Union snap tying streak as Dániel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre, and Julián Carranza score in win over Atlanta United

The Union snapped their five-game tying streak in dramatic fashion Wednesday, racing out to a 3-0 lead over Atlanta United, then holding on for a 3-2 win at Subaru Park.

Dániel Gazdag opened the scoring in the 39th minute with a spectacular bicycle kick, then Mikael Uhre struck in the 41st, and Julián Carranza tallied seven minutes later.

Atlanta cut the deficit with Argentine World Cup-winning superstar Thiago Almada’s penalty kick in the 56th minute. Edwin Mosquera’s cleanup of a loose ball in the 77th then made the game’s closing stages nervy. But the Union survived the rest of regulation and seven minutes of stoppage time to hold on for the victory.

The result lifted the Union (15-8-9, 54 points) to third place in the Eastern Conference.

» READ MORE: Union midfielder Dániel Gazdag has all but perfected the penalty kick. We asked him his secret.

With Kai Wagner suspended because of yellow card accumulation and Atlanta (13-9-10, 49 points) bringing a loaded right-side attack, Union manager Jim Curtin decided to plug right back Nathan Harriel in at left back instead of Matt Real.

Curtin had hinted Friday that this was possible when he noted Harriel has played left back before. Those occasions included two early this season: April 4 vs. Atlas in the Champions League, and April 15 at Chicago.

Jakob Glesnes returned to the starting lineup after missing three games with a groin injury that hasn’t fully healed (and probably won’t until the offseason). José Andrés Martínez and Leon Flach made the bench in their returns from injuries.

» READ MORE: It's about pain tolerance right now for Jakob Glesnes and Leon Flach

Jesús Bueno started at defensive midfield, but his time didn’t last long — and as a result, Martínez took the field sooner than expected.

In just the sixth minute of action, Bueno got caught awkwardly in a collision with Atlanta’s Matheus Rossetto. He went down for a while, then left the field under his own power with the Union’s medical staff. But he did not return, and the coaches signaled to Martínez to get ready.

Martínez ended up entering in the 12th — and promptly took an elbow to the chest from Rossetto. But he continued on just fine, and, 10 minutes later, delivered an inch-perfect dispossession of Almada.

» READ MORE: Former Union broadcaster Danny Higginbotham remains a familiar voice with Apple TV

There’s been a deafening controversy in England lately about a blown video review in the big Liverpool-Tottenham Premier League game this past Saturday. But in America, whether in MLS or the NWSL, video reviews pass without incident almost every game.

There’s an entire column’s worth of material to write on this someday when there’s time. For now, the easiest thing to say is this: In the U.S., just about everyone wants VAR to work, and in England, a lot of people don’t. And an incident early in this game proved that it isn’t hard to get VAR right.

In the 14th minute, Atlanta’s Brooks Lennon swung a low cross in from the right flank, just outside the 18-yard box. The cross hit Harriel’s outstretched right arm as he was trying to swing it back behind himself.

Referee Alex Chilowicz did not call it immediately. The play continued for another 20 seconds until a Union attack fizzled out at the other end. At that point, the video crew told Chilowicz to hold the restart of play, and he did.

The officials told Chilowicz what they saw. He notably didn’t go to the monitor himself before deciding to uphold the original decision.

“In the opinion of the referee, the arm was down and in a natural position when the ball struck it,” Chilowicz told The Inquirer after the game.

It was fortunate for the Union and unfortunate for Atlanta. But the officials’ ruling was reasonably quick, and almost everyone accepted it — except Atlanta fans, of course, and manager Gonzalo Pineda. At least the teams accepting VAR decisions generally happens a lot more in the U.S. than it does in England.

» READ MORE: ‘Swiss Army knife’ Nathan Harriel steps up to help the exhausted Union in Columbus

The Union’s attack had been reasonably lively before Gazdag’s bicycle kick out of a broken play. But this time, the goals kept coming: two in three minutes and three in eight.

Uhre hit a low smash to the far corner after a give-and-go out of a fast break with Carranza, ending a seven-game goal drought with his 10th tally of the season.

Carranza’s strike in the fifth of seven minutes of first-half stoppage time capped an outstanding sequence of play. Jack McGlynn lofted a pass from the left side of midfield to the Argentine 30 yards from goal, and he flicked it with his chest to an onrushing Gazdag. He then split two Atlanta defenders with a short pass across the 18-yard box, and Carranza slid to volley it past into the net.

Atlanta’s penalty came after another video review, and everything again worked as it should — with one notable exception.

In the 52nd minute, Carranza knocked down a Lennon corner kick with an outstretched right elbow. It didn’t look intentional, but that doesn’t matter. After a collision (coincidentally of Carranza and Lennon) on the Union’s ensuing breakaway, the VAR crew alerted Chilowicz to the handball.

Chilowicz promptly stopped play, but there followed a problem: The internal line to the video replay center in Atlanta had gone down. So communication had to be done via a patched-in telephone. That’s why Chilowicz made a a telephone gesture to all the players before going to a field-side monitor.

Once he went to the monitor, he quickly gave the penalty. Almada eventually stepped up and smashed it past Andre Blake in the 56th.

» READ MORE: Andre Blake blasts MLS for having too many games, and calls for players to push for change

It initially looked innocuous when Uhre grabbed at his right hamstring after a forward move in the 61st minute. But then he sat down, which was not so innocuous. Fortunately, he walked off on his own and headed to the locker room as Quinn Sullivan promptly was subbed in. But it was something to take note of.