Gerardo Martineau preferred to lead the United States over Mexico. Bielsa was the first choice for Atlanta United
Mexican selection A report in “Athletic” reveals the desire of the Argentine coach
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DrSince its inception in 2017, Atlanta United It was one of the great examples to follow in the Major League Soccer (MLS). By order of Gerardo “Tata” Martineau, the new American League team had a very strong start, A high-profile football show and declared himself MLS Champion in his sophomore year in 2018.
But according to a report by ‘Athlete’ That came out on Tuesday, the Georgia team suffered from Institutional issues almost from the early days of Martineau as coach.
One of the blasts of the report is the news that Marcelo Bielsa is close to becoming the first coach in the club’s history. It was March 2015 and Atlanta United Athletic Director Carlos Bocanegra and club president Darren Eles They were in Marseille and met the Argentine coach who was in the last months of his phase with Olympic Marcella.
Bielsa liked the idea of building a team from scratch in a club with money he could spend, but a condition “El Loco” was that only he could make decisions related to football, including the formation of the team and the players who would sign. The Leeds United manager made it clear today and Bocanegra didn’t like any of that.
After the meeting, Bielsa was expecting to wait for a call from Pocanegra and Els, who would have spoken to Atlanta United owner Arthur Plank and decided whether or not to make an offer. In the end, There was no show not even a call from Bocanegra to Bielsa, an ugly gesture that Bielsa loved so dearly. Bielsa’s supposed words were “Tell them never to call me again.”
In September 2016, Martineau was named the first coach in Atlanta United’s history, but the honeymoon was short-lived. In December of the same year, the former Barcelona and Argentine coach was close to leaving office if the manager did not sign off on the players Martino had requested. Martineau also did not like that the manager was looking for some players without notifying him.
It was the start of a very turbulent relationship between Martino and Bocanegra and, according to many former players, The two hadn’t spoken to each other in Martineau’s final months in Atlanta.
Another revelation from the report is that Martineau He preferred Team USA to Mexico when they decided to leave MLS. He had received an offer from the Mexican Football Association, but his wish was to stay in the United States and The USA coaching team, who had just been disqualified from the World Cup and was looking for a new coach.
In the end, even American football did not contact Martineau, who made the decision to coach Tricolor. s Martineau was apparently right, beating USA 1-0 in the 2019 Gold Cup Final.
After Martineau’s departure,Atlanta United appointed Frank de Boer as his new coach, But it turns out that the North American team has other options.
The football shown by the team caught the attention of many people from all aspects of the football world Chilean Manuel Pellegrini as well as Italians Claudio Raynery and Marcelo Lippi were presented to the Atlanta United manager through an intermediary, But they were not interviewed. It was Argentine Gabriel Milito who gave the interview to Atlanta United, but in the end he chose coach De Boer, who only spent a year and a half coaching the team.
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