Atlanta United delivers a sublime showing, but now comes the hard part

For 90 minutes Saturday, the magic of Tata Martino delighted Atlanta United supporters.

Swift and punishing counterattacks. Wizard-level touches by Miguel Almirón to spring Emmanuel Latte Lath on a race to goal. A relative pile of scores.

This from a team that had stumbled through its first three matches of the regular season, failing to lead for a single minute of those games. The results ratcheted up the anxiety level of a fan base that had hoped for more from the return of Martino, supervisor of United’s brilliance at its inception.

Atlanta United (1-3) played by far its best game of the young season Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a 3-1 bashing of not-very-good Philadelphia Union (0-4). It may have been its most impressive game in much longer than that.

In winning for the first time this season, the Five Stripes averted an 0-4 start that would have been something approaching a disaster for a team desperate for any kind of positive result.

“As coaches, we feel the evolution of the team, but it’s hard to express when the team is losing,” Martino said.

Now they just need to do the harder thing, which is to make such play habitual — the province of winning teams.

United has, of course, not rewarded its fans with such consistency over the last number of seasons. The club won back-to-back games only once last season under the one-year managership of Ronnie Deila.

The last time this proud franchise won three MLS games in a row?

Would you believe the 2021 season?

“I think the problem now is to maintain for longer periods what we’re doing well, because even against San Jose (a 2-0 road loss on Feb. 28), we didn’t do it for long enough,” Martino said. “(Saturday), I thought we played the first 30 minutes really, really well, but after, we need to be able to sustain that.”

There was no shortage of things for Martino to feel good about. Almirón was an electric playmaker, maintaining possession while double-teamed and delivering passes to teammates through narrow windows from improbable angles.

He assisted on all three of the goals, becoming the club’s all-time assist leader in the process. The development of the last, in the 68th minute, was a work of beauty. Near midfield, he played a pass off his left foot to his left, an exquisite delivery to Latte Lath between two Philadelphia defenders.

At the top of the box, he took a return pass from Latte Lath, then played the ball to Alexey Miranchuk, sliding a pass between the legs of a third Philadelphia defender to set up Miranchuk’s third score of the season.

“I’m really happy for the effort that all my teammates and all of us put into the game (Saturday) because we really needed a win,” Almirón said through a team interpreter.

In his season debut, central defender Stian Gregersen gave rugged and athletic defense. Using his speed, Latte Lath scored his first goal of the season and played one of his best games for United since joining the club before the 2025 season.

Defenders Tomás Jacob and Elías Báez and midfielders Matías Galarza (making his first career start for United) and Cooper Sanchez all offered meaningful contributions to the performance. You may know that Sanchez is 17 (he turns 18 on March 26) and a high school senior from Seattle. He played with ATL UTD 2 last year and has started every match thus far this season.

“It’s hard to find a player who’s 17 who understands the game that well,” Martino said.

It wasn’t a perfect game. There were giveaways in the defensive third. A better offensive team than Philadelphia could have contested the game better.

But it was a delightful performance, reminiscent of Atlanta United’s heyday.

Still, we turn to the wisdom of center back Enea Mihaj, who was signed in the midst of this past season’s free fall.

“Winning one game is nothing,” said the 27-year-old Mihaj, a veteran of the Portuguese and Greek premier leagues. “You need to be consistent. It’s not only to try to win but also to try to perform the same way and also improve.”