Same thing, different day: Atlanta United falls at home 3-2 to rival Charlotte, suffers fifth straight home loss

Charlotte came into the match with a record of 6-4-6 and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings. Atlanta (now 4-4-8 overall), though further down in the standings, brought momentum with them back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. A victory at Inter Miami on Wednesday was the team’s first victory on the road this season. It didn’t matter, as Charlotte managed to win in Atlanta again, this time 3-2 in front of 61,209 fans.  The loss was the team’s fifth consecutive at home. “We are playing good, but when you don’t score the goals in key moments you suffer,” Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda said after the match. Something had to give Atlanta went ahead 1-0 in the 35th minute following a strike from Thiago Almada. The shot came off a reflection of a Saba shot/pass and came straight down to Almada, who took it out of the air and put Almada earned a yellow card during the goal celebration for taking his jersey off. Prior to the goal, Atlanta had dominated the first half possession (at the half the possession rate was 57.6%-42.3% in favor of Atlanta). Something had to give.  Charlotte managed to tie the match at...