis City (3-6-10, 19 points) was shut out in three straight matches. Their most recent goal came in the 68th minute of a 3-3 tie with Inter Miami CF on June 1.
Still, St. Louis City saw their winless stretch reach eight matches (0-5-3).
Atlanta United (5-8-6, 21 points) played without standout Thiago Almada, who was suspended one match for yellow-card accumulation.
Atlanta United is 1-0-2 under interim coach Rob Valentino.
St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki had seven saves, while Atlanta counterpart Brad Guzan had three.
Both teams took 15 shots, but Atlanta put twice as many (8 to 4) on target.
Jayden Reid and Joao Klauss played roles in the St. Louis City goal.
Reid sent a long pass in toward the far post. Klauss used his positioning to get his head on the ball and sent it back toward Vassilev, who was charging in and booted a left-footed kick past Guzan. It was Vassilev’s third goal of the season.
Atlanta United knotted the score 21 minutes later. Nokkvi Thorisson was called for a foul in the box on Stian Gregersen, and Atlanta chose Rios to take the penalty kick with Almada serving his suspension.
Rios stood at the spot and proceeded slowly and Burki blocked his right-footed shot. The rebound went right toward Rios, and he knocked a right-footer into the net for his third goal of the season.
St. Louis City thought they had scored their first goal in three weeks when Thorisson’s shot deflected off Atlanta’s Efrain Morales and into the net in the 39th minute.
The play was reviewed, and it was ruled that St. Louis City’s Eduard Lowen fouled Atlanta’s Tristan Muyumba while stealing the ball at the outset of the sequence, negating the tally.
St. Louis City had another solid chance in the 10th minute, but Klauss’ right-footed shot caromed off the center of the crossbar.
Atlanta had a stellar opportunity in the 27th minute, but Burki stopped Xande Silva’s right-footed blast.
–Field Level Media
