Built for the Moment: Cooper Sanchez’s Rise Through Atlanta United

After earning his first MLS season-opening start, Cooper Sanchez reflects on the pathway that prepared him for the moment and the challenge Atlanta United now places in front of him.

On opening night in Cincinnati, Cooper Sanchez didn’t look like a player experiencing the biggest moment of his young professional career.

He looked settled.

The passes were clean. The positioning was disciplined. When Atlanta United needed an outlet in midfield during the opening stretches, Sanchez consistently showed for the ball and recycled possession without hesitation. For a player making his first MLS season-opening start, the game never appeared to speed up around him.

That calm, he explained a few days later, wasn’t accidental.

“I think we didn’t really know until towards the end of the week,” Sanchez said about learning he would start. “But once we started getting ready for the game, playing together, I kind of knew that I would be starting. The headspace was just… I knew I was ready.”

Sanchez in action for Atlanta United 2 in 2025 (photo: Sofia Cupertino)

The performance reflected something Atlanta United’s staff had already seen building behind the scenes. Sanchez was not stepping into the moment blindly. He viewed Cincinnati less as a debut and more as a continuation, another step forward after lessons learned during his first-team breakthrough opportunities late last season.

“After the game in Miami last year, I learned a lot,” he said. “So I felt ready going into the game. Just expressing myself and showing what kind of player I am.”

Saturday showed a midfielder capable of fitting into the structure. What came afterward revealed the next challenge waiting for him.

Tata’s Challenge: Becoming a Protagonist

If Sanchez’s first MLS start showed composure, the message he received afterward revealed what Atlanta United believes comes next.

The feedback from head coach Tata Martino was not about positioning, effort, or understanding the system. Those boxes were already checked.

Instead, the conversation focused on influence.

“After the game, he said good job, good work,” Sanchez explained. “But one thing he told me was to be more of a protagonist… not give the ball away every time (to teammates). Take my own chances and add goals and assists to my game.”

“He told me to be more of a protagonist.”

It is a subtle distinction, but an important one in a midfielder’s development. Sanchez proved in Cincinnati that he could operate safely within Atlanta United’s structure. He completed his responsibilities in buildup, helped initiate pressing sequences, and rarely forced unnecessary risks.

But Martino’s challenge points toward the next phase: moving from maintaining possession to shaping matches.

Through his professional minutes so far, Sanchez’s profile reflects a player built on control. Across his appearances with Atlanta United 2 and the first team, his passing efficiency has consistently remained in the mid-to-high 80 percent range, reinforcing the identity he described himself.

“I’m a simple player. I like to keep the ball,” he said.

That reliability earned trust. Now the expectation is expansion.

Atlanta’s midfield under Martino is designed not only to circulate possession but to advance it quickly once space appears. The staff wants midfielders willing to play forward early, arrive higher in attacking phases, and remain involved when sequences reach the final third.

For Sanchez, that means balancing security with ambition.

The next step is not learning how to play in MLS.

It is learning when to take control of it.

A Different Role, A Different Responsibility

Part of Sanchez’s adjustment this season is positional as much as developmental.

For much of his recent progression, particularly with youth national teams, Sanchez operated as the deeper midfielder responsible for organizing buildup and connecting phases from behind the play.

In Atlanta United’s current structure, that picture looks different.

“Usually I’m the deeper one,” Sanchez said. “So just getting used to getting a little higher up the field and trying to create chances now instead of always focusing on the buildup phase.”

That shift changes everything about how a midfielder experiences the game.

Ten yards higher up the field means fewer touches under controlled circumstances and more decisions made in moments that directly affect scoring chances. The margins shrink. Safe passes disappear faster. Creativity becomes expectation rather than bonus.

Against FC Cincinnati, those adjustments were visible in real time. Sanchez frequently found himself arriving into advanced pockets rather than initiating attacks from deep positions, working alongside Steven Alzate and Tomás Jacob in a midfield still learning its collective spacing.

“I love playing with them,” Sanchez said. “We have a good dynamic. Tomás brings a whole new dynamic defensively. On the ball, I think we can play even more with each other.”

That last part may be the most telling.

Sanchez is getting himself into more attacking positions as his development continues (photo: Sofia Cupertino)

Atlanta United’s midfield is still forming relationships, understanding when one player advances, when another holds, and when risks can be taken collectively rather than individually. For a young midfielder stepping into a starting role, that chemistry directly influences how aggressive he can be.

Early signs suggest Sanchez understands the balance required. His instinct remains to secure possession first, but Martino’s system increasingly asks him to stay involved as attacks develop instead of resetting them.

The evolution from organizer to chance creator is rarely immediate.

It happens through repetition, confidence, and moments where a player chooses progression over safety.

That is the phase Sanchez has entered now.

Built Ahead of the Moment

Long before Cooper Sanchez stepped into an MLS season opener, Atlanta United’s academy had already been preparing him for moments like it.

Not by protecting him, but by accelerating his environment.

Sanchez’s objective inside the club was clear. When Atlanta United signed him to an MLS NEXT Pro deal in 2024, the midfielder spoke openly about the progression he believed would eventually arrive.

“It means everything to me,” Sanchez said at the time. “The first step is getting more minutes with the 2’s, establishing myself within the second team, and then pushing on to the first team.”

That climb began early. Sanchez became the youngest player in club history to appear for Atlanta United 2 in 2023, a moment he remembers less for records and more for realization.

“As soon as they called my name to get subbed on, it was like, ‘Whoa, this is really happening,’” he said. “I didn’t even know I was the youngest until after the game.”

What followed was familiar to anyone who watched his academy progression. Each promotion arrived slightly ahead of schedule, each level demanding quicker thinking rather than physical adjustment.

“I’ve always been pushed to play up age groups,” Sanchez said yesterday. “To express myself and be ready for the physical side of the game.”

For young midfielders, the transition to the professional level is often defined less by technical ability than by how quickly decisions must be made. Space disappears faster. Challenges arrive earlier. Experience usually wins.

Sanchez learned to compensate in a different way.

“As the years have gone on, I’ve developed a sense of how to play with bigger, faster, stronger players just by using my mind,” he said. “Trying to be one step ahead so I don’t have to get into those duels as much.”

That mentality has quietly shaped his progression through Atlanta United’s system, from academy standout to Atlanta United 2 minutes, and now into meaningful first-team responsibility.

The pathway matters here. MLS NEXT Pro provided repetitions against professionals while still allowing development mistakes. Academy promotion exposed him early to higher tempo matches. National team experience added another layer of tactical education.

By the time Cincinnati arrived, Sanchez was not encountering speed or physicality for the first time.

He had been rehearsing for it for years.

Since joining Atlanta United’s academy at the U-12 level in 2018, Sanchez had rarely stayed within a single age group for long. Playing up became routine, forcing him to adapt early to faster matches and stronger opponents.

“It’s always been a physical challenge,” Sanchez said previously. “You learn quickly because everything moves faster.”

That accelerated environment helped shape the composure Atlanta United trusted on opening night in Cincinnati.

What Saturday represented was less a leap than confirmation that the progression had reached its next stage.

Pressing, Trust, and Atlanta United’s Identity

If Sanchez’s growth is individual, the demands placed on him are collective.

Throughout preseason and into the opening match, Atlanta United’s coaching staff has emphasized a clear midfield mandate: recover the ball quickly, play forward decisively, and sustain pressure after possession is lost. When asked what messages he hears most consistently from Tata Martino and the staff, Sanchez’s answer came quickly.

“Pressing relentlessly,” he said. “If we make mistakes, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Try and play forward as much as possible. Win it back when you lose it.”

Those principles define the role Atlanta’s midfield must play this season.

Sanchez's rise through the Atlanta United academy is an example for the next generations (photo: Sofia Cupertino)

In Cincinnati, flashes of that identity appeared early. Atlanta United pressed aggressively in stretches, disrupted buildup phases, and controlled long portions of the first half through organization rather than chaos. For midfielders like Sanchez, that structure provides both responsibility and protection.

The system asks young players to work constantly without the ball while trusting that teammates will move in coordination around them. Pressing is not an individual act. It is a shared commitment built on timing and communication.

For Sanchez, the fit is natural.

He described pressing as one of the strongest parts of his game, an area where anticipation and positioning allow him to influence play even when he is not dictating possession. That awareness helps explain why the coaching staff trusted him in a demanding road environment to begin the season.

But the same system that rewards discipline also encourages bravery. Atlanta United does not want midfielders who simply recover possession. The expectation is that winning the ball immediately turns into attacking intent.

That is where Martino’s earlier message returns.

Press well. Keep the structure.

Then become decisive.

For Sanchez, learning when to make that transition may ultimately determine how large his role becomes as the season unfolds.

Understanding the game has always come naturally to Sanchez. Influencing it is the next step.

The Model for the Game

When Cooper Sanchez describes the type of midfielder he wants to become, the answer is not built around highlight moments or individual flair.

Instead, he points toward control.

Asked which players he studies, Sanchez mentioned Frenkie de Jong, the Barcelona and Netherlands midfielder known less for spectacle than for rhythm, intelligence, and efficiency in possession.

“I think he’s a fantastic player,” Sanchez said. “Technically, the smartness of the game… he keeps it simple.”

The comparison is revealing.

De Jong’s influence often comes from decisions made before pressure arrives, subtle body positioning, progressive carries that eliminate defenders, and an ability to accelerate attacks without forcing them. It is a style built on awareness rather than urgency.

Earlier in his development, coaches inside the club often pointed to another comparison closer to home. Former Atlanta United midfielder Dax McCarty frequently worked with Sanchez in video sessions, helping refine the small positional details that define midfield play at the professional level.

“They compare me with Dax McCarty a lot,” Sanchez said previously. “He gives me a lot of tips. The little things, movements, opening your hips so you can play forward more often.”

One lesson in particular stayed with him.

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” McCarty told him. “If you miss a pass, move on to the next one.”

The advice echoes the message Sanchez now hears regularly from Martino’s staff.

Many of those same traits appeared in Sanchez’s performance in Cincinnati. He consistently offered passing angles during buildup, avoided unnecessary turnovers, and helped Atlanta United maintain structure during stretches when the match demanded composure.

What Martino now challenges him to add mirrors the evolution many young midfielders face when transitioning fully into the professional game. Control earns minutes. Initiative defines careers.

Sanchez understands that progression.

“I want to be a key contributor to the team,” he said. “A big thing for me is adding goals and assists into my game.”

The objective is no longer simply fitting into the tempo of MLS matches.

It is beginning to influence how those matches unfold.

The Next Step

Cooper Sanchez’s first start of the season did not arrive with dramatic moments or defining highlights. It arrived with something coaches often value more from a young midfielder: trust.

He showed he could handle the rhythm of an MLS match. He fit within Atlanta United’s structure. He helped stabilize possession in difficult stretches on the road.

Now the expectation changes.

The ambition has not changed from those early academy years. Sanchez has long spoken about testing himself at the highest levels possible, including a future goal of playing in Europe. What has changed is how close the pathway now feels.

The conversation is no longer about potential progression.

It is about production.

Sanchez entered the season unsure exactly what his role might become. Opportunities, he admitted, were not guaranteed when preseason began. But performances and conversations like the one he described this week have begun to clarify what Atlanta United believes he can grow into.

“I want to be a key contributor,” Sanchez said. “Help the team win games.”

That ambition aligns with where both player and club find themselves early in 2026. Atlanta United is still shaping its midfield relationships, still refining how aggression, possession, and creativity coexist under Tata Martino’s ideas. Within that process, young players are not simply filling minutes. They are being asked to accelerate their development in real time.

For Sanchez, the pathway that carried him through the academy and Atlanta United 2 has delivered him to the first team. Remaining there will depend on something different.

Martino’s message was clear.

Play simply. Press relentlessly. Trust your instincts.

And when the moment arrives, stop managing the game and start shaping it.

The progression from prospect to protagonist has already begun.