Atlanta United provided blue print for future expansion teams

After looking almost invincible down the stretch, the 2017 season came to end for Atlanta United on Thursday.

Even after shutting out one of the league’s most volatile offenses for 120 minutes, the first-year club couldn’t seal a postseason win in penalties.

The sudden, crumbling nature of the loss might make it feel like a failure, but Atlanta’s inaugural season was anything but. Sure, it took a little time to get their feet wet, but the Atlanta United community has given the league and American soccer hope for the future.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

Atlanta United was not like recent expansion clubs upon its founding. The team never played prior years in USL nor did it have backing from big European clubs. Atlanta was all new and independent. The club literally started from the ground up.

Atlanta signed its first player over a year before the team was slated to begin competition. Goalkeeper Alexandros Tabakis joined the club as the inaugural signing, and the build continued with the signings of several international players.

In terms of coaching, the team made a huge splash by bringing aboard Gerardo “Tata” Martino, former Barcelona and Argentina manager.

During the expansion draft, Atlanta retained three of its five selections, unlike Minnesota keeping just one. The two selections Atlanta didn’t keep were Clint Irwin and Donny Toia. Irwin was given back to Toronto for defender Mark Bloom. As for Toia, he was traded to Orlando for a draft choice later used on Julian Gressel.

MAJOR ADDITIONS

Atlanta immediately began adding players at a rapid pace. The club combined a mix of young and old personalities to create a deep, diverse squad. Owner Arthur Blank was all-in on the project and fully committed to making the team as good as possible. This was never more apparent than when he doled out $8 Million for Miguel Almiron.

Other MLS veterans like as Jeff Larentowicz, Tyrone Mears, Michael Parkhurst soon joined the squad. But like some teams, Atlanta knew the true diamonds in the ruff lied not within MLS, but in less-traveled-by places like South America.

A trio of Argentinians, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Hector Villalba, and loanee Yamil Asad all made tremendous impacts in their first season. Paraguayan Almiron and Venezuelan loanee Josef Martinez added dynamic elements to the Atlanta attack as well as Trinidadian Kenwyne Jones.

Rather than taking a ‘baby-steps’ approach, Atlanta jumped right into the deep end and was immediately reaping the benefits. The additions didn’t stop there. Midseason moves for Bobby Boswell and Brad Guzan put finishing touches on the defense and made Atlanta one of the league’s most formidable teams.

SUPPORTERS GALORE

Atlanta’s main fan group, Terminus Legion, began showing its support in 2011, long before Atlanta United was close to reality. The club has sold 29,000 season tickets by the end of 2015. They later became the first MLS team to break 70,000 in attendance.

The club broke a regular season attendance record on the final day of the regular season. A whopping 71,874 fans were on hand to witness a match against Toronto. Atlanta also broke a postseason record when 67,221 poured through the turnstiles for the knockout round matchup.

This type of support shows that Atlanta is a club that will experience longevity and great success in MLS. The same can be said about clubs like Orlando, Portland, Seattle, and Kansas City, albeit in smaller stadiums.

With crowds and fan support across the country growing rapidly, the future of MLS and even for the haphazard US Men’s National Team is looking bright.

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What Atlanta did this season dawned a new era in MLS. With growing markets and sprouting clubs across MLS, Atlanta has shown it is possible for MLS to begin competing with leagues overseas. This provides an opportunity for domestic talent to play in their homeland, forming elite clubs in MLS.

We should not be mourning Atlanta’s demise. Instead, we should be lauding their efforts in paving the way for future expansion clubs to flourish in MLS.