Season 3 – League Match #5
SoccerWussies vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: May 4th, 2003
Venue: SoccerWussies Arena (Atlanta, GA)
Attendance: 17,000 (17,000)
Weather: Overcast
No pre-game commentary this week. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was unable to travel with the team this weekend.
Formation: 3-5-2
Starters
Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard
Central Defender: #2 Chuck Scales
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen Lucas
Right Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
Inner Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson
Left Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
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: #19 Jerry Smith
-Forward: #14 Jesper Gravesen
-Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
I was unable to make any alterations to our standard line-up this week (see the earlier post for an explanation), so we were forced to go with our default line-up this week.
Match Report
PRE-GAME
At SoccerWussies Arena, 17000 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.
SoccerWussies had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Tullbrant - Danielsson, Åhlstedt, Dehlbrant - Wilson, Göransson, Myung-Dae, Bower, Udd - Hansson, Casillas.
Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Willard, Scales, Lucas - Rubio, Ivarsson, Bautista, Tomlin, Mcmahon - Henriksson, Tobias.
FIRST HALF
After a fine move down the middle Tony Göransson nearly gave the home side one up in the 9:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.
Man, what a shot by Lin Myung-Dae! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 1 - 0.
In the 18:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jessie Casillas dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for SoccerWussies.
In the 24:th minute SoccerWussies´s David 'Follen' Hansson tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net.
The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. SoccerWussies held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.
SECOND HALF
Screamin' showed some good morale and were, in the 68:th minute, able to reduce the score to 2 - 1 as Forrest Tobias got past the home sides full backs straight in front of the goal.
The referee showed SoccerWussiess Urban Danielsson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.
Björn R. Dehlbrant was clearly tired at the end of the game and Tyler Willard nicked the ball from him, but was unable to put it past the keeper.
Screamin' got a chance to level the score as Forrest Tobias suddenly found himself free with the goaltender but the finishing shot hit the bar.
Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.
POST-GAME
SoccerWussies´s best player was Tony Göransson. Hans Udd was a disappointment, however.
The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen Lucas. Johannes Henriksson on the other hand, had a terrible day.
Final Score: SoccerWussies 2, Screamin’ Seamen 1
Goals
Tobias – 1(2)
Cards
None
Player Ratings
Jernigan: ***
Willard: ***~
Scales: ****
Lucas: ****
Rubio: **~
Tomlin: **~
Bautista: **~
Ivarsson: ***~
McMahon: **~
Henriksson: **
Tobias: **~
Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen Lucas
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: World-Class (13)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-NSI: 70
SoccerWussies
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-NSI: 64
Comments
Coach Brown was left to his own devices this weekend, and needless to say I am not happy with the results. It looks as though the perpetual team spirit deficit we are operating on this season continues to haunt us, and I am certain that playing on the road did not help matters any. Despite great ratings, the defense allowed two early goals from which we were never able to recover.
“Gump” Tobias did make things more interesting with his second-half goal, but he was basically operating alone up front as team captain Johannes Henriksson continues to play the worst soccer we have seen from him in over two seasons. Still and all, both “Gump” and Tyler Willard had opportunities late to change the outcome of the match, but weren’t able to finish things off. Forrest’s shot hitting the bar late in the match was particularly painful, as we were mere inches away from earning at least one point on the road.
Not a good day, to say the least. I cannot wait for the second half of the season, when we are no longer chasing the Syracuse Supers (the one PICable team in the series) through the fixture order. That, more than anything else, is killing the first half of this season.
Series Scores and Standings
-Croats in Miami put up a magnificent (
) midfield, and defeated Ramblers 3-1.
-Big Reds had no trouble with Sweden Heights, handing them an embarrassing 5-1 defeat at home.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion earned their first points of the season with a 5-1 beat-down of Syracuse Supers.
No. Team Played Goals Pts. NSI
1. Big Reds 5 12-2 13 75
2. SoccerWussies 5 11-6 12 64
3. Croats in Miami 5 13-5 10 80
4. Sweden Heights 5 12-10 9 62
5. Ramblers 5 9-11 6 66
6. Screamin’ Seamen* 5 5-8 5 70
7. Neon Genesis Evangelion 5 12-14 3 62
8. Syracuse Supers 5 1-19 0 45
I’m trying not to let our low standing bother me, because I don’t believe the series standings are a fair gauge of a team until half the season is played (once each team has played every other team once). I know that we’re better than our sixth place standing shows, and that should improve soon. Our next four matches are against the two teams below us; Neon Genesis Evangelion and the (apparently abandoned) Syracuse Supers. We should be able to rise into the top four by the end of the month.
Week 6 Matchups
Screamin Seamen vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Croats in Miami vs. Sweden Heights
Big Reds vs. SoccerWussies
Ramblers vs. Syracuse Supers
Other News: Some good news amidst the bad. As some of you may recall, we traded a great youth pull, Hyman Morey (solid playmaking and solid defending) last season for “Corny” Jernigan and Jerry Smith. Hyman was sold over the weekend for a cool million, which netted us a nice $50,000 in mother club money. Despite not having a home league match this week, we should still break even.
Up Next: We’re off to the Big Easy this week, for the last friendly match before the start of FOFC Cup III. Our hosts are Doug5984 and his Louisiana Cyclones. It should be a tough, defensive match. Stay tuned!