Atlanta United’s Dax McCarty talks about retirement

Though Dax McCarty announced Monday that he would retire after 19 MLS seasons when this Atlanta United season ends, he isn’t yet focused on manicuring his lawn or planning a cruise.

“I have nine games left,” he said Tuesday. “I’m going to do everything I can to try to help us win. If I play a ton, awesome. If I don’t, no problem. If we win, that’s great. Maybe we make the playoffs and do something really special, go out on top. Saba (Lobjanidze), he made me guarantee that if we win the trophy that I’ll come back and play next year. And I said, I don’t know if my wife will let me do that. But why don’t we just try to win the trophy.”

McCarty’s career started in 2006 at Dallas. He played with the New York Red Bulls, D.C. United, Chicago and Nashville before he signed with Atlanta United as a free agent before this season. He has played more than 40,000 minutes, the equivalent of 28 days, in 19 seasons.

He wishes he could have gotten to 20 but told a story about one of his favorite teammates, Bobby Rhine, who died in 2011. He wore No. 19.

“So when I look at it like that, it’s really special, and it’s really cool, and that means a lot to me,” he said.

McCarty covered a variety of topics about his retirement on Tuesday. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity:

Q: So, why now?

A: Well, it’s been weighing on me for a few weeks now. After a lot of reflection with some people that I really care about, my wife and my family, and some close friends, in my heart, I knew it was the right decision. And then when you carry that around for a few weeks, it’s just kind of like a boulder on your back, and it feels like it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

I did it because I don’t pretend that they were certain to bring me back next year, but if there was a 4 or 5% chance that they wanted to pick up my option or renegotiate, and they were planning on me coming back, it’s not fair for me to hold that in until the end of the season. Now they have a few more months to prepare what the roster construction looks like without me around next year.

ExploreMore AJC coverage of Atlanta United

Q: Was there something that happened in a game or training that you, something that maybe you used to be able to do, that you couldn’t do, that made you go?

A: Before the season started, my goal was to try to stay relatively injury-free. And I’ve been available for every single game this year, and I’m really proud of that. When you’re 37, that doesn’t happen always, but Father Time, for sure, is undefeated. Do I feel like I’m the same player now that I was when I was 25? No. But I do still feel like I’m contributing at a relatively good level, and I’m not an anchor.

I do subscribe to the notion that I would have rather retired a year too early than a year too late. So I’m not happy, quote, unquote, with obviously, our results and how up and down the season has been, but I’m happy that I’ve been able to get on the field for a moderate amount of time. I’ve been able to contribute, started a few games, and been available to come off the bench a few times and tried to help the team.

Q: Has the thought of retirement in previous seasons ever crossed your mind? And if so, what was different about this time?

A: When you’re a field player, and I think when you get to like 34, 35, it has to cross your mind because the game is skewing younger and younger every year. And when you’re 35, 36, 37 and a team signs you, or a team is talked about, no one’s excited about the 37-year-old. It’s just reality, unless you’re (Lionel) Messi or Luka Modric or someone Iike (Zlatan) Ibrahim, right? It’s just what it is.

As a guy who likes to consider himself very self-aware, yes, I’ve reflected on that for many years now, and there have been some games I played with Nashville where I was like, I’m done for sure. And then people have picked me up, and I’ve got my confidence back, and I’ve tried to find that level of consistency that I’ve had my whole career that’s allowed me to play for 19 years.

What’s different about this year, it’s just the reality of the fact that as you get older, sometimes your role changes. And my role this year, I knew coming in that I wouldn’t necessarily be a guy who was relied on to start that many games and maybe play more in the Open Cup or play more secondary competitions or play minutes off the bench. It’s a role, quite frankly, that I haven’t really had since my rookie year. And to be honest, it’s hard for a player like me, who’s played a lot from the start of his whole career, to accept a role like that, and so this year was a great test case for whether I really loved it and I wanted to do it for another three or four years and play for less and less money. I decided that I’m good in my heart with where I’m at in my life and my career, to move on to the next chapter and let the new, younger generation come through and replace me.

Q: What’s next after this season is done?

A: I will be involved in the game, no question about it. I love the game. It’s all I’ve ever known my whole life. I still have a burning love for the game. I’ll watch it whenever I can, whenever I’m not hanging out with my kids or doing chores around the house, whether it’s coaching or a front-office role or scouting role or a media role, I kind of want to test it all and dip my toe in and see how I like everything. I have my (coaching) B license, I have a podcast. I’ve done a lot of stuff with media over the years, and I do enjoy that side of it, but there’s a balance to be had because I love talking about the game, but if you talk about the game that means you’re not competing in the game, and you can still find ways to compete if you’re in the front office or if you’re a GM or a coach and you’re building a team or helping a team.

Q: Having been in MLS for 19 years and around before DPs and allocation money and all these other mechanisms that they’ve come up with, what’s next for the league, what does it need to do, in your experience and your wisdom, to fulfill its desired goal of being one of the world’s best leagues?

A: It’s such a tricky question because there’s a lot that the league could do, and I’m not kidding, the simplest answer is to just spend more money. I swear I’m not an owner, so it’s not my money. But the NASL came and went because they didn’t have a good foundation and a good infrastructure. MLS has been so brilliant about how they built the league and about how they’ve methodically done it slowly that the next step for the league is just to put more money into rosters. It’s quite simple. Actually, more money buys you better players, gets you better players, and it gets you more depth, and it gets you better academies. It gets you more young players being sold to Europe to then reinvest back into the club, like you know, we have seen with Atlanta this year.

For more content about Atlanta United

Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC

On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now

On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson

Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Southern Fried Soccer podcast can be found

Apple - https://apple.co/3ISD6Ve

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3L8TN0C

Google podcasts - https://bit.ly/32KlZW3

If you are going to listen to the podcast for the first time, please follow it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts ... and if you like what you hear, please give us a good rating so we can grow the show. If you have questions about the MLS team, you can email Doug Roberson at droberson@ajc.com, DM him on Twitter @dougrobersonajc or call 404-526-2527.

Stay up to date every day on breaking news, in-depth investigations, politics, sports, entertainment, food and dining and so much more by becoming a subscriber to the AJC. Go to AJC.com/start for a very special offer and unlock hundreds of original articles published daily on the refreshed AJC.com and the new AJC mobile app. Plus, access to our news alerts, subscriber-only events, AJC original shows, films and videos, newsletters, and so much more.

Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule

Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0

March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1

March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0

March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0

March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0

April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1

April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2

April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1

April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1

May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1

May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup