Atlanta's Beat: WPS Chicago Red Stars Can't Dance to It

KENNESAW, Ga. —As far as the Chicago Red Stars are concerned, Atlanta should change its name to Waterloo. Despite the fact that the expansion team from Georgia is in dead last in WPS, Chicago has not been able to crack the code to defeat them.

In fact, were it not for Chicago, Atlanta would have had little success at all. Atlanta has earned eight of their 13 points from Chicago, including two of their three wins and half of their four draws. Teams that Chicago has dominated have dominated Atlanta.

In the Beat's defense, they are currently a much better club than their record, especially in light of the infusion of the better half of the St. Louis Athletica club after the franchise was shut down, and including the world's best female keeper, Hope Solo. But the fact that they have not been able to synchronize all that talent against any club other than Chicago, should give pause to Red Stars execs, players, and fans. 

Wednesday night's loss was especially painful for the Red Stars in that it broke a four game unbeaten streak and came as only the second defeat suffered by the club since a change in coaching. Again, both of those defeats were at the hands of lowly Atlanta. 

It also came right at a time when the Red Stars had pulled into a tie in points with fourth place Washington Freedom, and thus are in playoff territory for the first time this season. 

So, with the new success of the team under Coach Omid Namazi and after finally getting in position for the postseason, what happened to the Red Stars?

Neither team was able to put a shot on goal for most of the first half, Wednesday night. Finally, in the 31st minute, Karen Carney forced Beat goalkeeper Hope Solo to make the game's first save.

"We actually were good for the first 30 minutes, but after that we didn't play that well," Red Stars Head Coach Omid Namazi said. "We didn't really create a whole lot tonight. It was very disappointing."

Atlanta's Eniola Aluko scored the game's lone goal in the 56th minute off of a Stacy Bishop assist to give the Beat a 1-0 lead over Chicago.

Red Stars forward Casey Nogueira had several potential scoring opportunities, with the biggest chance coming in the 72nd minute when she hit the crossbar.

In the net, Red Stars goalkeeper Jillian Loyden made four saves, while the Beat's Solo also made four for the clean sheet.

"In the final third they were a bit stronger than us," Namazi said.

It comes down to scoring, certainly, and as much as Chicago's forwards and midfielders have produced offensively in International action, they have not been able to produce together in Chicago. While offense has increased somewhat under Namazi, production is still among the lowest in the league.

So far the biggest effect of a coaching change has been the club's ability to come back from a deficit.

So the question remains, is it still coaching, or is it that Chicago needs to add a couple more prolific scorers before the Red Stars have any realistic hope of moving to the next level?

Or is it just Atlanta? Perhaps it would be fair to exclude results against Atlanta from an evaluation of the club's promise for the postseason. As long as they remain unbeaten by any other club, perhaps Atlanta is the best club to be jinxed by. Given their continuing status in the league basement, they do the least amount of harm when they do win.

Time will tell. We will look for a decisive victory in the next match.

Speaking of the next match, Chicago takes the pitch at 3PM Sunday against the Boston Breakers at Toyota Park. 

In two seasons of play in Women's Professional Soccer, Chicago has had their best success against the Breakers, both in wins and in scoring, including a four goal romp in Boston's first appearance at Toyota Park last season. Boston was in the midst of a three-game winning streak until first-place FC Gold Pride ended the Breakers' run with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday. 

Chicago Red Stars at Atlanta Beat

July 21, 2010 -- Kennesaw, Ga.

Beat 1, Red Stars 0

Red Stars    0    0   -   0
Beat            0    1   -   1

SCORING SUMMARY

1. Atlanta - Eniola Aluko (Stacy Bishop), 56.
Red Stars: Loyden (GK), Dalmy, Markgraf, Engen, Spilger (Sitch, 78), Carney, Chapman, Formiga, Asllani (Cristiane, 59), Masar (Rapinoe, 52), Nogueira.
Beat: Solo (GK), Ellertson, McNeill, Robinson, Miyama, Larkin, Zerboni (Bishop, 46), Yamaguchi, Blank (Nolin, 84), Aluko, Rasmussen (Kerr, 70).

STATISTICS:

Shots: Red Stars 11, Atlanta 6
Shots on goal: Red Stars 4, Atlanta 5
Saves: Red Stars 4, Atlanta 4
Corner kicks: Red Stars 5, Atlanta 3
Offsides: Red Stars 5, Atlanta 5
Fouls: Red Stars 6, Atlanta 10
Cautions and ejections:
79th minute - Blank (ATL), yellow card
92nd minute - Aluko (ATL), yellow card
Referee: Michael Donovan
Assistant referees: Matthew Kreitzer, Mark Cleland
Fourth official: Amy Mahan
Attendance: 3,214