Preview
Whew- that last report was long (zfan-Hippos). Anyways, it's good to be back in our purple and black. We'll be hosting one of our supporters, NAIWF in the 'drome. Here we just have the typical New York-Houston matchup. Ok, there's not much typical about it. We met once in the NBA Finals and it was the "East Coast City calls Houston a 'hellhole' quite hypocritically, we go out and beat their ass, next day headline reads 'Hellhole 1 New York 0' " story. I'm hoping for more of the same today
I won't be running out that 2-5-3 I ran against CW- that was fun but has some downsides. Namely, I don't have 3 backup forwards and I don't want to risk Phelan or Spaghetti getting hurt. You know what, I think that's Gualtiero Spagnuolo's new nickname. I can't spell either his first or last name but he's from the USA and speaks Italiano. I guess that means we have the Eddie (Edwin) and Spaghetti front line... but I digress.
[Insert line here about the run-and-shoot crushing the proletar-- I mean, the 5-4-1 and those inbred (with no due respect to NevStar) mouthbreathers]
Game Summary
Date: 8/28/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9517654
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1821
Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 1821 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Buckley - Bush, Miquel, Schrader - Wellens, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.
Manhattan started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. Lineup: Warner - Broussard, Wiling, Stoica, Oconnor, Key - Vega, Williamson, Waggoner, Rendon - Walls.
Matt Vega managed to make an excellent pass from the flank, but Cole Rendon was not as skillfull in scoring. Thomas Little gave his Hippopotami 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 bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón putting the lead up to 2 - 0. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Pierre Wellens somhow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Ivan Viseslav who struck for 3 - 0. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 38:th minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Henry Walls completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper. Manhattan fought on and, in the 39:th minute Henry Walls was able to reply with 3 - 1 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.
The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 52nd minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Rickie Oconnor completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper. Henry Walls of Manhattan received a yellow card in the 54:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 60 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Hippopotami. However, Jessie Warner made a spectacular save. In the games 60:th minute Hippopotami´s Ivan Viseslav fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Ivan Viseslav for taking a dive. Manhattan managed to reduce a bit later to 3 - 2 as Rickie Oconnor finished off a well played combination from the left, carving through the defensive box. Manhattan held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.
The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Elmer Bush. Sidney Buckley on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Manhattan player was without a doubt Rickie Oconnor. Thomas Waggoner was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.
Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly game
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
MM: 5-4-1
Events Summary
1st Half
HH: xx: Thomas Little (F): 1-0
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 2-0
HH: xx: Ivan Viseslav (F): 3-0
HH: xx: pulling back
MM: 39: 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 61%
2nd Half
MM: xx: 3-2
Final Score: 3-2
Possession: 44%
Final Possession: 53%
Cards
HH: 60: Ivan Viseslav (yellow- taking a dive)
Injuries
None
Stadium
Terraces: 1219/20000
Basic seats: 417/8000
Seats under roof: 145/3200
VIP seats: 40/800
Total: 1590/32000
For the second week in a row, we set this record: largest non-international friendly home crowd. In other words, our largest crowd ever for a "normal" friendly.
Team Ratings
Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/44
Manhattan Marauders
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/45
Every week this section really is a killjoy for friendlies. I'm training PM and can't get above a weak?!?
Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *~
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Clement Schrader (m) *~
WI Pierre Wellens **
MI Robert Tryggvesson **
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon *~
Total Stars: 23.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly
Buckely's form slump is almost to the point where we will need to explore other options for a backup keeper. I've been wanting to upgrade to a decent passable so that if Kimber gets hurt in a game, we don't drop from a really good backside defense to abyssmal. I think that's Miguel's first ever *** performance! Maybe a little good news on the training front as Tryggvesson gets ** instead of his usual *~ games.
Three Stars
The three goal scorers get "cheap" medals this week
Bronze: Ivan Viseslav
His goal turns out to be necessary for the win
Silver: Juan Miguel Tizon
His goal give the Hippos a 2-0 lead
Gold: Thomas Little
Another first goal of the game gives the new UberTrainee(TM) another gold
Game Summary
For the second week in a row, Braden pulled back the troops much too early. Fortunately this one didn't cost us the game, because NAIWF was running the 5-4-1
, but still. I need to get in some stamina testing, badly. Not only that but I think it may be time to finally replace Sidney Buckley as backup keeper. Still, can't completely overlook the good- I'm extremely happy I decided to keep Little on as an UberTrainee(TM).
Press Release
9/1/2003 at 09:43 Marauders Mauled by Hippo Offense
Once again, the run-and-shoot proved to be superior to a defensive formation. Last week, when Coach Braden drew back the troops up 2-0, Galesburg's run-and-shoot stormed back for a comeback victory. This week, the Hippos pulled back up 3-0 but the Marauders 5-4-1 and a weak-poor-inad offense could not comeback enough. Next week begins FOFC Cup play as Yukon Quest visits the 'drome. The Hippos enter the cup as a #3 seed, however, do not expect to advance too far as training takes priority.
Notes
Next week, we begin the FOFC Cup against Yukon Quest. We have a #3 seed but, as it says above, we don't exactly expect to go far. Training still takes prescendence. This week expects to be our biggest loss ever: well, not including friendlies: the Bees beat us 9-0 back in Hippo infancy, but I'm talking fixture. For those of you into that kind of thing, our biggest loss previously was 4-0 to the soon-to-be-promoted Darksiders in our first season by a score of 4-0. Considering Brooklyn put up a 107 NSI last week, this could be much worse. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll hold back some guys for the cup. That's about our only hope.
SI