[DataKing]

Season 2 – League Match #1

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Croats In Miami

Date: December 15, 2002
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 15,784 (17,350)
Weather: Overcast

We began our first campaign in Division Four today against Croats In Miami, another team that was promoted from Division Five at the end of last season. At first glance, it looked to be a relatively even match, as we seemed to have similar talent levels. But after looking at game film, we noticed something peculiar about the Croats. They played the ever-popular 3-5-2 formation, but always removed their left wingback to gain a fifth midfielder, instead of replacing a central defender. They also seemed to do a poor job of compensating for this gap in their defense. We stacked our offense to the right side of the pitch, in order to hopefully take advantage of the oversight.

Formation: 3-5-2

Starters

Keeper: #1 Darryl Read

Right Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon
Central Defender: #2 Chuck Scales
Left Wingback: #23 William Brown

Right Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “Old Goat” Tomlin
Inner Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
Left Winger: #16 Otis Johnson

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Forward: #9 Ruben Stewart

We’ve been quite pleased with the performance of the youngster William Brown, so decided to start him and save Arlen Lucas for Wednesday’s cup match. Olav Mauffret and Pete Tomlin returned to their normal positions at winger and midfield, respectively. Otis Johnson was selected to play in place of Max Dodge, who has been in poor form lately. With the upcoming cup match in mind, we also chose to rest Forrest Tobias. His replacement was Ruben Stewart, the man whose job he stole at the tail end of last season.

Match Report

Screamin's Lucian Tere gave, after 24 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Visitors Xu Tze-Kei was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 30:th minute. The 32nd minute saw the home team take a 2 - 1 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Screamin' was Johannes Henriksson. The referee showed Screamin's Pete Tomlin the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Screamin' were given a penalty in the 35:th, neatly put away by Johannes Henriksson. 3 - 1 for the home side. A lovely rush by Screamin''s Ruben Stewart pastJoe Howe could have resulted in a goal, but the finish was just outside. Screamin' put themselves up 4 - 1 when Johannes Henriksson broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. By then Johannes Henriksson was a three time scorer - a hat trick! After this Screamin' lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Halftime score was 4 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 56 percent possession of the ball.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Croats´s Tony Allen got himself booked. After 59 minutes Lucian Tere put Screamin' ahead 5 - 1 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. A great save by goaltender Jan Evering in the 63rd minute kept the visitors in the game as Johannes Henriksson struck from the left with a real cannonball. With 66 minutes played Olav Mauffret could have brought this one home for Screamin', had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 67 percent possession rate.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 5, Croats in Miami 1

Goals
Henriksson – 3 (2,3,4)
Tere – 2 (1,2)

Cards
Tomlin (yellow)

Player Ratings

Read: **1/2

McMahon: **
Scales: ***
Brown: **1/2

Mauffret: **1/2
Bautista: **1/2
Tomlin: **
Tere: **
Johnson: **

Henriksson: **1/2
Stewart: *1/2

Team Match MVP: #2 Chuck Scales

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)

Croats In Miami
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)

Comments

Our strategy for the season opener worked like a charm, and team captain Johannes Henriksson earned his second career hat trick. We were also pleasantly surprised with the offensive production we received from Lucian Tere, who is typically more of a possession-type midfielder. We will face the Croats again at the tail end of the season, and I doubt we will see them make the same mistake twice.

Up Next: We enter the second round of the U.S.A. Cup. We will travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Democrats. Stay tuned!