South Bay Saints - HT Season 22

[Masked]

Series IV.31 Preview




It is interesting to read other dynasties with teams that are promoting into division 4 this season. In their previews of the other teams in their series, they often discuss non-descript teams that have been stuck in division 4 for several seasons. Well, now the Saints are one of those teams. I am starting my third season in division IV and it doesn't look like I will be getting out any time soon.




My first season, division IV.31 was one of the ten toughest series in division 4. Since then, the series has gotten easier as two of the better teams have become walkovers, and none of the new teams have been any better than my team. And now for a quick preview of the teams in the series (in order of their finish last season).




1) Fratboys (6^th place in III.3)

Avg NSI: 77.8

Best NSI: 97 (in the qualifier)

Fratboys began play in the first week of season 16 nearly two years ago and has spent the last three seasons finishing in 6^th place in III.3. They were upset in the qualifier and are stuck back in division 4. Their a very strong defensive team that has a solid attack. While their individual midfielders look pretty good, their overall rating is not. Since they train playmaking, this will improve over the coarse of the season.




2) Numbers Munchers (2^nd place in IV.31)

Avg NSI: 81.2

Best NSI: 95

After knocking my team out of first place with a utopian central attack they suddenly quit in the middle of last season under mysterious circumstances. Darkanon was very active up until Dec 30 when he bought a player for 2.5M (value > 1M). He never logged in again and his lineup has been reset.




3) Los Chixi Dix (3^rd in IV.31)

Avg NSI: 68.5

Best NSI: 75

Chixi auto-promoted into the series last season and pulled off several big upsets early in the season and coasted to a third place finish. He also trains midfield, and his defense is better than his offense.




4) South Bay Saints

Avg NSI: 72.8

Best NSI: 80 (83 in FOFC cup semifinals against Ardent)




5) CC's Dragons

Avg NSI: 70.8

Best NSI: 82

Dragons came in last of the three very similar teams last season, but easily won his qualifier to stick around for another season. Like Chixi, he auto-promoted last season and trains midfielders. Along with Fratboys and the Saints, he has the best midfield in the series. His team is well rounded and developing rapidly. He has played about 4 months longer than I have. Since he has not made a major purchase in awhile, I suspect he has a significant amount of money and might make a move soon to upgrade his team.




6) Thunderchickens

Avg NSI: 76.4

Best NSI: 86

Sabot trains forwards and has the best attack in the series. However, last season his midfield was not competitive and he frequently got blown out. He bought two high priced (1 and 1.5M) midfielders around week 10 last season, but due to form and injuries, they did not have much of an effect. Both midfielders are still in weak form, but when they improve, this might be the best team in the division.




7) RI Coks

Avg NSI: 58.0

Best NSI: 63

This team has been around for 2 season and won his division both times to auto-promote first to V and now to IV. Unfortunately for him, he might have made the jump a bit too soon this time and will be fighting for 6^th place. His team is balanced (all ratings pass – excellent). I haven't figured out what he trains. He always plays a 3-5-2, but has old midfielders, wingers and keepers.




8) Dragonball F

Avg NSI: 59.6

Best NSI: 70

Dragonball promoted from V.11 in his second season of play and improved his team dramatically last season. I suspect he is another midfield trainer. Although their ratings are very similar to Coks, Dragonball looks like better prepared for division 4.




Predicted Finishing

1) Fratboys

2) South Bay Saints

3) CC's Dragons

4) Thunderchickens

5) Los Chixi Dix

6) Dragonball F

7) RI Coks

8) Number Munchers




The top five teams all have a realistic chance to win the series. Thunderchickens in fact may have the best chance to topple Fratboys if they fix their midfield.

[Masked]

Saints starting lineup

EDIT: Trying to fix load problems

There are two big changed in the lineup from the end of last season.

Tomas Myklebust was purchased for $1.59M from a Norwegian team. Hottrick keeper tool suggest he his a mid-formidable keeper, and his previous owner reported that he had four weeks training after his last pop (I asked after I bought him). I feel like I got a decent deal on him (assuming his form recovers). The average price for formidable keepers appears to be about 1.4-1.5M with mid form tupically going for about 1.7-1.8M.




After purchasing Mycklebust, I downgraded one of my wingback spots. Carlos Saul Tevez (solid def, passable winger) fetched 260K on the market. I always played him defensively so his winger skill didn't add much. I was also trying to increase my available funds for the keeper purchase. Yki Hyppia, a backup last season, will move into the starter roll for a few weeks until I buy a true replacement. Yki generally puts up the same 3 stars that Tevez did thanks to his experience, so I shouldn't see a large effect. Honestly, I am a bit umcomfortable with this move. It turns out that I did not need the extra cash, and really dislike the backwards move. However, Tevez was not worth 260K to me. As soon as I buy a new coach and trainee, I'll spend whatever is left on a wingback.

I still do not have a 4^th winger trainee so I may play a 3-4-3 several times early in the season. The third forward would either be one of my original players, Tony Spicer (solid scoring, inad passing, solid set piece, inad exp), or set piece wizard, Zvonko Andric (passable scoring, world class set pieces).

In the second half of the season, I will be looking to upgrade my offense again. I would like to buy an outstanding forward and winger. If I have any cash left over I might think about a new defender as well, but that isn't too likely.

Trainees

My trainees were purchased when I didn't have too much money and consequently aren't that good. Since I sold Eber Basoa Rivas (outstanding PM) in the offseason for 1.45M, I will need to buy a new trainee next week.

Ryszard Laguna 218 000 US$, 19 years, weak form Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina:	solid	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	excellent	Passing:	passable
Winger:	weak	Defending:	wretched
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	weak

Carlton Blakely 229 000 US$, 19 years, passable form Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina:	excellent	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	solid	Passing:	inadequate
Winger:	poor	Defending:	inadequate
Scoring:	weak	Set Pieces:	wretched

Ryszard will move into the starting lineup whenever I sell Dani Mario Araujo. Blakely may start next season if I decide to jetison Joonas at brilliant.

[Masked]

Slightly odd formatting probably resulted from posting in Mozilla again. I had hoped OpenOffice might be a little friendlier than Word was.

[Masked]

Season Goals

1) Win the series - As I mentioned above, the top 5 teams are all pretty equal. A the end of last season I was the second best of those 5, and am the only one to make a big move in the offseason (Mycklebust). I am not ready to promote to III, but there is little chance of me auto-promoting as I am still a couple players away from being able to dominate the division.

2) Break a 90 NSI - This is the contiuation of a trend. Last season it was 80, before 70, etc. Since I got an 83 in a friendly last season, this one should not be too hard to attain.

3) Make a profit on my youth squad - I tried this last season and came up about 20K short of breaking even. I am convinced that I have the worst youth squad of all the FOFC teams. I had three 17yos last season, and have never had any player with a primary skill above passable (one guy had formidable set pieces and no other skill better than weak). My best pull from last season was a week 14 17yo passable defender with inadequate scoring and playmaking. The team that bought him immediately fired all their players and quit hattrick. So even if I get something decent, I won't see any mother club money down the road.

4) Get a magnificent midfield - probably could have pulled this off had I ended up with a qualifier last season when I could use a MOTS. By the end of the season, I might be able to achieve one in a home normal match assuming good team spirit.

Early Season Plans
I have already alluded to most of these, but will summerize them again.

1) Get a solid coach - I am patiently waiting for Teuvo Kaurismaki to pop to solid experience so I can turn him into a coach. He conversion price has not budged in weeks though.

2) Buy an IM trainee - I know I will not pull one so I will be on the market next week. I plan on spending about 300K so I hope to get a passable PM with okay secondaries.

3) Buy a wingback - Solid defense with some experience

4) Upgrade my arena - 3 of my first 4 games are on the road, so I will wait until week 5 to debut the expansion. I am looking to increase from 32000 to 45-48000.

[Havok]

Get First place or the Misfitz are pulling our sponsership from the club!!!!

Joking of course.... good luck this season bro! Go Clark Merriat!!

[Masked]

US Open Cup Round 1 Preview


New York Bears - South Bay Saints

Normally, I don't like to reveal my strategy in advance of the matches, but it really doesn't matter this week.

Lineup
GK: Tomas Mycklebust

WB: Matt Keyesj (defensive)
CD: Clifton Campbell
WB: Teuvo Kaurismaki (defensive)

W: Joonas Vahtramae (towards middle)
IM: Dani Mario Araujo (offensive)
IM: Ryzard Laguna (extra)
IM: Toader Popa (offensive)
W: Carlton Blakely (towards middle)

F: Joe Lond
F: Robin Drakborn

Our lineup is intended to counter the Bear's wretched midfield.

Actually I wanted to get all five of my IM's training this week, so I decided to play two on the wings. In order for them to have some contribution, they were ordered to play towards the middle. I am gambling that the form of my winger will not tank. The Saints will be attacking down the middle since there will be no wing attacks, and I am curious what rating I can get for the attack strategies. And of course the Saints are playing it cool.

This game is also the debut of mid-formidable keeper Mycklebust. I am hoping for 3.5 stars from him as he is in weak form.

Hopefully, Teuvo will get some experience today as well which is why he is playing instead of one of my other starters.

[Masked]

US Open Cup: round 1




New York Bears – South Bay Saints 0-6




The Saints controlled possession 86% and 95% of the time in the first ans second half respectively. Joe Lond had a hattrick but picked up a late yellow card.




Goals


0 - 1 Robin Drakborn (11)
0 - 2 Joe Lond (13)
0 - 3 Joe Lond (28)
0 - 4 Dani Mário Araújo (31)
0 - 5 Joe Lond (69)
0 - 6 Dani Mário Araújo (70)



Ratings




South Bay Saints

Team Attitude:	Play it Cool
Tactic:	Attack in the middle
Tactic skill:	solid
Midfield:	passable
Right Side Defence:	passable
Central Defence:	excellent
Left Side Defence:	solid
Right Side Attack:	inadequate
Central Attack:	formidable
Left Side Attack:	inadequate

NSI 58

I was disappointed in my midfield since I played two IMs as wingers towards the middle, but bad team spirit and poor form hurt. The solid rating with the AIM tactic was a pleasant surprise and suggests that AIM or AOW would be a viable tactic in league play.




Stars

edit: This section was removed to see if the image was causing problems loading the thread

Despite being in weak form, Tomas Mycklebust had 3.5 stars in his debut with the team. Hopefully his form will improve tomorrow.




Round 2 matchup - Stimutacs – a three week old team in VI.148. They had a few impressive ratings in their 6-0 win today including an outstanding right defense and a solid left attack. However, their wretched midfield at home will not be much of threat.

[Masked]

This isn't really WYSIWYG - I think I am going to give up on all this formatting.

[Havok]

i don't even know what WYSIWYG is!! but i keep hearing people talk about it

[Masked]

Week 1 training

After training stamina in the first week of the offseason, I went back to the routine playmaking. I thought about a week of winger, but decided that I wanted to all 5 of my IMs some playing time (2 at wings) in the cup match to ensure that I had at least 3 in good form for Sunday.

There were no playmaking pops this week, but none were expected. Next week Dani Mario Araujo should hit outstanding.

It was a good week for the teams form.

Team: +6/-2
Starters: +4/-1

Notable movers:
GK Tomas Mycklebust increased from weak to inadequate form.
F Joe Lond and CD Clifton Campbell returned to passable after dropping as a result of the stamina training.

[Masked]

Team Notes

I am interested in following these stats as my team develops (seeing them in the Misfitz dynasty reminded me to post them).

Summary - Your players

Value per player (average):	225 500 US$
Total squad value:	4 510 000 US$
Average age:	23
Current form (average):	passable
Experience (average):	poor
No of players (excluding the coach):	20
Number of nationalities:	10

[sterlingice]

I see you have decided to join our little cadre of fanatics.

SI

[Masked]

I had an open federation slot and spend a lot of time on hattrick often lurking in the conferences but rarely find any topic worth posting in. I had heard good things about the fed from you and others in the chats. Now it is just a matter of finding topics that I am not scared to post in.

Fanatacis just doesn't seem to properly embody the craziness I have seen in there.

[Masked]

PIC or PIN

I am undecided how to play this weekends match. I am on the road against an evenly matched opponent. I should have a better attack and defense, so I am wondering if I can get away with losing the midfield. If I PIC I should have a passable to solid midfield against his solid to excellent. Playing normal I would match his midfield. My team spirit currently sucks (calm) and I would love to get it to POE by the next week home game against a tougher foe.

Do I risk giving up points on the road in order to better position myself for the rest of the season?

[Alf]

I'd PIC, no question. It is a road game anyway, so chances are you won't win anyway.

[RPI-Fan]

I'd PIN - being at POE is NO guarantee for winning next week. Plus, you should still be at least Satisfied for that game.

[Masked]

Weekly Update

Youth Pull

So close to being exactly what I wanted.

Kirk Vandyke (27366241) 17 years, passable form, healthy A controversial person who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.


Speciality: Quick

Nationality:	USA
Assessed value:	37 000 US$
Wage:	660 US$/week
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	poor	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	inadequate	Passing:	passable
Winger:	poor	Defending:	poor
Scoring:	wretched	Set Pieces:	passable

I need another playmaking trainee. I would rather the PM been passable and the passing inadequate, or if he had a higher value. Also his stamina is very low. However, he has no skills other than the PM and passing to influence his value, so he might be a bit better than he looks. The quick specialty is fine for an IM as well. Since his defense sucks, he is basically immune to any negative influences. The passable set pieces is a nice bonus. I am off to look around the markets for players with similar values.

I am leaning towards keeping him and training him. The worst case puts him at low solid PM by the end of the season.

Economy

Cash funds:	745 509 US$ (687 586) US$
Sponsors:	delirious
Supporter Club:	1593 members
Supporters:	satisfied

Since I need to promote a new coach soon (F%&#ing Kaurismaki) I really have very little disposable income. All the more reason to train Kirk.


Edit: Based on briefly looking at similar players on the Swedish market this guy's PM skill isn't likely to be that low. There is one passable PM, passable passer (poor or less everywhere else) with a lower value than Vandyke. There are a few in the 40K range as well. Vandyke should be a fine trainee - no Iver, but could enough (and cheap enough).

[Masked]

Thanks Alf and RPI-Fan for your thoughts. I am leaning towards playing it normal which should make me the favorite. I face the 4 toughest teams in my series in the first 4 weeks (3 matches on the road). I really need to come out of this stretch with a split if I want a chance to win the division.

[Masked]

Well I checked the American markets for similar players to Kirk and here is what comes up first

1. Tristan Matsson 2 750 000 US$ (Bees)
Belongs to: Thunderchickens Age: 20 years Value: 440 000 US$ Deadline: 3/7/2004 at 05.20	Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous Playmaking: inadequate Passing: passable Winger: poor Defending: weak Scoring: outstanding Set Pieces: poor

Obvisouly left off scoring in the search. More importantly, that bastard ausonny and his ungodly youth pull, is about to make a team in my division very rich. Thunderchickens attack is very good and losing this player probably won't weaken it enough to make a bug difference. Plus he can now fix his midfield which is what allowed me to sweep him last season.

So once again - I HATE YOU AUSONNY!

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Masked

Well I checked the American markets for similar players to Kirk and here is what comes up first...

Obvisouly left off scoring in the search. More importantly, that bastard ausonny and his ungodly youth pull, is about to make a team in my division very rich. Thunderchickens attack is very good and losing this player probably won't weaken it enough to make a bug difference. Plus he can now fix his midfield which is what allowed me to sweep him last season.

So once again - I HATE YOU AUSONNY!

We all do, Masked, we all do

SI

[Masked]

League Fixture: Week 1

Los Chixi Dix - South Bay Saints

Last season Chixi finished in third place thanks to a bit of luck. Their team is similar to mine but I am a little better everywhere. However, on the road my advantage in midfield is negated so I decided to normal this match. With Fratboys (17 yo solid defender, inad passing) and Thunderchickens (sold 3 forwards for $9M) coming into a lot of money this week, I decided that I couldn't afford to miss out on points against an slightly inferior opponent.

Winger Jef Tadie (Sol wing, sol PM, inad passing) was ordered to the middle in an effort to try and get an edge in midfield. No other twists this week.

Match Report
Saints´s Robin Drakborn gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead in the 2nd minute with a superb strike from the right.
Great way to start a season

21 minutes into the game Jef Tadié had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Myles Bloom.
Tadie, the winger towards the middle, was replaced by a guy with weak PM - a potentially devestating blow.

Matt Keyesj sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 0-2 in after a corner kick after 24 minutes of play.
An event goal gives the Saints a nice cushion.

In the 27:th minute Saints put themselves up 0 - 3 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Joe Lond. The structure of the game started to change as Saints decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone.
I am extremely suprised to find myself with the big lead.

As Rajko Jelic had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Chixi player a red card without batting an eye. Saints were forced to a substitution as Dani Mário Araújo couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment, forcing Ryszard Laguna to come in from the sidelines.
Another big blow to my midfield - Dani is my top IM and is a week away from outstanding. Laguna is the future and is a mid-excellent. Fortunately, Rajko Jelic is Chixi's best IM so this event should actually end in my favor.

Halftime score was 0 - 3. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Saints, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.


In the 75:th minute the home team was awarded a penalty. The guest´s keeper did dive the right way, but Delmer Sampson was still able to reduce the score to 1 - 3.
Why did I buy that high price keeper?

In the 78:th minute Chixis Joe Johnson received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.
Damn, their just nasty today.

Saints held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.


Ratings

Los Chixi Dix

Tactic: Normal


Midfield: excellent
Right Side Defence: outstanding
Central Defence: excellent
Left Side Defence: excellent
Right Side Attack: solid
Central Attack: passable
Left Side Attack: solid

NSI 70

South Bay Saints

Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal

Midfield: solid
Right Side Defence: excellent
Central Defence: excellent
Left Side Defence: excellent
Right Side Attack: passable
Central Attack: formidable
Left Side Attack: outstanding

NSI 70

Stars

3.5 GK Tomas Mycklebust

3.5 WB Matt Keyesj
3.5 CD Clifton Campbell
2.5 WB Yki Hyypia

2.5 W Jef Tadie (injured)
1.5 W Myles Bloom (sub)
4.0 IM Joonas Vahtramae
2.5 IM Dani Mario Arraujo (injured)
3.0 IM Ryzard Laguna (sub)
3.5 IM Toader Popa
3.0 W Clark Merritt

3.0 F Robin Drakborn
3.0 F Joe Lond

Individual Notes
Goals (league total)
Robin Drakborn (1)
Joe Lond (1)
Matt Keyesj (1)

Injuries:
Jef Tadie +1
Dani Mario Arraujo +2 (Dropped to +1 with the sunday night update!!!)

Around IV.31

Fratboys - Number Munche 5 - 0
Walkover win for Fratboys in their first match back in division 4.

CC's Dragons - Thunderchicke 2 - 0
NSI 79 - 62
Thunderchickens really screwed this one up. They failed to replace 2 of their starting forwards that they sold yesterday and didn't use their money to buy an IM. Regardless they managed a formidable central attack with 0.5 star, 1.5 star, and 4.5 star forwards. CC's Dragons looked very impressive in their home opener and the teams has extremely good form right now with 8 starters in solid or better form.

RI Coks - Dragonball F 1 - 0
NSI 68 - 57
Coks put up a solid midfield and a fairly impressive defense in their debut. However, their attack still needs some work if they hope for anything better than 6th place.

[Masked]

Team News

I have been looking for a winger for several weeks after selling Charles Montgomery last season. I was looking for anything from solid to formidable with inadequate playmaking. Today I found this guy in Isreal.

Kfir Blumenfeld (27275783)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality:	Israel
Assessed value:	79 000 US$
Wage:	1 056 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	solid	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	inadequate	Passing:	poor
Winger:	solid	Defending:	poor
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	weak

Since he is only 17, I was more than willing to settle for less winger skill for more seasons for training his playmaking skill. He played in a league match this past weekend and received 2.5 stars while playing normal. He has great stamina and no dirty skills to effect his value (passing would have been nice though). He will be trained mostly on the wing but occassionally will get a full spot at IM. I could train him at IM this week since I had 4 IMs play in my friendly but I am worried that hi, along with my inad PM poor stamina youth pull and a mid-solid PM would not provide a comfortable midfield advantage in my cup match since I play a human team.


Best part (I think), I paid 141Km which looks like a pretty good buy.

[Masked]

A bit more shopping

With the injuries to W Jef Tadie and IM Dani Mario Araujo in Sunday's league game, I have a few extra training spots for the cup match, Both Jef and Dani are +1 now so they will receive training. Kfir will take the wing spot that Myles Bloom (Jef's replacement) was scheduled to play. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was a bit unsure what to due with the second IM spot that Ryzard Laguna was scheduled to play. I decided not to play one of my wingers with inadequate PM because that might not leave me enough midfield to ensure a victory. My new trainiee Vandyke will contribute nothing due to his poor stamina. So I will try my hand at day training again, and I found an affordable candidate in an unlikely spot, the Romanian market.

Bogdan Drãghici (25164563)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality:	România
Assessed value:	92 000 US$
Wage:	1 068 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	passable	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	solid	Passing:	wretched
Winger:	poor	Defending:	weak
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	poor

Bogdan has a high value for a solid PM (accounting for the passable stamina). The weak defense will have a small affect on his value. Unfortunately, I doubt he will pop this week. If Dani is healthy for next weeks cup match, Bogdan will receive half training on the wing. He should pop within the next few weeks.

I picked him up for 79K (maybe a tad under market value) and will be able to get about 200K for him when he hit excellent PM. Let's just refer to him has my arena expansion fund.

[Masked]

US Open Cup Round 2

Thanks to a few injuries on Sunday, I had a lot of flexibility with my lineup for the cup match so I decided to use a 3-4-3.

Stimutacs - South Bay Saints

Saints seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.

Saints took the lead in the games 13th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Zvonko Andric was the scorer.

The referee signalled a penalty in the 27:th minute following an offence just inside of the box. Zvonko Andric knocked home 0 - 2 just out of reach for the goaltender. After this Saints lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts.

Stimutacs had obvious problems in finding their positions.

Saints increased the lead to 0 - 3 as Zvonko Andric scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. By then Zvonko Andric was a three time scorer - a hat trick!

In the 42nd minute Saints put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Zvonko Andric.

Saints appeared unsure on how to play.

Halftime score was 0 - 4. Saints held the ball, with a clear 91 percent possession rate.

The Stimutacs players spent the half-time break getting a rerun of the teams tactical organization. The Saints players spent the half-time break getting a rerun of the teams tactical organization.

The visitors Zvonko Andric took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 51st minute. 0 - 5 for Saints.

63 minutes into the game Hollis Mcduffie had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Zack Parrish.

Zack Parrish seemed to be floating in the air at will as he elegantly headed in 1-5. The previous Stimutacs corner kick was executed by Florian Tubbs.

After the ball got lifted in from the left Alan Noel was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 80 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 83rd minute Saints goal, making it 1 - 6.

Kirk Vandyke was noted down as the scorer. Saints had obvious problems in finding their positions.

Stimutacs's Junior Wilhelm scored 2 - 6 by shooting accurately and hard from a long distance, leaving the opponent goalie no other option than to pick up the ball from the net.

Saints held the ball, with a clear 87 percent possession rate.


Notes

It was the Zvonko Andric show as he set a team record with 5 goals scored.

Goals: (cup total, career total)

Zvonko Andric, 5, (5, 10)
Kirk Vandyke, 1, (1, 1)



Ratings

Stimutacs

Team Attitude:	(Hidden)
Tactic:	Normal
Tactic skill:	(Unlimited)
Midfield:	disastrous
Right Side Defence:	poor
Central Defence:	inadequate
Left Side Defence:	passable
Right Side Attack:	passable
Central Attack:	passable
Left Side Attack:	inadequate

NSI 35

South Bay Saints

Team Attitude:	Play it Cool
Tactic:	Attack in the middle
Tactic skill:	solid
Midfield:	poor
Right Side Defence:	inadequate
Central Defence:	solid
Left Side Defence:	solid
Right Side Attack:	inadequate
Central Attack:	outstanding
Left Side Attack:	outstanding

NSI 53

The henious performance by my midfield gave me my lowest NSI ratings in a very long time. The midfield was hurt by team spirit still sucking, the poor stamina on my new trainee, the confusion, and the lack of a second winger.

Stars

3.0 GK Joseph Lassiter

2.0 WB Alan Noel
3.0 CD Matt Keyesj
2.5 WB Teuvo "I got no experience" Kaurismaki

1.5 IM Kirk Vandyke
2.5 IM Bogdan Dragici
3.0 IM Carlton Blakely
2.5 OW Kfir Blumenfeld

3.0 F Robin Drakborn
2,5 F Zvonko Andric
3.0 F Tony Spicer


Next week we face a human team that demoted from division 5 last season.

[Masked]

Training

I am not sure what I have done to hattrick to piss it off, but this was possibly the worst update ever.

Form took a dive (+2, -8; starters, +1, -4) and the pop I was expected did not occur. I guess it goes without saying, the three pops that I was hoping for (although they were a bit unlikely) also did not happen.

[Masked]

Around IV.31

The first in a possibly continuing series highlighting what the other 7 teams in my series have been up to.

Team	Goals	Points
1. Fratboys	5 - 0	3
2. South Bay Saints	3 - 1	3
3. CC's Dragons	2 - 0	3
4. RI Coks	1 - 0	3
5. Dragonball F	0 - 1	0
6. Los Chixi Dix	1 - 3	0
7. Thunderchickens	0 - 2	0
8. Number Munchers	0 - 5	0

Fratboys

Transfers:

Date	Type	Players	To/From	Price	Value then
3/10/2004	Sold	Garland Mcpherson	to Blacksquid	510 000 US$	(92 000 US$)

Garland was a 17yo youth pull with solid defending and inadequate passing. He did not sell for as much as I expected.

Cup: Fratboys narrowly defeated a bot 0-2 despite having a very large advantage in the ratings.

CC's Dragons

SI's former nemisis (and my opponent this week) had a quiet week. They easily defeated one of the worst bots I have ever seen (NSI 24) 0-10 in their second round cup match. The Dragons played a 3-4-3 in the cup which was a bit of a surprise and leaves me guessing a bit on what formation they will use this weekend.

RI Coks

Coks had also had an easy cup 0-6 cup win over a slightly better bot. The Coks attacked in the middle for the 4th consecutive match and have an excellent skill at the tactic.

Dragonball F

Dragonball had the toughest cup opponent in the series and narrowing escaped with a 1 - 2 victory despite very narrowly losing possession (50%, 51%).

Los Chixi Dix

Date	Type	Players	To/From	Price	Value then
3/5/2004	Sold	Miguel Ángel Alonso	to Gasta	50 000 US$	(52 000 US$)
3/5/2004	Sold	Mark Lott	to FC Superkill	36 000 US$	(71 000 US$)

Two minor sells of former youth pulls that had been languishing on the bench.

Chixi won their cup match with virtually the same lineup that they used Sunday in the loss to me. The only switch was for the player that had received a red card. The owner is still logging in so this might just be a one week mistake.

Thunderchickens

Last and certainly not least this week. Sabot has had a very busy week.

Date	Type	Players	To/From	Price	Value then
3/11/2004	Sold	Hassan Cabrera	to Os Broncos	46 000 US$	(144 000 US$)
3/8/2004	Bought	Stan van Rijn	from Zandys Gnuttar	880 000 US$	(82 000 US$)
3/8/2004	Bought	Michael Hebert	from phate	511 000 US$	(195 000 US$)
3/7/2004	Sold	Tristan Matsson	to Bees	2 750 000 US$	(440 000 US$)
3/7/2004	Sold	Håkan Åkering	to Gåseborgs bk	3 185 000 US$	(1 180 000 US$)
3/7/2004	Sold	Ted Zeigler	to Starkers	3 042 000 US$	(736 000 US$)

With the 3 big sells he unloaded about 12.5 stars of forwards, but is still left with a formidable lineup (Huisman, 4.5, Hellmo, 5.0; Henriksson, 4.5). Hebert and van Rijn are both 17yo, but neither played this week despite arriving in time for the league match on Sunday. He screwed up his lineup Sunday, so decided to get the training in for his big 3. He can win the series if he spends his remaining $7M wisely.

With 14 stars of forwards in his cup match, he slaughtered a human team 0-7.

Number Munchers

Just in case you haven't been following along closely - this team is a walkover.

[Masked]

Summary- Your players	This week	Change
Value per player (average):	207 913 US$	-$17 587
Total squad value:	4 782 000 US$	+$272 000
Average age:	22	-1
Current form (average):	passable	NC
Experience (average):	poor	NC
No of players (excluding the coach):	23	+3
Number of nationalities:	11	+1

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Masked

CC's Dragons

SI's former nemisis (and my opponent this week) had a quiet week. They easily defeated one of the worst bots I have ever seen (NSI 24) 0-10 in their second round cup match. The Dragons played a 3-4-3 in the cup which was a bit of a surprise and leaves me guessing a bit on what formation they will use this weekend.

I'm glad they managed to stick around so I can keep tabs on him while reading your dynasty. I chat with him occasionally via ht-mail but it's hard to rememeber every team to check out.

SI

[Masked]

Weekly update

Youth pull

Back to crap

Anderson Gaddis (27856244)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and disastrous leadership abilities.


Speciality: Quick

Nationality:	USA
Assessed value:	5 000 US$
Wage:	520 US$/week
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	weak	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	wretched	Passing:	poor
Winger:	inadequate	Defending:	poor
Scoring:	wretched	Set Pieces:	wretched

Economics

Cash funds:	482 776 US$ (424 129) US$
Sponsors:	high on life
Supporter Club:	1612 members
Supporters:	high on life

With a home game tomorrow and good weather, I should be well in the black for the week. The supporters contribution too k a nice jump this week and may top 90K for the first time next week. Dani Mario Arraujo is nearly completely healed, but since I didn't fire the docs earlier, I will keep the 7 on hand until after the cup match on Wednesday.

[Masked]

League match, week 2

South Bay Saints - CC's Dragons

After one week, I am in second place and DragonFire is in third. Last season we split the series, with each team taking an easy three points at home (6-2, 3-0). Our teams are very similar, good midfields and balanced offense and defenses.

In the first four weeks of the season, I play my four toughest foes. Of those four matches, this week is the only one at home (the end of the season is going to be nice), and therefore, I view this match as a must win.

Dragons typically runs an asymmetric 3-5-2 although he did use a 3-4-3 in his last cup match (as did I). He occasionally switches which wingback he pulls. However, the last several weeks he has always pulled his left wingback so I am going to load up my right side attack. Last time we played I guessed he would switch, but he didn't. Hopefully this time the opposite gamble will pay off. We figure to be pretty close in the midfield so I will play my left winger towards the middle to hopefully give me a two level advantage. Gambling that my midfield advantage will be enough defense, I am putting Teuvo Kaurismaki (pass winger, inad def) in at the right wingback spot (my strong side). Teuvo will be the next coach of the Saints, but I have been getting extremely frustrated with his inability to gain any experience.

Match report
32000 spectators arrived at Complex Spikes Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football.

Alarico Mansur of Dragons received a yellow card in the 6:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Joonas Vahtramäe of Saints received a yellow card in the 6:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Pretty clear that we have a budding rivalry going here.

A well placed corner kick from Joe Lond was followed by Matt Keyesj´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Saints. The result now 1-0.
Second week in a row with a corner kick coal.

The home sides Joe Lond twisted a free kick home in the 35:th minute, putting Saints ahead 2 - 0.
Two goals in the first half are both courtesy of Joe Lond's set piece skill. More on this interesting point later.

The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Saints held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.
[i]2 goal lead, 59% possession, great stamina, what could go wrong.[i]

A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Saints lead up with 3 - 0. Teuvo Kaurismäki finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle.
The biggest goal in quite awhile for the Saints - Teuvo should get experience - maybe.

The referee showed Dragonss Patrik Ulfsson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Joonas Vahtramäe. The Saints bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up.
It might have been better if he stayed down

In the games 72nd minute Dragons replied, reducing the lead to 3 - 1. Charlie Estep scored on a marvellous cross pass coming in from the left.
We can afford to spot them one - this was against Teuvo, the weak spot in the defense.

Unsportsmanlike behaviour by Joonas Vahtramäe rendered him his second booking of the match, and Saints had to finish the game with a reduced squad.
I had a bad feeling when my top IM got a yellow in the 6th minute - perhaps I'm psychic. Joonas is a balanced and honest fellow and thus not typically a card magnet.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Dragons´s Sammie Maloney got himself booked.

Dragons fought on and, in the 90:th minute Mattias Lifgren was able to reply with 3 - 2 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip.
Thank god the games ends now.

Dragons held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate.
59% to 46% thanks to Joonas getting booted.

Individual Notes

Goals (season total)
Matt Keyesj -- 1 (2)
Joe Lond -- 1 (2)
Teuvo Kaurismaki -- 1 (1)

Cards
Joonas Vahtramäe -- 2 yellows (suspended)

Injuried
Joonas Vahtramäe -- bruised

Ratings

South Bay Saints

Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield:	formidable
Right Side Defence:	excellent
Central Defence:	excellent
Left Side Defence:	excellent
Right Side Attack:	inadequate
Central Attack:	excellent
Left Side Attack:	outstanding
NSI	74

CC's Dragons

Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield:	solid
Right Side Defence:	outstanding
Central Defence:	brilliant
Left Side Defence:	solid
Right Side Attack:	outstanding
Central Attack:	excellent
Left Side Attack:	excellent
NSI	75

Well I got my two level advantage in midfield, but Joonas negated that by getting the two yellows. Fortunately, I hung on to win, because he had me beat elsewhere. I am disappointed in my defensive ratings. With Mycklebust up to inadequate form, I hoped my defense would be better than it was with Lassiter in solid form. He did switch his wingback, so I ended up attacking his strong side.

Stars

3.5 GK Tomas Mycklebust

3.5 WB Clifton Campbell (def)
3.0 CD Matt Keyesj
2.5 WB Teuvo Kaurismaki (def)

2.0 W Bogdan Draghici (towards mid)
3.5 IM Dani Mario Arraujo
--- IM Joonas "booted" Vahtramae
3.5 IM Toader Popa (Off)
3.5 W Clark Merritt (Off)

3.0 F Joe Lond
3.0 F Robin Drakborn

Around IV.31


Thunderchickens - Fratboys 1 - 4
NSI 84 - 84
Thunderchickens put up a utopian central attack and by far their best ratings ever offensively. However, they still have no midfield (weak) and thus never had a chance to use their great attack. I play them next week, so hopefully they will wait one more week to do something about their midfield. This was Fratboys first real match of the season, and they came out very strong. They had an excellent midfield on the road and a supernatural central defense. Their weakness is a rather pedestrian offense (all excellents).

Dragonball F - Los Chixi Dix 0 - 2
NSI 69 - 69
You may have noticed a trend this week. My one point loss in NSI to the Dragons was the only match in which the teams weren't perfectly matched. Dragonball was extremely unlucky to get shut out, but Chixi had a sizable possession advantage even though they both put up solid midfields due to Dragonball losing an IM on a red card in the 17th minute. This was an ugly match featuring 5 yellow cards and one red card. Somewhat suprisingly, the only injury was to one of Chixi's top IM's who is out with a +1.

Number Munche - RI Coks 0 - 5
Walkover

Series IV.31 - Week 2

Team	Goals	Points
1.Fratboys	9 - 1	6
2.RI Coks	6 - 0	6
3.South Bay Saints	6 - 3	6
4.CC's Dragons	4 - 3	3
5.Los Chixi Dix	3 - 3	3
6.Dragonball F	0 - 3	0
7.Thunderchickens	1 - 6	0
8.Number Munchers	0 - 10	0

Final notes
Teuvo got experience today and his conversion to a passable coach price has dropped to 240,900. Solid experienced players cost to convert is about 236,000, so he is very close. Suprisingly, Matt Keyesj conversion to an inadequate price did not drop even though he scored a goal. Perhaps I need to find that post by Bjorn in the conferences again to figure out how experience works (esp. since I have been telling everyone that players who score automatically get 1x experience).

As I mentioned in the opening, this was an important match. I have an outside shot at winning the series, if I can get my defenders and offense into a bit better form, and cannot afford to drop matches at home. Dragons has a very solid team which is performing better than mine is at the momment. On paper, I should have the better team though.

Fratboys and Thunderchickens both performed much better than I expected. TC expecially should have no trouble fixing their midfield, and will then be capable of putting up a 100+ NSI, and would absolutely destroy anyone in the division. The only question is does he get around to it before he lets the chance to win the series get away from him.

[Masked]

US Open Cup: Round 3

TopDrawerSoccer - South Bay Saints

A free kick aimed at the keepers far post almost gave Saints the lead in the 2nd minute, but the ball just wasn´t able to squirm it´s way through the defensive wall.

In the games 14:th minute TopDrawerSoccer´s Connie Moss fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Connie Moss for taking a dive.

The 15:th minute saw the home team take a 1 - 0 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for TopDrawerSoccer was Anthony Talwalkar.

A cross coming in from the right hand side left Zvonko Andric alone in front of the goal in the 16:th minute but his shot was too loose. TopDrawerSoccers Raúl Cabezón López got himself booked after a foul.

Saints got a chance to level the score as Tony Spicer suddenly found himself free with the goaltender but the finishing shot hit the bar.

1 - 0 was the half-time score. Saints held the ball, with a clear 72 percent possession rate.

Saints could level the score in the 56:th minute at 1 - 1, as Jef Tadié struck home after a fine midfield combination, leaving him completely unmarked.

Tommy Joe King of TopDrawerSoccer received a yellow card in the 70:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Saints took the lead after 80 minutes with 1 - 2. Ryszard Laguna placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 89:th minute Saints goal, making it 1 - 3. Tony Spicer was noted down as the scorer.

The away team´s Tony Spicer took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 90:th minute increasing Saints´s lead to 1 - 4.

After 90 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Tony Spicer who increased Saints´s lead to 1 - 5. This third goal made a hat trick for Tony Spicer. The structure of the game started to change as Saints decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Saints, with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.


Notes

Well fortunately I was on a plane during this match or i would have been very frustrated with the first half and most of the second half. Tony Spicer's hattrick in the 89th and 90th minute was the only reason the score was close to being what it should have been.

Unfortunately, this looks like my last week in the cup. Next week opponent has a very strong attack, and his midfield is better than my trainees. I could play my starting IM's and train winger if I wanted to try to get at least one home cup match.

(As I am still out of town, my updates will be brief for the next few days)

[Masked]

Training

Hattrick decided to make up for last weeks horrible update with a nice one this time.

Two playmaking pops - one I expected last time - and one that I popped a week early.

Dani Mário Araújo
473 000 US$, 22 years, solid form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina:	excellent	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	outstanding	Passing:	poor
Winger:	wretched	Defending:	poor
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	poor

Araujo's pop was expected last week. Araujo is my best playmaker and I will train him up one more level before finally selling off the first trainee I ever purchased.


Carlton Blakely
283 000 US$, 19 years, solid form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina:	excellent	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	excellent	Passing:	inadequate
Winger:	poor	Defending:	inadequate
Scoring:	weak	Set Pieces:	wretched

Carlton was at one time a very promising 17 year old, but his PM skill was much lower than I estimated. He has a couple good years of training left in him at 19. I have no idea how long I will keep him around, but he may move into the starting lineup in a couple of seasons.

Form: +8/-3

Notable moves:
F Joe Lond and IM Dani Mario Araujo to solid.
W Clark Merritt to passable (finally).
CD Clifton Campbell moved up to passable, but WB Matt Keyesj dropped back to passable making it a wash for my defense.
GK Mycklebust value grew to 932K, but he is still in inadequate form.


Team Stats

Value per player (average):	220 870 US$
Total squad value:	5 080 000 US$
Average age:	22
Current form (average):	passable
Experience (average):	poor
No of players (excluding the coach):	23
Number of nationalities:	11

The Saints broke the $5M mark for the first time!

[Masked]

Around IV.31

Team	Goals	Points
1. Fratboys	9 - 1	6
2. RI Coks	6 - 0	6
3. South Bay Saints	6 - 3	6
4. CC's Dragons	4 - 3	3
5. Los Chixi Dix	3 - 3	3
6. Dragonball F	0 - 3	0
7. Thunderchickens	1 - 6	0
8. Number Munchers	0 - 10	0

1. Fratboys
Cup: Little Man's Boat - Fratboys 0 - 4
Transfers: Sold Juan Antonio Rodríguez to FC Thrashland for $2,244,000. Juan was their third highest valued playmaker, and his departure should have a minimal impact on Fratboys.

2. RI Coks
Cup: F.C. Gaychester~ - RI Coks 4 - 0, Coks had no chance in this match. and they are only the second team in the series out of the cup.

4. CC's Dragons
Cup: SavShockers - CC's Dragons 2 - 4. The Dragons came out in a 3-4-3 for the second straight cup match. Their strong attack was enough to overcome only a poor midfield. I haven't been following his player values very closely, but since he started two 27yo IM's, I wonder if he has or is planning to switch to scoring training.

5. Los Chixi Dix
Cup: VENGEANCE Inc. - Los Chixi Dix 0 - 7, another easy win for them. They have switched to training forwards but run a 3-5-2 in both league and cup matches.

6. Dragonball F
Cup: FloTown Flood - Dragonball F 3 - 5, This one should not have been as close as the score might suggest. Dragonball has had several strong performances over the past few weeks, and has lead me to think that I might have underestimated their team.

7. Thunderchickens
Cup: The Goblins - Thunderchickens 1 - 7, Once again those two 17yos they bought did not play this week.
However, the big news in the series this week was his press announcement, 3/18/2004 Changes in the air, and one small purchase.
Transfers: Bought Mikael Harting from Tottingham for $2,601,000. Harting is a 4.5 star IM that will make Thunderchickens a far more formidable opponent. One more IM and he will be the favorite to win the division.


Fixtures

Los Chixi Dix - Number Munchers
Chixi gets the walkover.

CC's Dragons - Dragonball F
the battle of the big lizards. At home CC's should have no trouble winning this match and I expect them to win in all three areas. CC's 4-2

Thunderchickens - South Bay Saints
This match was much easier before the purchase of Harting (who I am guesing is a brilliant IM with either inadequate or passable defense). I should still win possession, but my defense can't do much against a magical-utopian central attack. Should I go with the Norwegian strategy? 4-4 (very wishful thinking)

RI Coks - Fratboys
Coks is 2-0 thanks to the weakest schedule in the division but that will end this week against the team that has performed the best in the first two weeks. Fratboys 1-4

[Masked]

Week 3 Preview

Thunderchickens - South Bay Saints

Last week:

Thunderchickens (home vs. Fratboys)

Thunderchickens

Team Attitude:	(Hidden)
Tactic:	Normal
Tactic skill:	(Unlimited)
Midfield:	weak *
Right Side Defence:	outstanding
Central Defence:	formidable
Left Side Defence:	excellent
Right Side Attack:	extra-terrestrial
Central Attack:	utopian
Left Side Attack:	outstanding

NSI 86

* Don't forget about hte 2.6M IM they bought this week

South Bay Saints (home)

Team Attitude:	Normal
Tactic:	Normal
Tactic skill:	(Unlimited)
Midfield:	formidable
Right Side Defence:	excellent
Central Defence:	excellent
Left Side Defence:	excellent
Right Side Attack:	inadequate
Central Attack:	excellent
Left Side Attack:	outstanding

NSI = 74


Thunderchickens runs a 3-4-3 moving a CD to IM and repositioning his right winger as the extra forward. the only way to win this match is to dominate possession as my defense will allow every one of those utopian attacks through. I am planning on playing one winger towards the middle like last week, and barring a redcard (week 2) or an injury (week 1), I should see at least a formidable midfield (better form, health, and TS compared to last weeks home match).

The real decisions this week are what to do with my defenders. My current thought is to use two central defenders and one wingback(behind Clark Merrits wing attack). One of the central defenders will really be an extra IM who will play offensive (Exc + 0 PM, Inad Def, solid form). Teuvo (Pass wing, inad def, solid-0.0001 exp) will be the wingback and ordered to play offensively. I am undecided on who to play in the final defense spot. Option 1: Matt Keyesj (solid defense, head) - Matt will someday be a coach so evrey bit of experience is important and he would be the only head specialist on the team (2 head goals so far this season).. Option 2 - Ryzard Laguna (Solid Stam, Exc+5 PM, wretched Def) would be played as an offensive CD to give me more MF at the expense of having any defense beyond what my inad form GK would provide.



Anyone have any suggestions.

[Masked]

Weekly update

Youth pull

Willy Herbert (28327514)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Nationality:	USA
Assessed value:	13 000 US$
Wage:	560 US$/week
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	poor	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	inadequate	Passing:	weak
Winger:	poor	Defending:	weak
Scoring:	weak	Set Pieces:	poor

Last year I couldn't get any 17 yo's but I got older guys that would fetch 5-10K. This season, I get 17yos without a primary skill higher than inadequate. I am so overdue for that 17yo double excellent (probably be stamina and set pieces).

Just to recap: I have played HT for over a year now and have paid 20K every week.

Players with a primary skill > passable: 0

Economics

Cash funds:	648 729 US$ (602 202) US$
Sponsors:	high on life
Supporter Club:	1633 members
Supporters:	high on life

My rate supporter's rate of growth dropped to 10/update on Wednesday.

[Masked]

League match: week 3


This week the Saints faced the best offense in the division. Thunderchickens put up an utopian central attack a few weeks ago, but has yet to have better than a weak midfield this season. However, he bought a new IM this week with a value in excess of $1M (my guess, brillian PM, inad or pass defense). I am not sure what to expect from him this week, so I am going to try to maximize my midfield at the expense of my central defense (which is worthless against a utopian attack anyway). I am going to use an asymmetric 3-5-2 with one offensive central defender and a winger towards the middle and hope that I get a 2-1 advantage in possession.

Match Report


Thunderchickens seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. In the games 18:th minute Robin Drakborn almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a spectacular scissors shot just past the bar. After 19 minutes Saints put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Robin Drakborn finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. After 23 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Jef Tadié who increased Saints´s lead to 0 - 2. Man, what a shot by Joe Lond! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 0 - 3. The structure of the game started to change as Saints decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Thunderchickenss Arjan Huisman went wide in the 31st minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 1 - 3 goal away. Saints came close to extending their lead as Joe Lond delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. 1 - 3 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Saints, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

In the 47:th minute Horia Stelea passed through the guests central line of defense, scoring the 2 - 3 goal. After 58 minutes of game time Robin Drakborn received an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but Ulf Ramtorp was in the right place, tipping the ball to a corner. In the game's 58:th minute Thunderchickens´s Dennis Zetterholt limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Saints, bringing the final ball possession rate to 62 percent, dominated the battle.

Chances
Thunderchickens - (2 for 2, all normal)
Saints - (2 for 4, normal, 1 for 1, event - long shot)

Goals
Joe Lond, 1 (3)
Robin Drakborn, 1 (2)
Jef Tadie, 1 (1)

Ratings

Thunderchickens

Tactic:	ttack in the middle
Tactic skill:	excellent
Midfield:	solid
Right Side Defence:	formidable
Central Defence:	formidable
Left Side Defence:	solid
Right Side Attack:	brilliant
Central Attack:	magical
Left Side Attack:	brilliant
NSI	86

South Bay Saints

Team Attitude:	Normal
Tactic:	Normal
Midfield:	brilliant
Right Side Defence:	excellent
Central Defence:	solid
Left Side Defence:	inadequate
Right Side Attack:	brilliant
Central Attack:	excellent
Left Side Attack:	passable
NSI	78

My tactic worked well enough - as expected they scored on every chance they got, but I got most of the chances with a team record brilliant midfield.

Stars

4.0 GK Tomas Myklebust **Personal Best**

2.5 WB Teuvo Kaurismaki (offensive)
3.0 CD Matt Keyesj
2.5 CD Carlton Blakely (offensive)

3.5 W Clark Merritt (offensive)
4.0 IM Joondas Vahtramae (defensive)
4.0 IM Dani Mario Araujo (offensive)
3.5 IM Toader Popa
2.5 W Jef Tadie (Towards Middle)

3.0 F Robin Drakborn
3.0 F Joe Lond

Around IV.31

Team	Played	Goals	Points
1. Fratboys	3	12 - 2	9
2. South Bay Saints	3	9 - 5	9
3. CC's Dragons	3	9 - 3	6
4. Los Chixi Dix	3	8 - 3	6
5. RI Coks	3	7 - 3	6
6. Thunderchickens	3	3 - 9	0
7. Dragonball F	3	0 - 8	0
8. Number Munchers	3	0 - 15	0

Los Chixi Dix - Number Munchers 5 - 0
Walkover

CC's Dragons - Dragonball F 5 - 0
NSI 81 - 62
Dragons is having a great season outside of the one loss on the road to me. Dragonball F appears to have conceded this match and PICed. Outside of the weak midfield, Dragonball put up very strong ratings (mostly formidable).

RI Coks - Fratboys 1 - 3
NSI 72 - 78
The Coks had their best match ever and might have blown a MOTS in an effort to knock off the series leader but more likely just have very good team spirit.

Next week: Fratboys - South Bay Saints

Fratboys team looks very similar to Fraser Fire who have caused me trouble in the past - very good midfield (formidable) with a very strong defense (formidable - supernatural). Like Fraser Fire, their attack is not very strong. Fraser Fire was the team that I missed 7 chances against in a very frustrating 0-0 tie.

[Havok]

STILL UNDEFEATED!!!!!

[Masked]

US Open Cup: round 4

Mosby's Rangers - South Bay Saints

The Saints have advanced to round 5 of the Cup each of the past two seasons with tough 4th round matches. However, this year we face an opponent who has consistently put up better cup ratings than my team. Mosby's Rangers sits tied for first place in V.168 with his nemesis Trout. The two teams are clearly the best in the series, and they definately MOTSed each other and played to a 5-5 draw. I considered playing my starting IMs and training winger this week, but after the Mosby's MOTS, I think I can go with a much smaller change in the lineup. 17yo IM Kirk Vandyke will be played as a winger towards middle and day trainee Bragden Draghici will be moved to IM. This should give me enough midfield to be competitive. Forward Joe Lond and defender Clifton Campbell will get the start to bolster our ratings.

Match Report

Mosby's took the lead in the 1st minute of the game by 1 to 0, as John Branham elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. In the games 12th minute Mosby's´s Andy Pope fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Andy Pope for taking a dive. Saints made a substitution in the 21st minute. Kirk Vandyke limped off the field and was replaced by Myles Bloom. In the 22nd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jody Wheatley dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for Mosby's. Michael Åkesson increased Mosby'ss lead to 3 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. The structure of the game started to change as Mosby's decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. In the 31st minute Mosby's´s Anastasio Moran Martínez tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. In the 32nd minute Mosby'ss Edgar Larios Paterna received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Saints managed to reduce a bit later to 3 - 1 as Clifton Campbell finished off a well played combination from the left, carving through the defensive box. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. Mosby's held the ball, with a clear 57 percent possession rate.

Saints managed to reduce a bit later to 3 - 2 as Myles Bloom finished off a well played combination from the left, carving through the defensive box. Kerry Stump increased Mosby'ss lead to 4 - 2 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. A well placed free kick by Saints´s Zvonko Andric reduced the lead to 4 - 3. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Mosby's´s John Branham putting the lead up to 5 - 3. Mosby's held the ball, with a clear 55 percent possession rate.

Notes
They got off to a quick start with the goal in the first minute and built a 3-0 lead in the first half. The Saints kept trying to come back but each time we scored in the second half they immediately answered. The loss of my towards the middle winger in the first half was insignifcant as neither Vandyke or Bloom provide much midfield yet.

Ratings

Mosby's Rangers

Team Attitude: (Hidden)
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield: solid
Right Side Defence: passable
Central Defence: passable
Left Side Defence: poor
Right Side Attack: brilliant
Central Attack: brilliant
Left Side Attack: passable

NSI = 64

South Bay Saints

Team Attitude: Play it Cool
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield: passable
Right Side Defence: solid
Central Defence: excellent
Left Side Defence: excellent
Right Side Attack: formidable
Central Attack: formidable
Left Side Attack: passable

NSI = 65

A little more midfield and I would have won this one. I just did not get enough chances.

Stars

4.0 GK Tomas Mycklebust

3.0 WB Yki Hyppia (def)
3.5 CD Clifton Campbell
2.5 WB Teuvo Kaurismaki (def)

3.0 W Kfir Blumenfeld (off) ***Personal Record***
3.5 IM Ryzard Laguna (off)
3.5 IM Carlton Blakely (off) ***Personal Record***
2.5 IM Bogden Draghici
1.5 W Myles Bloom (towards mid)
[1.0 W Kirk Vandyke (towards mid) injured, +1]

2.5 F Zvonko Andric
3.0 F Joe Lond


Myklebust popped to wretched experience.

[Masked]

Breaking News

After the Saints were eliminated from the US Open cup in the fourth round, one round earlier than the previous two seasons, coach Tracy Puckett was let go. Puckett, an offensive minded coach, had been with the team since April 25, 2003. He was passable at training players, but the team had grown tired of his lectures and didn't seem to respond as well as they once did.

Popular wing back, Teuvo Kaurismaki, will step in to lead the team. Teuvo, the oldest player on the roster, has shown solid skills in imparting his experience to the younger players and management thinks he will promote faster development of the teams young talents. He is a passable leader and the team seems to respond well to his coaching. Just this week, Teuvo has played as both an offensive and a defensive wing back, and seems to have no prefer a more balanced approach to the game then Puckett (or even the teams original coach Boyce Silva).

The move depleted the teams cash reserves by $767,000 leaving the team slightly in debt (about -85K).

[Havok]

yeah!! balanced coach... WOOT!

[Masked]

Training

This week is the tale of two updates, PM training vs. form.

The bad news first. The Saints got abused by the form god, +2/-7. The starters went +0, -3. Keeper Myklebust stayed in inadequate form but had a large drop in value.

Now for the PM training with my new solid coach, Teuvo Kaurismaki. There were three pops this week!

Joonas Vahtramäe
593 000 US$, 20 years, solid form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina:	excellent	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	outstanding	Passing:	poor
Winger:	weak	Defending:	inadequate
Scoring:	weak	Set Pieces:	weak

Joonas has been starting for about a season now, and will be kept at least through next season.


Kirk Vandyke (bruised)
37 000 US$, 17 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina:	poor	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	passable	Passing:	passable
Winger:	poor	Defending:	poor
Scoring:	wretched	Set Pieces:	passable

Kirk was pulled from my youth squad a couple of weeks ago. I guessed he was a high inadequate and he popped with only 2.5 weeks of training. His injury is depressing his value some right now.


Bogdan Drãghici
110 000 US$, 19 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina:	passable	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	excellent	Passing:	wretched
Winger:	poor	Defending:	weak
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	poor

I picked up Bogdan a couple of weeks ago hoping to get a quick pop while he filled in for an injured IM. I sell him to help pay for my stadium expansion, and then look for a new day trainee to play on the wing.

[Masked]

Thee weekly overview of my team.

Value per player (average):	221 043 US$	+$173
Total squad value:	5 084 000 US$	+$4,000
Average age:	22
Current form (average):	passable
Experience (average):	poor
No of players (excluding the coach):	23
Number of nationalities:	11

The very small change in value just indicates how bad a week it was for the team's form.

[Masked]

The curse is over...

Youth Pull

Kirk's older brother joined the team this week.

Max Vandyke (28715618)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality:	USA
Assessed value:	83 000 US$
Wage:	940 US$/week
Owner:	South Bay Saints
Warnings:	0

Stamina:	weak	Goaltending:	disastrous
Playmaking:	solid	Passing:	poor
Winger:	weak	Defending:	weak
Scoring:	wretched	Set Pieces:	inadequate

After playing for over a year, I finally get my first pull with a solid skill. Of course he is 17 with bad stamina and no secondaries. But he is a solid PM!!! Not sure how much he will bring in, but he appears to be close to excellent.

[Masked]

IV.31 notes

Cup matches:
Thunderchickens and the Saints both lost and join Dragonball F as the only active teams out of the cup.

Transfers
There was only one significant transfer in the series this week. Thunderchickens bough Toncho Radev for $2.7M which should nearly exhaust the roughly 9M he got for selling the three forwards at the beginning of the season. Over the last several matches, Radev has picked up 3.5-4.5 stars as a defensive wingback - not a lot for that price. I don't play Thunderchickens for 8 weeks, so I'll have a better idea what skills he has then. I like this move, because I don't think it was in the best interest of his team. He needs midfield more than he needs defense.


This weeks opponent

Fratboys

Midfield:	solid
Right Side Defence:	formidable
Central Defence:	brilliant
Left Side Defence:	supernatural
Right Side Attack:	formidable
Central Attack:	solid
Left Side Attack:	solid

I believe they have been PICing all season, so I expect they may put up a formidable - outstanding MF against me which I might be able to match. My offense should match up against his defense a bit better than his offense does against my defense, but I really have no idea. This is the first match with my new balanced coach.

One more note about this match - I'm in second place in IV.31 with 9 points. Fratboys is in first.

[Masked]

League Match: Week 4

Fratboys - South Bay Saints

After three weeks, Fratboys and the Saints are both undefeated and sit in first and second place respectively in the standings. Fratboys demoted from division 3 after last season, and has a strong defense. However, their midfield and offense are weaker than mine.

The Saints will run the teams standard symetric 3-5-2. In order to give our offense as many chances as possible to beat their defense, one winger will be ordered to the middle.

Match Report
Fratboys saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way.

In the 5:th minute Fratboyss Garrett Campos received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.

The terraces were silenced in the 10:th minute as Saints´s Robin Drakborn put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack from the right.

Halftime score was 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Saints, with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

After 71 minutes of game time Robin Drakborn received an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but Helge Beyer was in the right place, tipping the ball to a corner.

In the 74:th minute Saints put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Joonas Vahtramäe.

Yki Hyypiä of Saints received a yellow card in the 82nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Yki Hyypiä increased Saints´s lead to 0 - 3 by a superb free kick strike, flying in just under the far top corner.

Joe Lond was, after 87 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors lead with a well placed diving header but home side keeper Helge Beyer saved.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Saints, with an impressive 65 percent possession of the ball.


Notes
We dominated possession and got enough chances to beat their defense. Two of the Saint's goals came from Clark Merritt's right wing and the team simply bypassed the Fratboys defense by scoring on a free kick for the final goal.

Ratings

Fratboys

Tactic: Attack on wings
Tactic skill: excellent

Midfield: excellent
Right Side Defence: formidable
Central Defence: brilliant
Left Side Defence: magnificent
Right Side Attack: solid
Central Attack: passable
Left Side Attack: excellent

NSI = 77


South Bay Saints

Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield: brilliant
Right Side Defence: formidable
Central Defence: outstanding
Left Side Defence: outstanding
Right Side Attack: inadequate
Central Attack: excellent
Left Side Attack: formidable

NSI = 84 ***TEAM RECORD***

Well the new balanced coach led to a large increase in my defensive ratings and little impact on my offensive ratings (my left attack may be down one level). I can't wait until my keeper is in good form! I think my next big purchase will have to be a forward.

Individual notes

Goals: (league total)
Robin Drakborn, 1 (3)
Joonas Vahtramae 1, (1)
Yki Hyppia, 1 (1)

Cards:
Yki Hyppia - yellow (1)

Stars

3.5 GK Tomas Mycklebust

3.0 WB Matt Keyesj (def)
3.0 CD Clifton Campbell
2.5 WB Yki Hyppia (def)

3.0 W Carlton Blakely (towards mid)
4.5 IM Joonas Vahtramae (def) ***Personal and team record***
3.5 IM Toader Popa
4.0 IM Dani Mario Araujo (off)
3.5 W Clark Merritt

3.0 F Robin Drakborn
3.5 F Joe Lond ***Personal best***

37 total stars

Around IV.31

Dragonball F - Thunderchickens 1 - 1
NSI 76 - NSI 83
Dragonball put up their second straight formadible midfield and had their best overall game ever. Thunderchickens had nothing left for their midfield after MOTSing me last week (only a weak midfield). A weak ago, I thought that Dragonball was the weakest team in the division but after putting up a 74 in the cup and a 76 today, I am much more concerned about our match next week.

Number Munchers - CC's Dragons 0 - 5
A walkover

RI Coks - Los Chixi Dix 2 - 1
NSI 70 - 70
RI Coks continue their blessed season with "an upset" win over Chixi. Both teams had solid defense ratings, but relatively weak attacks.

Standings

	  Team	  		Played  Goals  	Points
1. 	South Bay Saints 	4 	12 - 5 	12
 2. 	CC's Dragons 		4 	14 - 3 	9
 3. 	Fratboys 		4 	12 - 5 	9
 4. 	RI Coks 		4 	9 - 4 	9
 5. 	Los Chixi Dix 		4 	9 - 5 	6
 6. 	Thunderchickens 	4 	4 - 10 	1
 7. 	Dragonball F 		4 	1 - 9 	1
 8. 	Number Munchers 	4 	0 - 20 	0

[Masked]

Team news

Bogdan Draghici was sold this morning to one of the top daytraders in England (Hackers United) for $275,001. He was immediately placed back on the transfer list for $322,500. Seems like a odd move to me - I don't see him making enough off this sale to be worth it for him (He has over $200M in sales). Bogdan's wretched passing depresses his market value.

I had purchased Bogdan for 79K three weeks ago, netting me about $175K for a temporary trainee.


Bogdan Drãghici
110 000 US$, 19 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities
[Quick]

Stamina:	passable	Keeper:	disastrous
Playmaking:	excellent	Passing:	wretched
Winger:	poor	Defending:	weak
Scoring:	poor	Set Pieces:	poor

I have not decided if I want to buy a new player to train on the wing for hoping for a quick pop. My current youth pull is a possibility if he doesn't sell. Although I have 4 wingers on the roster currently, one of them, Myles Bloom, has no future with the team and could be jetisoned at any point to permanently open up a spot.

[Masked]

Friendly: South Bay Saints - Kamboyanos FC

After being eliminated from the cup, I am back to challenging whatever international teams are online to a home match.

This week the Saints host Kamboyanos FC, a division 4 team in Chile.

For the first time this season, I'll be using my full B team.

Match Report

Due to an all-day shower, 1991 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Complex Spikes Arena.
Despite the rain, the gate was enough to cover the opponents travel costs.

A header from Carlton Blakely connected with a corner kick after 6 minutes, and the ball ended up with Ryszard Laguna of Saints who shot the 1-0 goal.
This is one of the strangest events I have ever seen. At least, I think it is an event since two players are mentioned, but Blakely is not a head specialist and it doesn't mention who took the corner like it usually does.

After 7 minutes Zvonko Andric put Saints ahead 2 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. The structure of the game started to change as Saints decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone.
All he does is score goals.

Kamboyanos's Jamie Lane had in the 23rd minute a header that touched the bar, following yet another fine corner.

Tony Spicer should probably have put his team up another goal in the 25:th minute, but some great goaltending by Rudolph Brunner kept the visitors in the game.

Zvonko Andric struck a 30 metre free kick home in the 42nd minute. 3 - 0 for the home team.
Gets the obligitory set piece goal out of the way in the first half.

3 - 0 was the half-time score. Saints held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

In the 60:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Niklas Häggerberg dashed through, knocking home 4 - 0 for Saints.
Nice, my clown scores.

The referee showed Kamboyanoss Viktor Görbe the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 72 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Saints. However, Rudolph Brunner made a spectacular save.

Saints put themselves up 5 - 0 when Zvonko Andric broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. This third goal made a hat trick for Zvonko Andric.

A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 81 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Saints. However, Rudolph Brunner made a spectacular save.
Brunner had a good game for them.

Saints held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

Ratings

South Bay Saints

Midfield: solid
Right Side Defence: passable
Central Defence: passable
Left Side Defence: inadequate
Right Side Attack: excellent
Central Attack: excellent
Left Side Attack: excellent

NSI = 62

Kamboyanos FC

Midfield: inadequate
Right Side Defence: excellent
Central Defence: excellent
Left Side Defence: solid
Right Side Attack: solid
Central Attack: passable
Left Side Attack: excellent

NSI = 59

Nice performance from by my midfield which was largely do to the performance of my two 19yo trainees, Blakely and Laguna.

Stars

3.0 GK Joseph Lassiter

2.5 WB Teuvo 'the Coach' Kaurismaki (def)
1.5 CD Alan Noel
0.5 WB Niklas 'Bozo' Häggerberg (def)

2.5 W Jef Tadie (off)
3.5 IM Carlton Blakely (off)
1.5 IM Kirk Vandyke
3.5 IM Ryszard Laguna (off)
3.0 W Kfir Blumenfeld (off)

2.5 F Zvonko Andric
3.0 F Tony Spicer

[Masked]

Training

Miserable week for the team. With the heavy rain, the team did not get a chance to practice much on the field and they just don't look sharp anymore.

Form: +1/-4

The good news:

GK Tomas Myklebust remains in inadequate form, but his value increased to 930K. He should get 4 stars this weekend.

W Jef Tadie appears to be rebounded from his brief slump as he improved to inadequate form.

Bad News:
#3 defender Yki Hyppia dropped to weak form. I may try to buy a temporary replacement for my league match this week.

[Masked]

League Match: Week 5 vs Dragonball F

South Bay Saints - Dragonball F

After four weeks, the Saints are in first place with a perfect 4-0-0 record. Dragonball, on the other hand, as had a tough time adjusting to division 4 after promoting in the offseason. They got their first point last week when they tied Thunderchickens 1-1. However, over their last three matches (2 home cup, and 1 home league match), they have put up very impressive ratings, including three straight formidable midfield. That's right in my weak series, a formidable midfield is good enough to get you auto-demoted.

I am not sure how Dragonball will approach this match - PIC, MOTS, etc, so I am going to play it normal. I have a walkover next week so this isn't much of a risk. I will also play a winger towards the middle because my possession winger Jef Tadie (sol winger, sol PM) is still in questionable form and thus will sit on the bench in favor of one of my IM trainees. Since Yki Hyppia is in weak form, I bought a replacement defender for this match.

Jaromir Nabozny (7494086)
28 years, excellent form, bruised, but playing
A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: wretched
Winger: disastrous Defending: passable
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: solid

Jaromir cost 21K. He was a particularly good replacement for Yki because he also has solid set pieces.

Match Report

It seemed as though Saints considered the game won aforehand which resulted in a very uninspired start of the game.

Dragonball immediately set off pressing their opponents.

Saintss Joe Lond gave, after 2 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right.

Saints put themselves up 2 - 0 when Robin Drakborn broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him.

In the 8:th minute Lev Sotnikov had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot hit the side of the goal.

Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Dani Mário Araújo squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 14:th minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 0.

Halftime score was 3 - 0. Saints held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

Dragonball's ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

In the 61st minute Saintss Toader Popa received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.

At 69 minutes, the visitors got a chance to reduce the score when a penalty was awarded, but Jurek Jeziorski, intimidated by the crowd, missed it.

The referee showed Dragonballs Hajo Neumann the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

A crazy pass by Joonas Vahtramäe towards his own goalie almost caused a goal for Dragonball, but Martin Bugge didn't get the finish right.

In the games 78:th minute, Jaromir Nabozny could have extended the lead, but his very hard free kick went just over the bar.

Matt Keyesj sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 4-0 in after a corner kick after 81 minutes of play.

By now Saints were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Saints held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

Summary

I had never experienced over-confidence before and would have been concerned if the match reports hadn't taken 5 minutes to come in. By that point, Joe Lond had given the team a 1-o lead. Dragonball's decision to press was questionable. They gave up a lot of midfield and they do not have the defense to shut my offense down and play for the tie. The Saints controlled the match and won easily 4-0.

Individual Notes

Goals (season total)
Joe Lond 1 (4)
Robin Drakborn 1 (4)
Matt Keyesj 1 (3)
Dani Mario Arraujo 1 (1)

Cards (total)
Toader Popa - yellow (1)

Ratings


South Bay Saints

Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal

Midfield: formidable
Right Side Defence: brilliant
Central Defence: outstanding
Left Side Defence: formidable
Right Side Attack: outstanding
Central Attack: excellent
Left Side Attack: inadequate

NSI 80

Dragonball F

Tactic: Pressing
Tactic skill: weak

Midfield: passable
Right Side Defence: outstanding
Central Defence: formidable
Left Side Defence: excellent
Right Side Attack: inadequate
Central Attack: formidable
Left Side Attack: formidable

NSI 68

The over-confidence killed my midfield dropping it about 3 levels from the magnificent that I was hoping for. I correctly guessed where their best attack and defense were and that definately contributed to the shutout victory. The brilliant right defense was the teams best defensive rating ever. BALANCED COACHES ARE THE BEST.

Stars

4.0 GK Tomas Mycklebust

3.0 WB Jaromir Nabozny (def)
3.0 CD Clifton Campbell
3.0 WB Matt Keyesj (def)

4.0 W Clark Merritt
4.5 IM Dani Mario Araujo (Off) ***Personal Best***
3.5 IM Toader Popa
4.5 IM Joonas Vahtramae (def)
3.0 W Carlton Blakely (towards mid)

3.0 F Robin Drakborn
3.5 F Joe Lond

***39.0 stars was a team record***

Around IV.31
Los Chixi Dix - Fratboys 0-1
NSI 77 - 83
Los Chixi put up their best ever midfield with an outstanding in an apparent MOTS. Howver, Fratboys defense (~mag) was more than enough to stop Chixi weak offense (~pass).

CC's Dragons - RI Coks 3-1
NSI 77 - 71
Dragons had the better offense and midfield and that was enough to overcome a slightly superior defense as it usually is in hattrick.

Thunderchickens - Number Munchers 5-0
Walkover
Thunderchickens got a much needed 3 points which may help to turn their season around.

Standings

 	  Team	  		Goals	  	Points
 1. 	South Bay Saints 	16 - 5 		15
 2. 	CC's Dragons 		17 - 4 		12
 3. 	Fratboys 		13 - 5 		12
 4. 	RI Coks 		10 - 7 		9
 5. 	Los Chixi Dix 		9 - 6 		6
 6. 	Thunderchickens 	9 - 10 		4
 7. 	Dragonball F 		1 - 13 		1
 8. 	Number Munchers 	0 - 25 		0
 

After five weeks, the Saints are a perfect 5-0 and have a walkover next week to replenish the team spirit.

[Masked]

Team News

Fresh off a victory in front of a sell-out crowd, construction began on expanding Complex Spikes Arena. The team paid just over $430K to jump from 32,000 seats to 51,000 seats. The team hopes to recoup most of the expense when they open the stadium in two weeks against the RI Coks.