You know, since Atlanta United has come into my life, I find it difficult to support European teams? At best, I’ve said I’ve supported Manchester United, but that was because my cousin is a Chelsea fan, and we liked going back and forth with each other. But in reality, I couldn’t care less about them. Nothing like I care about the Five Stripes!
It’s still a bit odd for me in a way... I’m from Georgia. So all my life all I wanted was a club in Atlanta and I finally got it. But I live in Greenville, SC. So obviously I have to root for the Greenville Triumph and support the local team. Now, the thing that gets tricky is with Charlotte entering MLS. If it was Raleigh, it’d be a no brainer. But I am more attached to the city of Charlotte than I am the city of Atlanta. So, if they had come in the league at the same time, I probably would have picked Charlotte to pull for. Yet, I find it too difficult to turn my back on the Five Stripes now... even when they drive me nuts with all these offseason crazy stuff. I’ll say, I’ll probably go to more Charlotte games. But I can’t see myself pulling for them over Atlanta. Anyone else have this dilemma?
For the 2020 season, San Jose, NYCFC, and Toronto lead the way, returning players accounting for 90% of minutes played. Chicago is only returning 51%. https://t.co/IzwiUd6LYI pic.twitter.com/toN4nYpJx1— Eliot McKinley (@etmckinley) February 4, 2020 The link is from a tweet by Eliot McKinley and shows the amount of roster turnover by club (so far) in terms of minutes lost. To no one's surprise Atlanta has nearly the most turnover in the league. It'll be interesting to see the impact here in 2020. Looking at the east we see last year's #1 seed, NYCFC, return virtually everyone but they changed coaches. Will there be a philosophy change? Will it impacts results? Toronto made the Cup final but they'll be without Bradley for a big chunk of the season due to injury and it sounds like Altidore isnt making many friends with his comments. Does this make them vulnerable? New England will be a very interesting study. Appears they have a lot of stability will have Bruce Arena all year. I see them being a big threat this year. If you're interested in seeing what it looked like prior to last season? Columbus leads MLS in returning players accounting for 96% of total minutes played in 2018 for the 2019 season. Vancouver is only returning 40%. It'll be interesting how Almeyda does with Wooden Spoon winning San Jose returning players accounting for 92% of 2018 minutes. pic.twitter.com/0xy3Wpf69P— Eliot McKinley (@etmckinley) February 1, 2019 Seattle benefited from stability and won the Cup. Toronto saw a ton of turnover and won the east
Not sure why Emo can't be Nagbe? Not the same dilemma, but I have supported every soccer team that came to town since the Atlanta Chiefs. I say go to Charlette games but sport the 5 stripe kit when you do. You will be the sexiest guy in the crowd.
https://www.afc.co.uk/video/he-is-an-exciting-player-derek-mcinnes-on-his-latest-recruit/ Interesting article about the collaboration between AUFC and Aberdeen on their pursuit of a player. At the very least it's providing a deeper scouting network
OFFICIAL: @TitoVillalba15’s transfer fee from @ATLUTD to @Libertad_Guma was around $4 million, a record fee for a Paraguayan club. 🇺🇸🛫🇵🇾 pic.twitter.com/eCyHX4kOMl— Roberto Rojas (@RobertoRojas97) February 5, 2020 Reports coming out that we sold Tito for $4M. Bought him for $2.75M in 2016 so a nice little profit for Villalba
I have a similar situation physically, because I'm much closer to Nashville. I would have chosen them if they'd come first with no sign of ATL getting a team. But I have no real attachment to Nashville, while I've lived in and around ATL and Middle Georgia in the past. I'm glad ATL came first, because we've had some success and I don't think Nashville is going to amount to much. It'll be fun to be a road fan at their games, tho- see a match AND get back home before some of you guys do for once, lol. Does Inter start this season? They seem to be interested in success on the pitch. McInnes: “It shows you where we are with our collaboration with Atlanta at the minute. Once we were speaking with their recruitment team it was a player who they were aware of and had flagged up on their system. Jointly we got to know him a bit better. Atlanta have several Venezuelan players and contacts and that allowed us to make inroads into the possibility of bringing him to Aberdeen." Right now it looks like we're helping them more than the other way around. I thought Josef was our only Venezolano- do we have any others? I know we don't have "several". It might give us a starting ramp place to send guys who are looking for a place in Europe to play. The loony FB bunch and the trolls there tend to bring up Europe a lot.
Not a bad ROI for a one trick pony that was riding the bench in Atlanta. I love the guy but bit-ness is bit-ness. Now lets go sign some of these other rumors.
Tito one of the best wingers in the League??? Maybe FdB didn’t know how to use him: Atlanta United is going to have a tough time replacing one of the best wingers in the league https://t.co/CsVRjDPC4M— Tiotal Football (@TiotalFootball) February 5, 2020
On another note Sevilla is talking about possibly purchasing Barco for €30 million: According to @VMScom, Sevilla have identified #ATLUTD's Ezequiel Barco as one of their primary transfer targets for the summer.It's speculated Barco would cost at least €30 million. https://t.co/sCE6ThW1CP— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) February 5, 2020 If we plan to do with the sell of Barco what we have done so far with all the money the club has made in selling all the players that they have sold this offseason I most definitely don’t want Barco sold. Now if we are REALLY going to use that money to actually buy Top Notch Young Players I am all for selling him.
a) Barco, Pity, et al will be sold eventually. Even if Atlanta won it all last year neither United nor MLS are final destinations for talent with top aspirations. We need to be ready for this as fans. b) Presumably the model is to repeat the profiteering that we saw with Almiron. Doesn't mean Atlanta will have the clout and means to land that next big thing every season, but it does mean that each time they successfully make such a sale they have incentive to do it again and the name recognition for getting select players to the bigger leagues. So, no, Atlanta hasn't yet landed another Almiron or Barco yet but one off-season doesn't indicate a trend that they're not going to do it again in the future.
No doubt. I think everyone knows they weren't going to be here long. Well, we may have landed another one- we won't know for certain until he gets to a team that better suits him. Bear in mind that Barco was bought to play in Tata's system. He's still learning Frank's, I'm sure. Thing is, IMO Sevilla wants the Barco who played at River. If he stays here another full season, that guy might not be in him anymore, and Sevilla will know it. If, OTOH, he goes whenever and plays well, I think it'll be fair to say we did find another Miggy, just kinda hobbled him a bit while he was here.
The funny thing about Barco, Tata couldn't find a way to use him in his system. It wasn't until FbB came to town that Barco began to blossom and attract international attention.
Maybe. Or that FdB's arrival coincided with Barco becoming more comfortable in the country, the league, etc. Or a combination of FdB using him better and Barco starting to become comfortable.
It's fine, but another all white kit in a sea of all white kits in MLS? Meh. Would have liked to have seen them use the gold as the primary color of the secondary kit as well. Would it have been tacky? Probably. Would it have stood out? Definitely.
New CBA is agreed and by all accounts it's a win-win for both the league and the players. Also opens the door for teams to spend, meaning a) more parties are taking Arthur Blank's comments to heart and b) more teams will be able to spend like Atlanta. (Whether or not they're willing, however...)
I love it. I hope someday to see one that mimics the pattern of the original home jersey but with alternating white and gold stripes. This new one, however, is a close fit. Like this MUCH more than the current home kit. Granted, now it means I need to spend another $180.
Sems for some reason that one of the league kits did have exactly that for the shirt pattern, but I can't find it now. So, no socks? Do any of us own the socks? I don't. Just curious.
I have 2 pair if socks, one of which was a gift. My seat mate seemingly has everything, but he doesn't have any kids to drain his money!
Hallelujah! Maybe one day we'll join every decent league on the planet and allow owners to put their money where their mouths are. I was reading something about how the French league (I think it was France) was forced by law to operate like any other French business and show that they are in the black at the end of the year, or something like that. But other football leagues/clubs don't have to do that, so it's stupid of the French to do it, given they already need tons of help and luck winning the UCL. Some sort of exemption should have been made for footy. Maybe this is the step MLS needed- the reality that money runs the game and Pollyanna Sunshine ends up being relegated.