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Strikers
Ok this is a huge mess. I have 14 Strikers right now. 5 of them are youth pulls from this year, three from last year. I've never run more than one! Before I do anything else, I release Samir Pace and Pierre Reynoso. One of the youth guys from last year, Ben Goodwin, he's gone. 1. Ronnie Navarro - 18 y/o - 10 goals/5 assists in 25 league matches. Has performed. [b]2. Leon Roth - 18 y/o[/b} - 2 goals/3 assists in 12 league matches. Add in cup matches though and he has 9 goals in 20. 6.86 rating in league despite the lack of scoring. 3. Patrick Ratzburg - 14 y/o - 5 league matches last year, 2 goals. 4. Colin Cole - 14 y/o - As I mentioned with the youth intake, I really like this guy's ratings. I could easily see him earning lots of playing time. 5. Carlos Alberto Arredondo - 29 y/o I may have made a mistake signing Arredondo during the offseason. I'm going to list him here but if Cole is decent, he's gonna get left out. I sign two other youth players, Fernando Alvarez and Dan Saunders. Both have 7 finishing and fairly ok ratings. They'll be given a chance to play for the U18's while the rest of these guys fight it out. The problem I have here is that my AML/AMR players are the best players on the team, both in actual ratings performance and attributes. So switching to a formation that uses them less seems unwise. Playing a 4-2-2-2 or a "4-4-2 attacking" formation with two MC's and two wingers and two forwards seems super dangerous. So its very possible that whoever impresses quickly out of these guys wins tons of playing time and others get left out just as quickly. |
Heh. Those two formations were my exact thoughts on what to recommend you. I have occasionally used the 4-4-2 attacking, as you describe it, and with success--so long as I was favored and my defensive four were regarded more highly than the opponent's attack.
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-- DC Ashely Varela is dropped to the reserves and immediately asks to talk to me about it. I tell him he has to earn his way back up with good play in the reserves, and he says he relishes a challenge. I was going to cut him immediately if he complained.
New Signing DC/DL Dan Hernandez - 18 y/o Joins the team. I think I made this offer before I actually did the roster review thing, where I said I saw lots of guys who look pretty good but I wasn't sure. But anyway, Hernandez does look the best of the bunch and will get an immediate chance to make an impression. 6 heading/4 marking/10 tackling. Composure 8/Concentrate 5/Decisions 5/Determined 12/Positioning 6. Jumping 13/Str 11. A Pace of 7 which is actually half decent for a DC too, where folks tend to be slower. He looks like he should be as good as anyone on the roster. He's also 6'2" to go with that pretty good jumping rating. Friendly #1 We lose 3:0 to CASL Chelsea, I used my new 4-4-2 formation, nothing really noteworthy in this one, they are way better than us. Friendly #2 We play our reserve team. Its ugly. The first team loses 2-0 to the Reserves. We gave them the ball in our own end three times on throwins, so I may need to look at that. Injury Update ST Navarro is out 3 weeks with an injured elbow. -- I only have one player, Joe Jackson, who has any sort of ability at long throws. Campbell was taking the throws in our last match and was awful. I change our throwin strategy to just take short throws to play it safe. Atlantic Coast Amateur League Promotion Odds -- The Lexington Thoroughbreads are pretty big favorites to promote at 4:5. Kendall SC are even, Saturn FC and Jacksonville Cyclones are 5:2. We are 6:1 to promote, which is better than I would have expected, and is actually 6th in the league. No other team is better than 10:1 and some of the weaker teams are as bad as 40-1, 50-1, and 100-1... Friendly #3 We host the Wilmington Hammerheads and expect to get destroyed. We fall behind 3-0 early, including an unfortunate own goal from Shakespeare. We get a very nice goal from Davidson in the second half. Wilkins to Rose to Crook set up a good goal for us late. In the 89th minute we got a great free kick from Glaser, and in the 95th minute we get a long ball out of the defense Wilkins heads it on and Crook picks it up around the 18 yard mark, he takes a shot and beats the keeper! Well that was exciting. We beat Wilmington, a team in the NASL, the second best league in the USA, 4-3. That takes us into February. We've got two more friendlies before the Old North Cup. |
February Update
The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our 4-3 win over Wilmington is a positive. The departure of Samir Pace is a negative. We lost $21,450 last month. Friendly #4 We travel to play CASL Elite. We go ahead 1-0 as Jackson sends a ball into the area from 35 yards out, Roth controls it very nicely and puts it in. They tie it up early in the second half on a low shot that Gyan can't get down for. This ends up 1-1. Old North Cup Qualifying Round Draw We're going to be going on the road to play the Charlotte Soccer Academy, a team in the next tier up above us, The Atlantic Coast Division 2. Captain Choice DC Galvis has been our captain the last two years, but he's steadily fallen down the depth chart. I move Ian Cooper up to captain and make MC Jose Alejandro Tapia my vice captain. I talk to Galvis before hand and he makes his case to stay captain but isn't overly upset in the end. Friendly #5 We host another NASL team that should completely shit on us, unless they are bored and don't care and let us score 3 goals in 10 minutes like Wilmington did. We give up a goal at the end of the first half, a through ball to a much faster player than we're capable of handling. Roth plays a little cross into the area for Rose in the 66th minute and Rose's defender makes a mistake and positions poorly and Rose finishes well. We end up allowing 18 shots and only taking two ourselves, but the end result is a 1:1 draw. -- We sell 80 season tickets, the same as each of the last two years. Time for the Old North Cup, the first match that matters, at least a little. |
February 17th, 2016
Old North Cup - Qualifying Round Charlotte SA vs Wake Forest GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Roth/Cole We'll play in a defensive mindset and will look to retain possession and pass short on the road against a superior team. We get our first look at youngster Colin Cole today. 1': They get a corner, Tapia with a nice header to clear. 9': They get another corner, this one taken near post and headed into the side. 11': Tapia shoots on a rather long free kick, it goes high. 15': Pickering yellow card. 16': They shoot on a 30 yard free kick, grazes the top of the bar and goes over. 16': We win possession after a goal kick, Tapia passes ahead to Roth, he chips it by the keeper... but offsides. That was close. 28': Davidson with a corner, far post to Forrest, he heads it just wide. 33': They get a goal but clearly offsides. 36': Forrest makes two nice defensive plays in a row in highlights, one a tackle to break up an attacking move, another an interception. 40': Tons and tons of pressure from Charlotte but everything is way off target. 44': A give and go between their two forwards leads to an on target shot but Gyan makes a nice stop. 47': Gyan takes a goal kick very long, their defender misplays it and lets it bounce behind him, Cole is there and controls it, the defense isn't far behind though, Cole into the area... he's tackled, PENALTY. Shakespeare takes it and scores! 1-0 HALF: We lead on a totally fluke circumstance. They are outshooting us 13-4, but have 11 off target. They have 54% of the possession. Our passing is just bad, 55% passes completed. I don't know if that's due to the better players Charlotte has or an issue with formation and what we're trying to do. I bring Ratzburg in for Cole, Cole picked up a minor injury in the first half. 48': They score on a free kick from 25 yards. Gyan should have stopped it. Pretty ugly. 1-1 57': Shakespeare with a lob into the area after a throwin for us, Davidson gets his head to it in a dangerous spot.. but wide. 59': Gyan with a pretty solid save on a 20 yard shot from them. 61': They earn a corner on a shot from the left side. Corner is headed wide. 71': They score... looked like a great cross from deep, but there's an offsides called. I thought that was it. 75': Hernandez in for Pickering, Wilkins in for Tapia. 90': We get a free kick from the left side just out of the penalty area, Davidson plays it through the penalty area, The keeper makes a brief mis-step and Shakespeare is there to volley it in!!! 2-1 92': Poor throwin by Jackson leads to a counter from Charlotte, they get a nice through ball to a forward, but he holds the ball up in the area instead of shooting, he passes to a man with a straighter shot, but Gyan makes a great save! They get a corner, but nothing. We win! Charlotte SA 1 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (8.8) Goals: Shakespeare 2 Assists: Davidson (6.8), Cole (6.7) Notable: Forrest (7.0) Steve Forrest looked great in defense at least in the highlights. The rest of the defense was bad. Jackson 6.2, Pickering 6.3, Campbell 6.2. Cooper really struggled with a 6.3 rating today. His passing was awful. They out-shot us 23-7, but only managed to put 5 on target. Gyan came up big when he needed to, and there was enough pressure from the defense to make some of those shots difficult. We only had two shots on target, both goals. -- No long term injury for Cole today. Old North Cup - Quarterfinal Draw There is one team out of the 7 in a division below us. We get lucky and draw them, we'll be on the road again, but playing against the Twin City Patrol in the next round. This is the weird tournament with the qualifying round in February but the quarterfinals aren't until June. |
I was away from FOFC a few days, but I wanted to congratulate you on the promotion. Kick some Florida and Puerto Rico butt this year!
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Yeah maybe I'll use it at home and play a little safer on the road or something like that, I am not quite sure yet. I don't trust the oddsmaking at this level at all, it seems completely meaningless. Quote:
Thanks! |
-- So we have a month off after that Old North Cup match, so we need to keep working on our fitness for the season here. I schedule 3 friendlies.
Injury Update MC Gary Glaser is hurt in training, will miss about 2 months. A few days later, Navarro plays for our Reserves to work on fitness after his last injury... gets hurt and is out another week. Friendly #1 We host the Carolina Railhawks, another match where we should get destroyed, unless they don't care. Scoreless first half. They score in the first minute of the second half, intercepting a backpass from Shakespeare and taking it all the way. Ratzburg gets a clear cut chance in the second half but misses it. We lose 1-0. No one gets hurt though! March Update -- Hernandez trains well, Cooper poorly. -- The board is very pleased with me. Our win over Wilmington is still good, our loss of Samir Pace is bad. He's still unsigned anywhere, I note. We lost $32,170 last month. Friendly #2 We prepare to get wrecked by DC United, at this point not a lot of teams willing to play us that we haven't already played. We give up 2 first half goals and they go easy on us after that. Final score 0-2. Atlantic Coast Cup Qualifying Round Draw I'm not certain who gets to play in this exactly. A USL team won it last year so I guess NASL/MLS don't get in on this. 56 teams in the draw for this round. We get Mayaguez FC, one of the Puerto Rican teams in our league. We'll be going on the road for this. The match is on March 15th. -- We have to announce our squad for league play. I announce 39 players out of the 44 allowed, for the first time I actually pull a couple people off the squad who I don't imagine will ever play. But I do leave room for some of these U18's in case we have injury problems, or for a new signing or two down the road. Friendly #3 We host the Raleigh Pioneers in our last friendly. Rose gets a 6 minute goal for us, but they answer a few minutes later. They score again in the 28th minute. They get a 3rd goal 55 minutes in. They get a 4th on a corner, we get one back as Roth has a clear cut chance saved by the keeper but Cooper puts the followup in. It ends up a 4-2 loss. Injury Update ST Roth will miss 2-3 weeks with a minor injury he picked up in the last friendly. Ratzburg picked up an injury in the game too but nothing long term, so we feel a bit lucky to have not lost two strikers today. With that we're 1 week away from the Atlantic Cup starting, and just a couple days after that league play. |
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Those teams are drawn from the Atlantic Coast regional divisions in Levels 5, 6, 7. Atlantic Coast Premiere League (20 teams) Atlantic Coast 2 (20 teams) Atlantic Coast Amateur (20 teams) There are Cups from the other regions (Gold Coast, All-American, Colonial) carrying the same format. |
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I really like the state cups, at least, I like the North Carolina one, there are just enough teams in the state to make that interesting. I had no idea bout the existence of any sort of regional cups though.
I think it works well given the structure of the leagues, at least at the amateur level where far fewer games are played overall. There is definitely room for the extra cup play and these low levels would feel a bit empty without it. |
I agree with Radii. I was surprised that the Aloha Cup was just the two Hawaii teams, but I like it as well. It really does add a nice dimension.
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March 15th, 2016
Atlantic Coast Cup - Qualifying Round Mayaguez FC vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendence: 378 -- Our first of many trips to Puero Rico Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Rose/Fisher ST: Navarro/Cole So we play our first league match in 3 days, so I sit a few guys here, Wilkins/Fisher/Cole all being young guys out there. Mayaguez is one of those teams with awful white on yellow lettering so I may not get any names for anything t hey do. 13': Look at the kids getting us the first goal of the cup! Fisher with a run into the right corner, a cross to the near post, Cole is there and heads it in!! 1-0 18': Rose with a corner, they look to clear it, but the clearnce hits another defender and boucnes backwards into the net, own goal. 2-0 28': Rose crosses to Navarro, a volley... saved, good save. Next corner is cleared. 29': Wilkins with a nice long ball ahead to Navarro, our first clear cut chance of the night, but saved. Corner is cleared. 32': Well play defensive with the lead. HALF: Well that was a solid half. We don't allow a shot, taking 4 ourselves, 3 on target. 48': Burke with a nice clearance long ahead to Fisher, he plays it ahead to cole... he scores... but offsides. It was fairly close, there was a defender lagging behind the rest of their line. 54': Their first shot of the match is a dangerous strike from 20 yards, Gyan has to save it and turn it behind. They take the corner to the far post, Gyan positions poorly for it... and its headed in. 2-1 69': Fisher ahead to Cole again, a clear cut chance, onsides this time, but wide. 79': Cooper in for Fisher. 87': Navarro with a poor pass.. turnover in their end after a throwin, they earn a corner on a cross, but the corner is taken poorly. 94': Free kick from the left side just outside the area, Rose lobs it in, Wilkins heads it across the 6 yard box, Navarro is there and puts it in! 3-1 Mayaguez FC 1 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Adam Fisher (7.8) Goals: Cole (7.4), Navarro (7.3) Assists: Fisher, Rose (7.4) Notables: Jackson (7.1), Burke (7.0), Wilkins (7.6) Solid win, Wilkins, Cole and Fisher all impress. We receive $969 for winning this match. |
-- I had forgotten to drop my training levels down, I change it from high intensity fitness to average intensity Team Cohesion.
Injury Update DMC Brian Williams is hurt in a reserve match and will miss 2-3 months. Atlantic Coast Cup - First Round Draw 32 teams remain in the draw. We get a home game against Puerto Rican side Atletico de San Juan FC. They're in the Atlantic Coast Premier League, one level above us. That match will be in a month, April 19th. March 18th, 2016 Atleticos Rio Piedras vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendence: 127 -- League Season Opener! Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Navarro/Ratzburg A few guys get their second start in a row, but there's a lot of turnover here. 8': Ratzburg with a cross that earns us a corner, taken near post, Hernandez with a strong header, but saved. 10': We allow a corner, but clear it. 21': Cooper with a corner, Hernandez is there and its a clear cut chance, but he kicks it right into the keeper. 45': Very nice passing from Jackson to Ratzburg, headed down to Cooper, ahead to Navarro for a solid goal... but Navarro was offsides. I didn't think that was offsides until it was called. HALF: We shoot 5 times to their zero, they have a slight possession edge but can't seem to do anything with it. 49': Ratzburg blocks a clearance attempt to give us the ball in a scary spot, but we end up pulling it out, Cooper ends up with a poor shot. 63': Campbell ahead to Davidson, Davidson with a run down the left, a cross into the area, Ratzburg with the finish! 67': Shakespeare with an interception in midfield, quickly ahead to Ratzburg, he holds up play, Cooper makes a run, Ratzburg finds him and Cooper finishes! 2-0 72': Cooper with a cross, headed to the other side, Davidson sends it back in... too far, but Cooper is there and gets it back to Ratzburg, a strong shot from close range, the keeper stops it, but can't hold, it hits a defender and goes in though. Own goal. 3-0 72': Perkins in for Tapia 80': Goodwin in for Navarro, Colangelo in for Davidson. 83': They take their first shot, but Davidson is there and blocks it. That's it! Atleticos Rio Piedras 0 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Patrick Ratzburg (8.3) Goals: Ratzburg, Cooper (7.8) Assists: Ratzburg 2, Davidson (7.0) Notables: Jackson (7.8), Forrest (7.6), Hernandez (7.6), Campbell (7.1), Shakespeare (7.0) Look at those defensive ratings! |
March 23rd, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (1-0-0, 2nd) vs Peoria Steamers (0-0-1, 14th) Attendence: 280 -- Home opener! Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson M: Wilkins/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Fisher ST: Navarro/Cole I leave the back line the same as last match since they all did so well, Wilkins gives Tapia a rest at MC, and changes at AM/up front. 3': We control midfield possession for a bit, passing up ahead, Navarro up to Cole, Cole 30 yards out, turns and finds Fisher making a run from the right, Cole shoots, clear cut chance from 18 yards out... he scores! 1-0 18': Navarro receives a pass from Wilkins, makes a little run... and takes a horrid shot from 25 yards out instead of looking for a pass to Cole or a pass out wide to Rose. 30': Rose with a cross into the 6 yard box, Cole heads it, goal!! 2-0 31': They get a lob ahead from a midfielder to a forward behind our defense, he probably takes it a little too close to Gyuan before trying his shot, still, clear cut chance and Gyan makes a solid stop. Shakespeare clears the corner. 41': DC Dan Hernandez is hurt and must leave the match. Galvis is in. 47': Poor defense by Jackson sees them get another through ball into the area and another clear cut chance, this one is just struck well wide though. HALF: Only 5 shots combined between the team, 3 of them clear cut chances, but luckily for us they ahve failed on both of theirs. We switch from a standard mindset to a defensive one for the second half. Retain possession. 52': Galvis takes a corner, far post, Forrest is there but heads it over. 56': They have a corner, taken out to the penalty spot, headed forward from there, and one of their strikers Sheehan heads it in. 2-1 65': one of their mids wins a ball from Fisher 1v1 with a nice tackle, he gets it forward quickly, Galvis makes a poor play on the ball and allows a pass to the penalty spot for their scorer Sheehan, where he does it again. 2-2 65': Back to standard play. 79': Shakespeare with a good ball ahead to cole, Cole gets by his man and has a clear cut chance, but its saved. Galvis takes the corner, near post, the defense struggles to clear it, Shakespeare gets in the mix and ends up poking it in! 3-2 83': Tapia in for Shakespeare, Ratzburg in for Cole. 91': Navarro with a good ball out wide for Fisher, Fisher crosses... Ratzburg with a strong shot, but it hits the post. That'll do it! Wake Forest 3 : 2 Peoria Their 2 goal scorer Sheehan is man of the match. Goals: Shakespeare (7.5), Fisher (7.2), Cole (7.8) Assists: Cole, Rose (6.8), Galvis (6.8) No one is awful or anything in defense. We actually out-shot them 11-4 by the end of that, they just got two pretty solid goals in a short span that evened it out. We did a very nice job staying composed and getting the lead back. No long term injury for Hernandez in defense. I'm obviously very happy with what I've seen from Fisher and Cole early on, Wilkins too at MC has been capable, which has been nice with Glaser injured. |
April Update
-- Pickering and Forrest both train well. Campbell trains poorly. -- The board is pleased with my leadership. Our 3-0 win over Atleticos Rio Piedras is the highlight. The loss of Samir Pace is a negative. We lost $27,810 last month. April 1st, 2016 Valdosta Victory (2-0-0, 3rd) vs Wake Forest Cougars (2-0-0, 2nd) Attendence: 287 Four teams are 2-0-0 early on. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Hernandez/Forrest/Varela M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Navarro/Cole We just play once a week for a couple weeks. I make changes to both fullbacks and both wingers. Counterattacking on the road today. 9': Davidson with a free kick from the left side, keeper catches it though. 11': Forrest fights for possession with a Valdosta attacker, the striker ends up winning though and gets a shot, Gyan saves, corner goes nowhere. 18': Navarro sends a ball out to the left for Davidson, he makes a short run into the area, shoots right as a sliding tackle is coming in, and scores! 1-0 26': Cooper with a corner, Hernandez with a header, just inches wide. 39': Cole with a free kick from 25 yards out, off the wall. 41': Shakespeare with an interception to start our offense, Tapia plays a beautiful long ball from our side of the field down the right side, Cooper gets to it near the end line, crosses immediately into the area and Navarro slams it home! Really, really happy with this play. 2-0 HALF: We have 55% of the possession, a 9-2 shots advantage, only 2 of them on target, but both in. 60': Cooper with a free kick from 20 yards out, a bit right of center, he shoots high. 69': A give and go play between two Valdosta attackers, they get a clear cut chance, but Hernandez makes a great tackle/dive to block the shot. There's a rebound though, clear cut chance #2... Gyan saves it! 75': Through ball down the right side for Valdosta, one of their strikers gets to it all alone, clear cut chance #3... Gyan dives and gets his hands on it. Corner for them. Gyan gets to it. 76': Wilkins in for Cole, Rose in for Davidson... We change to a 4-1-4-1 formation for the rest of this one. Tapia drops back to DMC, Wilkins MC, Navarro up front by himself. 87': Three passes in the penalty area for Valdosta, clear cut chance #4 and finally they get on the board, ST Zimmerman with a goal. 90': You don't see this often... they have a goal disallowed on a lob of a shot from the right side as their attacker was given a foul for running through Gyan to try to head it in. That's it! We were a bit shaky holding the lead in the end there, but we did. Valdosta 1 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (7.8) Goals: Navarro, Davidson (7.6) Assists: Navarro, Cooper (7.6) Notables: Hernandez (7.2) -- I tell the team that the first half was great but the second half not so much, most of the team has a positive reaction, Forrest and Tapia do not though. We are the only team to have won all our matches in league play left. |
April 8th, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (3-0-0, 1st) vs Lexington Thoroughbreds (1-0-2, 14th) Attendence: 290 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Rose/Cooper ST: Navarro/Ratzburg A couple changes today, not too many. Standard mindset at home. 3': Cooper with a free kick 22'ish yards out to the right of center a bit, he shoots, and its just perfect. Upper left corner of the goal, no chance anyone wuld ever stop that. 1-0 12': Campbell with some good D to bother an attacker, he eventually gets a cross in, Forrest heads it out. 15': Rose to Cooper for a rather difficult shot from 20 yards out, it hits the post, close. 15': Forrest with a yellow. 18': Cooper with a beautiful ball from 35 yards out into the area, Navarro sprints by his defender, strikes it with his first touch, and its a goal. 2-0 26': We win a ball off a goal kick ,its quickly up ahead, Wilkins to Cooper for a shot, but its a poor shot. 27': Wilkins up to Ratzburg, he sends it over to Navarro, shoots from 18 yards, goal!! 3-0 32': Wilkins with a nice pass ahead to Rose but Rose is clearly offsides, goal disallowed. 42': Wilkins with a long ball to Navarro, Navarro with a clear cut chance, but saved. Corner goes nowhere. 43': Ian Cooper is hurt and must leave the match. Adam Fisher is in. HALF: 8 shots to 3, 3 clear cut chances for us, we are in full control here. 47': They get a great look after a ball in from the right side, but shot right at Gyan. Corner goes nowhere. 56': An interception in defense triggers a very quick break for Lexington, 3 passes and they have a clear cut chance as ST Lee got behind the defense, but he shoots it over. 60': They finally get one back, Lee with good control of a cross and he has a nice finish from the left side of the area. 3-1 66': Some awful defending as Campbell comes out 30 yards from goal to defense a central midfielder with the ball, leaving his man all alone in the area... he receives the ball and scores easily. 3-2 79': Shakespeare in for Tapia, Galvis in for Forrest. 81': Hernandez with a nice long ball for Navarro, he's behind the defense, but they catch up before he can manage a shot, blocked. We hang on and the final 10 minutes are uneventful. Wake Forest 3 : 2 Lexington Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (8.8) Goals: Navarro 2, Cooper (8.2) Assists: Cooper, Ratzburg (6.8) Notables: Wilkins (7.3) This is the second time Wilkins has put up a rather strong rating without actually making any assists. Navarro is absolutely on fire for us right now, 4 goals in 5 matches. Injury Update Oh, bad news. AMR Ian Cooper has a torn hamstring and is going to miss 3-4 months. We have coverage here, and Adam Fisher has been an exciting young player for us early on, but Cooper is so reliable, losing him will really hurt. |
-- Leon Roth was playing in a reserve match trying to get match ready, he gets hurt in the match and is out for 2 more weeks.
April 15th, 2016 Fayeteville Liberty (1-1-2, 15th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (4-0-0, 1st) Attendence: 248 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Hernandez/Forrest/Varela M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Arredondo/Cole I haven't been playing Arredondo at all and he is unhappy, so I promise him some playing time. We coutnerattack on the road. 10': First shot of the game is from Shakespeare, its a real long one though, right at the keeper and saved. 28': Tapia with a nice interception, a quick pass ahead to Arredondo, up to Cole, he's got a clear cut chance, but saved. First two corners are both headed behind, 3rd corner is taken poorly. 35': Cole with a very strong free kick but high. 37': Davidson takes a corner, sends it to the far post, Forrest gets up and heads it, goal!! 1-0 38': Arredondo with a cross, earns us a corner, but corner goes nowhere. HALF: We have 5 shots to their 0, more possession and are better in every category. 47': Yellow card for their defender Estrada. 53': That's some awful defending right there, Forrest just doesn't turn around to run with an attacker making a run, and he gets an easy goal on us. That was their first shot. 1-1 83': Long time w/ no highlights, here they get a header off a cross just inches wide. 83': Wilkins in for Tapia, Ratzburg in for Cole. And that's it. Fayeteville 1 : 1 Wake Forest Our offense was pretty non-existent tonight, we just had the one set piece goal. Man of the Match: Brian Davidson (7.6) Goal: Forrest (7.2) Assist: Davidson Varela at DR has our worst rating with a 6.4, he was a part of giving up that goal, though I blamed Forrest for his crappy marking. |
April 19th, 2016
Atlantic Coast Cup - First Round Wake Forest Cougars vs Atletico de San Juan FC Attendence: 237 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Burke/Pickering/Varela M: Perkins/Wilkins AM: Colangelo/Crook ST: Arredondo/Ratzburg Lots of backups in today. Burke/Pickering have had match fitness issues, otherwise they would have been in the rotation already. We'll counterattack here as well against a stronger opponent. 1': Colangelo earns us a corner with a free kick, he takes the corner but its cleared out. 8': Really nice cross in from Colangelo, Ratzburg redirects the header into the right side of the net! 1-0 18': We win a header off a goal kick and its forward to Raztburg, he gets behidn the defense and just pulls up too early to shot. 20': Crook ahead to Ratzburg, he finds Arredondo, he's got tons of space, goes into the area, shoots... and beats the keeper! 2-0 22': Their first shot is considered a clear cut chance, but its ona through ball that went a little too deep, they have to shoot from basically the end line out left and the angle is too tight, its wide. 30': A nice lob from their right midfielder generates a clear cut chance from very close range, easy goal for them. 2-1 35': Through ball into the area for one of their strikers, I was 100% sure he was offsides... but not called. Gyan makes a really nice save though. 46': Another long ball from San Juan, they get a man open in the area behind our defense and Burke/Pickering just don't react. Its another clear cut chance and another goal. 2-2 HALF: Crazy, crazy half. they have 8 shots to our 7, each team has 3 clear cut chances. We do dominate the possession, but we seem really susceptible to their longer passes, at least from the highlights we've seen. 52': Perkins clears out one cross, they get a few passes around the area that is scary, but their eventual shot is well off target. 66': Crook clears out a corner, they get to it and shoot from long range, but high. 73': Galvis in for Burke, Navarro in for Ratzburg. 78': Colangelo with a run down the left and a cross, its pretty poor, but Arredondo hustles to get to it and heads it across the front of the goal, Crook is on it and shoots and scores! 3-2 88': Shakespeare in for Arredondo, Wilkins drops to DMC, Shakespeare to MC and we play a more defensive formation to try to finish this off. 90': We earn a corner on a nice counterattacking move, there's a foul on the corner, penalty given! Shakespeare takes it and buries it. 4-2 Wake Forest 4 : 2 Atletico De San Juan Man of the Match: Ryan Crook (7.9) Goals: Crook, Arredondo (7.9), Ratzburg (7.7), Shakespeare Assists: Colangelo 2 (7.8), Ratzburg, Galvis (6.9) Notables: Gyan (7.0), Perkins (7.0), Wilkins (7.6) Galvis drew the foul for the penalty. Shakespeare didn't play long enough to earn a rating. Wilkins with another very high rating despite no goals or assists. Pretty impressive win against a team from a higher division! -- We get $4,840 for the win. -- Arredondo scores his first goal for us, happy to see that. Injury Update Joe Pickering picks up an injury during the match and is going to miss 3 weeks. |
Atlantic Coast Cup - Second Round Draw
16 teams left, we're going on the road to play IMG Bradenton Academies. These Academy teams seem like some of the strongest in the amateur scene, so this is going to be a very difficult task. We'll play June 14th, so about 7 weeks away. April 22nd, 2016 Wake Forest Cougars (4-1-0, 1st) vs Jacksonville Cyclones (4-0-1, 2nd) Attendence: 273 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Navarro/Cole Standard mindset at home today. 1': We actually start with possession but give it away fairly quickly, they attack down the left side and a poor tackle attempt by Davidson opens up our defense a bit, but they miss a shot in a dangerous position in the area. 3': Davidson with a shot from the left side earns us a corner, we get a shot off the corner but saved. 7': Cole with a free kick from 20 yards out, just over. 14': They send a ball into the right side of the area and get a very good look, Gyan makes a good stop, Forrest pokes the reobund behind for a corner, which we clear. 17': Fisher to Cole but the pass is a bit too deep near the end line, he passes back out and Navarro gets a clear cut chance from 10 yards away, but their keeper makes a great save. 23': Gyan with his 3rd diving save of the match. 26': Davidson with a corner, taken to the near post, Hernandez is there and heads it in! 1-0 29': One of their strikers turns around Campbell 1v1 and gets a good look from the left side of the area, but puts it wide. 32': Minor injury for Tapia. 37': Jackson misses a tackle and it sets up an easy pass into the middle of the area for them, then a second pass to ST Salgado coming in from the right, and he scores esily. 1-1 HALF: Pretty action packed half here. Once again though we score on a set piece and struggle otherwise. We do have 7 shots to their 6, each team with 3 on target and 1 clear cut chance. But they have 59% of the possession and they are passing and tackling better than us, by a fair bit. I bring Wilkins in for Tapia at the half. 47': Fisher with a lob ahead to Cole, Cole makes a good run into the area and gets a shot off, its saved though, corner goes nowhere. 48': Shakespeare ahead to Davidson, his shot earns us another corner, which is cleared. 58': They earn a corner off a cross, but Gyan catches the corner coming in. 66': Arredondo is in at AMR for Fisher. Got distracted for a couple minutes here and missed one highlight, but the game ended pretty quickly after this. Wake Forest 1 : 1 Jacksonville Man of the Match: Brian Davidson (7.5) Goal: Hernandez (7.2) Assist: Davidson Campbell with a very poor 6.1 rating, Cole and Navarro were both quite ineffective too. |
North American Open Cup - First Qualifying Round Draw
This is after that long group stage for the teams below us. We draw a match against McLean Youth Soccer, an amateur team in the Colonial Amateur League, that's the same tier as ours. We play them on May 4th. -- DC Ashley Varela comes to talk to me about his playing time, its the second time this year. I tell him he's a backup and that's how its going to be, he is not happy with that response, so I release him. April 29th, 2016 Montgomery Yellowhammers (2-1-3, 13th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (4-2-0, 1st) Attendence: 1000 -- Wow these guys have a decent fan base. We played them in the North American Open Cup in our first season and beat them 2-1. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Hernandez/Forrest/Varela M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Rose/Fisher ST: Navarro/Ratzburg We change about half our lineup today, the fullbacks, Wilkins/Rose/Ratzburg in over Shakespeare/Davidson/Cole. Counterattacking mindset on the road today. 5': Good start! Throwin in our end, we work it up the right side, Fisher crosses in, Ratzburg gets the header and scores. 1-0 16': Coggins wins a tackle in midfield, ahead to Navarro who makes a run into the area, but then pulls it wide and tries a cross, they clear. 23': Navarro with a long shot, high. 26': Tapia wins a header on a goal kick, it ends up going between their DC's, Ratzburg is first to it and he's off... gets a clear cut chance, tries to chip over the keeper, but fails. 27': They get a clear cut chance of their own after a long ball to ST Long, but he takes a very weak shot and Gyan saves. 33': Rose to NAvarro for a pretty tough shot on the left side, he puts it wide. 35': We have a corner, taken to Hernandez, but tackled away before he can shoot, they clear it long and one of their strikers gets to it first for a break for Montgomery, the end up with a clear cut chance off it, but Gyan gets his fingers to it. There's a rebound but we clear. HALF: This is pretty close, we outshoot them 6-4 but they are generating better looks overall. 52': Navarro with a header after a corner by Fisher, easily blocked. 65': Coggins with a long ball down the left side, Rose gets it behind his man, makes a run down the side, cross into the area, Navarro is there and pokes it in! 2-0 74': Shakespeare in for Navarro, Arredondo in for Fisher. We drop to a 4-1-4-1 formation with Tapia at DMC. 79': Ratzburg picks up a minor injury. They can't do anything and we close it out easily. Montgomery 0 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Bob Varela (7.5) Goals: Navarro (7.3), Ratzburg (7.3) Assists: Fisher (7.0), Rose (6.8) Varela with a number of tackles this game, more than anyone else on the team actually (6, no one else had more than 2), I assume that earned him his rating more than anything. Injury Update ST Patrick Ratzburg hurt his elbow in the match today and is going to miss 3 weeks. |
May Update
We play on the 4th, 7th, 13th, 20th, and 25th. It looks like we could potentially add two more games into the mix if we win in the North American Open Cup. -- Adrian Salas trains poorly. You don't know that name? Don't worry, you don't need to. I notice that like 15 of our players are unhappy with their training. I look through my team's individual training and in every instance its because of poor quality of training that we offer. Tell the board, guys, they won't let me hire more coaches. -- The board is pleased with my leadership. Our 4-2 Atlantic Coast Cup win over San Juan is a highlight. Fans are complaining about DL David Campbell. He has been playing poorly, 6.50 average in 4 league appearances. We lost $17,000 last month. Our losses financially are almost all taxes. I assume that's because we have cash we aren't using. May 4th, 2016 North American Open Cup - First Qualifying Round Wake Forst Cougars vs McLean Attendence: 475 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Hernandez/Burke/Jackson M: Vega/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Crook Sean Rongen at DL, I remembered that I had been meaning to work him in more at DL once I saw the fans' complaints about Campbell. Vega is a DMC/MC that played some last year and wasn't bad. Roth makes his first appearance after a long injury process. 3': A long ball from midfield over my defense gives them a clear cut chance very early on, but Gyan positions well and their man is a bit wide, he can't score from the tough angle. 12': Shakespeare shoots from long range, very wide. 23': We watch a very long highlight, possession given away many times on both sides, finally Crook makes it down the right side, crosses, its through the area, Shakespeare ends up with it and pulls it out left... he tries a cross, blocked, he recovers, this time his cross is better, and Roth is there and volleys it in! 1-0 46': Shakespeare with a nice ball to the left side of the area for Davidson, he has a clear cut chance, but right at the keeper. HALF: We outshoot them 8-2, we are dominating in the air, which is the only real difference in any other stat outside of shots. 47': We change to a counterattacking style. 80': Back to a 4-1-4-1, Tapia in for Roth and at DMC. Wilkins in for Vega. 87': Crook wins us the ball with an interception, after some possession Davidson makes a run down the left, crosses in for Arredondo who has a clear cut chance, but its at a weird angle, I'm not sure why its considered such a good look... but anyway, saved. 90': They get a cross to the far post, they have a man there who appears alone with an open net, but Rongen comes in at the last second and heads it behind. We clear the corner. 93': They earn a corner off a cross, first corner is headed behind by Hernandez, the second is poorly taken and goes out of play on the other side. That'll do it! Wake Forest 1 : 0 McLean Man of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (7.6) Goal: Roth (7.1) Assist: Shakespeare Notables: Jackson (7.2) 6.8-6.9 from the defense, Davidson (6.5) and Arredondo (6.4) a bit lower than most. Arreddondo failed to finish multiple clear cut chances. -- We get $14,090 for this win, this is the cup worth way more money than it should be. |
-- Joe Pickering resumes full training, we need to get him ready to play.
May 7th, 2016 Wake Forst Cougars (5-2-0, 1st) vs Gainseville Gators FC (3-0-4, 11th) Attendence: 271 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Galvis/Forrest/Varela M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Rose/Fisher ST: Navarro/Cole wholesale changes on 3 days rest today. We are 1:6 favorites, for most matches so far the home team has been 5:4/road team 7:4. We're getting recognition for our strong start. Now we have to not choke when favored. 4': We have the ball near midfield after they clear away a corner kick.. one of their ST's challenges DR Varela and wins the ball, Varela goes down injured immediately. Their ST has a clear run to the goal but its a long one, Forrest catches up with him and goes after him. Forrest brings him down just outside the area. Play stops, Varela is hurt and must leave the match immediately. Forrest, well he's given a red card. So we're going to play 86 minutes with 10 men and just lost two players. Hernandez comes in for Varela. Shakespeare comes in for Cole. I move Tapia to DR, I don't have another defender available. I drop the midfielders back and we're in a straight 4-4-1. I tell the team to stall, to pass short, to drop back on defense and play at a slow tempo. 9': Yellow for their player named Roth, unsure what position. 14': Hernandez clears a ball off the line after its tipped by Gyan, we try a clear but its not fully out of the way, they get a long shot and its placed nicely for a goal. 0-1 30': We're watching them attack a lot, I just want this one over. They are missing lots of shots, or settling for long ones. 43': We control the ball in midfield, Rose makes a very long run on his own, he gets a cross in to Navarro, he's got a good look, but saved. They clear the corner. HALF: They outshoot us 9-2 and don't expect it to get any better. Maybe we can get lucky with something here. I bring MC Gary Glaser in for Fisher at the half, Fisher took a bit of a hit that tanked his fitness. Glaser will also be playing out of position. I'm trying to avoid an injury for Fisher. Also Glaser has had match fitness issues for awhile so I'm letting him run around for 45 minute here. 62': Gyan takes a goal kick long, it bounce over the defense and Navarro is off to the races. He gets what is considered a clear cut chance, but a defender has caught up to him and the shot is blocked 70': Mike Wilkins is hurt and must leave the match. We're down to 9 men. 83': Ronnie Navarro is hurt and must leave the match. We're down to 8 men. 84': Somehow we get a free kick from the left side, Galvis takes it, Glaser appears to be miles offsides, but its not called... and Glaser heads it in. I have no idea what I'm watching. 1-1 87': They earn a corner but take it poorly. 89': They get a clear cut chance in the area after a couple passes, but Gyan makes a diving stop! 90': Glaser picks up a minor injury. 90': There are SIX minutes of extra time today. 95': They earn one corner, headed behind.. another Tapia heads it out of the area. They try a cross but its a bad one. That's it. We get 1 point but lose like half our team. Wake Forest 1 : 1 Gainesville Somehow one of their players is man of the match. Somehow Gyan only has a 6.9 rating, despite stopping 5 shots, a couple in fairly spectacular fashion. Goal: Glaser (7.3) Assist: Galvis (6.8) -- I appeal Forrest's Red Card, I didn't think it looked bad at all, compared to other straight red highlights I've watched. Injury Updates MC Mike Wilkins has strained some ligaments in his knee and is out 2-3 months. DR Bob Varela has broken ribs and is out 2-3 months. MC Gary Glaser has a bruised rib and is out 2 weeks. Navarro is ok. The Wilkins injury sucks, he's been playing really well, he doesn't have any assists or goals, but most of our production has been coming from the wingers and forwards in this formation. Still he has an average rating of 7.03, which is not that far behind Shakespeare's 7.17, even though he has 4 goals and 1 assist. Ok, that disaster is over. On to the next one. |
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I'll probably be adjusting the money prizes in this cup, especially in the early stages, I think. |
-- The FA denies my appeal on Forrest's red card, he'll miss a match.
North American Open Cup - Second Qualifying Round Draw We draw Albuquerque United FC in the next round here. We'll be playing them on the road on May 18th. Albuquerque are in Gold Coast Division 2, that's one tier above us. May 13th, 2016 Wake Forst Cougars (5-3-0, 1st) vs Port Charlotte Barracudas (3-1-4, 12th) Attendence: 280 We lost to these guys in the group stage of the North American Open Cup in 2014, our only meeting. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Hernandez/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Crook ST: Navarro/Cole We're 1:6 favorites here today. 4': Yellow card for their defender Roselli. 9': really nice goal from Port Charlotte, a lob from the middle about 35 yards out to the left side of the area, extremely strong half volley from their left mid to score. 0-1 30': Rose with a lob down the left side to Navarro, he crosses into the area, Cole is there and volleys it in! He comes down on a defender and has to leave the match for a bit, no injury though. 1-1 43': Long shot for one of their attackers is high, they had a decent through ball and that could have looked more scary. HALF: They are actually outshooting us 6-1 here, outpossessing us as well. I tell the team that I'm quite unhappy with their play and I change us to an attacking mindset. Maybe playing a more open attacking game against a team we're supposed to beat will work better? 50': A cross from Rose in to NAvarro, he shoots and earns us a corner, but we can't do anything on the corner. 59': They have a goal disallowed due to offsides, pretty obvious offside. 60': Horrible pass from Tapia to give the ball away. It triggers a counter for Port Charlotte, and they get a goal from ST west from the penalty area after a pass in from the left. 1-2 65': Roth in for Cole. 73': Roth with a pass into the area for Shakespeare after a throwin, Shakepeare has a great look, but right at the keeper and he makes the save. 78': Jackson with a long clearance out of our end, Roth gets his foot on it, sends it ahead to Navarro who makes a nice move to get a good look in the area, and he scores! 2-2 78': I change both my wingers, Rose picked up a minor injury at some point. Davidson in for Rose, Fisher in for Crook. 81': Davidson ahead to Navarro, but his shot is wide. 89': They get a pass behind our defense but we catch up, they end up with a cross to a guy who is offsides. That's it, I think that's our 4th draw in a row in league play? Wake Forest 2 : 2 Port Charlotte Man of the Match is on their side. Goals: Cole (6.9), Navarro (7.7) Assists: Navarro, Roth (6.7) Jackson with a really poor 6.0 todya, lots of 6.4/6.5 ratings too. I tell the team that wasn't good enough. We're about halfway through the season, we play everyone once so 19 total matches before the split. We haven't lost a match and are still in first but we've tied in 4 of our last 5 after the 4-0-0 start.  |
-- Ratzburg resumes full training from his last injury.
May 18th, 2016 North American Open Cup - Second Qualifying Round Albaquerque United FC vs Wake Forst Cougars Attendence: 2869 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Arredondo/Roth We'll look to Counterattack today. 5': They get a very easy goal, a couple passes after a goal kick, through ball to ST Contreras and he finishes cleanly. 0-1 14': They have a goal kick, its headed backwards by one of their players, past their DC and Roth is first to it, he makes a run, pulls up and chips it over hte keeper, goal!! 1-1 16': Arrendondo to Roth, a shot is saved and we get a corner, corner is headed out. 27': We get two crosses in from the right, they head both away, but we control, we end up with a long shot from Shakespeare that is high. 35': They get a quick clear cut chance coming into a highlight, Gyan with the save though! 35': After a clearance out of our end the ball goes very deep in their end, they clear it poorly and we have many more men forward than they do, Shakespeare passes ahead to Roth and he finishes! 2-1 37': They get a through ball from the imdfield after just a few passes after kickoff and its another clear cut chance and another goal... 2-2 40': We get a ball up to Roth for what looked like a hat trick, but he's offsides. Both teams seem to have massive holes in the center of their defense. HALF: shots are 7-7, most stats are really even here, just a lot of exciting opportunities for both teams. 48': there it is!! We intercept a ball in defense and counter, Roth ahead to Arredondo, back to Roth, its a shot from 18 yards out, goal!! 3-2 64': Arredondo with a long shot that's just barely wide. 66': Its yet another through ball for a clear cut chance, but its saved by Gyan. 70': Burke in for a tired Pickering. 73': They get a great looking coutnerattack after a 1v1 tackle on Roth, some nifty passing while they move forward, an extra pass in the area after Gyan rushes out to try to stop a shot and its a goal. 3-3 86': Shakespeare with a free kick from 20 yards out, its by the wall, the keeper gets a hand to it but it goes right by and its in! 4-3 86': Perkins in for Arredondo, Tapia to DMC and we're going to try to defend this out in a 4-1-4-1 We're able to do it, that's it! Albuquerque United 3 : 4 Wake Forest Man of the Match : Leon Roth (9.6) Goals: Roth 3, Shakespeare (8.6) Assists: Roth, Shakespeare, Arredondo (7.5) Forrest with a 6.1 rating stands out here. What a crazy game, 16-13 in shots, 15 total on target, 8 combined clear cut chances, really fun one. -- We get $28,180 for this win. |
North American Open Cup - Third Qualifying Round Draw
We have to go on the road again, we're going to be playing the Virginia Rush, Colonial Division 2, one tier above us. This match will be in one week. We do play one league match in between. -- AML Luca Colangelo asks about his future with the team, he's a backup and that's all he'll ever be here, he wants his release so I give it to him. I'm way too happy with Rose and Davidson to try to work anyone else in just to make them happy. May 21st, 2016 Port St Lucie Galleons (4-1-4, 10th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (5-4-0, 1st) Attendence: 535 -- These guys are in Florida. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Hernandez/Jackson M: Sandoval/Perkins AM: Rose/Arredondo ST: Navarro/Ratzburg Arredondo will play AMR over Crook today (Fisher is tired), two backups at MC b/c Glaser is still not ready to go, Wilkins is hurt for a good long while yet, and Tapia/Shakespeare really need to rest. Glaser can come in as a sub but he's not good for more than a half. We'll look to counterattack on the road. 2': A poor pass from Arredondo gives the ball away in midfield, a long ball to a striker is very very poorly defended, there's a centering pass as Gyan was forced to come out and its a free goal for them. Poor play everywhere. 0-1 20': Sandoval with a long ball ahead, Ratzburg wins a header for it about 25 yards out, redirects it nicely to a charging Navarro, he shoots from 18 yards out and scores! 1-1 25': They get another clear cut chance due to what looks like poor defending, a very strong shot to the right side of the net, but Gyan dives and stops it! 43': Ratzburg gets a decent look from the edge of the area, but its taken pretty weakly and wide left. HALF: On our way to another draw? That might be ok, we are way behind in possession and with our two backup MC's are just struggling a lot. 56': They have a throwin deep in their own end, and take it poorly, we win it and Ratzburg has a good look in the area after a couple passes, but they block it. 71': They have a corner, taken into the 6 yard box and headed in. 1-2 71': Glaser in for Sandoval, Cole in for Ratzburg, and we will try to attack to get back even. 80': Perkins up ahead to Cole, he's covered well, almost tackled, but he turns and just blasts a shot from where he receives the pass and gets it by the keeper! 2-2 86': Scary free kick for them at the very edge of the box, it hits the crossbar. 86': Galvis in for Burke. 93': They get a clear cut chance on a pass in from the left, a near point blank shot but its taken very weakly and right at Gyan and he catches it. Another draw. Port St Lucie 2 : 2 Wake Forest I'm ok with this one, on the road with some weaker subs. Goals: Navarro (7.1), Cole (7.3) Assists: Perkins (6.8), Ratzburg (6.7) Campbell 6.3, he continues to to suck |
May 25th, 2016
North American Open Cup - Third Qualifying Round Virginia Rush vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendence: 1562 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Pickering/Forrest/Diaz M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Cole/Roth We counter on the road today. 24': Davidson with a free kick, taken into the area, Cole is brought down, penalty! Shakespeare takes it and scores! 1-0 34': Pickering comes out too far to defend a midfielder when there's a striker right next to him, the ball is passed ahead and its a clear cut chance, but sent high. 40': Free kick for Tapia, cross into the area, Cole strikes it and scores! 2-0 HALF: Only 3 shots for each team, but we have 2 goals to show for it, very good! 52': corner for Davidson, we can't get a shot off it, but the ball stays in the penalty area for what seems like forever, clearances are blocked, eventually Roth ends up getting brought down and its our second penalty. Shakespeare gets his second goal. 3-0 59': We'll go into a defensive mode here. 66': Fisher with a cross into the area, Cole with a clear cut chance, but saved. 75': They finally get one back on a throwin deep in our end, a pass into the area and a way too wide open shot given the set piece. 3-1 75': Glaser in for Roth, we'll go to a 4-1-4-1. We hold on easily, no more threats from virginia. Virginia 1 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (8.8) Goals: Shakespeare 2, Cole (8.1) Assists: Cole, Tapia (7.4), Roth (6.8) Notables: Diaz (7.0), Forrest (7.3), Pickering (7.0), Coggins (7.0) Good ratings from defenders, its been a little while since we've seen that! -- We receive $105,000 for this victory. |
Maunabo... forgive me if I missed it, but where are they from?
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Another club in the mod from Puerto Rico |
North American Open Cup - First Round Draw
Well, our run ends here. We're at home but against the New York Cosmos in the NASL, they started in MLS but got relegated. We have a couple weeks until this match. -- All of the other cups pick back up/start in June as well, so June is going to be packed with games. May 31st, 2016 Carolina Giants (4-2-3, 13th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (5-5-0, 3rd) Attendence: 98 -- These guys actually play in La Carolina, Puerto Rico, not North or South Carolina. Its a long trip to play in front of 98 people. -- We'rd 3rd due to everyone around us having 1 more match. If we win we're back to first. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Pickering/Hernandez/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Gallardo ST: Navarro/Roth Gallardo gets a shot at AMR with Cooper still hurt and Fisher tired. We're going to be rotating our lineup a lot over the next few weeks. We'll counter attack on the road. 1': Rongen gives it away pretty early and they look to attack, but Joe Jackson makes a good one on one play to win a ball in the area as they look for an opening. 8': They earn a corner on a cross, but Tapia heads it away. 10': They earn another corner on a cross attempt, we struggle to clear, but Pickering eventually gets it away. 15': They have 65% possession early on. Every highlight is of them attacking, but they haven't managed a shot yet. 33': We control the ball on the right for awhile,Shakespeare makes a good pass ahead to Roth who has a clear cut chance, but its saved. 36': Gallardo shoots on a free kick, high. 37': They get their first shot, but blocked, we look to counter, but their defense makes an interception in the end. 39': Davidson receives a pass just outside the area, he makes a great cut to get by his man, crosses it, Roth is there and volleys it in! 1-0 HALF: So despite most highlights showing them attacking, we actually outshoot them 9-1, we win 81% of our headers and 100% of our tackles so far to control the game. Possession evened out at 50% finally. 50': We win a header on a goal kick to take possession, ahead to Navarro, to Gallardo coming in from the right, clear cut chance... but saved. Corner is taken to Pickering, he's tackled, foul! Shakespeare with another penalty goal. 2-0 55': Davidson takes a corner, Pickering is on it and shoots, but blocked, rebound falls to Roth and he puts it in! 3-0 72': Shakespeare intercepts a clearance, ahead to Roth, he hits Gallardo cutting in, another clear cut chance... saved again. 72': Galser in for Shakespeare. 77': A goal kick takes a high bounce, over our defense and one of their ST's gets on it, he gets a good look and scores. 3-1 That's it! Carolina 1 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Leon Roth (8.8) Goals: Roth 2, Shakespeare (7.3) Assists: Davidson 2 (7.7), Pickering (6.8) Notables: Hernandez (7.0) 6.8/6.9 everywhere else. Roth now has 5 goals in his last two starts. |
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Yup, its a city on the southeast coast. |
June Update
-- We play on the 3rd, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 24th, at least. The North America Amateur Cup begins in June too, the draw is soon and it will mix up the schedule a bit. Most of these will be cup matches. -- Brian Williams trains well, he's still getting fit after long injuries. -- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Team atmosphere is good, David Campbell is bad. We made $142,000 last month thanks to the North American Open. Injury Update AMR Ryan Crook is hurt in a reserves match designed to keep his fitness up and he's out 6-7 weeks. Cooper is still out for at least a month, but we have 3 guys who can play the position adequately after Fisher that we'll be giving a try. Arredondo, Gallardo and Michael Maurer, a youngster from last year who plays ST/AMR that has never really gotten a shot. June 3rd, 2016 Wake Forest Cougars (6-5-0, 1st) vs Kendall SC (3-2-6, 17th) Attendence: 271 -- This is our last league game for awhile. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson M: Vega/Perkins AM: Rose/Fisher ST: Arredondo/Cole My midfielders worry me today. We are big favorites here so I am going to go ahead and play an attacking style. Its raining today. 5': Their player Wichmann wtth a card. 5': Perkins with a shot after a cross in on a free kick saved easly. 10': Fisher passes ahead to Cole, its tackled awy from him, loos ball comes to Fisher, who shoots, but wide. HALF: 35 minutes without a highlight and we're at the half. They are trying hard to defend I guess. 3 shots to 1 in our favor. I take the aggressive option and tell them I'm not happy, they are motivated, all of them. 49': Cole ends up with a shot after a throwin deep in their end, not a great one really. 70': This isn't getting us anywhere, I tell the guys to hit their crosses earlier and to play a more direct game. 79': Shakespeare, Navarro and Maurer in for Perkins, Arredondo, and Fisher. 85': They get a bit of a breakaway but can't hit their shot at all, well wide. That's it. Wake Forest 0 : 0 Kendall SC They packed in their defense nicely and we couldn't figure out a way to break it down. Man of the Match: Joe Jackson (7.1) Notable: Forrest (7.0) We fall to second, too many draws here. |
-- "Media-Friendly boss Richard Dixon will celebrate his 100th game as head coach ... in the North American Open Cup on Wednesday"
hooray for 100 games. June 8th, 2016 North American Open Cup - First Round Wake Forest Cougars vs New York Cosmos Attendence: 500 -- New York are on top of the NASL and a favorite to get back into MLS. Uh-oh. Starting Lineup GK: Garcia D: Rongen/Galvis/Guerrero/Diaz M: Glaser/Castro AM: Salas/Arrendondo ST: Alvarez/Maurer Who? Exactly. We play 3 more times in the next 13 days, all matches way more winnable than this. I tell our 3rd stringers (and below in some cases) that there is no pressure. 3': Some decent tackling by Rongen to stop an attack, and a save by Garcia, they earn a corner, galvis heads that away. 5': First clear cut chance for them, wide. 7': Ok we're averaging over a highlight a minute they're attacking so much. I drop us down to key highlights only. 12': There's their first goal, Diaz tried to clear a cross, but they head it back forward and get a nice shot. 0-1 29': Goal #2. 0-2 34': #3, their striker Ibanez intercepts a short goal kick and takes it himself. 0-3 .. I drop it to commentary only and there isn't any point in writing up more. 64': Until this! A lob pass from Castro ahead to Maurer, he heads it into the center of hte area for Alvarez who volleys it by the keeper! 1-6 91': Maurer is hurt and must leave the match. Wake Forest 1 : 7 New York I'm sorry to run any of these guys out there into this slaughter. Injury Update Michael Maurer is going to miss 2-3 months with an ACL injury. He missed his entire first year with a very long injury, and now this. I was going to give him some time somewhere before Cooper came back. |
Atlantic Coast Cup - Quarterfinal Draw
-- We haven't played our round of 16 match yet, but the draw for the quarters happen here. If we can manage to beat IMG Bradenton, we'll play the winner of Montgomery Yellowhammers/Boise Roughriders. Old North Cup - Semifinal Draw -- We haven't played our quarterfinal match yet. If we beat Twin City to advance, we will get destroyed by Wilmington or the Carolina RailHawks in the semis. June 11th, 2016 Old North Cup Quarterfinals Twin City Patrol vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendence: 317 -- We've played these guys twice, each team winning once. Both meetings were in 2014. Being in a higher division than them now we are 2:5 favorites even on the road. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Pickering/Jackson M: Castro/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Arredondo ST: Cole/Roth Mostly starting caliber guys here but some backups to try to even out my strength over the next couple short rest days. We're going to try to attack the weaker opposition. 3': A long pass in from Arredondo to Cole leads to a clear cut chance, Cole should have gotten a bit closer before he shot though, he just stopped 20 yards out. Wide. 4': Some nice passing as Shakespeare puts it ahead for Roth for a clear cut chance, just inside the area, but again wide, that was a much better look. 7': Third clear cut chance of the match, Davidson crosses in to Cole, he hits Shakespeare trailing the play unmarked about 8 yards out, easy eays finish. 1-0 14': Clear cut chance #4 as Roth gets it ahead to Cole, Cole is really struggling to finish, right at the keeper. 17': they take their first shot, way high on a penalty. 24': Two bad giveaways, one by Shakespeare, one by Castro, eventually they find their way forard for a shot, but high. 31': Arrodondo sends it ahead for Roth, he takes a difficult shot from the right side of the area, keeper stops it, but there's a rebound, which Davidson puts into the open net. 2-0 45': Arredondo takes a corner, Burke heads it, saved. HALF: 8 shots to 3 in our favor, but we have 5 clear cut chances, and converted two of them. We're dominating this one. 59': Pickering tries to clear a ball with a header but can't quite get it, they get a clear cut chance from ST Cullen, but Gyan does a good job rushing out and stops it. 62': Shakespeare ahead to Roth for clear cut chance #6, saved. Corner is terrible. 76': Diaz in for Jackson, Perkins in for Shakespeare We close this esaily. Twin City 0 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (7.7) Goals: Shakespeare, Davidson (7.4) Assists: Roth (6.8), Cole (6.7) Notables: Jackson (7.0), Pickering (7.0), Burke (7.4), Campbell (7.1) Roth and Cole should have scored so much, we had 7 clear cut chances and only got 2 goals. Its ok though, we dominated a team we're supposed to dominate. We advance to the semis of the Old North Cup where we will get destroyed by Wilmington or Carolina. |
June 14th, 2016
Atlantic Coast Cup - Second Round IMG Braddenton Academies vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendence: 231 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Hernandez/Forrest/Jackson DM: Tapia M: Rose/Castro/Perkins/Fisher ST: Navarro So we're pretty big dogs here, I'm going to go with a 4-1-4-1 for it. Defensive mindset. I could field a stronger team but we play again in 3 days, trying to find a little balance. 8': Gyan makes 3 saves in about a minute. 22': Rose is hurt and must leave the match. Shakespeare is in. 29': Forrest with a yellow. 33': Shakespeare ahead to Navarro, he holds the ball up and draws 2 defenders, Perkins makes a run, Navarro finds him and he scores from 15 yards out!! 1-0 40': We earn a corner but can't do anything with it. HALF: They outshoot us 8-6 but only put 1 on target, they had a couple very threatening flurries but we seemed to handle it quite well. 49': Yellow for their midfielder Morales. 51': They get a break on a counter after we turn it over in the midfield, there's a long ball from midfield ahead to a striker who has a step on our defense and hits a nice shot. 1-1 55': They earn a corner, we head it behind, second one is cleared by Tapia. 61': Sandoval in for Castro. 82': They take a long shot, on target but Gyan easily scoops it up. FULL TIME: They are more in control of things now, but anything can happen at this point. We didn't shoot a single time in the second half. Arredondo in at MR for Fisher. HT ET: The first extra time period goes by without a single highlight. 112': Navarro picks up a minor injury. 113': A poor header by Hernandez gives one of rhtie strikers a clear cut chance from the edge of the area, but he puts it wide. 116': Lots of pressure now, we clear a cross after some buildup, but they get forward again, a shot is taken from 20 yards, wide. FULL TIME. We go to penalties. So we know penalties are a little ridiculous in this version so lets just see what happens. Both teams make their first 5 penalties. We get to 7-7 when they take one right at Gyan and he stops it. Coggins steps up with a chance to win and scores!!!! IMG Bradenton (7) 1 : 1 (8)p Wake Forest Man of the Match: Bayard Perkins (7.4) Goal: Perkins Assists: Navarro (6.8) Notables: Jackson (7.0), Hernandez (7.1) Gyan gets a 5.7, is that because of the penalties? -- The draw for the next round has already occurred, we play league rival Montgomery Yellowhammers in the quarterfinals! -- We get $9,680 for this win. Injury Update Navarro is ok, but AMR Dylan Rose is out 3-4 weeks with a leg injury. |
North America Amateur Cup - First Round Draw
We still haven't played our qualifying round match yet, its coming up soon against Nomads FC, if we win we get a home game against Palm Bay Pelicans, they're in the tier below us so if we get there we'll be favored. June 17th, 2016 Caguas Huracan (2-5-5, 18th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (6-6-0, 2nd) Attendance: 186 -- Our first league match in awhile since June is tons of cup play. We've been playing too many draws in league play lately, we really need to win here against a bottom feeder. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Pickering/Burke/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Cole/Roth We have so many tired guys, |I should have held a lot of our reserves out of our last reserve match and played some younger guys here who may not get so complacent vs a bad team. But lets see how it goes. We will attempt to attack against the weaker side here. 1': They start with possession but give it away quickly. We work the ball forward, Shakespeare heads it ahead, Roth has it, ahead to Fisher, a cross, Cole with a header in the box, its in! 1-0 8': Pickering with a yellow. HALF: No more highlights after the first minute goal. We have 4 shots to their 1. I do drop back to a standard mindset in the hopes of not giving up a stupid goal on a counter or something, and we go forward. 48': Tapia a yellow. 53': Shakespeare gives it away int he midfield, they get a run down the right, a cross to the center of the area, a pass to the left side for a wid eopen man who scores easily. 1-1 58': Our defense falls apart and they get a ball into open space for a clear cut chance, but Burke rushes over and gets to it just in time to block it. Corner goes nowhere. 59': Lets attack again. 69': Davidson ahead to Campbell, a cross in to Fisher, the area is crowded though, its blocked. 72': We set up with some very nice passing, Roth over to Cole, their defense opens up, Cole hits Shakespeare making a run right down the middle, and Shakespeare scores! 2-1 77': ratzburg in for Roth, Castro in for Tapia. 78': Davidson earns us a corner after a long run down the left, corner is cleared. 86': They take a tough shot from the right side of the area and Gyan makes a nice save, they earn a corner, corner is headed behind by Davidson, second one goes nowhere. 86': Hernandez in for Burke. We hang on for the win, our first league win in awhile. Caguas Huracan 1 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Colin Cole (7.8) Goals: Cole, Shakespeare (7.3) Assists: Cole, Fisher (6.7) Notables: Pickering (7.0), Campbell (7.1) Nice to see Campbell have a good game, he's been really struggling. Roth had a poor one, 6.3, lower than everyone else out there. -- We move back up to first with that win, 1 point ahead of Maunabo. Probably most importantly, with only 6 matches to play before the league split, we're 9 points clear of 11th place. Back to cup play for the rest of the month. -- Pickering's yellow earns him a 1 match suspension. |
June 21st, 2016
North America Amateur Cup - Qualifying Round Wake Forest vs Nomads SC Attendance: 220 -- We're only 5:4 favorite here but this is a lower division team at home, we really should win. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Forrest/Hernandez/Diaz M: Perkins/Castro AM: Salas/Arredondo ST: Navarro/Ratzburg Some reserves play today in Rongen, Diaz, Castro and Salas. We will attack. 18': They score on a really nice highlight, the first of the match. a lot of quick passing, and a nice give and go lets one of their ST's get an easy shot. 0-1 26': Gyan picks up a minor injury. 29': Salas with a minor injury. 32': We earn a corner but its cleared. 33': Ratzburg with a shot in a crowded area after a cross in from Arredondo, but wide. 37': Navarro with a minor injury, ugh. HALF: We shoot 3 times to their 2, this has been a pretty crappy game. I bring Cole in for Navarro and reserve GK James Barton in for Gyan, both b/c of their injuries. 63': Arredondo ahead to Castro, a pass into the area for Ratzburg, he's 10 yards out, a little wide, its a nice finish. 1-1 70': We intercept a throwin, a quick pass ahead to Cole and a shot from 20 yards, but wide. 72': Watching a highlight with us on offense, we have 3 players offsides as Arredondo looks to make a cross... 85': There's a lot of back and forth, turnovers in the midfield, then Castro just launches a long ball from midfield, its very high, Cole does an immaculate job controlling it as it comes down, and he blasts a shot in from 15 yards! 2-1 No more highlights, we'll advance in this tournament. Wake Forest 2 : 1 Nomads FC Man of the Match: Colin Cole (8.2) Goals: Cole, Ratzburg (7.2) Assists: Castro 2 (7.5) Notables: Rongen (7.4), Salas (7.1) Some solid play from some younger guys today, I like it. -- We receive $239 for this win. Har. Injury Update -- Shit. Ronnie Navarro is out for 6-7 weeks. -- Adrian Salas is out 5-6 weeks, slightly less of a big deal. -- Amidu Gyan is out for 3-4 weeks. So we lose our top striker and our starting keeper for a significant stretch, very unfortunate. Our backup keeper is out for a bit too, Barton, the kid that came in for the second half of this one, is my 3rd stringer. |
June 24th, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (7-6-0, 1st) vs Cape Coral Iguanas (6-1-6, 10th) Attendance: 283 -- We're pretty heavy favorites in this one. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Coggins/Hernandez/Burke/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Gallardo/Arredondo ST: Cole/Roth Injuries to AM's and forwards are running us a little thin here. We get a much, much needed week off after this one. Standard mindset at home today. 4': Coggins with a long ball up to Cole, we're in a real dangerous position, he sends it out to Gallardo, cross to the 6 yard box, Roth heads it... somehow wide. I don't see how you miss that. HALF: And... that was the only highlight. We shoot twice, they shoot once. Ratzburg is in for Roth, both are tired so I knew going in they would split time here. We're going to try to attack harder in the second half. 56': Free kick from near the edge of the box, Cole hits the crossbar with it. Close. 58': They get a breakaway after a defender gets caught out of position (Hernandez I think), Barton rushes out and gets his hands on a shot though and they earn a corner, which we clear. 77': Glaser and Perkins in for Tapia/Shakespeare. We'll look to play more direct and try to get forward faster, and to shoot on sight. 91': Another period of poor positioning leaves an opening for one of their strikers, Barton stops one shot, but there's a rebound and they put it in. 0-1 And that's it. Our first loss of hte year in league play. Wake Forest 0 : 1 Cape Coral We just struggled to get anything done here. We did end up shooting 7 times to their 6 but only managed 1 on target all match, a very bland performance, hopefully a wake up call. We fall to second with the loss but are still 9 points clear of 11th. |
Injury Report
We get the regular injury report from our physio, its probably the worst I've seen: AMR Ian Cooper, MC Mike Wilkins, DR Bob Varela, AMR Dylan Rose are "Close to being ready to return" - but all of these are long term injuries and their fitness is going to suck. GK Gyan and AMR Ryan Crook are still a few weeks away. ST Ronnie Navarro, ST Michael Maurer, AML Adrian Salas are all on the long term injury list. Whew. -- Cooper and Wilkins were really just days away from full training, so that's really good to see. July Update -- Going into the month we have matches scheduled for the 1st, 5th, 8th, 12th, 15th, 20th, and 29th. -- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Team atmosphere is a positive, a 2-2 draw with Port Charlotte is a negative (really?). We lost $9,940 last month. July 1st, 2016 Wake Forest Cougars (7-6-1, 2nd) vs Naples Bay FC (4-7-3, 13th) Attendance: 283 -- We're only 5:4 favorites here, I guess that's what one loss will do. Good. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Campbell/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Glaser/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Roth/Cole A much stronger lineup with Davidson/Fisher. Glaser and Campbell are in b/c their morale is a littler higher than Coggins/Tapia at the moment. We're going to start out attacking. 2': A long ball from Jackson, a clearance really, but Roth gets behind the defense and has it all by himself after a high bounce... he's 1 on 1 with the keeper, but his shot is blocked. Disappointing. 21': We give up a clear cut chance as a striker on a run just isn't tracked by Forrest. They put it high though. 21': Another clear cut chance after the goal kick, some nice dribbling by their striker created an opening, Barton made the save. 35': We get a corner, Fisher ends up with a shot wide. 42': They earn a corner after a cross into the area, Barton is able to catch it though. 47': Another cross in for them, their man holds it up, passes out a a guy at the 20 yard mark, he lobs it forward and a shot comes in from close range, but Barton gets in front of it, seems like our 3rd string keeper is having a pretty good day here. HALF: They outshoot us 7-5, possession is even, they're slightly better in the air but overall things look incredibly even. We drop back to a standard mindset at the half here. 52': Pickering is injured and he's done for the day. Hernandez is in. 56': A give and go on th right with Fisher and Cole, Fisher ends up with a shot that earns us a corner, which is cleared out. 67': Roth with a free kick from 20 yards, unsure if its a mis-hit or a pass, but he launches it into a crowd, Cole is the first to be able to control it and he shoots and scores! 1-0 77': Their 3rd clear cut chance as a long ball gets a man behind the defense, and its once again on target and once again Barton blocks it. 78': We answer with a clear cut chance of our own very quickly, Roth to Cole who has a great look but puts it well wide. 84': Tapia in for Glaser, Gallardo in for Davidson. 93': They have a pass in from the left side, a striker gets behind our last defender, he doesn't shoot right away, Barton rushes out, the attacker runs left and seems to have a wide open net... but I guess he has poor control of the ball? He overruns it and ends up trying an awful shot from the end line that hits the side netting. They should have tied it up there. And we luck out and hold on for the 3 points. Wake Forest 1 : 0 Naples Bay One of their defenders is man of the match. Goal: Cole (7.2) Assist: Roth (6.7) Notables: Jackson (7.2), Shakesperae (7.1) Barton ends up with a 6.8 in goal. -- We jump back up into first with that win.  We will be in the top half after the split. We've been in first place for most of the season, its extremely close but obviously our goal here is going to be to win the league. |
-- Dylan Rose and Ryan Crook are back to full training. Along with Cooper and Wilkins coming back a week ago, we're starting to regain some strength.
July 5th, 2016 Old North Cup Semifinal Wake Forest Cougars vs Carolina RailHawks Attendance: 500 -- We sell this one out We are slight 30:1 dogs here. :P Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Campbell/Galvis/Forrest/Diaz DM: Williams M: Rose/Glaser/Wilkins/Cooper ST: Arredondo So we field a mostly reasonable lineup here, but its really not as strong as it looks, as I'm using this to get Rose, Wilkins and Cooper match fit again for upcoming league play. We'll defend. 1': One of their mids Valentino picks up a very early yellow. 4': They get another yellow, it was a long name though i missed it as it went by. 34': Damn, Rose goes out hurt. Gallardo is in. 42': They get a long ball behind the defense, and a clear cut chance, but its put over. 45': Corner for Carolina, Williams makes a good tackle to stop the initial shot , but there's a second cross in and its a goal for Carolina. 0-1 HALF: They out-shoot us 10-1, its not quite as close as it looks. Perkins is in for Wilkins. 70': Fisher is in for Cooper, so I get two of my three recently recovered players out of there without hurting themselves. 83': DR Diaz is hurt and must leave the match. We used our subs on more important players so we're down to 10 guys. 87': Arredondo picks up a minor injury. That's it. Wake Forest 0 : 1 Carolina A couple poor'ish numbers, 6.2's from Diaz and Arredondo, nothing worrisome in this one though, we were never going to win. Injury Update DR Diaz is going to miss 4-5 weeks with the injury he picked up today. ST Arredondo is going to miss 3 weeks with an elbow injury he picked up. Both of these do hurt our depth noticibly. We're out of a few cups now though, we're still in the North America Amateur Cup and the Atlantic Coast Cup, but we get to focus a bit more on things now. |
North America Amateur Cup - Second Round Draw
We still have to play Palm Bay in the first round, but if we do win, we'll be at home against Queen City SC, a canadian squad in the same tier as us. July 8th, 2016 Saturn FC (7-6-2, 3rd) vs Wake Forest Cougars (8-6-1, 1st) Attendance: 269 -- Saturn is in East Point, GA. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Rongen/Pickering/Hernandez/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Ratzburg/Cole We play a cup match in 4 days but really we have a legit shot to win this league and auto promote, I am not letting up here, we'll play a weaker lineup in the Amateur Cup. Counter attacking on the road today. 10': Cole with a free kick just outside the area, a fair bit right of center, his shot is over the wall and into the upper right corner of the net, great shot! 1-0 13': Hernandez with a good recovery as an attacker gets by Pickering and gets a clear cut chance, Hernandez gets a foot out and blocks it. 22': Fisher with a run down the right and a cross, its a horrible cross, but Cole gets to it near the end line, all he can do is weakly head it at the keeper though... somehow the keeper bobbles it and it slips through his hands and in. Own goal! 2-0 26': Saturn gets their second shot, and second clear cut chance, well wide though. 31': Davidson intercepts a pass near midfield, one pass to Ratzburg, he plays a very nice lob over the defense, they cry for an offsides but its not going to be given, Cole controls it, shoots, and scores! 3-0 38': Shakespeare sends it out wide for Fisher, a cross.. Cols is there and its a clear cut chance, but the keeper makes a nice diving stop, almost got the hat trick! Hernandez with a header off the corner, but wide. 44': They get a bit of a breakaway after a long pass, there's a shot, Barton gets a finger on it, and its just enough to redirect the ball into the post, and it bounces away. Whew. HALF: We are playing great here! 47': We have a very deep throwin and work it into the area, t hey clear but we recover, Davidson gets it back into the area for Ratzburg, he makes a very nice pass to Cole for a clear cut chance, but the keeper stops it. There's a rebound, it falls to Fisher and he puts it in! 4-0 75': Glaser in for Shakespeare, Gallardo in for Davidson. 78': Saturn gets their 5th clear cut chance of the day and it hits the post. 83': They finally get on the board on a very difficult shot from the far left side of the area. 4-1 89': One more shot at a hat trick for Cole on a long ball from Gallardo, but he can't finish, its wide. That's it, great win! Saturn FC 1 : 4 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Colin Cole (9.3) Goals: Cole 2, Fisher (9.2) Assists: Fisher 2, Cole, Ratzburg (8.3) Notables: Barton (7.1), Jackson (7.1), Hernandez (7.0), Pickering (7.2), Rongen (7.1), Davidson (7.3) Tapia is the only starter not mentioned here, 6.8 for him. -- Colin Cole was a youth pull this year, he looked good enough to give a shot along with our other strikers, but I never expected this. In 12 league matches, Cole has 7 goals and 3 assists and a 7.18 average rating. In 17 total matches including cup play, make it 10 goals/6 assists. |
-- Gyan resumes full training. Barton has done great as a backup, but I'm happy to have him back anyway.
July 12th, 2016 North America Amateur Cup - First Round Wake Forest Cougars vs Palm Bay Pelicans Attendance: 221 Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Rongen/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Williams/Perkins AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Goodwin/Roth Brian Williams gets his first start at MC, he's fallen out a good bit since I am not running a DMC frequently, I've been having him train as a central midfielder and he's ok at it now. With Arredondo, Maurer and Navarro all hurt I give Ben Goodwin a start at striker. We'll play a standard game here. 16': We've seen two highlights, both shots from Davidson off free kicks, both fairly close but off target. 18': Another davidson free kick, wide. 24': After a lot of possession deep in their end, Rongen sends a pass to Davidson in the left side of the area, he shoots from a tough angle and scores! 1-0 32': We see the first Palm Bay attacking highlight, they put a shot over from 20 yards. 35': Davidson with a long pass ahead to Goodwin, he's behind the defense, has a clear cut chance, but it is from a bit of a wide angle, and he misses. HALF: We outshoot them 6-2 and appear to be the clear better team here. Possession is even though and it looks like we're relying on superior tackling to prevent them from getting any sort of attacking going. 46': We get a run down the right from Fisher and a cross to Roth right off the start, but Roth just heads it very weakly and their keeper picks it up. 50': A bit of a breakaway after they try to tackle the ball from Roth, he passes ahead to Goodwin but Goodwin's shot is saved easily. Wasn't a clear cut chance for some reason. 56': We pass it around the midfield for a good while, finally Fisher with a great pass into the area for Goodwin, a clear cut chance... saved. 58': Gallardo in for Davidson, Crook in for Fisher, to keep Davidson/Fisher as fresh as possible since Cooper/Rose aren't quite fully strength yet. 70': They build up down the right side, get a pass into the area and its a clear cut chance as Burke is out of position, Barton makes a nice save. 75': Corner for Palm Beach, we clear once, they recover and send it back in but a shot is blocked and cleared. 75': We change to a counterattacking style. 78': They get another corner, taken out to the penalty spot, and volleyed into the net through the crowd of people there. 1-1 79': They get the ball back, passed ahead to a striker 20 yards out, Forrest is right there covering him, Forrest goes for the tackle and he just got straight up beaten 1v1, their striker into the area and drills a shot in. 1-2 79': We'll look to attack. 83': Cole in for Goodwin, for one last push. 84': Williams with a ball ahead to cole, out to Gallardo, he puts a cross into the area, Cole gets his head on it, it hits the crossbar and goes over. 86': We attack hard after winning a ball in midfield, Roth crosses into the area, a clear cut chance for Cole, but pushed away. Rebound to Cole, he's a bit wide right so its a tough angle, and he can't get it by the keeper. Damn! 90': Williams ahead to Cole after a battle in the midfield for the ball, Cole is completely unmarked... but he pulls up from 20 yards to shoot instead of going harder at the keeper. His shot is wide. 92': We again get the ball forward, Cole has it outside the area, he finds Perkins making a run into the box, Perkins chips it over the keeper who rushed out, and scores!!!! 2-2 FULL TIME: Holy crap that was exciting. Cole was everywhere as a super sub in the final 10 minutes. But now, he's got to be out thre for another 30. Ok, well, lets go win it. We continue to attack. Screw penalties. 95': Jackson to Perkins after a throwin deep in their end, Perkins shoots from outside the area, high. 98': Barton with a long kick, Williams heads it on, Cole wins it over his defender and knocks it forward, he's about 30 yards out at this point, he rushes on to the ball, has his man beaten, shoots and scores! 3-2 105': Gallardo with a pretty awful giveaway in midfield, they rush up ahead, there's a long ball that I thought Barton could have come out for, but didn't. They cross into the area, thre's a shot, off the crossbar and back into play, Barton dove for it, and the rebound gets put into the net. 3-3 On to the second half of extra time. 106': Crook with a really pretty lob into the area for Cole, their defense is back and its crowded, but the keeper had to come over to Cole since it was so close to the goal, Cole lays it off for Roth who puts it in very easily. 4-3 106': We will try to defend this out. 112': They work it into the area for a shot but we have men back and Forrest blocks it. 118': They give the ball away on a pass back from a midfielder to a defender, after a Roth to Cole pass he ends up wtih a clear cut chance, but saved. We run out the clock from there, wow that was crazy! Wake Forest 4e : 3 Palm Bay One of their guys scored two of their goals for man of the match. Goals: Davidson (7.2), Perkins (7.4), Roth (7.5), Cole (8.2) Assists: Cole 2, Williams (7.5), Rongen (6.9) Goodwin with a pretty poor 6.2, if he could have finished once or twice I wouldn't have had to run Cole out there for 45 minutes. -- We receive $374 for this win. -- Our next cup match isn't until August. We will finish out the 3 games left before the league split next. We're already in the top half of the split but we're playing to win the league now so every point is critical. |
July 15th, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (9-6-1, 1st) vs Hattiesburg Rebels (7-3-6, 7th) Attendance: 268 -- There are 7 teams with either 23 or 24 points right now between 6th and 12th, and one with 25, another with 22, so there's a crazy crazy fight for the top 10 spots in the league, Hattiesburg is mixed up in that. -- We are 1:6 favorites at home today, ugh. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Hernandez/Pickering/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Ratzburg/Cole We are going to attack from the outset, I also try shorter passing and shoot on sight instructions, I dunno about using shoot on sight, I hope that it helps to prevent some of the spots where we just see 35 minutes fly by w/ no highlights, make something happen, etc. 4': Davidson hits Shakespeare on a run into the area for a clear cut chance, but blasted right at the keeper. 8': Fisher with a long cross through to the opposite side of the area, Davidson brings it down fairly well and gets a shot, but off the post. 10': fisher has a cross cleared out but we recover, Jackson feeds it right back forward to Shakespeare, back to the right edge of the box for Fisher, and there's that shoot on sight instruction I guess, he takes a shot instead of centering it, and he floats it above the keeper and itno the back corner of the net! 1-0 14': We build up down the right side, it goes to Cole, who pulls out wide instead of cutting toward sthe goal, he crosses through the 6 yard box.. the keeper *really* should have just picked that up, but he doesn't move, Daivdson is on the receiving end and puts it in. 2-0 31': Fisher ahead to Cole who shoots from the edge of the box, saved. We get a corner, they head it but can't clear, we get a second shot, from Ratzburg, the keeper dives for it and pushes it to the side, where Pickering puts in the rebound! 3-0 34': They get one back on a cross and volly, we had men there and it was a nice shot under a little pressure. 3-1 36': I change to a counterattacking mindset. I was tempted to keep the pressure on as it appears like they are crumbling against it, but I don't want to risk allowing another silly goal, at least before the half. HALF: Well that strategy worked great, at least in this situation. We get 13 shots to their 2, control 57% of the possession and are just playing spectacularly well. I remove the shoot on sight instruction and change to retain possession, we'll see how this goes. 47': Free kick for Tapia just outside the area, his shot is high. 50': Free kick from the left for Davidson, he crosses in, Cole heads it, saved. 55': Cole with a nice lob ahead to Ratzburg for a clear cut chance, but he can't finish. He should have had that. 62': Roth in for Cole, we play again in 5 days and I want Cole playing then. 64': They cross into the area, shot is blocked behind for a corner. Pickering wins a contested header on the corner to clear. 76': Gallardo in for Fisher, Glaser in for Shakespeare. 91': They shoot a free kick over the bar. That's it! Wake Forest 3 : 1 Hattiesburg That first half may be the strongest half we've played all year. Man of the Match: Adam Fisher (8.3) Goals: Fisher, Davidson (7.2), Pickering (7.4) Assists: Shakespeare (7.1), Cole (6.8), Ratzburg (6.7) Solid work from everyone today. |
July 20th, 2016
Mayaguez FC (5-2-10, 18th)) vs Wake Forest Cougars (10-6-1, 1st) Attendance: 432 -- We played them in the Atlantic Coast Cup earlier in the year and won 3-1. We're even money to win this one, making Mayaguez 11:5. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Hernandez/Pickering/Varela M: Williams/Wilkins AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Roth/Cole A few changes today, Bob Varela and Mike Wilkins get their first starts since coming off injuries. We will use the same instructions from last match, attacking, passing short and shooting on sight. 1': We kick off and get down the field twice only to lose possession, we turn it over in midfield and they have one long pass to a striker who outruns Pickering, gets a clear cut chance from just inside the box and scores. 0-1 6': Fisher with a long ball to Cole, its way wide right though and he tries a shot from a crazy tough angle, wide. Guess I can't complain about that if we use the shoot on sight instruction. 11': A free kick near midfield, after a couple passes Cole sends it into the area for Roth, clear cut chance and a great look really, somehow he misses. 17': I've seen Wilkins try 3 lobs for Cole and all of them given straight to a defender. 18': Davidson into the area for Roth who has another decent look, but wide. 23': They get two strikers moving forward a bit , I keep expecting one to play a through ball to the other, but he doesn't, he just runs straight by Hernandez and scores... damn. 0-2 33': A long ball for them to ST Maldanado, he has both goals so far, he gets behind the D but puts this one wid.e 38': A cross from them to Maldanado, he earns a corner as a shot is blocked. Corner is saved. 39': Roth with another shot well wide. HALF: The stats are even but they've gotten a couple good goals where we look like shit. Two things kept coming up in higlights, Wilkins giving the ball away and Roth not able to come remotely close to the target. Shakespeare and Ratzburg are in at the half. I go with the aggressive "play better" talk. 72': We have a corner cleared out but recover possession, Shakespeare ahead to Ratzburg in the area, he lays it off to Cole who shoots from the penalty spot and scores! 1-2 75': We build up again and Shakespeare finds Cole for another clear cut chance, but saved. There's a rebound but its pretty wide and Ratzburg can't finish. 80': Throwin real deep for them, there's a pass into the area and a shot, Gyan dives to save it. Corner is cleared, but they recover and send it back into the area, offsides called. 85': Fisher is hurt and must leave the match immediately. Gallardo is in for him. 89': Overload it is! 90': We get a corner, taken poorly right at the keeper and caught. 91': We earn a corner, Shakespeare takes it, earns a second. This one is headed around a few times, before we get our third corner. Next one is cleared. 94': Shakespeare tries a desparate shot from very long range, no luck. Mayaguez FC 2 : 1 Wake Forest Perhaps too aggressive early on the road. Goal: Cole (7.2) Assist: Ratzburg (6.7) Wilkins and Roth left with 6.2's. Pickering 6.3. We've played better. Injury Update AMR Adam Fisher is going to miss 2-3 months with the injury he picked up today. Crap! Fisher has a 6.97 average in 19 matches played, he's been solid for a 14 year old youth pull. We are very, very close to having access to both Cooper and Crook again, so the timing is good I guess. |
North America Amateur Cup - Third Round Draw
-- We still haven't played our second round match. If we win vs Queen City, we will play Potomac in the Colonial Amateur League, the same tier as us. -- Arredondo begins full training, that'll help with depth up front. -- Ronnie Navarro resumes full training. Yesss. -- The 2016 Copa America has been completed. Chile first, Venezuela second, Brazil third, USA fourth. July 29th, 2016 vs Wake Forest Cougars (10-6-2, 1st) vs Maunabo (9-5-4, 3rd) Attendance: 313 -- Obviously a key matchup against the #3 team. Despite this we are listed as big 1:2 favorites. Hopefully that doesn't mean we have complacency issues. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Crook ST: Navarro/Cole Navarro is match fit, but barely. He'd fall out of fitnes if I didn't play him, so I'll see how he does. Maunabo is led by Lionel Romano, he leads the league in goals with 10 in 15 matches. Cole is #3 on that list with 8. We will close down on Romano and tackle him hard. Standard mindset, short passing but ditch the shoot on sight order for now. 6': They get a corner, a header.. just barely wide, whew. 8': Forrest heads away a dangerous cross. 15': They control it down the left side, there's a cross to the penalty spot, Romano is there, we have two men near him, Burke tries a header and whiffs, Romano scores. 0-1 19': Our first shot is a difficult one from Crook, well wide. 30': Burke a yellow. 37': A horrid pass from Jackson gives the ball away deep in their defensive end, but they try to pass it through the penalty area to clear, Cole intercepts, shoots... off target. HALF: We look bad. Real bad. Only 3 shots for each team but they got the one easy one. We need to generate more chances here. 49': Corner for us, taken to the near post, Burke heads it... saved. 55': Burke comes too far out to defend a midfielder and they get an empty hole to pass the ball to Romano, he has a clear cut chance... but hits the crossbar. 58': We tackle the ball away from one striker as he looks to get into the area, but they recover and immediately cross into the 6 yard box and find a very easy finish. 0-2 68': They get another clear cut chance on a cross in from the left, but Gyan saves. We clear the corner. 69': Ratzburg for Navarro, Gallardo for Crook. 73': Ratzburg with a shot from 20 yards out, hits the post, rebound to Cole who puts it in... but offsides. That's it, we watch them attack in one last highlight and its over. Wake Forest 0 : 2 Maunabo I dunno why we're 1:2 favorites over a team that we're only 4 points ahead of, I don't know if we're entering a slump here or if this is the annoying bit of playing like crap when favored. Cole with a 5.8 today, Burke a 5.7, Campbell 5.9. Real ugly. We've now played every team once and the league splits in half.  Sucks to be Gainesville, 4 points off of the playoffs but because of just 1 goal they're bottom half instead of top. We'll play every other team in the top 10 one more time. First though are a couple more cup matches. |
-- Michael Maurer resumes full training.
August Update -- We currently are scheduled to play on the 3rd, 10th, 13th, 19th, 28th and 31st. Our first two matches are cup matches (Atlantic Coast Cup and North America Amateur Cup), so the schedule will get busier if we win in either of those. -- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our fantastic league performance is a highlight. There is still disappointment over Samir Pace being released back in January... WTF. We lost $14,960 last month. August 3rd, 2016 Atlantic Coast Cup - Quarterfinal Montgomery Yellowhammers vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendance: 988 -- Montgomery is 18th in our league. We're 2-0-0 lifetime against them, including a 2:0 road win earlier in the season in league play. -- We are 4:7 favorites here. Starting Lineup GK: Garcia D: Rongen/Burke/Forrest/Varela M: Glaser/Wilkins AM: Gallardo/Arredondo ST: Ratzburg/Roth We go with backups in many positions here, and we're going to play a counterattacking game on the road with these guys. 16': We have a throwin in their end, we pass it short around the right side near the area, Roth with a pass to Arredondo near the 6 yard box, he shoots and scores! 1-0 22': Montgomery with a through ball to the right side of the area, their shot is wide though. 29': A very quick counter for Montgomery after winning a ball in their own end. A long ball to ST Donnelly who is really fast, but Forrest gets back just in time to block his shot. 44': Clear cut chance for Roth as we intercept a pass in midfield and Arredondo sends it ahead. The shot is saved though, corner goes nowhere. HALF: We only managed to shoot twice in the first half, but we only allowed 4 shots. Possession is fairly even, we are much better tackling and winning balls in the air though. 47': Ratzburg to Wilkins, Wilkins gets it ahead to Roth who has a clear cut chance.. but saved. Roth could have finished that, but Wilkins really made a poor pass, Roth had tons of space in front of him but the pass was behind him and made him slow down for it. 60': We watch a long highlight that involves Gallardo giving the ball away three separate times, they finally get it forward and get a shot from 20 yards, its a dangerous one but saved by Garcia. 68': Gallardo with a first touch pass to Roth as we work the ball around the offensive end. Roth is in a great position and scores! 2-0 70': A poor clearance attempt from Varela gives them a solid look in the area, Burke blocks it though, corner goes nowhere. 72': Cooper in for Arredondo, Perkins in for Wilkins. Cooper's first appearance since a very long injury. 73': A long ball out of our half is chased down by Ratzburg, he outran a defender who should have been there first, Ratzburg crosses into the area and Roth heads it in, very nice! 3-0 82': They earn a corner, we head the first one behind, second corner is cleared by Glaser. 86': Varela heads a cross behind for a corner, Gallardo heads the second one behind for another, we clear that one out. Good win! Montgomery 0 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Leon Roth (9.4) Goals: Roth 2, Arredondo (7.6) Assists: Roth, Ratzburg (7.5), Gallardo (8.4) Notables: Garcia (7.0), Varela (7.6), Forrest (7.8), Burke (7.0), Rongen (7.4), Wilkins (7.5), Glaser (7.0) The entire starting 11 is over 7.0 today. -- We get $19,370 for winning this one. We're on to the semifinals of this tournament, thanks in part to some good draws along the way. Two of the three teams left are in the division above us. |
Atlantic Coast Cup - Semifinal Draw
We're going to be going on the road, but it is going to be against the one team left in our current division, the Valdosta Victory. The other semifinal is Atlanta FC vs CASL Chelsea, both a division above us. Valdosta is second in the league right now so that will add some excitement to the matchup. -- We won't play them until late September. Injury Update -- MC Ashley Sandoval is hurt in a reserve match, 2-3 weeks. -- DL Coggins is hurt in the same reserve match, 2 weeks. Coggins shouldn't have been playing in that match, I must have overlooked something when it asked me about making players available. August 10th, 2016 North America Amateur Cup - Second Round Wake Forest Cougars vs Queen City SC Attendance: 223 -- We'd love to win this but we play a critical league match in 3 days, so that takes priority. -- Queen City is 3rd in the All American Amateur League, same tier as us. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Pickering/Hernandez/Varela M: Williams/Perkins AM: Gallardo/Crook ST: Goodwin/Roth The rare start for Ben Goodwin. Otherwise, lots of backups/interchangable players. Standard mindset at home. 2': Extremely pretty play. A ball ahead from Rongen, volleyed back by Goodwin to Perskins. Perkins back ahead to Goodwin, another first touch pass, this time to Roth in the perfect position, and he scores! 1-0 7': They have a corner, its headed in the area about 5 times before we finally get a clearance. 12': A long shot from Williams is strong and on target, but saved. 12': We switch to counterattacking. 19': They pass it around in front of goal for awhile before getting a clear cut chance from 18 yards out, but a shot is just high. 21': They even things up, a nice cross to the far post from the right side, easy header and goal. 1:1 21': Back to standard play for us. 31': Perkins with a yellow. 36': Hernandez with a goal saving block on a shot after a through ball, Gyan rushed out for it and ended up way out of position. HALF: They have slight edges in possession, shots taken, and passing. We are better in the air and are tackling well. The big problem I suppose is that they've generated 3 easy chances, and we're lucky to have only allowed one in. 50': Yellow for Hernandez 52': Their fourth clear cut chance comes after a long ball, again our defense recovers pretty well to challenge the shot, and Gyan gets in front of it. THey earn a corner, which is taken poorly. 54': They get numbers forward after an interception and get clear cut chance #5, its wide. 59': After a throwin there's a cross into a crowded penalty area, Goodwin tries to shoot but blocked. 66': Crook intercepts a pass to start a break, ahead to Roth, ahead to Goodwin, he gets a decent look from 18 yards out, trie to chip it over the keeper rushing out.... hits the crossbar. Close. 88': We make three changes to try to get an edge in extra time. Navarro in for Goodwin, Cooper in for Crook, Glaser in for Williams. FULL TIME: They seem like the better team today, but we've still got a chance. 104': they get a cross into the area and attempt a shot, but blocked. HT ET: on to the second half of extra time. Our guys are exhausted. They are too i'm sure. 107': Gallardo ahead to Roth for a shot, but highly contested and Roth puts it over. Just nice to see an offensive highlight! 109': Varela starts a break with an interception, ahead to Cooper, long run down the right, a cross... Navarro shoots, but its blocked, corner. Gallardo with the corner, Navarro with a header towards the goal, keeper blocks it but can't hold it, Pickering is there to put in the rebound! 2-1 109': Lets defend this one out, and hold on to the ball more. 119': Roth to Navarro for a shot from 20 yards, just wide. We hang on to the lead! Wake Forest 2e : 1 Queen City Man of the Match: Joe Pickering (8.4) Goals: Pickering, Roth (7.3) Assists: Gallardo (6.8), Goodwin (6.7) Notables: Hernandez (7.0), Rongen (7.0) Most of the defense are given good marks, Varela a 6.5 is the big exception. We got very lucky here, we allowed tons of easy looks and they just didn't convert. -- The draw for the third round has already taken place, we will travel to play Potomac in a week. They're in the same tier as us. -- We receive $746 for winning this one. |
August 13th, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (10-6-3, 1st) vs Maunabo (10-5-4, 3rd) Attendance: 265 -- We lost to these guys in our last league match just a few weeks ago, 2:0, also at home. We are again listed as 1:2 favorites, pretty silly imo. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Arredondo ST: Ratzburg/Cole Counterattacking mindset from the start today. 8'; Yellow for midfielder Sanchez. 18': Davidson with a pass into the left side of the area for Shakespeare, he shoots, and its a pretty arcing shot into the back corner, very difficult! 1-0 21': They get a cross into the area in a very dangerous spot, Forrest blocks a shot though, corner. Forrest also heads the corner away. 33': Davidson plays a beautiful long ball into the area for Ratzburg, he's tackled... but no penalty given, bullshit! Cleared out, but back to Davidson, he sends another cross in, Cole is able to get to it and puts it in, but offsides. 34': Cole with a quick shot from 25 yards out, saved. Corner is cleared. 37': They get a man wide open in the box after a cross, its shot to the near side of the goal, Gyan makes a great diving stop. HALF: Maunabo have outshot us 7-2, but they've only put 2 shots on target, the same as us. Our goal from Shakespeare really was a bit spectacular though, so we feel lucky. I'm not sure we can sit back and look to counter all match, but we will at least start the second half that way. 49': Cole gets a little space for a close range shot, but saved. Corner goes nowhere. 50': I add the "exploit the left flank" instruction, Davidson is so much better than Arredondo, lets get it to his side whenever we can. 57': A Tapia free kick earns us a corner, we get a header off it but nothing threatening. 73': We give up a corner, but it could have been worse, Burke made a quick move to block a shot, they can't do anything on the corner. 74': We change to a 4-1-4-1 to try to hold this lead. Crook in for Arredondo, Crook is better at MR. Tapia to DMC, Glaser in for Ratzburg to add the extra midfielder that we need. 78': We are passing it around the midfield, all of a sudden Shakespeare makes a run, Davidson lobs it ahead to him, Shakespeare stays strong and gets past one tackle attempt, recovers and shoots from the edge of the box and scores! 2-0 That'll do it! Wake Forest 2 : 0 Maunabo So much better than the last time we played. Man of the Match: Brian Davidson (8.9) Goals: Shakespeare 2 (8.8) Assists: Davidson 2 Notables: Jackson (7.1), Forrest (7.2), Burke (7.4) I'm really happy to see Davidson man of the match over the goal scorer, from the highlights I saw Davidson was definitely the key guy here. -- Valdosta loses today, so we gain a little breathing room: 1. Wake Forest - 39 points ---------------------------- 2. Valdosta - 35 points 3. Maunabo - 35 points 4. Saturn FC - 33 points 5. Cape Coral - 33 points ---------------------------- 6. Lexington - 31 points 4 points clear in 1st place, 8 points clear for a playoff spot. 8 matches to go. |
August 17th, 2016
North America Amateur Cup - Third Round Potomac vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendance: 79 Potomac is in our tier in the Colonial league system. Starting Lineup GK: Garcia D: Rongen/Pickering/Hernandez/Varela M: Williams/Wilkins AM: Gallardo/Crook ST: Roth/Navarro We're going on 4 days rest and play again in 3 more days, so we swap out literally our entire lineup here. Counterattacking on the road. 7': We build up down the left side and get a number of men fowrard, Williams with a ball into the area for Roth, he controls it, lays it off to Gallardo who shoots and scores! Nice play from Roth to make the extra pass there. 1-0 19': We get a counterattack going, Navarro sends it out left to Gallardo, ahead to Roth, he tries a shot, but blocked. 31': Williams wins a ball in our end, quickly to midfield for Roth, he sends it long for Navarro, who breaks behidn the defense. He's got a great look, clear cut chance, but its well wide, poorly taken. HALF: We are dominating here, 60% possession, 5 shots to 1, far better passing/tackling/heading. We just need to not lapse and give up a poor goal. 54': They get a cross and easy goal, but, their man was miles offsides. 56': This time, no offsides. Their ST de la Rose gets open in the area, Garcia gets a hand on the shot but its in. 1-1 58': They send a cross in, but Hernandez heads it out. They recover and work their offense again, a striker just sprints by Hernandez to receive a pass and easily pokes it in. 1-2 70': We'll attack to try to get even here. 82': Garcia catches an errant cross and kicks it long. Williams at midfield, ahead to Roth, Roth sends it left to Gallardo, he makes a run into the area, gets his own chance, and scores!! 2-2 82': Cooper and Perkins in for Crook and Wilkins. FULL TIME: Potomac played much, much better in the second half, but we got even and can still advance. We watch one corner kick, only highlight of the first 15 minutes. 119': Leon Roth picks up a minor injury, ugh. On to penalties, nothing at all happened in the extra time. Brian Williams misses our first penalty kick. That would usually mean this is a done deal b/c penalties are weird in FM14, but they miss their 3rd penalty wide, so its 2-2 after 3 kicks each. After 5 shots each we're tied at 4 and have to keep going. I'm worried when Roth steps up for our 7th kick, his fitness went to shit when he got hurt, but he scores. After 8 kicks we're tied at 7. Both keepers score on the 11th round, 10-10 and back to the start. After 15 kicks its 14-14. The 17th kick taken by Potomac is saved by Garcia, he dove the right way and got his hands on it! DR Bob Varela steps up with a chance to win the game, and does so. This is so silly. Potomac (15) 2 : 2p (16) Wake Forest Man of the Match: Jeff Gallardo (8.8) Goals: Gallardo 2 Assists: Roth 2 (7.6) Varela with a 5.9 in defense, Wilkins and Crook 6.4's. This is probably the first time I've ever been impressed by Jeff Gallardo, he's been a deep bench option for me for 2 years now -- We receive $3,730 for this win. Injury Update ST Leon Roth has a hamstring injury that will keep him out 5-6 weeks. Assuming he needs some practice time to re-gain match fitness after he comes back, he may not play again this year. Roth has been a secondary option in league play, just 2 goals in 7 matches, but he's started 10 times in various cups and has been an absolute beast, scoring 8 goals and making 6 assists in those 10 matches. |
North America Amateur Cup - Fourth Round
We're down to 16 teams here, as we hope to make deep runs in both the Atlantic Coast Cup and this Amateur Cup this season. We're going to have to play on the road in the next round, against Montgomery County of the All American Amateur League, same tier as us. That match will be on the 31st, we've got two league matches between now and then. August 20th, 2016 Port St. Lucie Galleons (7-6-7, 10th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (11-6-3, 1st) Attendance: 528 -- We are slim 5:4 favorites here. Our first match earlier in the season was a draw. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Arredondo ST: Ratzburg/Cole We'll counterattack, its working. I go ahead with the "exploit the left flank" instruction out of the gate. 1': They attack immeidately, building up quickly, a cross comes in from the left to the far post, they have two men there competing to head it in, one guy gets it, easy goal. 0-1 17': We get a shot off a corner, saved easily. 29': We have a throwin in their end, Davidson gets a shot from a tough angle, but saved. 30': We're going to attack the rest of the half. 43': Ratzburg hits Cole who has a clear cut chance at the edge of the box, he can't beat the keeper, saved. 46': They get a quick counter after a bad pass by Arredondo, there's a long ball to ST Johnson he's well behind our defense and has a very easy goal. 0-2 HALF: Awful game for us so far. I tell the team I think they're playing like shit and we will continue trying to attack. 58': Davidson is out near midfield, plays a long ball into the area for Cole, he has a good look, keeper rushed out though to cut off his angles, and its saved. 71': Well this is over. A cross in from the left, easy header, easy goal for them. Just not our day. 0-3 73': They do the exact same thing, run down the left, cross, header. 0-4 73': Goodwin in for Cole, Rose and Cooper in for Davidson and Arredondo, both are still struggling with fitness after countless injuries. That'll do it. Lets get the hell out of here and forget this happened. Port St Lucia 4 : 0 Wake Forest Its really hard to play when you give up a goal 30 seconds into a match, but boy did we fail everywhere here. 5.6 Forrest, 5.9 Burke, 5.6 Campbell. Cole with one of his worst games at 6.1. They actually only managed to shoot 5 times, and only 1 was a clear cut chance, but they converted everything. 1. Wake Forest - 39 points -------------------------- 2. Valdosta - 35 points 3. Maunabo - 35 points - 1 less match played 4. Saturn FC - 34 points 5. Cape Coral - 34 points --------------------------- 6. Jacksonville - 31 points 7. Lexington - 31 points - 1 less match played Maunabo and Lexington have a game in hand, a Maunabo win would bring them to within 1 point of us. Valdosta lost again though so that helps us. |
Injury Update
-- Ronnie Navarro twists a knee in training and is out 4-5 weeks... probably done for the year. Losing him and Roth within a week of each other really, really hurts. -- ST Don Saunders is hurt and out 5-6 weeks. I normally wouldn't mention this, but well, he's a striker. All of a sudden we don't have a whole hell of a lot of those. August 26th, 2016 Wake Forest Cougars (11-6-4, 1st) vs Hattiesburg Rebels (9-3-9, 9th) Attendance: 283 -- We beat them 3:1 at our place back in July. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Forrest/Jackson DM: Williams M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Crook ST: Cole With such limited depth up front, we'll go back to the formation that we used all of last year, 1 striker and a DMC. Standard mindset today. 4': A nice cross from Crook to Cole sees him put it in the net, but he was offsides. 11': Free kick for Davidson just outside the area, he shoots, high. 31': Throwin in their end, we work it to the opposite side of the field, and back again, but lose it before we can attack. they counter quickly and get a man up for a shot, but saved easily. 39': Crook earns us a corner with a cross attempt, corner goes nowhere. 43': We are dominating possession but they have 4 shots to our 1, here we see one go way wide. HALF: We just aren't looking all that great, all the possession but we can't put it together. One of the coaching notes is that Cole is making lots of errors. I don't really want to bring him off though. 50': They have a corner, taken far post, a header is blocked... another header for them, blocked again. WHEW. 61': They have a corner, cleared and we coutner. Crook ahead to Shakespeare, ahead to Davidson... offsides. 65': Jackson ahead to Crook, their defense is back... but a defender just falls over, slipped in the rain I guess. Crook walks into the area, takes a clear cut chance, and scores it! 1-0 66': Lots of passing through the middle for us, a poor pass is cleared but we regain control and go up the middle again, Shakespeare puts a nice through ball into the area on the right side, Crook shoots from basically the same spot as his last goal, and its the same result, goal! 2-0 67': Hernandez in for Burke 73': Lets defend. 83': Free kick from Tapia, he crosses into the area , Forrest with a header, it hits a defender, falls to Davidson and Davidson puts it in! 3-0 That's it, good recovery from our last match where we got crushed 4:0. Wake Forest 3 : 0 Hattiesburg Man of the Match: Ryan Crook (8.9) Goals: Crook 2, Davidson (7.9) Assists: Jackson (8.1), Shakespeare (7.9) Notables: Gyan (7.0), Forrest (7.5), Campbell (7.5), Williams (7.2), Tapia (7.1) Burke and Cole are the only two not to get 7's out of the starting 11. 6 matches to play unless otherwise noted: 1. Wake Forest - 42 pts ----------------------- 2. Valdosta - 38 pts 3. Saturn - 37 pts 4. Maunabo - 35 pts - 8 left 5. Cape Coral - 34 pts ----------------------- 6. Jacksonville - 31 pts - 7 left 7. Lexington - 31 pts - 8 left Maunabo could get to 41 points, just 1 behind us, with their two games in hand. |
-- Maunabo make one of their matches up and win it, so they're 4 points behind us with a match in hand now.
August 31st, 2016 North America Amateur Cup - Fourth Round Montgomery County vs Wake Forest Cougars Attendance: 200 -- We're actually underdogs against a team in the same tier as us, Montgomery are even money favorites. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Pickering/Hernandez/Jackson M: Williams/Wilkins AM: Davidson/Crook ST: Ratzburg/Cole We have a week between matches after this and Ratzburg/Cole has been pretty great up front for us. We'll look to counter today. 20': They work the ball forward slowly after a midfield free kick, a cross into the area, a shot from very close range, but two defenders there, one blocks it and it goes behind for a corner, which we clear. 26': Cole to Ratzburg for a shot, its usually the other way around, Ratzburg's shot is blocked and its a corner, which goes nowhere. 30': Goal kick from Gyan, Wilkins heads it on to Cole, Cole ahead to Ratzburg immediately, he shoots and scores from the top of the circle! 1-0 Solid finish. 31': Campbell with a hard tackle just outside the area, its a yellow for him. The free kick is on target, Gyan jumps up to turn it over the bar. Corner is held by Gyan. HALF: They outshoot us 5-3, and one of their plays was pretty dangerous though we did have a lot of men back at the time. But we've got the goal. 49': There's a pass by our last defender to a striker, that's going to be a clear look from inside the area, Gyan rushes out, and the shot is taken weakly right at Gyan, saved. 62': Cole to Ratzburg again, he shoots from 20 yards, well wide. 71': A long throw from Jackson... like, just on our side of midfield, it goes by everyone and starts to roll towards the penalty area, Ratzburg beats everyone to it, chips it over the keeper, goal! 2-0 71': Cooper in for Crook, Perkins in for Wilkins. 76': Yellow for Hernandez 78': Williams with a yellow. 81': Throwin deep in our end, headed forward by Davidson to Ratzburg, he passes to Cole and Cole has all the space in the world... he pulls up and shots from 20 yards out instead of attacking further, saved easily. 82': They get a pass ahead to a striker and Hernandez is just standing there watching it happen, guy goes by our defense and scores easily. 2-1 91': Perkins ahead to Cole, over to Ratzburg for our 5th clear cut chance of the match, but this one is saved. Corner generates a shot but its wide. 92': Ratzburg earns us a corner from a cross, Cooper takes it, earns a second corner, Davidson takes this one, to Pickering, but its almost over, he sends it back to Davidson, he gives it away but its too late. We advance! Montgomery 1 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Patrick Ratzburg (8.8) Goals: Ratzburg 2 Assists: Cole (6.9), Jackson (7.1) Notables: Wilkins (7.1) Hernandez takes the blame for the goal and gets a 6.3. Davidson had an off game for him, 6.5. -- We get $11,190 for winnign here today. -- Ratzburg had played over 10 hours without scoring before this, but honestly I didn't notice. At one point he was leading the Atlantic Coast Amateur League in assists. -- A couple weeks ago Port St Lucie crushed us 4:0. Well, they just did the same thing to Maunabo while we were playing in this cup match. There was a mostly full slate of league matches today, so we actually have the game in hand now: 1. Wake Forest - 42 points - 6 left ----------------------------------- 2. Valdosta - 41 points - 5 left 3. Maunabo - 38 points - 6 left 4. Saturn - 37 points - 6 left 5. Port St Lucie - 36 points - 5 left ------------------------------------ 6. Cape Coral - 34 points - 6 left 7. Hattiesburg - 33 points - 5 left 8. Jacksonville - 31 points - 5 left 9. Lexington - 31 points - 7 left Everyone but the Carolina Giants in 10th place has a real shot at making the playoffs still. Port St Lucie has stormed up into contention after crushing us and Maunabo. We still sit in first of course but Valdosta is there if we slip up. We're in great shape to make the playoffs, but we've sat in first for so long, anything but 1st would be real disappointing now. |
-- Hernandez is at his yellow card limit, which is only 2 which is silly but whatever. He'll miss our next match
September Update -- We play on the 6th, 9th, 14th (North America Cup), 17th, 21st(atlantic cup), 24th, and 30th. -- We play #2 Valdosta twice in a row, in the Atlantic Coast Cup on the 21st, and again on the 24th in league play. -- The board is very pleased with our leadership. Locker room atmosphere is a positive. AML Dylan Rose is a negative.. he's been hurt so much he hasn't really bit fit all year. We made $15,670 last month. North America Amateur Cup - Quarterfinal Draw -- We get a home match against the Galveston Hurricane on the 14th. They're in the same tier as us. I think all of the Academy style teams have promoted up to semi-pro status, so we have as good a shot as anyone else to win this tournament. September 6th, 2016 Wake Forest Cougars (12-6-4, 1st) vs Cape Coral Iguanas (10-4-8, 6th) Attendance: 274 -- We lost 1:0 at home to these guys back in June. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Maurer/Cole Michael Maurer is another promising youngster who hasn't gotten as much of a chance as he deserves so far, so we work him in here. He's right on the edge of match fitness. If I sit him he has to play another reserve match and delays his entry into our rotation by another week... so screw it, he's playing. More importantly, that's Ian Cooper in the starting lineup! We will start out counterattacking. 12': Maurer to Cole for a decent look 18 yards out, his shot is high though. 15': They take a goal kick, Cole wins the header, Maurer gets behind the defense as he runs onto the ball, he's got a clear cut chance... the keeper gets a hand to it, it goes almost striaght up in the air... and hits the crossbar. 19': We pass down the left side, Davidson plays a through ball for Maurer, he makes a good run to get to it, a step inside the area a bit on the left side, aims for the right side of the goal, and scores!! 1-0 22': We see Cape Coral's first offensive highlight, a nice pass to generate a decent look, but high. 31': Davidson with a corner, cleared out. We recover and work it forward again, Cole to Maurer... he's offsides, just barely, too bad b/c he would have scored there. 40': Davidson with a corner, lofted high into the 6 yard box, Forrest is there and gets up to win the header, goal! The keeper should have just caught that. 2-0 42': We pass it around for a long while, Coggins finally with a cross, MAurer controls it with his chest, shoots, but its high. HALF: We only have 51% of the possession, but we've got 10 shots to their 1. We seem to be strongly in control here. 52': Oh lord. Cole picks up a minor injury. 55': Cole ahead to Cooper after an interception, that's a wide open look, but Cooper can't score, saved. 58': Wilkins in for Cole, before he gets hurt worse. I'm sure he's done for the year anyway with my luck. Tapia to DMC, Wilkins MC, just Maurer up front. 73': Jackson with a horrible giveaway after a throwin, they earn a corner on their counterattack, but we clear it out. Mainly wrote that up to call out Jackson, disgusting passing. 76': Goodwin on for Maurer, who is exhausted. Gallardo in for Cooper, he's still not quite fit to go all out for 90 minutes. 80': Their best look of the match so far on a through ball to the right side, but its wide. 85': Corner taken by Davidson, Gallardo wins the header, but wide. 90': Goodwin with a ball deep in the area, Davidson runs it down at the end line, controls it, passes back to Goodwin who has an easy shot from 6 yards out, goal! 3-0 We end up with 16 shots to 4 for Cape Coral, dominating performance today. Wake Forest 3 : 0 Cape Coral Man of the Match: Brian Davidson (9.1) Goals: Goodwin (7.3), Maurer (7.1), Forrest (8.0) Assists: Davidson 3 Notables: Gyan (7.2), Jackson (7.6), Pickering (7.2), Coggins (7.5), Shakespeare (7.2) Tapia, Cole and Cooper with ratings under 7. Cooper struggled but its his first match in months. Davidson was spectacular. Injury Update -- Colin Cole will miss 6-9 days after an awkward fall. I can deal with a week. Only a few teams played today, so the standings even out some. 5 left unless otherwise mentioned: 1. Wake Forest - 45 points -------------------------- 2. Valdosta - 41 points 3. Maunabo - 38 points 4. Saturn - 37 points - 6 left 5. Port St Lucie - 36 points --------------------------- 6. Lexington - 34 points - 6 left 7. Cape Coral - 34 points 8. Hattiesburg - 33 points 9. Jacksonville - 31 points There's a fair chance our head to head matchup with Valdosta coming up in a couple weeks could allow us to clinch 1st place. I hadn't looked before, but I do have to note that 4 of our last 5 are on the road, including the Valdosta match. |
The end of the season is in sight, so I'm itching to get through the next couple months and see if we can promote.
September 9th, 2016 Saturn FC (4th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (13-6-4, 1st) Attendance: 335 -- We crushed Saturn 4:1 on the road back in July. That's the last time they lost a match, 2 wins and 4 draws in league play since then. -- This is the third match in a row where we are randomly listed as underdogs, I'll take it. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Burke/Hernandez/Varela M: Williams/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Crook ST: Ratzburg/Arredondo Arredondo starts in Cole's spot. We're going on 3 days rest so lots of changes here. Dylan Rose has only managed 3 appearances in our last 20 (going back to June 11th, 3 months). He got hurt in two of those... We'll counterattack. 9': Arredondo takes a corner to the far post, Hernandez is there, volleys it, and its in! 1-0 19': Varela with a long throw from our own end, Arredondo is on it, sends it up to Ratzburg immediately, Ratzburg shoots, but wide, its considered a clear cut chance b/c he got by his man I guess but that would have been a nice finish. 23': A Burke header starts a counter for us, Shakespeare to Ratzburg to Arredondo, another clear cut chance, this one looks a lot more promising, but he shoots it right at the keeper. Saved. 38': Shakespeare wins a ball in midfield and sets up the counterattack, one pass ahead to Ratzburg, he is about 45 yards out, sends it up ahead for Arredondo, he's got all kinds of room, he controls it, comes forward, takes his time, and easily beats the keeper. Very nice. Way too often my guys freak out in these 1 on 1s, Arredondo looked composed. 2-0 HALF: We look really good here. We generate 8 shots to their 2, 3 of ours are clear cut chances. We are dominant in the air as well, and many of our offensive highlights started with us winning a header to take possession. I bring Wilkins in for Shakespeare, hopefully not too early to make this move. He played 3 days ago so its best if he doesn't go 90, but I really wanted him in here with all the other backups I have playing in my attacking spots (basically everyone but Ratzburg). 48': Arredondo with a yellow for diving. 52': We win a ball in midfield after a goal kick, Varela ahead to Crook, Crook with a long run, cross, Ratzburg heads it, goal! 3-0 59': They get a little space in the area and get a shot off, but Gyan stops it. 60': Goodwin in for Ratzburg. 71': Arredondo with a corner, taken near post to Burke, he heads it... off the post, can't believe he didn't score there. 76': Crook with a free kick from out right, just outside the area, he shoots and its just wide. That's it! Saturn FC 0 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Patrick Ratzburg (8.7) Goals: Ratzburg, Arredondo (8.4), Hernandez (8.0) Assists: Ratzburg, Arredondo, Crook (7.9) Notables: Varela (7.6), Burke (7.8), Williams (7.0) Rose with a 6.7 but he lasted 90 minutes without getting hurt, so I'm happy. Shakespeare was average before he went out, Gyan just under 7 (6.9), and Campbell a 6.6, the only guy who didn't really come up big in defense I guess, but today it wasn't needed. Maunabo beats Valdosta in a huge match that gives us a large lead. 1. Wake Forest - 48 points - 4 left ----------------------------------- 2. Valdosta - 41 points - 4 left 3. Maunabo - 41 points - 4 left 4. Port St Lucie - 39 points - 4 left 5. Saturn FC - 37 points - 5 left ------------------------------------ 6. Hattiesburg - 36 points - 4 left 7. Lexington - 34 points - 5 left 8. Cape Coral - 34 points - 4 left We play a cup match next. |
-- Navarro and Roth both resume full training. Roth could probably play as soon as he's rested. Navarro may only need 1 match with the reserves to be ready. I had feared worse for both of them.
September 14th, 2016 North America Amateur Cup - Quarterfinals Wake Forest Cougars (1st, ACAL) vs Galveston Hurricane (9th, AAAL) Attendance: 226 -- We are giant favorites todya, 1:6 to win, against the 9th place team from a team in the same tier as us. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Coggins/Burke/Hernandez/Varela M: Glaser/Wilkins AM: Gallardo/Cooper ST: Goodwin/Maurer -- We will look to counterattack again, we'll see how that works at the start. I'm playing a lot of backups today, with another league match in 3 days I am taking no chances. Perhaps I should be trying a little harder to win this tournament (coulda kept Gyan in, played Tapia and Davidson and Shakespeare and Ratzburg but risked not having them for the next league match). 17': We win a ball in midfield to start an attack, there's a pass down to Cooper, a cross.. it hits a defender and deflects in! I'm *pretty* sure the intended target of the cross was offsides, so we got lucky? 1-0 31': Maurer to Goodwin for a clear cut chance, he shoots from 18 yards... just wide. 37': Maurer out wide to Cooper, his cross is headed away, to Wilkins, ahead to Goodwin for a goal.. . but offsides. 40': Cooper has a corner cleared, then a cross cleared, no luck getting anything in there today so far that isn't off a defender. 44': They earn a corner off a cross, Hernandez clears the corner. HALF: We have 4 shots to their 0, but all that matters so far is an own goal. Our defense is playing well. 52': Hernandez with a yellow. He'll miss the next match. He would have sat for Forrest anyway. 69': Cooper with a pass to Gallardo, he makes a move to get inside the area and shoot, but well off target. 73': Cooper to Maurer to Goodwin, a clear cut chance after Goodwin cuts inside of his defender, but the defender slides to block the shot. 78': Cooper with a corner, into the 6 yard box, Burke gets up and heads it in! 2-0 81': Gary Glaser is hurt and must leave the match immediately. Brian Williams is in. I also bring Leon Roth in for Maurer, to get him a little time. 87': Cooper with a really nice cross to the foot of Roth, his shot is saved though. We earn a corner, which is cleared out. We are on fire! Wake Forest 2 : 0 Galveston Man of the Match: Mike Wilkins (8.0) Goals: Burke (7.7) Assists: Varela (7.4), Cooper (7.5) Notables: Coggins (7.3), Glaser (7.0), Goodwin (7.0) Wilkins was 76/102 passing with 5 key passes, no one else has more than 60 pass attempts. He also won 9 of 10 headers and had 8 interceptions. Guess that's how you get man of the match without being involved in a goal! -- We get $29,840 for this win. We're on to the semifinals! |
North America Amateur Cup - Semifinal Draw
We draw the weakest team left, the Jackson Red Shirts of the Appalachain Premier League, that's the division we promoted up from. The other semi is McLean Youth Soccer vs California Development Academy. So I guess there was one academy team left. They don't look unbeatable. This will be on the 28th of September. We play 5 matches in 14 days starting with our next match. Two cup matches/3 league matches. -- Whoa, huge day. Most of the league matches were on the 16th, our game was bumped back to the 17th due to our last cup match. Maunabo and Valdosta BOTH lost on the 16th. Port St Lucie is on a roll and is now up to 2nd. We can't clinch 1st today but we can put ourselves 9 points ahead of Port St Lucie with 3 to play so 1 point going our way anywhere would win us the league. September 17th, 2016 Carolina Giants (10th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (1st) Attendance: 132 -- We beat Carolina 3:1 back in May. We are 1:3 favorites. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Campbell/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Williams/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Crook ST: Ratzburg/Cole Cole is back from his short injury. I hold Tapia and Davidson out again to try to start up a little rotation for this next two week stretch. We'll counterattack, why not. 6': A nice Campbell clearance starts our offense, we can't get a fast counter, but we do build up and get a shot from Rose that their keeper has to dive for. We get a corner out of it but can't do anythign with it. 14': They get a strong shot from 18 yard sout, Gyan with a good stop. 16': Free kick from Crook from the edge of the area, hilariously bad shot attempt. 24': They win a ball in midfield off a goal kick and attack quickly, they get 3 men forward and our defense is a bit slow getting in position. A pass in from the left and a clear cut chance, they score. 0-1 24': Standard mindset. 43': A kick from Gyan after a save, up to Crook near midfield, he makes a run and slides it ahead to Shakespeare, a cross to Cole, header.. just wide. 44': Corner for Rose, taken to the near post, Pickering with a header... saved. Damn. HALF: I tell the team they suck and they're motivated. We are outshooting them 8-3. 61': Cole with a shot on a free kick, but wide. 69': Davidson is in for Rose, so much for saving him for the next match. 76': Campbell is hurt and must leave the match immediately. Burke is in for him (he can play DL and DC) 76': We'll try to attack. 79': They win a ball in our end and coutner quickly, a long pass down the right, another long pass to a forward who makes a nice move and gets a clear ctu chance in the area, its a goal. 0-2 That'll do it. Carolina 2 : 0 Wake Forest Crook with a 6.0, everyone else is in normal ranges for a loss like this. Forrest a 6.3, a bit lower than the rest of the defense. We did outshoot them 13-5, but we had a lot of trouble putting anything on target today, the highlights we saw were mostly just wild shots nowhere near the net. Maybe a one off game. We're still in amazing shape despite the loss: 1. Wake Forest - 48 points - 3 left ----------------------------------- 2. Port St Lucie - 42 points - 3 left 3. Valdosta - 41 points - 3 left 4. Maunabo - 41 points - 3 left 5. Saturn FC - 40 points - 4 left ----------------------------------- 6. Hattiesburg - 39 points - 3 left 7. Lexington - 37 points - 4 left We can go down to Georgia and stay there for a week. Our next two matches are both on the road at Valdosta. The first one will be the Atlantic Coast Cup Semifinals, the second a league match. |
Injury Update
-- I forgot to mention it after the last match, David Campbell is going to miss 3 months with an injury he picked up in the last match, so he's done until we start training for next season. September 21st, 2016 Atlantic Coast Cup Semifinals Valdosta Victory (3rd, ACAL) vs Wake Forest Cougars (1st, ACAL) Attendance: 229 -- We beat Valdosta 2:1 at their place back in April. We're 4:7 favorites today as the random odds continue. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Rongen/Hernandez/Pickering/Varela M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Maurer/Roth Backups at DL/DR, one of our MC's, one of our ST's. I think its a pretty solid linep though. We'll counterattack on the road. 16': They get a through ball to the left side for a clear cut chance, Rongen does a nice job recovering to block it though. 18': ugghh, cooper with a minor injury. 35': Davidson with a cross to the far side of the 6 yard box, Roth is there for a volley, but its right at the keeper, there's a rebound, Cooper is there to follow up and he puts it in! 1-0 37': Maurer to Roth for a goal but he's so far offsides its almost not worth typing anything. HALF: Its a pretty boring half, we outshoot them 4-1, both teams are tackling well and that seems to be limiting chances on both sides. 68': Cooper with a horrible giveaway in our half to start their attack, a cross in from the right, Pickering with a nice header, but they recover, send it back out right, there's another cross immediately, and this time they get the headed goal. 1-1 74': We work it up the middle after winning a goal kick, Maurer finds Roth at the penalty spot and he slams it in! 2-1 81': They try a shot from 20 yards out, just high. 82': They win it after our goal kick, quickly advance and try another shot from 25 yards, its strong and on target, Gyan has to dive to stop it. They get a corner but can only manage a poor shot wide after it. 82': Defensive mindset. That's it! Valdosta 1 : 2 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Leon Roth (7.9) Goals: Roth, Cooper (7.2) Assists: Roth, Maurer (6.7) Notables: Hernandez (7.0), Rongen (7.0) Hopefully a sign of things to come in our next league match. -- Atlanta FC beats CASL Chelsea in the other semifinal, we will meet Atlanta in the finals of the Atlantic Coast Cup. -- We receive $48,430 for this win. Good money but at least in this tournament you have to basically go all the way to get it. -- no injury for Ian Coooper, whew. |
-- Lets play Valdosta again, this time trying to promote.
-- The day before our match Maunabo and Port St Lucie both win, keeping the pressure on us to perform. This means we can't clinch 1st quite yet. September 24th, 2016 Valdosta Victory (12-5-8, 4th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (14-6-5, 1st) Attendance: 300 -- We're now 2-0-0 lifetime against Valdosta, lets make it 3! Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Williams/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Crook ST: Ratzburg/Navarro Cole has been struggling a bit lately, I really want to see how Navarro can do, his match fitness isn't where I want though, so he may just play a half. 3': first shot of the match is theirs, a free kick well wide. 7': We win a header on a free kick and look to attack, we build up down the left side for awhile, a ball goes to Ratzburg, he passes back to Navarro who tries a shot from 25 yards... its saved, but the keeper can't hold it, Ratzburg races to the rebound, beats the keeper to it and scores!! 1-0 10': Crook passes to Navarro in the area, he's near the end line, doesn't look dangerous, but he's tackled, penalty! Shakespeare buries it. 2-0 18': They have a corner, Burke heads it away, headed back in again, and headed out again by Burke. It falls to one of their guys 18 yards out, he blasts a shot through the crowd in the box and Gyan makes a nice reflex savve. 21': Burke blocks a shot to give them a corner, Gyan punches it away. 25': Shakespeare with a minor injury. 28': They counter after we lose the ball in midfield, our defense does a good job staying back though and Jackson blocks a shot in the area and clears it. 47': One last attack for them, they earn a corner, Burke heads the corner out. HALF: They outshoot us 6-5, we are winning a lot in the air, really the only difference. In highlights it looks like our positioning on defense has been good enough to make it hard for them to get clear looks. Perkins is on for Shakespeare at the half. 65': After a long clear from Burke, Navarro hits Crook running in from the right, he's got a clear cut chance but hits the crossbar with it. 69': Burke can't clear a ball after trying a tackle, they recover and we're out of position, they get a pass to a guy coming in from the left but Gyan makes a spectacular save. 75': They send a cross to the 6 yard box, Gyan tries to punch it out but fails, the ball falls to an unmarked attacker and they score. 2-1 79': Arredondo in for Navarro, Pickering in for Burke. 85': Defend/retain possession. We watch them take one more desperate long shot but that's it. Valdosta 1 : 2 Wake Forest Their goal scorer is man of the match. Goals: Ratzburg (7.2), Shakespeare (6.8) Assists: Navarro (6.8) Notables: Gyan (7.1), Burke (7.0), Coggins (7.1) The left side of our defense, Burke and Coggins, great ratings, Jackson and Forrest 6.4/6.5, a big difference. Rose struggles too, 6.4 for him. That was the win we needed, we've officially clinched a playoff spot. More importantly, we are 6 points clear of 2nd with 2 matches left. A single point anywhere gets us the league title. 1. Wake Forest - 51 points -------------------------- 2. Port St Lucie - 45 points 3. Maunabo - 44 points 4. Valdosta - 41 points 5. Saturn FC - 40 points - 3 left -------------------------- 6. Lexington - 40 points - 3 left 7. Hattiesburg - 39 points 2 left for everyone but Saturn and Lexington. Their game between each other may decide the last playoff spot. Valdosta is in a bit of a freefall, they could still fall all the way out too. |
-- Today we find out if we can make two cup finals in the same year!
September 26th, 2016 North America Amateur Cup - Semifinals Wake Forest Cougars (1st, ACAL) vs Jackson Red Shirts (10th, APL) Attendance: 300 -- We were in the same league with Jackson for two seasons. In that time we beat them twice at home and lost once on the road. All matches were 1:0 results. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Rongen/Pickering/Hernandez/Diaz M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Goodwin/Cole We mix things up some here. Standard mindset at home against a weaker team. 1': We try to attack out of the gate, Davidson ahead to Goodwin, a cross to Cole, but they win the cross. 3': Corner for Cooper, taken to Pickering, he gets a header, but wide. 12': A Tapia interception starts our offense, we go down the right, Cooper with a cross, Goodwin is there and volleys it in! 1-0 16': They get one back the same way, a cross down the right and a header. Rongen couldn't keep up. 1-1 17': Throwin in their end, but Wilkins ends up trying a long shot instead of building up on offense. 28': A Rongen interception starts our offense, up to Davidson, quickly to Goodwin, he struggles to control it but eventually does, feeds Cole in the area, clear cut chance, and he finishes! 2-1 29': Jesus. Awful, awful defense. Both our central defenders collapse on a guy like 35 yards out as they start to look forward, allowing a free run from their other striker, its a clear cut chance and a goal. 2-2 36': Goodwin ahead to Cole, he's out pretty far wide right, and can't finish. HALF: We're supposed to win this, I tell the team they aren't playing good enough. I go out of my way to tell the defense they are costing us this game. They don't react terribly well to that, at least, Barton doesn't. We're outshooting them 7-4, but all their shots are on target. 48': Cooper ahead to Cole, he has a lot of space in front of him, makes a solid run into the area, shoots... saved. 77': We're going to attack, after 30 minutes of no highlights. Glaser is in for Wilkins. 91': We have a throwin in their end but its pretty ugly, a bad shot by Tapia from distance ends up wide. FULL TIME: Gallardo comes in for a tired Cooper. We outshoot them 14-7 but just no highlights that entire half, frustrating. 97': Diaz is hurt and must come out immediately. Varela is in. That's our last sub. 100': Cole tries a shot from 20 yards out, wide. Coulda gotten something better there. 101': Again... This time Goodwin settles for a long shot he's never going to make. 105': After another long shot that seemed impatient and unnecessary, I add the "work ball into box" instruction. 105': We dodge a bullet, they cross a ball into the area, Barton is there and could ctach it, but instead Pickering heads it, the ball is headed a coupel times, they end up with a shot and a goal, but its a man offsides during the confusion. HT ET: on to the second half. 106': We see Cole find Gallardo for a really nice shot and goal, but Gallardo was offsides. He was wide open, the defender he needed to stay level with was on the opposite side, he just didn't quite do it. FULL TIME: We move to penalties. Both teams convert all 5 penalties. AFter 10 attempts we're tied at 10. After 15 attempts we're tied at 15. Yawn. After our 19th kick, they shoot low and right and Barton dives and stops it! Wake Forest (19) 2p : 2 (18) Jackson Goofy ass penalties. They get man of the match on their side. Goals: Goodwin (7.8), Cole (7.1) Assists: Goodwin, Cooper (6.7) Notables: Pickering (7.1), Rongen (7.1) We were very clearly the better team here, but we gave up two bad goals immediately after each of ours. We shot 19 times but only put 3 on target, settling for way way too many long shots. But anyway, we are on to the finals! We're going to play the California Development Academy in the finals. They are an academy team so they're scary, but not as dominant as some of those academy teams from the first couple seasons. -- We get $59,690 for winning here. |
-- Before our next match, Port St Laurie wins to keep pace, so we still haven't clinched. Just 1 point though.
October Update -- League matches on the 1st and 15th. Atlantic Coast Cup finals on the 12th. North America Amateur Cup on the 19th. -- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Our Atlantic Coast Cup play is the highlight. Our 4-0 loss to Port St Lucie is the negative. With the money coming in from two cups, we made $113,000 last month. October 1st, 2016 Jacksonville Cyclones (8-8-1, 10th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (15-6-5, 1st) Attendance: 604 -- We tied 1:1 in Wake Forest in our only meeting. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Burke/Forrest/Jackson M: Williams/Shakespeare AM: Rose/Crook ST: Ratzburg/Roth Counterattacking on the road. 7': Rose earns us a corner as a shot is blocked, corner goes nowhere. 8': Rose picks up a minor injury. 10': We control it forever but never manage to find a serious threat, Shakespeare with a long shot that's blocked. 12': They counter after we lose the ball on offense and get a man wide open in the box, defense too slow to get back, clear cut chance... it hits the post and bounces across the face of the goal, they get to the rebound but by this time its bounced a bit wide, and can't put it in. HALF: And then we see 30 minutes of nothing. We out-shoot them 5-2 but haven't put one on target yet. Both their shots are off target as well. Overall a very even match. We just need 1 point but I'd rather just score some goals and make this simple! 46': They earn a corner on a cross right after kickoff, corner is cleared. 59': Gallardo in for Rose, whose fitness is dropping faster /w his injury. 61': Ratzburg ahead for Gallardo, he's alone in the area.. just for a moment, poor control of the ball lets defenders catch up. He shoots well wide. 72': Coggins a yellow. 82': Up to a standard mindset. Arredondo in for Roth. 86': Throwin deep in their end, Gallardo gets a cross in to Crook, he's only about 10 yards out but lots of people in the area, his shot is saved. No more highlights. Not the best play from us today, but 1 point is all we needed!! Jacksonville 0 : 0 Wake Forest Ratzburg a 6.3 today, other ratings in the 6.5-6.9 range. Defense is all closer to the 6.9. We now have 4 points on Port St Lucie with just 1 match left. Wake Forest win Atlantic Coast Amateur League We get the standard messages telling us how happy everyone is. With the money we have, we should move up to semi-pro next year. Injury Update AML Dylan Rose is hurt and out 5-6 weeks. Standard. Whew, ok, we can finish up cup finals and finish this season later on now that we've done our main job today! |
October 12th, 2016
Atlantic Coast Cup Finals Wake Forest Cougars (1st, ACAL) vs Atlanta FC (13th, ACPL) -- This is actually two levels above us. One above us is Atlantic Coast Division 2, then above that is the Atlantic Coast Premier League, that's where Atlanta is. -- This match is in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Attendance: 2806 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Ratzburg/Cole The only tough decision here is whether to start Cole, who has been a little cold, or Roth, who has dominated in cup play. I think the team has been at its best with Ratzburg/Cole overall though. We will counterattack. 1': They earn a corner as a cross is blocked out of the kickoff. Jackson heads out the corner. 5': We watch them pass it around for quite some time before a long shot is saved by Gyan. 14': A lob pass into the right side of the area for ST Hernandez, he scores easily. Our guys thought it was offsides, no luck. 0-1 17': They get forward quickly and get a shot in the area, Gyan saves easily. 18': Yellow for their guy Cabrera. 18': Tapia ahead to Ratzburg, he comes out left a bit and Davidson makes a run, Raztburg finds him, clear cut chance... but saved. 40': Poor clearance from the right side for Atlanta, the ball falls to Cooper about 35 yards out, He lobs it into the area immediately, Cole is there and has a great look, he scores!! 1-1 42': They have a free kick, a cross sent into the area, they get a volley off it but its well wide. 45': We get a shot from Ratzburg from 20 yards out, easily saved. HALF: Not bad, not bad at all. They got 8 shots to our 6, that's after starting out with the first 4 shots in like 5 minutes though. We have 4 on target, they have 3. We are tackling better than them, other stats are pretty even. 51': Some back and forth play, eventually Davidson gets down the left, a great cross into the area, Ratzburg has a great look, he scores... but offsides. Damn. 64': They build up down the right, a long pass to their left side striker, he puts it into the area for the other striker, and he has a clear cut chance and our defense is out of position, he scores easily. 1-2 74': We watch a couple interceptions back and forth, finally we gain control, a pass to Davidson, he sprints by his man, cuts inside a step, tries a cross, its too deep, the keeper doesn't catch it though, he bobbles it, and it drops to Ratzburg in the 6 yard box, he puts it in!! 2-2 76': They have a free kick in our end. They take it short instead of crossing into the area, there's a pass, intercepted by Davidson, its a big break, they had a lot of men forward. Davidson sprints down the middle of the field, its basically a 2 on 1 break, Davidson draws the defender around 35 yards out, passes ahead, Cole is there, 1 on 1 with the keeper, Cole beats him!!!! 3-2 76': Brian Williams in for Ratzburg, we drop to a 4-1-4-1. Shakespeare moves to ML, as he plays it better than our AML's. Wilkins is in for Davidson. We look to defend. 89': They have the ball near midfield, but Jackson wins a header on a long ball forward, we get a counter going, Cole takes a pass and runs down the right side, a cross, Cooper with a volley from 15 yards, but wide. 90': They shoot from 25 yards, well wide. 90': We change to the contain mindset. 91': They try a lob into the area, Pickering heads it out. They try another ball in, Gyan runs out and picks it up. 91': We get forward and look to waste time, Tapia is tackled 25 yards out, foul. Wilkins takes the free kick and shoots, just barely over. 92': They kick it out of play trying to get it forward, our throwin. That's it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Atlanta FC 2 : 3 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Colin Cole (8.8) Goals: Cole 2, Ratzburg (7.4) Assists: Davidson 2 (7.9), Cooper (6.9) Notables: Jackson (7.0) Wonderful win!!! Wake Forest Win Atlantic Coast Cup This has been a pretty damn good year! -- The fans and board are thrilled with our performance here. -- Somehow the Valdosta Victory are considered the "biggest overachievers" in this cup... they're in our league, we beat them last round! -- Roth and Cole each scored 3 goals in the competition, in a long tie for 3rd. One guy scored 5. We had 4 guys with 2 assists. -- Leon Roth was man of the match twice in the tournament, a few other players also got two man of the match awards, that is tied for first though. -- Ratzburg had a 7.53 rating throughout the tournament, tons of players had better though, that was just good for 48th in the tournament. -- We receive $96,870 for this win. Nice! |
October 15th, 2016
Wake Forest Cougars (15-7-5, 1st) vs Lexington Thoroughbreds (13-2-12, 7th) Attendance: 295 -- We beat them 3:2 at our place back in April. Starting Lineup GK: Barton D: Rongen/Burke/Hernandez/Varela M: Williams/Wilkins AM: Gallardo/Crook ST: Roth/Maurer Backups at every spot. We'll attack. 11': Through ball to Roth, clear cut chance, but saved. 19': Roth hits a cutting Gallardo for a shot, but high. 25': They get a pass into the left side of the area, there's a prety good looking shot, Barton dives and pushes it away. They get to the rebound but not quick enough, Barton recovers and gets back up, blocks the next shot and we clear. 46': Hernandez with a yellow. He'll miss our next match. HALF: We outshoot them 5-2, their one attack at 25 minutes was it. 47': Rongen is hurt and must leave immediately. Hernandez moves to DL, reserve Jesus Antonio Guerrero is our backup defender today, he's in at DC. 60': They get a long ball ahead to a striker, he just outruns Guerrero, clear cut chance but Barton stops it. 67': Gallardo with a corner, they head it away but can't clear, it comes down to Williams who gets good shot off, but saved. 74': Navarro in for Roth, Perkins in for Wilkins. 76': We build up down the left side, Gallardo passes ahead to Navarro, he is well covered, lays it off for Perkins who has a good look, but right at the keeper. 84': Maurer to Gallardo, back to Maurer, he shoots from 20 yards out, its stopped, but there's a rebound, it falls to Crook, he blasts it in! 1-0 90': Varela to Maurer to Navarro after an interception, Navarro is behind the defense by a step, he shoots from 18 yards out, saved. Corner goes nowhere. 90': Crook with a run down the right, cross to the far post for Navarro, he heads it in! 2-0 That'll do it. Wake Forest 2 : 0 Lexington Man of the Match: Ryan Crook (8.1) Goals: Crook, Navarro (7.3) Assists: Crook, Maurer (7.5) Notables: Valera (7.1), Hernandez (7.0) I'm really happy to see Navarro get a goal. He's got 8 on the year but its been awhile b/c of injury issues. -- This was our last match in league play. We get $116,000 for locking up first place. The North America Amateur Cup finals are in a few days and then we're done with this season. |
Congratulations on a great season so far! Finish it off by lifting the North America Amateur Cup. :popcorn:
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I agree... what a tremendous run.
Wake Forest to the MLS in 2023, baby! |
-- I've been hardcore into League of Legends lately so this fell off. I've reached my goals for this season in LoL, I will admit feeling overwhelmed by the process of going from amateur to semi-pro and not fucking everything up feels like a bit of a barrier here too, but really mostly its just been League :P
We do still have one match left -- DC Hernandez apparently picked up a yellow in his last match so he's out for the cup Final. October 19th, 2016 North America Amateur Cup Finals Wake Forest Cougars (1st, ACAL) vs California Development Academy (1st, GCAL) Attendance: 1244 -- So CDA won the Gold Coast amateur league, but they didn't dominate it like some other Academy teams we've seen. They put up 50 points and a +16 goal differential there, compared to our 55 points and +21 differential in the equivalent league on the Atlantic Coast. -- We're playing in Dallas, in front of about 1250 people. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Pickering/Forrest/Jackson M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Navarro/Cole We'll look to counterattack as it seems our best play style. We get what amounts to our best healthy lineup out there and I feel we should be pretty darn strong. 1': They start with the ball and after a few passes give it away, there's a quick pass ahead to Cole out wide right for Cooper, he runs with it, crosses into the 6 yard box, Navarro heads it, goal!! 1-0 3': Davidson a yellow. 23': Navarro intercepts a backwards pass in midfield to get us going... but Cole has it tackled away from him after a pass into the area. 38': Davidson with a corner that goes nowhere. They head it out but we get it back in, a shot from Cole, on target, but saved. 40': Yellow for their defender Dryden. 46': A last minute attack after a goal kick, Shakespeare wins the ball in midfield, passes down the left for Davidson, a cross, Cole has a great look, but heads it wide. Not listed a clear cut chance but I think it should have been. HALF: They have most of the possession but the counter game is working well, we haven't allowed a single shot, taking 3 ourselves, putting 2 on target. We're tackling and winning balls in the air much better than they are. 49': Free kick near midfield, we take it short and pass quickly ahead, Navarro with a through ball to Cole, he's got a clear cut chance, a great look... saved and turned behind. Corner goes nowhere. 55': We allow a cross into the area from the left side due to some poor positioning, Pickering should have headed this out, they bring the ball down, Jackson tackles the man with the ball, and its a penalty given. They score on it. 1-1 61': CDA free kick from 25 yards, very poor shot. 62': After a goal kick midfielder Dryden bangs into Tapia, and that's a yellow, that's his second one, he's off! 76': Roth in for Cole, Williams in for Tapia, and we're going to try to attack with the man advantage. 85': After some buildup, JAckson finds Shakespeare in the area for a good look, but offsides. 89': We earn a corner, Cooper to Pickering for a header, but wide. FULL TIME: Arredondo is going to come in for Cooper, our most tired player. I hope to pressure them with the man advantage in extra time. 96': Davidson with a free kick, poor shot. HT ET: Only that one highlight. 106': We move down the field after kickoff easily, Arredondo with a cross in to Roth, he heads it to the center for Shakespeare, a shot... blocked. 111': Arredondo ahead to Roth, he passes to a charging Shakespeare, a shot from 20 yards... is wide. And that's it. We're way better, only a bad foul in the area prevents the win. Well a bad foul and an inability to get the additional goals that we should have easily gotten. We outshoot them 11-2, getting more clear cut looks (3) than they did total shots, and can't manage the victory in regulation. So its on to Penalties, which as always are dumb. After 5 shots we're tied 5-5. After 10 shots we're even 10-10. After getting evened up at 11 apiece, One of their men takes a penalty, Gyan dives to his left, and he stops it. Shakespeare steps up, scores his shot, and we win in anticlimactic fashion, but, a win is a win, and we are cup champions!! Wake Forest (12) 1p : 1 (11) California Development Academy Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (7.4) Goal: Navarro Assist: Cooper (6.7) Notables: Pickering (7.3), Coggins (7.3) Pretty damn amazing year, we win the Atlantic Coast Amateur League, Atlantic Coast Cup, and North America Amateur Cup. -- We receive $111,000 for this win. And that's our last match of the season, we will promote up and presumably go semi-pro next season and I will need to figure out how much money I can spend and where to spend it, which players to keep, and if any of our current amateur players deserve to be paid. |
Exciting!
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Great year! Going up will be pretty exciting for sure.
Tell |
Valdosta promotes along with us, winning the league playoff. They beat Maunabo and Hattiesburg in the playoffs.
 Final standings. Our team stats, across all competitions, sorted by overall rating:  Roth only started 7 league matches, he ended up splitting his goals among our cup matches. Shakespeare got many of his goals on penalties, while our assists came from striker to striker or from the wings. Other Notes staring at this screen: -- Colin Cole was a hell of a youth pull. -- Cooper and Navarro both missed significant time with injuries, its nice we were able to hold up so well without them, I don't know if that would have been true last year. -- I'm happy with the sheer number of defenders that gave me solid, mostly consistent play and ended up with ratings in the 6.8-6.9 range. Pickering still seems to be a slight standout over others, but Hernandez, Forrest and Burke at DC, Varela and Jackson at DR, all quite solid. Rongen ends up our best DL somehow, Coggins a bit worse and Campbell was awful. |
Atlantic Coast Amateur League Stats
League only, so totals don't match what you see in the overall stats screenshot: Goals 1. Nestor Castro - Port St Lucie - 16 goals 2. Chris Johnson - Port St Lucie - 15 goals 2. David Jones - Kendall SC - 15 goals 4. Herman Vargas - Carolina - 14 goals 5. Jake Wilson - Peoria - 13 goals ------- 14. Colin Cole -Wake Forest - 8 goals 17. Ronnie Navarro - Wake Forest - 7 goals 21. Mark Shakespeare - Wake Forest - 6 goals Assists 1. Tino Kindel - Port St Lucie - 11 assists 2. Brian Davidson - Wake Forest - 10 2. Israel Hernandez - Naples Bay - 10 2. Jim Evans - Hattiesburg - 10 5. Neil South - Fayetteville - 9 ------------- 7. Patrick Ratzburg - Wake Forest - 8 26. Adam Fisher - Wake Forest - 4 Ratzburg to Cole and Davidson crossing to whoever were hugely important for our league success. Man of the Match Awards 1. David Jones - Kendall SC - 6 2. Andres Escobar - Atleticos Rio - 5 3. Jim Evans - Hattiesburg - 5 4. Herman Vargas - 5 5. Many Tied - 4 (including Wake Forest's Brian Davidson) We had a few people win 2 man of the match awards. -- We don't have anyone at the top of the "key tackles" or "key passes" stats, Ratzburg and Davidson both in the top 20 for key passes though. However, three of our DC's are in the top 10 for "Key Headers", Forrest, Burke and Hernandez. Pickering, like Roth, seemed to get rotated into cup matches way more and only played 9 league matches, or i'm sure he'd be here too. Average Rating 1. Greg Urniasz - Port St Lucie - 7.35 2. Jim Evans - Hattiesburg - 7.31 3. Brian Davidson - Wake Forest - 7.30 4. Nestor Castro - Port St Lucie - 7.24 5. Stephen Lee - Lexington - 7.22 --------------------------- 14. Patrick Ratzburg - 7.00 17. Mark Shakespeare - 6.99 27. Colin Cole - 6.92 29. Steve Forrest - 6.90 30. Dan Hernandez - 6.89 40. Joe Jackson - 6.85 58. Amidu Gyan - 6.81 |
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Thanks! |
Our Reserves and U18's continue to play through November for some reason. Going into November the board is clearly delighted with my leadership.
End of Season Meeting I tell the team that I think they can avoid relegation next year as is (though of course I'll bring on players anyway). I get positive reactions from many, no one is upset. I usually piss off half the team at this point so I'm happy with this. -- I set the players on vacation and tell them to report back on January 9th, giving us 5 weeks of preseason. -- Los Angeles beat Chivas USA to win the North American Open Cup. They are the 3rd separate winner in 3 years, New England and Chicago won the first two years. -- Looking up at MLS, Philadelphia wins MLS this year, beating Los Angeles in the finals. Los Angeles and Philadelphia were head and shoulders above the rest of the league going into the playoffs. -- Tampa Bay Rowdies promoted up two years ago, they hung around in MLS last year, but they're dropping out this year. Along with them, FC Dallas is dropping down. -- FC Edmonton won the NASL last year to promote into MLS, and they finished 11th this year, staying up easily. -- So I just noticed in this version of the league, MLS does the mid-season split thing too, with the top 8 sectioning off and the bottom 12 sectioning off... I'm not sure if a current running league can be edited, and I'm a long way from MLS, but I sure hope I can fix that if I do make it up there. That takes us into December. |
We pay $210,000 in taxes based on our profits this year.
We get a 2 year jersey sponsorship worth $9,750/yr, that's up from $9,680 last season, woohoo. The team also announces a profit of $425,000 on the year. We have a balance of $1.7 million currently. -- CASL Chelsea asks us about a friendly in early February, we accept. -- Confederations Cup draw takes place for the 2017 tournament. Poland, Russia, South Africa and the USA in one group, Chile, Germany, Iraq and New Zealand in the other. January 1st Update -- Colin Cole is named the Fans' Player of the Year. Shakespeare and Navarro have also won it. Wake Forest Best Eleven GK: Gyan D: Coggins/Forrest/Pickering/Jackson M: Wilkins/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Ratzburg/Roth .............. no Colin Cole. I guess its done strictly by Overall rating, Roth 7.20/Ratzburg 7.14/Cole 7.11. All Time Best Eleven GK: Gyan (112 games/6.79 rating) DR: Joe Jackson (54 games/6.80 rating) DC: Joe Pickering (71 games/9 goals/6.95 rating) DC: Hernando Galvis (39 games/1 goal/6.76 rating) DL: David Campbell (46 games/1 goal/6.87 rating) DMC: Mark Shakespeare (88 games/29 goals/7.24 rating) MC: Jose Alejandro Tapia (50 games/4 goals/6.90 rating) MC: Gary Glaser (37 games/2 goals/6.90 rating) AMR: Ian Cooper (66 games/13 goals/7.07 rating) AML: Brian Davidson (73 games/20 goals/7.14 rating) ST: Ronnie Navarro (65 games/27 goals/7.05 rating) Cole did make it onto the bench for this team in his first season. Galvis and Campbell and maybe Glaser probably won't last all that long on here. -- The Atlantic Coast Division 2 schedule is announced. We'll play Chattanooga FC on March 28th. -- Only two teams relegate out of this league, the worst team, and then the next 4 have a playoff to avoid relegation. That sounds interesting. Wake Forest turn Semi-Professional Initially we have a payroll of $13,130 per week. That's huge, and does seem to indicate things are a bit broken because of our cup play. It also does add some pressure on us to succeed in future cup play, as our income will be shit unless we go far enough in tournaments to sustain that. Our transfer budget is $0, so we may need to adjust that if we want to buy some players. Youth Intake Announced We'll get to this in another post. New Contract I am given a 1 year contract worth $675 a week. Its a nice step up from $0. I set up friendlies to get us going. Next up I'm hoping to be able to bring in a better, paid coaching and scouting staff, and I'm going to look around at the other teams in the league to get a feel for how much they are spending and how my current amateur players might hold up in the league. |
Ah crap, I had an update at the end of the night last night and forgot to post it and lost it.
Quick'ish summary: I have replaced my entire amateur coaching staff with a paid staff. I now have a Reserve Coach and a U18 coach instead of hoping my assistant can do all of that. I have two scouts who are WAY better than anyone at this level seems like they should be (like judging potential 14/judging ability 15 for $25/wk). I am allowed four regular coaches. I have one Physio, one coach who is decent at fitness, one goalkeeping coach, and one regular coach who happens to specialize in attacking. Additionally, I asked the board for better training facilities, and that's going to happen, and cost us $325,000. That work will be completed in April. Pre-Season Team Meeting Ah here comes the team disappointment. Joe Pickering thinks we can do better than the "avoid relegation with our current guys" statement that I made before sending them off on vacation, but I'm not willing to push for more than that, so I tell the team that my goals stay the same. Pickering is real unhappy at my apparent lack of ambition. On the other side of things Leon Roth thinks I'm too ambitious. So he's unhappy too! None of this matters much, morale is fine, I just find it funny. On the whole, 5 players are happy, 9 have poor reactions, most of the team is indifferent. I still need to go through my youth pulls for this year, and I need to look at the transfer market and figure out which of my guys should get contracts and which shouldn't. Some of our younger guys are apparently only wanting to stay amateur, the biggest player like this is Colin Cole at age 15. Looking around through my starters it appears most of them want between $175 and $450/wk. Looking at the other teams in the league most players make between $40-$70/week. Each team looks like they have 2-3 players that make more than that. The #2 team last season, the Georgia Revolution, has one star at $450/wk, another guy at $200/wk, everyone else under $100. Other teams pay 2-3 key players $200/week and everyone else is cheaper. We will certainly be outspending everyone, but I'm not looking to go crazy here. Amidu Gyan and Ronnie Navarro are basically asking to be 2 of the 4 or 5 highest paid players in the league, gotta figure out if they are really worth that or not. |
Goalkeeper
I have my first difficult decision instantly. There is a free agent keeper available who played for the NC Fusion in this league last season, put up a 6.75 rating and only allowed 1 goal per match. His reflexes are better than Gyan's, but some other abilities show Gyan being better. Both of them want $400/wk or more and key player status. I can't afford them both. I go with the known quality, and with loyalty, and sign Amidu Gyan to a $400/wk contract. Holy crap this is going to be hard. My new assistant, for what its worth, did feel that both players are 5* players. None of my other keepers come remotely close. While we're talking about goalkeepers, I also have three new youth candidates at the position. One of them, GK Johannes Stenzel, has better reflexes (9) and better agility (9) than the others. I don't offer him a youth contract yet, but I terminate the other two keepers I got in. I have a lot of crap here. Names like Clark Garcia and James Barton from last year were ok at times, and youth pull from last year Kenny Curfman seems ok too. No one is challenging for that starting job. I will probably just keep a backup, a reserve, and a U18 guy around and decide basically randomly. I hope to not pay any of them. I probably won't go into this much detail for all positions... it'll go quicker as I get a little more comfortable evaluating... I hope? |
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I actually enjoyed reading about your efforts to pick your side. I am about to face the same process with my Strathspey Thistle team, and getting inside the head of another manager is helping me prepare for my own roster decisions. Good luck creating your roster. I'll be following along. |
Right Defender
Joe Jackson - 4* Bob Varela - 4* Fausto Diaz - 3* Stephen Lacey - 3* (youth pull) Servando Roberts - Silver Our youth coordinator says Lacey is our best youth pull this year. 9 accel/9 sta. 5 marking/7 tackling. 6 anticipation/9 concentration/6 positioning/8 teamwork/12 work rate. Actually pretty solid. Determination is low, but he holds up pretty well against Joe Jackson and Bob Varela. I go ahead and offer Lacey Hot Prospect status, which is $70/wk. Varela *asks* for a non-contract deal, with an appearance fee and shutout bonus and unused sub fee. I go ahead and give him that. I look through my scouts recommendations and no one seems as solid overall as Joe Jackson, so I give Jackson the $130/wk he wants. Diaz will stay without a contract and play on the reserves, Roberts will be cut. Left Defenders Unlike at DR, my coaches hate all our left defenders. The one they like the most is actually youngster Arturo Flores. My assistants basically like all my DC's who happen to also be able to play DL better than everyone. Arturo Flores - 3 1/2* Sean Rongen - 2 1/2* Danny Coggins - 2 1/2* David Campbell - 1 1/2* No youth candidates here. Campbell really struggled last year, 6.57 rating. He's gone. Flores does look like a guy I ignored a bit last year, I give him a non contract offer that he wants at $120/appearance. I don't do anything with Rongen or Coggins yet. There is a DL for Blacksburg who I tried to sign last year and he still seems appealing to me. I make him an offer, he also wants a non-contract deal with a per appearance fee. I offer it. Central Defenders The four guys I relied on last year were Hernandez/Forrest/Pickering/Burke. My assistant likes Hernando Galvis too, but he just doesn't seem to work for me that well. Hernandez I give what he wants, a contract in the $300/wk range. Pickering wants a non-contract deal, I give it to him as well. Forrest wants over $400/wk. I'm not so sure there. I'm going to wait and see, if I lose him b/c of it so be it, I love these three guys (Hernandez/Pickering/Forrest) but I'm not sure about sinking over $1300/wk into DC's. I spot a DC on a Colonial Division 2 team who might be available who also looks amazing, and I make him an offer. I sit on all my other players, and I have a lot of DC's, so while I might decide I can't afford all of my favorites, depth won't be a concern here. |
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Thanks! I will say, I've done no research on how to do this, so I might screw up royally. If I didn't have way more money than I reasonably should it seems like I would be hoping a ton of these players would be willing to continue playing for free. |
Central Midfielders
AMC/MC Justin Wright is a youth pull worth mentioning. 10 pace/10 accel/9 agi. 5 dribbling/9 first touch/7 passing. 7 composure/7 decisions/11 flair/9 off ball/9 teamwork/11 work rate. He seems decent in many areas. He's getting a youth contract immediately. MC John Bradley is another youth pull who I am going to give a contract to, his numbers are a bit less than Wright's in most areas, but a technique of 13 is intriguing at this level, and physically he's on the same level as Wright. 10 pace/10 accel, so lets try him out too. Mark Shakespeare is one of the best players on the team three years running. He only wants $130/wk, nothing comapred to those greedy defenders I just finished dealing with. Another no brainer. Gary Glaser wants a non-contract deal with a $140 appearance fee. My assistant loves him, maybe he deserves to be playing a lot. But if he ends up as a fairly deep rotation player like last year, the appearance fee will be just fine. And if he's good enough to crack the rotation under new eyes, so be it. MC Mike Wilkins is like a lot of the 15/16 year olds who doesn't seem to want a pro contract of any kind and I can't offer him a $70/wk hot prospect deal. So I want to keep him, I think, but he doesn't get any sort of offer for now. MC Jose Alejandro Tapia is a guy who started for me last year along Shakespeare, and he's the more defensive minded mid, so he isn't going to put up great ratings, but his numbers dropped noticeably last season. I'm going to hold off before committing $150/wk to him. DMC/MC Brian Williams is someone I've always liked, maybe irrationally so. If I run a DMC he's my best and favorite, and he did well at MC last year too, I could see starting him next to Shakespeare instead of Tapia. I give him $130/wk. I sit on a number of other mids who saw limited action in the past. I'm very intrigued by MC Brendan Dempsey, he's a free agent, because his semi-pro team got relegated so he got released. His ratings aren't spectacular, but they're fairly solid all the way around. The intriguing thing is that he played 24 matches for a team in this division last year with a 6.95 rating. He wants key player money though, over $300/wk. I offer Dempsey a trial throughout the pre-season. If he takes it I will play him as much as possible and see what I think. In defense I didn't really find upgrades so much, I'm getting a little worried that I'm just taking the same team into a higher division, but now I'm spending a ton on them! |
Left Attacking Mids
I have a bunch of guys that can play AML, but its always been Dylan Rose and Brian Davidson who have been worth playing. Rose was hurt a ton last year and Davidson ended up being a star. So here's the thing... my coaching staff hates all these guys. Brian Davidson gets $120/wk. He's just always outperformed his ratings, I don't feel there's much risk there. My scouts haven't found anything at all worth mentioning here. Rose is officially injury prone at this point in my opinion. I'm not willing to commit money to him right now. So everyone else here, including other guys who have never impressed me like Jeff Gallardo and Ben Goodwin, will sit w/o a contract for now. I assume at some point they'll just leave without one, or make demands? I guess we'll see! Right Attacking Mids Ian Cooper and Adam Fisher both did quite well as wingers on the right side last year, and I like both of them a lot. Both want $130/wk. But this might be my chance to make a bit of a splash. There's another player in the transfer market who got dropped from Greensboro when they demoted last year. 19 y/o Josh Evans has reasonable speed, all of his mental attributes are in the 7-9 range (including decisions, which I'm used to seeing at like 4). 10 crossing, 11 dribbling, 10 first touch, 8 passing, 9 technique. Those numbers just absolute demolish anything I've ever had on my team. This is really the first guy I've seen who I look at and say "well by everythying I can see this is a huge upgrade". He has a couple other offers, but I jump in there with a $400/wk offer. Either Cooper or Fisher, will likely get offers from me, and I'm not sure how likely I am to land this Evans kid. But we'll advance from here at least without anyone at AMR on the team being offered anything yet. |
Strikers
My coaches like Dan Saunders the best out of all our guys. And I can see why. Finishing 8, Heading 9, Composure 8, Flair 17 (!!), Teamwork 12, Work Rate 11, Off Ball 8. He is sloooooow, short (5'7), creativity and decision making are bad. I think I wanted to work him in at some point last year and we just had so much success with Colin Cole that I gave up on the idea. Carlos Alberto Arredondo is another guy my scouts love. But he's best at AMC, didn't really put up numbers for me last year in more than enough time, and he wants to be paid $500/wk. So he's out. Ronnie Navarro only wants $130/wk. Done, friend. His attributes aren't the best, and I worry about whether he can compete at this level, but for that price, no problem. Colin Cole scored 15 goals for me last year. But he's like all the other 15 year olds it seems, he wants an amateur deal with hot prospect status. I can't seem of "offer" that the same way I can offer it to my youth pulls, so I will sit on him and hope we don't lose him. Patrick Ratzburg is in the same amateur status boat as Cole. Ratzburg is a bit more of a supportive ST (lots of assists to Cole last year) so I'm unsure how I'd value him anyway. Leon Roth wants a non-contract deal at $120/appearance. I'm ok with that too, given my depth here. If he can earn playing time at this level, I'll pay it, if he can't, it doesn't cost me. There are lots of strikers available, one of them intrigues the hell out of me. A guy with rather average/poor technical abilities, but mentally he's basically a god at this level. Decent composure, ok decisions for this level, but 17 determination/10 flair/10 off ball/16 teamwork/12 work rate, and physically he's above average as well. I'm just super curious about him and I make him the good offer he wants. |
So I haven't advanced yet after making all these offers, we'll knock that out soon.
Basically I offered a lot more deals to my defenders, and the further along in the process I got, the more I decided to say "lets just leave things be without contracts for a bit and see what happens". I also have taken a couple risks at AMR/ST in the transfer market, as I started to get worried about the lack of clear upgrades that I see available to me. I didn't dominate my last league *that* much that I expect o just come in and win this division or anything! |
Most of my offers are immediately accepted.
New Signing 19 y/o DL Abdul Rahim Otoo - Otoo has always played in leagues lower than this, but he's always been very very good, a 7.18 average rating for Blackburg last season in 16 matches is huge from a defensive position. I tried to sign him last year, and Campbell and Coggins at DL are two of my worst performing starters/rotation guys. Seems an obvious signing. Otoo is on a non-contract deal, he'll make $150/appearance, $25 per shutout. 11 accel. 6 composure/6 positioning/9 teamwork/8 work rate. 7 marking/7 tackling/7 passing. Really nothing special, but for a non-contract deal its low risk, and he seems like a guy who has a history of outperforming his ratings. MC Brendan Dempsey agrees to go on trial at Wake Forest for the duration of the preseason. This is the guy who put up a 6.95 rating in a full season in Atlantic Coast Division 2 last year for Greensboro. 6 marking/8 passing/8 tackling/8 technique is decent to solid. 7 composure/8 decisions/6 positioning/8 teamwork/12 work rate is decent as well. I don't exactly see why this guy might be worth almost $300/wk that he's asking for, but as I mentioned, he proved he could hold his own in this division, something none of my guys can do. I'll be playing Dempsey as much as I can while on trial, lining him up in my defensive role next to Shakespeare and in the offensive role next to Williams or Tapia to see how he does. Josh Evans, the AMR I got fairly excited about, signs with the Raleigh Pioneers. Darn. We are up to $2,189/wk in salaries by the way. We're allowed $10.6k/wk, but I have no intention of spending anywhere near that. |
Transfer News
We get the first transfer offer for one of our players... the Raleigh Pioneers want DC Dan Hernandez, for free. Uh, no? The Striker I was going after, Brian Gonzalez, signs with the NC Fusion. There are a lot of other Strikers who my scouts like, I'm going to take a look and see if I see anything worth signing, or if I should head into the season with known quantities instead. New Signing Welcome 18 y/o DC Charlie Ashe to Wake Forest. We signed Ashe away from the Virginia Beach Piranhas in the Colonial Division 2. Ashe is 6'4". Jumping 13/Strength 11. Composure 5/Decisions 6/Determination 11/Positioning 7. Heading 8/Marking 8/Tackling 8. Ratings wise, he looks better than Don Burke in every way. Technically, he looks drastically better. We'll see if that makes a difference on the pitch. I haven't released Burke, I just haven't offered him a contract yet. Ashe will be making $150/wk. -- I look for other Strikers, and I just don't see anyone worth committing $$ to at this point. There is a free agent striker available who looks... ok, no reason to think he's better than Navarro or Cole, but I decide to offer him a trial anyway. Friendly #1 I had some issues finding friendly partners, so we're opening up against our U-18 squad. I do put a number of guys who spend time on the main roster down in the U18 squad just to try to get more playing time for more guys. But its still a pretty embarrassing game for the main squad. The U18's work harder and end up winning 2-1. Cooper to Pickering on a set piece for a headed goal was the main squad's only success. No one got hurt though. |
One thing that's abundantly clear after one friendly is I have too many damn players. When you don't have to pay guys, if they aren't going to complain its easy to just let them waste away in the reserves. But that always becomes a serious issue when its time to get guys into shape for the next season and have to allocate playing time in order to do so.
With that said, I feel like I have to put together some sort of depth chart right now just to make sure the right folks get into shape. GK 1. Amidu Gyan - 29 y/o - $400/wk 2. Who Cares I have 3 other guys on the roster. None will play outside of early round cup matches if Gyan stays healthy. DR 1. Joe Jackson - 29 y/o - $130/wk 2. Stephen Lacey - 14 y/o - $70/wk 3. Bob Varela - 18 y/o - Amateur 4. Fausto Diaz - 16 y/o - Amateur Since Lacey is being touted as my best youth player I feel like I need to go out of my way to give him playing time. He'll get a fair shot to compete for a starting job. DL 1. Abdul Rahim Otoo - 19 y/o - Appearance Fee 2. Arturo Flores - 15 y/o - Amateur 3. Sean Rongen - 19 y/o - Amateur 4. Danny Coggins - 27 y/o - Amateur Coggins was actually ok last year. But this position has always felt like a weakness, so I'm going to give ample time to my new signing Otoo, and youngster Flores to try to earn the minutes. DC 1. Dan Hernandez - 19 y/o - $325/wk 2. Joe Pickering - 19 y/o - Appearance Fee 3. Steve Forrest - 24 y/o - $400/wk 4. Charlie Ashe - 18 y/o - $150/wk 5. Don Burke - 27 y/o - Amateur There are others here but no one that really seems like they are worth playing time. I had initially held off on paying Steve Forrest, but now that its clear that we aren't going to be paying all kinds of new signings crazy money, I'm happy to pay Forrest. Hernandez/Forrest/Pickering have been quite reliable for me. Ashe gets his chance to break into the lineup over Burke. MC 1. Mark Shakespeare - 19 y/o - $130/wk 2. Brendan Dempsey - 19 y/o - Trial 3. Jose Alejandro Tapia - 26 y/o - Amateur 4. Brian Williams - 19 y/o - $130/wk 5. Mike Wilkins - 15 y/o - Amateur 6. Gary Glaser - 20 y/o - Appearance Fee 7. Justin Wright - 14 y/o - $70/wk Hot Prospect 8. John Bradley - 14 y/o - $70/wk Youngster Another spot where we just have too many players. Dempsey is on trial so not on the team yet. Tapia/Shakespeare seemed to work well as my starting midfield last year, but Tapia isn't someone I'm completely confident about. Wilkins seemed to fit the more attacking spot that Shakespeare fills here best last year. My coaches love Glaser, he's never been bad for me or anything, and then there are two youth pulls that I deemed worthy of keeping around. This position was too crowded last year too. I release Bayard Perkins, Ashley Sandoval, and put previous youth pulls Alan Bartlett and Adalberto Vega on the unwanted list (b/c I can't seem to release them outright). AMR 1. Ian Cooper - 19 y/o - $130/wk 2. Adam Fisher - 15 y/o - Amateur 3. Ryan Crook - 27 y/o - Amateur I go ahead and offer Cooper a contract now that I have a better understanding of the team. AML 1. Brian Davidson - 22 y/o - $120/wk 2. Dylan Rose - 19 y/o - Amateur 3. Chris Maurer - 14 y/o - Youngster I put Jeff Gallardo on the unwanted list as well. Maurer is a youth pull that i haven't mentioned, because he's fairly marginal. But Gallardo has already proven he's not up to the task, so Maurer gets a shot. ST 1. Colin Cole - 15 y/o - $325/wk 2. Ronnie Navarro - 19 y/o - $130/wk 3. Patrick Ratzburg - 15 y/o - Appearance Fee 4. Leon Roth - 19 y/o - Amateur 5. Michael Maurer - 16 y/o - Amateur 6. Dan Saunders - 15 y/o - Amateur 7. Carloa Alberto Arredondo - 30 y/o - Amateur 8. Will Willis - 14 y/o - $70/wk Youth Cole is now willing to sign a contract, and without clearly better options in the market, I'm willing to pay him. In fact I probably overpaid him, b/c he wasn't asking for anything specific. I should have tried like $130/wk, heh. But I was trying to pay him less than the other top strikers in the league. Even though Navarro is listed as #2 here, Ratzburg/Cole seemed to be the magic combo last year, and then pairing Roth/Navarro worked too. Maurer and Saunders are youngsters who seem decent, my coaches love Saunders, he's ok but very slow which worries me. Willis is a youth pull whose numbers were decent enough that I was willing to pay him a youth salary. Unless we have huge injury problems I'm not sure I'll make the time for him. There are other guys not listed here, and this list is already too big in spots. But for now we'll be specifically trying to get the guys at the top of these spots fit over our friendly matches for the next month or so. |
Injury Update
DR Stephen Lacey hurts his back while lifting weights, out 4-6 weeks. I guess we'll have to wait awhile to see if he can earn some minutes at fullback. Friendly #2 We host the Raleigh Pioneers. We get an early goal as Otoo wins a header in our end, gets it to Dempsey, to Shakespeare, ahead to Cole, he lobs it into the area from 35 yards out, Cooper charges onto it and scores. Happy to see all those guys involved in the play. They tie it up on a lob pass in the 32nd minute. Both Otoo and Ashe were nearby and seemed to struggle with the high ball. Late in the first half Cooper scores again, I've noticed Dempsey making multiple decisive passes forward, maybe not terribly difficult ones, but I'm liking what I'm seeing anyway. We make our subs at halftime, full new team. We get a 3rd goal in the 65th minute, Wilkins is the scorer after Pickering wins a header on a goal kick and we charge forward quickly. Roth with the assist. 78th minute Fisher lobs a ball towards the area, their defender misjudges it, Roth is there and scores easily. Wake Forest 4 : 1 Raleigh 2 goals Cooper, 1 from Wilkins and Roth. 2 Assists Cole, 1 from Fisher, 1 from Roth. Otoo is the only man to struggle today, I assume he took the blame for their goal. 6.2 from him. Injury Update GK Amidu Gyan is out for ~2 weeks with a bruised thigh in training. Preseason Odds The Georgia Revolution are the favorites to win the league this year at 5:4. They finished 2nd last year but lost out in the playoffs. The NC Fusion are 3:1, then there is a big cluster of 10 teams between 5:1 and 8:1. On the other end, at the very bottom are the Valdosta Victory at 300:1, the Tornados de Humacao at 150:1, and the Hickory Heat at 100:1. Wake Forest are expected to be better than those three teams, but to fight against relegation in the end. We are tied with the Miami Tango for the 16th/17th spots at 40:1. -- We have to decide team win bonuses, I stick with the "Normal" bonuses for both league and cup play. That's $160k payed out to the players for winning the league, $45k if they win a cup. -- The final group stage of World Cup Qualifying has begun in North America. The group is the USA, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Canada and Panama. Top three qualify, 4th has a playoff -- As we near the transfer deadline, I look through the rosters of all the other teams in the state of North Carolina, looking to see if there is a player out there somewhre who we could overpay for, who might play for us, that could be a game changer. I doubt I'll get anyone, I do make one offer though for a striker who is a backup on a team a couple levels above us but seems like he might be a superstar for us... if he's willing to sink to our level. -- And days later, no luck. Charlotte accepts our offer, but the player is not interested in playing for us at all. Contract update -- On February first one of our players leaves the team b/c he doesn't have a contract. Its a deep backup/reserve MC that I didn't want anyway, but it makes me wonder do I need to lock up some of these guys who are just sitting out there? I end up making non-contract/appearance type offers to a few players that I really don't want to lose just to be safe. |
-- I decide to take part in media day, just to see if anything pops up at the last minute that I might want to get in on.
Contract Updates Players who were lingering on amateur status who have agreed to some kind of deal in the hopes that they don't just walk away: -- MC Mike Wilkins -- ST Colin Cole -- ST Patrick Ratzburg -- AMR Adam Fisher -- MC Jose Alejandro Tapia All of these are either $120-$140/wk type deals, or appearance fee deals. Friendly #3 We host CASL Elite, this isn't a league team, so I think they should be super weak and beatable. I start Tapia/Dempsey in midfield to see how that would look. Its scoreless at the half, we aren't playing bad but aren't looking great either. I wait until the 60 minute mark to bring in all the subs. In the end we win but its not that pretty, Cole is fouled in the box in the 86th minute, Shakespeare hits the penalty (I had started Ratzburg/Navarro up front today, and Dempsey over Shakespeare). Wake Forest 1 : 0 CASL Elite -- The Transfer deadline comes and goes uneventfully. Only three transfers occur in Atlantic Coast Division 2, all free ones. None players that I would have been interested in. -- The Detroit Arsenal, a team in the USL-Pro West league, makes an offer for DC Dan Hernandez. I decline of course, but that is 2 leagues above mine, so that's pretty impressive. -- My assistant lets me know that 27 of my players are either on expired contracts or on contracts expiring this year. Whee. Old North Cup Qualifying Round Draw This is the cup for teams in North Carolina. We get a home match against the Twin City Patrol in the bottom tier. At this point of the 15 teams in the tournament there are 4 or 5 in tiers ahead of us, a couple in our tier, and most below. So we should expect to reach the quarterfinals most years, and the semifinals on occasion. Wilmington/Charlotte/Carolina are still light years ahead though so it really comes down to when you run into one of them. Contract Update MC Brendan Dempsey signs with the NC Fusion, a rival team in our league. I didn't realize I didn't necessarily have until the end of our trial period to make him an offer. I'll know next time, I probably would have taken a chance on him based on what I'd seen so far. Friendly #4 We host CASL Chelsea, they're in the tier above us. They're the better team for most of the match but we hang in there and don't allow anything. In the 81st minute we get a counter, Davidson hits it ahead to Navarro for an easy goal. In the 83rd minute Cole earns us a corner, Davidson takes it into the 6 yard box and one of their defenders hits it back into his own net. Wake Forest 2 : 0 CASL Chelsea AMR Adam Fisher was hurt at the end of the match, but nothing long term. |
Moving up a division isn't quite enough to get the fans excited. We sell 81 season tickets, 1 more than the 80 last year.
Injury Update DC Don Burke hurts himself in a reserve match and is out 2 months. On the same day, Stephen Lacey returns to full training. February 22nd, 2017 Old North Cup Qualifying Round Wake Forest Cougars vs Twin City Patrol We've played these guys 3 times, all on the road, most recently last year in this same tournament. We've won twice, including that meeting last year. Attendance - 234 Starting Lineup GK: Curfman D: Rongen/Hernandez/Ashe/Varela M: Wright/Shakespeare AM: Maurer/Cooper ST: Roth/Saunders Some guys played on the reserves recently and are tired and are sitting. In a couple spots I'm looking to start younger guys who will hopefully be motivated to play well vs lesser opposition. Wright and Saunders and Maurer are younger guys. 6': They get a shot on target after a bit of a counter attack, but Curfman is up to the task and saves. 45': yellow card for Lopez on their team. HALF: We haven't managed a shot yet and look out of sync. I bring Rose in for Maurer at the half. They only have 3 shots, all on target. 48': Ashe a yellow. 48': They get a clear cut look after a lob into the area, Varela makes a great play to get around the attacker and block the ball behind for a corner. 55': Ian Cooper has a minor injury. 60': A nice pass from Cooper to Saunders for a goal but he was just offsides. 74': ST Maurer on for Saunders, Wilkins in for Shakespeare. 79': Rongen takes a pass from Wright and crosses from a fair distance out, the keeper punches at it but its straight up, Roth is there when it comes down and pokes it in! 1-0 85': Cooper ahead for Maurer who has a few steps on his man, he gets a clear cut chance but shanks it wide. 89': Yellow for defender Gonzalez for Twin City. That's it. Wake Forest 1 : 0 Twin City Man of the Match: Leon Roth (7.2) Goal: Roth Assist: Rongen (7.1) Notables: Curfman (7.0) A 7.0 from a defender, damn. Looking at our new guys, Ashe 6.6, MC Justin Wright 6.4, AML Chris Maurer 6.8, ST Dan Saunders 6.3. -- No long term injury for Cooper. |
Old North Cup Quarterfinal Draw
We get a home match, but its against the Carolina RailHawks, one of two teams in the NASL, the 2nd tier of American soccer. That won't be until June. -- At this point we aren't scheduled to play again for another month. I look to add a few friendlies. March Update We have a few friendlies scheduled, then the Atlantic Coast Cup starts on March 22nd, and our first two league matches will be on March 28th and March 31st. -- The board is satisfied with my leadership. My "extremely tight control" over payroll is a positive, the departure of David Campbell is a negative, which is funny because more than once his poor play was singled out in these monthly updates as a concern. -- We lost $34,090 last month. Financially the team is secure but "It is predicted that the club finances will continue to deteriorate in the coming months." We are gonna be really reliant on cup success. March 2nd Friendly We host the Carolina Dynamo, a team from the All-American Premier League, a tier above us (if we promote, we'd promote to the Atlantic Premier League). Whoa. Carolina's head coach is Tony Meola. I haven't heard that name in a long time. I had let some guys play with the reserves just a day ago since we have so much work to do on match fitness still. So my lineup today is mostly dictated around that. 1st Half: We get a nice goal in the 19th minute, we win a header off a goal kick and attack hard up the middle, Roth to Maurer to Shakespeare, he feeds Rose coming in from the left for a goal. Shakespeare tries to clear a corner off the line and fails, own goal, doh. Tied at halftime. 2nd Half: We give up one goal in the second half on a long pass/breakaway, and can't manage anything ourselves. Wake Forest 1 : 2 Carolina Dynamo No big deal, we had a lot of young kids out there today. Injury Update DL Sean Rongen is hurt in the match today and he will miss 5-6 gmaes. March 7th Friendly Not content to just get destroyed once by the Carolina RailHawks later in the Old North Cup, we went ahead and scheduled them in a friendly as well. Obviously I build the entire setup around match fitness and tell the team winning doesn't matter today. Ratzburg actually finds Cooper for a clear cut chance in the 4th minute, a spectacular look, but he whiffs, way wide. They are outshooting us 13-2 in the 61st minute, Fisher sends a cross in, their entire defense seems to stop and raise their hands wanting offsides, Ratzburg is on the ball and he puts it in!! We do give one back and they tie the match, but we withstand it from there. In the end they shoot 18 times to our 3, but its fun to preserve a draw against a far better team, even in a friendly. Wake Forest 1 : 1 Carolina RailHawks |
Atlantic Coast Cup - Qualifying Round Draw
At the top of the page... Defending Champions - Wake Forest. Yes indeed. 56 teams in the draw this round. We get a home match against the Hattiesburg Rebels in the Atlantic Coast Amateur League (the league we just promoted from). We play in two weeks. March 15th Friendly We host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds from the NASL. We give up a goal early on, but get it back on a corner, Davidson to Pickering, header for a goal. We give up a goal late in the first half to drop behind 2-1. We make our subs in the 68th minute. In the second half we give up two more goals, both of them due to allowing wingers to cut in from the outside too easily, so Coggins and Lacey take the blame for those. We get a second goal ourself, again on a set piece, corner taken by Fisher, poor clearance, and Rose is able to put it in. Wake Forest 2 : 4 Pittsburgh With that we are done with friendlies, Atlantic Coast Cup is in a week, and after that league play starts! |
March 22nd, 2017
Atlantic Coast Cup Qualifying Round Wake Forest Cougars vs Hattiesburg Rebels We're 4:6 favorites today, as expected against a lower team. We played them twice last year, both times at homme, 3:0 and 3:1. Attendance - 232 Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Otoo/Hernandez/Ashe/Lacey M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Rose/Cooper ST: Roth/Navarro We play three matches in a week so I balance the roster some. We also have some players fully ready to go and some still getting into shape, so I try to balance that a bit too. Standard mindset at home vs weaker team. 10': We get hit on a counter attack, Ashe and Hernandez look out of place as a ball is sent over them and they don't respond well, leading to an easy goal. 0-1 17': Lets attack. 17': Tapia intercepts a pass in midfield to start a break, ahead to Navarro, sent ahead to Roth, he controls it well, the keeper comes out but Roth gets it by him. 1-1 19': Long bit of possession for us after a throwin, eventually Navarro gets a pass from Wilkins and tries a shot from just inside the box, the keeper turns it behind, we can't do anything on the corner. 22': A quick attack after an interception, Cooper gets a pass in a good spot but doesn't try to score, he centers for Navarro, ahead to Rose near the 6 yard box, Rose has a clear cut chance, but saved... rebound back to him, saved again. 38': free kick from out left for them, they cross it into the 6 yard box and we don't have a single defender there, basically free header for them, goal. 1-2 39': Corner for Cooper, tapia tries to head it, it either bounces off a defender or its taken awfully and goes a bit sideways, but Charlie Ashe is there and finishes! 2-2 HALF: We outshoot them 9-4, we put a ton of pressure on once we started attacking, but the one set piece goal we allowed has it even still. Davidson is in for a very tired Rose at the half. 48': Cooper with a run down the right, cross into Navarro, he controls it well, shoots and easily scores! 3-2 57': Corner taken by Cooper, Hernandez with the header... just wide. 61': We intercept a pass pretty close to the penalty area, after a couple passes Lacey hits Navarro for a strong shot, but wide. 63': They get a counterattack and get two quick shots in a chaotic setting, but Gyan is able to stop them both. One was a clear cut chance from 18 yards out. 66': Glaser in for Wilkins. 66': Back to our comfortable counterattacking mindset with the lead. 73': Glaser ahead for Navarro, he has the ball tackled away, Cooper is there and sends it to the other side of the area, Roth on the volley, goal! 4-2 84': Brian Williams in for Tapia. 92': After we win control following a goal kick near midfield, Otoo just launches a long ball from our own half, Navarro runs under it and has great control of it, he shoots, scores!! 5-2 That's it. Wake Forest 5 : 2 Hattiesburg Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (9.3) Goals: Navarro 2, Roth 2 (8.8), Ashe (7.7) Assists: Cooper 3 (9.1), Navarro, Otoo (7.4) Notables: Gyan (7.1), Lacey (7.1), Hernandez (7.1) Tapia (6.9) and Wilkins (6.6) the only starters under 7.0. Not the best first half but we did what we needed in the second, and more. -- We get $969 for the win. |
Atlantic Coast Cup First Round Draw
32 teams remain. Ohh, tough draw. It is at home, but we face the Reggae Boys, a team in the Atlantic Coast Premier League above us. They've made the playoffs in that league each of the last two seasons but just failed to promote. We'll play May 9th. March 28th, 2017 Wake Forest Cougars vs Chattanooga FC Attendance - 312 -- First meeting. Chattanooga has struggled each of the last two years, finishing 14th and 19th. Only the playoff for relegations saved them last season. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Otoo/Forrest/Ashe/Varela M: Glaser/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Ratzburg/Navarro -- We keep some of the lineup the same, we did have 5 days so some guys are good to go, Otoo/Ashe/Navarro/Cooper all played very well and have enough fitness to go again, so why not. We'll look to counter since its our best strat, we'll attack more if we have to later. 10': They get a striker on the ball after a long goal kick, but Ashe and Forrest defend well. A long shot is saved. 11': A quick strike on a ball from Shakespeare to cooper... easy goal for Cooper but he's called offsides. 13': Following a throwin from them, there's a cross into the box, and a goal. Damn. 0-1 18': Glaser with a long ball ahead to Davidson, real nice pass, a clear cut chance from 15 yards for Davidson, but wide. 42': We'll attack. HALF: We get outshot 4-1, we are doing ok though, passing and winning balls int he air much better than them, we just need to be more aggressive I think. Ashe and Forrest both have poor ratings, I decide to tell the defense that I don't think they have been good enough, and it seems to fire them up. 61': Hernandez in for Ashe, Michael Maurer in for Navarro, lets make something happen. 62': After another long goal kick from Chattanooga they get a clear cut chance, but Gyan comes up big on the save. We look to counter as we recover the ball, the defense gets back gbut we do get a shot, but its well wide from Cooper. 73': Glaser with a cross to Maurer for a goal, but he was slightly offsides. Second time today. 74': ANTOHER long goal kick for them and a striker gets literally 10 yards behind the defense... he scores easily. 0-2 80': Fisher in for Cooper. 83': Shakespeare ahead to Maurer, a tough shot from a tough angle, and its wide. 91': Shakespeare with a pass down the left for Davidson, he puts it in the middle of the box, Ratzburg is there, he beats the keeper! 1-2 That's it though. Wake Forest 1 : 2 Chattanooga Our goal came too late but I'm happy we did score in our first appearance in Division 2. They have the man of the match today. Goal: Ratzburg (7.2) Assist: Davidson (6.7) Lots of 6.7-6.9 ratings, Ashe, Cooper, Navarro, Hernandez seemed to struggle a bit. 6.1 for Ashe, 6.4 for the others. Two disallowed goals is pretty dissapointing as well. |
March 31st, 2017
Georgia Revolution (0-0-1, 13th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (0-0-1, 16th) Attendance - 519 -- First meeting. Georgia was in the tier above us initially, but relegated down here. They finished 3rd last year but couldn't advance in the playoffs. They are even money favorites to win today. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Flores/Hernandez/Pickering/Lacey M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: C Maurer/Fisher ST: M Maurer/Cole Arturo Flores, Chris Maurer both are guys who are 3rd on the depth chart but get a start today as we still try to get everyone fit a bit later than we'd like. Two Maurer's in today. We look to counterattack. 13': Throwin in their end, its cleared but we regain control, Wilkins slips a pass in for Cole who has a great look from the edge of the box, but its wide. 16': Wilkins with a long pass from within our own end, great pinpoint look for Cole, he has his second clear cut chance in 3 minutes, this one is saved, a good diving stop for the keeper. Corner is cleared. 41': Cole with a pass ahead to Maurer after we win a ball in midfield, a defender stops Maurer, he's considered to have stopped a free run at the goal, and that's a straight red card! We're up a man in the second half. HALF: Each team with 4 shots, we actually have a huge lead in possession somehow, 59/41. Georgia is passing very poorly. We haven't seen a ton of chances but we did get a few nice passes to generate a few things. 46': A pass down the right from Cole to Fisher gets us a corner right after kickoff, we can't do anything with it though. 69': Fisher with a run down the right, he cuts towards the area, the ball is tackled free, but Fisher gets back to it, in the area, and he's brought down, penalty! Wilkins will take it, he hits ti right at the keeper and its saved. Nooooo. 70': Ratzburg in for Cole, Forrest in for Pickering. 72': Goal kick for Georgia, Tapia wins the header and heads it forward to Ratzburg, the defense is a bit out of position, Ratzburg is going to get a really good look, he shoots from just outside the area, and its saved. That was our 4th clear cut chance. Corner is awful. 73': Lets attack a man up. Maybe a mistake but I feel like we have them on the ropes. 81': Free kick from the right side, its cleared but we control, after some passing Ratzburg finds Mike Maurer in the area, our 5th clear cut chance... off the post. That was awful awful awful. 82': A poor throw by the goalkeeper gives it to us again in a dangerous spot, Fisher finds Ratzburg but his shot is wide. 92': Hernandez with a yellow for diving on a corner taken by Fisher. No luck. Georgia 0 : 0 Wake Forest So the good news is we got a draw on the road vs a team that's probably a lot better than us. The bad news is that given the way it played out we really should have won this 3-0 or more. Notables: Hernandez (7.0), Flores (7.0) Cole was having a rough day, 6.2 rating when I pulled him. Flores with a very solid 7.0 in his first outing. We end up outshooting them 14-6 and pushed them really hard with the man advantage in the 2nd half, too bad. |
April Update
-- We have matches scheduled for April 4th, 7th, 11th, 14th, 18th, 21st, 25th, and 28th... all league matches. Really? We play twice a week the whole damn time? -- The board is satisfied with my coaching, budget control is a positive, David Campbell leaving a negative. We lost $38,150 last month. April 4th, 2017 Wake Forest Cougars (0-1-1, 16th) vs Clearwater (1-1-0, 4th) Attendance - 277 -- First meeting. Clearwater was 3rd two years ago but struggled and fell to 16th last year in this division. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Otoo/Forrest/Ashe/Varela M: Williams/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Ratzburg/Cole 9': Gyan with a long kick after scooping up a pass. Cole is on it, not a completely free run at goal, but in a pretty decent spot. He cuts out right a bit, shoots... off the right post, so close. 13': Otoo wins a ball in the midfield with a volley ahead to Davidson, Davidson with a little run, a cross, Ratzburg is there 8 yards out with the header, goal!! 1-0 45': Gyan a goal kick, we win it and attack quickly, their defense breaks down a bit, Williams ahead to Davidson, Davidson has a great look from the left side of the area... but saved. He probably should have scored. HALF: We look like the better team here, 6 shots to their 2, none on target for Clearwater yet. We have 55% possession and are passing and winning balls in the air much, much better than them. 52': We dodge a bullet, they win the ball after a goal kick, get a through ball to a striker who has snuck behind Forrest, a 1 on 1 with Gyan, he beats Gyan, but hits the left post and we clear. Whew. 54': Ratzburg is hurt and must leave the match immediately. Michael Maurer is in. 58': We intercept a pass in their end, Maurer ahead to Cole, clear cut chance from the edge of the box, but the keeper dives and turns it behind. Corner is awful. 60': Clearwater seems to be pressing a bit more. We drop back to defensive outlook and will try to retain possession more. 85': Justin Wright in for Brian Williams at MC. 86': First highlight in a real long time, they get a pass into the area and a shot, but pretty well defended and the shot is wide. 92': A red card on Clearwater as Cooper is brought down from behind after a Shakespeare pass saw him running free towards the penalty area. We try to shoot on the free kick and its closer to the sideline than the goal on the shot from Davidson. 95': The match is basically over, but we mount one last attack, Cooper with a very nice cross from 35 yards out, Maurer controls it well, no defenders are close to him at all, he shoots and easily puts it in! 2-0 Wake Forest 2 : 0 Clearwater Man of the Match: Brian Davidson (7.5) Goals: Maurer (7.1), Ratzburg (7.2) Assists: Davidson, Cooper (7.0) Notables: Varela (7.0), Ashe (7.4), Forrest (7.0), Otoo (7.1), Shakespeare (7.3) Really great day all around here, our first Division 2 win! Ashe wins 10 out of 12 headers and makes 13 interceptions for his 7.4 to stand out in defense. Injury Update Patrick Ratzburg is going to miss 2 months with a broken rib, ouch. |
April 7th, 2017
Weston FC (2-0-1, 4th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (1-1-1, 10th) Attendance: 758 -- First match with Weston. They have been in this division all three years, struggling at first but last year finished 5th and made the playoffs. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Flores/Pickering/Hernandez/Lacey M: Tapia/Wilkins AM: Maurer/Fisher ST: Roth/Navarro Full lineup change since we're playign twice a week for awhile. We'll look to counterattack on the road. 3': One of those "accidental" shots that FM14 is well known for, a cross from left mid Semoli for Weston, goes right at the keeper, and Gyan just botches it and gives up the goal. 0-1 4': A long ball by Weston, a ST gets to it, I thought maybe offsides but no, Hernandez tackles it away, but we can't control it, they get a man to it who scores with relative ease. 0-2 10': We work the ball forward, Maurer loses control of it trying to rush into the area, but Roth is there, pokes the ball ahead to Navarro, and Navarro scores! 1-2 21': Tapia with a free kick at the edge of the box, well wide. 22': Really pretty long ball from Wilkins for Roth, Roth is behind the defense but his first touch could be better, he gets a shot off and its a clear cut chance, but saved. He should have scored there. HALF: A couple missed shots in later highlights but that's really it going into the half, the action was all early. They outshoot us 9-4, but we have more on target (3) and the only 2 clear cut chances of the match. Possession isn't too far off, 53/47 in their favor, and we are better in the air so far. Really if it wasn't for the fluke goal(their first one) this would feel winnable. Mike Wilkins struggles this half with a 6.1 rating. I bring Glaser in for him at the half. 47': Pickering with a minor injury. 56': Tapia with a nice header in midfield to win possession for us, we build up and pass it around for awhile, Roth ends up hitting NAvarro for our 3rd clear cut chance, but their keeper stops it. We get a corner but that doesn't go anywhere. 58': We have it in midfield when ML Chris Maurer passes backwards towards Pickering, its not a good pass, and Pickering is slowed from being hurt, they get a striker to it first, he charges into the area and beats Gyan 1v1. 61': Ashe is in for Pickering. 63': I give the "exploit the right flank" instruction, Fisher is so much better than Maurer out there, lets favor him. We'll also try to attack and get a goal back. 75': They get a 4th goal on a counterattack as we try to push up to generate pressure. Doh. 1-4 79': They earn a corner, and Lacey is called for a foul on it... penalty, which they score. 1-5 79': Mike Maurer in for Roth. 83': M. Maurer with a shot from the area, just high. We give up one more goal in the end just for good measure, holy crap. Weston 6 : 1 Wake Forest Goal: Navarro (6.9) Assist: Roth (6.7) Lacey with a 5.2, Flores a 4.7, the rest of the defense and midfield in the 6.0-6.2 range. Really really bad. |
-- Backup keeper James Barton complains about his playing time. I tell him he's not getting any more, he doesn't want to hang around, so I release him.
April 11th, 2017 Wake Forest Cougars (1-1-2, 15th) vs Valdosta Victory (0-1-3, 17th) Attendance: 758 -- We've played Valdosta 3 times back in the previous league, they're the other team that promoted up with us. We're 3-0-0 in those 3. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Otoo/Ashe/Forrest/Varela M: Castro/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Cooper ST: Arredondo/Cole Eder Castro and Carlos Alberto Arredondo both get their first action with the first team, due to the Ratzburg injury and fitness issues in the midfield. Standard mindset against a weaker team at home. 2': They have a throwin deep in their own end, and they give it away immediately, Davidson has it, passes to Shakespeare, he shoots from 25 yards out, and he scores on the long shot!! That was unexpected. 1-0 4': We build up down the right, Cooper with a pass into Cole, Cole shoots from a tough angle but he scores, nice shot! 2-0 9': We have a corner, taken to Ashe, he has 3 men around him, he's brought down and its a penalty! Shakespeare takes it and scores his 2nd goal! 3-0 30': They work it down the right side, cross into the 6 yard box, Forrest runs into it and deflects it in, oops. 3-1 HALF: well, we've scored 4 goals, unfortunately one of them was into our own net. But things are looking good and I just tell the team that I think they can be even better. Valdosta hasn't taken a shot yet. 62': Throwin in their end for us, Davidson with a header forward to Arredondo, he crosses to the other side where Cooper is all alone and he puts it right in! 4-1 64': Cooper with a nice pass ahead to Cole for a clear cut chance, but he puts it wide. 75': Castro picks up a minor injury. 78': They have two midfielders with yellow cards, one of them brings down Shakespeare and gets his second yellow, they're down to 10. 82': They take their first shot. 89': Cooper makes a great run down the right and crosses it in to Arredondo for a goal, but he's clearly offsides. 91': Davidson ahead to Cole, Cole has drawn their entire defense into the left side of the area, he passes it over to Cooper who is once again all alone and once again puts it into the net! 5-1 Well that feels satisfying after the last match. Wake Forest 5 : 1 Valdosta Man of the Match: Ian Cooper (9.5) Goals: Cooper 2, Shakespeare 2 (9.3), Cole (8.6) Assists: Davidson 2 (8.2), Ashe (8.1), Cooper, Cole Notables: Gyan (7.2), Varela (7.5), Forrest (7.6), Otoo (7.5), Castro (7.4), Arredondo (7.3) Forrest with a 7.6 despite the own goal. Injury Update Castro is going to miss about 10 days with a toe injury he picked up today. |
-- Our training facilities have been updated. We now have "Basic" corporate, training, and youth facilities.
April 14th, 2017 Hickory Heat (1-1-2, 15th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (2-1-2, 9th) Attendance: 211 -- We played Hickory once in our very first season to a 1-1 draw. Hickory promoted in each of their first two seasons, last year they were 17th in Division 2, this is their second year here. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Flores/Pickering/Hernandez/Lacey M: Williams/Wilkins AM: Rose/Cooper ST: Maurer/Navarro Some changes from the team that lost 6:1 a few games ago. Brian Williams in midfield, Rose at AML, I give Cooper his second start in a row, the goal there to set up Rose/Cooper and Davidson/Fisher rotations. Maurer starts where Roth played last match, fitness reasons. We'll look to counter on the road. 3': Cooper takes a corner, Pickering with the clear cut chance on the header... saved. 4': We get a break after winning a ball in the midfield, Navarro to Maurer, Maurer out to the left side of the area, passes back towards the center, Rose is charging in, blasts it from 10 yards out, the keeper had no chance. Goal! 1-0 12': Wilkins tries to head the ball forward to the offense, but they get a defender to it, but the defender has very poor control and it bounces free to Navarro, he gets into the area and its a clear cut chance... but he puts it high. Shoulda scored. 28': Cooper with a cross into the 6 yard box, Navarro heads it in... but offsides. That was close, I didn't think he was offsides. 37': They pressure up the middle, Hernandez and Pickering each make key tackles, but we just can't clear the ball, they get a pass to the right side, a low cross in and a goal to tie things up. 1-1 HALF: We outshoot them 5-4, dominating possession 58/42 and really should have scored twice in this one. We do seem to be the better team so hopefully we can pull ahead in the 2nd. 60': Ashe in for Pickering Glaser in for Wilkins, both just seem to be struggling today. 69': Yellow for defender Lassiter, he brings down Cooper. Cooper takes the free kick, nothing happens with it. 70': Hernandez clears out a cross and we are out on the counter, ahead to Maurer, off to Glaser, he gets it to Navarro for a pretty good look, but saved. 74': Arredondo in for Maurer. 77: Williams with a nice cross to Navarro for a goal, but NAvarro was offsides... apparently. I really disagree with that call. If I get the chance to complain about the refs after this one I will. 82': Cooper wins the ball on a long goal kick, one pass ahead to Navarro for a good looking shot... saved. 86': Lacey wins a header to start a counter, Arredondo sends it ahead, Navarro gets to it, clear cut chance... and saved. Poor 1 on 1 effort from Navarro. That's it. Hickory 1 : 1 Wake Forest Man of the Match: Dylan Rose (7.3) Goal: Rose Assist: Maurer (6.7) Ronnie Navarro actually ends the game with a 5.9 rating, he just had so many chances there and couldn't convert. On the whole, first season in a new league I should probably be happy any time I get a point on the road, but we were the better team today and deserved 3. I don't get a chance to complain about the refs in a post match press conference. |
My scouts find a 29 y/o MC who looks fairly appealing, he's been playing at the level above ours for awhile, not great, but his ratings look decent, I offer him a trial... which in retrospect is that even useful? I assume I can't use a trialist in a league match. Oh well, we'll see.
April 18th, 2017 Wake Forest Cougars (2-2-2, 10th) vs FC JAX Destroyers (3-0-3, 8th) Attendance: 312 -- First match ever against them. The Jax is of course, Jacksonville. They started out in the Atlantic Coast Premier League, a tier above us, but relegated last season. Starting Lineup GK: Gyan D: Otoo/Ashe/Forrest/Varela M: Tapia/Shakespeare AM: Davidson/Fisher ST: Roth/Cole Counterattacking b/c its what we're best at. 19': Ashe with a nice tackle to win the ball in defense, we build up on offense, not a quick counter or anything, Fisher lays it off to Cole down the right side, Cole with a very nice cross from the right corner to the far post, Davidson with the header, its in! 1-0 22': Fisher a yellow. 26': We allow a ball into the area, Otoo tackles it away... and everyone freaks out, or something. Forrest doesn't turn around to get the ball, Gyan doesn't move back to the center of the net, so their attacker gets to put it in for free. That looked a little buggy. 1-1 36': Cole with a through ball to Roth, he holds it though and ends up with a bad, awkward shot that's saved. 40': We control it on the right side, Cole passes it to Shakespeare near the midfield line, he sends a nice ball ahead to Davidson, Davdidson holds it up, then hits Roth for a volley and a goal! 2-1 46': Shakespeare again with a long ball down the left, Davidson receives it running towards the goal, shoots... saved, turned behind for a corner, but we take it poorly. HALF: Forrest has a 6.1 rating due to giving up the goal I think. I'm going to leave him in for now, but will be fairly quick to sub him if I need to. We again seem the far better team, outshooting Jax 8-1, controlling possession, winning everything really. 52': forrest tries to make an aggressive tackle 1 on 1 near the box, fails, and allows his man a free run into the area for a clear cut chance, Gyan plays it well though and stops it. 59': Pickering in for Forrest. 60': Shakespeare to Davidson is so deadly today, but Davidson can't quite get this one in either, saved. We get a shot off the corner but they have a defener clear the shot off the line. 71': Shakespeare to Fisher for our 3rd clear cut chance on the day, just high. 73': Jackson in for Varela, Arredondo in for Cole. 82': Davidson with a free kick out wide left, a cross into the area is headed by Ashe, but saved. 91': They have a free kick, a cross and a headed goal, but the player who scored was just straight up lined off offsides, disallowed. That'll do it. Wake Forest 2 : 1 FC JAX Man of the Mach: Brian Davidson (7.9) Goals: Davidson, Roth (7.1) Assists: Davidson, Cole (6.7) We really dominated that match, 15 shots to 3, we should have won by more, but 3 points is 3 points. |
I like bringing willing people in for trials to corroborate/repudiate the scout's impressions with the coaches' take on the guy.
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