‘Everybody’s frustrated’: Atlanta United seeks first win since World Cup break
Atlanta United has yet to taste victory since MLS play resumed after the FIFA World Cup break.
In fact, the Five Stripes (3-11-3) haven’t added three points since early May. After more than seven weeks on hiatus, Atlanta has lost to Nashville SC, drew with Charlotte FC and gotten blown out by the New England Revolution.
“I think at the end of the day, everybody’s frustrated,” United forward Fafà Picault said. “We’ve been frustrated, especially coming back from the break starting out like this; it’s not what we want, and it’s not what we expect from the group of players we have.
“I think the good thing is that we’re all in the same spot mentally where we want to get out of this, and that’s important. Everybody’s willing to do what it takes to fight out of the spot that we’re in.”
Picault has been in his fair share of MLS locker rooms — seven, to be exact. He has played for winning teams and those that struggle. Now a veteran presence, he’s trying to keep spirits alive. That includes letting the younger guys call him “Unc” as he bests them in golf — though the results have been debated among teammates.
At the bottom of the Eastern Conference is surely not what manager Gerardo Martino envisioned when he returned to Atlanta after his first stint as the franchise’s inaugural coach who led the Five Stripes to the 2018 MLS Cup championship. With 17 games left in the regular season, Martino and team leadership have made moves in the summer transfer window.
United brought in two veteran center backs — Júnior Alonso from Atlético Mineiro in Brazil’s Serie A and Paulo Díaz from River Plate in Argentina’s Liga Profesional de Fútbol — just before the first match back from break. Alonso started against the Revolution, where Atlanta conceded four goals. Díaz, a native of Chile, is still working through the visa process. Martino said Thursday that Díaz was at the embassy in his home country and will not be available for Saturday’s road game at Philadelphia.
Atlanta transferred defender Pedro Amador to Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be’er Sheva for an “undisclosed fee,” the team announced Thursday. Martino said they felt more comfortable with left back Elías Báez, who was signed in February. Amador had been with the team since July 2024.
Philadelphia Union (3-10-4) is one of three clubs United has defeated this season. But it isn’t the same squad Atlanta faced in March.
“They’re a team who’s on a winning streak and has won the last few games,” Martino said. “So, that’s the reverse of what we’re going through at the moment.”
The Union made a coaching change just before the World Cup break in May by firing Bradley Carnell. Interim manager Ryan Richter has won two games versus the New York Red Bulls and Seattle Sounders, two formidable sides. Those victories moved Philadelphia ahead of United, placing Atlanta last in the Eastern Conference.
Regardless of the record, there is still belief in the United locker room that a win or two could create a snowball effect toward the end of the season.
“If we start dropping now, we might as well just call it wraps,” Picault said. “That’s not something you want to do at this point of the season, and we all believe in what we can do, and we’re going to turn this thing around if we want to.”