Football
2017 Major League Soccer, Regular Season
ATL 
7
FT
 NE
0
ESPN staff 7y

VAR on Atlanta United's side in thrashing of nine-man New England

Atlanta United ran out 7-0 winners against the New England Revolution, who finished the match with nine players after VAR was twice used to issue red cards to the visitors, on Wednesday night.

The seven-goal win ties the Major League Soccer record for margin of victory with three other teams in the league's history.

The hosts, playing their second match at the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, were up after just 70 seconds when Josef Martinez collected a through ball from Miguel Almiron, dribbled toward the line and fired home from a tight angle past Cody Cropper.

Soon after, New England was reduced to 10 men following a foul by Xavier Kouassi on Yamil Asad, which was adjudged to have been worthy of a red card after the referee consulted VAR.

JeVaughn Watson was whistled for handball in the New England area on 29 minutes and Martinez scored his second from the resulting spot kick to put Atlanta up 2-0.

Things only got worse for the visitors from there when Antonio Mlinar Delamea was sent off after VAR showed he had denied a goalscoring opportunity for Atlanta with his arm, leading to Martinez's third goal and second from the penalty spot.

Just before the break, Atlanta, now playing against just nine men, added one more as Anton Walkes found himself open at the back post and smashed a Greg Garza shot into the back of the net to make it 4-0.

New England held tough for the first 25 minutes of the second half, but Atlanta was back in the goals before the 70-minute mark. Juan Agudelo fouled Almiron and Kevin Kratz curled the subsequent free kick around the wall and into the upper right corner from 25 yards to make it 5-0.

Asad was next up for Atlanta, finding the ball at the top of the penalty area after a goalmouth scramble and lashing a low, curling shot past cropper to give his team a sixth goal on the evening.

And with time running out on the second half. Atlanta added a seventh goal, when Hector Villalba pounced on a loose ball at the top of the six-yard box and shot into the roof of the net to make it two wins from two for Tata Martino's team in its new home.

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