Yes they are stacked....i wouldn't be surprised at all if averbuch never starts. she wasn't even rosterd last week according to roster reports...and all other WNT players played
I think that with Yael being a bubble player, she is putting all her efforts into trying to make the WWC roster. She doesn't say this word for word but infers it more or less in her latest NY Times blog. As for the other players, it seems in their best interest to get as many real playing time minutes before the world cup. Harris wouldn't get to play in a real game at all in 2011 if she focused solely on the WNT as she remains uncapped. Morgan is a roster lock but doesn't often get into the match until very late. With WNY she can play full 90's to really establish a good rhythm for herself. As for Whitney, while it would be nice, I don't think many consider her to really be a WWC roster spot contender. It's in her best interest to get as much exposure now while also playing before the Olympics next year.
I agree that WNY roster is very strong, but one game into the season is a bit early to declare them champions. I reacted much the same way (with over-enthusiasm) to last week's victory over Boston. Then I reminded myself that Boston has really not been a very good home team over the past two years. Last year, they were far better on the road and lost their home playoff match. And without Angeli, Boston is extremely thin at midfield, not to mention she was their second leading scorer last season. So I'm not going to read too much into the first match. It was certainly a nice early victory for WNY and the addition of Marta and Maurine will add talent, but it's yet to be seen if it will add or detract from the chemistry we saw last weekend. I don't think we will find out much this weekend or next, because frankly, in spite of the optimism from last week's victory by the Beat, I think Atlanta is far, far away from being a really good team and their backfield is probably going to be far too slow to mark the Flashes' forwards. Basically, when it gets right down to it, the regular season is going to be a formality anyhow. The Flash will make the playoffs without a doubt. But what will they do once they get there? Los Angeles looked very tough in '09, but a few losses on the back line, plus Abily to the Euros and they lose to Sky Blue. Gold Pride in '10, without similar losses, looked unbeatable and were in the finals. The Flash get a big break in the schedule in that they play very few matches during the World Cup window, when they will lose half their team. But they will also pay for that by having to play eight matches in just 29 days, five of which are road matches, to end the season. They need to stay injury free and they need to stay fresh, which means Lines is going to half to juggle his lineup a bit and in the right way, to keep his top players from wearing down. It should be interesting.