Training Ground Notebook: “I’m Completely Satisfied”
Seven matches left, almost no margin, and a head coach who says the group he has now is the group he's building around for 2027. FC Cincinnati comes to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday without the player both coaches spent the most time talking about.
Seven matches. That's what Atlanta United has left, and Tata Martino isn't pretending the math is friendly.
"We understand that we're reaching a point where, even though we've been chasing from behind for a long time, there probably isn't much margin for error in these final seven matches," Martino said Thursday. "We had a very inconsistent start to the season, and that has left us too far behind. So these final seven matches need to be almost perfect for us to keep a chance of qualifying."
He isn't hiding from it. He isn't conceding either.
"We said we didn't want to reach the halfway point of the season without any chance at all. Now we're around Matchday 27, and we still have a chance," Martino said. "Those chances are small or minimal, however you want to describe them, but they're still there. We're going to keep fighting until the numbers tell us otherwise."
Miguel Almirón, back from the international break with Paraguay, put it in the language this locker room has been using for weeks.
"We know the situation we're in and understand the responsibility that comes with these upcoming matches," Almirón said. "The objective is to win every match so we can qualify for the playoffs. Every match is going to be a final for us, not just the one against Cincinnati."
"I'm completely satisfied"
The biggest news of the day didn't come from a question about Saturday. It came from a question about next year.
When the transfer window closed in September, Martino called his roster "complete." On Thursday he went a step further and said this is the group Atlanta will compete with in 2027, too.
"What I feel is that we need to give the team continuity. I'm not necessarily saying that means playing exactly the same players," Martino said. "But now that we have the complete squad, we need to build on what we did against Portland. After the Portland match, we lost five or six players who went away with their national teams. So I think we need to give that group a little more continuity, because I imagine next year will be built around that foundation. There may be one or two changes, but I'm thinking more in terms of this being the squad we're also going to compete with next year."
Asked how close the current roster is to the team he pictured when the project began, he didn't need a paragraph.
"I'm completely satisfied," Martino said.
That's not a coach asking for another overhaul. That's a coach saying the personnel is in place and the work now is on the training field.
Almirón sees the same thing from the inside, even if the table doesn't show it yet.
"I think we're starting to see the changes in our performances," Almirón said. "Against Portland, I think we played a good match, and I think we played a great match against New York City as well. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the results we wanted, but the team is improving, and that's a positive thing."
The attack is still being put together, and Martino says that's normal
The squad is set. The connections aren't, at least not all of them. Asked how Atlanta gets better service to Breel Embolo, Martino pushed back on the idea that there's a single fix.
"It could be a little bit of everything, but ultimately it's about getting to know him," Martino said. "Now we have the squad, and the coach is saying he's satisfied with the squad he has. Well, after that, you need training. I need to understand how to find Breel, how Galoppo makes his runs into the penalty area, and how [Mauricio Amaro] works."
"It's not simply a matter of one player arriving, then another, then another, and suddenly we play and everything is perfect," he said. "No. That takes development. What we need is more time, more matches, and more training sessions together."
The international break didn't help. Almirón, Alexey Miranchuk, Júnior Alonso and Paulo Díaz all left, which meant a week of work with Embolo that half the expected starting group never got.
"We have to integrate everyone, but we're missing Miguel and Alexey. We're also missing Júnior and Pablo," Martino said. "So the ideal week was the week before Portland, when everyone was together working on different things and getting to know each other."
There was at least one sign that the time together is paying off. Jay Fortune stayed in Atlanta, and Martino noticed.
"Among the players who stayed here, I've already seen how Jay knows how to find Breel. He's already figured out how he needs to find him, and that happens through training," Martino said. "Miguel and Alexey are probably working toward that same understanding, but they haven't trained with Breel for a week. So we need time to put all the pieces together."
Asked about the early understanding between Miranchuk and Giuliano Galoppo, he said the staff had nothing to do with it yet.
"When players are good footballers and understand the game, their quality allows them to shorten all those timelines that a coach normally asks for when developing partnerships," Martino said. "You can see, after five training sessions, that Alexey and Giuliano understand each other, at least to some extent. I could say that's the product of the training sessions we've had. But no. They understand each other because they're good footballers."
Galoppo himself is already doing what Martino brought him in to do, plus one thing that doesn't show up in the highlights.
"In two matches he's already scored a goal, and that's something we all knew about him, his great ability to make runs into the opposition's penalty area," Martino said. "I also think he's a player who has a very good understanding of how a team's play develops. And he's a player who works very hard to win the ball back, which is also something we needed."
Almirón had his own praise for the new arrivals, starting with the veteran center back who arrived this summer.
"Júnior's arrival has helped not only me but the entire group and the club," Almirón said. "Júnior is an elite player. He's played in Europe and played in a World Cup. He brings a lot of quality and experience to the team. And Pablo and the other players who have arrived are also helping us a lot."
Evander is out, and both coaches made him the story
FC Cincinnati arrives without Evander. Pat Noonan confirmed it Thursday, and the backstory says a lot about the player.
"He picked up his injury in the Montreal game and felt like he could get through the game, and he did," Noonan said. "The news that we got after was, I don't want to say worse than expected, but he didn't think it was going to be much. He'll be out for this game and TBD after that."
Noonan said even some of his own players didn't know, because they'd left for international duty before the diagnosis came back.
"It speaks to the toughness of Evander, where he gets through the game with the discomfort but didn't think it was going to be something that would keep him out for this period of time," Noonan said. "We know we can perform without him. But it's not a player you can replace."
He's the only player Cincinnati expects to be without on Saturday, and Noonan said he isn't going to rush him back for a stretch of games that comes nearly twice a week from here.
"If it means we're going to put Evander at risk and potentially lose him further than we need to, we won't do that," Noonan said.
Martino's scouting report on Evander took all of three sentences.
"When Evander plays, Cincinnati is better. When the opponent neutralizes Evander, Cincinnati is worse," Martino said. "He's one of those players who has the ability to decide a match."
Saturday, Atlanta doesn't have to neutralize him. That's a big piece of the puzzle that Noonan has to solve, not Martino.
Martino wants to choose the tempo. Noonan wants to stop conceding.
Even without Evander, Martino knows what kind of game Cincinnati wants, and he spent his answer on how Atlanta avoids giving it to them.
"Cincinnati has a way of playing that tempts the opponent into making the match an end-to-end game," Martino said. "What we have to do is recognize when it's in our interest to go forward, and when we need to stay compact because it isn't in our interest to allow the match to become end-to-end. We have to be capable of reading the game. When we need to keep possession, we keep possession. When we need to attack the space, we attack the space. We can't allow them to turn the match into the kind of game they want, which is a back-and-forth exchange of attacks."
Noonan's own diagnosis of his team explains why that game suits Cincinnati going forward and hurts it going backward. Cincinnati lost its last match 3-1, and he's tired of watching good performances get buried by the same mistakes.
"You're left shaking your head a lot, because when you look at the performances, there's been plenty of good to get a result," Noonan said. "But what's overshadowing it all is how we make mistakes. I think it's box defending. That seems to be the biggest theme now."
He came back to it later in the session.
"We know that continues to be our Achilles heel, conceding goals," Noonan said. "We've done a good job of creating chances and scoring goals. But defensively, we've put a lot of time in to try to improve intensity, duels, structure. We can harp on it and talk all we want. We have to be able to do it in a better way on game day."
A team that scores and concedes is exactly the team that wants the end-to-end game Martino described. If Atlanta can play it on its own terms, the weak spot Noonan named is the one Atlanta gets to test.
Noonan, for his part, sees a very different Atlanta than the one his team saw earlier in the season, and he started with the new No. 9.
"Very strong attacking presence," Noonan said of Embolo. "The way they utilize him with the ball, how he moves off the line and in behind, he's just a very well-rounded player. He can beat you with speed in the right moments, he can beat you with his ability to win a duel, with how he turns, how he handles pressure, hold-up play, disguise. There's creativity in the way he plays. And obviously he can finish off plays."
He didn't stop with the striker.
"Their team as a whole is very experienced, from the goalkeeper, Hoyos, all the way through," Noonan said, pointing to Lucas Hoyos and to Alonso and Díaz as experienced internationals now paired at center back. "As you start to see these quality pieces working together more, it's a different team, and a strong team. So it'll be a good challenge."
Cincinnati's new faces, and one possible late addition
Noonan used the break to get three newcomers up to speed, and the one he talked about most was Tyrell Malacia, the Dutch defender who signed September 18 after his time at Manchester United.
"You don't have to tell him many things twice, which is a sign of a high soccer IQ, and he loves training," Noonan said. "He's been really strong in how he plays in different ways, whether it's wide or more central. Technically strong, comfortable under pressure, can see plays ahead. I think Tyrell's had a really good stretch."
Malacia could also change how Cincinnati lines up.
"He operated more in a back four as a left back," Noonan said. "So that's a nice asset, potentially, as far as shifting things with the structure, but he also has attacking ideas to help us move forward."
Julian Malatini is a step behind on fitness. "You could see he's playing catch-up a little bit with where he's at," Noonan said, with a congested schedule leaving little room for full-group sessions to close that gap. On the other flank, David Douděra, who has played as a wingback, a fullback in a back four and a winger, brings something Noonan described simply as "different" energy.
Three internationals got back Wednesday. Miles Robinson returned first, then Pavel Bucha and Samuel Gidi later in the evening. Bucha made his international debut this window, which Noonan called "good growth." Gidi logged the heaviest minutes of the three, so he's the one Cincinnati will manage most carefully.
Then there's José Martínez, formerly of the Philadelphia Union, who is training with the group with the roster freeze coming Friday.
"Once the contract situation ended for him in Brazil and he was coming off an injury, we had a working relationship with him previously from Philly," Noonan said. "So we basically said we'll bring him into the environment, take a look at his knees and help him with the rehab, and from that we'll see if there's the possibility of making an addition. By the time we talk again, we'll have confirmation on that."
Tom Bogert of The Athletic reports that he will sign with the club through the end of the season with an option for the 2027 sprint season.
Atlanta's availability: everyone, with a couple of asterisks
Martino's injury update was short.
"Everyone is available, although there are some questions," he said.
The main question is Will Reilly. "He's dealing with an ankle issue that he hasn't fully recovered from yet," Martino said. "But that doesn't mean he's ruled out."
The worse news came from Atlanta United 2. Defender Daniel Chica "suffered an injury to his cruciate ligaments and will undergo surgery in the coming weeks," Martino said.
Almirón, the captain who doesn't talk much
Almirón came back from Paraguay with two goals in two friendly wins at the start of a new cycle for his national team, and he still lights up talking about it.
"Representing your country is the best thing that can happen to a player," Almirón said. "I'm always very proud whenever I get that call from the national team. It's a new cycle with young players and new players. You always want to contribute and help the group and the national team, and I'm very happy to be able to do that."
Asked about leading Atlanta through a hard year, he described a style that has more to do with showing than telling.
"I'm not someone who talks a lot, but I believe you always have to lead by example, through your performances and by showing it both on and off the field," Almirón said. "Being a professional player means respecting the club and living up to what Atlanta United represents. I try to support the younger players and the older players as well. Even when you go through difficult moments in football, you have to keep fighting and keep working until the end."
He didn't dress up the season.
"We know we've had a difficult year, but I think the team is improving. I have a lot of confidence in my teammates and in this group," Almirón said. "As I always say, the club and the Atlanta fans deserve for us to be doing better. You get through these moments by working. I'm always positive, always working, and I believe that at any moment we're going to turn around the situation we're going through."
Martino on Messi: "the emptiness begins"
Last month, Martino talked about Lionel Messi's retirement from Argentina's national team in terms of Messi's right to choose his own path. On Thursday, asked again following Messi's final match with the national team this week, he talked about what it means for everyone left watching.
"Just as happened in Maradona's era, you feel a profound emptiness as a supporter of the national team. It's as though an era has ended," Martino said. "Maybe there are still a number of players who remain, and with the same coaching staff, it might seem like the process is similar. But he's missing. And that makes everything look different."
"Some people see it as something very tragic. Others see it with a certain optimism. Time will tell how Argentina moves forward without Leo," he said. "Time passes for everyone. For those who play well, those who play very well, and those who play a completely different game, as he does. But that's where he's drawn the line. His life as a footballer continues, but for Argentinians, the emptiness begins."
Almirón kept his answer simpler.
"Messi, as we all know, is the best in the world. He's a player who has left a legacy in world football," Almirón said. "He's won everything, and that's something that will remain in the memories of Argentinians and Messi himself forever."
FC Cincinnati at Atlanta United kicks off Saturday at 7:40 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and airs on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. with Abe Gordon and Madison Crews, and Mike Conti and Jason Longshore have the call.
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