Giorgos Giakoumakis scored his first MLS hat trick to propel Atlanta United to a 4-1 win over the visiting New England Revolution on Saturday.
Thiago Almada also scored for Atlanta (1-1-0, 3 points). Carles Gil scored the lone reply for the Revolution, who remain without a point after three games.
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New England controlled the play early and had several chances to strike first through the first 15 minutes.
In the 10th minute, Tomas Chancalay cut to the middle of the box before curling a shot toward the top right corner but goalkeeper Brad Guzan stayed tight to the post to keep it out. Four minutes later, Chancalay was in the box for a header off a cross from Nick Lima but hit the crossbar.
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As the half progressed, Atlanta found its game and started to take over.
The home side finally connected in the second minute of stoppage time when Almada got Henrich Ravas to dive the wrong way on a penalty to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
Just moments earlier, it appeared Saba Lobjanidze had put them in front after Ravas came off his line but the whistle had blown to signal the penalty before the shot was taken.
Giakoumakis doubled Atlanta’s lead in the 55th minute on another penalty kick and pushed it to 3-0 five minutes later on a header from the top of the 6-yard box.
The Revolution came close to cutting the deficit in the next few minutes. Vrioni was driving toward the goal to get his foot on a Carles Gil feed but Guzan made the save and then got his hands on a Chancalay attempt to deflect the ball over the net.
Giakoumakis completed his hat trick in the 74th minute with a spectacular left-footed strike into the top corner from a tight angle after Almada’s blocked shot deflected into his path.
Gil made it 4-1 in the 83rd minute, scoring from the top of the box inside the left post.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.