Atlanta United interim manager Stephen Glass said he was going to try to put Pity Martinez in the best possible positions to succeed.
It could have been a coincidence, or something Glass could see or did that previous manager Frank de Boer couldn’t or didn’t, but Martinez had his first multi-goal game in MLS for the Five Stripes in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Nashville at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I feel comfortable but I felt comfortable before,” Martinez said. “I think we showed a good performance and what we’ve been working on.”
Martinez’s first goal, which came in the 40th minute, showed all the reasons why Atlanta United paid a league record transfer fee to land him from River Plate before the 2019 season.
First, he had to control a pass of some 40 yards from Eric Remedi, and do so with Nashville’s Jalil Anibaba tried to quickly close him down. Martinez then ran away from Anibaba as centerback Walker Zimmerman rushed over to try to close the angle of attack. Martinez cut back to his right as Zimmerman ran by. Martinez then had the presence to spy Joe Willis rushing out of his goal, and then to toe-poke a shot between his legs.
“He was brilliant tonight,” manager Stephen Glass said.
The second goal was a direct result of Martinez’s work rate, according to Glass. The play started with Mo Adams pressuring the ball in Atlanta United’s final third. Martinez picked up the loose ball and passed it 30 yards down the field to Erick Torres.
Martinez and Adams then sprinted some 50 yards toward Nashville’s goal. Torres played Adams deep into Nashville’s penalty box. Adams spun and passed it back to Martinez, who one-timed a shot past a flapping Willis into the near corner.
“If he’s not working he doesn’t score that second goal,” Glass said.
Martinez kept focusing on the team’s attitude in his post-match comments.
“I said it Thursday, we had a very bad performance in Orlando,” he said. “No will. Obviously, without fans and not having that nice pressure that we get from our fans makes it difficult but there are no excuses. We were very bad in Orlando and needed to change our image. Whoever is the coach. This is for us. It’s for the fans. That they always support us. As I said Thursday, we had to change the attitude. With that, the team will have enough with the quality of players that we have. It was that, the attitude, and wanting to win, and today we showed it.”
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Atlanta United coming games
Wednesday at Miami, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports South)
Aug. 29 vs. Orlando, 3:30 p.m. (Univision)
Sept. 2 vs. Miami, 7 p.m. (FS1)
Sept. 5 at Orlando, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Sept. 12 at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports South)
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