Bartosz Slisz scored on a 76th-minute header and visiting Atlanta United completed one of the biggest upsets in MLS Cup Playoff history with a 3-2 win over Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the deciding game of their Round 1 series on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Slisz’s goal came while Miami defender Tomas Aviles was down on the ground in his own penalty area and his teammates implored referee Lukasz Szpala to stop play.
But the laws of the game require referees halt play only if a head injury is suspected, and Aviles clearly grabbed at his leg. As Miami appealed, Atlanta played on, with Pedro Amador providing an outswinging cross from the left and Slisz meeting it to head emphatically past goalkeeper Drake Callender.
Jamal Thiare scored a first-half brace for ninth-seeded Atlanta, which needed to win its last two regular season matches just to reach the Eastern Conference wild-card match.
From there it triumphed on penalties at CF Montreal, then split the first two games against top-seeded Miami, with each home team winning 2-1, before pulling off Saturday’s shocking away victory.
Brad Guzan made seven saves to complete a heroic effort across the best-of-three series and help Atlanta advance in an East bracket where all top three seeds were eliminated.
Atlanta will visit fourth-seeded Orlando City in an Eastern Conference semifinal after the November international window. Messi and Miami are eliminated after earning an MLS-record 74 points in the regular season to capture the Supporters’ Shield and top overall playoff seed.
Messi scored a second-half equalizer for Miami, his first goal of the postseason and a rare one through the air after contributing an assist in the series-opening win two weekends ago.
Matias Rojas opened the scoring for the Herons in the 17th minute on a rebound after Guzan saved an earlier Messi attempt.
But Thiare turned an early deficit into an early lead for Atlanta in the next four minutes. In the 19th minute, he reached Dax McCarty’s deflected through ball and hammered a finish past Callender into the top right corner.
Two minutes later, Thiare dispatched the finish of Aleksey Miranchuk’s clever square pass after McCarty’s ball from midfield freed Miranchuk down the right side.
–Field Level Media
