ATLANTA — Atlanta United FC is 19 games into its second Major League Soccer season. The club leads the league in points with 37, goals scored with 40 and average attendance with an announced 50,426.
None of those numbers are shockers. Atlanta led the league in attendance last season, too, and marched into the postseason with a high-powered offense orchestrated by Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
But there have been a few surprises for Atlanta this season. Let’s run through them.
Team hasn’t missed Asad, Carmona
If you asked the players, Martino or anyone in the front office, they would probably say they’d like to still have Carlos Carmon and Yamil Asad still on their team.
Talks between Atlanta, Asad and his club, Velez Sarsfield, broke down this summer and the Five Stripes sold his rights to D.C. United, where he now plays on loan with an option to buy. Carmona unexpectedly requested a transfer in January to be with his wife in Chile during her pregnancy.
But on the field, the Five Stripes haven’t missed a beat.
The loss of Asad and Carmona was eased by the additions of Darlington Nagbe and Ezequiel Barco, and the consistent play of Julian Gressel and Jeff Larentowicz.
Some deemed Larentowicz, 34, too old to carry the load in the defensive midfield, but he’s been more than solid there. The veteran has yet to miss a start in a league match. In June, he played 450 minutes, while notching 38 recoveries, 14 tackles and a passing accuracy rate of 87 percent.
In his second MLS season, Gressel, 24, has started every game but one for the Five Stripes. He’s proven to be versatile and important. He’s mostly played on the right wing, but has recently moved to the central midfield in the wake of Nagbe’s injury. Gressel has seven assists and two goals on the season.
“(Gressel) was fantastic. He’s so versatile. He can play inside, outside; he just does the job. But offensively and defensively, he was good,” Atlanta captain Michael Parkhurst said after the club’s 4-0 win over Orlando City SC. “He was able to combine and. obviously, he still whips in a ball for the first goal. So, he’s got quality wherever he plays on the field.”
Nagbe was leading the league in passing accuracy before his injury, and Barco has four goals and an assist in 14 appearances.
The Five Stripes did make a signing recently to directly replace Carmona, bringing in Argentine midfielder Eric Remedi. But with how well everyone is playing, it’s unclear how exactly he will fit into Martino’s formations.
Martínez matching last year’s performance
Josef Martínez scored 19 goals in 20 games last year, a pace rarely seen in MLS. Fans didn’t get a chance to see what a healthy Martínez could do though, as he missed chunks of playing time throughout his first MLS season due to injury.
This season, Martínez is out to prove he is one of — if not the — best goal scorers in MLS. Through 19 games he’s tallied 17 goals and two assists. He leads the Golden Boot race by a wide margin, having scored six more goals than runners-up Bradley Wright-Phillips and Gyasi Zardes.
Martínez is on track to break the MLS single-season scoring record of 27 goals, a record shared by Wright-Phillips, Roy Lassiter and Chris Wondolowski. He has already tied Stern John and Diego Serna for career hat tricks with five, and he was the fastest player to do it.
Here’s another stat: Atlanta is 18-1-4 when Martínez scores a goal.
“I would say that the form he is in right now is his best form of the season,” Martino said after Martínez’s one goal, one assist performance against Orlando.
Despite rumors, reports, Almirón still here
It seems that rumors about Atlanta United selling Miguel Almirón to a top-flight club in Europe have been swirling since the middle of last season. As this season has progressed, and as Almirón continues his MVP-level play, they haven’t stopped.
Last month, there was a report from The Athletic that Serie A side ACF Fiorentina was eyeing the Paraguayan midfielder. On Friday, an editor from the Guardian sent a tweet saying that EPL side West Ham United was interested in Almirón.
Almirón said earlier this season that his goal is still to play in Europe, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get there and Atlanta isn’t pressed to sell him.
The club isn’t strapped for cash and sits at the top of the Eastern Conference table. Almirón, who hasn’t missed a start and has tallied eight goals and eight assists this season, is vital to Atlanta’s aspirations concerning a run at the MLS Cup.
“Atlanta isn’t a club that needs money. Atlanta doesn’t need to sell,” Martino said in June. “I’m not saying that (Martínez and Almirón) will never leave, but at least in our current position this year, it’s not likely… We’ll wait until the end of the year to see any type of movement or changes to our roster… I honestly don’t believe we will be down a man in the short term.”
Other surprising moments
- The club’s season-opening loss to Houston.
- The club courted Stéphane Mbia and then didn’t sign him.
- After Brad Guzan’s red card, Paul Christensen appeared with the first team.
- Mikey Ambrose’s free kick goals for ATL UTD 2.
- Atlanta’s early exit from the U.S. Open Cup with a loss to the Chicago Fire.