MLS Cup: This was always coming for Atlanta United
Atlanta United’s MLS Cup victory is the impressive culmination of … three years of work.
Somehow, just two years after their founding, Atlanta United’s MLS Cup victory over the Portland Timbers feels like the end of an era. It probably shouldn’t feel like that — eras don’t last two years. But the likely departures of manager Tata Martino and star attacker Miguel Almiron make this all seem fleeting, as though no one could repeat what this Atlanta team has accomplished.
It’s hard to imagine, though, that Atlanta won’t keep this up. After all, they’re doing this whole MLS thing better than everyone else, from the smart, aggressive spending to the remarkable fan culture. They’ve built themselves a grand empire. The sustainability of it feels both inevitable and somehow ephemeral.
A beautiful, clinical 2-0 win over the Timbers confirmed their status as the league’s kings. No one reigns for long in MLS, as this year’s Toronto FC and last year’s FC Dallas proved. This league cycles through darlings as fast as the Browns discard head coaches. Arthur Blank’s Five Stripes could be destined to change that.
Atlanta set a new attendance record every time they play an important game. Their 73,000 strong devotees approach their fandom with a sort of familial dedication like they know how great their team is and they want you to be part of it, too. They’re always coming out with new ways of displaying it.
Recently, they’ve all waved their cell phone flashlights together, like they’re at a concert showing their appreciation of a brilliant artist. They treat their team as their own brilliant group of artists.
An astute observer could have looked at Atlanta and foreseen its eventual soccer grandeur. Such an astute observer may not have ever existed outside the city’s hidden supporters; even commissioner Don Garber said that five years ago, MLS did not see Atlanta becoming anything close to this.
Everyone in the city seems to have bought in. The team is fun and ambitious and wins a lot. It will probably continue. It still doesn’t seem possible.