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Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 4

Severn United vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 3rd, 2003
Venue: Severn United Arena (Severn, MD)
Attendance: 40,000 (40,000)
Weather: Sunny

Round four of the U.S. Open Cup sees us traveling to the east coast, to Severn Maryland (just a little bit south of Baltimore). Our opposition is Severn United, a decent 5th-Division side. It seems like we’ve been bouncing all over the great United States recently, in San Francisco last week and Iowa the week before that. All this traveling may be starting to take its toll, I fear, particularly on the youngsters on the squad. Then again, they’ve come from all over the globe.

Severn United is another strong, attacking team who play a lot of counter-attacking with a 3-4-3 formation. A dangerous combination, no doubt. To help to counteract this, we’ll be pressing the matter and marking the opposition’s forwards closely. With strong play from our defense, we should be able to contain Severn and hopefully get a goal or two on our own opportunities (Severn’s defense leaves a bit to be desired).

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Press

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (43rd career appearance, ***~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (67th career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (107th career appearance, 1st appearance w/SSFC)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (11th career appearance, ***)

Right Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (11th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (3rd career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (3rd career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #16 Reg Nichols (19th career appearance, ***~)
Left Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (3rd career appearance, *~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (23rd appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (26th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #6 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas has been getting a lot of work early this season, and this week is no exception. We wanted to have some good defense prepared to stop the Severn United counter-attack, so Headcase will be starting today. “Corny” Jernigan will also be starting as well. Darryl Read’s form has been dipping a bit as of late, and we just don’t feel like he would be up to the task.

Astute readers will notice one significant change for us in the midfield. The injury to Jaimy van de Kerkhof and his replacement by Milan Dufek on Sunday means that we have an extra training slot open for this week. As Reg Nichols is definitely our “franchise player” in the midfield, we’re taking this opportunity to give him some exposure at the inner midfield position. We’re hoping that Reg will get a good look at the differences between playing inner midfield and on the wing, which should give him a better appreciation for playmaking and ball-control.

Up front German Galvez gets another start, as we continue to give the young Argentinean every opportunity that we can. He’ll be matched up with his usual partner on the front line, veteran Dutch striker Guido Metman.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

A scorching day at Severn United Arena, where 40000 spectators were in place for today´s match.

Severn tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Ward - Brandon, Coles, Camargo, Ortiz - Bravo Roldán, Estes, Finley, Valtz, González - Rundstedt.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Lucas, Svensson, Leier - Richardy, Nichols, Alustiza, Kolberg, Taxwell - Metman, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Severn immediately set off pressing their opponents. Screamin' strategy involved pressing and cutting off attack angles of their opponents from all over the field.

Severn's weak ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

At this time in the match, Screamin' were using their weak skills at the press to successfully put pressure on their opponents.

Ad Taxwell of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 17:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

19 minutes into the game a free kick combination hooked into the box almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the last header went wide.

Clinton Coles of Severn received a yellow card in the 26:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

48 minutes into the game a free kick combination hooked into the box almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the last header went wide.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 56:th minute left Screamin'´s Germán Galvez completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors.

Guido Metman came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Gareth Ward, hitting the bar.

Screamin's Ivan Richardy got himself booked after a foul. Fernand Valtz the unlucky victim, couldn´t continue the game, so Ivo Betzner had to come off the bench.

Guido Metman came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Gareth Ward, hitting the bar.

Ivan Richardy of Screamin' got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Severn, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Severn player was without a doubt Ricky Estes. Ivo Betzner on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Agustín Alustiza on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 1, Severn United 0

Goals

Galvez – 1 (5)

Cards

Taxwell – yellow (1)
Richardy – 2 yellows (suspended)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Lucas: *****
Svensson: ***~
Leier: ***

Richardy: ??? (ejected)
Kolberg: **
Alustiza: **
Nichols: **~
Taxwell: **~

Galvez: ***
Metman: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 66

Severn United
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 58

Comments

Severn United caught us by surprise early on, coming out in a 4-5-1 formation and pressing the play. This was quite unexpected, as the team had done nothing but counter-attack during the past two weeks. At any rate, we were able to weather the storm pretty well (with the only exception being a silly yellow card for Ad Taxwell, our young Englishman on the wing) and went into the break with no score on the board.

Early in the second half it looked as though we might be in trouble, as a good scoring chance for Severn barely missed its mark. This seemed to spur on German Galvez, who has been absolutely outstanding for us thus far in the cup, and the young Argentinean was able to tally his fifth cup goal of the season minutes later. From that point on our lads pretty much took control, but all was not chocolate and roses. Guido Metman hit the bar on two scoring chances. Also, the close marking of the ball on both sides finally got under Ivan Richardy’s skin. The young winger managed to get himself booked twice and ejected in the second half. Of course, this means we will be without his services this Sunday.

Overall though, we cannot really complain. Severn threw us a curve-ball with their formation change and pressing tactics, and this one very easily could have gone the other way. Fortunately for us, Galvez came through yet again with his superb cup play, giving us the only goal we would need.

Elsewhere in The Series Of The Beast [tm]

Four other teams from our series remain alive in the U.S. Open Cup. WoM FC were eliminated this week, but the real surprise was Neon Genesis Evangelion falling 5-3 to 5th-Division side Chics for Kicks. The remaining clubs in the series are:

Screamin’ Seamen
Croats in Miami
Big Reds
Ramblers
Sweden Heights

Big Reds and Sweden Heights have the advantage of a home match next week, while we will be on the road yet again, along with the Croats and Ramblers.

Up Next: Results from this week’s training. Stay tuned!