Atlanta United’s Rob Valentino provides simple answer for what’s next

Rob Valentino wasn’t being flip when he said what’s next for him with Atlanta United was a 6:45 p.m. flight back to Atlanta.

That seems like all the information he has, as he waits to see if the interim tag will be removed and he is named Atlanta United’s next manager by President Garth Lagerwey. Valentino was promoted from assistant after Lagerwey fired Gonzalo Pineda in June.

Valentino went 6-6-6 during the regular season. He led Atlanta United into the playoffs. The run ended with Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Orlando in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

“My contract’s through Dec. 31 and I’m employed by Atlanta United right now and that’s it,” Valentino said.

Lagerwey hasn’t provided a timeline on when he will name the next manager. Patrick Vieira, who is out of the running, is the only other person who is known to have interviewed. Jim Curtin is available because he was fired by Philadelphia after the season.

Valentino has served as Atlanta United’s interim manager twice. The first came after Gabriel Heinze was fired during the 2021 season. Valentino went 4-2-2, serving as the bridge before Pineda was hired. Valentino stayed on staff.

Valentino showed a tactical flexibility in both of his stints and, more importantly, he got the players to believe, which Dax McCarty said was lacking this season. It wasn’t perfect, but Valentino guided Atlanta United into the playoffs with a win against Orlando on Decision Day. That was followed by a victory at Montreal in penalty kicks in the wild card round, followed later by knocking out Miami in the biggest upset in MLS history.

“They dealt with every single piece of adversity that came their way with grace, with humility, and they were unwavering,” McCarty said. “That’s the best thing I can say about them. I’ve mentioned it before that I had doubts about our ability to come together as a group and make a push to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs. And they never wavered. They continued to tell us they believed in us, and they continued to tell us to keep fighting and that things would click, and it would come together, and it did.”

Through it all, Valentino’s mantra of “staying where your feet are” never wavered.

“I just touched on all those special moments that we had over the last couple weeks and it starts with them because it would have been easy to chuck the towel in back in the regular season,” captain Brad Guzan said. “Toward the end of the regular season, it would have been easy from them. Pretty confident that if they had chucked it in, it would have been really difficult for the group to say, ‘OK, we’re up for this challenge.’ And they never did that once, not one single day. And for that, we owe them a huge amount of gratitude, because you have these moments, these memories over the last couple weeks, and without that belief in the beginning, I don’t think you have those moments.”

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