Cup Game Preview
Good thing this won't present much of a challenge as we still don't have a keeper. Timber was a Hippo legend, but at 41 and the coach, he's not much at the pitch on the moment. So, Tomas Milam will get the start. He's a product of our youth academy and was meant to basically be sold off. However, realizing I didn't have a viable backup, I kept him on the team in that capacity. This is proving to not be a very good option as it's clear now that I need a real backup in III, just like at other positions.
Speaking of backups and back to the game at hand, Derby's isn't a bot, but he still can barely put up a 100 in hatstats so you'll get to see most of the bench in this game. I have at least one player at all positions who is a more than capable backup (the type of guy we all would have killed to have on our team down in V)- with a brilliant or higher in main skills. A couple I bought for backups, most used to be starters and I'm keeping them around until I can retire them into the Hippo Hall of Heroes.
Just to put this in perspective, a 35yo titanic playmaker with no discernable secondaries- lets call him longtime Hippo middie #17 Erwin Vickers- costs a "whopping" $5K in wages per week. And, sure, he might not put up the stars or ratings a 25yo titanic would, mainly due to a lack of stamina, but he can put up 4 stars + 2 greyed out stamina stars so you can't really knock that.
I do like our sharp away uni's
Cup Game Box Score
Kits
rootkit 1 – 4 Hippopotami (218461859)
2-5-2009 01.00
The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 12000 had shown up at
Destruction for the match. rootkit tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kurunsaari - Joyner, Mullins, Claridge, Márquez Nogueras - Coyro, Garcia, Maddox, Linn - Poole, Kearns.
Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Milam - 安粱 (Anliang) , Linneberg, Williams - Sidorczak, Little, Brik, Vickers, Weissglass - Masereel, Treibahs.
麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) sailed high above the opponents as he headed the 0-1 goal in on a corner kick from
Ryan Linneberg after 13 minutes of play. The referee showed rootkit's
Daniel Garcia the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 76 percent.
After 59 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed
Adir Weissglass to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 2. There was concern in the stands when, at the 60 minute mark, Hippopotami's
麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. After 76 minutes of game time,
麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but
Jaakko Kurunsaari was in the right place and tipped the ball to a corner.
Bill Kearns finished off the counterattack from the left rather easily, scoring 1 - 2 for rootkit.
Ryan Linneberg increased Hippopotami's lead to 1 - 3 with a superb free kick strike that flew in just under the far top corner. There was concern in the stands when, at the 79 minute mark, rootkit's
Joan Maddox hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. The home crowd was not impressed when
Allan Brik came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 80 minutes. Hippopotami were now up 1 - 4. Confident in their lead, Hippopotami decided to play a more defensive game at this point. rootkit's
Chad Mullins was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 82 minutes. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 72 percent possession of the ball.
rootkit's top performer was clearly
Chad Mullins.
Daniel Garcia on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Hippopotami player was
Donald Sidorczak.
Tomas Milam was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 4.
Rating details
| rootkit | Houston Hippopotami |
| Midfield | wretched (low) | inadequate (low) |
| Right Defence | weak (low) | poor (high) |
| Central Defence | inadequate (very low) | solid (very low) |
| Left Defence | poor (very high) | passable (low) |
| Right Attack | poor (low) | inadequate (very low) |
| Central Attack | poor (low) | weak (very high) |
| Left Attack | poor (high) | wretched (low) |
| |
| Indirect set pieces |
| Defence | weak (very low) | inadequate (low) |
| Attack | weak (very low) | inadequate (low) |
| |
| Team Attitude | (Hidden) | Play it Cool |
| Tactic | Normal | Normal |
| Tactic skill | (no tactic) | (no tactic) |
Highlights
Possession
24%
76%
28%
72%
Cup Game Recap
Best you can hope for from an early round cup game- easy win, only injury was a bruised, no cards, and a team spirit boost. Those aren't awful defense ratings but that's going to hurt if I put those up in III, so something's going to have to give. May be time to break into the money bin and get a long term solution for backup keeper.
SI