Andrew Gutman doesn’t just have a flare for the dramatic. The Atlanta United defender also has a sense of history.
A week after scoring the 94th-minute winner in a 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC, Gutman’s 83rd-minute equalizer in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium was also the 20,000th goal scored in Major League Soccer history.
After a single-day record of 57 goals were scored last Saturday, it meant there were 19,982 goals scored heading into the beginning of Week 25 of the 2022 season.
It took just over three hours into Saturday’s 12-match slate to reach the milestone when, at 9:17:23 pm ET, Gutman took a feed from Josef Martinez and then chipped over an onrushing Roman Celentano.
For those history buffs out there, Gutman's goal came 26 years, four months and eight days (or a total of 9,626 days) since the first goal in MLS history. That was scored by Eric Wynalda on April 6, 1996, an 87th-minute winner for the San Jose Clash in a 1-0 victory over D.C. United.
Here's a look at some of the other milestone goals in Major League Soccer annuls.
Goalscoring milestones in MLS history
- 5,000: August 6, 2005 - Andy Williams (RSL vs. CHV), 49th minute
- 10,000: June 19, 2013 - Jordan Harvey (VAN vs. CHV), 47th minute
- 15,000: June 30, 2018 - Aleksandar Katai (CHI vs. NYC), 47th minute
- 20,000: August 13, 2022 - Andrew Gutman (ATL vs. CIN), 83rd minute
