Atlanta United stretched their Supporters’ Shield lead to three points over the New York Red Bulls with their 3-1 home win over the Columbus Crew on Sunday. Atlanta entered the match in a tie with New York but handled Columbus en-route to the important win. Although Atlanta did not look like the better team for the entirety of the game, they did enough in the final 15 minutes to really put Columbus away.
Atlanta are now undefeated in six straight games, including seven points in a three-game home stretch. The win over Columbus is important in many ways: The Five Stripes have distance between them and New York in the Supporters Shield; this is a confidence-boosting home win; an undefeated streak heading into a four-game stretch on the road is preserved.