Saturday's match felt like something out of a movie. Two well-respected clubs set for battle. A looming storm in the background, that foreshadowed the inevitable. It ended up being one of the strangest matches in Atlanta United's history.
The league and teams were all aware that an incoming storm could very well cause a delay in the match. However, no the match proceeded as normal and began at its original start time.
The match was evenly contested with neither team gaining any ground or control of the match early. Then, things got weird. 19 minutes was as far as the clubs got into the first half when lightning struck within the 8-mile radius that would be grounds for a stoppage. At that time the delay was expected to last only 30 minutes before play would resume.
As the delay came to a close the players came back out on to the field for a warm-up period. Then, with about two minutes left till resumption, another strike sent the game into further delay.
The storm had mad its way directly over top of the stadium and strike after strike kept pushing the restart time back, so much so that it became a question if the match would have to be abandoned and rescheduled.
After a 2 hour and 57 minute delay, match play resumed. With rain still pouring and a field slick with mud Atlanta United and Nashville SC were finally ready to finish their duel. The remainder of the match was nothing like the beginning.
Three goals were scored in a seven minute span. C.J. Sapong and Hany Mukhtar scored goals for Nashville with Thiago Almada continuing his dominant season by squeezing a goal in between the other two for United. The clubs headed to their lockers for a ten minute half time with Nashville leading 2-1.
The second half looked more like the start of the match. Heavily contested and evenly matched. United had opportunities at the net but none paid off until the 88 minute of the match when Dom Dwyer scored a goal to tie it up 2-2.
Then came the controversy. There would only be three minutes of stoppage time, which given everything that had happened seemed like an inadequate amount of time. However, it didn't stop there. In the final minute of stoppage time Atlanta United found themselves in a prime position to score and win the game with a 2 on 1 run to the net before referee Ted Unkel called for full time and ended the match. Atlanta United coach Gonzalo Pineda was irate.
Then just moments after the match ended, another lightning strike in the area called for the immediate evacuation of the stadium. A somewhat poetic and fitting end to what was one of the strangest matches played in the MLS this year.