Cup Game Preview
If I could design my own schedule, I would have moved these series walkovers out until weeks 5/6 or maybe 6/7 to try and stretch out my cup run. Rarely in Div III do you get a chance to concentrate on the cup like I will get to this week and next.
You saw the lineups from Sunday against OG Kickers- it was mostly backups in a team-spirit-building PIC. We will still be PIC'ing for this match, but the lineup will mostly be starters. However, faithful Hippo fanatics will get a chance to check out the two newest Hippos in international defense trainees Zurab Kavelashvili and Itamar Gafni.
As for our opponent today, the Canadians, who are from Dallas, naturally, focus mainly on defense. They could be a good CA'ing team except they don't really do anything else well- they can't attack and their midfield is mediocre. They are a middle-of-the-pack Div V team and, while they will slow our offense down, we should win a low scoring affair pretty handily.
The Canadians share V.21 with the Cowtown Seacows/Airborn Penguins, a name that might look familiar to some
Cup Game Box Score
Kits
Canadians 2 – 3 Hippopotami (218967886)
2-19-2009 01.00
The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 35000 had shown up at
Nortel Stadium for the match. Canadians tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Turpín - Farrar, Ried, Moquin, Silva, Fredriksen - Cavazza, Seward, Dragutinović, Garza - Hennen.
A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hippopotami. The following players took the field: Özkutay - Kavelashvili, Cyburt, Gafni - Sidorczak, Thacker, Marsh, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo.
Hippopotami displayed their ability to play creatively.
Maximiliano Turpín looked great 7 minutes into the match after stopping a shot by the visitors'
Itamar Gafni. With 16 minutes played, Hippopotami's
Zurab Kavelashvili fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked
Zurab Kavelashvili for diving. After 21 minutes
Oliver Angulo made a speedy advance and dropped the ball to
Tor Tetlie who shuffled it past the keeper. The score was now 0 - 1. Canadians's
Brad Seward placed the ball right at his teammate's feet after a corner, but
Darío Silva couldn't finish. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area after 28 minutes played,
Steve Moquin of Canadians evened the score to 1 - 1. Hippopotami's
Carlos Thacker got himself booked for a foul. The visiting
Oliver Angulo was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 44 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 65 percent of possession.
A surprising free kick routine after 56 minutes nearly resulted in another goal for the visitors, but the ball went just a little wide. With 63 minutes played, Canadians's
Alun Farrar fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked
Alun Farrar for diving. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 70 minutes gave Canadians a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and
Alun Farrar stepped up to the challenge, netting the 2 - 2 goal.
Itamar Gafni's lack of experience almost gave Canadians a goal after 78 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. 82 minutes were showing on the scoreboard when Canadians's
Alun Farrar received his second yellow card and was sent off.
Zurab Kavelashvili was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Hippopotami's
Ryan Linneberg had to come off the bench. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 84 minutes allowed
Itamar Gafni to score the 2 - 3 goal for Hippopotami. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Canadians's
Riccardo Cavazza a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 85 minutes into the game.
Donald Sidorczak came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle, but he lifted the ball over
Maximiliano Turpín and it was a little too high and hit the bar. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 66 percent of possession.
Canadians's best player was
Darío Silva.
Riccardo Cavazza on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt
Tor Tetlie.
Itamar Gafni was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3.
Rating details
| Canadians | Houston Hippopotami |
| Midfield | weak (very high) | excellent (very low) |
| Right Defence | formidable (low) | solid (very low) |
| Central Defence | magnificent (low) | passable (high) |
| Left Defence | formidable (very low) | passable (very low) |
| Right Attack | poor (high) | inadequate (very high) |
| Central Attack | poor (very high) | excellent (high) |
| Left Attack | inadequate (very low) | excellent (low) |
| |
| Indirect set pieces |
| Defence | passable (high) | inadequate (low) |
| Attack | weak (very high) | inadequate (very high) |
| |
| Team Attitude | (Hidden) | Play it Cool |
| Tactic | Normal | Play creatively |
| Tactic skill | (no tactic) | - |
Highlights
Cup Game Recap
Yet another injury. We are having no luck at all this season with staying healthy. At least Zurab isn't out for very long. Itamar had a better game with the winning goal. It was a little closer than I would have guessed, but we were never behind the entire game. More team spirit built up and onto our second of two walkovers.
SI