Preview
Coach Braden gathered all the players together before the game: "Guys, we're desperate. This team didn't just play well last week, they played out of our league. I'm really at a loss as to how to stop them so I'm going to do something I never thought we would do: we're going to run a 4-5-1". A murmur passed through the gathered team but even Mick Starks knew better than to challenge coach as he continued: "I know this isn't our typical plan but we are desperate and I think this gives us the best chance to win. Coskum just wasn't the striker we expected so he was sold but we have an extra defender just pulled up from our youth squad and David will be playing today. Guys, I know it's a bit out of the ordinary, but just play your asses off like you always do and we might just pull off the biggest upset we've ever had."
Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness is the opponent for our first ever home game in Div IV. They put up a 96 NSI last week- that's good for 3rd... in all of Div IV! I'm expecting an excellent midfield, but if they do that again, we still will get blown out. I'm not thrilled to be playing a 4-5-1 instead of our beloved run-and-shoot, but we cannot hang with this team in a shootout: We're not in their league. Not only that, but we have wretched experience at the 4-5-1. I'm hoping that's offset by letting Miguel, his inad experience, and passable leadership act as team captain for the day.
Game Summary
Date: 8/4/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326975
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 31634
Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 31634 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. Lineup: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Cristiano, Alonso Soto - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Newsom - Phelan.
Wholesome had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Castaño Párraga - Franks, Gallagher, Weathers - Phelps, Dahlström, Mathis, Stein, Andersson - Jansson, Willis.
Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 8:th minute goal by Lorenzo Cristiano for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. The referee showed Wholesomes Jason Phelps the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. In the games 24:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Bud Willis struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. After a fine move down the middle Mick Starks nearly gave the home side one up in the 24:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though. A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 32nd minute allowed Fredrick Weathers to score 1 - 2 for Wholesome. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Wholesome, with an impressive 53 percent possession of the ball.
Hippopotami seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Herschel Meek of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 51st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The visitors Anders Jansson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 57:th minute. 1 - 3 for Wholesome. The referee showed Wholesomes Claude Mathis the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when Edwin Phelan, after a brilliant midfield combination, put the reducing 2 - 3 goal away for Hippopotami. Hippopotami had obvious problems in finding their positions. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Wholesome, with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.
The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Donald Newsom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Wholesome player was without a doubt Tom Dahlström. Jason Phelps on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.
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: 4-5-1
CFoWG: 3-5-2
Events Summary
1st Half
HH: 08: Lorenzo Cristiano (2): 1-0
CFoWG: 24: 1-1
CFoWG: 32: 1-2
Halftime Score: 1-2
Possession: 47%
2nd Half
CFoWG: 57: 1-3
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (2): 2-3
Final Score: 2-3
Possession: 43%
Final Possession: 45%
Cards
HH: 51: Herschel Meek (yellow, unsportsmanlike behaviour)
Injuries
None
Stadium
Terraces: 20000/20000
Basic seats: 7858/8000
Seats under roof: 2976/3200
VIP seats: 800/800
Total: 31634/32000
Wow! I was worried that I had expanded too much. As long as I can keep the spirit of my fans pretty high, wow- nothing at all to worry about.
Team Ratings
Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/66
Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 73/82
I'm kindof suprised this is as close as it was. Still, he only beat me by one level on the midfield and the 4-5-1 helped shut down his offense.
Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Elmer Bush (d) ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DM Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
DW David Antonio Alonso Soto (d) **~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
WI Donald Newsom **
FO Edwin Phelan ***
Total Stars: 33.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal
Kimber with a **** rating. I believe that's our first ever. Damn, he's good. Only Newsom, Soto, and Miguel got less than *** today. Across the midfield, Benito, Meek, and Connors got a ***~ rating. Another poor experience game. A new high in stars and the highest NSI not including the Dragons game.
Three Stars
Same three as last week, just rotated slightly
Bronze: Tim Kimber
First ever **** rating for a Hippo
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Phelan's second goal gets the Hippos back in the game even if it's not enough
Gold: Lorenzo Cristiano
Gets his second goal in two weeks and started the game out right
Game Summary
As good a showing as I could have realistically hoped. I kept reloading, praying I had scored that equalizing goal, up to the 45th minute in the second half, but it was not to be. Still, this is a moral victory: a close loss to one of the best teams in all of Div IV. Unfortunately, it was at home and the road game is likely to be quite ugly. As a side note: how does Cristiano have half of our goals this year? No idea, but I'll take them.
Press Release
8/5/2003 at 12:29 Hippos Hang Tough but End Streak and Sully Reputation
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Hippos almost pulled off an improbably draw but at what cost? Casting aside their beloved run-and-shoot, the Hippos, with an excess of quality defenders after last week's youth pull, played the gauling 4-5-1 in an attempt to stop Chock and their 96 NSI from last week. The Hippos were down 3-2 most of the second half but could never score the equalizer. They will now begin the search for an atonement quest and continue Cup play Wednesday.
Around the League
Well, the chaf is more or less set in stone as Team Groomers and The Champion get solidly stomped
Team Groomers - Brooklyn United 1 - 6
I need a Cray to calculate Brooklyn's NSI for the second week in a row. His offense isn't that great, but he got an outstanding midfield and a super-myth-super defense. Hell, I don't even know what those are. Brooklyn got 81% possession in the second half since Groomers only put up a weak midfield. Jan Zaslawski got a hat trick for Brooklyn. The two lowest ratings he got were a pair of 3.5 stars again.
Kaishaku F.C. - The Champion 2 - 0
Kaishaku won the midfield rating (out vs pass) and possession of 60% and 69% in the halves. The Champion improved on last week's showing but they just didn't have enough to compete on the road against a team trying for top division status. The outstanding midfield was a product of 4, 4, and 4.5 star performances from 21yo Eero Eskelinin, 21yo Gigel Neagoe, and 24yo Afanasiy Belikov. Suprisingly enough, they only have a 2.5 star goalie.
zfan - Iowa Enforcers 4 - 2
This is one of the many big games between teams trying to finish in the money in IV.21. zfan won at home despite losing the midfield (inad vs exc) and possession (62%, 69%) battles. zfan got formidable or oustanding on 5 of their other 6 ratings while Iowa could only muster a pass-pass-inad offense. They were up 3-0 at the half and coasted for the win.
League Standings
Code:
N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United 2 11 - 1 6 96
2. Chock Full of Whole 2 10 - 3 6 82
3. Iowa Enforcers 2 6 - 5 3 72
4. Houston Hippopotami 2 4 - 4 3 66
5. Kaishaku F.C. 2 2 - 5 3 64
6. zfan 2 5 - 9 3 67
7. The Champion 2 1 - 4 0 76
8. Team Groomers 2 2 - 10 0 42
Somehow, I'm still in 4th for another week. We'll see how that changes next week against Iowa.
Hatstats
Brooklyn takes home the Div IV ratings crown for the second week in a row, this time with a 96. Chock only gets 28th, falling from 96 to 82. Kaishaku F.C. weighs in at #3 with a 76. They had 46, 39, and 35 stars, respectively. This was only good for 7th in all of Div V. IV.53 got 1st on the strength of their top 4 teams with 76, 89, 84, and 75. Our top 4 were 96, 82, 72, 76 but they didn't have a 42 dragging them down at the bottom (a miserable performance by Team Groomers). That 7th in Div IV is good for 23rd in the entire USA, beating out 5 Div III series.
Hoorah! Our 31K+ crowd put us at 95th on the week in Div IV. At least we are getting good income (also, hatstats said we put 31634 in a 15692 seat stadium- they could use an update). The only other IV.21'er on this list was zfan who almost filled up his 40K seat stadium. Brooklyn, Chock, and Iowa were all on the road and the other top 4-caliber team, Kaishaku only got 18001 out of 30K due to heavy rain. FYI: Chock and Brooklyn are on the top 100 stadiums for Div IV, each having 50K+ seats. Kaishaku and Chock are on the thugs list and no one is on the fragile list.
Lastly, a quick look at the Most Stars list for our series. Kimber weighs in at #14 with his 4 stars with Meek, Connors, and Benito's 3.5 stars all putting them on the top 30. Not a bad showing: 4 out of the top 30. How much better than everyone else is Brooklyn? He has 8 of the top 12 spots, all with 4 or more stars, led by 20 year old 5 star middie Stephen Rumbold. He's getting old, tho, as 5 of the 8 are 30 or older so new blood is needed. Don't start crying for him yet, tho. All 3 of his middies get 4 stars or more and the oldest is 22. Chock's not too far behind with the rankings of 2 and then 13, 15, 16, and 17. Kaishaku has 3, zfan has 4, Team Groomers have 2, Iowa has 1, and The Champion has 0 players in the top 30.
Notes
Next week, we get a more reasonable test against the Iowa Enforcers. They're better than us but not by much. Unfortunately, it's on the road so I'm not liking my chances much. As for our cup game, well, another one I'm not sure about. If we played starters, I'd win easily, but training is more important so I'll be playing trainees, PIC'ing, and hoping for a win. I should win but who knows with my B Team in its current form slump.
Now for the moment everyone has been waiting for: Yes, I admit it, I played a 4-5-1. I hated every minute of it, but it did what I needed it to. If I have to do it again, I'll look hard and long at it like I did this time. Now excuse me while I go plan my atonement quest. Fun-and-Gun Forever!
SI