Jamal Thiare scored an improbable goal in the final seconds of second-half injury time as Atlanta United beat Toronto FC 2-1 on Saturday night to end a home winless streak that lasted nearly three month.
Transfer-rumored Thiago Almada also scored for Atlanta (6-8-6, 24 points), which had played seven games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (0-5-2) since a 3-0 win over Chicago on March 31.
Federico Bernardeschi scored for Toronto (7-11-3, 24 points), which has lost four straight league games and is winless in seven (0-5-2).
Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran made three saves, all in the second half, but made a blunder on the go-ahead goal. Gavran caught an Atlanta cross and dropped to the turf in an attempt to run down the clock. Unaware that Thiare was hiding behind him, Gavran got up and rolled the ball up the penalty area. Thiare got in front of the keeper, stole the ball and spun before firing into the empty net.
Almada put Atlanta up 1-0 in the second minute of added time. Defender Derrick Williams sent Almada deep from midfield before Almada crossed and sent Daniel Rios down the left side. Almada’s low shot from 12 yards beat Gavran, who was making his fourth consecutive start with Sean Johnson in the U.S. squad at the Copa America.
The lead didn’t last long as Bernardeschi scored in the first minute of the second half. Lorenzo Insigne sent a long pass from his own half on the right wing, allowing Bernardeschi to collect the ball near the edge of the penalty area. Bernardeschi dropped back to midfield and fired a low shot from 15 yards out between three defenders and found the net on the opposite side, just out of reach of Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Toronto appeared to have taken the lead in the 25th minute thanks to an Insigne header from the top of the penalty area, but after extensive video review it was determined that the Italian was offside on the cross. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.
