Season 3 – League Match #10
Screamin’ Seamen vs. SoccerWussies
Date: June 8th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 30,000 (30,000)
Weather: Overcast
We have an opportunity to earn some vengeance this week, as we play host to the SoccerWussies, who defeated us in Atlanta back in week five, 2-1. The SoccerWussies are a tough defensive team, similar to our own, due primarily to the play of 23-year-old Swedish keeper Tobias Tullbrant (valued at $498,000, averages 3.5 stars). They also have a dangerous attacking midfielder in 32-year-old Tony Goransson (valued at $167,000, also averages 3.5 stars).
We’ll be playing a bit more aggressively than is typical for the Seamen, as we feel we need to get shots on target against Tullbrant, and make him earn his keep. We will also be modifying our defensive setup a bit today, as the strength of the SoccerWussies attack tends to be right up the middle, while the strength of our defense is on the wings.
Needless to say, every match from here on out is extremely important. The standings are so tight in Series IV.49 that one small slip could easily land just about any team down in the relegation zone. We’ll be more than happy if we can get through the next couple of weeks and remain within striking distance of the league-leading Croats in Miami.
Previous Meetings
5/4/2003 – SoccerWussies 2, Screamin’ Seamen 1
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: #3 Ben McMahon
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
Inner Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson
Left Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
Forward: #12 Guido Metman
Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #3 Ben McMahon
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
We’re going with our standard line-up this week, but the orientation of the team will be a little different than normal. As I mentioned previously, the strength of the SoccerWussies' attack tends to be right up the middle, so wingback Tyler Willard will be playing closer to the middle of the field than he is accustomed to. With less of a threat on the wings than we typically face, Arlen Lucas will be given more free reign to move up the field if the situation warrants such a move (normal).
The SoccerWussies’ defense also tends to be weaker on their right side, so we’ll be pushing the ball on the left. Midfielders Charlie Bautista and Niklas Ivarsson will be pushing the ball up the pitch, as will winger Valentin Rubio (all offensive). Defensive-specialist winger Ben McMahon will play in front of Tyler Willard, to help cover the open spot on the right side of our defense (normal).
We’ll be watching closely to see how this defensive adjustment works on the pitch, and if we’re pleased with the results we will likely use it in the future. Also, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Forrest “Gump” Tobias up front. He is quietly in third place in the series scoring title race, but his form has been slipping a bit as of late.
Match Report
PRE-GAME
30000 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.
Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Jernigan - Willard, Scales, Lucas - Mcmahon, Ivarsson, Bautista, Tomlin, Rubio - Metman, Tobias.
SoccerWussies had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Tullbrant - Bower, Larsson, Dehlbrant - Udd, Fjelér, Göransson, Myung-Dae, Wilson - Casillas, Molinari.
FIRST HALF
The 14:th minute saw the home team take a 1 - 0 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Screamin' was Niklas Ivarsson.
Screamin' put their lead ahead another goal as Charlie Bautista struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper.
The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 70 percent possession rate.
SECOND HALF
In the 49:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Forrest Tobias dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Screamin'.
Arlen Lucas sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 4-0 in after a corner kick after 58 minutes of play. After this Screamin' lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts.
In the 59:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Guido Metman dashed through, knocking home 5 - 0 for Screamin'.
The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 73rd minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Franco Molinari completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper.
Tobias Tullbrant was caught napping a bit later as Ben Mcmahon lifted a ball over him after a free kick, but the ball hit the bar, rebounding into the keepers arms.
Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 78 percent, dominated the battle.
POST-GAME
Screamin'´s best player was Tyler Willard. Ben Mcmahon on the other hand, had a terrible day.
SoccerWussies´s best player was Björn R. Dehlbrant. However, Mikey Bower made a disastrous appearance.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 5, SoccerWussies 0
Goals
Ivarsson – 1 (1, GWG)
Bautista – 1 (3)
Tobias – 1 (7)
Lucas – 1 (1)
Metman – 1 (2)
Cards
None
Player Ratings
Jernigan: ***
Willard: ****
Scales: ***~
Lucas: ****
McMahon: **
Bautista: ***
Tomlin: **~
Ivarsson: ***
Rubio: ***
Tobias: **
Metman: ***
Team Match MVP: #22 Tyler Willard
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-NSI: 71
SoccerWussies
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: World Class (13)
-Right Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-NSI: 51
Comments
Wow! We were expecting a victory today (we never lose at home), but we weren’t expecting to see such a dominant performance in all areas of the game. Midfielder Niklas Ivarsson opened things up for us in the fourteenth minute with his first goal as a Seaman, and that just seemed to open the flood gates. It was great to see everyone contributing, and five goals from five different players pleases me to no end. We displayed damn fine ball distribution.
Defensively we weren’t as strong down the middle as I had expected, but it was still more than enough to contain the SoccerWussies. “Corny” Jernigan was never seriously challenged, and earned his sixth clean sheet of the season (fifth in league play). Tyler Willard and Chuck Scales were solid, as always, and Arlen Lucas finally landed one of his patented headers on target (his first goal of the season).
The stars in the middle were certainly Niklas Ivarsson and Charlie Bautista. Niklas finally got himself onto the scoring charts for the Seamen. Charlie was not to be out-done, however, and followed with a goal of his own later in the half. The midfield also did a fine job of controlling the ball and the pace of the match. The SoccerWussies had precious few opportunities to test our strange defensive formation.
The good news certainly seems to outweigh the bad up front. Although “Gump” Tobias’ form has been slipping as of late, he tallied his fourth goal in the last three weeks. He remains in third place in the series scoring race, behind George Herrmann (Croats in Miami) and Tomas Leijonstal (Sweden Heights), both of whom have nine goals on the season (Gump has seven). Guido Metman also finally proved that he was worth the half-million it cost to bring him aboard, as he turned in the sort of performance we were expecting to see a month ago. He did a great deal to open things up for Tobias and the others, as well as tallying a goal of his own.
All in all, it was an excellent day to be a Seaman. We won handily in front of a sellout crowd, our first since we expanded to 30,000 seats during the past off-season. We also did it without attracting any injuries or cards. A fine day for the Seamen, indeed.
Series Scores and Standings
-Neon Genesis Evangelion had surprising difficulty with the Syracuse Supers, narrowly escaping with a 2-1 victory.
-Big Reds continue to struggle, drawing with Sweden Heights, 1-1.
-Croats in Miami had a narrow escape of their own, slipping past Ramblers, 3-2.
No. Team Played Goals Pts. NSI
1. Croats in Miami 10 31-13 23 77
2. Big Reds 10 18-8 18 74
3. Screamin’ Seamen* 10 21-13 17 71
4. Ramblers 10 22-16 16 71
5. Neon Genesis Evangelion 10 23-22 15 60
6. SoccerWussies 10 14-22 13 51
7. Sweden Heights 10 19-21 12 63
8. Syracuse Supers 10 2-35 0 49
While the standings are still extremely tight, it looks as though we may finally be starting to separate the wheat from the chaff. SoccerWussies put up a surprisingly poor performance against us today, and may have decided to PIC the match and take their lumps, given our impressive home record. Neon Genesis Evangelion also slipped a bit as well, and it nearly cost them an easy one against the Syracuse Supers. It would appear that NGE MOTSed their match against us last week.
Week 11 Matchups
Sweden Heights vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Croats in Miami vs. Big Reds
SoccerWussies vs. Syracuse Supers
Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Ramblers
We’ll be travelling to New York City next week, to take on Sweden Heights, who we defeated back in week four, 2-nil. Croats vs. Big Reds promises to be a big match, as the top two teams go head to head. NGE vs. Ramblers will also be an interesting one to watch, with the critical fourth place on the line.
Up Next: We wrap up FOFC Cup Group Play on Wednesday, when we play host to NAIWF’s Manhattan Marauders. Stay tuned!