The Daily Dirt February 23, 2018: The Dog Days of MLS Preseason

It was quite the day for Atlanta yesterday where ... um... absolutely nothing happened.

The most exciting thing to come from the team, was another look at Barco’s first goal with the club.

Oh and there were penguins at the facility just training to be in form come time Atlanta travels to snowy Minnesota again.

Anyways it wasn’t as quiet around the rest of MLS.

So now, onto the Dirt

Domestic

Kellyn Acosta Undergoes surgery, out six-eight weeks

Acosta had successful surgery to repair a sports hernia which will keep him out for roughly 6-8 weeks. He will miss FC Dallas’ second-leg Champions League game and the first bit of their regular season.

For more details and some thoughts from the FCD crowd, head on over to Big D Soccer.

The Loons adding a young Brazilian Midfielder?

Defensive Midfielder Luiz Fernando joins Minnesota on loan for the 2018 season, with an option to buy. He does bring some promise as the 22 year old was voted “Best Defensive Midfielder” in all the Slovakian leagues.

The biggest issue and thing to watch will be how he recovers from his torn ACL in the summer of the 2017 season.

Can he be a difference maker to a team that allowed the most goals last season (70)?

International

Michy Batshuayi Receives Racist remarks from Atalanta supporters

Batshuayi, the attacking loanee from Chelsea, posted on twitter that he had received racist remarks from Atalanta supporters who reportedly made monkey noises.

It’s sad to hear about this (racism) going on still in today’s soccer but it’s not entirely surprising, especially for it to be coming from the Italian league.

It’ll be interesting to see how far UEFA and/or FIFA investigates this and if they’ll do anything more to try and counter this, rather than slap a band-aid on it like they have been.

Other Links to check out:

Policeman Dies of Heart Attack as Spartak Moscow, Athletic Bilbao Fans Clash

Ruben Semedo Charged with Attempted Murder; Agent Says Semedo Is the Victim

Landon Donovan: On His Return With León, U.S. Soccer’s Present and USMNT’s Future