Finally! Atlanta United got their first win of the season Saturday with a solid 3-1 victory over Philadelphia Union at the Benz, and it couldn't have come soon enough. After starting the season 0-0-3 with way too many questions about whether this team was going to be any good, they put together their most complete performance and won by their biggest margin of the season. The irony? They did it in front of their smallest crowd at 35,308.
Going into this match, there were serious concerns about whether Lucas Hoyos was the right goalkeeper, if Emmanuel Latte Lath would ever score again, and whether Miguel Almiron still had it as an elite player. While one game doesn't answer everything, this was the kind of performance that shows what this team can do when everything clicks. The attacking looked sharper, the defense more organized, and most importantly, they scored three goals.
What's encouraging is that they did this against a decent Philadelphia team, not some bottom-feeder. The smaller crowd might actually have helped create a more intimate atmosphere where you could really hear the supporters who showed up. If they can build on this performance and start putting together some consistency, maybe we'll see those attendance numbers start climbing back up. But first things first, they needed to prove they could actually win games.
