Atlanta United fall 4-1 to Philadelphia Union

Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't 6-0.

Well, the result wasn't a big surprise. Although Atlanta started the match looking somewhat comfortable and creating some decent scoring opportunities, their house-of-cards defense broke down in key moments once again to concede three really soft goals.

The starting lineup was exactly the same one used in the past two games, allowing for some consistency in a season where that has been extremely difficult given the injuries.

The Union opened the score in the 18th minute after some good link-up play gave Julian Carranza an opening to shoot from outside the box and put Philly up 1-0.

The lead didn't last, though, as some chaos in Philadelphia's box resulted in Andrew Gutman diving to head the ball in and level the game at 1-1. The goal marks Gutman's third with the team.

Just as it looked like the game would go to the half level, Mikael Uhre gave Philadelphia the lead again after receiving the ball in the box unmarked. It looked like the ball took an unfortunate deflection off Santiago Sosa to beat Rocco Rios Novo.

Atlanta went out looking for the equalizer in the second half but found no success and conceded another two goals due to broken plays and preventable defensive errors. The team was unable to recover and the final score was 4-1 Philadelphia.

The loss leaves Atlanta where it was before the game in 11th place with 33 points - three points under the playoff line pending other results.

Atlanta's next game will be on Sunday as they travel to Providence Park to face the Portland Timbers.