Atlanta United: The sign of greatness
On Tuesday night, Atlanta United won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It is their second trophy of the season and their third in two years. Such prolific winning is a sign of greatness.
The mlssoccer.com report from Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup final started with the following line: ‘Another final at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, another trophy for Atlanta United.’
That summarised the feeling in Atlanta after the Five Stripes agonisingly squeezed past Minnesota United for their first Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title in only their third year of existence.
For all of the tactical analysis that would surely follow this landmark victory, what really stood out from Atlanta United’s night had nothing to do with the performance and everything to do with the result. As is so often the case in big-time finals, this was about winning and nothing else.
Ever since they entered MLS three years ago, Atlanta expressed an eager desire to be great. Not just good. Not just competitive. Not just vaguely successful. Great. And on more than just a domestic scale, too. They wanted to rival Liga MX clubs in the CONCACAF Champions League. They wanted to establish their brand around their world. They wanted to partake in the global economy that is world football.
There are many processes that must be expertly executed for such lofty and lauded goals to be accomplished, but there is one above all else that the history of greatness reverberates around: winning, and winning a lot.
This season, Atlanta United have already won two trophies, the Campeones Cup, which came against Liga MX opponents in Club America, though is largely seen as a minor competition, and now the U.S. Open Cup. This comes in the aftermath of winning their first MLS Cup last season. They faltered in the Supporters’ Shield race, falling at the final hurdle, and will not win the competition for the highest points total in MLS this season either, LAFC having run away with that title, but they are very much in contention to defend their MLS Cup.
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This already successful season comes after selling their best player and losing their head coach. Of course, having the blank cheques of owner Arthur Blank to reinvest in a South American Player of the Year helps, breaking the MLS record transfer for the second time in two years to do so, but as the record sale of Miguel Almiron proves, Atlanta are not spending willy-nilly. These are intelligent, aware, long-term investments, that will pay back in both money and trophies.
As the Los Angeles Galaxy did before them. As the Revolution and D.C. United have tried. As Toronto FC came close to doing. Atlanta United are now striving for greatness, and nothing defines greatness better than winning everything in sight. It is the one theme of greatness throughout history: inexorable, inordinate, relentless success.
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Atlanta United are not there yet. They have only won three trophies in their history, one of which required just one victory to achieve. But they are building their case, and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is just the latest in a long line of evidence.