Season 4 – Week 2 League Match
Screamin’ Seamen vs. Croats In Miami
Date: August 3rd, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 30,000 (30,000)
Weather: Sunny
Today we’ve got what is certainly to be one of the toughest draws of the season, the defending series champion Croats In Miami. Frankly speaking, we’re not really expecting to win here today, even though we’re at The Docks. The Croats have a dominant midfield, while ours has been in terrible form as of late. We just want things to be respectable today, and not lose too much to other clubs in the area of goal differential.
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
6/22/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 1, Croats in Miami 2
Aside from our blow-out victory the first time we met, all of our matches against the Croats have been tight affairs, and we’re looking for a similar result today. The Croats do hold a slight edge in the all-time competition between our two clubs, with a 2-1-1 record.
Formation: 3-5-2
Starters (# appearances w/SSFC, *s last time out)
Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (27th appearance, ***)
Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (27th appearance, ****)
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald (5th appearance, ***)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (47th appearance, ****)
Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (2nd appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #23 David Burton (3rd appearance, ****)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista (48th appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin (44th appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio (18th appearance, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (3rd appearance, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (12th appearance, ***)
Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #23 David Burton
Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (42 appearances, ***)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (5 appearances, ***~)
-Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson (16 appearances, ***)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (67 career appearances, **~)
-Winger: #3 Ben McMahon (42 appearances, **~)
Once again, we’ve made some alterations to the line-up this week, starting in net. “Corny” Jernigan has been struggling a bit as of late, while Darryl Read has been showing us good things in practice. Overall, the two are playing on a very even level, so we’ve decided to give Darryl the nod today. “Corny” will start for us on Wednesday in our U.S. Open Cup match.
On the back line, Cameron McDonald remains as our starting sweeper. He’s been showing improved form as of late, and seems to be well aware that his future with the club (or lack thereof) depends entirely on how he performs this season. Cam seems to be reacting well to the pressure, and is showing good form both on the pitch and the practice field, which is good to see.
We also have a change, or rather, the lack of a change, in the midfield. All of our starting midfielders seem to be slacking off a bit at the moment, particularly our Swede, Niklas Ivarsson. This is undoubtedly an after-effect of the time Niklas missed due to his pre-season injury, and we’re confident that he will bounce back soon and be match-fit in no time. For now, however, Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin starts in his place in the middle.
Match Report
PRE-GAME
A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 30000 to The Docks.
Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Read - Willard, Mcdonald, Lucas - Nichols, Burton, Bautista, Tomlin, Rubio - Metman, Galvez.
Croats started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Larsson - Göransson, Schwab, Firicã, Moustakis - Schofield, Allen, Blackwell, Rönnerberg - Patrick, Broderick.
FIRST HALF
At the beginning of the game, Croats appeared to already have taken this victory to the bank.
After a fine move down the middle Reg Nichols nearly gave the home side one up in the 3rd minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.
After 20 minutes Screamin's Tyler Willard had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. Mattias Leier came in instead of him.
Valentín Rubio was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Germán Galvez managed to kick one of them into 1 - 0 in the 22nd minute.
The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle.
SECOND HALF
During the half-time break, the Croats players received a right telling of by coach resulting in a more alert team entering the pitch for the second half of the game.
Germán Galvez of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 46:th minute for unsportsmanlike behavior.
In the games 51st minute Croats´s Ryan Broderick fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Ryan Broderick for taking a dive.
Ryan Broderick made a good effort at breaking through from the right, but the home team left defense cleared the ball to a corner.
In the 63rd minute Screamin's Cameron Mcdonald received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.
A well placed corner kick from David Burton was followed by Cameron Mcdonald´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 2-0 for Screamin'.
The guests got an opportunity to reduce after 70 minutes to 2 - 1, and Lester Schofield took it from the penalty spot, scoring easily.
The forty-five minutes were dominated by Croats, with an impressive 58 percent possession of the ball.
POST-GAME
The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen Lucas. Reg Nichols was a disappointment, however.
Most important Croats player was Donald Blackwell. Rolf Schwab was a disappointment, however.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Croats in Miami 1
Goals
Galvez – 1 (1, assisted by Rubio)
McDonald – 1 (1, GWG, assisted by Burton)
Cards
Galvez – yellow (2)
McDonald – yellow (1)
Player Ratings
Read: ***
Willard: ** (injured)
Leier: ***~ (replaced Willard)
McDonald: ***~
Lucas: ****
Nichols: **~
Burton: ***~
Bautista: ***
Tomlin: ***
Rubio: ***
Galvez: ***
Metman: ***
Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-NSI: 70
-Experience: Poor (3)
Croats In Miami
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-NSI: 71
-Experience: Poor (3)
Comments
The Croats came into Chicago brimming with confidence, which is rather odd when you consider a couple of factors. First off, our two teams have always played close, hard-fought matches, and second, they would be running an abnormal 4-4-2 formation, rather than their typical 3-5-2 (I can only assume that this was a mistake by lav-hehe, the Croats’ manager, though he has not confessed to such as of yet). The result was a 1-nil lead at the break, by a hook-up of Argentinean countrymen Valentin Rubio and German Galvez.
The opposition seemed more determined and focused in the second half, but our lads did a right good job of holding on. Things got a bit chippy though, as both German Galvez and Cameron McDonald received bookings (no doubt upset by the injury to Tyler Willard in the first half). It looked like we had things locked up when Cameron finally used his height to his advantage, heading home a perfect corner kick by old-timer David Burton, but mere moments later the referees decided to keep things interesting by awarding the Croats a penalty kick.
After that it was buckle-down time for our defense, which did exactly that, and we held on for a well-earned, though unexpected, 2-1 victory.
The win was not without cost, however, as wingback Tyler Willard suffered considerable damage to his Achilles tendon. The initial assessment by the team’ head physiotherapist, Dr. Kay Vorkian, was that Tyler would miss about a month. That is unacceptable, however, and an entire team of specialists (read: 10 doctors) has been brought in to get Tyler back on the pitch as soon as is humanly possible.
Series Scores and Standings
-Neon Genesis Evangelion took the early series lead, by virtue of a 3-1 victory at home against Sweden Heights.
-Ramblers were definitely the dominant team of the week, demolishing the newcomer Tortoises, 5-nil.
-Big Reds appear to have seriously underestimated the other new team to the series, JP8, and only managed a 2-2 draw against them.
No. Team Played Goals Pts. NSI
1. Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 4-2 4 75
2. Ramblers 2 5-3 3 88
3. Croats in Miami 2 4-2 3 71
4. Screamin’ Seamen* 2 3-3 3 70
5. Sweden Heights 2 3-4 3 73
6. Tortoises 2 3-7 3 48
7. Big Reds 2 3-3 2 61
8. JP8 2 4-5 1 52
If you’ve read the earlier installments in this dynasty, then you know I don’t put much stock in the series standings until after week seven, when every team has played each other once. Though it is still very early, I just find it interesting that the lead team only has four points, and no one has been held pointless yet. This season looks to be a low-point affair in The Series Of The Beast [tm].
Week Three Matchups
Screamin’ Seamen vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Big Reds vs. Ramblers
Sweden Heights vs. JP8
Tortoises vs. Croats In Miami
We have another tall order in store for us next week, as we play host to N.G.E. This means we’re going to have a nasty stretch at the end of the season, when we’ll have to play Croats In Miami and N.G.E. on the road in back-to-back weeks.
Up Next: We’ve earned what appears to be an easy draw for Round Three of the U.S. Open Cup, as we’ll be travelling to Dayton, Ohio to play Red Devils 1878. Stay tuned!