Frankfort United: IV.53 Part III [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

DukeRulesMAB

06-23-2004, 12:46 AM

Usual format here. Thanks as always to Dataking for the format we are lifting.

All appearances and goal stats are for Frankfort United only, and only competitive matches (league, cup, and qualifiers minus walkovers) are counted.

Keepers

#9 Matthew Matlock
- Age: 22
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Poor (3)
- Assessed Value: $1,482,000
- Wages: $8,047 per week
- Goaltending: Outstanding (10)
- Appearances: 55

Didn't have his best year ever, but still very strong. When he's in solid or better form, our defense is good, when he isn't, it isn't.

#19 Will Stockton
- Age: 20
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Weak (4)
- Experience: Disastrous (1)
- Assessed Value: $226,000
- Wages: $1,744 per week
- Goaltending: Passable (6)
- Appearances: 1

Just doesn't see the field enough to keep his form up. That's life as backup to Matlock, though. I really do have to stop forgetting to get him in friendlies, though.

Defenders

#4 Niko Halfon
- Age: 20
- Nationality: Israel
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $354,000
- Wages: $1,624 per week
- Defending: Formidable (9)
- Winger: Passable (6)
- Apperances: 17
- Goals: 1

We like Halfon. His first year with us had a major interruption in the form of a long-ish injury, but he came through it OK. Will just get better and better on the wing.

#22 Anders Håkansson
- Age: 34
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Inadequate (5)
- Experience: Passable (6)
- Assessed Value: $44,000
- Wages: $650 per week
- Defending: Passable (6)
- Winger: Passable (6)
- Appearances: 18
- Goals: 1

Damn injury cost him a chance to be our coach right now. Let's hope he picks up that experience point relatively soon (but not too soon, cuz I don't have the cash to train him at the moment ;) ). Until then, I'd settle for him getting back into his good pre-injury form to anchor our central defense.

#16 Bill Henry
- Age: 20
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $164,000
- Wages: $753 per week
- Defending: Solid (7)
- Winger: Solid (7)
- Appearances: 26
- Goals: 1

The first youth (and still the only) pull to ever get a significant role on our team. He stepped right into the starting lineup, and has not let us down. Picked up his wing attack two levels last year, and now plays normal. He's 3rd or 4th on the list to be replaced, but that's a long way off. I expect he'll be formidable winger before that happens.

#23 Svend-Harald Iversen
- Age: 30
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Weak (4)
- Experience: Passable (6)
- Assessed Value: $51,000
- Wages: $700 per week
- Defending: Passable (6)
- Appearances: 5

Iversen is coach candidate #2. He'll rotate with Håkansson at central D, depending on form, until someone pops. Surely by the end of the year one of them will have.

#6 Demitri Makris
- Age: 20
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $209,000
- Wages: $2,002 per week
- Defending: Inadequate (5)
- Winger: Formidable (9)
- Appearances: 9
- Goals: 2

The more advanced of our two wingback trainees. We ended up keeping him after he hit formidable, in part because he didn't sell, and in larger part because of defensive injury problems. He is a very good wingback backup, just brings an uncontentional skill set to the position. Has combined with Collier for some really amazing attack ratings.

#15 Lennart Högskär
- Age: 19
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Disastrous (1)
- Assessed Value: $108,000
- Wages: $1,061 per week
- Defending: Inadequate (5)
- Winger: Excellent (8)
- Appearances: 2

Probably has another 2 seasons coming. That's OK, he'll take Makris's role as primary wingback sub once the former is sold.

Midfielders

#2 Stephen Matthew
- Age: 22
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $825,000
- Wages: $2,719 per week
- Playmaking: Outstanding (10)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Defending: Passable (6)

Our brand new acquisition. Will be the best player in our midfield, and will help our our central defense, which had been lagging some.

#12 Russell Reece
- Age: 25
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $390,000
- Wages: $1,504 per week
- Playmaking: Formidable (9)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Passing: Passable (6)
- Appearances: 14
- Goals: 5

Our offensive midfielder, the perfect yen to Matthew's yang. Struggled through form issues much of last year, and still was our best midfielder. We're hoping for an improved effort this season.

#1 Robert Mullineux
- Age: 32
- Nationality: England
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Excellent (8)
- Assessed Value: $45,000
- Wages: $749 per week
- Playmaking: Solid (7)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Appearances: 54
- Goals: 10

His pure ratings don't do justice to just how good he is. 3.5 stars more often than not due to his experience and usually high form. He'll need to be replaced eventually, but as long as he isn't hurt, we can address more pressing concerns than him (forward, central D) first.

#3 Joshua Casper
- Age: 26
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Weak (4)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $153,000
- Wages: $963 per week
- Playmaking: Excellent (8)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Appearances: 21

Was effective in stretches last year, but is mired in a form slump now. Will rotate w/Mullineux in the 3rd midfield slot depending on form. I'm glad to have him around, it means we don't have a huge dropoff when we have to go to our #4. His unpredictable specialty (and terrible defense) mean that all things equal, Mullineux will get the call over him.

#17 Michael Chopin
- Age: 27
- Nationality: England
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $41,000
- Wages: $774 per week
- Playmaking: Passable (6)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Appearances: 43
- Goals: 9

Has completely fallen off the map in terms of playing time. That's OK, he's an ideal 5th midfielder. Costs nothing, and would do no harm if needed in a pinch.

#14 Borislav Sakic
- Age: 24
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $45,000
- Wages: $650 per week
- Playmaking: Inadequate (5)
- Stamina: Excellent (8)
- Passing: Passable (6)
- Appearances: 8

Like Chopin, just friendly and easy Cup game filler. serves his purpose, though is prone to massive form slumps. Not that I particularly am bothered by form slumps from my 6th midfielder.

Wingers

#10 Felix Hylind
- Age: 20
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Poor (3)
- Assessed Value: $799,000
- Wages: $4,456 per week
- Winger: Brilliant (11)
- Playmaking: Solid (7)
- Stamina: Solid (7)
- Appearances: 27
- Goals: 3

Well, he's no longer a toward middle winger. :) He's now the second offensive winger, though his PM provides a decent boost. He'll be solid at WC at the very end of the season.

#7 Jesse Collier
- Age: 19
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Wretched (2)
- Assessed Value: $1,887,000
- Wages: $14,269 per week
- Winger: World Class (13)
- Appearances: 23
- Goals: 9

Truth time: If Collier wasn't on the U-20 team, he'd have been sold right now. With the new wages, he is probably gonna cripple me next season, and I doubt he'll sell for much the year after that. You want to know why: Look at Deluca's salary. He's on the U-20 team, so we'll keep training him, but I have no illusions that he's ever gonna make us any money.

#21 Xue Joo-Sheng
- Age: 18
- Nationality: Singapore
- Current Form: Passable (6)
- Experience: Disastrous (1)
- Assessed Value: $179,000
- Wages: $1,759 per week
- Winger: Formidable (9)
- Playmaking: Inadequate (5)
- Appearances: 5
- Goals: 1

Not sure what the direction on Joo-Sheng is to be honest. Probably will sell at magnif at the end of this season.

#13 Mattias Larsson
- Age: 18
- Nationality: Sweden
- Current Form: Weak (4)
- Experience: Disastrous (1)
- Assessed Value: $114,000
- Wages: $1,023 per week
- Winger: Inadequate (5)
- Playmaking: Excellent (8)
- Stamina: Passable (6)

Mattias is a project, yes, but he's a worthwhile project. Was a bargain at under 500K, and in two seasons will be approximately where Hylind is now (Brilliant winger). At that stage, we'll probably be considering a training change, in which case he'd be our #1 winger for the foreseeable future.

Forwards

#18 Daniel Aguado
- Age: 21
- Nationality: Chile
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Poor (3)
- Assessed Value: $253,000
- Wages: $1,052 per week
- Scoring: Excellent (8)
- Passing: Inadequate (5)
- Set Pieces: Solid (7)
- Appearances: 26
- Goals: 16

Forwards are the weakest part of our team right now, but Aguado's been strong. Bouyed by almost always great form, he keeps our central attack at least in the ballpark of decent.

#8 William Morales
- Age: 27
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $96,000
- Wages: $624 per week
- Scoring: Passable (6)
- Passing: Inadequate (5)
- Set Pieces: Solid (7)
- Appearances: 56
- Goals: 56

Still our highest scorer ever, Morales has a distinct nose for the net despite unimpressive ratings. He'll be replaced relatively soon. It's between forward and central D for our next addition; depends on how soon one of our coach candidates pops.

#5 Jacob Knapp
- Age: 24
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Inadequate (5)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $111,000
- Wages: $616 per week
- Scoring: Passable (6)
- Passing: Inadeqate (5)
- Playmaking: Inadequate (5)
- Stamina: Solid (7)
- Appearances: 46
- Goals: 37

He's also inadequate at wing. Perfect super-sub, and our one true clown. Will be our coach in the very, very long run.

#11 Courtney Sellers
- Age: 32
- Nationality: USA
- Current Form: Solid (7)
- Experience: Weak (4)
- Assessed Value: $25,000
- Wages: $517 per week
- Scoring: Inadequate (5)
- Passing: Inadequate (5)
- Appearances: 17
- Goals: 12

Like Sakic, just B team filler at this stage. Probably will be offloaded whenever we get a new forward.

-----------------------------------------

We have no money right now, so this is all moot for the time being, but there are 3 areas I see that will be the next 3 areas to improve.

1) Forward

We have no one above excellent scoring. This is unacceptable

2) Central Defense

Can't happen until one of our coach trainees pops (and thus can be taken out of playing circulation), but this is a much needed upgrade.

3) 3rd midfielder

Not as critical. Mullineux and Casper adequately cover the position at the moment. Still, once we eventually sort out priorities 1 and 2, this is next on the list.

DukeRulesMAB

06-23-2004, 03:27 PM

IV.53 Preview

1. Lake Superior Dogfight

Last year's finish: #5 (24 points) in III.14
Last season: High NSI - 112, Low (in league) - 82, Average - 95.3

2. Dark Shadows

Last year's finish: #2 (25 points) in IV.53
Last season: High NSI - 104, Low (in league) - 81, Average - 95.9

3. AC Weezer

Last year's finish: #3 (23 points) in IV.53
Last season: High NSI - 86, Low (in league) - 68, Average - 77.2

4. Go Mart FC

Last year's finish: #4 (22 points) in IV.53
Last season: High NSI - 96, Low (in league) - 87, Average - 90.3

5. Vampires

Last year's finish: #5 (22 points) in IV.53
Last season: High NSI - 87, Low (in league) - 67, Average - 77.7

6. Frankfort United

Last year's finish: #6 (21 points) in IV.53
Last season: High NSI - 78, Low (in league) - 65, Average - 73.6

7. Reign

Last year's finish: #1 (40 points) in V.193
Last season: High NSI - 92, Low (in league) - 46, Average - 79.7

8. Fairfax Fizz

Last year's finish: #1 (39 points) in V.183
Last season: High NSI - 69, Low (in league) - 60, Average - 66.0

Well, this one's gonna be a wild ride. NSI's aside, Lake Superior will dominate this series. They are the only team in the division with high NSI and a balanced team. Both Dark Shadows and Go Mart are way defense heavy, though Dark Shadows can bring a great midfield, too.

ACW's stats are not impressive, but they are a well run team improving every week. Vampires, on the other hand, is barely run at all. They do train general, I believe, so their form (and performance) are steady, but they're never going to get better. Go Mart had an inexplicable slide last season; I don't expect that will last.

Of the newcomers, Fairfax appears doomed (sorry, Bee). Unless they make a huge step up, they just don't have what it takes to make it here. Reign immediately steps into the middle class. In fact, they are immediate contenders for second place, though they could also slide well down.

That leaves us. On paper, we are in 7th. We've defied expectations before, and I think we can do it again. We will concentrate on beating Fairfax and Vampires, and hoping to pick up some other points along the way. We lead off with Vampires: I may well bust out an early MOTS. We want that win; we need that win. Then we can PIC for 5 weeks leading to Fairfax, with possible other norms along the way depending on home games. I think we can pull it off. If we don't, we will certainly go down swinging.

1. Lake Superior Dogfight
2. Dark Shadows
3. Go Mart FC
4. Reign
5. AC Weezer
6. Frankfort United
7. Vampires
8. Deadmeat

DukeRulesMAB

06-23-2004, 11:17 PM

Season 4 - US Open Cup: Round 1

Heatwave vs. Frankfort United

Date: June 23, 2004
Arena: Heatwave Arena (Phoenix)
Crowd: 4,379 (7,000)
Weather: Rain

We're back!

Heatwave is even more fun than a bot team: A human team that has never logged in. Easy win, and we'll PIC. Rain held down the gate a bit, but it's not like they were gonna be pouring in either way.

Starters (4-4-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (56th Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (18th Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (6th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (19th Appearance)
Left Defender: Demitri Makris (10th Appearance)

Right Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (6th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (1st Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (15th Appearance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (24th Apperance)

Striker: Jacob Knapp (47th Apperance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (27th Appearance)

We're playing the 4-4-2 today to work both Iversen and Håkansson into the potential extra experience. As for the wings, Joo-Sheng and Collier get the call, while Makris picks up a half week of training on the back. Sooner he gets to Outstanding, sooner we have a little more cash in our pockets.

Our midfield will be less than impressive, but I'm excited to have both Matthew and Reece out there. Matthew combined with 4 defenders should give us some interesting defensive ratings, even if form isn't the best back there. Knapp gets an experience-grabbing start up front as well.

The Match

The crowd of 4379 turning up at Heatwave Arena today were greeted by some nasty showers of rain. Heatwave tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Porter - Carrera, Thomas, Cornett, Stewart - Darby, Ouellette, Mcnutt, Terraza - Richardson, Moore.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Iversen, Makris - Joo-Sheng, Reece, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Knapp.

In the 3rd minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Jacob Knapp put the ball away for 0 - 1. In the 13th minute Frankforts Demitri Makris received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The away team´s Jacob Knapp took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 14:th minute increasing Frankfort´s lead to 0 - 2. Chris Ouellette of Heatwave received a yellow card in the 18:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 81 percent possession rate.

Jacob Knapp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. By then Jacob Knapp was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The structure of the game started to change as Frankfort decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. In the games 76:th minute Frankfort´s Stephen Matthew fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Stephen Matthew for taking a dive. Xue Joo-Sheng came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Daniel Porter, hitting the bar. In 77:th minute of game time Heatwave´s Chris Ouellette received his second yellow card and was sent off. Due to a severely mistimed tackle,Jesse Collier spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game. Jesse Collier came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Daniel Porter, hitting the bar. Jacob Knapp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 4. Jacob Knapp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 5. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 95 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Heatwave player was without a doubt Daniel Porter. Milton Mcnutt was a disappointment, however. Most important Frankfort player was Jesse Collier. Jacob Knapp was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 5.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Knapp 5 (5; 3rd, 14th, 48th, 83rd, 84th minutes; 42)

Yellow Cards: Makris, Matthew

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****
Iversen: **~
Håkansson: **~
Makris: **~

Joo-Sheng: ***
Matthew: ****
Reece: ****
Collier: *****

Knapp: **
Aguado: ***~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Note: Until further notice, we're starting at 0.5 for Disas (Very Low) and moving up a half step from there

Heatwave

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: disastrous (low) (1)
Right Side Defence: weak (very low) (6.5)
Central Defence: weak (very high) (8)
Left Side Defence: weak (very high) (8)
Right Side Attack: wretched (high) (3.5)
Central Attack: wretched (high) (3.5)
Left Side Attack: wretched (very high) (4)
AdjNSI: 36.5

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (high) (3.5)
Right Side Defence: passable (high) (11.5)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high) (10)
Left Side Defence: weak (low) (7)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (very low) (8.5)
Central Attack: weak (low) (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (high) (15.5)
AdjNSI: 70

Old Ratings: 38-73

Well, we had about 3 people show up for this one. Knapp (5 goals), Collier and Makris (all 5 goals came from the right). But that was enough.

We actually played quite well all things considered. Our defensive ratings were fun, even if they were a one-time thing. I have high hopes for our midfield when everything's rolling appropriately. And our attack is really, really sweet, albeit inflated by Makris pitching in. Fun match, we're pleased, just wish we could have put in a few more goals.

Only bad things: Collier's injury (not a big deal, but I suspect he now won't play in Friday's U-20 game), and Matthew's card.

Next week is another human owned team, a slightly better one, but one we'll still roll over with ease. The only question is if we'll go 100% backups or mix in a couple starters. Probably the former.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

06-24-2004, 10:57 PM

Training News

Jesse Collier (20553193)
19 years, solid form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and upright.
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Speciality: Head

Also part of Team U-20 USA!

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 20 100 (2 010 000 US$)
Wage: 14 269 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

He'll brutalize me with his wages next year, but I'll live, I'm helping out my country. I'm a patriot! ;)

This is at least a week earlier than I expected him to pop, BTW.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 1 (Hylind to Solid)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Henry to Passable, Reece to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 2 (Joo-Sheng to Solid; Knapp to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 1 (Casper to Poor)

Not bad considering half the team didn't play this week, though we'll see how we do next week. I wish Reece could stay in good form for a while just for once. Mullineux (solid) form obviously will be playing in the league match over Casper.

Only side point: Stockton's in such bad form that I don't feel comfortable playing him, even in a match I figure to win. With all the other reserves in, I'm just more comfortable with Matlock out there.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $7,765,000 (7,601,000)

Collier, as you can see above, over 2M.

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

06-25-2004, 11:07 PM

Just want to point out that Jesse Collier scored his first U-20 goal today. :)

Bad news: We dropped a 4-2 decision to the evil Canadians. Though we were at a TS/confidence deficit, they were slightly younger than us, so it was not a good result. Gotta improve.

DukeRulesMAB

06-26-2004, 11:19 PM

Youth pull

Ken Nicholas (35977786)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 490 (49 000 US$)
Wage: 760 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Listed for 5K, I expect we'll be able to grab a couple bucks for him.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 8,304 (at Heatwave)
Sponsers: 66,330
Interest: 1,400
Temporary: 13,770
- 120 (New Supporters)
- 13,650 (Sale of Arnold)

Total revenues: 89,804

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 36,011
- 41,718
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier)
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 18,830
Temporary: 474,720
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)
- 470,220 (New Arena Costs)
- 1,500 (Fired Economist)

Total Expenses: 599,061

Profit (Loss): (509,257)
New Balance: (38,287)

I botched the economist hiring yet again, to the shock of no one. Didn't cost very much, but still irritating. I'll get it right some day. :)

We'll be in debt this week and next, but should get out shortly thereafter.

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm (Up from Composed)
Confidence: Strong

Sponsers: Delirious (Up from Satisfied)
Supporters: Satisfied (Up from Calm)
# of Supporters: 1653

No net change on the supporter change for the week.

TS is gonna be a disaster all year, our goal is simply to hold on as best as we can.

Lake Superior - Dark Shadows

Great matchup, easily the two favorites go at it here. Lake Superior has had a complete makeover with 5 2M+ sales and 3 2M+ additions in the last two weeks. I have no idea what they'll look like, but if they're anything like last year, they should win this (and all other) games easily.

AC Weezer - Go Mart FC

Can Go Mart get it back together after a disastrous second half to last year? I predict yes, but not in this game. ACW will take it at home.

Vampires - Frankfort United

I see Vampires as my #1 rival, the team we have to beat to stay in the series. We are taking the game as seriously as we have any in FU history. With that said, hard to predict better than a draw on the road, but I am certainly hoping for more.

Reign - Fairfax Fizz

The two new FOFC IV.53ers face off. Reign is the vastly superior team, I expect them to hold serve here.

Up Next: We visit Vampires in a critical season opener!

sterlingice

06-27-2004, 03:49 PM

Keep us updated on the U-20 since TP's a slacker ;)

SI

DukeRulesMAB

06-27-2004, 10:45 PM

Season 5 - Week 1

Vampires vs. Frankfort United

Date: June 27, 2004
Arena: Vampires Arena (Atlanta)
Crowd: 32,360 (66,000)
Weather: Sunny

Well, here we go. Vampires is a somewhat more talented team than us, and they train general I think, so they're always in good form. They are also completely unmanaged, nearly. Last login as of this writing was a week ago Sunday morning. They are prone to going weeks between logins, and they haven't changed their lineup in my memory. More on that later. They also have been pressing lately for absolutely no reason; I can't imagine how it helps them.

This is a win we really need. Survival in this series will be very difficult for me this year. And with my wretched leadership coach, TS will be impossible to hold, at least for now. We are MOTSing. We got burnt doing this in the opener two seasons ago, but I'm doing it anyway. A win here would be massive toward getting us to 6th place and survival, and we don't have another must win for 5 weeks.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (57th Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (27th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (20th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (19th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (25th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (16th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (55th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (2nd Appearance)
Left Wing: Felix Hylind (28th Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (28th Appearance)
Striker: William Morales (57th Appearance)

This is the starting 11. Collier and Hylind offensive. Reece offensive, Matthew defensive. Henry normal.

Only variation: Halfon is being pulled toward middle in a very unusual instruction. Vampires plays both of their wingers toward middle every week, and thus have terrible wing attacks. Their central attack is great, and a huge problem for us. Because we want the half week training, we can't play Halfon as a second central D like most teams would So we bring him toward middle. We've also lined up Collier against their slightly weaker wing D. Here's hoping.

After the match started...: Well, for the first time since my first season, I have truly screwed up. In switching my central defender from one side to the other, I forgot to give Mullineux an "extra inner midfielder" instruction. So I'm playing a 4-4-2. With a Wretched defender in defense. Poor timing for a terrible screwup. :(

The Match

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 32360 to Vampires Arena. Vampires had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Costa - Timou, Garner, Bernstein - Sizemore, Bohell, Lombardo, Bouchard, Rees - Gallagher, Camara.

Frankfort started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Matlock - Henry, Mullineux, Håkansson, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Matthew, Hylind - Aguado, Morales.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Vampires. In the 14:th minute Lee Gallagher almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide. Frankfort showed their counterattack skill in the 20:th minute, with Russell Reece scoring uncontested for 0 - 1. In the 28:th minute Frankforts Jesse Collier received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 29 minutes into the game Lee Gallagher had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Terry Richard. After the ball got lifted in from the left Anders Håkansson was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 38 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Sebastián Camara of Vampires received a yellow card in the 38:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 41 minutes of play Lynn Lombardo equalised for Vampires after an elegant attack from the right. Vampires took the lead in the 43rd minute of the game by 2 to 1, as Christopher Bernstein elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. 2 - 1 was the half-time score. Vampires held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

Stephen Matthew behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 77:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Vampires´s Sebastián Camara putting the lead up to 3 - 1. Terry Richard should probably have put his team up another goal in the 81st minute, but some great goaltending by Matthew Matlock kept the visitors in the game. Felix Hylind had a couple of good opportunities to reply, but the home team´s goaltender Steven Costa just wouldn´t surrender. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s Stephen Matthew got himself booked. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Vampires´s Sebastián Camara putting the lead up to 4 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Vampires, with an impressive 56 percent possession of the ball.

Vampires´s best player was Luther Timou. Terry Richard was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Robert Mullineux on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 1.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Reece (1; 20th minute; 6)

Yellow Cards: Collier, Matthew

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Henry: ***
Håkansson: **~
Mullineux: *~
Halfon: ****

Collier: *****
Reece: ***~
Matthew: ****
Hylind: ****~

Aguado: ***~
Morales: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Vampires

Tactic: Counter-attacks
Tactic skill: passable (6)

Midfield: weak (high) (15)
Right Side Defence: solid (low) (26)
Central Defence: passable (high) (23)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Right Side Attack: poor (low) (10)
Central Attack: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Attack: poor (very high) (11)
~NSI: 76.5

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: excellent (very low) (29)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: passable (low) (22)
~NSI: 75

Well, that was about the most unpleasent 90 minutes I can remember. I spent the entire game irate at my idiot mistake. Steam is still coming out of my ears. I don't know if it made a difference or not. After all, we lost by 3 goals despite them having a forward replaced with a dud, and them pulling a moronic counter attack attempt out.

This is probably step one toward my demotion. We're not giving up, but realistically, I have royally screwed myself. No other comment. Even our goal was a complete fluke, our defenders have no passing that I'm aware of to create a CA.

Lake Superior smacked the crap out of Dark Shadows 5-1. Unless they screw up major, a 42 point season should be theirs. AC Weezer edge Go Mart FC 1-0; key win at home for the elder statesmen of IV.53. And Fairfax worked a 2-2 tie at Reign in a shocker. Is Fairfax this improved, was Reign overrated, or was just a fluke? We shall see.

I'm gonna be pissed about this for days. Ah well.

Addendum: One good thing came out of this mess. Håkansson popped to solid experience. Of course, we have no actual money right now, but at least we finally have the option available to us. When we do have the money, we'll do an examination of where we are. If it looks like demotion is nearly inevitable, then we'll save him for next year.

Next up: Second round Cup match, against another team I figure to handle.

Tellistto

06-28-2004, 01:11 AM

Ouch...that hurts. Tough break, Duke. Fizzle will still be rooting for you to stay up!

Tell

DukeRulesMAB

07-01-2004, 05:49 PM

Season 4 - US Open Cup: Round 2

Thunder Hawks FC vs. Frankfort United

Date: June 30, 2004
Arena: The Hawks Nest (California)
Crowd: 8,610 (8,610)
Weather: Sunny

After Sunday's disaster, we're looking for an easy win here. This team doesn't really offer much, we should have little trouble dismissing them. We're PICing with 10 backups.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (58th Appearance)

Right Defender: Demitri Makris (11th Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (7th Appearance)
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär (3rd Appearance)

Right Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (7th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic (9th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin (44th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper (22nd Appearance)
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson (1st Apperance)

Striker: Jacob Knapp (48th Apperance)
Striker: Courtney Sellers (18th Appearance)

Stockton's form is in the drink, so we played Matlock today to be safe. The other 10 are the backups. Both wingbacks and Joo-Sheng offensive, while Larsson plays toward middle for now (he's just inad wing). Larsson's ratings will likely be unimpressive, but we're excited to get him started.

The Match

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 8610 to The Hawks Nest. Thunder started off with a incomprehensible 2-5-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Hubbard - Pierce, Saavedra - Vera, Savage, Moore, Sherrill, Morrow - Kim, Donohue, Merchant.

Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Makris, Iversen, Högskär - Joo-Sheng, Chopin, Sakic, Casper, Larsson - Sellers, Knapp.

Thunder could have put themselves ahead in the 4:th minute as Gilbert Kim missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Thunder seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and were down to the inadequate level of organisation. Thunder tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. Thunder made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Greg Donohue completely alone with keeper Matthew Matlock, who made a spectacular block. In the 37:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Joshua Casper put the ball away for 0 - 1. A lovely rush by Frankfort's Xue Joo-Sheng past Carlton Pierce could have resulted in a goal, but the finish was just outside. In the 39:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as Jacob Knapp finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle.

The Thunder players spent the half-time break getting a rerun of the teams tactical organization and regained a solid organisation. Xue Joo-Sheng was doing a great job at his wing, sending in brilliant passes to his team mates in the middle. In the games 84:th minute Thunder´s Sol Moore fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Sol Moore for taking a dive. Frankfort increased the lead to 0 - 3 as Jacob Knapp scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. After 88 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Borislav Sakic who increased Frankfort´s lead to 0 - 4. The structure of the game started to change as Frankfort decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. The referee showed Thunders Reggie Vera the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 67 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Thunder player was without a doubt Greg Donohue. However, Bud Merchant made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Matthew Matlock. Mattias Larsson was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 4.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Knapp 2 (7; 39th, 87th minutes; 44)
Casper (1; 37 minute; 1)
Sakic (1; 88th minute; 1)

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Makris: **~
Iversen: **
Högskär: ***

Joo-Sheng: ***~
Sakic: **~
Chopin: **~
Casper: **
Larsson: *~

Knapp: **~
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Matthew Matlock

Thunder Hawks FC

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very low) (5)
Right Side Defence: wretched (low) (6)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: wretched (low) (6)
Right Side Attack: poor (low) (10)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: wretched (high) (7)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (low) (6)
Right Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Central Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Defence: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Attack: passable (low) (22)
Central Attack: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Attack: poor (high) (11)

About as expected. The first half was a bit nerve-wrecking, with them getting all the chances, but we took control and won handily. He came out in a 2-5-3 in an attempt to pile up some goals, but never could quite get it rolling.

Not much to say individually. Larsson's rating looks ugly, but TM wingers take a while to get into shape. Casper's rating is ugly, and is indicative of his sad form.

Next week's opponents, Hxc4jc, are better, but not much better. We may mix in a couple extra starters, depending on form. All 8 IV.53 teams won this week; no shock there.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

07-01-2004, 09:56 PM

Training News

No pops this week; none really expected, though we have no idea on Larsson.

Couple side notes. Håkansson, as earlier noted, did pop to Solid experience. And Iversen dropped...in playmaking to weak. As a central defender, I'm not to broken up about it.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 3 (Halfon to Excellent; Reece, Håkansson to Passable)
Starters Going Down: 4 (Morales, Aguado to Passable, Henry to Inadequate; Hylind 2 levels to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 1 (Chopin to Solid)
Reserves Going Down: 2 (Sakic 2 levels to Inadequate, Stockton to Poor)

Crappy update on the whole, but not that big of a deal. We were gonna get bombed this week anyway. Hylind will be moved to the B team, as we want Joo-Sheng and his "quick" specialty on the wing Sunday, weather assuming. And we'll bench Sakic for the next Cup game, going with Matthew.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $7,925,000 (7,765,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

07-09-2004, 03:18 PM

Been on vacation the last week or so, catching up now. :)

Youth pull

Darío Larios (36630973)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 30 (3 000 US$)
Wage: 500 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

That may be a new low.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 16,500 (at Thunder Hawks FC)
Sponsers: 77,880
Temporary: 9,450
- 150 (New Supporters)
- 9,300 (Sale of Nicholas)

Total revenues: 103,830

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 48,844
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 18,830
Interest: 1,924
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)

Total Expenses: 140,598

Profit (Loss): (36,768)
New Balance: (75,255)

Will be out of debt with the next update, thankfully.

Other stats

Team Spirit: Composed (down from Calm)
Confidence: Strong

Sponsers: High on Life (up from Delirious)
Supporters: Satisfied
# of Supporters: 1657 (up from 1653)

We're gonna be bleeding supporters all year, I expect, so every "plus" week we will savor.

IV.53 Preview

None this week as we're doing it well after the fact.

Up Next: Frankfort hosts a vastly superior team in DIII demotees Lake Superior

DukeRulesMAB

07-09-2004, 03:44 PM

Season 5 - Week 2

Frankfort United vs. Lake Superior Dogfight

Date: July 4, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 32,255 (50,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Well, this will be brutal. LSD has an amazing midfield, and very strong offense and defense. They were a competitive DIII team that demoted on a fluke shootout to FCP. We're going to get squashed, which will just kill our supporter attitude. We're PICing, no point in doing anything else.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (58th Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (28th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (21st Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (20th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (26th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (17th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (56th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (3rd Appearance)
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (8th Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (29th Appearance)
Striker: William Morales (58th Appearance)

Normal starting 11. One exception: Joo-Sheng gets the callup as we want his quick specialty out there, praying just to score a goal. Hylind's form has dropped anyway, so no great loss of skill, either.

The Match

32255 spectators arrived at F. U. Field, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Frankfort tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Matlock - Henry, Håkansson, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Joo-Sheng - Aguado, Morales.

LSD started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Cavanaugh - McCormack, Chisholm, Weeks - Braun, Velez, Dutton, Serna, Carlson - Houser, Chadwick.

It seemed as though LSD considered the game won aforehand which resulted in a very uninspired start of the game. LSD took the lead in the games 2nd minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Alvin Braun was the scorer. Scottie Serna increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. Frankforts William Morales got himself booked after a foul. William Morales of Frankfort got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. LSD, bringing the final ball possession rate to 62 percent, dominated the battle.

The visitors Hubert Chadwick took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 50:th minute. 0 - 3 for LSD. The structure of the game started to change as LSD decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. LSD will have to do without Scottie Serna for a time due to a bad foot injury. He was substituted by Spencer Hickman. After 78 minutes of game time Ronnie Houser received an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but Matthew Matlock was in the right place, tipping the ball to a corner. In the games 83rd minute Hubert Chadwick nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar. In the 87:th minute Frankforts Robert Mullineux received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. LSD were forced to a substitution as Edgar Carlson couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment, forcing Ronny Moseley to come in from the sidelines. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 88:th minute LSD goal, making it 0 - 4. Ronny Moseley was noted down as the scorer. The visitors Ronnie Houser took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 88:th minute. 0 - 5 for LSD. LSD held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bill Henry on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important LSD player was Ronnie Houser. Ronny Moseley on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 5.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: Morales 2, Mullineux

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Henry: **~
Håkansson: ***
Halfon: ****~

Collier: *****
Reece: ****
Mullineux: ***~
Matthew: ****
Joo-Sheng: ****

Aguado: ***~
Morales: None Given (Sent Off)

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: solid (high) (27)
Central Attack: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (high) (19)

Lake Superior Dogfight

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high) (20)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Right Side Attack: excellent (high) (31)
Central Attack: excellent (low) (30)
Left Side Attack: excellent (low) (30)

Well, about as expected. I'd like to have seen us get a goal, but it just wasn't to be. Not really anything else to say, they just bombed us good. Our supporters came out of this mess furious, and we bled supporters all week. Still, I'm not terribly upset, we got out with no injuries, and this was 100% anticipated, so we'll move on from here.

The biggest match of the week say Dark Shadows smack Reign 3-0. This confirms what I expected. There's LSD, then Dark Shadows, then everyone else. Vampires and Go Mart fought to a 0-0 draw, as those teams continue to be more or less aimless. And ACW slapped Fairfax 5-0. They play Dark Shadows next week in a very interesting game, as it will tell us if there will be a race for second or not.

Next up: Third round Cup match, against yet another team I figure to handle.

DukeRulesMAB

07-09-2004, 04:12 PM

Season 4 - US Open Cup: Round 3

Hxc4jc vs. Frankfort United

Date: July 7, 2004
Arena: Hxc4jc Arena (Chicago)
Crowd: 6,773 (14,700)
Weather: Rain

Well, there's a good and bad side to playing comparatively weak teams in the 3rd round of the cup. On one hand, it's a theoretically easy win. On the other hand, you don't get much in the way of a gate, particularly when it rains.

We're playing mostly backups here and PICing. This could be a close game, but I think we've got it under control.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (60th Appearance)

Right Defender: Lennart Högskär (4th Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (8th Appearance)
Left Defender: Demitri Makris (12th Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (29th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin (45th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper (23rd Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (4th Appearance)
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson (2nd Apperance)

Striker: Jacob Knapp (49th Apperance)
Striker: Courtney Sellers (19th Appearance)

Hylind in as Joo-Sheng got the call on Sunday. Matlock and Matthew play as Stockton and Sakic are in unacceptable form, and we do want to win this. Lotta players offensive today, we hope to pour on some goals.

The Match

6773 spectators had found their way to Hxc4jc Arena, despite the heavy rain. Hxc4jc had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Hay - Moore, Geary, Davis, Magana - Herring, Reed, Lipsanen, Lamar - Stokes, Kirkland.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Högskär, Iversen, Makris - Hylind, Chopin, Casper, Matthew, Larsson - Sellers, Knapp.

Hxc4jc clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could, using their talent for it. A well placed corner kick from Andy Stokes was followed by John Lamar´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Hxc4jc. The result now 1-0. Frankfort managed, in the 31st minute, to even the score at 1 - 1 through a lucky free kick by Jacob Knapp. Somehow the ball squirmed it´s way through the defensive wall! The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit Michael Chopin just fine. Frankfort had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Tommy Hay saved Jacob Knapp´s shot headed for the top corner. A long pass from the defense line of Hxc4jc resulted in a counterattack that set Andy Stokes free in the enemy central penalty box, but his finish went high. In the 43rd minute Hxc4jcs Willard Herring received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Frankfort were forced to a substitution as Demitri Makris couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment, forcing Anders Håkansson to come in from the sidelines. Halftime score was 1 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 67 percent possession of the ball.

Stephen Matthew behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 54:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 71st minute left Frankfort´s Jacob Knapp completely free to score. 1 - 2 for the visitors. After the ball got lifted in from the left Felix Hylind was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 79 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Jacob Knapp came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Tommy Hay, hitting the bar. Eero Lipsanen finished off the counterattack from the left rather easily, scoring 2 - 2 for Hxc4jc. There wasn´t much opportunity for rapid movements this wet day, which hindered Lennart Högskär in particular. Frankfort took the lead after 87 minutes with 2 - 3. Stephen Matthew placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. After 89 minutes Hxc4jc´s Tommy Hay contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 68 percent possession rate.

Hxc4jc´s best player was John Lamar. Tommy Hay was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Matthew Matlock. Mattias Larsson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Knapp 2 (9; 31st, 71st minutes; 46)
Matthew (1; 87th minute; 1)

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Högskär: **~
Iversen: **~
Makris: *~
Håkansson (in for Makris): ***

Hylind: ****
Chopin: ***
Casper: **
Matthew: ****
Larsson: *~

Knapp: **~
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Matthew Matlock

xc4jc

Tactic: Counter-attacks
Tactic skill: passable (6)

Midfield: wretched (low) (6)
Right Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Central Defence: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Attack: poor (low) (10)
Central Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Left Side Attack: poor (low) (10)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Central Defence: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Right Side Attack: passable (very low) (21)
Central Attack: poor (high) (11)
Left Side Attack: poor (low) (10)

Well, we probably deserved a bit better result this time, but a win is a win, so we'll take it. Knapp continues to be a goal-scoring machine, while Chopin had the best game of his long career with us. The bad news: Makris is out a while. 4 weeks, meaning I'm not sure if he'll pop to outstanding by the end of the year. Cup-wise, it's no big deal, though. We're going to start working more starters in anyway, so no giant loss.

Next week will be much more of a challenge. We play a solid squad in Columbia FC. They aren't as good as our A squad, but we'll have to play a whole lotta starters if we expect to win this contest.

6 of the other 7 IV.53 teams advanced to the fourth round. The exception was Vampires, who lost a tight contest. Not sure exactly what happened there, they seem to have made some poorly though out subs, while the other side took the game seriously enough to win.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

07-10-2004, 12:50 AM

Training News

Xue Joo-Sheng (27439726)
18 years, excellent form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Singapore
Total Skill Index (TSI): 2 950 (295 000 US$)
Wage: 1 759 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Xue is playing easily the best soccer of his career. He gets a second key start in a row for us this week.

It was an active week in experience pops as well. Coach candidate #2, Iversen, popped to Solid. Not that it matters, still don't think I'm gonna convert this season, but he will keep moving on up, and won't be converted for probably 4 more seasons. Also, starting midfielder Stephen Matthew popped to poor experience. This is especially good, as he had a couple negative experience events lately.

Also, with today's U-20 match (won 2-0 by the good guys!) Jesse Collier popped to Poor experience. Every little bit helps.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 2 (Matlock to Solid, Henry to Passable)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Halfon to Solid, Henry to Inadequate; Hylind to Weak)
Reserves Going Up: 5 (Joo-Sheng to Excellent; Knapp, Makris to Solid; Iverson, Sakic to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 0

Good form week. Lots of guys going up within their levels, too. Halfon's drop is very minor (he actually went up in value with his half-week of training). Some of the backup bumps aren't worth anything: Makrus is hurt and Sakic's done for the rest of our Cup stay. But the others are very important for the team. We have a big league match this week, so it's good to go into it strong.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $8,001,000 (7,925,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

07-11-2004, 05:45 PM

Youth pull

Whitney Freeman (37040135)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 150 (15 000 US$)
Wage: 519 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Listed him for the hell out if for $1. His stamina make make him sellable, but probably not.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 225,157
- 209,953 (vs. Lake Superior Dogfight)
- 15,204 (at Hxc4jc)
Sponsers: 84,810
Temporary: 2,040 (Sell-on of Weller)

Total revenues: 312,007

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 43,167
- 48,844
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier)
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 32,330
Interest: 3,762
Temporary: 2,000 (Youth Pull)

Total Expenses: 149,229

Profit (Loss): 162,778
New Balance: 87,522

And we're out.

Other stats

Team Spirit: Content (up from Composed)
Confidence: Decent (down from Strong)

Sponsers: High on Life
Supporters: Irritated (down from Satisfied)
# of Supporters: 1636 (up from 1657)

Yeah, that was brutal.

IV.53 Preview

AC Weezer - Dark Shadows

Big game, basically the battle for second place. ACW is claiming form problems, we'll see. Dark Shadows is outright better, I think, so they should win.

Vampires - Fairfax Fizz

Hard to say. Vampires is so poorly managed they could blow this. More likely, though, their superior talent will carry the day at home.

Frankfort United - Go Mart FC

Go Mart has yet to score a goal in two league games. Of course, they've only given up one. Should be an ineteresting game, and one we desperately need points out of.

Reign - Lake Superior Dogfight

Reign's a nice team, but they have absolutely no chance here. Blowout city.

Up Next: Frankfort hosts Go Mart FC in a critical battle for both teams.

DukeRulesMAB

07-17-2004, 11:23 PM

Season 5 - Week 3

Frankfort United vs. Go Mart FC

Date: July 11, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 16,646 (50,000)
Weather: Sunny

Go Mart's off to another rough start: No goals scored yet. They've also only given up one, with superstud keeper Roscoe Lyon. We'll be hard pressed to get too many in the net against them, but we'll sure try. We need at least a point out of this game, and we are normaling it with that in mind.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (61st Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (21st Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (23rd Appearance)
Left Defender: Bill Henry (29th Appearance)

Right Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (9th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (5th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (57th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (18th Apperance)
Left Wing: Joshua Casper (24th Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (59th Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (30th Appearance)

Yes, I screwed it up again. No, I don't think I'm subconsciously trying to screw up my season, but it's possible. For the second time in 3 games, we screwed up the instructions, this time including Joshua Casper in the lineup instead of Jesse Collier. So my midfield will be slightly better (but not that much; Casper's in terrible form). Of course, this also screws with my training (more on that below and in the next post)

Anyway, we have virtually no chance of scoring now.

The Match

A scorching day at F. U. Field, where 16646 spectators were in place for today´s match. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Henry - Joo-Sheng, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Casper - Aguado, Morales.

Mart tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Lyon - Oyama, Kenney, York - Kraft, MacKenzie, Kilskar , Manning, Ashley - Burgos, Terrell.

Frankfort could have put themselves ahead in the 3rd minute as Russell Reece missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Bill Henry received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 23rd minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Courtney Terrell finished off the counterattack from the left rather easily, scoring 0 - 1 for Mart. Frankfort´s Anders Håkansson made a successful breakthrough attempt in the game´s 26:th minute and should have levelled the score, but clipped it over the bar. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.

It wasn´t a good day at all for Brad York. His powerful style of play didn´t fit the bill this warm day. After 61 minutes Mart´s Roscoe Lyon contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. The visitors Arthur Kraft took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 71st minute. 0 - 2 for Mart. The structure of the game started to change as Mart decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. A misunderstanding between the visitors keeper Roscoe Lyon and his left defence could have resulted in a goal for Frankfort, but Daniel Aguado´s finish was way to lame. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 66 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Matthew Matlock. Joshua Casper on the other hand, had a terrible day. Mart´s best player was Roscoe Lyon. Brad York on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 2.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with

Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****
Håkansson: ***
Henry: **~

Joo-Sheng: ****
Matthew: ****~
Mullineux: ***~
Reece: ****
Casper: **

Morales: **~
Aguado: ***

Team Match MVP: Matthew Matlock

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: passable (very low) (21)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: weak (low) (14)

Go Mart FC

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Defence: excellent (high) (31)
Central Defence: outstanding (very high) (40)
Left Side Defence: excellent (high) (31)
Right Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)

I'm in too bad a mood to talk much about it, other than to say we got what we deserved, and we would have lost anyway. Collier almost certainly couldn't have meant more than one goal, and with him, our midfield would have been a lot lower, meaning they could even have scored more.

Other IV.53 action:

- ACW spanked Dark Shadows 4-0 to pull into the lead of the race for second
- Vampires whipped Fairfax 5-0 in a statement game for them
- Lake Superior earily handled Reign on the road 4-1

Next up: Fourth round Cup match; it's gotten real tough in a hurry.

sterlingice

07-17-2004, 11:30 PM

I dunno. There's just something about the name "Go Mart" that makes me chuckle. Maybe it's that it makes me think of the ice hockey team from the Simpsons, the Qwik-E-Mart Gougers.

SI

DukeRulesMAB

07-17-2004, 11:43 PM

Season 4 - US Open Cup: Round 4

Columbia FC vs. Frankfort United

Date: July 14, 2004
Arena: Columbia FC Arena (South Carolina)
Crowd: 18,003 (50,000)
Weather: Cloudy

I underestimated this team when I first looked at them. This is a bad ass team that dominated its division V series last year, and is now playing very well in IV.49, including a win over our very own Screamin' Seamen. We're PICing, accepting our fate, and clinging to the tiny shred of hope we still have in the series.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (62nd Appearance)

Right Defender: Felix Hylind (30th Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (9th Appearance)
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär (5th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (27th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (6th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin (46th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (19th Appearance)
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson (3rd Apperance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (31st Appearance)
Striker: Jacob Knapp (50th Apperance)

We are going with mostly starters (with a few key backups) here. With me having accepted this as a lost cause, we're getting Hylind a half week of training at wingback (despite his "poor" defensive rating). My screwup, of course, cost us bigtime there.

Otherwise, mostly starters with a few key backups for training, experience, or form purposes.

The Match

18003 spectators had come to Columbia FC Arena this cloudy day. Columbia had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Beckwith - Russell, Morales, Taylor - Sörensson, Starr, Stocco, Houser, Hollingsworth - Aparicio, Tate.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Hylind, Iversen, Högskär - Collier, Reece, Chopin, Matthew, Larsson - Aguado, Knapp.

Columbia tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. In the 24:th minute cheers broke out as Gerald Tate found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Columbia. Gerald Tate of Columbia was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish Svend-Harald Iversen, which resulted in the 2 - 0 goal. The home side´s Ian Starr came close to extending the lead in the 28:th minute. His shot came in off the right hand side but Matthew Matlock managed saving with a fingernail. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Columbia, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

In the 50:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Fernando Aparicio dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Columbia. Gerald Tate almost managed to score another goal for Columbia, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Columbia´s Dustin Hollingsworth putting the lead up to 4 - 0. The structure of the game started to change as Columbia decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 55 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Columbia. However, Matthew Matlock made a spectacular save. Columbias Dustin Hollingsworth got himself booked after a foul. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Columbia, with an impressive 63 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Columbia player was without a doubt Will Beckwith. Dustin Hollingsworth was a disappointment, however. Most important Frankfort player was Jesse Collier. Mattias Larsson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 0.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with

Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Hylind: **
Iversen: ***
Högskär: **~

Collier: *****~
Reece: ****
Chopin: ***
Matthew: ****~
Larsson: **

Aguado: ***
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Columbia FC

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: inadequate (very high) (20)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Central Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Attack: weak (low) (14)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Central Defence: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Attack: excellent (high) (31)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: poor (very high) (12)

My complaint here is not that we lost. On the contrary, we got exactly what we deserved pretty much. But how did we not score a goal? Just boggles the mind. Anyway, that leads into the positive of this game: Collier's first 5.5 star performance. Hopefully he can help the U-20 team because this year is completely in the toilet.

That's alright, though; we'll likely go back to DV, regroup, and be right back after a year. Just disappointing way for it to occur.

5 other IV.53 teams won in the fourth round (LSD, ACW, Go Mart, Reign, and Dark Shadows). Only other loser was Fairfax, who got edged 2-1 in overtime. Tough loss.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

07-18-2004, 08:49 AM

Training News

Niko Halfon (16306149)
20 years, excellent form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is temperamental and upright.
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Technical

Nationality: Israel
Total Skill Index (TSI): 4 130 (413 000 US$)
Wage: 1 624 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Niko isn't with us for his winger skill, but that doesn't mean we won't take it. He'll be at least formid/formid, if not better, by the time we get around to replacing him.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 5 (Halfon to Excellent; Håkansson, Matthew, Reece to Solid; Hylind to Inadequate)
Starters Going Down: 1 (Morales to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Chopin to Excellent; Larsson 2 levels to Passable; Casper 2 levels to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Down: 2 (Joo-Sheng to Solid; Stockton to Wretched)

Great form week for us. Our midfield and defense, in particular, are in really good form. We need it, as we've got yet another must-win, this time on the road, this week. Naturally, we will lose.

The only real downside: Morales is in a bit of a form slump. Knapp's in quality form, though, so he'll fill in with the A squad this week.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $8,523,000 (8,001,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

07-18-2004, 09:08 AM

Youth pull

Allan Wall (37410933)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is fiery and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 840 (84 000 US$)
Wage: 717 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Jackpot! Not a million dollar pull or anything, but a quality pull nonetheless. Will help build up our bank account.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 149,396
- 109,860 (vs. Lake Superior Dogfight)
- 39,536 (at Columbia FC)
Sponsers: 87,615
Temporary: 2,380
- 2,100 (Sell-on of Barnes)
- 280 (Sell-on of Arnold)

Total revenues: 239,391

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 48,844
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)

Total Expenses: 152,174

Profit (Loss): 87,217
New Balance: 174,739

Other stats

Team Spirit: Content
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets (up from High on Life)
Supporters: Irritated
# of Supporters: 1616 (down from 1636)

Still bleeding supporters, and not expecting that to change any time soon.

IV.53 Preview

Lake Superior Dogfight - Go Mart FC

Lake Superior has been killing teams on the road. Now that they are at home, this is gonna be brutal.

Fairfax Fizz - Frankfort United

The one team in the series we really should beat. But they are hardly a bad team; in fact they are nearly as good as us. We're in good form, and we hope for a good result, even on the road.

Dark Shadows - Vampires

Dark Shadows was humiliated last week, I expect they'll take it out on Vampires here.

Reign - AC Weezer

Reign's a better team than they've shown so far (2 losses, 1 draw). ACW is a great side, but they are ripe for an upset. I'm gonna pick Reign to at least take points here.

Up Next: Frankfort visits Fairfax in a battle for the basement.

DukeRulesMAB

07-18-2004, 10:01 PM

Season 5 - Week 4

Fairfax Fizz vs. Frankfort United

Date: July 18, 2004
Arena: Fairfax Fizz Arena (Virginia)
Crowd: 15,067 (33,200)
Weather: Cloudy

For the first time, we play a fellow FOFCer in official (non-friendly) action. Good luck, Bee!

Fairfax is slightly worse than us, but it's very slight. We're normally, as we really do have to win this one. If we don't, the season goes from 99% lost cause to 100%. Fortunately, we are in good form, so there is some hope...

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (63rd Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (22nd Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (24th Appearance)
Left Defender: Bill Henry (30th Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (31st Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (7th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (58th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (20th Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (28th Appearance)

Striker: Jacob Knapp (51st Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (32nd Appearance)

Double checked. Hell, triple checked.

This is the A side except that Knapp's in for a slumping Morales. Our midfield and defense particularly are in quality form.

The Match

At Fairfax Fizz Arena, 15067 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came. Fairfax had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Ramallo - Eriksson, Wu-Tien, Kern - James, Nederwald, Lang, Thyen, Radovic - Dyrblad, Metz.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Henry - Hylind, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Knapp.

3 minutes into the game Stephen Matthew was a hair´s breadth away from giving Frankfort the lead. A prompt block by Juan Luis Ramallo saved the home team that time. After 25 minutes Frankfort´s Robert Mullineux contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 26:th minute goal by Kristopher Metz for Fairfax, putting them ahead 1 - 0. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Kristopher Metz squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 27:th minute, asserting the lead to 2 - 0. The structure of the game started to change as Fairfax decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s Felix Hylind got himself booked. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Fairfax held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

With 47 minutes played Tobias Nederwald could have brought this one home for Fairfax, had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high. Tom Dyrblad hit the ball just perfect in the 80:th minute and could score for Fairfax with a fab long shot to 3 - 0. The referee showed Frankforts Robert Mullineux the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Frankfort breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score in the 83rd minute, but the home side´s defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left, rebounding off the crossbar. Frankforts Niko Halfon got himself booked after a foul. Unsportsmanlike behaviour by Felix Hylind rendered him his second booking of the match, and Frankfort had to finish the game with a reduced squad. Fairfax held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Fairfax player was without a doubt Mikael Thyen. However, Bartek Kern made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. However, Jacob Knapp made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 0.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: Hylind 2, Mullineux, Halfon

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****~
Håkansson: ***
Henry: **~

Hylind: None Given (Sent Off)
Matthew: ****~
Mullineux: ***
Reece: ****
Collier: *****~

Knapp: **~
Aguado: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Fairfax Fizz

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (high) (15)
Right Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Central Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Right Side Attack: weak (high) (15)
Central Attack: poor (high) (11)
Left Side Attack: weak (low) (14)

Frankfort United
Player rating and Team formation
Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (Unlimited)

Midfield: weak (low) (14)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high) (20)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (high) (19)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: excellent (very low) (29)

All right, this is getting ridiculous. Now I've won games over the past two seasons that I shouldn't have, so I am certainly not complaining about losing when I outperformed the other team (by a significant amount, I might add). What I am complaining about is getting shut out again, and having 3 goals scored on me by a crappy offense.

Whatever, this season's finished. We'll do our best to win where we can, but it's certainly a complete lost cause now. That's alright, we'll regroup and be back in a season or two.

Other IV.53 action:

- Reign, as I predicted, pulled the upset, beating ACW 4-2.
- LSD had little problem dismissing Go Mart 3-0
- Dark Shadows bounced back with a 3-0 blanking of Vampires.

Next up: We host a British team in the first friendly of the year.

DukeRulesMAB

07-22-2004, 03:28 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. Ratafia Rovers

Date: July 21, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,060 (50,000)
Weather: Rain

On to our friendly schedule. We host an English team today.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Lennart Högskär
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Joshua Casper

Right Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Jacob Knapp
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson

Striker: William Morales
Striker: Courtney Sellers

All backups on the field. Only Stockton is in completely humerous form today, which is a rarity coming out of the cup. Granted we weren't in it that long this time around.

Casper picks up a half week of training, as Makris is still injured. With his presense (wretched D) and Stockton's form and Högskär's general defensive incompetance, we should put up some pretty comical defensive ratings today. We also slide Knapp in for experience purposes.

The Match

Due to an all-day shower, 1060 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at F. U. Field. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Stockton - Högskär, Iversen, Casper - Joo-Sheng, Chopin, Sakic, Knapp, Larsson - Sellers, Morales.

Ratafia had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Silva - Malone-Lee, Windhager, Bogard - Gameson, Werdisheim, Brüstle, Simonsen, Richardsson - Eriksson, Zetterén.

Ratafia clearly preferred attacks in the middle. Tonny Simonsen seemed highly inexperienced when in the 2nd minute he was loitering with the ball, allowing Jacob Knapp to intercept and strike 1-0 for Frankfort. The visitors didn´t give in and after 31 minutes Jonny Zetterén got through the home sides central line of defense, rolling in the levelling goal to make it 1 - 1. A header from Svend-Harald Iversen connected with a corner kick after 36 minutes, and the ball ended up with Mattias Larsson of Frankfort who shot the 2-1 goal. The visitors didn´t give in and after 40 minutes Johannes Karl Brüstle got through the home sides central line of defense, rolling in the levelling goal to make it 2 - 2. In the games 40:th minute Frankfort´s William Morales fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked William Morales for taking a dive. Frankfort took the lead in the 42nd minute of the game by 3 to 2, as William Morales elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. Tomas Eriksson finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home sides keeper, making the score 3 - 3 in the 42nd minute. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 3. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.

Frankfort had a good opportunity to take the lead as William Morales came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of Camilo Silva. Frankforts Lennart Högskär got himself booked after a foul. After 63 minutes Ratafias Heinrich Windhager had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. Darren MacNee came in instead of him. Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 65:th minute left Ratafia´s Tomas Eriksson completely free to score. 3 - 4 for the visitors. In a rapid move, Mattias Larsson of Frankfort lost his man, passed the ball to the unmarked William Morales who easily hit it home for the 4-4 goal. Frankforts William Morales gave, after 79 minutes, the home team a 5 - 4 lead after an attack coming in from the right. At that, William Morales was noted down for a hat trick. The crowd was silenced in the 80:th minute as the visiting teams Tomas Eriksson came in from the left, levelling the score to 5 - 5. By then Tomas Eriksson was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 68 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Frankfort player was Xue Joo-Sheng. However, Joshua Casper made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Ratafia player was without a doubt Camilo Silva. Tom Richardsson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 5.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Morales 3 (42nd, 74th, 79th minutes)
Knapp (2nd minute)
Larsson (36th minute)

Yellow Cards: Morales, Högskär

Stockton: *~

Högskär: ***
Iversen: ***
Casper: *

Joo-Sheng: ****
Sakic: **
Chopin: ***
Knapp: **~
Larsson: **

Morales: **~
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: wretched (low) (6)
Central Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Defence: wretched (high) (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)
Central Attack: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Attack: poor (low) (10)

Ratafia Rovers

Tactic: Attack in the middle
Tactic skill: excellent (8)

Midfield: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Central Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Defence: weak (high) (15)
Right Side Attack: poor (very high) (12)
Central Attack: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Attack: poor (very high) (12)

Fun game, no injuries, no complaints. We were lucky to get out with a tie all things considered, that defensive performance is just laughable, but of course expected.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

07-25-2004, 12:23 PM

Training News

Demitri Makris (21418280) [Add this player to your bookmarks] 1
20 years, solid form, bruised, but training
A pleasant guy who is calm and honest.
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 2 340 (234 000 US$)
Wage: 2 002 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 1

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

Makris will be sold as soon as he is 100%. I don't expect to get all that much for him, but it's only a half-training slot, so any profit is nice profit.

Also, in the most meaningless bump ever, 4th forward Courtney Sellers went to Inad experience.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 2 (Morales 2 levels to Solid; Hylind to Passable)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Matlock, Collier to Passable)
Reserves Going Up: 0
Reserves Going Down: 2 (Iversen to Inadequate; Casper to Weak)

Pretty harmless update. Morales claims his starting spot back.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $8,875,000 (8,523,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

07-25-2004, 12:33 PM

Youth pull

John Hester (37773257) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 210 (21 000 US$)
Wage: 517 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Listed for the hell of it; he is 17, after all.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 3,388 (vs. Ratafia Rovers)
Sponsers: 88,605
Temporary: 291,090 (Sale of Wall)

Total revenues: 383,083

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 43,137
- 48,844
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier playing for U-20 team)
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)

Total Expenses: 146,467

Profit (Loss): 236,616
New Balance: 411,356

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm (down from Content)
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets (up from High on Life)
Supporters: Irritated
# of Supporters: 1596 (down from 1636)

This is a brutal season; and we've still got 10 more weeks of it to get through.

IV.53 Preview

AC Weezer - Lake Superior

Assuming they win this (and they should), LSD has little in the way of an undefeated season. ACW is a tough squad, but there's just not anything any team in this series has to combat LSD. How did they lose to FCP again?

Vampires - Reign

Interesting match. Reign started off slow, but upset ACW last week. They are well-managed and very talented, I think they'll win on the road here.

Frankfort Uni - Dark Shadows

Yeah, right. We can't even beat the "bad" teams, we've got not shot here.

Go Mart FC - Fairfax Fizz

Fairfax just isn't that good; then again neither is Go Mart. I can't see Fairfax scoring a goal here, and I assume Go Mart can manage one, so this should be a home win.

Up Next: Frankfort gets slapped by Dark Shadows.

DukeRulesMAB

07-31-2004, 05:01 PM

Season 5 - Week 5

Frankfort United vs. Dark Shadows

Date: July 25, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 13,233 (50,000)
Weather: Cloudy

Dark Shadows' offense isn't that great, but their defense and midfield are both of very high quality. Not that they even need that to beat us, but this makes it even more unlikely. We're PICing today, saving up for games which theoretically may be winable.

It's worth pointing out that the last time we played, we inexplicably upset this team, so they will not likely be underestimating us.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (64th Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (23rd Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (25th Appearance)
Left Defender: Bill Henry (31st Appearance)

Right Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (10th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (8th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (59th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (21st Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (29th Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (60th Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (33rd Appearance)

Double checked again. Joo-Sheng is in for Hylind because the latter is suspended, but also because we like his quick specialty against a great defensive team. Rest of the lineup is pretty typical.

Congrats to William Morales for joining Matlock in the 60 appearance club!

The Match

13233 spectators had come to F. U. Field this cloudy day. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Henry - Joo-Sheng, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Morales.

Shadows had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Storm - Villamariz Cid, Klangbrant, South - Bøe, Fagererberg, Simonsson, Pedersen, Kim - Duy, Buj.

In the 2nd minute an unfortunate play by Matthew Matlock gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Tze Duy, finding himself alone with the keeper, was unable to take advantage of the situation. Shadows´s Tze Duy gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead in the 3rd minute with a superb strike from the right. Jesse Collier was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - William Morales managed to kick one of them into 1 - 1 in the 11th minute. In the 17:th minute William Morales almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide. Shadows had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Matthew Matlock saved Tze Duy´s shot headed for the top corner. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Shadows, with an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.

Per Klangbrant got left behind when Frankfort´s Daniel Aguado made a sudden pull forward in the 55:th minute, finishing off with a swift strike. 2-1! The visiting teams Tze Duy could score the 2 - 2 equaliser in the 63rd minute with a header, after some good work on the right. 70 minutes into the game Tze Duy was a hair´s breadth away from giving Shadows the lead. A prompt block by Matthew Matlock saved the home team that time. In the 72nd minute Frankforts Bill Henry received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 83rd minute left Shadows´s Tze Duy completely free to score. 2 - 3 for the visitors. By then Tze Duy was a three time scorer - a hat trick! In the games 84:th minute Luis Buj nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar. Shadows's Eirik Bøe had in the 84:th minute a header that touched the bar, following yet another fine corner. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Shadows, with an impressive 56 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Frankfort player was Jesse Collier. Bill Henry was a disappointment, however. Shadows´s best player was Luis Buj. Eirik Bøe on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Morales (1; 11th minute; 57)
Aguado (1; 55th minute; 17)

Yellow Cards: Henry

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****~
Håkansson: ***
Henry: ***

Joo-Sheng: ****
Matthew: ****~
Mullineux: ***~
Reece: ****
Collier: *****

Morales: ***
Aguado: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Right Side Attack: passable (very low) (21)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: excellent (very low) (29)

Dark Shadows

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: solid (high) (27)
Central Defence: excellent (very low) (29)
Left Side Defence: excellent (high) (31)
Right Side Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Central Attack: inadequate (very high) (20)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (high) (19)

Well, we did actually fight for once this time. Just didn't quite have enough. Very good star values for the team as a whole; their defense was just a little too tough, even though we were able to compete in the midfield.

Other IV.53 action:
- AC Weezer gave LSD a fight for a while, before the favorites turned it on in the second half for a 5-2 win.
- Vampires edged Reign 3-2, and actually is in second place for the moment.
- Go Mart dismissed Fairfax 4-0 as one might expect.

Next up: We visit Spain.

DukeRulesMAB

07-31-2004, 05:19 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Artxim C.F. vs. Frankfort United

Date: July 28, 2004
Arena: Artxim C.F. Arena (Andalucía, Spain)
Crowd: 1,086 (7,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Today we go to Spain; I didn't notice this was a relatively new team when I challenged them.

Starters (4-4-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Joshua Casper
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Central Defender: Demitri Makris
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Felix Hylind

Striker: Jacob Knapp
Striker: Courtney Sellers

Makris has popped to outstanding, where we will sell him, so he doesn't get training. Casper gets the extra slot. Makris needs to play to keep his form up while he fully gets over his injury, though, so he gets a defense slot; thus the 4-4-2.

The Match

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Artxim C.F. Arena saw a crowd turnout of 1086. Artxim had chosen a strategic 2-4-2 formation. Lineup: Moreno - Peris, Alvarez - Terol, Alcaide, Arias Díaz, Presno - Atocha, Illuesca Cuesta.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Stockton - Casper, Iversen, Makris, Högskär - Larsson, Chopin, Sakic, Hylind - Sellers, Knapp.

Jacob Knapp delivered a good free kick from an excellent position in the 2nd minute, but luck wasn´t on Frankfort´s side this time, the ball going wide. Artxim appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. Frankfort had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 25:th minute when Felix Hylind came up alone against Ángel Moreno who managed a block. Frankfort took the lead in the games 29:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Michael Chopin was the scorer. Artxims Benjamín Alvarez got himself booked after a foul. After 42 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Mattias Larsson who increased Frankfort´s lead to 0 - 2. The game was close to savage at times, and Artxim`s Benjamín Alvarez received a second yellow card in the 44:th, his ticket out of the game. Felix Hylind increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 3. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.

Artxim -coach had an extra briefing during the break, and after that his players had solid organisation. In the 51st minute Frankfort put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Borislav Sakic. Eugenio Illuesca Cuesta´s speed was made justice as he darted past his marker and struck an opening pass to Samuel Atocha who scored the 1-4 goal. Michael Chopin increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 1 - 5. Artxim had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to inadequate. After 71 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Lennart Högskär who increased Frankfort´s lead to 1 - 6. Joshua Casper of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 72nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 79 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Jacob Knapp who increased Frankfort´s lead to 1 - 7. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Artxim´s Eugenio Illuesca Cuesta got himself booked. After 81 minutes Artur Alcaide made a complete fool of himself and dropped the ball to Jacob Knapp who shuffled it into goal. 1-8 for Frankfort. Jacob Knapp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 1 - 9. By then Jacob Knapp was a three time scorer - a hat trick! Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 83 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Artxim player was without a doubt Ángel Moreno. César Terol on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Felix Hylind. Joshua Casper was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 9.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 3 (79th, 81st, 82nd minutes)
Chopin 2 (29th, 68th minutes)
Larrson (42nd minute)
Hylind (44th minute)
Sakic (51st minute)
Högskär (71st minute)

Yellow Cards: Casper

Stockton: *~

Casper: *
Iversen: **~
Makris: **
Högskär: ***

Larsson: **
Chopin: ***
Sakic: **~
Hylind: ****~

Knapp: **~
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Felix Hylind

Artxim C.F.

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: disastrous (high) (3)
Right Side Defence: wretched (low) (6)
Central Defence: wretched (low) (6)
Left Side Defence: disastrous (very high) (4)
Right Side Attack: wretched (low) (6)
Central Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Left Side Attack: wretched (very high) (8)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Defence: wretched (high) (7)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Right Side Attack: poor (low) (10)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)

Well, that sure was ugly. Not only did they start 8 players, another one got sent off relatively early. Nice to take out our frustrations.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

07-31-2004, 05:30 PM

Training News

Mattias Larsson (30230142) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, inadequate form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 610
Wage: 1 023 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

The newest winger trainee pops; he's gonna be a heck of a player for us in the long run.

Jesse Collier (20553193) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and upright.
Has poor experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Speciality: Head

Also part of Team U-20 USA!

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 27 490
Wage: 14 269 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 1

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

Pops a week early again. I love this guy. :)

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 0
Starters Going Down: 2 (Håkansson to Passable; Reece 2 levels to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Markis to Excellent; Sakic to Solid; Iversen to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 1 (Larsson to Inadequate)

Another largely benign update, though we don't really need Reece in a slump.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $9,229,000 (8,875,000)

Over 9M; Hylind joins Collier and Matlock over the 1M value mark.

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

Havok

07-31-2004, 07:07 PM

my young stud bumped a week early to :)

Now he's only a 19 year old magnifcent PM instead of titanic winger.... but still pretty nice!

DukeRulesMAB

07-31-2004, 10:18 PM

"Only" a 19 YO magnificent? I hate you guys. ;)

I'm thinking of picking up a 19 YO outstanding PM to train at winger next year; I'll have a good midfield rating one way or the other eventually, even if I'm in DV when it happens.

Youth pull

Hans Davis (38144087) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is calm and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and passable leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 300
Wage: 530 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Odd name. Listed for 10K.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 90,257
- 87,113 (vs. Dark Shadows)
- 3,144 (at Artxim C.F.)
Sponsers: 88,770

Total revenues: 179,027

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 43,137
- 48,844
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier playing for U-20 team)
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 9,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)
- 6,000 (Travel Costs)

Total Expenses: 152,467

Profit (Loss): 26,560
New Balance: 437,916

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets (up from High on Life)
Supporters: Calm (up from Irritated)

# of Supporters: 1586 (down from 1596)

We really need to win a game at some point, just to help with the finances and supporter level.

IV.53 Preview

Lake Superior - Fairfax Fizz

This will be the biggest "oof" game of the season. Easy win for the home squad.

AC Weezer - Vampires

Vampires has been a pest this year, but I expect ACW will have little trouble outsmarting them at home.

Dark Shadows - Go Mart FC

Best game of the week. Go Mart seems to be playing a little better; don't think they'll beat Dark Shadows, but it certainly could happen. Real low scoring contest one would expect; could be a tie.

Reign - Frankfort United

Reign's struggled in IV.53 more than they expected, I think. Even though that is the case, they are a very good team, as good as any other than Lake Superior in the series. They'll be huge favorites against our sad little squad.

Up Next: Frankfort visits fellow FOFCer's Reign.

sterlingice

08-02-2004, 12:27 AM

my young stud bumped a week early to :)

Now he's only a 19 year old magnifcent PM instead of titanic winger.... but still pretty nice!
Oh, you poor babies.

SI

Havok

08-02-2004, 02:49 AM

Oh, you poor babies.

SI

Iver Rocks!!! to bad i gotta sell him one day since he isn't american :( Wages will kill me when he's ET/Mythical

DukeRulesMAB

08-02-2004, 09:25 PM

Season 5 - Week 6

Reign vs. Frankfort United

Date: August 1, 2004
Arena: Reign Arena (Seattle)
Crowd: 34,178 (45,000)
Weather: Cloudy

Reign is, like AC Weezer, a balanced squad. They have defense, attack, and midfield. But mainly attack. They run a 3-4-3 with an offensive winger, giving them two really good attacks. We hope to have a pair of really good attacks, too, on our wings. Unfortunately, they are a smart team that mixes up their formations well, so I can't really do much to counter.

We're PICing; we're saving or normal's for home games.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (65th Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (32nd Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (26th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (24th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (30th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (22nd Apperance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (60th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (8th Appearance)
Left Wing: Felix Hylind (32nd Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (34th Appearance)
Striker: William Morales (61st Appearance)

Mullineux is the 3rd member of the 60 appearance club. Very impressive!

This is the full A team.

The Match

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 34178 at Reign Arena today. Reign started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Frutos - Matsson, Willis, Váradi - Milazzo, Mainardi, Carlsson, Radzels - Hjortnæs, Nofsinger, van Rijn.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Matlock - Henry, Håkansson, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Hylind - Aguado, Morales.

With 3 minutes played Cesare Mainardi almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but visitors Matthew Matlock was onto it, grabbing the would be break through ball. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s Robert Mullineux got himself booked. Hidde van Rijn gave his Reign the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Bernhard Nofsinger almost managed to score another goal for Reign, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. Jens Ole Hjortnæs increased Reigns lead to 2 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. In the games 42nd minute Frankfort´s Anders Håkansson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Anders Håkansson for taking a dive. Reign´s Bernhard Nofsinger had an excellent opportunity in the 44:th minute, shooting on a through ball, but he missed the goal by miles! In the games 44:th minute Frankfort´s Bill Henry fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Bill Henry for taking a dive. After 45 minutes Frankfort´s Anders Håkansson contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Reign, bringing the final ball possession rate to 53 percent, dominated the battle.

In the 54:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jeffrey Willis dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Reign. The structure of the game started to change as Reign decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. A bit later Frankfort´s Daniel Aguado easily reduced to 3 - 1 after a misunderstanding in the home sides central defense line. Reign's Hidde van Rijn scored 4 - 1 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. Frankfort kept trying to force their way through on the right side. Bill Henry got his chance in the 69:th minute, but the home sides left defence held his position and was able to stop the attack. Frankfort breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score in the 70:th minute, but the home side´s defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left, rebounding off the crossbar. Reign, bringing the final ball possession rate to 53 percent, dominated the battle.

Reign´s best player was Simón Frutos. Cesare Mainardi on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bill Henry on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 1.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Aguado (2; 63rd minute; 18)

Yellow Cards: Mullineux, Håkansson, Henry

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Henry: ***
Håkansson: ***
Halfon: ****~

Collier: *****
Reece: ***~
Mullineux: ***
Matthew: ****~
Hylind: ****~

Aguado: ***
Morales: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Reign

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Central Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: excellent (very high) (32)
Central Attack: excellent (very high) (32)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: excellent (very low) (29)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: passable (low) (22)

Bleh, but it was expected. They had has beaten in the midfield, and capitalized with their great offense. At least we scored in this blowout, as opposed to most of them this year.

The really bad news: Mullineux suspended for next week's home game. Though it's water under the bridge at this point, I suppose.

Other Iv.53 action:
- Dark Shadows spanked Go Mart 4-0. Surprising that anyone was able to score than much on Roscoe Lyon and company.
- AC Weezer took out Vampires 2-0 at home
- LSD stayed undefeated with a 7-0 waxing of Fairfax.

Next up: We host an international friendly.

DukeRulesMAB

08-03-2004, 01:22 PM

New Trainee

Bruno Casino (38120043) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Deutschland
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 430
Wage: 755 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Got him for 255K. Why spend that much on a half-training spot? Because selling wingers without secondaries is like pulling teeth (Makris at Outstanding winger is on the market for 750K, still no bids). I think this extra investment now will help me get extra profit in the future. Passable defense, Passable PM, Weak Passing, Quick...all these things are major positives; he'll be a really good backup for us, as well.

sterlingice

08-03-2004, 02:13 PM

Man, he's pretty. I'd full train him but you already have full trainees. A double pass in the two main secondaries. Not too shabby.

SI

DukeRulesMAB

08-05-2004, 08:33 PM

He's definately worth full training. I've come around to believing that investing in full-train worthy guys is the best way to go with the backup wingbacks, though, as long as you have the money for it. I spend make 240K more, but I think I'll make 500K or so more on the sale at Outstanding with these secondaries.

DukeRulesMAB

08-05-2004, 08:44 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Artxim C.F. vs. FC Blast

Date: August 4, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,497 (50,000)
Weather: Cloudy

This is a division IV Romanian squad who visits us today.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Jacob Knapp
Striker: Courtney Sellers

Casino debuts today. He actually has passable defense, so he plays normal rather than offensive until he's at least excellent wing. That'll be a while.

The Match

At F. U. Field, 1497 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Chopin, Sakic, Casper, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

Blast had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Luzakov - Mercatoni, Arévalo, Göransson - Sãndulescu, Pettersson, Jeanblanc, Consten, Lievonen - Dragu, Pãtru.

Frankfort made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Borislav Sakic completely alone with keeper Orest Luzakov, who made a spectacular block. 5 minutes into the game a free kick combination hooked into the box almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the last header went wide. Frankfort were very close to putting themselves one up in the 14:th minute as Mattias Larsson got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Frankfort took the lead in the 18:th minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Joshua Casper elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. In the games 19:th minute Blast´s Costin Pãtru fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Costin Pãtru for taking a dive. In the 21st minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jacob Knapp dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for Frankfort. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 69 percent possession of the ball.

A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Frankfort lead up with 3 - 0. Xue Joo-Sheng finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. 65 minutes into the game Henrik Göransson had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Aday Escribano. Frankfort put their lead ahead another goal as Jacob Knapp struck home the 4 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Mattias Larsson of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 78:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Courtney Sellers should probably have put his team up another goal in the 85:th minute, but some great goaltending by Orest Luzakov kept the visitors in the game. Xue Joo-Sheng almost managed to score another goal for Frankfort, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. In the 88:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jacob Knapp dashed through, knocking home 5 - 0 for Frankfort. At that, Jacob Knapp was noted down for a hat trick. Frankfort´s Joshua Casper left the field after 88 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Russell Reece. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 69 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Xue Joo-Sheng. Will Stockton on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Blast player was without a doubt Orest Luzakov. Aday Escribano on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 0.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 3 (21st, 76th, 88th minutes)
Casper (18th minute)
Joo-Sheng (64th minute)

Yellow Cards: Larsson

Stockton: *~

Casino: **~
Iversen: ***
Högskär: ***

Larsson: **
Chopin: ***
Casper: **
Reece (in for Casper): ***~
Sakic: **~
Joo-Sheng: ****

Knapp: ***
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: poor (high) (11)
Central Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Defence: wretched (very low) (5)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: solid (low) (26)

FC Blast

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (low) (6)
Right Side Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Central Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Attack: poor (high) (11)
Central Attack: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

Another good week from our B team. Casper's just out a week, so no big deal there. Knapp's first ever three-star game, very happy to see that, too.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

08-07-2004, 03:57 PM

Training News

Lennart Högskär (22285485) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, solid form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 420
Wage: 1 061 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Our last kind of dud trainee. Will be sold at outstanding in a year.

Also, winger Jesse Collier scored a pair of goals in Team U-20 USA's route of Kenya. In the process he went up to Weak experience.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 4 (Matthew to Excellent; Aguado, Hylind to Solid; Reece to Passable)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Halfon to Solid; Mullineux to Passable)
Reserves Going Up: 0
Reserves Going Down: 2 (Chopin 2 levels to Passable; Sakic to Passable)

Nice update going into a home game. Only really bad drop: Chopen drops from Excellent to Passable form the one week of the year we really need him. Mullineux's suspended and Casper's in terrible form and injured slightly.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $9,551,000 (9,102,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

08-07-2004, 09:54 PM

Youth pull

Gavin Bouchard (38558603) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, passable form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 630
Wage: 611 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Nice pull for us. Listed for 30K.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 4,978 (at FC Blast)
Sponsers: 88,770
Temporary: 691,800
- 682,500 (sale of Makris)
- 9,300 (sale of Davis)

Total revenues: 785,548

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 43,137
- 48,844
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier playing for U-20 team)
Staff: 48,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 260,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 3,000 (Listing Fees)
- 255,000 (purchase of Casino)

Total Expenses: 403,467

Profit (Loss): 382,081
New Balance: 819,997

Well, at least we're getting some money. Brought in an economist, so we'll start making interest, too! Little victories, I guess...

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Calm

# of Supporters: 1576 (down from 1586)

IV.53 Preview

Vampires - Lake Superior

Vampires has neither the manpower nor strategy to hand with these guys. Blowout.

Frankfort United - AC Weezer

We've actually be a royal pain for ACW in the past, but nothing's gone right this year, and I can't see that changing now. That said, we're definately going hard after a win.

Fairfax Fizz - Dark Shadows

Fairfax has almost no chance of scoring, and Dark Shadows has enough firepower to put a couple or three goals away.

Go Mart FC - Reign

Good game, Reign's really starting to play better, but on the road, this is a tough task for them. Great defense vs. great offense; offense normally wins.

Up Next: Frankfort hosts longtime IV.53 rivals AC Weezer.

DukeRulesMAB

08-09-2004, 06:42 PM

Season 5 - Week 7

Frankfort United vs. AC Weezer

Date: August 8, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 15,933 (50,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

ACW is a good team, currently second in IV.53. We are not, currently last (and pointless) in IV.53. So why do we have hope? Simple, we're 2-1-1 against them lifetime. For whatever reason, we've played very good soccer against this team. The downside is, this is one team that, despite our record, is unlikely to overlook us precisely because of that history.

We're normaling at home.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (66th Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (25th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (27th Appearance)
Left Defender: Bill Henry (33rd Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (33rd Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (10th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin (47th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (23rd Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (31st Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (62nd Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (35th Appearance)

This is our full A squad except for Chopin. Mullineux's suspended, while Casper's injured (and in crap form, anyway, so he wouldn't be playing), so here we are.

The Match

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 15933 to F. U. Field. Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Henry - Hylind, Reece, Chopin, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Morales.

ACW tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Vaughan - Yang, Belanger, Cathey - Méndez, Fuica, Riabovas, Papazov, Miera - Esteban Campos, Piltant.

At the beginning of the game, ACW appeared to already have taken this victory to the bank. Frankfort could have put themselves ahead in the 9:th minute as Daniel Aguado missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. In the 38:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Claude Piltant put the ball away for 0 - 1. In the games 41st minute ACW´s Iordan Papazov fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Iordan Papazov for taking a dive. Frankforts Bill Henry got himself booked after a foul. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by ACW, with an impressive 51 percent possession of the ball.

The referee showed ACWs Miguel Méndez the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Russell Reece made a superb strike at the goal in the 48:th minute with a long shot coming in from straight in front of the goal, but one of the visitors defenders got a foot in and warded it off to a corner. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, ACW´s Abelardo Miera got himself booked. ACW´s José Esteban Campos received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 57:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 2. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. In the 60:th minute ACWs Claude Piltant received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. This part of the game had been a standoff between the teams.

Frankfort´s best player was Jesse Collier. Michael Chopin on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating ACW player was without a doubt Hermenegildo Fuica. Abelardo Miera on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 2.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: Henry

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****
Håkansson: ***
Henry: **~

Hylind: *****
Matthew: ****~
Chopin: **~
Reece: ****
Collier: *****~

Morales: ***
Aguado: ***~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: passable (high) (23)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: excellent (low) (30)

AC Weezer

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Central Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: solid (very low) (25)
Central Attack: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Attack: weak (very low) (13)

Well, that's just typical of our season. We get a break in the overconfidence event, which allows us to be pretty much dead even in the midfield. We slightly outplay them on defense and greatly outplay them on offense. And we lose 2-0. Just a rough, rough season. 42.5 stars is pretty damn good for a 0-7 DIV team, I say.

Bright sides are brief, but nice. Hylind is up to 5 stars, which is very, very good. And this was our best game ever by a whopping 7%. Best attack, 4th best midfield, 8th best defense. Just not getting the breaks this year.

Other IV.53 results
- Dark Shadows and Fairfax fought to a surprising 0-0 tie. Dark Shadows offense lets them down again, and Fairfax continues an unexpectedly competitive campaign
- Not competitive: Any match involving LSD. They destroyed Vampires 7-0. At the halfway point of the season, they have twice as many goals as any other team in the league, and half as many goals allowed as any other team in the league. Complete domination.
- Reign beat Go Mart in a tight 3-2 contest to inject themselves into the race for second place.

Next up: We host another international friendly.

sterlingice

08-09-2004, 06:59 PM

Ouch! Do you have any hope of getting up to that qualification game line if you monkey with things (i.e. PIC some games, MotS others, etc)?

SI

DukeRulesMAB

08-09-2004, 08:11 PM

Not really. We're 7 points out of 6th; I have to norm almost every game (there are two completely unwinable games I'll be PICing). Really, there are only two games I figure to be anything resembling favored in, so I'm gonna have to pull probably 2 upsets to have any shot.

DukeRulesMAB

08-12-2004, 11:14 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. FC KEA

Date: August 11, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,469 (50,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

We host a Finnish squad today.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Jacob Knapp
Striker: Courtney Sellers

Typical group, Mullineux was suspended Sunday, so he plays today.

The Match

1469 spectators arrived at F. U. Field, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Mullineux, Sakic, Casper, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

KEA tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Roboz - Kunttu, Giménez, Larsson - Merenti-Välimäki, Jespersson, Stadler, Gerards - Metsälä, Teravainen , Huttu.

In the 14:th minute the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as Courtney Sellers flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. The referee showed KEAs Anders Jespersson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Frankfort put themselves up 2 - 0 when Mattias Larsson broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. KEA managed to reduce a bit later to 2 - 1 as José Antonio Giménez finished off a well played combination from the left, carving through the defensive box. Frankfort put their lead ahead another goal as Courtney Sellers struck home the 3 - 1 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. Robert Mullineux of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 35:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Frankfort lead up with 4 - 1. Joshua Casper finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. The teams went for a half-time break at 4 - 1. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

In the 51st minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Courtney Sellers dashed through, knocking home 5 - 1 for Frankfort. At that, Courtney Sellers was noted down for a hat trick. The visitors reduced the score in the 71st minute to 5 - 2 as a free kick by Patric Larsson slunk past the home sides goaltender. KEA had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to passable. Frankfort put themselves up 6 - 2 when Jacob Knapp broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. KEA fought on and, in the 80:th minute Pentti Huttu was able to reply with 6 - 3 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip. Pentti Huttu of KEA received a yellow card in the 80:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Jacob Knapp squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 83rd minute, asserting the lead to 7 - 3. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Xue Joo-Sheng. Will Stockton was a disappointment, however. KEA´s best player was Jelmer Gerards. Kari Metsälä was a disappointment, however. The match ends 7 - 3.

Goals (minute scored)

Sellers 3 (14th, 30th, 51st minutes)
Knapp 2 (75th, 83th minutes)
Larsson (26th minute)
Casper (36th minute)

Yellow Cards: Mullineux

Stockton: *~

Casino: **~
Iversen: ***
Högskär: **~

Larsson: **
Mullineux: ***
Casper: **
Sakic: **
Joo-Sheng: ****

Knapp: ***
Sellers: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Central Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Defence: wretched (very high) (8)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Attack: solid (very low) (25)

FC KEA

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very high) (8)
Right Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Central Defence: poor (high) (11)
Left Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Attack: weak (low) (14)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: wretched (very high) (8)

Well, we can score goals in these games, at least.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

08-12-2004, 11:29 PM

Training News

Felix Hylind (17864211) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
20 years, solid form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.

Speciality: Head

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 13 910
Wage: 4 456 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

We like Felix a lot. He'll be sold at the end of the year once he's popped to World Class. He's really a dominant winger, just a little overshadowed by Collier.

Xue Joo-Sheng (27439726) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, excellent form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Singapore
Total Skill Index (TSI): 5 010
Wage: 1 759 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

This also is a quality pop, Joo-Sheng may or may not be sold at the end of the year. Probably will be.

In the meaningless pop department, 5th midfielder Michael Chopin went to Poor winger.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 3 (Håkansson, Mullineux, Reece to Solid)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Matthew to Solid; Henry to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Sakic to Solid; Casper to Inadequate; Stockton 2 levels to Weak)
Reserves Going Down: 1 (Chopin Inadequate)

Another pretty good update. Midfield is in all-solid form; Henry's suspended this week anyway, so little loss there.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $10,055,000 (9,551,000)

Two milestones today. First, as you can see, we've topped 10M in team value. Very nice! Also, Collier tops 3M in value.

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

08-15-2004, 01:47 PM

Youth pull

Sebastián Camacho (39018239) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 150
Wage: 517 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Not quite. Fired.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 110,379
- 105,538 (vs. AC Weezer)
- 4,841 (vs. FC KEA)
Sponsers: 88,605
Interest: 2,400
Temporary: 43,565
- 31,620 (sale of Bouchard)
- 11,945 (sell-on of Wall)

Total revenues: 244,949

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 41,889
- 47,596
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier playing for U-20 team)
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Fees)

Total Expenses: 146,719

Profit (Loss): 98,230
New Balance: 918,227

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Irritated (down from Calm)

# of Supporters: 1560 (down from 1576)

IV.53 Preview

Reign - Go Mart FC

Rematch of last week. Reign won a tight one on the road, I expect them to take this one easier at home.

Dark Shadows - Fairfax Fizz

Dark Shadows couldn't manage to score last week, I suspect that won't happen again.

AC Weezer - Frankfort United

Well, we blew yet another opportunity last week. We'll give it another go this week, but at their place, not bloody likely to get an outcome.

Lake Superior - Vampires

Let's see, it was 7-0 last week, and now LSD is home. Won't be pretty.

Up Next: Frankfort tries to get a little revenge agaisnt AC Weezer.

DukeRulesMAB

08-21-2004, 10:44 AM

Season 5 - Week 8

AC Weezer vs. Frankfort United

Date: August 15, 2004
Arena: Consumers Energy Arena (Michigan)
Crowd: 31,985 (65,000)
Weather: Cloudy

Well, we probably outplayed then last week at our place, thanks in large part to an overconfidence event. We're at their place, and they are unlikely to be overconfident this time around, so we can't count on any of those things. Still, we're not completely incapable of winning this game. We're normalling here with that in mind.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (67th Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (26th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (28th Appearance)
Left Defender: Bruno Casino (1st Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (34th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (11th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (61st Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (24th Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (32nd Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (63rd Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (36th Appearance)

Mullineux back in this week after being suspended last week. This week, it's Henry on the pine with 3 yellows: Casino makes his debut, as we like his defense over the pure offensive alternate wingback option.

The Match

31985 spectators had come to Consumers Energy Arena this cloudy day. ACW had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Vaughan - Gerhardsson, Belanger, Cathey - Miera, Hanna, Riabovas, Papazov, Fuica - Esteban Campos, Lumini.

Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Casino - Hylind, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Morales.

Frankfort were pushed back, and had many dangerous counterattacks, such as the impressive one in the 13th minute that Daniel Aguado narrowly missed a free kick attempt on. The referee showed Frankforts Robert Mullineux the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. ACW tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. Iordan Papazov really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal after a corner, but he lost his nerve. ACW broke through to the left in the 34:th minute, Giorgio Lumini firing at an acute angle giving the home side a 1 - 0 lead. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. ACW held the ball, with a clear 69 percent possession rate.

Iordan Papazov almost managed to score another goal for ACW, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 77 minutes might have resulted in another goal for ACW. However, Matthew Matlock made a spectacular save. Daniel Aguado made a run for the goal in the 80:th minute but the home teams far left defense managed to sort the situation out in the end. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put ACW lead up with 2 - 0. Franklin Belanger finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by ACW, with an impressive 69 percent possession of the ball.

Most important ACW player was Frank Hanna. Giorgio Lumini on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bruno Casino on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 0.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

None

Yellow Cards: Mullineux

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Halfon: ****
Håkansson: ***
Casino: **~

Hylind: *****
Matthew: ****~
Mullineux: ***~
Reece: ****
Collier: *****~

Morales: ***
Aguado: ***~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

AC Weezer

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: excellent (low) (30)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: poor (high) (11)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: excellent (low) (30)

Erm...ouch. They took us pretty seriously this game (I think expecting a MOTS), and obviously normed us at a minimum. We just aren't gonna beat teams who put up excellent midfields. :)

Not much of a bright side today except as to say we are really putting up some nice stars for a zero-point team.

Elsewhere...

- LSD dismissed Vampires 5-0. Yawn.
- Reign beat Go Mart 2-1. Reign moves into the top 3 with eyes on a top 2 berth.
- Dark Shadows beat the Fizz 3-0. No upset this week

Next up: We go to Poland.

DukeRulesMAB

08-21-2004, 11:00 AM

Season 4 - Friendly

Zielony Team vs. Frankfort United

Date: August 18, 2004
Arena: Zielony Team Arena (Lubelskie, Poland)
Crowd: 467 (9,850)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

We go to a relatively new Polish arena today (and apparently not a very bright one given that arena size). I probably should put a little more effort into my friendly selection process.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bill Henry
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper
Central Midfield: Michael Chopen
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Courtney Sellers
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Henry in today after he was suspended on Sunday.

The Match

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 467 to Zielony Team Arena. Zielony tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Moen - van de Beek, Choma, Miłosz - Sesa, Liner, Tjäderborg, Gronkowski, Ernst - Petcu, Gerdflod.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Stockton - Henry, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Chopin, Sakic, Casper, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

Zielony clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could, using their talent for it. Frankfort took the lead after 14 minutes with 0 - 1. Courtney Sellers placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. 15 minutes into the game Frankfort were awarded a penalty and Jacob Knapp was able to increase the visitors lead to 0 - 2 rolling the ball in by the right post. Jacob Knapp could have put his team up another one in the 16:th minute, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. Jacob Knapp increased Frankfort´s lead to 0 - 3 by a superb free kick strike, flying in just under the far top corner. By now Frankfort were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. 0 - 3 was the half-time score. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

Bill Henry came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Per Moen, hitting the bar. After 81 minutes of game time Mattias Larsson received an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but Per Moen was in the right place, tipping the ball to a corner. Michael Chopin was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was saved by the keeper. However, Frankfort´s Courtney Sellers managed to get hold of the rebound and scored the 0-4 goal. Jacob Knapp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 5. By then Jacob Knapp was a three time scorer - a hat trick! After 83 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Joshua Casper who increased Frankfort´s lead to 0 - 6. In the 84:th minute Zielonys Timmy van de Beek received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

Zielony´s best player was Marek Gronkowski. Timmy van de Beek was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Xue Joo-Sheng. Mattias Larsson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 6.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 3 (15th, 17th, 83rd minutes)
Sellers 2 (14th, 82nd minutes)
Casper (83rd minute)

Yellow Cards: None

Stockton: **

Henry: **~
Iversen: **~
Högskär: **~

Larsson: **
Casper: **~
Chopin: **
Sakic: **~
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Sellers: **~
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Zielony Team

Tactic: Counter-attacks
Tactic skill: wretched (2)

Midfield: wretched (high) (7)
Right Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Attack: wretched (high) (7)
Central Attack: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Attack: poor (low) (10)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Central Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Left Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: solid (very low) (25)

Another week, another beatdown. Our B team is having a much more fun year than our A team.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

08-21-2004, 11:12 AM

Training News

Bill Henry (21474175) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
20 years, weak form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and infamous.
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 630
Wage: 743 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Bill's the the ony F.U. youth pull who we've trained at all. He'll still be around a while, simple because his position isn't real high on the depth chart to be replaced (probably 4th).

In other bump news, Courtney Sellers, who aged down to weak winger a little while ago, is back up to inad winger. Yay? In more important news, winger trainee Xue-Joo Sheng popped to Wretched experience. He just hit 4.5 stars this week, so that's a good sign.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 1 (Mullineux to Excellent)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Matlock to Inadequate; Henry to Weak)
Reserves Going Up: 2 (Casper to Passable; Stockton to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Down: 3 (Sellers, Sakic to Passable; Chopin to Weak)

Form slump on our defense, just what we needed going into a game against a 3-4-3 forward trainer with awesome offense.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $10,176,000 (10,055,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

08-22-2004, 05:06 PM

Youth pull

Brandon Kearns (39488338) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is fiery and righteous.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 290
Wage: 564 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Nice little pull here. On sale for 25K

Economy

Income

Crowd: 1,473 (at Zielony Team)
Sponsers: 87,945
Interest: 2,700
Temporary: 1,000 (sell-on of Bouchard)

Total revenues: 93,118

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 41,890
- 47,597
- (5,707)
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 8,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 6,000 (Travel)

Total Expenses: 151,720

Profit (Loss): (58,602)
New Balance: 829,625

Other stats

Team Spirit: Composed (down from Calm)
Confidence: Decent

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Irritated

# of Supporters: 1546 (down from 1560)

IV.53 Preview

Frankfort United - Reign

Well, we'll control possession for once, I think, but we have no shot of keeping them our of our net multiple times. I think we should be able to put in a few goals of our own, just hoping for a point here. Unlikely, but we can hope.

Go Mart FC - Dark Shadows

Go Mart is struggling (again); still this has 0-0 written all over it. Dark Shadows just has a nasty habit of blowing it something fierce.

Vampires - AC Weezer

Vampires isn't playing very well lately, but this has been the kind of game they have surprised in the past. I don't think it happens today, ACW is too good.

Fairfax Fizz - Lake Superior

As if.

Up Next: Frankfort hosts the offensive firepower of Reign.

DukeRulesMAB

08-22-2004, 10:11 PM

Season 5 - Week 9

Frankfort United vs. Reign

Date: August 22, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 18,018 (50,000)
Weather: Sunny

We have a decent shot to win the midfield today. The problem is that they offense should score at will against our defense. Looks like we're going to 0-3 against FOFC squad. We still gotta go for the win at home, so we're normalling.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (68th Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (34th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (29th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (27th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (33rd Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (25th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux (62nd Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (12th Appearance)
Left Wing: Felix Hylind (35th Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (37th Appearance)
Striker: William Morales (64th Appearance)

Full A team today. Henry's playing despite weak form; I think between better talents and better experience, he's a better choice than Casino today, but I could be wrong.

The Match

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 18018 to F. U. Field. Frankfort tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Henry, Håkansson, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Hylind - Aguado, Morales.

Reign had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Lineup: Frutos - Matsson, Willis, Váradi - Milazzo, Mainardi, Withers, Carlsson - Hjortnæs, Nofsinger, van Rijn.

Bernhard Nofsinger came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 13th minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Matthew Matlock managed to tip the ball to a corner. Many thought Stephen Matthew ought to have been awarded a penalty shot in the 33rd minute, as he went down trying to circle the visitors keeper Simón Frutos. Many thought Bill Henry ought to have been awarded a penalty shot in the 39:th minute, as he went down trying to circle the visitors keeper Simón Frutos. Frankfort were very close to putting themselves one up in the 41st minute as Stephen Matthew got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. A well placed corner kick from Daniel Aguado was followed by Felix Hylind´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Frankfort. The result now 1-0. Niko Halfon should probably have put his team up another goal in the 42nd minute, but some great goaltending by Simón Frutos kept the visitors in the game. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 58 percent, dominated the battle.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s William Morales got himself booked. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 51 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Frankfort. However, Simón Frutos made a spectacular save. William Morales almost managed to score another goal for Frankfort, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. Jesse Collier almost managed to score another goal for Frankfort, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 58 percent possession of the ball.

Frankfort´s best player was Jesse Collier. Bill Henry was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Reign player was without a doubt Simón Frutos. However, Cesare Mainardi made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 0.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Hylind (1; 41st minute; 4)

Yellow Cards: Morales

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: ****~

Henry: **~
Håkansson: ***
Halfon: ****

Collier: *****~
Reece: ****
Mullineux: ***~
Matthew: ****~
Hylind: *****~

Aguado: ***~
Morales: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Central Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Right Side Attack: excellent (low) (30)
Central Attack: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Attack: solid (very low) (25)

Reign

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Central Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: formidable (very low) (33)
Central Attack: formidable (very low) (33)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

I'm almost in shock. A win?!?!?!?

What's most odd, honestly is the way it happened. Against a team with an amazing offense, I pull a shutout from my ass? We completely dominated play, putting up a ton of scoring opportunities (and naturally missing almost all of them). We did score on a special event, and I'm not complaining.

Along with his goal, Hylind got his first 5.5 star game. He's going to make some team very happy when I sell him at the end of the year. This was, by just a touch, my best game ever according to supporter. Are we going to survive in IV.53? Well, no, but at least we can attempt to salvage some dignity.

Other results:
- Giving LSD their toughest game of the year was....Fairfax? Really, this wasn't as unexpected as I thought. LSD had just MOTS'd (and beat!) powerhouse Red Star Belgrade in the US Open Cup, so their TS was in the toilet. Fairfax for some reason appears to have MOTS'd them, and thus won midfield easily. LSD did win, 2-1, but it was a real nailbiter.
- Go Mart held Dark Shadows to a draw. Neither of these teams seem to be able to muster any kind of momentum (unless they are playing me, in which case I'm dead).
- ACW dismissed Vampires 2-0 to take a 4 point lead on 2nd place.

Next up: We go to Spain for another friendly.

DukeRulesMAB

08-29-2004, 01:16 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Club A. 56 vs. Frankfort United

Date: August 25, 2004
Arena: El Gran 56 (Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Crowd: 1,501 (10,500)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Today, we head south to Argenina.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Courtney Sellers
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Full B team today.

The Match

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and El Gran 56 saw a crowd turnout of 1501. Club started off with a 4-3-3 lineup. Lineup: Strehler - di Stefano, Zalabardo, Mosca, Palacios - Argañaraz, Álvarez Barrio, Veloso - Vidal, Tarantini, Biaggio.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Chopin, Sakic, Casper, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

Club seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. A badly positioned defensive formation on a free kick in the 4:th minute led to Frankfort´s Jacob Knapp giving the visitors the lead 0 - 1. After the ball got lifted in from the left Bruno Casino was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 8 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. In the 15:th minute Frankfort put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Jacob Knapp. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Michael Chopin increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. 0 - 3 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 87 percent possession of the ball.

The game had been on for 50 minutes when Jacob Knapp broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Frankfort´s were up 0 - 4. At that, Jacob Knapp was noted down for a hat trick. The visitors Svend-Harald Iversen took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 54:th minute. 0 - 5 for Frankfort. Lennart Högskär received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 71st minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Courtney Sellers came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Rudi Strehler, hitting the bar. Frankfort´s Xue Joo-Sheng received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 81st minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 6. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. Carlos Veloso of Club received a yellow card in the 85:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 89 percent, dominated the battle.

Club´s best player was Juvenal Argañaraz. However, Raúl Zalabardo made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Xue Joo-Sheng. Michael Chopin on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 6.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 3 (4th, 15th, 50th minutes)
Chopin (20th minute)
Iversen (54th minute)
Joo-Sheng (81st minuet)

Yellow Cards: None

Stockton: **~

Casino: **~
Iversen: ***
Högskär: **~

Larsson: **
Casper: ***
Chopin: **
Sakic: **~
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Sellers: **~
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Club A. 56

Tactic: Attack in the middle
Tactic skill: passable (6)

Midfield: disastrous (low) (2)
Right Side Defence: wretched (high) (7)
Central Defence: poor (high) (11)
Left Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: solid (low) (26)

Another easy B-team win. AIM is just a horrible strategy to use against us obviously. And a 4-3-3 is a horrible formation in general.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

08-29-2004, 01:27 PM

Training News

Meaningless pop: Striker William Morales to Weak winger. More important: Jesse Collier went to Inad experience in the US U20 squad's 3-0 beating of Serbia!

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 0
Starters Going Down: 3 (Mullineux 2 levels to Passable; Matthew to Passable; Matlock to Weak)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Casper, Sakic to Solid; Stockton to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 1 (Chopin to Poor)

Bleh, bad form week. Fortunately, this was an unwinable game anyway, so no real harm done. We gotta get Matlock out of this slump.

On the good side, Casper will see his first (intentional) A side action in quite a long time.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $10,558,000 (10,176,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

08-29-2004, 01:44 PM

Youth pull

Randy Copeland (39907374) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 420
Wage: 560 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Eh. Listed for $0 just in case someone wants him.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 123,674
- 118,758 (vs. Reign)
- 4,916 (at Zielony Team)
Sponsers: 87,285
Interest: 2,500
Temporary: 63,360
- 120 (New Supporters)
- 63,240 (Sale of Kearns)

Total revenues: 276,819

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 41,889
- 47,597
- (5,708)
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 9,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 6,000 (Travel)
- 1,000 (Listing Costs)

Total Expenses: 152,719

Profit (Loss): 124,100
New Balance: 983,725

Other stats

Team Spirit: Composed
Confidence: Strong (up from Decent)

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Content (up from Irritated)

# of Supporters: 1550 (up from 1546)

As far as I can remember, this is my first time at Strong confidence all year (it certainly is the first time since I exited the Cup). It definately is the first time I've gained supporters all year. Too bad I'm to get waxed this week, ending the momentum.

IV.53 Preview

Fairfax Fizz - Go Mart FC

Fairfax damn near beat LSD last week. Problem is I'm pretty sure they MOTSed it. Go Mart should win here.

Dark Shadows - Frankfort United

Dark Shawdows underachieves likes crazy, but we're in a serious form slump on defense. Just can't see us scoring more than 1 goal, and can't see our defense/midfield holding them to less than two. Most likely a blowout.

Reign - Vampires

Decent matchup here, but Reign will be primed for a win after last week's upset. Vampires doesn't seem to have the same magic this year that they had last.

Lake Superior Dogfight - AC Weezer

Typically, 1 vs. 2 is the marquis matchup. Not so much in this case, as LSD is vastly superior. The one question: they just left the Cup this week. If they MOTS'd in the last Cup match, their TS could be seriously hurting. If that is true and ACW has a really good match, could be an upset.

Up Next: Frankfort visits (and gets smacked by) Dark Shadows.

DukeRulesMAB

09-05-2004, 12:40 PM

Season 5 - Week 10

Dark Shadows vs. Frankfort United

Date: August 29, 2004
Arena: Dark Shadows Arena (Maine)
Crowd: 36,070 (47,774)
Weather: Cloudy

Dark Shadows pretty seriously underachieves. They have midfield and defense, but just not enough offense to avoid random engine fluctuations. Fortunately for them, they're at home and my defense is in a serious form slump (see below). We have virtually no shot today, so we're PICing.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (69th Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (35th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (30th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (28th Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (34th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (26th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper (25th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (13th Appearance)
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (11th Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (38th Appearance)
Striker: William Morales (65th Appearance)

Couple changes from the usual lineup today. First, Casper starts as 3rd midfielder as he has form advantages on Mullineux. I actually saw those two as about even coming into this year, switching back and forth based on form. Just so happened that Mullineux has been in better form all year to this point.

Other change is Joo-Sheng in for Hylind. I'm giving up some possession (which we're getting killed in either way) and attack (which doesn't matter cuz we won't have much possession, and they have incredible defense when we do have the ball) in order to get Joo-Sheng's quick specialty on the field. Hopining for a special event goal here.

The Match

36070 spectators had come to Dark Shadows Arena this cloudy day. Shadows started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Storm - Klangbrant, Mäntylä, Villamariz Cid, South - Bøe, Fagererberg, Simonsson, Kim - Duy, Buj.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Matlock - Henry, Håkansson, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Casper, Matthew, Joo-Sheng - Aguado, Morales.

Shadows took the lead in the 19:th minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Mikael Fagererberg elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. Daniel Aguado came close to levelling the score in the 28:th minute, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. Joshua Casper caused mayhem in his own defence line with some mad dribbles within own penalty zone, but Eirik Bøes shot went just outside. Niko Halfon came close to levelling the score in the 29:th minute, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. Halftime score was 1 - 0. Shadows held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.

Jesse Collier sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 1-1 in after a corner kick after 48 minutes of play. David Villamariz Cid gave his Shadows the lead with 2 - 1, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Shadows, bringing the final ball possession rate to 54 percent, dominated the battle.

Shadows´s best player was Ralf Storm. Tze Duy on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bill Henry on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 1.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Collier (1; 48th minute; 10)

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: ****

Henry: **
Håkansson: ***~
Halfon: ****

Collier: *****~
Reece: ****~
Casper: ***
Matthew: ****~
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Aguado: ***~
Morales: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Dark Shadows

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Defence: formidable (low) (34)
Central Defence: formidable (very high) (36)
Left Side Defence: formidable (very low) (33)
Right Side Attack: poor (high) (11)
Central Attack: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (low) (18)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Defence: weak (high) (15)
Central Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Right Side Attack: excellent (low) (30)
Central Attack: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)

Ah, so close, but my prediction (no more than 1 for me, no less than 2 for him) was accurate.

We damn near got a point, because he used an inexplicable 4-4-2, keeping me in the possession game. In the end, my defensive form was bad enough to let in two, but if my defense had been a touch better off, we'd have tied this game. Nearly a big mistake on their part. No real other comment except to say our ratings were, predictably, not very good and this was Reece's best game with us.

Other IV.53 results:
- Lake Superior beat down ACW in burtal fashion: 7-0. A win in the next game clinches the series for them with 3 weeks to go.
- In a very good result for us, Go Mart and Fairfax fought to a scoreless draw. The best result would have been Fairfax winning, but this can work. I would not say the door is open (because it really isn't), but there is a tiny sliver of hope.
- Reign whipped Vampires 4-1. Not really been Vampires year, the lack of training has finally caught up to them.

Next up: We host an international friendly.

DukeRulesMAB

09-05-2004, 12:54 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. Hired Goons

Date: September 1, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 2,553 (50,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Hired Goons is an Australian team with Fat Tony as a mascot. We like Simpsons references. :)

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Felix Hylind

Striker: Courtney Sellers
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Hylind and Mullineux didn't play on Sunday for various reasons, so they're in today.

The Match

2553 spectators arrived at F. U. Field, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Mullineux, Chopin, Sakic, Hylind - Sellers, Knapp.

Hired had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Lucas - Slaska, van der Tempel, Starnes - Parslow, Costa, Brabham, Modgarben, Ashton - Rainville, Pflüger.

After 1 minutes Hireds Paulo Costa made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 16:th minute Hired goal, making it 0 - 2. Nicolas Rainville was noted down as the scorer. In the 23rd minute Frankforts Svend-Harald Iversen received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Due to a severely mistimed tackle,Ted Starnes spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game. After 29 minutes Robert Mullineux could have reduced had it not been for an excellent block by the visitors keeper Neil Lucas. Halftime score was 0 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 72 percent possession of the ball.

Frankforts Jacob Knapp went wide in the 47:th minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 1 - 2 goal away. Courtney Sellers made a superb strike at the goal in the 56:th minute with a long shot coming in from straight in front of the goal, but one of the visitors defenders got a foot in and warded it off to a corner. Jacob Knapp put his head to a well placed ball lifted in from the left and scored the 2 - 2 goal in the 59:th minute. Frankfort broke through to the left in the 62nd minute, Courtney Sellers firing at an acute angle giving the home side a 3 - 2 lead. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 86 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Felix Hylind. Michael Chopin on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Hired player was Reinier van der Tempel. José Pflüger on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 2.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 2 (47th, 59th minutes)
Sellers (62nd minute)

Yellow Cards: Iversen

Stockton: **~

Casino: **~
Iversen: **~
Högskär: **~

Larsson: **
Mullineux: ***
Chopin: *~
Sakic: **~
Hylind: *****~

Sellers: **
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Felix Hylind

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Attack: poor (very low) (9)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: solid (very high) (28)

Hired Goons

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very low) (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Attack: wretched (very high) (8)
Central Attack: wretched (high) (7)
Left Side Attack: wretched (very high) (8)

Well, our first tight B game in a while. Honestly, we outplayed them badly, and they're lucky it wasn't a much wider margin.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

09-05-2004, 01:05 PM

Training News

Mattias Larsson (30230142) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 2 190
Wage: 1 023 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Mattias is quite likely to be starting for us next year or the next year at the latest. He's been a little slow in progressing, but we're still thrilled to have him.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 3 (Reece, Aguado to Excellent; Matlock to Inadequate)
Starters Going Down: 0
Reserves Going Up: 4 (Casper to Excellent; Högskär to Solid; Larsson to Passable; Chopin to Weak)
Reserves Going Down: 0

Very nice bounceback form week. It's even better than it looks in fact because Casper is in the starting lineup, and we had a ton of value gains even within levels. Most importantly, Matlock may be coming out of his slump.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $11,265,000 (10,558,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

09-05-2004, 01:35 PM

Youth pull

Matthew Bauman (40353043) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is tranquil and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 960
Wage: 684 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Decent enough forward prospect, someone looking for a relatively cheap option could do a lot worse. His TSI tells me something, either the inad, solid, or both, has to be high.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 8,404 (vs. Hired Guns)
Sponsers: 87,450
Interest: 2,900
Temporary: 7,490
- 120 (New Supporters)
- 2,790 (Sale of Copeland)
- 4,580 (Sell-On of Fry)

Total revenues: 106,244

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 47,597
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Costs)

Total Expenses: 152,427

Profit (Loss): (46,183)
New Balance: 937,542

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm (up from Composed)
Confidence: Strong

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Content

# of Supporters: 1554 (up from 1550)

Supporters and team took the tight loss in stride. As we could easily have been blown out, that seems to make sense to me.

IV.53 Preview

AC Weezer - Reign

Good match here; ACW is coming off a true beatdown and will be looking to firm up 2nd place. Reign can virtually clinch a top 4 slot with point here. I like ACW, but it will be a tight match.

Vampires - Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows is...oddly run, but Vampires just hasn't shown much this year. Dark Shadows should win a tight one on the road.

Frankfort United - Fairfax Fizz

Holy crap, a game where we are favored! Fairfax is actually hot, playing LSD to their tightest game of the year, then tying Go Mart. But we still are quite a bit better team. Of course, we were last time, too, and got beaten. Badly. Still bitter over that one. :)

Go Mart FC - Lake Superior Dogfight

Not a game Go Mart is going to win. LSD is way too good.

Up Next: Frankfort hosts Fairfax in a game we damn well better win.

DukeRulesMAB

09-05-2004, 08:47 PM

Season 5 - Week 11

Frankfort United vs. Fairfax Fizz

Date: September 5, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 18,126 (50,000)
Weather: Rain

Fairfax should be the worst team in the division, but they've played well at the right times to earn a few points, including a 3-0 slapping of me at their place when I apparently outplayed them. They've been playing very well lately, earning a 0-0 draw against Go Mart last week, and losing only 2-1 to series juggernaut Lake Superior.

With all that said, I'm still very confident against them. We are better, we are at home, we are in good form, and they haven't logged in in a while. We've crafted our team to hopefully take advantage of this. We're also PICing...winning here doesn't do any good unless we win at least two more games; we aren't going to try to win just for the hell of it. I expect to win with a PIC, though I have no illusions that it is a lock.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (70th Appearance)

Right Defender: Niko Halfon (29th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (31st Appearance)
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär (6th Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (36th Apperanace)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (14th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper (26th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (27th Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (35th Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (66th Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (39th Appearance)

Matthew breaches the 70-appearance mark. Congrats to him!

We're in very good form here on the whole. Casper is in due to his excellent form vs. Mullineux's passable. Our gamble is with Högskär. Henry is in terrible form, so he's out. And Fairfax has very poor wing attacks, so we've elected to go with offense at the position. Our left attack ought to be incredible.

The Match

Due to an all-day shower, 18126 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at F. U. Field. Frankfort tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Halfon, Håkansson, Högskär - Hylind, Reece, Casper, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Morales.

Fairfax tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Ramallo - Eriksson, Wu-Tien, Kern - James, Nederwald, Lang, Thyen, Radovic - Dyrblad, Metz.

The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like Niko Halfon whose skills weren´t made justice at all. Fairfax took the lead in the games 16:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Tom Dyrblad was the scorer. 30 minutes into the game Matthew Matlock had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Will Stockton. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 31st minute, William Morales of Frankfort evened the score to 1 - 1. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 33rd minute goal by Daniel Aguado for Frankfort, putting them ahead 2 - 1. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 36 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Frankfort. However, Juan Luis Ramallo made a spectacular save. After 36 minutes William Morales put Frankfort ahead 3 - 1 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Fairfax, with an impressive 53 percent possession of the ball.

Fairfax showed some good morale and were, in the 53rd minute, able to reduce the score to 3 - 2 as Tom Dyrblad got past the home sides full backs straight in front of the goal. Tom Dyrblad made a run for the goal in the 61st minute but the home teams far left defense managed to sort the situation out in the end. In the 66:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Stephen Matthew dashed through, knocking home 4 - 2 for Frankfort. The structure of the game started to change as Frankfort decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Fairfax held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

Most important Frankfort player was Jesse Collier. Will Stockton on the other hand, had a terrible day. Fairfax´s best player was Tobias Nederwald. However, Bartek Kern made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 2.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Morales 2 (3; 31st, 36th minutes; 59)
Aguado (3; 33rd minute; 19)
Matthew (2; 66th minute; 2)

Yellow Cards: None

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: ***
Stockton (in for Matlock): **~

Halfon: ****
Håkansson: ***
Högskär: ***

Hylind: *****~
Matthew: ****
Casper: ***~
Reece: ****~
Collier: *****~

Morales: ***
Aguado: ***~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (low) (14)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Central Defence: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Attack: solid (low) (26)
Central Attack: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Attack: formidable (high) (35)

Fairfax Fizz

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Central Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Central Attack: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Attack: weak (low) (14)

The bad news first: Matlock is listed as out two weeks. We've got the max of doctors in, but still the odds are not good for him being ready for next week's critical tilt against Go Mart.

The good news...we won! For once. Complete outplayed them, and I think the move from defense to offense was a good one. Not our best game for sure, the defense suffered with the offensive wingback and Matlock out very early, but we did what we needed to win. For this year, that's actually something of an accomplishment.

Elsewhere in IV.53:
- AC Weezer defeated Reign 3-0 to keep up in second place. Very strong win over a good team.
- LSD eased over Go Mart 3-0. While technically they can still be beaten with a 9 point lead with 3 to play, the goal differentials (and reality) make that extremely unlikely. Congrats to LSD!
- Dark Shadows took out Vampires 2-0. Vampires just isn't really a threat against the good teams any more.

Next up: We host another international friendly.

DukeRulesMAB

09-12-2004, 09:50 AM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. Creeds

Date: September 8, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,169 (50,000)
Weather: Rain

This is a fifth division Swedish team today.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Bill Henry

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Courtney Sellers
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Henry is here due to form, the rest is the full B team. Larsson has gotten high enough (solid) in winger to go from TM to offensive, so I expect his stars and our wing attack to go up, while our midfield will go down.

The Match

Due to an all-day shower, 1169 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at F. U. Field. Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Henry - Larsson, Mullineux, Chopin, Sakic, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

Creeds had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kronström - Stålbeck, Larsson, Yngvesson, Bupp, Fernández - Fransson, Wallind, Hollands - Ragngren, Szerefen.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Creeds. Creeds mounted an inspired counterattack in the 4:th minute, but Andrea Bupp was unable to convert from short range. The 14:th minute saw the home team take a 1 - 0 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Frankfort was Robert Mullineux. Frankfort put their lead ahead another goal as Borislav Sakic struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 27 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Frankfort. However, Per Kronström made a spectacular save. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 76 percent, dominated the battle.

In the games 64:th minute Frankfort´s Xue Joo-Sheng fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Xue Joo-Sheng for taking a dive. Creedss Stefan Fransson got himself booked after a foul. Frankfort put themselves up 3 - 0 when Xue Joo-Sheng broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. In the 78:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Courtney Sellers dashed through, knocking home 4 - 0 for Frankfort. After 79 minutes Frankfort´s Mattias Larsson contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 76 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Xue Joo-Sheng. Michael Chopin was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Creeds player was without a doubt Diego Fernández. However, Mieczyslaw Szerefen made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 0.

Goals (minute scored)

Mullineux (14th minute)
Sakic (17th minute)
Joo-Sheng (71st minute)
Sellers (78th minute)

Yellow Cards: Joo-Sheng

Stockton: ***

Casino: **~
Iversen: ***
Henry: **

Larsson: ***
Mullineux: ***
Chopin: **
Sakic: **~
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Sellers: **
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Xue Joo-Sheng

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Central Defence: poor (high) (11)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Attack: weak (high) (15)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)

Creeds

Tactic: Counter-attacks
Tactic skill: formidable (9)

Midfield: disastrous (very high) (4)
Right Side Defence: solid (low) (26)
Central Defence: excellent (very high) (32)
Left Side Defence: solid (very low) (25)
Right Side Attack: wretched (very low) (5)
Central Attack: wretched (high) (7)
Left Side Attack: disastrous (very high) (4)

Yet another easy win for the B side. The other team had nice defense and a nice counter attack, but no midfield or attack to speak of.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

09-12-2004, 10:03 AM

Training News

Jesse Collier (20553193) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, solid form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and upright.
Has inadequate experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Speciality: Head

Also part of Team U-20 USA!

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 42 390
Wage: 14 269 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 1

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: wretched
Winger: extra-terrestrial Defending: weak
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

Nice as always to see Jesse pop. He even scored 2 goals this week for the U-20 team!

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 2 (Collier to Solid; Matlock to Passable)
Starters Going Down: 3 (Aguado to Solid; Håkansson to Passable; Mullineux to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Stockton, Casino to Solid; Chopin to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Down: 6 (Joo-Sheng to Solid; Casper 2 levels to Passable; Högskär 2 levels to Inadequate; Sellers, Larsson, Iversen to Inadequate)

Ick. I just wish both Mullineux and Chopin wouldn't drop the week before a must-win. Matlock's not going to be available either, though at least Stockton's in nearly career high form. Casino gets the call at wingback this week, too.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $11,582,000 (10,265,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

09-12-2004, 10:49 AM

Youth pull

Joe Hodge (40776315) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and passable leadership abilities.

Speciality: Technical

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 550
Wage: 658 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Decent enough pull. Not gonna complain about age when his stats are so high. Listed for 25K, going off Wednesday at 17.23

Economy

Income

Crowd: 126,756
- 122,765 (vs. Fairfax Fizz)
- 3,991 (vs. Creeds)
Sponsers: 87,780
Interest: 2,800
Temporary: 16,680
- 660 (New Supporters)
- 13,020 (Sale of Bauman)
- 3,000 (Sell-On of Bauman)

Total revenues: 234,016

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 41,889
- 47,597
- (5,708) (Collier U-20 refund)
Staff: 49,500
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Costs)

Total Expenses: 146,719

Profit (Loss): 87,297
New Balance: 1,024,839

Other stats

Team Spirit: Calm
Confidence: Strong

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: High on Life (up from Content)

# of Supporters: 1576 (up from 1554)

Supporters are pretty happy after the big home win. Now we need to give them a road win to really get excited about.

IV.53 Preview

Lake Superior Dogfight - Reign

Both of these teams are pretty well solidified into their position. In fact, LSD officially clinches first with a point here (though goal differential says they've really already clinched). They'll win easily, Reign can't match the midfield.

Go Mart FC - Frankfort United

I don't want to say it all comes down to this, because even if we win, we have to win again. But we have to win this. Go Mart is the 6th place team, the one we have a shot to flag down. It will be tough: Matlock is out, form is a little iffy. But we'll give it our best tactics.

Fairfax Fizz - Vampires

A Fairfax win would be nice here; a Vampires loss would give us a slightly open door (though not much of one) if we tie Go Mart. I expect Vampires to win, though.

Dark Shadows - AC Weezer

Important match, this is for second place in the series. Lot of pride on the line, I think we could see a double MOTS here. I expect ACW to win, they tend to win the big games, Dark Shadows doesn't.

Up Next: Frankfort visits Go Mart in a must win.

RealDeal

09-18-2004, 04:41 PM

what's going on here?

DukeRulesMAB

09-19-2004, 12:26 PM

Season 5 - Week 12

Go Mart vs. Frankfort United

Date: September 12, 2004
Arena: Filler-Up Field (West Virginia)
Crowd: 20,147 (40,000)
Weather: Cloudy

Well, here is the scenario. We are 3 points out of 6th with 3 to play. Goal differential is very unlikely to break our way, so we have to get 4 points to have a strong chance. Go Mart is in 6th. That makes this a must win.

This is a decent team, but they are mostly defense. Attack and midfield are nothing to write home about. We are MOTSing. It's a must win, and we have to have the ball a lot to get it past their excellent defense, led by the amazing Roscoe Lyon.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton (3rd Appearance)

Right Defender: Bruno Casino (2nd Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (32nd Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (30th Appearance)

Right Wing: Felix Hylind (37th Apperanace)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (15th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper (27th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (28th Apperance)
Left Wing: Jesse Collier (36th Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (67th Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (40th Appearance)

Matlock just missed being back, so we're stuck with Stockton. Bad news for us. As a result of Stockton being in, we go defensive on the back line, withh Casino and a defensive instruction. It helps that he's in the best form of the serious options for the spot.

We need a big day out of our offense. I think 2 goals can win this game, but 2 goals against this team will be a tough task indeed.

The Match

20147 spectators had come to Filler-Up Field this cloudy day. Mart had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Lyon - Oyama, Kenney, York - Kraft, MacKenzie, Kilskar , Manning, Ashley - Burgos, Terrell.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Stockton - Casino, Håkansson, Halfon - Hylind, Reece, Casper, Matthew, Collier - Aguado, Morales.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 9:th minute left Frankfort´s William Morales completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. Frankfort came close to extending their lead as Stephen Matthew delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. 35 minutes into the game Lloyd Oyama was really close to evening the score out with a dangerous long range shot, but the ball went just wide of the bar. The referee showed Marts Arthur Kraft the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. What ever got into Joshua Casper, the crowd mumbled, as he suddenly struck a cross pass through the own defense - ending up right in front of Mart´s Courtney Terrell, who easily put the ball away for 1-1. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle.

Frankfort´s Daniel Aguado could have put the guests one up in the 48:th minute, chasing a through ball but Roscoe Lyon was fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. In the 58:th minute an unfortunate play by Roscoe Lyon gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Niko Halfon, finding himself alone with the keeper, was unable to take advantage of the situation. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s William Morales got himself booked. The terraces were silenced in the 59:th minute as Frankfort´s Daniel Aguado put the guests ahead 1 - 2, following an attack from the right. The referee showed Marts Peter MacKenzie the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. In the 70:th minute, Mart´s Courtney Terrell made a rush down the left, leaving him free to put the 2 - 2 equaliser away. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Mart player was without a doubt Roscoe Lyon. Jordan Ashley on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bruno Casino on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 2.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Morales (4; 9th minute; 60)
Aguado (4; 59th minute; 20)

Yellow Cards: Morales

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Stockton: ***

Casino: **~
Håkansson: ***
Halfon: ****

Hylind: *****~
Matthew: ****~
Casper: ***
Reece: ****~
Collier: ******

Morales: ***
Aguado: ***~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Go Mart FC

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Defence: excellent (very high) (32)
Central Defence: brilliant (very low) (41)
Left Side Defence: formidable (high) (35)
Right Side Attack: weak (high) (15)
Central Attack: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Central Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Attack: passable (very high) (24)
Central Attack: inadequate (very low) (17)
Left Side Attack: excellent (high) (31)

Well, we gave it a go, but we just came up short. Our offense did all we couple possibly ask against a defense as good as Go Mart's, putting in two goals. But the injury to Matlock was too much to overcome; we gave up two goals, where I have to think he would have had a great shot to hold at least one of them out.

Superlatives on the field included Morales scoring his 60th goal with FU, easily tops. Also, Collier got his first ever six star game with the team (though he had one the prior U20 contest).

Negatives are that we are being demoted. Not really much question to it at this point.

5. Vampires 12 15 - 30 11
6. Go Mart FC 12 12 - 19 10

7. Frankfort United 12 12 - 31 7

Vampires tied Fairfax, giving them a 4 point lead on us with 2 to play. Give that we face a laugher against Lake Superior this coming week, Vampires has a virtual clinch over me. Go Mart we theorteically could catch on points, but the goal differential is too much to overcome, especially considering that it's likely to get worse after this week against LSD.

What we will do is PIC LSD; if we're going to pull some sort of miracle, it isn't going to be due to possession. We'll probably pull out a 4-4-2, conceding the midfield, and trying to limit goals, while maximizing our SE opportunities. Seriously, there is no chance of us getting point, but we have to proceed as if there is a chance.

The other two IV.53 games:
- Lake Superior officially clinched with a 7-0 pounding of Reign. With 2 weeks to play, they are the second ranked team in all of DIV, with a perfect 36 points and a 60-5 score differential.
- Dark Shadows beat ACW 3-1. This gives them second place for now, but there is a wild card: DS plays Lake Superior Week 14, Weezer is done with them.

Next up: We host a French squad.

DukeRulesMAB

09-19-2004, 12:49 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. les arenes

Date: September 15, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,401 (50,000)
Weather: Rain

les arenes is a French squad. We have had a lot of rain in home games lately, it seems.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock

Right Defender: Bill Henry
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng

Striker: Courtney Sellers
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Henry is still here due to form, and Matlock is just now to playable due to his injury last week. We hope to score some serious goals today.

The Match

Due to an all-day shower, 1401 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at F. U. Field. Frankfort tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Henry, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Mullineux, Chopin, Sakic, Joo-Sheng - Sellers, Knapp.

arenes had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. Lineup: Prat - Cerdeira, Sugden, Careaga, Leclerc - Vorslavs, Larsson, Ceras, Andreux, Martínez - Cabeda.

Frankfort took the lead in the 9:th minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Mattias Larsson elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. arenes´s Hubert Prat left the field after 12 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Carles Rafart. Frankfort´s Courtney Sellers had an excellent opportunity in the 13th minute, shooting on a through ball, but he missed the goal by miles! Frankfort put their lead ahead another goal as Courtney Sellers struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. 31 minutes into the game Jacob Knapp had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Daniel Aguado. In the games 34:th minute, Svend-Harald Iversen could have extended the lead, but his very hard free kick went just over the bar. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 35 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Frankfort. However, Carles Rafart made a spectacular save. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 77 percent, dominated the battle.

Frankfort put themselves up 3 - 0 when Daniel Aguado broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 59:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Courtney Sellers dashed through, knocking home 4 - 0 for Frankfort. The structure of the game started to change as Frankfort decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. areness Jan Larsson got himself booked after a foul. Frankfort were forced to a substitution as Courtney Sellers couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment, forcing Bruno Casino to come in from the sidelines. arenes seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and were down to the solid level of organisation. After 72 minutes Bruno Casino put Frankfort ahead 5 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. In the games 75:th minute Frankfort´s Mattias Larsson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Mattias Larsson for taking a dive. 84 minutes into the game Borislav Sakic had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Stephen Matthew. arenes had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to inadequate. Bill Henry almost managed to score another goal for Frankfort, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. In the 89:th minute areness Gerald Sugden received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 88 percent possession of the ball.

Frankfort´s best player was Matthew Matlock. Bruno Casino on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating arenes player was without a doubt Paco Careaga. However, Gerald Sugden made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 0.

Goals (minute scored)

Sellers 2 (20th, 59th minutes)
Larsson (9th minute)
Aguado (52nd minute)
Casino (72nd minute)

Yellow Cards: Larsson

Matlock: ****~

Henry: **~
Iversen: **~
Högskär: **~

Larsson: **~
Mullineux: **~
Chopin: **~
Sakic: *~
Matthew (in for Sakic): ****
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Sellers: *
Casino (in for Sellers): **
Knapp: **~
Aguado (in for Knapp): ***~

Team Match MVP: Matthew Matlock

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very high) (8)
Right Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Central Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Left Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Attack: weak (high) (15)
Central Attack: weak (low) (14)
Left Side Attack: solid (high) (27)

les arenes

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: disastrous (high) (3)
Right Side Defence: weak (high) (15)
Central Defence: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Attack: wretched (very low) (5)
Central Attack: disastrous (very high) (4)
Left Side Attack: disastrous (very high) (4)

Geez, that was brutal. 3 injuries; we got a little lucky there, as Knapp is only bruised, and is available, while the other two slightly longer ones, Sakic (+2) and Sellers (+4) are to about our two worst backups. However, the second forward injury means that Casino came into the game and lost his half week of forward training. Just a capper to a bad HT week all around.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

09-19-2004, 01:05 PM

Training News

Xue Joo-Sheng (27439726) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, solid form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and upright.
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Singapore
Total Skill Index (TSI): 7 790
Wage: 1 759 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

We're probably going to sell Joo-Sheng this week. Not 100% on that, but I think it's likely at this stage.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 2 (Mullineux to Passable; Henry to Inadequate)
Starters Going Down: 1 (Halfon to Passable)
Reserves Going Up: 3 (Stockton, Sakic to Excellent; Sellers to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 4 (Knapp, Casino to Passable; Casper to Inadequate; Högskär to Weak)

Well, Henry's bouncing back at least. Other than that, a pretty slow update. Lot of declines within levels, unfortunately.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $12,392,000 (11,582,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

09-19-2004, 03:14 PM

Youth pull

Gabriel Dye (41503931) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is tranquil and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 270
Wage: 551 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Listed for the hell of it for $0. Passable wing, inad PM, Weak Stamina, 17 years old, someone could want him.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 4,810 (vs. les arenes)
Sponsers: 88,770
Interest: 3,000
Temporary: 156,660
- 420 (New Supporters)
- 156,240 (Sale of Hodge)

Total revenues: 253,240

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 41,889
- 47,597
- (5,708) (Collier U-20 refund)
Staff: 63,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 3,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Costs)

Total Expenses: 160,219

Profit (Loss): 93,021
New Balance: 1,117,860

I screwed up and forgot to fire the extra doctors at the end of the week, so I wasted ~13.5K. Not a massive screwup, but irritating. I'll keep them till Saturday at this point; doesn't cost me any extras, I still have injured reserves, and I could pick up injuries in this week's games.

Other stats

Team Spirit: Irriated (down from Calm)
Confidence: Strong

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Delirious (down from High on Life)

# of Supporters: 1590 (up from 1576)

At least our supporter level is bouncing back some here in the second half.

IV.53 Preview

Vampires - Go Mart FC

Sort of a battle for 5th place. Might have been a meaningful game for us once, but we didn't get the win last week, so it isn't.

Reign - Dark Shadows

Reign's trying to prove they will be a serious contender next year. DS is trying to hold onto 2nd place. Should be a good game, but one DS should win. That generally means they'll lose.

AC Weezer - Fairfax Fizz

Easy win for ACW, as they regroup after last week's disappointing loss.

Lake Superior Dogfight - Frankfort United

Well, we have to get a tie at least to have a chance. HAHAHAHAHA! The line on this game is LSD (-7).

Up Next: Frankfort visits gets hammered in Lake Superior.

DukeRulesMAB

09-25-2004, 09:26 PM

Season 5 - Week 13

Lake Superior Dogfight vs. Frankfort United

Date: September 19, 2004
Arena: The Landing Strip (Minnesota)
Crowd: 88,797 (90,009)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

LSD regularly gets the best attendence in DIV. They're simply way too good of a team for this level. And my team, chartiably a below average DIV team, gets to visit their place. With irritated TS. Right. :)

Despite the fact that we need to get a point from this game to have any chance to stay in DIV, we are PICing. With our natural midfield problems against a team this mnuch better than us, the bad TS, being on the road, etc., I don't figure the PIC will make all that much of a difference. Instead we'll back the backline and get our special event guys on the field, and pray for a complete fluke.

As an aside, that any team can draw that much for lowly me is just...wow.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (71st Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (36th Appearance)
Central Defender: Anders Håkansson (32nd Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (10th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (31st Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (37th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (29th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (16th Appearance)
Left Wing: Xue Joo-Sheng (12th Appearance)

Striker: William Morales (68th Appearance)
Striker: Daniel Aguado (41st Appearance)

Like I said, we're packing the backline, conceding the midfield, not that we had much to concede in the first place. Henry returns to the starting lineup as his form rebounds, Matlock is back after an injury. Joo-Sheng makes perhaps his last appearance with the team, as we do need his quick specialty out there today.

The Match

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Landing Strip saw a crowd turnout of 88797. LSD had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Cavanaugh - McCormack, Stein, Chisholm - Braun, Velez, Dutton, Serna, Hickman - Houser, Chadwick.

Frankfort tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Matlock - Henry, Håkansson, Iversen, Halfon - Collier, Reece, Matthew, Joo-Sheng - Aguado, Morales.

LSD seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Ronnie Houser gave his LSD the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Hubert Chadwick increased LSDs lead to 2 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. In the 7:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Ronnie Houser dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for LSD. The structure of the game started to change as LSD decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Bill Henry of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 25:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. In the 32nd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Zach Velez dashed through, knocking home 4 - 0 for LSD. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put LSD lead up with 5 - 0. Zach Velez finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The teams went for a half-time break at 5 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by LSD, with an impressive 79 percent possession of the ball.

The home side´s Ronnie Houser came close to extending the lead in the 48:th minute. His shot came in off the right hand side but Matthew Matlock managed saving with a fingernail. Frankfort made a substitution in the 50:th minute. Anders Håkansson limped off the field and was replaced by Bruno Casino. In the 65:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Ronnie Houser dashed through, knocking home 6 - 0 for LSD. This third goal made a hat trick for Ronnie Houser. Daniel Aguado of Frankfort was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish Damion Stein, which resulted in the 6 - 1 goal. A great save by goaltender Matthew Matlock in the 72nd minute kept the visitors in the game as Kurt Dutton struck from the left with a real cannonball. William Morales of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 72nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. LSD will have to do without Scottie Serna for a time due to a bad foot injury. He was substituted by Ronny Moseley. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by LSD, with an impressive 77 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating LSD player was without a doubt Ronnie Houser. Ronny Moseley on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Bruno Casino on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 6 - 1.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Aguado (5; 69th minute; 21)

Yellow Cards: Henry, Morales

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: ****~

Henry: **~
Håkansson: **
Casino (in for Håkansson): **~
Iversen: **~
Halfon: ***~

Collier: ******
Reece: ****~
Matthew: ****~
Joo-Sheng: ****~

Aguado: ***~
Morales: ***

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Lake Superior Dogfight

Tactic: Attack in the middle
Tactic skill: outstanding (10)

Midfield: passable (very high) (24)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Central Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Left Side Defence: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (very high) (20)
Central Attack: formidable (very low) (33)
Left Side Attack: passable (low) (22)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (high) (7)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Central Defence: passable (low) (22)
Left Side Defence: passable (low) (22)
Right Side Attack: excellent (high) (31)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: passable (high) (23)

Well, safe to say that plan didn't work. Though I have no real illusions that any other plan would have done better. At least we got a goal.

The big news out of this game is that Anders Håkansson's career is basically over. At 34 (soon to be 35) years old, a +2 injury is basically the end. I'm not terribly stressed, though. The plan all along was to convert him to coach this offseason, and purchase a new central defender, and that will go as scheduled.

The other big news, though hardly a shock, is that we're officially demoting. Sad, but this was inevitable after the o-fer first half of the season. We'd really like to get a win next week to at least show that we did fight in the second half. One last minor note is that Morales is suspended for the last game of the year.

Other IV.53 action:
- ACW's 2nd place hopes died painfully with a 1-0 loss to lowly Fairfax. Along with ACW's woes, this means we need a win and a Fairfax loss to even get 7th.
- Dark Shadows clincehd 2nd place in impressive fashion, waxing Reign 5-1. These two teams will be among those warring for the crown next year, so this certainly puts Dark Shadows atop the list.
- Go Mart thumped Vampires 5-0. Vampires is actually in some danger of auto-demoting if Fairfax wins next week and Vampires doesn't.

Next up: This time, it's an Argentinian squad coming to Frankfort.

sterlingice

09-25-2004, 10:15 PM

Oh well. It's time to go back to Div V, regroup, kick some arse, and come back stronger than before :)

SI

DukeRulesMAB

09-25-2004, 10:15 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Frankfort United vs. canis plate

Date: September 22, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 1,781 (50,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

This is a half decent Argentinian squad today.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Mattias Larsson
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Joshua Casper
Left Wing: Felix Hylind

Striker: Daniel Aguado
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Sellers is about done (due to injury), so Aguado starts here. Hylind in because he didn't play Sunday. Iversen gets double duty on the backline. These are also the 3 middies who didn't play Sunday (Sakic is still hurt).

The Match

1781 spectators arrived at F. U. Field, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Stockton - Casino, Iversen, Högskär - Larsson, Mullineux, Chopin, Casper, Hylind - Aguado, Knapp.

canis had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Andonegui - Hijano, Göransson, Passarella - Lotina, Nikolay, Dicker, Séguin, Haun-Keey - Irgård, Bronneberg.

Bruno Casino received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 10:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Daniel Aguado sprinted between the opposing defenders after 27 minutes, but the keeper deflected Jacob Knapp's shot. A foul after 35 minutes resulted in a free kick. Jacob Knapp cannonballed it, giving the hometeam the lead 1 to 0. In the 44:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Michael Chopin dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for Frankfort. A great save by goaltender Eduardo Andonegui in the 44:th minute kept the visitors in the game as Daniel Aguado struck from the left with a real cannonball. The referee showed caniss Fernando Passarella the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

After 68 minutes Daniel Aguado put Frankfort ahead 3 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. The referee showed Frankforts Robert Mullineux the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Frankfort put themselves up 4 - 0 when Lennart Högskär broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. After this Frankfort lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. The referee showed Frankforts Mattias Larsson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. caniss Niels Bronneberg had to leave the pitch, the team having noone to substitute him with! Frankfort put themselves up 5 - 0 when Svend-Harald Iversen broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 83rd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Jacob Knapp dashed through, knocking home 6 - 0 for Frankfort. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

Frankfort´s best player was Felix Hylind. Lennart Högskär was a disappointment, however. The most dominating canis player was without a doubt Karl-Friedrich Nikolay. Eduardo Andonegui on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 6 - 0.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 2 (35th, 83rd minutes)
Chopin (44th minute)
Aguado (68th minute)
Högskär (79th minute)
Iversen (82nd minute)

Yellow Cards: Mullineux, Larsson

Stockton: ***

Casino: **~
Iversen: **~
Högskär: **

Larsson: **~
Mullineux: ***
Chopin: **~
Casper: ***
Hylind: *****~

Aguado: ***~
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Felix Hylind

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very high) (12)
Right Side Defence: poor (high) (11)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Central Attack: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Attack: solid (high) (27)

canis plate

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (very low) (9)
Right Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Central Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Left Side Defence: disastrous (very high) (4)
Right Side Attack: wretched (high) (7)
Central Attack: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Attack: poor (very high) (12)

One last dominant performance from our B side for the year.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

09-25-2004, 10:16 PM

Oh well. It's time to go back to Div V, regroup, kick some arse, and come back stronger than before :)

SI

Exactly. I steadied myself for that after the bad start, and I'm relatively excited about the possibility. We should be an outright great DV side unless we get the absolute worst series draw ever.

DukeRulesMAB

09-25-2004, 10:29 PM

After transfer fees, we got over 2.3M for Joo-Sheng, which was very nice. We purchased him way back when for just $5,000.

Training News

Felix Hylind (17864211) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
20 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.

Speciality: Head

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 19 890
Wage: 4 456 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Is on sale for 3M as we speak. Very, very good player who we will miss quite a bit.

Bruno Casino (38120043) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
17 years, solid form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: Deutschland
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 830
Wage: 755 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

The newest guy gets his first pop. He'll probably pick up a full training week this time around, as we don't plan on picking up a second new trainee until the new season.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 1 (Matlock to Solid)
Starters Going Down: 2 (Hylind to Passable; Halfon to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Up: 4 (Knapp, Casino to Solid; Larsson to Passable; Högskär to Inadequate)
Reserves Going Down: 0

Soso form week as we head toward the offseason. Larsson is now a defacto starter with Joo-Sheng gone and Hylind on the way out. He's not great, yet, but he will be.

Total Team Value (Before Training): $12,322,000 (11,613,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

09-25-2004, 11:29 PM

Youth pull

Damon Whatley (41938333) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 160
Wage: 517 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Canned. First autocan in a while, actually.

Economy

Income

Crowd: 5,900 (vs. canis plate)
Sponsers: 89,430
Interest: 3,300
Temporary: 2,373,212
- 942 (Sale of Dye)
- 2,366,910 (Sale of Joo-Sheng)
- 3,500 (Sell-On of Bouchard)
- 1,320 (Sell-On of Huber)
- 540 (Sell-On of García)

Total revenues: 2,471,842

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 47,597
Staff: 63,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 5,000
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 3,000 (Listing Costs)

Total Expenses: 168,927

Profit (Loss): 2,303,915
New Balance: 3,421,776

Now that's a cash balance. :) Assuming Hylind sells, another 3M coming in this week, but there's also a very good chance we're going to spend some of that cash this week.

Other stats

Team Spirit: Composed (up from Irriated)
Confidence: Decent (down from Strong)

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Calm (down from Delirious)

# of Supporters: 1584 (down from 1590)

Fallout from the LSD beating.

IV.53 Preview

Fairfax Fizz - Reign

Fairfax has actually picked up an outside chance to get a qualifier. But to get it,

they have to beat a much better team than them in Reign. Don't see it happening.

Frankfort United - Vampires

We want to win this for pride, to get in an easier series, and to pick up a few

supporters. Vampires needs this to clinch a qualifier.

Go Mart FC - AC Weezer

Meaningless game, though Go Mart could get into 4th with a win here and a Reign loss.

ACW should get the W though.

Dark Shadows - Lake Superior

LSD wants that undefeated season. I see little reason to think they won't get it.

Up Next: Frankfort closes out the season (and their stay in IV.53) at home against

Vampires.

DukeRulesMAB

09-26-2004, 06:32 AM

New midfielder/trainee for F.U.!

Folke Kutta (29784454) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
18 years, excellent form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities.

Speciality: Powerful

Nationality: Deutschland
Total Skill Index (TSI): 5 210
Wage: 1 038 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 2

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

Spent just 1.875M on him, which I consider to be a pretty solid deal. Despite his stamina, he's good enough to play midfield on most Sundays for us, and will get winger training on Wednesdays. We'll grab some stamina training not this offseason (can't let Collier miss winger weeks), but next offseason.

With this purchase, Joshua Casper hits the transfer list. We only have to carry 5 pure midfielders because Kutta will be playing there.

DukeRulesMAB

09-27-2004, 01:52 PM

Season 5 - Week 14

Frankfort United vs. Vampires

Date: September 26, 2004
Arena: F.U. Field (Kentucky)
Crowd: 15,528 (50,000)
Weather: Cloudy

Well, this is it for IV.53 for us. We've very much enjoyed the series, and wish we could have stayed, but it was not to be.

There are three reasons we want to win this game:

1) To end up with 10 points in the second half, and show that we weren't completely unworthy this year
2) To hopefully grab 7th place and fall into an easier DV series
3) To have decent supporter mood through the offseason.

For Vampires it is simpler. They need the win, or they risk autodemoting. As for us, we are MOTSing. No reason to conserve TS at this point.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock (72nd Appearance)

Right Defender: Bill Henry (37th Appearance)
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen (11th Appearance)
Left Defender: Niko Halfon (32nd Appearance)

Right Wing: Jesse Collier (38th Appearance)
Central Midfield: Russell Reece (30th Apperance)
Central Midfield: Folke Kutta (1st Appearance)
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew (17th Appearance)
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson (4th Appearance)

Striker: Daniel Aguado (41st Appearance)
Striker: Jacob Knapp (52nd Appearance)

Few notes here. Iversen will anchor the backline for a week or two while we wait to bring in a new central D. Larsson takes his place with the A teamwith Joo-Sheng gone and Hylind almost gone. And Knapp in place of Morales, who is suspended.

Finally, Kutta debuts in the midfield. With only passable stamina, he's not going to be great, but he'll be pretty damn good (particularly in excellent form).

The Match

Frankfort took the lead in the 12th minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Jacob Knapp elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. In the games 15:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Martin Bohell struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. Frankforts Daniel Aguado gave, after 18 minutes, the home team a 2 - 1 lead after an attack coming in from the right. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 32 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Frankfort. However, Fredrik Bengtsson made a spectacular save. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 1. Frankfort, bringing the final ball possession rate to 55 percent, dominated the battle.

One of many good passes from Colin Sizemore at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Lee Gallagher, scoring for Vampires to 2 - 2. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Frankfort´s Bill Henry got himself booked. Niko Halfon of Frankfort received a yellow card in the 69:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A well placed corner kick from Daniel Aguado was followed by Jesse Collier´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Frankfort. The result now 3-2. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 55 percent possession rate.

Frankfort´s best player was Jesse Collier. However, Svend-Harald Iversen made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Vampires player was without a doubt Luther Timou. However, Terry Richard made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 2.

Goals (Season goals; minute scored; career goals)

Knapp (10; 12th minute; 47)
Aguado (6; 18th minute; 22)
Collier (2; 70th minute; 11)

Yellow Cards: Henry, Halfon

(Note: Goal stats are for all competitive games, and only represent those scored with Frankfort)

Matlock: *****

Henry: **~
Iversen: **~
Halfon: ***~

Collier: ******~
Reece: ****~
Kutta: ***~
Matthew: ****
Larsson: ***

Aguado: ***~
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very high) (16)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Central Defence: inadequate (low) (18)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very high) (20)
Right Side Attack: formidable (very low) (33)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)

Vampires

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Defence: passable (high) (23)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high) (20)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (very low) (17)
Right Side Attack: wretched (very high) (8)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: poor (high) (11)

Well, at least we went out on a winning note. Good performance, career best 6.5 stars from Collier, late goal to win. No complaints about this one whatsoever.

The rest of IV.53 action:
- Fairfax upset Reign 2-1. This is big news, because Fairfax survived in 6th place beating out Vampires, who is now autodemoted. Really a shocker, Fairfax is not a good team at all.
- ACW and Go Mart went to a scoreless draw. Lame end to the year for ACW really.
- In the big shocker, Dark Shadows went to a 1-1 draw with LSD, denying them a perfect season. Dark Shadows has put out a big claim on the league title.

The final standings:

1. Lake Superior Dogfi 14 67 - 7 40

2. Dark Shadows 14 31 - 16 30
3. AC Weezer 14 26 - 20 25
4. Reign 14 24 - 37 16

5. Go Mart FC 14 17 - 19 14
6. Fairfax Fizz 14 13 - 35 13

7. Vampires 14 17 - 38 11
8. Frankfort United 14 16 - 39 10

So close. If we'd beaten Fairfax the first time (as we should have), we'd have been in 6th place. Hell, if we'd tied Fairfax, I think we'd have been in 6th via tiebreakers. Ah well.

Next up: We visit an old friend from IV.53

DukeRulesMAB

09-27-2004, 03:15 PM

Frankfort United - Season 4 Wrap-Up

Competition games played: 18 (14 league, 4 cup)
Record: 6-11-1 (3-10-1 league, 3-1-0 cup)
Goals Scored: 28 (16 league, 12 cup)
Goals Allowed: 45 (39 league, 6 cup)

Team stats (* = No longer on squad)

Games Started (Numbers in parentheses are sub appearances)

1t. Matlock, 17
1t. Matthew, 17
3t. Aguado, 16
3t. Reece, 16
5t. Collier, 15
5t. Halfon, 15
7. Håkansson, 14 (1)
8. Morales, 12
9. Henry, 11
10. Hylind, 10
11. Mullineux, 8
12. Joo-Sheng*, 7
13t. Casper, 6
13t. Iversen, 6
13t. Knapp, 6
16t. Chopin, 4
16t. Högskär, 4
16t. Larsson, 4
19. Makris*, 3
20. Casino, 2 (1)
21. Sellers, 2
22. Stockton, 1 (1)
23t. Kutta, 1
23t. Sakic, 1

Goals

1. Knapp, 10
2. Aguado, 6
3. Morales, 4
4t. Collier, 2
4t. Matthew, 2
6t. Casper, 1
6t. Hylind, 1
6t. Reece, 1
6t. Sakic, 1

Yellow Cards (Second yellows are included here, not in Red Cards)

1t. Henry, 5
1t. Morales, 5
3. Mullineux, 4
4t. Halfon, 2
4t. Hylind, 2
4t. Matthew, 2
7t. Collier, 1
7t. Håkansson, 1
7t. Makris, 1

Red Cards

none given

Team MVP

1. Collier, 15
2. Matlock, 3

Average Match Rating (Minimum, 9 matches played)

1. Collier, 5.47
2. Matlock, 4.76
3. Hylind, 4.61
4. Matthew, 4.32
5. Reece, 4.09
6. Halfon, 4.07
7. Aguado, 3.34
8. Morales, 2.95
9. Håkansson, 2.90
10. Henry, 2.59

-----------------------------

Team MVP: Jesse Collier
Season 4: Matthew Matlock
Season 3: Matlock
Season 2: Arthur Eaton
Season 1: Eaton

Most Promising Youngster: Jesse Collier
Season 4: Collier
Season 3: Collier
Season 2: Matthew Matlock
Season 1: Matlock

Best Newcomer: Stephen Matthew
Season 4: Niko Halfon
Season 3: Bill Henry
Season 2: Harold Diehl
Season 1: Not Awarded

Most Inspirational Player: William Morales
Season 4: Robert Mullineux
Season 3: Mullineux
Season 2: Jesse Mcwhorter
Season 1: Courtney Sellers

-----------------------------

Hard to say anything positive about this season. Our cup run was shorter than it has been in a while. We went oh-for the first half of the series schedule, and even a solid 3-3-1 in the second half wasn't enough to pull it out. Safe to say our season goals were not in any way shape or form met.

We'll be back though. With a new coach and some personnel work, we will be in position to dominate almost any Dv series. I expect to only spend one year down there.

Still to come before changing threads: A couple friendlies, career stats updates, various training and econ updates.

DukeRulesMAB

09-27-2004, 03:23 PM

Frankfort Career Leaders

Games

1. Matthew Matlock, 72
2. William Morales, 68
3. Robert Mullineux, 62
4. Jacob Knapp, 52
5. Theodore Arnold, 50

Goals

1. William Morales, 60
2. Jacob Knapp, 47
3. Daniel Aguado, 22
4. Courtney Sellers, 12
5t. Michael Chopin, 11
5t. Jesse Collier, 11

MVP

1. Matthew Matlock, 45
2. Collier, 18
3. Arthur Eaton, 11
4t. Robert Mullineux, 3
4t. Lorenzo Porras, 3

Total Stars

1. Matthew Matlock, 316
2. Robert Mullineux, 185.5
3. William Morales, 167.5
4. Jesse Collier, 156.5
5. Daniel Aguado, 138.5

-------------------------------------------

Next week (after the usual friendly, training, econ updates): A rundown of the youth squad.

DukeRulesMAB

10-05-2004, 01:06 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Byzantines vs. Frankfort United

Date: September 29, 2004
Arena: Hagia Sofia (Arizona
Crowd: 1,068 (65,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Byzantines, you may remember, were the champs of IV.53 my first season in the series. We've kept in contact with them, and have elected to accept a friendly at their place.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Will Stockton

Right Defender: Bill Henry
Central Defender: Svend-Harald Iversen
Left Defender: Lennart Högskär

Right Wing: Folke Kutta
Central Midfield: Borislav Sakic
Central Midfield: Michael Chopin
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Left Wing: Bruno Casino

Striker: William Morales
Striker: Jacob Knapp

Bit of an odd group here, as our roster is in flux a bit. We're short a full trainee until the beginning of next season, so Casino gets a full training week. Henry plays for the second time this week, as we are pretty low on defenders (same with Iversen). And Knapp gets in his second game of the week, as Sellers is injured, and his career is likely over.

The Match

1068 spectators arrived at Hagia Sofia, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Byzantines had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Guillory - Mestre, Singletary, Sosa, Swenson - Drach, Konings, Weathers, Childers, Dochart - Velazquez.

Frankfort had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Stockton - Henry, Iversen, Högskär - Kutta, Mullineux, Chopin, Sakic, Casino - Knapp, Morales.

Frankforts Michael Chopin got himself booked after a foul. Miguel Ângelo Mestre went down after a savage challenge, but could keep on playing after some medical attention. Frankfort took the lead in the games 31st minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. William Morales was the scorer. The visitors Jacob Knapp took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 31st minute. 0 - 2 for Frankfort. Byzantines appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. Borislav Sakic came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Norman Guillory, hitting the bar. George Weathers behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 40:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 40:th minute Frankfort goal, making it 0 - 3. William Morales was noted down as the scorer. 0 - 3 was the half-time score. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

Byzantines -coach had an extra briefing during the break, and after that his players had solid organisation. The referee signalled a penalty in the 64:th minute following an offence just inside of the box. Jacob Knapp knocked home 0 - 4 just out of reach for the goaltender. Frankfort's Folke Kutta had in the 70:th minute a header that touched the bar, following yet another fine corner. Jacob Knapp was, after 78 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors lead with a well placed diving header but home side keeper Norman Guillory saved. Byzantines appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only passable. The game had been on for 80 minutes when Jacob Knapp broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Frankfort´s were up 0 - 5. This third goal made a hat trick for Jacob Knapp. The structure of the game started to change as Frankfort decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Byzantines appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only poor. The game had been on for 83 minutes when Jacob Knapp broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Frankfort´s were up 0 - 6. Fine winger Bruno Casino made one of his many passes from the wing into the middle in the 86:th minute. Jacob Knapp went to the air and hit the ball firmly with his forehead for 0 - 7. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 70 percent possession of the ball.

Goals (minute scored)

Knapp 5 (31st, 64th, 80th, 83rd, 86th minutes)
Morales 2 (31st, 4th minutes)

Yellow Cards: Chopin

Stockton: ***

Henry: ***
Iversen: **~
Högskär: **~

Kutta: ***
Sakic: **~
Chopin: **
Mullineux: ***
Casino: **~

Morales: ***
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Folke Kutta

Byzantines

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very low) (5)
Right Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Central Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Left Side Defence: poor (low) (10)
Right Side Attack: passable (very low) (21)
Central Attack: wretched (very high) (8)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (very high) (8)
Right Side Defence: poor (very low) (9)
Central Defence: poor (low) (10)
Left Side Defence: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Attack: weak (low) (14)
Central Attack: weak (high) (15)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (high) (19)

Ratings wise, our team took a hit, as one might expect (TS is in the dumps after a season ending MOTS, wingers are much lower rated after the sale of Hylind/Joo-Sheng than they used to be), but we kicked ass on the field. Knapp and Morales, playing together for the first time in a while, I think, seemed to enjoy themselves.

Next up: This week's training results.

DukeRulesMAB

10-05-2004, 01:26 PM

Hylind sold for just over 3.8M, and we got a quasi-disappointing 250K for Casper. All in all, almost 3.7M in cash in our bank account. Very nice! It won't last long. :)

Training News

None this week! First time in a while for that.

For the record, we are doing winger training for both "off" weeks. Our duty to the U20 team, though candidly we could use a little stamina training. Next offseason for that.

Form Update

Starters Going Up: 2 (Larsson, Håkansson to SOlid)
Starters Going Down: 1 (Kutta to Solid)
Reserves Going Up: 2 (Mullineux to Solid; Högskär to Passable)
Reserves Going Down: 2 (Stockton to Solid; Chopin to Weak)

This is a bit in flux. In reality, Håkansson is no longer a starter (or even really a player; he's to be converted to coach next week). Larsson, on the other hand, has been promoted to starter, while Mullineux is now a reserve (though one who is likely to receive no shortage of playing time).

Total Team Value (Before Training): $11,145,000 (10,658,000)

Next up: Youth pull, financial update, and weekly preview

DukeRulesMAB

10-05-2004, 01:43 PM

Youth pull

Craig Daigle (44209728)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 10
Wage: 500 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

Bad. Really bad. Hopefully we're saving up skills for a good lotto pull. :)

Economy

Income

Crowd: 102,881
- 99,338 (vs. Vampires)
- 3,543 (at Byzantines)
Sponsers: 89,100
Interest: 10,200
Temporary: 3,695,158
- 420 (New Supporters)
- 3,467,100 (Sale of Hylind)
- 227,500 (Sale of Casper)
- 138 (Sell-On of Dye)

Total revenues: 3,897,339

Expenditures

Youth Squad: 20,000
Wages: 40,130
- 45,837 (Base Salaries)
- (5,707) (Reduction for Collier's U20 performance)
Staff: 63,000
Arena: 32,330
Temporary: 1,891,500
- 2,000 (Youth Pull)
- 1,000 (Listing Costs)
- 13,500 (Fired Doctors)
- 1,875,000 (Purchase of Kutta)

Total Expenses: 2,046,960

Profit (Loss): 1,850,379
New Balance: 5,272,155

Still rolling in cash. One purchase has been made in the next post to come, and still more spending to come.

Other stats

Sponsers: Dancing in the Streets
Supporters: Delirious (up from Calm)

# of Supporters: 1438 (down from 1584)

I went ahead and included the supporter drop from demotion here, though it technically happened after the update. We're definately at a low point there, but I have supreme confidence that we'll have little trouble kicking ass next year to get that number back up some.

Up Next: A friendly against one of our supporters. Also, a purchase, and the youth squad results for the season.

DukeRulesMAB

10-05-2004, 01:52 PM

Truman Thurston (21746839) [Add this player to your bookmarks]
20 years, solid form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and upright.
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 4 540
Wage: 976 US$/week
Owner: Frankfort United
Warnings: 0

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

And with that, the hole in our central defense is officially filled. :)

We love this guy. Young-ish, so he'll be around a while. Poor experience, solid stamina, so unlikely to cause special even problems on the backside. And a complete anchor in the middle of the defense. Oh yeah: And he's an American. Good to save some salary dollars that way. Cost me $1,530,000. I figure that to be a really solid deal.

Håkansson will retire to coaching duties, to be named officially this week. He's unlikely to be fit to play again anyway. He gave us a lot of good work, and hopefully will continue to do so as head coach.

I still have over 3.7M left. 733K will go to converting Håkansson to coach. I have not yet decided how much to spend on a trainee, but we will have one of the first week pulls one way or the other. Whatever's left over will be saved in order to get us a sweet forward at the earliest possible date.

DukeRulesMAB

10-05-2004, 02:00 PM

Youth Squad Notes

We, of course, had an excellent squad all year. Income is defined as 90% of sale price, so there's mother club money not being tracked.

16 Weeks @ 20K/week = 320K
16 Weeks @ 2K pulls/week = 32K
10 Listing Fees @ 1K/per = 10K

Total Expenditures = 362K

Total Income = 558,912

Profit = $196,912

Not bad at all. A solid 200K+ in profit taking everything into account. Most of the value came in Allen Wall (a 17 YO solid playmaker pulled in mid-early season) and Joe Hodge (a 19 YO solid defender). We still haven't hit the jackpot by any teams, but we have a solid, productive, program.

DukeRulesMAB

10-06-2004, 08:18 PM

Season 4 - Friendly

Clube Tururu vs. Frankfort United

Date: October 6, 2004
Arena: The Oven (Phoenix)
Crowd: 489 (33,210)
Weather: Rain

Clube Tururu was a new team my last season in V.22. We have talked quite a bit since then, and they are a supporter of mine. To thank them, we accepted when they invited us to their place for a friendly.

Starters (Balanced 3-5-2):

Keeper: Matthew Matlock

Right Defender: Bruno Casino
Central Defender: Truman Thurston
Left Defender: Folke Kutta

Right Wing: Jesse Collier
Central Midfield: Russell Reece
Central Midfield: Robert Mullineux
Central Midfield: Stephen Matthew
Left Wing: Mattias Larsson

Striker: Daniel Aguado
Striker: Jacob Knapp

With only one match this week, this is a mix of the players we most want to get training, along with guys I am playing to keep form up. We also grab a first look at Thurston, who is expected to anchor our central defense.

The Match

The crowd of 489 turning up at The Oven today were greeted by some nasty showers of rain. Tururu had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Cosby - Brewer, Lara - Egan, Se-Hyun, Piltz, Lesev, Hummel - Stuhr-Ellegaard, Rácz, Kastner.

Frankfort started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Matlock - Casino, Thurston, Kutta - Collier, Reece, Mullineux, Matthew, Larsson - Aguado, Knapp.

After 3 minutes Frankfort put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Mattias Larsson finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. After 10 minutes Tururu´s Richard Stuhr-Ellegaard contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Tururu had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to wretched. In the 25:th minute Frankfort put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Mattias Larsson. Roni Kastner of Tururu received a yellow card in the 28:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Daniel Aguado came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Ali Cosby, hitting the bar. Günther Hummel showed great fighting spirit and didn´t seem to mind the rain at all. Folke Kutta increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. Tururus Henrik Rácz went wide in the 41st minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 1 - 3 goal away. 1 - 3 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Frankfort, with an impressive 73 percent possession of the ball.

Tururu -coach had an extra briefing during the break, and after that his players had inadequate organisation. Bruno Casino received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 79:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. There wasn´t much opportunity for rapid movements this wet day, which hindered Mattias Larsson in particular. The visitors Russell Reece took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and central backs in the 88:th minute. 1 - 4 for Frankfort. Frankfort´s Folke Kutta made it through the home teams defence in the 88:th minute, and had only to place the ball in an unguarded goal when the home side´s defender sprang up from the left, clearing the ball on the line. Tururu had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to weak. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 89:th minute Frankfort goal, making it 1 - 5. Stephen Matthew was noted down as the scorer. Stephen Matthew came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Ali Cosby, hitting the bar. Miao Se-Hyun of Tururu received a yellow card in the 89:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Stephen Matthew increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 1 - 6. By now Frankfort were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Tururu had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation was down to weak. Frankfort held the ball, with a clear 70 percent possession rate.

Tururu´s best player was José Brewer. Petar Lesev on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Frankfort player was without a doubt Jesse Collier. Folke Kutta was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 6.

Goals (minute scored)

Larsson 2 (3rd, 25th minutes)
Matthew 2 (89th, 89th minutes)
Kutta (32nd minute)
Reece (88th minute)

Yellow Cards: None

Matlock: *****~

Casino: **~
Thurston: ****~
Kutta: **

Collier: ******~
Reece: ****~
Mullineux: ***
Matthew: ****~
Larsson: ***~

Aguado: ***~
Knapp: **~

Team Match MVP: Jesse Collier

Clube Tururu

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: wretched (low) (6)
Right Side Defence: poor (very high) (12)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high) (20)
Left Side Defence: weak (very low) (13)
Right Side Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Central Attack: solid (low) (26)
Left Side Attack: weak (high) (15)

Frankfort United

Tactic: Normal

Midfield: poor (high) (11)
Right Side Defence: passable (very low) (21)
Central Defence: inadequate (high) (19)
Left Side Defence: weak (low) (14)
Right Side Attack: formidable (low) (34)
Central Attack: weak (very high) (16)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (very high) (20)

Another easy win. We're easing comfortably into the new year, and we will have the ability to dominate when we need to.

Next up: This week's training results.