Forgive me, readers, for I have not posted in what feels like a long time. I have written–a rather lengthy piece inspired by Tiffany Weimer’s article on pickup in Our Game Magazine, in fact, which I ultimately decided not to publish here. What brings me back today is the talk about the Atlanta Beat roster. I thought I would wait for the podcast, but then decided, why bother?
First off, I’m having a hell of a time finding an up-to-date preseason roster (which admittedly isn’t due until March), so here is what I can gather at the moment:
Goalkeepers: Kerri Butler, Allison Lipsher, Allison Whitworth
Defenders: Keeley Dowling, Megan Jesolva, Heather Mitts, Katherine Reynolds, Cat Whitehill
Midfielders: Katie Bethke, Lori Chalupny, Colleen Flanagan, Kristina Larsen, Carli Lloyd, Angela Salem, Vendula Strnadova, Kylie Wright
Forwards: Meghan Lenczyk, Lauren Sesselmann, India Trotter
What’s flying around on twitter with regards to Atlanta right now is that the owner is being cheap, this is the worst team in the league, they aren’t even worth mentioning. The announcement of the three goalkeepers, in particular, seemed to inspire a lot of derision, but that link above gives reasons for not signing the high profile free agents.
Atlanta unloaded its major (overpaid) personalities from last season, a move I totally sympathize with. There is a new coach in town, and why continue paying so much for players that a) didn’t deliver last season and b) have mid-season commitments to the World Cup? Philadelphia showed last year that there is a different between building a real team and just throwing big names together on the pitch. If the names are winning, that’s one thing; FC Gold Pride managed that and folded. Atlanta didn’t even put together a winning season–so following Philadelphia’s lead looks like a smart move. Philly was successful in the standings last year and has maintained last year’s personality with this season’s roster. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but if it is broke, then you damn well fix it before it causes other problems.
For all that it was easy for me to hate on Atlanta last year, I am really liking this year’s roster. Atlanta is going to lose almost no one in the buildup to the World Cup. The Beat will have a chance to build consistency and give a number of good, overlooked players the minutes they deserve. When Cross-Conference talked to Tiffany Weimer last year, she mentioned that there is a gap between the level of play on the national team and the level of play anywhere else, and WPS is the closest women’s soccer has come to filling in that gap. So it’s important that non-national team regulars have the opportunity to play here. USWNT fans suddenly woke up last fall and realized that this gap was a real problem and stagnation was going to kill their precious team–well, the likes of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and even Boston are going to make a real difference in that, so long as they don’t fall into the magicJack trap.
Surely you have heard about magicJack’s roster. It’s basically that same USWNT roster that we’ve had for the past four years. Sky Blue FC is basically the next step for Tar Heels. Western New York is basically FC Gold Pride 2.5.
Any other year, this might pose somewhat of a problem for Atlanta’s chances. The Beat are newer at this workhorse game than Boston and Philly are, so while this is a good roster, we have to be realistic about the drawbacks of these players having not been given a fair chance before. But with the World Cup this year, they are going to have a chance to develop a real team here. There is a lot of very real potential on this roster. All the disrespect for this year’s Beat is horribly misplaced.
RT @drksydeotm: Shut up, Abby.
Interesting post, but I don’t quite agree with your assertion that they’re following Philly’s lead. Riley did a good job of assembling a group of talented internationals with a slew of gambles on domestic players that had underperformed (Rodriguez, Lohman) or who had been foolishly discarded (Lindsey). In a sense, he got very lucky in that all his gambles basically paid off (except, ironically, for Mitts). I’m sure good coaching also had a lot to do with that. Having watched Galanis on multiple occasions last season, I don’t rate him very highly. That being said, admittedly, he could be better with a team he’s worked to build through the draft and free agency.
There’s no internationals whatsoever on this squad, but the Beat seem to be taking on the same model of taking gambles on high risk players. I’d probably be a bit more enthusiastic if we hadn’t seen Mitts and Lloyd flame out so spectacularly at their last stops. And I don’t quite understand how you can casually dismiss the fact that this team loses the players mentioned above for the WC. I think it’s very clear that Lloyd is CRITICAL to the Beat’s plans this season. And while I’m not a big fan of Mitts, losing her for any length of time is going to hurt when you have a team with as little depth as the Beat seem to have.
There’s a difference between building a team economically and building one cheaply, and the Beat have plainly opted for the latter. There was plenty of relatively young, proven talent available that wouldn’t have broken the bank for any normal team (Dalmy, Schnur, White, Masar, Dew, Long, Edwards, Bock, etc.) just to name a few. I think there’s this automatic assumption that the Beat are going to be able to compete when teams get ransacked by international commitments. The Beat have five players that played ten games or more last year on their roster. The players on the roster right now scored a combined FOUR goals last year, with Chalupny accounting for three of those.
In short, I think they’re severely deficient at just about every area on the pitch. Well except for goal. I’ve always rated Whitworth highly and think she’s a good option that isn’t going to break the bank.
I wouldn’t call the current Beat roster a lock for the playoffs. I certainly don’t expect them to have an easy go of things this season, even with the World Cup. But I do think that this team is going to be a lot more productive (not necessarily in a scoring sense) and beneficial overall than last year’s approach in Atlanta. I don’t know jack about the new coach, and honestly, in this case I couldn’t care less. There is a lot to be said for the mettle of a group of players. There are players on this roster that can attest to that, even. As for the loss of Mitts and Lloyd, who you have rightfully pointed out as disappointments–I don’t place a lot of stock in USWNT players. There are some gaps in the roster, yes, but this is a very intriguing, hardworking group. Hopefully, the remaining preseason slots will carry on in this tradition.
Philly, in addition to having decent internationals, also invested in players that clicked better with the Philly environment than where they had played previously. If A-Rod had stayed in Boston, she would have had another bad season. Atlanta needs a little more scoring power right now and, yes, probably someone solid to anchor the back. Someone not Mitts or Whitehill.
Admittedly, I have very different priorities from a lot of fans when it comes to players and teams. I think the fact that this is an unstable league means that teams can experiment more. I admire what Atlanta is doing here. It’s a gamble, yes, but it’s going to make them very intriguing this season. There isn’t nearly enough consistency in this league to write any team off.
My apologies. I wasn’t aware, and someone just pointed out that you are speaking from an Atlanta-local perspective. That is not the angle or audience that I would presume to address. I have little personal investment in the franchise, more in the current players and what this combination represents as a team in WPS.
This is a great topic Ruth – thanks for weighing in – but I tend to agree with Chris. Despite having quite a few unknowns/unprovens on their roster last season, it seemed from the start that Riley had a clear strategy in building his team. He found some solid role players and then filled in the rest. Especially in the midfield – international Seger, along with known workhorses Lindsey and Dimartino – and also in goal. Not to mention Falk, Krzysik, Larsson, Mitts all had WPS experience. And then he was lucky that ARod, Magnusdottir, Lohman and Buczkowski (among others) payed off.
I just don’t see the same vision at Atlanta. Last year they sprinkled the field with “personalities” as you say, and had little vision then either. Their roster right now looks ok at defense and in goal (I’m a Lipsher & Whitworth fan). There are others that I like, especially when they were college players, but they will have a lot of work to do to make that offense productive.
So, while I would never “hate” on Atlanta, I simply don’t understand their strategy this season. This, and they got rid of my favorite underappreciated player, Rasmussen.
I don’t know Atlanta’s financial position but, considering that it only takes one more team to fold to bring the whole league down, I’d rather have a team that’s deficient in big-name players than no team or league at all. Besides, over the past two seasons, every team in the league has remained in playoff contention up until the last couple games of the season so there is no reason to write Atlanta off until say… August.
P.S. They should sign Natalie Spilger and get her to reprise the cornhawk. That should liven up the roster.
Really good points. This doesn’t look like a team that is going to fold mid-season, at least.
As for Spilger — YES. Now there’s a presence that this league needs to keep in the fold.
I have mixed feelings about Atlanta. At first I was dismissive of the group for a variety of reasons. The presence of Lloyd and Mitts, the meager roster, and the fact that I am always and forever a San Diego Spirit fan first and supporting the Beat is against my moral code.
Those reasons aside, I came around in my thinking the other day that this roster will likely be full of surprises. Last year in the pre-season Atlanta was looking to build a program based on youth. Tobin Heath was expected to be the star and Bachmann wasn’t a known..uh..ball hog? cheater? By the time Athletica folded the team was going nowhere very quickly. In an attempt to salvage the season, they employed the Dan Borislow technique of signing big names with little thought to chemistry, tactics or leadership. Even with Ellertson, Solo, Chalupny, and Aluko the club lacked leadership and direction and the coach with the Irishy name I can’t remember was sacked.
The basis of my hopes for Atlanta this season lies in the fact that they have new leadership. I know very little about Galanis and his abilities as a coach, however, so I may be overly optimistic here. And I do find it peculiar that they have no internationals to speak of. Regardless, this roster has potential and excellent leadership in Whitehill and Chalupny for the duration of the season to help keep them out of the basement and possibly steal some points from other teams while their internationals are at the WWC.
I forgot to expand on the Athletica influx more! These are good points, all. Thank you for commenting.
I find the signing of/lack of internationals on all fronts pretty interesting this year. We’ll see who that works for and who it doesn’t.
So far the Beat have looked good in the preseason – as much as games against off-season college teams can mean anything. But whether the team-building has been the result of luck or deliberate design (and what little I’ve seen seems to favor the latter), they do seem to be coming together well.
Well enough, in fact, that in a season in which teams can count on so little consistency, they might have as good a chance as anyone. (Well, almost anyone, anyway.) What they are not, I think, is just a write-off – a bid to lose as little money as possible until the 2012 season. That’s a factor, admittedly, but not as large as some may think.
I think you’re right; anyone who discounts the Beat before this season even starts is going to miss an interesting team.