Tata Martino: We were the better team against Portland Timbers

Tata Martino may still be speaking to the English media through a translator, but that’s not stopping him from already give us some money quotes. For example, here’s what he had to say after Atlanta United drew 1-1 with the Portland Timbers on Sunday after noon:

“It’s good to have played good soccer, but we left with our hands empty,” Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino said. “We were the better team.” — via official team quote sheet

“It’s good to have played good soccer...”

I think I may get that engraved on my tombstone it’s so good. Tata is exactly right, though. Finally the Five Stripes started stringing passes together and building repetitive competent attacks that put Portland under distress. Something we haven’t really seen since the last win against Real Salt Lake in spurts and really since the Chicago Fire match on a consistent basis.

The overall result wasn’t as favorable as either of those matches, but the performance was highly encouraging.

Tata went on to say that despite allowing a quick equalizer after taking the lead out of the halftime break, he was happy with the few amount of chances the team conceded to the high-powered attack of Portland from open play.

“I want to focus a little more on the amount of chances that Portland had, which weren’t many, aside from the anger or passion toward the end of the game. We did a good job making sure they didn’t have a lot of opportunities. The most dangerous thing for them all game was setpieces.”

As we keep saying, this is a very long season. We’re just over ¹⁄₄ of the way finished and we’re seeing Atlanta’s performances bounce up and down like wavy boat ride. Hopefully once the team gets closer to full-health we’ll start to see a more consistent and smoother surface for the long journey towards the playoffs.