Atlanta United: 2019 MLS Season in Review

Although Atlanta United fell short in their MLS Cup title defense, the season was still a success anyway. Here’s their 2019 season in review.

With MLS Cup complete and a new league winner crowned, the offseason is now officially here. Atlanta United endured a roller-coaster season that saw many highs and lows. Silverware was happily added to the trophy case while a near player-mutiny occurred in July in the thick of the season. Yet, the Five Stripes found themselves 180 minutes from capturing back to back MLS Cups.

The 2019 season will be seen differently by all corners of the Atlanta United fanbase. Some may say the season was a success because of the trophies captured, while others will quickly call it a disappointment because the team didn’t make it back to the MLS Cup final. Others still believe this season was a transition under new coach Frank de Boer, and for a transition season, things turned out pretty well. 2018 saw the team meet its expectations by capturing MLS Cup and even though the team didn’t reach this year’s goal of winning CONCACAF Champions League, there is still a lot to be proud of.

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Here is Atlanta United’s 2019 season review.

The final numbers

Record: 18-12-4
Supporters’ Shield standings: 3rd place, 58 points
Conference standings: 2nd place, 58 points
CCL placement: Quarterfinalist
Campeones Cup: Winner
U.S. Open Cup placement: Winner
PPG: 1.71 (3rd in MLS)
Goals scored: 58 (tied for 3rd in MLS)
Goals allowed: 43 (tied for 5th in MLS)
Goal difference: 15 (3rd in MLS)
Finishing position in playoffs: 3rd

Despite finishing with just 58 points this season, Atlanta United still managed a third-place finish in the Supporters’ Shield and second-place finish in the Eastern Conference for a second consecutive year. They set multiple league records, including longest winning streak by shutout (five straight wins, no goals conceded), most consecutive league games with a goal by an individual player (12, Josef Martinez), and a new regular-season attendance record (72,548 at home vs LA Galaxy).

The club added two more trophies to its trophy case, capturing its first U.S. Open Cup in a 2-1 win over Minnesota United and the Campeones Cup in a 3-2 win over Liga MX giant Club America. Atlanta became the first MLS club to win Campeones Cup, although it should be noted there have only been two iterations of the competition up to this point.

After securing the second seed for the MLS Cup Playoffs, Atlanta hosted the New England Revolution for the first round, winning 1-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference quarter-finals. The Five Stripes then hosted a strong Philadelphia Union team and won 2-0 to advance to their second consecutive Eastern Conference final. Unfortunately, Atlanta lost 2-1 to Toronto and their season promptly ended.

Home form/road form

Atlanta’s home form was strong yet again, with 12 wins, two losses, and three draws. The Five Stripes finished second in points in matches at home with 39, while LAFC finished first with a dominant 42 points at home. Unfortunately, Atlanta’s road form left a lot to be desired, especially after a strong performance on the road in 2018.

The team only managed six wins and 19 points on the road this year. This is a steep drop off from their 2018 road form, which yielded 10 wins and 32 points. Those 10 road wins are still an MLS record. LAFC, despite setting a new points record this season with 72 points, only managed to win eight, road games.

With their second-place finish in points at home, Atlanta actually improved upon their 2018 season when they finished tied for fourth in points with just 37. They also won both of their trophies at home, signifying a strong home-field advantage. It is important to note that the team lost the Eastern Conference final at home, their first home final loss in four tries.

Despite finishing third in the Supporters’ Shield table, Atlanta will rue their inability to claw their way back into games. They only managed nine points from an even or losing position. They were unable to come back during games in which they either conceded first in or in games where the other team found an equalizer.

Most Valuable Player

Last year the league MVP himself, Josef Martinez, featured for Atlanta United, but he was not selected as team MVP in last year’s season review. That honor went to Miguel Almiron, who played an important role for the team on the way to their MLS Cup triumph. Without Almiron, that distinction finally belongs to Martinez.

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After a season with more silverware and more records, it is easy for some to forget that Atlanta opened the season without a win in their first five weeks (four matches) of the season. Martinez was instrumental in helping turn the team around during their aforementioned winning streak. However, the talisman’s presence wasn’t truly felt until mid-July.

After scoring his team’s only goal in a 2-1 loss at Seattle, Martinez was visibly frustrated with the team’s coaching staff as they celebrated his goal (as reported by The Athletic’s Felipe Cardenas). According to Cardenas, Martinez’s frustration stemmed from how the coaching staff was handling the team’s tactics. This was the team’s biggest turning point of the season.

After that game, the Five Stripes went on a scorching run in which they won the Campeones Cup, U.S. Open Cup, and secured a record of 9-4-1 to close out the season. This form was initiated by Martinez’s leadership, as well as his play on the pitch, in which he provided 14 goals over those final 14 matches.

Because of his ability to carry a team in transition, Martinez is Atlanta United’s MVP of the 2019 season.

Best defender

Frankly, this decision was an easy one. For anyone who watched Atlanta United during the course of the season, it was obvious which defender had the best 2019 season. Miles Robinson.

After two seasons of relative obscurity under previous manager Tata Martino, Robinson found an opportunity to make a strong impression on new manager Frank de Boer. He was given a lot of playing time in preseason, signaling a possible evolution along the backline after two seasons of Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Michael Parkhurst as the preferred center-back duo in a back four.

Once he was handed the starting role, Robinson never looked back. He started nearly every single match this season for Atlanta across five competitions (CCL, MLS, USOC, Campeones Cup, MLS Cup Playoffs). In league play, he appeared in all 34 matches and played all but 82 of a possible 3060 minutes. Many of his teammates credited his individual skill as the main component of the team’s desired style of play.

Robinson played so well this season that he earned multiple call-ups to U.S. Men’s National Team for the first time in his young career. Unfortunately, his time with the national team led to an injury at one of the worst times possible. Robinson picked up a hamstring injury just days before the team’s first playoff game and Atlanta felt his absence in the playoffs as the team bounced in the Conference Final because of some questionable defending.

Best newcomer/most improved

Miles Robinson certainly has a case for being most improved after going from just a handful of appearances to a full-on game-changing starter. Brandon Vazquez could make a case for most improved as well, considering his drop-off in appearances from 2017 to 2018, followed by two goals and one assist in roughly 600 minutes this season (across just 11 appearances).

Emerson Hyndman and Justin Meram, who joined the team midseason, could also make a claim for best newcomer. Florentin Pogba and Dion Pereira, who joined the team during preseason, have equal claims for best newcomer following their sporadic contributions. The truth is, none of these players had a strong, noticeable impact on the team on a consistent basis. Only one player can make that case, and that’s Ezequiel Barco.

Barco, along with the other players mentioned for this award, played sporadically and had moments of brilliance, but ultimately made no consistent impact to the same degree as say, Josef Martinez or Miles Robinson. However, every time the young Argentine was on the field, he changed the way Atlanta United played as a whole. His impact was obvious when compared to last season, when he only logged four goals, three assists, and made no impact in the playoffs.

As the Five Stripes got off to a horrendously slow start, Barco was one of the few bright spots in the opening weeks of the season. It was Barco who scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw against Philadelphia on St. Patrick’s Day to salvage a point in front of the home fans. Against New England, on the road, it was Barco who scored an impressive brace to secure Atlanta’s first win of the season.

Before he left for the U20 World Cup (6 starts, 8 appearances), Barco logged four goals and an assist. After performing well for Argentina at the World Cup (4 appearances, 2 goals, 2 assists), he picked up a knee injury and would miss a total of 14 games. Over the final 12 games of the season, Barco only appeared in seven of them and only went a full 90 minutes one time. He only managed assists during that time as well.

It was unfortunate to see Barco miss so much time between international duty and injuries, but when he played he made an obvious impact and the team was much better with him playing. It is also worth noting that in this year’s playoffs, Barco played 251 minutes of a possible 270, logging two assists along the way. Because of his effect on the team this season compared to last season, Barco deserves the Most Improved award.

Expectations

The front office made 2019’s expectations clear: win as many trophies as possible. And while the team managed to win two (or one, depending on the value placed on Campeones Cup), some may feel the team didn’t reach its expectations. On some levels they did; winning trophies is not an easy thing to do in any league and to win two is impressive in its own right. On the other hand, most fans might say CCL and MLS Cup are the most important. Atlanta failed to win both.

After a nightmare start to their CCL campaign, Atlanta rebounded nicely to advance past the Round of 16. They lost in the quarterfinals to Monterrey, who eventually won the entire tournament. Some positives: Atlanta beat continental competition (CS Herediano) and at least advanced past the first round. They also defeated Monterrey at home 1-0 in the return leg and were the only team to beat Monterrey in this year’s edition of the competition. Some negatives: the team looked lost on the road against Herediano and Monterrey. Atlanta also clearly stated their goal was to win the competition but finished far from doing so.

Because of LAFC’s dominance in league play, the Five Stripes never really stood a chance of winning Supporters Shield. Their slow start and dip in form in late June/early August doomed them anyway. Not winning the Supporters Shield can be seen as a failure to some, but the other trophies help soften the blow of not winning the Shield.

Despite their inconsistent league form, they still finished second and made a deep run in the MLS Cup Playoffs. It was disappointing for the team to get so close to reappearing in the final, only to lose in the Conference final just prior. Because they didn’t win MLS Cup, there can be a case for Atlanta not meeting its expectations.

Atlanta’s performance in August should ultimately leave the 2019 season as a success. With their US Open Cup trophy and Campeones Cup trophy, the Atlanta faithful have silverware to look back on fondly. Besides Seattle (Western conference champions, MLS Cup champions), Atlanta are the only other MLS team to win two trophies in 2019.

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Because the Five Stripes didn’t win MLS Cup or CCL, one could argue not all expectations were met. However, with another two trophies in the trophy case, Atlanta United should say they met most expectations by winning multiple trophies.

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Atlanta United: 2019 MLS season in review

By Josh Bouland | Nov 17, 2019