It’s Thursday, just a few days left for Atlanta United on its preseason trip in Mexico. The return to Atlanta is just around the corner, the final 10 minutes of a long, physical stretch of play.
It could be a tempting time for the team to get complacent, but Atlanta United isn't. In fact, the team only seems to be pushing harder. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the point in the week, maybe it’s the addition of Thiago Almada pushing teammates to prove themselves -- whatever the driving force, there was an extra level of intensity on Thursday.
Speaking of Almada, the newly acquired midfielder met with the media via Zoom for the first time as a member of Atlanta United. He opened with a brief statement, which was important because he apologized for the racially insensitive gesture he made celebrating a goal at Vélez Sarsfield. Some fans, even a couple of Atlanta United supporters groups, were looking for contrition, which Almada showed right off the top, calling the gesture 'unacceptable.'
Overall, the 20-year-old was soft-spoken and concise when taking questions from media. He expressed gratitude and happiness to be joining Atlanta United and wants to give his best to the club. He talked about the process of adapting to a new country and making the move to the United States and joining MLS.
“I understand it’s a different culture, but that was part of my decision to come here,” he said. “I wanted that and now my goal is to just be able to adapt as quickly as possible.”
He said he doesn’t know a lot about the city of Atlanta other than photos he's seen. He thinks it’s a beautiful city and has started learning more about it from teammates. He mentioned Alan Franco, who’s also from Argentina, as one of the first to welcome him to the club.
Almada also shared a little bit about how he likes to play soccer, saying that he thinks his most natural position on the field is no. 10 behind the striker but added that he can also play as a central midfielder or on the wing.
“I’m a player who likes to play within the team, someone who likes to get forward and someone who likes to make a lot of runs forward,” he said.
On the field, Almada is quick and skilled with the ball, as he showed during the team’s afternoon training session at Club Atlas Colomos. It was another long session, starting around 4:30 local time and ending close to two hours later. (The team also trained Thursday morning.)
The coaches arrived early to the fields like they usually do. For each session, the coaches usually get to Club Atlas Colomos an hour to an hour-and-a-half before the players to set up the pitch. Although this particular time, their punctuality came back to bite them when the sprinklers turned on unexpectedly, showering the staff with a soft rainstorm – although on a sunny afternoon, maybe they didn’t mind the mist.
When I say this was one of the hardest training sessions of the two weeks, I meant it. The guys were really playing hard and aggressive. The session started with conditioning, and not the quick turn races the team did yesterday. The team broke into two groups and completed several sprints across the width of the field.
From there, the team split up into offense and defense. On one side of the field, defenders worked on clearing the ball with assistant coach Rob Valentino. On the other half, attackers went through crossing drills. Players would make short passes centrally then kick it out wide where a player on the flank would cross it back in the box. Assistant coach Eugenio Villazón led this side and encouraged the players to finish. If they didn’t score off the cross, get to the rebound. Sometimes, an extra ball was delivered from behind the goal and a player would take a shot.
Not only was the team trying to finish, they wanted to finish fast.
Some youth players at the club came over to sit in the stands and watch this part of practice. When Luiz Araújo’s header went just wide of goal, the kids oohed. When he scored a low-driven ball, they awed. They oohed loudly when Machop Chol’s wide cross from the right actually curved toward goal and hit the crossbar.
For the next part of practice, the two groups rejoined and played what I call the fast break drill because it’s similar to the basketball drill 3-on-2, 2-on-1. Only this time, it starts with 3-v-2 and the team of three has the ball. Once they take their shot or the other team steals the ball, two more players are sent on and the three now have to defend four. It flows a lot better in person… but essentially the teams transition from offense to defense very quickly.
The guys really showed out during this drill. Ronald Hernández put a nice touch on a ball that looked like it was going out of the field of play. Almada slipped a crisp through ball to Josef Martínez. Miles Robinson stole the ball, carried it end-to-end and scored a goal in the effortless way Robinson does. Danny Centeno did so many stepover moves in a 1-v-1 matchup I lost count (it’s becoming his go-to move – and he’s really good at it). George Campbell made a goal line block and later another takeaway that led to an Aiden McFadden goal.
During the press conference yesterday, Gonzalo Pineda said he was interested to see how Almada would connect with Martínez and Araújo. The three of them were working together quite a bit, synced up as a team during the fast break drill. And I imagine those three will get more opportunities during training on Friday and Saturday. So far, Almada looks unselfish with the ball. He’s distributing and looking to create for his teammates.
The competition continued when the team moved on to a full-field scrimmage. On one particular play, Araújo somehow sent a ball through three defenders to Martínez, who finished it off with a resounding goal.
It was the last two-training day for Atlanta United in Mexico. Tomorrow, the team trains in the morning before heading offsite for a team activity. Stay tuned at ATLUTD.com/mexico and ATLUTD on Twitter for more coverage from Mexico.
And I leave you on Thursday with an extra gift: this sweet pic of best friends Machop Chol and Marcelino Moreno.
