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ATLANTA (Oct. 5, 2017) – Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez was voted the Alcatel MLS Player of the Month for September. Martinez also won the award for March, making him the only player to receive the recognition twice this season.
Martinez scored nine goals, recorded two hat tricks and helped lead Atlanta to a 5-0-2 record during the club’s seven-game stretch in September. Atlanta clinched a playoff spot and currently sits in third place in the Eastern Conference.
The Venezuelan striker opened the month with a goal in Atlanta’s 3-0 win over FC Dallas in the club’s first match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He then scored three first-half goals in Atlanta’s 7-0 win against the New England Revolution on Sept. 13. Martinez followed that performance with a second-straight hat trick, becoming just the third player in league history to do so, in Atlanta’s 3-3 draw against Orlando City on Saturday, Sept. 16. in front of an MLS record-breaking crowd of 70,425 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He added two more goals over the club’s final four games to bring his tally for the month to nine.
The 24-year-old has now scored 18 goals in just 18 games (15 starts) and is currently fourth in the MLS Golden Boot race, trailing Chicago’s Nemanja Nikolic by three goals. Martinez is averaging 1.19 goals per 90 minutes in his first season in MLS.
Atlanta returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 15 against New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena (5 p.m. ET, FS1), before hosting Toronto FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. ET.
The Alcatel MLS Player of the Month is voted on by a panel of select national media members in a process conducted by MLS Communications.
