Despite leading for most of the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta United fell 2-1 to FC Cincinnati.

Just like their convincing wins over Seattle Sounders and Nashville SC, Atlanta got off to a strong start at home vs Cincinnati with winger Edwin Mosquera finding the opening goal and his first ever goal for the Five Stripes.

But Atlanta quickly went into a lull late in the first half, something that has been a problem in 2023. As to no football fan's surprise, those missed chances came back to haunt Atlanta, as Cincy's electric duo of MLS MVP candidate Luciano 'Lucho' Acosta and Brandon Vazquez scored a pair of late goals to lift their team to victory.

The Five Stripes were without their head coach Gonzalo Pineda for the game as he was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation with Diego de la Torre stepping in for the night.

"... we played a very good game and had control of the game," said de la Torre. "I think what happened in the second half is we lost control of the game. We were playing against the first-place team in the League, and they were chasing and competing. I have to give credit to Cincinnati, because they were a very good team..."

The assistant coach reiterated that going forward, Atlanta has to figure out how to control games better and on a more consistent basis if they are to experience success.

"It is part of our game and we have been playing like that all season. Today, in the second half, you saw it more because we lost the control, and that because we started doing things that we never do. For me, that was the real problem," he added.

Atlanta, now in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings with 41 points from 27 games played, will travel out west to take on FC Dallas on September 2 at Toyota Stadium.

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This article was originally published on 90min as Atlanta United "lost control" in 2-1 defeat to FC Cincinnati .