Season 3 – Week 13 – Training Match
Screamin’ Seamen vs. Galesburg Avengers
Date: July 2nd, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 874 (30,000)
Weather: Overcast
We’ve arranged for a training match this week with Coffee Warlord’s Galesburg Avengers. Our original attention was to have a training match during the off-season, when we could pit our starters against one another and not worry about losing training. An offensive vs. defensive showdown, if you will. Unfortunately, it does not look as though this is a possibility. The Avengers will most likely be looking at a qualification match for Division IV, and we most likely will have a relegation match coming up as well. So we’ve decided to have a regular training match instead, with no real bragging rights at stake.
Previous Meetings
1/1/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Galesburg Avengers 1
We played host to the Avengers back on New Years Day, and we were the first ever training match for the Avengers. It was a 2-1 decision back then, but the Avengers have come a long way since then.
Formation: 5-4-1 “Buccaneer”
Starters
Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
Right Wingback: #24 Christian Kvam
Central Defender: #20 Keith Stubbs
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier
Right Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Inner Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Left Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
Team Captain: #7 Lucian Tere
Set Pieces: #3 Ben McMahon
Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
We’ve made a couple more changes to our standard 5-4-1 lineup today, as a result of the players we used this past Sunday. Paul Peralta took Ben McMahon’s usual spot on the wing against the Big Reds, so Ben will play the wing for us today, as well as handle the team’s set piece duties. Also, we went with Johannes Henriksson at striker on Sunday, which in turn has bumped “Gump” Tobias to b-team duties for this week.
We’re trying something a little different again this week, something I call the 5-4-1 “Buccaneer.” It is named after the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with their point-scoring defense. Basically, the 5-4-1 Buccaneer is a standard 5-4-1 formation, with everyone possible playing with an “offensive” mentality. This means that four of our five defenders, as well as all four midfielders, will be playing offensively. I’m curious to see what sort of results this formation will bring.
Time to find out…
Match Report
PRE-GAME
874 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.
Screamin' had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. They fielded: Read - Kvam , Lerma, Stubbs, Mcdonald, Leier - Mauffret , Tere, Smith, Mcmahon - Tobias.
Galesburg had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Tirado - Andres Alvaro, Perales - Quiroz, Poulin, Farrell, Dommer-Toft, Shaffer - Mosley, Street, Boone.
FIRST HALF
After a fine move down the middle Forrest Tobias nearly gave the home side one up in the 6:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.
Vladimiro Perales of Galesburg received a yellow card in the 8:th minute for unsportsmanlike behavior.
Ken Shaffer was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Daryl Mosley managed to kick one of them into 0 - 1 in the 9:th minute.
In the 18:th minute Christian Kvam went down in a suspected penalty situation after a challenge from the visitors right guard, but the referee, having a good line of sight, signaled to keep on playing.
18 minutes into the game Mattias Leier was really close to evening the score out with a dangerous long range shot, but the ball went just wide of the bar.
0 - 1 was the half-time score. This part of the game had been a standoff between the teams.
SECOND HALF
Forrest Tobias was just a finger´s breadth away from an equalizer for Screamin', but Arden Tirado managed to ward the closing shot off for a corner.
After a fatal mistake from the away teams right side defense in the 63rd minute, an alert Mattias Leier bagged the ball, evening the score to 1 - 1.
As David Dommer-Toft had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Galesburg player a red card without batting an eye.
Screamin' took the lead in the 70:th minute after a magnificent free kick. Ben Mcmahon adjusted the score to 2 - 1.
Tommy Joe Poulin of Galesburg received a yellow card in the 73rd minute for unsportsmanlike behavior.
Lucian Tere was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was saved by the keeper. However, Screamin'´s Christian Kvam managed to get hold of the rebound and scored the 3-1 goal.
Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.
POST-GAME
Most important Screamin' player was Cameron Mcdonald. However, Jerry Smith made a disastrous appearance.
The most dominating Galesburg player was without a doubt Arden Tirado. Emerson Farrell on the other hand, had a terrible day.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 3, Galesburg Avengers 1
Goals
Leier – 1
McMahon – 1 (GWG)
Kvam – 1
Cards
None
Player Ratings
Read: **~
Kvam: **~
Stubbs: **~
McDonald: ***~
Lerma: **~
Leier: ***
Mauffret: **
Tere: **~
Smith: **
McMahon: **
Tobias: **
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Passable (6)
-Right Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 45
Galesburg Avengers
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 46
Comments
We were pleasantly surprised with the 3-1 tally in this one, and were expecting a much closer score, but we certainly had a number of advantages that played a factor. For starters, we obviously had a stamina advantage which played a large part in the second half, when we scored all three of our goals. It also certainly helped when Avengers’ David Dommer-Toft got tossed from the match halfway through the second half. The two goals that gave us the victory came after he was removed from the pitch. Our team spirit was horrible coming into the match as well, but I figure that home-field advantage helped to counteract that. Let’s hope that it helps just as much this Sunday.
We’re excited with the play of central defender and highly-touted prospect Cameron McDonald. Cameron put up the first ***~ performance of his career today. He was, one should note, the only defender who did not play in an offensive stance today. That certainly harmed the performance ratings of the rest of our defenders. I am also pleased with Estonian wingback Mattias Leier, who still managed a *** performance despite the offensive orientation.
I have mixed feelings regarding the 5-4-1 Buccaneer formation. While we certainly saw better attack ratings than we typically see with the 5-4-1, particularly along the wings, we were fortunate that this played against the disadvantage of the Avengers’ 2-5-3 formation (they pulled both wingbacks, and used two central defenders). Also, I am at a loss to explain the passable defensive rating on the left-hand side, where Mattias Leier was stationed directly behind Ben McMahon (who is a solid defender in his own right). It’s a quandary, but I certainly cannot argue with the results. We will have to consider the Buccaneer formation in next season’s FOFC Cup.
Up Next: Training results on Thursday evening, and then some big news. Stay tuned!