After Atlanta United’s 2-1 win against Sporting Kansas City on Sunday night, Tata Martino invoked a humorous Argentine idiom to describe the team’s mindset amid its longest regular-season winning streak since 2021.
Consuelo de tontos. The literal translation is “consolation of fools.”
In this case? Even though Atlanta pulled within three points of the ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with its third straight win, it’d be, well, foolish for the team to rest on its laurels. That’s especially with a derby match against Charlotte FC coming up on Saturday.
Win that one, and Atlanta could be even deeper in the postseason hunt. Lose, and the positive vibes from the past week-plus are extinguished.
“(Beating Charlotte) would put us in the race for the play-in, but I said after we won two games, we can’t get carried away (because) it’s two games, so I’m going to say the same (thing) now,” Martino said through an interpreter.
Embracing adversity
Atlanta’s win streak has seen it face varying levels of adversity. It trailed Red Bull New York within six minutes and nearly went down 2-0, but battled back with a pair of goals in the second half to win. Despite opening the scoring against Minnesota United, it conceded in the second half but found a winner through Tristan Muyumba.
Sunday’s match against SKC saw Atlanta United open up a 2-0 lead in the first half before Stephen Afrifa made it 2-1 with 20 minutes to go. Unlike the match against the Philadelphia Union, they saw off the remaining time to extend their win streak.
“Today, I think you saw that we were able to suffer. So we’re finding those different ways, and I think that it showed a lot of character in the team,” Martino said.
“As a team, when we were in a bad moment, we suffered a lot, but I think we worked really hard to try to get out of it. But we know we still have a lot of room to grow and a lot of things to improve,” Miguel Almirón said in Spanish. “So we’re not satisfied where we are. This isn’t the goal. We have to continue working.”
History for Almirón
Almirón’s assist on Tomas Jácob’s goal in the 13th minute was his club-record 42nd in an Atlanta uniform. He later added a secondary assist on Fafa Picault’s 24th-minute goal.
“I’ve always said that Atlanta is my home … Atlanta’s a club that helped me also achieve my dream to get to Europe. So yeah, I’m very happy, and it’s special to do it here, and hopefully I can be here for a long time,” Almirón said.
With 3g/3a in his last six matches, Almirón has quietly put together a decent run of form.
“Miguel, along with Josef (Martinez), in Atlanta United’s short history are the two most important players that the club has had,” Martino said. “Miguel is a player who is evidently showing he’s still able to provide answers, but he’s also a player who needs the team to accompany him, and other players on the team to accompany him. …
“Miguel has been running more into space. He’s been doing well in 1v1 situations. So we’re starting to see more of those characteristics, but again, every player needs a good team and teammates around him.”