Atlanta Soccer » FC Gold Pride

Atlanta Beat vs. FC Gold Pride

Scott — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:21:42 +0000

The Atlanta Beat started the season like most expansion teams do, by losing. But after an infusion of new players from the now defunct St. Louis Athletica the Atlanta Beat have started to turn things around. Prior to the All-Star break the Beat had gone 1-5-3 to earn 6 points through 9 games. Since the All-Star break the team has gone 3-2-1 to take their total points earned to 16. With 9 games left the Atlanta Beat has as good of a shot at making the playoffs as any team does.

In their previous game the Beat netted 3 goals against the Washington Freedom which is the most they’ve tallied in one game this season. They did it without their primary forwards Aluko & Bachmann. They will have to use the confidence gained from that match if they are going to compete with the FC Gold Pride who holds the best record in Women’s Professional Soccer.

Coach O’Sullivan could have come out with a defensive minded setup but opted to go with a three-four-three putting Aluko, Bachmann, and Ocampo all in at forward and have 2 defensive midfielders that could track back but also get into the offense when opportunities allowed. Early on it seemed to work as FC Gold Pride couldn’t get their game going and Atlanta had the better of the chances. In two different instances Aluko had the ball in the 18 yard box but came up wanting on both plays. Both teams had their opportunities but with Hope Solo making some big plays the score at the half was nil-nil.

FC Gold Pride created chances but with Marta having a personal escort around the field she was unable to make an impact on the game. Kia McNeill neutralized the reigning FIFA Women’s Player of the Year for a vast majority of the game. Hope Solo and her goal post took care of everyone else. It was a shutout performance that earned her the WPS Player of the Week award. Solo was well deserving as she made several incredible saves in route to the scoreless draw and helped the team earn another point on their journey to secure a playoff spot.

The Atlanta Beat are now tied for 6th with the Washington Freedom at 17 points. With a win this Wednesday the Beat would be tied for 4th, the final post-season slot, and have a game in hand.

Atlanta travels to Boston to take on the Breakers and keep their undefeated streak going. They’ll then turn around and head back home for a game 3 days later against the defending WPS champions, Sky Blue FC, at 7Pm at KSU Soccer Stadium.

Do you think Atlanta will be able to make the push and earn a playoff spot? Who, or what, do you think has made the biggest impact in turning this team around?

New Look Beat prepares for Red Stars

Scott — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:15:10 +0000

After a bye weekend The Atlanta Beat are preparing to face the Chicago Red Stars who are unbeaten since Omid Namazi took over at the beginning of June. This will be the second game since the influx of Athletica players. However, not content with the 5 additions the Beat added Aya Miyama last week to bring the total to 6 since St. Louis folded.

The Beat played the Red Stars in their last match on June 4^th and held them scoreless for the first shutout since the opening match on April 11^th against the Philadelphia Independence when Allison Whitworth got the donut. Former St. Louis Athletica player and recent addition Hope Solo had 8 saves on the night. The USWNT starting keeper was the difference between earning a point and losing their sixth straight game of the season. All 5 St. Louis players that were picked up prior to the match started and played the full 90 minutes. Only 5 players from the season opener started this game: Zerboni, Robinson, Yamaguchi, Kerr, McNeil. You may remember that Kerr and McNeil were picked up from St. Louis by trading the first pick in the LA Sol Dispersal Draft. Having 8 players that have previously been on the Athletica roster makes it understandable why many have nicknamed the Atlanta Beat as “Atlantica”. Of the 20+ member Atlanta Beat team that was originally formed to compete this year in WPS only 4 started this past Sunday: Robinson, Yamaguchi, Zerboni, and Larkin. With Miyama added to the fold that number is likely to drop down to 3 this week. Given the transition this team has gone through I think the draw on the road was a fortunate result.

This time around the new Atlanta Beat hopes to post their first win of the season. Having played 7 of 24 games the Beat needs to pick-up 36 points over the next 17 games (2.12pts/gm) to slide into a playoff spot if the Independence and Sky Blue FC continue on their current pace of 1.55 pts/game. That translates to winning 12 of 17 games or a combination of wins and ties (i.e. 11 wins, 3 ties). In other words they need to be on a slightly better pace then the FC Gold Pride (2.11pts/gm) has had so far this year. It’s a tall order but with 10 home games left and a revamped roster it should be interesting to see if these changes start resulting in Wins.

One question that I wonder is what all of these changes to one team means. Is it a reflection of depth in women’s professional soccer or team building. If it’s a reflection on depth then how can a league that almost started the season with 9 teams, now has 7, can expand to 12 teams in the near future (ownership issues aside). If depth isn’t a problem would you attribute early season struggles to player selection, coaching, or nothing more than normal struggles that most expansion teams face. If player selection was an issue I have a hard time questioning Coach Gareth O’Sullivan or GM Shawn McGee’s decisions without understanding the budget they had to work with from ownership. I can’t really even blame Atlanta Beat Owner, Fitz Johnson, if he did initially attempt to field a young and “cost effecient” team considering the significant outlay of cash that must have been necessary to get the stadium completed. As we’ve seen this is a business after all and managing cash poorly can have devastating results.

The Atlanta Beat continue their quest to become the best in the world this Saturday. I’ll be at that game. Have all of the recent additions increased your interest in the Beat? Are you planning to come out to the game this Saturday?

Beat fall to Freedom

Scott — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:17:06 +0000

The Atlanta Beat lost last Sunday against the Washington Freedom 3-1. The Atlanta defense allowed 13 shots on goal in this game. No other team has allowed more then 14 shots in both games combined. If you add the 11 shots Philly had in week 1 that takes the total to 24. The rest of the league averages just over 11 shots on goal through two games. I know it’s early in the season but things need to get sorted out soon or the Beat will be trying to dig out of an early deficit for the rest of the year.

After the game Tobin Heath said, “This is only our second game so we are still trying to figure things out, but we have great strengths on the attacking end. We have different personalities, so we are just trying to get those personalities to mesh.” Hopefully this week the Beat will be able to do just that as they take on FC Gold Pride. The Pride will be without scoring sensation Christine Sinclair and hardnosed defender Candace Chapman who will be competing in China with the Canadian National Team. Marta suffered a bruised right ankle during last weekend’s match and might not play Saturday either. Stanford rookie Ali Riley hasn’t practiced this week because of a viral infection and may be out as well. This will also be the only game the the Beat plays in the Bay area this season.

How do you think the Beat will fair on the third game of the year?