After two straight defeats, the second of which came shockingly at home to the lowly Columbus Crew, many were beginning to question Atlanta United’s mettle as the home stretch of the regular season continues.
Faced with an awkward trip to FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night, the recipe for failure was ripe. And if the first half was anything to go by, was on the cards also. But then Josef Martinez does what Josef Martinez does. He scored two truly outrageous goals — more on them later — to earn Atlanta a smash-and-grab win at the time of the season when the only thing that matters is the three points.