MERAM & THE LONG ROAD TO ATLANTA

Justin Meram at the U.S. Open Cup

USSOCCER.com | Jonah Fontela

DISCOVERED BY CHANCE ON AN ARIZONA PARK, WIDE MAN JUSTIN MERAM TOOK A CIRCUITOUS PATH TO ATLANTA UNITED AND HIS FIRST OPEN CUP FINAL.

Justin Meram was at a crossroads. He’d just finished high school and there were options: College? Work? Follow his brothers into their dad’s construction business? He wasn’t thinking much about the future that one day in the summer of 2007, kicking around in a park in Scottsdale, Arizona when he caught someone’s eye. “I wasn’t recruited to play soccer in college,” said the Atlanta United wing-back and one-on-one wizard, now in his eighth year as a pro. “Someone just saw me playing in a park for fun.”

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