Preview
The A Team's misfortune for this week is the B Team's fortune as Herschel Meek, one of our ***~ middies, had a red card and couldn't play Sunday. He will help bolster the midfield corps today in the place of Thomas Little who played Sunday. Also, Mick Starks will play today with the B Team in an attempt to help boost his form which has been slumping of late. Lastly, Zack Oliveres will get a tryout at wingback before we sell him. We just don't want any more important defenders injured and I only carry 4.
Game Summary
Date: 9/4/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9570529
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1601
1601 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Buckley - Olivares, Miquel, Schrader - Starks, Meek, Tryggvesson, Storm, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.
Yukon had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Vi-Chi - Hurley, Thorn, Miner - Sikes, Burns, Rodgers, Abney, Kearney - Bledsoe, Thomas.
Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 13th minute goal by Juan Miguel Tizón for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. The referee showed Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Roland Thorn. The Yukon bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up. In the games 29:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Leonard Bledsoe struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Clement Schrader needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Herschel Meek completely alone with keeper Tsang Vi-Chi, who made a spectacular block. Sebastian Sikes of Yukon received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 37 minutes Yukon put themselves up by 1 - 2 as Erwin Kearney finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. After a fatal mistake from the away teams right side defense in the 39:th minute, an alert Juan Miguel Tizón bagged the ball, evening the score to 2 - 2. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 59 percent possession of the ball.
The home side put themselves ahead 3 - 2 in the 48:th by a breakthrough from Clement Schrader, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. In the 58:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Ivan Viseslav dashed through, knocking home 4 - 2 for Hippopotami. The home side´s Juan Miguel Tizón came close to extending the lead in the 66:th minute. His shot came in off the right hand side but Tsang Vi-Chi managed saving with a fingernail. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 68 percent possession of the ball.
The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Herschel Meek. However, Clement Schrader made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Yukon player was without a doubt Buck Rodgers. However, Howie Miner made a disastrous appearance. 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 (F#) shows the number of goals in FOFC Cup
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
YQ: 3-5-2
Events Summary
1st Half
HH: 13: Juan Miguel Tizon (F1): 1-0
YQ: 29: 1-1
YQ: 37: 1-2
HH: 39: Juan Miguel Tizon (F2): 2-2
Halftime Score: 2-2
Possession: 59%
2nd Half
HH: 48: Clement Schrader (F1): 3-2
HH: 58: Ivan Viseslav (F1): 4-2
Final Score: 4-2
Possession: 68%
Final Possession: 64%
Cards
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
Injuries
None
Stadium
Terraces: 1054/20000
Basic seats: 377/8000
Seats under roof: 134/3200
VIP seats: 36/800
Total: 1601/32000
Not bad, but I was hoping for a few more since it's FOFC Cup. Too bad that doesn't influence the game engine.
Team Ratings
Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/47
Yukon Quest
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/45
I'd be thrilled about that inadequate except that part of it involved Meek being in there. I'm really hoping to see inad midfield before too long.
Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *
DW Zack Olivares **
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Clement Schrader (m) *
WI Mick Starks **~
MI Daniel Storm **
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **
Total Stars: 24.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly
This may be the beginning of the end for Buckley. He is in a big form slump and I've been looking for a passable backup keeper in the event that Kimber has to leave a game. Schrader looks pretty cruddy, as well, but I'm going to see if I can finally see him back to good form. Lastly, I think this is the first time the second team all got ** or more. Meek makes no difference because Little picked up **~ on Sunday.
Three Stars
Tizon was the big star today
Bronze: Clement Schrader
First ever goal for the Hippos despite awful form
Silver: Ivan Viseslav
His second straight friendly with a goal
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
Missed a chance or he would have had a hat trick
Game Summary
Juan Miguel Tizon continues his tear as our best guy for scoring in the FOFC Cup. For those of you who don't remember, he had 8(!) goals in FOFC Cup III. Not sure if that was tops among anyone but it had to be close. Meek augmenting the midfield wins the game for us, I think. Not much else to say about this game, but I'm glad we advanced.
Quote:
Sent: 2003-09-05 16:07:00
From: albionmoonlight
Subject: Re: Dynasty Report
Just mention that I was the much better team and you got lucky 
|
What a bastard! Ok, not really. He said that in jest and I'm glad we could play this game and no one got hurt.
Press Release
9/7/2003 at 14:15 Hippos Advance in FOFC Cup
While the Hippos aren't expecting to go too far in the FOFC Cup, at least they played up to their #3 seed for one game, beating Yukon Quest 4-2 at the 'drome. Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair of goals and Herschel Meek helped shore up the midfield after not playing Sunday due to a red card. The teams went into the half tied 2-2 but defender Clement Schrader and winger Ivan Viseslav scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Hippos now wait 2 weeks for their 2nd round opponent.
FOFC Cup Bracket
Round of 64
Run & Shoot Bracket
Underlined Teams Won
1) Intercourse Ball Kickers
YoSoySean
16) BZH Celtics FC
BreizhManu
8) Blade Bombers
Blade 6119
9) Morrisville Morrisvillians
NevStar
5) Cavalry Crusaders
Franklinnoble
12) Lancre Wowhawks
Katon
4) Arkham Avengers
Nyarlahotep
13) Anteaters
antbacker
6) West Henrieta FC
bigjdotcom01
11) Oklahoma City Rednecks
Airhog
3) Houston Hippopotomi
sterlingice
14) Yukon Quest
albionmoonlight
7) Scranton Slime
TredWel
10) Chesapeake Cheapshots
QuikSand
2) Galesburg Avengers
Coffee Warlord
15) Manchester Silver Bullets
Sublime
Well, it's cool to be in the run and shoot bracket but it's pretty tough. I'd love to meet up with CW again but I'm not sure I can get past West Henrieta FC to do that, especially unsure about my B Team. There will be a one week hiatus so that everyone can catch up. Then the tourney will start again the next week. The biggest upset of the week goes to Katon whose Lancre Wowhawks knocked off Franklinnoble's Cavalry Crusaders 3-2.
(NOTE: Updated to include winners from both weeks)
Notes
Since we have the week off, we booked a game with illinifan's Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". For the Hippos fixture this week, we get Kaishaku FC at home in our best chance to pass a team for 4th place. If we win, we might be able to knock that tough team out of the money. If we lose, it leaves the Iowa Enforcers as the one team we will be able to track down for the money.
SI