Atlanta United 2 will face Charlotte Independence Saturday night at Sportsplex at Matthews in its first away match of the season. The match is scheduled to kick-off at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be streamed on ESPN+.
ATL UTD 2 suffered its first defeat of the 2019 season last Friday, March 15 when it lost 1-0 to the reigning back-to-back USL Champions Louisville City. Louisville scored the game’s lone goal in the 72nd minute when Brian Ownby sent in a cross from the left side where Abdou Thiam finished with a header at the near post. Despite the result, Atlanta controlled nearly 60 percent of possession, out-shot Louisville 13-7 and created nine chances to Louisville’s five. Gordon Wild and Patrick Okonkwo made their ATL UTD 2 debuts while Laurence Wyke made his professional debut.
Charlotte dropped its season-opening match 3-2 to Indy Eleven on Friday, March 15. The Independence allowed a pair of goals inside the first 15 minutes and later fell behind 3-0 when Indy scored in the 69th minute. Charlotte, however, fought back in the final 20 minutes with goals from Dominic Oduro and Andrew Gutman, but fell short of finding the equalizer.
Friday’s match marks the third meeting between ATL UTD 2 and Charlotte Independence. Each of the first two meetings finished in a draw. Lagos Kunga scored his first professional goal while George Bello made his professional debut in the first meeting, a 2-2 draw at the Sportsplex at Matthews on March 31. The return match at Coolray Field on June 13 ended 1-1 as Charlotte scored in the sixth minute but conceded an own goal in the 79th minute.
