Screamin' Seamen Football Club - Season 5

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Last week’s youth squad product, Oliver Smith, sold for a respectable total of $123,000. Oliver should be quite happy with the deal, as he has landed in a sweet situation, playing for SKF Sagita in Poland’s 2nd-Division. No doubt it will take young Oliver a good deal of time to become a starter for the Polish powerhouse, but he should receive superior training along the way.

This week the squad produced no such value for us, however, and 19-year-old Cliff Reynoso was given his walking papers over the weekend.

Week 2 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,189,068

Revenue

Crowd (U.S. Open Cup match vs. FireRangers07) - $20,213
Sponsors - $86,790
Temporary (10 new supporters) - $300
Temporary (sale of youth squad promotee Oliver Smith) - $113,160

Total Revenue: $220,463

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $45,950
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Oliver Smith) - $2,000
Temporary (transfer listing for Oliver Smith) - $1,000
Temporary (purchase of Sven Svensson) - $601,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $758,391

Net Income/Loss: -$537,928

New Balance: $651,140

The addition of Svensson to the roster put a significant dent in our cash reserves, but at least our roster is complete for the time being. We’ll probably let the bank account get back up around a million, then go looking for an improvement at the forward position.

Team Information

Team Spirit: Content (7/10) (down one level)
Team Confidence: Strong (5/6) (down one level)

Sponsor Attitude: High on Life (8/9) (up one level)
Supporter Attitude: Delirious (7/9) (up one level)
Supporter Club: 1,765 (up ten)

Up Next: We play host to our favorite rivals in The Series Of The Beast [tm], Croats in Miami! Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #3

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Croats in Miami

Date: November 30th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 34,944 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

It’s that time of year again. One of my favorite times of every season. This weekend we play host to our most hated of rivals, the Croats in Miami.

If you’ve followed this dynasty report, then you know that the rivalry which has developed over the past three seasons between the two clubs has been an exceptional one. In our first ever meeting, (our first match in Division IV), we demolished the Croats to the tune of 5-1 (and showed them the glaring weakness in an asymmetrical 3-5-2 formation). Later that season, the Croats had their revenge, defeating the Seamen in the last match of the season, 1-nil, a defeat which cost the Seamen the series title and handed it to the Ramblers.

Since that fateful first season, the Croats have become one of the dominant teams in The Series Of The Beast [tm] and won the series title the season before last. However, the Seamen have always been a stumbling block for the Croats. No matter how good one team is, or how bad the other is, the matches are always hard-fought, tight affairs. In fact, disregarding our first meeting, every match between the two clubs has been decided by one goal (except for a 2-2 draw in our third meeting).

Previous Meetings

(W) 12/15/2002 – Screamin’ Seamen 5, Croats in Miami 1
(L) 3/16/2003 – Croats in Miami 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(D) 4/20/2003 – Croats in Miami 2, Screamin’ Seamen 2
(L) 6/22/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 1, Croats in Miami 2
(W) 8/3/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Croats in Miami 1
(L) 10/19/2003 – Croats in Miami 3, Screamin’ Seamen 2

The Croats are, as much as any team can be, the exact opposite of SSFC. They have a superior midfield, and are an attacking team, whereas we rely heavily upon our defense to keep matters close. The Croats have gone even more on the offensive as of late, having embarked on an aggressive forward training program. To counteract our deficiencies (midfield and attack) we will be pressing the matter today, in effort to keep things close. (We will also be PICing the match, but we don’t need to tell that to the Croats, now do we? ).

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Press

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (42nd career appearance, ***~)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (40th career appearance, ****~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (21st career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (66th career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (18th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (4th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (11th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (4th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (4th career appearance, **~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (22nd appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (49th appearance, w/SSFC, ***)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier
-Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek
-Forward: #12 Guido Metman
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy

Austrian Winger Walter Bosch returns to the starting line-up this week after having a pretty good match on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup. We’ve decided to go with Walter this week because we feel he would be better at the press than Ivan Richardy would be.

The other change this week is Johannes Henriksson starting up front in place of Guido Metman. Guido’s form has been slipping a bit as of late (no doubt a residual effect of his off-season injury), so we’ll be going with the veteran Swede in his place today.

Let’s get ready to rumble!

Match Report

PRE-GAME

At The Docks, 34944 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.

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

Croats started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. They fielded: Larsson - Göransson, Firicã, Clay - Schwab, Moldoveanu, Larsson, Komaric - Webber, Loorits, Herrmann.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' immediately set off pressing their opponents. Croats seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.

Rolf Schwab of Croats received a yellow card in the 22nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Tyler Willard received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 27:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

In the 33rd minute Tyler Willard almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide.

Screamin' made a substitution in the 35:th minute. Jaimy van de Kerkhof limped off the field and was replaced by Milán Dufek.

Screamin''s inadequate ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

Croats had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 36:th minute when Dumitru Firicã came up alone against Cornelius Jernigan who managed a block.

In the games 40:th minute Screamin'´s Reg Nichols fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Reg Nichols for taking a dive.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Croats, with an impressive 60 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

Croats had a good opportunity to score the lead goal but the home team goaltender Cornelius Jernigan saved Gordon Clay´s shot headed for the top corner.

A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 64:th minute allowed Ulf Göransson to score 0 - 1 for Croats.

A well placed corner kick from Johannes Henriksson was followed by Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Screamin'. The result now 1-1.

The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 in the 70:th by a breakthrough from Gino Behling, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Screamin'´s Gino Behling got himself booked.

Croats could level the score in the 77:th minute at 2 - 2, as Raimond Loorits struck home after a fine midfield combination, leaving him completely unmarked.

Croats held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Milán Dufek on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Croats player was without a doubt Walter Webber. Gordon Clay on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Croats in Miami 2

Goals

McDonald – 1 (1)
Behling – 1 (1, 1st career goal)

Cards

Nichols – yellow (2)
Behling – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

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

Nichols: ***~
Tejeda: ***
Van de Kerkhof: **~ (injured – 1 week)
Dufek: **~ (replaced van de Kerkhof)
Behling: ***
Bosch: ***

Galvez: ***
Henriksson: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Supernatural (14)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 80

Croats in Miami
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Magnificent (12)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 76

Comments

It’s always a great deal of fun when the Croats come to town, and today was no exception. The first half went exactly the way that we hoped it would, ending in a scoreless draw. However, keeping up with the Croats proved to be a difficult task, and Dutch midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof ended up twisting his ankle. Fortunately, the injury appears to be a minor one, and Jaimy should be ready to go next week.

“Corny” Jernigan was his usual brilliant self early on, making a couple of great saves in the first hour of the match. He wasn’t able to keep them out of the net forever, however, and eventually ceded a goal. Not to be outdone, our lads answered right back with two of their own; one from the lethal combination of Johannes Henriksson and Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald, and the other coming in the form of midfielder Gino Behling’s first career goal. Unfortunately the defense could not keep up with the Croats’ high-powered offense, and gave up the game-tying goal with only thirteen minutes left to play.

We’re a little disappointed in the result, knowing that we very well could have won today, but not overly so. Our goal this season is simply survival, and not necessarily success. Earning a point and stealing two from the Croats means that today’s endeavor was a worthwhile one, if you ask me. Plus, it’s always fun to read Croats manager lav-hehe bitch and moan when things don’t go his way. Here is the press announcement from the Croats after the match:

12/1/2003 at 03:15 *&%#^$@
"gargle......gargle" was all we can say

we couldnt keep our heads above the water at the docks and as such it cost us two valuable points...the managment is upset...but with the focus on the cup this season this loss is acceptable...

as for the seamen...."drown yah bastards....drown...." was all coach Britt had to say....after this being another winless trip to the docks.

And lav-hehe’s entry in our guestbook:

i hate playing u....i really do hate playing u....

seems like i can never drown the seamen at the docks...congrats mate....though it would be worse with u pressing but 4 goals aint bad....even though u aare anti football

Series Scores and Standings

-Sweden Heights raised some eyebrows today, earning a 2-2 draw with Neon Genesis Evangelion.
-Big Reds took WoM FC behind the woodshed, spanking the newcomers 5-nil.
-Ramblers finally managed to earn some points, defeating the Harrisburg harries 3-1.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Croats in Miami			3		10-4		7	76

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		3		6-2		7	74

3.	Big Reds			3		11-3		6	86

4.	Sweden Heights			3		7-8		4	73

5.	Screamin’ Seamen		        3		3-4		4	80

6.	Ramblers			3		5-9		3	85

7.	WoM FC			        3		2-7		3	48

8.	Harrisburg harries		3		2-9		0	59

Three weeks in and we’ve already determined that no one will earn all 42 points, and we already have a small logjam at the top of the division. Big surprise there. I get a kick out of the fact that the Seamen currently have more points than goals.

Week 4 Matchups

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

We should have one of our few easy weeks coming up, as we get to take on the lowly Harrisburg harries. It looks like the match to watch next weekend is the showdown between Croats in Miami and Big Reds. The Croats will have to win at home, most likely, to keep pace with NGE at the top of the table.

Up Next: The 4th Round of the U.S. Open Cup, as we take on a quality 5th-Division side in Severn United. Stay tuned!

[RPI-Fan]

Wow, didn't know you PIC'ed. That's a hell of a result all things considered.

Oh, are you going to get Reg Nichols some extra training this week with the injury (minor injuries like that, at training positions, are often a blessing...)?

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by DataKing
Three weeks in and we’ve already determined that no one will earn all 42 points, and we already have a small logjam at the top of the division. Big surprise there. I get a kick out of the fact that the Seamen currently have more points than goals.

You would. *sigh*

SI

[DataKing]

You're absolutely right about Reg Nichols. That's what we did with him, played him at inner midfield in the cup match on Wednesday.

(Write-up for the cup match is forthcoming.)

[DataKing]

Season 5 – U.S. Open Cup – Round 4

Severn United vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 3rd, 2003
Venue: Severn United Arena (Severn, MD)
Attendance: 40,000 (40,000)
Weather: Sunny

Round four of the U.S. Open Cup sees us traveling to the east coast, to Severn Maryland (just a little bit south of Baltimore). Our opposition is Severn United, a decent 5th-Division side. It seems like we’ve been bouncing all over the great United States recently, in San Francisco last week and Iowa the week before that. All this traveling may be starting to take its toll, I fear, particularly on the youngsters on the squad. Then again, they’ve come from all over the globe.

Severn United is another strong, attacking team who play a lot of counter-attacking with a 3-4-3 formation. A dangerous combination, no doubt. To help to counteract this, we’ll be pressing the matter and marking the opposition’s forwards closely. With strong play from our defense, we should be able to contain Severn and hopefully get a goal or two on our own opportunities (Severn’s defense leaves a bit to be desired).

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Press

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (43rd career appearance, ***~)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (67th career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (107th career appearance, 1st appearance w/SSFC)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (11th career appearance, ***)

Right Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (11th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (3rd career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (3rd career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #16 Reg Nichols (19th career appearance, ***~)
Left Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (3rd career appearance, *~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (23rd appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (26th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #6 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard
-Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas has been getting a lot of work early this season, and this week is no exception. We wanted to have some good defense prepared to stop the Severn United counter-attack, so Headcase will be starting today. “Corny” Jernigan will also be starting as well. Darryl Read’s form has been dipping a bit as of late, and we just don’t feel like he would be up to the task.

Astute readers will notice one significant change for us in the midfield. The injury to Jaimy van de Kerkhof and his replacement by Milan Dufek on Sunday means that we have an extra training slot open for this week. As Reg Nichols is definitely our “franchise player” in the midfield, we’re taking this opportunity to give him some exposure at the inner midfield position. We’re hoping that Reg will get a good look at the differences between playing inner midfield and on the wing, which should give him a better appreciation for playmaking and ball-control.

Up front German Galvez gets another start, as we continue to give the young Argentinean every opportunity that we can. He’ll be matched up with his usual partner on the front line, veteran Dutch striker Guido Metman.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

A scorching day at Severn United Arena, where 40000 spectators were in place for today´s match.

Severn tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Ward - Brandon, Coles, Camargo, Ortiz - Bravo Roldán, Estes, Finley, Valtz, González - Rundstedt.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Lucas, Svensson, Leier - Richardy, Nichols, Alustiza, Kolberg, Taxwell - Metman, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Severn immediately set off pressing their opponents. Screamin' strategy involved pressing and cutting off attack angles of their opponents from all over the field.

Severn's weak ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

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

Ad Taxwell of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 17:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

19 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.

Clinton Coles of Severn received a yellow card in the 26:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

48 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.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 56:th minute left Screamin'´s Germán Galvez completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors.

Guido Metman came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Gareth Ward, hitting the bar.

Screamin's Ivan Richardy got himself booked after a foul. Fernand Valtz the unlucky victim, couldn´t continue the game, so Ivo Betzner had to come off the bench.

Guido Metman came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Gareth Ward, hitting the bar.

Ivan Richardy of Screamin' got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Severn, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Severn player was without a doubt Ricky Estes. Ivo Betzner on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Agustín Alustiza on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 1, Severn United 0

Goals

Galvez – 1 (5)

Cards

Taxwell – yellow (1)
Richardy – 2 yellows (suspended)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ***~

Lucas: *****
Svensson: ***~
Leier: ***

Richardy: ??? (ejected)
Kolberg: **
Alustiza: **
Nichols: **~
Taxwell: **~

Galvez: ***
Metman: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 66

Severn United
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 58

Comments

Severn United caught us by surprise early on, coming out in a 4-5-1 formation and pressing the play. This was quite unexpected, as the team had done nothing but counter-attack during the past two weeks. At any rate, we were able to weather the storm pretty well (with the only exception being a silly yellow card for Ad Taxwell, our young Englishman on the wing) and went into the break with no score on the board.

Early in the second half it looked as though we might be in trouble, as a good scoring chance for Severn barely missed its mark. This seemed to spur on German Galvez, who has been absolutely outstanding for us thus far in the cup, and the young Argentinean was able to tally his fifth cup goal of the season minutes later. From that point on our lads pretty much took control, but all was not chocolate and roses. Guido Metman hit the bar on two scoring chances. Also, the close marking of the ball on both sides finally got under Ivan Richardy’s skin. The young winger managed to get himself booked twice and ejected in the second half. Of course, this means we will be without his services this Sunday.

Overall though, we cannot really complain. Severn threw us a curve-ball with their formation change and pressing tactics, and this one very easily could have gone the other way. Fortunately for us, Galvez came through yet again with his superb cup play, giving us the only goal we would need.

Elsewhere in The Series Of The Beast [tm]

Four other teams from our series remain alive in the U.S. Open Cup. WoM FC were eliminated this week, but the real surprise was Neon Genesis Evangelion falling 5-3 to 5th-Division side Chics for Kicks. The remaining clubs in the series are:

Screamin’ Seamen
Croats in Miami
Big Reds
Ramblers
Sweden Heights

Big Reds and Sweden Heights have the advantage of a home match next week, while we will be on the road yet again, along with the Croats and Ramblers.

Up Next: Results from this week’s training. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Week 3 Training Results

Overall this week was another good one as far as training is concerned. Another one of our young midfielder finally showed a significant jump in their playmaking ability. We were somewhat surprised as to who it was, though:

Ad Taxwell

Jersey # 9
Position: Winger

18 years old, weak (4) form, healthy.

A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and poor (3) leadership abilities.

Nationality: English
Assessed Value: $122,000
Wage: $1,284 per week

Stamina: Inadequate (5)
Playmaking: Solid (7)
Winger: Solid (7)
Scoring: Poor (3)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Poor (3)
Defending: Wretched (2)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Ad was a bit of a surprise. We would have expected some of our more highly-valued youngsters to show this sort of improvement before Ad would. But we’re certainly not going to complain.

Two of our players also showed significant gains in their experience levels this week. Arlen “Headcase” Lucas moved to poor (3) experience, and everyone’s favorite winger Reg Nichols improved to wretched (2) experience.

Form Changes

For the 2nd week in a row, 8 players saw their form improve this week:
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> excellent (8)
-Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan -> solid (7) (always nice to see)
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> solid (7)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> passable (6)
-Forward Guido Metman -> passable (6)
-Goalkeeper Darryl Read -> passable (6)
-Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> passable (6) (a 2 level increase for the 2nd week in a row!)

11 players saw their form remain the same this week.

3 players dropped in form this week:
-Forward Johannes Henriksson -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> weak (4)
-Wingback Ben McMahon -> wretched (2)

Obviously this was another excellent week for us, form-wise, and the team’s form curve continues to rise quickly. This is extremely good news for a couple of reasons.

First, we need to conduct a third week of stamina training, in order to complete the stamina improvements for our new midfielders. We’ve been waiting for form to rise in order to do this, but were expecting have to wait a little longer. It is quite likely that we will be conducting that conditioning training in the next week or two.

Second, Forrest “Gump” Tobias has become a legitimate option for us at forward once again. Up to now, we’ve basically been working with only three forwards. Now we have a complete rotation of four that we are comfortable with.

In The Zone

For the first time this season, we have a player who has reached excellent (8) form. That player is wingback Tyler Willard.

I actually pity anyone trying to score against our starting defensive four right now. Check this out:

Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan: solid (7) form
Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas: solid (7) form
Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald: solid (7) form
Wingback Tyler Willard: excellent (8) form


Form Dog

Reserve wingback Ben McMahon remains the club’s form dog this week, and has dropped down to wretched (2). It is highly unlikely that Ben will see the pitch until we have been removed from the U.S. Open Cup.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $293,421 (+$13,053)
Total Player Value (22 players): $5,575,000 (+$248,000)

Yeah, I’d say it’s been a good week.

Assessed Value Milesones

$600,000+
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald ($626,000)

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

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Our youth squad tried to give us an addition to our midfielder training program this week, but fell a little short of the mark as to what we’re willing to start with. Still, Rich might make a good trainee for a new team looking to train midfielders.

Rich Thomas

Listed As: Inner Midfielder
Asking Price: $1,000
Deadline: 12/11/2003 at 17:57 HT-Time

17 years old, passable form, healthy.

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

Nationality: American
Assessed Value: $11,000
Wage: $540 per week

Stamina: Passable (6)
Playmaking: Inadequate (5)
Winger: Poor (3)
Scoring: Wretched (2)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Poor (3)
Defending: Poor (3)
Set Pieces: Weak (4)

Week 3 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $651,140

Revenue

Crowd (league match vs. Croats in Miami) - $229,453
Crowd (U.S. Open Cup match vs. Severn United) - $86,130
Sponsors - $90,750
Temporary (Mother club money from resale of Millard Meadows) - $8,160
Temporary (15 new supporters) - $450

Total Revenue: $414,943

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Cliff Reynoso) - $2,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $158,719

Net Income/Loss: +$256,224

New Balance: $907,364

Team Information

Team Spirit: Satisfied (8/10) (up one level)
Team Confidence: Strong (5/6) (no change)

Sponsor Attitude: High on Life (8/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: Delirious (7/9) (no change)
Supporter Club: 1,780 (up fifteen)

Up Next: A good opportunity for a league win for us this Sunday, as we travel to Pennsylvania to take on the Harrisburg Harries. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #4

Harrisburg Harries vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 7th, 2003
Venue: The Harold Football Stadium (Harrisburg, PA)
Attendance: 18,764 (46,000)
Weather: Overcast

This week we have what should be one of the easiest league matches we have all season. The Harrisburg Harries actually promoted from the same Division Five Series that we promoted from (Series V.57), but were not in existence when we were there. However, the Harries haven’t shown any signs of being able to compete at this level yet, at least not in The Series Of The Beast [tm]. They are the odds-on favorite for a last place finish this season. As such, we must take advantage of the situation and get all three possible points, even if we are on the road.

While the Harries lack the depth and across-the-board talent that most of the teams in the series have, they do have a couple of dangerous players that we must be aware of. First and foremost is their keeper, Ronny Anderson (assessed value $631,000). Ronny provides the backbone for what can occasionally be a very stubborn defense. Also worthy of note is 27-year-old winger Chris Jackson (assessed value $533,000). Our wingbacks will be keeping a close eye on Chris.

No Previous Meetings

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (60th career appearance, ***~)
Note: I have been misrepresenting Corny’s career starts in previous write-ups.

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (68th career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (108th career appearance, ***~)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (41st career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (4th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (12th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (4th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (5th career appearance, **~)
Left Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (20th career appearance, **~)

Forward: #12 Guido Metman (27th appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (24th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #6 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (11 career appearances)
-Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (4 career appearances)
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (4 career appearances)

We have a couple of obvious changes to the starting line-up this week. Our most recent acquisition, sweeper Sven Svensson, will be starting for us today in place of Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. There may be a couple of head-specialists lining up against us in the U.S. Open Cup this Wednesday, so we want to save Cameron’s legs for that match.

There are two midfielders who have really begun to stand out for us early in the season; Gino Behling and Javier Tejeda. We will most likely be facing a decent midfield on Wednesday (better than the Harries’, at least) and so will be saving them. We’re also holding out Walter Bosch on the wing, and Ivan Richardy is suspended and would not be able to play anyhow. This leaves us Reg Nichols and Ad Taxwell for the wings.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

At The Harold Football Stadium, 18764 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.

harrisburg tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Anderson - Kendall, Llaneras, Thorpe - Bland, Oinas, Georgescu, Rendon, Jackson - Queen, Rosenberg.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Lucas, Svensson, Willard - Taxwell, Dufek, van de Kerkhof, Alustiza, Nichols - Metman, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

harrisburg were relying on their inadequate ability to counter-attack.

Seemingly due to lack of experience, Jaimy van de Kerkhof needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed.

Screamin' had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 14:th minute when Germán Galvez came up alone against Ronny Anderson who managed a block.

Andrew Rosenberg of harrisburg received a yellow card in the 14:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

In the 22nd minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Guido Metman put the ball away for 0 - 1.

Screamin'´s Tyler Willard received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 25:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 2. The home crowd was not pleased with that one.

After this Screamin' lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

In the 49:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 3 as Germán Galvez finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick.

The visitors Germán Galvez took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 54:th minute. 0 - 4 for Screamin'.

Reg Nichols of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 58:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

A surprising free kick routine in the 69:th minute nearly resulted in another goal for the visitors, but the ball went just a little wide, leaving the strikers offside.

The referee showed harrisburgs Pãtru Georgescu the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Guido Metman was, after 74 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors lead with a well placed diving header but home side keeper Ronny Anderson saved.

Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 63 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating harrisburg player was without a doubt Manu Llaneras. James Rendon on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Screamin'´s best player was Tyler Willard. Agustín Alustiza on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 4, Harrisburg Harries 0

Goals

Metman – 1 (GWG, 2)
Willard – 1 (1)
Galvez – 2 (1,2)

Cards

Nichols – yellow (3, suspended)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

Lucas: *****
Svensson: ***~
Willard: *****

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

Metman: ***
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #22 Tyler Willard

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Supernatural (14)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Formidable (9)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 79

Harrisburg Harries
-Midfield: Weak (4)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Passable (6)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 56

Comments

The Harries made a critical error, coming out in a counter-attacking mode against us. They simply aren’t a team with enough firepower to use that sort of tactic and get away with it. Consider that they were concentrating their attack on their left side, which ran right into the stingy defense provided by Arlen “Headcase” Lucas and Sven Svensson, and you could tell that we had superior tactics as well as superior talent on the pitch today.

Still, things were interesting for a little while. Jaimy van de Kerkhof’s mistake nearly gave the Harries the early lead, and Ronny Anderson did what he could to keep his team in it. But eventually we broke their defense down, with Guido Metman scoring first and Tyler Willard adding one a little later in the half (only the 3rd goal of his career).

German Galvez decided to get into the act early in the second half, and managed two goals only five minutes apart from one another. Surprisingly enough, all five of German’s prior goals this season had come in cup play, and he had yet to score in a league match.

The one disappointing thing about today’s match was Reg Nichols losing his head yet again. These sort of bookings, late in the match when we have things well in hand, frustrate me to no end. The incident accomplished nothing except to force a one-game suspension for the young winger. Fortunately for Reg, we’re still alive in the U.S. Open Cup and had no intentions of playing him on Wednesday anyhow. Still, I plan on having a sit-down with him and Coach Fluieras in the next day or two. The kid needs to learn some on-the-field discipline.

Series Scores and Standings

-Ramblers look to be turning things around, surprising Neon Genesis Evangelion, 2-nil.
-Sweden Heights narrowly escaped an upset, defeating WoM FC 3-2.
-Croats in Miami elected to play their reserves and paid the price, losing 2-1 to Big Reds.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds			4		13-4		9	80

2.	Croats in Miami			4		11-6		7	72

3.	Screamin’ Seamen		        4		7-4		7	79

4.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		4		6-4		7	72

5.	Sweden Heights			4		10-10		7	61

6.	Ramblers			4		7-9		6	89

7.	WoM FC			        4		4-10		3	71

8.	Harrisburg Harries		4		2-13		0	56

Overall, the NSI ratings in the series were on the low side this week (dropping us to 12th out of 64), but I believe that is due to having five teams remaining, all of which would like to advance at least one round further in the U.S. Open Cup. Meanwhile, Big Reds have laid claim to first place in the series, at least for the next couple of weeks (they get to play the Harries next weekend, and at home to boot).

Though the season is still young, there is a painfully obvious logjam in the standings yet again, with four teams sitting with seven points, and the Ramblers just a point behind with six. I know it’s really too early to pay much attention to the standings, but The Series Of The Beast [tm] is shaping up to be another dogfight this season.

Week 5 Matchups

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

Sweden Heights hosting the Croats looks to be the most intriguing matchup next week, as the Swedes have been playing inspired football as of late, and have taken seven of nine points in their last three matches. While that is going on, we’ll be renewing our grudge against the Ramblers at The Docks (we split with Ramblers last season, and strangely enough the road team won both matches).

Up Next: We’re on the road yet again this week, back on the west coast for our U.S. Open Cup 5th Round match against the San Jose Earthquakes. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

U.S. Open Cup – Round 5

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 10th, 2003
Venue: Spartan Stadium (San Jose, CA)
Attendance: (55,000)
Weather: Overcast

We’ve advanced to the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup, tying our furthest advancement into cup play. We managed to advance to the fifth round last season as well, but fell apart in the second half, blowing a 3-1 lead and eventually losing on overtime, 4-3. Needless to say, we’re hoping for a better performance this time around.

The San Jose Earthquakes is the club that stands in our way. The Earthquakes are a strong offensive team also from the U.S. 4th-Division, and we should have a pretty good fight on our hands today. We have a huge edge on the defensive side of the ball (their defense is extremely sporadic from what I’ve been able to tell watching film), but their offensive edge may be a considerable one as well. Midfield play should work out relatively even today, with the Earthquakes possibly having a small advantage in that category.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (61st career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (42nd career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (22nd career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (12th career appearance, ***)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (5th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (5th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (4th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (5th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (12th career appearance, suspended)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (50th appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (25th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances)
-Defender: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (68 career appearances)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (12 career appearances)
-Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances)
-Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (4 career appearances)

To counteract the strong offense that the Earthquakes bring to the table, we’ll be playing three of our four defensive starters today. The only exception is Mattias Leier. We want to get the young Estonian some valuable match experience, so he will be taking the left wingback spot. Arlen “Headcase” Lucas will be available as a substitute, however.

In the middle, we’re hoping that we can keep up with the Earthquakes by virtue of playing Javier Tejeda and Gino Behling. Javier and Gino have begun to emerge as two of our better midfield trainees, at least from what we’ve seen thus far, so we purposely held them out of Sunday’s league match so they would be rested and ready today. Rune Kolberg has been struggling a bit since coming on board, but will provide what assistance he can. Walter Bosch and Ivan Richardy get the starting nods on the wings, with Ad Taxwell held in reserve. (Reg Nichols is suspended and unavailable to play today).

Up front, we initially considered starting with Johannes Henriksson and Forrest “Gump” Tobias. Gump has shown some good improvement over the past couple of weeks, and we wanted to reward that, but German Galvez has been absolutely red-hot in the cup thus far this season, scoring in every cup match thus far. We need Johannes on the field for his leadership and set-pieces abilities, which leaves Gump as the odd man out. He will be available as a reserve, however.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 51804 at Spartan Stadium today.

Earthquakes started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Wiseman - Howland, Jackson, Acosta - Freijedo, Isaak, Carver, Frank, Kent - Hökblad, Villa.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Jernigan - Willard, Mcdonald, Leier - Bösch, Behling, Kolberg, Tejeda, Richardy - Henriksson, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Earthquakes, bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle.

SECOND HALF

David Kent sailed high, high above the opponents as he headed the 1-0 in after a corner kick after 47 minutes of play.

61 minutes into the game Screamin'´s Javier Tejeda found a gap in the home sides central defense scoring with a long shot, making it 1 - 1.

Earthquakes held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

OVERTIME

After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of overtime followed.

Screamin' took the lead in the games 102nd minute with 1 - 2 after some elegant plays down the middle. Javier Tejeda was the scorer.

This put an end to extra time, making Screamin' the winners.

POST-GAME

Most important Earthquakes player was Charles Carver. David Kent on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Screamin'´s best player was Tyler Willard. However, Rune Kolberg made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

Goals

Tejeda – 2 (3,4)

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

Willard: *****
McDonald: ****~ (best performance to date)
Leier: ***

Bosch: ***
Tejeda: ***
Kolberg: **
Behling: ***~ (best performance to date)
Richardy: *** (best performance to date)

Henriksson: **~
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #22 Tyler Willard
Golden Boot: #8 Javier Tejeda

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 76

San Jose Earthquakes
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Weak (4)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 52

Comments

This match was a strange one. Except for ball possession, we out-played the Earthquakes in every facet of the game, yet neither club was able to get anything going in the entire first half. The Earthquakes goal early in the second half I can only explain as a matter of luck, considering that we had three head specialists on the pitch today (McDonald, Leier, and Bosch). Fifteen minutes later, 18-year-old Chilean midfielder Javier Tejeda was able to even the score, but after that neither team was able to mount any serious attack, and we went to overtime.

Our young Chilean continued to shine, and the match ended up becoming a dream come true for him. Twelve minutes into the extra frame, Javier found the twine for the second time in the match (and the fourth time in the cup), earning himself a golden boot and a trip off the pitch on the shoulders of his teammates.

We ended up facing mostly reserves from the Earthquakes, and should have had a much more dominant performance than we did. With the exception of Javier, we were flat, there’s no doubt about that. We were much better than the Earthquakes on paper, but that’s why we play the games. We survive, and advance to the sixth round of the U.S. Open Cup.

Truth has indeed proven to be stranger than fiction, and I could not help but laugh when I learned who our opponents would be in the next round; none other than Ardent Enthusiast’s North County Raiders. The Raiders will be coming to Chicago for, strangely enough, the first ever showdown between the two FOFC clubs. You’ll definitely want to tune in for this one folks. It should be interesting.

Elsewhere In The Series Of The Beast [tm]

Four clubs from Series IV.49 remain alive in the cup, as Sweden Heights, Big Reds, and Ramblers were all victorious. And in what any Seaman fan will consider a humorous turn of events, Croats in Miami lost their match to 5th-Division side Webshooters, 3-2. What was the Croats’ response to the loss, you ask? Well, here’s a copy of their press release:

12/11/2003 FURIOUS
NO F**KING COMMENT!

2 F***ING SPECIAL EVENTS!!!!!

2 MISSED CHANCES!!!!!!




The round six matchups involving series teams look like this:

-Screamin’ Seamen vs. North County Raiders (#8 in Series III.8)
-Big Reds vs. Bulldawgs (#4 in III.4)
-Sweden Heights vs. Trailer Trash (#7 in III.6)
-Team 917 (#1 in IV.1) vs. Ramblers

Up Next: Weekly training results. Stay tuned!

[The Afoci]

DK, I didn't know there were still bot teams left in the cup...

[Poli]

I can't wait.

[DataKing]

Week 4 Training Results

Overall this was a pretty disappointing week on the training grounds. None of our midfielder trainees showed any marked improvement this week, which comes as a bit of a surprise. We figured that a couple of them (Swiss 18-year-old Gino Behling in particular) were primed for a good week. I guess we’ll have to wait a little longer.

The one good piece of news this week is that two more players showed an increase in their experience levels this week:
-Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan -> inadequate (5)
-Forward German Galvez -> poor (3)

Form Changes

3 players saw their form increase this week:
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> solid (7)
-Forward Guido Metman -> solid (7)
-Winger Reg Nichols -> solid (7)

13 players saw their form remain the same this week.

6 players dropped in form this week:
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda -> passable (6)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> passable (6) (a two level decrease)
-Forward Johannes Henriksson -> inadequate (5)
-Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> weak (4) (a two level decrease)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> poor (3)

We’ve been flying high form-wise for the past couple of weeks, but now it looks as though we have come back to earth. Tyler Willard’s form drop isn’t as scary as it looks. Both he and Arlen “Headcase” Lucas have shown remarkably consistent form over the past few seasons, so we’re not really concerned.

What does concern us is the downward spiral that midfielder Rune Kolberg is on. The Norwegian has shown us very little since we brought him on board as one of our midfielder trainees, and we’re hoping that he doesn’t turn out to be a dud. We’re not rash enough to pull the trigger on him just yet, but will be watching him very closely.

In The Zone

Tyler Willard’s one-week stay at excellent (8) form is over, so we’re back to counting those players in solid (7) form. The good news is that this week there are ten of them:

Midfielder Gino Behling
Winger Walter Bosch
Midfielder Milan Dufek
Forward German Galvez
Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas
Forward Guido Metman
Winger Reg Nichols
Winger Ivan Richardy
Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof

Form Dog

No surprise here, as reserve wingback Ben McMahon remains the club’s low man with wretched (2) form. I don’t suspect that will change for at least a couple of weeks, since we’ll be demolishing the North County Raiders next week and advancing to the 7th Round of the U.S. Open Cup. (No, this is not a prediction. I just feel like talking a little trash.)

Player Values

Average Player Value: $290,684 (-$2,737)
Total Player Value (22 players): $5,523,000 (-$52,000)

Assessed Value Milestones

$900,000+
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas ($903,000)

$200,000+
-Winger Ivan Richardy ($210,000)

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

[Poli]

Talk all the trash you want, hater.

We'll have to do lunch or something that day, or perhaps we could meet up and watch the game.

Only problem is, class. The games start at what time...6 I think? I might be able to get out of there by then if we start at 2.

Shoot me a PM or call me.

By the way, aren't you just glad we talked strategy last week?

Thanks, HT gods, for listening in on our conversation!

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

The performance of our youth program continues to be mediocre at best this week, as 19-year-old Zach Sherrod was given a tryout with the regular team, but quickly given his walking papers.

Week 4 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $907,364

Revenue

Crowd (U.S. Open Cup Match vs. San Jose Earthquakes) - $111,432
Sponsors - $93,390
Temporary (previous owner fee from resale of Niklas Ivarsson) - $10,710
Temporary (sale of youth squad promotee Rich Thomas) - $920
Temporary (17 new supporters) - $510

Total Revenue: $216,962

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Rich Thomas) - $2,000
Temporary (transfer listing of Rich Thomas) - $1,000
Temporary (firing of 10 doctors) - $15,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $174,719

Net Income/Loss: +$42,243

New Balance: $949,607

Team Information

Team Spirit: Content (7/10) (down one level)
Team Confidence: Wonderful (6/6) (up one level)

Sponsor Attitude: High on Life (8/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: High on Life (8/9) (up one level)
Supporter Club: 1,797 (up seventeen)

Up Next: Our week five league match against the Ramblers. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #5

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Ramblers

Date: December 14th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 43,750 (43,750)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Today is the first part of a much-needed home-stand for the club, as we have at least three consecutive games here at The Docks. Today’s task is no small one, as we play host to the visiting Ramblers, a club we have had precious little success against over the years. Regular readers of this dynasty report will recognize the Ramblers as one of the toughest teams in the series. They have been around for quite a while now, and have won the series title two out of the past three seasons. They have been unable to earn promotion to the next level though (obviously).

Previous Meetings

(D) 1/5/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Ramblers 2
(W) 2/23/2003 – Ramblers 1, Screamin’ Seamen 2
(L) 4/6/2003 – Ramblers 4, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(L) 7/6/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Ramblers 4
(L) 8/24/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 1, Ramblers 3
(W) 9/28/2003 – Ramblers 0, Screamin’ Seamen 2

As you can tell, we’ve had less-than-spectacular results against the Ramblers over the past couple of seasons, though we did manage to split with them last season. One of the reasons for our strugglers against them is the play of 32-year-old winger Philip Gallo. By far the best winger in the entire series, Philip has scored seventeen career goals, and I swear half of those have been against us. Gallo always brings his best when he plays against us for some reason, no matter how much defensive talent we try to throw in his way.

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

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (62nd career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (43rd career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (109th career appearance, ***~)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (69th career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (13th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (13th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (5th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (6th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (21st career appearance, ***~)

Forward: #12 Guido Metman (28th appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (26th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #6 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances)
-Defender: #18 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (22 career appearances)
-Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (5 career appearances)
-Forward: #19 Gino Behling (5 career appearances)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (5 career appearances)

As you may already know, the Ramblers are extremely fond of an asymmetrical 3-5-2 formation, pulling one of their wingbacks and replacing that player with an extra inner midfielder. We’ve tried to counteract this tactic before, but with little success. We’ll be trying the same thing again this time around, however, with one extra twist. We’ll specifically be looking to attack on the wing where the Ramblers play no wingback. Reg Nichols will work this wing, while Ivan Richardy pinches in on the other wing to help out our young midfielders.

The only real surprise in the lineup this week is Sven Svensson playing in place of Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. We’ve done this because the Ramblers are a veteran, experienced team, and we’d rather have a little more experience on the field ourselves to help counteract this. That, and Sven really isn’t much of a step down from Big Mac in defensive abilities either.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

43750 spectators arrived at The Docks, where weather conditions were pretty good for football.

Screamin' started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Willard, Svensson, Lucas - Richardy, van de Kerkhof, Alustiza, Tejeda, Nichols - Metman, Galvez.

Ramblers started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Chugg - Campos, Powell, Do - Stovall, Whittington, Maddox, Holmes, Gallo - Hansson, Pallez.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way.

Bradley Stovall had a good try in the 11th minute, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide.

Ivan Richardy was doing a great job at his wing, sending in brilliant passes to his team mates in the middle.

Ramblers took the lead after 33 minutes with 0 - 1. Philip Gallo placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

The visitors Eric Holmes took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 36:th minute. 0 - 2 for Ramblers.

Jaimy van de Kerkhof received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 36:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 38:th minute Ramblers goal, making it 0 - 3. Eric Holmes was noted down as the scorer.

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

Halftime score was 0 - 3. Ramblers held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Agustín Alustiza missed an opportunity to score from the penalty spot in the 77:th minute, dashing the hopes for the home side.

Ramblerss Jim Do got himself booked after a foul.

Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 86:th minute Ramblers goal, making it 0 - 4. Gus Whittington was noted down as the scorer.

The referee showed Screamin's Javier Tejeda the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Lyle Powell went down after a savage challenge, but could keep on playing after some medical attention.

Ramblers held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Agustín Alustiza was a disappointment, however.

The most dominating Ramblers player was without a doubt Philip Gallo. However, Barry Campos made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Ramblers 4, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals

None

Cards

Tejeda – yellow (2)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

Willard: ****~
Svensson: ***~
Lucas: *****

Richardy: **~
Van de Kerkhof: ***
Alustiza: **~
Tejeda: ***
Nichols: ***~

Metman: ***~
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: World Class (13)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 78

Ramblers
-Midfield: Excellent (8)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: World Class (13)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Experience: Weak (4)
-NSI: 82

Comments

Once again I am at a complete loss. The Ramblers did the exact same thing to us that they did twice two seasons ago, (a pair of 4-nil defeats that year) and I simply cannot explain how. Our tactics were sound, with strength lined up against their weaknesses, yet they still proceeded to kick our butts. It’s frustrating trying to play against this club, and I’m just about done trying to use fancy tactics and lineups against them. Next time perhaps we’ll try something completely counter-intuitive and see what happens.

I dare not say anymore. We’re all ticked off at this one (the fans most of all), so the less said the better I think.

Series Scores and Standings

-Big Reds crushed the Harrisburg Harries, to the sorry tune of 7-nil.
-Croats in Miami narrowly escaped their trip to New York against Sweden Heights, winning 3-2.
-WoM FC showed some spirit, but fell to a superior Neon Genesis Evangelion club, 3-1.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds			5		20-4		12	65

2.	Croats in Miami			5		14-8		10	63

3.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		5		9-5		10	78

4.	Ramblers			5		11-9		9	82

5.	Sweden Heights			5		12-13		7	70

6.	Screamin’ Seamen		        5		7-8		7	78

7.	WoM FC			        5		5-13		3	57

8.	Harrisburg Harries		5		2-20		0	57

We had some pretty low overall ratings this week, but I think that is because a number of clubs (us included) were holding at least a little bit back for the U.S. Open Cup matches this week. Big Reds look to be emerging as very serious contenders, though the two clubs they have yet to play are not slouches (ourselves and Ramblers).

Week 6 Matchups

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

At first glance, the match between Croats in Miami and Neon Genesis Evangelion looks to be the marquee matchup next week. However, I feel that our hosting Big Reds could really stand to shake things up as well. We’ve played four matches thus far against the Reds, and the results have been anything but decisive (with each club earning a 1-2-1 record thus far). Similar to when we play against the Croats, these matches are always tight affairs. If we were to force another draw with the Reds, then the winner of the CIM vs. NGE clash would be tied for points with the Reds.

Up Next: Sixth Round U.S. Open Cup action as we host Ardent Enthusiast and his North County Raiders! Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Holiday madness plus a busy work schedule means that I'm a little bit behind right now, and have precious little time to devote to this dynasty at the moment (I'm sure plenty of other dynasty writers are in the same boat). I'll do what I can along the way, but I don't expect to have a lot of time until after the holidays.

Just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about or abandoned the Seamen.

Happy Holidays!

[sterlingice]

As long as you watch the KU bowl game, we forgive you

SI

[Poli]

LOL

[Havok]

Vladimir Jelaèiæ (15535807)
20 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.

Nationality: Hrvatska
Assessed value: 842 000 US$
Wage: 4 332 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: E.C.poni
Warnings: 0


Stamina: wretched Goaltending: formidable
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: wretched


Deadline: 12/23/2003 at 19:20

Asking price: 1 150 000 US$

Highest bid:
1 150 000 US$ by Sweden Heights

Looks like they're shopping for a new goalie......

[DataKing]

sterlingice, Ardent Enthusiast: Yes I watched the Tangerine Bowl, and it turned out about how I expected. KU was able to move the ball some against NC State's piss-poor pass defense, but Rivers absolutely tore the Jayhawks defense to shreds. I hate seeing my teams play bad defense, which made it kind of tough to watch, but I watched nonetheless.

Still, it's a step in the right direction, even if they did get crushed. It's obvious that they were outmatched, but Mangino got the boys some national TV exposure, which can do nothing but help his recruiting. Things are looking up in Lawrence.

Havok: Thanks for the heads-up. Actually it's about time Heights upgraded their netminder. Their current #1, Trent Wilkinson, is only a high passable/low solid keeper. Unfortunately, they have to do this just before we play them back-to-back.

[DataKing]

U.S. Open Cup – Round 6

Screamin’ Seamen vs. North County Raiders

Date: December 17th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 25,759 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

Fans of FOFC are in for a treat this week, as our opponent for the sixth round of the U.S. Open Cup is none other than Ardent Enthusiast’s North County Raiders. Surprisingly enough, despite the long standing of both clubs within the FOFC community, our two teams have never squared off against one another. It’s actually rather funny how things work out. By that I mean that it took the Hattrick Organization to schedule a match between our two clubs, since we never managed to get around to it ourselves.

The Raiders are one of the biggest proponents of the “run-and-shoot” offense that is quite popular within the FOFC, and they’ve been at it for a long time. This means that our defense will have their hands full today, trying to contain the likes of North County strikers Burton Cagle and especially “The Bus,” Jerome Betts.

To tell the truth, I know we’re a bit overmatched today. I had a lengthy telephone conversation with the owner of the Raiders just a week prior to this match, where we discussed our long-term strategies and the like at length. We know that we’ll be facing most, if not all, of the North County starters today, as the Raiders are all but doomed to demotion from Division III at the end of the season, and are therefore concentrating on extending their cup run as long as possible. Still, we have to tip our hats to the Raiders, as the first of the “original” FOFC clubs to make it to the lofty heights of the 3rd Division.

We’ll be playing a mix of starters and reserves today, as we cannot bring ourselves to sacrifice training, even in as big a match-up as this. We will be pressing the matter on the pitch, however, and try to cut off the Raiders’ attack angles. We’ll be at a disadvantage in the midfield (a definite and expected trend this season) and so will need to do whatever we can to cut down on the Raiders’ advantage there.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Pressing

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (63rd career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (44th career appearance, ****~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (23rd career appearance, ****~)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (70th career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (5th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (6th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5th career appearance, **)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (6th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (6th career appearance, ***)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77th career appearance, **~)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (27th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (12 career appearances, ***)
-Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (6 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #12 Guido Metman (28 appearances w/SSFC, ***~)
-Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (21 career appearances, ***~)

We’re going with our usual four at the back of the formation today, as we’re going to need all of the defensive power we can muster to keep the Raiders honest. In the middle our hands are pretty well tied, as we want to continue to get all of our young trainees all of the match experience we can muster. Up front, Johannes Henriksson will try to help German Galvez find the twine, as well as provide leadership on the pitch and handle all of our set pieces opportunities.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

At The Docks, 25759 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.

Screamin' had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Jernigan - Willard, Mcdonald, Lucas - Taxwell, Dufek, Behling, Kolberg, Bösch - Henriksson, Galvez.

Raiders started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Neto - Kalinowski, Nguyen, Mihai - Peris, Stoye, Worrall, Curnow, Posey - Betts, Cagle.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' immediately set off pressing their opponents.

Raiders seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.

Screamin''s weak ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 22nd minute allowed Jerome Betts to score 0 - 1 for Raiders.

David Curnow came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan, hitting the bar.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. Raiders, bringing the final ball possession rate to 61 percent, dominated the battle.

SECOND HALF

The visitors Matt Worrall took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 56:th minute. 0 - 2 for Raiders.

Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 65:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Raiders held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Rune Kolberg on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Most important Raiders player was Jerome Betts. Mark Nguyen on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: North County Raiders 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals

None

Cards

McDonald – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

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

Taxwell: **~
Behling: ***
Kolberg: **
Dufek: ***~
Bosch: ***

Henriksson: **~
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: World Class (13)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 76

North County Raiders
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Weak (4)
-Right Attack: Magnificent (12)
-Central Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 72

Comments

Things started off well enough for us today, as the press seemed to be doing its job early on. However, that did not last as a couple of rare mistakes by our defenders led to a pair of goals for the Raiders. And with our midfield deficiency, that is all that North County would need for the win, as our young midfielders weren’t able to generate any real scoring chances for us today.

I can’t say that I am surprised by the result, just a little disappointed. But we do wish the Raiders the best of luck as they continue on in the cup. Do us proud, Ardent.

Elsewhere In The Series Of The Beast [tm]

Three other clubs from Series IV.49 participated in Round Six of the U.S. Open Cup

-Big Reds continued in what appears to be a dominant season for them, defeating the Bulldawgs 2-nil.
-Team 917 ended the Ramblers cup run, also by a score of 2-nil.
-Sweden Heights failed to advance as well, falling to Trailer Trash, 2-1.

Big Reds are looking like a very strong team this season, and remain the only club to represent The Series Of The Beast in the U.S. Open Cup.

Up Next: The weekly training results. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Week 5 Training Results

We expected to see at least one of our youngsters show some real improvement this week, and we were right. However, that improvement showed up in a rather unexpected way.

Walter Bosch

Position: Winger
Jersey: #20

18 years old, solid (7) form, healthy.

A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and disastrous (1) leadership abilities.

Specialty: Head

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

Walter is the third of our four wingers to show marked improvement in his midfield abilities, while none of our true inner midfielders have shown the same improvement. Apparently our scouts are much better at identifying young winger talent than they are at identifying inner midfielders.

Form Changes

No fewer than 9 players saw their form improve this week:
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> excellent (8)
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas -> excellent (8)
-Defender Sven Svensson -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> passable (6)
-Wingback Mattias Leier -> passable (6)
-Winger Ad Taxwell -> inadequate (5)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> weak (4)
-Wingback Ben McMahon -> poor (3)

9 players saw their form remain the same this week.

4 players saw their form drop a level this week:
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> passable (6)
-Goalkeeper Darryl Read -> inadequate (5)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> inadequate (5)
-Forward Forrest “Gump” Tobias -> poor (3)

Overall we’ve had a pretty nice week, and a number of our players showed good form this week. Overall the team’s form curve appears to be back on the up-swing, after a one week dip. This means that it is probably time for us to finish off our conditioning training regimen.

The scary thing is Tyler Willard, whose play has taken an absolute nose-dive the past couple of weeks. We’ll be paying very close attention to Tyler this week, and pray that this is just a short-term set-back for him.

In The Zone

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas is a familiar name in this portion of the weekly write-up, as his spooky-good form continues with a rise to excellent (8) this week. However, this week he is joined by a newcomer, Czech midfielder Milan Dufek.

Form Dogs

We have a pair of form dogs this week, and they are familiar names. Ben McMahon and Forrest “Gump” Tobias are both our form dogs this week, in poor (3) form. However, now that we’re been knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup, these two can finally expect to see some regular playing time. Hopefully that will mean a rapid improvement for the both of them.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $291,789 (+$1,105)
Total Player Value (22 players): $5,544,000 (+$21,000)

Assessed Value Milestones

$500,000+
-Midfielder Gino Behling ($502,000)

$100,000+
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza ($113,000)
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof ($112,000)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg ($109,000)

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

[Alf]

FOFC CUP V : Big Newz

At the moment, it appears the Screamin Seamen are afraid of crossing the Atlantic Ocean to play their first round game vs Swamions FC (Icy).

[DataKing]

Oh gimme a break! I've been busy!

The match has been booked, by the way.

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

In the spirit of the holidays, our Youth Squad gave us a worthless bucket of crap by the name of Roland Kirkpatrick. Better luck next time Roland, now get out of my face.

Week 5 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $949,607

Revenue

Crowd (league match vs. Ramblers) - $289,875
Crowd (U.S. Open Cup match vs. North County Raiders) - $114,555
Sponsors - $96,360

Total Revenue: $500,790

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Zach Sherrod) - $2,000
Staff & Specialists - $48,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $146,719

Net Income/Loss: +$354,071

New Balance: $1,303,678

Team Information

Team Spirit: Calm (6/10) (down one level)
Team Confidence: Poor (3/6) (down three levels)

Sponsor Attitude: Dancing In The Streets (9/9) (up one level)
Supporter Attitude: Irritated (3/9) (down five levels)
Supporter Club: 1,782 (down fifteen)

It’s been a rough week for the organization, as you can tell. Financially we’re in good shape, but emotionally and psychologically we’re a shambles. I guess being shut out in two consecutive matches will have that sort of effect. I just hope we’re able to rebound this coming week, since our supporters are fleeing in droves.

Up Next: We try to break our horrible scoreless home stand with a batch against the red hot Big Reds. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #6

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Big Reds

Date: December 21st, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 18,209 (43,750)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Our home stand, which we were so looking forward to a couple of weeks ago, has turned into little more than a scoring nightmare. We’ve been shut out in both of our home matches thus far, and have been outscored 6-nil. To make matters worse, a red hot Big Reds team is in town today, and no doubt smell blood in the water as they make an early bid for their first series title.

The Big Reds have what can be considered a dominant midfield, with a very good defense to back it up, and this makes them very dangerous to us. We don’t have the offensive firepower to take on their defense one-on-one, so we’re going to have to rely on sound tactics and a little bit of luck if we hope to carry the day.

Previous Meetings

(D) 4/13/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Big Reds 0
(L) 6/29/2003 – Big Reds 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(W) 9/7/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Big Reds 2
(D) 9/14/2003 – Big Reds 1, Screamin’ Seamen 1

As you can tell, the Big Reds are another club who we’ve always played close against. Each club has only managed one win and two draws thus far in the budding rivalry, and neither team has ever managed to mount a whole lot of offense against the other (as witnessed by the scoreless draw that was the result of our first meeting). But the Reds have improved by leaps and bounds over the club they were a couple of seasons ago. Today will be a challenge for our lads, to be sure.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (64th career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (45th career appearance, ****~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (24th career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (71st career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (22nd career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (7th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (7th career appearance, ***~)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (7th career appearance, ***)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (28th appearance w/SSFC, ***)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (29th appearance w/SSFC, ***~)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (12 career appearances, ***)
-Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (6 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **~)
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (13 career appearances, **~)

We’ve been shut out in two straight matches at home, which has our supporters in an uproar, so we’re ignoring the urge to press against Big Reds. Instead we’re going to play things a little more offensive than we typically do, in hopes of getting a goal or two and at least getting The Swabbies off our back for a while. We’ll be pushing the ball up the pitch particularly on the right side, where we’ve given Tyler Willard more free reign to move up the field and support Reg Nichols on the wing attack.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Docks saw a crowd turnout of 18209.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Jernigan - Willard, Mcdonald, Lucas - Nichols, Dufek, van de Kerkhof, Behling, Bösch - Metman, Galvez.

Reds had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Mirsch - Håkansson, Fontane, Grecu - Jongste, Williams, Juarez, Crabtree, Tønnessen - Rolfsson, Falskär.

FIRST HALF

Reds took the lead in the games 12th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Nils Falskär was the scorer.

The visitors Magnus Rolfsson took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 23rd minute. 0 - 2 for Reds.

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

George Crabtree of Reds received a yellow card in the 24:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald had a good opportunity to reduce in the 27:th minute but wasn´t cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar.

Halftime score was 0 - 2. Reds, bringing the final ball possession rate to 62 percent, dominated the battle.

SECOND HALF

Åke Håkansson received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 67:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

The referee showed Screamin's Walter Bösch the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The Reds player was Vidar Tønnessen who had to be helped off the pitch, unable to finish the game, but Amrie bin Saleh came in to finish the match.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Reds, with an impressive 62 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Germán Galvez was a disappointment, however.

The most dominating Reds player was without a doubt Theo Juarez. Amrie bin Saleh was a disappointment, however.

Final Score: Big Reds 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals

None

Cards

Bosch – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

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

Nichols: ***~
Behling: ***~
Van de Kerkhof: ***
Dufek: ***~
Bosch: ***

Galvez: ***
Metman: ***~

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 81

Big Reds
-Midfield: Magnificent (12)
-Right Defense: World Class (13)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 92

Comments

Our woes at The Docks continue, and didn’t take long to get started as the Reds put up a goal only twelve minutes in. A second goal eleven minutes later, and things were looking downright dreary. “Big Mac” McDonald had a chance to get us back into the match later on in the half, but missed badly, and that was pretty much all she wrote.

Our young midfielders obviously weren’t up to the task today, and could not hope to compete with the talent that the Big Reds have in the middle. All of this resulted in a downright pathetic possession rate for the match, and to make matters worse the strong side of our attack ran right into the teeth of a very talented Big Reds defense. We were outmatched, plain and simple, but it still would have been nice to at least score a goal for the home crowd.

‘Nuff said.

Series Scores and Standings

-Ramblers continued to turn things around, as they took care of business against WoM FC, 3-1.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion won a hard-fought match on the road, defeating Croats in Miami 2-1.
-Sweden Heights went on the road and took care of the hapless Harrisburg Harries, 3-nil.

No.	Team				Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds			6		22-4		15	92

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion		6		11-6		13	88

3.	Ramblers			6		14-10		12	88

4.	Croats in Miami			6		15-10		10	86

5.	Sweden Heights			6		15-13		10	77

6.	Screamin’ Seamen		        6		7-10		7	81

7.	WoM FC			        6		6-16		3	55

8.	Harrisburg Harries		6		2-23		0	59

Now that the entire series if out of the U.S. Open Cup (with the exception of Big Reds, who apparently have given up hope of advancing past the Smokin’ Joes this week), the team ratings are looking more like what we have come to expect from The Series Of The Beast [tm], with the top six putting up ratings from 77 to 92.

Week 7 Matchups

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

Up Next: A training match against bigjdotcom’s West Henrietta F.C. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – Week 6 Training Match

Screamin’ Seamen vs. West Henrietta FC

Date: December 24th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 689 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

Today’s match comes as something of a welcome reprieve, as we have a nice, low-key training match against a fellow FOFCer, bigjdotcom and his West Henrietta FC club. Even though we’re playing at The Docks, the pressure from an irritated supporter club is off, at least for the time being, and we feel that we can truly concentrate on the match itself and the development of some of our younger talent. This is also a golden opportunity to get some of our reserves some valuable playing time, and hopefully help them to recover some of their slacking form, before the start of the FOFC Cup next week.

Our clubs have actually met once before, though it occurred in the ancient history of our first season of existence. West Henrietta won that match, 1-nil, and while we certainly aren’t petty enough to have revenge on the mind of anything of that sort, it would be nice to even things up against bigjdotcom and his club.

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

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)

Right Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon (46 career appearances, **~)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (109 career appearances, ***~)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (12 career appearances, ***)

Right Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (13 career appearances, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (5 career appearances, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5 career appearances, **)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (6 career appearances, ***)
Left Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (5 career appearances, **~)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **~)
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances, *~)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (64 career appearances, ****)
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard (45 career appearances, ***~)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #14 German Galvez (28 appearances w/SSFC, ***)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (7 career appearances, ***)

Today mark’s the first opportunity for a number of our reserves to see the pitch, which will hopefully help them prepare for the upcoming cup play. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Darryl Read, Ben McMahon, and “Gump” Tobias today, to see how they respond to their first playing time in quite a while.

We’re expecting to see some weakness on the edges of the West Henrietta defense today, and have given Ivan Richardy and Ad Taxwell cart-blanche to push the ball up the sides, then left it into the middle towards Johannes and Gump. We’ll see how well this works.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

689 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.

Screamin' started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Mcmahon, Svensson, Leier - Richardy, Alustiza, Kolberg, Tejeda, Taxwell - Henriksson, Tobias.

Henrietta started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Eaton - Roy, Naja, Butts - Quigley, Ibarra, Tackett, Temple, Jones - Jolly, Jernigan.

FIRST HALF

It was an obvious ambition of Screamin' to attack on the flanks.

Henrietta seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.

In the 15:th minute cheers broke out as Forrest “Gump” Tobias found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Screamin'.

Henrietta got a chance to level the score as Hector Jolly suddenly found himself free with the goaltender but the finishing shot hit the bar.

Ryan Jernigan of Henrietta received a yellow card in the 29:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The visitors didn´t give in and after 37 minutes Hector Jolly got through the home sides central line of defense, rolling in the levelling goal to make it 1 - 1.

The referee showed Screamin's Sven Svensson the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Ivan Richardy gave his Screamin' the lead with 2 - 1, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post.

The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 54 percent possession of the ball.

SECOND HALF

In the 52nd minute Screamin'´s Forrest “Gump” Tobias tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net.

After an industrious effort down the middle Javier Tejeda could have closed the game off in the 70:th minute, but his finishing shot hit the post.

A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Screamin' lead up with 3 - 1. Forrest “Gump” Tobias finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle.

Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

Screamin'´s best player was Sven Svensson. Forrest “Gump” Tobias on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Henrietta player was without a doubt Terry Jones. Ryan Jernigan on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Screamin’ Seamen 3, West Henrietta FC 1

Goals

Tobias – 2
Richardy – 1 (GWG)

Cards

Svensson – yellow

Player Ratings

Read: **~

McMahon: **
Svensson: ****
Leier: ***~

Richardy: ***
Alustiza: **~
Kolberg: **
Tejeda: ***~
Taxwell: **~

Henriksson: **~
Tobias: **

Team Match MVP: #24 Sven Svensson

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 58

West Henrietta FC
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Weak (4)
-Central Defense: Inadequate (5)
-Left Defense: Poor (3)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Weak (4)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Disastrous (1)
-NSI: 44

Comments

For the first time in what seems like ages, we actually feel good about what we did on the pitch, even if it was only a training match. Our tactics were sound given the situation, as we actually faced an asymmetrical 3-5-2 formation from West Henrietta, so attacking on the wings was a good way to exploit the hole in the defense of the opposition. Our defense was a bit soft for my liking, but McMahon and Read performed well enough, given how little they’ve played lately.

Up front, Forrest “Gump” Tobias was busy, if nothing else. It was obvious that he has a good deal of rust to shake off, but you cannot argue with two goals from one of your strikers, no matter what the situation. Ivan Richardy and Javier Tejeda also had very nice matches for themselves in the middle of the field, with Ivan earning himself the game winner.

Overall, we can be nothing but pleased with today’s result, and hopefully this small victory will help to gain us some momentum for next week’s league match and the FOFC Cup beyond that.

Up Next: The weekly training results. Stay tuned!

[Havok]

DK.... we gotta get a friendly going after the FOFC cup. We've still never played eachother and we've got the 2 longest running HT dynastys

[DataKing]

Havok: You're on. We should try to do it in the off-week, so we can play our starters against one another.

Everyone: Holiday madness has finally come to an end, so I should be getting caught up on this in short order.

[DataKing]

Week 6 Training Results

At last! This week we finally saw the sort of improvements we’ve been expecting from our midfielders for quite some time now. No fewer than half (five) of our trainees showed marked improvement in their playmaking abilities in practice this week.

Gino Behling

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #19

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

A nasty fellow who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and weak (4) leadership abilities.

Nationality: Swiss
Assessed Value: $475,000
Wage: $2,472 per week

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

Milan Dufek

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #10

18 years old, solid (7) form, healthy.

A nasty fellow who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous (1) experience and wretched (2) leadership abilities.

Nationality: Czech
Assessed Value: $200,000
Wage: $1,200 per week

Stamina: Excellent (8)
Playmaking: Excellent (8)
Winger: Inadequate (5)
Scoring: Wretched (2)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Wretched (2)
Defending: Inadequate (5)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Rune Kolberg

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #7

18 years old, weak (4) form, healthy.

A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous (1) experience and disastrous (1) leadership abilities.

Nationality: Norwegian
Assessed Value: $125,000
Wage: $1,056 per week

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

Ivan Richardy

Position: Winger
Jersey #23

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

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

Nationality: Danish
Assessed Value: $207,000
Wage: $1,500 per week

Stamina: Passable (6)
Playmaking: Solid (7)
Winger: Solid (7)
Scoring: Wretched (2)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Passable (6)
Defending: Poor (3)
Set Pieces: Inadequate (5)

Jaimy van de Kerkhof

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #4

18 years old, solid (7) form, healthy.

A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has wretched (2) experience and inadequate (5) leadership abilities.

Nationality: Dutch
Assessed Value: $119,000
Wage: $924 per week

Stamina: Excellent (8)
Playmaking: Excellent (8)
Winger: Weak (4)
Scoring: Wretched (2)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Wretched (2)
Defending: Poor (3)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Form Changes

Only two players managed to improve in form this week:
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> solid (7)
-Wingback Mattias Leier -> solid (7)

14 players saw their form remain the same this week.

Six players dropped a level in form this week:
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Gino Behling -> passable (6)
-Winger Reg Nichols -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda -> passable (6)
-Goalkeeper Darryl Read -> weak (4)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> weak (4)

Tyler Willard’s nosedive over the past few weeks is really starting to concern me. He will more than likely be replaced by Mattias Leier for this weekend’s league match.

In the Zone

Milan Dufek’s stay at the top was a short-lived one, leaving Mr. Super-Form, Arlen “Headcase” Lucas as our only player in excellent (8) form.

Form Dogs

Ben McMahon and Forrest “Gump” Tobias remain our form dogs this week, despite the playing time they both saw. We’re not concerned about it at this point, however, as we expected it to take more than just one match for these two to shake the rust off.

Player Values

Note: This section will be re-started next week. I just realized that my excel formula somehow got messed up, and has not been reporting these numbers accurately. Oops.

Assessed Value Milestones

$200,000+
-Winger Ivan Richardy ($207,000)
-Midfielder Milan Dufek ($200,000)

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

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Once again, our youth squad has failed to produce any worthwhile talent this week. Instead, we’re sending another young man to work at the Houston Hippopotami Piggly Wiggly. His name’s Frederick Pace, but unfortunately he couldn’t keep pace with a turtle, much less professional soccer players. Have fun with him, SI.

Week 6 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,303,678

Revenue

Crowd (league match vs. Big Reds) - $120,360
Crowd (training match vs. West Henrietta FC) - $2,271
Sponsors - $97,020

Total Revenue: $219,651

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Roland Kirkpatrick) - $2,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $158,719

Net Income/Loss: +$60,932

New Balance: $1,364,610

Team Information

Team Spirit: Calm (6/10) (no change)
Team Confidence: Decent (4/6) (up one levels)

Sponsor Attitude: Dancing In The Streets (9/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: Irritated (3/9) (no change)
Supporter Club: 1,760 (down twenty-two)

Our supporters are leaving in droves. We need a win, bad!

Up Next: The home stand from hell comes to an end, as we travel to New York City for a match against Sweden Heights. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #7

Sweden Heights vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 28th, 2003
Venue: Sweden Heights Arena (New York, NY)
Attendance: 33,660 (40,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

The home stand from hell as finally come to an end, and we’re back on the road this week. Today we’re in one of my favorite placed, The Big Apple, for the first of a home-and-home series with Sweden Heights. The Heights are in a similar situation to our own, just trying to survive another season in The Series Of The Beast [tm] and live to fight another day.

They are also a club that has recently changed their training program, and are now training wingers. None of their trainees have really come to fruition just yet, but their training program is relatively new, like our own. As far as formations go, they play either a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 formation, depending on their midfield needs for that particular match (a sound strategy, if you ask me). Due to the fact that our midfield isn’t up to snuff just yet, I suspect we’ll be seeing a 3-4-3 from them on the pitch today.

Previous Meetings

(W) 4/27/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Sweden Heights 0
(L) 6/15/2003 – Sweden Heights 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(L) 7/27/2003 – Sweden Heights 2, Screamin’ Seamen 1
(W) 10/26/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Sweden Heights 2

As you can tell, home field advantage has been the name of the game thus far between our two clubs, with the home side winning all four matches. We’re hoping that we can break with tradition today and steal a win from Heights on the road.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (65th career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (13th career appearance, ***~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (25th career appearance, ****)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (72nd career appearance, *****)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (23rd career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (8th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Agustin Alustiza (6th career appearance, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (8th career appearance, ***~)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (8th career appearance, ***)

Forward: #12 Guido Metman (30th appearance w/SSFC, ***~)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (29th appearance w/SSFC, ***)

Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #7 Agustin Alustiza

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **~)
-Defender: #22 Tyler Willard (45 career appearances, ***~)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **~)
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (13 career appearances, ***)

The most obvious change in the lineup today is Mattias Leier starting in place of Tyler Willard at wingback. Tyler’s form has taken a serious nose-dive over the last few weeks, so we’ve decided to sit him in place of Mattias for today’s match. Mattias is in good form, and should fill in well. Tyler will be available in case of an emergency, however.

Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual for us this week. We’re not using any fancy tactics or anything of that nature, as Sweden Heights aren’t a club with any glaring weaknesses. We just need to out-play them today if we’re going to earn a victory.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

33660 spectators arrived at Sweden Heights Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Heights started off with a 3-4-3 lineup.

They fielded: Jelaèiæ - Pressley, Domínguez, Claesson - Lannes, Jansson, Thomas, Persson - Andersson, Sunesson, Czerwinski.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Leier, Mcdonald, Lucas - Nichols, Dufek, Alustiza, Behling, Bösch - Metman, Galvez.

FIRST HALF

Many thought Timothy Thomas ought to have been awarded a penalty shot in the 15:th minute, as he went down trying to circle the visitors keeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan.

After a fine move down the middle Bengt Sunesson nearly gave the home side one up in the 20:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 29:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

After a fine move down the middle Timothy Thomas nearly gave the home side one up in the 34:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though.

The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. Heights held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Heightss Bengt Sunesson gave, after 48 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right.

Gino Behling made a good effort at breaking through from the right, but the home team left defence cleared the ball to a corner.

The crowd was silenced in the 69:th minute as the visiting teams Agustín Alustiza came in from the left, levelling the score to 1 - 1.

After 72 minutes Screamin' put themselves up by 1 - 2 as Guido Metman finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post.

Heights held the ball, with a clear 54 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

Most important Heights player was Mats Claesson. Adam Czerwinski on the other hand, had a terrible day.

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Agustín Alustiza was a disappointment, however.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Sweden Heights 1

Goals

Alustiza – 1 (1)
Metman – 1 (3, GWG)

Cards

Lucas – yellow (3, suspended)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: **** (best performance to date)

Leier: **** (best performance to date)
McDonald: ****~
Lucas: *****

Nichols: ***~
Behling: ***
Alustiza: *** (best performance to date)
Dufek: ***~
Bosch: ***

Metman: ***~ (best performance to date)
Galvez: ***

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: World Class (13)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: World Class (13)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 81

Sweden Heights
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Outstanding (10)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 83

Comments

Heights came out firing in the first half, and I will not deny that we were fortunate to weather the storm unscathed. Well, not entirely unscathed. Arlen “Headcase” Lucas lived up to his nickname and got himself booked for the third time this season. He will be unavailable for the rubber match against Heights back in Chicago next weekend.

Early in the second half all of the pressure Heights had been putting on the defense finally paid off, and they took the lead. I have to admit that I was getting nervous, fearing another shutout and the explosion that would come from our supporters, but one of our trainees, Agustin Alustiza, settled those fears with a nice strike in the 69th minute. For the first time in ages it seemed like we had the momentum, and actually did something with it, as veteran striker Guido Metman gave us the go-ahead goal only three minutes later. That is all that it would take, as our slump finally came to an end.

I realize that luck was a part of the victory today, but I also think that our defense really shined, even with Tyler Willard out of the lineup. They weathered things well in the first half. We’re also fortunate that Heights only went with two midfielders against us, a mistake which I do not expect to see them repeat next week when they come to The Docks.

Series Scores and Standings

-Big Reds continue to act like the dominant team in the series, shutting out the Ramblers, 3-nil.
-Croats in Miami had an easy time on the road this week, trouncing WoM FC, 5-1.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion also had it easy this week, dominating the Harrisburh Harries, 4-1.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds				7		25-4		18	95

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion			7		15-7		16	77

3.	Croats in Miami				7		20-11		13	83

4.	Ramblers				7		14-13		12	79

5.	Sweden Heights				7		16-15		10	83

6.	Screamin’ Seamen			        7		9-11		10	81

7.	WoM FC				        7		7-21		3	60

8.	Harrisburg Harries			7		3-27		0	59

Now that the season is half-way over, and each team has played every other team once, we can finally give some credibility to the series standings. As it looks right now, it seems that Big Reds and Neon Genesis Evangelion will be the two most serious contenders for the series title. Those two do not meet again until Week 13, which means that match could very well decide the series winner. It is also worthy of mention that Big Reds are only two spots below the automatic promotion line, so we very well could be looking at the first automatic promotion out of The Series Of The Beast [tm] in recent memory.

As far as your beloved SSFC is concerned, we’re in good shape despite our sixth place standing. Our goal for the season was simply to avoid relegation, and at the moment we have a very comfortable seven point cushion over WoM FC. We have some very difficult matches scheduled for the second half of the season, but so long as WoM FC keeps losing, we’ll be all right.

Week 8 Matchups

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

The annual rubber-matches have us actually in pretty good position to move up in the standings, at least for one week. Ramblers face the tough Big Reds again, and will likely lose even though they are at home. We, on the other hand, get to play Sweden Heights on our home turf this time. It won’t be easy, but a win on our part could very well vault us to 4th place.

Up Next: FOFC Cup V kicks off with SSFC traveling across the pond to Spain for a match against Swamioms FC. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – FOFC Cup Group Play – Group 5 – Round 1

Swamioms FC vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: December 31st, 2003
Venue: Swamioms FC Arena (Toledo, Spain)
Attendance: 1,499 (20,000)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

After a one-season hiatus, the Screamin’ Seamen return to FOFC Cup play this week, and we’re in for a real treat to start things off. As luck would have it, we’ve drawn an away game for our first match against Icy’s Swamioms FC. This means that we’re in Toledo, Spain for the match, and it’s New Years Eve to boot. Not only to our players get a rare (though I try to do it at least once a season) international trip, but we get to see how the Spanish celebrate New Years after the match.

The match itself does not look to be an easy one, however, despite the fact that Swamioms FC are the lowest seed in Group 5. For being a new club, Icy’s squad appears to be a pretty good one, and relatively well balanced. Also, a number of our reserves are in questionable form, due to a lack of playing time during our extended U.S. Open Cup run. All of this should make for a pretty competitive match.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

(For clarity’s sake, “appearances” are league and cup matches only. “*s last time out” applies to non-competitive matches as well).

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)

Right Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon (46 career appearances, **)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (109 career appearances, ****)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (45 career appearances, ***~)

Right Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (5 career appearances, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5 career appearances, **)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (6 career appearances, ***~)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (13 career appearances, ***)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **~)
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances, **)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #11 Johannes Henriksson

Substitites
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (65 career appearances, ****)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ****)
-Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (8 career appearances, ***~)
-Forward: #14 German Galvez (29 appearances w/SSFC, ***)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (8 career appearances, ***)

On the back line we have our usual reserves on the pitch today, except for Tyler Willard. Tyler was held out of Sunday’s league match in favor of Mattias Leier (a move which worked out well for us), and therefore Tyler will play today with Mattias held in reserve.

In the middle we have our usual suspects today. Javier Tejeda is definitely the player to keep an eye on, though. While he seems to be lagging behind some of our other trainees a little in skill level, the 18-year-old Chilean has proven to be a sparkplug and a playmaker, and is usually a good deal of fun to watch.

Henriksson and “Gump” Tobias complete the line-up up front, but both are suffering from lagging form. To help compensate for this, we’ve given Ad Taxwell, Ivan Richardy, and Javier Tejeda the green light to jump in on the play if they see a good opportunity.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Swamioms FC Arena saw a crowd turnout of 1499.

Swamioms had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Ayetxu - Lyse Hansen, Ragnström, Harris - Kumaki, Kremer, Alvarado, Martínez, Rolla - Lopez Murphy, Esteban Lopez.

Screamin' started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Mcmahon, Svensson, Willard - Taxwell, van de Kerkhof, Kolberg, Tejeda, Richardy - Henriksson, Tobias.

FIRST HALF

The terraces were silenced in the 11th minute as Screamin'´s Javier Tejeda put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack from the right.

With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area in the 23rd minute, Sergio Esteban Lopez of Swamioms evened the score to 1 - 1.

Screamin' took the lead after 30 minutes with 1 - 2. Johannes Henriksson placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left.

The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. This part of the game had been a standoff between the teams.

SECOND HALF

Marcos Lopez Murphy made a superb strike at the goal in the 73rd 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.

Daniel Kremer made a superb strike at the goal in the 74: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.

Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle.

POST-GAME

Swamioms´s best player was Marcos Lopez Murphy. However, Taiyoh Kumaki made a disastrous appearance.

Screamin'´s best player was Sven Svensson. Forrest “Gump” Tobias on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Swamioms FC 1

Goals

Tejeda – 1
Henriksson – 1

Cards

None

Player Ratings

Read: **

McMahon: **~
Svensson: **** (best performance to date)
Willard: ****

Taxwell: *** (best performance to date)
Van de Kerkhof: ***
Kolberg: **~
Tejeda: ***
Richardy: ***

Henriksson: **
Tobias: *~

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 56

Swamioms FC
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Passable (6)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Excellent (8)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 57

Comments

We figured that today would be a good, competitive match and were not disappointed. Javier Tejeda continues to impress me, and has likely earned himself at least a semi-regular spot in our starting rotation (form considerations not withstanding). After Swamioms tied it up, veteran striker Johannes Henriksson managed to give us what would prove to be the game-winner, but only after the defense did an impressive job in the second half of keeping the opposition from tying it up. When we win matches, this is how it tends to go. We get a lead, then let the defense put their foot on the throats of the opposition.

It was a good trip which we thoroughly enjoyed, and on behalf of the players and coaching staff I would like to thank Icy and Swamioms FC for being such gracious hosts. And let me tell you, those Spaniards sure know how to ring in the new year! (Several players have yet to recover from their hangovers ).

Group Five Results and Standings

-2nd seed Calibiri managed a 2-1 victory over the group’s 3rd seed, Ultra Nox.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Screamin’ Seamen			        1		2-1		3	56

2.	Calibiri				1		2-1		3	64

3.	Ultra Nox				1		1-2		0	62

4.	Swamioms FC				1		1-2		0	57

Given the pair of 2-1 results in the first week, and the similar ratings for all of the participants, it looks as though Group 5 could be very much up for grabs (though naturally Calibiri and ourselves have the advantage with early victories).

Our other advantage is that our last two group play matches are at home. Next week we host Ultra Nox, while Calibiri will host Swamioms FC.

Up Next: The weekly training results bear more fruit. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Week 7 Training Results

We saw more improvement as a result of our midfielder training program this week, though not all of it was from the players that we expected it to be.

Javier Tejeda

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #8

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

A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous (1) experience and inadequate (5) leadership abilities.

Nationality: Chilean
Assessed Value: $149,000
Wage: $1,032 per week

Stamina: Solid (7)
Playmaking: Excellent (8)
Winger: Poor (3)
Scoring: Wretched (2)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Inadequate (5)
Defending: Wretched (2)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Javier is the next-to-last of our midfield trainees to show a marked improvement in his playmaking abilities. Agustin Alustiza remains the only one who has yet to show this kind of improvement.

Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald

Position: Central Defender
Jersey #2

20 years old, solid (7) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has wretched (2) experience and wretched (2) leadership abilities.

Specialty: Head

Nationality: American
Assessed Value: $636,000
Wage: $3,250 per week

Stamina: Passable (6)
Playmaking: Inadequate (5)
Winger: Poor (3)
Scoring: Weak (4)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Weak (4)
Defending: Outstanding (10)
Set Pieces: Weak (4)

Ben McMahon

Position: Wingback
Jersey #3

30 years old, poor (3) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest.
Has poor (3) experience and weak (4) leadership abilities.

Nationality: American
Assessed Value: $107,000
Wage: $1,790 per week

Stamina: Formidable (9)
Playmaking: Weak (4)
Winger: Passable (6)
Scoring: Poor (3)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Wretched (2)
Defending: Excellent (8)
Set Pieces: Passable (6)

The improvements shown by “Big Mac” McDonald and Ben McMahon were completely unexpected, but are also relatively inconsequential. Still, every little bit helps I suppose.

Form Changes

5 players saw their form improve this week:
-Central Defender Sven Svensson -> excellent (8)
-Central Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> solid (7)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> inadequate (5)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> inadequate (5)

13 players saw their form remain the same this week.

4 players dropped in form this week:
-Wingback Mattias Leier -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Jaimy van de Kerkhof -> passable (6)
-Forward German Galvez -> inadequate (5) (a 2 level drop)
-Forward Johannes Henriksson -> weak (4)

The obvious good news is that Tyler Willard’s slump appears to be coming to a rapid end. We were concerned about his play, but he seems to be coming back rather nicely, and will probably reclaim his starting spot this weekend.

The bad news is particularly bad, however, as both German Galvez and Johannes Henriksson took a dive this week. Forrest “Gump” Tobias is already in miserable form, leaving us with only one viable forward; Guido Metman. Galvez will probably remain in the starting lineup, but only out of necessity.

In The Zone

Despite his pending suspension this weekend, Arlen “Headcase” Lucas remains in excellent (8) form this week. He is joined by another defender and the newest member of SSFC, Sven Svensson.

On a side note, now that 2003 is over, “Headcase” officially spent the entire year in passable (6) or better form. Gotta love that.

Form Dogs

No change here this week. Despite seeing the pitch regularly for the past couple of weeks, Ben McMahon and Forrest “Gump” Tobias both remain in poor (3) form. Unless they improve soon, their days with the club are probably numbered.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $302,682
Total Player Value (22 players): $6,659,000

No Assessed Value Milestones This Week

Up Next: The weekly youth squad promotion and financial update. Hopefully the youth squad has been saving a gem for us and will redeem itself this weekend. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Our youth squad laid another giant goose-egg this week. This is getting ridiculous. 19-year-old promotee Les Cheng has been summarily executed.

Week 7 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,364,610

Revenue

Crowd (FOFC Cup Match vs. Swamioms FC) - $4,939
Sponsors - $96,525
Temporary (mother club money from resale of Norman Ash) - $4,000

Total Revenue: $105,464

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,818
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Frederick Pace) - $2,000
Temporary (travel expenses, FOFC Cup) - $6,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $165,259

Net Income/Loss: -$59,795

New Balance: $1,304,815

Yes, I realize we have been sitting on a significant chunk of money for the past few weeks, but this is by design. We’ll be looking to make an upgrade at striker (and bidding farewell to Forrest “Gump” Tobias, most likely), but the caliber of player we’re looking for should cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. We’re keeping our eyes open for bargains, but most likely won’t be doing any serious player hunting until we hit that mark.

Team Information

Team Spirit: Composed (5/10) (down one level)
Team Confidence: Wonderful (6/6) (up two levels)

Sponsor Attitude: Dancing in the Streets (9/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: Calm (4/9) (up one level)
Supporter Club: 1,754 (down six)

The Swabbies are still none-too-pleased, despite our win on the road this last week. What we really need is a win in the rubber-match against Sweden Heights at The Docks, if we’re to get them back into our good graces. Until we find a way to win at home, we will continue to suffer.

Up Next: The aforementioned rubber-match against Sweden Heights. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #8

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Sweden Heights

Date: January 4th, 2004
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 25,769 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

The first match of the new year finds us squaring off against Sweden Heights for the second week in a row, in the Hattrick organization’s annual rubber-match weekend. These are often some of the most entertaining matches of the season, as teams try to compensate for deficiencies the week prior, or figure out a way to pull the wool over the eyes of their opponents for a second time. Also, these matches are often hard-fought and sometimes violent affairs. Any fan of professional sports can tell you that familiarity really does breed contempt.

Aniara, the owner of Sweden Heights, spent the week lambasting their coaching staff, and head coach Freddy Leon in particular, for last week’s loss in New York. Apparently, ownership did not agree with coach Leon playing midfielder Adam Czerwinski in a forward position, and blamed that decision for the defeat, rather than giving any credit whatsoever to your beloved Seamen. We’ve used these statements to our advantage, and Coach Fluieras has had copies of Aniara’s statements up in the locker room all week. “More fuel for the fire,” as they say.

We expect Heights to come at us full-bore this week, in hopes of redeeming themselves, and have been preparing for just such a match all week. After analyzing tape from the match in New York last weekend, we think we’ve found a weakness in Heights’ wing defense, and will therefore be attacking that part of the pitch in particular (much to the pleasure and agreement of Reg Nichols).

Previous Meetings

(W) 4/27/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Sweden Heights 0
(L) 6/15/2003 – Sweden Heights 1, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(L) 7/27/2003 – Sweden Heights 2, Screamin’ Seamen 1
(W) 10/26/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Sweden Heights 2
(W) 12/28/2003 – Sweden Heights 1, Screamin’ Seamen 2

Last week’s victory broke the stranglehold that home-field-advantage had over our two clubs. Now we’re hoping to return to form and make it three in a row against an arrogant Heights club.

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

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (66th career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (46th career appearance, ****)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (26th career appearance, ****~)
Left Wingback: #24 Sven Svensson (110th career appearance, ****)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (24th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (7th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (9th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (9th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (14th career appearance, ***)

Forward: #12 Guido Metman (119th career appearance, ***~)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (36th career appearance, ***)

Team Captain: #24 Sven Svensson
Set Pieces: #22 Tyler Willard

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (17 career appearances, ****)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (8 career appearances, ***)

Our defense will be tested today, as we’ll be without the services of our best wingback and resident stud, Arlen “Headcase” Lucas, who is serving his annual suspension this weekend. Fortunately, veteran defenseman Sven Svensson has been in superb form since joining the club early in the season, and will take Arlen’s position on the left side of the defense. He’s not a natural wingback like Headcase is, but will hopefully be able to fill in and keep the Heights strikers honest.

Chilean midfielder Javier Tejeda has earned himself a spot with the starters, as the young man was critical in our victory in the FOFC Cup this past week, and also managed to find the twine four times during our run in the U.S. Open Cup. Ivan Richardy also represents a break from tradition for us. Ivan is more of a pure offensive winger than Walter Bosch is, and is a little better at lofting balls into the middle.

Up front, we’ll be relying heavily on veteran Dutch striker Guido Metman, as German Galvez’ performance has taken a dip in practice over the past few days. Our reserve strikers are in pretty poor shape as well, so our depth leaves a bit to be desired.

The clouds have rolled in, but the meteorologists say that any bad weather should hold off until after the match. Hopefully they’re right. We need all the fans we can get in the stadium right now, even the fair-weather variety…

Match Report

PRE-GAME

25769 spectators had come to The Docks this cloudy day.

Screamin' tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Jernigan - Willard, Mcdonald, Svensson - Nichols, Dufek, Behling, Tejeda, Richardy - Metman, Galvez.

Heights tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Wilkinson - Domínguez, Pressley, Claesson - Lannes, Jansson, Thomas, Czerwinski, Persson - Andersson, Sunesson.

FIRST HALF

Screamin' saw most attack opportunites on the wings and were directing their passes that way.

Tyler Willard was very close to giving Screamin' the lead with an ingenious free kick routine in the 19:th, the ball just grazing the bar.

Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 20:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Screamin' took the lead in the 21st minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Germán Galvez elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar.

In the 22nd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Javier Tejeda dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for Screamin'.

The game was close to savage at times, and Screamin'`s Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald received a second yellow card in the 24:th, his ticket out of the game.

The player down was Uriel Domínguez. The Heights bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up.

With 32 minutes played Guido Metman could have brought this one home for Screamin', had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high.

The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Heights held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

After 52 minutes of play, the free-spirited Guido Metman decided to aim straight for the goal as he struck a free kick from the corner of the pitch. The ball deflected off a defender and went out of bounds.

Javier Tejeda received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 58:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

The referee showed Screamin's Tyler Willard the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Due to a severely mistimed tackle,Trent Wilkinson spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game.

Screamin's Ivan Richardy got himself booked after a foul.

A penalty in the 71st minute gave the home side a chance at adding to the score, but an overconfident Tyler Willard shot the ball wide, in an effort to put it away in the top corner.

In the 74:th minute Screamin' put themselves up 3 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Germán Galvez coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home.

Heights held the ball, with a clear 59 percent possession rate.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Sven Svensson. Germán Galvez was a disappointment, however.

The most dominating Heights player was without a doubt Mats Claesson. Richard Persson on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 3, Sweden Heights 0

Goals

Galvez – 2 (3,4,GWG)
Tejeda – 1 (1)

Cards

McDonald – 2 yellow (ejected, suspended)
Willard – yellow (2)
Richardy – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

Willard: ****~
McDonald: ??? (ejected)
Svensson: ****~ (best performance to date)

Nichols: ***~
Tejeda: ***
Dufek: ***
Behling: ***~
Richardy: ***

Metman: ***~ (best performance to date)
Galvez: **~

Team Match MVP: #24 Sven Svensson

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Excellent (8)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Excellent (8)
-Left Attack: Formidable (9)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 76

Sweden Heights
-Midfield: Formidable (9)
-Right Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 84

Comments

Despite an early 2-nil lead, we were all quite concerned (and rightfully so, I felt) when Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald let his emotions get the better of him and got himself ejected halfway through the first half. With only Willard, Svensson (not even a regular starter) and Corny all that remained on the back-line, I half-expected Sweden Heights to have the match knotted up before halftime. But the expected attack never materialized. Our three remaining defenders did an absolutely superb job in keeping the Heights’ attackers in check, and no serious attack ever materialized.

Javier Tejeda, our young Chilean, continues to be a handful. In the first half he looked brilliant, and congratulations are in order for the young man’s first ever league-play goal. But a rookie mistake in the second half nearly cost us a goal, and were it not for the excellent play of the defense, the match could have been different altogether.

True to form for a rubber-match, the game was a savage one. Not only did “Big Mac” McDonald get himself ejected, but Tyler Willard and Ivan Richardy received bookings of their own. Obviously Coach Fluieras’ placing the articles in the locker room may have given the lads a little too much fuel for the fire, and he may need to think twice about doing that sort of thing again.

But all things concerned, we’re not the least bit disappointed with today’s result. Yes, missing “Big Mac” next week will be a loss, but Sven showed himself to be an excellent backup, and should step right into the central defender role next week. A solid win at home, and a shutout to boot, should help restore some faith among the supporters as well, which is sorely needed.

Series Scores and Standings

-Neon Genesis Evangelion defeated the Harrisburg Harries, to no one’s surprise, 3-nil.
-Croats in Miami took WoM FC behind the woodshed down in South Florida, 6-nil.
-Big Reds missed a golden opportunity for three points, and apparently took it easy on the Ramblers. This ended up costing them, as the match ended in a scoreless draw.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds				8		25-4		19	83

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion			8		18-7		19	78

3.	Croats in Miami				8		26-11		16	91

4.	Ramblers				8		14-13		13	75

5.	Screamin’ Seamen			        8		12-11		13	76

6.	Sweden Heights				8		16-18		10	84

7.	WoM FC				        8		7-27		3	64

8.	Harrisburg Harries			8		3-30		0	63

The draw between Big Reds and Ramblers tightened things up a bit at the top, and now the Reds only lead Neon Genesis Evangelion by virtue of goal differential, with Croats in Miami a scant three points behind. As far as the Seamen are concerned, we’re effectively tied with the Ramblers for fourth place, even in both points and goal differential. Only the fact that the Ramblers have scored two more goals than we have give them the fourth place standing (for now).

Week 9 Matchups

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

We have the unenviable task of traveling to Ithaca, New York next week, to face a disappointed and angry Big Reds team. We appear to be pretty well outmatched, but might have a trick or two left up our sleeve in order to keep things interesting.

The match of the week appears to be Neon Genesis Evangelion hosting Croats in Miami. This is NGE’s opportunity to prove that they are serious contenders for the series title this season.

Up Next: FOFC Cup Group Play continues, as we host Qwikshot’s Ultra Nox club. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – FOFC Cup Group Play – Group 5 – Round 2

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Ultra Nox

Date: January 7th, 2003
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 1,862 (43,750)
Weather: Overcast

We enter the second week of FOFC Cup Group play tied with Calibiri for the lead in Group Five, but with one small advantage. As the top seeded team in the group, we have the privilege of home field advantage for the last two matches. This is an advantage that, frankly, we’re going to need.

This week we’re hosting Qwikshot’s Ultra Nox club, which gave Calibiri a run for their money last week, but fell just short, 2-1. Ultra Nox are an offensive-oriented club, fond of an attacking 3-4-3 formation. While this often leaves their midfield a little on the lacking side, it guarantees that they make good on many of the scoring opportunities that they do get.

The form woes of many of our reserves continue, which makes me wonder whether or not we will be able to advance out of group play. Four of the players who will be taking the pitch today have not been playing well as of late, including both of our strikers. We will be doing what we can to give our strikers some help from the midfield, but otherwise will be keeping things relatively simple. When guys aren’t playing very well, we think it may be better just to stick to the basics.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)

Right Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon (46 career appearances, **~)
Central Defender: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (72 career appearances, *****)
Left Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ****)

Right Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (8 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5 career appearances, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (6 career appearances, ***)
Left Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (5 career appearances, ***)

Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)
Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances, *~)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (66 career appearances, ****)
-Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (26 career appearances, ****~)
-Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (7 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #19 Gino Behling (9 career appearances, ***~ as midfielder)
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (14 career appearances, ***)

Our back line is going to be suspect today, as veterans Darryl Read and Ben McMahon continue to struggle in practice, despite having regular playing time over the past couple of weeks. If our defense is to have a saving grace today, it will be due to superstar Arlen “Headcase” Lucas, who will be playing today due to serving a suspension this past weekend.

Our typical reserves take the field in the middle today, with the exception of Austrian winger Walter Bosch. Walter was held out of Sunday’s match in favor of more passing-skilled Ivan Richardy, and so gets to play today instead.

Up front, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve got trouble. Both Johannes Henriksson and Forrest “Gump” Tobias have been struggling as of late. We’re hoping that our midfield (the wingers in particular) can give these two the assistance that they need to put a few goals up on the board.

We’ve got typical Chicago January weather today, cold and overcast, but no precipitation is in sight.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

At The Docks, 1862 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came.

Screamin' started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Read - Mcmahon, Lucas, Leier - Bösch, van de Kerkhof, Alustiza, Kolberg, Taxwell - Henriksson, Tobias.

Ultra started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. Lineup: Cambra - Hanssen, Noe, Stark - Sivit Gañán, Cabras, Amoudry, Farr - Grewar, Weller, Lazãr.

FIRST HALF

Ultra seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.

A free kick aimed at the keepers far post almost gave Ultra the lead in the 22nd minute, but the ball just wasn´t able to squirm it´s way through the defensive wall.

The referee showed Screamin's Agustín Alustiza the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

In the 32nd minute the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as Rune Kolberg flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right.

Erick Weller of Ultra received a yellow card in the 34:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Screamin' were given a penalty in the 35:th, neatly put away by Johannes Henriksson. 2 - 0 for the home side.

The referee showed Screamin's Arlen “Headcase” Lucas the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 58 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

The referee showed Ultras Gary Grewar the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Ultra showed some good morale and were, in the 64:th minute, able to reduce the score to 2 - 1 as Lucio Cabras got past the home sides full backs straight in front of the goal.

When Agustín Alustiza made yet another studs first tackle, in the games 69th minute, the referee was obliged to book the Screamin' player for the second time, sending him off the pitch.

Forrest “Gump” Tobias almost managed to score another goal for Screamin', but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie.

78 minutes into the game Ultra´s Erick Weller found a gap in the home sides central defense scoring with a long shot, making it 2 - 2.

82 minutes into the game Ismael Sivit Gañán had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Guillermo Sala.

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

POST-GAME

Most important Screamin' player was Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Forrest “Gump” Tobias was a disappointment, however.

The most dominating Ultra player was without a doubt Antonio Cambra. Guillermo Sala on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 2, Ultra Nox 2

Goals

Kolberg – 1
Henriksson – 1 (penalty kick)

Cards

Alustiza – 2 yellow (ejected)
Lucas – yellow

Player Ratings

Read: **

McMahon: **~
Lucas: *****
Leier: ***~

Bosch: ***~ (best performance to date)
Kolberg: **~ (best performance to date)
Van de Kerkhof: ***
Alustiza: ??? (ejected)
Taxwell: ***

Henriksson: **
Tobias: *~

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Formidable (9)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Solid (7)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 61

Ultra Nox
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Formidable (9)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: Passable (6)
-Right Attack: Weak (4)
-Central Attack: Formidable (9)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 63

Comments

Things couldn’t have gone better in the first half, as we were able to earn ourselves a two goal lead (which usually spells doom for the opposition), and Ultra Nox seemed to have elected to run their attacks right at “Headcase” Lucas. I think a number of us (myself included) started thinking ahead to a match-up next week with Calibiri to determine the group title, and forgot that there was still 45 minutes of soccer to play.

Ultra Nox kept fighting on, and we’re able to get one goal back, but we were still pretty confident. But when Agustin Alustiza’s temper got the better of him, and he found himself ejected, we knew we were in trouble. A big part of the reason for our lead was our midfielders’ ability to keep the ball away from the Ultra Nox strikers, and that advantage had suddenly disappeared. Sure enough, Erick Weller managed to work his way through the defense with twelve minutes to play, and we had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Disappointed doesn’t begin to describe the feeling we all had after the game. It was ours to lose, and we did exactly that. Certainly Agustin’s ejection had a lot to do with the collapse, but the others didn’t help matters any. Gump’s header being tipped to the corner shortly after Agustin left the match was particularly painful.

Still, we have to hand it to Qwikshot’s club. They kept plugging away and were able to earn themselves a tough draw on the road and kept their hopes of advancement alive.

Group Five Results and Standings

-Calibiri proved themselves to be the team to beat in Group 5, shelling Swamioms FC, 4-nil.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Calibiri				2		6-1		6	61

2.	Screamin’ Seamen			        2		4-3		4	61

3.	Ultra Nox				2		3-4		1	63

4.	Swamioms FC				2		1-6		0	56

Today’s draw means that there are all sorts of possible scenarios for next week’s wrap-up of group play. A win on our part over Calibiri means we still win the group. A draw with Calibiri will at least guarantee our advancement out of group play, while a loss on our part and a victory by Ultra Nox means the entire thing would come down to goal differential. We could be in for a very tight finish here.

Up Next: The weekly training update, as we depart from our midfield training program temporary and finish off the conditioning training we were unable to complete at the beginning of the season. Stay tuned.

[DataKing]

Week 8 Training Results

We’ve returned to little more than running laps in practice this week, as we’ve finally gotten back to completing our conditioning training. We were unable to complete this portion of the training early in the season, due to form concerns among a number of players, and knew we would have to do it at some point during the season. This week seemed like as good a time as any.

What we got was a mixed bag of results, some good and some bad. First, the good (players who improved in their stamina ratings this week):

-Midfielder Gino Behling -> excellent (8)
-Forward German Galvez -> excellent (8)
-Wingback Mattias Leier -> excellent (8)
-Forward Guido Metman -> excellent (8)
-Midfielder Javier Tejeda -> excellent (8)
-Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan -> solid (7)
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> solid (7)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> solid (7)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> solid (7)
-Winger Reg Nichols -> passable (6)
-Winger Ad Taxwell -> passable (6)

Also worthy of note is winger Ad Taxwell, who improved to wretched (2) experience this week (after playing in a training match, no less).

Form Changes (The Bad News)

Three players improved their form this week:
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> passable (6)
-Wingback Tyler Willard -> passable (6)
-Wingback Ben McMahon -> weak (4)

Eleven players saw their form remain the same.

Eight players dropped in form this week:
-Defender Sven Svensson -> solid (7)
-Midfielder Milan Dufek -> passable (6)
-Wingback Arlen “Headcase” Lucas -> passable (6) (2 level drop)
-Defender Cameron McDonald -> passable (6)
-Winger Ivan Richardy -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> inadequate (5) (2 level drop)
-Wingback Mattias Leier -> inadequate (5)
-Forward German Galvez -> weak (4)

We knew that concentrating on conditioning would hurt our overall form this week, but we weren’t quite expecting it to be this bad. I guess the saving grace is that this is the last time we will need to go through this for the foreseeable future.

In The Zone

Arlen “Headcase” Lucas’ run at excellent (8) form has come to an end. The best form on the club is held by four different players in solid (7) form:

-Winger Walter Bosch
-Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Forward Guido Metman
-Defender Sven Svensson

Expect all four to see action in this Sunday’s league match against Big Reds.

Form Dog

Ben McMahon finally appears to be climbing out of the form gutter, leaving Forrest “Gump” Tobias as the only form dog this week, in poor (3) form yet again.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $302,273 (-$409)
Total Player Value (22 players): $6,650,000 (-$9,000)

No Assessed Value Milestones This Week

Up Next: The weekly youth squad promotion and financial update. Hopefully our lackluster youth squad will finally prove its worth this week. Stay tuned!

[Qwikshot]

It was a pleasure to read up on our past match. I figured I was done after the Calibiri loss. Proud and amazed my team did survive to a draw, but it cost me my top leader/defender/inner mid/winger Ganan, still I'm not bitter...but I am curious to see how this upcoming series of cup games for our group.

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Another week, and our youth squad still has yet to produce any decent youth talent for us to develop. Roland Chan broke down and cried like a little girl when we threatened to ship him off to The Afoci, and we took pity on him. He has since been given a hairnet and a nametag, and is now manning one of the concession stands at The Docks.

Week 8 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,304,815

Revenue

Crowd (league match vs. Sweden Heights) - $172,203
Crowd (FOFC Cup match vs. Ultra Nox) - $6,051
Sponsors - $96,525
Temporary (18 new supporters) - $540

Total Revenue: $275,319

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Les Cheng) - $2,000
Temporary (fired 8 specialists) - $12,000
Staff & Specialists - $60,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $170,719

Net Income/Loss: +$104,600

New Balance: $1,409,415

Team Information

Team Spirit: Composed (5/10) (no change)
Team Confidence: Wonderful (6/6) (no change)

Sponsor Attitude: Dancing In The Streets (9/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: High on Life (8/9) (up four levels)
Supporter Club: 1,772 (up eighteen)

Up Next: We’re back on the road this weekend, with a tough task ahead as we play against the series leaders, Big Reds. Stay tuned!

[The Afoci]

Originally Posted by DataKing

Youth Squad Promotion
Roland Chan broke down and cried like a little girl when we threatened to ship him off to The Afoci, and we took pity on him. He has since been given a hairnet and a nametag, and is now manning one of the concession stands at The Docks.

I like hairnets. Reminds me of elementary school.

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #9

Big Reds vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: January 11th, 2004
Venue: Big Reds Arena (Ithaca, NY)
Attendance: 30,584 (55,000)
Weather: Rain

We’re back on the road this weekend, in the first of two straight league road matches. This week we find ourselves in Ithaca, New York, with a very unenviable task ahead of us. We play against the league-leading Big Reds this week, a club which is no doubt frustrated and angry with themselves for losing two valuable points in a scoreless draw against the Ramblers last weekend.

The Reds have become a very strong team in the past couple of seasons. While their offense leaves a bit to be desired by most standards, their defense is one that can rival our own (due in large part to the spectacular play of 20-year-old Finnish netminder Jyri Mirsch). But the true strength of the Reds is their midfield, and frankly, our young midfielders do not stand a chance at competing head-to-head with the likes of Gareth Williams, Theo Juarez, and George Crabtree (all three with assessed values over $1.5 million ).

Add to this comparative weakness that we are on the road, and it’s obvious that we’re outmatched today. We’re not ones to overstep our bounds, and the best we can reasonably hope for is a draw, allowing us to play spoilers for the Reds and earn a valuable point for ourselves as well.

Previous Meetings

(D) 4/13/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Big Reds 0
(L) 6/29/2003 – Big Reds 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(W) 9/7/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 3, Big Reds 2
(D) 9/14/2003 – Big Reds 1, Screamin’ Seamen 1
(L) 12/21/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Big Reds 2

Our track record is obviously less than stellar against the Reds, managing only one win and five points against them in five meetings. Unfortunately it looks like it would take a lot of luck for us to reverse that trend today.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Press

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (67th career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (73rd career appearance, *****)
Central Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (111th career appearance, ****~)
Left Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (47th career appearance, ****~)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (25th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #10 Milan Dufek (10th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (10th career appearance, ***~)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (8th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (9th career appearance, ***~)

Forward: #12 Guido Metman (120th career appearance, ***~)
Forward: #14 German Galvez (37th career appearance, **~)

Team Captain: #12 Guido Metman
Set Pieces: #24 Sven Svensson

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ***~)
-Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5 career appearances, **~)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (14 career appearances, ***)

Fan favorite Arlen “Headcase” Lucas returns to the line-up today after serving a one-game suspension. However, his return coincides with the loss of another starting defender, Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. Cameron has also received a one-game suspension for his rough play and is ineligible for today. Fortunately, Sven Svensson has proven to be a wise investment and has been playing well as of late, and will take Cameron’s starting spot on the back line.

Little change for us in the middle and up front today. I almost feel as though our midfielders are being led like lambs to the slaughter, as they have no chance of competing with Big Reds’ midfielders, but we still need some bodies out there. At the same time, German Galvez’ form has been slipping as of late, but he remains in the starting lineup for lack of a better alternative. We’ll be relying heavily on the press to keep things close today, and hopefully we can steal a goal along the way as well.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

30584 spectators had found their way to Big Reds Arena, despite the heavy rain.

Reds had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Mirsch - Håkansson, Grecu, Fontane - Ferson, Williams, Juarez, Crabtree, Tønnessen - Rolfsson, Falskär.

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

FIRST HALF

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

Screamin''s ability to press their opponents all over the field paid off frequently.

Nils Falskär gave his Reds the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post.

The referee showed Screamin's Guido Metman the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Reds held the ball, with a clear 70 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Reg Nichols had a hard time on the water infested pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight this day.

Reds´s Nils Falskär had an excellent opportunity in the 65:th minute, shooting on a through ball, but he missed the goal by miles!

Reds made a substitution in the 71st minute. Nils Falskär limped off the field and was replaced by Willibald Roth.

A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Reds lead up with 2 - 0. Magnus Rolfsson finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle.

Reds, bringing the final ball possession rate to 71 percent, dominated the battle.

POST-GAME

Reds´s best player was Theo Juarez. Willibald Roth on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Most important Screamin' player was Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. Germán Galvez on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Big Reds 2, Screamin’ Seamen 0

Goals

None

Cards

Metman – yellow (10th minute) (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

Lucas: ****~
Svensson: ****
Willard: ****~

Nichols: ***
Dufek: ***
Behling: ***
Tejeda: ***
Bosch: ***~

Metman: ***~
Galvez: **~

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Central Defense: Magnificent (12)
-Left Defense: World Class (13)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 79

Big Reds
-Midfield: World Class (13)
-Right Defense: World Class (13)
-Central Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Left Defense: Brilliant (11)
-Right Attack: Excellent (8)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Solid (7)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 95

Comments

Very early on it looked as though the press was doing the job, but all hopes of a scoreless draw were dashed when Nils Falskar knocked one home only eight minutes in. (Fans of thugery will be sorry to learn that the injury later to Falskar was not a serious one, and he is expected back on the pitch this weekend for the Reds). With a possession disadvantage of over two-to-one and good defense by the Reds, we were never able to mount a serious attack. A second half goal by Magnus Rolfsson was just icing on the cake for the Reds, and we suffered our fourth shutout loss of the season.

In retrospect we probably should have just taken it easy out on the pitch today and taken our lumps, but I have a hard time running the team that way. If there is a chance at a victory or a draw, no matter how slim, I want to go for it. On top of that, Coach Fluieras is more of a practice field coach than a motivational leader, and we have a hard time keeping an elevated team spirit status for long.

Series Scores and Standings

-Sweden Heights had little trouble at home against the Harrisburg Harries, winning 3-nil.
-Neon Genesis Evangelion stayed neck-and-neck with the Reds, defeating Croats in Miami, 3-1.
-WoM FC pulled off perhaps the upset of the season, defeating the Ramblers 3-1.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds				9		27-4		22	95

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion			9		21-8		22	90

3.	Croats in Miami				9		27-14		16	93

4.	Sweden Heights				9		19-18		13	84

5.	Ramblers				9		15-16		13	69

6.	Screamin’ Seamen			9		12-13		13	79

7.	WoM FC				        9		10-28		6	67

8.	Harrisburg Harries			9		3-33		0	57

WoM FC’s defeat of Ramblers is both a blessing and a curse for us. It is good because the loss means we remain even in points with the Ramblers, along with Sweden Heights, at thirteen, improving our chances of stealing a fourth place finish and avoiding a relegation match altogether. The downside, however, is that we now only have a seven point cushion over WoM FC. While we still have a definite upper hand as far as at least earning a relegation match, the range has narrowed somewhat.

Week 10 Matchups

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

The two league leaders should have easy victories next week, leaving the four clubs in the middle of the table to duke it out. The Croats should have the advantage at home over Sweden Heights, but might be in for an upset. The winner of our match against Ramblers could very well end up claiming full possession of fourth place and a three point advantage.

Up Next: We conclude the group play portion of FOFC Cup V by hosting daedelus’ Calibiri, and our advancement to the elimination portion of the cup is not guaranteed. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – FOFC Cup Group Play – Group 5 – Round 3

Screamin’ Seamen vs. Calibiri

Date: January 14th, 2004
Venue: The Docks (Chicago, IL)
Attendance: 1,437 (43,750)
Weather: Partly Cloudy

We wrap up the group play portion of FOFC Cup V today, and our situation coming in a rather convoluted one. We currently sit two points behind Calibiri in the standings, by virtue of a rather disappointing 2-2 draw with Ultra Nox last week. This means that we have to win today in order to claim the Group Five title. If we manage a draw, then we will advance to the knockout stage of the cup, but as the second seed from Group Five. If we lose today, whether or not we advance will depend entirely on the result of the other group play match today, Ultra Nox vs. Swamioms FC.

Calibiri have proven themselves to be the team to beat in the group thus far, with a 2-1 victory over Ultra Nox and a convincing 4-nil drubbing of Swamioms FC last week. They seem to have a pretty good midfield with their reserves on the pitch, and are fond of a 4-5-1 formation. We’ll be tweaking our usual tactics a bit to try to combat this, but more on that in a bit.

Formation: 3-5-2
Tactics: Normal

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appeaerances, **)

Right Wingback: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ***~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (26 career appearances, ****~)
Left Wingback: #3 Ben McMahon (46 career appearances, **~)

Right Winger: #9 Ad Taxwell (5 career appeaerances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (5 career appearances, **~)
Inner Midfielder: #6 Agustin Alustiza (6 career appearances, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
Left Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (14 career appearances, ***)

Forward: #15 Forrest “Gump” Tobias (35 career appearances, *~)
Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (67 career appearances, ****)
-Defender: #24 Sven Svensson (111 career appearances, ****)
-Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (10 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #14 German Galvez (37 career appearances, **~)
-Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (9 career appearances, ***~)

We have a pretty typical reserve line-up in place today, with Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald being the one notable exception. Cameron was suspended from league play this week, due to rough play in our home win against Sweden Heights, and so will see the field today instead. We’re going to do something a bit different with Cameron, however. To help make up for the expected deficiency we will face in the midfield, Cameron has been given free reign to jump up on the play and help out our inexperienced midfielders, whenever he sees the chance. This may leave us vulnerable a bit in the middle of the defense, but it is a calculated risk. Calibiri has not yet shown a commitment to attacking up the middle in group play. In fact, from what we have witnessed thus far, they seem to prefer attacking on the wings.

The play of our wingers and midfielders should be typical today, with no noticeable difference from last week. Our forwards remain a concern, however, as both Forrest “Gump” Tobias and Johannes Henriksson remain mired in lousy game form. Our young midfielders and wingers will need to feed our front two some good cross passes if we expect to score many goals today.

The weather is cooperating, and there’s a lot on the line today. It should make for a good match…

Match Report

PRE-GAME

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 1437 to The Docks.

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

Calibiri had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Strzyzewski - Rhodes, Gundersen, Andracic - Mcarthur, Thystad, Mcdonough, Babiák, Maizieres - Pop, Gatineau.

FIRST HALF

(9th minute) In the 9:th minute cheers broke out as Forrest “Gump” Tobias found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Screamin'.

(11th minute) After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Calibiri´s Gábor Babiák got himself booked.

(15th minute) In the games 15:th minute the visitors levelled to 1 - 1 as Colt Mcdonough struck home on a bar rebound, following a shot from the right.

(28th minute) A free kick aimed at the keepers far post almost gave Calibiri the lead in the 28:th minute, but the ball just wasn´t able to squirm it´s way through the defensive wall.

(32nd minute) Bonnand Gatineau gave the visitors the lead in the 32nd minute with 1 - 2. The goal was scored from the penalty spot after a handball call in the penalty area.

(37th minute) The Screamin' equaliser came in the 37:th minute when Johannes Henriksson floated in a free kick putting the score to 2 - 2 .

(38th minute) Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald of Screamin' received a yellow card in the 38:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 2. Calibiri held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Screamin' tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders.

(57th minute) Always quick and a menace to his opponents,McKinley Mcarthur was in the 57:th minute very close to getting through, but Ben Mcmahon managed to avert the attack.

(60th minute) Victor Gundersen received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 60:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score.

(65th minute) Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 65:th minute goal by Johannes Henriksson for Screamin', putting them ahead 3 - 2.

(67th minute) Screamin' put themselves up 4 - 2 when Johannes Henriksson broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. By then Johannes Henriksson was a three time scorer - a hat trick!

(70th minute) Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Forrest “Gump” Tobias squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 70:th minute, asserting the lead to 5 - 2.

Screamin', bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle.

POST-GAME

The most dominating Screamin' player was without a doubt Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald. Forrest “Gump” Tobias was a disappointment, however.

Calibiri´s best player was Mattias Thystad. Pawel Strzyzewski on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 5, Calibiri 2

Goals

Tobias – 2
Henriksson – 3 (GWG)

Cards

McDonald – yellow

Player Ratings

Read: **

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

Taxwell: **~
Kolberg: *** (best performance to date)
Alustiza: **~
Van de Kerkhof: ***
Richardy: ***

Tobias: *~
Henriksson: **

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Solid (7)
-Right Defense: Solid (7)
-Central Defense: Passable (6)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Passable (6)
-Central Attack: Inadequate (5)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Wretched (2)
-NSI: 58

Calibiri
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Solid (7)
-Left Defense: Solid (7)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Passable (6)
-Left Attack: Passable (6)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 61

Comments

Though today’s match was “only” an FOFC Cup match, it turned out to be the most exciting match that the home crowd (such as it was) have seen all season long. The first half was a classic see-saw affair, as each team grabbed the lead, only to surrender a tying goal mere minutes later. As half-time rolled around we were rightfully concerned that we may end up losing, and could very well be out of the FOFC Cup altogether.

Coach Fluieras came out in the second half with a more aggressive approach, and it nearly bit us in the ass. Fortunately for us veteran wingback Ben McMahon was on his game, averting a dangerous goal situation by McKinley McArthur early in the second half. That play seemed to take some of the wind out of the Calibiri sails, and suddenly their defense absolutely fell apart. Johannes Henriksson tallied his second and third goals of the match only two minutes apart, and “Gump” Tobias put away a real coffin-nailer a scant three minutes later. After that inexplicable offensive explosion, it was all over except for the screaming.

Group Five Results and Final Standings

-Ultra Nox and Swamioms FC played a hard-fought match, with Ultra Nox coming from behind to claim a 2-1 victory.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Screamin’ Seamen			3		9-5		7	58

2.	Calibiri				3		8-6		6	61

3.	Ultra Nox				3		5-5		4	56

4.	Swamioms FC				3		2-8		0	50

The win means that we have advanced as the 1st seed out of Group Five, and are the 12th seed overall in the remaining field of 32. Calibiri advances as well, as the 24th seed overall.

Up Next: The weekly training update. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Week 9 Training Results

We’ve returned to our normal midfielder training program this week, and with good results. The last of our midfield trainees, Spaniard Agustin Alustiza, is the last of our new trainees to show any marked improvement, but appears to have pretty much caught up to his teammates in ability level.

Agustin Alustiza

Position: Inner Midfielder
Jersey #6

18 years old, weak (4) form, healthy.

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

Nationality: Spanish
Assessed Value: $127,000
Wage: $984 per week

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

Form Changes

2 players saw their form improve during this week’s practices:
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald -> solid (7)
-Winger Reg Nichols -> solid (7)

17 players saw their form remain the same this week.

3 players dropped in form during the week:
-Winger Walter Bosch -> passable (6)
-Midfielder Rune Kolberg -> inadequate (5)
-Midfielder Agustin Alustiza -> weak (4)

The overall form of the club seems to be stabilizing, which is a good thing. The bad thing is that certain key players, including three of our four forwards, seem to be stuck in lousy form despite receiving consistent playing time. A couple of other members of our reserve squad seem to be mired in the muck as well, but that is less of a concern.

In The Zone

No one is really lighting things up at the moment, but we do have five players who are all displaying solid (7) performances, and four of them are starters.

-Goalkeeper Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan
-Defender Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald
-Forward Guido Metman
-Winger Reg Nichols
-Defender Sven Svensson

Form Dog

No surprise here. Forrest “Gump” Tobias, despite his two goals in the match on Wednesday, remains the club’s form dog with poor (3) form.

Player Values

Average Player Value: $308,955 (+$6,682)
Total Player Value (22 players): $6,797,000 (+$147,000)

Assessed Value Milestones

$400,000+
-Winger Reg Nichols ($421,000)

Up Next: The weekly financial update and youth squad disappointment. After that, we travel to Detroit to take on the injury-riddled Ramblers. Stay tuned!

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by DataKing

Up Next: The weekly financial update and youth squad disappointment.

Well put!

[WSUCougar]

DataKing - Sorry to threadjack but your PM box is full, and I have one to send you re: the Combat Mission dynasty. Thanks!

[DataKing]

Sorry about that Cougar. I freed up some space. If it's about the Combat Mission dynasty, I just made my post. Sorry about the delay, the last few days have been...interesting.

[DataKing]

Youth Squad Promotion

Unfortunately I was correct in assuming that the youth squad would be a disappointment again this week. 19 year old winger-wannabee Guillem Canals has been auctioned off piece by piece to the local organ banks.

Week 9 Financial Update

Previous Balance: $1,409,415

Revenue

Crowd (FOFC Cup Match vs. Calibiri) - $4,729
Sponsors - $97,515
Temporary (4 new supporters) - $120

Total Revenue - $102,364

Expenses

Arena Upkeep - $28,441
Player Wages - $48,278
Temporary (youth squad promotion of Roland Chan) - $2,000
Staff & Specialists - $48,000
Youth Squad Support - $20,000

Total Expenses: $146,719

Net Income/Loss: -$44,335

New Balance: $1,365,060

A week without a home league match means we lost a little money, but no big surprise there. It doesn’t look like we’ll be making much more money at all this season, though, as our two remaining games at The Docks are against the series bottom-feeders (Harrisburg Harries and WoM FC). Our plans to make a splash with a new forward may be put on hold unless we can find a deal.

Team Information

Team Spirit: Composed (5/10) (no change)
Team Confidence: Decent (4/6) (down two levels)

Sponsor Attitude: Dancing In The Streets (9/9) (no change)
Supporter Attitude: Satisfied (6/9) (down two levels)
Supporter Club: 1,776 (up four)

Our typically fickle supporters were surprisingly understanding of the loss last weekend to Big Reds, and four new ones even signed up despite the shutout.

Up Next: On the road for the second week in a row, we travel to Detroit to hopefully avenge the embarrassing 4-nil drubbing we suffered at the hands of the Ramblers in week five. Stay tuned!

[DataKing]

Season 5 – League Match #10

Ramblers vs. Screamin’ Seamen

Date: January 18th, 2004
Venue: Ramblers Arena (Detroit, MI)
Attendance: 41,109 (51,750)
Weather: Sunny

We’re on the road for the second week in a row, this time in Detroit to take on the Ramblers. You may recall that the Ramblers gave us a 4-nil shellacking back at the Docks in week five, and we’re looking to return the favor this weekend.

Despite the dominance that the Ramblers displayed in our prior meeting, we seem to have the advantage today. That is because the Ramblers are suffering from severe injury problems at the moment. Their two best players, midfielder Eric Holmes and winger Philip Gallo (who always seems to have phenomenal games against us) have both missed games recently due to injury, and it is questionable as to whether or not they see the pitch today. Even if they do, neither of them will be playing at one hundred percent, and their reserves leave a bit to be desired.

Previous Meetings

(D) 1/5/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 2, Ramblers 2
(W) 2/23/2003 – Ramblers 1, Screamin’ Seamen 2
(L) 4/6/2003 – Ramblers 4, Screamin’ Seamen 0
(L) 7/6/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Ramblers 4
(L) 8/24/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 1, Ramblers 3
(W) 9/28/2003 – Ramblers 0, Screamin’ Seamen 2
(L) 12/14/2003 – Screamin’ Seamen 0, Ramblers 4

Our opponents still stubbornly hold to their use of an asymmetrical 3-5-2 formation in all of their matches. We will seek to take advantage of this by attacking primarily on the wings.

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

Starters (# appearances, *s last time out)

Keeper: #1 Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan (68th career appearance, ****)

Right Wingback: #22 Tyler Willard (48th career appearance, ****~)
Central Defender: #2 Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald (27th career appearance, ***~)
Left Wingback: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas (74th career appearance, ****~)

Right Winger: #16 Reg Nichols (26th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #8 Javier Tejeda (9th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #7 Rune Kolberg (6th career appearance, ***)
Inner Midfielder: #19 Gino Behling (11th career appearance, ***)
Left Winger: #20 Walter Bosch (10th career appearance, ***~)

Forward: #14 German Galvez (38th career appearance, **~)
Forward: #12 Guido Metman (121st career appearance, ***~)

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

Substitutes
-Keeper: #13 Darryl Read (32 career appearances, **)
-Defender: #17 Mattias Leier (13 career appearances, ***~)
-Midfielder: #4 Jaimy van de Kerkhof (14 career appearances, ***)
-Forward: #11 Johannes Henriksson (77 career appearances, **)
-Winger: #23 Ivan Richardy (14 career appearances, ***)

For the first time in a few weeks we have our entire starting back line on the pitch at the same time today. Arlen “Headcase” Lucas and Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald have both served their suspensions, and will hopefully be able to keep their noses clean for the remainder of the season.

As far as the midfield goes, we have our usual suspects suiting up today, with one exception. Norwegian midfielder Rune Kolberg was rather disappointing when he first arrived in Chicago, but has shown some nice improvement over the past few weeks. His performance in our FOFC Cup last week was his best yet, so we’ve rewarded him with a league match start. We’ll see how well he responds to the challenge.

Up front, we’re sticking with the combination of Guido Metman and German Galvez. German has been struggling a bit as of late, but unfortunately a lack of viable alternatives means we’re pretty much stuck with the young Argentinean until one of our reserves shows some improvement.

It’s a bright, sunny day in Detroit, which suits winger Reg Nichols just fine. The young youth squad product has superior technique, which he will be looking to put on display today.

Match Report

PRE-GAME

A scorching day at Ramblers Arena, where 41109 spectators were in place for today´s match.

Ramblers tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Chugg - Svensson, Powell, Campos - Stovall, Maddox, Holmes, Sánchez, Gallo - Hansson, Pallez.

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

FIRST HALF

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

Ramblers had a good opportunity to take the lead as Bradley Stovall came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan.

Ramblers will have to do without Eric Holmes for a time due to a bad foot injury. He was substituted by Jacob Madsen.

Walter Bösch seemed to be floating in the air at will as he elegantly headed in 0-1. The previous Screamin' corner kick was executed by Tyler Willard.

The referee showed Screamin's Cameron “Big Mac” Mcdonald the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge.

Halftime score was 0 - 1. Screamin' held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

SECOND HALF

Javier Tejeda increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2.

After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Ramblers´s Barry Campos got himself booked.

Guido Metman was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was saved by the keeper. However, Screamin'´s Germán Galvez managed to get hold of the rebound and scored the 0-3 goal. After this Screamin' lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts.

In the 84:th minute Lyle Powell passed through the guests central line of defense, scoring the 1 - 3 goal.

Ramblerss Perry Maddox got himself booked after a foul. The Screamin' player was Rune Kolberg who had to be helped off the pitch, unable to finish the game, but Jaimy van de Kerkhof came in to finish the match.

It wasn´t a good day at all for Philip Gallo. His powerful style of play didn´t fit the bill this warm day.

Ramblers had a brilliant opportunity to reply as Lyle Powell received a high ball from the right, striking the ball still in the air. Only Cornelius “Corny” Jernigan´s reflexes saved him.

The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Screamin', with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

POST-GAME

Most important Ramblers player was Holger Svensson. Jacob Madsen on the other hand, had a terrible day.

Most important Screamin' player was Arlen “Headcase” Lucas. However, Germán Galvez made a disastrous appearance.

Final Score: Screamin’ Seamen 3, Ramblers 1

Goals

Bosch – 1 (1)
Tejeda – 1 (2, GWG)
Galvez – 1 (5)

Cards

McDonald – yellow (1)

Player Ratings

Jernigan: ****

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

Nichols: **** (best performance to date)
Tejeda: ***~ (best performance to date)
Kolberg: **~ (injured)
Van de Kerkhof: *** (replaced Kolberg)
Behling: ***~
Bosch: ***

Galvez: **
Metman: ***~

Team Match MVP: #5 Arlen “Headcase” Lucas

Team Ratings

Screamin’ Seamen
-Midfield: Passable (6)
-Right Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Central Defense: Outstanding (10)
-Left Defense: Supernatural (14)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Excellent (8)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 76

Ramblers
-Midfield: Inadequate (5)
-Right Defense: Excellent (8)
-Central Defense: Supernatural (14)
-Left Defense: Supernatural (14)
-Right Attack: Formidable (9)
-Central Attack: Solid (7)
-Left Attack: Formidable (9)
-Experience: Poor (3)
-NSI: 76

Comments

Well we certainly had a much more pleasant end result in our second go-around with the Ramblers. They decided victory was important enough to place both Eric Holmes and Philip Gallo on the pitch, and it ended up costing them big. Holmes re-injured his knee in the first half, and could very well be out of the lineup completely until the very end of the season.

The absence of Holmes from the midfield means that our youngsters had a much easier time of controlling the ball and the pace of match, and the sunny weather worked to our advantage and to the detriment of Philip Gallo. More good news arrived after the match when the club’s head physio, Dr. Kay Vorkian, determined that the injury to Rune Kolberg was little more than an ankle sprain. Rune should be ready to go next weekend.

Everyone really played pretty well today. “Corny’ Jernigan had himself a couple of nice saves, and Austrian winger Walter Bosch earned his first ever professional goal in the first half off of a nice corner kick by Tyler Willard. Even German Galvez managed to contribute by putting himself in the right place at the right time to clean up some trash and knock home a rebound off of Guido Metman’s second half header.

But the one who really continues to impress me is 18-year-old Chilean midfielder Javier Tejeda. He’s definitely a game-day type of player, and does very little to impress on the practice field. To tell the truth he’s not much to look at in practice; he’s not terribly fast, he’s kind of small, and he just goes about his business in a very quiet fashion. But when he gets out on the pitch, in front of a crowd, Javier turns into a sparkplug. This is his rookie season, and in nine competitive matches he now has six goals, including two game winners (including today’s). It’s hard to explain how he does it…his game is pure intangibles…but it works.

Series Scores and Standings

-Neon Genesis Evangelion took care of business, defeating WoM FC 4-2.
-Sweden Heights pulled off a but of an upset, traveling to Miami and defeating the Croats, 2-1.
-Big Reds had no trouble whatsoever with the Harrisburg Harries, winning easily 3-nil.

No.	Team					Played		Goals		Pts.	NSI

1.	Big Reds				10		30-4		25	84

2.	Neon Genesis Evangelion			10		25-10		25	72

3.	Croats in Miami				10		28-16		16	77

4.	Sweden Heights				10		21-19		16	83

5.	Screamin’ Seamen			10		15-14		16	76

6.	Ramblers				10		16-19		13	76

7.	WoM FC				        10		12-32		6	68

8.	Harrisburg Harries			10		3-36		0	56

Sweden Heights’ defeat of the Croats in Miami means that the series is definitely a two horse race between Big Reds and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Those two clubs will meet in Ithaca, New York in three weeks, in a huge match that will likely determine the series champion.

Our own situation has gotten more interesting as well, as we are now effectively in a three-way tie for third place. We actually may have the inside track on a second consecutive third place finish, as we’re the only club of the three to have remaining matches against both WoM FC and the Harrisburg Harries. Third place would be a most pleasant surprise, if we could manage it.

Week 11 Matchups

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

Big Reds against Croats in Miami looks to be the marquee matchup this weekend, and could be an interesting match, though everyone expects the Reds to emerge victorious. We should have an easy time against the Harries, while the Ramblers have a tough task ahead of them, and could very easily fall even further behind.

Up Next: We’ve advanced to elimination play in FOFC Cup V, where we will host the Blade Bombers. Stay tuned!