When the Atlanta United host D.C. United on Saturday to close out the MLS regular season, a longtime member of Atlanta’s roster will be saying his goodbyes.
Goalkeeper and captain Brad Guzan, who joined the club midway through its inaugural season in 2017, will retire after Saturday’s match, ending a professional career that spanned two decades.
“Physically, I feel good. Mentally, I feel good. And it was never one moment that said, ‘This is it.’ And I think that’s why it’s emotional (and) hard,” Guzan said at his retirement press conference on Thursday.
Guzan, 41, was a key figure on Atlanta’s 2018 MLS Cup-winning team and the 2019 squad that won the U.S. Open Cup against Minnesota United and Campeones Cup against Liga MX side Club America.
Those seem like distant memories after a dismal 2025 season. With a loss on Saturday, Atlanta (5-16-12, 27 points) would finish in last place in the league standings for the first time in club history.
“You always want to go out on a high (and) finish on a positive note,” Guzan said. “But sometimes the thing about being a professional athlete is you don’t always have control of everything around you, as much as everyone on the outside might think.”
D.C. United (5-18-10, 25 points) enter Saturday’s contest on a four-match winless streak and losers of their last three, with a loss or draw against Atlanta meaning bottom-of-the-table status.
D.C., with four MLS Cups in its trophy case, is looking to restore its own glory days as it will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season. That means plenty of offseason work for head coach Rene Weiler, hired in July, and soccer operations chief Erkut Sogut, hired in September.
“This season was not good enough. Everyone’s got to be better. The fans deserve more,” D.C. defender Connor Antley said. “We can’t start slow. We had a few must-win games at home earlier this season against bottom teams that we didn’t capitalize on. We need the right mentality from the start.”
D.C. and Atlanta’s previous meeting ended in a 0-0 draw on July 5 in Washington.
–Field Level Media
