In soccer, the order of events matters. This is only slightly true in other sports, but in soccer it’s the whole thing really. There are so few goals (if you’re not playing against New England or Minnesota), that each and every one of them changes the landscape of the remainder of the match. Each goal materially changes not only the likely outcome of the match, but it changes the objectives of each team. The two teams are almost not even playing the same sport after goals have happened. Stay with me.
In the first 30 minutes against the Houston Dynamo, Atlanta United gave up three pretty good chances, and because goals change games completely, that’s all the Dynamo really needed to put the game away for good before half time.