Qualifiers

[Kemal]

quote:The 48000 spectators at FC De Snaken Arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Snaken tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Preda - Farenhout, Grimmius, Suárez - Cipolla, Veraar, Fitzpatrick, Bolers, MacSymon - Billand, Kronskär.

Aamodts had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Svanwald - Burt, Žmak, Onu - Eleazar, Sommarwald, de Wijze, Boers, van Commenee - Maiberg, Williams.

The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to Per Kronskär, but the Snaken player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! Snaken added another goal to their lead as Warren Fitzpatrick struck home the 2 - 0 goal after an attack from the left set him up unmarked in front of the keeper. The structure of the game started to change as Snaken decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. Halftime score was 2 - 0. This half belonged to Snaken, who controlled the ball 72 percent of the time.

After 55 minutes Andrea Cipolla made a speedy advance and dropped the ball to Per Kronskär who shuffled it past the keeper. The score was now 3 - 0. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Snaken scored another to make it 4 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for Andrea Cipolla after 62 minutes. Snaken's Warren Fitzpatrick had an excellent opportunity in the 63rd minute, shooting on a through ball down the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! In the 75th minute Agapito Suárez put Snaken ahead 5 - 0 with a truly marvelous free kick. The referee showed Snaken's Per Kronskär the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Warren Fitzpatrick squirmed himself through their central defence in the 86th minute, bringing the lead to 6 - 0. The referee showed Aamodts's Immo Maiberg the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Snaken, with an impressive 71 percent possession of the ball.

Snaken's top performer was clearly Petru Preda. Hans-Frits Farenhout turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Aamodts player was Tjardo de Wijze. Bamidelle Onu turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 6 - 0.

Snaken secure their Division IV status with a convincing win, shattering their Hatstats record upping it to a total of 311 points!

Also, a new star record of 63.5 was reached. Good times here in Utrecht!

[BCLG100]

Congrats kemal

[Darth Pugwash]

Nice one Kemal!!

[sz_matyas]

I personally was trying to avoid promoting to a division with 4 teams in the 180 hatstat range, 2 bots and a guy similar to the one I played in my qualifier as at least my current league has one other interesting team and this way I can (almost) ensure promoting next season and being in an excellent position to stick.

quote:
Due to an all-day shower, 5809 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Marakana Belgrade. Belgrade tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Meadows - Estrada, Barnhart, Cormier - Irwin, Alicea, Hardison, Wolford, Salas - Haney, Rodriguez.

hunting_penguins had chosen a strategic 5-5-0 formation. Starters: Mcghee - Tellsjö, Scarpini, Billmo, Paz, Goetz - Sung-Joo, Droogstoppel, Pinzenöhler, Ospina, Mayes - .

hunting_penguins were relying on their ability to counter-attack. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Belgrade's Harold Irwin a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind in the 2nd minute. There was a bit of a mixup on the field as hunting_penguins found themselves out of position and their organization level dropped to weak. Huang Sung-Joo made a nice rush in the 27 minute, but was eventually stopped by Cleveland Cormier. Many thought Juán Rodriguez ought to have been awarded a penalty shot in the 28th minute, as he went down trying to circle the visitors' keeper Jesse Mcghee. In the 30th minute, Belgrade's Juán Rodriguez received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. hunting_penguins seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to poor. 0 - 0 was the score after the first half. This half belonged to hunting_penguins, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

The hunting_penguins players spent the halftime break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organization and regained a passable organization. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 in the 48th minute after a breakthrough from Jamal Hardison, who, unaided, came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors' keeper. Donald Alicea had a fantastic opportunity to put Belgrade up another goal in the 62nd minute, but he fired just over the crossbar. A counterattack by hunting_penguins in the 75th minute could have resulted in a goal, but Linus Droogstoppel, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. Cleveland Cormier could have put Belgrade up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left in the 76th minute. 77 minutes into the game, Harold Irwin had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Gerald Rutherford. hunting_penguins held the ball, with a clear 56 percent of possession.

The most dominating Belgrade player was without a doubt Donald Alicea. Dallas Haney turned in a dismal performance, however. hunting_penguins's best player was Robby Pinzenöhler. Genaro Scarpini on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 0.

Exactly the result I wanted, though apparently I don't know how to start just 9 players as it auto-substituted a couple for me. Now to prepare for a cup run and squaring my team for next season.

[Aggie]

Congrats Kemal and sz_matyas!

[Tubby Rower]

good job destroying the competition Kemal... and matyas, good job controlling possession I think that if you have substitutes then they'll auto-substitute. Same thing happens when you line up an injured player. Sometime that works great when your not sure if a guy will be healed in time, but you need to set the orders early.

div V isn't too bad. It's challenging but not hard.

[sz_matyas]

I figured it would be good to step up, but there are currently more competitive games in my league than the one I would be going to and then I would be playing for the right to stay up anyway.

As it is I should be joining you in div V in a season and be better positioned to handle even tough games, hopefully around the 160 hatstat mark which should put me middle of the pack.

[akots]

@sz_matyas: 160 stars should be fine and your league (into which you could have promoted) does not look very tough, just a normal Div V league. You'll also get a boost in supporters and apparently might consider preparing to expand the arena. However, the situation might be more complex overall. It is hard to tell.

I've got also into an average Div IV league without bots and with most of the teams having average 250 stars and winner with about 280 stars. I don't think I can handle that without buying a few better players but then I won't be able to afford the salaries. And I don't have any substantial investment capital to handle the transition.