Giorgos Giakoumakis scored his first MLS hat trick to propel Atlanta United to a 4-1 victory over visiting New England Revolution on Saturday.
Thiago Almada also scored for Atlanta (1-1-0, 3 points). Carles Gil scored the only goal for the Revolution, which remains without points after three games.
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New England controlled the play early and had several opportunities to strike first during the first 15 minutes.
In the 10th minute, Tomas Chancalay cut towards the center of the box before shooting into the top right corner, but goalkeeper Brad Guzan stayed close to the post to prevent the goal. Four minutes later, Chancalay was in the area to head in a cross from Nick Lima but it hit the crossbar.
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As the half progressed, Atlanta found their game and began to take control.
The home team finally connected in the second minute of stoppage time when Almada got Henrich Ravas to dive the wrong way on a penalty kick to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
Moments earlier, it looked like Saba Lobjanidze had overtaken them after Ravas came off his line, but the whistle blew for the penalty before the kick was taken.
Giakoumakis doubled Atlanta's lead in the 55th minute with another penalty kick and brought the score to 3-0 five minutes later with a header from the top of the six-yard box.
The Revolution was close to closing the gap in the following minutes. Vrioni was heading towards the goal to get his foot on a pass from Carles Gil, but Guzan made a save and then met Chancalay's attempt to deflect the ball over the net.
Giakoumakis completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute with a spectacular left-footed shot 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 area inside the left post.
Reuters reporting contributed to this report.
