Season 2 – Windy City Cup – Group Play – Match #2
Screamin’ Seamen vs. The Prestidigitators
Date: February 19th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 799 (17,350)
Weather: Rain
Our second draw in the Windy City Cup is The Prestidigitators, a club from 5th Division. Despite being from Division 5, The Prestidigitators looks to be a pretty good match for our second team. They are fond of a defensive-oriented 3-5-2 formation, similar to our first team. The match-up actually looks to be a pretty even one, and will certainly be a defensive struggle. Goals will be difficult to come by, and this has the looks of being a tight match from start to finish.
Formation: 5-4-1
Starters
Keeper: #1 Darryl Read
Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier
Central Defender: #20 Keith Stubbs
Central Defender: #24 Christian Kvam
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Left Wingback: #23 William Brown
Right Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
Inner Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
Inner Midfielder: #12 Brooks Brannon
Left Winger: #3 Ben McMahon
Forward: #9 Ruben Stewart
Team Captain: #25 Paul Peralta
Set Pieces: #3 Ben McMahon
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Cornelius Jernigan
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Winger: #16 Otis Johnson
Resting midfielder Lucian Tere on Sunday looks to have been a good decision, because the forecast is calling for rain, and Lucian is the only player we have who really excels on a wet pitch. We also rested wingback-turned-winger Ben McMahon, so he will play today. Besides his skills as a winger, Ben is also adequate at set pieces, so he will handle these for us today.
Match Report
Due to an all-day shower, 799 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Docks. Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. The following players had been chosen: Read - Leier, Kvam , Lerma, Stubbs, Brown - Peralta, Tere, Brannon, Mcmahon - Stewart.
Prestidigitators had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Carranza - Johnson, Youngblood, Jefferson - Guerra, Carranza, Anderson, Benson, Crosby - Hai-Bang, Rhodes.
Christian Kvam sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 1-0 in after a corner kick after 9 minutes of play. The home side failed to add to their score as Ben Mcmahon shot a penalty wide in the 17:th minute. In the 19:th minute Prestidigitatorss Rudy Youngblood received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Don Crosby somhow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Herman Rhodes who struck for 1 - 1. After a fine move down the middle Zarpas Lerma nearly gave the home side one up in the 29:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though. 1 - 1 was the half-time score. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the fortyfive minutes.
Prestidigitators had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Darryl Read saved Arnold Johnson´s shot headed for the top corner. The cannonball from 35 metres by Huang Hai-Bang of Prestidigitators was an impressive sight, but didn´t make it into the net. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Prestidigitators´s Eddy Jefferson got himself booked. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 63 percent possession rate.
Most important Screamin' player was Darryl Read. Ruben Stewart was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Prestidigitators player was without a doubt Leroy Carranza. Juán Benson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 1.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 1, The Prestidigitators 1
Goals
Kvam – 1
Cards
None
Player Ratings
Read: **~
Leier: **
Stubbs: *~
Kvam: **
Lerma: **
Brown: **~
Peralta: **
Tere: **
Brannon: **
McMahon: **~
Stewart: *~
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Wretched (2)
-Left Attack: Poor (3)
The Prestidigitators
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Weak (4)
-Left Attack: Poor (3)
Comments
I’m a bit disappointed in our performance today, as this is one we really should have won. Ben McMahon’s miss on the penalty kick in the first half really hurt, as that very well could have meant a victory for us and three points instead of one. As things stand now, we will need a win in next week’s match as well as some help if we hope to advance to the Round of 16 (the stage at which we were knocked out of the cup last season).
I did not realize that High Tops, our opponents for next week, is actually operated by a fellow FOFCer, Professor58. I believe the Professor is a lurker, but so much the better. That means he’s less likely to mouth off when he beats me next week. (Just kidding about the mouthing off, naturally.
).
Up Next: Training results tomorrow evening. Stay tuned!