Screamin' Seamen Football Club - Season 5

[DataKing]

Screamin’ Seamen Football Club – Season 5

For the first installment of this dynasty report (season 2) click here
For the second installment, click here
For the (aborted) third installment, click here

Major Upheaval as Owner and General Manager Data King Returns to SSFC Front Office

(Chicago, IL) It has been a turbulent and confusing year for fans of Chicago’s Screamin’ Seamen Football Club, to say the least. Only a few weeks into this past season, just after SSFC’ defeat in the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup (the furthest advance of the club in cup play to date), team owner and general manager Data King simply disappeared.

King, who had always been a vocal and active part of his organization, rapidly became very conspicuous in his absence from team matches, press conferences, and the like. Matters were made worse when other representatives of the club, particularly the club’s new head coach Ioan Fluieras, refused to comment on the subject, stating over and over again that Mr. King was “indisposed for the foreseeable future.” Needless to say, this did not sit well with the club’s supporters or the media.

All manner of rumors and speculation soon began to circulate throughout the internet, particularly on unofficial Screamin’ Seamen fan club sites. These ranged from realistic possibilities; such as King working feverishly to rid himself of financial difficulties incurred by running a professional sports organization, or attempting to sell the club and purchase a franchise in a different sport, to the absurd; a freak bathroom accident had rendered King a blithering, amnesiac idiot, or this author’s personal favorite, that giant crawfish with laser beams instead of claws had indeed assassinated the club owner.

Coach Fluieras, now fully in charge of the club during King’s absence, did the best thing he could to put these rumors to rest: he started winning matches. Having only managed a meager sixth place finish the season before, only barely winning their relegation match by a score of 1-nil, optimism was in short supply among the fans and sponsors at the beginning of the season. But Fluieras seemed to revel in the “doom and gloom” atmosphere, stringing together an impressive 9-1-4 record and a 3rd place finish in the series with 28 points. Fluieras was heralded as a genius for turning the organization around, and all thoughts of Mr. King were soon forgotten.

The fires of the previous season had barely cooled to embers before the media began buzzing around the Screamin’ Seamen again, however, as Mr. King once again materialized, apparently out of thin air. King held a press conference, announcing that “he had returned to take the helm once again, but wishes to congratulate Coach Fluieras and the SSFC players on an outstanding season.” He also declared that “my return will herald significant changes within the organization, as we continue to work on ensuring a strong and profitable future, both on and off the pitch.” King’s response to the barrage of questions regarding his absence was simple: “I’ve been attending to personal matters for the past few months.” Mr. King was willing to divulge nothing more, setting the wheels of the rumor mill into motion once again.

However, the rumors were short-lived as the media and fans began to take notice of the drastic off-season moves made by the club. No less than half of the active roster of the club were transferred away, including long-standing club members like Charlie Bautista and Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin, as well as many of the club’s young defensive trainees. As these players began to filter out, in came a number of fresh, young faces, many of whom are well under the age of 20. It was soon obvious that two things were happening: First, there was a major “youth movement” occurring within the Screamin’ Seamen organization, and second, the entire midfield of the club had been replaced by teenagers.

“I told you all that major changes were coming,” stated King in a press conference late last month. “Well, here we are. It has long been our intention to re-vamp our training program, and the time for that re-vamping has come.” After being peppered with questions by the press regarding the changes and what they meant for the coming season, King summed up the situation with the following. “It has always been the modus operandi of this organization to look out for the long-term development of the club, and to never sacrifice that long-term commitment for short-term gains. That philosophy remains true to this day. Will this season be a difficult one? Absolutely. But there can be no doubt that these young players will one day turn into extremely valuable members of the team, and will spur this organization to higher and higher levels.”

For all the long-term optimism in Mr. King’s speech, there are significant short-term threats for the Screamin’ Seamen. The other top five clubs in the series; Ramblers, Croats in Miami, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Big Reds, and Sweden Heights have all returned to slug it out for top honors once again. Particularly dangerous are the Ramblers, who won their second series title in three years this past season, and lost their qualification match by a narrow 1-nil margin. To make matters worse, the two clubs that have promoted into the series, the Harrisburg harries and WoM FC are much better clubs than last year’s contenders. With a squad of brand new midfielders on the pitch this season, none of whom have even reached their nineteenth year, this could be a perilous season for the Seamen indeed. It will be up to the club’s veteran strikers and particularly their talented back-line if the club is to avoid relegation at the end of the season.

Ivan Phillip Freely is an associated press writer for the Chicago Tribunal.

[The Afoci]

Nice to see you back.

[DataKing]

Author’s Note: As many of you are aware, I stepped away from this dynasty report just a month or so into last season. In fact, I pretty much stepped away from Hattrick as well. The reason for this has been stated elsewhere, and I do not wish to sully this dynasty report with any further discussion of it.

What I do wish to discuss here, is the reason for the “gap” which now exists in this dynasty report. For any of you non-Hattrickers out there who might be reading this, Hattrick is an online game, with a set schedule. For that reason, writing a dynasty report based on Hattrick is significantly different than doing a report based on TCY, FOF, Madden, or any other “self-contained” game, which can be turned on and off at the writer’s whim. Time is the enemy of any Hattrick dynasty report writer, and I am no exception.

I made a brief attempt to “catch up” with this dynasty report, in order to keep it whole, but found the task to be daunting to the brink of impossibility. I spend a good deal of time on my dynasty reports, and the amount of work that would be involved in writing up the last nine weeks or so of the past season is simply not possible. I do not have that kind of time.

So, I have decided to cut my losses, as it were, and pick up the story again at the present day. A little bit of back-fill is coming (specifically, the moves that have been made during the off-season), but that is all. I will proceed from here as normal. If anyone has any specific questions regarding the past season (specific to the SSFC dynasty and not to my absence, if you please) don’t hesitate to ask.

Many thanks to you all for reading this, and for being patient with me during my absence from this dynasty report, from Hattrick, and from this wonderful board we call home.

-DataKing

[Havok]

holy crap... its about time!

[DukeRulesMAB]

Great to have you back, DK! Don't ever feel obligated to continue when you're not having fun, but it's a little better (and more informative) place around here when you've got the dynasty running.

[GoldenEagle]

Hey glad to see you back DK!

[Desnudo]

I enjoyed your dynasty a lot, glad to see you're back at it again.

[PilotMan]

IT LIVES!!!!!!!!

[runs away screaming]

[illinifan999]

Ramblers representin!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(They used to be in my series )

Good to see you back DK!

[sterlingice]

HUZZAH!

SI

[robbgmaier]

I was this close to unsupporting you

welcome back

[DataKing]

The Afoci, Havok, DukeRulesMAB, GoldenEagle, Desnudo, PilotMan, illinifan999, sterlingice, robbgmaier: Just a quick not to thank you all for the warm welcome back. (Well, maybe not so warm from Pilot, but I know he's just foolin' ).

With luck, I'll have the current roster up on Tuesday. Stay tuned!

[Poli]

Hey buddy, good to have you back. I'll be up there in 2 weeks!

AE

[Fonzie]

WOOHOO!

[DataKing]

Screamin’ Seamen Season 5 Roster

Here is the roster for the Screamin’ Seamen as it stands right now. However, the club is currently sitting on just under a million in available transfer funds, and are seeking an experienced reserve defender as well as a possible improvement to the crop of young midfielders recently brought in. Another change or two is likely before league play begins this weekend.

Numerical equivalents have been provided along with the Hattrick-ratings, to help out any non-Hattrickers who might be reading this.

Head Coach

Ioan Fluieras
-Nationality: Romanian
-Age: 36
-Training: Solid (7)
-Leadership: Poor (3)
-Coaching Type: Balanced (neither attack nor defense minded)

Ioan did a superb job in his first season as a head coach, especially due to the lack of support from his general manager. Ioan managed to guide an often-outmatched Screamin’ Seamen club to an impressive 9-1-4 record and a 3rd place finish in series play. We’re looking forward to what is hopefully a long and successful run with Coach Fluieras at the helm.

Starters

Typical Formation: 3-5-2

Goalkeeper

#1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Nationality: American
-Age: 26
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Weak (4)
-Assessed Value: $475,000
-Wage: $3,750 per week
-Goaltending: Solid (7)

“Corny” Jernigan joined the Screamin’ Seamen via a trade halfway through our second season, and he has been a rock for us in net ever since. He has very nice career numbers, permitting only 82 goals in 54 matches (a 1.52 average) and has earned an impressive 20 clean sheets in his career. Last season’s numbers were very impressive, as Corny permitted only one goal per match in 14 starts, and earned eight clean sheets (five of them in league play). He was a large part of the reason why the Seamen had the top-ranked defense last year with only 18 goals allowed in league play.

Central Defender

#2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald
-Nationality: American
-Age: 20
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-Assessed Value: $514,000
-Wage: $3,250 per week
-Specialty: Head
-Defending: Outstanding (10)

“Big Mac” McDonald and Keith Stubbs (since transferred) began last season neck-and-neck for the starting sweeper position vacated by long-time Seaman Chuck Scales. Over the course of the season, Cameron improved dramatically in both his technique and his on-field decisions, and easily won the competition. His improvement over the course of last season easily earned him the club’s Most Improved Player Award. Big Mac has become an impact player, earning three goals over the course of last season (two of them game-winners), but he needs to learn to control his temper, as he was booked four times and suspended once as well. He actually gave Arlen “Headcase” Lucas a run for the Best Defenseman and Most Valuable Player Awards, earning four Game Match MVP awards as well.

Wingbacks

#5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
-Nationality: American
-Age: 23
-Current Form: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-Assessed Value: $834,000
-Wage: $5,200 per week
-Specialty: Head
-Winger: Passable (6)
-Defending: Outstanding (10)

Arlen is, without a doubt, one of the best young talents on the club, and earned the club’s Best Defenseman and Most Valuable Player honors for the third season in a row. He has a rare combination of height, athletic ability, and toughness that makes him invaluable on the back line. Last season he started an impressive 18 matches, tallying three goals along the way. Perhaps more impressive is that, for the first time in his entire career, he got through an entire season without receiving a suspension (he was only booked twice). “Headcase” is now the highest paid player on the roster, but is well worth the money.

#22 Tyler Willard
-Nationality: American
-Age: 22
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-Assessed Value: $642,000
-Wage: $4,190 per week
-Specialty: Unpredictable
-Winger: Passable (6)
-Defending: Outstanding (10)

Though Tyler may not have as much raw talent as his counterpart on the other wing, he is a very good wingback in his own right. Though he is a year younger than Arlen, and has less match experience, Tyler plays like a more experienced player, and makes fewer “youthful mistakes.” He is, however, a bit unpredictable at times, which can make him a bit of a liability from time to time. He is also more injury-prone, and was only able to start thirteen matches this past season, scoring one goal in the process. He earned two Team Match MVP awards as well.

Inner Midfielders

We have a brand new batch of midfielders on the club this season, so the difference between starters and reserves is a tenuous one. It is very likely that we will switch some of these youngsters in and out of the starting ranks as we learn more about their capabilities.

#19 Gino Behling
-Nationality: Swiss
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $324,000
-Wage: $2,472 per week
-Playmaking: Solid (7)
-Scoring: solid (7)
-Passing: Inadequate (5)

Gino was brought in via transfer over the off-season from Swiss 5th-Division side Die geldigen Dof for $384,000. The youngster looks like a great prospect as an attack-minded midfielder who can also play a full forward position for us should the need arise. He has yet to see the pitch in his young career, however, and so remains a bit of an unknown at the moment.

#10 Milan Dufek
-Nationality: Czech
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Inadequate (5)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $93,000
-Wage: $1,200 per week
-Playmaking: Solid (7)
-Winger: Inadequate (5)
-Defending: Inadequate (5)

Our young Czech recruit came to us during the off-season from Swedish 4th-Division side Barnes United with a price tag of $228,000. Milan is perhaps the exact opposite of Gino Behling, and looks to excel in a defensive midfielder’s role. Like Gino, though, his youthfulness and lack of experience makes him (and most of the other newcomers) a bit of an unknown quantity.

#7 Rune Kolberg
-Nationality: Norwegian
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $78,000
-Wage: $1,056 per week
-Playmaking: Solid (7)
-Passing: Inadequate (5)
-Set Pieces: Passable (6)

Rune Kolberg was also acquired this past off-season, via transfer from Norwegian 5th-Division side Bergen Banjoskole, Gymklassen for $224,000. Like Gino Behling, we think that Rune can become a positive force in the midfield, particularly on the attacking side of things. We’re also looking at young Rune as a possible set-pieces taker and corner-kick specialist for us in the future, as David Burton is no longer with the club.

Wingers

#16 Reg Nichols
-Nationality: American
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $301,000
-Wage: $1,880 per week
-Specialty: Technical
-Winger: Excellent (8)
-Playmaking: Passable (6)
-Set Pieces: Passable (6)

Youth squad phenomenon Reg Nichols is the one player in the midfield whose position is not up for grabs, by any stretch of the imagination. A product of the SSFC youth squad early last season, Reg made an immediate impact on the club, and scored a game-winning goal in only his 3rd professional match. Overall, young Reg had a fabulous rookie season, tallying 5 goals in 15 starts for the club, and would have been a lock for the club’s Most Improved Player Award had it not been for the performance of Cameron McDonald. Despite his youth, we’ll be looking to Reg to provide some leadership for the other young midfielders on the club, as he has more match experience than the rest of them put together.

#20 Walter Bosch
-Nationality: Austrian
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $177,000
-Wage: $1,620 per week
-Specialty: Head
-Winger: Solid (7)
-Playmaking: Passable (6)
-Defending: Inadequate (5)

Walter Bosch is an interesting case, and is a player that fans should keep a close eye on. Shortly after his acquisition during the off-season (from Austrian 4th-Division side Statznburg), we were contacted by one of the staff members for the Austrian U-20 club and were informed that Walter has been identified as a potential candidate for the next Austrian U-20 team. Now, Walter is a “year off” for a typical U-20 hopeful, which means that the winger prospects for the Austrians must be rather weak, but we’re excited about the prospect nonetheless. We will be keeping a close eye on young Wally and his progress during the coming season.

Forwards

#12 Guido Metman (Currently Injured)
-Nationality: Dutch
-Age: 27
-Current Form: Solid (7)
-Experience: Passable (6)
-Assessed Value: $328,000
-Wage: $3,120 per week
-Specialty: Unpredictable
-Scoring: Excellent (8)

Guido was brought in partway through the season before last, to hopefully boost a lagging SSFC offense. Unfortunately, he has not been the goal-scorer that we were hoping for. This past season was better than his first with the club, however, and he did manage 6 goals in 15 starts, including 3 game-winners. The Dutchman has found another nitch with the club, however, as a leader, and often serves as the team captain. While he does not score goals like he did early in his career, he does provide valuable leadership on the pitch. Guido has scored 86 goals and managed 6 hattricks in his career.

#14 German Galvez
-Nationality: Argentinean
-Age: 24
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-Assessed Value: $317,000
-Wage: $3000 per week
-Scoring: Solid (7)
-Passing: Solid (7)

German was brought in during the last off-season, to partner up with Guido Metman on the attacking front-line. Despite being relatively inexperienced, German had himself a fine season, tallying 8 goals in 16 starts and earning the club’s Best Forward Award. Though his goal total may seem low, it must be remembered that German is as good at dishing the ball to other players as he is at striking the ball himself. He is a bit of a hot-head, however, receiving 5 bookings and a suspension over the course of last season as well.

Reserves

Goalkeeper

#13 Darryl Read
-Nationality: American
-Age: 29
-Current Form: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-Assessed Value: $221,000
-Wage: $2,040 per week
-Goaltending: Passable (6)

Darryl is one of the two remaining members of the original Screamin’ Seamen, and has been minding the net for the club since day one. The acquisition of Cornelius Jernigan some time ago has relegated Darryl to back-up duty, but he does not seem to mind at all, and has filled in admirably when asked to. This past season saw him take the pitch for us 5 times, allowing only 8 goals and earning 2 clean sheets in the process.

Wingbacks

#3 Ben McMahon
-Nationality: American
-Age: 30
-Current Form: Weak (4)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-Assessed Value: $118,000
-Wage: $1,790 per week
-Winger: Passable (6)
-Defending: Excellent (8)

Ben is the other remaining member of the original Screamin’ Seamen, and is now the elder statesman on the club at the ripe old age of 30. He began his career as a wingback, his natural position, but has been playing at winger for us over the past couple of seasons. The change in our training program and the sale of most of our defensive trainees has afforded Ben the opportunity to remain with the club and return to his natural position, a change which he is most grateful for. Ben is commonly known around the clubhouse as “the man who never scores,” but did manage his 3rd career goal in 4 starts for us last season.

#17 Mattias Leier
-Nationality: Estonian
-Age: 21
-Current Form: Inadequate (5)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $286,000
-Wage: $2,784 per week
-Specialty: Head
-Winger: Passable (6)
-Defending: Excellent (8)

Mattias is the one hold-over from our defensive training program. Behind Headcase and Tyler Willard, young Mattias has proven to be the most talented wingback we’ve ever had on the team, and was judged to be too valuable as a reserve to let go via the transfer market. He still lacks in experience, however, and has started in only 8 competitive matches to date, and has yet to notch his first career goal.

Inner Midfielders

#6 Agustin Alustiza
-Nationality: Spanish
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Inadequate (5)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $58,000
-Wage: $984 per week
-Playmaking: Solid (7)
-Winger: Inadequate (5)
-Set Pieces: Solid (7)

Agustin was brought in over the off-season from Swedish 7th-Division side Mazers for a transfer fee of $195,000. While the young Spaniard seems to be a little bit behind some of our other new trainees in his midfield ability, he is the most talented set-pieces player in the bunch. Agustin was a bit of a disappointment in our off-season friendly match against the Gargoyles, however, so it remains to be seen what role he will play as we move forward.

#8 Javier Tejeda
-Nationality: Chilean
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $74,000
-Wage: $1,032 per week
-Playmaking: Solid (7)
-Passing: Inadequate (5)

We liked what we saw on tape from young Javier, and brought him over from Chilean 5th-Division side Torvik F.C. for $400,000. The price tag felt a little high, but we feel that the young Chilean midfielder could become a good attacking midfielder with a little training and experience.

#4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof
-Nationality: Dutch
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-Assessed Value: $56,000
-Wage: $924 per week
-Specialty: Quick
-Playmaking: Solid (7)

Jaimy was brought in during the off-season, like the others, and comes to us from Dracula (The Blood Sucker) of Romania’s 6th-Division for only $74,000. There are two reasons why we particularly like Jaimy, and expect good things from him in the future. 1) For only being 18 years old, he has some match experience and does not play like your typical youth player. He participated in 7 matches during his rookie season, and scored a goal along the way. 2) SSFC has long had a significant lack of speed on the pitch, instead relying on technique and a tough-as-nails defense. We’re hoping that the young Dutchman’s blazing speed will help to open things up in the middle of the pitch.

Wingers

#23 Ivan Richardy
-Nationality: Danish
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Poor (3)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $100,000
-Wage: $1,500 per week
-Winger: Solid (7)
-Playmaking: Passable (6)
-Passing: Passable (6)

Ivan was by far our most expensive acquisition in the off-season, coming to the Seamen from Danish 5th-Division side fremadA for $707,000. We balked a bit at the price tag at first, but have the feeling that the young Dane will be well worth the investment in the long run. He looks to be an immensely talented young winger, with good ability to get the ball to the open man. He only needs to work out a few of the kinks in his game and shake off some rust, and then may very well challenge Walter Bosch for the starting winger spot opposite Reg Nichols.

#9 Ad Taxwell
-Nationality: English
-Age: 18
-Current Form: Weak (4)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-Assessed Value: $101,000
-Wage: $1,284 per week
-Winger: Solid (7)
-Playmaking: Passable (6)

One can’t very well play soccer without a hot-headed young Brit on the club, now can one? Well, we’ve got ours. Ad Taxwell was brought over from the humorously-named Legion of Killer Apes of England’s 4th-Division for a cool quarter-million. While young Ad shows some promise, he may very well end up being outclassed by the other winger trainees that have joined our ranks. Only time will tell for certain.

Forwards

#11 Johannes Henriksson
-Nationality: Swedish
-Age: 28
-Current Form: Solid (7)
-Experience: Weak (4)
-Leadership: Solid (7)
-Assessed Value: $97,000
-Wage: $1,380 per week
-Scoring: Passable (6)
-Passing: Inadequate (5)
-Set Pieces: Solid (7)

Everyone’s favorite Swede, Johannes has been with the Seamen since near the very beginning, and he returns for yet another campaign for SSFC. The acquisitions of Guido Metman and German Galvez have pretty much relegated Johannes to reservist duty, but he continues to be a very valuable member of the team. While his abilities as a pure scorer may be a little lacking, he remains one of the most dangerous set-pieces players on the club. But even more valuable is his experience and leadership abilities, both on and off the pitch. He is a leader by example, and is a strong stabilizing factor in a sometimes turbulent locker room. Johannes has tallied an impressive 73 goals over the course of his career.

#15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Nationality: American
-Age: 23
-Current Form: Poor (3)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-Assessed Value: $42,000
-Wage: $870 per week
-Scoring: Solid (7)

A product of the club’s youth program some years back, speculation was rampant at the beginning of last season that “Gump” would be moved to greener pastures during the season. However, the young man somehow managed to hold onto his job, despite making almost no real contributions on the pitch at all during the season. A 30-goal scorer and only 23 years of age, the rumor mill is working overtime once again, with speculation that Tobias is demanding to be transferred or traded, and in short order.

More To Come

With approximately $800,000 in transfer funds still available, we are still looking to make an addition or two before the beginning of the season. A veteran central defender will definitely be brought in, so as to fill out our standard 22-man roster. There is also a distinct possibility of an improvement being made over one of our new trainees. Agustin Alustiza seems to be a likely candidate for replacement.

Up Next: We bid a fond farewell to those players who moved on to other clubs during the off-season. Stay tuned!

[DukeRulesMAB]

Impressive group of trainees! All the midfielders being 18 YO solids...very nice. Good wingers even.

How is their stamina? For a team just starting their program like yours, that's gotta be the biggest roadblock.

[DataKing]

Just a quick note. I'm holding off on a write-up for those players that are no longer with the club until after this weekend's league matches. That way, we'll have a better understanding of the role those players will have on their new clubs.

The write-up for the first round cup match and the usual week-end information will be up soon.

[DataKing]

Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 1

South Carolina Eagles vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: November 12th, 2003
Venue: South Carolina Emporium (Greenville, SC)
Attendance: 6,860 (7,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Today we embark on our fourth journey into the U.S. Open Cup (we did not receive an invitation to participate in our inaugural season). Last season we made it to the fifth round, before blowing a 3-1 lead and losing to the St. Cloud Muskies in overtime. This time, we do not necessarily expect to advance that far, due to the brand new midfield. But that is not to say that we won’t give it our all and advance as far as we can.

Our first round opponents are the South Carolina Eagles, another of the numerous small, local clubs that are now allowed to participate in The Cup. Frankly, we don’t expect to have any trouble with the Eagles, even with the new midfield. The only player they have who we really need to concern ourselves with is 27-year-old central defender Christopher Martin (a 3* player). We’ll be keeping our attacks more to the sides of the field, rather than up the middle, to keep play away from Martin as much as possible.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Attack on Wings

Starters (# starts w/SSFC, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (39th start, ***~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (62nd start, *****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (16th start, ****)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (37th start, *****)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (1st Career Start)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (1st Career Start)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (1st start w/SSFC)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (1st Career Start)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (1st start w/SSFC)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (46th start, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (17th start, **~)

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias
-Winger: #16 Reg Nichols

We’ll be running a 3-5-2 formation in today’s match, and will be attacking primarily on the wings, as was mentioned previously. The midfield will no doubt look very unfamiliar to our fans. To call any of our midfielders (with the exception of Reg Nichols) starters would be a misnomer, as we’re still largely unaware of what many of these kids can do. Today, we’ll be starting with Bosch, Behling, van de Kerkhof, Tejeda, and Richardy. We’ve seen at least a little bit from the others on the pitch already. Today is their turn.

Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald officially takes over today as our starting sweeper, and has been awarded the coveted #2 jersey, formerly donned by Chuck Scales.

And up front, Johannes Henriksson will be playing today in place of Guido Metman. Guido was dinged up in an off-season match against the Gargoyles, and has yet to fully recover. We’ll be holding him out today, as a precaution, and hope that he is ready to go for our season opener against Neon Genesis Evangelion this weekend.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 6860 to South Carolina Emporium. Carolina started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Foster - Gibbon, Martin, Harbin, Burney - Diggs, Meredith, Pérez, Wesley - Ross, Holley.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Jernigan - Lucas, Mcdonald, Willard - Bösch, van de Kerkhof, Behling, Tejeda, Richardy - Henriksson, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' were mostly trying to use the flanks for their attacks.

Screamin' took the lead after 5 minutes with 0 - 1. Johannes Henriksson placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

The away team´s Javier Tejeda took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 11th minute increasing Screamin'´s lead to 0 - 2.

In the games 14:th minute Jaimy van de Kerkhof nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar.

Johannes Henriksson increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3.

The visitors Johannes Henriksson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 33rd minute. 0 - 4 for Screamin'. At that, Johannes Henriksson was noted down for a hat trick.

The structure of the game started to change as Screamin' decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone.

In the game's 33rd minute Screamin'´s Johannes Henriksson limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 4. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 70 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

The visitors Javier Tejeda took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 61st minute. 0 - 5 for Screamin'.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 68:th minute Screamin' goal, making it 0 - 6. Johannes Henriksson was noted down as the scorer.

In the games 69:th minute Germán Galvez nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar.

Screamin'´s Germán Galvez received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 76:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 7. The home crowd was not pleased with that one.

The referee showed Carolinas Albert Wesley the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The player down was Walter Bösch. The Screamin' bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

Carolina´s best player was Christopher Martin. Fernando Pérez on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. However, Ivan Richardy made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 7, South Carolina Eagles 0

Goals

Henriksson – 4 (GWG, 5th career hattrick)
Tejeda – 2
Galvez – 1

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Lucas: *****
McDonald: ****
Willard: ****~

Bosch: **~
Behling: **~
Van de Kerkhof: **~
Tejeda: **~
Richardy: *~

Henriksson: ***
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: World-Class (13)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 64

South Carolina Eagles
-Midfield: Wretched (2)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Left Defense: Poor (3)
-Right Attack: Poor (3)
-Central Attack: Poor (3)
-Left Attack: Wretched (2)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 28

Comments

Overall, we couldn’t be more pleased with the results of today’s matchup. We had the easy win that we were expecting, and our lads showed a real killer instinct. Only five minutes in, Johannes Henriksson gave us the lead, and the players never looked back, continuing to pour it on. Special congratulations need to go out to Johannes, as the Swedish striker tallied his fifth career hattrick.

Even better, as far as the team is concerned, is that we escaped from Greenville with no bookings and no injuries. The small dings sustained by Henriksson and Bosch turned out to be inconsequential, some bruises and little more. Both will be ready to go on Sunday, if necessary.

Up Next: Our off-season training results. Stay tuned!

[GoldenEagle]

DK, how do you like the new tactics? I noticed that you used them to your advantage in the first round of the cup. Do you care to tell us how much you will use those this season?

[Raven Hawk]

Welcome back! Good luck with the new training program. I hope that it affords you much success. And don't take the offseason, 3-2, 10 PK loss too The Evil Gargs to hard.

I look forward to catching up with our fellow Chicago club.

[DataKing]

Pre-Season Training Results

With all of the new acquisitions in the midfield, we’ve made a concerted effort during the off-season to improve the conditioning of our players. This week was no exception, as our lads have been running laps…lots and lots of them. All those laps and sprints really paid off this week, as no fewer than a dozen of our players showed marked improvement in their stamina:

#6 Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> excellent (8)
#10 Midfielder Milan Dufek -> excellent (8)
#19 Midfielder Gino Behling -> solid (7)
#20 Winger Walter Bosch -> solid (7)
#14 Forward German Galvez -> solid (7)
#7 Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> solid (7) (2 level improvement)
#12 Forward Guido Metman -> solid (7)
#15 Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> solid (7)
#1 Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan -> passable (6)
#2 Central Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> passable (6)
#23 Winger Ivan Richardy -> passable (6)
#9 Winger Ad Taxwell -> inadequate (5)

It’s good to see our young midfielders rapidly approaching the level of match fitness that we’ve come to expect. However, we’re going to have to take a break from all the conditioning, as our overall form is getting dangerously low (we’re averaging only 5.3). Hopefully, after a few weeks of recovery we’ll be able to come back and finish the job.

Form Changes

2 players improved in form this week:
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> passable (6)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> weak (4)

14 players saw their form remain the same this week.

5 players dropped in form this week:
-Goalkeeper Darryl Read -> inadequate (5) (A 2 level drop)
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof -> inadequate (5)
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> weak (4)
-Wingback Ben McMahon -> poor (3)
-Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> wretched (2)

All five of these players will be participating in our U.S. Open Cup match on Wednesday, in hopes to bring them up to decent form levels.

In The Zone

Despite all of the conditioning training we’ve been conducting lately, three players have stubbornly refused to let their match form drop below good levels (all are in solid (7) form):

-Forward Johannes Henriksson
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
-Forward Guido Metman (despite being injured)

Form Dog

This week’s dubious form dog award belongs to none other than Forrest “Gump” Tobias, whose wretched (2) form marks the low point for any Seaman in quite some time. We’re going to try to get Forrest some playing time soon, but either way it is very likely that his days with SSFC are numbered.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $272,778
Total Player Value (21 players): $4,910,000

No Assessed Value Milestones This Week

Up Next: The weekly youth pull and financial update. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Pre-Season Youth Squad Promotion

Followers of the Screamin’ Seamen will recall that last off-season, our youth squad produced one of its best products to date, winger-phenomenon Reg Nichols. However, this season there was no such rabbit to be pulled out of the hat. Expect to see a fellow by the name of Joe Krebs wearing a hairnet and a name tag sometime soon.

Off-Season Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,076,694

Revenue

Crowd (U.S. Open Cup match vs. South Carolina Eagles) - $12,969
Sponsors - $68,475
Temporary (5 new supporters) - $150

Total Revenue: $81,594

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $19,500
Player Wages - $37,394
Temporary (youth squad promotion) - $2,000
Temporary (transfer listing for youth squad product) - $1,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $139,894

Net Income/Loss: -$58,300

New Balance: $1,018,394

A couple of notes here:

1. We’re still shopping for a reserve central defender, and expect to acquire the services of one in the next week.
2. The Docks have been expanded over the off-season, adding 13,750 seats to the tune of approximately $300,000. Expect to see the arena upkeep and crowd money increase soon.

Team Information

Team Spirit: Calm
Team Confidence: Strong

Sponsor Attitude: Delirious
Supporter Attitude: Satisfied
Supporter Club: 1,758 members

Up Next: We open up the newly expanded Docks with a tough match against Neon Genesis Evangelion. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

GoldenEagle: I'm still not to sure about the new tactics. Due to my self-imposed absence for most of last season, I did not use the tactics at all, so I am still learning a bit about them.

My first impression is that counter-attack is only truly useful if you play a 5-4-1 or 5-3-2 formation (which is an intriguing possibility somewhere down the road for the Seamen), but it is pretty well useless when combined with the typical 3-5-2. Pressing seems like a decent tactic if you have good defensive talent and are out-matched. It probably gives you the best change to at least fight for a scoreless draw.

Attacking in the middle and attacking on the wings I can see using a bit more often than the other two, depending on the weakness of the opposition. For example, if you're playing against a team that pulls a wingback to gain their 3rd inner midfielder (the Ramblers in my series still do this every game), then attacking on the wings seems a logical choice.

That's my take on the tactics, anyhow. I'll probably be experimenting with them a little more once our cup run is over. Naturally, any advice from managers who have already experimented some with the new tactics is welcome.

Raven Hawk: I'm not playing friendlies against the Gargoyles any more. We've done it twice, and twice I've ended up with an injury that carried over into the season. You guys play too rough!

I realize I'm a little behind. I hope to get the write-up from this weekend's game up soon. Thanks for reading.

[Poli]

Good bye, Gump.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by ardent enthusiast
Good bye, Gump.

Yeah, he's always been a fan favorite.

SI

[DataKing]

Gump was a popular player, but the acquisitions of Guido Metman and German Galvez, combined with the improved form of Johannes Henriksson, have relegated him to a backup role the past couple of seasons. He's really the odd man out.

That being said, he will be on the roster for a little while longer, at least until we have enough money to bring in a top-notch striker (someone with a better talent level than anything we have currently, in an effort to pursue a continuous improvement model).

Now, if you really want to be depressed, consider that Pete "The Old Goat" Tomlin is now playing in Germany. At least he's starting for his new club, FC Ausland, and gets to enjoy some good beer.

[DataKing]

Season 5 – Week 1 League Match

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Date: November 16th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 25,141 (43,750)
Weather: Rain

Today we unveil a few new things with regards to the Screamin’ Seamen, as we begin our fourth campaign in The Series Of The Beast [tm]. For starters, we opened the newly expanded Docks to the public today. The new stadium boasts nearly 44,000 seats, an improvement of almost fifty percent over last season’s capacity. Unfortunately, the lousy Chicago weather did not cooperate with our grand plans, and the crowd is small enough to have fit comfortably within the old 30,000 seat structure.

We also unveiled our new match kits. We’ve decided to stay with the traditional Seaman Black-and-Red, but with a twist. Our primary match kit jerseys are now a solid red, with two black vertical stripes (Reg Nichols says the new kit makes him “look faster), accented by black shorts, socks, and cleats.

But the most important “unveiling” to take place today are all of the new faces on the club. This will be the first opportunity for the local supporters to get a look at players like Chilean midfielder Javier Tejeda and Austrian U-20 hopeful Walter Bosch.

But the “new kids” face a tough test today, in the form of Neon Genesis Evangelion. NGE is a veteran 4th-Division side, embarking on their 7th campaign in The Series Of The Beast [tm]. They have turned into a very balanced club over the past couple of seasons, and boast a considerable attack led by striker and team captain Stanley Lachance ($452,000, ****).

Previous Meetings

(W) 12/22/2002 – Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, Screamin’ Seamen 3
(W) 3/09/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Neon Genesis Evangelion 1
(W) 5/11/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 4, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2
(L) 6/1/2003 – Neon Genesis Evangelion 3, Screamin’ Seamen 1
(W) 8/10/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 5, Neon Genesis Evangelion 0
(L) 10/12/2003 – Neon Genesis Evangelion 4, Screamin’ Seamen 0

The teams have met six times in the past, and we’ve managed to walk away with victories four times. However, after winning the first three, we’ve dropped two of the most recent three to NGE, due in large part to the rapid improvement of their midfield play. We’re sure to be at a significant deficit there, and will be looking to make up for it somehow.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Counter-Attack

Starters (# starts w/SSFC, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (40th start, ***~)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (38th start, ****~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (17th start, ****)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (63rd start, *****)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (16th start, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (2nd start, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (1st start w/SSFC, **)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (2nd start, **~)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (2nd start, **~)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (47th start, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (18th start, ***)

Team Captain: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza
-Forward: #12 Guido Metman
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy

We’ll be going with a 3-5-2 formation today, and are going to try our hand at a counter-attacking tactic. While the 3-5-2 formation may not be the best for this sort of thing, we’re almost certain to have a significant disadvantage in the middle of the field to the experienced midfielders of NGE. With a bit of luck, we may be able to catch them napping and hit them before they realize what’s going on, then fall back into a defensive mode and try to hold onto the lead.

That being said, we’ve instructed the players to take it easy out there today. It’s early in the season and, though the fans may not like to hear it (particularly after last season’s surprising 3rd place finish), our goal this season is very simple: avoid relegation. That means winning the four matches we have against the newcomers in the league, and perhaps stealing a match here or there. Frankly, we’re outmatched against the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion (for now), and so we’re just going to have to take our lumps and make the best of it. (I don’t like it any more than the fans, believe me. I hate losing. ).

We’ve decided that Tejeda, Kolberg, Behling, and Bosch will accompany Reg Nichols on the pitch in the middle today. Tejeda had a magnificent debut on Wednesday, scoring two goals in our cup victory, and so earns himself a spot. As far as the rest are concerned, the decision to go with these kids is as much a gut decision as anything else. Overall the quality of the young talent is good, but Tejeda is the only one to do anything to make him stand out above the others thus far. We’re still trying to get a grasp on what these kids can and cannot do.

Missing from the starting lineup today is Guido Metman, still nursing an injured ankle suffered at the hands of the Gargoyles in the off-season. He’s not 100%, but is close to it, but will be held out just as a precaution. His place will be taken, as it was on Wednesday, by Johannes Henriksson, but Guido will be ready to substitute into the match if need be.

OK, enough of the long-windedness. Time to get the new season underway!

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Due to an all-day shower, 25141 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Docks.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Willard, Mcdonald, Lucas - Nichols, Behling, Kolberg, Tejeda, Bösch - Henriksson, Galvez.

EVA had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Åkesson - Vick, Runesson, Mårtensson - Ayres, Taylor, Fortune, Stubbs, Tudela - Lachance, Kowalski.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' were relying on their passable ability to counter-attack.

EVA strategy involved pressing and cutting off attack angles of their opponents from all over the field.

This was a good period for the visitors with several opportunities to take the lead, in particular when Huey Kowalski slipped through the defense to come up alone with Cornelius Jernigan - but the home side´s keeper showed some lightning reflexes.

In the 27:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Ed Vick put the ball away for 0 - 1.

Steven Fortune could have put his team up another one in the 34:th minute, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post.

Fine winger Frederick Ayres made one of his many passes from the wing into the middle in the 34:th minute. Huey Kowalski went to the air and hit the ball firmly with his forehead for 0 - 2.

EVA came close to extending their lead as Stanley Lachance delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal.

Reg Nichols of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 43rd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by EVA, with an impressive 68 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, EVA´s Sören Runesson got himself booked.

At this time in the match, EVA were using their poor skills at the press to successfully put pressure on their opponents.

In the 62nd minute Screamin's Javier Tejeda received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.

The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like Reg Nichols whose skills weren´t made justice at all.

Arlen Lucas of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 78:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

EVA held the ball, with a clear 70 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen Lucas. Rune Kolberg was a disappointment, however. The most dominating EVA player was without a doubt Sören Runesson. Frederick Ayres on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals

None

Cards

Nichols – yellow (1)
Tejeda – yellow (1)
Lucas – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Willard: ****~
McDonald: ****
Lucas: *****

Nichols: ***~
Tejeda: **~
Kolberg: **~
Behling: **~
Bosch: **~

Henriksson: ***
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: World-Class (13)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 70

Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 82

Comments

Today proved to be a thoroughly disappointing day, from beginning to end. The rain put a damper on the Grand Opening ceremony for the expanded stadium, and also served to keep the fans away in droves (doesn’t sound much like Chicago sports fans to me ).

“Corny” Jernigan gave us hope early on with a spectacular save, proving once again why he has become a fan favorite among the supporters. But it soon became evident that the pressing tactics chosen by Neon Genesis Evangelion effectively eliminated any counter-attacking chances we had. 34 minutes in, “Headcase” and the defense allowed a rare header goal, and that would be all that NGE would need. That goal was extremely frustrating, both to the players and to myself (we had three head specialists on the field, dammit! ).

The frustration quickly turned into bookings, as Reg Nichols, who was having a lot of trouble with the soggy pitch, and “Headcase” earned themselves yellow cards. Javier Tejeda, our Chilean youngster, earned a yellow card as well. At least the kid has proven to be active in his first two matches.

Series Scores and Standings

-Croats in Miami had an impressive showing, coming back from an early 2-nil deficit to defeat the defending series champion Ramblers, 4-2.
-Big Reds opened up a big, red can of whoop-ass, crushing Sweden Heights 6-1.
-WoM FC proved to be the superior of the two new clubs in the series, downing the Harrisburg harries 2-1.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds			1		6-1		3	85

2.	Croats in Miami			1		4-2		3	78

3.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		1		2-0		3	82

4.	WoM FC			        1		2-1		3	63

5.	Harrisburg harries		1		1-2		0	54

6.	Ramblers			1		2-4		0	85

7.	Screamin’ Seamen		        1		0-2		0	70

8.	Sweden Heights			1		1-6		0	78

A quick note regarding the new teams to The Series Of The Beast [tm]. The Harrisburg harries look destined for demotion, as they just don’t have the firepower to compete. WoM FC (a fellow Chicago club) is another matter, however. We expect WoM FC to be our main contenders for the #6 spot at the end of the season. If there’s any team that forces us down into demotion land, it’ll be them.

Week 2 Matchups

WoM FC vs. Screamin’ Seamen
Sweden Heights vs. Ramblers
Croats in Miami vs. Harrisburg harries
Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Big Reds

Even though it’s early in the season, our cross-town derby against WoM FC could very well prove to be pivotal. We have to win our four matches against the two new clubs if we want to earn a qualification match this season, so this came is quite important.

NGE vs. Big Reds should be the one to watch next week, however, as two of the series powerhouses square off.

Up Next: A (delayed) look at the dearly departed Seamen, and their roles on their new clubs. Also, our 2nd Round U.S. Open Cup match. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 2

Iowa Gladiators vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: November 19th, 2003
Venue: Iowa Dome (Des Moines, IA)
Attendance: 7,000 (7,000)
Weather: Sunny

We’re on the road for our 2nd Round U.S. Open Cup match today, in the happening metropolis of Des Moines, Iowa (first Greenville, South Carolina and now this. ). Our opponents are the Iowa Gladiators, another of the small, local clubs that serve as little more than punching bags and warm-ups for the “big boys.” I guess, at least as far as the Gladiators are concerned, we qualify as “big boys” as well.

The Gladiators somehow managed to win their first round match, but show even less promise than our first round opponents, and should be easy pickings. This will be a good opportunity to get some of our young trainees and backups some valuable match experience, as we prepare for our important showdown with WoM FC this weekend.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (31st career appearance, ***)

Right Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon (46th career appearance, **)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (18th career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (9th career appearance, *~)

Right Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (Professional debut, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (Professional debut, *~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (9th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (2nd career appearance, **)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (9th career appearance, *~)

Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35th career appearance, *~)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (19th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #3 Ben McMahon
Set Pieces: #6 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
-Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch

We’re not going to try anything fancy this time out, as we want to keep things simple for the trainees. We’ll play our typical game, with a 3-5-2 formation, stingy defense, and hopefully make the most of our scoring chances.

On the back line, Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald makes his second appearance in four days. We’ve yet to procure the services of a back-up central defender, and so Big Mac has been pressed into service. Cameron is still young, however, and this is a good opportunity for him to gain some additional match experience in what should be an easy victory.

In the middle, it’s simply a matter of playing the five trainees that did not see the pitch on Sunday. We’re expecting to see some good things from 18-year-old Spaniard Agustin Alustiza. Danish winger Ivan Richardy has been showing some good progress in practice over the past couple of days, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on him to see how that progress translates onto the pitch.

Unfortunately, Guido Metman’s ankle injury has proven to be a nagging one, and he’s still not one-hundred percent. As a precaution, we’ll be holding him out of the match entirely. If he’s not ready to go by this Sunday, however, we’ll know that something is seriously wrong, and will have to send him to a specialist. Guido’s absence gives a rare opportunity for Forrest “Gump” Tobias to see some action. For his sake, we hope he makes the most of it, as his opportunities will probably continue to be a rarity. Argentinean striker German Galvez will partner with Gump on the front line.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

A scorching day at Iowa Dome, where 7000 spectators were in place for today´s match.

Gladiators tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Zimmerman - Crowley, Wilson, Barker, Flores - Zuniga, Coburn, Tarín, Smith - Hinton, Wilcox.

Screamin' started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Mcmahon, Mcdonald, Leier - Taxwell, Dufek, van de Kerkhof, Alustiza, Richardy - Tobias, Galvez.

FIRST-HALF

In the games 2nd minute Germán Galvez almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a spectacular scissors shot just past the bar.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 13th minute left Screamin'´s Jaimy van de Kerkhof completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors.

The game had been on for 19 minutes when Germán Galvez broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Screamin'´s were up 0 - 2.

Screamin'´s Germán Galvez received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 31st minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 3. The home crowd was not pleased with that one.

Mattias Leier received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 38:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

Halftime score was 0 - 3. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 80 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND-HALF

In the games 62nd minute Gladiators´s Lucio Flores fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Lucio Flores for taking a dive.

In the 68:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 4 as Forrest “Gump” Tobias finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 77:th minute Screamin' goal, making it 0 - 5. Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald was noted down as the scorer.

By now Screamin' were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead.

In the 79:th minute Screamin's Ben Mcmahon received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 86:th minute Screamin' goal, making it 0 - 6. Agustín Alustiza was noted down as the scorer.

Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 90 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

Most important Gladiators player was Lucio Flores. However, Jimmie Coburn made a disastrous appearance.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald. However, Forrest “Gump” Tobias made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 6, Iowa Gladiators 0

Goals

Van de Kerkhof – 1 (1)
Galvez – 2 (2,3)
Tobias – 1 (1)
McDonald – 1 (1)
Alustiza – 1 (1)

Cards

McMahon – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Read: **~

McMahon: **~
McDonald: ****
Leier: ***

Taxwell: **~
Alustiza: **
Van de Kerkhof: **
Dufek: **
Richardy: **~

Tobias: *~
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 52

Iowa Gladiators
-Midfield: Disastrous (1)
-Right Defense: Weak (4)
-Central Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Weak (4)
-Central Attack: Weak (4)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 29

Comments

We got exactly what we expected today, another easy win. The only thing that could really be viewed as a downside is the yellow card that Ben McMahon picked up late in the match, but that should not end up mattering much. Mattias Leier is typically our first choice for the back-up defender slot, and the odds of Ben seeing much of any playing time during league matches are slim.

We had nice ball distribution today, with our six goals coming from five different players, which I like to see, especially with such a young team. Despite their youthfulness, they’re more than willing to dish it off and give other players an opportunity. Hopefully this is the start of some real team unity developing, particularly among the youngsters.

As far as the two trainees that we were paying particular attention to, we have to be pleased there as well. While Agustin’s midfield play still leaves a bit to be desired, he did manage to bag a goal late in the match. Ivan’s play was even more impressive, and even though he did not find the net, it is obvious that he has made some fine progress since joining the club only a couple of weeks ago. This could be a player to watch, indeed.

Up Next: Results from our first ever week of midfielder training. Cross your fingers and stay tuned!

[DataKing]

The Dearly Departed

We now take a little time to bid a fond farewell to all of the players released during this past off-season. We’ll take a look at the new homes for all of these former Seamen, and see what sort of role they will likely play with their new clubs.

Midfielder Charlie Bautista

Charlie was a member of the original Screamin’ Seamen, and was a rock for us in the middle throughout our first four seasons. He didn’t score very many goals, but was always a solid contributor to our ball possession efforts, and rarely got carded for rough play.

Charlie was transferred to Gor, a relatively new 5th-division Estonian side, for $214,000. Gor plays a 3-4-3 formation, with only two midfielders, which means that Charlie finally has his opportunity to shine. And shine he has, scoring one goal and earning Team Match MVP honors in each of the club’s first three competitive matches this season (one league and two cup matches).

Central Defender Keith Stubbs

Keith was a product of the Screamin’ Seamen youth squad, and was in the lead to take over for Chuck Scales at the starting sweeper position at the beginning of last season. However, Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald’s ascendancy last season made Keith an expendable commodity.

His new club is FC Magnum, an older club in the Croatian 3rd Division, who paid a transfer price of $917,000 to acquire his services. While not a star on his new club, Keith looks like he will be a solid contributor to an already-good defensive club. They’re playing Keith a little out of position though, if you ask me, as they have him playing the left wingback position instead of his natural central defender spot.

Utility Player Paul Peralta

Paul was another member of the original Screamin’ Seamen roster. While he lacked any true talent at any given position, Paul was a valuable backup and could play nearly any position on the field (except for minding the net). During his four year tenure with SSFC, Paul played every outfield position at least once.

Paul was transferred for $51,000 to Christians Allstars, a young Sussex-based club in England’s 6th-Division. The Allstars seem to be using Paul in a midfielder’s role, where he has started all three of the club’s matches thus far. Paul has never been star material, but it looks like he’ll be a good contributor to the Allstars’ midfield efforts.

Midfielder Pete “The Old Goat” Tomlin

The Old Goat was, without a doubt, the most difficult player for us to say goodbye to this past off-season. A member of the original SSFC squad, Pete was a member of our starting midfield for most of his time here. Aside from his tough-as-nails attitude, Pete also made valuable contributions to the club with his play, as he was the best “two-way” midfielder we’ve ever had (passable passing and defending).

The Old Goat was transferred for an even $100,000 to 1. FC Ausland, a club from Germany’s 6th-Division. While he does not appear to qualify as “star material” for his new club, he has become an immediate starter, playing at inner midfielder in all three of 1. FC Ausland’s matches thus far this season.

Midfielder Jerry Smith

Jerry Smith, as you may recall, came over to the Seamen as part of the same trade that brought “Corny” Jernigan to the club. Unlike Corny, however, young Jerry never really worked out with the club, and was limited to reserve and backup duty for most of his time with SSFC.

Jerry was shipped off to Milano, Italy during the off-season, where he joined 6th-Division side Naviglio F.C. for $93,000. Since his arrival, he has only participated in one competitive match for his new club, and appears to be having some difficulty adjusting to his new team and shaking off the rust.

Midfielder David Burton

Burton, a veteran midfielder and set-pieces ace, was a member of the Seamen for only one season. He made the most of his time here, however, as his experience and skills made him the most valuable member of the midfield last season.

Now 37 years of age, David was able to stay in the United States for at least another season. He was transferred for $225,000 during the off-season to Lake Superior Dogfight, another American 4th-Division side. L.S.D. is actually using David as a winger (towards middle) rather than his natural inner midfielder position, and it remains to be seen whether or not he will remain a regular starter for the club.

Midfielder Lucian Tere

Lucian was brought onto the Screamin’ Seamen roster early on, and was one of our primary reserves at the midfielder position. Never a regular starter and not terribly talented, he was still a solid contributor to the club from time to time.

We received a paltry $18,000 for Lucian during the off-season, as he was transferred to FC Waldkirch 2003, a relatively new club in the Swiss 6th-Division. Lucian has some defensive abilities as well, and it appears as though his new coach is using him as a defender rather than a midfielder, at least for the time being.

Midfielder Niklas Ivarsson

Niklas was a member of the Screamin’ Seamen for the past couple of seasons, and played a very similar role to Charlie Bautista as a quiet, solid contributor to ball-possession. Never a flashy guy, Niklas scored very few goals, but his participation on the field was no less important.

Niklas was transferred for a $187,000 fee to Xanderstars, a club in Belgium’s 4th Division. Niklas appears to be starter material for Xanderstars, as he has already participated in all three of the club’s matches this season, scoring a goal and earning one Team Match MVP award already.

Winger Valentin Rubio

The aging Argentinean winger Valentin Rubio was brought in for the past couple of seasons to bolster our wing attack, which worked quite nicely along with the arrival of youth squad phenom Reg Nichols. Valentin’s relatively advanced age (he’s now 31) required that he be let go, however, to make room for young trainees.

Valentin was let go for an even $100,000, and joined Favorit SC, a 4th-Division side from Budapest, Hungary. He has seen action in both of the club’s cup matches to date, has scored a goal, and looks to be starter material for Favorit SC.

Central Defender Zarpas Lerma

Zarpas was one of our defensive trainees for the past few seasons, a tall, lanky Spaniard who was just never able to break past the other trainees and earn himself a starting spot. While he was never a standout player, he was certainly adequate, and we always felt he would make a nice addition to another team someday.

That day arrived for Zarpas when he was transferred to osuo, a 4th-Division club from Thailand. Zarpas should be starter material for his new club, but is currently recovering from a knee injury sustained in osuo’s opening week league match.

Wingback Christian Kvam

Another of our tall defensive trainees, Christian is the Norwegian wingback who was fighting with Mattias Leier to remain on the Screamin’ Seamen club. He lost that battle with Mattias, however, and was transfer listed during the off-season.

That transfer added a half-million to the club’s coffers, as his services were acquired by the Waramanga Sea Eagles, an Australian 4th-Divison side. Christian was off to a good start with his new club but, ironic in it’s similarity with Zarpas Lerma’s situation, also sustained a knee injury during the club’s first league match. Funny how these things work out sometimes (and no, we did not place time bombs in these guys’ knees before transfer listing them!).

Up Next: The first weekly training update of the new season. Stay tuned!

[vex]

I feel as if I know more about your former players than my current players

[DataKing]

Week 1 Training Results

Those of you who have been following the Screamin’ Seamen for the past season or so will know that the entire organization is very high on young winger Reg Nichols, a product of our own youth squad at the start of last season. Believe it or not, we just got even higher on the kid, and are expecting nothing less than great things from him in the future. In only his first week of dedicated midfielder training (and from the wing position, to boot) Reg has shown marked improvement in his ball-possession abilities.

#16 Reg Nichols

Position: Winger

18 years old, passable (6) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and inadequate (5) leadership abilities.

Specialty: Technical

Nationality: American
Assessed Value: $314,000
Wage: $1,880 per week

Stamina: Inadequate (5)
Playmaking: Solid (7)
Winger: Excellent (8)
Scoring: Weak (4)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Poor (3)
Defending: Weak (4)
Set Pieces: Passable (6)

This kid is downright scary!

Form Changes

3 players saw their form improve this week:
-Forward German Galvez -> solid (7)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> passable (6) (a 2 level improvement)
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof -> passable (6)

16 players saw their form remain the same this week.

2 players dropped a level in form this week:
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> inadequate (5)
-Forward Guido Metman -> passable (6)

Overall the form’s club remained about level, with a small increase to the average. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but at least the tailspin we were encountering as a result of all the conditioning training has stopped.

Ivan Richardy’s improvement is the good news. We’ve been keeping a close eye on the young winger, and his improvement since joining the club has been remarkable. It is possible that Ivan will start instead of Walter Bosch in this Sunday’s league match.

Guido Metman’s form drop is simply the result of his injury, which he has finally recovered from. We were beginning to get a little worried, but when he showed up for practice this morning he told us he felt one-hundred percent. This is good news, as we will need Guido on the pitch this Sunday.

In The Zone

Three of our more experienced players remain in solid form this week:

-Forward German Galvez
-Forward Johannes Henriksson
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Form Dog

Playing this past Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup does not appear to have helped Forrest “Gump” Tobias any, and his form remains in the dumper (wretched – 2). I’m not sure we can afford to risk having him on the pitch this Wednesday in our 3rd round cup match. We shall see.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $275,611 (+$2,833)
Total Player Value (21 players): $4,961,000 (+$51,000)

No Assessed Value Milestones This Week

Up Next: One of our youngsters gets his name in all the papers! Stay tuned!

[The Afoci]

Have you considered playing Reg is a middie in friendlies so he gets full training? He would be a formidable PM, Excellent winger at the end of the season. I believe that could get you the Metric Assload of Cash you desire.

[DataKing]

vexroid: I'll take that as a compliment, and say "thank you." This dynasty report has definitely given me a better feeling for the SSFC players, among other things, and makes the whole thing seem more "real." I'm glad to see that it has that effect on others as well.

The Afoci: I considered that when I was designing the new training program, but decided against it. While that would mean that Reg would gain more playmaking experience, it would also mean that we could only carry nine trainees instead of ten. I opted for the "quantity over quality" approach in that respect.

Also, I should mention that the training program is not going to be strictly a playmaking program. Four weeks out of five, our players will receive playmaking training, but every fifth week we will train winger instead. While this will detract from the development of our midfield a little bit, I think it will really help the develoment of our wingers, and Reg in particular. I would really like to see Reg in the formidable winger/formidable PM range.

I want "true wingers" on my club, who can contribute to the midfield, rather than "midfielders pretending to be wingers." I think this plan will get us there, and it's why I purchased the winger trainees that I did (all solid winger/passable PM).

As far as the Metric Assload of Cash goes, if we do get it we won't be getting it from the sale of Reg, not anytime soon at least. Barring anything unforseen, expect to see Reg wearing the Screamin' Seamen black and red for quite some time.

[Raven Hawk]

Just to pose a little discussion on this topic . . . I think that winger is one of those places that you can take quality over quantity. Have you seen what wingers go for on the market? How about this for an answer . . .

In the interest of metric assloads of cash . . .

Train 10 midfielders this year, however train Reg as an IM when training Playmaking and train him as a winger when you are training winger. Fill that final training spot with a 'Day Train' candidate that you don't plan on holding onto for more that 1 season and have him swap out with Reg when you make the changes in training. Just a thought.

[The Afoci]

The fans love Reg!

[DataKing]

Raven Hawk: Your idea certainly has merit, but I am not interested in Metric Assloads of Cash, at least not in the short run. Our current training program is slated to run for three seasons, with an optional fourth, before we look at changing things around, so it is unlikely that you will see very many personnel changes during that time (with a few exceptions here and there, naturally). We're looking for a long-term benefit to the team (namely, a top-notch group of starting midfielders and a pair of nice wingers) the same way that we worked our defensive training program.

And to be frank, I do not agree with "daytraining." While I will not say anything against those who do it, it doesn't feel "realistic" to me, and one of the ways that I make this game more enjoyable for myself is to run my club in a realistic fashion (at least as far as the game itself will allow). If others want to daytrain, then they should go right ahead. It's just not my bag, baby.

The Afoci: Yeah, Reg is rapidly becoming a fan favorite, which is nice to see. I particularly like the fact that he came up from our youth squad, and so is a "home-grown" talent like Cameron McDonald and Tyler Willard.

Note: I've changed the storyline slightly, so the "young player gets his name in the paper" that I mentioned earlier has been delayed. It just works out better that way, trust me.

[Raven Hawk]

DK,

I agree with you on preferring the "realism" aspect of the game. However, day-training is the one aspect that I will cave in to. The reason being is that Hattrick is NOT realistic. If it were realistic, I would have more training options. I love having well-balanced teams. However, to train General every week or to switch your training each week is Hattrick suicide.

If I had my druthers (and boy, I do like my druthers), I would have started out with all 17 year olds and try to make them grow as a team, by rotating my training. Yet, the system forces me into another strategy.

Personally, I do not day-train players that I pick up on the wire. I do day-train players that came off of my youth squad to get them up one more level before I sell them. And in the sense of "realism" it makes more sense because I'm just further investing into something that my youth squad developed.

A quick question for you . . . what level do you plan on training your players up to in PM?

[DataKing]

I haven't quite decided what the "final level" of my individual midfielders will be, but I would like to be regularly putting up a midfield in the brilliant range (without having to pinch a winger). I figure that by then, assuming I've been able to invest a bit in my forwards, the Screamin' Seamen should be a very well-balanced and dangerous team.

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #2

WoM FC vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: November 23rd, 2003
Venue: Halas Hall (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 31,087 (45,000)
Weather: Cloudy

The fans are in for a treat today, as we have our first Chicago derby in quite some time. WoM FC is one of the two clubs that promoted into The Series Of The Beast [tm] this past off-season, and are based in Chicago as well. This means that we’ll have a fair number of our own fans on hand today, even though we’re playing at the opposition’s facility: Halas Hall (good name ).

As we mentioned last week, this match is an important one. We figure to need a minimum of twelve points if we want to guarantee ourselves a qualification match at the end of the season, and the easiest way to get those points is to sweep both of the newly-promoted clubs. WoM FC is definitely the more talented of the two teams. WoM actually reminds me of the Screamin’ Seamen in years past, with a strong defense and a decent midfield, but lacking a bit in offensive power.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (41st career appearance, ***~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (64th career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (19th career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (39th career appearance, ****~)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (17th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (3rd career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (3rd career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (2nd career appearance, **~)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (10th career appearance, **~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (20th appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (25th appearance, w/SSFC, **~)

Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #22 Tyler Willard

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch

WoM FC has no glaring weakness to be taken advantage of, so we’ll be leaving the fancy tactics in the bag today and just concentrate on out-playing our opponents. The one place where we’re likely to fall short is, predictably enough, in our midfield play. To help compensate for this, we’ll be pinching winger Ivan Richardy towards the middle to help out all our young inner midfielders. Ivan gets to start today over Austrian U-20 hopeful Walter Bosch, due to Ivan’s impressive improvement over the past couple of weeks. Walter has been no slouch, but we feel that Ivan’s earned the right to start a league match for us.

Today also marks the return of Dutch striker Guido Metman to the starting lineup. Guido has been missing from the starting lineup since the beginning of the season, as he sustained a knee injury in our off-season match with the Gargoyles. His return to the lineup was a little delayed, as the injury proved to be a nagging one, but he has assured coach Fluieras that he is one hundred percent and ready to go. We’ll be keeping a close eye on him today all the same, just to make sure.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

31087 spectators had come to Halas Hall this cloudy day. Fans from both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Chicago derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents.

WoM had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Serwinski - de Jongh, Stevanovic, Grassmann - Banic, Olsson, Nikl, Boonnak, Rachman - Steiner, Oldham.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Jernigan - Lucas, Mcdonald, Willard - Nichols, Behling, Kolberg, Tejeda, Richardy - Metman, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' took the lead after 17 minutes with 0 - 1. Guido Metman placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Screamin'´s Tyler Willard got himself booked.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. WoM held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Kreangkrai Boonnak made a superb strike at the goal in the 46:th minute with a long shot coming in from straight in front of the goal, but one of the visitors defenders got a foot in and warded it off to a corner.

Mark Oldham made a superb strike at the goal in the 61st minute with a long shot coming in from straight in front of the goal, but one of the visitors defenders got a foot in and warded it off to a corner.

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 64:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

WoM held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

Most important WoM player was Dirk Grassmann. Mark Oldham on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. However, Ivan Richardy made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 1, WoM FC 0

Goals

Metman – 1 (1)

Cards

Willard – yellow (1)
Lucas – yellow (2)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Lucas: *****
McDonald: ****
Willard: ****~

Nichols: ***~
Behling: ***
Tejeda: **~
Kolberg: **~
Richardy: **

Galvez: ***
Metman: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: World-Class (13)
-Right Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 81

WoM FC
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Formidable (9)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 74

Comments

Things started out quite well for us today. Guido Metman had been itching to get back on the pitch, and it showed early on. He had some good opportunities, and took advantage of one only 17 minutes in, giving us the early lead. The rest of the first half proved to be a bit of a chess-match, as we could not improve upon our lead, and WoM FC could do nothing to regain the upper hand. The opposition did a good job of testing our wingbacks, however, and Tyler Willard earned his first yellow card of the season.

WoM FC made some adjustments during the halftime break, and came out firing. They had an excellent opportunity only one minute into the second frame, and another one a scant fifteen minutes later. But our defense (our pride and joy, especially today) came up big both times, warding the balls off for corner kicks that proved to be fruitless. WoM kept the pressure on though, you’ve got to give them that, and they succeeded in frustrating “Headcase” Lucas to the point where he earned his second booking in as many weeks. But in the end it would not be enough, as our lads took the first half of the Chicago derby with a scant 1-nil victory.

Today was a nail-biter, but that’s one of the things that makes this so much fun. The young midfield did a serviceable job, and with the help of Ivan Richardy were able to keep WoM somewhat in check, and Guido did quite well in his first time back (his goal being the game-winner, obviously). But the real heroes today are the defense, who managed to shut out some determined opposition.

Series Scores and Standings

-Sweden Heights surprised a lot of people, dominating the defending champion Ramblers, 4-nil.
-Croats in Miami had a field day with the Harrisburg harries, as expected, to the tune of 4-nil.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion are definitely contenders in the early going, shutting out Big Reds, 2-nil.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Croats in Miami			2		8-2		6	78

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		2		4-0		6	80

3.	Big Reds			2		6-3		3	82

4.	WoM FC			        2		2-2		3	74

5.	Sweden Heights			2		5-6		3	78

6.	Screamin’ Seamen		        2		1-2		3	81

7.	Harrisburg harries		2		1-6		0	57

8.	Ramblers			2		2-8		0	86

Croats in Miami and Neon Genesis Evangelion certainly appear to be the early favorites to be slugging it out for the series title this season, and both clubs have been impressive in the opening two weeks. But one has to ask “what is going on with the Rambers?” Their ratings have been lights-out during the first two weeks (85 and 86), yet they remain without a point and got shelled by Sweden Heights today, 4-nil. Perhaps it’s just a bit of bad luck on their part, but I think that Heights exposed a big weakness in the Ramblers today (I just hope they don’t figure it out and correct it before we face them in week five).

Week 3 Matchups

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Croats in Miami
Big Reds vs. WoM FC
Sweden Heights vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Harrisburg harries vs. Ramblers

We’re looking forward to next week, as we get to renew our rivalry with The Croats. We always play well against the Croats, and last season was no exception. We split the series last season, with each team winning at home by a one goal margin. It’s always fun with our friends from Miami come to town.

Up Next: We’re on the road this week, traveling to San Francisco for our 3rd Round U.S. Open Cup match. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Okay I’m definitely out of practice with this dynasty-writing thing. I forgot all about the youth pull and financial update. Whoops!

Youth Squad Promotion

This week the youth squad produced a pretty good young striker with loads of potential, Oliver Smith. Unfortunately for Ollie, we’re not in the business of building forward talent, we buy it instead. However, some team that specializes in training young strikers will surely find a place for him on their roster.

Oliver Smith

17 years old, passable (6) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and weak (4) leadership abilities.

Nationality: American
Assessed Value: $65,000
Wage: $800 per week

Stamina: Inadequate (5)
Playmaking: Weak (4)
Winger: Poor (3)
Scoring: Passable (6)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Inadequate (5)
Defending: Poor (3)
Set Pieces: Weak (4)

Week 1 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,018,394

Revenue

Crowd (league match vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion) - $172,675
Crowd (U.S. Open Cup match vs. Iowa Gladiators) - $13,200
Sponsors - $80,190
Temporary (mother club money from resale of Wesley Blount) - $42,840
Temporary (mother club money from resale of Jason Kowalski) - $18,650
Temporary (3 new supporters) - $90

Total Revenue: $327,645

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $46,530
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Joe Krebs) - $2,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $156,971

Net Income/Loss: +$170,674

New Balance: $1,189,068

We’ve been frustrated in our efforts thus far to find a good reserve defender, but will continue to look. Judging by the market as it stands now, expect to see a significant portion of our current bankroll disappear when we finally pull the trigger.

Team Information

Team Spirit: Satisfied (8/10) (up two levels)
Team Confidence: Wonderful (6/6) (up one level)

Sponsor Attitude: Delirious (7/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: Satisfied (6/9) (no change)
Supporter Club: 1,755 (down three)

Up Next: Club management announces a new signing. Stay tuned!

[Raven Hawk]

Hey DK,

Just wondering, because I didn't see it. Do you usually post how many club professionals, like doctors, assistant coaches and what not that you keep employed with the Seamen?

[DataKing]

I haven't typically posted this in the past, but I probably should. Here are the staff and support specialists currently in the employ of SSFC:

Goaltending Coaches: 2
Assistant Coaches: 8
Sports Psychologists: 2
Spokespersons: 8 (likely going to 9 or 10 soon)
Economists: None
Physiotherapists: 10 (we always train at 100%)
Doctors: 10 (we're injury free for the first time in a while, so assuming we get through Wednesday's cup match without any injuries, the doctors will be given their walking papers).

[daedalus]

Originally posted by DataKing
34 minutes in, “Headcase” and the defense allowed a rare header goal, and that would be all that NGE would need. That goal was extremely frustrating, both to the players and to myself (we had three head specialists on the field, dammit! ).

I may be wrong but I don't think your players' header specialties has the effect of preventing a winger event.

I'm going to miss Old Goat. Nobody can deliver an in-game headbutt quite like him.

[DataKing]

daedalus: I misread that one, and though it was a head specialists event rather than a winger event. My bad.

Headcase was still upset. He takes it a personal affront whenever anyone scores a goal by hitting it with their head, no matter the situation.

And I miss the Old Goat too. I really wish we could have kept him around, but we just didn't have a spot for him (he wasn't coach material).

[DataKing]

Seamen Add Defensive Depth, Sign Veteran Defenseman Svensson

Data King, team owner and general manager for the Screamin’ Seamen Football Club, held a press conference early Tuesday to announce that the club had acquired the services of Sven Svensson, a veteran defender from Stockholm, Sweden.

28-year-old Svensson has participated in one-hundred-six matches during his long career, most of them with his original club, Champions of Manchester 1999 (now in Sweden’s 3rd Division). The Seamen acquired his services, however, from Norwegian 5th Divison side Amok, where Svensson played the second half of last season. Exact financial terms were not disclosed, but experts estimate that the acquisition cost SSFC somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000.

Svensson is well-known as an experienced, technically superior defender. While he has only tallied nine goals in his career, he is not afraid to mix things up, receiving thirteen bookings and serving three suspensions along the way. No doubt, this will endear him to some of the more rough-and-tumble members of the current Seaman squad.

“Some of you were probably wondering if we were ever going to pull the trigger,” King joked while addressing the media on Tuesday. “Well, we have, and we’re very pleased to have Sven joining the club. We wanted to be very cautious with our selection, and bring in someone who fit the Screamin’ Seamen mold. As you all well know, we take our defense very seriously in Chicago, and wanted someone who would be a solid contributor. We also wanted a player who would provide some experience and leadership for what is currently a very young team. Sven fits the bill perfectly in all of these areas.”

The acquisition of Svensson now completes the standard SSFC roster of twenty-two players, and no further personnel changes are expected any time soon for the club. Svensson will be traveling to San Francisco this week for the club’s U.S. Open Round 3 cup match, but will only serve in a back-up role.

Sven Svensson

Jersey # 24
Position: Central Defender

28 years old, inadequate (5) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has passable (6) experience and passable (6) leadership abilities.

Specialty: Technical

Nationality: Swedish
Assessed Value: $157,000
Wage: $2,328 per week

Stamina: Excellent (8)
Playmaking: Weak (4)
Winger: Weak (4)
Scoring: Poor (3)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Poor (3)
Defending: Excellent (8)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Sven will serve in a reserve role with the club, backing up our starting sweeper Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. He will start with the reserve squad in friendly matches and the like, and will probably wear the captain’s armband when he serves in that capacity.

Sven has also expressed a desire to try his hand at coaching at some point in his career. While we are currently quite pleased with the performance of head coach Ioan Fluieras, Sven may very well find a place on our coaching staff in the future.

Up Next: Our U.S. Open Cup Round 3 match against FireRangers07. Stay tuned!

[Raven Hawk]

Looks like the Seamen have pissed off the "Type A" Croats in Miami football club again. Good job!

I don't know what it is, but I like seeing him get pissed off at you. There is something universally entertaining about it.

editttedd for sppeeeling

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by Raven Hawk
I don't know what it is, but I like seeing him get pissed off at you. There is something universally entertaining about it.

You aren't kidding. You can't buy entertainment like that.

SI

[DataKing]

I got a kick out of it too, believe me. I wish I could have watched the match real time, and been on the IRC channel, but other matters required my attention this past weekend.

I'm a little bit behind in this dynasty report at the moment, but will be getting caught up over the next coupld of days. Not to worry.

[DataKing]

Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 3

FireRangers07 vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: November 26th, 2003
Venue: FireRangers07 Arena (San Francisco, CA)
Attendance: (9,500)
Weather: Overcast

For the first time in quite a while, we’re on the west coast, in San Francisco for our 3rd round U.S. Open Cup. Our opposition is FireRangers07, a 5th-Division side. While a Division Five club may not concern the casual observer or fan, the FireRangers07 actually give us plenty to think about, and we may be in for a bit of a challenge today.

The FireRangers are a very offensive-oriented team, preferring a 3-4-3 formation with a pretty strong attacking force. To counteract their attack, we’ll be playing our typical 3-5-2 formation today, but with one of our wingers pinched in towards the middle to help out with possession. We figure that the best way to neutralize the FireRangers attack is to keep the ball away from their strikers as much as possible by overloading the middle of the field.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32nd career appearance, **~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (65th career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (20th career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (10th career appearance, ***)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (3rd career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (10th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (2nd career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (3rd career appearance, **)
Left Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (2nd career appearance, **~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (21st appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (48th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #11 Johannes Henriksson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender: #24 Sven Svensson
-Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling
-Forward: #12 Guido Metman
-Winger: #16 Reg Nichols

In an additional effort to counteract the strong attack that the FireRangers bring to the pitch, we’ll be playing two of our defensive starters today; Arlen “Headcase” Lucas and Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. Not only does this give us a better chance at victory, but it is also an opportunity for us to get some more match experience for these young men. Both appear to be lagging a bit behind Tyler Willard in their decision-making on the pitch from time to time.

Up front, we’re just not comfortable enough with this matchup to have Forrest “Gump” Tobias suit up, so we’ll be starting veteran Johannes Henriksson and Argentinean striker German Galvez. Galvez is still a young guy, and we’re taking every possible opportunity to get him some match experience. Johannes provides us with an experienced goal-scorer and leader on the pitch, who will also take control of the majority of our set-pieces opportunities.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

9500 spectators had come to FireRangers07 Arena this cloudy day.

FireRangers07 had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. They fielded: Esquivel - Doo-Ik, Mercer, Plãticã - van Ermingen, Wahlström, Bobo, Keeler - Butzkamm, Luquez, Simonsen.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Read - Lucas, Mcdonald, Leier - Bösch, Dufek, van de Kerkhof, Alustiza, Taxwell - Henriksson, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

1 minutes into the game a free kick combination hooked into the box almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the last header went wide.

The terraces were silenced in the 3rd minute as Screamin'´s Germán Galvez put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack from the right.

After 8 minutes Knud Simonsen made a dash down the middle past the away teams defenders scoring 1 - 1.

Wulfram van Ermingen of FireRangers07 received a yellow card in the 11th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 58 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

Screamin'´s Milán Dufek could have put the guests one up in the 51st minute, chasing a through ball but Jason Esquivel was fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose.

Screamin' took the lead in the games 67:th minute with 1 - 2 after some elegant plays down the middle. Johannes Henriksson was the scorer.

Screamin' came close to extending their lead as Germán Galvez delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal.

Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 65 percent, dominated the battle.

POST-GAME

The most dominating FireRangers07 player was without a doubt Cameron Keeler. Paris Bobo on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Screamin'´s best player was Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Ad Taxwell on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, FireRangers07 1

Goals

Galvez – 1 (4)
Henriksson – 1 (5, GWG)

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Read: **

Lucas: *****
McDonald: ****
Leier: ***

Bosch: **~
Van de Kerkhof: **~
Alustiza: **
Dufek: **
Taxwell: *~

Galvez: ***
Henriksson: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Weak (4)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 59

FireRangers07
-Midfield: Poor (3)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 48

Comments

The FireRangers gave us a scare early as they came out firing, and managed a pretty good scoring opportunity only a minute into the match. German Galvez did a nice job of answering only a couple of minutes later, and for a moment we thought we might be in for an easier time than we had expected. That proved not to be the case as the opposition managed the equalizer only five minutes later. The remainder of the first half would be a stalemate, and we entered the locker room knotted at one goal each.

Coach Fluieras and the staff deserve a lot of the credit for the victory, as they did a superb job of making adjustments during the halftime break. We dominated the second half of play, and were the only ones to earn any serious scoring opportunities. Though we only managed to capitalize on one of those opportunities (courtesy of some beautiful footwork by Johannes Henriksson) that would be all we would need, as we walked away with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Even though we were “taking it easy” on the pitch, I’m still a bit disappointed in the play of the midfield, particularly in the first half. I expected more of a dominating effort from the kids, especially with Ad Taxwell pinched in towards the middle to help out. I suppose this just goes to show that we have a long way to go yet before we become a solid ball-possession team.

Up Next: The weekly training update. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Week 2 Training Results

First the bad news. None of our trainees showed any marked improvement in their playmaking ability this week. We suspect, however, that a couple of them are relatively close.

The good news…

Form Changes

No fewer than 8 players saw their form improve this week!
-Midfielder Gino Behling -> solid (7)
-Winger Walter Bosch -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof -> solid (7)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> solid (7)
-Defender Sven Svensson -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> inadequate (5)
-Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> weak (4) (a 2 level improvement)

12 players had their form remain the same this week.

Only 2 players dropped in form this week:
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> inadequate (5)
-Forward Guido Metman -> inadequate (5)

The club’s average form took a sizable jump this week. Doubly good is the fact that five of the eight that showed improvement this week are our new trainees, while only one of them took a form dip. They may not have made any big progress in playmaking this week, but they still seem to be playing well.

Forrest “Gump” Tobias may finally be showing some respectable form, due in no small part to his participation in last week’s cup match, no doubt. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Forrest, and hopefully he will continue to improve.

In the Zone

Again, we have no players displaying excellent (8) form at the moment, but the list of those displaying solid (7) form has jumped to eight:

-Midfielder Gino Behling
-Winger Walter Bosch
-Forward German Galvez
-Forward Johannes Henriksson
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof
-Wingback Tyler Willard

Form Dog

Forrest “Gump” Tobias’ improvement has opened the door for a new form dog this week, wingback-turned-winger-turned-wingback-again Ben McMahon. Ben has only seen action in one match so far this season, and his poor (3) form is a reflection of that lack of playing time.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $280,368 (+$4,757)
Total Player Value (22 players): $5,327,000 (+$366,000)

Note that this week’s value numbers have been skewed, due to the addition of Sven Svensson to the roster.

Assessed Value Milestones

A number of our young recruits reached assessed value milestones this week:

$400,000+
-Midfielder Gino Behling ($429,000)

$200,000+
-Winger Walter Bosch ($217,000)

$100,000+
-Midfielder Milan Dufek ($126,000)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda ($103,000)

Up Next: The weekly youth pull and financial update. Stay tuned!