Preview
Salmon. Or a ball of yarn or mouse, even. That may be more appropriate. Baseball has that one chaotic variable in starting pitching that can disrupt everything and makes it completely unpredictable to the point where every team wins and loses a third of their games. Hockey has a similar phenomenon with netminders. However, in basketball, and especially (American) football, this phenomenon is readily apparent. An overwhelmed team plays their hearts out just to keep up with Goliath, and to the untrained eye, it looks like there David may win the day. However, if you look in the greater team's eyes, there is no panic. There is no doubt: they know who the victor will be. Every time it looks like the underdog is getting close, the favorite will knock them back even further than before. And in the end, there is no upset and the mouse is left to face the harsh reality that the cat was toying with them all along. There never was a chance for victory, only an illusion.
Game Summary
Date: 8/11/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326979
Arena: Enforcers Arena
Crowd: 44163
44163 spectators arrived at Enforcers Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Enforcers tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Roberts - Scales, Wolford, Gunn - Frederick, Marion, Dotson, Titus, Wilson - George, Aguirre.
Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Cristiano - Viseslav, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.
In the 2nd minute cheers broke out as James Wilson found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Enforcers. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Enforcers, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle.
Visitors Derrick Solomon was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 56:th minute. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 in the 56:th by a breakthrough from Norman Aguirre, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Enforcers put themselves up 3 - 1 when Ike George broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 66:th minute Herschel Meek surprised the opponents with a 40 metre pass to Ivan Viseslav who quite easily could settle the score to 3 - 2. 69 minutes into the game Edwin Phelan had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Daniel Storm. In the 76:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Billy Marion dashed through, knocking home 4 - 2 for Enforcers. Enforcers, bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle.
Enforcersīs best player was Stevie Dotson. David Roberts was a disappointment, however. Most important Hippopotami player was Tim Kimber. Daniel Storm on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 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
IE: 3-5-2
Events Summary
1st Half
IE: 02: 0-1
Halftime Score: 0-1
Possession: 43%
2nd Half
HH: 56: Derrick Solomon (1): 1-1
IE: 56: 1-2
IE: xx: 1-3
HH: 66: Herchel Meek (1): 2-3
IE: 76: 2-4
Final Score: 2-4
Possession: 44%
Final Possession: 44%
Cards
None
Injuries
HH: 69: Edwin Phelan (bruised, knee injury)
Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000
Another week in Div IV, another record for largest crowd: 44163 at Enforcers Arena.
Team Ratings
Iowa Enforcers
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/70
Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/60
A somewhat disappointing 60. I can't believe I just said that: I would have killed for a 60 last year. Unfortunately, this year, that just won't cut it. Then again, it was on the road so that may explain some of the lower scores. Also, having Phelan out of the game and our shallow bench didn't help.
Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
WI Ivan Viseslav **
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Derrick Solomon **
FO Daniel Storm *
INJ Edwin Phelan **~
Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal
Well, Storm isn't much of a forward. In fact, he's a middie trainee but with the short bench, he was the sub forward. I shuffled players around and hedged my bets that a middie would get hurt before a forward, placing Thomas Little there. I guessed wrong.
Three Stars
These two goal games make awards tough
Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
His *** rating at offensive may add another level to our attack on one side (along with his two goals in the first two games)
Silver: Herschel Meek
Goal gave the illusion of hope
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Tied the game up, at least for a few seconds
Game Summary
We were at their house, facing a better team and we never really were in it despite what it looked like. It was all the illusion alluded to in the introduction. Still, at our house, later in the season, this could go the other way. I'm definately looking forward to the rematch.
Press Release
8/11/2003 at 20:00 Enforcers Have All the Answers in Iowa
It was the perfect end to a perfectly frustrating week. Iowa kept Houston at arm's length practically the entire game, handing the Hippos their 3rd straight competitive loss, 4-2. Iowa scored 2 minutes into the game and neither team could muster another chance in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, seconds after Derrick Solomon tied the game, Iowa scored to go up 2-1. The Enforcers scored another quick goal and led either 3-1 or 4-2 the rest of the way. The Hippos host Team Groomers next week.
Around the League
Big upset this week
The Champion - Brooklyn United 0 - 3
Brooklyn's a machine. Outstanding midfield, formidable offense across the front, and wc-mag-out defense across the back. The Champion and his 57 NSI had no hope. They take the outright lead for the series after one of the games below. Brooklyn had a little form slump this week and Uruguan national team member Victor Javier Almansa got a new low I've seen with "only" three star.
Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Kaishaku F.C. 1 - 3
Kaishaku has had 8 moves in the past 2 months and they were all sales. In the first week, they lost 5-0 at Brooklyn with a 64 NSI despite 34.0 stars. Last week, they posted 35.0 and a 76. This week, another half star (so 1.5 in 3 weeks) and they post an 84! How do you only gain 1.5 stars but gain 20 points on your NSI
without making any major purchases?!? Well, to boggle your mind further, add the fact that they went to the Creamy Nougat Center and took out Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness despite the fact that Chock posted the highest NSI in all of Div IV. Both put up magnificent midfields and Kaishaku got 51% possession both halves. Chock missed on two of their three events despite putting up a bril-form-exc attack. I've gotta think Chock can't be pleased with this result at all.
Team Groomers - zfan 2 - 3
zfan picked up an important road win despite losing the midfield battle exc to weak. Groomers only put up an inad-pass-weak offense which zfan's pass-form-out defense stopped most of the day while they countered with their form-out-form offense. zfan has a ***** striker who is worth $1.49M and makes over $10K per month!
League Standings
Code:
N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United 3 14 - 1 9 92
2. Chock Full of Whole 3 11 - 6 6 94
3. Iowa Enforcers 3 7 - 3 6 70
4. Kaishaku F.C. 3 5 - 6 6 84
5. zfan 3 8 - 11 6 65
6. Houston Hippopotami 3 6 - 8 3 64
7. The Champion 3 1 - 7 0 57
8. Team Groomers 3 4 - 13 0 60
Next week's game will be a big one. I have to beat the Groomers at home if I want to avoid auto relegation.
Hatstats
As I mentioned above, Chock took the top NSI crown last week in all of Div IV so that's 3 weeks, 3 NSI champs. Previous champ Brooklyn United fell to #5 with "only" a 92. Kaishaku F.C.'s 84 was good for #36. This vaulted us back to #2 for the week behind IV.18 (ouch, Plague- that's a rough series. That series put up a 93, 89, and 83 but they're one team deeper with another team in the high 70s.
Four players in our series got 5.0 stars this week, with (the aforementioned) zfan's Sarp Bele the #5 forward in Div IV, Brooklyn United's pair of 4.5 star forwards also placed, and Chock's 5.0 star wing Ramon King was #3 among wingers in Div IV. Brooklyn and Chock both had their 5.0 star middies on the top middies in Div IV, a list with 2 players (including 6.5 star leader Donald Blackwell) on a team in DK's series: Croats in Miami.
I played in front of the 37th largest crowd in Div IV and 98th largest crowd in the USA last week (ardent's crowd was #100, btw). Speaking of FOFC'ers, Doug's Louisiana Cyclones are the 2nd most misunderstood team in all of the USA right now. Quite a few familiar teams on that list: Slithy Toves, Croats, Penguins, Kaishaku, CC's Dragons, and Hamas all in the top 50. That's 3 FOFCers (I might have missed some), a team in my series, a team in DKs series, and a team in my former series all on the top 100 most misunderstood for the USA. A word of advice: BRIBE THE REFS MORE!
Notes
Well, I'm out of the Cup and have an international friendly at the 'drome next week. Then, next week, a must win game at home against a team that I need to beat to keep them in the auto-demotion slot. I'm looking to break my 3 game losing streak then. Hopefully things are now on the way back up. Then again, the next three games after this offer no respite: zfan and Brooklyn on the road followed by Kaishaku at home. Eep... (it doesn't get any better after that because the next 3 are those three teams in reverse order at the other venue).
Note: I'm one match report away from being caught up after doing 3 reports tonight. Then I have to do the "offseason transactions" message along with finishing up my preseason info. Yes, preseason info, 4 weeks in. Ack!
SI