Matt Turner jokes about Tim Weah’s ‘music career’ future on the East Coast

The United States men’s national team will continue their Copa América journey on Thursday, taking on Panama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

After a comfortable 2-0 victory in the group stage opener against Bolivia some of the pressure on USMNT has been eased. Tim Weah and Matt Turner were in a relaxed mood when speaking to reporters on Tuesday. During the course of the press conference Weah revealed that he is eyeing a future in Atlanta, leading to a sharp quip from teaMMAte Turner.

“Atlanta’s a progressive city. The training center is going to be in a perfect place for us, we’re all pretty much East Coast boys,” Weah explained. “I see myself, in the future, investing in Atlanta as well, getting land out here and building a house.”

“For his music career,” Turner joked, before Weah added: “That’s not a bad call.”

USMNT looking forward to famous Atlanta atmosphere

Although they now feel like one of the league’s established teams, Atlanta United only joined MLS as an expansion team in 2017. They wasted little time in leaving a mark and romped to a MLS Cup triumph in 2018 under head coach Gerardo Martino.

Atlanta supporters boast a reputation as one of the most vociferous faNBAses in the country and Turner admitted that he found it a tough place to play as an opposition player in the past.

“I’ve played in MLS for a number of years and this is one of the away games that you really didn’t want to play,” Turner said of Atlanta. “It’s a great city, and there’s a lot of potential with that national training centre. Having that home base will feel really, really good.”

The 71,000-seat stadium sold out for the Copa América opener between Argentina and Canada and there are hopes of another bumper crowd for Thursday’s USMNT-Panama clash. Gregg Berhalter was under pressure coming into the tournament but a confident showing against Bolivia has helped to silence the critics and the US should benefit from a passionate home support as they look to book their place in the quarter-finals.