It was a fresh match between two sides with absolutely no history — at least on paper — but Wednesday’s Third Round tie between visiting Memphis 901 and 2019 US Open Cup winner Atlanta United conjured up some of the best underlying storylines a Cup match could manifest in a 2-1 Memphis victory in extra time at to advance to the Round of 32.
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— Memphis 901 FC (@Memphis901FC) April 28, 2023
Memphis 901’s new manager, Stephen Glass, was Atlanta United 2’s gaffer early in their tenure before becoming interim manager of the first team in 2020. He left for Aberdeen in Scotland before arriving in Memphis in November of 2022, where he took over a team ripe with former MLS and Atlanta United 2 talent. The proverbial chip on the shoulder was on full display Wednesday night as Glass took absolute advantage of the tools at his disposal to helm another 2023 “Cupset.”
Atlanta — playing host at Fifth Third Bank Stadium on the campus of Kennesaw State University — started the match well, slotting a goal in the third minute, but it would ultimately be Glass’ side that came out on top.
Atlanta quickly became lax and Memphis’ chances racked up one by one — as did Atlanta’s yellow cards. That lack of inspiration seemed to progress into an inability to string together passes or win duels, and 901 continued to take advantage. Memphis was finally rewarded in the 96th minute when a penalty was given via a late tackle in the box, and former Atlanta United 2 player Phillip Goodrum stepped to the spot. He calmly buried it past Atlanta keeper Clement Diop and forced extra time.
The killer blow came moments later as extra time began. A sustained spell of pressure forced a turnover against Atlanta, and Memphis drove forward with numbers into the box. Nighte Pickering took full advantage of his opportunity and put the Tennessee side up 2-1. Atlanta continued to push for the equalizer but ultimately came up short, leaving behind one of their most distraught performances — in all competitions — in history.
“I felt that today Memphis were more ready for the battle, they were trying to win the duels and do everything they can to put pressure on us,” said Atlanta United coach Gonzalo Pineda. “It didn’t manifest today.”
The Memphis playbook was on full display the entire match; from the opening whistle they were disrupting Atlanta’s desire to possess the ball and play from the back. But it was a quick Atlanta switch from right to left by Luiz Araujo that found Tyler Wolff early — and somewhat against the run of play — to give Atlanta the quick 1-0 lead when Wolff fired the ball just past former D.C. United keeper Bill Hamid.
ATLANTA STRIKES FIRST❗
— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 26, 2023
After beautiful placement – Tyler Wolff comes through with the finish to put @ATLUTD up early!
1-0 | #USOC2023
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It all went downhill for the Five Stripes from that moment.
Memphis continued to win the battles, as Pineda eloquently described in his post-match press conference, while the Five Stripes fell short on their individual duels.
“This happens to be more mental to me than any other thing,” Pineda described of his team’s overall performance. “But the reality is today, we didn’t play well. And we need to correct many things.”
Luis Abram, Araujo, Wolff, and Ajani Fortune all received yellow cards during the match as frustration appeared to creep through the team.
Halftime came and went with no subs to either side, and the match progressed similarly to the first half. Memphis created multiple chances and shots, ultimately finishing the match with 12 corners, 30 total shots with 10 on goal. Meanwhile, Atlanta United settled for 11 total shots with two on goal and three corners. Memphis also forced Diop, a seasoned keeper with plenty of MLS and first-team experience, to tie his career high number of saves at eight. Memphis simply passed both the eye test and stat test as the better team, while Atlanta floundered.
“We are in shock because they didn’t beat us with quality, they beat us because of attitude,” said Atlanta wingback and captain Ronald Hernandez. “We are upset about it because we talked about it before the game. We as a team are more upset than you guys.”
It all came to a head in the 96th minute when Memphis finally got the opportunity they were looking for. Juanjo Purata went in for a sliding tackle in the box and just missed the ball, instead catching Goodrum’s legs and giving up the penalty for him to take. Goodrum made no mistake and leveled the game at 1-1 in the dying seconds, forcing the extra 30 minutes against his former club.
Memphis rapidly struck again in the 100th minute when Pickering was able to firmly redirect a short cross from Luiz Fernando past Diop. The last solid opportunity for Atlanta to find an equalizer came from forward Machop Chol in the 103rd minute, but Hamid was positioned well and made a comfortable save.
Take a bow, Nighte Pickering | @Memphis901FC #USOC2023 | #Cupset pic.twitter.com/6nKRIJbUtb
— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 27, 2023
The 2-1 scoreline would hold and be the final nail in the coffin for Atlanta, as they burned out of the Open Cup as quickly as they entered.
Memphis, on the other hand, will view this as one of their best results in team history, and the first time they’ve ever defeated an MLS side.
“I think after the first goal in the first half we couldn’t really get set and they kept coming,” Wolff said. “We didn’t have many answers. It just wasn’t great.”
Memphis are now unbeaten in their past five matches in all competitions, and appear to be entering a more confident run of form as Glass settles in as manager.
That mindset will be vital if they wish to surpass their previous Open Cup best finish from 2019, where they exited in the Fourth Round. Meanwhile, Atlanta will return to league play on Saturday against Nashville, who pulled out a 1-0 win over San Antonio FC in their own Open Cup match.
