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Atlanta United settle for desultory draw vs. Seattle; Eastern lead now 1 point

The pacing was slow and somewhat stale in the second half. Even when the Sounders were reduced to 10 players on the field, United still couldn't generate much offense.

ATLANTA—This one hurts, even if there was no inflicted pain.

Despite encountering Major League Soccer's worst scoring offense on Sunday, Atlanta United still ended up with a disappointing 1-1 draw against the Seattle Sounders.

How anemic were the Sounders? Heading into the match, Seattle had notched only 15 goals for the season ... or two fewer than Atlanta forward Josef Martinez, the league's leading scorer.

Martinez's two-goal spread over an entire team remained the same after this match.

The Sounders overwhelmed Brad Guzan on a deflected penalty kick (Nicolas Lodeiro at the 45th minute); and four minutes later, Martinez countered with a beautiful goal—the athletic result of leaping over two defenders to field Julian Gressel's lofty assist ... and then heading the ball into the net, over Seattle goalkeeper Sebastian Frei.

For a brief moment, the sizable crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (an MLS-record of 72,243) erupted with joy, believing United would subsequently shake off their sluggish start and cruise to victory.

After all, Atlanta had double the points and double the goals of Seattle entering the day's action. Surely, a second-half explosion would follow Martinez's 18th goal.

But alas, the pacing was slow and a little stale in the second half, perhaps by Seattle's design. Even when the Sounders were reduced to 10 players on the field, United still couldn't generate much offense.

The one true rally: United (12-4-5) nearly seized the lead in the 70th minute, but Frei thwarted Chris McCann from point-blank range—after Leandro Gonzalez Pirez's header clanged off the post.

As such, Atlanta (41 points) now owns a razor-thin lead in the Eastern Conference, with New York City FC (which blanked Columbus on Sunday) trailing by just one point.

For what it's worth, United and New York City FC appear to be healthy locks for first-round byes come playoff time.

It's essentially a two-horse race for the conference's No. 1 seed.

United has two more matches before the MLS All-Star Game (Aug. 1) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta will host D.C. United next Saturday, before concluding the pre-All-Star break portion of the schedule with a trip to Montreal (July 28).

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