Not many were expecting Atlanta United to shock the world and eliminate Inter Miami from the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Miami was fresh off the best regular season in MLS history with an experienced manager in Gerardo Martino and superstars Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez leading the charge. Atlanta, on the other hand, miraculously clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference wild card match after winning on Decision Day while simultaneously getting help from a few other results around the league.
How exactly did Atlanta, the 2018 MLS Cup champions who fired head coach Gonzalo Pineda during the summer and sold star players like Thiago Almada, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Caleb Wiley manage to upset the south Florida juggernaut?
It comes down to the work interim head coach Rob Valentino has done behind the scenes. During Round 1 against Miami, Atlanta played with real unity and togetherness that was lacking from their opponents.
"I would love to say something fancy and say I'm a tactical genius or something like that, but I'm not, and that's not the way I coach," Valentino said after the match. "So just talking about all along internal belief, fighting and sticking together.
"We've made obviously little tweaks and we've done certain things to try to win each game and done something a little bit different every time and there's been different players called upon, but that was the big message. It was like, we have to do this together. It's not going to be one player that's just going to carry us."
The togetherness and fight that Valentino instilled in the Atlanta squad near the end of the season has without a doubt made him a contender for the vacant Five Stripes post at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
What Valentino has accomplished that no other Atlanta coach in recent years has done is the ability to unite the squad. Even though on paper Atlanta doesn't come close to the talent and quality Miami has, Valentino instilled belief in his players that could take down the Supporters' Shield champions.
In such a short amount of time with not a lot of rest near the end of the regular season and into the postseason, Valentino pulled everyone into the same direction. This is the second time Valentino has been in charge as interim head coach with many hoping he gets a chance to lead Atlanta on a permanent basis in 2025.
On one hand, Valentino has been with Atlanta for several years now and knows what it means to represent the club. He's had an immense impact as an interim coach in what's been a roller coaster of a season for Atlanta, but that shouldn't get in the way of the club's decision makers from hiring the next permanent boss.
The feel-good factor within the club may not be there at the start of next season if Guzan isn't in goal. After all, Guzan is 40 years old and Atlanta can't rely on him to perform like he did in Round 1 again and again—if it wasn't for Guzan, not many people would be calling for Valentino to be the next Atlanta manager.
Valentino clearly has the man management and motivation aspects down. However, he might not have the first-team coaching experience that other coaches like Patrick Vieira, Jim Curtin and ex-TSG Hoffenheim manager Pellegrino Matarazzo have. The last thing Atlanta CEO and President Garth Lagerway would want is for him to be in a similar position next summer, having to part ways with Valentino after his impressive run in the postseason while also missing out on solid free agent head coaches.
Valentino definitely deserves a head coaching gig in MLS, but Atlanta needs to hit the ground running in 2025 to return to being one of the top teams in the league. There's the chance that Valentino would more than likely adapt his play style to a more possession-based approach with new players in the winter compared to the counter-attacking style used right now.
It will be difficult to keep up the current run of form into the 2025 season when more pressure will be added after the heroics against Miami. However, Valentino has done more than enough to earn a spot on the touchline for one of the MLS teams without a coach in St. Louis City, Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas.
