Atlanta United opens its second training camp on Monday with a big, welcomed red-and-black target on its back.
After becoming the first MLS expansion team since Seattle in 2009 to reach the playoffs last year, President Darren Eales, Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra and manager Gerardo Martino orchestrated two potentially league-altering deals in the offseason in an attempt to make the Five Stripes even better.
First, they traded a record amount of allocation money to Portland for midfielder Darlington Nagbe, who is considered one of the top American midfielders.
Second, they set an MLS transfer fee record by spending $15 million to acquire 18-year-old Argentinian midfielder Ezequiel Barco from Independiente in Argentina.
“We are bringing in even better players every year so our expectations are even higher,” Martino said.
Despite a roster of new players in last year's inaugural training camp, Atlanta United went 15-9-10, scored the second-most goals in the league (70) and had the second-largest goal difference (plus-30). It's attacking style of soccer helped the team shatter several attendance records and caught the attention of many soccer fans in North America.
The franchise kept most of the players from that squad and added a few new faces. But building chemistry and learning Martino’s tactics shouldn’t be as challenging as last year when everything was new.
“It will be a little bit easier integrating some of the new signings that we have and draft picks,” Bocanegra said.
The logistics should be easier, too.
The team will begin training camp at its center in Marietta. It wasn’t ready for them last year.
The team will head to Orlando on Jan. 29 and train in Florida for approximately 10 days before it will head to Nashville, where it will play Nashville SC in its preseason opening game on Feb. 10.
The team will return to Atlanta for a few days before heading to Charleston for a week where it will play three more preseason games on Feb. 17 against the Columbus Crew, Feb. 21 against Minnesota United and Feb. 24 against the Charleston Battery.
The team will play its first regular season game at Houston on March 3.
Here are five things to watch in training camp:
The battle at right fullback. Neither of the players that held the job last season, Tyrone Mears and Anton Walkes, are with the team. Mears, 34, appeared in 20 games with 16 starts. He scored one goal and had an assist. Walkes, 20, appeared in 20 games with 17 starts and scored two goals. Walkes' loan from Tottenham Hotspur in England's Premier League wasn't continued. The option on Mears' contract wasn't exercised. He is now with Minnesota United.
It seems likely that Franco Escobar, a 22-year-old signed by Atlanta United from Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, will slot in at right fullback. Really, he’s the only player on the roster that can fill in. If not Escobar, Jose Hernandez, 20, could slide from the left to right. He was signed from Caracas FC in Venezuela’s first division.
There’s also the possibility that Martino could use the three-man backline that he started to go to more during the final part of last season.
In that situation, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Michael Parkhurst could be flanked by Escobar on the right, with Greg Garza pushed up into a wingback role on the left.
Who will start at left midfielder? With Yamil Asad gone and not likely to return on another loan from Velez Sarsfield in Argentina, this will be Ezequiel Barco, the 18-year-old that Atlanta United paid to acquire from Independiente in Argentina.
Martino could slide Miguel Almiron from his central role to the left side and keep Barco in his natural position. Almiron’s speed and vision enable him to play in any attacking role.
Atlanta United didn’t shell out an MLS record transfer fees for both players (Almiron last year, Barco on Friday ) to play them in positions where they won’t succeed.
Martino said Barco likely won’t join the team until it camps in Orlando.
Who will back up Josef Martinez? This has got to be Romario Williams, right? The striker scored 15 goals with Charleston, Atlanta United's USL affiliate, last season. He notched 10 for the Battery in 2016.
Why wouldn’t Williams be Martinez’s backup this season? Williams isn’t a perfect replacement for Martinez. He’s not as quick or athletic – few players are in MLS – but he has quick and athletic and has an eye for goal. Because the team started its own USL team that will play at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Williams can bounce between the two teams if he needs consistent playing time.
And there are two more reasons, possibly.
First, Williams wasn’t recalled from Charleston last season after Martinez missed 10 games with an injury sustained while with the Venezuelan national team.
Second, the team drafted two strikers in the Friday's MLS SuperDraft: Jon Gallagher, who scored 39 goals in four seasons at Notre Dame, and Gordon Wild, who scored 38 goals in college South Carolina-Upstate and Maryland.
Will the Carlos Carmona-Jeff Larentowicz partnership go on? The two defensive midfielders became excellent partners the more they played together during the season, helping the Five Stripes post seven shutouts in a stretch of 10 games to finish the season.
Martino began to experiment with a three-man back line more near the end of the season. If he chooses to do that again, combined with the additions of Nagbe and Barco, and acquiring Greg Garza on a permanent deal, there may not be two defensive midfielders used because there’s not that many spots available.
In a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1, playing in front of goalkeeper Brad Guzan would likely be Gonzalez Pirez, Parkhurst and Franco. The midfielders would be Garza, Barco, Carmona, Almiron and Nagbe with Villalba as a midfielder or striker with Martinez.
In a 4-3-3, or 4-2-3-1, the backline would be Garza, Gonzalez Pirez, Parkhurst and Escobar, with Nagbe, Carmona and Almiron in midfield and Barco, Villalba and Martinez as the front three.
The kids. Atlanta United has signed five Homegrown Players – Andrew Carleton, Chris Goslin, George Bello, Patrick Okonwko and Lago Kunga – as now has its draft picks.
Carleton and Goslin seem the naturals to earn the most playing time among the youthful group, but they, like the others, need playing time with either the first team or Atlanta United 2.
Then there are Gallagher, Wild and Oliver Shannon, a defensive midfielder who was picked in the second round of the draft.
Though they said they are going to push for first-team minutes, the three draft picks on Friday discussed the importance of getting playing time with Atlanta United 2.
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