This just in from an email sent out to Beat season ticket holders: Lori Chalupny was signed today!!!!!!!!! St. Louis fans, we welcome you with open arms. It'll be great to have fans with drum at some of the games.
Congratulations to the Beat owner/management/coaches for taking full advantage of this unfortunate situation and securing so many of the best players for the Beat. As a rabid fan, I am very appreciative of your efforts--thank you for creating this (new) team which now has the potential to be the very best in the league! I cannot wait to see them on FSC on Sunday, and really cannot wait for the next home game!
For ATL Beat GM, Will the former Athletica players be in uniform this Sunday in Chicago ready to play?
dunno about playing but Solo tweeted this morning that she was about to start her first Beat practice
While I am a huge Chalu fan, I hope the Beat doctors are very careful regarding her concussions. One of the worst reported/most under-reported stories surrounding this WPS season & the recent friendly vs Germany was that the WNT doctors had not medically cleared Chalupny to play. Yet the STL doctors (and staff) apparently saw no problem with playing Chalupny every minute of every game. How could the reporters cough, Dure, cough, Kassouf, cough, Timmerman... who covered the Athletica and the WNT not get the job done finding the deeper story. I get that different doctors use different measures when judging concussions and head injuries. But given the "new" guidelines are the more restrictive, I hope the ATL doctors at least consult with the US WNT doctors and take a very cautious path. Atlanta fans from back in the day may remember that Cindy Parlow's career ended early due to concussion related issues.
Kool, you make a good point. In fact, I was just discussing this the otherday with Crog1967 (frequent poster here). She made the comment that she would like for Parlow to have a conversation with Chalupas about what her life is like now after suffering from soccer-related concussions. Would hate for Lori to end up suffering her whole life for some brief soccer glory now. Fortunately, the Beat's jersey sponsor is Wellstar, a very reputable medical provider in Atlanta--they have a lot of experience in sports medicine.
As an Athletica fan, I just wanted to congratulate you. You are not only picking up great players, but great human beings as well.
Atlanta fans shouldnt exspect instant results. It takes time to get players to build a good fluid understanding, and a GOOD coach to get players to follow a playing style that gets wins. Dont be suprised if the winless streak continues for a while longer.
How would you assign responsibility for first six games where the team only got 1 point? 50% for the coach and 50% for the players? New players, from the defunct Athletica, were added and some players were released...The new players probably are better than the players who were released... Would the new players make so much difference that the coaching doesn't really matter? I don't know...After all, the coach has to decide who should play...I would guess that old Athletica players would play every Atlanta match unless they have to play for USWNT or they are injured... Look at Coach Montoya of FCGP...He's got new players this season...His team is number one at this time...Did his coaching improve? Maybe...Or he just has better players this year... I wonder how much input the coach had in signing Athletica players...Maybe the GM and the owner made the decision without consulting the coach...
Took Athletica a while to get decent, and when they did it was of the back of the coach understanding the limitations of his squad. Strong defensive core, Aluko scores. Sol folds Athletica get a assists machine= Miyama and maybe the best midfielder the league has, and yet the style of play and results were pretty much the same as last seasons end. Good coach good tactics matter in this league alot.
The equal level of players per team in WPS is freakish for any football league world. In games between top league teams you tend to see tight score lines where tactics to get the most from the star player makes the biggest difference. The teams that top WPS at seasons end will have got the most from game changer type players. Look at Smith/Marta (dont even mention Christiane) compared to a Wambach/Aluko. Systems of play that work and ones that dont.
So who is gone? Obviously the Beat had to make quite a few cuts to accommodate the new players. Looking at some of the Beat players twitters it appears that they aren't too happy about what is going on. I would assume they are either upset about losing their spot on the team, losing playing time, or seeing some of their teammates go.
Welcome to professional sports. Your spot is only as safe as the next practice and free agent signing. This is the big leagues. If players can't deal with that very harsh reality then professional sports is not the career for them. That said, there are good and bad ways for a coach to handle cuts. Whether O'Sullivan handled these cuts well is a different discussion. His player management skills have already been tested when he benched Whitworth for a keeper he's previously coached and in the substitution patterns he's used. How'd that go? I don't have access to multiple players' twitter accounts. As for who goes, Marisha Schumacher-Hodge and Lauren Sesselmann were waived. So that's 2 players. Putting Heath on season ending IR opens a third spot. I assume one of the keepers will be waived to fit Solo onto the roster. That leaves 1 more player to be waived/released to fit the 5 new players (Chalu, Solo, Aluko, Ellertson, Blank). Of course, it is interesting that Blank is not yet listed on the ATL website while the other 4 former Athletica players are listed. If she has not signed then ATL only need to release a keeper. If the players remaining on the team can't see that these five players are a immediate upgrade and give ATL a much better chance at winning games, then they, too, need to find other gigs. Pro sports is all about winning games. The ATL ownership has put a lot of money and effort into the stadium and team. They must win games to get people to pay attention and buy the product.
Chalupny is the fourth Athletica player to join the Beat since the Saint Louis news last week. Goalkeeper Hope Solo, forward Eniola Aluko, and defender Tina Ellertson agreed to terms earlier this week. The Beat released defender Tracy Hamm Tuesday, June 1.
Thanks for the info on Hamm's release. Marisha Schumacher-Hodge, Lauren Sesselmann, and Tracy Hamm make 3 players released & Heath on season ending IR makes 4 open roster slots. ATL still have 4 keepers listed and I have to assume that one of the four will be released soon. I'm guessing Blank will sign soon after that. ATL needs a decent holding mid bad.
How come they release players from their regular roster before releasing developmental players? I am assuming it is because of salary cap? It just seems like the developmental players would be the first to go, and they would just move players that made their regular roster down to the developmental. I guess they just have to waive the others so they have more money available?
A player with a full roster spot must be waived and then clear waivers (ie not be picked up by another WPS team) before they can be signed as a developmental player. If a player is signed to a developmental contract they make developmental roster money not their former salary.
Players complaining about new signings...That is just a wrong attitude on the part of players...Obviously, players share some blame for the fact that Atlanta only has 1 point after 6 games...If the team had a better record, the management may would not have signed so many Athletica players...
I know that someone posted that some of the Atlanta players were complaining via Twitter, but I have personally checked on Twitter and didn't see anyone complaining at all. In fact, every Twitter I've read has been positive, other than the sadness for losing the Athletica franchise. Maybe I'm checking the wrong Twitter accounts...if the person who said that they saw some negative Twitters about former Athletica players coming to Atlanta could be more specific, that would help. Thanks.
i think i know who's being referred to but the only thing she's said POSSIBLY negative is "this sucks"-- that's not negative, it's merely a statement.
Carolyn Blank signing (to a developmental deal) is official per the WPS Transaction Page. Can't wait to see the revamped squad in action!