Josef Martinez scored on a penalty kick in the 78th minute against Inter Miami for his 100th MLS goal and Atlanta United’s victory on Wednesday night. The Venezuelan forward became the fastest player in MLS history to reach the mark.
Martinez only needed 125 games to get to 100 goals. The old mark was held by Robbie Keane, who scored 100 goals in 156 games for the LA Galaxy.He’s also the fifth player to score his first 100 goals, in all competitions, with one club.
He joined the club of Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution), Robbie Keane (L.A. Galaxy) and Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers). He has 14 goals this season.
Josef Martinez scored his 100th goal, Atlanta defeats Miami
The goal also served to give Atlanta United their fourth victory in their last five games (10-8-9). Meanwhile, Miami fell to 9-12-5. Martínez did a stutter step on the penalty kick to get goalkeeper Nick Marsman diving the wrong way. The kick was awarded after Leandro González Pirez was called for a hand ball in the box.
The 28-year-old has played for Atlanta United since 2017, and since then, he has shown his quality all over again. In the MLS he’s the owner of several records, including: the record for career hat-tricks with six in his first 44 games, the record for cumulative goals in regular and postseason with 35 and the record for most consecutive games with a goal (15).
With the win, Atlanta United are in the sixth place of the Eastern Conference standings with 39 points and have reached playoffs positions, while Inter Miami are in the 10th place of the table.