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Post by soccermaxx72 on Oct 14, 2019 9:12:53 GMT -5
So with Tophat no longer having ECNL, I was assuming that would help strengthen the other ECNL clubs but looking at the girls side there is NO Atlanta Fire ECNL team with a winning record? Is this coaching, talent pool, very strange?
Ecnl Girls standings:
U13: 9th place (2-3-2)
U14: 2-3-2
U15: 7th place (4-5-1)
U16: 5-5
U17: 4-4
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 14, 2019 10:48:20 GMT -5
Not strange, typical. AFU is a middle-of-the-bracket ECNL club. Only one team made it to the ECNL finals last year and I know of at least one girl from that team who left for NTH. In the shakeup at NTH I don't think that AFU got any NTH players, only CF and UFA players who were displaced by NTH players or escaping bad coaches.
Additionally, FC Prime upgraded significantly compared to last year with the Sunrise merger, so two automatic wins from last year are now likely losses.
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Oct 15, 2019 14:45:04 GMT -5
I did hear about the mega-merger creating FC Prime. That is now a juggernaut of a club with a very big/wide footprint. I was under the impression that AFU had good decent coaches. I know Nadine coaches at lest one, if not two of the ECNL teams. Could the AFU struggles be due to playing most of the Florida teams in the fall, ergo a lot of travel? Are they mostly new teams or returning cores with new additions? How did they do last year collectively, outside of the 13s, who are new to ECNL?
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 15, 2019 15:28:27 GMT -5
IIRC, Nadine's teams both finished in the bottom 3rd of the bracket last fall. Only the 04's finished in the top 3. The other 3 were all lower-mid bracket. I am of the opinion that AFU's coaches are good and knowledgeable, but that the club generally gets 5th/6th choice in pecking order in terms of the majority of the talent pool behind NTH DA, CF ECNL, GSA ECNL, SSA/CF ECNL and UFA DA, partly because all 6 of these clubs have to compete with one another for talent on the north side of town. Another problem is the small footprint being bordered by GSA, UFA Norcross and UFA Forsyth and as far as I can tell, the vast majority of the AFU players come from the immediate area.
I'm a bit more surprised by the lower performance of ALL the northern teams in the U13 age group (they currently make up the bottom 5 of the table). FC Prime only had 1 team in the top 1/3 of the bracket last year, they were bottom in almost every age group. This year they only have 1 age group outside the top 3. That's a good demonstration of how to build a super club through mergers right there. AFU's HC merger is not going to draw new players into their ECNL pool, its simply too far away. Unless they scout and allow for remote practicing and pool the top players once a week. Apparently the HC 07's wanted the ECNL spot because they beat the Duluth 07's last year, and a case could definitely be made for it, but that team will be NL Piedmont come this spring most likely. |
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Post by holding on Oct 15, 2019 20:07:12 GMT -5
They got a very tough draw as a club to start the year. First 5 games on the road and most of the age groups played at least 3 of the 4 Champions League qualifying teams during that stretch. 14.’s, 15’s, 16’s, and 17’s are all good teams with lots of quality and compete very hard. They are all capable of finishing in Champions League or could lose a bunch of close games and come in 8th just like 4 or 5 of the other clubs.
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Post by soccernoleuk on Oct 15, 2019 20:46:04 GMT -5
AFU's HC merger is not going to draw new players into their ECNL pool, its simply too far away. Unless they scout and allow for remote practicing and pool the top players once a week. Apparently the HC 07's wanted the ECNL spot because they beat the Duluth 07's last year, and a case could definitely be made for it, but that team will be NL Piedmont come this spring most likely. Henry County did not beat the top Duluth 07's last year. They played in the GA Soccer league in the spring along with the second team of 07's from Duluth and beat that team. At the end of the year the Henry County team played the second 07 Duluth team in the Atlanta Peach Classic (11v11) and only beat them 2-1. So, it wasn't like they were clearly a better team than the top 07 team out of Duluth. Should Henry county been given the SCCL-P team? Maybe, but I will argue they are playing better competition in Athena A this year. |
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Post by soccerguru on Oct 16, 2019 23:23:27 GMT -5
AFU has good coaches and Nadine is one of the best. I love her work ethic and her approach with the kids. She's a very talented lady and knows how to coach, whether she is training boys or girls, she runs the show. They have also upgraded their coaching staff and brought in some very good coaches.
That's not their problem. Talent, or lack thereof. They get some very good players and then they fill their rosters with what's left. It was worse when CF North had a great program. The really good players at the club leave for CF, UFA, and GSA to play DA or just to join better teams.
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Post by ultimatedad on Oct 17, 2019 3:06:47 GMT -5
Sunrise brought the lion’s share of the talent to the table in that merger. FC Prime brought their ECNL spot. Sunrise has historically been very solid right through the age groups. Thus the improvement in FC Prime’s fortunes this year. AFU has always been the weak sister in Atlanta’s ECNL scene. [br How is this possible if Sunrise is coming from the National lesgue? Are you saying that national league talent is just as good or in this case better than ECNL talent? Good to know. Thanks. |
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Post by 4theloveofsoccer on Oct 17, 2019 5:50:15 GMT -5
AFU has increased its stars on their soccer crest over the recent years. I assume it is winning Nationals, and for which teams? The club as a whole has been struggling for years and hopes to be moving in the right direction.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Oct 17, 2019 14:52:46 GMT -5
AFU has been a interesting club the past 5-8 years with changes in leadership and with the addition of girls DA to the landscape etc.
Clearly the top dogs on the girls side are Tophat and Concorde.
We don't need to argue that --- right?
the next bucket is where it gets very interesting, now that UFA has girls DA, do they vault into that 2nd bucket of teams and who is that 2nd bucket.
GSA? SSA? and UFA?
I then think AFU's falls in a 3rd group, there carrot is ECNL obviously, but its obvious from the standings, they aren't on the same level as the other atlanta teams. GSA has a few teams that aren't great, but then they counter that with some teams that are the top of the table?
I think that is a fair quick assessment? Maybe I"m completely off base given I don't get to see many of these teams play much anymore.
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Post by soccerloafer on Oct 17, 2019 15:51:13 GMT -5
Sunrise brought the lion’s share of the talent to the table in that merger. FC Prime brought their ECNL spot. Sunrise has historically been very solid right through the age groups. Thus the improvement in FC Prime’s fortunes this year. AFU has always been the weak sister in Atlanta’s ECNL scene. [br How is this possible if Sunrise is coming from the National lesgue? Are you saying that national league talent is just as good or in this case better than ECNL talent? Good to know. Thanks. All I know is from playing Sunrise back in the RPL days (girls). The Sunrise teams were the best in RPL and were on par with top teams at TH, CF, etc. No idea about which leagues they've been involved with, but from a talent perspective, they were clearly top league talent. |
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 17, 2019 15:55:34 GMT -5
I think that's mostly accurate, however, the AFU teams are more consistently mid-table at the moment. I'd argue AFU has better coaches than GSA and at least TRIES to not always play directly. AFU hasn't played UFA DA either, so it's very difficult to compare those 2, and I'd argue that being in GDA certainly doesn't give UFA the edge. Especially when UFA GDA is very consistently mid-table also.
I'd put NTH and CF in the top tier and the other 4 in the 2nd tier (ordered GSA 1st and SSA-AFU-UFA all around the same level completely based on fall 2019 standings thus far). SSA's ECNL teams aren't very strong this year and only 1 of the 4 has a better record than AFU at this juncture...that may definitely change. There are certainly teams from NPL and NL that are in the 2nd tier also (but few clubs as a whole). AFC would be the next club down in my mind, ranked #7. Likely followed by Roswell then Inter.
We're at AFU but mine isn't on the AFU ECNL team this year so I don't really have a dog in that fight. Just stating my observations.
Sure would be nice if all these teams played on another...
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 17, 2019 16:00:13 GMT -5
All I know is from playing Sunrise back in the RPL days (girls). The Sunrise teams were the best in RPL and were on par with top teams at TH, CF, etc. No idea about which leagues they've been involved with, but from a talent perspective, they were clearly top league talent. Just goes to show it may be more about the CLUB than the TEAMs. Hence why NTH is top dog on the girls side regardless of what league their top team is in. |
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Post by 04gparent on Oct 17, 2019 16:01:45 GMT -5
[br How is this possible if Sunrise is coming from the National lesgue? Are you saying that national league talent is just as good or in this case better than ECNL talent? Good to know. Thanks. All I know is from playing Sunrise back in the RPL days (girls). The Sunrise teams were the best in RPL and were on par with top teams at TH, CF, etc. No idea about which leagues they've been involved with, but from a talent perspective, they were clearly top league talent. From the girls side alot of the Florida teams have struggles the last 5 years or so. Primarily because of internal club fighting and splits. FC Prime has done a good job of merging previously fighting clubs and has increased their player base. I am suprised that no one has mentioned that FC Sunrise Prime hired James H away from Concorde. James used to run the ECNL/DA programs at Concorde. He appears to be doing an excellent job down there.. |
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 17, 2019 16:06:04 GMT -5
Yeah, I considered that, but we have no idea if he was instrumental or even involved in the merger or whether he lucked into it or that was the draw that got him to leave CF. Someone may know however.
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Post by SoccerMom on Oct 19, 2019 7:26:04 GMT -5
AFU has increased its stars on their soccer crest over the recent years. I assume it is winning Nationals, and for which teams? The club as a whole has been struggling for years and hopes to be moving in the right direction. I think the AFU stars are for Super Y? |
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Post by atlfutboldad on Oct 19, 2019 9:21:42 GMT -5
I have no background knowledge on the stars, but if I had to guess they're for any championships (state, super-y, ecnl) should they get them. They went from 4 to 6 after the 2017-2018 season.
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Post by oldboy on Oct 19, 2019 10:12:11 GMT -5
2 or 3 of those stars are from the brief merger between them and Concorde. The clubs dissolved their association and both remaining clubs kept those stars on their logos.
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Post by SoccerFirst on Oct 19, 2019 18:31:06 GMT -5
The initial star was for a National title won by Massoud's 86 Concorde Fire boys team that came over to Atlanta United Soccer Association when Jay Miller was in charge - hence Atlanta FIRE United Soccer Association, and in a short period of time of being at AFU they won a youth national championship the good ole fashion kind, after winning Ga State Cup, Regionals and Youth Nationals at Disney. The stars that followed are Super Y championships.
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Post by SoccerFirst on Oct 19, 2019 18:52:28 GMT -5
In response to the initial post, AFU is like most clubs in the area, coaches run the gambit from exceptional to unfortunate. As for the player pool, it is most likely watered down due to all the high level clubs in the area, the top players that remain at AFU and haven't left for TH, UFA or the like, are probably out of loyalty to a coach or team.. I'm new to the forum but I'm not new to GA Soccer. I'm not sure how many have been around since the 80s-90s, but when these "elite" leagues began the initial thought it was to create a destination club OR 2 for the best players to go to in order to compete with clubs like PDA (where ALL the top players in Jersey and surrounding areas played). Now, the elite leagues are competing for one thing... $$$$
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