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The Atlanta Silverbacks will have to do quite a job in 2014 to follow their impressive 2013 Spring Season that led them to the Soccer Bowl at the end of the campaign. Although they lost to the Cosmos in the championship match, Atlanta had undergone a vast improvement from their 2012 selves to finish atop the standings in the first half, before sputtering into the Soccer Bowl after a bland second half.
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After finishing second to bottom of the table in the 2012 NASL season, Atlanta made a complete turnaround in the 2013 Spring Season, finishing first on 21 points. The Silverbacks won six while drawing three and losing three in the 12 matches of the first half. They were tied for the most wins, tied for second in goals scored and tied for second for the fewest goals allowed, giving them the chance to host the 2013 NASL Soccer Bowl at Silverbacks Park.
With their spot in the championship game already wrapped up by the start of the 2013 Fall Season, the Silverbacks did not come out of the gates with the same intensity. From a distance it looked as though Atlanta weren’t as dynamic or dangerous as they were in the first half, and at points they looked disinterested. I have a hard time believing that the players “took a half season off” because that isn’t in the nature of competitive men, however it did look like the pressure on the gas pedal was released a bit. After a first place finish in the spring, Head Coach Brian Haynes and his team finished seventh of eight teams in the Fall Season. They tallied 16 points in 14 matches, scoring 14 goals and allowing 22 before eventually losing in the Soccer Bowl and seeing Haynes let go at the end of the season after being named the NASL coach of the year.
Interesting Storyline
After not bringing Haynes back for 2014, the Silverbacks made an interesting choice to succeed him as head coach. Nobody. They removed the position of head coach, and gave the responsibilities to their Technical Director, Eric Wynalda. Wynalda will keep his FOX Sports gig in addition to his duties with the Silverbacks for the upcoming season. Wynalda will commute to Atlanta for “key practices” and matches while leaving the rest of the time in the hands of his coaching staff. This is a strange development for the club and brings about many questions. Why not hire a coach that Wynalda thinks fits in the culture he is trying to build? Why doesn’t Wynalda give up his TV gig and focus on the club he’s going to help run? Why not retain Brian Haynes who just took the team to a Soccer Bowl and won coach of the year? I don’t have the answers to these, but it will be interesting to see how this arrangement works for the Silverbacks. The team will need to do a lot on the field to replicate the success they had at points last year and it will be interesting to see if this rare coaching change will help facilitate or hinder that.
Key Additions
Blair Gavin – The Silverbacks snagged an MLS veteran, adding Gavin in the offseason after the midfielder spent the previous two years in the Seattle Sounders organization. Gavin, in total, has spent six seasons in MLS with Seattle, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution. He was a 10th overall pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft and has appeared for the US U-18 and U-20 teams. Gavin attended the IMG Soccer Academy and hustles on both sides of the ball in midfield. With the midfield losses Atlanta suffered during the winter, Gavin will be welcomed with open arms to help fill those gaps.
Junior Sandoval – Silverbacks fans will know Sandoval’s name as the midfielder spent most of the 2011 season on loan with the Atlanta club from NASL peers, the Puerto Rico Islanders. After spending 2012 and 2013 in the first division of Honduras, Sandoval returns to the Silverbacks with more experience and developed skills. The Silverbacks could deploy him in an attacking midfield role, meaning he could have some serious say in how the Silverbacks do up front in 2014.
Key Departures
Richie Menjivar – The 2013 Best XI midfielder left the Silverbacks to attend MLS training camp with the Portland Timbers, but opted to sign with another NASL club for 2014, the San Antonio Scorpions. Menjivar was the main piece to the Silverbacks midfield, a true box-to-box player who was the engine room of the starting eleven. His departure will be felt in Atlanta.
Danny Barrera – Another one of the impressive midfielders for the Silverbacks in 2013, Barrera also opted to join the Scorpions where he links up with Menjivar. Barrera was a big part of the Silverbacks Spring Season championship and finished the season tied for second in the league in assists. The Silverbacks will not have to deal with Barrera’s temper, which flared, in a few cases, but they will desperately miss his creativity.
Joe Nasco – The goalkeeper played a huge role in the Silverbacks season, and kept them in the Soccer Bowl with some fantastic saves against the Cosmos’ attack. He was named to the Best XI at the end of the season, and eventually signed with the Colorado Rapids of MLS.
Potential breakout player
Kwadwo Poku – Poku joined the Silverbacks from the nearby Georgia Revolution of the NPSL. The 21 year old led the Revolution in scoring in the last two seasons and also led the club in assists in 2013. If his transition to the NASL goes smoothly, he could be a wild card up top for the Silverbacks.
Biggest Strength
There isn’t one "strength" that pops out at you at first glance. The Silverbacks have a few players who have returned defensively like Mike Randolph and Bobby Reiss that will help stabilize that back line. They have added and retained a number of midfielders and although only a few really stand out, there is depth in those positions. Also, Eric Ati is pegged to be the goalkeeper unless there is a change before opening night, and the Cameroonian had some nice displays in 2013.
Most Glaring Weakness
Losing your two best midfielders from the season before will make for quite a problem, but we will go with Atlanta’s striking options as their biggest weakness for now. The club had a hard time finding goals in the second half of 2013, and didn’t return Ruben Luna or Pedro Mendes. The club made a shrewd signing, bringing in Matt Horth who knows what it takes to score goals in the NASL, but not long after, Atlanta honored Horth’s wishes and let the forward sign with a club in Iceland to fulfill his dream of playing in Europe.
Outlook
The Silverbacks lost more quality players in the offseason than they added, and with the uncertainty of the coaching situation it looks like it will be hard for them to repeat their impressive start to the 2013 campaign. The Silverbacks still have some quality players, and despite the mysterious arrangement, Wynalda knows this league well, so don’t completely write off the Silverbacks chances just yet.
In a league that is filled with parity from year to year, it is anyone’s season in 2014 and the Silverbacks have surprised us before, but it looks as though it would be asking a lot to see the Silverbacks grab one of the four “Championship” spots. The losses of Menjivar, Mendes, Luna, Barrera and Nasco look to be too much to overcome at the moment and it would be unfair to ask a club that lost its spine to replicate its form in the previous season.
The Silverbacks should still be competitive in 2014 (We really don’t see too many teams who wont be), but I see them missing out on the postseason and failing to show the same signs of attacking prowess that they did in parts of the 2013 campaign that led them to being named Soccer Bowl runners up.
(image courtesy of Ron Holt)
