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Major League Soccer legend Dax McCarty is trying to retire after 19 seasons and six teams. But his current team, Atlanta United, keeps on winning. Atlanta defied playoff predictions when it beat top-ranked team Inter Miami and its superstar Lionel Messi. Orlando Montoya from Georgia Public Broadcasting visited McCarty and the team.
ORLANDO MONTOYA, BYLINE: On Wednesday, Atlanta United was training at their practice grounds just outside of Atlanta. Thirty-seven-year-old midfielder Dax McCarty didn't expect to be here.
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DAX MCCARTY: I'm savoring every last session, every last minute I get to come in here. The chances of us being here were very slim.
MONTOYA: McCarty had announced he would retire at the end of the season, and Atlanta United was having a really bad one. The team fired its head coach in June after a disappointing string of home losses, and fans like Tyler Pilgrim got used to seeing inconsistent play.
TYLER PILGRIM: You know, they would have good games, and then they would turn around and lose games that they probably should have won.
MONTOYA: Pilgrim co-hosts a podcast, "Scarves N Spikes," that follows the team. He watched the team get lucky on the last day of the regular season. An unexpected win by Atlanta United and two other teams' losses made the math work for an MLS playoff wild card spot. Atlanta won that spot in a nail-biting penalty kick shootout. Then came that three-game series against top-ranked Miami, which virtually no one gave them a chance at winning. But they did just that, with Pilgrim and his podcast colleagues watching along.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Oh, my God.
MONTOYA: Stunning goalkeeping from the team captain, Brad Guzan, and three goals helped Atlanta United stop Messi's Miami. Dax McCarty was playing in the midfield, helping his team win and watching his retirement delayed.
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MCCARTY: So it's a little bit of, like, a new lease on life, especially for a guy like me, who's calling it at the end of the season.
MONTOYA: McCarty has played for MLS teams in Dallas, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Nashville. Felipe Cardenas, senior writer for The Athletic, says he'll be remembered as one of the league's top players.
FELIPE CARDENAS: He's played hundreds of games. He was always dependable. Every team he played on, he was a very important part of their tactical setup.
MONTOYA: Atlanta United now will faced higher-ranked Orlando City in the MLS Eastern Conference semi-final in Orlando on Sunday. How long McCarty wears the Atlanta United jersey now depends on the rest of an unpredictable race for the MLS Cup that almost no one saw coming.
For NPR News, I'm Orlando Montoya in Atlanta. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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