Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
MLS’ brief history is often divided into “eras” to differentiate periods in the league’s story. MLS 1.0 was the league’s troubled birth and early life as it nearly folded, with teams situated in football stadiums and a bare bones existence. MLS 2.0 was a league expanding to new cities with new ideas and riding the crest of a new wave of interest in soccer in this country. MLS 3.0 might be singularly defined not just by what Toronto FC had done, but how Atlanta United came into the league and turned things up a notch in just two short years.
Everything about Atlanta United is ambitious, from their owner to their presence in their city. They were willing to spend big money unlike any team in MLS would, and they are willing to gamble. If there was a decision to make, Atlanta United from the top on down are not afraid to make that decision. Their MLS Cup triumph over Portland was proof of this. When it seemed in 2017 and earlier in 2018 that they only had one way to play, they gambled by making a rather bold change in tactics and style, and it paid off in the playoffs when it mattered most. When Tata Martino needed to send a message to the most expensive transfer in league history, he did. And when Atlanta United were faced with a major hurdle when they threw away their chance to win the Supporter’s Shield with all the news about Tata and Almiron swirling around them, they hunkered down and did what they do best: make bold decisions.
It seemed that the only nervousness surrounding Atlanta United leading into this Cup Final had nothing to do with them at all. Perhaps the memory of last season’s penalty heartbreak against Columbus Crew, and all of Atlanta’s collective misery with sports since the Braves won the World Series in 1995 loomed large in the collective headspace of the city and many fans, but not the team. They played like a team who knew and played like they belonged at the top of the MLS mountain, even if it looked a little different than the swashbuckling team that took the league by storm last year. When Portland made a mistake, the Five Stripes pounced. There was never any fear or trepidation at any moment for Atlanta United, even when it seemed natural that some would creep in.
In many ways, MLS is a league predicated on fear of the worst-case scenario. That is not without evidence of course, because the league was on the hairy edge of collapse multiple times early in its existence, and sadly some clubs still operate this way, whether it be in investment, style of play or presence. Atlanta United hammered their Golden Spike into that culture of fear from their first moments in the league and they were rewarded for such endeavors. They don’t fear what happens if something goes wrong, because their convictions will always quell those concerns. Even with Tata Martino off to Mexico, Miguel Almiron likely off to Europe and a host of other potential changes potentially on the cards, there is no fear that Atlanta United will not be a contender to repeat next year, or perhaps win CONCACAF Champions League. They are a club that wants to set new standards on and off the pitch, and in everything they have done since that opening night loss to the New York Red Bulls at Bobby Dodd Stadium in March of 2017, they have set new standards.
Can other clubs in MLS match these new standards? It will take bold decisions, wise investment and courage in one’s convictions to challenge Atlanta’s success in the stands, on the pitch and elsewhere consistently, even if they do not hoist the Cup every year, because MLS’ nature is if not risk-averse, but fickle. Clubs that do not try to do any of these things will see only failure. This offseason will see how many clubs try to keep up or are left in an era of MLS history that is relegated to YouTube videos.
What Atlanta United’s victory proves is that even a league such as this one, often dead-set in its ways and still perpetual skittish about the future, those fears must be cast aside for an attitude of “why not”? That’s what this club has always been about and will be about even if the cast of characters changes. That’s why there’s no fear that Mercedes-Benz Stadium will one day not be full, or that Atlanta United won’t have another Miguel Almiron bursting past defenders, or Josef Martinez scoring bags of goals, or another Tata Martino putting the pieces together.
Even in a city so stung by 28-3, there was never any doubt about this result. That is what Atlanta United has instilled in so many, and perhaps they will instill it in a league that better change along with them, or else they’ll be left in the Five Stripes’ wake.
