With just weeks gone since Seattle Sounders were crowned as champions of the 2016 MLS Cup, the fixture list for the 2017 season has been finalised and released.
There will be yet more competition in Major League Soccer when the competition recommences in March, with two new expansion sides embarking on their inaugural seasons, taking both the Eastern and Western conferences to 11 teams apiece. Minnesota United FC will be taking their place in the Western Conference, while Atlanta United FC are set to become the first MLS franchise in the sprawling city of Atlanta when they join the Eastern Conference.
It won’t be an easy year for the newly formed side, which has had less than three years to prepare for this moment since the announcement was made back in April 2014, but how will Atlanta United fare at the top of the United States’ football pyramid?
Atlanta United’s squad looks promising heading into 2017, but the club’s fans should go into the season with reasonable expectations. Bookmakers have put down odds upwards of 100/1 on the club winning next season’s MLS Cup and they have good reason for it, given how expansion sides have performed in their debut seasons in the past.
The last expansion side to qualify for the MLS Cup in their first season was Seattle Sounders back in 2009, when they reached the semi-final stage. Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers, New York City FC, Orlando City SC and Montreal Impact have all failed to match Seattle’s early accomplishments since.
However, there is every chance that Atlanta could cause a shock next season, particularly so given the quality that they have added throughout the club in recent months. The capture of Gerardo Martino as head coach was particularly surprising, given that he has spent the last three seasons managing two of football’s biggest teams in Barcelona and Argentina.
Atlanta’s president Darren Eales was ecstatic upon announcing Martino’s capture and rightly so, as his experience will prove invaluable in the dressing room. He has worked alongside some of the game’s biggest and brightest stars, such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Sergio Aguero and will undoubtedly be able to transfer some of the knowledge that he has picked up along the way to Atlanta’s new squad.
On the pitch, Atlanta haven’t gone down the usual MLS route. The league’s current sides are best known for snapping up ageing stars from European clubs, offering them big money Designated Player contract to persuade them to switch to the United States. However, Atlanta have opted for the likes of Hector Villalba and Miguel Almiron, 22-year-old South Americans that are relatively unknown, but have bags of potential. These promising talents have been blended with experienced heads in the likes of Michael Parkhurst and Zach Loyd, to give the team the perfect balance between potential and experience.
Of course, their methods may not produce immediate results - many of their star players are a long way from reaching their prime and the squad as a whole will need time to gel before everything falls into place. However, Atlanta United appear to be thinking long term and, a few years down the line, they could be real contenders in the MLS Cup title race.