Union stun Atlanta United with 3-0 road win to start Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series

There have been some stunning results in the Union’s 11-year history, but this one might top the list: a 3-0 win at Atlanta United in the opening game of their Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series Tuesday night at at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

All three goals came in the second half: Kacper Przybylko in the 57th and 73rd minutes, and Anthony Fontana in the 87th.

Early on, it looked like the Union could get steamrolled. Andre Blake singlehandedly kept the game scoreless until halftime with a stack of spectacular saves.

On top of that, José Andrés Martínez earned a yellow card for shoving over Atlanta’s Marcelino Moreno, which means he’ll be suspended from the second leg next Tuesday for getting booked in consecutive Champions League games.

Union manager Jim Curtin took off Cory Burke for Sergio Santos at halftime, but Atlanta regained momentum right away. Blake was forced to make another big save on Moreno in the first minute of action.

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The game turned in the 56th minute when Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan stopped a shockingly unmarked Przybylko, after Jamiro Monteiro fed him atop the 18-yard box.

Przybylko found the net off the ensuing corner kick. Kai Wagner sent the ball in low, Jakob Glesnes dove to redirect it with his head, and the ball fell to Przybylko just off the goal line. He promptly deposited it past a stranded Guzan with a first-touch shot.

The second goal was a work of counterattacking art. Leon Flach jumped on a miscommunication between Jürgen Damm and Santiago Sosa, played a brilliant give-and-go with Santos on the left side, then passed behind a backtracking Alan Franco to a wide-open Przybylko. He fired past Guzan from the top of the 18-yard box, and Curtin led the celebrations by running down the sideline.

Those celebrations might have had a little extra fuel in them from Curtin telling Przybylko at halftime that he didn’t like the striker’s first-half performance.

“I was disappointed with our strikers for not holding the ball up,” Curtin said. “I got on Kacper probably as hard as I’ve got on him in his career with me, and what a response.”

The big striker played provider for the third goal after Santos sprung him and Anthony Fontana, who had just come into the game for Flach. Przybylko and Fontana raced away, and the former laid the ball off for the latter to slide into an open net.

That finished the game and gave the Union a huge advantage coming home for next Tuesday’s second leg at Subaru Park (8 p.m., FS1 and TUDN). Because road goals are the series tiebreaker, Atlanta will need to score at least four in Chester to stop the Union from advancing to the semifinals against Mexican juggernaut Club América or MLS’s Portland Timbers.

“When the team sheet came out and we saw their lineup, I said it to our guys in the pregame talk, ‘They’re coming to attack us and end this thing tonight, so let’s be ready, especially in the first 15 minutes,’ ” Curtin said. “I thought we survived the first half and then put together some pretty good soccer in the second, and were able to punish them with it.”

An unnamed member of the Union’s staff who was in the traveling delegation for Tuesday’s game tested positive for COVID-19, Concacaf announced a few hours before kickoff.

Concacaf requires that teams participating in the Champions League conduct PCR tests five days before game day at their home site, and two days before game day upon arrival in the city where a game will be played. (For this and other reasons, Concacaf requires that visiting teams for Champions League games arrive two days before kickoff.)

It was not clear in which round of testing the Union staffer tested positive.

A Union spokesperson said that some employees were not able to get vaccine shots until April 19, the date when all adults in Pennsylvania became eligible to receive them.

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