[sterlingice]

Preview
The Friendly Hippo World Tour continues, this week in Thailand. We'll be playing Samuthprakarn Eagle, who are #1 in III.6 Prathet Thai. So, we've gone from Canada to Oceania to Thailand in three weeks and probably have three more weeks before a rivalry game to end the season.


Game Summary
Date: 10/8/2003 at 05:30
MatchID: 9783824
Arena: Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena
Crowd: 3410


Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 3410 at Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena today. Samuthprakarn started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Chariya - Ivarsson, Ratana, Thyander - Sumalee, Davidsson, Cabellos, Kaljuste, Van-Linh - Ahlling, Fredriksson.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Sánchez, Miquel, Schrader - Wellens, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Teepen - Solomon, Tizón.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Samuthprakarn, and they seem passable at it. Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Samuthprakarns Michael Fredriksson gave, after 18 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. In the 19:th minute Samuthprakarn put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Huang Van-Linh coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson got himself booked. A great save by goaltender Ignacio Sánchez in the 22nd minute kept the visitors in the game as Kaarel Kaljuste struck from the left with a real cannonball. Hippopotami reduced in the 25:th minute to 2 - 1 as Robert Tryggvesson easily chipped the ball past the home sides keeper on a play from the right. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

In the 50:th minute Samuthprakarn´s Yindee Ratana tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. Juan Miguel Tizón almost scored an equalising goal for Hippopotami in the 52nd minute, but Charnchai Chariya made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Lucas Davidsson squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 64:th minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 1. Hippopotamis Koos Teepen got himself booked after a foul. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 73 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Samuthprakarn player was without a doubt Charnchai Chariya. However, Arvid Ahlling made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Daniel Storm. However, Derrick Solomon made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 1.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) shows that the goal was scored in a friendly
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
SE: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
SE: 18: 0-1
SE: 19: 0-2
HH: xx: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 1-2
Halftime Score: 1-2
Possession: 39%

2nd Half
SE: 64: 1-3
Final Score: 1-3
Possession: 27%
Final Possession: 33%

Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
HH: xx: Koos Teepen (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

Another decent international crowd with 3410 turning out.


Team Ratings

Samuthprakarn Eagle
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Central Defence: brilliant (11)
Left Side Defence: magnificent (12)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 67/74

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/48

Wow- they played a lot better than in previous friendlies. I try to find good matchups but a 74-48 loss on the road could have been a lot worse than 3-0, I suppose.


Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **~
DW Arcadio Sanchez **~
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Clement Schrader **~
WI Pierre Wellens ***
MI Daniel Storm (d) ***
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Koos Teepen ***
FO Derrick Solomon *~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **~

Total Stars: 27.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: Attack in Middle

I think that's the first *** performance by the UberTrainees(TM) with Storm today. Solomon is considering hanging it up once the season is over. He hasn't scored more than ** in weeks.


Three Stars
Not much happened in this game that was star-worthy: they were a lot better than us

Bronze: Daniel Storm
First ever *** for this batch of UberTrainees(TM)
Silver: Ignacio Sanchez
His save made this game closer than it should have been
Gold: Robert Tryggvesson
A goal in two straight friendlies


Game Summary
We were a bit overmatched but it was still fun. I can only wonder where the next two games will take us.


Press Release
10/13/2003 at 02:54 Hippos Lose Friendly in Thailand
The Hippo World Tour (TM) continues as they visited Samuthprakarn Eagle from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson scored the only Houston goal and the midfield and wings put up a B Team high of 14 stars. However, Samuthprakarn Eagle and their solid B Team midfield showed why they were # 1 in III.6 in Thailand. We thank eaglez for the friendly and will continue our tour next week in with Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in III.10 Israel.


FOFC Cup
The Final Four of the FOFC Cup is upon us

Midwest Ice Storm FC - Intercourse Ball Kickers 2 - 4
Apparently PilotMan ran out of easy people to play in his series so he had to play his B Team. He put up a better midfield, but YoSoySean put up some good ratings, as well. His brilliant-formidable-magnificent defense slowed MISFC's exc-exc-exc attack. On the other side of the field, Boštjan Čadež got a hat trick for IBC. They will advance to play...

Gargoyles - Bees 0 - 7
...the Bees, winner of a Final Four matchup between the two winners of the previous FOFC Cups. I'm not entirely sure how the Bees got so many chances as their midfield only won inad to weak, their NSIs were quite similar, and the game was at The Concrete Jungle, home of the Gargs. Rich Ladd had a hat trick for the Bees while the Gargs didn't get a single scoring chance.


Notes
Our road trip continues in Israel next week against a Div III team called Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv. This week, however, we have a huge game in series play. The fixture between us and Iowa will go a long way to determine who will finish in 4th this season.

SI