ATLANTA — The fog machine inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium often serves as the perfect hype catalyst for Atlanta United matches.
But there is one major design flaw of note: There's no guarantee of the dense fog clearing before Josef Martinez finds the net during live action.
This awkward scenario played itself out on Sunday, with Martinez notching his first goal of the Major League Soccer campaign at the fifth minute.
With lingering clouds of fog still billowing throughout The Benz, Martinez's lightning-fast tally would become the club's lone score of the day, which ended with Atlanta and FC Cincinnati playing to a disappointing 1-all draw.
What made it so disappointing?
a) United surrendered just one 'shot on target' for the game – Roland Lamah's game-tying score at the 86th minute.
b) The MLS schedule-maker essentially served up United a gimme opponent for their home opener.
However, FC Cincinnati didn't get that message. The locker room was understandably jubilant in the postmortem, celebrating their first point in franchise history.
c) Around the 90th minute, a round of very-audible boos could be heard from the MB Stadium masses. Not exactly what you want to hear from a fan base with extremely high standards, moving forward.
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For United's scoring play, Martinez fielded a pass down the right sideline and speed-dribbled to the right corner of the goal. At that point, the FC Cincinnati goalkeeper seemingly had the perfect angle for defending Martinez.
However, that didn't stop the MLS' all-time, single-season scoring champ from blasting a high shot into the net.
With the tie, Atlanta (one seasonal point) inched up the Eastern Conference standings and created some positive mojo for this week's upcoming home stand, which includes Mexican powerhouse Monterrey on Wednesday (CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals) and the MLS' Philadelphia Union next Sunday.
VIEW JOSEF MARTINEZ'S GOAL AT THE FIFTH MINUTE