[DataKing]

Season 5 – International Friendly Match

Screamin’ Seamen vs. B.C. Cougars

Date: February 11th, 2004
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 4,517 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

This week we welcome the Canadian B.C. Cougars club to Chicago. Hailing from British Columbia, the Cougars are a top-flight team in Canada’s 4th-Division, and appear destined to make the jump to Division III at the end of this season.

In their training matches, the Cougars are fond of pressing the ball and cutting off angles, and often play a heavily-defensive 5-3-2 formation. This means that, while we may have a good portion of the possession today, we could have trouble getting the ball into scoring position, much less past the keeper. To help counter this we’ll be playing to one of our strengths, and pushing the ball up the pitch on the wings, then concentrating on getting good cross-passes from wingers Walter Bosch and Ivan Richardy.

Formation: 4-4-2
Tactics: Attack on Wings

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **~)

Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ***~)
Central Defender: #3 Ben McMahon (46 career appearances, ***)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (112 career appearances, ****)
Left Wingback: #6 Agustin Alustiza (6 career appearances, *~)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (11 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (6 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (11 career appearances, ***~)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (15 career appearances, ***)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (40 career appearances, **~)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (71 career appearances, ****)
-Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (30 career appearances, ****~)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (17 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #19 Gino Behling (14 career appearances, **** (midfielder))
-Winger: #10 Milan Dufek (12 career appearances, ***~ (midfielder))

Our back line remains the same as last week, with 18-year-old Spaniard Agustin Alustiza playing out of position at the wingback position. We’re keeping him on the left side of the formation, next to veteran defenseman Sven Svensson. Sven can provide the kid a little help on the wing, should the need arise.

In the middle, we’ve got Walter Bosch and Ivan Richardy playing the wings for us today, as was mentioned previously. Also seeing the pitch today is Chilean phenom Javier Tejeda. Javier was suspended from Sunday’s match due to accumulated bookings, and so will play today instead.

Up front, we’re fielding Johannes Henriksson and Argentinean striker German Galvez. Galvez has been struggling the latter half of the season, and the recent addition of Fidel Lourenso to the club means that German has been relegated to reserve duty, at least for the time being. Once he regains his match fitness (hopefully prior to the start of next season), he should be able to challenge Guido Metman for a starting position.

Despite some looming clouds, we’ve got a pretty good turnout today, considering that this is only a training match. Here’s hoping that we give the Screamin’ Seamen faithful something to cheer about.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

4517 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Read - Leier, Svensson, Mcmahon, Alustiza - Bösch, Kolberg, Tejeda, Richardy - Henriksson, Galvez.

Cougars tactics involved an interesting 5-3-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jansson - Stanwick, Benham, Sanborn, Heller, MacMonies - Knutson, Richmond, Bouthot - Wei-kun, Vidal.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way.

Cougars strategy involved pressing and cutting off attack angles of their opponents from all over the field.

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

Screamin's Ivan Richardy got himself booked after a foul.

The 15:th minute saw the home team take a 1 - 0 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Screamin' was Johannes Henriksson.

In the 34:th minute Screamin'´s Mattias Leier tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net.

The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Visitors Guillermo Vidal was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 46:th minute.

A well placed corner kick from Johannes Henriksson was followed by Walter Bösch´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Screamin'. The result now 2-1.

Cougarss Shawn MacMonies got himself booked after a foul.

After 76 minutes Ouyang Wei-kun made a speedy advance and dropped the ball to Guillermo Vidal who shuffled the ball past the keeper. The score was now 2 - 2.

After a fine move down the middle Ivan Richardy nearly gave the home side one up in the 77:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.

Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 67 percent possession rate.

OVERTIME

After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of overtime followed.

Johannes Henriksson was very close to giving Screamin' the lead with an ingenious free kick routine in the 95:th, the ball just grazing the bar.

After a fine move down the middle Javier Tejeda nearly gave the home side one up in the 109:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.

PENALTY KICKS

There was still no winner after 30 minutes of extra time so the teams had to select a lineup for a penalty contest to settle the result.

(PK1) Screamin'´s Johannes Henriksson made no mistake. Per Jansson didn´t have a chance. 3 - 2.

Cougars´s Brian Benham, obviously having last minute doubt´s, produced a loose ball to the right post. Unfortunately Darryl Read made a premature move to the left and didn´t make it back. New score 3 - 3.

(PK2) Screamin'´s Darryl Read made no mistake. Per Jansson didn´t have a chance. 4 - 3.

Cougars´s Willie Knutson penalty shot was very well placed but Darryl Read went the right way, blocking it spectacularly. The score was still 4 - 3.

(PK3) Screamin'´s Ben Mcmahon had nerves of steel at the penalty, changing the score to 5 - 3.

Cougars´s Per Jansson looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal.

(PK4)Screamin'´s Agustín Alustiza hesitated a long time before shooting a penalty going just wide of the left post. Still 5 - 3.

Cougars´s Ouyang Wei-kun penalty shot was very well placed but Darryl Read went the right way, blocking it spectacularly. The score was still 5 - 3.

(PK5) Screamin'´s Rune Kolberg seemed nervous, putting the ball to the centre of the goal. Per Jansson however, made an early dive to the right, the ball passing him. 6 - 3.

Cougars´s Guillermo Vidal cooly put the ball past Darryl Read. 6 - 4.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Sven Svensson. Agustín Alustiza on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Cougars´s best player was Jean-Claude Bouthot. Willie Knutson on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 6, B.C. Cougars 4 (4-2 PKs)

Goals

Henriksson – 2 (1 PK)
Bosch – 1 (assisted by Henriksson)
Read – 1 (PK)
McMahon – 1 (PK, GWG)
Kolberg – 1 (PK)

Cards

Richardy – yellow

Player Ratings

Read: ***

Leier: ***~
McMahon: ***
Svensson: ****
Alustiza: *~

Bosch: ***
Kolberg: ***
Tejeda: ****
Richardy: ***

Henriksson: **
Galvez: **~

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 58

B.C. Cougars
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Formidable (9)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 56

Comments

Well the fans that turned out for this “meaningless” training match sure were in for a treat! The Cougars took us all the way to penalty kicks before we were finally able to bring this one home, due in large part to the spectacular play of Darryl Read at the end. The veteran goalkeeper made two spectacular saves against good penalty kicks for the Cougars, and that alone was the difference.

But still, it really never should have gone as far as it did. Our finishing ability was downright horrible today, and we missed on no fewer than four different scoring opportunities (including two in overtime!) I suspect that all the effort we put into Sunday’s match against WoM FC had something to do with that. Still and all, a win is a win, and we’ll gladly take it.

Up Next: Weekly training results. Stay tuned!