Thiago Almada won the MLS Newcomer of the Year Award in 2022 and followed that up with a World Cup Championship with Argentina in Qatar. It was a busy season for the rising star.
But, he really stamped his arrival with a brace in Atlanta United's season-opening win against San Jose.
Almada had been relatively quiet in the game and with United trailing 1-0 in stoppage time, found some space outside the box and ripped an unstoppable equalizer.
Securing one point would have been acceptable at that point for United, but against San Jose, who was one of the two worst teams in the Western Conference a season ago, Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda certainly was expecting all three at home. With the game's final kick, Almada delivered all three.
Almada was one of four players to score two goals during the MLS Opening Weekend with Jordan Morris, Julian Carranza, and Daniel Gazdag being the others.
Almada posted a season with six goals and 12 assists a year ago. With Josef Martinez being traded to Inter Miami in the offseason, Almada steps into the role of face of the franchise, and he did so impressively on Saturday.
