GAME PREVIEW: Sunday, June 22, 2003 - Philadelphia Charge at Atlanta Beat - 4:00 p.m. (ET) - CN8 (Philadelphia); Comcast Sports Southeast (Atlanta); (Season Series: First Meeting) (All-time Series History: Series tied 2-2-2). Philadelphia earned four points last week tying New York 0-0 on Wednesday, June 11 at Mitchel Athletic Complex and defeating San Diego 2-0 on Saturday, June 14 at Villanova Stadium. Atlanta earned a point after tying Carolina 0-0 on Saturday, June 14 at SAS Stadium. The last meeting between these two teams resulted in a 2-0 victory for Atlanta on August 10, 2002 at Herndon Stadium. Goals by Nikki Serlenga and Kelly Cagle led to Atlanta's 11th win of the season and clinched a berth in the 2002 WUSA Playoffs. Key Players to Watch: Philadelphia's Marinette Pichon (7g, 1a, 15 pts - 5th among WUSA scoring leaders) notched her seventh goal of the season during the Charge's 2-0 victory over San Diego on June 14. Pichon has scored two goals all-time versus Atlanta (three matches). Midfielder Stacey Tullock (1g, 4a, 6 pts.) leads the Charge in assists during the 2003 season. Tullock will be looking to record her first point versus the Beat. Goalkeeper Melissa Moore (2-4-2, 2.00 GAA) registered two shutouts last week (June 11 0-0 tie with New York; June 14 - 2-0 win over San Diego). Moore holds a 2-1-0 record with a 0.77 goals against average versus Atlanta all-time (four matches). Atlanta's Maribel Dominguez (7g, 4a, 18 pts. - 3rd among WUSA scoring leaders) only saw 45 minutes of action on June 14 (resting from a midweek national team friendly versus Canada). Dominguez will look to earn her first goal versus the Charge. Forward Charmaine Hooper (4g, 6a, 14 pts. - tied for 7th among WUSA leading scorers) recorded five shots versus Carolina on June 15 but, was unable to find the back of the net. Hooper has had very little success versus the Charge during her WUSA career, recording only one assist all-time versus Philadelphia (six matches). Goalkeeper Briana Scurry (4-2-3, 0.78 GAA) will return to Atlanta's lineup after U.S. national team duty on June 14. Scurry holds a 2-2-2 record with a 1.00 goals against average versus the Charge all-time (six matches). Key Matchup: (Philadelphia forward Marinette Pichon versus Atlanta defender Sharolta Nonen) Pichon has scored four goals in Philadelphia's last three matches. Nonen and company is the top raked defense in the WUSA, holding opponents to 0.70 goals per game allowed. Atlanta has held Pichon scoreless in two of the three previous meetings. Philadelphia is 11-1-2 all-time when Pichon finds the back of the net. The "Inside Scoop": After starting the 2003 season 0-4-0, the Charge has pulled within six points of first place Boston. Atlanta is currently tied for second in the WUSA standings. Philadelphia is unbeaten in its last four matches. The Charge has won two of the last three matches versus Atlanta. The series is tied 1-1-1 in Atlanta with both teams recording two goals in the three matches. The Beat has held its opponents to one goal or less in nine of the team's 10 games this season. Referee: Todd Perry. Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Brian D'Amato. 4th Official: Patrick Baker.
The Beat have entered crunch time now. They have 5 home games and 6 away games left (including the killer 5 game road trip). Our home games are vital if we wish to make the playoffs. We need wins in these next two games against Philly and Team Mia. The fans need to get involved and cheer our team on!!!!
Strange Days for Beat as They Prepare for Philadelphia By Charlie Lentz http://theatlantabeat.com/369104.html I was joking with Phats earlier this week, about this same thing. We all need to be praying that the Japanese Nats do a little BEATdown on South Korea, so we don't have to lose Sawa and Maribel for that last qualifier series. This is what the weather channel is forecasting: at game time - 84 degrees, Mostly Sunny, Humidity 53% to 68% This is what I'm forecasting: We have all but Sawa back and healthy (and suspension free). They are still missing Smith and Arrington, and Pichon is questionable. :turn on sarcasm: Seems funny to me, Krikorian didn't trust Stone to protect Pichon during the allstar game :turn off sarcasm: However, the Philly D is playing up to expectations now. So I'm guessing a close game: Beat 1, Philly 0 With the usual suspects starting.
forgot this article: from Cybersoccernews.com Resurgent Charge head south to take on the Beat Philadelphia aware of feisty Atlanta, look to continue hot streak by Brian J. Hegarty http://www.cybersoccernews.com/wusa/philadelphia/030618phl-atladv.shtml oh yeah...Burt is coming back
Scattered Beat come together vs. Charge By WENDY PARKER Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/0603/22beat.html
At the start of te season I picked these two teams to be at the top of the standings at the end. I still believe this. Philly's poor results are almost bound to turn as they tallent is there and the coaching is good enough. The hope, when a good team is playing bad, is that they do not fix the problems against your team but Philly is due for a breakout game and I think this just might be the week it come together for them. The good news for the Beat is that all the main players are back, except Sawa, and they will all be fresh as the play in the so called all star game was not hard enough for most to need a shower afterward. But the A.S. game does mean some practices missed and a potential lack of pregame focus. That should actually hurt Philly more than the Beat as Philly may be tryig to make more changes than the Beat. Should be a good, intense, game that will be won or lost in the battle between the defenses and the forwards. The midfield play should be quite even. Philly is last in the league right now so they have more to win and more to loose in this game. Also, if Frenchie is at full strength and speed she will give the defense hell. What defense does she not give hell to? I wonder if Stone will have someone man mark her? Also I wonder if the Beat's Mexican wunderkind will be man marked by Philly. I would expect neither defense to over adjust as the risk of the other players is too great but if one does make an adjustment I wold expect it to be the Beat. Unfortunatly I have work (DAMN) during the game but my TIVo is set and I will get to see it sometime after 7:00 when I get home.
Let's resay that! Can anyone watching the game give us some play by play? Thank you in advance for your eyes.
Oh man, the matchtracker is at 21:58 and so far everything listed is Philadelphia. Philly save, corner kicks, goal scored, and lots of fouls committed. Are we even there? Are we doing ANYTHING or are we letting Philly run all over us (although at least we're getting calls for this from the refs)?!?
We have no shots and just committed our first fouls. Time to go after them. What the ----------is going on?
Well, for the last 15 minutes of the first half, the Beat had more control of the ball and more shots. Great goal by Conny. Good poaching by Cindy. Beat should continue to lob it into the air. Stone fails to remember that when there's foul that the free kick is taken before the whistle is blown. Anyway, the fourth official should probably be pretty busy in this game with Tom and Mark. These announcers aren't bad. They're better than Anson and Beth.
Thanks DennisM for your comments for those of us not watching the game and stuck with the slow matchtracker. Anything else you want to add throughout the game would be greatly appreciated by me.
And Cindy gets her hat trick on her first three goals of the season. I guess when she gets going she really starts to roll.
Sorry. I just added that at halftime and then watched the second half. Perhaps I should not have watched the second half. Anyway, they found our weaknesses. Parlow had the best game but Hooper didn't do much in the game.
No Hooper definitely did not make much of an impact today. It seemed like her touch was somewhat off. I am glad Julie finally got a full 90! Thats the way it should be! Emily played really well! I am glad Philly is giving her a chance because we all got to see how good she really is today. The only problem is that she could not outjump Cindy Parlow.... ha ha jk! Ummm Conny Pohlers is gonna be sore for a loong time to come lol she got it today! Thats all I can think of now!
Doesn't matter; one more example that size matters in this league, and those who don't recognize it are in that place where it's not just a river in Egypt. Paul
Yeah the crowd was pretty small... A number of folks left at halftime, it was pretty hot out there. Some even migrated to the shady side of the stadium. Anyone on TV get a look at Philly's second goal? I thought it might have been reachable but they definitely took advantage of Scurry being forward. Both teams got goals off of rebounds from the keeper. Way to break out of a slump Parlow! We missed Sawa in the middle but we sure made up for it. I wasn't happy with the defense today though. Pichon was giving us fits and if she could finish worth a darn, the game might have been much closer. Our defenders too often boot the ball downfield when they have plenty of time to collect and feed the ball forward. Anyway, I got my money's worth in goals scored today.
Agree!!! Of course there are farm animals that are better announcers as well. They said that inserting Dieke in the starting lineup was to increase possession. It worked! In the first half she was VERY good at keeping the ball in Philly's possession with near perfect passes to the feet of the Philly players. In the second half she was better but still gave the ball away too much without winning it back much at all. In the first half it almost looked like the Beat had forgotten how the defense worked. There were missed assignments and missed marks all over the place both Philly goals were the result of poor, almost amateurish play in the defense. Stone, or maybe Scurry(?), must have torn them a new one at the half as the second looked MUCH better, except for one missed assignment. Parlow is finally finding her touch again and I disagree about Hopper. In this game it was needed for Hooper and others to work to draw attention and let others play for the glory. Hooper did a LOT of the dirty work without the ball taking a lot of pressure off the revamped, again, midfield and allowing Cindy to shine. The play in this game bodes well for the loss of players for the Mexico/Japan games as Sawa was not there and Dominguez’s roll was one that can be filled by others to a large extent. The Beat is in undisputed first place and that is well diserved but they cannot rest. Stone and the Beat need to work this week even harder and treat each and every game like it is a must win. As tight as the standings are a loss or two could move a team from first to out of the playoffs.
It was 50%-50% split between the WEST side (shaded sections) and the BEER section I'm sure it got rowdy over there with $2 beers after every Beat goal. But I will say it was a quieter (than usual) crowd today. My quick thoughts on the game: - The Beat needed a second helping of Wheaties this morning, they looked a little sluggish. - Pohlers is one tough cookie, she got smacked hard a few times, and kept on going after it. - Any word on why Gaston didn't play, injury or rest? Julie did well in her place. - Parlow gets POTM honors, not only the hat trick but great juggling act. I thought they played much better in the lose to Carolina, then they did today. But I will take the 3 pts. and first place. It will be nice to have Sawa back for the next match, but I hear we will be without her and Dominguez for 3 matches after that.
Re: Re: Beat v Philly: The Whopper Thread [R] I have to agree with you about this. The standings are still very tight. We're on top for right now, but Wednesday and Saturday games could easily bump us down. If Boston wins their two games, Washington beats us Saturday, and New York manages to win their other game they will all catch up and pass us. The standings could be Boston 23 Washington 20 New York and Atlanta 19 and we are already back down to tied for third. So let's keep the wins coming. Each game is important, especially next weeks if we want to distance ourselves from Washington. We can beat them if the girls come ready to play and the good news is we have Sawa back! And it wouldn't hurt to have a little help from the teams playing Boston.