Season 3 – FOFC Cup III – Group Play – Round 3
Fantastic Flying Froggies vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: May 28th, 2003
Venue: Fantastic Flying Froggies Arena (Montpellier, France)
Attendance: 1,643 (16,000)
Weather: Overcast
We’re in the Not-So-Sunny South of France today, for our FOFC Cup match against the Fantastic Flying Froggies. I like to give my players at least one international trip each season, and fortunately that turned out to be part of our schedule for the Cup. The players are eager for the match, and also for the match to be over. I’ve promised them the day off so they can enjoy what the Mediterranean coast has to offer. I foresee a topless beach or two in their future.
We expect to see a 4-5-1 formation from the Froggies, so we should be looking at another tough, defensive battle. And frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way (so there, Coffee Warlord). We should have the edge in talent, but like everything else, it all comes down to execution. We’ll see how our lads perform today, and hopefully they won’t be too distracted by their surroundings.
Formation: 5-4-1
Starters
Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald
Central Defender: #20 Keith Stubbs
Left Wingback: #24 Christian Kvam
Right Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
Left Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Team Captain: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
-Forward: #14 Jesper Gravesen
-Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
The one noticeable change to the lineup this week is the presence of The Old Goat, Pete Tomlin. Due to his suspension from last week, he was unavailable for the match on Sunday against the Syracuse Supers. We don’t want the old man to get rusty, nor do we want Lucian Tere to be pulling double-duty this week, so Pete will be suiting up for us today. Hopefully he can keep his nose clean, and keep the rest of the midfield under control as well.
Match Report
PRE-GAME
At Fantastic Flying Froggies Arena, 1643 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.
Fantastic tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players had been chosen: Tuil - Guéron, Guillotin, Momot, Douglade - Randoux, Pailler, Faillon, Racher, Fringant - Aussedat.
Screamin' started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: Read - Leier, Lerma, Stubbs, Mcdonald, Kvam - Mauffret , Tomlin, Smith, Peralta - Henriksson.
FIRST HALF
Screamin' had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 1st minute when Johannes Henriksson came up alone against Aristide Tuil who managed a block.
Cameron Mcdonald of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 12th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Cameron Mcdonald came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 14:th minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Aristide Tuil managed to tip the ball to a corner.
0 - 0 was the half-time score. Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 72 percent, dominated the battle.
SECOND HALF
Screamin''s Johannes Henriksson scored 0 - 1 by shooting accurately and hard from a long distance, leaving the opponent goalie no other option than to pick up the ball from the net.
Screamin'´s Johannes Henriksson made it through the home teams defence in the 58:th minute, and had only to place the ball in an unguarded goal when the home side´s defender sprang up from the left, clearing the ball on the line.
The away team´s Mattias Leier took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 73rd minute increasing Screamin'´s lead to 0 - 2.
Fantastic made a substitution in the 84:th minute. Pascal Fringant limped off the field and was replaced by Georges Couve.
Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 84 percent possession rate.
POST-GAME
The most dominating Fantastic player was without a doubt Anatole Momot. Yannick Pailler was a disappointment, however.
The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Keith Stubbs. However, Johannes Henriksson made a disastrous appearance.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Fantastic Flying Froggies 0
Goals
Henriksson – 1
Leier – 1
Cards
McDonald – yellow
Player Ratings
Read: **~
Leier: ***
Lerma: **
McDonald: **
Stubbs: ***
Kvam: ***
Mauffret: **
Smith: **
Tomlin: **~
Peralta: **
Henriksson: *~
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Weak (4)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-NSI: 52
Fantastic Flying Froggies
-Midfield: Wretched (2)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-NSI: 37
Comments
Froggies’ keeper Tuil was on top of his game in the first half, and held us scoreless despite two good opportunities. Unfortunately for him, he did not appear to get much help from the rest of the club, and finally surrendered goals to Johannes Henriksson and Mattias Leier in the second half. With Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin in the lineup due to his suspension, we dominated play in the middle of the pitch, and did not allow any good scoring opportunities.
Henriksson’s goal may be a good sign, but I am not putting too much stock into it. He has been scoring semi-regularly, despite his slump, but it doesn’t seem to be making much difference in his general level of play. The Swedish striker continues to struggle, and we will make no further evaluations of him until we have analyzed his play on the practice field as well.
All in all, though, a good win on the road (and over the ocean) for our second team.
FOFC Cup Group F Scores and Standings
-The Manhattan Marauders earned their first victory in group play, with a 2-nil defeat of theNorth Plainfield Plague.
-The Alf Trickers were dominant at home, downing the Shadow Dragons, 3-nil.
No. Team Seed GF GA Diff Pts. NSI
1. Screamin’ Seamen 1 5 1 +4 9 52
2. Alf Trickers 2 7 3 +4 6 34
3. North Plainfield Plague 6 4 3 +1 6 33
4. Manhattan Marauders 4 4 4 0 4 48
5. Fantastic Flying Froggies 3 2 6 -4 1 37
6. Shadow Dragons 5 0 5 -5 0 42
The Manhattan Marauders did us a favor this week by taking care of business against the North Plainfield Plague. This places us in the driver’s seat for Group F with only two weeks remaining. Thank you NAIWF!
Group F Round 4 Matchups
North Plainfield Plague vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Manhattan Marauders vs. Shadow Dragons
Alf Trickers vs. Fantastic Flying Froggies.
Up Next: Weekly training and financial updates. Stay tuned!