Injury concern dropping for Atlanta United star Josef Martinez

Signs continue to look positive for defending MLS MVP Josef Martinez, who appeared to leave a game Saturday with a serious right leg injury and is now listed as questionable for Wednesday night’s showdown against New York City FC.

Martinez’s ability to play figures to be a game-time decision as Atlanta United travels to New York for the game between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference standings. NYCFC is four points ahead of the defending champions with three games remaining for each team.

Atlanta United head coach Frank de Boer said Monday that Martinez would miss at least one game, after the initial prognosis over the weekend suggested that the league’s third-leading goal scorer could miss the remainder of the regular season.

“I was predicting maybe four weeks out, or something like that, but right now it doesn’t look so bad,” de Boer said Monday. “He’s still in a lot of pain. He landed a bit strange and I think he felt something, but it’s difficult to tell where it is.”

Martinez has 26 goals, one behind the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and three behind Los Angeles FC’s Carlos Vela. On Saturday, his MLS-record streak of 15 consecutive games with a goal came to an end.

–Field Level Media