[DataKing]

Season 2 – Week 4 – Friendly Match

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Oklahoma City Rednecks

Date: January 8th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 957 (17,350)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

This week we welcomed Airhog’s Oklahoma City Rednecks to Chicago for the last warm-up game before the start of the FOFC Cup. Our big concern going into the match was the poor form some of our reserves were in, due to a lack of playing time earlier in the season. Participation in the U.S.A. Cup tends to have this effect on teams. When you’re forced to play your starters, the form of your reserves can suffer. We hoped that this match would help to get some of our back-ups in fighting trim for the upcoming cup competition.

Formation: 5-4-1

Starters

Keeper: #13 Cornelius Jernigan

Right Wingback: #24 Christian Kvam
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Central Defender: #22 Bill Rubin
Central Defender: #17 Luis Javier Prada
Left Wingback: #23 William Brown

Right Winger: #8 Max Dodge
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #12 Brooks Brannon
Left Winger: #16 Otis Johnson

Forward: #9 Ruben Stewart

Team Captain: #16 Otis Johnson
Set Pieces: #12 Brooks Brannon

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Darryl Read
-Defender: #5 Arlen Lucas
-Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
-Forward: #15 Forrest Tobias
-Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret

Cornelius Jernigan and Jerry Smith, new to the squad as a result of our trade with Middlesex Athletic, would be wearing SSFC jerseys for the first time today. We were eager to see how the newcomers would perform, particularly Jernigan. We fully expect him to take over as our starting keeper within the next week or two.

We were hesitant to start William Brown, who is still recovering from a nasty blow to the knee in last week’s match against the Galesburg Avengers. Willie has been recovering nicely with the assistance of our team doctors, however, and he assured us that he was ready to go. Coach Brown told him to take it easy, however, and make sure no further damage to the knee was sustained.

Match Report

Screamin' were very close to putting themselves one up in the 14:th minute as Luis Javier Prada got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Screamin' could have put themselves ahead in the 27:th minute as Ruben Stewart missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. In the games 27:th minute Oklahoma´s Brice Pratt fell dramatically just outside the penalty area.The referee, however booked Brice Pratt for taking a dive. Screamin' made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Ruben Stewart completely alone with keeper Ted Greenwood, who made a spectacular block. Screamin' created a good opportunity to score in the games 32nd minute when William Brown`s hooked ball created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 84 percent, dominated the battle.

In the 54:th minute Ruben Stewart almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide. William Brown of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 56:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. In the game's 61st minute Screamin'´s Jerry Smith limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. In the games 71st minute Oklahoma´s Jacob Cummings fell dramatically just outside the penalty area.The referee, however booked Jacob Cummings for taking a dive. Screamin' seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Joe Morris hit the ball just perfect in the 77:th minute and could score for Oklahoma with a fab long shot to 0 - 1. The referee showed Oklahomas Ken Swain the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Max Dodge. 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 93 percent possession of the ball.


Final Score: Oklahoma City Rednecks 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals
None

Cards
Brown (yellow)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: **

Kvam: **
Lerma: **
Rubin: *1/2
Prada: **
Brown: **1/2

Dodge: * (slight injury)
Smith: *1/2 (slight injury)
Brannon: **
Johnson: **

Stewart: *

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Passable (6)
-Right Attack: Wretched (2)
-Central Attack: Wretched (2)
-Left Attack: Poor (3)

Oklahoma City Rednecks
-Midfield: Disastrous (1)
-Right Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)

Comments

This was one of the most frustrating performances by our players that I’ve ever had to witness. We completely dominated the possession game, and must have had at least five good scoring opportunities. We simply weren’t able to capitalize on any of them. Ruben Stewart’s form has been suffering lately, and it was terribly obvious today. We have to seriously consider the possibility of benching him during the FOFC cup, unless his play improves dramatically.

Still, we have to give credit where credit is due. Airhog and the Rednecks took advantage of the opportunities that they did have, and walked away with the win. We take our hats off to them.

Up Next: Weekly updates occur on Saturday, so we will update the status of the team (financial and otherwise) then. After that, we travel to San Francisco to take on Gohira in league play. Stay tuned!