Why Atlanta United is your new favourite MLS team
For a team without a 'marquee' player, Atlanta United has wasted no time in achieving marquee status as a successful MLS club.
As the largest metropolitan area without an MLS team and a hotbed for grassroots football, Atlanta has been crying out for a top-flight franchise for years and hasn’t disappointed in its first season.
Former Argentina manager Gerardo Martino has Atlanta playing an swashbuckling brand of attacking football La Albiceleste would be proud of, with 70 goals in 34 games – second only to table-topping Toronto FC.
On the field Atlanta plays the game right. Off the pitch it hasn't put a foot wrong either. The league's new entertainer opted for a well-balanced team rather than household marquee names. the move away from a fading superstar hasn't effected the club's gate.
Atlanta tops the league in average crowd attendance per game with 48,200. It also became the first MLS team to crack the 70,000 mark in last month’s clash against Orlando, before breaking the record on Monday (AEDT) when 71,874 people turned up to watch the last game of the regular season against Toronto FC.
The eastern conference franchise has the best fanbase in the league, retiring the number 17 jersey (which marks the club’s inaugural season) in honour of its supporters.
The club also bought out two corporate boxes at the Mercedez-Benz stadium to extend the active supporter bay for its growing fanbase.
Atlanta's is an organic fanbase that wasn't lured in by the bright lights of a flashy signing - the team doesn't have one. Martino opted for relative unknowns in their prime like 24 year-old striker Josef Martinez, who has 19 goals in 20 league games since joining from Serie A side Torino and playmaker Yamil Asad, who arrived on loan from Argentine top-side Velez Sarsfield.
The groundswell of support and success in Atlanta has not gone unrecognised by the MLS, which gave the city the green light to host this year's MLS All-Star game.
Atlanta United embodies everything you want in a top-flight club - a tactically astute coach, incredible fans and a style of football that has captured the imagination of United States football.
If Atlanta can go all the way this season, it would cap off a remarkable fairytale that the newly-formed club and the region in general deserves.