Carlos Bocanegra out at Atlanta United; body of work cited as reason

Carlos Bocanegra, who helped build Atlanta United’s trophy-winning rosters in its first seasons and its troubles in recent seasons, is out effective Wednesday as the team’s vice president and technical director. President Garth Lagerwey will take over Bocanegra’s duties, according to the team.

Under Bocanegra, Atlanta United won the MLS Cup in 2018 and the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup in 2019. It hasn’t won a playoff series nor made it to the finals of a tournament since.

Lagerwey said he never lost faith in Bocanegra but thought that the franchise, for a lot of reasons, not all of which were about him, no longer was on a path where it was capable of winning championships. Lagerwey said Bocanegra’s body of work resulted in the decision to fire him. Lagerwey wanted to wait until after the summer transfer window closed to make the move.

“We really wanted to focus on what was best for the club going forward in 2025, and that’s what we’re focused on doing,” Lagerwey said. “We are through some of the difficult contracts that we had to process and move on, and we now enter into the 2025 season with two designated player spots open. I think it makes it a very attractive position for both the new general manager and a new head coach.”

Under previous President Darren Eales, Bocanegra took numerous chances signing inexperienced players with the goal of developing them, helping Atlanta United win, and then selling them for profit. That model worked for players such as Miguel Almiron and Thiago Almada, whose sales generated more than $40 million. It wasn’t as successful for others, such as Ezequiel Barco, Franco Ibarra and Santiago Sosa. The team got fortunate with players such as Pity Martinez when a club from Saudi Arabia made a surprise offer that allowed the team recoup its investment.

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The misses, combined with MLS roster rules that place a premium on succeeding with big-dollar signings, are in part why Atlanta United has struggled and Lagerwey made the decision not to renew Bocanegra’s contract. The team is in the ninth and final playoff spot in the East with seven matches remaining this season. Lagerwey said he believes the team is capable of succeeding in this season’s playoffs.

There were hints that this was coming after the firing of manager Gonzalo Pineda in June. Pineda was the third manager recommended by Bocanegra and fired midseason since 2020. The others were Frank de Boer and Gabriel Heinze. Lagerwey said after Pineda was fired that he would be in charge of searching for the team’s new manager and that Bocanegra wouldn’t have a role in the search.

Bocanegra was hired by Eales in March 2015 after a stellar playing career that included more than 100 appearances for the U.S. national team but no front-office experience. Bocanegra’s responsibilities included helping to build the team’s academy, design the training ground, hire the manager and build the first roster.

“He’s highly intelligent, speaks three different languages,” Eales said when the hire was announced. “It’s two years before we start playing. Carlos can be a sponge, learn about Atlanta, learn the offices of MLS. That’s why together it will be a great partnership. Each day he will be learning more and more.”

Eales, Bocanegra and manager Gerardo Martino put together a roster that included several relatively unknown players with the goal of executing an attacking style. Those players, Almiron, Josef Martinez, Hector Villalba, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Carlos Carmona, combined with MLS veterans Michael Parkhurst, Jeff Larentowicz, Greg Garza and Brad Guzan, and draft pick Julian Gressel formed the nucleus of a team that made the playoffs in its first season and won the league in its second.

Bocanegra had an eye for individual talent. Three players he signed were named MLS Newcomer of the Year. He also signed an MVP and Young Player of the Year. In addition to those players, he drafted Miles Robinson, who developed into a consistent starter for the U.S. men’s national team, and traded for Darlington Nagbe, a key player in 2018. He also scouted and signed Almada and striker Giorgos Giakoumakis and saw the potential in Caleb Wiley. Those are three players the team recently sold to generate more than $40 million in revenues.

Bocanegra didn’t have an eye, at least not recently, for finding the proper manager who could take the individual talent and turn it into a team. De Boer’s first season after Martino resigned to become Mexico’s manager was a success. The team won two trophies. The second was a disaster. In addition to the problems that COVID-19 inflicted upon the league and the team, Atlanta United failed to make the playoffs for the first time. De Boer was let go after the MLS is Back tournament in which Atlanta United was the only team in the event to fail to score. De Boer’s league record with Atlanta United was 20-15-4.

Heinze, an outstanding player who was considered an up-and-coming manager in South America, was hired before the 2021 season. It was a disaster. In addition to poor results on the field and poor communication with those within the franchise, Heinze repeatedly ignored warnings about MLS rules related to the number of training sessions allowed. He was fired after 13 matches and the team having scored only 13 goals.

Pineda, formerly an assistant at Seattle, was hired midseason and helped lead the team into the playoffs. It was beaten by NYCFC in the first round.

The 2022 season seemed like it would be a turning point for Atlanta United to get back to what it was from 2017-19. Instead, injuries to key players throughout the season resulted in the team missing the playoffs. Eales resigned to go to Newcastle in the middle of the 2022 season. Lagerwey, formerly of Seattle, was hired. He had a different approach than Eales. Instead of chancy signings, Lagerwey tasked Bocanegra with a more pragmatic, data-driven approach to signing players. It added Giakoumakis, Tristan Muyumba, Xande Silva and Saba Lobjanidze, all European veterans before or during the 2023 season. The team squeaked into the playoffs but was knocked out by Columbus in the first round.

The 2024 season again was supposed to be Atlanta United’s return. It added more prime-age, experienced players such as Stian Gregersen, Bartosz Slisz, and recently Pedro Amador and Alexey Miranchuk. Instead, injuries and tactics that didn’t result in goals led to Pineda’s termination in June and the foreshadowing of Bocanegra’s dismissal.

“Ultimately, as we evolved our player model, and we went into more of an analytics-based player evaluation process, we just felt that ultimately we were going to evolve,” Lagerwey said. “Wanted to preserve our flexibility going into 2025 and really look at it and say, ‘Hey, for the first time we have a clean slate.’ We have an ability to kind of relaunch the franchise, and we’re really excited about that opportunity.”

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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