The irrepressible Darren Eales is at it again – this time celebrating Josef Martinez's 100th goal for Atlanta United by recreating his favorite goal from the illustrious striker's MLS career.
The club's president took to Twitter on Thursday night with a video already prepared, lovingly depicting the single-season record-breaking goal Martinez scored against rivals Orlando City SC on August 24, 2018.
The goal was Martinez's 28th en route to a 31-goal, six-assist season that remains his best in the league. Though Martinez's single-season record has since been eclipsed by Carlos Vela, Goal 28 is still indelibly imprinted in the memories of many of the 17s, and Eales recreated it hilariously, complete with a purple-shirted player approximating goalkeeper Joe Bendik's dive to the turf, and a person dressed in a lion costume playing the role of an anguished mascot.
The video maybe didn't have the flash or the electricity of the original, but it did attempt a faithful recreation of the moment, including incorporating some of the play-by-play calls that narrated the record being broken.
Eales is also encouraging fans to create their own video tributes to Martinez goals of the past, noting that the winner of the contest gets to watch an Atlanta United match with Eales, plus he promises a "meet and greet" with the Venezuelan star, and a signed shirt. As of Thursday afternoon, no one had taken Eales up on the challenge to post a goal recreation with the #Josef100 on Twitter, TikTok or Instagram – the three platforms where Eales invited the 17s to get their acting on.
And at least one goal – Martinez's first, in the third minute of ATL's 6-1 rout of Minnesota United FC, might be hard to fully enact unless you can get your hands on a snow machine.
Even if you're not an Atlanta fan, you might appreciate the video the club created last month, showing Martinez scoring on all 26 MLS teams he's faced (as Atlanta has yet to face the 2021 Austin expansioneers) in just two-and-a-half seasons. If you're the kind of MLS fan who subscribes to "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" logic, there might be something here for you.
