[DataKing]

Season 3 – FOFC Cup III – Elimination Play – Round of 32

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Concord Assassins

Date: June 18th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 1,199 (30,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

The club cruised through group play pretty well, and have advanced to the single-elimination portion of the FOFC Cup Tournament. Our first draw appears to be a difficult one, as we will be hosting BishopMVP’s Concord Assassins. I call this a difficult draw, because it looks as though the Assassins played their reserves in their league match on Sunday (or at least took it easy on their opposition, and were still victorious 3-nil). Odds are, we will be facing the Assassins’ starting squad today, which is no small task for our reserves. We have been preparing for such, and are as ready as we will ever be.

Formation: 5-4-1

Starters

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read

Right Wingback: #24 Christian Kvam
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Central Defender: #20 Keith Stubbs
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier

Right Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
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: #5 Arlen Lucas
-Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio

We will have our standard b-team personnel on the pitch today, but as usual we will be mixing up their individual orders a little bit. We expect to face off against a 3-5-2 formation today, with a healthy midfield to go along with that. To counter this, we’re going to try to give Smith and Tere some help in the middle. Winger Paul Peralta will be pinching in from the right side to help out, and defender Cameron McDonald has been ordered to carry the ball up-field as much as possible to help out. Hopefully this will be enough, and we will see relatively even possession ratings. If so, then I’d say that home pitch advantage and our superior defense should result in a win.

We shall see…

Match Report

PRE-GAME

1199 spectators arrived at The Docks, where weather conditions were pretty good for football.

Screamin' started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Kvam , Lerma, Stubbs, Mcdonald, Leier - Mauffret , Tere, Smith, Peralta - Henriksson.

Assassins had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Schaaf - Bakker, Pettersson, Kardel - Trujillo, Huff, Eriksson, Russev, Greco - Demian, Häggner.

FIRST HALF

Christian Kvam of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 18:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Screamin' created a good opportunity to score in the games 22nd minute when Keith Stubbs`s hooked ball created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors defenders had a hard time clearing the ball.

0 - 0 was the half-time score. Assassins, bringing the final ball possession rate to 52 percent, dominated the battle.

SECOND HALF

The referee showed Assassinss Kenny Häggner the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

A well placed corner kick from Johannes Henriksson was followed by Zarpas Lerma´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 1-0 for Screamin'.

The crowd was silenced in the 73rd minute as the visiting teams Skip Huff came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1.

In the games 76:th minute Assassins´s Nils Eriksson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Nils Eriksson for taking a dive.

80 minutes into the game Pompiliu Demian was a hair´s breadth away from giving Assassins the lead. A prompt block by Darryl Read saved the home team that time.

Assassinss Lee Greco got himself booked after a foul. Jerry Smith the unlucky victim, couldn´t continue the game.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

OVERTIME

After the regular 90 minutes, the agonizing of overtime followed.

In 95:th minute of game time Assassins´s Lee Greco received his second yellow card and was sent off.

There was still no winner after 30 minutes of extra time so the teams had to select a lineup for a penalty contest to settle the result.

PENALTY KICKS

Screamin'´s Johannes Henriksson was seemingly taken by the gravity of the moment, producing a badly laid penalty, blocked by Heiner Schaaf. Score still 1 - 1.

Assassins´s Stefan Pettersson cooly put the ball past Darryl Read. 1 - 2.

Screamin'´s Darryl Read cooly put the ball past Heiner Schaaf. 2 - 2.

Assassins´s Kenny Häggner penalty shot was very well placed but Darryl Read went the right way, blocking it spectacularly. The score was still 2 - 2.

Screamin'´s Lucian Tere looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal.

Assassins´s Borislav Russev cooly put the ball past Darryl Read. 2 - 3.

Screamin'´s Paul Peralta was seemingly taken by the gravity of the moment, producing a badly laid penalty, blocked by Heiner Schaaf. Score still 2 - 3.

Assassins´s Skip Huff cooly put the ball past Darryl Read. 2 - 4.

Screamin'´s Mattias Leier had nerves of steel at the penalty, changing the score to 3 - 4.

Assassins´s Fulco Trujillo cooly put the ball past Darryl Read. 3 - 5.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Charlie Bautista. However, Johannes Henriksson made a disastrous appearance.

The most dominating Assassins player was without a doubt Heiner Schaaf. Pompiliu Demian on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Concord Assassins 5, Screamin’ Seamen 3 (4-2 on penalty kicks)

Goals

Lerma – 1 (assisted by Henriksson)
Read – 1 (penalty kick)
Leier – 1 (penalty kick)

Cards

Kvam – yellow

Player Ratings

Read: **~

Kvam: **~
Lerma: **~
Stubbs: ***
McDonald: **
Leier: ***

Mauffret: **
Smith: *~ (injured, replaced by Bautista)
Bautista: ***
Tere: **~
Peralta: **

Henriksson: **

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Weak (4)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 51

Concord Assassins
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-NSI: 59

Comments

And so, our seasonal run in the FOFC Cup comes to a close. Last season we got as far as the quarterfinals, and obviously did not match that achievement this time around. Of course, the FOFC Cup field is much deeper now, with 84 teams participating, compared to the 32 participants in FOFC Cup II. And it did take the Assassins’ starters to beat us, and on penalty kicks to boot. All the same, we wish BishopMVP and his Concord Assassins the best of luck through the rest of the cup.

Despite the loss and the poor showing in the penalty kicks, there were some definite positive signs today. One of those comes from Johannes Henriksson, who, despite missing the first PK, put up his best performance in the last six weeks. His corner kick in the second half was dead on, and was the perfect height for Zarpas Lerma to head home. It looks like we were correct, that Henriksson is finally, if slowly, coming out of his horrible slump.

Jerry Smith’s injury is not as bad as we originally thought, which is another positive sign. We have brought in a couple of sports doctors to tend to his wounds, as well as to hopefully get Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin back to tip-top shape before our league match on Sunday.

Up Next: The weekly training update. Stay tuned!