Atlas will play on Omaha from Kansas, then face the MLS Kansas Wizards. After the short US tour Atlas will play Libertad de Paraguay and finally Segunda de Cihuatlán which is a Mexican team.

Their schedule certainly seems well-rounded, with a team from the MLS, an outside team, and a Mexican team. Although I think it would have been better for Atlas to play higher profile teams I think that they aren’t as well known outside of Mexico and therefore can’t land the high teams. Nonetheless, it’s good to see that not only Atlas but other Mexican teams have begun to play pre-season games outside of Mexico in order to prepare themselves for the season.

Especially with a new squad I think these pre-season games will help coach Brindisi finish up the roster and formation. I think of all the pre-season games, the one against the Kansas City Wizards should be the most interesting, that game is on the 11th of July.

Dario Botinelli will join Atlas from U. Católica de Chile. I guess if Vargas was hired to replace Marioni, Botinelli was hired to replace Medina who left to America.

Again, all these one for one acquisitions seem to hint that Atlas is not going to play any differently than last season, they’re just filling in vacancies. I don’t know how I feel about that, I know Atlas did really well in both the domestic and Libertadores but a big reason they were able to do that was the individual players. I think that with new players a new formation would be good, of course, I’m just assuming they are not going to change their formation so I guess we’ll have to wait to the start of the season.

In other player news, Achucarro has been demoted to the Academicos club of the Primera A. This move has been made in order to help steady his rehabilitation. He is expected to return to Atlas in the middle of October.

The Atlas wikipedia page also reports that midfielder Ramon Nuñez has been added but I have not found any news of it on the Atlas official site. I’ll keep an eye out. Confirmed

Also the team has also reported that currently their priority is signing another forward or a midfielder. This is no surprise since they let go both el negro Medina (midfielder) and Marioni (forward). What this means is that coach Brindisi will probably use the same lineup as last year when he had his superstars. This might prove to be a challenge to newcomer Vargas, since Marioni was usually isolated in the forward position.

I’m happy that finally Atlas was able to solve their economic issues and add some new blood to the team. I don’t know if Vargas will be the replacement Marioni or not but he seems to be enthusiastic and having good team workouts.

Atlas is also looking for a new captain to replace Medina, and so far half the team has added their name to the hopeful list.

Medina has been with Atlas since Apertura 2003 and has been sold to Club América. Medina was released after he had expressed his desire to leave Atlas in order to look advance his career.

Advance his career? America was dead last in the Mexican Clausura tournament and they only outlasted Atlas in the Copa Libertadores by one match.

There seems to be a pattern of players leaving clubs in order to “advance their careers”, what happened to playing as the ship goes down?

And there is still no news of any new players.

Atlas is the second highest ranked Mexican team, Club America at 34 being the first. What is so great is that Atlas is ranked higher than their city rivals Chivas, ha! Take that! Atlas jumped up to 61 from 75th and currently has 147.5 points.

No doubt Atlas was elevated by their showing in Copa Libertadores, and the fact that they played 35 games in all during the Clausura tournament.

I hope that Atlas can stay high up on the list and possibly be the number one ranked Mexican team, although with all the departures from Atlas already, this is looking like a bit of unfounded optimism.

Regardless, go Atlas, we’re 61!

Arroyo was a star player with the Primera Division A team, Academicos, so his addition to the list is a bit of a surprise, but then again a couple of the names seem not to make sense, so this addition relatively makes sense, me head hurts after writing that sentence.

Daniel Osorno a.k.a. “Danny Boy” was on loan to Dorados, a team fighting to get into the first division again. He used to play with Atlas but I believe is now past his prime, and doubt Atlas will get a good deal for him.

Ibarra was on loan to Tecos but never really found a fit in any team.

President Fernando Acosta Martínez has said that the team is shopping for forwards, after getting rid of Marioni and dropping Achucarro to the Primera Division A team. Martinez hasn’t given any names of players they are actively pursuing other than possible players they might get from Pachuca.

There was a tie between the winner and to decide a winner, there was an OT Q&A session, “What is your vision regarding Atlas’ image for next season?” I’m thinking the same thing, I hope they studied.

Adaluz did study, she finished her question with “one thousand times hooray for Atlas” it was at that point that the contest was over, I mean how can you beat that? A million times hooray? That’s just silly.

This was your basic beauty pageant, night gown, swimsuit, and Q&A.

I really don’t know what you get as Miss Atlas, besides having to put the crown on next years winner but I’m sure the players in attendance enjoyed the night,

Marioni has already been sold, Rodriguez and Vargas had already been announced as transfers and just recently Atlas has announced that forward Lucas Barrios will be sold to Colo Colo, which is where he was on loan.

Transfer list after the jump:

Hebert Efraín Alférez Popoca
Rafael Murguia González
Gregorio Isidro Torres Ramírez
Francisco Javier Duran Roldán
Juan Manuel García Zavala
Mauricio Romero Arvizu
Emanuel Adrián Centurión
Danilo Gustavo Vergne Gómes
Daniel Almaral Mendoza

Centurion’s inclusion in this list is a bit of a surprise, he was having a pretty good season as an often used substitution. However, the good news are not the names on this list but the ones off it, Medina, Mendivil, Achucarro, and Colotto.

Hopefully soon to come is the list of players that will be entering Atlas, they had a good run in both the domestic league and Copa Libertadores, hopefully this increased the team’s exposure and prestige with other players.

The deal was announced yesterday and although the full terms haven’t been outlined, Atlas is expecting to receive either one or more players or some of the money that Atlas paid Boca Juniors to get Marioni in the first place.

President Fernando Acosta added, a bit bitterly, that he was surprised at how fast Marioni reached an agreement with Pachuca, noting that Atlas was in negotiations with him for about a week and all it took Pachuca was a couple of hours. In Mexico we have a proverb that seems to fit this situation well “con dinero hasta el perrito baila” translated it would be “with money even the dog can dance”, I believe it applies, feel free to use it. Of course I am aware that this proverb makes Marioni a dog.

Other players being sought out are Juan Carlos Medina, by Morelia and Pachuca (again), and Christian Valdez by Jaguares. However, Acosta commented that he wants to keep the team as intact as possible. In terms of acquisitions Acosta said that there has been talk about the Brazilian Robert de Pinho, who has played for Atlas before (2004-2005), after he was put on the transfer market by Monterrey.

News to me is the fact that Atlas is either broke or stingy, because for every player either leaving or coming into Atlas, president Acosta feels it’s necessary to add the fact that he must look to see if the deal is economically possible, or if the team can make that type of economic commitment.

It seems again that money makes the world go round, where are the Tim Duncans in football who are willing to take a paycut for the sake of the team? I know Mexican soccer doesn’t pay as high as some of the more prestigious leagues, but the case of Marioni is especially irritating because after losing to Boca he said he felt the job was incomplete and wanted to come back to Atlas to finish said job. Right…

Dance dog, dance.

On a happier note, Atlas is calling back Lucas Barrios from Colo Colo. Barrios was the leading scorer in the Chilean soccer league and hopefully he will be able to take Marioni’s spot as a finisher.

The club president said a more complete transfer picture will come in about two weeks, after the team can asses their needs.