Atlanta United’s interim manager Rob Valentino spoke to the press after their 2-1 win over Inter Miami on Saturday night and then returned to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium turf to soak up the victory. They had tied the best-of-three series to force a decisive Game 3 on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.
Valentino took pictures with his family then made his way through a crowd of enthusiastic Atlanta fans, stopping to take selfies and sign jerseys. The supporters had lingered longer than usual to congratulate Atlanta’s players and show their appreciation for the man who is fueling a late-season surge.
“I don’t want this to end,” Valentino told The Athletic.
The 38-year-old is a stopgap before an expected offseason of great change with CEO Garth Lagerwey interviewing head coach candidates. A chief soccer officer will also be hired after he fired vice president and technical director Carlos Bocanegra in September. The 2024 season had been a massive disappointment up until Decision Day on Oct. 19.
Valentino replaced the fired Gonzalo Pineda in June after Atlanta had lost five straight matches at home. Their chances of making the playoffs were dwindling and the energy at the club was at an all-time low. Valentino, who has been at the club since 2018 when Tata Martino was the coach, the same year Atlanta won the MLS Cup final, took on the interim role for the second time having filled in when Gabriel Heinze was let go in 2021.
Despite underperforming for the majority of the year, Atlanta qualified for the play-in match on the last day of the regular season. They defeated CF Montreal on penalties to advance to round one. A narrow loss to Miami in Game 1 was followed by an inspired win at home that reconjured the spirit of the project’s origins in 2017 and 2018.
Saturday’s victory over Inter Miami set up a decisive Game 3 this weekend (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Valentino is now 90 minutes away from eliminating Lionel Messi from the playoffs and souring a historic season for Martino, his former mentor. Standing outside Atlanta’s locker room on Saturday, Valentino described this moment as living a dream.
But the reality is that Valentino’s days in charge are numbered. The expectation is for Lagerwey to make a hire that will reverberate in North America. With the backing of Atlanta’s billionaire owner Arthur Blank, Lagerwey will be responsible for orchestrating the club’s permanent return to relevance in MLS.
After former U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter was named head coach and director of football of Chicago Fire last month, Patrick Vieira, who coached NYCFC for two seasons (2016-2018) became the frontrunner to coach Atlanta in 2025.
Vieira’s prominent history as a player, as both a World Cup and European Championship winner with France and a legend at Premier League club Arsenal, make him a standout candidate. His brief history in MLS didn’t result in trophies, but his New York sides were lauded for their progressive style. An imposing figure as a generational midfielder, Vieira can still command immediate respect from players and potential recruits.
Vieira spent two years in charge of NYCFC (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP via Getty Images)
When discussing the profile for Atlanta’s next manager, Lagerwey told reporters in June the person would have to be “a leader of men” and with some familiarity with MLS. Lagerwey values MLS head coaching experience. He’s also a self-professed pragmatist who understands that a strategy built on big swings can flame out quickly in a salary-cap league like MLS.
Moreover, Lagerwey has been in this same predicament before. It is eerily similar to when the late Sigi Schmid was fired as Seattle Sounders head coach in 2016. Eight years ago, Lagerwey was the general manager in Seattle when the club parted ways with the man who the MLS coach of the year award is named after. Schmid’s assistant coach Brian Schmetzer was named the interim manager with Seattle in danger of missing the playoffs that season.
“We’ve not given up on making the playoffs,” Lagerwey said in 2016. “We’re optimistic that we can change this thing positively and we can move forward this year and certainly we’re going to make decisions that set us up to succeed long term.”
Schmetzer had been at the club since 2002. Like Valentino, he had important institutional knowledge and understood, per Lagerwey, “what it meant to be a Sounder.” Lagerwey hired Schmetzer on a permanent basis during Seattle’s run toward the Western Conference final. Seattle won the MLS Cup that December. Schmetzer has been in charge ever since, winning two MLS Cup finals.
Six months ago, Lagerwey told reporters that Valentino would be considered for the full-time role as Atlanta’s next head coach. “As you know, I’ve had some success with an interim coach in the past in Seattle,” said Lagerwey. “We’re going to do everything we can to support Rob and give him the best possible chance to succeed.”
Valentino will be judged on his results, Lagerwey added, before repeating what he had said in 2016, that making the 2024 playoffs and setting up a long-term plan for success were priorities. He also subtly revealed that Valentino’s tactical philosophy would be different from Pineda’s, which never found a footing in Atlanta.
“We’re going to continue now with Rob, who maybe will have a little bit different viewpoint on some things,” Lagerwey said to reporters via Zoom in June. “If Rob proves that he is deserving of that, certainly that would be a great thing for us. In the meantime, we’re going to try to be prepared should that not prove the case.”
The mood around the team has certainly changed. Winning helps, but so does a collective belief in success. In an MLS season dominated by Inter Miami’s record-setting 74-point season under Martino, Valentino has quietly rebuilt Atlanta’s mentality. Belief is a word Valentino uses often. Throughout this season, Atlanta was a team with low self-esteem.
Valentino has played to the team’s strengths and maximized the squad. Winger Saba Lobjanidze on Tuesday described to The Athletic the culture under Martino as “amazing” and “professional”. What Valentino says goes, he added.
Valentino has created an ‘amazing’ culture at Atlanta (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Following the win over Miami on Saturday, Valentino was asked about the tactics he employed to counter Messi and Martino’s possession-based system. Rather than using the opportunity to give an impromptu masterclass on footballing strategies, Valentino kept it simple, as he has since June.
“You just have to win the game, so anything you got to do to win the game,” he said. “We did talk, obviously, about tactics, that’s important, and all those things, but ultimately it’s having that belief and playing with intensity, and I feel like (the players) should never give up.”
Atlanta defender Ronald Hernandez couldn’t hide his feelings for Valentino. He called Valentino a friend and described what his coach had done to motivate the players late in the season. Hernandez enthusiastically talked about Valentino’s ability to rally the team around the Atlanta United crest within a culture of accountability.
“He has focused on the small details,” Hernandez told The Athletic. “Who we are. What the club’s identity is. What are we looking to do? Why do we do what we do? What is our purpose?
“When a coach begins to inquire more about who we are and why we play football … it’s easier to come in and work. The challenges will always exist but if you know why (they exist), then you’ll have a good reason for coming in to work and to fight. And not just for yourself, your family, your coach. You’re fighting for the organization. Rob is our leader. That’s how I see it.”
The next challenge for Valentino and Atlanta will be to win at Chase Stadium where Inter Miami has been virtually flawless this season. The odds remain stacked against them. Miami has two World Cup winners in the squad and a coach who has already won MLS’ most important title.
As Valentino’s stock has risen, he kept his messaging to the players grounded. Winning is important, he has said, but creating memories can carry more weight. A win for Atlanta on Saturday would shock the MLS world and become one of the club’s most memorable moments to date.
(Top photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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