Cup Background
The cup has rarely been kind to the Hippos. I often have overestimated my team's performance, which is usually bad early in the season due to lower form, as well as trying to emphasize training which is probably a mistake in the cup. We have averaged around the ~100th best team for the last 10 seasons which should average out to the 7th or 8th round every season. Instead, as you've seen, we've been bounced 6, 6, 6, 6, and 3 the last 5 seasons.
Not only that, but since the HT devs have never seen the problem of having the lower seeded team with home field, it has been one of the driving forces in teams sandbagging games to stay in lower divisions. That, along with fans, "smart" or otherwise- more on that later, really increased the incidence of teams who would slum down in V or VI to stock up cash, make deep cup runs, and build up the fan club. It can be very frustrating.
Hippo Cup History
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 19
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 3 season 20
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 4 season 21
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 4 season 22
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 23
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 24
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 25
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 26
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 27
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 28
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 29
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 30
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 31
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 32
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 33
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 34
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 35
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 36
The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 3 season 37
Cup Game Preview
Round 1 pits the Hippos against Derby's, a bot team from New Jersey. Starters will be playing to keep form up. We'll have a "meet the team post" at some point to get everyone acquainted with the current Hippos. There will even be a few familiar faces to those with good memories.
Back to the game, we should have be able to breeze through this with a PIC and build some team spirit, going into series play.
Formatting Notes
A couple of minor notes on the formatting.
I used to take a lot of pride in the formatting I put into my Hippo dynasties. I will try to continue with that, but it was also what ultimately led me to quitting as putting a half hour or hour into "prettying up" something that's already pretty clean ended up sapping all the time I wanted to use to write the dynasties. Hopefully it's presentable enough 
Secondly- hattrick changed their appearance a couple of months ago so some of the formatting cuts and pastes easily and some doesn't. I'll try to post as much as I can that doesn't look bad on the message board. There will be some little notations on this particular match summary (FF/IE), so that I remember which version I pulled things from so they look good and consistent in the future.
Cup Game Box Score
Kits (IE)
Derbys 0 – 5 Hippopotami (206752987) (IE)
1-29-2009 01.00
The 12000 fans in attendance at
Derby's Arena were roasting in the hot sun. Derbys decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Tharp - Browning, Ballard, Roach, Springer - Simms, Mccullough, Cole, Alvareda - Parrish, Matlock.
Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Özkutay - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Partridge, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo.
Hippopotami showed off their creative tactics.
Chema Delcarte came close to putting the visiting team one up 2 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but
Michael Tharp managed to tip the ball to a corner.
Oliver Angulo's speed was clear to see after 27 minutes as he darted past his marker and struck an opening pass to
Tor Tetlie who scored the 0-1 goal. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from
Carlos Thacker after 34 minutes, and prevented Hippopotami from going up another goal. Some fine manoeuvring on the left led to a Hippopotami goal after 42 minutes, making it 0 - 2.
Charlie Partridge was noted down as the scorer. The crowd gasped as
Batı Özkutay of Hippopotami was flattened by an opponent after 42 minutes and had to be carried off.
Tim Kimber came in off the bench. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 79 percent of the time.
Charlie Partridge didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. A thrilling play through the middle 68 minutes into the match gave Hippopotami's
Tor Tetlie a chance to increase the lead, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 3. 68 minutes in, Derbys's
Blair Browning received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The visitors'
Zacarías Regúlez took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and central backs 74 minutes into the match. 0 - 4 for Hippopotami. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 80 minutes, Hippopotami did not go for a direct shot but instead aimed for the area just in front of the keeper. The attacking players made several runs as the ball was played and made it hard for the defenders to protect their goal. After a short tussle with the defender,
Oliver Angulo could finally lay the ball to rest behind the keeper. 0 - 5, and proof it can pay off to come prepared. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 81 percent of the time.
Leo Cole performed admirably for Derbys.
Rodney Matlock on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami's best player was
Carlos Thacker.
Tim Kimber was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 5.
Rating details (IE)
| Derby's | Houston Hippopotami |
| Midfield | wretched (high) | passable (low) |
| Right Defence | wretched (high) | solid (low) |
| Central Defence | poor (low) | passable (high) |
| Left Defence | poor (high) | poor (high) |
| Right Attack | wretched (low) | poor (very high) |
| Central Attack | disastrous (very high) | solid (very high) |
| Left Attack | disastrous (very high) | solid (very low) |
| |
| Indirect set pieces |
| Defence | poor (high) | inadequate (very high) |
| Attack | poor (very low) | passable (high) |
| |
| Team Attitude | (Hidden) | Play it Cool |
| Tactic | Normal | Play creatively |
| Tactic skill | (no tactic) | - |
Highlights (FF)
Possession (FF)
21%
79%
19%
81%
Cup Game Recap
Pretty easy game: 5-0 win. Starting forward Tor Tetlie got a pair of goals and three others contributed scores. Unfortunately, we had the worst case scenario for an easy cup game play out as starting keeper Bati Ozkutay, the Bursa Blockade, was injured with a +3, likely taking him out for our first two fixtures. Hippo legend and current coach, Tim "Timber" Kimber (a blast from the past for those of you with good memories) came in and finished up the game. However, he, nor backup keeper and youth academy product Tomas Milam, is not good enough to hold down the fort in III, so we will be forced to make a decision in the upcoming week.
SI