This may be the most important season of Giorgos Giakoumakis’ career.
First, the striker wants to help Atlanta United finish among the top four teams in the East and win the MLS Cup while also winning the Golden Boot for most goals scored.
Second, Giakoumakis wants to help Greece qualify for the Euros, which it hasn’t qualified for since 2012. Greece will face Kazakhstan on March 21. The winner will advance to face the winner of Georgia against Luxembourg, and that winner will advance into the Euros.
“I’ve never been with my national team in a big tournament, and that’s something that is really on my high on my list, and it’s on my mind for many years now,” he said Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Giakoumakis will have opportunities while with Atlanta United to work himself into form for Greece. The Five Stripes opened their preseason Monday. The team will open its season Feb. 24 at Columbus. The team is scheduled to play two more matches before Greece is scheduled to play Kazakhstan.
“So March is going to be a very crucial and very important and very stressful month for me,” he said.
Giakoumakis was crucial to Atlanta United qualifying for the playoffs last season. After joining from Celtic, Giakoumakis scored 17 goals in 27 appearances. He was in the running for the Golden Boot until LAFC’s Denis Bouanga pulled away with six goals in the final three matches to finish with 20.
Atlanta United was defeated by Columbus in the first round of the playoffs, ending a stretch of 18 consecutive months of soccer for Giakoumakis.
He said his body was telling him with minor injuries that he had never before experienced that he needed an offseason to rest and reset.
Giakoumakis had an eventful couple of months. He got married in a ceremony that featured 1,000 guests. And he got that needed time off.
“It was very crucial to have these days off and to rebuild my body, my fitness and everything to be in a top level again,” he said.
Giakoumakis said he feels great and has done extra research on his body so that he can remain healthy so that he can try to accomplish those goals. He also watched playing film of himself and said that there are areas in which he can improve. He didn’t want to say what those were.
Giakoumakis seemed excited about Atlanta United’s potential. The core, Giakoumakis, Thiago Almada, Saba Lobjanidze, Xande Silva, Caleb Wiley and Brooks Lennon, that helped the team score 66 goals returns.
“I think that the second part of last season after the summer, we were a totally different team,” he said. “So I think if we stick together ... we can be even better and end up in a higher spot in the table. We showed in the second part of the season last year that we were having a better winning mentality than what we had at first. So I think right now we were in a good place.”
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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule
Feb. 24 at Columbus, 2 p.m.
March 9 vs. New England, 7:30 p.m.
March 17 vs. Orlando, 7 p.m., FS1
March 23 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
March 31 vs. Chicago, 3:30 p.m., FOX
April 6 at NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.
April 14 vs. Philadelphia, 2:30 p.m., FOX
April 20 vs. Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
April 27 at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
May 4 vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m.
May 11 vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
May 15 at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
May 18 at Nashville, 1:30 p.m.
May 25 vs. LAFC, 7:30 p.m.
May 29 at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
June 2 vs Charlotte, 4:30 p.m., FOX
June 15 vs. Houston, 7:30 p.m.
June 19 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
June 22 at St. Louis, 8:30 p.m.
June 29 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
July 3 at New England, 7:30 p.m.
July 6 at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
July 13 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
July 17 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.
July 20 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.
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