[DataKing]

Season 4 – League Match #3

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Date: August 10th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 30,000 (30,000)
Weather: Overcast

We’re riding high coming into today’s league match against Neon Genesis Evangelion. The surprise win last week over Croats in Miami, combined with early successes in the U.S. Open Cup, has the spirit of the team at an all-time high. The lads are brimming with confidence and the atmosphere in the locker room is downright magical. It is as though we can do no wrong.

I am not, however, under any illusions about today’s match. It should be a tough one. Since the first half of last season, Neon Genesis Evangelion is perhaps the single most improved team in The Series Of The Beast [tm]. We had success against them early in our tenure in the series, but they were able to attain some form of revenge, defeating us 3-1 in our second matchup last season.

Previous Meetings

Season 2, 1st Meeting – Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, Screamin’ Seamen 3
Season 2, 2nd Meeting – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Neon Genesis Evangelion 1
Season 3, 1st Meeting – Screamin’ Seamen 4, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2
Season 3, 2nd Meeting – Neon Genesis Evangelion 3, Screamin’ Seamen 1

A couple of interesting notes here. First, the home team has won each of the last three matches. Second, Neither team has ever managed to shut out the other. Let’s hope that the first trend holds true, and the second is broken today.

Formation: 3-5-2

Starters (# appearances w/SSFC, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (28th appearance, ***)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (49th appearance, ****)
Central Defender: #18 Cameron McDonald (6th appearance, ***~)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (6th appearance, ***~)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (4th appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #23 David Burton (4th appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista (49th appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin (46th appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #9 Valentin Rubio (19th appearance, ***)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (4th appearance, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (13th appearance, ***)

Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #23 David Burton

Substitutes-
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (43 appearances)
-Defender: #24 Christian Kvam (4 appearances)
-Midfielder: #8 Niklas Ivarsson (17 appearances)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (68 career appearances)
-Winger: #25 Paul Peralta (16 appearances)

We continue to juggle the lineup this week. “Corny” Jernigan continues to struggle in practice, so veteran Darryl Read will begin in net again this week. We have another change in the back as well. The injury to Tyler Willard means that Estonian wingback Mattias Leier will play with the first team until Tyler’s return.
Swedish midfielder Niklas Ivarsson is struggling as well, and has been replaced in the middle this week by The Old Goat.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

30000 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Read - Lucas, Mcdonald, Leier - Nichols, Burton, Bautista, Tomlin, Rubio - Metman, Galvez.

EVA had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Åkesson - Waldrop, Finney, Vick - Ayres, Andersson, Ødegård, Fortune, Tudela - Lachance, Kowalski.

FIRST HALF

Arlen Lucas sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 1-0 in after a corner kick after 9 minutes of play.

Screamin' put themselves up 2 - 0 when David Burton broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him.

In the 34:th minute Screamin' put themselves up 3 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Germán Galvez coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home.

After this Screamin' lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts.

The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 42nd minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Huey Kowalski completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper.

4 - 0 was a funny story: the seemingly nonchalant lob from Screamin'´s Guido Metman landed at the feet of Reg Nichols who sent it into the net - goal!

The teams went for a half-time break at 4 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Germán Galvez increased Screamin's lead to 5 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right.

In the 55:th minute Guntademaro Tudela had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot hit the side of the goal.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 51 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen Lucas. Valentín Rubio was a disappointment, however.

The most dominating EVA player was without a doubt Geir Ødegård. However, Jerry Finney made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 5, Neon Genesis Evangelion 0

Goals

Lucas – 1 (1, GWG)
Burton – 1 (2)
Galvez – 2 (2,3)
Nichols – 1 (1, assisted by Metman)

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Read: ***

Lucas: ****~
McDonald: ***~
Leier: ***~

Nichols: ***
Burton: ***
Bautista: ***
Tomlin: ***
Rubio: **~

Galvez: ***
Metman: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 79

Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Formidable (9)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 68

Comments

All I can say here is, Wow! Good team spirit does wonders for a team’s performance, that’s for sure. Overall, we had the strongest game in the team’s history, and were dominant on the ball from beginning to end. It also appears as though N.G.E. may have underestimated us a bit, though that would seem to be an odd thing for them to do considering our victory over the Croats last week.

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas was definitely the Man of the Match for us, as he tallied one of his patented header goals and was truly dominant on defense. His goal stood up as the game-winner as well. David Burton performed well, earning his second league goal of the season, and our young Argentinean striker German Galvez managed to add two of his own.

Absent has been scoring from Galvez’ counterpart up front, Guido Metman, but the Dutchman has found other ways to contribute. His pass to winger-phenom Reg Nichols late in the first half was a work of art, and allowed the seventeen-year-old to score his first ever league match goal. Those two could prove to be a very lethal combination in the future.

All in all, I can find very little to complain about with this one. A dominant win over a very good team.

Series Scores and Standings

As I am behind with this dynasty report, I am going to suspend this section of the match write-ups until I have gotten caught up.

Up Next: We have our first real test of the U.S. Open Cup this week, as we travel to Philly to take on the sideshow. Stay tuned!