On 28 May 2025, Atlanta United thrilled their home fans with a stoppage-time winner against Orlando City. Jamal Thiaré’s match-winner pulled the club within five points of the playoff places after 16 games, and the team hoped to harness the momentum for a rosier second half of the season.

“In the second half, we were so dominant that they couldn’t cope with it,” head coach Ronny Deila told the media that day, no doubt still enraptured by adrenaline. “Being average is boring, so I want to see more personality, more togetherness, more energy, take our fantastic fans with us.”

Atlanta certainly wasn’t average from that point forward, although not quite according to Deila’s plan. The Five Stripes failed to win another match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the rest of the season, sinking to second-bottom in the year-end standings. Deila was sent packing after just one season, and Atlanta began a 290-day stretch of futility on home turf.

That streak was finally snapped on Saturday, giving Atlanta their first points of the second Tata Martino era. Emmanuel Latte Lath opened the scoring with his first league goal since 19 July 2025, while Tomás Jacob and Aleksei Miranchuk got the other...