Two thoughts on Josef Martinez hitting the 100-goal mark and earning Atlanta United a win

Atlanta United rebounded from their poor weekend with a 1-0 win at home against Inter Miami. While it wasn’t pretty and very much frustrating for the whole night, in the end, the result was a positive one. Josef Martinez’s late penalty earned the team a vital win and himself a huge milestone as it was his 100th career goal for the club. Here are a few thoughts on a forgettable match, but a memorable night for the Five Stripes’ king.

• Despite relying on a questionable penalty call to convert the only goal of the match, Atlanta dominated in virtually every important category. It was clear that Miami’s intentions from the kickoff were to make life miserable for the Five Stripes and they pretty much succeeded. The Herons were tough to break down as they were content throwing up a wall inside their own penalty area and challenging Atlanta to find a way past it. This has been a struggle for this team for quite some time. If teams come out of their shell and attempt to attack then they have much more success with attacking ideas than if the opponent is more negative. That trend doesn’t seem to be any closer to ending despite the 1-0 victory and that’s a bit worrisome.
• We can discuss the result and lack of goals, but at the end of the day, it was Josef Martinez’s day and he deserves all the praise in the world. It’s clear that he’s still not back to his pre-injury level and with all the revelations that have come out about his recovery issues, it’s possible we may never see that again. But what we see in the current time is still an absolute warrior fighting for the club and supporters he loves dearly. He deserves every call for “Build the Statue” and he’s nothing short of a “King” with how much he’s done for this club. No matter what the future holds he’s cemented his spot in Atlanta and MLS history for the rest of time. We can only hope that, like he proclaimed in his post-match media availability, he’s able to score 100 more before it’s all said and done.