ATLANTA SILVERBACKS 2006 PREVIEW

LAST SEASON:

2005 results:	10-3-15; 33 points; -12 diff; 8^th place; missed playoffs
RD's 2005 prediction:	18-4-6, 3^rd place

RD was quick to trumpet Atlanta as 2004’s “surprise team of the A-League” in that year’s season preview, and gloated as the S-Backs went from 4-7-17 losers in 2003 to a beyond-impressive 14-3-11 in 2004, where they were just three points away from yoinking the final playoff spot from the Rhinos*. We had even higher hopes for the 2005 campaign, predicting Atlanta would go through to the league championship, but just like big, smelly apes are often known to do, the S-Backs let a brutha down. What went wrong? In one word, the defense, which let up a league-worst 52 goals. As a comparison, that’s 16 more than Montreal and Vancouver…combined.

* - you might remember a floundering Rhinos team on the worst tear of their lives, winless in six straight before pummeling Atlanta (3-0) and Montreal (2-0) at home to close out the regular season and (barely) make the playoffs.

Dawkins

Ríos

Hayes

Rojas

Buete

Bobo

Seacrest, Out:

F Gary Brooks (4+4=12); one TOW

M Landy Mattison; 12 starts; 1171 minutes

M Andres Murriagui; 15 starts; 1121 minutes

D Ron Plute (1+0=2); 20 games

D Greg Chevalier; 9 starts; 1006 minutes

GK Christian Fegler; 17 starts; 1.764 GAA; 3 SO

GK Joe Barton; 10 starts; 2.000 GAA

Back in the Fold

F Fabian Dawkins (15+4=34); All-League 1^stTeam

M Rodrigo Ríos (4+6=14); All-League 2^ndTeam

M Alex Pineda-Chacon (4+4=12)

D David Hayes (3+4=10); two TOWs

D Adilson DeLima (4+1=9); three TOWs

Fresh Meat

M Liam George; from Luton Town (England)

M Scott Buete; from Chicago (MLS)

M Josh Smith; from Charleston

D Matt Bobo; from Richmond; 1249 minutes

D Marlon Rojas; from Real Salt Lake (MLS)

GK Shaun Kalnasy; from CD Chivas USA (MLS)

Mattison

Murriagi

Plute

THE LOWDOWN:

As you might have expected, heads rolled on the defensive end of the pitch with Atlanta scoring two new goalkeepers and a couple of quality defenders in Bobo (a key cog in Richmond’s surprising run to the title match) and Rojas (the former star of Joe Public in Trinidad & Tobago). Will that be enough to shore up the defense? Was too little attention paid in upgrading the offense? Don’t these new signings seem a lot less exciting than those made by other USL D1 clubs? That’s a lot of unanswered questions. But then you also have to factor in first-year coach Jason Smith (Piedmont College) taking the reigns from David Vaudreuil, as well. This will all but guarantee Atlanta’s final resting place will be in the bottom half of the table. Most likely the bottom half of the bottom half. And, yes, we could have found a better photo of Dawkins, but we like this one because it makes him look like he's Cindy Brady, looking up at Alice.