Preview
Our first game ever in Division IV. This series may be tough but this game is eminently winnable. If we can win this game on the road against one of the weaker teams, we'll be that much closer to treading water here. We aren't quite at full strength yet as Clement Schrader, slotted to be our starting central defender, is still hurt. We're hoping he'll be back in time for next week. We're playing a worse team but it's close and we're on the road. There just won't be any blowouts this year in fixture play.
Game Summary
Date: 7/28/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326973
Arena: The Champion Arena
Crowd: 26894
26894 spectators arrived at The Champion Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Champion tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Speer - Rico da Costa, Parrish, Landry - Anderson, Alvarado, Friedman, Vaca, Cortes - Sen, Molina.
Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.
Lucio Cortes gave his Champion the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 33 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Champion. However, Tim Kimber made a spectacular save. Wayne Landry of Champion received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Edwin Phelan finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home sides keeper, making the score 1 - 1 in the 41st minute. In the game's 42nd minute Hippopotami´s Stephen Connors limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.
In the games 55:th minute Champion´s Rolando Vaca fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Rolando Vaca for taking a dive. Champion tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. Hippopotami took the lead after 72 minutes with 1 - 2. Lorenzo Cristiano placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.
Most important Champion player was Erik Speer. However, Chelvendiran Sen made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Donald Newsom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.
Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team
Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TC: 3-5-2
Events Summary
1st Half
TC: xx: 0-1
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (1): 1-1
Halftime Score: 1-1
Possession: 52%
2nd Half
HH: 72: Lorenzo Cristiano (1): 2-1
Final Score: 2-1
Possession: 63%
Final Possession: 58%
Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow, particularly nasty challenge)
Injuries
None, tho Stephen Connors was limping around in the 1st half
Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 15692/15692
The biggest crowd we've ever played in front of as they had 26894. These crowds in Div IV are much larger than anything we've seen. Then again, I'm hoping we can pull this many at the Hippodrome.
Team Ratings
The Champion
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 56/61
Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/64
A passable midfield on the road for the first time ever! We're up to 64 now and I think we can hit at least 70, if not 75 by season's end. This was just a really solid all around game with good scores on defense and offense.
Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Herschel Meek ***
WI Donald Newsom **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~
Total Stars: 32.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal
I can't wait for the day we reach *** for everyone. We're a *** striker, a healthy Clement Schrader, and an Edwin Phelan in solid form away. As you saw, Solomon played today because Houben is still embroiled in a form slump. Another poor experience game! Woo! Our highest star game to date with 32.5, topping our previous high of 31.5 during last week's cup game.
Three Stars
It looks like these will be much tougher to pass out this year and I see a lot of stars for Kimber
Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
New wingback scores the game winning goal
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Starts the season off right with the team's first goal of the new year
Gold: Tim Kimber
Let an early goal by but made a huge save late in the first half
Game Summary
Any road win in Div IV is a good win (unless it's over a computer team), a lesson I've learned from DK's dynasty. Hopefully we are on the happy side of most of these close and tough games. If we do win the majority of those, our offense will be the reason why we have that little edge.
Press Release
7/29/2003 at 16:47 Hippos Win First Division IV Game
Last year's leading scorer, Edwin Phelan, and this offseason's wingback acquisition, Lorenzo Cristiano, each scored a goal in Houston's first ever Division IV win. Tim Kimber only allowed one goal and made a key first half save. After some offseason upgrades, the Hippos posted a passable midfield and solid or higher ratings everywhere else on the field to go along with 32.5 stars. Houston's home opener in the newly renovated Hippodrome is next week against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness.
Around the League
We landed in one hell of a series...
Iowa Enforcers - Team Groomers 4 - 1
This is the other game this week involving promotees. We are not the class of the promotees- that distinction goes to Iowa. He put up a formidable midfield to go along with an exc-out-bril defense. His offense was passable across the board, however, so he is beatable. Team Groomers, on the other hand, are the worst of the four promotees with a passable midfield and all of his other ratings are inad-solid: he's a pretty good team but he landed in the wrong series. The game was 1-1 for quite a while. However, Team Groomers ran out of steam in the second half and were outpossessed 75-25 and outscored 3-0 in the half.
Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - zfan 7 - 1
We play Chock next week. There's no easy way to slice this: his lowest rating was formidable and he put up a magnificent midfield. WOW! Chock and Brooklyn, the Div III relegee, are definately the class of the league. zfan is one of the middle teams along with Iowa, Kaishaku, and possibly Houston. They only put up an inadequate midfield but had a form-out-form offense and form-form-pass defense. Chock has a middie named Tom Dahlström who is 33yo but has brilliant experience and puts up 5(!) stars. Their dominant midfield allwed them to crush zfan n possession.
Brooklyn United - Kaishaku F.C. 5 - 0
As if Chock wasn't dominating enough, check out Brooklyn. They ran a 4-5-1 so they only had a solid-weak-solid attack but they had an NSI of 100(!) with a magnificent midfield and titanic-mythical-supernatural defense. We've never seen anything like this. Kaishaku may have been whitewashed this game but they are a very solid club. They put up a passable midfield with solid-form-out defense and solid-pass-solid. Another team which we should be at home and might win against on the road. Brooklyn looks like they have a ticket back to Div III, however. They have a 3.5 star offensive winger and wingback, but everyone else has 4 or more stars including a 14.5 star midfield. Including my wings, I barely get that! One of their 5-star middies, Stephen Rumbold, got a hat trick.
League Standings
Code:
N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Chock Full of Whole 1 7 - 1 3 96
2. Brooklyn United 1 5 - 0 3 100
3. Iowa Enforcers 1 4 - 1 3 74
4. Houston Hippopotami 1 2 - 1 3 64
5. The Champion 1 1 - 2 0 61
6. Team Groomers 1 1 - 4 0 55
7. Kaishaku F.C. 1 0 - 5 0 64
8. zfan 1 1 - 7 0 67
This may be the only week we're in the upper tier of the division but it's still cool to see. Chock and Brooklyn are clearly the class of the series. I should be able to stay ahead of The Champion and Team Groomers so, at the very worst, I have a qualification game.
Hatstats
I've mentioned this in the Hattrick forum, but I'll put it here, as well. Needless to say, I'm no longer in the top 100 in value and/or rating as I was in Div V but that's to be expected. Speaking of expensive teams, Brooklyn weighs in at #6 with a team worth over $10M. Chock is the only other team on that list at #65 with a team at $5.63M. As I mentioned, IV.21 was the toughest series in week 1 and a lot of this had to do with Brooklyn's 100 and Chock's 96, which were good for #1 and #3 in all of Div IV.
Notes
That's three points. We probably need 12 to avoid auto relegation and 18-20 to end in the money. I'm not sure we will get the latter but the former is very attainable as long as we win the games like these which we need to win. Next week, we face Chock and will probably lose 7-1 or something ugly. It was a fun 10-game winning streak while it lasted. I may PIC this next week to put myself in a position to win. That said, it's a home game so I don't want to get destroyed in front of the home crowd. I'm not sure what's going to happen.
SI