MLS Goalkeeper Makes Horrendous Blunder, Costs Team Match

Published|Updated

Atlanta United and Toronto FC played an incredible MLS match on Saturday night, but it was the ending that had soccer fans buzzing.

Atlanta made what appeared to be the final push in the match, failing to score in the 97th minute with stoppage time coming to an end. Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran made a save and held onto the ball. 

It appeared that all he had to do was kick the ball deep and the referee would blow the final whistle to end the game. But there was one very important thing that Gavran failed to take into account. 

Atlanta United striker Jamal Thiaré remained behind Gavran after the keeper made the save. Gavran had no idea that Thiaré had stopped to take a drink out of his water bottle after the missed opportunity. 

Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran made an unbelievable gaffe that led to a game-winning goal from Atlanta United's Jamal Thiaré in MLS action. 

(Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports)

Then, Thiaré patiently waited and slowly crept up behind Gavran as the keeper bounced the ball a few times. That's when the moment he had been waiting for happened. 

Gavran put the ball on the ground, preparing to send it deep and end the match. Thiaré pounced, sprinting in front of an unsuspecting Gavran, stealing the ball and then kicked it to the back of the net for the walk-off win. 

It was truly an incredible sight. 

That's going to haunt Luka Gavran for a while. Just a complete lack of awareness of what was happening on the pitch cost his team a draw. 

It was an important match, too. Toronto and Atlanta are now tied in points this season. Both teams are battling for spots in the MLS playoffs and currently occupy the eighth and ninth seeds in the Eastern Conference. 

The current MLS playoff format has seeds 1-7 in each conference automatically qualifying for Round One, while seeds eight and nine face one another in a Wild Card match for the final playoff spot. 

That means that if the season ended today, Atlanta and Toronto would face each other for a spot in Round One. 

You can bet that Luka Gavran wouldn't make the same mistake in that contest. 

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.