Season 3 – League Match #3
Croats in Miami vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: April 20th, 2003
Venue: Croats in Miami Arena (Miami, FL)
Attendance: 29,117 (33,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy
It’s payback time! This week we travel back down to Miami, to take on the Croats in Miami, the club that handed us our first ever league match loss, and cost us the series title last season. This has rapidly evolved into quite a little rivalry, and we’re looking forward to another good, hard-played match this time around.
The Croats come into today’s match in first place in the standings, and have yet to give up a goal through the first two weeks of play. But this can be quite deceiving, since they have only played two of the weakest teams in the division thus far; Neon Genesis Evangelion and Syracuse Supers. Truth be told, their defense isn’t all that good, and has been made even more suspect with the injury to starting keeper Don Smith last week.
Thus far, the all-time series is tied at one win a piece.
Previous Meetings
12/16/2002 – Screamin Seamen’ 5, Croats in Miami 1
3/17/2003 – Croats in Miami 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0
Formation: 3-5-2
Starters
Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
Right Wingback: #5 Arlen Lucas
Central Defender: #2 Chuck Scales
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard
Right Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
Inner Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
Left Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
Team Captain: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
-Forward: #14 Jesper Gravesen
-Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
The one change to our starting lineup this week is youngster Jerry Smith starting in place of Charlie Bautista in the midfield. Charlie has not been performing well at all as of late, and his slip has opened up a spot in the lineup for Jerry, at least on a temporary basis. Jerry has a bright future with the club, and has been playing excellent soccer as of late, so we want to get him into the starting lineup whenever possible.
With the Croats’ starting keeper out injured, we’ve decided to test the backup, Chris Keys. To do this, we’re playing with a much more aggressive formation than is typical for us, with McMahon, Ivarsson, Tomlin, and Rubio all being given the green-light to jump up on the attack when the situation warrants. Even wingbacks Arlen Lucas and Tyler Willard will play a little bit forward from their usual positions in the back, looking to feed the long ball to the wingers when given the opportunity.
Match Report
PRE-GAME
Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Croats in Miami Arena saw a crowd turnout of 29117.
Croats tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Keys - Schofield, Göransson, Howe - Parish, Allen, Blackwell, Schwab, Rönnerberg - Patrick, Broderick.
Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Lucas, Scales, Willard - Mcmahon, Ivarsson, Tomlin, Smith, Rubio - Henriksson, Tobias.
FIRST HALF
At the beginning of the game, Croats appeared to already have taken this victory to the bank.
Croats were very close to putting themselves one up in the 11th minute as Lester Schofield got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide.
Rolf Schwab received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 13th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.
After 18 minutes Screamin' put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Johannes Henriksson finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post.
After a fatal mistake from the away teams right side defense in the 31st minute, an alert Tony Allen bagged the ball, evening the score to 1 - 1.
Croats made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Ryan Broderick completely alone with keeper Cornelius Jernigan, who made a spectacular block.
Screamin's Arlen Lucas got himself booked after a foul.
The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. Croats held the ball, with a clear 58 percent possession rate.
SECOND HALF
Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 52nd minute left Screamin'´s Forrest Tobias completely free to score. 1 - 2 for the visitors.
Due to some great work on the right wing Croats:s Ryan Broderick was able to even the score in the 53rd minute to 2 - 2.
Croats had a good opportunity to take the lead as Michael Patrick came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of Cornelius Jernigan.
Rolf Schwab of Croats received a yellow card in the 87:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Croats held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.
POST-GAME
The most dominating Croats player was without a doubt Tony Allen. Chris Keys on the other hand, had a terrible day.
Most important Screamin' player was Chuck Scales. Ben Mcmahon on the other hand, had a terrible day.
Final Score: Croats in Miami 2, Screamin’ Seamen 2
Goals
Henriksson – 1 (1)
Tobias – 1 (1)
Cards
Lucas – yellow (1)
Player Ratings
Jernigan: ***
Lucas: ***~
Scales: ***~
Willard: ***
McMahon: **
Ivarsson: ***~
Smith: **~
Tomlin: **~
Rubio: ***
Henriksson: **
Tobias: **
Team Match MVP: #2 Chuck Scales
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-NSI: 65
Croats in Miami
-Midfield: Excellent (8)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-NSI: 62
Comments
With the offensive troubles that we have had thus far this season, it is nice to finally see some offensive production from the strikers. We only had two really good scoring opportunities in the match, and both Johannes Henriksson and Forrest “Gump” Tobias did not waste them, as each tallied their first league goals of the season.
Unfortunately, the Croats were able to respond to both of our goals, and we had to settle for a 2-2 draw. Despite the fact that we have yet to earn a league win this season, I am not all that upset about the result. The competition level in the series is such that, in most cases, a draw on the road is as good as a win.
I have also discovered what I think to be a big part of the reason that we have experienced trouble this season. Because of the way that the schedules are arranged, each team that we play against in the first half of the season is coming off of a game against the Syracuse Supers, the one safely PIC-able team in the league. This means that, assuming that the other managers in the league are intelligent (which they appear to be, for the most part), we’re playing with a team spirit deficit each and every time out for the first six weeks of the season.
The good news to come out of this little epiphany is that, in weeks six through nine, we will get to play our matches against what appear to be the two weakest teams in the league; Neon Genesis Evangelion and Syracuse Supers. This four week stretch should give us a lot of momentum to make a run at the end of the season. Needless to say, I am not as concerned with our sixth place standing as I was before I figured all of this out.
Series Scores and Standings
-Sweden Heights had an easy time at home against Syracuse Supers, winning 5-nil.
-SoccerWussies survived two second-half goals by Neon Genesis Evangelion, winning 3-2.
-Big Reds won a tough defensive battle against Ramblers, 1-nil.
No. Team Played Goals Pts. NSI
1. Sweden Heights 3 11-3 9 60
2. Croats in Miami 3 9-2 7 62
3. Big Reds 3 5-0 7 76
4. SoccerWussies 3 8-5 6 68
5. Ramblers 3 4-5 3 64
6. Screamin’ Seamen* 3 2-6 2 65
7. Neon Genesis Evangelion 3 4-9 0 60
8. Syracuse Supers 3 0-13 0 40
Our draw with Croats in Miami knocked them out of contention for 1st place, leaving that honor for Sweden Heights (whom we play host to next week). Also of note are Ramblers, who have yet to score a goal since their 4-nil MOTS victory over us in week one. This just goes to show how damaging an ill-advised early-season MOTS can be to a team’s season.
Week 4 Matchups
Ramblers vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Screamin’ Seamen vs. Sweden Heights
Syracuse Supers vs. SoccerWussies
Big Reds vs. Croats in Miami
Ramblers should be able to recover next week against NGE, and SoccerWussies should increase their position with an easy win over Syracuse Supers. The matches to watch next week are ours against league-leading Sweden Heights, and Big Reds hosting Croats (the winner of which could claim first place with a Seamen victory over Heights).
Up Next: We’ve arranged for a friendly match this Wednesday against Rexall’s Else United, to take place at The Docks. Stay tuned!