Season 2 – League Match #7
Farmer of Fire vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: January 26, 2003
Venue: Ring of Fire (Oklahoma)
Attendance: 14,326 (33,000)
Weather: Rain
This week we had the first half of our mid-season home-and-home matches against Farmer of Fire, currently 5th in the series standings. The talent level that the Farmers have at their disposal is less than impressive, with one notable exception. At only 21 years old, Charles McCrary is the best keeper in the series, bar none. Valued at over $1,000,000, he alone means that the Farmers have a defense that we must respect. Goals will be difficult to come by for both teams, and we expect a low-scoring affair.
Formation: 3-5-2
Starters
Keeper: #1 Darryl Read
Right Wingback: #5 Arlen Lucas
Central Defender: #2 Chuck Scales
Left Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon
Right Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
Inner Midfielder: #4 Pete “Old Goat” Tomlin
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #6 Charlie Bautista
Left Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Forward: #15 Forrest Tobias
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Team Captain: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Cornelius Jernigan
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Inner Midfielder: #12 Brooks Brannon
-Forward: #9 Ruben Stewart
-Winger: #16 Otis Johnson
The only significant change in our lineup this week is young Jerry Smith starting at midfield. He is playing in place of Romanian international Lucian Tere, who is serving out a red-card suspension. Lucian should return to the lineup for us next week.
Match Report
In the 8:th minute Thomas Gage almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide. Screamin' took the lead after 12 minutes with 0 - 1. Olav Mauffret placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Farmer, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.
Charles Mccrary kept the home side in the game with a magnificient save, as Johannes Henriksson delivered an almost perfect free kick to the far cross bar. Farmer evened the score out after a penalty brilliantly laid by Will Early. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like Pete Tomlin whose skills weren´t made justice at all. Farmer were very close to putting themselves one up in the 63rd minute as Ivan Block got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. 68 minutes into the game Will Ziegler had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Walter Titus. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Farmer, with an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.
Final Score: Farmer of Fire 1, Screamin’ Seamen 1
Goals
Mauffret – 1(2)
Cards
None
Player Ratings
I like SterlingIce’s idea of using the ~ to represent ½ star, so I’m going to steal it 
Read: **~
Lucas: ***
Scales: **~
McMahon: **
Peralta: **
Tomlin: **~
Smith: *~
Bautista: **
Mauffret: **
Tobias: **
Henriksson: **~
Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen Lucas
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
Farmer of Fire
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Weak (4)
-Central Attack: Weak (4)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
Comments
I must admit that I am quite disappointed in our performance today, as this is a match that we should have won, even though we were on the road. I can make all sorts of excuses if I care to; we were missing one of our starting midfielders in Lucian Tere, the rain hurt the performance of our technical players, their keeper got lucky on a save early in the second half that should have won the match for us, the list goes on and on.
But the simple fact is that we didn’t win the match. Johannes’ free kick early in the second hand was
almost perfect, but not quite. A perfect shot would have scored, and we’ve come to expect little else from our team captain. After breaking down the individual performances by each of our players, something scary is possible. It is possible that we have been playing beyond ourselves for the first half of the season, and this match was the first step in a painful trip back to reality.
Coach Brown and I have some work to do, that much is obvious. We let two points slip away from us here, and want to get out ahead of any potential slippage for the entire team. It’s going to be a busy week.
Series Scores and Standings
-Ramblers
crushed Cariocas 9-nil, giving them a 2 point lead in the standings and a massive lead in goal-differential.
-Croats in Miami shut out Neon Genesis Evangelion 2-nil. The Croats are red-hot, having won five straight, and are threatening us for 2nd place.
-And in the match no one cares about, Gazzaly FC defeated Gohira 3-1.
Here is what the standings look like at the midpoint of the season.
Pos. Team Played Goals Points
1. Ramblers 7 35-4 19
2. Screamin’ Seamen 7 29-9 17
3. Croats in Miami 7 22-11 15
4. Neon Genesis Evangelion 7 17-8 12
5. Farmer of Fire 7 7-13 8
6. Cariocas 7 11-25 5
7. Gazzaly FC 7 4-25 4
8. Gohira 7 2-32 0
Up Next: We face our old foes, the Cedar Pond Horned Toads, in 2nd Round FOFC Cup action this Wednesday. You aren’t going to want to miss this one, folks! Stay tuned!