Atlanta United has a stronghold on MLS All-Star Game with goalkeeper Brad Guzan, defender Michael Parkhurst, midfielder Miguel Almiron, midfielder Ezequiel Barco, and forward Josef Martinez playing.
It's an impressive feat, but we might be underselling Atlanta's updated domination of the All-Star players. It's more of a stranglehold, when factoring in the following tidbit:
All five United players in the All-Star game boast top-5 status at the various positions.
What's to explain for this market saturation?
a) United owns the league's best record (14-5-4, 47 points) and leads the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference by four points (over New York City FC).
b) Atlanta's star power has few peers in the league. For starters, Martinez leads the MLS in goals (14); and he and Almiron rank second and third in shots on goal, respectively.
c) United easily outdraws every other MLS team, with a robust average crowd of 48,401. The remaining top five include Seattle Sounders (39,584), Toronto FC (26,764), LA Galaxy (24,689) and Orlando City SC (24,183).
As a bonus, United's Gerardo 'Tata' Martino will coach the MLS All-Star Game on Aug. 1 which takes place at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The opponent: The Italy-based Juventus futbol club (Serie A).
