Atlanta United became the second team of the Major League Soccer, in dismissing his coach during the 2021 season, because this Sunday he announced that the Argentine, Gabriel Heinze, stopped being coach of the American team, after ‘The Five Stripes’ imposed the worst streak without victories in its history within the league, in addition to the separation of Josef Martínez from the starting team was made public.
A time bomb exploded in the whole of Georgia, which ended the Heinze project, just a few months after presenting the Argentine as a new coach, prior to the start of the 2021 season, andn which had a balance of just 2 wins, 7 draws and 4 losses in 13 matches managed within the American league, in which he accumulated eight games in a row without a win.
The ‘divorce’ with Josef Martínez, the main figure in the history of the franchise, ended up collapsing the Heinze project within soccer in the United States, where he accumulated a series of problems that even reached the MLS Players Association and that ended his time in MLS.
Gabriel Heinze Relieved of Duties as Atlanta United Head Coach.
Club President Darren Eales and Vice President and Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra to address the media at 4pm today.
– Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) July 18, 2021
These were some of the reasons for the dismissal of Gabriel Heinze in MLS:
Broken relationship in the dressing room
In accordance with Fox Sports, inside the Atlanta United locker room things were not going well at all, because even the MLS Players Association received a complaint on behalf of the Atlanta squad, because the Argentine coach imposed harsh and demanding training sessions, and would even have limited the amount of water that players could drink during the preseason.
The hard workouts, which were sometimes double sessions, were just some of the reasons that eroded the relationship between the Atlanta United squad and the coaching staff of Gabriel Heinze, who according to reports from Doug McIntyre, He would also have refused to grant his squad days off to train at any time, something the squad complained about to the MLSPA., for alleged violations of the collective agreement.
“The tactics and the football side are one thing, but so much was happening off the field that the players were mentally exhausted on a daily basis. “a source within the club told Fox.
Historical record without wins
The constant friction between Gabriel Heinze and his team members was reflected in their performance on the pitch, as in addition to being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League, in the 2021 season of the MLS he reaped just 2 wins in 13 games directed in the North American league.
Heinze’s last win in MLS was in May, when they beat CF Montréal by the smallest difference and Since then he has accumulated 8 games without wins, to impose a new negative mark in the history of the franchise.
The drop that spilled the glass
Since the presentation of the ‘Gringo’ in the American club, one of the main unknowns would be the management of his squad due to his well-known character and his relationship with the main figures of the campus, something that ended up ‘spilling the glass’ within Atlanta, after the bad relationship with Josef Martínez was made public, the main reference in the history of the club.
The Venezuelan striker was separated from the starting squad by Gabriel Heinze’s decision and had no activity since his return from the Copa América, so ‘The Five Stripes’ faced the last 6 games without his figure, which fEu acclaimed by the fans at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Heinze’s farewell duel against the New England Revolution.
Gabriel Heinze said goodbye to Atlanta United after just a few months at the helm of the club, which adds 13 points to rank 10 in the Eastern Conference and that also announced Rob Valentino as interim coach.