[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 3: IV.21 - Page 2

sterlingice · 09-29-2003, 02:30 PM

Preview
After last week's huge loss, I'm not expecting to win at their house this week. I'd like to keep it close so my goal differential doesn't get hurt too bad but I really can't guarantee that either. Miguel is still hurt so Timber will get the call at captain.

Game Summary
Date: 9/15/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8326999
Arena: Kaishaku F.C. Arena
Crowd: 30000

30000 spectators had come to Kaishaku F.C. Arena this cloudy day. Kaishaku had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Grayson - Kieta, Nógrádi, Ruiter - Gergöz, Belikov, Eskelinen, Neagoe, Jiménez - Reio, Ruffle.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Wellens, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

The referee showed Kaishakus Afanasiy Belikov the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 16:th minute goal by Gigel Neagoe for Kaishaku, putting them ahead 1 - 0. Edwin Phelan came close to levelling the score in the 23rd minute, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Kaishaku´s Zenon Kieta got himself booked. 1 - 0 was the half-time score. Kaishaku held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

Kaishaku put their lead ahead another goal as Zenon Kieta struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. After this Kaishaku lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Adalbert Nógrádi was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was saved by the keeper. However, Kaishaku´s Zenon Kieta managed to get hold of the rebound and scored the 3-0 goal. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Eero Eskelinen needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. In the 75:th minute Kaishaku´s Gigel Neagoe tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. Kaishaku will have to do without Gigel Neagoe for a time due to a bad foot injury. He was substituted by Evan Hijano. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Kaishaku lead up with 4 - 0. Evan Hijano finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. After 80 minutes Vadim Reio put Kaishaku ahead 5 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Kaishaku held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Kaishaku player was without a doubt Eero Eskelinen. Zenon Kieta on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Hippopotami player was Tim Kimber. Clement Schrader on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 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
KFC: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
KFC: 16: 0-1
Halftime Score: 0-1
Possession: 40%

2nd Half
KFC: xx: 0-2
KFC: xx: 0-3
KFC: xx: 0-4
KFC: 80: 0-5
Final Score: 0-5
Possession: 39%
Final Possession: 40%

Cards
None

Injuries
None

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

A full 30K screaming fans at Kaishaku F.C. Arena, which begs the question: why is their arena so small?

Team Ratings

Kaishaku F.C.
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (12)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 70/79

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/68

That shatters our previous road high of 65. Those ratings look great for us. However, they were just that much better and being beaten by 3 levels on midfield cost us this game. Still, I'm really happy that 5 of our 6 non-midfield ratings were excellent or higher.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Clement Schrader **
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Pierre Wellens **~
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: 35.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

That defensive rating is the more impressive since Miguel was out and Schrader was stinking up the middle with his poor form. I can't say enough about how Herschel Meek has helped shore up the midfield this year. The veteran only cost us $129K in the offseason and is putting up **** most weeks now. Speaking of which, Benito got his first ever **** game, being just the third Hippo to gain that distinction. Also, Starks is finally back out of his slump (mostly) and delivered a *** performance. Now to get him that last half star he's been missing lately. Even with Schrader in, that 35.0 stars is a new high.

Three Stars
See below... (none awarded)

Bronze: None
Silver: None
Gold: None

Game Summary
Phelan missed the only shot we had but it wouldn't have made a difference. Timber couldn't keep us in the game either. The midfield lost possession. We had good individual performances but the team did not perform as a whole and got creamed by a better club. No stars are awarded for this game in an attempt to get the team to respond. Last year, it did the trick and we went out and manhandled CC's Dragons the next time out. Hopefully the same can happen this year as we now need to win down the stretch.

Press Release
9/17/2003 at 17:53 Run and Shoot Shut Out
While the Hippos defense may have failed them in the tougher Div IV, their offense had always produced. However, on the road and following a crushing home defeat last week, the Hippos were shut out for only the third fixture in their history, losing 5-0 to Kaishaku FC. Barring major upsets the rest of the year, this loss combined with Iowa's draw at Brooklyn will prevent the Hippos from finishing in the money their first year in Div IV and forcing them into a qualification game.

Around the League
zfan is officially a walkover, Chock essentially had a walkover, and a huge upset that hurts us bad in the standings

The Champion - zfan 5 - 0
The Champion is really charging hard and has taken over 5th place from us. Fortunately I'm counting 3 points in the bag against them as we have them at home in the last couple weeks of the season- this may be a bit premature as they are greatly improving and almost as good as the Hippos. zfan's lineup has officially been reset so they are a walkover until they are taken over by another team. With that, they will be guaranteed one of the autorelegation slots with Team Groomers...

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Team Groomers 7 - 0
If I had to guess, I think Chock actually PIC'd this game. Too bad we have Team Groomers on the road or I'd probably PIC them in our second half game. However, other than how to build a good training program, there's one thing DK's dynasty report definately showed me: never PIC a person the road unless you are 100% certain you can win.

Brooklyn United - Iowa Enforcers 1 - 1
Last week, at home, Iowa lost 1-0 on a goal in the 87th minute. Joaquin Otegi, who scored the winning goal last week, missed 2 of his 3 shots, and Iowa escapes a soggy Champions Park with a draw. As you can see below, this really screws us. I was hoping to track down Iowa for that #4 spot by beating them at the 'drome in week 12. If Brooklyn ties or loses again, they may not be going to Div III next year and that's no good for anyone here in IV.21.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      33 - 4  22   93
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        21 - 11 18   78
3. Chock Full of Whole  26 - 18 16   81
4. Iowa Enforcers       15 - 11 13   68

5. The Champion         15 - 10 10   9
6. Houston Hippopotami  16 - 24  9   68

7. zfan                 11 - 32  6   9
8. Team Groomers        7  - 34  0   51

Iowa's draw with Brooklyn all but eliminates our chances of finishing in the money. I was expecting to beat Iowa and The Champion down the stretch and hope to leapfrog them but I don't see it happening now. I will have to beat or draw Brooklyn or Chock or hope for Iowa to stumble against The Champion.

Hatstats
We dropped again, this time to #26. The series is getting softer as we get further away from the cup and that's a good sign for the Hippos. Brooklyn was still good for the 3rd best team in Div IV with a 93 NSI, even in a draw to Iowa and their(?!?) 68. Huh? I don't get it. Chock is 37 and Kaishaku is 76 in Div IV. Then again, I just noticed that because zfan went computer controlled, both them and The Champion got 9's. If they had gotten a conservative 60 apiece, IV.21 would have been in the top 10 so I guess it's not as weak as it appaears.

Notes
We are now in a bit of a hole. We now need a really lucky break to finish in the money. The last of our really brutal sketch ends next week with a shellacking by Brooklyn. The little bit of hope we have is that Brooklyn takes it easy against us and our home crowd ignites the team.

After the game, we had to hire three sports psychs to counsel suicidal players and rehire the two spokespersons (back up to ten) to counsel suicidal fans after the upcoming Brooklyn game.

SI

DukeRulesMAB · 09-29-2003, 02:47 PM

It's amazing that ****/***~/**** in the central midfield isn't better than a passable midfield. That's one nice team you've got there, though, to be able to at least hang in that series. Hopefully Brooklyn will get out of your hair for next season.

sterlingice · 09-29-2003, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DukeRulesMAB
It's amazing that ****/***~/**** in the central midfield isn't better than a passable midfield. That's one nice team you've got there, though, to be able to at least hang in that series. Hopefully Brooklyn will get out of your hair for next season.

I think part of that comes from playing Meek defensively. I can't waste his passable defense and play him offensively. Plus, I play Starks offensively no matter what so he's not helping either. Also, that was on the road. I've gotten an excellent or two at home. Still, I agree- I've seen teams with that many stars get formidable midfields.

SI

DukeRulesMAB · 09-29-2003, 03:34 PM

Doesn't playing a guy defensively/offensively just take away from the other side (read: Meeks would get less from his Passing, Starks less from his defense)? Or is that yet another error in the HT rules, and it takes away from the playmaking as well?

Really, one of these days, they gotta get those rules right; a lot of HT users don't spend time on forums like this one to find out about these things.

sterlingice · 09-29-2003, 03:35 PM

Preview
I don't want to say I'm overlooking this game as it's certainly not the case. However, I really want a return match next week against CW's Avengers. That said, I won't sabotage my training or risk injury to too many starters to do it, so there's a really good chance I lose this week. I'm hoping home field and the few starters I do allow to play let me win so I can play my starters next week against CW when I train stamina. However, if the chips don't fall that way, I'll live. I've always stated that I care much more about training than the FOFC Cup- a win would be nice and if things fall my way one year and I find myself in the Final Four or something, I may go for it. However, this is not the case here.

As for the game itself, West Henrietta has a very good run-and-shoot team and this promises to be a high scoring affair. New winger Koos Teepen will see his first ever action as a Hippo and Ivan Viseslav will likely see his last. The defense is still without Miguel so the aforementioned veteran Teepen will be the team captain. This definately was one hell of a game!

Game Summary
Date: 9/18/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 9652838
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1027

1027 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Viseslav, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Teepen - Tizón, Phelan.

Henrietta had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Arenas - Mierzejewski, Portillo, Hartman - Jones, Johnsen, Gerlach, Kurida, Ibarra - Oldham, Taylor.

Henrietta saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way. A badly positioned defensive formation on a free kick in the 7:th minute led to Henrietta´s Grzegorz Mierzejewski giving the visitors the lead 0 - 1. Rajko Kurida of Henrietta received a yellow card in the 17:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 22 minutes Edwin Phelan made a dash down the middle past the away teams defenders scoring 1 - 1. Hippopotami took the lead by 2 - 1 after a penalty in the 24:th minute. Koos Teepen scored from the penalty spot. With clinical precision the cross pass from winger Ivan Viseslav found it's way to Juan Miguel Tizón's head, and a screaming header gave Hippopotami 3 - 1. In the 35:th minute Donald Oldham, after an opportunist attack from the right, scored the reducer for Henrietta making it 3 - 2. Halftime score was 3 - 2. Henrietta, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle.

The visiting teams Derek Hartman could score the 3 - 3 equaliser in the 52nd minute with a header, after some good work on the right. After 71 minutes Henriettas Rich Taylor made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 3 - 4. Henriettas John Portillo got himself booked after a foul. Edwin Phelan went down after a savage challenge, but could keep on playing after some medical attention. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 84:th minute, Elmer Bush of Hippopotami evened the score to 4 - 4. After 86 minutes Henriettas Rich Taylor made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 4 - 5. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Henrietta, with an impressive 71 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Lorenzo Cristiano. Clement Schrader on the other hand, had a terrible day. Henrietta´s best player was Alejandro Arenas. Terry Jones on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 5.

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
WHFC: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
WHFC: 07: 0-1
HH: 22: Edwin Phelan (F1): 1-1
HH: 24: Koos Teepen (F1): 2-1
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F3): 3-1
WHFC: 35: 3-2
Halftime Score: 3-2
Possession: 43%

2nd Half
WHFC: 52: 3-3
WHFC: 71: 3-4
HH: 84: Elmer Bush (F1): 4-4
WHFC: 86: 4-5
Final Score: 4-5
Possession: 39%
Final Possession: 41%

Cards
None

Injuries
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (bruised- savage challgenge, but could keep playing after some medical attention)

Stadium
Terraces: 641/20000
Basic seats: 263/8000
Seats under roof: 98/3200
VIP seats: 25/800
Total: 1027/32000

Really bad crowd for the FOFC Cup. Still, you should have heard the noise in the 84th Minute after Bush tied it up!

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/51

West Henrietta FC
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/58

After seeing these, I'm kindof suprised the game was as close as it was. Then again, since he went attack on wings, we just kept cramming attacks up the middle against that weak center defense and that kept us in the game. Makes me wonder what would have happened if we had played "attack in middle".

Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Clement Schrader **
DW Elmer Bush (m) **~
WI Ivan Viseslav **
MI Daniel Storm **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Koos Teepen (o) ***
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 27.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: None

Our highest friendly star total to date. However, we did play our starting defenders, Teepen and Phelan. I think this is the first time all three UberTrainees(TM) got **~ and hopefully that will improve after next week's stamina training.

Three Stars
Lots of good effort by the guys who played

Bronze: Koos Teepen
New winger scores and puts up ***
Silver: Elmer Bush
His goal caused the 'drome to erupt even if it was silenced a minute later
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
Another FOFC Cup, another ho-hum team lead in goals

Game Summary
This was a game of momentum. We had it at first and took the 3-1 lead but they were bound to get chances with as much possession as they got and they took that 4-3 lead. However, when Elmer Bush tied the game with 4 minutes left, that was one of the best moments in Hippos history. Ever. However, it was turned into an absolutely devistating loss a few moments later. The guys played great today and deserved a win. But the same can be said for West Henrietta and they got it.

Tho our FOFC Cup run is over in short order, Tizon got his third goal and was named the FOFC Cup MVP for the Hippos for the second year in a row. We had a good showing and wish West Henrietta the best of luck against a really tough Avengers team. This was soon posted in the Hippos guestbook

Quote:

Number 43 of 44 by bigjdotcom01, 9/18/2003 at 02:51

Excellent match, a matchup of run-and-shoot clubs is always exciting. Who needs a stinking 1-nil match when you can watch a 5-4 one?

Couldn't have said it better myself! Good luck, bigjdotcom01, you will have your hands full with CW. I wish I were playing that game but your team wanted it more and you won a great game!

Press Release
9/22/2003 at 01:16 Hippos Beaten At Their Own Game
The Hippos offense came to play for their second round game in the FOFC Cup. However, 4 goals wasn't enough as West Henrietta FC scored a 5th in the 86th minute to win 5-4 and advance to the round of 16. Starting striker Edwin Phelan, new winger Koos Teepen, FOFC Cup stud Juan Miguel Tizon, and defender Elmer Bush all scored for the Hippos but it wasn't enough. Bush's goal tied the game at 4 in the 84th minute, however, West Henrietta's Rich Taylor scored the game winner 2 minutes later.

FOFC Cup Bracket

Round of 32
Run & Shoot Bracket
Underlined Teams Won

1) Intercourse Ball Kickers (YoSoySean)
8) Blade Bombers (Blade6119)

12) Lancre Wowhawks (Katon - he's in England)
4) Arkham Avengers (Nyarlahotep)

6) West Henrietta FC (bigjdotcom01)
3) Houston Hippopotomi (sterlingice)

10) Chesapeake Cheapshots (QuikSand)
2) Galesburg Avengers (Coffee Warlord)

I feel bad that I couldn't hold serve and was the only higher seed to lose. However, I also lost to the highest of the low seeds (if that makes any sense). For no reason in particular, I feel the need to point out that there are two "Avengers" left in our bracket. Arkham won 4-2 with a go-ahead goal in the 79th minute and they will have their hands full next week. Intercourse beat a very game Bombers team in a game that was tied 0-0 at the half while Galesburg won handily 6-1.

Looking into my crystal ball (well, it's a shiny 50c piece that is good for making decision), I see Galesburg winning this bracket and a suprise winner taking home the 4th FOFC Cup. I think PilotMan and the Midwest Ice Storm will get the big trophy!

Notes
Next week, we travel to that far off country of... Canadia, the 51st state, for a matchup with the Thoroughbreds of IV.19. In this week's fixture, we look to keep things close against Brooklyn at home.

SI

sterlingice · 09-29-2003, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DukeRulesMAB
Doesn't playing a guy defensively/offensively just take away from the other side (read: Meeks would get less from his Passing, Starks less from his defense)? Or is that yet another error in the HT rules, and it takes away from the playmaking as well?

Really, one of these days, they gotta get those rules right; a lot of HT users don't spend time on forums like this one to find out about these things.

I may be mistaken, then. I haven't looked that closely. There are some guys here who have a near encyclopedic knowledge of the game (daed comes to mind) and they would be better to ask. I put in my lineup based on feel, anyways. I play Meek defensive in front of the central defender that gets changed to extra middie, for instance.

(EDIT: You can tell I have a test tomorrow because I'm doing everything I can to avoid studying for it until later on tonight...)

SI

sterlingice · 09-29-2003, 06:28 PM

Training
Another yawner of a week: no bumps at all. That said, form keeps going up.

Future Training
Stamina next week. Then back to playmaking

Form
Starters: (+5) (-3)
Entire Team: (+10) (-8)

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

Only two below passable. That will probably change after next week's stamina training.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+16) (-6)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+1)
Above $200K: 6(-1)/9(-1)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($535K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($453K)
Milestones: Benito ($400K), Meek ($200K), Storm ($200K)

That little ripple in the $200K level is Meek dropping back to $197K. Mick Starks is almost back to above $300K. That $535K from Kimber is another franchise high and Benito jumped over $30K up to $453K and another franchise high for outfielders. He will eventually pass up Timber. The new $100K guy is Arcadio Sanchez, see below.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 35848 (+1664)
Total Value: 4258000 (+403000)
Avg Value: 185130 (+9903)
Avg Age: 23 (+1)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (up from wretched)
No of players: 23 (+1)
Nationalities: 13 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 20.09
Guillory from last week sold for a disappointing $119K. This week's youth pull wasn't much better. He's barely sellable but he should get a couple grand. Oh well- at least the Guillory sale did get us past the $1M mark for total youth sales. The total profit at this point is $395K.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 37
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 11 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1110000 (+115000)

Youth Pull
Werner Murillo (16573811)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 16 000 US$
Wage: 580 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 1415 members (+4)
Supporters: content (down 1 level from delerious)

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

This loss finally hit us in the pocketbooks as only 4 new supporters signed up. Also, our confidence is at its lowest level ever.

20.09 Week In Review

On the Field
Nothing good came out of fixture play this week. We got shelled 5-0 to Kaishaku and Iowa pulled a draw at Brooklyn out of their ass to all but end our chances of catching them and finishing in the money. We are now in 6th as The Champion pulled ahead of us. Then we lost an epic game to bigjdotcom01's West Henrietta FC. We were up 3-1, then down 4-3, and then tied before getting beaten in the last couple minutes. So, we left this year's FOFC Cup in the Round of 32. Time for some international friendlies.

Off the Field
Guillory sold for a disappointing $115K. However, we did sell 3rd winger Ivan Viseslav for a good $115K. This will open up more playing time for UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens. Not only that but I only dangled him out there because I didn't figure he would sell for that much. This week's youth pull was kindof disappointing and might sell for a few grand.

SI

sterlingice · 10-04-2003, 03:30 PM

Preview
We should get drilled this week. Brooklyn is one of the best teams in all of Div IV. We just got dropped into 6th in our series after last week. He has put up 90+ NSI every week. I've never broken 70. He has 4 national team players. We have... um... Timber. Everyone loves Timber. And Mick, the crazy man. He has two guys who make as much as most of our team. But we catch a break as one is injured. Even without the services of 5.5 star middie Stephen Rumbold, Brooklyn should be able to crush the Hippos. I suppose that's why games aren't played on paper, but inside little computer boxes... *cue NFL Primetime music*

Game Summary
A scorching day at The Hippodrome, where 24257 spectators were in place for today´s match. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Teepen, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Brooklyn had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Lineup: Pandey - Almansa, Karlsson, Kurkawa, Montes - Maternia, Benson, Mccloud, Iancu - Otegi, Zaslawski.

A free kick aimed at the keepers far post almost gave Brooklyn the lead in the 13th minute, but the ball just wasn´t able to squirm it´s way through the defensive wall. In the 28:th minute Hippopotamis Stephen Connors received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Brooklyn were forced to a substitution as Víctor Javier Almansa couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 55 percent possession rate.

A questionable penalty in the 53rd minute gave the home side the lead 1 - 0. The visitors goaltender didn´t stand a chance as Herschel Meek knocked the ball home. Visitors Geert Shams was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 69:th minute. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Elmer Bush on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Brooklyn player was without a doubt Cory Benson. However, Geert Shams made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1.

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
Halftime Score: 0-0
Possession: 55%

2nd Half
HH: 53: Herchel Meek (2): 1-0
BU: 69: 1-1
Final Score: 1-1
Possession: 54%
Final Possession: 55%

Cards
HH: 28: Stephen Connors (yellow- going into a challenge studs first)

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 14975/20000
Basic seats: 6470/8000
Seats under roof: 2270/3200
VIP seats: 542/800
Total: 24257/32000

Not even a full house came. Thousands upon thousands more will claim they saw it.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/72

Brooklyn United
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: world class (13)
Central Defence: mythical (17)
Left Side Defence: world class (13)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/51

WOO! That shattered our old high of 69 and our only non-excellent or higher was midfield. Wow! Mythical, you say?!? That's only 3 levels below utopian!

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***~
DM Jose Maria Miguel ***
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Koos Teepen ***
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: 36.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

The 36.5 stars beats our previous high of 35. Another ***~/****/***~ midfield won the possession battle for us. Cristiano with ***~ for the first time ever! Unfortunately, Bush on the other side dropped down to **~ from his *** in weeks past.

Three Stars
Hard to hand out just 3 after this big draw

Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
His 3.5 star defensive performance probably helped turn back the goal early in the game
Silver: Herchel Meek
Scored our only goal this week
Gold: Tim Kimber
Kept Brooklyn to only 1 goal total

Game Summary
Are you kidding me?!? No, I mean really?!? Certainly this is the most improbable win (hell, it's a win to me) ever in our franchise's history. For about 15 minutes there, I was even winning! I needed this to get back in the chase for the money. It's still a longshot but at least, with this hugely improbable tie, it's possible.

Press Release
9/22/2003 at 19:16 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.

Around the League
zfan is officially a walkover, Chock essentially had a walkover, and a huge upset that hurts us bad in the standings

zfan - Kaishaku F.C. 0 - 5
Since zfan's lineup was reset, Kaishaku got a walkover. We have zfan next week.

Team Groomers - The Champion 2 - 2
Carson Souza's two goals led Team Groomers to a draw with The Champion. I think The Champion PIC'd on the road and both teams only put up inadequate midfields and sub 60 NSIs.

Iowa Enforcers - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 1 - 6
Anders Jansson scored in the 82nd minute in their first game to give Chock a 1-0 win in Iowa. Today, he didn't leave the game in doubt. He scored 4 goals and took the series scoring lead as Iowa was beaten in every facet of the game. Chock is finally starting to look like the team we expected them to be. Chock's game at Kiashaku will likely decide 2nd place (provided Brooklyn doesn't have any more unexpected hiccups).

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      34 - 5  23   82
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        26 - 11 21   9
3. Chock Full of Whole  32 - 19 19   87
4. Iowa Enforcers       16 - 17 13   71

5. The Champion         17 - 10 11   59
6. Houston Hippopotami  17 - 24 10   72

7. zfan                 11 - 37  6   9
8. Team Groomers        9  - 36  1   52

Iowa gets thrashed pretty good which means if we can beat them at home by ~3 goals, we will take over #4. Not only that, but The Champion's unexpected draw makes this a 2 team race rather than a 3 team race, provided we win our games against both of them.

Hatstats
No hatstats for this week because I forgot to check it before the new week.

Notes
Wow! Not our biggest win, but our most impressive game ever! We broke 70 NSI and 35 stars as I had wanted earlier in the season. What a game! We're back in the running for the money, at least sort of. We have to beat Iowa pretty good or get some help and that's provided I can take care of business.

Needless to say, our confidence went up after the game, so four of our five sports shrinks are no longer with the club. Next up for our pumped team is a trip to Canada to face the Thoroughbreds, a #1 Div IV team. Next week, we get zfan and a walkover PIC. Suddenly things are looking up for us!

SI

sterlingice · 10-06-2003, 05:49 PM

Preview
It's kindof an international friendly. We head to exotic, foreign... Canada. We'll be facing the #1 team in IV.19 called the Thoroughbreds and owned by Kinghaven. I know I'm giving away the first 120 minutes of the game, but we've never been in a shootout before this week

Game Summary
Date: 9/24/2003 at 23:00
MatchID: 9699582
Arena: Thoroughbreds Arena
Crowd: 3109

3109 spectators had come to Thoroughbreds Arena this cloudy day. Thoroughbreds started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Tinham - Murray, Rinfret, Amyot, Bowman, Bax - Baker, Darroze, Forcier, Hjortvall - Aubin.

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

Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Hippopotami had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Charles Tinham saved Derrick Solomon´s shot headed for the top corner. Aurèle Forcier of Thoroughbreds received a yellow card in the 16:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. This was a good period for the visitors with several opportunities to take the lead, in particular when Robert Tryggvesson slipped through the defense to come up alone with Charles Tinham - but the home side´s keeper showed some lightning reflex 0 - 0 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 58 percent possession rate.

What ever got into Aurèle Forcier, the crowd mumbled, as he suddenly struck a cross pass through the own defense - ending up right in front of Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón, who easily put the ball away for 0-1. After 48 minutes of play Denis Aubin equalised for Thoroughbreds after an elegant attack from the right. Thoroughbreds tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Thoroughbreds´s Yannick Rinfret got himself booked. Several players now looked tired, especially Alfons Bax who quite horribly caused the 1 - 2 goal as he lost the ball to Clement Schrader of Hippopotami, who seemed to have some energy left. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 72nd minute, Denis Aubin of Thoroughbreds evened the score to 2 - 2. Thoroughbreds held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of overtime followed. Thoroughbreds made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Denis Aubin completely alone with keeper Ignacio Sánchez, who made a spectacular block. There was still no winner after 30 minutes of extra time so the teams had to select a lineup for a penalty contest to settle the result. Thoroughbreds´s David Darroze cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 3 - 2. Hippopotami´s Derrick Solomon had nerves of steel at the penalty, changing the score to 3 - 3. Thoroughbreds´s Gregory Murray looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal. Hippopotami´s José María Miquel seemed nervous, putting the ball to the centre of the goal. Charles Tinham however, made an early dive to the right, the ball passing him. 3 - 4. Thoroughbreds´s Peter Hjortvall cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 4 - 4. Hippopotami´s Clement Schrader cooly put the ball past Charles Tinham. 4 - 5. Thoroughbreds´s Charles Tinham made no mistake. Ignacio Sánchez didn´t have a chance. 5 - 5. Hippopotami´s Koos Teepen made no mistake. Charles Tinham didn´t have a chance. 5 - 6. Thoroughbreds´s Yannick Rinfret cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 6 - 6. Hippopotami´s Pierre Wellens made no mistake. Charles Tinham didn´t have a chance. 6 - 7. The most dominating Thoroughbreds player was without a doubt Dave Amyot. However, Peter Hjortvall made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was José María Miquel. Clement Schrader was a disappointment, however. The match ends 6 - 7.

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
TB: 5-4-1

Events Summary

1st Half
Halftime Score: 0-0
Possession: 58%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 1-0
TB: 48: 1-1
HH: xx: Clement Schrader (F): 2-1
TB: 72: 2-2
Score (end of regulation): 2-2
Possession: 40%

Overtime
Score (end of overtime): 2-2

Penalty Shots
TB: 1/5: make: 2-3
HH: 1/5: make: Derrick Solomon (F): 3-3
TB: 2/5: miss: 3-3
HH: 2/5: make: Jose Maria Miguel (F): 4-3
TB: 3/5: make: 4-4
HH: 3/5: make: Clement Schrader (F): 5-4
TB: 4/5: make: 5-5
HH: 4/5: make: Koos Teepen (F): 6-5
TB: 5/5: make: 6-6
HH: 5/5: make: Pierre Wellens (F): 7-6
Final Score: 7-6
Final Possession: 49%

Cards
None

Injuries
None

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

Our second highest attendance ever for a friendly as 3109 Canadians watched. Our previous high was when we went to Hong Kong.

Team Ratings

Thoroughbreds
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: magnificent (12)
Left Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: wretched (2)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 46/49

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/46

Hopefully our last friendly of poor midfield. This week is stamina training week.

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

Total Stars: 27.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Another total star high for a friendly. Ignacio Sanchez only put up **~ in his second game but he came up huge! Our three middies all got **~ tonight.

Three Stars
Sanchez definitely showing his worth

Bronze: Pierre Wellens
17yo UberTrainee(TM) with first game winning goal
Silver: Clement Schrader
He scored a goal in regulation and in the shootout
Gold: Ignacio Sanchez
Makes a save in OT and saves a goal in the shootout for the win

Game Summary
Our first ever shootout and it was fun. Sure it was a friendly against a random Canadian team, but it was cool. Then again, we have awesome set pieces (well, for a team not named Beckys Babes) as Solomon, Schrader, Miguel, and Teepen are all solid or excellent. Wellens, who scored the game winner, has an inadequate. Looks like I made a good choice with our new backup keeper, too. For all the scoring we did, he made a huge save in overtime and then another in the shootout. For the Thoroughbreds, Denis Aubin had an awesome game (see below).

Press Release
9/28/2003 at 01:56 Hippos Win First Ever Shootout in Canadian Friendly
Ninety minutes were not long enough to decide the match between the Thoroughbreds and Hippos. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 2-2. Denis Aubin, author of the previous Thoroughbreds goals, missed on the only chance in OT so the game went to PKs. Houston won 5-4 after Solomon, Miguel, Schrader, Teepen and Wellens all scored. The difference was a miss by Gregory Murray which went clear past the goal and keeper Ignacio Sánchez. Tizon and Schrader scored Houston's regulation goals.

Notes
Thanks to our neighbors to the north for a nice international friendly. Next up, we head to Oceania. I tried to get a friendly in someplace more off the beaten path such as the Far East or Baltic States but the accepted friendly didn't go through. Still, I'm sure we'll enjoy our trip to Oceania. Inbetween stops on the Hippo World Tour, we will PIC zfan this week in a walkover.

SI

sterlingice · 10-06-2003, 06:44 PM

Training
The long awaited stamina training week worked out about as good as I could have hoped. Pierre Wellens went up 2 levels to inadequate while Storm, Tryggvesson, and Little all went up one level to inad, inad, and passable. None of my starters needed any help (7 are excellent) but all of my trainees went up! Also, my form wasn't destroyed. Little's form remained in the crapper at weak but the other three UberTrainees(TM) are at solid. For starters, only 3 of the 11 players are below passable.

Future Training
Back to playmaking the rest of the year.

Form
Starters: (+1) (-6)
Entire Team: (+3) (-11)

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

Hopefully not much damage will be inflicted next week in the delay week.

Value
Starters: (+5) (-6)
Entire Team: (+13) (-8)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0)
Above $200K: 6(+0)/9(+0)
Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($521K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($463K)
Milestones: None

Not much movement this week. Then again, it's a stamina week.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36208 (+360)
Total Value: 4204000 (-54000)
Avg Value: 191091 (+5961)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 22 (-1)
Nationalities: 12 (-1)

Youth Pull, Week 20.10
Last week's Werner Murillo sold for a whopping $1K. This week's is 17yo Brian Collier and he might garner that same $1K. Nothing impressive. Looks like I may be back in a youth pull slump.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 38
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 12 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1111000 (+1000)

Youth Pull
Brian Collier (16847419)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Speciality: Powerful
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 31 000 US$
Wage: 640 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (up from high on life)
Supporter Club: 1425 members (+10)
Supporters: high on life (up from content)

Team Spirit: calm (up from composed)
Confidence: wonderful (up from wonderful)

Nothing like a draw with Brooklyn to get your confidence from poor to wonderful. Actually, that's probably the reading after the next game.

20.10 Week In Review

On the Field
We did the unthinkable and drew Brooklyn United! Herschel Meek scored the only goal and Timber made it stand up. Not only that but we got all time highs for stars (36.5) and NSI (72). If we win 3 of our next 4 (losing to Chock), we will finish in the money! And to think, this looked impossible a week ago. Then we went on the road and beat the Canadian Thoroughbreds in our first ever shootout, even if it was in a friendly. Ignacio Sanchez stopped a goal in overtime and then stopped a shootout shot. The Hippos scored on all 5 of their shootout shots including the game winner by Pierre Wellens. Clement Schrader scored both in regulation and in the shootout.

Off the Field
Last week's youth pull only sold for $1K. This week's will also sell for under $10K. It appears that we're in a bit of a youth pull slump. Last week's training bump, former starting winger Ivan Viseslav sold, however. He was 20yo but only was a pass pm/pass winger and sold for $115K.

SI

sterlingice · 10-19-2003, 09:41 AM

Preview
Hippos soccer... it's EXCITEMENT! Well, no, this week, we have our first ever walkover. So not much to report: we win 5-0, get Wellens a nice week of full training instead of half training, and a crappy crowd because it's pouring rain. Not quite last week's exciting draw with Brooklyn is it?

Game Summary
Date: 9/29/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8327006
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 13732

13732 spectators had found their way to The Hippodrome, despite the heavy rain. People from all of Houston had joined up for the derby. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Wellens, Benito, Connors, Little, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

zfan tactics involved an interesting 0-0-0 combination. Lineup: - - - .

The visitors weren´t able to produce at least 9 players, which is the minimum amount allowed, so they had to concede to a walk over. The spectators, who had all been looking forward to an exciting game, were of course very disappointed. The match ends 5 - 0.

Events and Stats
N/A

Stadium
Terraces: 8492/20000
Basic seats: 3770/8000
Seats under roof: 1173/3200
VIP seats: 297/800
Total: 13732/32000

"The spectators, who had all been looking forward to an exciting game, were of course very disappointed." We see this as a sign of support after our Brooklyn game last week not as 13K stupid wet fans who came to *not* see a game.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: disastrous (1)
Central Defence: disastrous (1)
Left Side Defence: disastrous (1)
Right Side Attack: disastrous (1)
Central Attack: disastrous (1)
Left Side Attack: disastrous (1)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 7/9

zfan
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: disastrous (1)
Central Defence: disastrous (1)
Left Side Defence: disastrous (1)
Right Side Attack: disastrous (1)
Central Attack: disastrous (1)
Left Side Attack: disastrous (1)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 7/9

Bah.

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

Total Stars: 34.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

About the only stats section worth anything today. Cristiano's rise in form has been offset by Bush's unfortunately so the defense has held pretty steady. I'm hoping recent acquisition Arcadio Sanchez (not to be confused with backup goalie Ignacio Sanchez) can help stabilize the defense back there. Wellens got a solid *** on the wing this week and will be getting full playmaking training this week when he plays middie in our friendly. Also, not to be lost is that we did get a PIC out of this game.

Three Stars
N/A

Game Summary
N/A

Press Release
10/2/2003 at 0:00 Hippos Win Walkover
Since there was no match to talk about, the Hippos would like to thank all of their fans and supporters in this, their first season in Div IV.

And a special thanks to our supporters:
ausonny
NevStar
vexroid
Doug5984
Eilim
NAIWF
robbgmaier
Coffee Warlord
Flatulon

And to all the guys at:
FOFC
Kraftworks Union

Thanks from the Hippos!

Around the League
Kaishaku got to pound Team Groomers while Brooklyn and Chock faced off and an unlikely draw that helps us out

Kaishaku F.C. - Team Groomers 5 - 0
Hugh Ruffle scored twice for Kaishaku, who got their second straight 5-0 win after getting the walkover against zfan last week.

Brooklyn United - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 2 - 1
This is a bit different than their first meeting of the season. Brooklyn was looking to establish series dominance and laid it on Chock, with a 107 NSI to their 94, winning 8-0 at the Creamy Nougat Center. This time, it looked like Chock had conceded a loss at Champions Park and only put up an 87. However, Brooklyn foresaw this and "only" put up a 97. The game was tied until late in the second half when Team Chile forward Joaquin Otegi (titanic! experience) scored the game winning goal for BU. That's at least his 3rd game winning goal in tight games for Brooklyn this season.

The Champion - Iowa Enforcers 3 - 3
Iowa took The Champion too lightly on the road and let us back into the race for the money! At halftime, The Champion was up 3-0 but had to settle for a draw as their lack of stamina kicked in. The Champion should have won this game but they missed on three chances. Their 68 NSI was a season high and likely an MotS as their previous season high was a 63. Iowa, on the other hand, put up their second lowest rating of the season at 67.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      36 - 6  26   97
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        31 - 11 24   78
3. Chock Full of Whole  33 - 21 19   87
4. Iowa Enforcers       19 - 20 14   67

5. Houston Hippopotami  22 - 24 13   9
6. The Champion         20 - 15 12   68

7. zfan                 11 - 42  6   9
8. Team Groomers        9  - 41  1   53

Just two weeks ago, we were in 6th place plotting our qualification game strategy. Now, if we win against Iowa in two weeks, we will move into 4th place and will be in the driver's seat for the money. However, we still have a game against Chock left that's a likely loss. But they have an equally tough game against Kaishaku. Not to slight, The Champion, but their position is an illusion. They may play spoiler and beat us the last week of the season, screwing us to 5th while Iowa takes 4th. However, they won't be able to finish in the money as they have to face a Chock-Brooklyn-Kaishaku gauntlet in their next 3 games.

Hatstats
No hatstats this week. Besides, with zfan giving out a pair of 9's every week, our series had plunged into the 20s.

Notes
So, my computer goes out and the only update you get over a weak and a half is a walkover. Sorry, Hippo faithful. There's more coming, I promise. The Friendly Hippo World Tour(TM) takes us to sunny Oceania, home of the Royal Magpies. Next week, I face Team Groomers, which should be a pretty easy victory. However, it's on the road and PIC'ing on the road is a bad idea unless you're playing someone truly awful. Then the week after that, the showdown with Iowa at the 'drome with 4th place and finishing in the money at stake.

SI

sterlingice · 10-20-2003, 01:01 AM

Preview
We go on the road, continuing the Friendly Hippo World Tour (logo to be created later). This week we will take on the Royal Magpies of IV.41 Oceania. We match up pretty well, both putting up weak midfields with our B Team.

Game Summary
Date: 10/1/2003 at 04:00
MatchID: 9754091
Arena: Victory Park
Crowd: 4909

4909 spectators arrived at Victory Park, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Magpies had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Ginzburg - Runcie, Hvilshøj, Jansson - Carroll, Eaton, Haynes, Warrington, Barnes - Morrell, Hayes.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Sánchez - Miquel, Meek, Schrader - Teepen, Tryggvesson, Storm, Wellens, Starks - Solomon, Tizón.

Hippopotami saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way. A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 9:th minute allowed Derrick Solomon to score 0 - 1 for Hippopotami. In the 17:th minute Magpies was able to score the equalising 1 - 1 goal. Connie Hayes picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away teams goalie. After 28 minutes Magpies´s Connie Hayes contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Juan Miguel Tizón seemed to be floating in the air at will as he elegantly headed in 1-2. The previous Hippopotami corner kick was executed by Herschel Meek. Magpiess Troy Haynes got himself booked after a foul. Connie Hayes was just a finger´s breadth away from an equaliser for Magpies, but Ignacio Sánchez managed to ward the closing shot off for a corner. Clement Schrader of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate.

Kermit Runcie received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 48:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Hippopotami´s Herschel Meek received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 54:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 1 - 3. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. The visitors Daniel Storm took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 66:th minute. 1 - 4 for Hippopotami. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when Oliver Warrington, after a brilliant midfield combination, put the reducing 2 - 4 goal away for Magpies. In the 68:th minute Magpiess Peter Jansson received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 75:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 2 - 5. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. Koos Teepen increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 2 - 6. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Magpies player was without a doubt Peter Jansson. Zelislav Ginzburg on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Mick Starks. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 6.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) shows that the goal was scored in a friendly
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
RM: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 09: Derrick Solomon (F): 1-0
RM: 17: 1-1
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 52%

2nd Half
HH: 54: Herschel Meek (F): 3-1
HH: 66: Daniel Storm (F): 4-1
RM: xx: 4-2
HH: 75: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 5-2
HH: xx: Koos Teepen (F): 6-2
Final Score: 6-2
Possession: 52%
Final Possession: 52%

Cards
HH: 36: Clement Schrader (yellow- unsportsmanlike behavior)

Injuries
None

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

Yet another huge crowd which offset the road expenses: 4909 showed up at Victory Park in the region of Victoria, Oceania.

Team Ratings

Royal Magpies
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/47

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 45/49

Only held a slight edge but our attack on the wings might have helped out some.

Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez ***
DW Jose Maria Miguel **~
DM Herschel Meek **~
DW Clement Schrader **
WI Koos Teepen ***
MI Thomas Little **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **~
MI Daniel Storm **~
WI Mick Starks (o) **
FO Derrick Solomon *~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **

Total Stars: 27.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: Attack on Wings

Poor experience in a friendly for the first time ever. I'm still not sure what that rating means, tho. Ignacio with another strong *** game as backup keeper. Btw, Little didn't play today because he was in the walkover. Thus, Wellens got to play middie and get full training. Also, that little shuffle is why Meek is playing center d this week when he usually plays midfield with the A Team. He's a passable defender, but he's also an excellent middie- but he's 28 so he doesn't need the training just a game to keep his form up.

Three Stars
No multigoal scorers makes for a mixed bag

Bronze: Derrick Solomon
Shakes off the rust and scores the first goal of the game
Silver: Herschel Meek
Dutifully plays center defender and even scores a goal
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
He extends his friendly goal scoring streak to an amazing 6 straight games

Game Summary
Another road game, another huge crowd, some added experience, and a fun game. I think the Friendly Hippo World Tour (TM) may keep going until the end of the year.

Press Release
11/06/2003 at 00:00 Hippos Win 2nd Straight International Friendly
In not quite as thrilling fashion as last week's shootout win, the Hippos went this time to Oceania and beat the Royal Magpies of IV.41 by the score of 6-2. Solomon, Tizon, Meek, Storm, Tryggvesson, and Teepen all scored goals as a record 4909 fans saw the Houston friendly. Neither team had any injuries, making it a successful international friendly. Next week, the Hippos will travel to Prathet Thai to face a Div III team called Samuthprakarn Eagle.

FOFC Cup
I forgot to update this last week so I have two weeks of updates to catch up with. First, last week's games.

Sweet Sixteen
Underlined Teams Won

Tom Sanders Bracket

1) Gargoyles (Raven Hawk)
4) South Bay Saints (Masked)

3) Fockers (-Hobbes)
10) Frankfort United (DukeRulesMAB)

HornedFrogPurple Bracket

9) Maniacal Misfitz (Havok)
5) Concord Assassins (BishopMVP)

3) Spring Grove Fighting Eagles (illinifan999)
7) Bees (ausonny)

Kool-Aid Bracket

1) Midwest Ice Storm FC (PilotMan)
4) Aviators (damnMikeBrown)

11) North Plainfield Plague (cthomer5000)
10) Fighting Crawfish (The Afoci)

Run & Shoot Bracket

1) Intercourse Ball Kickers (YoSoySean)
4) Arkham Avengers (Nyarlahotep)

6) West Henrietta FC (bigjdotcom01)
2) Galesburg Avengers (Coffee Warlord)

The Tom Sanders bracket looks nice and orderly... except Frankfort United just keeps upsetting teams. They have the unenviable task of facing 84-time FOFC Cup Champion Raven Hawk next.

The Assassins employed a 2-5-3 and middle attack to overwhelm the Misfitz defense. Both teams put up solid midfields and NSI's in the 60s while the Bees shut out SGFE, setting up a 5-7 matchup between the Bees and Assassins.

Midwest forgets this is a friendly and puts up a (you have got to be kidding me!) formidable midfield and shuts out the Aviators 2-0 in a game that could have been a lot worse. Franz-Bernd Popella of the Fighting Crawfish scored in the 85th minute to break a 2-2 tie and propel the into the Elite Eight.

Lastly, in our former run-and-shoot bracket, CW put up an excellent midfield ending West Henrietta's cup run. They will meet YoSoySean and the Intercourse Ball Kickers who beat Nyarlahotep's Arkham Avengers.

Tom Sanders Bracket Championship

1) Gargoyles (Raven Hawk)
10) Frankfort United (DukeRulesMAB)

HornedFrogPurple Bracket Championship

5) Concord Assassins (BishopMVP)
7) Bees (ausonny)

Kool-Aid Bracket Championship

1) Midwest Ice Storm FC (PilotMan)
10) Fighting Crawfish (The Afoci)

Run & Shoot Bracket Championship

1) Intercourse Ball Kickers (YoSoySean)
2) Galesburg Avengers (Coffee Warlord)

Frankfort put up a gallant fight before losing 2-1 to the Gargs. The Bees ran out to a 3-0 lead and hung on to win 3-2. MISFC improves on their formidable midfield to outstanding and puts up a 78 NSI en route to a 9-0 crawfish boil. Lastly, YoSoySean keeps CW's run and shoot in check, winning 4-1. So the FOFC Cup IV Final Four are the Gargoyles, the Bees, Midwest Ice Storm FC, and Intercourse Ball Kickers! The Bees may be the only non-#1 seed left but I wouldn't count them out. However, my money is still on PilotMan and MISFC.

Notes
Next week, we continue our journeys with Samuthprakarn Eagle from Div III Thailand and in our fixture, we face off against 8th place Team Groomers on the road.

SI

sterlingice · 10-20-2003, 01:59 AM

Training
It was a banner week for our training program. 17yo winger trainee Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger ability. He's going to be one hell of a stud. But the bigger news is 25yo Stephen Connors. He's a fixture on our midfield and now is the Hippos first ever formidable. Way to go, Stephen! Lastly, acting captain Jose Maria Miguel added another notch to his experience belt so that his passable experience now matches his passable leadership.

Future Training
Playmaking on out. Then maybe a week of stamina in the offseason, depending on form. If it's bad, then set pieces. We have good set pieces but you can never have too much. Plus, we have 10 guys who are already at excellent stamina. However, the Uber Trainees(TM) are either at passable or inadequate.

Form
Starters: (+5) (-2)
Entire Team: (+8) (-5)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Kimber (exc) Benito (exc) Meek Connors Christiano Spagnuolo
Passable: Starks Bush Miguel
Inadequate: Phelan Teepen
Weak (or below): -none-

Looks like last week's stamina training didn't have too many ill effects. In fact, Starks's slump is finally over. However, Phelan bears watching. For the first time in quite a while, we don't have anyone below inadequate.

Value
Starters: (+5) (-6)
Entire Team: (+13) (-8)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0)
Above $200K: 7(+1)/11(+2)
Above $300K: 4(+2)/4(+2)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($535K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($494K)
Milestones: Stephen Connors ($300K), Robert Tryggvesson ($200K)

Benito inches ever closer to becoming our first $500K player. Not only that, but he will soon pass Timber for the highest value on the team. Starks went back above $300K for the first time since the second week of the season. Connors broke $300K for the first time ever with his bump. Tryggvesson passes $200K for the first time ever so now Wellens is the only one not over $200K. However, he's only 17 so we'll forgive him.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36208 (NC)
Total Value: 4364000 (+160000)
Avg Value: 198364 (+7273)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 22 (NC)
Nationalities: 12 (NC)

Youth Pull, Week 20.10
Brian Collier sold for $5K last week, so at least I turned a slight bit of profit (if you don't take youth squad upkeep costs). This week, we have Felix Hutton. He's not too bad but our UberTrainees(TM) are better. I'll put him up for $10K and hope someone bites.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 39
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 13 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1116000 (+5000)

Youth Pull
Felix Hutton (17061821)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sypathetic person who is tempermental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 49 000 US$
Wage: 740 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1449 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (NC)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (NC)

20.10 Week In Review

On the Field
Well, we had a walkover win against zfan so there's not much to report. We should win with relative ease next week, but it's on the road so a PIC is unlikely. That will setup a huge game with Iowa in a rockin' 'drome the next week for 4th place. For our friendly, we went somewhat further than Canada this time, ending up in Oceania playing the Royal Magpies. Six different Hippos scored and we drew a huge friendly crowd of 4909. Next week, we go to Thailand.

Off the Field
Last week's youth pull Brian Collier sold for $5K. This week's should sell for about double that and not much more. However, the big news came on the bump front: 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger skill. But even bigger, original Hippo Stephen Connors became the first ever formidable in the history of the team.

SI

sterlingice · 10-24-2003, 01:48 AM

Preview
Well, I was watching The X-Files a couple of nights ago and they were into the dreadful final season. However, there was a scene that fits the Hippos game today. Frankly, I can't verify if the story told on there was true or not and, even if it wasn't, it makes for a good quote. Assistant Director Kirsch (one of the new villains) was telling Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick, who replaced Fox Mulder as main protagonist) that on July 4th, 1776, King George of England wrote in his diary "Nothing important happened today". In context, it was supposed to tell Doggett that lots of stuff went on behind the scenes and that everything he did in the previous two episodes wasn't in vain.

In the case of the Hippos, on the surface, it's just a regular game against Team Groomers, the 8th place team in the series. Now, I don't want to say nothing important happened today, but what happened did so in unspectacular fashion (unless your name is Meek). We're still riding pretty high off our draw with Brooklyn and then we had our walkover last week. But this week won't be much harder. If we weren't on the road, I even would have PIC'd this game since we are playing Team Groomers. He's active and has supporter, but he's got a ticket back to Div V this year as he's just not in the same league as the rest of the teams in IV.21 so I fully expected a big win today, and, not to spoil it too much, but we got it. But what really mattered is that this game and the surrounding events set up a match next week, the likes of which rivals last years Hippo game.

Game Summary
Date: 10/6/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8327012
Arena: Team Groomers Arena
Crowd: 18672

18672 spectators arrived at Team Groomers Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Groomers tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Arcuato - Anderson, Mårtensson, Sheldon - Rector, Saes, Betts, Ortiz, Fabozzi - Root, Lysdal.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Teepen - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Herschel Meek surprised the home team with a free kick aimed at the wrong post in the 5:th minute. 0 - 1 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami´s Stephen Connors received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 20:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 2. 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. Groomerss Roger Root went wide in the 24:th minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 1 - 2 goal away. The visitors Herschel Meek took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 31st minute. 1 - 3 for Hippopotami. The referee showed Groomerss Roger Root the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 1 - 3. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle.

In the game´s 53rd minute a free kick by Herschel Meek found it´s way through the home side´s poorly assembled defensive formation, making Hippopotami´s lead 1 - 4. This third goal made a hat trick for Herschel Meek. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 59:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 1 - 5. Herschel Meek was noted down as the scorer. Groomers had a brilliant opportunity to reply as Roger Root received a high ball from the right, striking the ball still in the air. Only Tim Kimber´s reflexes saved him. Gualtiero Spagnuolo of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 69:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Groomers player was without a doubt Don Betts. Rory Rector on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 5.

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: 05: Herchel Meek (3): 1-0
HH: 20: Stephen Connors (2): 2-0
HH: 20: *pulling back*
TG: 24: 2-1
HH: 31: Herchel Meek (4): 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 57%

2nd Half
HH: 53: Herchel Meek (5): 4-1
HH: 59: Herchel Meek (6): 5-1
Final Score: 5-1
Possession: 63%
Final Possession: 60%

Cards
HH: 69: Gualtiero Spagnuolo (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)

Injuries
None

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

18K and change at their place with good weather.

Team Ratings

Team Groomers
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/57

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: outstanding (10)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 64/71

At home and we would have had a new high of 74. Still, I'll definitely settle for a 71 especially with that outstanding right side attack.

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 (d) ***~
WI Koos Teepen (o) ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 36.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

I'm feeling better and better about Cristiano now that he got his form straightened out: a ***~ wingback is nice! Phelan is still in his mini-slump at **~ and that 12 star midfield is still eluding me as today it was Meek who "only" put up ***~ instead of the **** I want.

Three Stars
I don't think the top one was in any doubt

Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano
Another ***~ today anchoring the back end
Silver: Stephen Connors
Picked up a goal and **** on the midfield
Gold: Herchel Meek
Scored a goal in the 53rd minute for the 2nd time in 3 games, oh, and he got 3 more

Game Summary
This game gives us 16 points on the season and puts us at +1 goal differential, our first time in the positives for quite a while. Meek explodes- I've never seen a midfielder score 4 goals before, I don't think. Anyways, here's why it matters...

Press Release
10/12/2003 at 00:00 Hippos Slide Into Fourth Place on Meeks Huge Day
Veteran midfielder Herschel Meek exploded for 4 goals en route to a 5-1 Houston win over Team Groomers. Meek, along with Hippo star midfielders Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors (who scored the other goal), collected 11.5 stars and put up a solid midfield rating. The win sets up a showdown next week in Houston for 4th place in IV.21 with the #5 Iowa Enforcers who beat the Hippos 4-2 in Iowa earlier in the season. Coach Braden is expecting an MotS by Iowa and is planning accordingly.

Around the League
As you can see from the above, Iowa lost. Everything this week went as planned for the first time, I think, all season. And you people still think I'm insane for saying the engine has changed a lot.

zfan - Brooklyn United 0 - 5
I'm sure if I had checked, our hatstats rating would suck since BU played zfan in the walkover.

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - The Champion 4 - 0
Chock also PIC'd at home and had no trouble with The Champion. They actually lost possession in the first half, but won handily because The Champion never got a chance the entire game. While the midfields were close, the stars difference was 42.0 to 31.5 in favor of Chock.

Iowa Enforcers - Kaishaku F.C. 0 - 3
This is the huge game for us. Earlier in the season, Iowa upset Kaishaku on the road and was looking like they might get 2nd or 3rd. However, fortunes have changed in the second half, as they now have a 6 game winless streak (4 losses, 2 draws) after Kaishaku went into their house and beat them. They have now fallen behind us into 5th.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      41 - 6  29   9
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        34 - 11 27   76
3. Chock Full of Whole  37 - 21 22   83
4. Houston Hippopotami  27 - 26 16   71

5. Iowa Enforcers       19 - 23 14   68
6. The Champion         20 - 19 12   63

7. zfan                 11 - 47  6   9
8. Team Groomers        10 - 46  1   57

We suddenly have leapfrogged two teams in two weeks and, with a win next week, we would be in full control of 4th. We also have a big game to end the season at the 'drome against The Champion but first things first.

Notes
After a franchise long 3 game losing streak, we have been unbeaten in our last 3 and are sitting precariously in 4th. Next week comes our game of the year against Iowa at home. If we win, then something really bad would have to happen the last two weeks of the season for us to not finish in the money. This next game is starting to feel a lot like the Dragons game last year- a huge game that's going to be close and if he MotS's, I'm probably done for.

SI

sterlingice · 10-24-2003, 05:05 AM

Preview
The Friendly Hippo World Tour continues, this week in Thailand. We'll be playing Samuthprakarn Eagle, who are #1 in III.6 Prathet Thai. So, we've gone from Canada to Oceania to Thailand in three weeks and probably have three more weeks before a rivalry game to end the season.

Game Summary
Date: 10/8/2003 at 05:30
MatchID: 9783824
Arena: Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena
Crowd: 3410

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 3410 at Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena today. Samuthprakarn started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Chariya - Ivarsson, Ratana, Thyander - Sumalee, Davidsson, Cabellos, Kaljuste, Van-Linh - Ahlling, Fredriksson.

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

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Samuthprakarn, and they seem passable at it. Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Samuthprakarns Michael Fredriksson gave, after 18 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. In the 19:th minute Samuthprakarn put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Huang Van-Linh coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson got himself booked. A great save by goaltender Ignacio Sánchez in the 22nd minute kept the visitors in the game as Kaarel Kaljuste struck from the left with a real cannonball. Hippopotami reduced in the 25:th minute to 2 - 1 as Robert Tryggvesson easily chipped the ball past the home sides keeper on a play from the right. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

In the 50:th minute Samuthprakarn´s Yindee Ratana tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. Juan Miguel Tizón almost scored an equalising goal for Hippopotami in the 52nd minute, but Charnchai Chariya made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Lucas Davidsson squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 64:th minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 1. Hippopotamis Koos Teepen got himself booked after a foul. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 73 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Samuthprakarn player was without a doubt Charnchai Chariya. However, Arvid Ahlling made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Daniel Storm. However, Derrick Solomon made a disastrous appearance. 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) shows that the goal was scored in a friendly
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
SE: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
SE: 18: 0-1
SE: 19: 0-2
HH: xx: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 1-2
Halftime Score: 1-2
Possession: 39%

2nd Half
SE: 64: 1-3
Final Score: 1-3
Possession: 27%
Final Possession: 33%

Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
HH: xx: Koos Teepen (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None

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

Another decent international crowd with 3410 turning out.

Team Ratings

Samuthprakarn Eagle
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Central Defence: brilliant (11)
Left Side Defence: magnificent (12)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 67/74

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/48

Wow- they played a lot better than in previous friendlies. I try to find good matchups but a 74-48 loss on the road could have been a lot worse than 3-0, I suppose.

Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **~
DW Arcadio Sanchez **~
DM Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Clement Schrader **~
WI Pierre Wellens ***
MI Daniel Storm (d) ***
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **~
MI Thomas Little (o) **~
WI Koos Teepen ***
FO Derrick Solomon *~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **~

Total Stars: 27.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: Attack in Middle

I think that's the first *** performance by the UberTrainees(TM) with Storm today. Solomon is considering hanging it up once the season is over. He hasn't scored more than ** in weeks.

Three Stars
Not much happened in this game that was star-worthy: they were a lot better than us

Bronze: Daniel Storm
First ever *** for this batch of UberTrainees(TM)
Silver: Ignacio Sanchez
His save made this game closer than it should have been
Gold: Robert Tryggvesson
A goal in two straight friendlies

Game Summary
We were a bit overmatched but it was still fun. I can only wonder where the next two games will take us.

Press Release
10/13/2003 at 02:54 Hippos Lose Friendly in Thailand
The Hippo World Tour (TM) continues as they visited Samuthprakarn Eagle from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson scored the only Houston goal and the midfield and wings put up a B Team high of 14 stars. However, Samuthprakarn Eagle and their solid B Team midfield showed why they were # 1 in III.6 in Thailand. We thank eaglez for the friendly and will continue our tour next week in with Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in III.10 Israel.

FOFC Cup
The Final Four of the FOFC Cup is upon us

Midwest Ice Storm FC - Intercourse Ball Kickers 2 - 4
Apparently PilotMan ran out of easy people to play in his series so he had to play his B Team. He put up a better midfield, but YoSoySean put up some good ratings, as well. His brilliant-formidable-magnificent defense slowed MISFC's exc-exc-exc attack. On the other side of the field, Boštjan Čadež got a hat trick for IBC. They will advance to play...

Gargoyles - Bees 0 - 7
...the Bees, winner of a Final Four matchup between the two winners of the previous FOFC Cups. I'm not entirely sure how the Bees got so many chances as their midfield only won inad to weak, their NSIs were quite similar, and the game was at The Concrete Jungle, home of the Gargs. Rich Ladd had a hat trick for the Bees while the Gargs didn't get a single scoring chance.

Notes
Our road trip continues in Israel next week against a Div III team called Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv. This week, however, we have a huge game in series play. The fixture between us and Iowa will go a long way to determine who will finish in 4th this season.

SI

Poli · 10-24-2003, 08:13 AM

If it's not too much to ask, perhaps we could make the Hippo World Tour (TM) stop by Bonne Terre one day to play the winner of the Battle for Bonne Terre? That might be a cool reward!

sterlingice · 10-26-2003, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ardent enthusiast
If it's not too much to ask, perhaps we could make the Hippo World Tour (TM) stop by Bonne Terre one day to play the winner of the Battle for Bonne Terre? That might be a cool reward!

Unfortunately, the Hippos already have locked in a game for rivalry week so we will not be able to play the winner of the Battle for the right to put EZ-Cheez on Triscuits after 4am or whatever your cup is

SI

sterlingice · 10-26-2003, 06:51 PM

Training
No bumps this week, at least for playmaking. Timber's experience went up to inadequate and Bush's went to poor. In the next two weeks, however, Storm should hit formidable!

Future Training
Playmaking until a stamina week in the offseason. Then again, my stamina is pretty good except for trainees and that really puts a big hit on your form.

Form
Starters: (+3) (-3)
Entire Team: (+5) (-7)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Benito (exc) Bush Miguel Meek Connors Spagnuolo Christiano Kimber
Passable: Teepen Starks
Inadequate: -none-
Weak (or below): Phelan

Quite good except for Phelan. He's just going to have to play though it because we just don't have anyone to put in his place.

Value
Starters: (+8) (-3)
Entire Team: (+14) (-7)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0)
Above $200K: 7(+0)/11(+0)
Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+0)
Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($514K)
Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($502K)
Milestones: -none-

Absolutely no milestones this week on the value front. However, a very significant development is that for the first time since joining the team, Timber was not the highest value as he "dropped" to $502K and Benito passed him at $514K.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36068 (-$140)
Total Value: 4416000 (+52000)
Avg Value: 200727 (+2363)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 22 (NC)
Nationalities: 12 (NC)

Youth Pull, Week 20.12
Felix Hutton from last week, a passable playmaker with inad stamina and inad winger sold for $16K. This week, for number 40, will we get a great pull? No! We will get... 0! Kristopher Melvin is the first in a while to not hit the market.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 40
Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 14 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (-1)
Total Sold for: 1132000 (+5000)

Youth Pull
Kristopher Melvin (17445465)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is fiery and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 14 000 US$
Wage: 560 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1473 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (NC)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (NC)

20.12 Week In Review

On the Field
Last week's fixture was pretty ho-hum. Unless, of course, your name is Herschel Meek as he scored goals 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the season in a 5-1 win over Team Groomers. This is our second kindof boring game in a row after last week's walkover win against zfan. The win gave us 4th place and sets up a huge game this week against the Iowa Enforcers. If we beat Iowa, we have the inside track to 4th the rest of the year and will even be able to absorb a loss to Chock the second to last week of the season. In our friendly, our winning streak was broken as Samuthprakarn Eagle beat us in Thailand.

Off the Field
Yawn. Really nothing happened this week except that we sold last week's youth pull for $16K and fired our current YP. That's it.

SI

Poli · 10-26-2003, 07:08 PM

No problem. A reward for next season, perhaps.

sterlingice · 10-29-2003, 01:32 AM

Preview
Here it is. I never figured I'd be in this position but it's time to take advantage of it. A win today, and we likely take fourth in the series and finish in the money. A loss today and "our reward" will be a relegation match instead. I can't afford to MotS for that very reason so we're going normal and I hope he does the same. He's only slightly better and on my field, I should win. As the Hippos hit the field today, we were greeted by rain.
Oh, and just for such an occasion, I've decided to shuffle the match reports a little, moving things around so that more important things get better places

Game Text
Date: 10/13/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8327016
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 24181

Due to an all-day shower, 24181 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Teepen, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Enforcers had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Freeman - Paz, Weeks, Gurley - Becerra, Marion, Wilson, Frederick, Monsalve - Requejo Rodrígue, Lastra.

Enforcers took the lead in the games 17:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Juan José Requejo Rodríguez was the scorer. Enforcers´s Billy Marion refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon in the 21st minute. After 25 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Juan José Requejo Rodríguez who increased Enforcers´s lead to 0 - 2. A well placed freekick brought the home crowd new hope. Herschel Meek reduced the away teams lead to 1 - 2. Due to some great work on the right wing Hippopotami:s Edwin Phelan was able to even the score in the 39:th minute to 2 - 2. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 2. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 61 percent, dominated the battle.

Hippopotami had a good opportunity to take the lead as Edwin Phelan came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of David Freeman. Jamie Gurley of Enforcers received a yellow card in the 61st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. In the 67:th minute the home side managed to get a 3 - 2 lead as Herschel Meek flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. In the games 80:th minute Hippopotami´s Koos Teepen fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Koos Teepen for taking a dive. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 64 percent possession rate.

Most important Hippopotami player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Enforcers player was without a doubt Juan José Requejo Rodríguez. Stacy Becerra was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.

Game Summary
Down 2-0 in the first half, things looked bleak. However, it proved to be one of those proverbial "the night is darkest before the light of dawn" moments. First Meek scored and the Phelan and suddenly, it was a tie game! Then, Meek scored againt to give the Hippos the lead, there was much rejoicing by the soaking wet crowd. This is certainly our biggest Div IV win to date and the big comeback made it that much more exciting.

Three Stars
Herchel Meek with another gold

Bronze: The Midfield
Our excellent midfield gave us enough possession to pull this out
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Phelan's game tying goal was his eighth of the year
Gold: Herchel Meek
His game winning goal was his eighth of the year

Press Release
10/15/2003 at 13:14 In the Money? Hippos Rally In Battle for Fourth Place!
Herchel Meek added 2 goals to his 4 from last week as Houston rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and put themselves in the driver seat for fourth place. A balanced game was key with ratings of excellent across the board save a formidable on the left attack wing. Houston needs one win in their last two games to finish in the money in their first season in Div IV. The Hippos must visit CFoWG at the Creamy Nougat Center before closing out the season at the 'drome against The Champion.

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: 17: 0-1
IE: 25: 0-2
HH: 31: Herchel Meek (7): 1-2
HH: 39: Edwin Phelan (8): 2-0
Halftime Score: 2-2
Possession: 61%

2nd Half
HH: 53: Herchel Meek (8): 3-2
Final Score: 3-2
Possession: 64%
Final Possession: 63%

Cards
HH: 80: Koos Teepen (yellow- taking a dive)

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 14582/20000
Basic seats: 6364/8000
Seats under roof: 2435/3200
VIP seats: 800/800
Total: 24181/32000

Darn rain kept us from selling out, I'm guessing.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/73

Iowa Enforcers
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: brilliant (11)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/67

WOW! Another awesome game- excellents across the board except for that formidable left wing. That's called balance! He had a suprisingly bad game- he should have posted at least a passable midfield, even in bad form. This is somewhat puzzling.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ****
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***~
DM Clement Schrader **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Koos Teepen (o) ***
MI Herschel Meek (d) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ****
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ****
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **

Total Stars: 36.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Mick is finally back up to ***~ today. Phelan's still in a slump, at ** now, Schrader started in place of Miguel at center defender, and the midfield "only" got 11.5 stars but other than that, nothing of note.

Around the League
The battle for second was at Kaishaku's place this week

zfan - Team Groomers 0 - 5
I feel good that Team Groomers got a win. He's one of the most active supporters in the league- lots of press releases, etc. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll get any higher than 8th this year.

Brooklyn United - The Champion 6 - 1
Brooklyn crushed The Champion, which makes our game against them slightly less important. Brooklyn's lowest rating was outstanding while that was The Champion's highest.

Kaishaku F.C. - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 2 - 0
Kaishaku put up a world class midfield, likely as an MotS, to Chock's passable. He won the NSI battle 90-78 despite losing the star battle 39.5 to 37.0. This was a bit different from their earlier meeting when both put up magnificent midfields in Kaishaku's 3-1 win.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      47 - 7  32  104
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        36 - 11 30   90
3. Chock Full of Whole  37 - 23 22   78
4. Houston Hippopotami  30 - 28 19   73

5. Iowa Enforcers       21 - 26 14   67
6. The Champion         21 - 25 12   53

7. zfan                 11 - 52  6   9
8. Team Groomers        15 - 46  4   9

With 2 games left in the season, it's a good time to take stock of where everyone is. Our win cements 4th for us, however, we will likely lose and lose bad next week to Chock. If we pull off the miracle upset, we could get third but that's unlikely with our goal differentials. Kaishaku's win assured him of second place and he still has a shot at first when he and Brooklyn play the last game of the year. zfan and Team Groomers are guaranteed to auto demote while Iowa has a slim chance of catching me if I lose my last two games.

Notes
Now we've got a 4 game unbeaten streak and we're sitting pretty in the standings. Sure, we may lose next week, but we just have to win the last week to assure a finish in the money. We're heading on the road again for another friendly, this time to Israel.

SI

sterlingice · 10-29-2003, 03:21 AM

You, Yes, You! I'm Pointing At You!
Im still tinkering with match reports- I'm hoping to get stuff into form by next year. Due to school, I'm really lacking in time so I want to pare down some of the more useless stuff that takes too long while still keeping the dynasty enjoyable. Plus I have a couple of simple things I wanted to add. Anyone with some ideas or feedback- post! And, remember, if you're not stealing, it's not a dynasty report! Back to your regularly scheduled dynasty report...

Preview
Oops- quite the botch. I accidentally played my starters in this friendly. Did you realize that friendlies in Israel are played Tuesday afternoon USA time? Well, neither did I so I forgot to set my lineup which means starters played. I guess it's time for another stamina week.

Game Text
Date: 10/14/2003 at 20:30
MatchID: 9856723
Arena: Teddy bear
Crowd: 4984

A scorching day at Teddy bear, where 4984 spectators were in place for today´s match. Maccabi started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Rachmo - Karlsson, Dyrander, Nachtomi - Rodowicz, Levi, Cohen, Getz, Ashkenazi - Matern, Shmuel.

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

Seemingly due to lack of experience, Niklas Dyrander needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami took the lead in the games 25:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Lorenzo Cristiano was the scorer. Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Stephen Connors delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. The visitors Elmer Bush took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 39:th minute. 0 - 2 for Hippopotami. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 0 - 2 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 82 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami´s Pierre Wellens received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 55:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 3. 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. One of many good passes from Mick Starks at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Gualtiero Spagnuolo, scoring for Hippopotami to 0 - 4. The visitors Edwin Phelan took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 62nd minute. 0 - 5 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 93 percent, dominated the battle.

Most important Maccabi player was Rafal Rodowicz. Marek Matern on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 5.

Events and Stats
Sorry- I decided to ditch this section. It took too much time and I didn't figure many of you cared. Instead, I'm making the game summary section longer. See... here it is (tho I might move the summary, stars, and press release back below the stats)

Game Summary
We dominated possesion with 82% and a staggering 93% in the second half. A pair of defenders even scored in the first half (Cristiano, Bush). Our ratings were much too high for his B Team and this would have been a close game if we had actually played *our* B Team.

Three Stars
Those defenders show up here

Bronze: Elmer Bush
A defender goal
Silver: Pierre Wellens
The UberTrainee(TM) gets *** and a goal
Gold: Lorenzo Cristiano
Another defender goal, this one game winning

Press Release
10/20/2003 at 10:07 Oops!
The Hippos barely arrived in time for their friendly due to a scheduling snafu and starters were accidentally hustled out onto the field as Houston visited Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel. This resulted in a 5-0 win for the Hippos but forced them to do a week of stamina training instead of the scheduled playmaking. Next week's trip to Iceland has already been checked and double checked with the lineup set as Houston visits Real Reykjavik, in Island I.1, the equivalent to the MLS.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Stadium
Almost but not quite 5000 make it with 4985, our largest friendly ever. I blame this on 16 of YOU.

Team Ratings
Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/42

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 63/70

Great ratings. Too bad they're from starters. A 70 NSI on the road- woo!

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

Total Stars: 36.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: None

Again, not much of note because it's all starters. Wellens *** looks pretty. He's going to be a stud- remember, he's only 17. Phelan is still deep in a slump and stamina training isn't going to help that one bit.

FOFC Cup
FOFC Cup Finals this week! Bees v Intercourse Ball Kickers

Intercourse Ball Kickers - Bees 1 - 5
ICBK could only muster a poor midfield to the Bees poor so mutual supporter ausonny wins his 2nd FOFC Cup in 4 season. I think I have my facts straight when I say that only the Bees and Gargs have won it. Congrats to all! This was a great FOFC Cup and I can't wait until next year. Hopefully my trainees will be getting at least a passable if not solid midfield by then.

In Closing
Well, we'll get plastered in our league game this week as we PIC on the road at the Creamy Nougat Center (I can't get enough of that name).

SI

sterlingice · 10-29-2003, 04:17 AM

Training
As you can see from the friendly report, this was an oops. I forgot to change my lineup Wednesday so rather than not get trainee training, I went with stamina. The odd thing is that I had some people go up in form now. I didn't know you could do that in stamina weeks. Of the trainees, Storm and Little went up to passable and solid while Wellens and Tryggvesson stayed at inadequate.

Future Training
Ok, it's a pair of weeks of playmaking then set pieces for the offseason. Another week of stamina would kill our form.

Form
Starters: (+4) (-5)
Entire Team: (+5) (-7)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Starks Bush Miguel Connors Spagnuolo Benito
Passable: Teepen Meek Kimber Christiano
Inadequate: -none-
Weak (or below): Phelan (poor)

Not too damaging except for Phelan's horrible slump. It could have been a lot worse in a stamina week. We just have to look out for next week's delay drops.

Value
Starters: (+8) (-3)
Entire Team: (+14) (-7)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/15(-1)
Above $200K: 7(+0)/10(-1)
Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+1)
Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($501K)
Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($469K)
Milestones: Thomas Little ($300K)

The little bit of movement on the value highlights list due to losing form. However, the big news was Thomas Little! Two weeks ago, he was under $250K. This week, he's at $355K! He gained two levels of stamina and is very close to bumping in playmaking to excellent.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36068 (+$0)
Total Value: 4363000 (-53000)
Avg Value: 207762 (+7035)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 21 (-1)
Nationalities: 12 (NC)
After passing the $200K per player value mark last week, we shot up again despite the stamina training.

Youth Pull, Week 20.13
Last week, we fired a guy so no old news. This week, we got a young trainee that hopefully someone will pick up for a few bucks: he's a 17yo inad playmaker and a pseudo-clown, to boot. Bradley Brinson is up for sale at $1K.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 41
Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 14 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 1132000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Bradley Brinson (17661159)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is tranquil and honest.
Has disastrous experience and solid leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 11 000 US$
Wage: 540 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1495 members (+22)
Supporters: delirious (down from high on life)

Team Spirit: content (up from calm)
Confidence: poor (down from strong)
These are from after the game with Chock

20.13 Week In Review

On the Field
I don't think I've ever been able to capture the scope of the Iowa game in writing. In case you haven't noticed, I think I'll have something like 5 reports posted by the end of the night because I had 5 done except for the Iowa rhetoric. My writing still failing me, let's just call this the biggest game of this season but not nearly on the level of Dragons-Hippos II last year. But it was more dramatic with the come from behind win. As for our friendly- oops, we played starters and rolled over Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel.

Off the Field
Since we botched training for this week, we went with stamina. Not too bad of form drops except for Phelan's problem. Storm and Little went up while Tryggvesson and Wellens stayed the same.

SI

sterlingice · 10-29-2003, 05:11 AM

Pre-Game Analysis
Under construction: Still more format tinkering

Preview
You know how I said the Brooklyn game on the road would suck and we'd get plastered? Well, this one is going to be just as bad, if not worse. We're PIC'ing on the road against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness and holding back a couple of starters. In case you forgot our first game, it was the game where we went 4-5-1 and almost pulled off the upset, losing 3-2. There's no way I'm doing that again so this is going to hurt.

Prediction
I'd love to say we'll keep it close, but I'm worried about this one. 5-0, we get shutout on the road.

Gameday Live
Date: 10/20/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8327020
Arena: Creamy Nougat Center
Crowd: 60000

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 60000 to Creamy Nougat Center. Wholesome tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Castaño Párraga - Franks, Gallagher, Weathers - King, Dahlström, Mathis, Stein, Andersson - Jansson, Willis.

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

One of many good passes from Anders Andersson at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Anders Jansson, scoring for Wholesome to 1 - 0. The crowd was silenced in the 18:th minute as the visiting teams Gualtiero Spagnuolo came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1. In the 23rd minute the home side managed to get a 2 - 1 lead as Scottie Gallagher flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. Anders Jansson increased Wholesomes lead to 3 - 1 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Wholesome lead up with 4 - 1. Bud Willis finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Halftime score was 4 - 1. Wholesome held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate.

In the 58:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Lyndon Franks dashed through, knocking home 5 - 1 for Wholesome. By now Wholesome were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Hippopotami breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score in the 68:th minute, but the home side´s defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left, rebounding off the crossbar. In the 70:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Anders Jansson dashed through, knocking home 6 - 1 for Wholesome. This third goal made a hat trick for Anders Jansson. In the 77:th minute Wholesomes Tom Dahlström received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. In the 77:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Anders Jansson dashed through, knocking home 7 - 1 for Wholesome. Wholesome, bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Wholesome player was without a doubt Ramón King. However, Claude Mathis made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. However, Edwin Phelan made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 7 - 1.

(Lies, Damn Lies, and) Statistics

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

Notes: They had a full 60K at the Creamy Nougat Center. Have I mentioned 5 times in the last couple match reports that I love that name?

Team Ratings

Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: magnificent (11)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: magnificent (11)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 69/75

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: outstanding (10)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 59/64

Notes: I can't remember the last time I had an inadequate midfield. I suppose, one could make the point that if I hadn't PIC'd I might have even won this game- but I didn't expect his ratings to be nearly this low. Gotta love that attack on my side, tho: out-form-exc

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Clement Schrader **~
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ****
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Thomas Little (o) ***~
WI Pierre Wellens ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **

Total Stars: 36.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

Notes: A lot of people were playing a little worse than normal after the stamina update. Phelan is still in a slump and only got ** in the game. But, there's ample good news: UberTrainees(TM) Pierre Wellens and Thomas Little were both awesome with a *** and ***~ respectively. The future looks very bright for the Hippos. An 18yo ***~ from little- are you kidding me?!?

The Postgame Show

Game Summary
Well, I said it was going to hurt... And it did. At least we got a goal so it wasn't a shutout. In fact, we were tied 1-1 20 minutes in. That didn't last, tho. They racked up all those goals despite only getting possession of 54 and 56. Gualtiero had the only goal for the Hippos. Anders Jansson scored 4 against us.

Three Stars
I haven't been giving Starks enough love lately

Bronze: Mick Starks
He's out of his slump and back up to ***~ on offensive wing
Silver: Thomas Little
An 18yo with ***~ on the midfield
Gold: Gualtiero Spaguolo
His goal briefly tied the game and gave the illusion that we might hang close

Press Release
10/23/2003 at 23:20 Houston Crushed at Creamy Nougat Center
Houston, in an essentially meaningless game, PIC'd on the road and was destroyed by Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Anders Jansson scored 4 goals and the Hippos only scored 1 (Gualtiero Spagnuolo) as Houston was downed 7-1. A win in next week's game against The Champion locks up 4th place for the Hippos in their first season in Div IV.

Around the League
One suprisingly close game and two boring ones

Iowa Enforcers - zfan 5 - 0
Iowa got the walkover this week. Next week, they have a pretty easy game against Team Groomers. They have the edge on me in goal differential: -4 to 0 so I have to win next week because a draw won't do it.

Brooklyn United - Team Groomers 8 - 0
Following the two draws to Iowa and Houston and the close 2-1 win against Chock, Brooklyn has won their last three games by a combined score of 19-1. Next week, things will not be so easy against Kaishaku at home. Stephen Rumbold just missed a hat trick while Joaquin Otegi and Brian Mccloud had 2 goals, as well. The NSI difference in this game: 109-52. BTW, Brooklyn has taken the top spot in Div IV once again the past couple of weeks.

The Champion - Kaishaku F.C. 2 - 3
Kaishaku beat a very game Champion team who was up 2-0 at the 35 minute point. However, KFC scored in the 37th, 56th, and 65th minutes for the come from behind win. Kaishaku won the ratings battle 73 to 64 and stars 38.5 to 31.5.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      55 - 7  35  109
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        39 - 13 33   73
3. Chock Full of Whole  44 - 24 25   77
4. Houston Hippopotami  31 - 35 19   64

5. Iowa Enforcers       26 - 26 17   9
6. The Champion         23 - 28 12   64

7. zfan                 11 - 57  6   9
8. Team Groomers        15 - 56  4   52

Kaishaku goes to Brooklyn next week in the battle for the shot at promotion. I'm pulling for Brooklyn just to have him out of here. Chock is locked into 3rd and The Champion is locked into 6th. It's unlikely Team Groomers will beat Iowa next week so 7-8 will stay the same. Our game against The Champion will determine that final team that finishes in the money: If we win, we get 4th. If we lose or draw, Iowa takes 4th and we're staring at a qualification game.

Hatstats
Nope, still no stats- but since I'm almost caught up, we'll have some soon- I hope.

In Closing
FYI- this was the worst loss in Hippos history, eclipsing our 5 goal differential in the 5-0 loss to Kaishaku earlier this year. But you know what? I really don't care- this was all about getting ready for next week. The Champion comes to the 'drome for Fan Appreciation Day. We need a full crowd to help inspire the team to a victory and 4th place!

SI

Poli · 10-29-2003, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sterlingice
FOFC Cup
FOFC Cup Finals this week! Bees v Intercourse Ball Kickers

Intercourse Ball Kickers - Bees 1 - 5
ICBK could only muster a poor midfield to the Bees poor so mutual supporter ausonny wins his 2nd FOFC Cup in 4 season. I think I have my facts straight when I say that only the Bees and Gargs have won it. Congrats to all! This was a great FOFC Cup and I can't wait until next year. Hopefully my trainees will be getting at least a passable if not solid midfield by then.

SI [/b]

Incorrect, mon ami. The MoKan Mighty Bastards won FOFC Cup II.

I: Gargoyles
II: Mighty Bastards
III: Gargoyles
IV: Bees

vex · 10-29-2003, 09:38 AM

I know I heard the same thing as SI, but then I remember getting beat out my MoKan.

sterlingice · 10-29-2003, 04:49 PM

Cool- I wasn't sure so glad you guys could set that straight.

SI

Poli · 10-29-2003, 09:34 PM

No problemo. I miss the statistical part of the dynasty, but understand that it is a lot of formatting. I don't mind reading the important stuff in a small paragraph instead.

sterlingice · 11-02-2003, 09:09 PM

Pre-Game Analysis

Preview
I've changed up my friendlies a little. I decided that this late in the season, I not only want to be international but I also want to be going up against top teams. So, this week, we will be going to Iceland. Ok, so maybe it's not a tropical paradise but it certainly is exotic. There we will play Real Reykjavik who is in I.1 Island- the equivalent to our MLS. Realize, however, Island is only a small country and being 7th in I.1 puts him on par with my team. But he's still in a country's top series and that's just cool!

Prediction
Real has put up weak and inad midfields their last couple friendlies so this should be close. We tend to get weak on the road but maybe last week's stamina training will help that out. None of his other ratings really stand out except central defense which is pretty high. If we can get some pressure on the wings, we might win this. Real 3 Hippos 2.

Gameday Live
Date: 10/22/2003 at 15:30
MatchID: 9879358
Arena: Real Reykjavik Arena
Crowd: 2793

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Real Reykjavik Arena saw a crowd turnout of 2793. Reykjavik started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Grétarsson - Ranin, Huttunen, Rundmar - Frostendahl, Andreasson, Malecki, Guðjónsson, Angelini - Ehnlius, Adelskär.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Sánchez - Sánchez, Meek, Miquel - Teepen, Tryggvesson, Storm, Wellens, Starks - Solomon, Tizón.

Man, what a shot by Daniel Storm! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 0 - 1. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Herschel Meek got himself booked. In the games 12th minute Reykjavik´s Anders Adelskär fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Anders Adelskär for taking a dive. After 12 minutes Niklas Ehnlius got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn´t get the shot away. 0 - 1 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Reykjavik, with an impressive 51 percent possession of the ball.

Juan Miguel Tizón increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. A marvelous Reykjavik effort to the right resulted in a 52nd minute goal by Niklas Ehnlius, putting the score up to 1 - 2. 63 minutes into the game Niklas Ehnlius had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Knut Johansen. Marian Malecki seemed highly inexperienced when in the 64:th minute he was loitering with the ball, allowing Robert Tryggvesson to intercept and strike 1-3 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 69:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 1 - 4. Juan Miguel Tizón was noted down as the scorer. Reykjaviks Knut Johansen went wide in the 77:th minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 2 - 4 goal away. This part of the game had been a standoff between the teams.

Reykjavik´s best player was Martin Andreasson. However, Pétur Björn Guðjónsson made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Mick Starks. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4.

(Lies, Damn Lies, and) Statistics

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

Notes: I'm kindof disappointed that only 2700 and change showed up but I guess if I had to live in Iceland, I wouldn't want to go outside into the cold either. If you're curious- I just went over to weather.com and the high tomorrow in Reykjavik is only a chilly 33. However, they'll be back up into the low 50s by the end of the week so it's not bitterly cold there yet. The weather conditions for our game were "fairly good".

Team Ratings

Real Reykjavik
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 51/57

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/49

Notes: That inad midfield matched our crappy output on the PIC during this week's fixture against Chock. We lost on pretty much every front but somehow still won the game. Strange.

Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **
DW Arcadio Sanchez **
DM Herchel Meek **~
DW Jose Maria Miguel **~
WI Koos Teepen ***
MI Pierre Wellens **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **~
MI Daniel Storm ***
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
FO Derrick Solomon *
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **~

Total Stars: 27.0
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: None

Notes: Storm has got to be close to bumping to formidable with *** today. This may have been Derrick Solomon's last game for the Hippos- he's expected to retire at the end of the season.

The Postgame Show

Game Summary
Storm scored in the first 10 minutes of the game but there was nothing else in the first half, as we went into halftime up 1-0 but losing possession 51-49. However, early in the second half, Tizon gave us a 2-0 lead and we pulled back. I always get that sinking feeling in my gut and, once again, it was justified as they knocked one home in the 52nd minute to cut our lead in half. However the scorer, Niklas Ehnlius was injured, and had to be replaced by Knut Johansen, who scored for them later in the game. But sandwiched inbetween their goals were goals by Tryggvesson and a second for Tizon and the Hippos leave Iceland a winner.

Three Stars
The goal scorers get the stars today

Bronze: Robert Tryggvesson
Got a goal today on the midfield
Silver: Daniel Storm
A *** on the midfield for the UberTrainee(TM) and a goal as well
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
A pair of goals which gave us leads of 2-0 and 4-1

Press Release
10/24/2003 at 12:14 Houston Hot In Iceland!
Houston got a big win on the Friendly Hippo World Tour, beating Real Reykjavik, a very formidable opponent and a member of Island's top series. Juan Miguel Tizon scored twice while Storm and Tryggvesson added one goal each and led the B Team UberTrainee(TM) midfield to it's first ever inadequate rating. Next week, the Hippos visit another tough team as they travel to play dada team, a club in Croatia's top series. Sunday is the last fixture of Season 20, Fan Appreciation Day at the 'drome.

In Closing
I'm really liking these international friendlies. I kindof wish I could have gotten more people at the game to make a little more profit but I'd rather play Div I teams who I actually have a shot at winning against than get an extra couple grand- I guess that's just me.

SI

sterlingice · 11-02-2003, 11:16 PM

Training
After the awful week last week- everything turned around this week. Instead of having some slumping form, we got back on the right track. Instead of botching and having to do stamina, playmaking resulted in two bumps. Instead of an awful youth pull, we got someone who would sell.

It was about time- Daniel Storm bumped to formidable, giving us our second formidable ever. To show our gratitude, we put him on the market- sorry, but we have 1 trainee too many so Storm was the odd man out. The other bump, that was somewhat unexpected but shouldn't have been, was Thomas Little. He's now up to excellent playmaking to go along with his solid stamina and solid passing. Did I mention that he's 18, like Storm?

Future Training
One more week of playmaking then I suppose a pair of set pieces- we're going to be really good at penalty kicks. Stamina would be useless because I have to play starters and, as of right now, 9 of my starters have excellent stamina and the other 2 have solid. That should keep our form from taking too big of a hit (I hope).

Form
Starters: (+3) (-1)
Entire Team: (+5) (-6)

Starters Form
As odd as it sounds- this used to be the most time consuming part of the update so I took out the colors
Solid (or above): Benito (exc), Starks, Bush, Spagnuolo, Schrader
Passable: Connors, Meek, Kimber, Teepen, Cristiano
Inadequate: Phelan
Weak (or below): -none-

Phelan jumped out of his slump, going from poor to inad in a week! That's great!

Value
Starters: (+9) (-1)
Entire Team: (+13) (-7)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 10(+1)/16(+1)
Above $200K: 7(+0)/12(+2)
Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+1)
Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($536K)
Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($459K)
Milestones: Pierre Wellens ($200K)

Pierre Wellens broke the $200K mark this week and Thomas Little continues his meteoric rise: he's up to $397K after being below $250K just 3 weeks ago. FYI- the only starter who went down in value was Timber, but as long as he doesn't drop in form any more, I'm still happy. Another bookkeeping note: we gained a starter over $100K because Schrader was moved to the starting lineup since he's out of his form slump and Miguel was moved back to B Team. All but one of the starters is over $100K in value- the holdout is Elmer Bush at wingback and his $96K value. He's got great form but if Arcadio Sanchez would ever get out of his form slump and supplant Bush in the starting lineup, then we would have an all $100K value lineup.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36068 (+$0)
Total Value: 4537000 (+174000)
Avg Value: 206277 (-1485)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 22 (+1)
Nationalities: 12 (NC)

Notes: The extra player is the youth pick who is on sale right now.

Youth Pull, Week 20.14
I stand corrected- last week's youth pull did sell. Bradley Brinson went to the aka boys in the Netherlands for $7K as he was a 17yo inad playmaker who was a pseudo clown. This weeks, however, is much better. I'd train Christopher Wilson except that he's too old (scary to say that about a 19yo): he's a solid playmaker with inad passing and stamina and weak wing and defending. Even in this depressed market, he should fetch $80K so that's what he's starting at.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 42
Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 15 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1139000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Christopher Wilson (17852743)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial guy who is tranquil and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 122 000 US$
Wage: 1 160 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1509 members (+14)
Supporters: high on life (up from delirious)

Team Spirit: calm (down from content)
Confidence: strong (up from poor)

20.14 Week In Review

On the Field
Chock handed Houston the worst loss in team history, 7-1 at his place. I PIC'd and played some subs so it was expected. As for our friendly, we're now 1-0 against teams in top series of countries. Bring on billay and I'll kick Landfills ass! Ok, maybe not. But we went to Iceland and bet Real Reykjavik 4-2. We liked it so much, we'll be doing it again next week, going to play a team in Croatia's top league.

Off the Field
Two big bumps by a pair of UberTrainees(TM) as Storm goes to formidable playmaking and Little goes to excellent. Storm is now on the market at $950K, hoping to get a bite. If he doesn't, I'll put him up for $800K or $850K next week. Also got a good youth pull who should bring in $80K+ in Christopher Wilson.

SI

DukeRulesMAB · 11-02-2003, 11:22 PM

Damn, Little is gonna be sweet, given some patience. I don't know which ones you plan on keeping long-term, but I'd certainly consider an excellent/solid/solid 18 YO.

sterlingice · 11-02-2003, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DukeRulesMAB
Damn, Little is gonna be sweet, given some patience. I don't know which ones you plan on keeping long-term, but I'd certainly consider an excellent/solid/solid 18 YO.

Little is certainly a keeper. Not only is he damn good, but he was a youth squad pull which means he's got sentimental value and also doesn't cost 20% more per week. I'm not sure what my middie training situation will be like, tho. I have Pierre Wellens training right now as a 17yo solid wing/solid playmaker and Tryggvesson who, like Storm, has no secondaries but is really close to bumping to formidable.

SI

sterlingice · 11-03-2003, 01:09 AM

Pre-Game Analysis
This one's kindof for all the marbles in the sense that if we win, we get 4th. If we lose or draw, we will almost certainly have to play a qualification game. The Champion's not as good as us but he's been improving. Fortunately, we have him at the 'drome on Fan Appreciation Day. While we don't have a cool promotion like Sack Full o' Doorknobs or Jerome Bettis Bobbleheads or a Crawfish Sack Attachment (or whatever they hell they give away at the home of that sick crawfish), it's Hippos T-Shirt Day and also Autograph Day so every fan through the turnstiles will get a free shirt and all the Hippos will be hanging around the field for an hour or so before the game, signing autographs on said shirts (or whatever you want to bring).

Prediction
He's been putting up pretty good ratings of late. His midfield has improved from weak to solid in the past few games and he's starting to get excellents and formidables in his other ratings consistently. Still, we're a better team, should put up an excellent midfield and out-exc-exc offense and put that outstanding on his weak wing. If he PIC's to save up for the qualification game, we roll 6-1. If he normals or even MotS's, we pull out a 3-2 nailbiter.

Gameday Live
Date: 10/27/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 8327022
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 32000

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 32000 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Teepen - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Champion tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Speer - Parrish, Somogyi, Landry - Anderson, Yang-Fen, Friedman, Ulpovaara, Cortes - Tryggvesson, Huda.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 2nd minute left Champion´s Achyar Huda completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. The visitors Wayne Landry took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 13th minute. 0 - 2 for Champion. Carlos Alberto Benito had a good opportunity to reduce in the 21st minute but wasn´t cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 60 percent, dominated the battle.

A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area, but at last Hippopotami´s Carlos Alberto Benito was able to shove the ball in. 1-2. Herschel Meek equalised for Hippopotami on a free kick carving through the defensive box making the score 2 - 2. In the 83rd minute cheers broke out as Edwin Phelan found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 3 - 2 goal in for Hippopotami. 84 minutes into the game Hippopotami were awarded a penalty that Herschel Meek turned into 4 - 2 without a problem. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 5 - 2. Edwin Phelan finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 66 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. However, Edwin Phelan made a disastrous appearance. Champion´s best player was Herkko Ulpovaara. However, Wayne Landry made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 2.

Statistics

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

Notes: Only our second sellout of the year. I'm hoping to change that next year. Either way, they were treated to a show.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: formidable (9)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: outstanding (10)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/76

The Champion
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/68

Notes:Um- wow! Our first ever formidable midfield legitimately (i.e. not MotS). Also, our new team high NSI, eclipsing the 73 from two weeks ago. I guess if I really had to complain, I'm a little disappointed at the solid on that one side of the attack but that's because Phelan is still slightly in a form slump so we're splitting hairs. The Champion also had a great showing and will be a pretty tough team next season as they keep improving- formidable on 5 of the 6 non-midfields? Nice!

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Clement Schrader ***
DW Elmer Bush ***
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ****~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Herchel Meek (d) ***~
WI Koos Teepen ***
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 36.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Normal

Notes: The 36.5 ties our star high from the Brooklyn game and everyone got *** except Phelan. That's one of my early goals for the first half of next year: a game will everyone getting *** or higher. And look at Benito! The rating of ****~ is a Hippo first! That's as good as any middie in IV.21 who doesn't play for Brooklyn.

The Postgame Show
Anxious times in chat- we just didn't come out on fire like I expected. The team is quite adept at scoring the early goal but instead, Achyar Huda scored 2 minutes in to make it 1-0 for The Champion. In the 13th minute, Wayne Landry snuck it by a confused Timber and the goalie's costly mental error put us down 2-0. Benito missed the only chance we had in the first half and we were down 2-0 at the half despite 60% possession.

In the second half, nothing happened: 5 minutes in. 10 minutes in. 15 minutes in. 20 minutes in. 25 minutes in. 30 minutes in. With 15 minutes left in the game, nothing had happened in the second half: no events at all. I figured with 60% possession, I was bound to get my chances but where were they? Then, out of nowhere, a corner kick goes in as Carlos Alberto Benito "was able to shove the ball in" and we cut the lead to 2-1. However, there were only 10 minutes left. Then Herchel Meek once again showed that leadership from the last few games as he scored his 8th goal in the last 6 fixtures (the rest of the Hippos combined only have 4) and he tied the game 2-2 in the 81st minute. Phelan scored to give the Hippos the lead in the 83rd minute followed. Lastly, Meek's and Phelan's second goals in the 84th and 86th minute to gave the Hippos a 5-2 win.

It was a different type of nailbiter than I expected but the boys really showed something today in pulling the game out. In the darkest moments, they were able to pull the game out and claim 4th place. The offense exploded in the last 15 minutes of the game turning a 2-0 loss into a 5-2 win. Meek has made a huge push in the second half for MVP at the awards banquet.

Three Stars
All three really deserved gold today

Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito
Just missed a goal in the first half, scored the goal that got it all started, and put up the first ever ****~ for the Hippos
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Scored the game winning goal and an insurance goal
Gold: Herschel Meek
Scored the tying goal when things looked bleak and added insurance

Press Release
10/27/2003 at 03:15 Late Scoring Blitz Buries The Champion, Gets Hippos 4th!
With 15 minutes left in the game, the Hippos were staring at a 2-0 deficit and a qualification game. However, Carlos Alberto Benito, who got Houston's first ever 4.5 star game, scored to get the Hippos started. Then, the floodgates opened up as Meek and Phelan both scored a pair of goals, giving the Hippos a 5-2 win and fourth place in their first season in Div IV. Houston also put up their first ever formidable midfield, delighting a full crowd at the Hippodrome on Fan Appreciation Day.

Around the League
The battle for first...

zfan - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 0 - 5
When the season started, this looked like a big game among the top 4. Instead, Chock gets its walkover to end the year. Bummer. As a side note, Chock had the two leading scorers in the series with Anders Jansson's 18 goals and Bud Willis's 12.

Team Groomers - Iowa Enforcers 0 - 3
Iowa won, as expected, making it so that we had to win. I'm not sure, but they might have PIC'd, saving up for next week's qualfication game (and they have a familiar foe- see below).

Kaishaku F.C. - Brooklyn United 1 - 2
Brooklyn won the defensive struggle of magnificent versus brilliant midfields to take home the IV.21 crown and go back to Div III. They took a 2-0 lead in the first half and had to hold on as Kaishaku scored in the 67th minute but missed on chances in the 51st and 73rd minutes. Brooklyn won the NSI battle handily 108-82.

League Standings

Code:

 
N  Team                 Goals   Pts NSI
1. Brooklyn United      57 - 8  38  108
 
2. Kaishaku F.C.        40 - 15 33   82
3. Chock Full of Whole  49 - 24 28    9
4. Houston Hippopotami  36 - 37 22   76

5. Iowa Enforcers       29 - 26 20   74
6. The Champion         25 - 33 12   68

7. zfan                 11 - 62  6    9
8. Team Groomers        15 - 57  4   55

Here's the final standings! Our win was indeeed necessary for us to retain 4th as we only finished 2 points up and with a -1 goal differential to Iowa's +3. Brooklyn's win over Kaishaku will get them back in Div III. Team Groomers wasn't quite up with the rest of the teams in IV.21 and I wish them well. They and the computer controlled zfan will auto demote. By the looks of this, there will be 3 groups next season: Kaishaku, Chock, and the Div III relegee will battle for promotion. Iowa, The Champion, and myself will again be battling for 4-6 (provided they win their qualification games). Finally, the Div V promotees could be out of their league or be another contender for that 4-6 spots.

Hatstats
And now for a special Qualification Edition of Hatstats! Since I haven't done it in a couple of weeks, it's time for a hatstats overload: a couple of paragraphs on my series, some FOFC notes, and a couple more paragraphs on the series for next season.

Brooklyn, once again was tops in all of Div IV with his 108 being 6 points better than the second highest Div IV team. We're still hanging around in the 20s for series strength because of zfan and the forfeits (hey, that sounds like a band). However, if you only put in a 50 for zfan and Chock's usual 80, we're suddenly in the top 5.

Back to some of the stuff from earlier in the match report, The Champion has been getting tougher: 4 of his last 5 scores (I ommitted a game he threw against Brooklyn) are 68, 63, 64, and 68 and he's put up 15.5 or 15.0 stars on the midfield 4 of his last 5 games. Unfortunately, he had some brutal competition, drawing Iowa and losing to Chock, Brooklyn, Kaishaku, and myself so it didn't show up in the standings. For comparision, the last 7 weeks (i.e. the second half of the season), we've gotten 17 to 18.5 stars on the midfield except for the PIC walkover. We may be surpassing Iowa as he has only gotten 16.0 or 16.5.

Daed has been playing dirty, dirty ball the last couple of weeks as he is the most misunderstood team in all of Div IV with 1 red and 19 yellows. The goldurnears and Gargs are at 11 and 31 while seriesmate Iowa is at 32. While the Calibiri can dish it out, they can't take it back. He's 8th for most fragile teams with 4 injuries spanning 8 weeks. That distinction earns him the injury-card double-double and should serve as an example to everyone: if you play rough with other people's players, they probably will return it. Oh, and in case you didn't see: IV.61 averaged 80.3 NSI last week. Boy, that would be an unpleasant series to be in and even more impressive is that The X-Ecutioners ran through that series going 13-0-1 with a 53-7 goal differential.

Looks like the two autopromoting into IV.21 won't be so tough as last year- they get upper 50s in the ratings. The Golden Beers won V.216 and Digital Nova won V.160. Certainly not the same type of talent as last season when The Champion and myself got autopromoted in while Iowa won a qualification game. We didn't get so lucky on the other side of things- while Brooklyn is promoting out (good riddance! he's good guy but very tough), The Oompa-Loompas will be coming to Div IV- they put up ratings in the upper 80s to low 90s instead of Brooklyns upper 90s to low 100s. His strength is defense but his midfield is "only" excellent and formidable instead of Brooklyn's magnificents his last 3 weeks (home and away).

Finally, the qualification games involve The Champion and Iowa. The Champion gets Full Flanull from V.183 but they should dispatch them with relative easy. Lastly, I expected Iowa would get someone they could walk all over. Well, they get ausonny's Bees. That's definitely not an easy task! The Bees put up upper 60s to low 70s just like Iowa. However, Iowa gets the home game so they have the edge.

For the curious, CC's Dragons, who we battle tooth and nail with last season in V.62, they did pretty good this year after we left. They "only" collected all 42 points and outscored the series 80-1! Yes, 80-1! They were the 6th highest team to promote, going into IV.31, home of the South Bay Saints. Even more impressive is that he did that in a series (V.62) which was in the top 20 series for Div V all year.

In Closing
A thrilling comeback was a great way to end the regular season. We get to sit back and relax next weekend and I suppose there are worse ways to spend qualification weekend, namely losing. We have 2 more friendlies this season, going to Hrvatska this week and then hosing Doug and the Cyclone's rivalry week. It's probably good there's not much else here as I think that was the longest match report I've ever written.

SI

sterlingice · 11-03-2003, 04:44 AM

Pre-Game Analysis
One last friendly of the year, this time to Hrvatska and a top division team there: dada team is in 1.HNL in Croatia. Since Storm bumped, he'll be at wing as we try and sell him. Wellens and Little will be in the midfield along with Tryggvesson: this might actually be an improvement over last week's inadequate. As I suspected, last week was Derrick Solomon's final game as a Hippo unless an injury occurs. We'll definitely have a jersey retiring ceremony at a game next season.

Prediction
They tend to put up a passable midfield and solids and excellents elsewhere. We should probably not be playing them but it makes for a good challenge. We might even be able to hang with them if we get that inadequate midfield from last week. Still, they're better: a 4-2 loss.

Gameday Live
Date: 10/29/2003 at 08:45
MatchID: 9939617
Arena: lahovica stadion
Crowd: 3311

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 3311 to lahovica stadion. dada had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Svandahl - Askenmar, Vale Junior, Nilsson - Blánquez Pérez, Danièiæ, Nevešæanin, Heinen, Vinterland - Jozic, Roland.

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

dada seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Hippopotami had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 17:th minute when Juan Miguel Tizón came up alone against Magnus Svandahl who managed a block. Daniel Storm of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 25:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Magnus Svandahl saved Edwin Phelan´s shot headed for the top corner. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

The terraces were silenced in the 59:th minute as Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack from the right. Phillipe Roland pulled a real crowd pleaser as he, in the 60:th minute, wove through the guests whole central defense line and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. After 77 minutes Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 1 - 2. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, dada´s Robin Heinen got himself booked. The visitors Robert Tryggvesson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 79:th minute. 1 - 3 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 65 percent possession rate.

Most important dada player was Jan Askenmar. Robin Heinen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Thomas Little. Arcadio Sánchez on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3.

Statistics

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

Notes: Another smaller than expected crowd: only 3311. Still, more than enough to offset the travel expenses.

Team Ratings

dada team
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/57

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/52

Notes: Quite a few things of note here. First, this was his typical outing except normally he puts up a passable instead of weak midfield- I wonder what was up with that. Second, that's our first ever 50 for our B Team. Third, this is one of those games where I got beat on the NSI and still won through some fluke.

Player Ratings
GK Ignacio Sanchez **~
DM Elmer Bush ***
DW Jose Maria Miguel **~
DW Arcadio Sanchez *~
WI Daniel Storm (m) **~
MI Thomas Little ***~
MI Pierre Wellens (x) **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson **~
WI Koos Teepen (o) ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **

Total Stars: 28.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: None

Notes: Another B Team high- this one in stars. Little continues to amaze me at how quick he's progressing. Teepen also got a ***~ when I accidentall- I mean, when Coach Braden saw his offensive prowess and played him offensively. I'm going to have to try that. Arcadio Sanchez is still in a big slump, only getting *~ despite being a pass/solid wingback with inad experience.

The Postgame Show
Their three star goalie, Magnus Svandahl, saved a pair of shots in the first half, the only two scoring events. Tizon scored in the 59th minute but then they answered in the 60th. But then Tizon scored again in the 77th minute to give us the lead and Tryggvesson scored in the 79th minute, sending the 4 Hippo fans that traveled to Croatia back happy.

Three Stars
Two of the three are repeats from last week

Bronze: Koos Teepen
Got ***~ out on the wings for his first time
Silver: Robert Tryggvesson
Scored a goal for the second week in a row
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon
Scored a pair for the second week in a row including the game winner

Press Release
11/3/2003 at 04:24 Hippos a Hit in Hrvatska
For the second straight week, the Hippos went on the road and won against a top league opponent. Also, like last week, Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair as Houston came away from Croatia with a 3-1 win against dada team, who is in 1.HNL. This concludes the Friendly Hippo World Tour with Houston going 5-1 in international play.

Next week is rivalry week and Houston gets their first home friendly in weeks as reciprocal supporter Doug5984 brings his Louisiana Cyclones to visit the Hippodrome.

Friendly Hippo World Tour(TM) Wrapup
Six weeks ago, we hit the road with the intent to get some extra experience with an away game or two. But once it started, it sounded like a good idea to spend the rest of the season on the road visiting different locations. $36K in travel expenses and 4 continents later (NAmer/Aus/Eur/Asia), the Hippos had visited Canada, Oceania, Prathet Thai, Israel, Island, and Hrvatska. We went 5-1 including wins against two top league teams.

Next year, I'm going to try and do the Hippos Baltic Cup at some point, hitting Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania now that all three have leagues. Now, my goal is to visit as many countries as possible before I stop playing hattrick and spread the gospel of the run-and-shoot.

In Closing
A great way to end the season! Next week, we have the rivalry game against Louisiana in the inbetween week. Training update then Louisiana game and then awards. Eventually, I'll have a post to a new thread and hopefully I won't take 4 weeks to get caught up and be behind all season. Lastly- check out the FAQ thread on the Hattrick board! I'm reviving the FAQ and anything you want included- post it there and it will likely get in there.

SI

Havok · 11-03-2003, 05:27 AM

writers block no more!

sterlingice · 11-03-2003, 06:21 AM

Training
We got a minor bump this week as 29yo winger Koos Teepen bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid playmaking, stamina and excellent set pieces. HAM lists Mick Starks at 150% of training at playmaking with no bump. Also, I noticed I mixed some of last week's report in with this weeks so if stats seem repetitive in places, they probably are.

Future Training
Two set pieces weeks this offseason.

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

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Benito, Starks, Bush, Spagnuolo, Schrader
Passable: Connors, Meek, Kimber, Teepen, Cristiano, Phelan
Inadequate: -none-
Weak (or below): -none-

Phelan's back out of his mini slump and everyone is passable or solid. Too bad it's the offseason so it won't last.

Value
Starters: (+9) (-1)
Entire Team: (+13) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 10(+0)/14(-2)
Above $200K: 7(+0)/4(-1)
Above $300K: 4(+0)/5(+1)
Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($554K)
Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($490K)
Milestones: -none-

Storm was sold so that accounts for the $200K guy who left while last week's youth pull was the other $100K guy. I can't track down the milestone for $300K but I think I just left it off a couple of weeks ago when Little bumped.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 34868 (-$1200)
Total Value: 4421000 (-116000)
Avg Value: 210524 (+4247)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 21 (-1)
Nationalities: 11 (-1)

Notes: Again, the player lost was Storm.

Youth Pull, Week 20.15
Good money from last week's youth pull: after a mini bidding war, Sverige Div VI team Killing all-stars bought him for $155K. He has no history of daytrading but he turned back around and is trying to sell him for $250. I doubt he's going to get that. This week's youth pull is Ronald Johsnon. He's an 18yo with passable stamina and passable playmaking. I'll put him up for $30K and see if he sells. If not, he'll get relisted at $10K and let a bidding war happen.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 43
Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 16 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1294000 (+155000)

Youth Pull
Ronald Johnson (20113145)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Assessed value: 62 000 US$
Wage: 800 US$/week

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

Conditions

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

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1531 members (+22)
Supporters: high on life (NC)

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

20.15 Week In Review

On the Field
In dramatic come-from-behind fashion, we scored 5 goals in the final 15 minutes of the game to turn a 2-0 loss into a 5-2 win and clinch 4th place. Meek and Phelan both had 2 goals. In our friendly, we concluded the Friendly Hippo World Tour, winning 3-1 against dada team from the top series in Hrvatska.

Off the Field
Huge news as we put UberTrainee(TM) Daniel Storm up for sale. He didn't sell at $950K but we got a bite at $850K from Olongapo-Metro FC Head Hunters who just promoted into the Philippine League, the top league in the Philippines. He also won the cup last season. Veteran winger Koos Teepen popped to solid playmaking and our youth pull will sell for a modest sum.

SI

sterlingice · 11-03-2003, 06:22 AM

Finally
I'm caught up and it only took the entire season

Next season, I'm hoping to be more on top of things. I suppose that wouldn't take much.

So, anyways, right now I'm looking to possibly sell Meek if anyone will actually jump on him at over $200K. I'm kindof split- I'd like to keep him another year- he'd always put up 3.5 to 4.0 stars but with Little progressing so quickly, he puts up 3.5 stars now and it would free up another trainee spot if I promoted him to the A Team.

The one problem is that it will weaken my team temporarily and next season will start pretty rough with @Chock, vs Iowa, @TheChampion, and vsOompah (the Div III relegee) to start the season. There's not an easy game there, tho I might want to PIC against Chock, eat the loss and start the season off right. I'll worry about that as the game gets a little closer. The one handy thing is that the middle of my schedule is pretty cushy with the 2 promotees giving me 4 pretty winnable games and Kaishaku is the only nasty team in that stretch.

Anyways, as much as I'd love to do a "Where are they now"- it's just not possible at the moment because of school this week. But I'll get the Awards Banquet post up this weekend.

SI

sterlingice · 11-04-2003, 07:24 AM

The Die Has Been Cast
As of this morning, Herschel Meek has been sold for to a team in, where else, Sverige. Meek was a 28yo unpredictable middie who got us 3.5 to 4.0 stars per game and helped power our midfield this year. However, with the quick progress of 18yo UberTrainee(TM) Thomas Little, Meek's time was up in Houston. He was purchased last offseason as a stopgap measure until the UberTrainees were ready and his veteran leadership helped the team greatly down the stretch as he scored 9 of the last 15 goals this season. He understood that if he stayed, it would be in a greatly diminished role and chose instead, when management approached him, to go to another team and help them in a greater capacity. He was purchased for under $130K and sold for $286K.

Next season, the Hippos will possibly play both wings and midfielders offensive for the first time (with the extra middie staying back, of course). This also means, we'll be in the market for a new UberTrainee(TM) as Little joins the starting ranks. That $1.5M sitting in the bank, primarily from the sales of Daniel Storm and Meek, will certainly come in handy.

SI

sterlingice · 11-06-2003, 01:44 AM

Pre-Game Analysis
It's rivalry week and we will be hitting up our third of five mutual supporters for a rivarly game, Doug5984's Louisiana Cyclones. Two seasons ago, Morrisville beat us 4-2 under clouds. Last season, we beat ausonny's Bees 1-0 (who just missed out on joining IV.21 when Iowa beat them last week) in the rain. This week, more rain. We'll be trotting out our "new look" starting lineup for next season with Little now on the A Team at offensive middie, Koos Teepen now playing offensive wing, and Arcadio Sanchez at wingback (even with his form slump).

Prediction
We're putting out our starters which means I'll be putting up a 75ish NSI and either a solid or excellent midfield. He'll be putting up 70-75 but only an inad midfield. Midfield trumps defense: 3-1 Hippos.

Gameday Live
Date: 11/6/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 10002275
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1306

Due to an all-day shower, 1306 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Sánchez - Teepen, Benito, Connors, Little, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo.

Louisiana had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Hendrix - Stubblefield, Rusu, Blalock, Rusu, Moore - Crespo, Kumar, Oskarsson - Tunna, Pedrosa Garcia.

Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Louisiana clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could, using their excellent talent for it. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Koos Teepen somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Mick Starks who struck for 1 - 0. Hippopotami put their lead ahead another goal as Gualtiero Spagnuolo struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. Gualtiero Spagnuolo should probably have put his team up another goal in the 14:th minute, but some great goaltending by Tracy Hendrix kept the visitors in the game. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Thomas Little putting the lead up to 3 - 0. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 79 percent possession rate.

Louisiana seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Hippopotami put themselves up 4 - 0 when Thomas Little broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. Hippopotami put themselves up 5 - 0 when Carlos Alberto Benito broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. Tracy Hendrix was caught napping a bit later as Clement Schrader lifted a ball over him after a free kick, but the ball hit the bar, rebounding into the keepers arms. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 85 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. Arcadio Sánchez on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Louisiana player was without a doubt Cody Stubblefield. However, Sebastian Rusu made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 0.

Statistics

Stadium
Terraces: 838/20000
Basic seats: 292/8000
Seats under roof: 125/3200
VIP seats: 51/800
Total: 1306/32000

Notes: Too bad for the rain- we would have had a pretty big crowd, otherwise. Only made about $4K.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: outstanding (10)
Central Attack: outstanding (10)
Left Side Attack: outstanding (10)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/73

Louisiana Cyclones
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Central Defence: supernatural (14)
Left Side Defence: supernatural (14)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/64

Notes: I think our midfield is just fine with Little in there. An excellent even with both middies and wings playing offensive. Our defense needs a little help now with no one playing back but we'll see how this season progresses. But, of course, the big story is that our offense was outstanding across the front!

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Lorenzo Cristiano ***
DM Clement Schrader ***
DW Arcadio Sanchez *~
WI Koos Teepen (o) ***~
MI Thomas Little (o) ***~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ****~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ***~

Total Stars: 36.5
Total player experience: poor
Team Attitude: Friendly
Tactics: Attack in the Middle

Notes: Benito follows up his ****~ last week with another ****~ today. Connors, Teepen, Starks, Little, Timber, and Spagnuolo all got ***~ so that makes 7 with ***~ or higher. Phelan is still hanging out around **~ and Arcadio Sanchez is still in a brutal form slump.

The Postgame Show
With the huge midfield advantage, we got 79% possession in the first half and 85% in the second half. the Cyclones never had an event. The only mention of one of their players was Tracy Hendrix who made a save in the first half and then was caught napping in the second half but Clement Schrader's shot hit off the crossbar. Mick Starks scored the first goal and Gualtiero Spagnuolo scored the second before the game was 10 minutes old. Thomas Little scored one before the half and one after the half and Benito scored the last goal as we won 5-0.

Three Stars
Sure Kimber pitched the shutout but the offense was the star

Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito
Another ****~ and a goal
Silver: Mick Starks
Scored the first goal of the game which turned out to be the game winner
Gold: Thomas Little
A pair of goals and an excellent midfield show I have little to worry about with him in the middle

Press Release
11/6/2003 at 08:40 Hippos beat Cyclones for Rivalry Week Win
UberTrainee(TM) turned starter Thomas Little scored twice and Timber pitched a shutout as the Hippos shut out reciprocal supporter Louisiana Cyclones in their rivalry week game. Coach Braden's unpopular decision to sell Herchel Meek and elevate Thomas Little to starter has proven to be the right decision for now as all attacks were outstanding and midfield was excellent. However, the defense suffered without Meek helping out and Braden will have to answer this problem in the coming weeks.

In Closing
I'm trying to figure out where I most need to spend the $1.5M in cash I have. I need a trainee but I'm not sure how much I want to spend on that and until I figure that out next week, I won't know where else I plan on improving my team. For our Cup game next week, we will play the Mississippi Samurais (Mississippi... Samurais...?) from VI.389, a computer controlled team.

SI

sterlingice · 11-14-2003, 02:49 PM

Training
Set pieces training since it's the offseason. It seemed a better option than stamina because, of our projected starting 11, 8 of them are at excellent stamina and the other 3 are at solid. The UberTrainees(TM) are at inad but there are only two currently. So, I went with set pieces. Our team is going to be pretty good by the end of the next two weeks. A couple of guys bumped to excellent, three more bumped to solid and all the starters are now poor or better. The really good news is that form stayed high even with only half the team playing.

Future Training
Another week of set pieces then back on rigorous playmaking training. Hopefully all 14 weeks next season.

Form
Starters: (+5) (-1)
Entire Team: (+9) (-2)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Starks (exc), Schrader (exc), Benito, Bush, Phelan, Kimber, Little
Passable: Connors, Teepen, Cristiano, Spagnuolo
Inadequate: -none-
Weak (or below): -none-

Looks like our form is holding.

Value
Starters: (+6) (-4)
Entire Team: (+10) (-7)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 11(+1)/16(+2)
Above $200K: 7(+0)/10(+0)
Above $300K: 5(+0)/5(+0)
Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($552K)
Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($510K)
Milestones: Elmer Bush ($100K)

For the first time ever, all of our starters are $100K or over! Elmer Bush, who has been with us for quite a while finally went over the $100K mark. And just in time for wages week. D'oh.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 33428 (-$1440)
Total Value: 4332000 (-89000)
Avg Value: 216600 (+6076)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 20 (-1)
Nationalities: 11 (NC)

Notes: Those wages are going to shoot way up next week.

20.16 Week In Review

On the Field
The fixture season was over, so the starters played the Rivalry Week Game. This year, 1306 fans saw Timber throw a shutout and a pair of goals by newly promoted Thomas Little as the Hippos rolled 5-0.

Off the Field
Thomas Little got promoted to starter because we figured he could take over for Herschel Meek, who sold this past week for $286K. That money puts our bank account at roughly $1.5M and will go towards a new Uber Trainee(TM) and a future coach. If there is cash left over, I'll look into mid 20s aged guys at wingback and striker who could play with us for a couple of years.

Closing
That's it! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. There is nothing else to see this week- the youth pull and economy updates are actually part of next week and next season so check there. The awards banquet will be up in the next two days- so check back here then!

SI

vex · 03-12-2004, 12:48 PM

Ok now, you took a season's break, now get on the ball.

sterlingice · 03-12-2004, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vexroid

Ok now, you took a season's break, now get on the ball.

Sorry, but it's just not possible this semester. I have at least one programming project due every week and these aren't little "hello world"s. Scatter those in with tests and the godforsaken mathema-- err... comp sci theory class and I don't see the Hippos back until summer.

It's a real shame, too, because I think I could be breaking formatting ground with the Hippos dynasty. So many cool new toys to play with thanks to the WYSIWYG editor.

SI

09-29-2003, 02:47 PM	#52
DukeRulesMAB College Prospect Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Alexandria, VA	It's amazing that **/~/*** in the central midfield isn't better than a passable midfield. That's one nice team you've got there, though, to be able to at least hang in that series. Hopefully Brooklyn will get out of your hair for next season. __________________ FOBL: Where anyone not in IAP FOFL: I may be the commish, but it's still pretty good.

09-29-2003, 03:34 PM	#54
DukeRulesMAB College Prospect Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Alexandria, VA	Doesn't playing a guy defensively/offensively just take away from the other side (read: Meeks would get less from his Passing, Starks less from his defense)? Or is that yet another error in the HT rules, and it takes away from the playmaking as well? Really, one of these days, they gotta get those rules right; a lot of HT users don't spend time on forums like this one to find out about these things. __________________ FOBL: Where anyone not in IAP FOFL: I may be the commish, but it's still pretty good.

09-29-2003, 06:28 PM	#57
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.9: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training Another yawner of a week: no bumps at all. That said, form keeps going up. Future Training Stamina next week. Then back to playmaking Form Starters: (+5) (-3) Entire Team: (+10) (-8) Starters Form Solid (or above): Kimber(exc) Miguel(exc) Benito Christiano Spagnuolo Meek Phelan Passable: Connors Teepen Inadequate: Starks Bush Weak (or below): Only two below passable. That will probably change after next week's stamina training. Value Starters: (+7) (-3) Entire Team: (+16) (-6) Value Highlights Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+1) Above $200K: 6(-1)/9(-1) Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0) Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($535K) Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($453K) Milestones: Benito ($400K), Meek ($200K), Storm ($200K) That little ripple in the $200K level is Meek dropping back to $197K. Mick Starks is almost back to above $300K. That $535K from Kimber is another franchise high and Benito jumped over $30K up to $453K and another franchise high for outfielders. He will eventually pass up Timber. The new $100K guy is Arcadio Sanchez, see below. Team Stats Total Wages: 35848 (+1664) Total Value: 4258000 (+403000) Avg Value: 185130 (+9903) Avg Age: 23 (+1) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (up from wretched) No of players: 23 (+1) Nationalities: 13 (+1) Youth Pull, Week 20.09 Guillory from last week sold for a disappointing $119K. This week's youth pull wasn't much better. He's barely sellable but he should get a couple grand. Oh well- at least the Guillory sale did get us past the $1M mark for total youth sales. The total profit at this point is $395K. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 37 Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 11 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0) Total Sold for: 1110000 (+115000) Youth Pull Werner Murillo (16573811) 18 years, passable form, healthy A controversial person who is balanced and honest. Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities. Nationality: USA Assessed value: 16 000 US$ Wage: 580 US$/week Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: wretched Passing: poor Winger: passable Defending: weak Scoring: poor Set Pieces: weak Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: high on life (NC) Supporter Club: 1415 members (+4) Supporters: content (down 1 level from delerious) Team Spirit: composed (NC) Confidence: poor (down 1 level from decent) This loss finally hit us in the pocketbooks as only 4 new supporters signed up. Also, our confidence is at its lowest level ever. 20.09 Week In Review On the Field Nothing good came out of fixture play this week. We got shelled 5-0 to Kaishaku and Iowa pulled a draw at Brooklyn out of their ass to all but end our chances of catching them and finishing in the money. We are now in 6th as The Champion pulled ahead of us. Then we lost an epic game to bigjdotcom01's West Henrietta FC. We were up 3-1, then down 4-3, and then tied before getting beaten in the last couple minutes. So, we left this year's FOFC Cup in the Round of 32. Time for some international friendlies. Off the Field Guillory sold for a disappointing $115K. However, we did sell 3rd winger Ivan Viseslav for a good $115K. This will open up more playing time for UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens. Not only that but I only dangled him out there because I didn't figure he would sell for that much. This week's youth pull was kindof disappointing and might sell for a few grand. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-04-2003, 03:30 PM	#58
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.10 Fixture: Houston Hippopotami - Brooklyn United Preview We should get drilled this week. Brooklyn is one of the best teams in all of Div IV. We just got dropped into 6th in our series after last week. He has put up 90+ NSI every week. I've never broken 70. He has 4 national team players. We have... um... Timber. Everyone loves Timber. And Mick, the crazy man. He has two guys who make as much as most of our team. But we catch a break as one is injured. Even without the services of 5.5 star middie Stephen Rumbold, Brooklyn should be able to crush the Hippos. I suppose that's why games aren't played on paper, but inside little computer boxes... cue NFL Primetime music Game Summary A scorching day at The Hippodrome, where 24257 spectators were in place for today´s match. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Teepen, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Brooklyn had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Lineup: Pandey - Almansa, Karlsson, Kurkawa, Montes - Maternia, Benson, Mccloud, Iancu - Otegi, Zaslawski. A free kick aimed at the keepers far post almost gave Brooklyn the lead in the 13th minute, but the ball just wasn´t able to squirm it´s way through the defensive wall. In the 28:th minute Hippopotamis Stephen Connors received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Brooklyn were forced to a substitution as Víctor Javier Almansa couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 55 percent possession rate. A questionable penalty in the 53rd minute gave the home side the lead 1 - 0. The visitors goaltender didn´t stand a chance as Herschel Meek knocked the ball home. Visitors Geert Shams was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 69:th minute. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate. Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Elmer Bush on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Brooklyn player was without a doubt Cory Benson. However, Geert Shams made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1. 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 Halftime Score: 0-0 Possession: 55% 2nd Half HH: 53: Herchel Meek (2): 1-0 BU: 69: 1-1 Final Score: 1-1 Possession: 54% Final Possession: 55% Cards HH: 28: Stephen Connors (yellow- going into a challenge studs first) Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 14975/20000 Basic seats: 6470/8000 Seats under roof: 2270/3200 VIP seats: 542/800 Total: 24257/32000 Not even a full house came. Thousands upon thousands more will claim they saw it. Team Ratings Houston Hippopotami Midfield: solid (7) Right Side Defence: formidable (9) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: excellent (8) Central Attack: formidable (9) Left Side Attack: formidable (9) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/72 Brooklyn United Midfield: passable (6) Right Side Defence: world class (13) Central Defence: mythical (17) Left Side Defence: world class (13) Right Side Attack: formidable (9) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: weak (4) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/51 WOO! That shattered our old high of 69 and our only non-excellent or higher was midfield. Wow! Mythical, you say?!? That's only 3 levels below utopian! Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber ** DW Lorenzo Cristiano ~ DM Jose Maria Miguel DW Elmer Bush ~ WI Koos Teepen * 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: 36.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Normal The 36.5 stars beats our previous high of 35. Another ~//~ midfield won the possession battle for us. Cristiano with ~ for the first time ever! Unfortunately, Bush on the other side dropped down to ~ from his * in weeks past. Three Stars Hard to hand out just 3 after this big draw Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano His 3.5 star defensive performance probably helped turn back the goal early in the game Silver: Herchel Meek Scored our only goal this week Gold: Tim Kimber Kept Brooklyn to only 1 goal total Game Summary Are you kidding me?!? No, I mean really?!? Certainly this is the most improbable win (hell, it's a win to me) ever in our franchise's history. For about 15 minutes there, I was even winning! I needed this to get back in the chase for the money. It's still a longshot but at least, with this hugely improbable tie, it's possible. Press Release** 9/22/2003 at 19:16 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. Around the League zfan is officially a walkover, Chock essentially had a walkover, and a huge upset that hurts us bad in the standings zfan - Kaishaku F.C. 0 - 5 Since zfan's lineup was reset, Kaishaku got a walkover. We have zfan next week. Team Groomers - The Champion 2 - 2 Carson Souza's two goals led Team Groomers to a draw with The Champion. I think The Champion PIC'd on the road and both teams only put up inadequate midfields and sub 60 NSIs. Iowa Enforcers - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 1 - 6 Anders Jansson scored in the 82nd minute in their first game to give Chock a 1-0 win in Iowa. Today, he didn't leave the game in doubt. He scored 4 goals and took the series scoring lead as Iowa was beaten in every facet of the game. Chock is finally starting to look like the team we expected them to be. Chock's game at Kiashaku will likely decide 2nd place (provided Brooklyn doesn't have any more unexpected hiccups). League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 34 - 5 23 82 2. Kaishaku F.C. 26 - 11 21 9 3. Chock Full of Whole 32 - 19 19 87 4. Iowa Enforcers 16 - 17 13 71 5. The Champion 17 - 10 11 59 6. Houston Hippopotami 17 - 24 10 72 7. zfan 11 - 37 6 9 8. Team Groomers 9 - 36 1 52 Iowa gets thrashed pretty good which means if we can beat them at home by ~3 goals, we will take over #4. Not only that, but The Champion's unexpected draw makes this a 2 team race rather than a 3 team race, provided we win our games against both of them. Hatstats No hatstats for this week because I forgot to check it before the new week. Notes Wow! Not our biggest win, but our most impressive game ever! We broke 70 NSI and 35 stars as I had wanted earlier in the season. What a game! We're back in the running for the money, at least sort of. We have to beat Iowa pretty good or get some help and that's provided I can take care of business. Needless to say, our confidence went up after the game, so four of our five sports shrinks are no longer with the club. Next up for our pumped team is a trip to Canada to face the Thoroughbreds, a #1 Div IV team. Next week, we get zfan and a walkover PIC. Suddenly things are looking up for us! SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-06-2003, 05:49 PM	#59
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.10 Friendly: Thoroughbreds - Houston Hippopotami Preview It's kindof an international friendly. We head to exotic, foreign... Canada. We'll be facing the #1 team in IV.19 called the Thoroughbreds and owned by Kinghaven. I know I'm giving away the first 120 minutes of the game, but we've never been in a shootout before this week Game Summary Date: 9/24/2003 at 23:00 MatchID: 9699582 Arena: Thoroughbreds Arena Crowd: 3109 3109 spectators had come to Thoroughbreds Arena this cloudy day. Thoroughbreds started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Tinham - Murray, Rinfret, Amyot, Bowman, Bax - Baker, Darroze, Forcier, Hjortvall - Aubin. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Schrader, Miquel, Bush - Teepen, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Wellens - Solomon, Tizón. Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Hippopotami had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Charles Tinham saved Derrick Solomon´s shot headed for the top corner. Aurèle Forcier of Thoroughbreds received a yellow card in the 16:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. This was a good period for the visitors with several opportunities to take the lead, in particular when Robert Tryggvesson slipped through the defense to come up alone with Charles Tinham - but the home side´s keeper showed some lightning reflex 0 - 0 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 58 percent possession rate. What ever got into Aurèle Forcier, the crowd mumbled, as he suddenly struck a cross pass through the own defense - ending up right in front of Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón, who easily put the ball away for 0-1. After 48 minutes of play Denis Aubin equalised for Thoroughbreds after an elegant attack from the right. Thoroughbreds tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Thoroughbreds´s Yannick Rinfret got himself booked. Several players now looked tired, especially Alfons Bax who quite horribly caused the 1 - 2 goal as he lost the ball to Clement Schrader of Hippopotami, who seemed to have some energy left. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 72nd minute, Denis Aubin of Thoroughbreds evened the score to 2 - 2. Thoroughbreds held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate. After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of overtime followed. Thoroughbreds made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Denis Aubin completely alone with keeper Ignacio Sánchez, who made a spectacular block. There was still no winner after 30 minutes of extra time so the teams had to select a lineup for a penalty contest to settle the result. Thoroughbreds´s David Darroze cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 3 - 2. Hippopotami´s Derrick Solomon had nerves of steel at the penalty, changing the score to 3 - 3. Thoroughbreds´s Gregory Murray looked insecure all the way from laying the ball down to clipping the ball miles wide of the crossbar. No goal. Hippopotami´s José María Miquel seemed nervous, putting the ball to the centre of the goal. Charles Tinham however, made an early dive to the right, the ball passing him. 3 - 4. Thoroughbreds´s Peter Hjortvall cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 4 - 4. Hippopotami´s Clement Schrader cooly put the ball past Charles Tinham. 4 - 5. Thoroughbreds´s Charles Tinham made no mistake. Ignacio Sánchez didn´t have a chance. 5 - 5. Hippopotami´s Koos Teepen made no mistake. Charles Tinham didn´t have a chance. 5 - 6. Thoroughbreds´s Yannick Rinfret cooly put the ball past Ignacio Sánchez. 6 - 6. Hippopotami´s Pierre Wellens made no mistake. Charles Tinham didn´t have a chance. 6 - 7. The most dominating Thoroughbreds player was without a doubt Dave Amyot. However, Peter Hjortvall made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was José María Miquel. Clement Schrader was a disappointment, however. The match ends 6 - 7. 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 TB: 5-4-1 Events Summary 1st Half Halftime Score: 0-0 Possession: 58% 2nd Half HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 1-0 TB: 48: 1-1 HH: xx: Clement Schrader (F): 2-1 TB: 72: 2-2 Score (end of regulation): 2-2 Possession: 40% Overtime Score (end of overtime): 2-2 Penalty Shots TB: 1/5: make: 2-3 HH: 1/5: make: Derrick Solomon (F): 3-3 TB: 2/5: miss: 3-3 HH: 2/5: make: Jose Maria Miguel (F): 4-3 TB: 3/5: make: 4-4 HH: 3/5: make: Clement Schrader (F): 5-4 TB: 4/5: make: 5-5 HH: 4/5: make: Koos Teepen (F): 6-5 TB: 5/5: make: 6-6 HH: 5/5: make: Pierre Wellens (F): 7-6 Final Score: 7-6 Final Possession: 49% Cards None Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Our second highest attendance ever for a friendly as 3109 Canadians watched. Our previous high was when we went to Hong Kong. Team Ratings Thoroughbreds Midfield: poor (3) Right Side Defence: excellent (8) Central Defence: magnificent (12) Left Side Defence: brilliant (11) Right Side Attack: weak (4) Central Attack: wretched (2) Left Side Attack: poor (3) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 46/49 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: poor (3) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: passable (6) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: passable (6) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/46 Hopefully our last friendly of poor midfield. This week is stamina training week. Player Ratings GK Ignacio Sanchez *~ DW Clement Schrader ~ DM Jose Maria Miguel * DW Elmer Bush ~ WI Koos Teepen * MI Daniel Storm ~ MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) ~ MI Thomas Little (o) ~ WI Pierre Wellens (o) * FO Derrick Solomon FO Juan Miguel Tizon ~ Total Stars: 27.5 Total player experience: wretched Team Attitude: Friendly Another total star high for a friendly. Ignacio Sanchez only put up ~ in his second game but he came up huge! Our three middies all got ~ tonight. Three Stars Sanchez definitely showing his worth Bronze: Pierre Wellens 17yo UberTrainee(TM) with first game winning goal Silver: Clement Schrader He scored a goal in regulation and in the shootout Gold: Ignacio Sanchez Makes a save in OT and saves a goal in the shootout for the win Game Summary Our first ever shootout and it was fun. Sure it was a friendly against a random Canadian team, but it was cool. Then again, we have awesome set pieces (well, for a team not named Beckys Babes) as Solomon, Schrader, Miguel, and Teepen are all solid or excellent. Wellens, who scored the game winner, has an inadequate. Looks like I made a good choice with our new backup keeper, too. For all the scoring we did, he made a huge save in overtime and then another in the shootout. For the Thoroughbreds, Denis Aubin had an awesome game (see below). Press Release** 9/28/2003 at 01:56 Hippos Win First Ever Shootout in Canadian Friendly Ninety minutes were not long enough to decide the match between the Thoroughbreds and Hippos. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 2-2. Denis Aubin, author of the previous Thoroughbreds goals, missed on the only chance in OT so the game went to PKs. Houston won 5-4 after Solomon, Miguel, Schrader, Teepen and Wellens all scored. The difference was a miss by Gregory Murray which went clear past the goal and keeper Ignacio Sánchez. Tizon and Schrader scored Houston's regulation goals. Notes Thanks to our neighbors to the north for a nice international friendly. Next up, we head to Oceania. I tried to get a friendly in someplace more off the beaten path such as the Far East or Baltic States but the accepted friendly didn't go through. Still, I'm sure we'll enjoy our trip to Oceania. Inbetween stops on the Hippo World Tour, we will PIC zfan this week in a walkover. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 10-06-2003 at 06:39 PM.

10-06-2003, 06:44 PM	#60
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.10: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training The long awaited stamina training week worked out about as good as I could have hoped. Pierre Wellens went up 2 levels to inadequate while Storm, Tryggvesson, and Little all went up one level to inad, inad, and passable. None of my starters needed any help (7 are excellent) but all of my trainees went up! Also, my form wasn't destroyed. Little's form remained in the crapper at weak but the other three UberTrainees(TM) are at solid. For starters, only 3 of the 11 players are below passable. Future Training Back to playmaking the rest of the year. Form Starters: (+1) (-6) Entire Team: (+3) (-11) Starters Form Solid (or above): Connors Benito Christiano Spagnuolo Kimber Miguel Passable: Meek Phelan Inadequate: Starks Teepen Weak (or below): Bush Hopefully not much damage will be inflicted next week in the delay week. Value Starters: (+5) (-6) Entire Team: (+13) (-8) Value Highlights Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0) Above $200K: 6(+0)/9(+0) Above $300K: 2(+0)/2(+0) Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($521K) Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($463K) Milestones: None Not much movement this week. Then again, it's a stamina week. Team Stats Total Wages: 36208 (+360) Total Value: 4204000 (-54000) Avg Value: 191091 (+5961) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 22 (-1) Nationalities: 12 (-1) Youth Pull, Week 20.10 Last week's Werner Murillo sold for a whopping $1K. This week's is 17yo Brian Collier and he might garner that same $1K. Nothing impressive. Looks like I may be back in a youth pull slump. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 38 Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 12 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0) Total Sold for: 1111000 (+1000) Youth Pull Brian Collier (16847419) 17 years, passable form, healthy A controversial person who is calm and honest. Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities. Speciality: Powerful Nationality: USA Assessed value: 31 000 US$ Wage: 640 US$/week Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor Winger: inadequate Defending: disastrous Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (up from high on life) Supporter Club: 1425 members (+10) Supporters: high on life (up from content) Team Spirit: calm (up from composed) Confidence: wonderful (up from wonderful) Nothing like a draw with Brooklyn to get your confidence from poor to wonderful. Actually, that's probably the reading after the next game. 20.10 Week In Review On the Field We did the unthinkable and drew Brooklyn United! Herschel Meek scored the only goal and Timber made it stand up. Not only that but we got all time highs for stars (36.5) and NSI (72). If we win 3 of our next 4 (losing to Chock), we will finish in the money! And to think, this looked impossible a week ago. Then we went on the road and beat the Canadian Thoroughbreds in our first ever shootout, even if it was in a friendly. Ignacio Sanchez stopped a goal in overtime and then stopped a shootout shot. The Hippos scored on all 5 of their shootout shots including the game winner by Pierre Wellens. Clement Schrader scored both in regulation and in the shootout. Off the Field Last week's youth pull only sold for $1K. This week's will also sell for under $10K. It appears that we're in a bit of a youth pull slump. Last week's training bump, former starting winger Ivan Viseslav sold, however. He was 20yo but only was a pass pm/pass winger and sold for $115K. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-19-2003, 09:41 AM	#61
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.11 Fixture: Houston Hippopotami - zfan Preview Hippos soccer... it's EXCITEMENT! Well, no, this week, we have our first ever walkover. So not much to report: we win 5-0, get Wellens a nice week of full training instead of half training, and a crappy crowd because it's pouring rain. Not quite last week's exciting draw with Brooklyn is it? Game Summary Date: 9/29/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 8327006 Arena: The Hippodrome Crowd: 13732 13732 spectators had found their way to The Hippodrome, despite the heavy rain. People from all of Houston had joined up for the derby. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Wellens, Benito, Connors, Little, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo. zfan tactics involved an interesting 0-0-0 combination. Lineup: - - - . The visitors weren´t able to produce at least 9 players, which is the minimum amount allowed, so they had to concede to a walk over. The spectators, who had all been looking forward to an exciting game, were of course very disappointed. The match ends 5 - 0. Events and Stats N/A Stadium Terraces: 8492/20000 Basic seats: 3770/8000 Seats under roof: 1173/3200 VIP seats: 297/800 Total: 13732/32000 "The spectators, who had all been looking forward to an exciting game, were of course very disappointed." We see this as a sign of support after our Brooklyn game last week not as 13K stupid wet fans who came to not see a game. Team Ratings Houston Hippopotami Midfield: disastrous (1) Right Side Defence: disastrous (1) Central Defence: disastrous (1) Left Side Defence: disastrous (1) Right Side Attack: disastrous (1) Central Attack: disastrous (1) Left Side Attack: disastrous (1) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 7/9 zfan Midfield: disastrous (1) Right Side Defence: disastrous (1) Central Defence: disastrous (1) Left Side Defence: disastrous (1) Right Side Attack: disastrous (1) Central Attack: disastrous (1) Left Side Attack: disastrous (1) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 7/9 Bah. Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber ** DW Lorenzo Cristiano ~ DM Jose Maria Miguel DW Elmer Bush WI Pierre Wellens * MI Thomas Little (o) ~ MI Stephen Connors (x) *~ MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) WI Mick Starks (o) * FO Edwin Phelan ~ FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ~ Total Stars: 34.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Play It Cool About the only stats section worth anything today. Cristiano's rise in form has been offset by Bush's unfortunately so the defense has held pretty steady. I'm hoping recent acquisition Arcadio Sanchez (not to be confused with backup goalie Ignacio Sanchez) can help stabilize the defense back there. Wellens got a solid on the wing this week and will be getting full playmaking training this week when he plays middie in our friendly. Also, not to be lost is that we did get a PIC out of this game. Three Stars N/A Game Summary N/A Press Release** 10/2/2003 at 0:00 Hippos Win Walkover Since there was no match to talk about, the Hippos would like to thank all of their fans and supporters in this, their first season in Div IV. And a special thanks to our supporters: ausonny NevStar vexroid Doug5984 Eilim NAIWF robbgmaier Coffee Warlord Flatulon And to all the guys at: FOFC Kraftworks Union Thanks from the Hippos! Around the League Kaishaku got to pound Team Groomers while Brooklyn and Chock faced off and an unlikely draw that helps us out Kaishaku F.C. - Team Groomers 5 - 0 Hugh Ruffle scored twice for Kaishaku, who got their second straight 5-0 win after getting the walkover against zfan last week. Brooklyn United - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 2 - 1 This is a bit different than their first meeting of the season. Brooklyn was looking to establish series dominance and laid it on Chock, with a 107 NSI to their 94, winning 8-0 at the Creamy Nougat Center. This time, it looked like Chock had conceded a loss at Champions Park and only put up an 87. However, Brooklyn foresaw this and "only" put up a 97. The game was tied until late in the second half when Team Chile forward Joaquin Otegi (titanic! experience) scored the game winning goal for BU. That's at least his 3rd game winning goal in tight games for Brooklyn this season. The Champion - Iowa Enforcers 3 - 3 Iowa took The Champion too lightly on the road and let us back into the race for the money! At halftime, The Champion was up 3-0 but had to settle for a draw as their lack of stamina kicked in. The Champion should have won this game but they missed on three chances. Their 68 NSI was a season high and likely an MotS as their previous season high was a 63. Iowa, on the other hand, put up their second lowest rating of the season at 67. League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 36 - 6 26 97 2. Kaishaku F.C. 31 - 11 24 78 3. Chock Full of Whole 33 - 21 19 87 4. Iowa Enforcers 19 - 20 14 67 5. Houston Hippopotami 22 - 24 13 9 6. The Champion 20 - 15 12 68 7. zfan 11 - 42 6 9 8. Team Groomers 9 - 41 1 53 Just two weeks ago, we were in 6th place plotting our qualification game strategy. Now, if we win against Iowa in two weeks, we will move into 4th place and will be in the driver's seat for the money. However, we still have a game against Chock left that's a likely loss. But they have an equally tough game against Kaishaku. Not to slight, The Champion, but their position is an illusion. They may play spoiler and beat us the last week of the season, screwing us to 5th while Iowa takes 4th. However, they won't be able to finish in the money as they have to face a Chock-Brooklyn-Kaishaku gauntlet in their next 3 games. Hatstats No hatstats this week. Besides, with zfan giving out a pair of 9's every week, our series had plunged into the 20s. Notes So, my computer goes out and the only update you get over a weak and a half is a walkover. Sorry, Hippo faithful. There's more coming, I promise. The Friendly Hippo World Tour(TM) takes us to sunny Oceania, home of the Royal Magpies. Next week, I face Team Groomers, which should be a pretty easy victory. However, it's on the road and PIC'ing on the road is a bad idea unless you're playing someone truly awful. Then the week after that, the showdown with Iowa at the 'drome with 4th place and finishing in the money at stake. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-20-2003, 01:01 AM	#62
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.11 Friendly: Royal Magpies - Houston Hippopotami Preview We go on the road, continuing the Friendly Hippo World Tour (logo to be created later). This week we will take on the Royal Magpies of IV.41 Oceania. We match up pretty well, both putting up weak midfields with our B Team. Game Summary Date: 10/1/2003 at 04:00 MatchID: 9754091 Arena: Victory Park Crowd: 4909 4909 spectators arrived at Victory Park, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Magpies had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Ginzburg - Runcie, Hvilshøj, Jansson - Carroll, Eaton, Haynes, Warrington, Barnes - Morrell, Hayes. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Sánchez - Miquel, Meek, Schrader - Teepen, Tryggvesson, Storm, Wellens, Starks - Solomon, Tizón. Hippopotami saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way. A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 9:th minute allowed Derrick Solomon to score 0 - 1 for Hippopotami. In the 17:th minute Magpies was able to score the equalising 1 - 1 goal. Connie Hayes picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away teams goalie. After 28 minutes Magpies´s Connie Hayes contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. Juan Miguel Tizón seemed to be floating in the air at will as he elegantly headed in 1-2. The previous Hippopotami corner kick was executed by Herschel Meek. Magpiess Troy Haynes got himself booked after a foul. Connie Hayes was just a finger´s breadth away from an equaliser for Magpies, but Ignacio Sánchez managed to ward the closing shot off for a corner. Clement Schrader of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 52 percent possession rate. Kermit Runcie received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 48:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Hippopotami´s Herschel Meek received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 54:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 1 - 3. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. The visitors Daniel Storm took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 66:th minute. 1 - 4 for Hippopotami. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when Oliver Warrington, after a brilliant midfield combination, put the reducing 2 - 4 goal away for Magpies. In the 68:th minute Magpiess Peter Jansson received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 75:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 2 - 5. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. Koos Teepen increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 2 - 6. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball. The most dominating Magpies player was without a doubt Peter Jansson. Zelislav Ginzburg on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Mick Starks. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 6. Events and Stats A few notes: 1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind 2. The (F) shows that the goal was scored in a friendly 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 RM: 3-5-2 Events Summary 1st Half HH: 09: Derrick Solomon (F): 1-0 RM: 17: 1-1 HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 2-1 Halftime Score: 2-1 Possession: 52% 2nd Half HH: 54: Herschel Meek (F): 3-1 HH: 66: Daniel Storm (F): 4-1 RM: xx: 4-2 HH: 75: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 5-2 HH: xx: Koos Teepen (F): 6-2 Final Score: 6-2 Possession: 52% Final Possession: 52% Cards HH: 36: Clement Schrader (yellow- unsportsmanlike behavior) Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Yet another huge crowd which offset the road expenses: 4909 showed up at Victory Park in the region of Victoria, Oceania. Team Ratings Royal Magpies Midfield: weak (4) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: inadequate (5) Left Side Defence: inadequate (5) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: passable (6) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/47 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: weak (4) Right Side Defence: passable (6) Central Defence: passable (6) Left Side Defence: solid (7) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: inadequate (5) Left Side Attack: solid (7) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 45/49 Only held a slight edge but our attack on the wings might have helped out some. Player Ratings GK Ignacio Sanchez * DW Jose Maria Miguel ~ DM Herschel Meek ~ DW Clement Schrader WI Koos Teepen * MI Thomas Little ~ MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) ~ MI Daniel Storm ~ WI Mick Starks (o) ** FO Derrick Solomon ~ FO Juan Miguel Tizon * Total Stars: 27.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: Attack on Wings Poor experience in a friendly for the first time ever. I'm still not sure what that rating means, tho. Ignacio with another strong * game as backup keeper. Btw, Little didn't play today because he was in the walkover. Thus, Wellens got to play middie and get full training. Also, that little shuffle is why Meek is playing center d this week when he usually plays midfield with the A Team. He's a passable defender, but he's also an excellent middie- but he's 28 so he doesn't need the training just a game to keep his form up. Three Stars No multigoal scorers makes for a mixed bag Bronze: Derrick Solomon Shakes off the rust and scores the first goal of the game Silver: Herschel Meek Dutifully plays center defender and even scores a goal Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon He extends his friendly goal scoring streak to an amazing 6 straight games Game Summary Another road game, another huge crowd, some added experience, and a fun game. I think the Friendly Hippo World Tour (TM) may keep going until the end of the year. Press Release** 11/06/2003 at 00:00 Hippos Win 2nd Straight International Friendly In not quite as thrilling fashion as last week's shootout win, the Hippos went this time to Oceania and beat the Royal Magpies of IV.41 by the score of 6-2. Solomon, Tizon, Meek, Storm, Tryggvesson, and Teepen all scored goals as a record 4909 fans saw the Houston friendly. Neither team had any injuries, making it a successful international friendly. Next week, the Hippos will travel to Prathet Thai to face a Div III team called Samuthprakarn Eagle. FOFC Cup I forgot to update this last week so I have two weeks of updates to catch up with. First, last week's games. Sweet Sixteen Underlined Teams Won Tom Sanders Bracket 1) Gargoyles (Raven Hawk) 4) South Bay Saints (Masked) 3) Fockers (-Hobbes) 10) Frankfort United (DukeRulesMAB) HornedFrogPurple Bracket 9) Maniacal Misfitz (Havok) 5) Concord Assassins (BishopMVP) 3) Spring Grove Fighting Eagles (illinifan999) 7) Bees (ausonny) Kool-Aid Bracket 1) Midwest Ice Storm FC (PilotMan) 4) Aviators (damnMikeBrown) 11) North Plainfield Plague (cthomer5000) 10) Fighting Crawfish (The Afoci) Run & Shoot Bracket 1) Intercourse Ball Kickers (YoSoySean) 4) Arkham Avengers (Nyarlahotep) 6) West Henrietta FC (bigjdotcom01) 2) Galesburg Avengers (Coffee Warlord) The Tom Sanders bracket looks nice and orderly... except Frankfort United just keeps upsetting teams. They have the unenviable task of facing 84-time FOFC Cup Champion Raven Hawk next. The Assassins employed a 2-5-3 and middle attack to overwhelm the Misfitz defense. Both teams put up solid midfields and NSI's in the 60s while the Bees shut out SGFE, setting up a 5-7 matchup between the Bees and Assassins. Midwest forgets this is a friendly and puts up a (you have got to be kidding me!) formidable midfield and shuts out the Aviators 2-0 in a game that could have been a lot worse. Franz-Bernd Popella of the Fighting Crawfish scored in the 85th minute to break a 2-2 tie and propel the into the Elite Eight. Lastly, in our former run-and-shoot bracket, CW put up an excellent midfield ending West Henrietta's cup run. They will meet YoSoySean and the Intercourse Ball Kickers who beat Nyarlahotep's Arkham Avengers. Tom Sanders Bracket Championship 1) Gargoyles (Raven Hawk) 10) Frankfort United (DukeRulesMAB) HornedFrogPurple Bracket Championship 5) Concord Assassins (BishopMVP) 7) Bees (ausonny) Kool-Aid Bracket Championship 1) Midwest Ice Storm FC (PilotMan) 10) Fighting Crawfish (The Afoci) Run & Shoot Bracket Championship 1) Intercourse Ball Kickers (YoSoySean) 2) Galesburg Avengers (Coffee Warlord) Frankfort put up a gallant fight before losing 2-1 to the Gargs. The Bees ran out to a 3-0 lead and hung on to win 3-2. MISFC improves on their formidable midfield to outstanding and puts up a 78 NSI en route to a 9-0 crawfish boil. Lastly, YoSoySean keeps CW's run and shoot in check, winning 4-1. So the FOFC Cup IV Final Four are the Gargoyles, the Bees, Midwest Ice Storm FC, and Intercourse Ball Kickers! The Bees may be the only non-#1 seed left but I wouldn't count them out. However, my money is still on PilotMan and MISFC. Notes Next week, we continue our journeys with Samuthprakarn Eagle from Div III Thailand and in our fixture, we face off against 8th place Team Groomers on the road. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-20-2003, 01:59 AM	#63
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.11: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training It was a banner week for our training program. 17yo winger trainee Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger ability. He's going to be one hell of a stud. But the bigger news is 25yo Stephen Connors. He's a fixture on our midfield and now is the Hippos first ever formidable. Way to go, Stephen! Lastly, acting captain Jose Maria Miguel added another notch to his experience belt so that his passable experience now matches his passable leadership. Future Training Playmaking on out. Then maybe a week of stamina in the offseason, depending on form. If it's bad, then set pieces. We have good set pieces but you can never have too much. Plus, we have 10 guys who are already at excellent stamina. However, the Uber Trainees(TM) are either at passable or inadequate. Form Starters: (+5) (-2) Entire Team: (+8) (-5) Starters Form Solid (or above): Kimber (exc) Benito (exc) Meek Connors Christiano Spagnuolo Passable: Starks Bush Miguel Inadequate: Phelan Teepen Weak (or below): -none- Looks like last week's stamina training didn't have too many ill effects. In fact, Starks's slump is finally over. However, Phelan bears watching. For the first time in quite a while, we don't have anyone below inadequate. Value Starters: (+5) (-6) Entire Team: (+13) (-8) Value Highlights Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0) Above $200K: 7(+1)/11(+2) Above $300K: 4(+2)/4(+2) Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($535K) Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($494K) Milestones: Stephen Connors ($300K), Robert Tryggvesson ($200K) Benito inches ever closer to becoming our first $500K player. Not only that, but he will soon pass Timber for the highest value on the team. Starks went back above $300K for the first time since the second week of the season. Connors broke $300K for the first time ever with his bump. Tryggvesson passes $200K for the first time ever so now Wellens is the only one not over $200K. However, he's only 17 so we'll forgive him. Team Stats Total Wages: 36208 (NC) Total Value: 4364000 (+160000) Avg Value: 198364 (+7273) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 22 (NC) Nationalities: 12 (NC) Youth Pull, Week 20.10 Brian Collier sold for $5K last week, so at least I turned a slight bit of profit (if you don't take youth squad upkeep costs). This week, we have Felix Hutton. He's not too bad but our UberTrainees(TM) are better. I'll put him up for $10K and hope someone bites. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 39 Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 13 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0) Total Sold for: 1116000 (+5000) Youth Pull Felix Hutton (17061821) 18 years, passable form, healthy A sypathetic person who is tempermental and dishonest. Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities. Nationality: USA Assessed value: 49 000 US$ Wage: 740 US$/week Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: passable Passing: wretched Winger: inadequate Defending: weak Scoring: poor Set Pieces: weak Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC) Supporter Club: 1449 members (+24) Supporters: high on life (NC) Team Spirit: calm (NC) Confidence: wonderful (NC) 20.10 Week In Review On the Field Well, we had a walkover win against zfan so there's not much to report. We should win with relative ease next week, but it's on the road so a PIC is unlikely. That will setup a huge game with Iowa in a rockin' 'drome the next week for 4th place. For our friendly, we went somewhat further than Canada this time, ending up in Oceania playing the Royal Magpies. Six different Hippos scored and we drew a huge friendly crowd of 4909. Next week, we go to Thailand. Off the Field Last week's youth pull Brian Collier sold for $5K. This week's should sell for about double that and not much more. However, the big news came on the bump front: 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger skill. But even bigger, original Hippo Stephen Connors became the first ever formidable in the history of the team. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-24-2003, 01:48 AM	#64
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.12 Fixture: Team Groomers - Houston Hippopotami Preview Well, I was watching The X-Files a couple of nights ago and they were into the dreadful final season. However, there was a scene that fits the Hippos game today. Frankly, I can't verify if the story told on there was true or not and, even if it wasn't, it makes for a good quote. Assistant Director Kirsch (one of the new villains) was telling Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick, who replaced Fox Mulder as main protagonist) that on July 4th, 1776, King George of England wrote in his diary "Nothing important happened today". In context, it was supposed to tell Doggett that lots of stuff went on behind the scenes and that everything he did in the previous two episodes wasn't in vain. In the case of the Hippos, on the surface, it's just a regular game against Team Groomers, the 8th place team in the series. Now, I don't want to say nothing important happened today, but what happened did so in unspectacular fashion (unless your name is Meek). We're still riding pretty high off our draw with Brooklyn and then we had our walkover last week. But this week won't be much harder. If we weren't on the road, I even would have PIC'd this game since we are playing Team Groomers. He's active and has supporter, but he's got a ticket back to Div V this year as he's just not in the same league as the rest of the teams in IV.21 so I fully expected a big win today, and, not to spoil it too much, but we got it. But what really mattered is that this game and the surrounding events set up a match next week, the likes of which rivals last years Hippo game. Game Summary Date: 10/6/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 8327012 Arena: Team Groomers Arena Crowd: 18672 18672 spectators arrived at Team Groomers Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Groomers tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Arcuato - Anderson, Mårtensson, Sheldon - Rector, Saes, Betts, Ortiz, Fabozzi - Root, Lysdal. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Teepen - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Herschel Meek surprised the home team with a free kick aimed at the wrong post in the 5:th minute. 0 - 1 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami´s Stephen Connors received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 20:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 2. 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. Groomerss Roger Root went wide in the 24:th minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 1 - 2 goal away. The visitors Herschel Meek took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 31st minute. 1 - 3 for Hippopotami. The referee showed Groomerss Roger Root the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 1 - 3. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 57 percent, dominated the battle. In the game´s 53rd minute a free kick by Herschel Meek found it´s way through the home side´s poorly assembled defensive formation, making Hippopotami´s lead 1 - 4. This third goal made a hat trick for Herschel Meek. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 59:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 1 - 5. Herschel Meek was noted down as the scorer. Groomers had a brilliant opportunity to reply as Roger Root received a high ball from the right, striking the ball still in the air. Only Tim Kimber´s reflexes saved him. Gualtiero Spagnuolo of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 69:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 63 percent, dominated the battle. The most dominating Groomers player was without a doubt Don Betts. Rory Rector on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 5. 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: 05: Herchel Meek (3): 1-0 HH: 20: Stephen Connors (2): 2-0 HH: 20: pulling back TG: 24: 2-1 HH: 31: Herchel Meek (4): 3-1 Halftime Score: 3-1 Possession: 57% 2nd Half HH: 53: Herchel Meek (5): 4-1 HH: 59: Herchel Meek (6): 5-1 Final Score: 5-1 Possession: 63% Final Possession: 60% Cards HH: 69: Gualtiero Spagnuolo (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour) Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 18K and change at their place with good weather. Team Ratings Team Groomers Midfield: inadequate (5) Right Side Defence: formidable (9) Central Defence: solid (7) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: solid (7) Left Side Attack: solid (7) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/57 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: solid (7) Right Side Defence: solid (7) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: formidable (9) Right Side Attack: outstanding (10) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 64/71 At home and we would have had a new high of 74. Still, I'll definitely settle for a 71 especially with that outstanding right side attack. 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 (d) ~ WI Koos Teepen (o) FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ~ FO Edwin Phelan ~ Total Stars: 36.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Normal I'm feeling better and better about Cristiano now that he got his form straightened out: a ~ wingback is nice! Phelan is still in his mini-slump at ~ and that 12 star midfield is still eluding me as today it was Meek who "only" put up *~ instead of the I want. Three Stars I don't think the top one was in any doubt Bronze: Lorenzo Cristiano Another ~ today anchoring the back end Silver: Stephen Connors* Picked up a goal and ** on the midfield Gold: Herchel Meek Scored a goal in the 53rd minute for the 2nd time in 3 games, oh, and he got 3 more Game Summary This game gives us 16 points on the season and puts us at +1 goal differential, our first time in the positives for quite a while. Meek explodes- I've never seen a midfielder score 4 goals before, I don't think. Anyways, here's why it matters... Press Release** 10/12/2003 at 00:00 Hippos Slide Into Fourth Place on Meeks Huge Day Veteran midfielder Herschel Meek exploded for 4 goals en route to a 5-1 Houston win over Team Groomers. Meek, along with Hippo star midfielders Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors (who scored the other goal), collected 11.5 stars and put up a solid midfield rating. The win sets up a showdown next week in Houston for 4th place in IV.21 with the #5 Iowa Enforcers who beat the Hippos 4-2 in Iowa earlier in the season. Coach Braden is expecting an MotS by Iowa and is planning accordingly. Around the League As you can see from the above, Iowa lost. Everything this week went as planned for the first time, I think, all season. And you people still think I'm insane for saying the engine has changed a lot. zfan - Brooklyn United 0 - 5 I'm sure if I had checked, our hatstats rating would suck since BU played zfan in the walkover. Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - The Champion 4 - 0 Chock also PIC'd at home and had no trouble with The Champion. They actually lost possession in the first half, but won handily because The Champion never got a chance the entire game. While the midfields were close, the stars difference was 42.0 to 31.5 in favor of Chock. Iowa Enforcers - Kaishaku F.C. 0 - 3 This is the huge game for us. Earlier in the season, Iowa upset Kaishaku on the road and was looking like they might get 2nd or 3rd. However, fortunes have changed in the second half, as they now have a 6 game winless streak (4 losses, 2 draws) after Kaishaku went into their house and beat them. They have now fallen behind us into 5th. League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 41 - 6 29 9 2. Kaishaku F.C. 34 - 11 27 76 3. Chock Full of Whole 37 - 21 22 83 4. Houston Hippopotami 27 - 26 16 71 5. Iowa Enforcers 19 - 23 14 68 6. The Champion 20 - 19 12 63 7. zfan 11 - 47 6 9 8. Team Groomers 10 - 46 1 57 We suddenly have leapfrogged two teams in two weeks and, with a win next week, we would be in full control of 4th. We also have a big game to end the season at the 'drome against The Champion but first things first. Notes After a franchise long 3 game losing streak, we have been unbeaten in our last 3 and are sitting precariously in 4th. Next week comes our game of the year against Iowa at home. If we win, then something really bad would have to happen the last two weeks of the season for us to not finish in the money. This next game is starting to feel a lot like the Dragons game last year- a huge game that's going to be close and if he MotS's, I'm probably done for. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 10-24-2003 at 03:50 AM.

10-24-2003, 05:05 AM	#65
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.12 Friendly: Samuthprakarn Eagle - Houston Hippopotami Preview The Friendly Hippo World Tour continues, this week in Thailand. We'll be playing Samuthprakarn Eagle, who are #1 in III.6 Prathet Thai. So, we've gone from Canada to Oceania to Thailand in three weeks and probably have three more weeks before a rivalry game to end the season. Game Summary Date: 10/8/2003 at 05:30 MatchID: 9783824 Arena: Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena Crowd: 3410 Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 3410 at Samuthprakarn Eagle Arena today. Samuthprakarn started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Chariya - Ivarsson, Ratana, Thyander - Sumalee, Davidsson, Cabellos, Kaljuste, Van-Linh - Ahlling, Fredriksson. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Sánchez, Miquel, Schrader - Wellens, Tryggvesson, Storm, Little, Teepen - Solomon, Tizón. Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Samuthprakarn, and they seem passable at it. Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Samuthprakarns Michael Fredriksson gave, after 18 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. In the 19:th minute Samuthprakarn put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Huang Van-Linh coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Robert Tryggvesson got himself booked. A great save by goaltender Ignacio Sánchez in the 22nd minute kept the visitors in the game as Kaarel Kaljuste struck from the left with a real cannonball. Hippopotami reduced in the 25:th minute to 2 - 1 as Robert Tryggvesson easily chipped the ball past the home sides keeper on a play from the right. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate. In the 50:th minute Samuthprakarn´s Yindee Ratana tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. Juan Miguel Tizón almost scored an equalising goal for Hippopotami in the 52nd minute, but Charnchai Chariya made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Lucas Davidsson squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 64:th minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 1. Hippopotamis Koos Teepen got himself booked after a foul. Samuthprakarn held the ball, with a clear 73 percent possession rate. The most dominating Samuthprakarn player was without a doubt Charnchai Chariya. However, Arvid Ahlling made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Daniel Storm. However, Derrick Solomon made a disastrous appearance. 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) shows that the goal was scored in a friendly 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 SE: 3-5-2 Events Summary 1st Half SE: 18: 0-1 SE: 19: 0-2 HH: xx: Robert Tryggvesson (F): 1-2 Halftime Score: 1-2 Possession: 39% 2nd Half SE: 64: 1-3 Final Score: 1-3 Possession: 27% Final Possession: 33% Cards HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow- particularly nasty challenge) HH: xx: Koos Teepen (yellow- foul) Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Another decent international crowd with 3410 turning out. Team Ratings Samuthprakarn Eagle Midfield: solid (7) Right Side Defence: brilliant (11) Central Defence: brilliant (11) Left Side Defence: magnificent (12) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: inadequate (5) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 67/74 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: weak (4) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: solid (7) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: passable (6) Left Side Attack: passable (6) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/48 Wow- they played a lot better than in previous friendlies. I try to find good matchups but a 74-48 loss on the road could have been a lot worse than 3-0, I suppose. Player Ratings GK Ignacio Sanchez ~ DW Arcadio Sanchez ~ DM Jose Maria Miguel ~ DW Clement Schrader ~ WI Pierre Wellens * MI Daniel Storm (d) * MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) ~ MI Thomas Little (o) ~ WI Koos Teepen *** FO Derrick Solomon ~ FO Juan Miguel Tizon ~ Total Stars: 27.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: Attack in Middle I think that's the first performance by the UberTrainees(TM) with Storm today. Solomon is considering hanging it up once the season is over. He hasn't scored more than in weeks. Three Stars Not much happened in this game that was star-worthy: they were a lot better than us Bronze: Daniel Storm First ever * for this batch of UberTrainees(TM) Silver: Ignacio Sanchez His save made this game closer than it should have been Gold: Robert Tryggvesson A goal in two straight friendlies Game Summary We were a bit overmatched but it was still fun. I can only wonder where the next two games will take us. Press Release** 10/13/2003 at 02:54 Hippos Lose Friendly in Thailand The Hippo World Tour (TM) continues as they visited Samuthprakarn Eagle from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson scored the only Houston goal and the midfield and wings put up a B Team high of 14 stars. However, Samuthprakarn Eagle and their solid B Team midfield showed why they were # 1 in III.6 in Thailand. We thank eaglez for the friendly and will continue our tour next week in with Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in III.10 Israel. FOFC Cup The Final Four of the FOFC Cup is upon us Midwest Ice Storm FC - Intercourse Ball Kickers 2 - 4 Apparently PilotMan ran out of easy people to play in his series so he had to play his B Team. He put up a better midfield, but YoSoySean put up some good ratings, as well. His brilliant-formidable-magnificent defense slowed MISFC's exc-exc-exc attack. On the other side of the field, Boštjan Čadež got a hat trick for IBC. They will advance to play... Gargoyles - Bees 0 - 7 ...the Bees, winner of a Final Four matchup between the two winners of the previous FOFC Cups. I'm not entirely sure how the Bees got so many chances as their midfield only won inad to weak, their NSIs were quite similar, and the game was at The Concrete Jungle, home of the Gargs. Rich Ladd had a hat trick for the Bees while the Gargs didn't get a single scoring chance. Notes Our road trip continues in Israel next week against a Div III team called Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv. This week, however, we have a huge game in series play. The fixture between us and Iowa will go a long way to determine who will finish in 4th this season. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-24-2003, 08:13 AM	#66
Poli FOFC Survivor Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Wentzville, MO	If it's not too much to ask, perhaps we could make the Hippo World Tour (TM) stop by Bonne Terre one day to play the winner of the Battle for Bonne Terre? That might be a cool reward! __________________ Cheer for a walk on quarterback! Ardent leads the Vols in the dynasty forum.

10-26-2003, 06:51 PM	#68
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.12: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training No bumps this week, at least for playmaking. Timber's experience went up to inadequate and Bush's went to poor. In the next two weeks, however, Storm should hit formidable! Future Training Playmaking until a stamina week in the offseason. Then again, my stamina is pretty good except for trainees and that really puts a big hit on your form. Form Starters: (+3) (-3) Entire Team: (+5) (-7) Starters Form Solid (or above): Benito (exc) Bush Miguel Meek Connors Spagnuolo Christiano Kimber Passable: Teepen Starks Inadequate: -none- Weak (or below): Phelan Quite good except for Phelan. He's just going to have to play though it because we just don't have anyone to put in his place. Value Starters: (+8) (-3) Entire Team: (+14) (-7) Value Highlights Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0) Above $200K: 7(+0)/11(+0) Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+0) Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($514K) Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($502K) Milestones: -none- Absolutely no milestones this week on the value front. However, a very significant development is that for the first time since joining the team, Timber was not the highest value as he "dropped" to $502K and Benito passed him at $514K. Team Stats Total Wages: 36068 (-$140) Total Value: 4416000 (+52000) Avg Value: 200727 (+2363) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 22 (NC) Nationalities: 12 (NC) Youth Pull, Week 20.12 Felix Hutton from last week, a passable playmaker with inad stamina and inad winger sold for $16K. This week, for number 40, will we get a great pull? No! We will get... 0! Kristopher Melvin is the first in a while to not hit the market. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 40 Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+1) Youth Pulls Sold: 14 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (-1) Total Sold for: 1132000 (+5000) Youth Pull Kristopher Melvin (17445465) 19 years, passable form, healthy A controversial person who is fiery and upright. Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities. Nationality: USA Assessed value: 14 000 US$ Wage: 560 US$/week Stamina: poor Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate Winger: poor Defending: weak Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC) Supporter Club: 1473 members (+24) Supporters: high on life (NC) Team Spirit: calm (NC) Confidence: wonderful (NC) 20.12 Week In Review On the Field Last week's fixture was pretty ho-hum. Unless, of course, your name is Herschel Meek as he scored goals 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the season in a 5-1 win over Team Groomers. This is our second kindof boring game in a row after last week's walkover win against zfan. The win gave us 4th place and sets up a huge game this week against the Iowa Enforcers. If we beat Iowa, we have the inside track to 4th the rest of the year and will even be able to absorb a loss to Chock the second to last week of the season. In our friendly, our winning streak was broken as Samuthprakarn Eagle beat us in Thailand. Off the Field Yawn. Really nothing happened this week except that we sold last week's youth pull for $16K and fired our current YP. That's it. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 10-26-2003 at 06:52 PM.

10-26-2003, 07:08 PM	#69
Poli FOFC Survivor Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Wentzville, MO	No problem. A reward for next season, perhaps. __________________ Cheer for a walk on quarterback! Ardent leads the Vols in the dynasty forum.

10-29-2003, 01:32 AM	#70
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.13 Fixture: Houston Hippopotami - Iowa Enforcers Preview Here it is. I never figured I'd be in this position but it's time to take advantage of it. A win today, and we likely take fourth in the series and finish in the money. A loss today and "our reward" will be a relegation match instead. I can't afford to MotS for that very reason so we're going normal and I hope he does the same. He's only slightly better and on my field, I should win. As the Hippos hit the field today, we were greeted by rain. Oh, and just for such an occasion, I've decided to shuffle the match reports a little, moving things around so that more important things get better places Game Text Date: 10/13/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 8327016 Arena: The Hippodrome Crowd: 24181 Due to an all-day shower, 24181 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Teepen, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Enforcers had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Freeman - Paz, Weeks, Gurley - Becerra, Marion, Wilson, Frederick, Monsalve - Requejo Rodrígue, Lastra. Enforcers took the lead in the games 17:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Juan José Requejo Rodríguez was the scorer. Enforcers´s Billy Marion refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon in the 21st minute. After 25 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Juan José Requejo Rodríguez who increased Enforcers´s lead to 0 - 2. A well placed freekick brought the home crowd new hope. Herschel Meek reduced the away teams lead to 1 - 2. Due to some great work on the right wing Hippopotami:s Edwin Phelan was able to even the score in the 39:th minute to 2 - 2. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 2. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 61 percent, dominated the battle. Hippopotami had a good opportunity to take the lead as Edwin Phelan came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of David Freeman. Jamie Gurley of Enforcers received a yellow card in the 61st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. In the 67:th minute the home side managed to get a 3 - 2 lead as Herschel Meek flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. In the games 80:th minute Hippopotami´s Koos Teepen fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Koos Teepen for taking a dive. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 64 percent possession rate. Most important Hippopotami player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Enforcers player was without a doubt Juan José Requejo Rodríguez. Stacy Becerra was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2. Game Summary Down 2-0 in the first half, things looked bleak. However, it proved to be one of those proverbial "the night is darkest before the light of dawn" moments. First Meek scored and the Phelan and suddenly, it was a tie game! Then, Meek scored againt to give the Hippos the lead, there was much rejoicing by the soaking wet crowd. This is certainly our biggest Div IV win to date and the big comeback made it that much more exciting. Three Stars Herchel Meek with another gold Bronze: The Midfield Our excellent midfield gave us enough possession to pull this out Silver: Edwin Phelan Phelan's game tying goal was his eighth of the year Gold: Herchel Meek His game winning goal was his eighth of the year Press Release 10/15/2003 at 13:14 In the Money? Hippos Rally In Battle for Fourth Place! Herchel Meek added 2 goals to his 4 from last week as Houston rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and put themselves in the driver seat for fourth place. A balanced game was key with ratings of excellent across the board save a formidable on the left attack wing. Houston needs one win in their last two games to finish in the money in their first season in Div IV. The Hippos must visit CFoWG at the Creamy Nougat Center before closing out the season at the 'drome against The Champion. 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: 17: 0-1 IE: 25: 0-2 HH: 31: Herchel Meek (7): 1-2 HH: 39: Edwin Phelan (8): 2-0 Halftime Score: 2-2 Possession: 61% 2nd Half HH: 53: Herchel Meek (8): 3-2 Final Score: 3-2 Possession: 64% Final Possession: 63% Cards HH: 80: Koos Teepen (yellow- taking a dive) Injuries None Stadium Terraces: 14582/20000 Basic seats: 6364/8000 Seats under roof: 2435/3200 VIP seats: 800/800 Total: 24181/32000 Darn rain kept us from selling out, I'm guessing. Team Ratings Houston Hippopotami Midfield: excellent (8) Right Side Defence: excellent (8) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: excellent (8) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: formidable (9) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/73 Iowa Enforcers Midfield: inadequate (5) Right Side Defence: formidable (9) Central Defence: outstanding (10) Left Side Defence: brilliant (11) Right Side Attack: solid (7) Central Attack: solid (7) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/67 WOW! Another awesome game- excellents across the board except for that formidable left wing. That's called balance! He had a suprisingly bad game- he should have posted at least a passable midfield, even in bad form. This is somewhat puzzling. Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber ** DW Lorenzo Cristiano ~ DM Clement Schrader ~ DW Elmer Bush ~ WI Koos Teepen (o) MI Herschel Meek (d) ~ MI Stephen Connors (x) * MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) WI Mick Starks (o) ~ FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ~ FO Edwin Phelan Total Stars: 36.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Normal Mick is finally back up to *~ today. Phelan's still in a slump, at now, Schrader started in place of Miguel at center defender, and the midfield "only" got 11.5 stars but other than that, nothing of note. Around the League The battle for second was at Kaishaku's place this week zfan - Team Groomers 0 - 5 I feel good that Team Groomers got a win. He's one of the most active supporters in the league- lots of press releases, etc. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll get any higher than 8th this year. Brooklyn United - The Champion 6 - 1 Brooklyn crushed The Champion, which makes our game against them slightly less important. Brooklyn's lowest rating was outstanding while that was The Champion's highest. Kaishaku F.C. - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 2 - 0 Kaishaku put up a world class midfield, likely as an MotS, to Chock's passable. He won the NSI battle 90-78 despite losing the star battle 39.5 to 37.0. This was a bit different from their earlier meeting when both put up magnificent midfields in Kaishaku's 3-1 win. League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 47 - 7 32 104 2. Kaishaku F.C. 36 - 11 30 90 3. Chock Full of Whole 37 - 23 22 78 4. Houston Hippopotami 30 - 28 19 73 5. Iowa Enforcers 21 - 26 14 67 6. The Champion 21 - 25 12 53 7. zfan 11 - 52 6 9 8. Team Groomers 15 - 46 4 9 With 2 games left in the season, it's a good time to take stock of where everyone is. Our win cements 4th for us, however, we will likely lose and lose bad next week to Chock. If we pull off the miracle upset, we could get third but that's unlikely with our goal differentials. Kaishaku's win assured him of second place and he still has a shot at first when he and Brooklyn play the last game of the year. zfan and Team Groomers are guaranteed to auto demote while Iowa has a slim chance of catching me if I lose my last two games. Notes Now we've got a 4 game unbeaten streak and we're sitting pretty in the standings. Sure, we may lose next week, but we just have to win the last week to assure a finish in the money. We're heading on the road again for another friendly, this time to Israel. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-29-2003, 03:21 AM	#71
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.13 Friendly: Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv - Houston Hippopotami You, Yes, You! I'm Pointing At You! Im still tinkering with match reports- I'm hoping to get stuff into form by next year. Due to school, I'm really lacking in time so I want to pare down some of the more useless stuff that takes too long while still keeping the dynasty enjoyable. Plus I have a couple of simple things I wanted to add. Anyone with some ideas or feedback- post! And, remember, if you're not stealing, it's not a dynasty report! Back to your regularly scheduled dynasty report... Preview Oops- quite the botch. I accidentally played my starters in this friendly. Did you realize that friendlies in Israel are played Tuesday afternoon USA time? Well, neither did I so I forgot to set my lineup which means starters played. I guess it's time for another stamina week. Game Text Date: 10/14/2003 at 20:30 MatchID: 9856723 Arena: Teddy bear Crowd: 4984 A scorching day at Teddy bear, where 4984 spectators were in place for today´s match. Maccabi started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Rachmo - Karlsson, Dyrander, Nachtomi - Rodowicz, Levi, Cohen, Getz, Ashkenazi - Matern, Shmuel. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Miquel, Bush - Wellens, Meek, Benito, Connors, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Niklas Dyrander needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami took the lead in the games 25:th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Lorenzo Cristiano was the scorer. Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Stephen Connors delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. The visitors Elmer Bush took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 39:th minute. 0 - 2 for Hippopotami. The referee showed Hippopotamis José María Miquel the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 0 - 2 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 82 percent possession of the ball. Hippopotami´s Pierre Wellens received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 55:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 3. 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. One of many good passes from Mick Starks at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Gualtiero Spagnuolo, scoring for Hippopotami to 0 - 4. The visitors Edwin Phelan took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 62nd minute. 0 - 5 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 93 percent, dominated the battle. Most important Maccabi player was Rafal Rodowicz. Marek Matern on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Edwin Phelan on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 5. Events and Stats Sorry- I decided to ditch this section. It took too much time and I didn't figure many of you cared. Instead, I'm making the game summary section longer. See... here it is (tho I might move the summary, stars, and press release back below the stats) Game Summary We dominated possesion with 82% and a staggering 93% in the second half. A pair of defenders even scored in the first half (Cristiano, Bush). Our ratings were much too high for his B Team and this would have been a close game if we had actually played our B Team. Three Stars Those defenders show up here Bronze: Elmer Bush A defender goal Silver: Pierre Wellens The UberTrainee(TM) gets * and a goal Gold: Lorenzo Cristiano Another defender goal, this one game winning Press Release** 10/20/2003 at 10:07 Oops! The Hippos barely arrived in time for their friendly due to a scheduling snafu and starters were accidentally hustled out onto the field as Houston visited Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel. This resulted in a 5-0 win for the Hippos but forced them to do a week of stamina training instead of the scheduled playmaking. Next week's trip to Iceland has already been checked and double checked with the lineup set as Houston visits Real Reykjavik, in Island I.1, the equivalent to the MLS. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics Stadium Almost but not quite 5000 make it with 4985, our largest friendly ever. I blame this on 16 of YOU. Team Ratings Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv Midfield: wretched (2) Right Side Defence: formidable (9) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: inadequate (5) Central Attack: poor (3) Left Side Attack: poor (3) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/42 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: solid (7) Right Side Defence: excellent (8) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: excellent (8) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: formidable (9) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 63/70 Great ratings. Too bad they're from starters. A 70 NSI on the road- woo! Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber ** DW Lorenzo Cristiano ~ DM Jose Maria Miguel DW Elmer Bush ~ WI Pierre Wellens * MI Herschel Meek (d) ~ MI Stephen Connors (x) * MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) WI Mick Starks ~ FO Edwin Phelan * FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo *~ Total Stars: 36.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: None Again, not much of note because it's all starters. Wellens * looks pretty. He's going to be a stud- remember, he's only 17. Phelan is still deep in a slump and stamina training isn't going to help that one bit. FOFC Cup FOFC Cup Finals this week! Bees v Intercourse Ball Kickers Intercourse Ball Kickers - Bees 1 - 5 ICBK could only muster a poor midfield to the Bees poor so mutual supporter ausonny wins his 2nd FOFC Cup in 4 season. I think I have my facts straight when I say that only the Bees and Gargs have won it. Congrats to all! This was a great FOFC Cup and I can't wait until next year. Hopefully my trainees will be getting at least a passable if not solid midfield by then. In Closing Well, we'll get plastered in our league game this week as we PIC on the road at the Creamy Nougat Center (I can't get enough of that name). SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-29-2003, 04:17 AM	#72
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.13: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training As you can see from the friendly report, this was an oops. I forgot to change my lineup Wednesday so rather than not get trainee training, I went with stamina. The odd thing is that I had some people go up in form now. I didn't know you could do that in stamina weeks. Of the trainees, Storm and Little went up to passable and solid while Wellens and Tryggvesson stayed at inadequate. Future Training Ok, it's a pair of weeks of playmaking then set pieces for the offseason. Another week of stamina would kill our form. Form Starters: (+4) (-5) Entire Team: (+5) (-7) Starters Form Solid (or above): Starks Bush Miguel Connors Spagnuolo Benito Passable: Teepen Meek Kimber Christiano Inadequate: -none- Weak (or below): Phelan (poor) Not too damaging except for Phelan's horrible slump. It could have been a lot worse in a stamina week. We just have to look out for next week's delay drops. Value Starters: (+8) (-3) Entire Team: (+14) (-7) Value Highlights Above $100K: 9(+0)/15(-1) Above $200K: 7(+0)/10(-1) Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+1) Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($501K) Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($469K) Milestones: Thomas Little ($300K) The little bit of movement on the value highlights list due to losing form. However, the big news was Thomas Little! Two weeks ago, he was under $250K. This week, he's at $355K! He gained two levels of stamina and is very close to bumping in playmaking to excellent. Team Stats Total Wages: 36068 (+$0) Total Value: 4363000 (-53000) Avg Value: 207762 (+7035) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 21 (-1) Nationalities: 12 (NC) After passing the $200K per player value mark last week, we shot up again despite the stamina training. Youth Pull, Week 20.13 Last week, we fired a guy so no old news. This week, we got a young trainee that hopefully someone will pick up for a few bucks: he's a 17yo inad playmaker and a pseudo-clown, to boot. Bradley Brinson is up for sale at $1K. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 41 Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 14 (+0) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1) Total Sold for: 1132000 (+0) Youth Pull Bradley Brinson (17661159) 17 years, passable form, healthy A sympathetic guy who is tranquil and honest. Has disastrous experience and solid leadership abilities. Nationality: USA Assessed value: 11 000 US$ Wage: 540 US$/week Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched Winger: poor Defending: poor Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC) Supporter Club: 1495 members (+22) Supporters: delirious (down from high on life) Team Spirit: content (up from calm) Confidence: poor (down from strong) These are from after the game with Chock 20.13 Week In Review On the Field I don't think I've ever been able to capture the scope of the Iowa game in writing. In case you haven't noticed, I think I'll have something like 5 reports posted by the end of the night because I had 5 done except for the Iowa rhetoric. My writing still failing me, let's just call this the biggest game of this season but not nearly on the level of Dragons-Hippos II last year. But it was more dramatic with the come from behind win. As for our friendly- oops, we played starters and rolled over Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel. Off the Field Since we botched training for this week, we went with stamina. Not too bad of form drops except for Phelan's problem. Storm and Little went up while Tryggvesson and Wellens stayed the same. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-29-2003, 05:11 AM	#73
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.14 Fixture: Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness - Houston Hippopotami Pre-Game Analysis Under construction: Still more format tinkering Preview You know how I said the Brooklyn game on the road would suck and we'd get plastered? Well, this one is going to be just as bad, if not worse. We're PIC'ing on the road against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness and holding back a couple of starters. In case you forgot our first game, it was the game where we went 4-5-1 and almost pulled off the upset, losing 3-2. There's no way I'm doing that again so this is going to hurt. Prediction I'd love to say we'll keep it close, but I'm worried about this one. 5-0, we get shutout on the road. Gameday Live Date: 10/20/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 8327020 Arena: Creamy Nougat Center Crowd: 60000 Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 60000 to Creamy Nougat Center. Wholesome tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Castaño Párraga - Franks, Gallagher, Weathers - King, Dahlström, Mathis, Stein, Andersson - Jansson, Willis. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Starks, Benito, Connors, Little, Wellens - Phelan, Spagnuolo. One of many good passes from Anders Andersson at the wing was recieved and skillfully taken care of by Anders Jansson, scoring for Wholesome to 1 - 0. The crowd was silenced in the 18:th minute as the visiting teams Gualtiero Spagnuolo came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1. In the 23rd minute the home side managed to get a 2 - 1 lead as Scottie Gallagher flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. Anders Jansson increased Wholesomes lead to 3 - 1 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Wholesome lead up with 4 - 1. Bud Willis finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Halftime score was 4 - 1. Wholesome held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate. In the 58:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Lyndon Franks dashed through, knocking home 5 - 1 for Wholesome. By now Wholesome were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Hippopotami breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score in the 68:th minute, but the home side´s defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left, rebounding off the crossbar. In the 70:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Anders Jansson dashed through, knocking home 6 - 1 for Wholesome. This third goal made a hat trick for Anders Jansson. In the 77:th minute Wholesomes Tom Dahlström received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. In the 77:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Anders Jansson dashed through, knocking home 7 - 1 for Wholesome. Wholesome, bringing the final ball possession rate to 56 percent, dominated the battle. The most dominating Wholesome player was without a doubt Ramón King. However, Claude Mathis made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. However, Edwin Phelan made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 7 - 1. (Lies, Damn Lies, and) Statistics Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Notes: They had a full 60K at the Creamy Nougat Center. Have I mentioned 5 times in the last couple match reports that I love that name? Team Ratings Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness Midfield: passable (6) Right Side Defence: magnificent (11) Central Defence: outstanding (10) Left Side Defence: formidable (9) Right Side Attack: magnificent (11) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 69/75 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: inadequate (5) Right Side Defence: solid (7) Central Defence: solid (7) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: outstanding (10) Central Attack: formidable (9) Left Side Attack: excellent (8) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 59/64 Notes: I can't remember the last time I had an inadequate midfield. I suppose, one could make the point that if I hadn't PIC'd I might have even won this game- but I didn't expect his ratings to be nearly this low. Gotta love that attack on my side, tho: out-form-exc Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber *~ DW Lorenzo Cristiano * DM Clement Schrader ~ DW Elmer Bush * WI Mick Starks (o) *~ MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) MI Stephen Connors (x) ~ MI Thomas Little (o) ~ WI Pierre Wellens * FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo *~ FO Edwin Phelan Total Stars: 36.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Play It Cool Notes: A lot of people were playing a little worse than normal after the stamina update. Phelan is still in a slump and only got in the game. But, there's ample good news: UberTrainees(TM) Pierre Wellens and Thomas Little were both awesome with a * and *~ respectively. The future looks very bright for the Hippos. An 18yo ~ from little- are you kidding me?!? The Postgame Show* Game Summary Well, I said it was going to hurt... And it did. At least we got a goal so it wasn't a shutout. In fact, we were tied 1-1 20 minutes in. That didn't last, tho. They racked up all those goals despite only getting possession of 54 and 56. Gualtiero had the only goal for the Hippos. Anders Jansson scored 4 against us. Three Stars I haven't been giving Starks enough love lately Bronze: Mick Starks He's out of his slump and back up to *~ on offensive wing Silver: Thomas Little An 18yo with ~ on the midfield Gold: Gualtiero Spaguolo* His goal briefly tied the game and gave the illusion that we might hang close Press Release 10/23/2003 at 23:20 Houston Crushed at Creamy Nougat Center Houston, in an essentially meaningless game, PIC'd on the road and was destroyed by Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Anders Jansson scored 4 goals and the Hippos only scored 1 (Gualtiero Spagnuolo) as Houston was downed 7-1. A win in next week's game against The Champion locks up 4th place for the Hippos in their first season in Div IV. Around the League One suprisingly close game and two boring ones Iowa Enforcers - zfan 5 - 0 Iowa got the walkover this week. Next week, they have a pretty easy game against Team Groomers. They have the edge on me in goal differential: -4 to 0 so I have to win next week because a draw won't do it. Brooklyn United - Team Groomers 8 - 0 Following the two draws to Iowa and Houston and the close 2-1 win against Chock, Brooklyn has won their last three games by a combined score of 19-1. Next week, things will not be so easy against Kaishaku at home. Stephen Rumbold just missed a hat trick while Joaquin Otegi and Brian Mccloud had 2 goals, as well. The NSI difference in this game: 109-52. BTW, Brooklyn has taken the top spot in Div IV once again the past couple of weeks. The Champion - Kaishaku F.C. 2 - 3 Kaishaku beat a very game Champion team who was up 2-0 at the 35 minute point. However, KFC scored in the 37th, 56th, and 65th minutes for the come from behind win. Kaishaku won the ratings battle 73 to 64 and stars 38.5 to 31.5. League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 55 - 7 35 109 2. Kaishaku F.C. 39 - 13 33 73 3. Chock Full of Whole 44 - 24 25 77 4. Houston Hippopotami 31 - 35 19 64 5. Iowa Enforcers 26 - 26 17 9 6. The Champion 23 - 28 12 64 7. zfan 11 - 57 6 9 8. Team Groomers 15 - 56 4 52 Kaishaku goes to Brooklyn next week in the battle for the shot at promotion. I'm pulling for Brooklyn just to have him out of here. Chock is locked into 3rd and The Champion is locked into 6th. It's unlikely Team Groomers will beat Iowa next week so 7-8 will stay the same. Our game against The Champion will determine that final team that finishes in the money: If we win, we get 4th. If we lose or draw, Iowa takes 4th and we're staring at a qualification game. Hatstats Nope, still no stats- but since I'm almost caught up, we'll have some soon- I hope. In Closing FYI- this was the worst loss in Hippos history, eclipsing our 5 goal differential in the 5-0 loss to Kaishaku earlier this year. But you know what? I really don't care- this was all about getting ready for next week. The Champion comes to the 'drome for Fan Appreciation Day. We need a full crowd to help inspire the team to a victory and 4th place! SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-29-2003, 09:38 AM	#75
vex Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Tulsa	I know I heard the same thing as SI, but then I remember getting beat out my MoKan.

10-29-2003, 04:49 PM	#76
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Cool- I wasn't sure so glad you guys could set that straight. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-29-2003, 09:34 PM	#77
Poli FOFC Survivor Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Wentzville, MO	No problemo. I miss the statistical part of the dynasty, but understand that it is a lot of formatting. I don't mind reading the important stuff in a small paragraph instead. __________________ Cheer for a walk on quarterback! Ardent leads the Vols in the dynasty forum.

11-02-2003, 09:09 PM	#78
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.14 Friendly: Real Reykjavik - Houston Hippopotami Pre-Game Analysis Preview I've changed up my friendlies a little. I decided that this late in the season, I not only want to be international but I also want to be going up against top teams. So, this week, we will be going to Iceland. Ok, so maybe it's not a tropical paradise but it certainly is exotic. There we will play Real Reykjavik who is in I.1 Island- the equivalent to our MLS. Realize, however, Island is only a small country and being 7th in I.1 puts him on par with my team. But he's still in a country's top series and that's just cool! Prediction Real has put up weak and inad midfields their last couple friendlies so this should be close. We tend to get weak on the road but maybe last week's stamina training will help that out. None of his other ratings really stand out except central defense which is pretty high. If we can get some pressure on the wings, we might win this. Real 3 Hippos 2. Gameday Live Date: 10/22/2003 at 15:30 MatchID: 9879358 Arena: Real Reykjavik Arena Crowd: 2793 Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Real Reykjavik Arena saw a crowd turnout of 2793. Reykjavik started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Grétarsson - Ranin, Huttunen, Rundmar - Frostendahl, Andreasson, Malecki, Guðjónsson, Angelini - Ehnlius, Adelskär. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Sánchez - Sánchez, Meek, Miquel - Teepen, Tryggvesson, Storm, Wellens, Starks - Solomon, Tizón. Man, what a shot by Daniel Storm! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 0 - 1. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Herschel Meek got himself booked. In the games 12th minute Reykjavik´s Anders Adelskär fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Anders Adelskär for taking a dive. After 12 minutes Niklas Ehnlius got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn´t get the shot away. 0 - 1 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Reykjavik, with an impressive 51 percent possession of the ball. Juan Miguel Tizón increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. A marvelous Reykjavik effort to the right resulted in a 52nd minute goal by Niklas Ehnlius, putting the score up to 1 - 2. 63 minutes into the game Niklas Ehnlius had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Knut Johansen. Marian Malecki seemed highly inexperienced when in the 64:th minute he was loitering with the ball, allowing Robert Tryggvesson to intercept and strike 1-3 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 69:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 1 - 4. Juan Miguel Tizón was noted down as the scorer. Reykjaviks Knut Johansen went wide in the 77:th minute, recieving a brilliant pass slicing through the visiting teams central defense line, putting the 2 - 4 goal away. This part of the game had been a standoff between the teams. Reykjavik´s best player was Martin Andreasson. However, Pétur Björn Guðjónsson made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Mick Starks. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4. (Lies, Damn Lies, and) Statistics Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Notes: I'm kindof disappointed that only 2700 and change showed up but I guess if I had to live in Iceland, I wouldn't want to go outside into the cold either. If you're curious- I just went over to weather.com and the high tomorrow in Reykjavik is only a chilly 33. However, they'll be back up into the low 50s by the end of the week so it's not bitterly cold there yet. The weather conditions for our game were "fairly good". Team Ratings Real Reykjavik Midfield: passable (6) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: formidable (9) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: inadequate (5) Central Attack: solid (7) Left Side Attack: inadequate (5) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 51/57 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: inadequate (5) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: passable (6) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: weak (4) Left Side Attack: solid (7) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/49 Notes: That inad midfield matched our crappy output on the PIC during this week's fixture against Chock. We lost on pretty much every front but somehow still won the game. Strange. Player Ratings GK Ignacio Sanchez DW Arcadio Sanchez DM Herchel Meek ~ DW Jose Maria Miguel ~ WI Koos Teepen * MI Pierre Wellens ~ MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) ~ MI Daniel Storm * WI Mick Starks (o) **~ FO Derrick Solomon FO Juan Miguel Tizon ~ Total Stars: 27.0 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: None Notes: Storm has got to be close to bumping to formidable with * today. This may have been Derrick Solomon's last game for the Hippos- he's expected to retire at the end of the season. The Postgame Show Game Summary Storm scored in the first 10 minutes of the game but there was nothing else in the first half, as we went into halftime up 1-0 but losing possession 51-49. However, early in the second half, Tizon gave us a 2-0 lead and we pulled back. I always get that sinking feeling in my gut and, once again, it was justified as they knocked one home in the 52nd minute to cut our lead in half. However the scorer, Niklas Ehnlius was injured, and had to be replaced by Knut Johansen, who scored for them later in the game. But sandwiched inbetween their goals were goals by Tryggvesson and a second for Tizon and the Hippos leave Iceland a winner. Three Stars The goal scorers get the stars today Bronze: Robert Tryggvesson Got a goal today on the midfield Silver: Daniel Storm A * on the midfield for the UberTrainee(TM) and a goal as well Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon A pair of goals which gave us leads of 2-0 and 4-1 Press Release** 10/24/2003 at 12:14 Houston Hot In Iceland! Houston got a big win on the Friendly Hippo World Tour, beating Real Reykjavik, a very formidable opponent and a member of Island's top series. Juan Miguel Tizon scored twice while Storm and Tryggvesson added one goal each and led the B Team UberTrainee(TM) midfield to it's first ever inadequate rating. Next week, the Hippos visit another tough team as they travel to play dada team, a club in Croatia's top series. Sunday is the last fixture of Season 20, Fan Appreciation Day at the 'drome. In Closing I'm really liking these international friendlies. I kindof wish I could have gotten more people at the game to make a little more profit but I'd rather play Div I teams who I actually have a shot at winning against than get an extra couple grand- I guess that's just me. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-02-2003, 11:16 PM	#79
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.14: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training After the awful week last week- everything turned around this week. Instead of having some slumping form, we got back on the right track. Instead of botching and having to do stamina, playmaking resulted in two bumps. Instead of an awful youth pull, we got someone who would sell. It was about time- Daniel Storm bumped to formidable, giving us our second formidable ever. To show our gratitude, we put him on the market- sorry, but we have 1 trainee too many so Storm was the odd man out. The other bump, that was somewhat unexpected but shouldn't have been, was Thomas Little. He's now up to excellent playmaking to go along with his solid stamina and solid passing. Did I mention that he's 18, like Storm? Future Training One more week of playmaking then I suppose a pair of set pieces- we're going to be really good at penalty kicks. Stamina would be useless because I have to play starters and, as of right now, 9 of my starters have excellent stamina and the other 2 have solid. That should keep our form from taking too big of a hit (I hope). Form Starters: (+3) (-1) Entire Team: (+5) (-6) Starters Form As odd as it sounds- this used to be the most time consuming part of the update so I took out the colors Solid (or above): Benito (exc), Starks, Bush, Spagnuolo, Schrader Passable: Connors, Meek, Kimber, Teepen, Cristiano Inadequate: Phelan Weak (or below): -none- Phelan jumped out of his slump, going from poor to inad in a week! That's great! Value Starters: (+9) (-1) Entire Team: (+13) (-7) Value Highlights Above $100K: 10(+1)/16(+1) Above $200K: 7(+0)/12(+2) Above $300K: 4(+0)/4(+1) Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($536K) Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($459K) Milestones: Pierre Wellens ($200K) Pierre Wellens broke the $200K mark this week and Thomas Little continues his meteoric rise: he's up to $397K after being below $250K just 3 weeks ago. FYI- the only starter who went down in value was Timber, but as long as he doesn't drop in form any more, I'm still happy. Another bookkeeping note: we gained a starter over $100K because Schrader was moved to the starting lineup since he's out of his form slump and Miguel was moved back to B Team. All but one of the starters is over $100K in value- the holdout is Elmer Bush at wingback and his $96K value. He's got great form but if Arcadio Sanchez would ever get out of his form slump and supplant Bush in the starting lineup, then we would have an all $100K value lineup. Team Stats Total Wages: 36068 (+$0) Total Value: 4537000 (+174000) Avg Value: 206277 (-1485) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 22 (+1) Nationalities: 12 (NC) Notes: The extra player is the youth pick who is on sale right now. Youth Pull, Week 20.14 I stand corrected- last week's youth pull did sell. Bradley Brinson went to the aka boys in the Netherlands for $7K as he was a 17yo inad playmaker who was a pseudo clown. This weeks, however, is much better. I'd train Christopher Wilson except that he's too old (scary to say that about a 19yo): he's a solid playmaker with inad passing and stamina and weak wing and defending. Even in this depressed market, he should fetch $80K so that's what he's starting at. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 42 Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 15 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0) Total Sold for: 1139000 (+0) Youth Pull Christopher Wilson (17852743) 19 years, passable form, healthy A controversial guy who is tranquil and honest. Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities. Nationality: USA Assessed value: 122 000 US$ Wage: 1 160 US$/week Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: solid Passing: inadequate Winger: weak Defending: weak Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: wretched Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC) Supporter Club: 1509 members (+14) Supporters: high on life (up from delirious) Team Spirit: calm (down from content) Confidence: strong (up from poor) 20.14 Week In Review On the Field Chock handed Houston the worst loss in team history, 7-1 at his place. I PIC'd and played some subs so it was expected. As for our friendly, we're now 1-0 against teams in top series of countries. Bring on billay and I'll kick Landfills ass! Ok, maybe not. But we went to Iceland and bet Real Reykjavik 4-2. We liked it so much, we'll be doing it again next week, going to play a team in Croatia's top league. Off the Field Two big bumps by a pair of UberTrainees(TM) as Storm goes to formidable playmaking and Little goes to excellent. Storm is now on the market at $950K, hoping to get a bite. If he doesn't, I'll put him up for $800K or $850K next week. Also got a good youth pull who should bring in $80K+ in Christopher Wilson. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-02-2003, 11:22 PM	#80
DukeRulesMAB College Prospect Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Alexandria, VA	Damn, Little is gonna be sweet, given some patience. I don't know which ones you plan on keeping long-term, but I'd certainly consider an excellent/solid/solid 18 YO. __________________ FOBL: Where anyone not in IAP FOFL: I may be the commish, but it's still pretty good.

11-03-2003, 01:09 AM	#82
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.15 Fixture: Houston Hippopotami - The Champion Pre-Game Analysis This one's kindof for all the marbles in the sense that if we win, we get 4th. If we lose or draw, we will almost certainly have to play a qualification game. The Champion's not as good as us but he's been improving. Fortunately, we have him at the 'drome on Fan Appreciation Day. While we don't have a cool promotion like Sack Full o' Doorknobs or Jerome Bettis Bobbleheads or a Crawfish Sack Attachment (or whatever they hell they give away at the home of that sick crawfish), it's Hippos T-Shirt Day and also Autograph Day so every fan through the turnstiles will get a free shirt and all the Hippos will be hanging around the field for an hour or so before the game, signing autographs on said shirts (or whatever you want to bring). Prediction He's been putting up pretty good ratings of late. His midfield has improved from weak to solid in the past few games and he's starting to get excellents and formidables in his other ratings consistently. Still, we're a better team, should put up an excellent midfield and out-exc-exc offense and put that outstanding on his weak wing. If he PIC's to save up for the qualification game, we roll 6-1. If he normals or even MotS's, we pull out a 3-2 nailbiter. Gameday Live Date: 10/27/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 8327022 Arena: The Hippodrome Crowd: 32000 Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 32000 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Bush - Starks, Meek, Benito, Connors, Teepen - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Champion tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Speer - Parrish, Somogyi, Landry - Anderson, Yang-Fen, Friedman, Ulpovaara, Cortes - Tryggvesson, Huda. Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 2nd minute left Champion´s Achyar Huda completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. The visitors Wayne Landry took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 13th minute. 0 - 2 for Champion. Carlos Alberto Benito had a good opportunity to reduce in the 21st minute but wasn´t cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 60 percent, dominated the battle. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area, but at last Hippopotami´s Carlos Alberto Benito was able to shove the ball in. 1-2. Herschel Meek equalised for Hippopotami on a free kick carving through the defensive box making the score 2 - 2. In the 83rd minute cheers broke out as Edwin Phelan found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 3 - 2 goal in for Hippopotami. 84 minutes into the game Hippopotami were awarded a penalty that Herschel Meek turned into 4 - 2 without a problem. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 5 - 2. Edwin Phelan finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 66 percent possession of the ball. Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. However, Edwin Phelan made a disastrous appearance. Champion´s best player was Herkko Ulpovaara. However, Wayne Landry made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 2. Statistics Stadium Terraces: 20000/20000 Basic seats: 8000/8000 Seats under roof: 3200/3200 VIP seats: 800/800 Total: 32000/32000 Notes: Only our second sellout of the year. I'm hoping to change that next year. Either way, they were treated to a show. Team Ratings Houston Hippopotami Midfield: formidable (9) Right Side Defence: excellent (8) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: excellent (8) Right Side Attack: outstanding (10) Central Attack: excellent (8) Left Side Attack: solid (7) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/76 The Champion Midfield: passable (6) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: formidable (9) Left Side Defence: formidable (9) Right Side Attack: formidable (9) Central Attack: formidable (9) Left Side Attack: formidable (9) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/68 Notes:Um- wow! Our first ever formidable midfield legitimately (i.e. not MotS). Also, our new team high NSI, eclipsing the 73 from two weeks ago. I guess if I really had to complain, I'm a little disappointed at the solid on that one side of the attack but that's because Phelan is still slightly in a form slump so we're splitting hairs. The Champion also had a great showing and will be a pretty tough team next season as they keep improving- formidable on 5 of the 6 non-midfields? Nice! Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber *~ DW Lorenzo Cristiano * DM Clement Schrader * DW Elmer Bush * WI Mick Starks (o) *~ MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ~ MI Stephen Connors (x) ~ MI Herchel Meek (d) ~ WI Koos Teepen * FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo *~ FO Edwin Phelan ~ Total Stars: 36.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Normal Notes: The 36.5 ties our star high from the Brooklyn game and everyone got * except Phelan. That's one of my early goals for the first half of next year: a game will everyone getting * or higher. And look at Benito! The rating of **~ is a Hippo first! That's as good as any middie in IV.21 who doesn't play for Brooklyn. The Postgame Show Anxious times in chat- we just didn't come out on fire like I expected. The team is quite adept at scoring the early goal but instead, Achyar Huda scored 2 minutes in to make it 1-0 for The Champion. In the 13th minute, Wayne Landry snuck it by a confused Timber and the goalie's costly mental error put us down 2-0. Benito missed the only chance we had in the first half and we were down 2-0 at the half despite 60% possession. In the second half, nothing happened: 5 minutes in. 10 minutes in. 15 minutes in. 20 minutes in. 25 minutes in. 30 minutes in. With 15 minutes left in the game, nothing had happened in the second half: no events at all. I figured with 60% possession, I was bound to get my chances but where were they? Then, out of nowhere, a corner kick goes in as Carlos Alberto Benito "was able to shove the ball in" and we cut the lead to 2-1. However, there were only 10 minutes left. Then Herchel Meek once again showed that leadership from the last few games as he scored his 8th goal in the last 6 fixtures (the rest of the Hippos combined only have 4) and he tied the game 2-2 in the 81st minute. Phelan scored to give the Hippos the lead in the 83rd minute followed. Lastly, Meek's and Phelan's second goals in the 84th and 86th minute to gave the Hippos a 5-2 win. It was a different type of nailbiter than I expected but the boys really showed something today in pulling the game out. In the darkest moments, they were able to pull the game out and claim 4th place. The offense exploded in the last 15 minutes of the game turning a 2-0 loss into a 5-2 win. Meek has made a huge push in the second half for MVP at the awards banquet. Three Stars All three really deserved gold today Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito Just missed a goal in the first half, scored the goal that got it all started, and put up the first ever ~ for the Hippos Silver: Edwin Phelan Scored the game winning goal and an insurance goal Gold: Herschel Meek Scored the tying goal when things looked bleak and added insurance Press Release** 10/27/2003 at 03:15 Late Scoring Blitz Buries The Champion, Gets Hippos 4th! With 15 minutes left in the game, the Hippos were staring at a 2-0 deficit and a qualification game. However, Carlos Alberto Benito, who got Houston's first ever 4.5 star game, scored to get the Hippos started. Then, the floodgates opened up as Meek and Phelan both scored a pair of goals, giving the Hippos a 5-2 win and fourth place in their first season in Div IV. Houston also put up their first ever formidable midfield, delighting a full crowd at the Hippodrome on Fan Appreciation Day. Around the League The battle for first... zfan - Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness 0 - 5 When the season started, this looked like a big game among the top 4. Instead, Chock gets its walkover to end the year. Bummer. As a side note, Chock had the two leading scorers in the series with Anders Jansson's 18 goals and Bud Willis's 12. Team Groomers - Iowa Enforcers 0 - 3 Iowa won, as expected, making it so that we had to win. I'm not sure, but they might have PIC'd, saving up for next week's qualfication game (and they have a familiar foe- see below). Kaishaku F.C. - Brooklyn United 1 - 2 Brooklyn won the defensive struggle of magnificent versus brilliant midfields to take home the IV.21 crown and go back to Div III. They took a 2-0 lead in the first half and had to hold on as Kaishaku scored in the 67th minute but missed on chances in the 51st and 73rd minutes. Brooklyn won the NSI battle handily 108-82. League Standings Code: N Team Goals Pts NSI 1. Brooklyn United 57 - 8 38 108 2. Kaishaku F.C. 40 - 15 33 82 3. Chock Full of Whole 49 - 24 28 9 4. Houston Hippopotami 36 - 37 22 76 5. Iowa Enforcers 29 - 26 20 74 6. The Champion 25 - 33 12 68 7. zfan 11 - 62 6 9 8. Team Groomers 15 - 57 4 55 Here's the final standings! Our win was indeeed necessary for us to retain 4th as we only finished 2 points up and with a -1 goal differential to Iowa's +3. Brooklyn's win over Kaishaku will get them back in Div III. Team Groomers wasn't quite up with the rest of the teams in IV.21 and I wish them well. They and the computer controlled zfan will auto demote. By the looks of this, there will be 3 groups next season: Kaishaku, Chock, and the Div III relegee will battle for promotion. Iowa, The Champion, and myself will again be battling for 4-6 (provided they win their qualification games). Finally, the Div V promotees could be out of their league or be another contender for that 4-6 spots. Hatstats And now for a special Qualification Edition of Hatstats! Since I haven't done it in a couple of weeks, it's time for a hatstats overload: a couple of paragraphs on my series, some FOFC notes, and a couple more paragraphs on the series for next season. Brooklyn, once again was tops in all of Div IV with his 108 being 6 points better than the second highest Div IV team. We're still hanging around in the 20s for series strength because of zfan and the forfeits (hey, that sounds like a band). However, if you only put in a 50 for zfan and Chock's usual 80, we're suddenly in the top 5. Back to some of the stuff from earlier in the match report, The Champion has been getting tougher: 4 of his last 5 scores (I ommitted a game he threw against Brooklyn) are 68, 63, 64, and 68 and he's put up 15.5 or 15.0 stars on the midfield 4 of his last 5 games. Unfortunately, he had some brutal competition, drawing Iowa and losing to Chock, Brooklyn, Kaishaku, and myself so it didn't show up in the standings. For comparision, the last 7 weeks (i.e. the second half of the season), we've gotten 17 to 18.5 stars on the midfield except for the PIC walkover. We may be surpassing Iowa as he has only gotten 16.0 or 16.5. Daed has been playing dirty, dirty ball the last couple of weeks as he is the most misunderstood team in all of Div IV with 1 red and 19 yellows. The goldurnears and Gargs are at 11 and 31 while seriesmate Iowa is at 32. While the Calibiri can dish it out, they can't take it back. He's 8th for most fragile teams with 4 injuries spanning 8 weeks. That distinction earns him the injury-card double-double and should serve as an example to everyone: if you play rough with other people's players, they probably will return it. Oh, and in case you didn't see: IV.61 averaged 80.3 NSI last week. Boy, that would be an unpleasant series to be in and even more impressive is that The X-Ecutioners ran through that series going 13-0-1 with a 53-7 goal differential. Looks like the two autopromoting into IV.21 won't be so tough as last year- they get upper 50s in the ratings. The Golden Beers won V.216 and Digital Nova won V.160. Certainly not the same type of talent as last season when The Champion and myself got autopromoted in while Iowa won a qualification game. We didn't get so lucky on the other side of things- while Brooklyn is promoting out (good riddance! he's good guy but very tough), The Oompa-Loompas will be coming to Div IV- they put up ratings in the upper 80s to low 90s instead of Brooklyns upper 90s to low 100s. His strength is defense but his midfield is "only" excellent and formidable instead of Brooklyn's magnificents his last 3 weeks (home and away). Finally, the qualification games involve The Champion and Iowa. The Champion gets Full Flanull from V.183 but they should dispatch them with relative easy. Lastly, I expected Iowa would get someone they could walk all over. Well, they get ausonny's Bees. That's definitely not an easy task! The Bees put up upper 60s to low 70s just like Iowa. However, Iowa gets the home game so they have the edge. For the curious, CC's Dragons, who we battle tooth and nail with last season in V.62, they did pretty good this year after we left. They "only" collected all 42 points and outscored the series 80-1! Yes, 80-1! They were the 6th highest team to promote, going into IV.31, home of the South Bay Saints. Even more impressive is that he did that in a series (V.62) which was in the top 20 series for Div V all year. In Closing A thrilling comeback was a great way to end the regular season. We get to sit back and relax next weekend and I suppose there are worse ways to spend qualification weekend, namely losing. We have 2 more friendlies this season, going to Hrvatska this week and then hosing Doug and the Cyclone's rivalry week. It's probably good there's not much else here as I think that was the longest match report I've ever written. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-03-2003, 04:44 AM	#83
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.15 Friendly: dada team - Houston Hippopotami Pre-Game Analysis One last friendly of the year, this time to Hrvatska and a top division team there: dada team is in 1.HNL in Croatia. Since Storm bumped, he'll be at wing as we try and sell him. Wellens and Little will be in the midfield along with Tryggvesson: this might actually be an improvement over last week's inadequate. As I suspected, last week was Derrick Solomon's final game as a Hippo unless an injury occurs. We'll definitely have a jersey retiring ceremony at a game next season. Prediction They tend to put up a passable midfield and solids and excellents elsewhere. We should probably not be playing them but it makes for a good challenge. We might even be able to hang with them if we get that inadequate midfield from last week. Still, they're better: a 4-2 loss. Gameday Live Date: 10/29/2003 at 08:45 MatchID: 9939617 Arena: lahovica stadion Crowd: 3311 Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 3311 to lahovica stadion. dada had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Svandahl - Askenmar, Vale Junior, Nilsson - Blánquez Pérez, Danièiæ, Nevešæanin, Heinen, Vinterland - Jozic, Roland. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sánchez - Bush, Miquel, Sánchez - Storm, Tryggvesson, Wellens, Little, Teepen - Tizón, Phelan. dada seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Hippopotami had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 17:th minute when Juan Miguel Tizón came up alone against Magnus Svandahl who managed a block. Daniel Storm of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 25:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Magnus Svandahl saved Edwin Phelan´s shot headed for the top corner. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate. The terraces were silenced in the 59:th minute as Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack from the right. Phillipe Roland pulled a real crowd pleaser as he, in the 60:th minute, wove through the guests whole central defense line and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. After 77 minutes Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 1 - 2. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, dada´s Robin Heinen got himself booked. The visitors Robert Tryggvesson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 79:th minute. 1 - 3 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 65 percent possession rate. Most important dada player was Jan Askenmar. Robin Heinen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Thomas Little. Arcadio Sánchez on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3. Statistics Stadium Terraces: 0/20000 Basic seats: 0/8000 Seats under roof: 0/3200 VIP seats: 0/800 Total: 0/32000 Notes: Another smaller than expected crowd: only 3311. Still, more than enough to offset the travel expenses. Team Ratings dada team Midfield: weak (4) Right Side Defence: excellent (8) Central Defence: excellent (8) Left Side Defence: solid (7) Right Side Attack: solid (7) Central Attack: formidable (9) Left Side Attack: passable (6) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/57 Houston Hippopotami Midfield: inadequate (5) Right Side Defence: inadequate (5) Central Defence: passable (6) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: passable (6) Central Attack: solid (7) Left Side Attack: solid (7) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 47/52 Notes: Quite a few things of note here. First, this was his typical outing except normally he puts up a passable instead of weak midfield- I wonder what was up with that. Second, that's our first ever 50 for our B Team. Third, this is one of those games where I got beat on the NSI and still won through some fluke. Player Ratings GK Ignacio Sanchez ~ DM Elmer Bush * DW Jose Maria Miguel *~ DW Arcadio Sanchez ~ WI Daniel Storm (m) ~ MI Thomas Little ~ MI Pierre Wellens (x) ~ MI Robert Tryggvesson ~ WI Koos Teepen (o) ~ FO Edwin Phelan ~ FO Juan Miguel Tizon Total Stars: 28.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: None Notes: Another B Team high- this one in stars. Little continues to amaze me at how quick he's progressing. Teepen also got a ~ when I accidentall- I mean, when Coach Braden saw his offensive prowess and played him offensively. I'm going to have to try that. Arcadio Sanchez is still in a big slump, only getting ~ despite being a pass/solid wingback with inad experience. The Postgame Show Their three star goalie, Magnus Svandahl, saved a pair of shots in the first half, the only two scoring events. Tizon scored in the 59th minute but then they answered in the 60th. But then Tizon scored again in the 77th minute to give us the lead and Tryggvesson scored in the 79th minute, sending the 4 Hippo fans that traveled to Croatia back happy. Three Stars Two of the three are repeats from last week Bronze: Koos Teepen Got *~ out on the wings for his first time Silver: Robert Tryggvesson Scored a goal for the second week in a row Gold: Juan Miguel Tizon Scored a pair for the second week in a row including the game winner Press Release** 11/3/2003 at 04:24 Hippos a Hit in Hrvatska For the second straight week, the Hippos went on the road and won against a top league opponent. Also, like last week, Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair as Houston came away from Croatia with a 3-1 win against dada team, who is in 1.HNL. This concludes the Friendly Hippo World Tour with Houston going 5-1 in international play. Next week is rivalry week and Houston gets their first home friendly in weeks as reciprocal supporter Doug5984 brings his Louisiana Cyclones to visit the Hippodrome. Friendly Hippo World Tour(TM) Wrapup Six weeks ago, we hit the road with the intent to get some extra experience with an away game or two. But once it started, it sounded like a good idea to spend the rest of the season on the road visiting different locations. $36K in travel expenses and 4 continents later (NAmer/Aus/Eur/Asia), the Hippos had visited Canada, Oceania, Prathet Thai, Israel, Island, and Hrvatska. We went 5-1 including wins against two top league teams. Next year, I'm going to try and do the Hippos Baltic Cup at some point, hitting Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania now that all three have leagues. Now, my goal is to visit as many countries as possible before I stop playing hattrick and spread the gospel of the run-and-shoot. In Closing A great way to end the season! Next week, we have the rivalry game against Louisiana in the inbetween week. Training update then Louisiana game and then awards. Eventually, I'll have a post to a new thread and hopefully I won't take 4 weeks to get caught up and be behind all season. Lastly- check out the FAQ thread on the Hattrick board! I'm reviving the FAQ and anything you want included- post it there and it will likely get in there. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-03-2003, 05:27 AM	#84
Havok College Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Florida	writers block no more! __________________ Maniacal Misfitz - We're better than you and we know it!

11-03-2003, 06:21 AM	#85
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.15: Training, Youth Pull, Conditions, Week In Review Training We got a minor bump this week as 29yo winger Koos Teepen bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid playmaking, stamina and excellent set pieces. HAM lists Mick Starks at 150% of training at playmaking with no bump. Also, I noticed I mixed some of last week's report in with this weeks so if stats seem repetitive in places, they probably are. Future Training Two set pieces weeks this offseason. Form Starters: (+1) (-1) Entire Team: (+3) (-3) Starters Form Solid (or above): Benito, Starks, Bush, Spagnuolo, Schrader Passable: Connors, Meek, Kimber, Teepen, Cristiano, Phelan Inadequate: -none- Weak (or below): -none- Phelan's back out of his mini slump and everyone is passable or solid. Too bad it's the offseason so it won't last. Value Starters: (+9) (-1) Entire Team: (+13) (-5) Value Highlights Above $100K: 10(+0)/14(-2) Above $200K: 7(+0)/4(-1) Above $300K: 4(+0)/5(+1) Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($554K) Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($490K) Milestones: -none- Storm was sold so that accounts for the $200K guy who left while last week's youth pull was the other $100K guy. I can't track down the milestone for $300K but I think I just left it off a couple of weeks ago when Little bumped. Team Stats Total Wages: 34868 (-$1200) Total Value: 4421000 (-116000) Avg Value: 210524 (+4247) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 21 (-1) Nationalities: 11 (-1) Notes: Again, the player lost was Storm. Youth Pull, Week 20.15 Good money from last week's youth pull: after a mini bidding war, Sverige Div VI team Killing all-stars bought him for $155K. He has no history of daytrading but he turned back around and is trying to sell him for $250. I doubt he's going to get that. This week's youth pull is Ronald Johsnon. He's an 18yo with passable stamina and passable playmaking. I'll put him up for $30K and see if he sells. If not, he'll get relisted at $10K and let a bidding war happen. Youth Pull Status Youth Pulls: 43 Youth Pull Grocers: 25 (+0) Youth Pulls Sold: 16 (+1) Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0) Total Sold for: 1294000 (+155000) Youth Pull Ronald Johnson (20113145) 18 years, passable form, healthy A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest. Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities. Assessed value: 62 000 US$ Wage: 800 US$/week Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: passable Passing: poor Winger: poor Defending: weak Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak Conditions Youth Squad: excellent (max) Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC) Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC) Supporter Club: 1531 members (+22) Supporters: high on life (NC) Team Spirit: calm (NC) Confidence: strong (NC) 20.15 Week In Review On the Field In dramatic come-from-behind fashion, we scored 5 goals in the final 15 minutes of the game to turn a 2-0 loss into a 5-2 win and clinch 4th place. Meek and Phelan both had 2 goals. In our friendly, we concluded the Friendly Hippo World Tour, winning 3-1 against dada team from the top series in Hrvatska. Off the Field Huge news as we put UberTrainee(TM) Daniel Storm up for sale. He didn't sell at $950K but we got a bite at $850K from Olongapo-Metro FC Head Hunters who just promoted into the Philippine League, the top league in the Philippines. He also won the cup last season. Veteran winger Koos Teepen popped to solid playmaking and our youth pull will sell for a modest sum. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-03-2003, 06:22 AM	#86
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Finally I'm caught up and it only took the entire season Next season, I'm hoping to be more on top of things. I suppose that wouldn't take much. So, anyways, right now I'm looking to possibly sell Meek if anyone will actually jump on him at over $200K. I'm kindof split- I'd like to keep him another year- he'd always put up 3.5 to 4.0 stars but with Little progressing so quickly, he puts up 3.5 stars now and it would free up another trainee spot if I promoted him to the A Team. The one problem is that it will weaken my team temporarily and next season will start pretty rough with @Chock, vs Iowa, @TheChampion, and vsOompah (the Div III relegee) to start the season. There's not an easy game there, tho I might want to PIC against Chock, eat the loss and start the season off right. I'll worry about that as the game gets a little closer. The one handy thing is that the middle of my schedule is pretty cushy with the 2 promotees giving me 4 pretty winnable games and Kaishaku is the only nasty team in that stretch. Anyways, as much as I'd love to do a "Where are they now"- it's just not possible at the moment because of school this week. But I'll get the Awards Banquet post up this weekend. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 11-03-2003 at 06:33 AM.

11-04-2003, 07:24 AM	#87
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	The Die Has Been Cast As of this morning, Herschel Meek has been sold for to a team in, where else, Sverige. Meek was a 28yo unpredictable middie who got us 3.5 to 4.0 stars per game and helped power our midfield this year. However, with the quick progress of 18yo UberTrainee(TM) Thomas Little, Meek's time was up in Houston. He was purchased last offseason as a stopgap measure until the UberTrainees were ready and his veteran leadership helped the team greatly down the stretch as he scored 9 of the last 15 goals this season. He understood that if he stayed, it would be in a greatly diminished role and chose instead, when management approached him, to go to another team and help them in a greater capacity. He was purchased for under $130K and sold for $286K. Next season, the Hippos will possibly play both wings and midfielders offensive for the first time (with the extra middie staying back, of course). This also means, we'll be in the market for a new UberTrainee(TM) as Little joins the starting ranks. That $1.5M sitting in the bank, primarily from the sales of Daniel Storm and Meek, will certainly come in handy. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-06-2003, 01:44 AM	#88
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.16 Friendly: Houston Hippopotami - Louisiana Cyclones Pre-Game Analysis It's rivalry week and we will be hitting up our third of five mutual supporters for a rivarly game, Doug5984's Louisiana Cyclones. Two seasons ago, Morrisville beat us 4-2 under clouds. Last season, we beat ausonny's Bees 1-0 (who just missed out on joining IV.21 when Iowa beat them last week) in the rain. This week, more rain. We'll be trotting out our "new look" starting lineup for next season with Little now on the A Team at offensive middie, Koos Teepen now playing offensive wing, and Arcadio Sanchez at wingback (even with his form slump). Prediction We're putting out our starters which means I'll be putting up a 75ish NSI and either a solid or excellent midfield. He'll be putting up 70-75 but only an inad midfield. Midfield trumps defense: 3-1 Hippos. Gameday Live Date: 11/6/2003 at 01:00 MatchID: 10002275 Arena: The Hippodrome Crowd: 1306 Due to an all-day shower, 1306 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Cristiano, Schrader, Sánchez - Teepen, Benito, Connors, Little, Starks - Phelan, Spagnuolo. Louisiana had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Hendrix - Stubblefield, Rusu, Blalock, Rusu, Moore - Crespo, Kumar, Oskarsson - Tunna, Pedrosa Garcia. Hippopotami seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Louisiana clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could, using their excellent talent for it. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Koos Teepen somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Mick Starks who struck for 1 - 0. Hippopotami put their lead ahead another goal as Gualtiero Spagnuolo struck home the 2 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. Gualtiero Spagnuolo should probably have put his team up another goal in the 14:th minute, but some great goaltending by Tracy Hendrix kept the visitors in the game. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Thomas Little putting the lead up to 3 - 0. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 79 percent possession rate. Louisiana seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Hippopotami put themselves up 4 - 0 when Thomas Little broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. Hippopotami put themselves up 5 - 0 when Carlos Alberto Benito broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. Tracy Hendrix was caught napping a bit later as Clement Schrader lifted a ball over him after a free kick, but the ball hit the bar, rebounding into the keepers arms. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 85 percent possession rate. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. Arcadio Sánchez on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Louisiana player was without a doubt Cody Stubblefield. However, Sebastian Rusu made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 0. Statistics Stadium Terraces: 838/20000 Basic seats: 292/8000 Seats under roof: 125/3200 VIP seats: 51/800 Total: 1306/32000 Notes: Too bad for the rain- we would have had a pretty big crowd, otherwise. Only made about $4K. Team Ratings Houston Hippopotami Midfield: excellent (8) Right Side Defence: passable (6) Central Defence: solid (7) Left Side Defence: passable (6) Right Side Attack: outstanding (10) Central Attack: outstanding (10) Left Side Attack: outstanding (10) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 65/73 Louisiana Cyclones Midfield: wretched (2) Right Side Defence: outstanding (10) Central Defence: supernatural (14) Left Side Defence: supernatural (14) Right Side Attack: formidable (9) Central Attack: solid (7) Left Side Attack: weak (4) DataKing/Nevstar Index: 62/64 Notes: I think our midfield is just fine with Little in there. An excellent even with both middies and wings playing offensive. Our defense needs a little help now with no one playing back but we'll see how this season progresses. But, of course, the big story is that our offense was outstanding across the front! Player Ratings GK Tim Kimber *~ DW Lorenzo Cristiano * DM Clement Schrader *** DW Arcadio Sanchez ~ WI Koos Teepen (o) ~ MI Thomas Little (o) ~ MI Stephen Connors (x) ~ MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ~ WI Mick Starks (o) ~ FO Edwin Phelan ~ FO Gualtiero Spagnuolo ~ Total Stars: 36.5 Total player experience: poor Team Attitude: Friendly Tactics: Attack in the Middle Notes: Benito follows up his ~ last week with another ~ today. Connors, Teepen, Starks, Little, Timber, and Spagnuolo all got ~ so that makes 7 with ~ or higher. Phelan is still hanging out around ~ and Arcadio Sanchez is still in a brutal form slump. The Postgame Show With the huge midfield advantage, we got 79% possession in the first half and 85% in the second half. the Cyclones never had an event. The only mention of one of their players was Tracy Hendrix who made a save in the first half and then was caught napping in the second half but Clement Schrader's shot hit off the crossbar. Mick Starks scored the first goal and Gualtiero Spagnuolo scored the second before the game was 10 minutes old. Thomas Little scored one before the half and one after the half and Benito scored the last goal as we won 5-0. Three Stars Sure Kimber pitched the shutout but the offense was the star Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito Another **~ and a goal Silver: Mick Starks Scored the first goal of the game which turned out to be the game winner Gold: Thomas Little A pair of goals and an excellent midfield show I have little to worry about with him in the middle Press Release** 11/6/2003 at 08:40 Hippos beat Cyclones for Rivalry Week Win UberTrainee(TM) turned starter Thomas Little scored twice and Timber pitched a shutout as the Hippos shut out reciprocal supporter Louisiana Cyclones in their rivalry week game. Coach Braden's unpopular decision to sell Herchel Meek and elevate Thomas Little to starter has proven to be the right decision for now as all attacks were outstanding and midfield was excellent. However, the defense suffered without Meek helping out and Braden will have to answer this problem in the coming weeks. In Closing I'm trying to figure out where I most need to spend the $1.5M in cash I have. I need a trainee but I'm not sure how much I want to spend on that and until I figure that out next week, I won't know where else I plan on improving my team. For our Cup game next week, we will play the Mississippi Samurais (Mississippi... Samurais...?) from VI.389, a computer controlled team. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

11-14-2003, 02:49 PM	#89
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	20.16: Training, Conditions, Week In Review Training Set pieces training since it's the offseason. It seemed a better option than stamina because, of our projected starting 11, 8 of them are at excellent stamina and the other 3 are at solid. The UberTrainees(TM) are at inad but there are only two currently. So, I went with set pieces. Our team is going to be pretty good by the end of the next two weeks. A couple of guys bumped to excellent, three more bumped to solid and all the starters are now poor or better. The really good news is that form stayed high even with only half the team playing. Future Training Another week of set pieces then back on rigorous playmaking training. Hopefully all 14 weeks next season. Form Starters: (+5) (-1) Entire Team: (+9) (-2) Starters Form Solid (or above): Starks (exc), Schrader (exc), Benito, Bush, Phelan, Kimber, Little Passable: Connors, Teepen, Cristiano, Spagnuolo Inadequate: -none- Weak (or below): -none- Looks like our form is holding. Value Starters: (+6) (-4) Entire Team: (+10) (-7) Value Highlights Above $100K: 11(+1)/16(+2) Above $200K: 7(+0)/10(+0) Above $300K: 5(+0)/5(+0) Team Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($552K) Non-Outfield Leader: Tim Kimber ($510K) Milestones: Elmer Bush ($100K) For the first time ever, all of our starters are $100K or over! Elmer Bush, who has been with us for quite a while finally went over the $100K mark. And just in time for wages week. D'oh. Team Stats Total Wages: 33428 (-$1440) Total Value: 4332000 (-89000) Avg Value: 216600 (+6076) Avg Age: 23 (NC) Avg Form: passable (NC) Avg Experience: poor (NC) No of players: 20 (-1) Nationalities: 11 (NC) Notes: Those wages are going to shoot way up next week. 20.16 Week In Review On the Field The fixture season was over, so the starters played the Rivalry Week Game. This year, 1306 fans saw Timber throw a shutout and a pair of goals by newly promoted Thomas Little as the Hippos rolled 5-0. Off the Field Thomas Little got promoted to starter because we figured he could take over for Herschel Meek, who sold this past week for $286K. That money puts our bank account at roughly $1.5M and will go towards a new Uber Trainee(TM) and a future coach. If there is cash left over, I'll look into mid 20s aged guys at wingback and striker who could play with us for a couple of years. Closing That's it! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. There is nothing else to see this week- the youth pull and economy updates are actually part of next week and next season so check there. The awards banquet will be up in the next two days- so check back here then! SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 11-14-2003 at 02:51 PM.

03-12-2004, 12:48 PM	#90
vex Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Tulsa	Ok now, you took a season's break, now get on the ball.

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