SDH 1v1: Enea Mihaj, Atlanta United

There have been a few new faces on the pitch for Atlanta United in the last few matches, and one player that stands out in the backline is Enea Mihaj.

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

Enea Mihaj moved to Rhodes, Greece with his family when he was very young and thats where he made his first steps in football. Mihaj was scouted by Panetolikos when he was playing for Diagoras Academy and was given an offer to join. His family encouraged him to make this jump and to follow his dream.

He made appearances with Panetolikos's youth club and caught the interest of the senior coaching staff where he made his debut in January 11, 2017. He then was transferred to PAOK, one of the top clubs in Greece. He.came to Atlanta United after being with Portuguese first division club FC Famalicão to join Ronny Deila's squad, but there is so much more to Enea's story.

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

In a brand new SDH Network 1v1, Madison Crews and Jason Longshore sat down with Enea to talk about his football journey, his family, his decision to come to Atlanta and so much more. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation. Check out the whole interview on our Youtube Channel!

On the importance of having a support system in football:

"When your teammate that you feel him, like really good close to you, when he do a mistake, you would run for him to cover him, he would run for you. That's make a big difference. So in football, that's a really important thing because sometimes you know the things that around the football, the money, the marketing, the pressure, like sometimes make you come in a dressing room and like, 'okay, I do my job. I have pressure for that, or I don't have pressure, depend the player, and I don't want to create a relationship. I don't want to.'

I had some, some older players I played with, and they always say like, what is staying? The money, we will not lie to that is the money that stay in the end of the career, the trophies you won and the friends you make from football. You know, that's three things, and the third is the friend. So it's nice to. To have this kind of relationship in football."

On moving to Atlanta:

"I'm impressed. When you are in Europe and you speak about USA, you think like huge buildings, no green at all, many people, a lot of traffic. Honestly, I see green, a lot of nature and that's really nice for me. I like it. I like sometimes when I have day off or little bit time in afternoon, go to walk with my family and that's an important thing. Also, when I came here, everyone say like, the traffic is terrible, but honestly until now, I don't face it.

I use in Athens. Sometimes it's not, sometimes daily, it's even worse than that. It's not something too bad, you know? It's true. I don't have too much time to see the city, but what also impressed me is the people here, and I think this is probably all the USA, but here they're very kind. Like really kind, and that's really nice. I'm impressed with that."

Check out our whole unedited conversation with Enea down below! Atlanta United is on the road to face the Colorado Rapids tomorrow! Pregame coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. with Madison Crews and Nick Aliffi and then Mike Conti and Jason Longshore will take over at 9:40 p.m. for the call on 92.9 the Game and the Audacy app!