It took Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez only 31 minutes on Sunday afternoon to tie an MLS record that has stood for 22 years.
The Venezuelan talisman scored his 27th goal of the season midway through the first half to put the Five Stripes in front of Columbus Crew SC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The play started with Julian Gressel intercepting the ball at midfield and immediately playing to Martinez’s feet. Martinez ran at Crew SC central defender Lalas Abubakar and then cut outside of Jonathan Mensah before putting a left-footed shot inside the far post from the edge of the 18-yard box past Zack Steffen.
The goal ties a record originally set by Roy Lassiter in 1996 and is co-held by Chris Wondolowski (2012) of the San Jose Earthquakes and Bradley Wright-Phillips (2014) of the New York Red Bulls.
Martinez has tied the record in his 25th game, scoring 13 goals in his last seven games.