Atlanta United’s Brad Guzan retires: ‘You couldn’t ask for a better guy’
Brad Guzan, Atlanta United’s captain, will retire after Saturday’s match.
Guzan, 41 years old, announced his retirement Tuesday, which will bring an end to a long, spectacular professional career that started in sunny California, continued to England’s Black Country, and ended with trophies in Atlanta.
“He’s been one of the most valuable players in Atlanta United history,” former teammate Michael Parkhurst said. “Even though the history is young, he’s been instrumental on and off the field with the success that Atlanta United had had, especially early on.”
Guzan is expected to start Saturday. It would be the 41-year-old’s 304th appearance for the club, continuing his franchise-leading streak. His career included winning the MLS Cup in 2018 and U.S. Open Cup in 2019. It would be his 547th appearance across all competitions for five clubs, including Chivas USA near Los Angeles, and Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Hull City in England. He also made 64 appearances for the U.S, which he helped win three Gold Cups.
Guzan signed with Atlanta United during its inaugural 2017 season after spending a season at Middlesbrough in the Premier League.
“You talk about the positive energy. … He came to work every day, focused, locked in, with positive energy, and wanting to get better, and wanting the team to get better,” said Carlos Bocanegra, who signed Guzan as Atlanta United’s vice president. “Having conversations with people, ‘How can we get better?’ Just constantly, kind of talking about the game, interacting with guys, and that was his leadership style.”
Guzan couldn’t play until the summer transfer window opened. He made his first appearance July 21 in a 1-0 win against Orlando. He made five saves and the first of his 64 shutouts. It was Guzan’s first appearance in MLS since 2008 when he was with Chivas USA, just before he was sold to Aston Villa in the EPL.
He became a fan favorite, with the supporters chanting, “He’s big, he’s bald, he’s a (expletive) wall,” during matches.
Guzan became Atlanta United’s captain following Parkhurst’s retirement after the 2019 season.
Guzan fought through a torn Achilles tendon in 2022 and other injuries that Parkhurst assumed would force his retirement.
Guzan recovered from each of them to regain his starting spot. Former manager Gonzalo Pineda described Guzan as a “maniac” when it came to rehabbing his Achilles.
“He just loves soccer,” Parkhurst said. “He loves competing. He loves being around the guys. He loves the locker room. He’s a big personality in there, and that’ll be missed.”
Of his 645 saves for Atlanta United, his best may have come in last year’s third playoff game against Miami when, moving to his right, he reached back to his left and denied with his fingertips a close-range header by Jordi Alba, who put his hands on his head in disbelief after watching the ball roll out of bounds.
“Listen, in that moment, I was happy to get a hand,” Guzan said after the match. “In that moment, I needed to get probably more than a fingertip to it, and I was able to get a decent enough hand to one from keeping it going in, but then to push it kind of wider the post.”
Atlanta United won 3-2, shocking Lionel Messi’s team in the best-of-three series.
“It still goes down in my mind as the best individual performance over a three-game series I’ve ever seen a player have, field player or goalie, what he did against Miami,” Parkhurst said. “Legacy-wise, I think that he has left an incredible mark on Atlanta United.”
Guzan continued being the team’s captain until toward the end of this season, when manager Ronny Deila elected to try Jayden Hibbert in goal. Miguel Almirón received the armband. Hibbert started seven consecutive matches, including last week’s loss at Miami.
Deila said that even though Guzan was not longer the on-field captain, he was the team’s de facto captain because of his experience, personality and accomplishments.
Guzan always was the go-to player after matches, whether they resulted in wins, which Guzan experienced a lot of from 2017-19, or losses, which he experienced a lot of during the past six seasons.
Guzan always would provide professional answers, rarely singling out teammates or managers for poor play or tactics, always saying some version of the team has to work harder. His go-to phrase to start an answer was “Listen,” and it would usually end with, “it is what it is.”
As is the case in sports though, some fans began to blame Guzan for the team’s poor results the past few seasons, even as he agreed to a lesser salary to stay with the team.
Guzan was a go-to representative for the team when players were needed for appearances at hospitals or to talk to groups.
“You couldn’t ask for a better guy to come in and be part of that initial sort of franchise,” Bocanegra said. “And one of the franchise players, right?”
About the Author
