Report: Atlanta United suspend Josef Martinez after altercation with coach

Major League Soccer club Atlanta United will be without star forward and 2018 Most Valuable Player Josef Martinez for this coming Saturday's match versus Toronto FC because of a unique reason. 

"Atlanta United announced today it has suspended Josef Martinez for one game for conduct detrimental to the team," the club said in a brief statement shared on its website. "Martinez will not participate in team activity this week and will not be available for selection on Saturday against Toronto FC. He’s scheduled to re-join the team on Monday, Sept. 12." 

The Athletic's Felipe Cardenas has reported that "multiple team sources who were granted anonymity in order to describe private locker room events" said that Martinez and Atlanta head coach Gonzalo Pineda were involved in an altercation following this past Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Portland Timbers. Martinez allegedly knocked over a catering table and was subsequently confronted by Pineda. Eventually, the two had to be physically separated. 

In total, Martinez has scored 97 goals in 130 appearances during his Atlanta tenure that began in 2017. He suffered a torn ACL in the first game of the 2020 season and underwent arthroscopic surgery on that same knee earlier this year to clean out debris. The 29-year-old has scored eight goals and tallied four assists this season. 

Atlanta are 11th in the Eastern Conference standings on 33 points, one point behind Toronto.