[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 3: IV.21

[sterlingice]

Introduction
The Hippos are back! After a thrilling race for the V.62 title last year, we promoted into the ultra-tough IV.21. We're hoping to just tread water this year. We're probably at least 2 seasons away from promoting, but right now, let's just worry about treading water. BTW, if you need to catch up with the Hippos, check out the Award Ceremony post at the end of last year: it's a year-in-review post.

Thanks to all who read this! As any dynasty writer knows- it feels good to have your work appreciated and feedback is always wanted!


Posting Schedule
This was the tenative schedule for last season and I'll try to maintain it better this year. I was never good at getting around to the Week-In-Review. I really want to get to a "Where are they Now", kindly stol- er... borrowed from NevStar's dynasty (slacker- where are you now? ) but business before pleasure.

Sunday: Fixture Summary, Standings
Monday/Tuesday: Hippo Spotlight, Where are they Now
Wedensday: Friendly Summary
Friday: Training
Saturday: Youth Pull, Team Attitude, Weekly Economy, Week-In-Review
Bi-Weekly or Monthly Updates: Youth Squad, Training, Staff, International Report, Supporter Update


Previous Threads In this Dynasty
Hippopotami Introduction: Hippopotami Hattrick Prequel (Old Board Conversion)
Hippopotami - Season 18, part II
[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 2: V.62

SI

[sterlingice]

NOTE: Some of this was copied from last year's dynasty report


Supporters
I want to give a hearty welcome to my supporters and express my support to my supportees. For those who don't know, any official supporter gets special treatment during games (for more, check out the Awards Ceremony at the end of last season). Unfortunately, my support spots are now filled and only 4 are reciprocal: I support DK's Screamin' Seamen non-reciprocally. Ideally, I want to play a home-and-home with every one of my supported teams. As of right now, I've played the Bees three times, the Morrisvillians twice, and the Sidekicks and Cyclones once. Depending on the format of this year's FOFC Cup, I'm hoping to play some more supporters.

Supported/Supportee teams

Bees (70510) in USA
Owner: ausonny
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-01-31 17:22:38
Supportee since: 2003-01-08 23:22:37
Series: V.41

Screamin' Seamen (70638) in USA
Owner: dataking
Status: supported
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 09:05:12
Series: IV.49

Morrisville Morrisvillians (70926) in USA
Owner: NevStar
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 22:57:25
Supportee since: 2003-02-03 04:56:37
Series: V.93

NE Oklahoma Sidekicks (71068) in USA
Owner: vexroid
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-13 22:45:08
Supportee since: 2003-02-13 08:24:27
Series: IV.10

Louisiana Cyclones (72080) in USA
Owner: Doug5984
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-03-07 01:07:40
Supportee since: 2003-03-06 19:44:19
Series: IV.5

Bull Dogs (8421) in USA
Owner: Eilim
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-03-28 03:55:19
Series: V.1

Manhattan Marauders (71399) in USA
Owner: NAIWF
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-04-22 00:00:14
Series: V.152

goldurnears (72020) in USA
Owner: robbgmaier
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-04-30 22:30:26
Series: IV.10

SI

[sterlingice]

NOTE: Some of this was copied from last year's dynasty report


Staff
I used a 7-3 for most of last year but switched to 9-1 after Kimber kept his form for pretty much all of the season. This year, I made the jump to 10 spokespersons instead of the 5 I carried last yaer. I've had very minimal injuries with 96% training and 1 physiotherapist. I bumped that to 97%-2 towards the end of last year. I have 5 doctors now because a pair of players I purchase were injured but those will be gone soon. I may have to hire sports pychologistst to keep my confidence up, considering how slippery the slope will be this year.

Staff
Goaltending Coaches: 1
Assistant Coaches: 9
Sport Psychologists: 0
Spokepersons: 10
Economists: 0
Physiotherapists: 2
Doctors: 5



Training
With the UberTrainees(TM) in place, I'm definately going to continue playmaking. I was training at 95% last year and bumped that up to 97% recently. My winning percentage the last two years was 20-4 so I never had to worry about confidence. This year, .500 is an admirable goal so I don't expect to be carting around that wonderful confidence I'm used to. But I did win my Cup match to start the season so it's there now. I'm going to try and win some cup games to get that TS up and keep confidence high because I'll need all the help I can get this year. I'd like to get in a week of stamina training in the middle of the season, at some point. For formations, I run a 3-5-2 at all times.


Training Specifics
Training Level: 97%
Training Type: Playmaking
Coach: Ricky Braden
Team Spirit: calm
Confidence: wonderful

Formation experience
4-3-3: poor
4-5-1: poor
3-5-2: solid
5-3-2: poor
3-4-3: poor
5-4-1: poor



Sponsors/Supporters
Last season was good to our bandwagon. We went from 869 at the start of last season to to the 1266 we have now. I have yet to lose supporters in a week. That's bound to change this season. I doubt it will be as nice as last year when I had "high on life" moods of both sponsors and supporters for the last 10 weeks of the season. Because of this, we have double our spokespersons count in an attmept to counteract this.

Sponsor Info
Sponsors: delirious
Supporter Club: 869 members
Supporters: high on life



The Hippodrome
Our home sweet Hippodrome is on the northwest side of Houston. Our first expansion came too soon and our second expansion came too late, it seems. In mid season 18, we doubled the size from the initial 7000 to 15692. We didn't sell it out until early this season. However, we got 15K for 7 of our 8 games this season but had to wait until the end of the season for a cash influx.

We doubled the size of the stadium again as the Hippodrome32K was just completed. It's probably too large for our current group of supporters, but we'll grow into it

NOTE: copied from last year's dynasty report
There's also the matter of the executive washroom and attached box suite which are not included in the other stadium stats. However, any official supporters of the Hippos are familiar with, and enjoy their games from, the comfort of the suite. A classical feel of marble is meshed with technological wonders along with full service dining and full service girls- take that as you will. Other than official supporters, only the owner is allowed up here on a regular basis. The end of year awards banquet is also held here and the event has contributed to some of the team loyalty.

Arena Info
Arena: The Hippodrome
Belongs to: Houston Hippopotami
Country: USA
Region : Houston
Last improvement: 7/24/2003
Total capacity: 32000
Terraces: 20000
Basic seating: 8000
Seats under roof: 3200
Seats in VIP boxes: 800



Youth Squad
Last year I described our youth squad as "much maligned". We continued to pour $20K per week into it and it's currently solid. Our slump continued into this season as we only got one player in the first 6 weeks who we sold for $11K. This all changed in week 7 when we pulled Roland Gontan, a 19yo solid PM. I tained him one week, he bumped, and was immediately sold for $350K. We pulled four sellable players the final seven weeks of the season for $228K. Hopefully we can continue to get better and better pulls as our system improves.

Youth Squad
Youth Squad: solid
Investment in the Youth squad: 20,000 US$ / week

Youth Pulls: 28
Youth Pull Grocers: 21
Youth Pulls Sold: 7
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 0
Total Sold for: 590000



Finances
Last Year, I was getting around $165K per week in my ideal budget. This year, that's up to $250K, tho I may be overshooting. I'm not entirely sure how much my lack of success this year will affect my income. That said, I'm pushing a little more into the black. My extra sponsor revenue offset my wage increases. The extra $50K or so crowd revenue per two weeks should more than offset the doubling of my arena cost and a larger staff. We may have to bump up that staff a little more with a few sports shrinks to offset our soon-to-be-sinking confidence. Looks like we'll be a lot more solvent this year, even before youth pulls from a solid, soon to be excellent, squad. Last year, our projected income per week was $6400. This year, it's up to $19400.

Revenue
Crowd: 5000 (135000)
Sponsors: 55000
Financial: 0
Temporary: 0
Two Week Revenue: 250000

Expenses
Arena: 20800
Wages: 32000
Interest: 0
Temporary: 2000
Staff: 40500
Youth squad: 20000
Two Week Expenses: 230600

Total
Two Week Gross: +19400



Team Profile
All of these have reasonably gone up this year: our squad value is just a shade below $3M and our average is over $130K. Then again, our wages are up quite a bit, too. Our age is constant from last year's 23. We're still a pretty young team. Here's our international flavor for the year, up to 12 countries from 8 last year: USA (11, including coach), Sverige (2), Argentina (1), Danmark (1), Oceania (1), Romania (1), Hrvatska (1), Belgie (1), England (1), Deutschland (1), Italia (1), and Nederland (1). I kindof like the international flavor- it's expensive, but we don't discriminate

Team Stats
Total Wages: 33090
Total Value: 2935000
Avg Value: 133409
Avg Age: 23
Avg Form: inadequate
Avg Experience: wretched
No of players: 22
Nationalities: 12



Federations
I'm in three federations, tho, two are active while HAM is more informational than anything.

Federations
Front Office Football Community- I think we all know what this one is.
HAM Users International- The help community for everyone's favorite little hattrick utility. Mmm... HAM. *drool*
Kraftworks Union (K.U.)- This is a fed that is basically the brainchild of Havoc (not to be confused with Havok here), a guy who helped me out when I was starting. It's quite an active fed and there's a lot of good strategy discussed here with some high profile members like GM-Spidurman and CaptainNeda who was in MLS last year. Not to mention a few of us little FOFCers like Havok and Daedalus.



Team Colors
NOTE: copied from last year's dynasty report
As Hippopotamuses are only grey/black, I figured I could go with pretty much any color I wanted but I wanted something with a dark look. At first, I kindof liked the idea of dark red and black as those seem like Hippo colors but then I decided on purple and black. Also thought dark green socks sounded like a good idea even though they look like black to me. Our color schemes are as follows: (any thoughts?)

Match Kit
Shirt: Black
Shorts: Purple
Socks: Dark Green

Reserve Kit
Shirt: Purple
Shorts: Black
Socks: Dark Green



Fan Club
NOTE: also copied from last year's dynasty report
Thanks to a small impromptu contest last year (which wasn't really a contest but me taking the first good suggestion that came along), ardent's suggestion of "Hungry Hungry Hippos" stuck with our fan club. It resulted in our sponsoring of his North County Raiders until a better offer came along- i.e. reciprocal sponsorship from another club. Ardent was pretty understandable that he lost out to a better bribe



Logo
NOTE: also copied from last year's dynasty report
I have a creepily cute logo befitting my team's status as not even able to win in division V. Maybe I'll find some scarier images once my team improves. The image came somewhat from the cover of a book called "Hippos Go Berserk" by Sandra Boynton. I've never heard of it or read it before but it had a picture that fit. Here's a link to the book:Hippos Go Berserk And here is our new, ultra-intimidating team logo:




SI

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[The Afoci]

Originally posted by sterlingice
[Placeholder3]

SI

My favorite post of this dynasty so far. Nearly QOTM quality, nearly.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by The Afoci
My favorite post of this dynasty so far. Nearly QOTM quality, nearly.

You like that one better than 4? I'll try harder next time.

SI

[The Afoci]

4 was a good post, true. But in all honesty, anything following 3 was going to be a disappointment for me. 3 just hit me on so many different levels, it was amazing. Deep stuff.

[vex]

Slacker

[Marmel]

I think this was an extremely cheap way to up a post count.


On a totally unrelated topic, look for my new dynasty coming soon. I will be placeholding 250 posts for it.

[Alf]

sterlingice is the new dolamite, maybe we should remove his Grizzled Veteran status and award him with the more permanent dolamite status.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by Alf
sterlingice is the new dolamite, maybe we should remove his Grizzled Veteran status and award him with the more permanent dolamite status.

This isn't nearly as bad as last year- some of those "preseason" notes weren't complete until 2 weeks into the season.

Also, I'm pretty sure there are many who are more deserving of "permanent dolamite".

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
A new Cup dawns on the Hippos and this one finds us in the familiar role of favorite for roughly our first five games. Refreshing everyone's memory, last season we started the cup with a pair of 9-0 beatings of Div V teams on the road. Then we came home, upset a pair Div IV teams 6-0 and 6-1 before being subdued by Div II's The Minutemen. My prediction for this year: we have more of a focus on training, so, although we field a better team than last year and I will be playing more starters due to want of experience gain, I'm going to say we make it 6 rounds, one more than last year. I hope to get at least 3 PICs out of it, if not 4. We could use all the team spirit help we can get in this brutal series.

This year, we start out on the road against the computer controlled Montana Panthers. If we win by any less than 7, I'll be disappointed, even with the PIC. All the starters are playing since it's our only game this week. I would feel bad about the final except, well, it's a computer controlled team. I'm just hoping for no injuries or cards.


Game Summary
Date: 7/24/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9217074
Arena: Montana Lane
Crowd: 3669


Due to an all-day shower, 3669 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Montana Lane. Panthers had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Jagannathan - Bowling, Bernier, Soto, Flores - Dube, Trevelin, Klein, West - Whalen, Richards.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Romo - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Newsom - Phelan, Houben.

Hippopotamis Edwin Phelan excelled in some fine tricks that completely confusedPaul Flores - and the finish was no less spectacular - 0 - 1! The away team´s Edwin Phelan took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 12th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 2. The away team´s Herschel Meek took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 24:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 3. The visitors Edwin Phelan took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 38:th minute. 0 - 4 for Hippopotami. By then Edwin Phelan was a three time scorer - a hat trick! Edwin Phelan increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 5. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Halftime score was 0 - 5. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 47:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 6. Coskum Houben was noted down as the scorer. Hippopotami increased the lead to 0 - 7 as Herschel Meek scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. After 76 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Edwin Phelan who increased Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 8. After 81 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for José María Miquel who increased Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 9. Marcel Romo was suffering from cramps and had big difficulties keeping up as the opponentes pushed forward. Franklin Bowling had no problems getting through and hit home the 1 - 9 goal. Hippopotami increased the lead to 1 - 10 as Herschel Meek scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. By then Herschel Meek was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 93 percent possession of the ball.

Panthers´s best player was Herbert Soto. However, Tim Richards made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was Mick Starks. Marcel Romo on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 10.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names shows this is a cup game and the number scored in the cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MP: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (C1): 1-0
HH: 12: Edwin Phelan (C2): 2-0
HH: 24: Herschel Meek (C1): 3-0
HH: 38: Edwin Phelan (C3): 4-0
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (C4): 5-0
HH: xx: *Pulling Back*
Halftime Score: 5-0
Possession: 83%

2nd Half
HH: 47: Coskum Houben (C1): 6-0
HH: xx: Herschel Meek (C2): 7-0
HH: 76: Edwin Phelan (C5): 8-0
HH: 81: Jose Maria Miguel (C1): 9-0
MP: xx: 9-1
HH: xx: Herschel Meek (C3): 10-1
Final Score: 10-1
Possession: 93%
Final Possession: 88%

Cards
None, yay!

Injuries
None: even better!


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

He only drew 3600 and change. My Hong Kong friendly last year got about a dozen less than this game!


Team Ratings

Montana Panthers
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 25/27

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 51/56

Not too bad. Especially for a PIC. There are some holes to mend, but I'm not going to worry too much about them this game. Besides that, I was doing some position experimenting and that is reflected here. Also, the PIC kept our midfield down.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM José María Miquel (n) **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Donald Newsom (m) **
FO Coskum Houben **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~


Total Stars: 31.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Play It Cool


Four at ***~ as Meek joined Benito, Starks, and Kimber! Houben continues his disappointing showing with only **~ at striker. I paid $150K for an upgrade not a horizontal step. The poor experience makes me happy!


Three Stars
Well, the first two were really easy

Bronze: Jose Maria Miguel
Acted as team captain with his vast experience and leadership and scored a goal
Silver: Herschel Meek
A ***~ rating at defensive middie and a hat trick for the new veteran
Gold: Edwin Phelan
Edwin shows that last week was just a fluke, scoring 5(!) times


Game Summary
Even the rain couldn't stop the offense this week. A complete obliteration. Oh that our first five cup games will be this easy. Not much to say about this game: it was domination over a completely inferior computer team.


Press Release
7/25/2003 at 05:17 Hippos Cup Offense Firing on All Cylinders
Season 19 scoring co-champ Edwin Phelan scored five goals and new Hippo Herschel Meek added a hat trick as Houston rolled 10-1 to open up the US Cup. Four Hippos got 3.5 stars and many others were trying out new positions in preparation for a new season. Due to the all day shower, the crowd was less than stellar in the game against the Montana Panthers from VI.514. Hopefully, next week's game against the Div VI Boston Knights will be better. Hippos open their first season in IV.21 Sunday.


Notes
We're off and running in the cup. Next up, our first ever Div IV game against one of the other Div V promotees. It's on the road and we can win this game to start the season off on the right foot.

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
I really didn't want to train stamina two weeks in a row. I doubt I could afford all the form hits. Instead, I went with set pieces this week and had pretty good results. Twelve Hippos bumped a level in set pieces. The only form hangover we had was with Houben (still at weak), the new forward. A lot of our B Team suffered in form, but that's because they didn't get a game this week.

Future Training
Done with our offseason so it's onto lots and lots of playmaking. I do want to squeeze in a week of stamina if our form is high enough.

Form
Starters: (+2) (-2)
Entire Team: (+2) (-6)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush (exc) Starks
Passable: Kimber Phelan Connors Benito Meek Christiano
Inadequate: Newsom Schrader
Weak (or below): Houben

Kimber popped back up to passable and that's huge news. Houben needs to improve or he may find his way right back out of town. Newsom and Schrader need to turn it around next week.


Value
Starters: (+5) (-5)
Entire Team: (+7) (-11)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 8(+1)/10(+2)
Above $200K: 4(+0)/4(+0)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($491K)
Outfield Leader: Mick Starks ($326K)
Milestones: None this week

Most of the movement here had to do with offseason acquisitions.


Team Stats
Total Wages: 31070 (+622)
Total Value: 2811000 (+98000)
Avg Value: 140550 (+172232)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 20 (NC)
Nationalities: 10 (-2)

Youth Pull, Week 20.01
Good news all around! Our squad is up to excellent. Last week's pull, Saturnino Sales sold for $40K to the Intercourse Ball Kickers, a team in the Louisiana Cyclone's IV.5. Small world. And, finally, the new pick is good! I'm not sure yet whether I want to keep the excessively long named David Antonio Alonso Soto- he's a great young wingback. However, I don't really have a need for another one and I could use the cash I get from him. I'll put him up for $100K and see if I get a bite. Also, I'll try him out in a game and see how well he does.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 29
Youth Pull Grocers: 21 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 7 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (+1)
Total Sold for: 590000 (+40000)

Youth Pull
David Antonio Alonso Soto (14893294)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Head
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 66 000 US$
Wage: 820 US$/week

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



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (up from solid)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: delirious (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1276 members (+18)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: strong (up two levels from decent)

Not a bad pull of supporters. That team spirit was a level higher but when we bought a player, it went down.


Week In Review


On the Field
Only one game this week and it was our first cup game of the new season. We crushed the computer controlled Montana Panthers by the score of 10-1. Edwin Phelan scored 5 times and Herschel Meek added a hat trick. This week, we will start our first season of Div IV play.

Off the Field
Too much to report here. There will be an offseason transaction report in a couple of posts. A lot of people coming and going and I'm not done yet. But there's too much to mention here.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Our first game ever in Division IV. This series may be tough but this game is eminently winnable. If we can win this game on the road against one of the weaker teams, we'll be that much closer to treading water here. We aren't quite at full strength yet as Clement Schrader, slotted to be our starting central defender, is still hurt. We're hoping he'll be back in time for next week. We're playing a worse team but it's close and we're on the road. There just won't be any blowouts this year in fixture play.


Game Summary
Date: 7/28/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326973
Arena: The Champion Arena
Crowd: 26894


26894 spectators arrived at The Champion Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Champion tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Speer - Rico da Costa, Parrish, Landry - Anderson, Alvarado, Friedman, Vaca, Cortes - Sen, Molina.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.

Lucio Cortes gave his Champion the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 33 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Champion. However, Tim Kimber made a spectacular save. Wayne Landry of Champion received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Edwin Phelan finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home sides keeper, making the score 1 - 1 in the 41st minute. In the game's 42nd minute Hippopotami´s Stephen Connors limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.

In the games 55:th minute Champion´s Rolando Vaca fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Rolando Vaca for taking a dive. Champion tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. Hippopotami took the lead after 72 minutes with 1 - 2. Lorenzo Cristiano placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.

Most important Champion player was Erik Speer. However, Chelvendiran Sen made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Donald Newsom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.



Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TC: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
TC: xx: 0-1
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (1): 1-1
Halftime Score: 1-1
Possession: 52%

2nd Half
HH: 72: Lorenzo Cristiano (1): 2-1
Final Score: 2-1
Possession: 63%
Final Possession: 58%

Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow, particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
None, tho Stephen Connors was limping around in the 1st half


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 15692/15692

The biggest crowd we've ever played in front of as they had 26894. These crowds in Div IV are much larger than anything we've seen. Then again, I'm hoping we can pull this many at the Hippodrome.


Team Ratings

The Champion
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 56/61

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/64

A passable midfield on the road for the first time ever! We're up to 64 now and I think we can hit at least 70, if not 75 by season's end. This was just a really solid all around game with good scores on defense and offense.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Herschel Meek ***
WI Donald Newsom **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 32.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

I can't wait for the day we reach *** for everyone. We're a *** striker, a healthy Clement Schrader, and an Edwin Phelan in solid form away. As you saw, Solomon played today because Houben is still embroiled in a form slump. Another poor experience game! Woo! Our highest star game to date with 32.5, topping our previous high of 31.5 during last week's cup game.

Three Stars
It looks like these will be much tougher to pass out this year and I see a lot of stars for Kimber

Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
New wingback scores the game winning goal
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Starts the season off right with the team's first goal of the new year
Gold: Tim Kimber
Let an early goal by but made a huge save late in the first half


Game Summary
Any road win in Div IV is a good win (unless it's over a computer team), a lesson I've learned from DK's dynasty. Hopefully we are on the happy side of most of these close and tough games. If we do win the majority of those, our offense will be the reason why we have that little edge.


Press Release
7/29/2003 at 16:47 Hippos Win First Division IV Game
Last year's leading scorer, Edwin Phelan, and this offseason's wingback acquisition, Lorenzo Cristiano, each scored a goal in Houston's first ever Division IV win. Tim Kimber only allowed one goal and made a key first half save. After some offseason upgrades, the Hippos posted a passable midfield and solid or higher ratings everywhere else on the field to go along with 32.5 stars. Houston's home opener in the newly renovated Hippodrome is next week against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness.


Around the League
We landed in one hell of a series...

Iowa Enforcers - Team Groomers 4 - 1
This is the other game this week involving promotees. We are not the class of the promotees- that distinction goes to Iowa. He put up a formidable midfield to go along with an exc-out-bril defense. His offense was passable across the board, however, so he is beatable. Team Groomers, on the other hand, are the worst of the four promotees with a passable midfield and all of his other ratings are inad-solid: he's a pretty good team but he landed in the wrong series. The game was 1-1 for quite a while. However, Team Groomers ran out of steam in the second half and were outpossessed 75-25 and outscored 3-0 in the half.

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - zfan 7 - 1
We play Chock next week. There's no easy way to slice this: his lowest rating was formidable and he put up a magnificent midfield. WOW! Chock and Brooklyn, the Div III relegee, are definately the class of the league. zfan is one of the middle teams along with Iowa, Kaishaku, and possibly Houston. They only put up an inadequate midfield but had a form-out-form offense and form-form-pass defense. Chock has a middie named Tom Dahlström who is 33yo but has brilliant experience and puts up 5(!) stars. Their dominant midfield allwed them to crush zfan n possession.

Brooklyn United - Kaishaku F.C. 5 - 0
As if Chock wasn't dominating enough, check out Brooklyn. They ran a 4-5-1 so they only had a solid-weak-solid attack but they had an NSI of 100(!) with a magnificent midfield and titanic-mythical-supernatural defense. We've never seen anything like this. Kaishaku may have been whitewashed this game but they are a very solid club. They put up a passable midfield with solid-form-out defense and solid-pass-solid. Another team which we should be at home and might win against on the road. Brooklyn looks like they have a ticket back to Div III, however. They have a 3.5 star offensive winger and wingback, but everyone else has 4 or more stars including a 14.5 star midfield. Including my wings, I barely get that! One of their 5-star middies, Stephen Rumbold, got a hat trick.


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Chock Full of Whole  1   7 - 1  3   96
 
2. Brooklyn United      1   5 - 0  3   100
3. Iowa Enforcers       1   4 - 1  3   74
4. Houston Hippopotami  1   2 - 1  3   64
 
5. The Champion         1   1 - 2  0   61
6. Team Groomers        1   1 - 4  0   55

7. Kaishaku F.C.        1   0 - 5  0   64 
8. zfan                 1   1 - 7  0   67

This may be the only week we're in the upper tier of the division but it's still cool to see. Chock and Brooklyn are clearly the class of the series. I should be able to stay ahead of The Champion and Team Groomers so, at the very worst, I have a qualification game.


Hatstats
I've mentioned this in the Hattrick forum, but I'll put it here, as well. Needless to say, I'm no longer in the top 100 in value and/or rating as I was in Div V but that's to be expected. Speaking of expensive teams, Brooklyn weighs in at #6 with a team worth over $10M. Chock is the only other team on that list at #65 with a team at $5.63M. As I mentioned, IV.21 was the toughest series in week 1 and a lot of this had to do with Brooklyn's 100 and Chock's 96, which were good for #1 and #3 in all of Div IV.


Notes
That's three points. We probably need 12 to avoid auto relegation and 18-20 to end in the money. I'm not sure we will get the latter but the former is very attainable as long as we win the games like these which we need to win. Next week, we face Chock and will probably lose 7-1 or something ugly. It was a fun 10-game winning streak while it lasted. I may PIC this next week to put myself in a position to win. That said, it's a home game so I don't want to get destroyed in front of the home crowd. I'm not sure what's going to happen.

SI

[vex]

Originally posted by sterlingice


Hatstats
I've mentioned this in the Hattrick forum, but I'll put it here, as well. Needless to say, I'm no longer in the top 100 in value and/or rating as I was in Div IV but that's to be expected. Speaking of expensive teams, Brooklyn weighs in at #6 with a team worth over $10M. Chock is the only other team on that list at #65 with a team at $5.63M. As I mentioned, IV.21 was the toughest series in week 1 and a lot of this had to do with Brooklyn's 100 and Chock's 96, which were good for #1 and #3 in all of Div IV.

Now you know I wouldn't ever correct you...

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by vexroid
Now you know I wouldn't ever correct you...

Oops. Corrected. Good to know you're keeping me honest

SI

[sterlingice]

Noooo! I set aside a couple of useless hours to do some catch up work and what happens, but...

At around 01.00 tonight (HT-Time), the game engine was stuck. We're currently restarting it but it is heavily behond schedule and so the site will be closed for a few hours (starting 08:30) until it has caught up.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
One more easy Cup game this week against a computer controlled Div VI team before we start some significant cup games. I expected to win and win big today. With only 2 UberTrainees(TM) at the moment, Benito would get the third spot and a few other starters would play as well. This is another exercise in playing the trainees and getting training for them and some of that all-important experience for others.


Game Summary
Date: 7/31/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9362264
Arena: Boston Stadium
Crowd: 6388

6388 spectators had found their way to Boston Stadium, despite the heavy rain. Knights had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Han-Koon - Hicks, Cardenas, Potter, Banda - Barlow, Eldridge, Bajpai, Langley - Wofford, Smart.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Cristiano, Miquel, Romo - Starks, Benito, Tryggvesson, Storm, Viseslav - Tizón, Houben.

Daniel Storm seemed highly inexperienced when in the 30:th minute he was loitering with the ball, allowing Vizhi-Ezhilan Bajpai to intercept and strike 1-0 for Knights. In the games 32nd minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Carlos Alberto Benito struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. In the 39:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Coskum Houben put the ball away for 1 - 2. The referee showed Hippopotamis Robert Tryggvesson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The Knights player was Kuai Han-Koon who had to be helped off the pitch, unable to finish the game. In the 44:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 1 - 3 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Juan Miguel Tizón. In the games 44:th minute Hippopotami´s Daniel Storm fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Daniel Storm for taking a dive. In the 44:th minute Hippopotamis José María Miquel received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 1 - 3 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 70 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s Marcel Romo received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 48:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 1 - 4. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Mick Starks somhow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Ivan Viseslav who struck for 1 - 5. In the 58:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 1 - 6 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Coskum Houben. The visitors Ivan Viseslav took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 76:th minute. 1 - 7 for Hippopotami. Daniel Storm of Hippopotami got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 77 percent possession rate.

Most important Knights player was Tyler Banda. Howard Goldsmith was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Mick Starks. However, Marcel Romo made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 7.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names shows this is a cup game and the number scored in the cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BK: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
BK: 30: 0-1
HH: 32: Carlos Alberto Benito (C1): 1-1
HH: 39: Coskum Houben (C2): 2-1
HH: 44: Juan Miguel Tizon (C1): 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 70%

2nd Half
HH: 48: Marcel Romo (C1): 4-1
HH: *pulling back*
HH: xx: Ivan Viseslav (C1): 5-1
HH: 58: Coskum Houben (C3): 6-1
HH: 76: Ivan Viseslav (C1): 7-1
Final Score: 7-1
Possession: 77%
Final Possession: 74%

Cards

HH: xx: Robert Tryggvesson (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
HH: 44: Daniel Storm (yellow- taking a dive)
HH: 44: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow- going into a challenge studs first)
HH: xx: Daniel Storm (yellow- kicking ball after the whistle)


Injuries
None, fortunately


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

Only 6300. At least next week, against the human opponent, I should have more.


Team Ratings

Boston Knights
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: poor (3)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 28/30

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: outstanding (10)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/47

That oustanding attack is definately pretty. However, it doesn't cover up the fact that we put up a pretty miserable showing even with some starters in there. If we play like this next week, we may not win.


Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
DM José María Miquel **~
DW Marcel Romo *~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Daniel Storm (x) RED CARD
MI Robert Tryggvesson *~
WI Ivan Viseslav **
FO Coskum Houben **
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **


Total Stars: 23.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool


Again, a miserable showing. Viseslav backs off to ** instead of his usual **~ but that has to do with a form slump. Same with Marcel Romo and his *~ rating. Coskum Houben only put up ** and that's very disappointing (see below). We did get a spot of good news: Cristiano and his offensive abilities pulled in a *** at wingback. That could open up some interesting possibilities.


Three Stars
A pair of 2 goal scorers get top medals this week

Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito
Contributes to the outstanding right side attack, puts up ***~ rating, and scores a goal
Silver: Coskum Houben
May have scored twice but he has bigger things to worry about (see below)
Gold: Ivan Viseslav
A pair of goals for the winger gets him his first gold


Game Summary
So maybe I'm being a bit overcritical of a 7-1 win, but there were a lot of things that went wrong this week and those need to be fixed. Maybe it's just the pressure of Div IV already getting to me. Can't say I'm really fond of our 4 cards (I'm not sure if Storm is eligible to play next week), lackluster midfield, some form slumps, and lack of a third UberTrainee(TM) and that's just off the top of my head. Next week we face a pretty tough Div V team in Ravenwood City.


Press Release
8/5/2003 at 12:14 Hippos Carded to Death in Win
Coach Rickey Braden had to be retrained midway through the second half after Daniel Storm was kicked off the pitch with his second yellow card of the day. It was the Hippos 4th card during a match where they played it cool but the refs called a very tight game. The computer controlled Boston Knights scored to take an early 1-0 lead but Houston scored 7 unanswered goals for the easy win. Next week, the Hippos, without the services of Storm, face Ravenwood City, their first human opponent.


Notes
It takes a big man to admit his mistakes and I'm not a big man. However, I definately will admit that I made a mistake with Coskum Houben. He has really done nothing. I didn't pay $150K for him to come in and get the same **~ that Derrick Solomon gets and only raise the level of play on that side by 1 level every couple of games. He has been sent to the transfer wire for the $150K that I bought him for and I'll be looking to replace him in the next couple of weeks.

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
Nothing really to report this week on the training front. We're having a little form hangover from the offseason but that should be stabilizing soon, I hope. The second team is where that is most evident as there are a lot of poors and weaks there for form. I'm starting to wonder if I need that many players.

Future Training
It's back to good old fashioned playmaking training for as far as the eye can see (unless we get our form up enough to do a week of stamina training).

Form
Starters: (+1) (-3)
Entire Team: (+2) (-8)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush (exc) Kimber
Passable: Phelan Connors Solomon Meek Christiano Starks
Inadequate: Newsom Benito
Weak (or below): Schrader

Kimber popped back up to solid form and that's a big deal (see below)! His mini form slump in the offseason was just that. Schrader may have to play a game or two with the B Team before he's back in shape. Three out of eleven at inad/weak is a borderline crisis so there may be some lineup changes before the next game. Yes, Houben is not on the list and Solomon is on there...

Value
Starters: (+6) (-3)
Entire Team: (+7) (-10)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 7(-1)/9(-1)
Above $200K: 4(+0)/4(+0)
Above $300K: 1(-1)/1(-1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($517K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($299K)
Milestones: Tim Kimber ($500K)

WOO! Timber is the first Hippo ever to pass $500K in value! New leader this week on the outfield this week. Starks dropped back below $300K with his form drop (to $282K), so Benito takes back the outfield lead. And yes, Houben is conspicuously absent here, as well.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 32534 (+1464)
Total Value: 3000000 (+189000)
Avg Value: 136364 (-4146)
Avg Age: 22 (-1)
Avg Form: inad (down 1 level from passable)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 22 (+2)
Nationalities: 11 (+1)


Youth Pull, Week 20.02
This is a "problem" that very few people would complain about. A day ago, we picked up a new UberTrainee(TM)- more on that below. However, we just now pulled a player from our youth squad who could also serve as a new UberTrainee(TM). This week's youth pull, Thomas Little, is 18 (geezer by our trainee standards) but boasts passable playmaking, solid passing and inad set pieces and stamina! Not only that, but his value is $198K so he can't be too far from solid playmaking, excellent passing, or both! Now, decisions, decision- who to keep. BTW, no luck selling last week's pull, Soto, at $100K. I'll put him up for something like $80K in the next week or so.


Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 30
Youth Pull Grocers: 21 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 7 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+2)
Total Sold for: 590000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Thomas Little (15126966)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Assessed value: 198 000 US$
Wage: 1 460 US$/week

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


Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (No need to keep this column as I doubt it will ever move again)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (up one level from delerious)
Supporter Club: 1289 members (+13)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: decent (down two levels from strong)

Our team spirit went up after the PIC but went down after a purchased player so it remained the same. Not only that but how did our confidence go doing when we won both of our matches this week?


20.02 Week In Review

On the Field
We won our first ever Div IV game, 2-1, against The Champion, a minomer for a team who will likely be heading back to Div V after this season. Phelan and Cristiano scored the goals and Kimber made it stand up. Our cup game was a disappointing (well, how disappointing can a 7-1 win be) win over a computer team with a pair of goals from both Coskum Houben and Ivan Viseslav. However, we picked up 4 cards and posted some pretty bad ratings that will need to improve. This week, our win streak will probably come to an end as we play a really tough team at the 'drome.

Off the Field
Our next post (or maybe the post after that) will be all about offseason (and into early season) player movement, so be sure to check that out. See if your favorite Hippos packed their bags or if you have a new favorite Hippo.

SI

[vex]

Nice pull there.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by vexroid
Nice pull there.

Oh, like I said- it's not a bad conundrum to have. I almost sold him immediately, which would have been a mistake since I'm pretty sure he's going to pop soon. However, I think I have a better idea in mind- someone is going to get sold, but we'll see who it is in the next couple of weeks: whichever UberTrainee(TM) bumps first gets sold because an 18yo excellent PM will sell for a lot more than a 18yo solid.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Coach Braden gathered all the players together before the game: "Guys, we're desperate. This team didn't just play well last week, they played out of our league. I'm really at a loss as to how to stop them so I'm going to do something I never thought we would do: we're going to run a 4-5-1". A murmur passed through the gathered team but even Mick Starks knew better than to challenge coach as he continued: "I know this isn't our typical plan but we are desperate and I think this gives us the best chance to win. Coskum just wasn't the striker we expected so he was sold but we have an extra defender just pulled up from our youth squad and David will be playing today. Guys, I know it's a bit out of the ordinary, but just play your asses off like you always do and we might just pull off the biggest upset we've ever had."

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness is the opponent for our first ever home game in Div IV. They put up a 96 NSI last week- that's good for 3rd... in all of Div IV! I'm expecting an excellent midfield, but if they do that again, we still will get blown out. I'm not thrilled to be playing a 4-5-1 instead of our beloved run-and-shoot, but we cannot hang with this team in a shootout: We're not in their league. Not only that, but we have wretched experience at the 4-5-1. I'm hoping that's offset by letting Miguel, his inad experience, and passable leadership act as team captain for the day.


Game Summary
Date: 8/4/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326975
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 31634

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 31634 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. Lineup: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Cristiano, Alonso Soto - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Newsom - Phelan.

Wholesome had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Castaño Párraga - Franks, Gallagher, Weathers - Phelps, Dahlström, Mathis, Stein, Andersson - Jansson, Willis.

Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 8:th minute goal by Lorenzo Cristiano for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. The referee showed Wholesomes Jason Phelps the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. In the games 24:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Bud Willis struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. After a fine move down the middle Mick Starks nearly gave the home side one up in the 24:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though. A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 32nd minute allowed Fredrick Weathers to score 1 - 2 for Wholesome. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Wholesome, with an impressive 53 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Herschel Meek of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 51st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The visitors Anders Jansson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 57:th minute. 1 - 3 for Wholesome. The referee showed Wholesomes Claude Mathis the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when Edwin Phelan, after a brilliant midfield combination, put the reducing 2 - 3 goal away for Hippopotami. Hippopotami had obvious problems in finding their positions. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Wholesome, with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Donald Newsom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Wholesome player was without a doubt Tom Dahlström. Jason Phelps on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 4-5-1
CFoWG: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 08: Lorenzo Cristiano (2): 1-0
CFoWG: 24: 1-1
CFoWG: 32: 1-2
Halftime Score: 1-2
Possession: 47%

2nd Half
CFoWG: 57: 1-3
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (2): 2-3
Final Score: 2-3
Possession: 43%
Final Possession: 45%

Cards
HH: 51: Herschel Meek (yellow, unsportsmanlike behaviour)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 20000/20000
Basic seats: 7858/8000
Seats under roof: 2976/3200
VIP seats: 800/800
Total: 31634/32000

Wow! I was worried that I had expanded too much. As long as I can keep the spirit of my fans pretty high, wow- nothing at all to worry about.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/66


Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 73/82

I'm kindof suprised this is as close as it was. Still, he only beat me by one level on the midfield and the 4-5-1 helped shut down his offense.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Elmer Bush (d) ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DM Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
DW David Antonio Alonso Soto (d) **~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
WI Donald Newsom **
FO Edwin Phelan ***

Total Stars: 33.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Kimber with a **** rating. I believe that's our first ever. Damn, he's good. Only Newsom, Soto, and Miguel got less than *** today. Across the midfield, Benito, Meek, and Connors got a ***~ rating. Another poor experience game. A new high in stars and the highest NSI not including the Dragons game.


Three Stars
Same three as last week, just rotated slightly

Bronze: Tim Kimber
First ever **** rating for a Hippo
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Phelan's second goal gets the Hippos back in the game even if it's not enough
Gold: Lorenzo Cristiano
Gets his second goal in two weeks and started the game out right


Game Summary
As good a showing as I could have realistically hoped. I kept reloading, praying I had scored that equalizing goal, up to the 45th minute in the second half, but it was not to be. Still, this is a moral victory: a close loss to one of the best teams in all of Div IV. Unfortunately, it was at home and the road game is likely to be quite ugly. As a side note: how does Cristiano have half of our goals this year? No idea, but I'll take them.


Press Release
8/5/2003 at 12:29 Hippos Hang Tough but End Streak and Sully Reputation
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Hippos almost pulled off an improbably draw but at what cost? Casting aside their beloved run-and-shoot, the Hippos, with an excess of quality defenders after last week's youth pull, played the gauling 4-5-1 in an attempt to stop Chock and their 96 NSI from last week. The Hippos were down 3-2 most of the second half but could never score the equalizer. They will now begin the search for an atonement quest and continue Cup play Wednesday.


Around the League
Well, the chaf is more or less set in stone as Team Groomers and The Champion get solidly stomped

Team Groomers - Brooklyn United 1 - 6
I need a Cray to calculate Brooklyn's NSI for the second week in a row. His offense isn't that great, but he got an outstanding midfield and a super-myth-super defense. Hell, I don't even know what those are. Brooklyn got 81% possession in the second half since Groomers only put up a weak midfield. Jan Zaslawski got a hat trick for Brooklyn. The two lowest ratings he got were a pair of 3.5 stars again.

Kaishaku F.C. - The Champion 2 - 0
Kaishaku won the midfield rating (out vs pass) and possession of 60% and 69% in the halves. The Champion improved on last week's showing but they just didn't have enough to compete on the road against a team trying for top division status. The outstanding midfield was a product of 4, 4, and 4.5 star performances from 21yo Eero Eskelinin, 21yo Gigel Neagoe, and 24yo Afanasiy Belikov. Suprisingly enough, they only have a 2.5 star goalie.

zfan - Iowa Enforcers 4 - 2
This is one of the many big games between teams trying to finish in the money in IV.21. zfan won at home despite losing the midfield (inad vs exc) and possession (62%, 69%) battles. zfan got formidable or oustanding on 5 of their other 6 ratings while Iowa could only muster a pass-pass-inad offense. They were up 3-0 at the half and coasted for the win.


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      2  11 - 1  6   96
 
2. Chock Full of Whole  2  10 - 3  6   82
3. Iowa Enforcers       2   6 - 5  3   72
4. Houston Hippopotami  2   4 - 4  3   66
 
5. Kaishaku F.C.        2   2 - 5  3   64 
6. zfan                 2   5 - 9  3   67

7. The Champion         2   1 - 4  0   76
8. Team Groomers        2  2 - 10  0   42

Somehow, I'm still in 4th for another week. We'll see how that changes next week against Iowa.


Hatstats
Brooklyn takes home the Div IV ratings crown for the second week in a row, this time with a 96. Chock only gets 28th, falling from 96 to 82. Kaishaku F.C. weighs in at #3 with a 76. They had 46, 39, and 35 stars, respectively. This was only good for 7th in all of Div V. IV.53 got 1st on the strength of their top 4 teams with 76, 89, 84, and 75. Our top 4 were 96, 82, 72, 76 but they didn't have a 42 dragging them down at the bottom (a miserable performance by Team Groomers). That 7th in Div IV is good for 23rd in the entire USA, beating out 5 Div III series.

Hoorah! Our 31K+ crowd put us at 95th on the week in Div IV. At least we are getting good income (also, hatstats said we put 31634 in a 15692 seat stadium- they could use an update). The only other IV.21'er on this list was zfan who almost filled up his 40K seat stadium. Brooklyn, Chock, and Iowa were all on the road and the other top 4-caliber team, Kaishaku only got 18001 out of 30K due to heavy rain. FYI: Chock and Brooklyn are on the top 100 stadiums for Div IV, each having 50K+ seats. Kaishaku and Chock are on the thugs list and no one is on the fragile list.

Lastly, a quick look at the Most Stars list for our series. Kimber weighs in at #14 with his 4 stars with Meek, Connors, and Benito's 3.5 stars all putting them on the top 30. Not a bad showing: 4 out of the top 30. How much better than everyone else is Brooklyn? He has 8 of the top 12 spots, all with 4 or more stars, led by 20 year old 5 star middie Stephen Rumbold. He's getting old, tho, as 5 of the 8 are 30 or older so new blood is needed. Don't start crying for him yet, tho. All 3 of his middies get 4 stars or more and the oldest is 22. Chock's not too far behind with the rankings of 2 and then 13, 15, 16, and 17. Kaishaku has 3, zfan has 4, Team Groomers have 2, Iowa has 1, and The Champion has 0 players in the top 30.


Notes
Next week, we get a more reasonable test against the Iowa Enforcers. They're better than us but not by much. Unfortunately, it's on the road so I'm not liking my chances much. As for our cup game, well, another one I'm not sure about. If we played starters, I'd win easily, but training is more important so I'll be playing trainees, PIC'ing, and hoping for a win. I should win but who knows with my B Team in its current form slump.

Now for the moment everyone has been waiting for: Yes, I admit it, I played a 4-5-1. I hated every minute of it, but it did what I needed it to. If I have to do it again, I'll look hard and long at it like I did this time. Now excuse me while I go plan my atonement quest. Fun-and-Gun Forever!

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Hubris is a nasty thing. I was feeling pretty good about my game against Chock even if it did require the *spit* 4-5-1 to keep him close. Also, my recent cup performances were pretty good on the midfield, but my form wasn't quite as decimated as it is now and I had played a few non-subs in those games. Still, to win even half of my games in IV.21, I need some pretty high team spirit and so I want the PIC. I was happy when I saw a full 16000 at Ravenwood City Arena , so the cash flow was pretty good. Unfortunately, that should have been a warning sign that at home this team would be tough. I had no idea how drained the team was after the emotional game against Chock and I should have taken that into account and not PIC'd a road game.


Game Summary
Date: 8/7/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9405752
Arena: Ravenwood City Arena
Crowd: 16000

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 16000 at Ravenwood City Arena today. Ravenwood had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Bautista - Escobar, Davis, Cassidy, Cloud - Harley, Anderson, Monroe, Gooch - Romero, Zucconi.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Romo, Schrader, Bush - Viseslav, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Wellens - Solomon, Tizón.

In the 2nd minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Daniel Storm put the ball away for 0 - 1. Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Juan Miguel Tizón delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was to sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. In the games 25:th minute Ravenwood´s Junior Harley fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Junior Harley for taking a dive. Darius Romero pulled a real crowd pleaser as he, in the 26:th minute, wove through the guests whole central defense line and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. Hippopotami's Daniel Storm scored 1 - 2 by shooting accurately and hard from a long distance, leaving the opponent goalie no other option than to pick up the ball from the net. 1 - 2 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 55 percent possession rate.

Darius Romero pulled a real crowd pleaser as he, in the 55:th minute, wove through the guests whole central defense line and put the 2 - 2 equaliser away. Ravenwood´s Josh Bautista left the field after 72 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Lloyd Payne. In the 75:th minute the home side managed to get a 3 - 2 lead as Marino Zucconi flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. With 80 minutes played Dwayne Cassidy could have brought this one home for Ravenwood, had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high. After 82 minutes Junior Harley put Ravenwood ahead 4 - 2 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Ravenwood lead up with 5 - 2. Darius Romero finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. At that, Darius Romero was noted down for a hat trick. The structure of the game started to change as Ravenwood decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Ravenwood, bringing the final ball possession rate to 62 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Ravenwood player was without a doubt Darius Romero. However, Lloyd Payne made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. However, Robert Tryggvesson made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 2.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names shows this is a cup game and the number scored in the cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
RC: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 02: Daniel Storm (C1): 1-0
RC: 26: 1-1
HH: 02: Daniel Storm (C1): 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 55%

2nd Half
RC: 55: 2-2
RC: 75: 2-3
RC: 82: 2-4
RC: xx: 2-5
Final Score: 2-5
Possession: 38%
Final Possession: 47%

Cards
At least the refs laid off after our 4 last week

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

He got a full 16K in his stadium. I'd be cheering for that... if they hadn't been cheering against us. We got $23K for that- pretty good cash.


Team Ratings

Ravenwood City
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/45

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/43

A wretched midfield?!? A wretched midfi-- breathe, breathe... 1... 2... 3... That's just plain, well, wretched. I'm booking us for some stamina training as soon as form will allow. How that offense scored 5 goals is beyond me- they shouldn't have been able to score on my grandma with a pass-inad-weak much less Kimber and three infirm across the back line.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Marcel Romo *~
DM Clement Schrader **
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) *~
MI Daniel Storm *~
WI Pierre Wellens **~
FO Derrick Solomon **
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **


Total Stars: 24.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

First, everyone not named Wellens, Little, and Bush- extra practice on Thursday because you guys need it! Timber, too. A **** means nothing if you still allow 5 goals. First the good news, new UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens and last week's youth pull Thomas Little put up **~ ratings and now I'm suddenly sitting on a four bona fide UberTrainees(TM). It looks like whichever of Storm and Tryggvesson bump first, they will be the odd man out and sold as 18yo excellents- that should bring in a nice chunk of change. Schrader is still in form hell after his injury. However, ** at poor translates to at least *** in solid which is why I bought him in the first place. Romo, Tizon, Viseslav, and Solomon all put up ~ or more less than they should due to form slumps and Storm and Tryggvesson aren't exactly setting the world on fire.


Three Stars
This is a day when only one guy showed up good enough for an award

Bronze: None
Silver: None
Gold: Daniel Storm
Bounced back from getting ejected to put up a pair of goals


Game Summary
We were up 2-1 with another missed chance at the half with 55% possession, so what happened? Well, the B Team just flat wore out. I put this on me, for not forseeing this and on Braden for the same reason. I also gotta pass around some blame to Timber. There's no way he should give up 5 goals against anyone in Div V. It was good to see Storm follow up his 2 card game with a pair of goals. Too bad no one else pitched in.


Press Release
8/10/2003 at 03:25 Overconfident Hippos Chased from Cup
Overconfidence is a dangerous thing and the Hippos found that out firsthand. Playing a pretty good Div V squad, the midfield could only manage a wretched rating due to a road PIC and Ravenwood City dominated 2nd half possession. Daniel Storm scored both goals for the Hippos after being thrown out of last week's Cup game and Tim Kimber posted his second straight **** rating but allowed 5 goals. Next week, Lurking FC from Prathet Thai comes to the Hippodrome for an international friendly.


Notes
Can't say I'm real confident about avoiding our first ever 3 game losing streak. The Enforcers are tough and we're heading straight from Chicago to Iowa. Hopefully the lack of distractons will help our team out but this is a really tough game and I don't expect a win. Still, stranger things have happened. Now, onto the training update and hopefully Storm and/or Trygaklsd;fuiwebuibafds will have bumped.

Lost in all of this, perhaps, is that our cup run ended much too prematurely. I was expecting 6 rounds and we only went 3. The loss of experience and PICs will hurt pretty bad but there's nothing I can do about that now.

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
Nuts. No luck on a bump from Storm or Tryggvesson. Form seems to have stabilized some more, tho Starks and Tryvkaj;fkljaskljf both dropped into areas of concern. Some of our other players are finally recovering.

Future Training
Our trainees desperately need some stamina, as was evidenced by that last game. However, our form it still too low to risk that and playmaking is the name of the game.

Form
Starters: (+4) (-2)
Entire Team: (+4) (-5)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush (exc) Phelan Meek Kimber
Passable: Miguel Connors Christiano
Inadequate: Viseslav Benito Solomon
Weak (or below): Starks

Starks goes near critical with a two level drop to weak. Hopefully that bounces back in a hurry. He's our best wing, by far, and we have no one capable of replacing him. Solomon and Miguel enter the lineup in place of the sold Houben and form slumping Schrader.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-4)
Entire Team: (+10) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+2)/9(+2)
Above $200K: 5(+1)/5(+1)
Above $300K: 1(+1)/2(+1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($500K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($305K)
Milestones: Stephen Connors ($200K)

Both Little and Wellens were added this week and they are both above $100K. Connors gets a milestone. Benito slips back up above $300K but it's not a new milestone.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 30414 (-2120)
Total Value: 2798000 (-202000)
Avg Value: 139900 (+3536)
Avg Age: 22 (NC)
Avg Form: inadequate (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 20 (-2)
Nationalities: 11 (NC)


Youth Pull, Week 20.03
After three sellable guys in a row, Jose Javier Ruiz Tarriaz, failed to live up to his predecessors. It's good news, however, for the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly (you know, I never figured out what it's a memorial of) as they just expanded their deli counter and it looks like Jose is the man to man the meat. Hmm... there's no way that last sentence can sound good in any light.

As for some previous business: I stalled a little and Soto, from 20.01, will be sold this week. Looks like last week's (Thomas Little) might be here to stay unless he bumps before Storm or Trygvesslsadhfkjahsfjkhaskjfdh, in which case, I have another decision to make.


Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 31
Youth Pull Grocers: 22 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 7 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 590000 (+0)

Youth Pull
José Javier Ruiz Tarríaz (15297951)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Speciality: Unpredictable
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 12 000 US$
Wage: 560 US$/week

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


Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 1309 members (+20)
Supporters: delirious (NC)

Team Spirit: content (up a level from calm)
Confidence: decent (NC)

Out team spirit was up to satisfied for one brief shining moment after our botched PIC loss. But it went back down to content by the end of the week. I'm sure it will settle into calm before too long.


20.03 Week In Review

On the Field
Crappy. Crappy. Crappy. Crappy. Crappy. Ok, so not that bad of a week- maybe only 3 "Crappy"s. First, we throw away our reputation and go with a 4-5-1 against an opponent that has us outgunned. We hold our own against Chock but end up falling short 3-2 as we could never get the equalizer. Cristiano and Meeks score our two fixture goals just like in week 1. For our cup game, Daniel Storm comes back from his ejection last week to score twice and give the Hippos a 2-1 lead going into the half. However, Ravenwood City scores 4 unanswered goals and sends the Hippos home from the Cup much too early.

Off the Field
Still postponing that "offseason update" that I keep promising. However, this week, Houben was sold due to his crappy play and Solomon will resume his starting forward duties until our next home game. At that point, we should have $350K or more in the bank and then it's time to go shopping for a really nice forward. Our most recent youth pull was farmed out to the Piggly Wiggly.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Salmon. Or a ball of yarn or mouse, even. That may be more appropriate. Baseball has that one chaotic variable in starting pitching that can disrupt everything and makes it completely unpredictable to the point where every team wins and loses a third of their games. Hockey has a similar phenomenon with netminders. However, in basketball, and especially (American) football, this phenomenon is readily apparent. An overwhelmed team plays their hearts out just to keep up with Goliath, and to the untrained eye, it looks like there David may win the day. However, if you look in the greater team's eyes, there is no panic. There is no doubt: they know who the victor will be. Every time it looks like the underdog is getting close, the favorite will knock them back even further than before. And in the end, there is no upset and the mouse is left to face the harsh reality that the cat was toying with them all along. There never was a chance for victory, only an illusion.


Game Summary
Date: 8/11/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326979
Arena: Enforcers Arena
Crowd: 44163

44163 spectators arrived at Enforcers Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Enforcers tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Roberts - Scales, Wolford, Gunn - Frederick, Marion, Dotson, Titus, Wilson - George, Aguirre.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Cristiano - Viseslav, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.

In the 2nd minute cheers broke out as James Wilson found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Enforcers. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Enforcers, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle.

Visitors Derrick Solomon was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 56:th minute. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 in the 56:th by a breakthrough from Norman Aguirre, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Enforcers put themselves up 3 - 1 when Ike George broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 66:th minute Herschel Meek surprised the opponents with a 40 metre pass to Ivan Viseslav who quite easily could settle the score to 3 - 2. 69 minutes into the game Edwin Phelan had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Daniel Storm. In the 76:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Billy Marion dashed through, knocking home 4 - 2 for Enforcers. Enforcers, bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle.

Enforcers´s best player was Stevie Dotson. David Roberts was a disappointment, however. Most important Hippopotami player was Tim Kimber. Daniel Storm on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 2.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
IE: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
IE: 02: 0-1
Halftime Score: 0-1
Possession: 43%

2nd Half
HH: 56: Derrick Solomon (1): 1-1
IE: 56: 1-2
IE: xx: 1-3
HH: 66: Herchel Meek (1): 2-3
IE: 76: 2-4
Final Score: 2-4
Possession: 44%
Final Possession: 44%

Cards
None

Injuries
HH: 69: Edwin Phelan (bruised, knee injury)


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

Another week in Div IV, another record for largest crowd: 44163 at Enforcers Arena.


Team Ratings

Iowa Enforcers
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/70

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/60

A somewhat disappointing 60. I can't believe I just said that: I would have killed for a 60 last year. Unfortunately, this year, that just won't cut it. Then again, it was on the road so that may explain some of the lower scores. Also, having Phelan out of the game and our shallow bench didn't help.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
WI Ivan Viseslav **
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Derrick Solomon **
FO Daniel Storm *

INJ Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Well, Storm isn't much of a forward. In fact, he's a middie trainee but with the short bench, he was the sub forward. I shuffled players around and hedged my bets that a middie would get hurt before a forward, placing Thomas Little there. I guessed wrong.


Three Stars
These two goal games make awards tough

Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
His *** rating at offensive may add another level to our attack on one side (along with his two goals in the first two games)
Silver: Herschel Meek
Goal gave the illusion of hope
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Tied the game up, at least for a few seconds


Game Summary
We were at their house, facing a better team and we never really were in it despite what it looked like. It was all the illusion alluded to in the introduction. Still, at our house, later in the season, this could go the other way. I'm definately looking forward to the rematch.


Press Release
8/11/2003 at 20:00 Enforcers Have All the Answers in Iowa
It was the perfect end to a perfectly frustrating week. Iowa kept Houston at arm's length practically the entire game, handing the Hippos their 3rd straight competitive loss, 4-2. Iowa scored 2 minutes into the game and neither team could muster another chance in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, seconds after Derrick Solomon tied the game, Iowa scored to go up 2-1. The Enforcers scored another quick goal and led either 3-1 or 4-2 the rest of the way. The Hippos host Team Groomers next week.


Around the League
Big upset this week

The Champion - Brooklyn United 0 - 3
Brooklyn's a machine. Outstanding midfield, formidable offense across the front, and wc-mag-out defense across the back. The Champion and his 57 NSI had no hope. They take the outright lead for the series after one of the games below. Brooklyn had a little form slump this week and Uruguan national team member Victor Javier Almansa got a new low I've seen with "only" three star.

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Kaishaku F.C. 1 - 3
Kaishaku has had 8 moves in the past 2 months and they were all sales. In the first week, they lost 5-0 at Brooklyn with a 64 NSI despite 34.0 stars. Last week, they posted 35.0 and a 76. This week, another half star (so 1.5 in 3 weeks) and they post an 84! How do you only gain 1.5 stars but gain 20 points on your NSI without making any major purchases?!? Well, to boggle your mind further, add the fact that they went to the Creamy Nougat Center and took out Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness despite the fact that Chock posted the highest NSI in all of Div IV. Both put up magnificent midfields and Kaishaku got 51% possession both halves. Chock missed on two of their three events despite putting up a bril-form-exc attack. I've gotta think Chock can't be pleased with this result at all.

Team Groomers - zfan 2 - 3
zfan picked up an important road win despite losing the midfield battle exc to weak. Groomers only put up an inad-pass-weak offense which zfan's pass-form-out defense stopped most of the day while they countered with their form-out-form offense. zfan has a ***** striker who is worth $1.49M and makes over $10K per month!


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      3  14 - 1  9   92
 
2. Chock Full of Whole  3  11 - 6  6   94
3. Iowa Enforcers       3  7 - 3   6   70
4. Kaishaku F.C.        3  5 - 6   6   84 
 
5. zfan                 3  8 - 11  6   65
6. Houston Hippopotami  3  6 - 8   3   64

7. The Champion         3  1 - 7   0   57
8. Team Groomers        3  4 - 13  0   60

Next week's game will be a big one. I have to beat the Groomers at home if I want to avoid auto relegation.


Hatstats
As I mentioned above, Chock took the top NSI crown last week in all of Div IV so that's 3 weeks, 3 NSI champs. Previous champ Brooklyn United fell to #5 with "only" a 92. Kaishaku F.C.'s 84 was good for #36. This vaulted us back to #2 for the week behind IV.18 (ouch, Plague- that's a rough series. That series put up a 93, 89, and 83 but they're one team deeper with another team in the high 70s.

Four players in our series got 5.0 stars this week, with (the aforementioned) zfan's Sarp Bele the #5 forward in Div IV, Brooklyn United's pair of 4.5 star forwards also placed, and Chock's 5.0 star wing Ramon King was #3 among wingers in Div IV. Brooklyn and Chock both had their 5.0 star middies on the top middies in Div IV, a list with 2 players (including 6.5 star leader Donald Blackwell) on a team in DK's series: Croats in Miami.

I played in front of the 37th largest crowd in Div IV and 98th largest crowd in the USA last week (ardent's crowd was #100, btw). Speaking of FOFC'ers, Doug's Louisiana Cyclones are the 2nd most misunderstood team in all of the USA right now. Quite a few familiar teams on that list: Slithy Toves, Croats, Penguins, Kaishaku, CC's Dragons, and Hamas all in the top 50. That's 3 FOFCers (I might have missed some), a team in my series, a team in DKs series, and a team in my former series all on the top 100 most misunderstood for the USA. A word of advice: BRIBE THE REFS MORE!

Notes
Well, I'm out of the Cup and have an international friendly at the 'drome next week. Then, next week, a must win game at home against a team that I need to beat to keep them in the auto-demotion slot. I'm looking to break my 3 game losing streak then. Hopefully things are now on the way back up. Then again, the next three games after this offer no respite: zfan and Brooklyn on the road followed by Kaishaku at home. Eep... (it doesn't get any better after that because the next 3 are those three teams in reverse order at the other venue).

Note: I'm one match report away from being caught up after doing 3 reports tonight. Then I have to do the "offseason transactions" message along with finishing up my preseason info. Yes, preseason info, 4 weeks in. Ack!

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
After our disappointing cup showing and three straight losses, I was ready for a no-stress friendly for the team so they could loosen up. Unfortunately, there was a little bug going around so I couldn't get friendlies with the teams I wanted games with. With some Lithuanian heritage and with them getting a team this season, I wanted to have my own little personal Baltic Cup and start in Estonia. However, after finding two teams with decent supporter size who were out of their cup and a decent challenge, I got errors whenever I tried to challenge them.

So I stewed for a little bit, trying to decide what to do. Out of the blue, I was challenged by a team from Prathet Thai, Lurking FC. It was just an international friendly at my place with no strings attached and I was more than happy to play. The Prathet Thai team which is #2 in V.4 and owned by lurker1 came to the 'drome this overcast day.


Game Summary
Date: 8/14/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9455351
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 2129

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 2129 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Schrader, Miquel, Bush - Viseslav, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Wellens - Solomon, Tizón.

Lurking had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Chinda - Jaruphan, Apasra, Kukrit, Abhasra - Mcnamara, Tulaya, Chong-Kien, Yodbangtoey, Boon-mee - Pu Yai Bahn.

After 18 minutes Lurking put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Maha Kukrit finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. After 23 minutes of play Robert Tryggvesson equalised for Hippopotami after an elegant attack from the right. Derrick Solomon gave his Hippopotami the lead with 2 - 1, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. One of many good passes from Pierre Wellens at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Derrick Solomon, scoring for Hippopotami to 3 - 1. A great save by goaltender Chulamai Chinda in the 33rd minute kept the visitors in the game as Robert Tryggvesson struck from the left with a real cannonball. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 52 percent, dominated the battle.

In the 69:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Robert Tryggvesson dashed through, knocking home 4 - 1 for Hippopotami. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Robert Tryggvesson squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 71st minute, asserting the lead to 5 - 1. This third goal made a hat trick for Robert Tryggvesson. Lurking made a substitution in the 72nd minute. Thammanoon Jaruphan limped off the field and was replaced by Paul Drãghici. Santichai Tulaya had a couple of good opportunities to reply, but the home team´s goaltender Sidney Buckley just wouldn´t surrender. Elmer Bush of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 85:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Lurking seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Lurking, bringing the final ball possession rate to 55 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Elmer Bush. However, Robert Tryggvesson made a disastrous appearance. Most important Lurking player was Chulamai Chinda. Jayavarman Apasra on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 1.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly game
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
LFC: 4-5-1

Events Summary

1st Half
LFC: 18: 0-1
HH: 23: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 1-1
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (F): 2-1
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (F): 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 52%

2nd Half
HH: 69: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 4-1
HH: 71: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 5-1
Final Score: 5-1
Possession: 45%
Final Possession: 49%

Cards
HH: 85: Elmer Bush (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 1344/20000
Basic seats: 526/8000
Seats under roof: 203/3200
VIP seats: 56/800
Total: 2129/32000

Our largest crowd ever for a home friendly. I definately would like to thank lurker1 for coming.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/43

Lurking FC
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 30/33

He won possession due to our poor stamina yet we got a lot more chances. I guess this is why.


Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *~
DW Clement Schrader (d) **
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Elmer Bush (d) ***
WI Ivan Viseslav (n) **
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (d) *
WI Pierre Wellens **~
FO Derrick Solomon **
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **


Total Stars: 22.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Buckley's still a bit rusty from his lack of play during cup season. Schrader needs to get his form out of the crapper. Fortunately it's balanced by Bush's amazing streak at excellent form *knock on wood* and Miguel's continuously good form. Viseslav, Storm, and Tryggvesson also need to get out of their form funks.


Three Stars
Goal scorers and a goalkeeper

Bronze: Sidney Buckley
Battling poor form, but still made a save
Silver: Derrick Solomon
It's a shame his ratings aren't higher- he's one hell of a player
Gold: Robert Tryggvesson
Announcer-torturing Swede gets a hat trick despite defensive positioning and only * rating


Game Summary
It was a nice low-stress game. I enjoyed that we won, but I would have enjoyed it almost as much even if we had lost. Fortunately only one injury (on his side) and it quickly healed. I'm enjoying these int'l friendlies. Probably will get some more this season after FOFC Cup.


Press Release
8/17/2003 at 09:34 Tryggvesson Leads Hippos Past Visiting Thai Team
The Hippos played host to their second ever int'l friendly, this time against Lurking FC of Prathet Thai. UberTrainee(TM) Robert Tryggvesson scored a hat trick and second string keeper Sidney Buckley held Lurking scoreless after a goal in the 18th minute. The Hippodrome saw its largest ever friendly crowd as 2129 Hungry Hungry Hippos saw a sky filled with threatening clouds but no rain fell until after the game concluded. A battle of Run-and-Shoot next week as the Galesburg Avengers visit.


Notes
Big game coming up this week. Not so much because of it's difficulty or who we are playing, per se, but because it's eminently winnable and we need to win a game. As it says above, next week we have a battle of the run-and-shoot as we host CoffeeWarlord's Galesburg Avengers!

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
Excellent! It happened! Storm went up to excellent in playmaking (still solid for Tryggvesson) so I'm going to try and sell him off to make room for Wellens, Little, and Tryggvesson to be the UberTrainees(TM). The bad news is that Storm's form continues to drop like a rock so selling him might be difficult. Mick Starks is still mired in his form slump at weak.

Future Training
We still need stamina, but our form is still too low. Playmaking until we can sneak in that one week.

Form
Starters: (+2) (-2)
Entire Team: (+4) (-6)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush (exc) Meek
Passable: Viseslav Solomon Miguel Connors Christiano Phelan Kimber
Inadequate: Benito
Weak (or below): Starks

Starks is still down in the dumps right now. We don't have anyone who can even remotely replace him so he's going to have to just play through it. I'm toying with putting winger UberTrainee(TM) Peter Wellens in for the fixtures at winger. However, Viseslav's form bounced back up so I may not.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+10) (-7)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/9(+0)
Above $200K: 6(+1)/6(+1)
Above $300K: 2(+1)/2(+1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($488K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($314K)
Milestones: Thomas Little ($200K)

Just one week after being pulled, Little has passed the $200K mark. Hopefully he'll be an important part of our team for quite a while. I'm guessing he's really close to bumping (solid PM to go with his solid passing).


Team Stats
Total Wages: 30394 (-20)
Total Value: 2804000 (+6000)
Avg Value: 140200 (+300)
Avg Age: 22 (NC)
Avg Form: inadequate (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 20 (NC)
Nationalities: 11 (NC)


Youth Pull, Week 20.04
Three strong weeks but now our second dud in a row. I might be able to recoup $1K or $2K out of him but he's sympathetic so I'd rather just fire him than sell him for next to nothing and drop team spirit. Wait, never mind, he doesn't even have an inadequate as I was thinking of a previous youth pull. Our youth pull from 20.01, David Antonio Alonso Soto, sold for a healthy $94K to fc stijn, a Div V team in Belgie.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 32
Youth Pull Grocers: 23 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 8 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (-1)
Total Sold for: 684000 (+94000)

Youth Pull
Nelson Webster (15477212)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 11 000 US$
Wage: 540 US$/week

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



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (up one level from high on life)
Supporter Club: 1325 members (+16)
Supporters: delirious (NC)

Team Spirit: calm (down a level from content)
Confidence: decent (NC)

Back to calm TS, but that's the way it is on this team. Three game losing streak? No problem, for some reason I have yet to decipher (tho, I'm probably pretty hot on the trail when I'm guessing about our 10 spokespersons) why our sponsors and supporters keep getting happier and more numerous. It should be noted that we will be firing a pair of them at the end of the week- they just aren't pulling their weight enough. I love the high spirit and extra sponsor money, but they are really eating a lot of cash as my staff costs are still more than my wages!


20.04 Week In Review

On the Field
Iowa toyed with us before putting us out of our misery and into 6th place. Solomon and Meeks scored and Phelan was injured (fortunately not for very long). We only put up a 60 NSI and 30.0 stars, our worst Div IV showing to date. We need a win badly this week at home against Team Groomers. Then we played am international friendly at the Hippodrome against Lurking FC from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson (I can spell his last name by memory, finally- who the hell has double "g", anyways?) got a hat trick and Derrick Solomon scored a pair as we won 5-1.

Off the Field
Thankfully in the training updates, Daniel Storm bumped and will be put on the transfer wire very soon. We're looking to get about $500K for the 18yo excellent PM middie. We finally sold off 20.01 youth pull David Antonio Alonso Soto ($94K) and also shook things up after the loss to Iowa. Starting winger Donald Newsom was shipped out ($112K) in favor of either Ivan Viseslav or UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens. Newsom had been slumping of late and we just didn't see the need of having 4 wingers on the team. Same thing happened to 20yo wingback Marcel Romo as his up-and-down career with the Hippos ended. He sold for $60K, a product of his crappy form. We bought him injured, nursed him back to health, got a couple of good games out of him and then his form died. No luck on the front of finding a new striker to play alongside Phelan. I'm hoping to have that solved this week with some of the money we just pulled in.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Thankfully, I have the best spin doctors in the world. How else could you explain sponsors that are dancing in the strees, supporters that are delirious, and an increasing supporter club despite our three straight losses (including our Cup ouster)? That said, if we don't win today, we have serious problems. We should win and we must win. The team has been in upheaval as Houben, Romo, and Newsom have all been sold in the past week and a half, but something had to be done.

Team Groomers is one of the two teams I'm expecting to auto demote and to avoid that fate ourselves, we have to beat them. They have put up NSI's of 55, 57 (in cup, only 42 in fixture that week), and 60 the past three weeks so they are on the rise. They run a 3-5-2 but with lackluster offense as they play a couple of their middies defensive, including star middie Don Betts, who is capable of 4 stars. We should win this one, especially at home. One change to our recent standard lineup is putting Pierre Wellens at wing after Donald Newsom was sold as part of the shakeup. Derrick Solomon is back to starting at forward, as he did all for the latter half of last season. Hopefully the guys respond.


Game Summary
Date: 8/18/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326983
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 28075


Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Hippodrome saw a crowd turnout of 28075. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Wellens - Solomon, Phelan.

Groomers started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Arcuato - Anderson, Henderson, Sheldon - Codrescu, Saes, Betts, Ortiz, Fernández - Souza, Root.

José María Miquel gave his Hippopotami the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Carson Souza came close to levelling the score in the 26:th minute, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. Halftime score was 1 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

After 53 minutes Stephen Connors put Hippopotami ahead 2 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. With 57 minutes played José María Miquel could have brought this one home for Hippopotami, had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 63 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Hippopotami player was Herschel Meek. Pierre Wellens on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Groomers player was without a doubt Don Betts. Juan Antonio Fernández on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 0.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TG: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (1): 1-0
Halftime Score: 1-0
Possession: 56%

2nd Half
HH: 53: Stephen Connors (1): 2-0
Final Score: 2-0
Possession: 63%
Final Possession: 60%

Cards
None

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 17776/20000
Basic seats: 7118/8000
Seats under roof: 2524/3200
VIP seats: 657/800
Total: 28075/32000

Not as big as our home game against Chock but still well in excess of $100K brought in! The Hippodrome32K is proving to be just the right size.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 60/68

Team Groomers
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/59

This is tied for our highest rating ever with the Dragons game last season. All excellents and solids looks pretty across the board. Although, I would like to get something higher somewhere- basically to have a strength. Then again, if Mick Starks is in better form, that excellent right side attack becomes formidable, I'm guessing.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
WI Oierre Wellens **
FO Edwin Phelan ***
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 32.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Phelan showed no ill effects from his injury, going back to *** after last week's **~ before getting taken off the field. The wings are a serious problem: Starks's poor form is giving me cause to worry now and Wellens is really a trainee, not so much a Div IV caliber starter.


Three Stars
A goalie, a defender, and a middie

Bronze: Stephen Connors
All but put the game out of reach with his goal
Silver: Tim Kimber
Finally bounces back from his two game slump with his first shutout of the season
Gold: Jose Maria Miguel
Had game winning first goal and barely missed a second


Game Summary
This really was a boring game. But who cares, we won! Their anemic offense couldn't break through and even with really weak wings, we still put a couple past them. It was good to see Timber finally get back on track after 9 goals in his last 2 games. Nothing really stands out about this game except that we broke our 3 game losing streak and that it was our first ever Div IV home win.


Press Release
8/21/2003 at 02:39 Hippos Get First Home Div IV Victory
Over 28000 at the Hippodrome saw a grind-it-out defensive soccer game and the first ever Div IV home win for their beloved Hippos. José María Miquel got a goal and almost connected on a second and Stephen Connors got the second goal, early in the second half. The defense held Team Groomers to only one chance that hit the post and Timber made the 2 goal advantage stand up. The win evens the Hippos record at 2-2 with 6 points and a 0 goal differential with 8 goals for and against.


Around the League
Chock's bad luck continues and a big game in the battle for prize money

Brooklyn United - zfan 4 - 0
Brooklyn continued rolling along with the only easy game of the week. At Champions Park, they put up a brilliant midfield with a world class-titanic-brilliant defense, while running a 4-4-2. Their midfielders put up 5.5, 5.0, and 4.0 stars and four different players scored for them. zfan only put up a weak midfield despite a 3-5-2. However, they had a form-out-exc attack from their 5.0 and 3.5 star forwards.

The Champion - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 1 - 1
Less than 13K came out on this rainy day, but many more will claim to have. This game was the shock of the week as Chock extends their suprising winless streak to 2 games. The Champion put up some of his best ratings to date with everything between passable and formidable. Chock "only" put up a solid midfield, possibly PIC'ing, but his other ratings all were between excellent and brilliant. Both teams scored on their only chances of the entire game, which is, I'm sure, a product of the weather. The NSIs were 79-62 while stars were 40.5-31.0, both in favor of Chock.

Kaishaku F.C. - Iowa Enforcers 1 - 3
In another freakish NSI/stars result, Iowa goes to Kaishaku F.C. Arena and takes this crucial game in the race for 3rd, or possibly even 2nd place with the way Chock is playing. Kaishaku out NSI'd Iowa by 83 to 67 and outstarred them 35.0 to 30.5 but Iowa outchanced them 5-2. People keep saying the engine hasn't changed, but, sheesh- these are starting to get out of hand. This is three fixtures out of eight in the past two weeks that were really out of whack (>10 NSI difference, but outchanced) in IV.21 and I'm really starting to wonder.


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      4  18 - 1  12  93
 
2. Iowa Enforcers       4  13 - 8  9   67
3. Chock Full of Whole  4  12 - 7  7   79
4. Houston Hippopotami  4  8 - 8   6   68

5. Kaishaku F.C.        4  6 - 9   6   83
6. zfan                 4  8 - 15  6   62

7. The Champion         4  2 - 8   1   62
8. Team Groomers        4  4 - 15  0   59

It's cool to see me in the money even if it's just for a second. Next week starts a bad 5 game stretch. The easiest game is next week's on the road against zfan. Then things get really ugly as I have a home-and-home against Brooklyn wrapped around a home-and-home against Kaishaku. The absolute best case scenario out of that (barring teams being disqualified or something flukish) is 2 wins with 1 being likely and 0 entirely possible.



Hatstats
This is the first week a team from IV.21 failed to capture the top NSI for Div IV. Brooklyn's 94 was only good for 3rd, behind teams from IV.34 (Monkey of Doom, in a division with the Green Mages who used to be in the Misfitz V.253) and IV.28 (all day i dream about soccer). Kaishaku F.C. was 27th and Chock 46th in a loss and a draw, respectively. If the season ended today, Brookyln would autopromote into III.4 and replace Mountain Kings. Brooklyn's stud middies got 5.0 and 5.5 stars this week and that placed them in the top list of all players in Div IV. Lastly, this week, IV.21, as a whole, was 6th in Div IV for series strength.

Yet again, Louisiana tops the thugs list with 17 yellow cards. The Gargoyles and Calibiri are both in the top ten, as well, and lots of other FOFC teams dot the list. Havoc (not to be confused with Havok), who created the Kraftworks Union fed that I am in, leads Div IV in Fragility with a whopping 6 players hurt for 13 weeks. The highest FOFC team is the Horned Toads who have a combined 8 weeks of injuries between 2 players.


Notes
We needed a win and hopefully we can build off of this and win next week, too. We head to play zfan next week and, while they are tough, it looks like they were just declared a computer team so we might benefit from that. This week, for our friendly, we face Coffee Warlord in a battle of run-and-shoot!

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Well, we all know about Coffee Warlord, that black substance swilling run-and-shoot jockey who made his fortune in Number Racket threads the world 'round. His Galesburg Avengers and their 3-4-3 paid the Hippos a visit as part of a "Promote the Run-and-Shoot" world tour.
Ok, maybe not- I'm just trying to make this game sound bigger than it is. The real story is that we found him arguing with a mailbox outside the airport ("Heeeey, budddddy, this isn't O'hare") after he staggered drunkenly off a plane in Houston. We assumed this was the result of his getting on the wrong flight after choking away a cup game where they won midfield outstanding to weak, all the more impressive considering his Cup game was at home and we have no idea why he was even at the airport but that's neither here nor there (speaking of which, Erik Flamebeard of the Neither Here Nor There has been rumored to have tickets for the game, keeping the company of Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa, but he, it, tha- aw, hell, I give up- something else is neither here nor there)

Well, anyway, we booked a friendly at my place. To spice it up a little, we made a bet in chat (shameless plug: #fofc on undernet, during USA game times) that whoever lost would have to wear really ugly kits for the next game. If you've been on the hattrick board, you might have run into the threads this past week. And, finally, for an added wrinkle, we decided to really ramp up this run-and-shoot match and counter his 3-4-3 with a little 2-5-3 of our own.


Game Summary
Date: 8/21/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9479384
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1590


The 1590 spectators at The Hippodrome were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Hippopotami started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Lineup: Buckley - Miquel, Schrader - Viseslav, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Wellens - Solomon, Tizón, Phelan.

Galesburg started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. They fielded: Durant - Hurst, Andres Alvaro, Guinot - Quiroz, Oskarsson, Farrell, Dommer-Toft - Goode, Mosley, Boone.

The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 in the 8:th by a breakthrough from Thomas Little, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Hippopotami appeared unsure on how to play. Thomas Little increased Hippopotamis lead to 2 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s José María Miquel putting the lead up to 3 - 0. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why Derrick Solomon found unusually much space for his snappy footwork. The home crowd just couldn´t believe it as José María Miquel missed a penalty in the 40:th. Hippopotami appeared unsure on how to play. Galesburg fought on and, in the 41st minute Dom Goode was able to reply with 3 - 1 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. Galesburg held the ball, with a clear 68 percent possession rate.

During the break Hippopotami´s coach went through the teams new tactics yet again. The away team reduced the score to 3 - 2, as Inge Oskarsson struck home, set up well by a play from the left in the 48:th minute. Hippopotami had obvious problems in finding their positions. The visitors didn´t give in and after 68 minutes Dom Goode got through the home sides central line of defense, rolling in the levelling goal to make it 3 - 3 Daryl Mosley came close to putting the visiting team one up in the 69:th minute, following a solo raid down the middle, but Sidney Buckley managed to tip the ball to a corner. As Leonardo Andres Alvaro had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Galesburg player a red card without batting an eye. Galesburg took the lead after 78 minutes with 3 - 4. Rickie Quiroz placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. In the games 81st minute Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Robert Tryggvesson for taking a dive. Galesburg appeared unsure on how to play. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Galesburg, with an impressive 72 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami´s best player was Derrick Solomon. Daniel Storm on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Galesburg player was without a doubt Inge Oskarsson. Zack Hurst was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 4.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly game
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 2-5-3
GA: 3-4-3

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 08: Thomas Little (F): 1-0
HH: xx: Thomas Little (F): 2-0
HH: xx: pulling back
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (F): 3-0
GA: 41: 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 32%

2nd Half
GA: 48: 3-2
GA: 68: 3-3
GA: 78: 3-4
Final Score: 3-4
Possession: 28%
Final Possession: 30%

Cards
HH: 81: Robert Tryggvesson (yellow- taking a dive)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 1005/20000
Basic seats: 418/8000
Seats under roof: 133/3200
VIP seats: 34/800
Total: 1590/32000

Another week, another record: largest non-international friendly home crowd.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: poor (3)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/44

Galesburg Avengers
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/52

We really need some stamina training: No way should we get that bad of a midfield with solids across the board. Not only that bue we had 5 on the midfield to his 4. That outstanding central attack (easily our highest ever there) looks pretty cool but I had 3 forwards, so...


Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *~
DW Jose Maria Miguel **~
DM Clement Schrader *~
WI Ivan Viseslav **
MI Robert Tryggvesson *~
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Pierre Wellens **~
FO Derrick Solomon ***~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon (x) **
FO Edwin Phelan ***

Total Stars: 24.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

That 24.0 is the highest for a non-offseason friendly (i.e. the between season week with only a friendly). Solomon was an absolute beast as his technical speciality shined (game message: It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why Derrick Solomon found unusually much space for his snappy footwork.") and he became the 6th Hippo ever to get a ***~ star game after Kimber, Starks, Benito, Connors, and Meeks. Now for the bad news, Schrader only put up *~ due to his form- this is not what we expected from the veteran central defender when we bought him this past season. Tryggvesson and Storm continue to disappoint with only *~ again, due to their low stamina and somewhat low form.


Three Stars
Only one forward despite the 2-5-3

Bronze: Jose Maria Miguel
Goal made it 3-0 but his team leadership was somewhat lacking as there was a lot of confusion
Silver: Derrick Solomon
Latest Hippo to join the ***~ club
Gold: Thomas Little
His pair of goals gave us the early 2-0 lead


Game Summary
Coach Braden really dropped the ball on this one. The only way we were going to beat Galesburg was in a shootout- we needed to keep running with them. Pulling back when we did was just a death knell to the team's energy. Still, it's a friendly so I'm not too distraught. However, it's disappoing and it really would have been fun to beat one of the run-and-shoot masters.


Press Release
8/23/2003 at 10:17 Hippos Stumble in FOFC Run-And-Shoot Battle
Coach Braden foolishly pulled back the troops early as Houston blew a 3-0 lead, losing 4-3 to Galesburg. The Avengers, coached by one of the FOFC Run-and-Shoot elders in Coffee Warlord, scored 4 unanswered goals despite only having 10 men on the pitch for part of the second half. The match pitted two of the most offensive fomations in the game with Galesburg's 3-4-3 and the Hippos suprising 2-5-3. Next week's friendly against Manhattan will be quite the opposite as NAIWF plays 5-4-1


Notes
Another winnable fixture this week that we could really use. However, it's on the road against a pretty evenly matched team so we definately aren't favored. Then begins our hellish four game stretch in league. Next week's friendly is booked and we will be staying at the 'drome again, this time against supporter NAIWF, his Manhattan Marauders, and a slow down 5-4-1 or 5-3-2. Then comes the FOFC Cup, most likely.


Match Kits
Here's the pair of threads relating to our match kits for our upcoming game with zfan. We will have screenshots coming up in the zfan match report.
Ugly Kit Colors
Poll: Pick the Hippos Ugly Kit Colors (Lost Bet)


Breaking News: New Hippo
Towards the end of the first half of today's game, the Hippos closed a deal with American striker Gualtiero Spagnuolo, a 23yo striker who was formerly playing in Texas for we kick balls, who are # 1 in V.138. He cost $360K but that money had been more than freed up in previous weeks with the transfers of Houben, Newsom, Romo, and youth pulls as well as higher than expected attendance figures at home fixtures. Said GM SterlingIce, of the move: "This is our gift back to our supporters who have really filled up the new Hippodrome and made this purchase possible. Sure, he didn't come cheap, but he had more quality than most guys on the market. Most of who we were looking at were either too expensive or not enough bang for our buck- we think Gaultiero fit both of these categories: he's a perfect 'tweener, a high level solid who is as good as many excellent strikers." Gualtiero will sport #23, that of one of his favorite baseball player, former Cub Ryne Sandberg. And it should be noted that if the Hippos go to Italy for a friendly, he is bilingual, fluent in both Italian and English.

Gualtiero Spagnuolo (11213343)
23 years, solid form, healthy
I speak Italiano!
A pleasant guy who is calm and infamous.
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 242 000 US$
Wage: 1 840 US$/week

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

Career Goals: 17
Career Hattricks: 2
League goals this season: 3
Cup goals this season: 1


SI

[NAIWF]

I just thought I'd say, don't be shocked when I run up the score on you tonight

[sterlingice]

Training
This is our second week in a row with good news (mostly). First, the happiness: 18yo youth-pull-turned-UberTrainee(TM) Thomas Little bumped as I figured he would soon. Now he's solid playmaking and solid passing. Unfortunately, no bids on Daniel Storm, who is currently on the market. We really could use that extra space so Wellens didn't have to keep playing wing. Also, one of our starting middies bumped: 23yo Carlos Alberto Bentio bumped to excellent playmaking to go along with his excellent stamina and solid passing. Short of worsening his form slump *knock on wood*, he's not losing his job any time soon.


Future Training
Unfortunately, our low form prevents us from some stamina traning (that would help Storm's transfer value a lot). So, continued playmaking training. With Benito bumping, Connors is 3-4 weeks behind. Tryggvesson is expected to bump soon, as well. No guss on Wellens, but as long as he keeps having to play winger, he won't gain that much. I need to get Storm out of here.

Form
Starters: (+3) (-3)
Entire Team: (+5) (-6)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Meek (exc) Miguel Kimber Spagnuolo Bush
Passable: Viseslav Connors Phelan
Inadequate: Benito Christiano
Weak (or below): Starks (poor)

Mick Starks is in the middle of the worst form slump of his career as he drops again, this time to poor. Cristiano drops to inadequate, joining Benito. Everyone else in the starting lineup is passable or higher with Meek's excellent taking the top form this week. For the second team, Storm bumps two levels to inadequate so hopefully that will help speed along his transfer to a new suitor. Third striker Juan Miguel Tizon is down to poor this week, but it really is a moot point as he was bumped down to fourth striker after the purchase of Gaultiero Spagnuolo. Lastly, the man we were hoping to play center defender for us this season is still mired in his form slump: Clement Schrader remains at wretched form.


Value
Starters: (+6) (-4)
Entire Team: (+10) (-8)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 8(+1)/12(+3)
Above $200K: 6(+1)/7(+1)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($509K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($323K)
Milestones: Robert Tryggvesson ($100K)

Three additions to the $100K club. First, we bring in Spagnuolo and his $242K, then UberTrainee(TM) Tryggvesson edges over the $100K mark and finally we get a youth pull worth good money (see below). In his current slump, Mick Starks has shed over $100K in value.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 31694 (+1300)
Total Value: 3105000 (+301000)
Avg Value: 155250 (+15050)
Avg Age: 23 (+1)
Avg Form: inadequate (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 20 (NC)
Nationalities: 11 (NC)
NOTE: We broke through the $3M worth barrier and shattered the $150K per player mark


Youth Pull, Week 20.05
I waited until gametime Sunday to make my youth pull this week and was happily rewarded. I think I'm sticking with that superstition from now on (or at least until I get tired of it). If we were training defenders, John Hanna would fit in great. As the case is, I'm not and don't really need a defender at the moment. I'm hoping to get $300K+ for him (he's an 18yo solid defender/solid passer with high value) but I've put him up for $250 and don't think I'll have any trouble selling him.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 33
Youth Pull Grocers: 23 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 8 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 684000 (+0)

Youth Pull
John Hanna (15724779)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 192 000 US$
Wage: 1 480 US$/week

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



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1349 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (up one level from delirious)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (up two levels from decent)

A win gets our confidence back. Our sponsors and supporters were already tickled pink even with our three game losing streak. At least we broke that. Although, there might be another looming in a couple of weeks.


20.05 Week In Review

On the Field
Timber got back on the winning side of things, shutting out likely relegee Team Groomers at the 'drome. Miguel and Connors scored for the Hippos. If we win a couple more games, we're guaranteed a qualification game at least. If we want to pretend, for the week we are sitting in 4th place, in the money. I'm pretty sure we won't end there but it's nice to see for now. In our friendly, we faced CW's Galesburg Avengers and pitted our 2-5-3 against his 3-4-3 in a run-and-shoot extravaganza. We took a quick 2-0 lead but Coach Braden foolishly pulled back and we blew a 3-0 lead, losing 4-3. As a result, we will be sporting some odd colored kits next game (stay tuned for screenshots).

Off the Field
Unfortunately, Storm has yet to sell even after bumping to excellent last week. However, with some of the cash from our recent sales, we brought in 23yo solid/solid striker Gualtiero Spagnuolo. Putting him opposite Phelan will hopefully result in a formidable central attack. On his previous team, he put up good ratings even with a 1.5 star striker opposite him. Finally, to start the new week, we got an excellent youth pull in John Hanna. He is currently on the transfer wire.

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
We run into a bit of luck this week as zfan has been abandoned. zfan is a team I was expecting to compete with for one of those 4-7 slots in the division. A win today gets us 3rd place in the series, probably the highest rank we will see the entire season. Also, this will be the highly anticipated debut of new Hippo striker Gaultiero Spagnuolo who we hope will be a key kog in the H-Gun for quite a while. But, that's not why you are here...

As some of you are quite aware, CW and I made a little bet coming into our friendly this past week that whoever loses has to wear ugly kits this week. As some of you are also quite aware, my f@#$@^%@% coach pulled back up 2-0 and losing possession and we lost 4-3. So I opened up the voting to see which ugly colors I should wear for this week's game:

(The Story Thread) Ugly Kit Colors
(The Poll) Pick the Hippos Ugly Kit Colors (Lost Bet)

And, this post wouldn't be complete without artwork:





Game Summary
Date: 8/25/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326989
Arena: Zed Park
Crowd: 31316


At Zed Park, 31316 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Houston derby and it the crowd was divided evenly. zfan had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Covington - Lambkin, Modrzejewski, Craner - Ertorp, Sörensson, Håkansson, Pålsson, Pilflod - Bele, Davis.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Cristiano - Wellens, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 6:th minute left Hippopotami´s Gualtiero Spagnuolo completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. The referee showed zfans Harald Pilflod the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Edwin Phelan increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. A marvelous zfan effort to the right resulted in a 25:th minute goal by Johan Ertorp, putting the score up to 1 - 2. The game had been on for 35 minutes when Edwin Phelan broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Hippopotami´s were up 1 - 3. Hippopotamis Herschel Meek got himself booked after a foul. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 3. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

Johan Ertorp was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Sarp Bele managed to kick one of them into 2 - 3 in the 55:th minute. Edwin Phelan increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 2 - 4. At that, Edwin Phelan was noted down for a hat trick. Harald Pilflod managed to make an excellent pass from the flank, but Johan Ertorp was not as skillfull in scoring. Hippopotami had, after 69 minutes of the game, worked the left side industriously, creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but somehow didn´t achieve closure. Unsportsmanlike behaviour by Herschel Meek rendered him his second booking of the match, and Hippopotami had to finish the game with a reduced squad. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.

zfan´s best player was Sarp Bele. Harald Pilflod was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Pierre Wellens was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 4.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
ZF: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 06: Gualtiero Spagnuolo (1): 1-0
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (3): 2-0
ZF: 25: 2-1
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (4): 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 59%

2nd Half
ZF: 55: 3-2
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (5): 4-2
Final Score: 4-2
Possession: 55%
Final Possession: 57%

Cards
HH: xx: Herchel Meek (yellow- foul)
HH: xx: Herschel Meek (second yellow, ejection- unsportsmalike behaviour)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

And, yet again, our fans show they are not as dumb as a bag of hammers by not going to the stadium for an away game. 31K showed up at Zed Park despite the lack of ownership.


Team Ratings

zfan
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 61/66

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/65

I'm definately jealous of his offense. Then again, I don't have 24yo 5-star Sarp Bele running my offense like he does. However, we attacked his midfield and weak right side defense and that's how we won. We backed off a little from last week's rating but as long as we can keep a solid midfield on the road, I'll be happy. I think our goal is to get a 70 without MotS'ing by the end of the year- I'm not sure we can do it but it's a great goal.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Lorenzo Cristiano (o) ***
WI Pierre Wellens **
MI Herschel Meek -ejected-
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **
FO Edwin Phelan ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***

Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Kimber dominating once again with **** while our new forward combo each netted *** today (was kindof hoping for ***~ from Gualtiero). All three defenders also got *** (including Miguel's first *** rating) but there is definately cause for concern out there at wing. Wellens is only going to get **~ about half the time so that I don't mind so much. He's 17 and will be getting **** in no time (ok, perhaps a slight exaggeration). However, Mick Starks has fallen over $100K in value and gone from ***~ to ** in his current slump! We have no one to replace him and he's just going to have to ride it out. All in all, we would have had 33.5 stars with Meek, our best ever, and a really nice 35 if Stark's head weren't up his ass. NO MORE CRAWFISH PARTIES!


Three Stars
Goal scorers and a middie who played well until he was thrown out

Bronze: Herschel Meek
He got those cards out of the way heading into the all-but-unwinnable Brooklyn game and will have a clean slate
Silver: Gualtiero Spagnuolo
Gets (hopefully) first of many Hippo goals 6 minutes into his career here
Gold: Edwin Phelan
Got into the thick of the series goal race with a hat trick


Game Summary
I wonder if Phelan was starting to fell the pressure, especially after Spagnuolo scored 6 minutes into the game. Don't worry, Edwin, we love ya here in Hippo town and you're not losing your job any time soon. We just wanted to get you some help so you don't have to carry the offense on your back so often. His hat trick puts him in 2nd for the series goal title behind Jan Zaslawski of Brooklyn United (see below). Another one of those pretty games where everything came up excellent or solid, tho I was really hoping for a formidable central attack. Maybe next time...


Press Release
8/26/2003 at 01:42 Four Forward Goals Fluster Formidable zfan
zfan may now be computer controlled but they still have Sarp Bele who scored his 60th career goal but Edwin Phelan collected his third career hat trick and new striker Gualtiero Spagnuolo started his Hippo career with a goal in the 6th minute, en route to a 4-2 win. The Hippos were possibly aided by pink-orange-lime kits, the price of a lost bet from last week's friendly. The win has the Hippos in 3rd place, but that is likely to change as they play Brooklyn and Kaishaku the next four weeks.


Around the League
A battle among the two best with a suprising outcome and a pair of upper tier teams underestimating lower tier teams

Iowa Enforcers - The Champion 1 - 0
Iowa likely PIC'd this game and almost got burned. They won possession by 60 and 69% (exc vs inad) but didn't score until Norman Aguirre in the 72nd minute. Iowa flat out missed on one chance and Champion goalie Erik Speer put up 3.5 stars and made another pair of spectacular blocks. The Champion missed on their only opportunity of the game.

Team Groomers - Kaishaku F.C. 0 - 2
While the other game was one of missed opportunities, this was likely a PIC on the road and Kaishaku nearly got burned. Here's a transcript of the first half: "Zenon Kieta of Kaishaku received a yellow card in the 24:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Kaishaku held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate." However, Kaishaku pulled it out, scoring on their only 2 possessions of the second half and blanking Team Groomers. I definately have to give the Groomers credit- check out this message: "Groomers´s Roger Root refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon in the 73rd minute." That's one tough bastard.

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Brooklyn United 0 - 8
I'm not sure *anyone* expected this. Chock was playing Brooklyn at the Creamy Nougat Center with a chance to gain back some of their lost stature in the series and they flat out laid an egg. They had another 94 NSI but were completely dominated by Brooklyn who put up a 107, highest ever this season for a Div IV team. Brooklyn had a world class(!!!) midfield accompanied by a titanic-supernatural-magnificent defense (I only know where one of those is on the charts) and an all formidable offense. 30yo Jan Zaslawski put up 4.5 stars and 4 goals for BU to take the series scoring lead. However, this is another one of those confusing scores. Brooklyn only won possession by 52% and 53% each half (wc vs mag is only 1 level) and Brooklyn had pulled back when only up 2-0. *keeps championing changed engine theory*


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      5  26 - 1  15  107
 
2. Iowa Enforcers       5  14 - 8  12   73
4. Houston Hippopotami  5  12 - 10  9   65
5. Kaishaku F.C.        5  8  - 9   9   70

5. Chock Full of Whole  5  12 - 15  7   94
6. zfan                 5  10 - 19  6   66

7. The Champion         5  2  - 9   1   60
8. Team Groomers        5  4  - 17  0   56

You know, if flukish upsets keep happening, I may luck my way into 4th place even though I am clearly the 5th place talent in this series. Right now I'm sitting at third, tho, I'll be happy with 3 points over the next 4 weeks (4 games against Kaishaku and Brooklyn). Iowa has got to come back down to earth at some point and Chock can't keep losing (the Brooklyn loss was no suprise, just the magnitude of it), can they? A zfan computer-controlled upset against Kaishaku or Iowa could really help. That week 12 matchup at home against Iowa looms large... an MotS maybe. And I suppose after this week's showings, I'm not that far behding Kaishaku or Iowa in terms of NSI but I think both might have PIC'd their respective games.


Hatstats
Well, another week, another IV.21 team is the top team in Div IV. This time, it's Brooklyn United again. They got a 107 rating and 47.0 starts in their 8-0 whitewashing of Chock, who was 7th with 94 and 41.0. These propel us back to the 2nd toughest Div IV series in the USA with an average rating of 73.9, second to IV.61 and their 76.5. No one else got above a 75 this week but Iowa and Kaishaku got 73 and 70 while zfan and I got 66 and 65 and the bottom two got 60 and 56. BTW, Brooklyn is at #4 overall for teams to promote into Div III and I won't be sad to see that team of his go. He seems like a pretty nice guy, but we can't hang with him and he'd be better suited up there (read: I expect my game with him next week to be about 10-0).

As for the other lists, Lousiana still sits atop the Thugs list (#1 in the entire USA even) and the Gargoyles come in at 4. Daed's Calibiri rank 2nd in hospital time. Chock's stunned crowd of 60000 that witnessed their devistating loss to Brooklyn was good for 7th in Div IV and 38th in all of the US. Lastly, if the season ended today, Rich1033 and his Toledo Drunkards would join IV.21 next year. Keep fighting for another spot- I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Then again, with Brooklyn gone next season (hopefully), this becomes a lot saner with only Chock putting up 90+ ratings and everyone else in the 70s/60s.


Notes
Next week... will not be pretty. We go to Brooklyn on the heels of their 107 rating this week. Ouch. In much happier news, the run-and-shoot will be hosting supporter NAIWF, his defensive sludge, and his Manhattan Marauders at the 'drome for some good old fashioned offense versus defense. As for Houston vs New York, it's going to be 1994 all over again as "Hakeem" Juan Miguel Tizon and the Hippos offense dream shakes NAIWF Ewing's defense so they see him in their sleep

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Whew- that last report was long (zfan-Hippos). Anyways, it's good to be back in our purple and black. We'll be hosting one of our supporters, NAIWF in the 'drome. Here we just have the typical New York-Houston matchup. Ok, there's not much typical about it. We met once in the NBA Finals and it was the "East Coast City calls Houston a 'hellhole' quite hypocritically, we go out and beat their ass, next day headline reads 'Hellhole 1 New York 0' " story. I'm hoping for more of the same today

I won't be running out that 2-5-3 I ran against CW- that was fun but has some downsides. Namely, I don't have 3 backup forwards and I don't want to risk Phelan or Spaghetti getting hurt. You know what, I think that's Gualtiero Spagnuolo's new nickname. I can't spell either his first or last name but he's from the USA and speaks Italiano. I guess that means we have the Eddie (Edwin) and Spaghetti front line... but I digress.

[Insert line here about the run-and-shoot crushing the proletar-- I mean, the 5-4-1 and those inbred (with no due respect to NevStar) mouthbreathers]


Game Summary
Date: 8/28/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9517654
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1821


Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 1821 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Buckley - Bush, Miquel, Schrader - Wellens, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.

Manhattan started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. Lineup: Warner - Broussard, Wiling, Stoica, Oconnor, Key - Vega, Williamson, Waggoner, Rendon - Walls.

Matt Vega managed to make an excellent pass from the flank, but Cole Rendon was not as skillfull in scoring. Thomas Little gave his Hippopotami the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón putting the lead up to 2 - 0. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Pierre Wellens somhow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Ivan Viseslav who struck for 3 - 0. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 38:th minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Henry Walls completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper. Manhattan fought on and, in the 39:th minute Henry Walls was able to reply with 3 - 1 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

The visitors got a chance of pulling one back in the 52nd minute, due to a defensive blunder leaving Rickie Oconnor completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side´s keeper. Henry Walls of Manhattan received a yellow card in the 54:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 60 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Hippopotami. However, Jessie Warner made a spectacular save. In the games 60:th minute Hippopotami´s Ivan Viseslav fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Ivan Viseslav for taking a dive. Manhattan managed to reduce a bit later to 3 - 2 as Rickie Oconnor finished off a well played combination from the left, carving through the defensive box. Manhattan held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Elmer Bush. Sidney Buckley on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Manhattan player was without a doubt Rickie Oconnor. Thomas Waggoner was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly game
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MM: 5-4-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Thomas Little (F): 1-0
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 2-0
HH: xx: Ivan Viseslav (F): 3-0
HH: xx: pulling back
MM: 39: 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 61%

2nd Half
MM: xx: 3-2
Final Score: 3-2
Possession: 44%
Final Possession: 53%

Cards
HH: 60: Ivan Viseslav (yellow- taking a dive)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 1219/20000
Basic seats: 417/8000
Seats under roof: 145/3200
VIP seats: 40/800
Total: 1590/32000

For the second week in a row, we set this record: largest non-international friendly home crowd. In other words, our largest crowd ever for a "normal" friendly.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/44

Manhattan Marauders
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/45

Every week this section really is a killjoy for friendlies. I'm training PM and can't get above a weak?!?


Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *~
DW Elmer Bush ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Clement Schrader (m) *~
WI Pierre Wellens **
MI Robert Tryggvesson **
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon *~

Total Stars: 23.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Buckely's form slump is almost to the point where we will need to explore other options for a backup keeper. I've been wanting to upgrade to a decent passable so that if Kimber gets hurt in a game, we don't drop from a really good backside defense to abyssmal. I think that's Miguel's first ever *** performance! Maybe a little good news on the training front as Tryggvesson gets ** instead of his usual *~ games.


Three Stars
The three goal scorers get "cheap" medals this week

Bronze: Ivan Viseslav
His goal turns out to be necessary for the win
Silver: Juan Miguel Tizon
His goal give the Hippos a 2-0 lead
Gold: Thomas Little
Another first goal of the game gives the new UberTrainee(TM) another gold


Game Summary
For the second week in a row, Braden pulled back the troops much too early. Fortunately this one didn't cost us the game, because NAIWF was running the 5-4-1 , but still. I need to get in some stamina testing, badly. Not only that but I think it may be time to finally replace Sidney Buckley as backup keeper. Still, can't completely overlook the good- I'm extremely happy I decided to keep Little on as an UberTrainee(TM).


Press Release
9/1/2003 at 09:43 Marauders Mauled by Hippo Offense
Once again, the run-and-shoot proved to be superior to a defensive formation. Last week, when Coach Braden drew back the troops up 2-0, Galesburg's run-and-shoot stormed back for a comeback victory. This week, the Hippos pulled back up 3-0 but the Marauders 5-4-1 and a weak-poor-inad offense could not comeback enough. Next week begins FOFC Cup play as Yukon Quest visits the 'drome. The Hippos enter the cup as a #3 seed, however, do not expect to advance too far as training takes priority.


Notes
Next week, we begin the FOFC Cup against Yukon Quest. We have a #3 seed but, as it says above, we don't exactly expect to go far. Training still takes prescendence. This week expects to be our biggest loss ever: well, not including friendlies: the Bees beat us 9-0 back in Hippo infancy, but I'm talking fixture. For those of you into that kind of thing, our biggest loss previously was 4-0 to the soon-to-be-promoted Darksiders in our first season by a score of 4-0. Considering Brooklyn put up a 107 NSI last week, this could be much worse. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll hold back some guys for the cup. That's about our only hope.

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
No bumps whatsoever this week. Trykasdknfa;jsdnfas;dfjaklsdfj has got to be getting close- next week at the latest. He's had 6 weeks of training and he's only 18 for chrissakes. We did have a good form week, finally.

Future Training
Same as before: we need stamina but our form is too low.

Form
Starters: (+3) (-0)
Entire Team: (+7) (-0)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Meek (exc) Viseslav Phelan Miguel Kimber Spagnuolo Bush
Passable: Connors
Inadequate: Benito Christiano
Weak (or below): Starks

Starks finally moves back up to weak. Maybe another week and things will start looking back up. Benito and Christiano could definately use a bump up but I'm not that concerned. Maybe I should go for a stamina week if I have another week like this. As you might have noticed above, I actually did not have a single drop this week. Woo!

Value
Starters: (+9) (-2)
Entire Team: (+13) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 8(+0)/11(-1)
Above $200K: 6(+0)/7(+0)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($522K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($347K)
Milestones: None ($0K)

Only one real move as Pierre Wellens backed off $100K for a week. Kimber and Benito continue to set records each week for highest team values ever.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 32394 (+700)
Total Value: 3266000 (+161000)
Avg Value: 155524 (+274)
Avg Age: 22 (-1)
Avg Form: passable (up 1 level from inadequate)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 21 (+1)
Nationalities: 11 (NC)


Youth Pull, Week 20.06
While we didn't quite get the cash I was hoping for from last week's youth pull, John Hanna (18yo solid pass/solid def/pass sp), it's hard to complain too much about the $279K he ended up selling for. I waited again until gametime to pull my next youth and was pleasantly suprised yet again. I'm hoping Zack can get $50K in a sale, but if not, he's good for at least $20K. If he does go for more than $37K, then our youth squad sales will have exceeded $1M. Even after that horrible luck my first couple of seasons- this should definately be an indication of how a youth squad can pay for itself.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 34
Youth Pull Grocers: 23 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 9 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 963000 (+279000)

Youth Pull
Zack Olivares (15952998)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 38 000 US$
Wage: 700 US$/week

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


Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (down 1 level from dancing in the streets)
Supporter Club: 1373 members (+24)
Supporters: delerious (down 1 level from high on life)

Team Spirit: composed (down 1 level from calm)
Confidence: strong (down 1 level from wonderful)

I got rid of a couple of spokespersons so the economic side of this can be attributed to them. Unfortunately, our PICs from the Cup way back when have finally worn off and we're stuck down at composed again.


20.06 Week In Review

On the Field
Our forwards combine for 4 goals (Spagnuolo 1, Phelan 3) and we beat a pretty good (albeit recently computer controlled) team in zfan. Unfortunately, Meek gets thrown off the pitch so he won't be playing next week versus Brookyln. I guess this is as good a time as any to have that happen. He'll help out the B Team in the FOFC Cup next week instead. Unless something drastic happens we have more or less sewed up the #5 spot in our series with wins in the first half over the bottom three teams including two on the road. Then we hosted NAIWF's Manhattan Marauders and dismantled that 5-4-1 team by the score of 3-2. That's right, we dismantled them. Actually, we were up 3-0, Braden pulled back for the second week in a row and I'm going to get his should-be-offensive mind examined.

Off the Field
All has been quiet on the transaction front since that fit of movement a couple of weeks ago where we thinned down the team and brought in Gualtiero. Two pretty good youth pulls in a row and our last one sold for a hair under $300K! Unless we sell Storm and/or Trykajflkahdfjkanjkbnjvbajksbfkabsdfjk then there probably won't be much here for a while short of a little shuffling on the B Team. Since I don't have much to add here, I think I'll mention that I keep getting tiny little checks of mother club money. Not that I'm going to turn it down, but it's disappointing when you see the mother club cash message and then you click to find: "Gained money for a player that has previously belonged to the club: 120 US$"

SI

[sterlingice]

format test- post will be up (relatively) shortly

SI

[Poli]

Stopped by for a visit, but there's too much to read in too little time!

I can't wait to get involved in dynasty reports again when I get home!

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by ardent enthusiast
Stopped by for a visit, but there's too much to read in too little time!

I can't wait to get involved in dynasty reports again when I get home!

Aye, it seems I was a bit behind but I've been in a dynasty mood the past couple of days so I've been getting caught up pretty quick.

SI

[sterlingice]

A Crisis of Faith

To: Coffee Warlord
From: SterlingIce
Subject: Say you're a team from Houston...

...let's call them the Hippopotami, for hypothetical's sake. And we-- i mean they have to play a game this week against a really good team. Hmm... let's call them Brooklyn United. Now here's the kicker, they're on the road and it's likely going to be a massacre. However, let's say this team's general manager, who has a bit of a reputation as a run-and-shoot proponent, named SterlingIce, purely for the sake of argument, is considering using a 4-5-1 to make the score 3-0 instead of 8-1. Now, he's well meaning in this regard as he wants to keep half of his supporters from having to go to crisis counseling and suicide doctors (as Dr Kevorkian has to open up an anti-medical school to keep up with all the business) but this goes against ever tenent of the religion he preaches. What should I do- I mean tell this hypothetical friend?


To: SterlingIce
From: Coffee Warlord
Subject: Re: Say you're a team from Houston...

Much to learn you still have, yes. Lies, deceit, treachery, those are the ways of the 4-5-1. Tempt you with its promise of defense, it will. Give you nothing to show for it, it will.

Other option available to you, master sterlingice. The Run and Shoot can be used in all situations. If defense is what you need, adapt, you can.

A 4 of defenders, a 3 of midfielders, a 1 of winger, and a 2 of forwards, you need. An alternate 4-4-2, you could play. Defense, fine it will be. Sacrifice offense, you will not. Midfield, you will lose anyway. A winger subtracted, hurt your midfield it will barely do.

Victory in your grasp, there may be. Master CW has spoken.

It's good to have a mentor or two to turn to in these situations. Wise beyond his years, that CW


Preview
There's not much to look forward to this game. Last week, Brooklyn put up a 107 NSI on the road, highest in all of Div IV this season. Now we get to go play him at home, coming off an 8-0 decimation of Chock and their 90-something NSI. I'm guessing he'll hold a starter or two back which should keep his stats in the 90s. Still, ouch. To make this sound even more dire, I'll bring light to some of our other problems for today. One of our 3.5 star middies Herschel Meek is out this week with a red card and 2.5 star offensive middie and UberTrainee(TM) Thomas Little will take his place. Also, Mick Starks is still mired in his form slump and will probably only put up 2.5 stars again today. Not what we needed coming into this game.

Regarding the above messagess, I decided to stick with the 3-5-2. I don't have a capable 4th defender who can play better than either of my wings, even in poor form. I'm going to lose, but at least I'm going to go down doing what we do best in an attempt to keep this from being a shutout. At least our fans will like a 7-1 better than a 5-0. We did have one thing working for us today: "The crowd of 45702 turning up at Champions Park today were greeted by some nasty showers of rain".


Game Summary
Date: 9/1/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326990
Arena: Champions Park
Crowd: 45702


The crowd of 45702 turning up at Champions Park today were greeted by some nasty showers of rain. Brooklyn had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Schumacher - Almansa, Karlsson, Kurkawa, Montes - Maternia, Benson, Mccloud, Iancu - Otegi, Zaslawski.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Wellens, Benito, Connors, Little, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 3rd minute goal by Joaquin Otegi for Brooklyn, putting them ahead 1 - 0. Hippopotami´s Pierre Wellens left the field after 5 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Ivan Viseslav. Hippopotami could level the score in the 11th minute at 1 - 1, as Edwin Phelan struck home after a fine midfield combination, leaving him completely unmarked. 35 minutes into the game a free kick combination hooked into the box almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the last header went wide. Tsuneo Kurkawa gave his Brooklyn the lead with 2 - 1, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Brooklyn lead up with 3 - 1. Joaquin Otegi finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Halftime score was 3 - 1. Brooklyn held the ball, with a clear 66 percent possession rate.

The home sides Amadeusz Maternia twisted a free kick home in the 53rd minute, putting Brooklyn ahead 4 - 1. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Brooklyn lead up with 5 - 1. Brian Mccloud finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The structure of the game started to change as Brooklyn decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Amadeusz Maternia almost managed to score another goal for Brooklyn, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. A bit later Hippopotami´s Edwin Phelan easily reduced to 5 - 2 after a misunderstanding in the home sides central defense line. Brooklyn held the ball, with a clear 68 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Brooklyn player was without a doubt Cory Benson. Jacob Schumacher on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Mick Starks on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 2.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BU: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
BU: 03: 0-1
HH: 11: Edwin Phelan (6): 1-1
BU: 35: 1-2
BU: xx: 1-3
Halftime Score: 1-3
Possession: 34%

2nd Half
BU: 53: 1-4
BU: xx: 1-5
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (7): 2-5
Final Score: 2-5
Possession: 32%
Final Possession: 33%

Cards
None

Injuries
HH: 05: Pierre Wellens (3 weeks- nasty blow to the shin)


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

Despite the rain, the 45K+ were the most ever to see a Hippos game.


Team Ratings

Brooklyn United
Midfield: outstanding (10)
Right Side Defence: magnificent (12)
Central Defence: titanic (15)
Left Side Defence: magnificent (12)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: weak (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 81/91

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/63

I had to go look up what a couple of his ratings were because I have no idea what level titanic is, for instance. That's how you know you've been outplayed. First the bad: with Meek out, we only managed an inad midfield on the road. We knew we were going to lose that battle so it was conceded before the match started. CHECK OUT THAT ATTACK! Exc-Out-Exc! That's what I was looking for when I signed up Gualtiero. At least Brooklyn "only" put up a 91.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~

INJ Pierre Wellens *~

Total Stars: 34.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

That is our highest stars total ever. Gualtiero showed why we got him by joining the ***~ club in his second week. Starks bounced back up to **~ after his awful ** last week. Not much to report here- again, I think we can get 35 stars in the next week or two once Starks bounces back.


Three Stars
Phelan gets another gold

Bronze: Ivan Viseslav
Fills in admirably after Wellens gets hurt
Silver: Gualtiero Spagnuolo
No goal this week but he joins the ***~ club
Gold: Edwin Phelan
Phelan's tear continues as he has 5 goals in his last 2 games


Game Summary
I think we were spared by the rain and by Brooklyn's want to do well in USA Cup. I figured the over-under on our game was 5 or 5 1/2 but we lucked out. Lots of positives actually came out of this game (our center attack, new stars high, etc) but 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens will now have to take a couple of weeks off of training. That hurts, although, we should be able to keep his time missed to only 2 weeks. As you can see below- we actually tripled the number of goals Brooklyn had given up all year (from 1 to 3).


Press Release
9/3/2003 at 12:15 Brooklyn Too Much for Hippos
Edwin Phelan scored twice as many goals as Brooklyn United had given up all year but it wasn't nearly enough as Team Chile member Joaquin Otegi scored 2 goals and 3 other players scored for BU. Brooklyn put up only a 90 rating, their "worst" of the season, but Houston could only muster a 63, also a season low. On the road and without an ineligible Herschel Meek, the Hippos only posted an inadequate midfield. This week, FOFC Cup play begins.


Around the League
Chock and Iowa battle it out while Kaishaku draws the inactive zfan and the two bottom teams face off

The Champion - Team Groomers 4 - 0
The Champion team is starting to separate itself from Team Groomers. However, they are both likely doomed to auto relegation next season. The Champion has only given up 9 goals all year but only has 4 points because they have only scored 6 and 4 of those were today. In another series, they likely would at least have a shot at a qualification game. Then again, maybe if they knock off zfan they will get that chance.

Kaishaku F.C. - zfan 4 - 0
Kaishaku just dominated possession in this game as they won midfield formidable to weak. Hugh Ruffie got a hat trick for Kaishaku and zfan has now lost their 3rd straight since becoming computer controlled. If we can beat Kaishaku next week at home, we will be tied with them for 4th.

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Iowa Enforcers 1 - 0
Fans stayed away from the Creamy Nougat Center in droves after last week's 8-0 massacre at the hands of Brooklyn ("only" 29K but that's really low for him). In a game that has pretty big implications towards who is going to be in the money, Chock scored late in the 2nd half to eek out a win. There were only two chances this game and both went to Chock.


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      6  31 - 3  18   90
 
2. Iowa Enforcers       6  14 - 9  12   66
5. Kaishaku F.C.        6  12 - 9  12   75
5. Chock Full of Whole  6  11 - 15 10   85

4. Houston Hippopotami  6  14 - 15  9   63
6. zfan                 6  10 - 23  6   63

7. The Champion         6  6  - 9   4   63
8. Team Groomers        6  4  - 21  0   55

Some of the lowest NSIs in the series this season. Obviously Brooklyn was holding back, but Iowa gets a season low and Kaishaku has been in the low 70s after starting out the season in the 80s. Kaishaku and Iowa are within striking distance *if* I can win next week.


Hatstats
A bit of an abbreviated hatstats this week. This was our first week out of the top 10 for Div IV as I mentioned the lower scores above. IV.21 was the 11th toughest Div IV this week. Brooklyn at "only" #9 for the week and Chock in the 20s but that's it- no Iowa or Kaishaku in the top 100. Our game with Brooklyn was the 44th largest crowd in Div IV this week and 90th largest in the entire USA. Also, it looks like Louisiana finally got off the refs hate list and probably had to keep a couple of players off last week. They drop out of the top 10 for Div IV cards and the Gargoyles drop all the way into the 90s! However, I do see a ton of FOFC teams on the Most Misunderstood list with the Slithy Toves and goldurnears now in the top 20 and at least 5 other teams in the top 100 after just a cursory glance at the list.


Notes
This week could have been a lot worse than it was and now it's time to get back to earth and worry about the next game. Next week, if we can pull off a win against Kaishaku, we would be back in the thick of things for the money. That said, if we don't win next week, we're almost guaranteed 5th place and a qualification game and I really don't want to go back to Div V. As for friendlies, the FOFC Cup starts *pause for fanfare*. WOO! We face albionmoonlight's Yukon Quest who have to make the short trip from New Orleans to Houston.

SI

[Poli]

Note to self, I got to talk to CW more often!

[Coffee Warlord]

Not lose by 10 you did, mmm?

[sterlingice]

Preview

The A Team's misfortune for this week is the B Team's fortune as Herschel Meek, one of our ***~ middies, had a red card and couldn't play Sunday. He will help bolster the midfield corps today in the place of Thomas Little who played Sunday. Also, Mick Starks will play today with the B Team in an attempt to help boost his form which has been slumping of late. Lastly, Zack Oliveres will get a tryout at wingback before we sell him. We just don't want any more important defenders injured and I only carry 4.


Game Summary
Date: 9/4/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9570529
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1601


1601 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Buckley - Olivares, Miquel, Schrader - Starks, Meek, Tryggvesson, Storm, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.

Yukon had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Vi-Chi - Hurley, Thorn, Miner - Sikes, Burns, Rodgers, Abney, Kearney - Bledsoe, Thomas.

Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 13th minute goal by Juan Miguel Tizón for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. The referee showed Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Roland Thorn. The Yukon bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up. In the games 29:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Leonard Bledsoe struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Clement Schrader needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Herschel Meek completely alone with keeper Tsang Vi-Chi, who made a spectacular block. Sebastian Sikes of Yukon received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 37 minutes Yukon put themselves up by 1 - 2 as Erwin Kearney finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. After a fatal mistake from the away teams right side defense in the 39:th minute, an alert Juan Miguel Tizón bagged the ball, evening the score to 2 - 2. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 59 percent possession of the ball.

The home side put themselves ahead 3 - 2 in the 48:th by a breakthrough from Clement Schrader, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. In the 58:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Ivan Viseslav dashed through, knocking home 4 - 2 for Hippopotami. The home side´s Juan Miguel Tizón came close to extending the lead in the 66:th minute. His shot came in off the right hand side but Tsang Vi-Chi managed saving with a fingernail. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 68 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Herschel Meek. However, Clement Schrader made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Yukon player was without a doubt Buck Rodgers. However, Howie Miner made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 2.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F#) shows the number of goals in FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
YQ: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 13: Juan Miguel Tizon (F1): 1-0
YQ: 29: 1-1
YQ: 37: 1-2
HH: 39: Juan Miguel Tizon (F2): 2-2
Halftime Score: 2-2
Possession: 59%

2nd Half
HH: 48: Clement Schrader (F1): 3-2
HH: 58: Ivan Viseslav (F1): 4-2
Final Score: 4-2
Possession: 68%
Final Possession: 64%

Cards
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 1054/20000
Basic seats: 377/8000
Seats under roof: 134/3200
VIP seats: 36/800
Total: 1601/32000

Not bad, but I was hoping for a few more since it's FOFC Cup. Too bad that doesn't influence the game engine.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/47

Yukon Quest
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/45

I'd be thrilled about that inadequate except that part of it involved Meek being in there. I'm really hoping to see inad midfield before too long.


Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley *
DW Zack Olivares **
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Clement Schrader (m) *
WI Mick Starks **~
MI Daniel Storm **
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **

Total Stars: 24.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

This may be the beginning of the end for Buckley. He is in a big form slump and I've been looking for a passable backup keeper in the event that Kimber has to leave a game. Schrader looks pretty cruddy, as well, but I'm going to see if I can finally see him back to good form. Lastly, I think this is the first time the second team all got ** or more. Meek makes no difference because Little picked up **~ on Sunday.


Three Stars
Tizon was the big star today

Bronze: Clement Schrader
First ever goal for the Hippos despite awful form
Silver: Ivan Viseslav
His second straight friendly with a goal
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
Missed a chance or he would have had a hat trick


Game Summary
Juan Miguel Tizon continues his tear as our best guy for scoring in the FOFC Cup. For those of you who don't remember, he had 8(!) goals in FOFC Cup III. Not sure if that was tops among anyone but it had to be close. Meek augmenting the midfield wins the game for us, I think. Not much else to say about this game, but I'm glad we advanced.

Sent: 2003-09-05 16:07:00
From: albionmoonlight
Subject: Re: Dynasty Report

Just mention that I was the much better team and you got lucky

What a bastard! Ok, not really. He said that in jest and I'm glad we could play this game and no one got hurt.


Press Release
9/7/2003 at 14:15 Hippos Advance in FOFC Cup
While the Hippos aren't expecting to go too far in the FOFC Cup, at least they played up to their #3 seed for one game, beating Yukon Quest 4-2 at the 'drome. Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair of goals and Herschel Meek helped shore up the midfield after not playing Sunday due to a red card. The teams went into the half tied 2-2 but defender Clement Schrader and winger Ivan Viseslav scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Hippos now wait 2 weeks for their 2nd round opponent.


FOFC Cup Bracket

Round of 64
Run & Shoot Bracket
Underlined Teams Won

1) Intercourse Ball Kickers
YoSoySean
16) BZH Celtics FC
BreizhManu

8) Blade Bombers
Blade 6119
9) Morrisville Morrisvillians
NevStar

5) Cavalry Crusaders
Franklinnoble
12) Lancre Wowhawks
Katon

4) Arkham Avengers
Nyarlahotep
13) Anteaters
antbacker

6) West Henrieta FC
bigjdotcom01
11) Oklahoma City Rednecks
Airhog

3) Houston Hippopotomi
sterlingice
14) Yukon Quest
albionmoonlight

7) Scranton Slime
TredWel
10) Chesapeake Cheapshots
QuikSand

2) Galesburg Avengers
Coffee Warlord
15) Manchester Silver Bullets
Sublime

Well, it's cool to be in the run and shoot bracket but it's pretty tough. I'd love to meet up with CW again but I'm not sure I can get past West Henrieta FC to do that, especially unsure about my B Team. There will be a one week hiatus so that everyone can catch up. Then the tourney will start again the next week. The biggest upset of the week goes to Katon whose Lancre Wowhawks knocked off Franklinnoble's Cavalry Crusaders 3-2. (NOTE: Updated to include winners from both weeks)


Notes
Since we have the week off, we booked a game with illinifan's Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". For the Hippos fixture this week, we get Kaishaku FC at home in our best chance to pass a team for 4th place. If we win, we might be able to knock that tough team out of the money. If we lose, it leaves the Iowa Enforcers as the one team we will be able to track down for the money.

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
Finally! Robert Trygka23u9fjaindklnaf-239j3=koamskn;kgln-234-9u32hfioash bumps this week to excellent. I'll float him on the transfer market for an exorbitant price, but ultimately he'll be back with us next week, most likely. Also, we had winger Ivan Viseslav bump. He's kindof a faceless guy for the team, but I bought him last year for pretty cheap as a 19yo winger trainee and when we sold Newsom, he quietly slipped into his spot opposite Starks, putting up 2.5 stars routinely. He has now bumped to passable playmaking to go along with his passable winger skill and excellent stamina. A cursory glance at the transfer market says I could sell him in excess of $100K, which is an intriguing possiblity if I could get a 3.0 or 3.5 star veteran winger.

Future Training
We're getting close to that stamina week that I'd like to run as form has improved some this week. Maybe in 1-2 weeks. Next week, still more playmaking.

Form
Starters: (+2) (-2)
Entire Team: (+6) (-2)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Phelan (exc) Meek (exc) Miguel Kimber Spagnuolo
Passable: Benito Connors Viseslav Bush
Inadequate: Christiano
Weak (or below): Starks

Starks didn't move at all. All the moves were people cycling between the top 3 levels so not much to write home about.

Value
Starters: (+5) (-5)
Entire Team: (+12) (-6)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 8(+0)/14(+3)
Above $200K: 6(+0)/9(+1)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($498K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($369K)
Milestones: None ($0K)

Wellens moved back over $100K, up to $126K with a form increase and Clement Schrader finally nudged back above the $100K line. Kimber keeps flirting with that $500K line but he's been doing that all year. Lastly, we added a player (see below).

Team Stats
Total Wages: 34184 (+1990)
Total Value: 3855000 (+434000)
Avg Value: 175227 (+19727)
Avg Age: 22 (+0)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 22 (+1)
Nationalities: 12 (+1)


Youth Pull, Week 20.07
Not much going on here this week except a lot of disappointment. Zack Olivares only sold for $32K, leaving us just shy of $1M for youth pull proceeds and our current youth pull, Douglas Delong, is currently "enjoying" his work as box stacker at the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM). I think it's time to try something new. As we reach 25 guys, it's time to change up where we send them. The Piggly Wiggly just isn't large enough for all of these rejects. Any thoughts on what should be next?

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 35
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 10 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (-1)
Total Sold for: 995000 (+32000)

Youth Pull
Douglas Delong (16167608)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 5 000 US$
Wage: 520 US$/week

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



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 1393 members (+20)
Supporters: delerious (NC)

Team Spirit: composed (NC)
Confidence: strong (NC)

Even with the loss, it was respectable and to a much tougher team so the sponsors, supporters, and team all stayed where they are. The next two weeks will probably be key towards determining how the team feels the rest of the season.


20.07 Week In Review

On the Field
Brooklyn snapped our 2 games winning streak, beating us 5-2 as Phelan's tear continues. He has 5 goals in his last 2 games but he couldn't do it alone. UberTrainee(TM) winger Wellens is out 3 weeks with an injury from that game. Wednesday brought the start of a new FOFC Cup with the Hippos starting out as the #3 seed in the Run-and-Shoot bracket, hoping for a game with #2 Galesburg. We got past the first game, beating albionmoonlight's Yukon Quest 4-2 as Juan Miguel Tizon picked up where he left off in last year's cup, scoring 2 more goals to give him 10 in FOFC Cup games. This week, we have a really important match against Kaishaku FC, one of the two teams we are chasing for 4th place.

Off the Field
The Wellens injury allows us to keep on all 4 UberTrainees(TM) for another couple of weeks. Tryggvesson bumps to excellent and I think we'll just hold onto him and Storm until they bump to formidable and then start shopping them. Storm is already halfways there. Lastly, we picked up a new Hippo. With backup keeper Sidney Buckley playing poorly, we transfer listed him and picked up a veteran backup keeper. I didn't want to risk having to put Buckley into a game should Kimber get hurt. Ignacio Sanchez is a 24yo passable with a value of $240K and poor leadership/experience. He will get us at least 2.5 stars per game and probably 3 when his experience bumps. He's from Uruguay and we purchased him from a team called "ringer" in Div IV Español for a shade above $70K (70380).

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
This is not as big as the Dragons game last year, but this one is up there. If we win, we have a slim chance of finishing in the money. If we lose, we are all but forced into a qualification game following the season. There is a chance that we could knock off Iowa towards the end of the season to take over their spot, but I think Kaishaku is our best bet now. They've been slumping a little coming into this game and we've been on a roll with two wins followed by a pretty decent showing on the road at Brooklyn. Nothing odd going on with our lineup as all the starters are there. Our wings are a bit of a cause for concern as Starks is still in his form slump and Viseslav will take over for the injured Wellens. Then again, Viseslav would have played today anyways, even without Wellens injury as he's slightly better.


Game Summary
Date: 9/8/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326996
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 32000

32000 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Viseslav, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Kaishaku had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Grayson - Fulton, Nógrádi, Kieta - Gergöz, Belikov, Eskelinen, Hijano, Jiménez - Reio, Ruffle.

Elmer Bush received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 4:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Kaishaku took the lead in the games 20:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Vadim Reio was the scorer. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 21st minute, Gualtiero Spagnuolo of Hippopotami evened the score to 1 - 1. Hippopotami broke through to the left in the 27:th minute, Gualtiero Spagnuolo firing at an acute angle giving the home side a 2 - 1 lead. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 1. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the fortyfive minutes.

Vadim Reio finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home sides keeper, making the score 2 - 2 in the 53rd minute. Kaishaku´s Evan Hijano gave the visitors a 2 - 3 lead in the 57:th minute with a superb strike from the right. Hugh Ruffle of Kaishaku was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish José María Miquel, which resulted in the 2 - 4 goal. Hippopotami´s Gualtiero Spagnuolo refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon in the 67:th minute. Ivan Viseslav had a good opportunity to reduce in the 68:th minute but wasn´t cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Herschel Meek. However, Ivan Viseslav made a disastrous appearance. Most important Kaishaku player was Afanasiy Belikov. Leroy Fulton on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
KFC: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
KFC: 20: 0-1
HH: 21: Gualtiero Spagnuolo (2): 1-1
HH: 27: Gualtiero Spagnuolo (3): 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 50%

2nd Half
KFC: 53: 2-2
KFC: 57: 2-3
KFC: xx: 2-4
Final Score: 2-4
Possession: 51%
Final Possession: 51%

Cards
None

Injuries
None- Spaguolo got hurt but refused to be taken out


Stadium
Terraces: 20000/20000
Basic seats: 8000/8000
Seats under roof: 3200/3200
VIP seats: 800/800
Total: 32000/32000

The Hippo fans knew how huge this game was and sold out Hippodrome32K for the first time ever! Needless to say, this is our largest ever home crowd.


Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/69

Kaishaku F.C.
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 63/70

Another formidable center attack. I'm definately glad I brought in Gualtiero. Wow! That's evenly matched. Our offense is slightly better and his defense is slightly better, but that's practically a draw.


Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
MI Herschel Meek (d) ****
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***

Total Stars: 34.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Herschel with the first ever **** for anyone not nicknamed Timber. Spagnuolo dropped back to *** and Kimber to ***~ but that's still pretty good. This 34.0 ties our best set last week.


Three Stars
Three different positions with stars today

Bronze: Herschel Meek
Becomes the first Hippo not named Timber to get **** in a game
Silver: Ivan Viseslav
Takes back wing in Wellens absence and almost scores
Gold: Gualtiero Spagnuolo
The only two goals for us and the tough bastard wouldn't leave the game when hurt


Game Summary
This is a tough one to stomach. Not only did we have a 2-1 lead but we got outchanced in the second half 3-1 despite having essentially equal possession (51-49 us) and our team having a slightly better offense to their slightly better defense. Unfortunately, the end to Phelan's scoring streak couldn't have come at a worse time. If he could have connected here a time or two...


Press Release
9/12/2003 at 13:26 Hippos Blow Lead, Chance to Finish in Money Bleak
In his second fixture for Houston, Gualtiero Spagnuolo scored a pair of goals and gave his team a 2-1 lead at the half. Despite winning possession 51-49 in the second half, Houston missed it's only second half chance while Kaishaku scored on all 3 of theirs. The loss is Houston's second straight with another pair against Kaishaku and Brooklyn on the horizon and it dropped them into 5th with 9 points, 3 behind Iowa for 4th and only 2 ahead of The Champion for 6th.


Around the League
Chock and Iowa battle it out while Kaishaku draws the inactive zfan and the two bottom teams face off

Team Groomers - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 3 - 6
This was a 1 goal game most of the way but Chock turned it up and beat the soon-to-be relegee Team Groomers. Bud Willis scored a pair of goals for Chock, who won possession with 62 and 70% in the two halves.

zfan - The Champion 1 - 4
The Champion looks like they will be who is chasing us the rest of the year instead of the now defunct zfan. Camilo Beltrán Pedreira scored a pair of goals and The Champion won a key road game. It looks like they will be our main competition for 5th with zfan and Groomers doomed to 7 and 8.

Iowa Enforcers - Brooklyn United 0 - 1
Iowa loses to one of the big 2 by a late goal for the second time in two weeks. Joaquin Otegi scored for Brooklyn in the 87th minute to disappoint the home crowd. I'm guessing Brooklyn is continuing to PIC for his USA Cup run and should dispatch Iowa next week when they play again at his place. This shouldn't have been nearly this close but Iowa goalie David Freeman got ***~ and made 3 saves


League Standings

 
N  Team                 P   Goals  Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      7  32 - 3  21   92
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        7  16 - 11 15   70
3. Chock Full of Whole  7  19 - 18 13   77
4. Iowa Enforcers       7  14 - 10 12   69

5. Houston Hippopotami  7  16 - 19  9   69
6. The Champion         7  10 - 10  7   57

7. zfan                 7  11 - 27  6   57
8. Team Groomers        7  7  - 27  0   51

The Champion moves into 6th, which is where I'm hoping to keep him the rest of the year. Iowa finally falls into 4th, which is pretty much where they belong.


Hatstats
The series stats continue to fall. Chock put up a season worst 77 (#68 on the top 100), same with Kaishaku and their 70 against us. Now computer controlled zfan is starting to put up worse ratings, too. By contrast, our losing 69 to them is a season high. The Champion was charging pretty fast, too, but they backed off this week with only a 57 after being in the 60s the past 3 weeks. Even Brooklyn is trying to save up for the Cup and "only" posted the 3rd best mark in Div IV. All this added up to our season worst showing as the 18th worst series in Div V.

For the useless stat of the week, 3 of our 4 games made the top 100 largest crowds of the week. Iowa was 39 with over 37K, zfan was 44 with more than 36K, and your Hippos were 76th with an even sellout 32K. The only game that didn't break the 30K barrier was Chock's game at Team Groomers which only got 10723 spectators. After their "slump", Louisiana is back up to 7th on the misunderstood list. Lastly, one player from Brooklyn and Chock made the top players for Div IV, each with 5.5 stars in solid form.


Notes
There goes most of the wind out of my sails. I really needed this win. There's a small chance I could win at his place next week, but that's a long shot. This week, we take an FOFC Cup hiatus and travel to The Eagles Nest in Illinois to take on illinifan and his Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup".

SI

[sterlingice]

[placeholder- report will come later]

SI

[sterlingice]

Preview
Unofficially, this is "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". And that's because we are playing illinifan and his Spring Grove Fighting Eagles and The Eagles Nest in this week between rounds of the FOFC Cup. It's just a little no stress friendly with an FOFC opponent. Even better, we'll both be playing the run-and-shoot. Unforuntunately, my second team is not known for scoring goals.


Game Summary
Date: 9/11/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9609448
Arena: The Eagles Nest
Crowd: 1114

Due to an all-day shower, 1114 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Eagles Nest . Fighting had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Duggan - Westfall, Martínez Galan, Beverly - Moore, Scruggs, Ramalimgam, Stapleton, Cagle - Sisk, Breaux.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Schrader, Miquel, Bush - Wellens, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.

It was obvious that Fighting were using pressing as their primary tactic. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 in the 16:th by a breakthrough from Norman Scruggs, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Fighting put themselves up 2 - 0 when David Ramalimgam broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 34:th minute Fightings Ildefonso Martínez Galan received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. In the 40:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Roger Sisk dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Fighting. The structure of the game started to change as Fighting decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Fightings Kristopher Westfall got himself booked after a foul. Hippopotami were forced to a substitution as José María Miquel couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. 3 - 0 was the half-time score. Fighting, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.

Hippopotamis Robert Tryggvesson got himself booked after a foul. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 59 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Fighting. However, Ignacio Sánchez made a spectacular save. Norman Scruggs of Fighting received a yellow card in the 61st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. There wasn´t much opportunity for rapid movements this wet day, which hindered Rocky Beverly in particular. The visitors replied in the games 75:th minute, scoring the 3 - 1 goal, as Juan Miguel Tizón broke through from the left, easily lobbing the ball over the home teams keeper. The game was close to savage at times, and Fighting`s Ildefonso Martínez Galan received a second yellow card in the 89:th, his ticket out of the game. Fighting, bringing the final ball possession rate to 70 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Fighting player was without a doubt Will Stapleton. Tyrell Cagle was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Lorenzo Cristiano. Clement Schrader was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.


Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly game
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
SGFE: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
SGFE: 16: 0-1
SGFE: xx: 0-2
SGFE: 40: 0-3
SGFE: 40: *pulling back*
Halftime Score: 0-3
Possession: 37%

2nd Half
HH: 75: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 1-3
Final Score: 1-3
Possession: 30%
Final Possession: 34%

Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (2 weeks, rough treatment)
He got four of them. Dirty, dirty *shakes finger at illinifan*

Injuries
None


Stadium
Terraces: 0/20000
Basic seats: 0/8000
Seats under roof: 0/3200
VIP seats: 0/800
Total: 0/32000

Unfortunately the rain kept some fans away from The Eagles Nest. Only 1114 showed up, which is our smallest crowd of the season including all friendlies, fixtures, and cup games.


Team Ratings

Spring Grove Fighting Eagles
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/47

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/46

Only a poor midfield. Ick. I am training playmaking, right? I forget sometimes.


Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **~
DW Clement Schrader **
DM Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Pierre Wellens **~
MI Daniel Storm **
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
FO Derrick Solomon **
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **

Total Stars: 25.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Cristiano puts up an excellent *** after Miguel went out with an injury. New keeper Ignacio Sanchez debuts with a **~ tonight. Not bad star numbers considering how poor our ratings were. In fact that was our highest stars total ever for a friendly. Then again, after further review, a 47 is our highest friendly rating ever. Imagine if we actually had a decent midfield rating.


Three Stars
Goal, sub, and new keeper- I see nothing in common here

Bronze: Ignacio Sanchez
Pretty good debut with **~ despite giving up 3 goals
Silver: Lorenzo Cristiano
Highest star rating in the game after coming in for the injured Miguel
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
Has goals in 3 straight friendlies


Game Summary
Dirty, dirty game played by those dastardly Eagles. Four cards and an injury to our defensive team captain. Oh, and we lost, oo.


Press Release
9/16/2003 at 01:26 Hippos Lose Tom Sanders Friendly
The Hippos lost a friendly to the Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". The weather and Eagles defense conspired against the Hippos to only allow one chance (a Juan Miguel Tizón score). However, by that point, the Eagles already had 3 goals and were pulled back. Also, team captain and starting center defender José María Miquel was hurt and will be out for two games with a leg injury. FOFC Cup play continues next week after a one week layoff.


Dueling Guestbooks
As much as I'd like to give Tom Sanders his due since this was his Cup... I just couldn't do it for too long. I mentioned the press release to illinifan and the following guestbook exchange ensued.

SGFE: Love the press release! It's awesome! Good luck with the rest of your season!
HH: Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders, blah, blah, blah,
Tom Sanders can bite me
SGFE: Tom Sanders wubs you


Notes
Well, that was fun. Next week we resume FOFC Cup play with the run-and-shoot West Henrietta FC, run by bigjdotcom01. I'd really like to win this game so I can face CW and the Avengers the next week with my starters during a stamina week. However, I'm not sure I can get past West Henrietta. As for our fixture this week, we have a slim chance of beating Kaishaku at their place but I'm not holding my breath. Until next time, Hungy Hungry Hippos!

SI

[sterlingice]

Training
Nothing too exciting going on this week. We might get a bump from veteran winger Mick Stark or veteran middie Stephen Connors in the not too distant future, but I'm not sure when. Our form continues to improve little by little. I think we may do stamina in one more week or two.

Future Training
Like I said, maybe one more week of playmaking then stamina.

Form
Starters: (+3) (-1)
Entire Team: (+4) (-3)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Meek (exc) Benito Miguel Kimber Spagnuolo
Passable: Christiano Connors Teepen Bush Phelan
Inadequate: Starks
Weak (or below):

Almost have everyone back on the happy side of form. Starks could use one more little nudge.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+12) (-6)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+1)/15(+1)
Above $200K: 7(+1)/10(+1)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($529K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($416K)
Milestones: Benito ($400K), Meek ($200K), Storm ($200K)

Lots of milestones this week as Benito smashes through the $400K barrier. Also, we added a new $100K player (see below). Meek and Storm also had value milestones.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 34184 (+1990)
Total Value: 3855000 (+434000)
Avg Value: 175227 (+19727)
Avg Age: 22 (+0)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 22 (+1)
Nationalities: 12 (+1)
NOTE: Oops- I passed along the wrong figures last week. They were actually the figures for this week.


Youth Pull, Week 20.08
I waited until Monday morning to pull this week. I have been trying to pull Sunday during game times, but I completely forgot until the next day this week and I was well rewarded. Billie Guillory is a really nice wing trainee. Unfortunately he's 19 and has wretched stamina. Otherwise he would go for even more. Still, he's a solid winger with passable playmaking and that's no slouch: a pair of complimentary skills. I listed him for $200K, which is probably too much. However, I do expect to get in the $150K range for him.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 36
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 10 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 995000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Billie Guillory (16435429)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 106 000 US$
Wage: 1 060 US$/week

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



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 1411 members (+18)
Supporters: content (down 1 level from delerious)

Team Spirit: composed (NC)
Confidence: decent (down 1 level from strong)

The loss didn't hurt us too much but I'm guessing next week won't be pretty provided we lose at Kaishaku this week, as expected.


20.08 Week In Review

On the Field
Kaishaku dealt us a huge blow to our money chances this week. We blew a 2-1 halftime lead and lost 4-2 at home. Unless we can win at his place next week or pass up Iowa, we will be forced to have a qualification game. The brightest spot in the game is that Spagnuolo continued his hot streak with our only two goals of the game. In our friendly, we played illinifans Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". They beat us 3-1 as we couldn't muster much offense and were dominated in possession.

Off the Field
Ok, so technically we bought him early next week so he wasn't available for the Kaishaku game but we'll fudge a little around the edges. The newest Hippo is Koos Teepen and the veteran winger will sport the #10. With weak experience and inadequate leadership, he can fill in at captain in a pinch, and he has excellent set pieces. However, the reason we got him is his solid winger/passable PM stats that get him *** per game. The Nederland native came to us from a Belgie team called België for a little under $80K. We're hoping to get two good seasons out of him. Last on our mini shopping spree is a *** wingback with solid or better defense and passable or better wing for under $200K. Also, this week, we had a great youth pull in Billie Guillory who should bring in $150-$200K.

SI

[sterlingice]

I gotta warn you guys: I probably won't be able to update at all until Thursday at the earliest. I had almost caught up, too However, here's a brief preview with our press announcement for the week:

9/22/2003 Fans Tear Down Goalposts at Reliant Stadium
A group of Hippo fans, in their drunken revelry, got lost on their way home from the Hippodrome and tore down the goalposts at Reliant Stadium where the Houston Texans been drubbed by the Chiefs earlier today. While only 24K and change were at the Hippodrome, thousands more will claim to have seen the Hippos draw with 1st place Brooklyn United, after which fans stormed the field. As for the game, Herchel Meek scored on Houston's only chance and the Hippo defense stopped 1 of Brooklyn's 2.

SI

[bigjdotcom01]

How about an update on our FOFC Cup match last week?

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by bigjdotcom01
How about an update on our FOFC Cup match last week?

If you can solve this problem here (thread) then I'll get back to my match reports as soon as I get the actual meat of the project working.

SI