Valentino said Thiare’s goal is beauty of sport

Jamal Thiare’s clever game-winning goal hasn’t resulted in any changes to how Atlanta United will prepare for situations for Wednesday’s match at New England.

Thiare hid behind Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran and as soon as he put the ball on the ground, stole it and scored in the final seconds of Saturday’s 2-1 match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Valentino offered an interesting reason why he didn’t use any part of Monday’s training session to go over seldom-seen situations in soccer matches.

“The beauty of the game, and sport in general, is that we prepare and we do all the stuff on the field and video work and people talk about tactics and formations and all these things and then all of a sudden, something like that happens and you go well, ‘that’s not exactly how we drew it up to win the game,’” Valentino said. “And I do feel for the goalkeeper to make a mistake like that. But that’s part of it. Like that’s the human part of like, there’s an error on one side but then on the other side, there’s a joyous moment for everybody else.

“It’s just, you can’t prepare for it. That’s why that it’s not about me as a coach or other staff or them as an individual player, it’s about what’s up here. And sometimes they make a play like that, that comes out of nowhere or somebody will do something different in the game, that you don’t see in the tactics or you didn’t see in the preparation. That’s why it’s unique and sport can be amazing.”

Valentino said there is no one assigned on the bench to alert the goalkeeper should there be a player behind them.

Thiare’s goal is one that has been scored just a few times.

Valentino said he has watched it several times.

Midfielder Tristan Muyumba said on Monday he has watched it four or five times. He said he received a lot of text messages after the match about the goal.

“It’s good because, of course for the win, but for Jamal too because he’s had injuries year and for his confidence is also good,” Muyumba said.

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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