The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top-dollar stars delivering goals for United
Team’s Designated Players rank among MLS’s most productive.
Just one other MLS team has gotten more goals from its Designated Players than Atlanta United this season.
Atlanta United has gotten 17 goals and eight assists from its highest-paid players — Miguel Almiron, Hector Villalba and Joseph Martinez.
Almiron scored two goals and Villalba added another in Sunday’s 3-1 win against NYCFC.
Atlanta United rank second in MLS in goals scored (24) despite taking the second fewest shots (123).
“We are very happy with how they are playing,” Atlanta United
Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra said.
Chicago’s three DPs, David Accam, Nemanja Nikolic and Bastian Schweinsteiger, have combined to score 20 goals and contribute five assists in the team’s 13 games this season. With their firepower, Chicago is in second place in the East with 24 points and has won four consecutive games.
Atlanta United’s goals have come in 12 games, with all of Martinez’s five-goal contribution coming in the season’s first three games. The 24-year-old, signed by Atlanta United from Torino in Italy in the offseason, suffered a thigh injury while playing with the Venezuelan national team in March and just last week resumed training with his club teammates.
Also of interest, Chicago’s three Designated Players have guaranteed salaries of $8.1 million in 2017 compared with Atlanta United’s $4.1 million, according to salaries provided by the players union.
Despite Martinez’s lengthy absence, Atlanta United has maintained a grip on its season and has a draw and two wins, while scoring eight goals in total, in its past three games with Villalba moving from midfield to striker. The team will play at Vancouver on Saturday.
Only in the past two games has Almiron surpassed Martinez as the team’s leading scorer. With five goals in the past two games, Almiron has seven this season with four assists. Villalba, the first DP signed by the team, has five goals and four assists.
“It is also a long season, but we have to give a lot of credit to the guys around them as well,” Bocanegra said. “We have had couple of good games in a row. Miguel (Almiron) is coming out of his shell a little bit. A few solid games back to back (are) propelling us forward but — this is what you need in this league is for — your top players to perform and these guys are doing that right now.”
The team could get Martinez back this week. He re-joined the team’s training Friday.
“He is doing very well,” Bocanegra said. “He is back in training, and it is up to the medical staff and our coaching staff to work together to manage his minutes. It is more about fitness with these guys when you are out for so long.”
While Martinez deservedly received most of the attention at the beginning of the season for his scoring bursts, Almiron has become the player to watch the past three weeks.
The 23-year-old, signed by Atlanta United in the offseason from Lanus in Argentina, was urged to shoot more by manager Gerardo Martino following the 1-1 draw at Portland in which the Paraguayan passed up two shots in favor of trying to set up teammates.
His three goals against Houston led to him being the MLS Player of the Week, and he won the award again this week.
Villalba, a 22-year-old signed by Atlanta United from San Lorenzo in Argentina, hasn’t had the scoring bursts as the team’s other two DPs, but he has been very effective because of his speed and tenacity.