Soldier surprises family at Atlanta United game

ATLANTA — A young Atlanta United fan had a Saturday to remember when his mother surprised him before the game against LA Galaxy.

The boy was brought out to hit the Golden Spike in front of thousands of fans. The moment was made even sweeter when his mother, Staff Sgt. Jonelle Morrow, surprised him.

Atlanta United shared the special moment on Twitter.

The Five Stripes beat the Galaxy 3-0, and striker Josef Martinez tied two MLS records.

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His penalty kick in the 72nd minute marked the ninth consecutive league game in which he scored. He tied a record that he and Diego Valeri hold. Martinez reached nine previously in 2018; and Valeri in 2017. Martinez has 18 goals this season. He trails Golden Boot leader Carlos Vela by four.

That goal was his 68th in MLS in the past three seasons. That tied him with the New York Red Bulls' Bradley Wright-Phillips for the most goals in a three-season span in league history. Martinez has 10 more games to break the record.

Atlanta United also set an MLS regular season attendance record with 72,548 tickets sold and distributed.

The total broke the previous record of 72,243 set by the team last year for its game against Seattle.

Atlanta United leads MLS in attendance for the third consecutive season and now holds the top nine highest attendance totals in league history.

It also holds the attendance record for an MLS Cup (73,019) and U.S. Open Cup (41,012).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group