It's all finally looking to be coming together for the Atlanta Silverbacks. After looking like among the best team in the A-League at home and not winning a game away the first two and a half months of the season, Atlanta struck for two huge wins in a row on the road, a big 4-1 win over the Raleigh Capital Express and a 1-0 win over the Hampton Roads Mariners. With Roads would return to Atlanta to beat the Silverbacks last Saturday, it was clear it's finally starting to come together for Coach Nuno Pitiera's Silverbacks who have the 3rd best record in the Eastern Conference. There are many reasons for this sudden breakthrough in Atlanta, among those reasons are....
Finally, depth off the bench, especially up front. Forward Ahmed Mohyeldin's game is looking as good as ever this season, now Pitiera may substitute Mohyeldin in late in the game for a tired Iggy Moleka or Patrick Beech (both who rank in the top 5 scorers in the A-League) and Mohyeldin can provide that spark that can get a team over the top. In the Midfield, the acquisition of Alex Bahr has demoted rookie Brian Piesner to the bench and has also found Tony Soto out of the starting lineup, however this may prove a positive for Atlanta as the quick Piesner is the perfect spark off the bench, and Soto can be inserted as an attacking or defensive midfielder and also seems to be the best on the team at curving free kicks into the net.
Meanwhile, the offense is finally complementing the defense in away games. Moleka and Beech are among the Top 5 Scorers in the A-League, and Beech nailed a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Raleigh last week.
Also, Josh Henderson is finally panning out. All year his talent has been easy too see, but it seemed that right when he got his chance to make a big play, something went wrong. A hat-trick against El Paso two weeks ago and solid play since finally have Henderson going down the right track.
Although it appears the Silverbacks are finally out of the woods, a second straight loss at home this Saturday would send them right back where they started. A win would likely have them out of those dangerous woods for good. Let's hope they are.
