Season 2 – Week 12 – International Friendly Match
Crazy Docs FC vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Date: March 4th, 2003
Venue: Crazy Docs FC Arena (London, England)
Attendance: 2,345 (18,000)
Weather: Overcast
We’re in jolly old England this week, for an international friendly against Crazy Docs FC, a club from England’s Fifth Division. We’ve been looking forward to this trip for a couple of different reasons.
First off, we’ve made this trip a little longer than most visits to opposing stadiums. I figure that the best thing for our lads right now is a little bit of R&R. The players need to unwind a little bit, after our harrowing visit to New York, and with two vital league matches rapidly approaching.
Second, and this may seem odd, but it’s nice to have a match that means absolutely nothing. Between the U.S.A. Cup, the Windy City Cup, and the FOFC Cup, open dates are extremely rare for our club. And scheduling is only going to get more difficult, with the rapid growth of the FOFC and the prospect of a higher seed in next season’s U.S.A. Cup (where we should advance beyond round three). More than likely, we will not be participating in the Windy City Cup next season, with the prospect of alternating between the FOFC and Windy City Cups in future seasons. But no official decision has been made just yet.
As far as today’s match goes, Crazy Docs FC run a 3-5-2 formation, with a decent balance of offense and defense. We have a small edge in talent, it appears, but with the strength of the 3-5-2 over the comparative weakness of the 5-4-1, I expect a pretty even contest.
Formation: 5-4-1
Starters
Keeper: #1 Darryl Read
Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier
Central Defender: #21 Zarpas Lerma
Central Defender: #20 Keith Stubbs
Central Defender: #23 William Brown
Left Wingback: #24 Christian Kvam
Right Winger: #25 Paul Peralta
Inner Midfielder: #19 Jerry Smith
Inner Midfielder: #12 Brooks Brannon
Left Winger: #16 Otis Johnson
Forward: #14 Jesper Gravesen
Team Captain: #14 Jesper Gravesen
Set Pieces: #14 Jesper Gravesen
Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #7 Lucian Tere
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Winger: #10 Olav Mauffret
Jesper Gravesen makes his debut as a Screamin’ Seaman today, and will wear the captain’s armband for us as well. I know he’s brand new to the club, but I think the youngsters can learn a thing or two from Jesper. Fortunately for us, his English is at least marginally understandable.
We’ve also made a small change on the back line. Christian Kvam, our 18 year old Norwegian defender, has been showing good form lately, and so we will play him at left wingback. William Brown will slide over to central defender to make room for Christian on the wing.
Match Report
2345 spectators had come to Crazy Docs FC Arena this cloudy day. Crazy tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Dias - Falcon, Wilmot, Redwine - Conigliaro, Sohda, Parker, Peyrani, Paul - De Gabiola, Ekber.
Screamin' started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Leier, Brown, Lerma, Stubbs, Kvam - Peralta, Brannon, Smith, Johnson - Gravesen.
Otis Johnson came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 17:th minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Francisco Dias managed to tip the ball to a corner. 17 minutes into the game Lee Redwine had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Lorne Cafferkey. Jerry Smith came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 31st minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Francisco Dias managed to tip the ball to a corner. In the 37:th minute Crazys Eric Peyrani received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle.
After a fine move down the middle Eric Peyrani nearly gave the home side one up in the 48:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though. Misao Sohda behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 49:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Keith Stubbs came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 66:th minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Francisco Dias managed to tip the ball to a corner. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 67 percent possession rate.
OVERTIME
After the regular 90 minutes, the agonizing of overtime followed. Keith Stubbs had a good try in the 107:th minute, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. Refet Ekber of Crazy received a yellow card in the 109:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 109 minutes into the game Lorne Cafferkey had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Edmund Schrattenecker. Screamin' had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Francisco Dias saved Mattias Leier´s shot headed for the top corner. 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.
PENALTY KICKS
Crazy´s Rufino De Gabiola made no mistake. Darryl Read didn´t have a chance. 1 - 0.
A badly laid penalty by Screamin'´s Jesper Gravesen was surrendered by Francisco Dias, taking an equally bad dive, making the score 1 - 1.
Crazy´s Refet Ekber looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal.
Screamin'´s Brooks Brannon cooly put the ball past Francisco Dias. 1 - 2.
A badly laid penalty by Crazy´s Mervyn Parker was surrendered by Darryl Read, taking an equally bad dive, making the score 2 - 2.
Screamin'´s Darryl Read didn´t hesitate but Francisco Dias managed the save, resulting in an unchanged 2 - 2 score.
Crazy´s Thomas Paul looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal.
A badly laid penalty by Screamin'´s Paul Peralta was surrendered by Francisco Dias, taking an equally bad dive, making the score 2 - 3.
Crazy´s Misao Sohda looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal.
Screamin'´s Jerry Smith, obviously having last minute doubt´s, produced a loose ball to the right post. Unfortunately Francisco Dias made a premature move to the left and didn´t make it back. New score 2 - 4.
The most dominating Crazy player was without a doubt Francisco Dias. Jon Conigliaro was a disappointment, however. Most important Screamin' player was Darryl Read. Brooks Brannon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4. The match ends 2 - 4.
Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 0, Crazy Docs FC 0 (PK: Screamin’ Seamen 4, Crazy Docs FC 2)
Goals
None
Penalty Kick Goals
Gravesen
Brannon
Peralta
Smith
Cards
None
Player Ratings
Read: **~
Leier: **
Lerma: **
Stubbs: **~
Brown: **~
Kvam: **~
Peralta: **
Smith: **
Brannon: *~
Johnson: **
Gravesen: **
Team Ratings
Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Poor (3)
Crazy Docs FC
-Midfield: Wretched (2)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
Comments
Just when you think you’ve got a nice, relaxed friendly match set up, the “Cardiac Kids” strike again! We had good opportunities throughout the match, and you could tell that the addition of Jesper Gravesen has helped the offense. But Crazy Docs’ keeper Francisco Dias just put up a force field in front of the net, saving three different goal attempts in regulation.
For the first time in history, we played more than 90 minutes in a match. After another 30 minutes (and Dias’ fourth goal save), we lined up for penalty kicks, and it appears that Crazy Docs’ relative inexperience finally got the better of them. 4-2 on penalty kicks, and we went out to hit the London pub scene as winners.
Up Next: Weekly training results Thursday evening. Stay tuned!