Season 3 – League Match #12
Croats in Miami vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: June 22nd, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 30,000 (30,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy
We’re back home this weekend, thankfully, but have a very tall order in front of us; defeat the Croats in Miami. The Croats have all but locked up the series title, and have become the dominant team in the series, bar-none. However, we’re certain that they’re hungry for more. A victory today would seal the series title for them, and they’re also chasing the automatic promotion line (they’re two points behind it at the moment). We expect them to come at us with everything they’ve got.
The real strength of the Croats is their phenomenal midfielders, particularly Donald Blackwell (4.5*, $1,202,000) and Tony Allen (4*, $840,000). These two make for a lethal combination, and are complimented up front by striker George Herrmann (3*, $65,000), who is currently in the lead for the series scoring title (10 goals thus far).
Needless to say, today’s match is a daunting task. The series standings are so tight that every point counts, and we have a difficult road ahead of us during these last three weeks. Also on the line is our reputation at The Docks. We’ve never lost a league match at home, and have no intention of starting now. This has led us to try some odd tactics today in order to slow down the Croats, but more on that in a moment.
Previous Meetings
12/15/2002 – Screamin’ Seamen 5, Croats in Miami 1
3/16/2003 – Croats in Miami 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0
4/20/2003 – Croats in Miami 2, Screamin’ Seamen 2
As you can see, the all-time series between our two clubs is tied, with each club having a 1-1-1 record. Unless today’s match ends in a draw (not an entirely undesirable result from our perspective), someone will take the lead in this budding rivalry.
Formation: 4-4-2
Starters
Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald
Central Defender: #2 Chuck Scales
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard
Right Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
Inner Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
Inner Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson
Forward: #12 Guido Metman
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #3 Ben McMahon
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
-Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
Like I said before, we’re going with some unusual tactics for today’s match. We’ve decided to go with a 4-4-2, 3 midfielder formation today. The reasons for this are many:
1. Valentin Rubio and Arlen Lucas are both suspended for this match. We’re not happy with any of our backups for Valentin, and he’s always been an attacking winger, who has never helped our midfield much anyway.
2. The strength of the Croats’ attack is right up the gut, so instead of a second winger, we’re giving Cameron McDonald his first start in league play. Cameron is there to help out Chuck Scales in the middle, and to help the midfielders move the ball up the pitch. He is also the only head specialist we will have on the pitch today (Lucas and Rubio are both head specialists), so he will play a key roll on corner kicks.
3. The Croats typically pinch in their winger on the left side of their formation, so we will not lose much from missing our winger on that side.
4. We know that we cannot even pretend to compete with the Croats in the midfield, so we aren’t even going to try. Instead, we will concentrate on stopping their attacks up the middle, and look for counter-attacking opportunities (McMahon, Bautista, and Ivarsson will all play offensively).
5. The one weakness of the Croats is their defense, so we should get some of these counter-attacking opportunities. We just have to make sure we make them count.
Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin is still not at 100% after getting dinged up in last Sunday’s match, so Lucian Tere will start in his place. Lucian has been playing very well as of late (excellent form) and Pete will be on the bench as a back-up, just in case. In place of the suspended Arlen Lucas, we will start our best wingback trainee, Mattias Leier.
Time to head to The Docks and see if this works. Cross your fingers…
Match Report
PRE-GAME
Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Docks saw a crowd turnout of 30000.
Screamin' had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Jernigan - Leier, Scales, Mcdonald, Willard - Mcmahon, Ivarsson, Tere, Bautista - Metman, Tobias.
Croats started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Keys - Schofield, Göransson, Moustakis - Parish, Allen, Blackwell, Hand, Schwab - Broderick, Herrmann.
FIRST HALF
After 19 minutes Croats put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Alexander Parish finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post.
In the games 26:th minute Ulf Göransson nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar.
Halftime score was 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Croats, with an impressive 62 percent possession of the ball.
SECOND HALF
Croats came close to extending their lead as Lester Schofield delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was to sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal.
The visitors George Herrmann took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 62nd minute. 0 - 2 for Croats.
In the 68:th minute Croatss Antonis Moustakis received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.
Screamin's Charlie Bautista got himself booked after a foul.
In the 76:th minute Guido Metman passed through the guests central line of defense, scoring the 1 - 2 goal.
Croats, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.
POST-GAME
The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Tyler Willard. However, Ben Mcmahon made a disastrous appearance.
Most important Croats player was Donald Blackwell. However, Chris Keys made a disastrous appearance.
Final Score: Croats in Miami 2, Screamin’ Seamen 1
Goals
Metman – 1 (3)
Cards
Bautista – yellow (1)
Player Ratings
Jernigan: **~
Leier: ***
McDonald: **~
Scales: ****
Willard: ****~
McMahon: **
Bautista: ***
Tere: **~
Ivarsson: **~
Metman: ***
Tobias: **
Team Match MVP: #22 Tyler Willard
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: World Class (13)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-NSI: 68
Croats in Miami
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-NSI: 68
Comments
Our undefeated streak of nineteen straight league matches at The Docks, dating all the way back to the inception of the club, comes to an end. I realize that it had to happen sometime, but that does not make the pill any easier to swallow. The really frustrating part is that I know, had all of our starters been available, we could have at least earned a draw from the formidable Croats. Missing Lucas, Rubio, and The Old Goat all on the same day was just too much for us to overcome.
Now that I’ve had a little time to digest this loss, there are some positives to come out of the match. Our two defensive reserves that played, Mattias Leier and Cameron McDonald, both did pretty well, and we only conceded two goals to the Croats, despite a slumping “Corny” Jernigan in net. We had our second consecutive home sellout, despite the rather lackluster attitude of our supporters, which brings in a healthy $159,000 into the club’s coffers. We sustained no additional injuries, and were only carded once (Charlie Bautista).
Tyler Willard’s performance is also worthy of note, as he put up his (and the team’s) first ever ****~ performance. Tyler and Arlen Lucas are currently neck-and-neck for this season’s Team MVP Award.
Series Scores and Standings
-Ramblers completely dominated a struggling Big Reds side, 6-nil.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion were also dominant at home, whipping the SoccerWussies 5-nil.
-Sweden Heights had little trouble with the Syracuse Supers on the road, winning 4-1.
No. Team Played Goals Pts. NSI
1. Croats in Miami 12 37-15 29 68
2. Neon Genesis Evangelion 12 32-22 21 69
3. Ramblers 12 28-20 19 70
4. Sweden Heights 12 24-22 18 63
5. Big Reds 12 19-18 18 70
6. Screamin’ Seamen* 12 22-16 17 68
7. SoccerWussies 12 16-28 16 58
8. Syracuse Supers 12 4-41 0 47
The Croats in Miami have now clinched the division title, and will be pulling out all the stops to promote to Division III (I have seen no indication from him that he intends to be a water buffalo). Neon Genesis Evangelion is red hot, having won six straight, but face the Croats in the last match of the season. Either they or Ramblers should take second place.
As far as our own situation is concerned, things don’t look quite as grim as they might appear. The SoccerWussies have really tapered off, and with matches remaining against Ramblers (away) and Sweden Heights (at home), I suspect that they will be the ones to finish in 7th place and be relegated to Division V. For us, I think that steering clear of a qualification match will require wins in our last two matches. This is not an unattainable goal, however, as we play the struggling Big Reds next week (away), and finish the season at The Docks to face the Ramblers (who I suspect just MOTSed against Big Reds). If we win both, we should be able to take fourth place, or perhaps even third. If we lose one, we’ll have a qualifier in three weeks. If we get a draw in there somewhere, well, who the hell knows what will happen then.
Week 13 Matchups
Big Reds vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Sweden Heights vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Croats in Miami vs. Syracuse Supers
Ramblers vs. SoccerWussies
We’re on the road next weekend, which usually isn’t a good thing, but as I mentioned before, the Big Reds are struggling mightily. They’re actually winless in the last six weeks. We’ll be doing whatever we can to make sure that becomes seven weeks.
Up Next: We’ve arranged for a friendly match at The Docks against Big Lizards X1, an English 4th Division side. Stay tuned!