Photo by Remexllee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNine Wins All Year, and Three of Them Came Inside Nine Days
Atlanta United's season ended 3-0 in Harrison with eight attempts and nothing on target. The shape of the year behind that result is stranger than a thirteenth-place finish makes it look.
By the time Atlanta United kicked off in Harrison on Saturday afternoon, beIN Sports had already published the eulogy, and it was an optimistic one.
"Why people should believe in this team is when someone watches the last game ... you can see the way the team can compete," Gerardo "Tata" Martino had told them. "The team had an identity," he said, in the same breath.
Four o'clock at Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, New Jersey. Eight attempts, possession level at 49.8 per cent, and nil on target.
Ninety minutes, and not one of them produced a shot a goalkeeper had to touch.
New York Red Bulls 3, Atlanta United 0. Match thirty-four of thirty-four — nine won, six drawn, nineteen lost, and nine plus six plus nineteen is the entire MLS regular season. Not a gap in the fixture list. A terminus. The next competitive football this club plays is in 2027.
Thirty-three points, thirteenth of fifteen in the East by rank, because MLS publishes no seed and D.C. United finished level on the same thirty-three.
### One good week
Atlanta United won nine matches in 2026. Three of them came between the fifteenth and the twenty-third of August.
Nine days. New York Red Bulls at home, 2-1. Minnesota away on the nineteenth, 2-1. Sporting Kansas City at home, 2-1. Three wins, three identical scorelines, and for one week this looked like a side with a plan and the legs to run it.
It was the only run of three all year.
Then the rest. One win in the first eight, and not until the fourth match. A fifty-four-day competition gap from the twenty-fourth of May to the seventeenth of July with Mercedes-Benz Stadium handed over to the World Cup, then six consecutive road matches across seventy-seven days that returned two points from eighteen. Two wins in the final seven.
Ten matches without a goal. Four clean sheets in thirty-four. Miguel Almirón and Alexey Miranchuk finished as the club's leading scorers tied on seven each — seven, across a full season, from the two players the attack was arranged around.
### What makes this one hurt
Six days before Harrison, this same team beat Toronto 3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta already eliminated: twenty attempts, eight of them on target. That afternoon closed the home ledger at seventeen points from seventeen matches.
Twenty attempts and eight on target on the first of November. Eight attempts and nil on target on the seventh.
That is not a team in decline. It is a team with no stable version of itself, appearing and disappearing inside a week.
### The account the club gives of itself
On the twenty-eighth of October, the night elimination was confirmed at New York City FC, Martino was asked what he had for the supporters. "It's difficult to express a message to the fans right now, because we've had a bad season," he said through an interpreter.
That was honest. Ten days later he was describing a team you can watch and see compete.
Matt Edwards, the same night in Queens, got closer. "We need to get back to making our home field our fortress and not letting teams come in and get three points there," he said. "We didn't win nearly enough home games. We got a lot more away points this year."
The first half of that is exactly right. The second is wrong. Home finished on seventeen points and away on sixteen — a split I was still hedging on the first of November, when the two samples were not yet level — and the road was not the better half by the end.
Competing is not an identity. Competing is the floor.
### The measure
Only two of MLS's thirty clubs finished 2026 on fewer points. The playoff field closed at forty-six points — a value, not a place, because Orlando and FC Cincinnati both finished on forty-six. Atlanta ended thirteen points short of it.
And nineteen losses is the most this club has taken in any of its ten seasons. The next highest is sixteen.
Hold that number rather than "worst ever," which it is not. 2025 finished on twenty-eight points in fourteenth, and this side conceded fewer. 2026 was not rock bottom. It was the year Atlanta United lost more matches than it ever has, which needs no inflating.
Eight years ago this club won MLS Cup in its second season. That is the stick every year since has been measured against — a stick, not a forecast, and nothing in these thirty-four matches says the distance back is short.
### The winter
Mauricio Culebro is the club's president of soccer and now has an offseason to fill. Nothing has been reported about what he intends to do with it, and I am not going to invent it.
One artifact from Saturday. Jayden Hibbert started in goal for the only minutes he played all season — match thirty-four, a 3-0 defeat with nothing attached to it. Lucas Hoyos, who had played thirty-three, watched it from the bench. Tristan Muyumba played all thirty-four, the only man who did.
A season handing its last minutes to someone who had none, in a match nobody needed to win.
The 17s bought seventeen afternoons and got one good week in August. They will be back in 2027, because that is what they do.
What they are owed is a team that turns up more often than nine days a year.
The Tilt
Competing is not an identity, and Atlanta United spent 2026 confusing the two.
— Santi "Tito" Avondale
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It did not have to rain in Harrison for the afternoon to arrive wet. Four o'clock, Sports Illustrated Stadium, a football ground in New Jersey, and a season with one match left on its sheet. I had been working this case all year. Thirty-four files, and I had read every one of them. Here is the statement, and it is short. Eight attempts. Possession level at 49.8 per cent, which is to say even money, which is to say nothing. Nil on target. Ninety minutes of football, and not one ball a goalkeeper had to put his hands on. New York Red Bulls 3, Atlanta United 0. Match thirty-four of thirty-four. Nine won, six drawn, nineteen lost. Add them and you get the whole regular season, every minute of it, with no gap in the fixture list to hide inside. Thirty-three points. Thirteenth of fifteen in the East by rank, level on points with D.C. United, and MLS prints no seed to break a tie with. The next competitive football this club plays has a 2027 on it. Then there is the part that kept me up. Nine wins in a year, and three of them came between the fifteenth and the twenty-third of August. Nine days. The Red Bulls at home, 2-1. Minnesota away on the nineteenth, 2-1. Sporting Kansas City at home, 2-1. Three wins, three identical scorelines, a side with a plan and the legs to run it. It was the only run of three all year. Whoever that team was, they left no forwarding address. The rest of the file reads like an alibi that does not hold. One win in the first eight, and not until the fourth time out. Fifty-four days from the twenty-fourth of May to the seventeenth of July with no competition at all, the Benz handed over to the World Cup. Then six road matches across seventy-seven days that came back with two points from eighteen. Two wins in the last seven. Ten matches without a goal. Four clean sheets in thirty-four. Miguel Almiron and Alexey Miranchuk finished as the leading scorers, tied on seven each. Seven apiece, across a full season, from the two men the attack was arranged around. Six days before Harrison, this same side put twenty attempts and eight of them on target on Toronto at the Benz and won 3-1, already eliminated, nothing riding on it. Twenty attempts on the first of November. Eight attempts on the seventh. That is not decline. Decline has a direction. This was a club that could not keep one version of itself alive across a single week. The numbers that will sit at the top of the file: nineteen losses, more than this club has taken in any of its ten seasons, with sixteen the next highest. Only two of MLS's thirty clubs finished the year on fewer points. The playoff field closed at forty-six, a value and not a place, since Orlando and FC Cincinnati both stopped there. Atlanta ended thirteen short of it. And no, it was not the worst year this club has had. 2025 took twenty-eight points and finished fourteenth, and this side conceded fewer than that one did. Nineteen losses is the record here. It is the only one, and it does not need any help from me. Eight years back they won MLS Cup in their second season. That stick is still leaning against the wall of every room in the building, and nothing in these thirty-four matches says the walk back to it is short. One last detail, the kind that never makes the summary. Jayden Hibbert started in goal on Saturday, the only minutes he played all season. Lucas Hoyos, thirty-three matches behind him, watched it from the bench. Tristan Muyumba played all thirty-four, the only man who did. A season handing its final minutes to a man who had none, in a match nobody needed. Mauricio Culebro is the president of soccer and he has a winter now. Nothing has been reported about what he intends to do with it, and I do not invent evidence. I filed it from a booth off Ponce with the television still on and nothing left on it worth watching. The 17s bought seventeen afternoons this year and got one good week in August. They will be back in 2027, because that is what they do. What they are owed is a team that turns up more often than nine days a year. Case stays open. The file just gets thicker.
The one piece of the day carrying real emotional weight: a season formally over, 3-0, eight attempts and nil on target. Noir holds an ending at full size without inflating it, which is precisely the calibration the source piece insists on -- nineteen losses is a record, 'worst ever' is not, and the remix carries that correction intact rather than reaching for the bigger line. Stands alone: a reader who sees only this gets the scoreline, the venue, the 34-match record, the thirty-three points, the one good week in August, the nineteen losses in context, and the winter nobody has described yet.