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Atlanta United escapes late danger, forges draw with New York City FC

With the 1-all draw from Saturday, United can exhale for a few minutes, before redirecting their focus to Wednesday's road encounter with Columbus Crew SC.

Some draws are better than others.

On Saturday, Atlanta United forged a 1-1 tie with New York City FC, thus leaving Yankee Stadium in the same position they were in to begin the day: Ranking as the Eastern Conference's top club (30 points) ... and still leading NYC FC by two crucial points.

However, the match almost ended in misery for United.

During the extra time of regulation (four-plus minutes), a New York City FC scoring attempt clanged off the left goal post and then caromed behind Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan—while rolling just inches shy of the goal line.

If NYC FC had converted on the bang-bang play, a victory would have vaulted the club into the Eastern Conference lead.

Instead, United can exhale for a few minutes about the draw, before redirecting their focus to Wednesday's road encounter with Columbus Crew SC.

This week's upcoming match essentially puts Atlanta (15 games played) at the midway point of the Major League Soccer regular season.

Regarding the day's scoring ...

Josef Martinez, the league's leading scorer (13 goals), added to his season tally with a scintillating goal in the 47th minute.

Playing on Yankee Stadium's narrow pitch (by MLS standards), midfielder Julian Gressel curved a picture-perfect cross pass into the scoring area and Martinez executed a textbook header into the net.

Despite being on the defensive for much of the day (Guzan recorded nine total saves and New York City FC hit the post three times), United led, 1-0.

New York City FC would find redemption at the 77th minute. A double-header off a corner kick helped NYC knot the score at 1. The flawless sequence involved David Villa (corner kick), Maxi Moralez (first header) and Alexander Callens (second header) for the goal.

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