MARIETTA, Ga. – Atlanta United fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Josef Martinez appears poised to make his sixth consecutive start this season after suffering an injury in training on Wednesday.
Atlanta hosts league-leading and unbeaten New York City FC Sunday (6 pm ET | FS1).
In what was an innocuous training drill, Martinez ran into center back Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, and jammed his fingers straight into the Argentine’s shoulder. The Venezuelan star reportedly collapsed in a considerable amount of pain. Teammates and medical staff immediately surrounded Martinez as he lay on the ground following the collision. In the immediate aftermath, players and coaches were concerned that Martinez may have suffered a significant injury.
“It was tough to tell in the moment because he said he had pain in his fingers, his wrist, his arm and in his elbow,” explained manager Tata Martino through a translator on Friday. “So the higher he went up his arm, the more worried we got. But in the end, it just ended up being his fingers.”
Martinez has set the league alight with his goal-scoring prowess since joining MLS last season. The Venezuelan has bagged 24 goals in his first 25 league games, breaking a league record. However, his season last year was derailed by injuries to his quadriceps and feet. He started only half of Atlanta’s 34 regular season games and made only 20 total appearances.
Brad Guzan joked that while Martinez didn’t score on him in training, the league’s co-leading goal scorer has looked good since the injury. But he added that even if the injury were more serious, it wouldn’t have been cause for panic.
“We know that we have many important players on this team and he’s not the only important player,” he said. “There’s a lot more and we’ve got guys who can step in. Part of this business is injuries and you have to deal with it. Luckily for us, it wasn’t anything major and he should be good.”
According to Martino, Martinez won’t miss any time, and he’s been a full participant in training ever since the injury occurred at the end of Wednesday’s session.
“If it’s still painful [Sunday], we’ll just have to cut off the fingers, and he’ll play anyway,” Martino joked.
