Author | Daniel Wright |
October 26, 2017 is a day that will forever be burned into the minds of Atlanta United fans. On that day, Atlanta United played its first ever playoff game. The Five Stripes lost 3-1 on penalty kicks after playing 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes of overtime. Over the offseason, Darren Eales, Carlos Bocanegra, and Tata Martino thought it would be a good idea to bring on some new players to maximize Atlanta’s chance of winning the MLS Cup in 2018. AU brought on defenders Franco Escobar and Jose Hernandez, to replace former players Tyrone Mears, Anton Walkes, Bobby Boswell, and Georgia native Mark Bloom. They also acquired midfielder Darlington Nagbe from Oregon’s Portland Timbers. The 26 year old has spent his entire 7 year career with the Timbers and moved after former Portland coach Caleb Porter left to coach USL team FC Cincinnati. On January 26, multiple sources confirmed that Carlos Carmona, an Atlanta midfielder and major contributor to Atlanta’s success in 2017, would be leaving to play for Colo Colo in his native Chile. Nagbe will be playing in Carmona’s position in 2018. Last and certainly not least, Atlanta acquired 18 year old midfielder Ezequiel Barco from Club Atletico Independiente in Argentina. Barco is an exciting young player, showing to be very similar in skill to Atlanta center mid Miguel Almiron. With these new additions, along with many other young players in Atlanta’s academy program, the Five Stripes have set themselves up for success in 2018.
Atlanta United started their second season off in Nashville, playing against soon to be MLS team Nashville SC. They left Music City with a 3-1 win under their belts and we learned some very important things.
1. Ezequiel Barco’s talent is real.
2. Darlington Nagbe was a good investment.
3. Atlanta is ready to win in 2018.
They will then travel to Charleston, South Carolina to compete in the Carolina Challenge Cup. Last year, Atlanta placed second in the CCC just behind the Columbus Crew, who ended up beating Atlanta in the playoffs last October. This year, Atlanta hopes to not only take home the Challenge Cup trophy, but beat Columbus while doing it. After the seven day tournament ends, Atlanta will come home for a few days and then travel to Houston, Texas for their first game of the regular season. Last year, Atlanta came out swinging, and accomplished something only two other expansion teams have accomplished in their inaugural season: reaching the playoffs. This year, they hope to go even farther than that and win the MLS Cup.
