Long before the US men’s national team began preparing for Thursday’s Copa América group-stage match vs. Panama in Atlanta, Matt Turner experienced how potent the atmosphere at Mercedes-Benz Stadium can be.
The goalkeeper took the pitch at “The Benz” three times during his days with the New England Revolution, and amid his many achievements with the Revs – Supporters’ Shield, MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, All-Star and Best XI honors among them – he never tasted victory on Atlanta United’s turf, going 0W-2L-1D in three appearances, including a loss in the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs.
“It feels good to be in Atlanta. I played in MLS for a number of years and this is just one of the away games you didn't really ever want to play, especially when they first came into the league,” Turner told reporters in a Tuesday media availability from the USMNT’s camp in ATL’s Buckhead district.
“So we know that the fan turnout at Mercedes-Benz for Atlanta United is really good, and we're hoping to see some of that and feel that energy from the crowd on Thursday night.”
Soccer hub
This match, one of two Copa América fixtures in the city, is the latest in a steadily-growing string of signposts marking Atlanta’s dramatic emergence as a soccer capital. A region once miles removed from the sport’s mainstream in the United States is now more like a centerpiece.
ATLUTD have topped the MLS attendance rankings since they first took the field in 2017, thanks to large, lively MBS crowds that powered the Five Stripes’ runs to the 2018 MLS Cup and 2019 US Open Cup trophies. United’s ability to connect with broad swathes of the region’s diverse, booming population and reflect the city’s rich cultural tapestry has made the club a unifying experience for thousands of residents, many of them new arrivals in search of community.
“You just feel the energy from the city about soccer, and that's a really good feeling when you're coming in to play such a big game,” said Turner. “People really do care, they care about the result, they care about how the team is performing. They know the players and all that stuff; feels really nice. You're not getting random questions in the elevator about what college you play for, what sport do you play. People are aware of what's going on and that's a really good feeling.”
The Benz has clearly made an impression on global footballing figures as well. FIFA president Gianni Infantino attended last week’s solid-out Copa América opener at MBS between Argentina and Canada, and the awe-inspiring venue will host eight World Cup matches in 2026, including a semifinal, a number second only to AT&T Stadium in Texas.
National teamers like Turner also know they’ll be getting to know the capital of the South even better in the coming years.
In April U.S. Soccer broke ground on a massive new headquarters and training complex in suburban Fayette County, about 25 miles south of downtown Atlanta, the federation’s first-ever such facility. Scheduled to open in 2026, the 200-acre project will eventually involve upwards of $200 million in investment, with more than a dozen fields, over 100,000 square feet of indoor playing spaces and more than 200,000 square feet of locker rooms, meeting rooms, offices and other high-performance infrastructure.
Made possible by a $50 million contribution from ATLUTD owner Arthur Blank, the U.S. Soccer National Training Center bears his name as a result. With that all-encompassing home base for all the US national teams that USSF has never had before, some players and staff are already preparing to put down roots in Georgia.
“Atlanta is a progressive city. I think the training center is going to be in a perfect place for all of us,” said USMNT winger Tim Weah on Tuesday. “We're all pretty much East Coast boys. So I see myself in the future kind of investing in Atlanta as well, either getting land out here, building a house, so that my family can be close when I come back to visit --”
“For his music career,” interjected Turner with a grin as he sat next to Weah.
“That’s not a bad call,” noted the Juventus man and New York native, whose residence in The A would represent an arrival of soccer royalty in the region. He's an outstanding player in his own right and his father George is a living legend, the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year and president of Liberia – one of several African nations with sizeable expatriate communities in and around Atlanta – from 2018-24.
While that exchange was light-hearted, there will likely be ample opportunities for Weah to make just such a crossover. He’s one of the USMNT’s locker-room DJs and has expressed a desire to build a music career alongside and after his exploits on the pitch. A foothold in “the Motown of the South,” the epicenter of the seismic impact Southern artists have made on hip-hop and R&B over the past three decades, fits right into that vision.
“It's a great city, a lot of potential, and we're really excited for the future, what that National Training Center holds,” said Turner. “Having that home base is going to feel really, really good.
“So we're happy to be in Atlanta. We're happy to be able to call it home in the future. And yeah, we look forward to seeing the fan turnout on Thursday night ... We saw that they had a pretty good turnout for the Argentina-Canada game, so we're hoping for some of the same for us.”
Task at hand
Securing another win, and thus booking their place in the Copa’s knockout phase, is the much more immediate concern for the Yanks. While some observers critiqued their inability to pad their margin of victory via a string of missed chances in the second half, Sunday’s straightforward 2-0 victory over Bolivia provided useful momentum heading into a Concacaf grudge match with Panama, a canny, ruggedly physical side who’ve continued to progress under manager Thomas Christiansen.
The US are 17W-2L-7D all-time against Los Canaleros, yet the Central Americans recently dealt them two stinging setbacks: A 1-0 loss in Panama City during 2022 World Cup qualifying delivered by Nashville SC midfielder Aníbal Godoy’s winner, and a penalty-kicks shootout loss to cut short the Yanks’ title defense at last year’s Gold Cup.
“They obviously beat us in a Gold Cup semifinal last year with a pretty good performance. They bring man-to-man pressure, they're a team that has a lot of really talented players and athletes, and it's, to be expected, a physical game, really competitive,” said Turner.
"Obviously we wish we did some things better [against Bolivia], but that's what tournaments are about. You want to improve and get better throughout the tournament and keep growing as a team and a bond and a culture. So yeah, as much as we could have done things a little bit differently, at the end of the day we got a clean sheet, we scored two goals and we won, and going into this next match we know we might have to be a little bit better if we want to win that game as well."
