[DataKing]

Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 1

South Carolina Eagles vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: November 12th, 2003
Venue: South Carolina Emporium (Greenville, SC)
Attendance: 6,860 (7,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Today we embark on our fourth journey into the U.S. Open Cup (we did not receive an invitation to participate in our inaugural season). Last season we made it to the fifth round, before blowing a 3-1 lead and losing to the St. Cloud Muskies in overtime. This time, we do not necessarily expect to advance that far, due to the brand new midfield. But that is not to say that we won’t give it our all and advance as far as we can.

Our first round opponents are the South Carolina Eagles, another of the numerous small, local clubs that are now allowed to participate in The Cup. Frankly, we don’t expect to have any trouble with the Eagles, even with the new midfield. The only player they have who we really need to concern ourselves with is 27-year-old central defender Christopher Martin (a 3* player). We’ll be keeping our attacks more to the sides of the field, rather than up the middle, to keep play away from Martin as much as possible.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Attack on Wings

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

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (39th start, ***~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (62nd start, *****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (16th start, ****)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (37th start, *****)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (1st Career Start)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (1st Career Start)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (1st start w/SSFC)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (1st Career Start)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (1st start w/SSFC)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (46th start, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (17th start, **~)

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Winger: #16 Reg Nichols

We’ll be running a 3-5-2 formation in today’s match, and will be attacking primarily on the wings, as was mentioned previously. The midfield will no doubt look very unfamiliar to our fans. To call any of our midfielders (with the exception of Reg Nichols) starters would be a misnomer, as we’re still largely unaware of what many of these kids can do. Today, we’ll be starting with Bosch, Behling, van de Kerkhof, Tejeda, and Richardy. We’ve seen at least a little bit from the others on the pitch already. Today is their turn.

Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald officially takes over today as our starting sweeper, and has been awarded the coveted #2 jersey, formerly donned by Chuck Scales.

And up front, Johannes Henriksson will be playing today in place of Guido Metman. Guido was dinged up in an off-season match against the Gargoyles, and has yet to fully recover. We’ll be holding him out today, as a precaution, and hope that he is ready to go for our season opener against Neon Genesis Evangelion this weekend.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 6860 to South Carolina Emporium. Carolina started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Foster - Gibbon, Martin, Harbin, Burney - Diggs, Meredith, Pérez, Wesley - Ross, Holley.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Jernigan - Lucas, Mcdonald, Willard - Bösch, van de Kerkhof, Behling, Tejeda, Richardy - Henriksson, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' were mostly trying to use the flanks for their attacks.

Screamin' took the lead after 5 minutes with 0 - 1. Johannes Henriksson placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

The away team´s Javier Tejeda took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 11th minute increasing Screamin'´s lead to 0 - 2.

In the games 14:th minute Jaimy van de Kerkhof nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar.

Johannes Henriksson increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3.

The visitors Johannes Henriksson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 33rd minute. 0 - 4 for Screamin'. At that, Johannes Henriksson was noted down for a hat trick.

The structure of the game started to change as Screamin' decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone.

In the game's 33rd minute Screamin'´s Johannes Henriksson limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 4. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 70 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

The visitors Javier Tejeda took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 61st minute. 0 - 5 for Screamin'.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 68:th minute Screamin' goal, making it 0 - 6. Johannes Henriksson was noted down as the scorer.

In the games 69:th minute Germán Galvez nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar.

Screamin'´s Germán Galvez received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 76:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 7. The home crowd was not pleased with that one.

The referee showed Carolinas Albert Wesley the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Walter Bösch. The Screamin' bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

Carolina´s best player was Christopher Martin. Fernando Pérez on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. However, Ivan Richardy made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 7, South Carolina Eagles 0

Goals

Henriksson – 4 (GWG, 5th career hattrick)
Tejeda – 2
Galvez – 1

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Lucas: *****
McDonald: ****
Willard: ****~

Bosch: **~
Behling: **~
Van de Kerkhof: **~
Tejeda: **~
Richardy: *~

Henriksson: ***
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: World-Class (13)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 64

South Carolina Eagles
-Midfield: Wretched (2)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Left Defense: Poor (3)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Wretched (2)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 28

Comments

Overall, we couldn’t be more pleased with the results of today’s matchup. We had the easy win that we were expecting, and our lads showed a real killer instinct. Only five minutes in, Johannes Henriksson gave us the lead, and the players never looked back, continuing to pour it on. Special congratulations need to go out to Johannes, as the Swedish striker tallied his fifth career hattrick.

Even better, as far as the team is concerned, is that we escaped from Greenville with no bookings and no injuries. The small dings sustained by Henriksson and Bosch turned out to be inconsequential, some bruises and little more. Both will be ready to go on Sunday, if necessary.

Up Next: Our off-season training results. Stay tuned!