Arrived with great fanfare, he left on tiptoe. Gabriel Heinze’s adventure lasted only six months and 17 matches with Atlanta United. The Argentine was fired on Sunday following another league loss to New England. He abandoned the franchise in a poor 10th place (out of 14 teams) in the Eastern Conference, far from the forecasts at the start of the season when he was expected to play the first part of the table. Mainly under the orders of the former defender, who arrived with a nice CV.
Except that nothing went as planned. Heinze’s record is even bad with 4 wins, 8 draws and 5 losses. Atlanta has not won any of its last 8 meetings and remains only one success in its last 13 matches in all competitions. Besides the poor ranking, the franchise was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League by the Philadelphia Union. The successor of Franck de Boer will not therefore have held his post for long. Praised following his stints at Argentinos Juniors and Velez Sarsfield, the technician experiences his first failure on a bench.
In conflict with the team star
“It certainly wasn’t a decision we wanted to make at this point in our season, but it was the right one for the club. Gabi is a talented coach and is undeniably passionate regarding his profession and the sport of soccer. We are grateful for his service, and wish him all the best for the future ”, nevertheless thanked the boss of the team Darren Eales. It is Rob Valetino, the assistant coach, who provides the interim of a group handicapped by the absence of players selected by the Gold Cup and the Olympic Games.
In particular, he will try to give a little smile to a locker room that is lacking. “There are a variety of issues related to the day-to-day leadership of the team”, underlined the press release to justify the eviction of Heinze. In just a few weeks, the latter managed to alienate some of his players and especially the star of the team, Josef Martinez. The striker with 92 goals in 114 appearances for Atlanta was suddenly squeezed out of the squad for no real reason.
A cloakroom bored with very demanding methods
“He has no physical problem or injury. It’s my decision that he trains away from the team. He will continue to train on his own “, explained the Argentinian at the end of May to the press. Author of two goals since the start of the season, the Venezuelan is slowly recovering from a rupture of the cruciate ligaments which occurred during the first match of the 2020 season. Called by the selection to play the Copa America, he had to withdraw because of a positive test for Covid-19, while he was vaccinated in March.
Even if the reasons remain unclear, the sidelining of the striker, very influential with his partners, was the decision too much for the locker room, already angry at the management of the 43-year-old coach. According to the local press, they might not have put up with his very demanding training methods, in addition to limiting the days of rest, which resulted in numerous injuries and poor results. Fox Sports even goes so far as to say that the staff imposed limited amounts of water during the sessions … There are no shortage of grievances and management ended up deciding … in favor of the players.
