While the team is in the international break, here are some random thoughts about Atlanta United. These are just questions. Right now, I have no answers.
Martinez price going up? I wonder if Josef Martinez, he of the five goals in the past two games (tying an MLS record for fastest to reach that mark), may eventually price himself out of a permanent move to Atlanta United. He is on loan from Torino. There's no doubt that the Italian team, and his agent, are already thinking about this.
The same may be true of all the on-loan players: Greg Garza has twice been named to MLS.com’s digital team of the week. Yamil Asad is providing assists. It’s going to be an interesting chessmatch.
Who will start against Seattle? Assuming that Martinez and Kenwyne Jones play for their respective national teams during their two World Cup qualifying games, making it difficult for Martino to select them to start the next game against Seattle, who will start up top for Atlanta United? Brandon Vazquez is next on the depth chart. He seemed to struggle a bit during the preseason. It seems the easiest thing to do would either play with a false nine, in which there is no true forward, re-call Romario Williams from Charleston for the game, or throw Bryan Rochez in and see what happens. I'm betting we may see Martinez and Jones split the time. If not, then a false nine may be used.
How well is rookie Julian Gressel playing in the midfield? After a rough start against the New York Red Bulls, he has looked like a veteran against Minnesota and Chicago. There were circumstances in both games that helped all of Atlanta United's players, but that's the kind of the point: Gressel looked as good as the rest of the players. Coming out of Providence, teams didn't seem clear which position Gressel should play because he played so many for the Friars. That was one of the reasons he was picked to go anywhere from 15 to 20. Atlanta United snatched him at No. 8 and he has to be considered the leading candidate for rookie of the year. Granted, there are still many, many games to play.
What's up with Chris McCann? I've been asked a couple of times if there's some issue with Chris McCann that would explain why he's not starting. As far as I know, there's no issue. When Martino was hired, technical director Carlos Bocanegra and President Darren Eales cited his belief in developing youth as one of the attractions. It seems that Martino prefers the younger Gressel over McCann right now. I think McCann is a solid player who will prove himself an asset over the long season. He's got a great left foot and the size to handle the rigors of midfield.
The Viking clap in Atlanta. When I'm covering game, I try to watch the game. Often, though, I'm trying to watch, while tweeting, and writing, and looking up stats, etc. During last week's win against Chicago, there was a moment that caught my attention while I wasn't watching the game, and forced me to look up.
It was, as you can guess, Atlanta’s version of the Viking Clap, first made famous by Iceland’s national team.
If you haven't seen what Atlanta United's supporter's did, watch this:
About the Author
