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02-04-2009, 11:19 PM
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#1 | ||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami (III.3); Special 20th Anniversary Thread
Introduction
Near as I can tell, it's been a long time since anyone has done a hattrick dynasty. Since this is the Hippos 20th full season in hattrick (21, if you include the partial first season), I thought it would be fun to resurrect this one. There's a lot of history tied up in my team, at least in my mind and this seemed like a fun way to encapsulate all of it into an opus of sorts. I miss the old FOFC community for the game. We had one of the best communities going for a while and I think some of the strategy that came out of here was second to none. My grasp of the nuances of the game is not nearly as strong as it once was but I've still managed to stick around in III a long time with what I know. Then again, once upon a time- getting to III was my goal so I've succeeded and then some. This one goes out to all the old posters like dataking whose dynasty inspired mine, cw and ae and the defense vs offense debate, fm and spreadsheets, daed and lots of late night economic strategy chats, and the entire ht community- you know who you are and if I started enumerating I'd miss quite a few, and all the others I've forgotten. Thread History For some nostalgia, here's links to the old Hippo threads. They were a lot more organized than I sense this will be. However, this one has a slightly different aim- it's more of a walk down memory lane. Each week or two, I'll grab some element of the game to give old fans a look at how things are nowadays [Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 4: IV.21 - Front Office Football Central [Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 3: IV.21 - Front Office Football Central [Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 2: V.62 - Front Office Football Central Houston Hippopotami at Hattrick (Alliterative, isn't it?) - Front Office Football Central Hippopotami Hattrick Prequel (Old Board Conversion) - Front Office Football Central Notes complete! SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 06-03-2009 at 01:22 PM. |
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02-05-2009, 09:13 AM
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#2 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: ...down the gravity well
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Would you believe the Ultra Nox still live? I dunno why I still log in from time to time, I guess it's the 12 million in the bank.
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"General Woundwort's body was never found. It could be that he still lives his fierce life somewhere else, but from that day on, mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them. Such was Woundwort's monument, and perhaps it would not have displeased him." Watership Down, Richard Adams |
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02-05-2009, 09:15 AM
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#3 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Colorado Springs
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Heh, I tried logging in, Galesburg is long gone.
But we made it into II, dammit! |
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02-05-2009, 09:30 AM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 1: Derby's - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Background
The cup has rarely been kind to the Hippos. I often have overestimated my team's performance, which is usually bad early in the season due to lower form, as well as trying to emphasize training which is probably a mistake in the cup. We have averaged around the ~100th best team for the last 10 seasons which should average out to the 7th or 8th round every season. Instead, as you've seen, we've been bounced 6, 6, 6, 6, and 3 the last 5 seasons. Not only that, but since the HT devs have never seen the problem of having the lower seeded team with home field, it has been one of the driving forces in teams sandbagging games to stay in lower divisions. That, along with fans, "smart" or otherwise- more on that later, really increased the incidence of teams who would slum down in V or VI to stock up cash, make deep cup runs, and build up the fan club. It can be very frustrating. Hippo Cup History The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 19 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 3 season 20 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 4 season 21 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 4 season 22 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 23 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 24 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 5 season 25 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 26 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 27 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 28 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 29 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 30 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 7 season 31 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 8 season 32 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 33 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 34 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 35 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 6 season 36 The team was kicked out of the Cup at round 3 season 37 Cup Game Preview Round 1 pits the Hippos against Derby's, a bot team from New Jersey. Starters will be playing to keep form up. We'll have a "meet the team post" at some point to get everyone acquainted with the current Hippos. There will even be a few familiar faces to those with good memories. Back to the game, we should have be able to breeze through this with a PIC and build some team spirit, going into series play. Formatting Notes A couple of minor notes on the formatting. I used to take a lot of pride in the formatting I put into my Hippo dynasties. I will try to continue with that, but it was also what ultimately led me to quitting as putting a half hour or hour into "prettying up" something that's already pretty clean ended up sapping all the time I wanted to use to write the dynasties. Hopefully it's presentable enough  Secondly- hattrick changed their appearance a couple of months ago so some of the formatting cuts and pastes easily and some doesn't. I'll try to post as much as I can that doesn't look bad on the message board. There will be some little notations on this particular match summary (FF/IE), so that I remember which version I pulled things from so they look good and consistent in the future. Cup Game Box Score Kits (IE)
Derbys 0 – 5 Hippopotami (206752987) (IE)  1-29-2009 01.00 The 12000 fans in attendance at Derby's Arena were roasting in the hot sun. Derbys decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Tharp - Browning, Ballard, Roach, Springer - Simms, Mccullough, Cole, Alvareda - Parrish, Matlock. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Özkutay - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Partridge, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Hippopotami showed off their creative tactics. Chema Delcarte came close to putting the visiting team one up 2 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but Michael Tharp managed to tip the ball to a corner. Oliver Angulo's speed was clear to see after 27 minutes as he darted past his marker and struck an opening pass to Tor Tetlie who scored the 0-1 goal. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from Carlos Thacker after 34 minutes, and prevented Hippopotami from going up another goal. Some fine manoeuvring on the left led to a Hippopotami goal after 42 minutes, making it 0 - 2. Charlie Partridge was noted down as the scorer. The crowd gasped as Batı Özkutay of Hippopotami was flattened by an opponent after 42 minutes and had to be carried off. Tim Kimber came in off the bench. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 79 percent of the time. Charlie Partridge didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. A thrilling play through the middle 68 minutes into the match gave Hippopotami's Tor Tetlie a chance to increase the lead, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 3. 68 minutes in, Derbys's Blair Browning received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The visitors' Zacarías Regúlez took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and central backs 74 minutes into the match. 0 - 4 for Hippopotami. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 80 minutes, Hippopotami did not go for a direct shot but instead aimed for the area just in front of the keeper. The attacking players made several runs as the ball was played and made it hard for the defenders to protect their goal. After a short tussle with the defender, Oliver Angulo could finally lay the ball to rest behind the keeper. 0 - 5, and proof it can pay off to come prepared. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 81 percent of the time. Leo Cole performed admirably for Derbys. Rodney Matlock on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami's best player was Carlos Thacker. Tim Kimber was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 5. Rating details (IE)
Highlights (FF)
Possession (FF) 21%   79% 19% 81% Cup Game Recap Pretty easy game: 5-0 win. Starting forward Tor Tetlie got a pair of goals and three others contributed scores. Unfortunately, we had the worst case scenario for an easy cup game play out as starting keeper Bati Ozkutay, the Bursa Blockade, was injured with a +3, likely taking him out for our first two fixtures. Hippo legend and current coach, Tim "Timber" Kimber (a blast from the past for those of you with good memories) came in and finished up the game. However, he, nor backup keeper and youth academy product Tomas Milam, is not good enough to hold down the fort in III, so we will be forced to make a decision in the upcoming week. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-05-2009 at 10:33 AM. |
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02-05-2009, 10:02 AM
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#5 | ||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Quote:
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I'm just glad there's some interest, even if it's rubbernecking-the-accident, in a dynasty with a look back for all the old crowd or even anyone new. I'll probably go advertise it in the HT and OT forums just to see if people are interested. Secretly (well, I guess no longer), I hope this ends up a little like a HT reunion before all is said and done- everyone reminiscing about their team and times here. I'd love to hear about everyone's team here SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-05-2009 at 10:03 AM. |
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02-05-2009, 10:27 AM
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#6 | |||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Press Announcements
Press Room
Press announcements still exist and I utilize them from time to time. Not much has changed- they're on the front page and you're still limited to 500 characters or less. While it limits your ability to be as precise as you'd like, it is always a good exercise in concise editing and an economy of words. Here's some news from the past year. This should give you some flavor of what's going on. I've left out the ones about flag chasing since we'll get to that when it's friendly time. Hopefully that will be later in the season that it has in recent years. Quote:
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SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-05-2009 at 10:33 AM. |
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02-05-2009, 04:01 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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III.3 Season 38
Hippos History in III.3
So, yeah, I've been stuck in my own little purgatory, also known as III.3, for 11 seasons now. It's not a bad little series- we have a little chatter going in the forum from time to time, depending on who cycles in and out of the series. I've always been good enough to stay up but never good enough to advance. I have finished 2nd thru 4th all but 2 of my 10 seasons here, with a 1st place finish my first season- lost my only ascending qualifier ever- and a 5th place season a few later. Houston Hippopotami finished as number 1 in III.3 season 28 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 4 in III.3 season 29 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 2 in III.3 season 30 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 5 in III.3 season 31 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 4 in III.3 season 32 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 4 in III.3 season 33 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 2 in III.3 season 34 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 4 in III.3 season 35 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 3 in III.3 season 36 Houston Hippopotami finished as number 4 in III.3 season 37 Last season I was 4th, only by the grace of the standings gods. In the final week, we backed into 4th place with a 5-0 loss. However, 5th place Selma fell 3-2 and 6th place O.G. Kickers were edged 6-5 with the go-ahead goal scored in the 84th minute. Either team could have passed us if they had won their game.
Maybe it's been too long, but when I started out, my goal was to reach Div III and I've done that and then some. I've come up with new little goals and fun things to keep me interested along the way (wait until we get to my Youth Academy spreadsheet or flag chasing) and I'm quite happy where I am. To give you an idea of how long I've been here, I'll try to again post the table that broke the forum earlier (or at least the top 10).
We've had a fair share of VIPs come through the series, as it's only a hop, skip, and a jump from the upper echelon of hattrick in the US. Here are some of our more "distinguished" members that have been in this series in my time here:
I wish I could make this a "storybook" run at our series where the team stuck in III finally breaks free and promotes but that's fairly unlikely. We have a really tough series and I'm once again going to be in the middle of the pack. The one thing I do have in my favor this season is that we have 2 essentially dead teams. Unfortunately, my schedule is not all that favorable as to when I face them as it's in back-to-back weeks so I'm at a disadvantage to those teams who have them more spread out. Not only that but I play them in weeks 3 and 4, when I get really no advantage from playing them except perhaps to help prolong my cup run. But even at that point, I should be enjoying pretty easy games in the cup. Hm... I'm getting some ideas now that I'm hashing things out (I do have around $9M in the bank) but it's going to take a lot of luck with surviving week 2 and some other teams to fall... anyways, more on that later, if it looks good on paper. Unfortunately, the sketch isn't too promising  Series Preview III is never easy and, even with a pair of walkovers, is going to be tough to get back to that top 4 I'm used to. Here they are, in rough order of expected finish:
SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-06-2009 at 08:03 AM. |
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02-05-2009, 04:10 PM
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#8 |
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FOFC Survivor
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Wentzville, MO
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I miss playing, but I don't miss the changes to the game.
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Cheer for a walk on quarterback! Ardent leads the Vols in the dynasty forum. |
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02-05-2009, 04:43 PM
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#9 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Bay Area
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Looks like bringing HT back broke the forum
 I just signed up for a new team last week. The changes look positive, but I'm still getting up to speed. |
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02-05-2009, 08:14 PM
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#10 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Ok, fixed the thread- time to break it again
Unfortunately, I'm a little peeved as I have to go through and rewrite what I had again SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-05-2009 at 08:50 PM. |
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02-05-2009, 08:27 PM
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#11 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
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I had fun when I played, but player development is far too slow in comparison to the rate that they make changes to the sim and I hated the transfer market. Those two things are what led me to leave.
The Blizzard made it to D2, but making it there was the last season I cared, stuck around another year before relatively recently (last couple months?) before saying goodbye for good. |
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02-05-2009, 10:09 PM
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#12 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Series preview post that broke the board earlier is complete and updated. Next up, our first fixture of the season
SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-05-2009 at 10:12 PM. |
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02-06-2009, 09:52 AM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 1: Supra Supreme - Houston Hippopotami
Series Schedule
Here's the spreadsheet dump of our schedule for the season. As you can see, the walkovers are in weeks 3, 4, 11, and 12. Our schedule just does not set up nicely but maybe I can take some advantage of it. Here's the best case scenario:
Fixture Preview I'm 1-3 in my career against Supra and that's on good days. With starting keeper Bati Ozkutay out and this being on the road, this game is, unfortunately, a PIC special. We're going to get mauled, but hopefully we can eke out a goal so the "smart" fans aren't chucking themselves off the roof. A best case scenario would be something like a 5-1 loss. Kits (IE)
Supreme 8 – 0 Hippopotami (217931275) (IE)  2-2-2009 01.00 Clear skies welcomed the 59064 spectators who had made their way to Pro Player Stadium. Supreme decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Debbouze - Bergeon, Boavista, Cedrés - Azevedo, Batzel, Fischer, Culver, Woudenberg - Zauder, Hove. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Milam - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Partridge, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Hippopotami took a creative approach on the field. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 9 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from Dário Boavista, who, unaided, came in from the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors' keeper. After 28 minutes, João Luís Azevedo put Supreme ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Supreme added another goal to their lead as Zvonimir Zauder struck home the 3 - 0 goal after an attack from the left set him up unmarked in front of the keeper. Supreme's Zvonimir Zauder was delighted to score the 4 - 0 goal after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper and into the net, following some good attacking movement on the right wing after 31 minutes. Confident in their lead, Supreme decided to play a more defensive game at this point. Anker Hove had a fantastic opportunity to put Supreme up another goal 32 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. It was 4 - 0 at the break. Supreme enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession. Against a lesser team, Supreme could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick combination after 60 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. Hippopotami's Charlie Partridge got himself booked for a foul. Supreme solidified their lead at the 66 minute mark, as Hans-Toni Batzel manoeuvered the ball through the opposing central defence and finished for 5 - 0. With 68 minutes played, Supreme put themselves up 6 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to Joshua Fischer, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Supreme's Anker Hove putting the lead up to 7 - 0. 84 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as João Luís Azevedo dashed through, knocking home 8 - 0 for Supreme. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Supreme's Charles Bergeon a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind in the 85:th minute. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Supreme, with an impressive 60 percent possession of the ball. Supreme's best player was Joshua Fischer. Joel Cedrés was a disappointment, however. Most important Hippopotami player was Tor Tetlie. However, Tomas Milam made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 8 - 0. Rating details
Highlights (FF)
Possession 59%   41% 60% 40% Series Standings (IE)
Fixture Recap Fans are going to be falling from the rooftops after an 8-0 loss. The "smart fans" are smart in name only, so I'll be shedding 6 or 7 each update this week, even if I win my cup game handily. It's kindof sad that I'm behind one of the dead teams. But we all know this is just one week. We'll get a good shot at Supra in week 14, depending on where we are all at in the standings. Next week we have Selma at home and then the pair of walkovers. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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02-06-2009, 02:33 PM
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#14 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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i'm starting my 18th full season in HT.. we're in iii.14 for 3 out of the last 4 seasons (1 season, demoted, promoted back to iii.14).
not sure where we go from here but we'll see... |
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02-11-2009, 11:45 AM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 2: rootkit - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
Good thing this won't present much of a challenge as we still don't have a keeper. Timber was a Hippo legend, but at 41 and the coach, he's not much at the pitch on the moment. So, Tomas Milam will get the start. He's a product of our youth academy and was meant to basically be sold off. However, realizing I didn't have a viable backup, I kept him on the team in that capacity. This is proving to not be a very good option as it's clear now that I need a real backup in III, just like at other positions. Speaking of backups and back to the game at hand, Derby's isn't a bot, but he still can barely put up a 100 in hatstats so you'll get to see most of the bench in this game. I have at least one player at all positions who is a more than capable backup (the type of guy we all would have killed to have on our team down in V)- with a brilliant or higher in main skills. A couple I bought for backups, most used to be starters and I'm keeping them around until I can retire them into the Hippo Hall of Heroes. Just to put this in perspective, a 35yo titanic playmaker with no discernable secondaries- lets call him longtime Hippo middie #17 Erwin Vickers- costs a "whopping" $5K in wages per week. And, sure, he might not put up the stars or ratings a 25yo titanic would, mainly due to a lack of stamina, but he can put up 4 stars + 2 greyed out stamina stars so you can't really knock that. I do like our sharp away uni's Cup Game Box Score Kits
rootkit 1 – 4 Hippopotami (218461859) 2-5-2009 01.00 The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 12000 had shown up at Destruction for the match. rootkit tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kurunsaari - Joyner, Mullins, Claridge, Márquez Nogueras - Coyro, Garcia, Maddox, Linn - Poole, Kearns. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Milam - 安粱 (Anliang) , Linneberg, Williams - Sidorczak, Little, Brik, Vickers, Weissglass - Masereel, Treibahs. 麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) sailed high above the opponents as he headed the 0-1 goal in on a corner kick from Ryan Linneberg after 13 minutes of play. The referee showed rootkit's Daniel Garcia the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 76 percent. After 59 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed Adir Weissglass to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 2. There was concern in the stands when, at the 60 minute mark, Hippopotami's 麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. After 76 minutes of game time, 麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but Jaakko Kurunsaari was in the right place and tipped the ball to a corner. Bill Kearns finished off the counterattack from the left rather easily, scoring 1 - 2 for rootkit. Ryan Linneberg increased Hippopotami's lead to 1 - 3 with a superb free kick strike that flew in just under the far top corner. There was concern in the stands when, at the 79 minute mark, rootkit's Joan Maddox hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. The home crowd was not impressed when Allan Brik came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 80 minutes. Hippopotami were now up 1 - 4. Confident in their lead, Hippopotami decided to play a more defensive game at this point. rootkit's Chad Mullins was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 82 minutes. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 72 percent possession of the ball. rootkit's top performer was clearly Chad Mullins. Daniel Garcia on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Hippopotami player was Donald Sidorczak. Tomas Milam was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 4. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 24% 76% 28% 72% Cup Game Recap Best you can hope for from an early round cup game- easy win, only injury was a bruised, no cards, and a team spirit boost. Those aren't awful defense ratings but that's going to hurt if I put those up in III, so something's going to have to give. May be time to break into the money bin and get a long term solution for backup keeper. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 04-01-2009 at 08:55 PM. |
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02-11-2009, 12:31 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Hippo Hall of Heroes
Overview
This is easily one of my favorite supporter features over the past couple of years. They created a team "Hall of Fame" where you can retire players into after they are no longer productive on the pitch. Basically, you can keep players "on" your team for sentimental reasons without paying their salary. There's also places to give some backstory, post about best games, etc. There are some rules about who can enter, but it's mostly left up to the owners. Obviously, your current coach cannot be inducted. However, you can change coaches and then put the former coach in. They can't be on a national team or on the transfer list- kindof obvious rules. Players have to have been on your team for at least 3 seasons (so, 48 weeks). However, the clock starts when the arrive on your team so if you're buying back a former player- you have to wait almost a year to induct them. Lastly, you get 3 "free slots" to fill at any time. However, after that you are only allowed 1 new player per season so you can't just retire every player instantly to the Hall of Fame- it's going to take some planning (something I forgot about with my most recent one). Personally, I like to do it "during" the first or last home game of the season. The press announcement writes itself and it's another fun way to add "color" to Hattrick. Unfortunately, with the time restrictions on when and where, I may have to fudge a little but nothing too bad. This Week Quote:
Vaikhan's not a legend like some of the Hall of Famers. But not everyone can be Babe Ruth or Willie Mays. My favorite player growing up was Ryne Sandberg- he wasn't the biggest name in the game- but he was one of the couple best hitting second basemen ever and a damn good fielder. That was Vaikhan- he was never the star on the team, but he was an offensive central defender- a stopper, at least that's the term we used in high school for that position. That extra midfield boost from him gave us an edge against teams who just played a traditional set of defenders. I still do that with the Hippos as a pair of my defense trainees have formidable playmaking as well- tho it's not as effective now since they made defense more useful- and they play every fixture, barring bad form/injuries/etc. He played for the team for over 2 years, mostly back in the IV.21 days, and I was glad to have a chance to buy him back and retire him. Current Hall of Fame #13 #22 #31 #99 Quote:
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Future Plans Next Couple Xacabo Armengol (97)- If I could have retired 2 players this season, he'd also have been retired. He just finished his term as coach of the team from seasons 33 until the end of 37. He used to play wingback and set pieces specialist a lot and finished with 21 career goals. Carlos Alberto Benito (15) - An original Hippo, I got the chance recently to buy him back from GM-CableGuy and he will soon join Starks and Phelan as the three original Legendary Hippopotami. Starks was the first great Hippo winger, Phelan the first striker, and Benito was the (offensive) middie. Mortal Locks Tim Kimber (1) - The man, the myth, the legend, and now coach. He was the "almost-excellent" (he was solid, but one week from excellent) keeper of the Hippos for many seasons. His spot is guaranteed in the HHH whenever he wants it. Thomas Little (18) - Originally, one heck of a youth pull, but even tho he wasn't exactly what we were looking for a in a trainee, we decided to keep him and train him as I was training middies at the time. He ended up a week or two below ET playmaking and always had solid passing when we changed training. He has been with the Hippos his entire career and is the career leader in games played (315 and counting) and 3rd in goals. Likely Candidates Donald Sidorczak (12) - When the hattrick economy was at its pick, Houston purchased Donald for a team record $7.4 million. He was a world class winger with world class playmaking ability as well, a perfect winger for the team. He created all sorts of matchup problems as teams couldn't just stack their defense in the middle- they had to cover a wing, too. And I liked to be sneaky about which wing to put him on, depending on the opponent's defense and doing things like playing him on one side for a couple of week's straight coming into a crucial game and then flipping him, often giving Houston an advantage. Charlie Partridge (11) and Erwin Vickers (17) - For many seasons, every Sunday you could expect these two along and Little manning the midfield for the Hippos. They are 3rd and 5th in games played for the franchise, respectively. Vickers was a naked middie who frequently played extra inner middie while Partridge usually played wing towards middle to boost the midfield and take advantage of his quick speciality for event goals. Steven Williams (40) - First ever Hippo youth academy product. He was a passable defender and he didn't sell so I hung onto him so he could make the Hall of Fame. I play him whenever I don't have enough trainees to cover all spots and he's up to excellent defending now. He will probably always be a backup but he's the hometown hero. Current Candidates Still Out There Quintin Staples - Timber was the first Hippo keeer legend but he is *the* Hippo keeper legend. I hated letting him go when I bought Bati but he was starting to go downhill and someone still paid almost 3.5M for a 30yo keeper. I hope that someday I will get a chance to buy him back. Kris Jacobsen - All time leading scorer on the Hippos with 74 goals. He's still putting up 7 and 8 stars for a team in Danmark but I sold him off about a year ago before he got too old to sell. Sergio Chapin - I was really hoping to retire this guy, what with him being passed around FOFC like the town bicycle. Unfortunately, a certain well known FOFC HT'er let her team go defunct so we may never get that chance. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-12-2009 at 08:30 AM. |
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02-11-2009, 09:58 PM
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#17 | |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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Quote:
... Sorry 'bout that. Ish. /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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02-12-2009, 01:00 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 2: Houston Hippopotami - Selma Sumorats
Press Room
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Fixture Preview We need this game if we want any semblance of a good season. Selma's a team that we hope to be around in the standings at season's end so we have to beat them at home. In light of that, it was time to solve our keeper problem so, after shopping around for the week, Birger Manholt of Sweden was brought in. First off, he looks mean. If you get a chance, go check out his picture (they don't cut and paste so well). However, he's 24, a week or two below outstanding, and in good form so I can plug him in immediately. Other formidable keepers go for $1.7/1.8M while outstandings go for $2.5M so $2.2M was a nice bargain. Quote:
In 6 matches, we are 3-2-1, getting a draw at their place last season but otherwise the home team has won. Goals in those games are a 9-9 tie so it's always tight with no differential being more than 2. The game should again be close but I expect to have a pretty substantial midfield advantage so hopefully that will carry the day for us. I also threw in a last minute curveball with Sidorczak returning to the starting lineup and adding a bunch of attack at the cost of a some midfield to Tor Tetlie's side. Hopefully that and our ability to play creatively will help us break their good defense. Oh, and, hey, you get to see the home kits for the first time. Kits
Hippopotami 3 – 0 Sumorats (217931278)  2-9-2009 01.00 30958 punters turned up at The Hippodrome, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hippopotami. Lineup: Månholt - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Sidorczak, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Sumorats decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players took the field: Valenzuela - Guilloux, Keating, Verlugo - Anderson, Walters, Ferreira, Holman - Pisanzio, Kulik, Iltis. Hippopotami showed off their creative tactics. Many thought Carlos Thacker ought to have been awarded a penalty shot 4 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around Noah Valenzuela after a determined run through the middle. 16 minutes into the match, the speedy Oliver Angulo easily outpaced Seth Keating to knock in the 1-0 goal. The home side's Zacarías Regúlez came close to extending the lead 23 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but Noah Valenzuela managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. The corner kick from Chema Delcarte set Tor Tetlie up perfectly, as he soared to meet the ball, heading it in for 2-0. Aurelius Huenul should probably have put his team up another goal after 39 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by Noah Valenzuela kept the visitors in the game. Halftime score was 2 - 0. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 60 percent possession of the ball. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Tor Tetlie squirmed himself through their central defence after 57 minutes, bringing the lead to 3 - 0. By now, Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. After 62 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to Hippopotami's Birger Månholt being carried off the pitch and replaced by Tim Kimber. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent. Tor Tetlie performed admirably for Hippopotami. However, Tim Kimber made a disastrous appearance. Tory Ferreira performed admirably for Sumorats. Carlo Pisanzio was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 0. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 60% 40% 60% 40% Series Standings (IE)
Fixture Recap We just can't buy a break with the health of our keepers. In the second half, Manholt gets hurt and Kimber rushes in from the coaches spot (that should have been Milam but I guess I mixed up my lineup). Fortunately the gamble with Sidorczak paid off as we still had 60% possession on what looks like a Selma PIC. Angulo puts one in the back of the net 16 minutes in and then Tetlie adds 2 more. Ozkutay should be back for next week's fixture but we won't really need much the next two weeks as the two walkovers are coming up. They tied each other last week in a 65 to 44 hatstats battle. So, it will be time to concentrate on the cup and get our team spirit to nice levels before getting into the meat of our schedule. We'll look pretty at 3-1 but then the real work will begin as everyone's record will look a little better this season with the dead teams. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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02-12-2009, 01:06 PM
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#19 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Colorado Springs
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God, if the prospect of starting from scratch wasn't so daunting (and annoying), I'd consider coming back.
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02-13-2009, 11:07 AM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 3: hoosier heroes - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
Another pretty easy cup game. Same goals: PIC, get some team spirit, avoid injuries, and avoid cards. Cup Game Box Score Kits
hoosier 1 – 4 Hippopotami (218722386)  2-12-2009 01.00 The crowd of 21993 turning up at The Hoosier Center today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. hoosier decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Neves - Álvarez, Popescu, Valsania - Hoskins, Gillis, Kawala, Grimes, Sepetçioğlu - Anderhall, Winslow. Hippopotami decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Milam - 安粱 (Anliang) , Linneberg, Williams - Partridge, Little, Brik, Vickers, Weissglass - Masereel, Treibahs. hoosier clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Hippopotami demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. 0 - 1 was the score with 5 minutes played, after Hippopotami's Volfs Treibahs cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal. Hippopotami's Adrien Masereel made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 16 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender sprang up, clearing the ball on the line. With the scoreboard showing that 27 minutes had been played, Hippopotami nearly put themselves up another goal after Allan Brik came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. After 31 minutes hoosier's Juán Winslow contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. 32 minutes into the game a free kick by Ryan Linneberg found its way through the home side's poorly assembled defensive formation, making Hippopotami's lead 0 - 2. 33 minutes in, hoosier's Christer Anderhall received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. It might be a while before the fans see hoosier's Fabio Valsania again, after he had to leave the field in great distress at the 45 minute mark. He was replaced by Mike Gigax. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 57 percent of possession. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit Adir Weissglass just fine. hoosier will have to do without Vasfi Sepetçioğlu for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 52 minute mark. He was substituted by Ervin Potter. Always a threat, Juán Winslow tore past his marker and placed the ball right at the feet of the waiting Christer Anderhall who should have easily scored for hoosier, but the ball went wide. Charlie Partridge increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. After 66 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed 麥 (Mai) 安粱 (Anliang) to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 4. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. 75 minutes in, Hippopotami's Charlie Partridge received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A marvellous hoosier effort on the right-hand side resulted in a goal after 76 minutes by Gerard Kawala, making the score 1 - 4. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent. hoosier's top performer was clearly Mark Gillis. Ervin Potter on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami's best player was Volfs Treibahs. Tomas Milam on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 4. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 43%   57% 47% 53% Cup Game Recap Hey, my fans have finally stopped bleeding away now that I've reeled off 3 straight wins. I'm back to " No supporters joined or left the fan club. " Smart fans, my @$$. They just trickle in and out more slowly but they still bleed you and they still penalize you for actually trying to promote. Anyways, 21993 showed up in the rain so it can't be all bad. So, got done what we needed. Win and advance. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-13-2009 at 11:08 AM. |
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02-13-2009, 11:18 AM
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#21 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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(and now we're up to the present)
SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-13-2009 at 11:18 AM. |
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02-17-2009, 01:10 PM
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#22 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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so that's what the greyed-out stars mean.
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02-17-2009, 02:49 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 3: O.G. Kickers - Houston Hippopotami
Fixture Preview
This is the first of two walkovers in series and it's starting to sound like a broken record what with my cup games: win, no injuries, no cards. I'll put in the backups and concentrate on the cup for the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping to build up some team spirit to take as much advantage as I can of my schedule as others in this series will be doing. Kits
Kickers 0 – 7 Hippopotami (217931283) 2-16-2009 01.00 The 27867 fans in attendance at The O.G. Corral were roasting in the hot sun. Kickers tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Temkov - Anderson, Dubois, Vidal, Gabriel - Parson, Moeller, Pipała, Mobley - Boling, Alhinho. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hippopotami. Lineup: Milam - Delcarte, Linneberg, Williams - Partridge, Little, Brik, Vickers, Weissglass - Masereel, Treibahs. Hippopotami decided to play creatively. The left side created an opportunity for the visitors 8 minutes into the match, and Erwin Vickers wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. After 16 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Adrien Masereel who increased Hippopotami's lead to 0 - 2. Hippopotami's Stephen Williams left the field after 17 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Aurelius Huenul. The visitors' Charlie Partridge took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and central backs 25 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Hippopotami. With 26 minutes played, a phenomenal play on the left side freed Volfs Treibahs, of Hippopotami, to dash through and score another goal for the visitors. The score was then 0 - 4. 32 minutes in, Kickers's Theron Gabriel received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Halftime score was 0 - 4. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 64 percent of possession. Hippopotami's Chema Delcarte received a play slashing through the home side's central defense after 57 minutes, and chipped it past the keeper to score the 0 - 5 goal. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. 65 minutes in, Kickers's Ken Moeller received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Hippopotami, as Volfs Treibahs left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. Tor Tetlie took his place on the field. Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Thomas Little delivered a long range shot from the right after 69 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. After 70 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed Adrien Masereel to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 6. A thrilling play through the middle 71 minutes into the match gave Hippopotami's Tor Tetlie a chance to increase the lead, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 7. Theron Gabriel knew he was in trouble after pulling back an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Kickers player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. When Juliusz Pipała left the game because of a back injury after 74 minutes, Kickers had to continue a man short due to there being no more available substitutions. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 72 percent. Kickers's top performer was clearly Ken Moeller. However, Dave Mobley made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami's top performer was clearly Tor Tetlie. Tomas Milam on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 7. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 36%   64% 28% 72% Series Standings
Fixture Recap Another week, another two injuries. We're up to 3rd in the series but it's going to be screwy looking at the series table from one week to another due to the walkovers. Now onto our cup game with mostly starters. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-17-2009 at 03:23 PM. |
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02-17-2009, 03:03 PM
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#24 | ||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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New Hippos
I've been selling off a couple of Hippos as they have gotten old enough to sell for a good profit. My current plan is pretty much buy at formidable with a secondary (either solid+ passing or divine sp) for around $1M and then sell off once they bump 3~4 levels (mag/wc) levels over 3ish seasons for $3.5-$4M. I also have a pair of formidable playmaking defenders who I will keep around for quite a while (both are brilliant defenders) as they mean more to my team than they would fetch on the open market. I just sold off 3 guys over this past season at magnificent defense with excellent passing for $3.6M, $3.6M, and $3.2M. Prices are high at the moment so I got good sales prices. However, that also means new trainees will cost a bit. So, here are your two newest Hippos: Quote:
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SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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02-18-2009, 03:19 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Meet the Hippos, Part I
Introduction
It's a slow week in hattie so it's time to show the team. What does your average Div III USA team look like? No idea, but here are the current Hippos. We're a bit on the old side, but as long as I keep ahead of the training curve, I'll keep churning some profit into staying competitive. My biggest weakness is that I want to keep some players for my HOF, rather than selling off players when I could have made some good coin. Part I: Coach, Goalkeepers, Bench, and Other Assorted Miscreants Part II: Forwards, Middies/Wingers, and Defense Rotation Supporter Statistics TSI per player (average) 24 988 Total squad TSI 649 700 Average age 27 Current form (average) passable Experience (average) passable No. of players (excluding coaches) 26 Number of nationalities 14 For the curious, wages have me running at a bit of a loss with around $420K per week. But I'll have another post where I break apart team finances in hattie a little later on. Coach What more can be said about Tim "Timber" Kimber. Timber became Hippo coach prior to this season. You can read about his numerous exploits in the old Hippo threads and while his playing skills are no longer there, he is an excellent coach and mentor. He only had passable leadership but I couldn't pass up making this legend a coach. I don't remember how long this has been around, but you can make a coach offensive-minded, defensive-minded, or just leave them neutral. I have a pretty balanced team so I just kept a neutral coach. Somewhere, I ran across the following stats: Defense: Offensive coach 92.957% Defensive coach 120.01% Neutral coach 105% Offense: Offensive coach 113.38% Defensive coach 92.43% Neutral coach 105% Quote:
Coach-In-Waiting Maybe I should change Adir's number. He's clearly just going to step in as coach and that #96 will be his. For the record, Kimber and Starks were allowed to keep their numbers as they would had their numbers retired had they not gone on to coach. I'm just trying to get his experience up to solid before he goes and gets himself hurt where he won't recover at 35. He's not really a serviceable player with only passable playmaking but he only cost $205K at the time and all I have to do is find enough playing time for him to get that 1 level of experience. Then it's time to move onto another future coach trainee either for sale or the next coach. FYI, clowns were debunked a couple of seasons ago so we don't have a clown. I hadn't had one for quite a while, tho, as I always felt it was more important to have a coach trainee than a clown. However, it did make me reconsider getting a future coach with bad agreeability. Quote:
Keepers Bati Ozkutay, the Bursa Blockade, has been the starting keeper ever since we sold off franchise keeper Quintin Staples in late 2007. He's 26 so I won't be needing a new keeper for at least a couple more seasons. Secretly, I don't think he's as good as Q, lacking some intangibles like high experience, good set pieces, and a knack for the lucky save. However, he gets the job done and is a fine keeper in his own right. You just saw me add Birger Manholt as the backup. He's an "elmost" brilliant keeper and that $6K per week wage is just fine for someone who can step in for a couple of weeks in Div III without too much of a dropoff. He's an insurance policy that cost a lot up front but isn't too bad weekly. Tomas Milam was a youth squad product (we'll get to more about that in a later post) but just wasn't getting the job done so he'll who will be sold off as soon as Manholt gets healthy Quote:
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Future Hippo Hall of Heroes These are the guys I don't mind kicking a paycheck every week as they've earned it, kindof like a pension. Armengol and Benito will be retired in the next two seasons while Williams has a long career ahead of him, but I think he'll always be a Hippo unless I have some serious financial problems. For more about them, check out the HOF post. For those who missed it, a couple of quick notes. Benito is an original Hippo and so old that he only has a 7 digit player id. By comparison, players now have 9 digit id's. Armengol was a wingback and then coach until Timber took over at the start of this season. Steven Williams is the more curious case. He's the equivalent of the little walk-on that could. When promoted, he had poor defense but I'd throw him into friendlies when I didn't have enough players (i.e. after cup exits, he could play if I ran 5 defenders). He has since worked his way up to formidable and can take the field in meaningful games in a pinch. Quote:
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The End of the Bench Need a warm body? Here's where to go. After doing this writeup, I'm considering tossing a couple up for sale since they don't serve much of a purpose. I'm not paying them much in wages and their purpose was to play in friendlies so someone else didn't get hurt. They aren't even competent subs for cup or fixtures any more. However, they were bought back when I didn't have a couple of the Hippo Hall of Heroes guys down at the end of the bench waiting patiently. I might float Meydac or Masereel just to see if I get bites. Brik is a more curious case. He's always been a backup and will always be a backup but he's been with the Hippos forever. He came to us back in season 26 as a formidable middie, back when that was a competent backup for the team and I've never gotten rid of him. Over the past couple of seasons, I've moved some previously starting middies to backup duty as they've gotten old (Little and Vickers, specifically) so he's been rendered obsolete. Maybe that gets him an honorary spot in the Hall of Fame. So, I guess at the end of the day, 2 of these guys are probably getting sold and another one is probably headed to the Hippo Hall of Heroes. Glad that's sorted out. Quote:
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SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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02-23-2009, 09:16 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Meet the Hippos Part II
Forwards
We more or less have a three forward rotation, depending on form and injuries. Two, Tor Tetlie and Oliver Angulo, are the ideal starters as they both have titanic scoring and good passing. Both are part of an overall strategy of the team to have a little of an events based team to squeeze out some extra goals. Angulo can get those quick events while Tetlie is a head guy and can take advantage of the divine set pieces defenders we send out there. Volfs Treibahs was a starter with us for a brief time while retooling, but he makes a great super sub with brilliant scoring, solid passing, and head speciality. He has filled in quite a bit in case of injuries and awful form on the part of the other two so he's like having a good proven sub around because you know your stars can't stay healthy. Quote:
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Wingers I can't remember the last time we played anything other than a 3-5-2 in a meaningful game as that's what the Hippos are built around. That means winger tactics are key. I love playing creatively so I don't stack the middle and go AIM like most teams so any attacks that I can get on the side are hugely important. With Sidorczak rejoining the team in the past season, we have some added flexibility on what to do and I've employed that of late. Zacarias Regulez pretty much always starts- he's your prototypical winger. He has titanic wing skills to add a lot to the attack and formidable playmaking ability to help boost the midfield a little. He can also score on head events. I'd like to upgrade him to something quick, maybe with a little more passing, and get younger as he's 27. But, as ever, great combo wings are expensive! That's a project that's been on the back burner for the past season or two but will probably happen this season or next before he loses all of his sale value. Previously, former middie Charlie Partridge was our other winger. He worked great in a pinch as he also was a veteran middie (brilliant experience). Titanic playmaking at wing towards middle was not the worst thing you could do with a winger, particularly one who could get quick events. Now, however, I brought back Donald Sidorczak to retire to the Hall (only $750K!). Back in the day, he was the $7M man ($7.4M, actually) as he had world class playmaking and world class winger skills. He was one hell of an edge to trot out onto the field as you could get a nice wing attack without losing a step on the midfield. Now he's 34 and still magnificent/magnificent but his TSI and stamina are falling. Still, he's good enough at the moment that I can get a pretty good second or third attack out of him without sacrificing too much midfield. Quote:
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Midfield Not doing anything real revolutionary here. I have an offensive middie, a regular middie, and another regular middie who plays extra inner midfielder. In a pinch, I have a pair of "older" middies who could still hold their own. They're not guys I want starting for me because of their injury risk and advancing age but they sure as heck are good backups and cup-quality middies. And did I mention: they're all American. Juan Alberto Quijada continues the long Hippo tradition of offensive inner middies starting with Carlos Alberto Benito. He's 31, so he's getting up there but he can still hold his own with titanic playmaking and solid passing. His midfield mates are a pair of 26 year old middies in Carlos Thacker, who I occasionally play offensive (mythical pm, passable passing), and Damion Marsh (extra-terrestrial pm). Thomas Little and Erwin Vickers are Hippos destined for the Hall who can still play. Little was a Hippo youth pull back in the day and trained up until he was almost an ET playmaker. At his peak, he was ET-1 pm with excellent passing and excellent set pieces. Now he's 35 and still world class/passable. Vickers is 35 and still has titanic playmaking. Again, both can play in a pinch with bad form but their stamina isn't really where it needs to be in Div III. Quote:
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Defenders A long time ago, we all looked at the hattrick world and knew that training was how to make a profit in the game. One always has to ask what to train. Keepers have always been too slow and unprofitable while wingers have always been witchcraft. There were interesting models like set pieces or passing but always seemed too "experimental" and the problem was that if HT nerfed that particular skill, those trainers were completely screwed. That leaves the "big three" types- scoring, playmaking, and defense. Even if rebalancing was done to the game engine- those would always be useful in some aspect. Your margins might go up or down but you wouldn't be wiped out with a gameplay change. I started out with middies as they made the best profit back in the day and were the best way to improve your team. The problem with training middies is that it's too darn important to the game engine. You either introduce inefficiency to your market system (selling before an optimum time) or you'd have a cycle similar to college sports where you would have good years as those players got older (similar to a team full of seniors) but then you'd take a step back after the sales. I also tried strikers but offense was much more powerful than defense at the time so you didn't even want to take a hit to your second most important skill so I settled on defense. It wasn't hugely profitable and it was slow, but I could make some money on the side while not hurting my team's performance. So long as I ran with a good midfield, they wouldn't get many chances against my subpar defense, anyways. The engine has gradually made defense more powerful, almost to the point of eclipsing offense, but this is still a reasonable way to go (particularly since I can run out 3 defenders as opposed to 2 strikers). Now, I don't train naked defenders as I don't think that's nearly as profitable as training guys with secondaries. I train three types: guys with good playmaking for personal use as OCD's (eventual sells, I guess), big money guys in terms of defenders with solid+ passing, and older guys with divine set pieces, both so I can take advantage of their abilities but also so I can sell them off and cycle in new ones. Also, I don't start with 17yo solids. I can save myself 1.5 seasons of training and some defense skill by buying a little higher up the ladder. This tradeoff costs me some cash, but I find it in the best interest of my team's play. I'll do more on the training entry, which it looks like I've already written half of. Aurelius Huenul and Arkadiusz Cyburt are the current OCDs: both 23 with formidable playmaking and brilliant defense. The two divine set pieces guys are Chema Delcarte (magnificent defense) and Ryan Linneberg (brilliant defense)- they're 26 and 25, respectively, and have been on the transfer market for a few weeks now. I'd like to cycle them out, soon. Then there are the new guys: Zurab Kavelashvili and Itamar Gafni. Both are 19 old, have formidable defense (should bump in the next week or two) and solid passing. Both were bought for just over $1M and replaced 3 players who were sold between $3.3M and $3.6M over the past season and a half. Quote:
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Conclusion So, to put it all together- we have a lot of depth due to keeping a lot of older guys around to retire. We have at least one really good backup at all positions in the event of injuries or bad form, more at the all important midfield spot. We can play some fun tactics with it all, too. So, here's the real depth chart, not including the "spare parts", with skills in parens and numbers on primary skills for those who need to brush up a little: GK: Ozkutay (ET:16) /// Manholt (Form:9) CD1: Huenul-offensive (Bril:11/Form:9 PM) /// Kavelashvili (Form:9/Solid Pass) CD2: Cyburt-offensive (Bril:11/Form:9 PM) /// Gafni (Form:9/Solid Pass/Powerful) WB: Delcarte (Mag:12/Divine SP/Head) /// Linneberg (Bril:11/Divine SP) WI1: Regulez (Titan:15 Wing/Form:9 PM/Head) /// Sidorczak (Mag:12 Wing/Mag:12 PM/Powerful) IM: Quijada-offensive (Titan:15 PM/Solid Pass/Powerful) /// Little-offensive (WC:13 PM/Pass Pass) XIM: Marsh (ET:16 PM) IM: Thacker-offensive/normal (Myth:17 PM/Pass Pass/Inad Def) /// Vickers (Titan:15 PM) WI2: Partridge- toward middle (Titan:15 PM/Quick) FO1: Angulo (Titan:15/Solid Pass/Quick) /// Treibahs (Bril:11/Solid Pass/Head) FO2: Tetlie (Titan:15/Pass Pass/Head) SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 02-23-2009 at 09:17 PM. |
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02-24-2009, 02:48 PM
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#27 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 4: Canadians - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
If I could design my own schedule, I would have moved these series walkovers out until weeks 5/6 or maybe 6/7 to try and stretch out my cup run. Rarely in Div III do you get a chance to concentrate on the cup like I will get to this week and next. You saw the lineups from Sunday against OG Kickers- it was mostly backups in a team-spirit-building PIC. We will still be PIC'ing for this match, but the lineup will mostly be starters. However, faithful Hippo fanatics will get a chance to check out the two newest Hippos in international defense trainees Zurab Kavelashvili and Itamar Gafni. As for our opponent today, the Canadians, who are from Dallas, naturally, focus mainly on defense. They could be a good CA'ing team except they don't really do anything else well- they can't attack and their midfield is mediocre. They are a middle-of-the-pack Div V team and, while they will slow our offense down, we should win a low scoring affair pretty handily. The Canadians share V.21 with the Cowtown Seacows/Airborn Penguins, a name that might look familiar to some Cup Game Box Score Kits
Canadians 2 – 3 Hippopotami (218967886) 2-19-2009 01.00 The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 35000 had shown up at Nortel Stadium for the match. Canadians tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Turpín - Farrar, Ried, Moquin, Silva, Fredriksen - Cavazza, Seward, Dragutinović, Garza - Hennen. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hippopotami. The following players took the field: Özkutay - Kavelashvili, Cyburt, Gafni - Sidorczak, Thacker, Marsh, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Hippopotami displayed their ability to play creatively. Maximiliano Turpín looked great 7 minutes into the match after stopping a shot by the visitors' Itamar Gafni. With 16 minutes played, Hippopotami's Zurab Kavelashvili fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Zurab Kavelashvili for diving. After 21 minutes Oliver Angulo made a speedy advance and dropped the ball to Tor Tetlie who shuffled it past the keeper. The score was now 0 - 1. Canadians's Brad Seward placed the ball right at his teammate's feet after a corner, but Darío Silva couldn't finish. With a shot floated in from just outside the penalty area after 28 minutes played, Steve Moquin of Canadians evened the score to 1 - 1. Hippopotami's Carlos Thacker got himself booked for a foul. The visiting Oliver Angulo was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 44 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 65 percent of possession. A surprising free kick routine after 56 minutes nearly resulted in another goal for the visitors, but the ball went just a little wide. With 63 minutes played, Canadians's Alun Farrar fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Alun Farrar for diving. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 70 minutes gave Canadians a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and Alun Farrar stepped up to the challenge, netting the 2 - 2 goal. Itamar Gafni's lack of experience almost gave Canadians a goal after 78 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. 82 minutes were showing on the scoreboard when Canadians's Alun Farrar received his second yellow card and was sent off. Zurab Kavelashvili was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Hippopotami's Ryan Linneberg had to come off the bench. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 84 minutes allowed Itamar Gafni to score the 2 - 3 goal for Hippopotami. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Canadians's Riccardo Cavazza a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 85 minutes into the game. Donald Sidorczak came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle, but he lifted the ball over Maximiliano Turpín and it was a little too high and hit the bar. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 66 percent of possession. Canadians's best player was Darío Silva. Riccardo Cavazza on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tor Tetlie. Itamar Gafni was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3. Rating details
Highlights
Cup Game Recap Yet another injury. We are having no luck at all this season with staying healthy. At least Zurab isn't out for very long. Itamar had a better game with the winning goal. It was a little closer than I would have guessed, but we were never behind the entire game. More team spirit built up and onto our second of two walkovers. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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02-24-2009, 03:09 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 4: amblerabsbestos - Houston Hippopotami
Fixture Preview
I don't think I've possibly mentioned enough that we have 2 walkovers in the series this season. Manholt's injury did coincide with this, thankfully, so Milam will get another start. You'll also get to see another pair who rarely play in important games in Brik and Weissglass, who is still looking for that elusive experience to get him up to the solid/solid necessary to become a future coach. Kits
amblerabsbestos 0 – 8 Hippopotami (217931286) 2-23-2009 01.00 Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 32616 at 'stos Dome today. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for amblerabsbestos. The following players had been chosen: Robles - Kowalski, Noyes, Caudillo, Hollis - Kenney, Granado, Burnett, Sparks - Waldron, Scales. Hippopotami decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Milam - Delcarte, Linneberg, Williams - Partridge, Little, Brik, Vickers, Weissglass - Tetlie, Angulo. Hippopotami showed off their creative tactics. The visitors could have taken the lead from a free kick after 19 minutes, if it wasn't for the jaw-dropping save by Lawrence Robles. Hippopotami's Thomas Little gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 20 minutes with a superb strike from the right. After 29 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed Adir Weissglass to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 2. The referee showed amblerabsbestos's Ricky Kenney the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The visitors' Adir Weissglass took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and central backs 32 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Hippopotami. With 33 minutes played, Hippopotami put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was Allan Brik. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. It was 0 - 4 at the break. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 86 percent of the time. After 69 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed Oliver Angulo to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 5. A drive on the left side allowed Hippopotami's Charlie Partridge to get in close and score a goal after 71 minutes, leading to 0 - 6. The Hippopotami free kick 73 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But there was an idea to it - the misdirected ball was turned into a cross towards Oliver Angulo, who was waiting for it in the box. That's 0 - 7! Don't forget to thank the assistant coach for that gem of a routine! With 73 minutes played, a phenomenal play on the left side freed Tor Tetlie, of Hippopotami, to dash through and score another goal for the visitors. The score was then 0 - 8. Hippopotami's Ryan Linneberg was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 76 minutes. Tor Tetlie could have put his team up another goal 80 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 88 percent of possession. Ricky Kenney performed admirably for amblerabsbestos. Kermit Scales on the other hand, had a terrible day. Tor Tetlie performed admirably for Hippopotami. Tomas Milam was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 8. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 14%   86% 12% 88% Series Standings (IE)
Fixture Recap Whoops. I did not mean to play Williams at all this week. That's a bit annoying actually as now one of the new trainees will miss a week of training. Haven't had a week yet where everything went according to plan, what with all the injuries, so why should this be any different. After the game, my supporters are the highest I've ever seen: "Sending Love Poems to You". Great, except, it only took 6 wins in a row to get there, I'm still only getting 3, 4, and 3 these last 3 updates and I'm still down 7 from the end of last season, despite winning 7 of 8 this season, all in competitive games (i.e. no friendlies). Smart fans, indeed! Oh, and did I mention we're in first. Doesn't really count since I'm the only team in the series who has played both of the walkovers already. Next week's match will loom fairly large as we need to hold serve at home against T Hills FC to have any shot at a good finish in the series. Off the Field Weissglass bumped! We now have a future coach. As I just got a new coach this season in Timber, it's decision time. Do I go with Weissglass as the next coach of the Hippos, sitting on him for at least 3 seasons, or do I sell him off (looks like solid/solid goes for $500-600K), buy another "coach trainee" at $100-$200K and start again? I hate to sit on him and waste a "training" spot. Also, speaking to last week's roster considerations, Meydac and Masereel were sold off for $25K and $15K. They also save us about $1K per week in wages for players who never played. This will prove annoying if I have too many injuries and don't have warm bodies for friendlies, but that shouldn't be a problem with all the extra guys on the roster. Maybe I could combine the two issues- once I'm kicked from the cup, I'll check out where I need friendly-level players on the pitch and grab a prospective coach to play there. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-04-2009, 08:34 AM
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#29 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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The III into II promotion table:
5. Members Only 26 - 10 13 6. Max's Marauders 18 - 3 13 7. FC ZUCKERHUT 03 20 - 6 13 8. CC FC 15 - 7 13 9. StocksQuest 24 - 7 12 10. One Striker 22 - 7 12 11. Houston Hippopotami 22 - 8 12 12. Holy Crusaders 19 - 5 12 |
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03-04-2009, 01:23 PM
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#30 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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I'm actually at my highest rank ever: Ranked 51 I was kindof hoping to get that to 50 but no such luck I'm going to take a L this week and drop to 3rd in the series. But more on that in a little bit- doing some more writeups currently that should be appearing in the next hour or so Where did you find the tables? Hatstats is badly out of date these days and alltid doesn't do it until after week 7 If only I knew who that dastardly CC FC was, I could knock him off and take over the auto-promotion spot SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 03-04-2009 at 01:34 PM. |
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03-04-2009, 02:53 PM
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#31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 5: RustyTrombones – Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
I have been pretty lucky so far this cup season. I have yet to run across a team that has too much midfield so I just load up there, PIC to build up team spirit, and move on. This week looks no different. The Rusty Trombones, our Round 5 opponent, are a middle-of-the-pack Div V team. Don't really know much about them or V.137, their series. Cup Game Box Score Kits
RustyTrombones 3 – 6 Hippopotami (219220233) 2-26-2009 01.00 Clear skies welcomed the 40000 spectators who had made their way to The Fudge Factory. RustyTrombones had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players took the field: Lau - Mccord, Demare, Whitney - Sielhof, Gassend, Sauerhammer, Hilker - Wheeler, Wolgast, Kelcher. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Özkutay - Kavelashvili, Huenul, Cyburt - Sidorczak, Thacker, Marsh, Quijada, Regúlez - Treibahs, Angulo. RustyTrombones used their skill at pressing to cut off the attack angles of their opponents all over the field. Hippopotami decided to play creatively. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Hippopotami's Carlos Thacker a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 7 minutes into the game. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 10 minutes into the match left Hippopotami's Donald Sidorczak completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. A well placed corner kick from Donald Sidorczak was followed by Zacarías Regúlez's hard but accurate header. The nice combination marked a goal for Hippopotami, the score now 0-2. The home crowd were delighted when Lewis Wheeler scored with a header after an attack from the right, making the score 1 to 2. But did he use his hand? That'll be one for the pundits to talk about after the game, that's for sure! After 28 minutes RustyTrombones's Martin Philipp Wolgast limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Hippopotami claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent. Robert Demare got left behind when Hippopotami's Oliver Angulo made a sudden pull forward after 54 minutes, finishing off with a swift strike. 1-3! The visitors' Oliver Angulo took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and central backs 63 minutes into the match. 1 - 4 for Hippopotami. RustyTrombones's Robert Demare was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 64 minutes. Zacarías Regúlez increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 1 - 5. Confident in their lead, Hippopotami decided to play a more defensive game at this point. Hippopotami's Damion Marsh received a play slashing through the home side's central defense after 79 minutes, and chipped it past the keeper to score the 1 - 6 goal. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. After 84 minutes, RustyTrombones's Robert Demare fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. 85 minutes into the game RustyTrombones broke through on the left wing and Luki Kelcher managed to reduce the lead to 2 - 6. 87 minutes into the game RustyTrombones broke through on the left wing and Bing Hilker managed to reduce the lead to 3 - 6. Martin Philipp Wolgast of RustyTrombones was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Hippopotami enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession. Luki Kelcher performed admirably for RustyTrombones. Bradley Lau was a disappointment, however. Most important Hippopotami player was Carlos Thacker. Zurab Kavelashvili on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 6. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 39% 61% 38% 62% Cup Game Recap No injuries and a fairly easy win. Sorry, guys: some days there's just not much to write about. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 03-04-2009 at 02:55 PM. |
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03-04-2009, 04:20 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 5: Houston Hippopotami - T Hills FC
Fixture Preview
We're back to competitive games. Similar to the Selma Sumorats game, we have a home game with a team of comparable quality to ourselves. We may be leading the series right now but that's 100% a product of schedule. If we lose this one, we're looking at a 5th/6th place finish. Also, I'm walking that series/cup tightrope which has burned me so many times in the past (and yet, still, I never learn). My next cup opponent isn't a huge challenge but isn't a giant pushover so, I've made a couple of tactical changes to the lineup; it's nothing major, tho.A huge thing for me is having a divine set pieces guy to go along with my head specialists and quick guys- it makes the little drop in "playing creatively" worth it, in my mind. So, I split up Delcarte and Linneberg, my two divine sp defenders, one for cup and one for series. Linneberg is a little weaker so he'll be playing today as well as the new defense trainees, Gafni and Kavelashvili (still learning to spell that one). That's significant because they don't have formidable playmaking like Cyburt and Heunul, which adds a couple of sublevels to my midfield. This allows me to hang with some of the better midfields out there without paying the wages and/or also allowing me to go with another wing attack rather than a WTM middie. Speaking of which, I'll be running out Sidorczak again today and using Partridge for the cup. I don't think these will really weaken me as I'm running around with insane team spirit and am at home. I think T Hills will be building up team spirit of his own with a PIC but if he doesn't, I still think we win. A minor formatting note- vBulletin isn't liking some of what I'm putting in disappearing large chunks of stuff for no reason so I'm testing out some new stuff (like standings from alltid). I hate to break up the consistency but I have to do it. Kits
Hippopotami 4 – 0 Hills (217931293) 3-2-2009 01.00 Clouds darkened the skies at The Hippodrome as 68072 spectators turned up for the match. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Özkutay - Gafni, Kavelashvili, Delcarte - Sidorczak, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Hills decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. The following players took the field: Wise - Donchev, Česonis, de Bertole, Aragon - Irzykowski, Blackburn, Lacy, Pavón, Eifert - Bãlãnica. Hippopotami took a creative approach on the field. For their match strategy, Hills had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. With 5 minutes played, Hills's Hueiler de Bertole fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Hueiler de Bertole for diving. It wasn't a pretty goal, but the free kick by Chema Delcarte after 6 minutes somehow found its way past the keeper. Hippopotami takes the lead, 1-0! Zurab Kavelashvili of Hippopotami was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. A well placed corner kick from Chema Delcarte was followed by Tor Tetlie's hard but accurate header. The nice combination marked a goal for Hippopotami, the score now 2-0. The referee showed Hills's Marvin Eifert the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Oliver Angulo was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Hippopotami's Volfs Treibahs had to come off the bench. Hippopotami solidified their lead at the 38 minute mark, as Zurab Kavelashvili manoeuvered the ball through the opposing central defence and finished for 3 - 0. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami's Zacarías Regúlez got himself booked. 3 - 0 was the halftime score. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time. After an industrious effort down the middle, Volfs Treibahs could have closed the game off after 47 minutes, but his finishing shot hit the post. Volfs Treibahs could have put Hippopotami up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 49 minutes. Volfs Treibahs gave Hippopotami supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 0 after 58 minutes, following a good exchange of passes on the right that the away team failed to deal with. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. 60 minutes into the match, Chema Delcarte could have extended the lead, but his very hard free kick went just over the bar. The referee showed Hills's Marcin Irzykowski the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 72 minutes Hippopotami's Itamar Gafni had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. Ryan Linneberg came in to replace him. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 56 percent of possession. Most important Hippopotami player was Carlos Thacker. Zurab Kavelashvili on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hills's top performer was clearly Nate Blackburn. However, Craig Aragon made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 0. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 58% 42% 56% 44% Series Standings Table
Fixture Recap Argh! Can I have one game without horrible injuries. I mean, really, I have 10 physiotherapists and their $1800 a week salary (up from $1000 back in the day) and I'm up to an insane 8 injuries, mostly on the young guys, and 17 "player weeks" of time lost. Still, a win is a win and we're on that "best case scenario" so far from earlier in the season: Quote:
But that was being generous to me, assuming a couple of draws that I might not get and a more imposing game at T Hills. I'm feeling like that somewhat boring college hoops team in a major conference in a down year. I'm getting to 10-6, beating up on the crappy teams, maybe stealing one good home win, and losing to the good teams in the league. Sure, I'm a lock on selection Sunday but I'm a bit of a paper tiger and will be lucky to make the Sweet 16. That doesn't win you a series in hattie, especially with the Wahoos drawing Supra on the road. To have any hope of sniffing the series title, I'm going to need to pull a draw at the Bridgemen, win at home vs the Wahoos, and get some help. There are still points on the board that I'm not going to get as I'm going to lose to the Wahoos next week. There are also looming road games at T Hills FC and Selma which will take some careful team spirit manipulation and some luck... SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 03-04-2009 at 07:06 PM. |
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03-05-2009, 08:22 AM
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#33 | |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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Haha. yeah.. i spent the first 3 weeks on the bottom of the list..like 16/16 slots because i had like a +4 GD with 9 points... but the place i found it is too complicated... there's a link on the series page called "promotion status" on the hattrick page. |
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03-05-2009, 02:58 PM
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#34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 6: Inter Milan-NYC - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
One of the more interesting seriesmates I had in III.3 was hrudey22 of the Jacksonville Tea Men (brief writeup in the III.3 series preview). He eventually would make it up to MLS and was the U20 coach for the US for a while. He suffered from an inordinate amount of luck in the series, always able to win close games that he had no business winning, a true beneficiary of the HTRF (HT Random Factor). Oh, and he seemed to hurt opposing players. A lot. Well, anyways, Inter Milan-NYC, this week's cup opponent is in his series, prompting this guestbook exchange. (6:32) Number 452 of 453 by sterlingice That's just like you- not injuring players on teams in your series because I might have to play them a few rounds later in the cup. How selfish! You know better. I certainly tried! The problem is, to kick a knee, you have to catch up to the player with the knee, and not only is that akin to defense, but it requires players with enough talent to know their ass from their elbow. Though, at least, it's not *pitchers* elbow we worry about. Similar to the game with T Hills FC, it's going to be a lot closer than it could be because I'm splitting up some talent and this time I'll be PIC'ing, trying to build up team spirit for the next cup game. Remember, I held back Cyburt and Huenul at OCD so we'll get a midfield boost and Partridge will also be in at WTM. Treibahs will be subbing in for Angulo since he's hurt. I was going to play Little and Vickers in the midfield but I thought that might bring it down too far so I left Quijada instead of Little. Did the gamble pay off? Cup Game Box Score Kits
Milan-NYC 1 – 2 Hippopotami (219474975) 3-5-2009 01.00 A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 64176 to San Siro. Milan-NYC tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Elíasson - Hansson, Olszyna, Lupu, Ulyanitskiy - Frugier, Ampurias, Chi-Tam, Sabatini - Shurupov, Berns. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Månholt - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Partridge, Vickers, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Treibahs, Tetlie. Hippopotami decided to play creatively. Milan-NYC could have put themselves ahead after 8 minutes but Andrey Shurupov missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. The left side created an opportunity for the visitors 16 minutes into the match, and Tor Tetlie wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. The visitors added to their lead 25 minutes into the game, after a sensational penalty kick by Hippopotami's Chema Delcarte slid just past the home keeper. 0 - 2. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Milan-NYC's Tinguaro Ampurias a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 26 minutes into the game. The player down was Erwin Vickers. The Hippopotami bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball. A marvellous Milan-NYC effort on the right-hand side resulted in a goal after 55 minutes by Andrey Shurupov, making the score 1 - 2. Óli Elíasson got a fingertip on Carlos Thacker's shot from the left 59 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. With 66 minutes played, Tor Tetlie nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. With 78 minutes played, Hippopotami's Erwin Vickers fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Erwin Vickers for diving. The fierce heat made it important to save breath, and after a few swift runs Mar Chi-Tam found it hard to get back into position. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time. Most important Milan-NYC player was Per Hansson. However, Óli Elíasson made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami's best player was Carlos Thacker. However, Birger Månholt made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 2. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 43%   57% 41% 59% Cup Game Recap We kindof got lucky, as he out hatstat'd us but we had higher possession and 4 chances to 2. Also, I just can't emphasize enough how much playing creatively helps us as, again, one of our two goals came on a penalty kick. There were some tense moments there in the second half but it came out ok in the end. Next up is an even bigger challenge in the cup. I thought I had been knocked out by this team in a previous cup but I guess I was thinking of someone else. Next week is going to be interesting strategy-wise. Maybe a PIC with some subs against the Wahoos will let Old Town Tavern's guard down and he'll lay up a little so we can take him by surprise when he gets our full squad and normal team spirit next cup game. Or maybe I'll just lose a pair next week and fans will be committing hari kari, dropping me back down below the level I was at before the win streak started in just a week... Oh, and did I mention we got another injury, but it was only a "bruised", thankfully. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-05-2009, 04:20 PM
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#35 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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hm. iirc, play creatively hurts your defense, right? I'm pulling such high defense rating now maybe i should look at it.
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03-05-2009, 11:31 PM
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#36 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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It knocks mine down 2~3 sublevels, each, but I think it's a percentage. If you're pulling a high defense, it will hurt you more. Also, I think your team has to really be built for it to be worthwhile (divine SPs, multiple quick wings/forwards, head forward). Mine is SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-09-2009, 03:02 PM
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#37 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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what kind of goal is this:
CC bypassed the midfield with their counterattack, leading to a free kick goal by Joey Buschmann for 1 - 5. SE? or CA? Yes, we played CA which leaded to a 55-45 split (Excellent High vs Passable High) and a 2-6 victory with 2 penalties, 3 regular and the above goal... I lost the possession battle... Code:
Last edited by finketr : 03-09-2009 at 03:03 PM. |
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03-09-2009, 03:19 PM
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#38 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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I don't know. Now you're getting all fancy with your SE CA goals on me
Seriously, tho, one of the utilities, either HAM or HO, keeps track of what kind of goals you score and for me it ended up being nearly a goal per game so that was worth a little defense to me. I think PC takes away a percentage of your defense, tho, so you'll fall further than I willSI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-09-2009, 04:06 PM
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#39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 6: Wahoos - Houston Hippopotami
Fixture Preview
When you start in hattrick, you want to win every game. And, frankly, if you're a pretty good manager, at lower levels, you can go all out and win a lot of ball games. However, as you play hattrick longer, you really start to realize the value of giving up on games- 3 points handed away at one point usually turn into 3 or 6 gained at another, if you plan your team spirit well. When you're in the cup, no longer facing pushovers, each week must be taken as a whole. The Wahoos are one of the best in the series- I picked them to finish first. If they win this week, they'll be there or at least tied, a little behind on GD. They've had a little schizophrenic of a season so far with a nice draw on the road against Supra but then lost at home against Selma Old Town Tavern, our cup opponent, puts up some good ratings and leads his IV.49 (hey, that series sounds familiar!) but he still is a light in the midfield and can be beaten on the road. However, I'm going to need to keep my team spirit high and maybe play a couple of subs in one game to keep form up and get all training done. Which reminds me, I got a message from someone in Georgia (Sakartvelo), apparently Kavelashvili is on a watch list for the U20/National team so I should try to get him trained. So, I was faced with the decision this week- go all out or play conservatively. The easy answer is to punt against the Wahoos as I had been planning all along, PIC, win easily against OTT with the boosted team spirit en route to at least one more PIC next week vs Bridgetown or maybe 2 in a row if things go really well, going into the second half. But a funny thing happened when I started running the numbers on HO (Hattrick Organizer). With as sky high as my team spirit and confidence are coming into this game, I'm getting a better than 40% chance to win, more like 47% win/17% draw/34% loss, based on my current lineup and his best over the past few games. What to do... Kits
Wahoos 2 - 2 Hippopotami (217931296)  3-9-2009 01.00 It had rained all day, but 41000 hardy fans still made it out to Standing Room Only. Wahoos decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Tuttle - Vanhove, Cavini, Houser - Dänzer, Hollis, Farmer, Gates, Braz - Suitts, Nix. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Özkutay - Cyburt, Huenul, Delcarte - Regúlez, Marsh, Quijada, Thacker, Partridge - Angulo, Tetlie. Hippopotami demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. Oliver Angulo slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. The rain made it hard for players like Marc Nix to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. 30 minutes into the game, Damion Marsh was a hair's breadth away from giving Hippopotami the lead with a shot from over on the left. A prompt block by Jayson Tuttle saved the home team that time. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a goal after 31 minutes by Marc Nix for Wahoos, putting them ahead 1 - 0. Hippopotami's right side looked dangerous 32 minutes in, but Jayson Tuttle made a good save on Arkadiusz Cyburt's hard shot to the top corner. Halftime score was 1 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 57 percent of possession. Carlos Thacker was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was perfectly redirected by Damion Marsh, but the ball went into the frame. 61 minutes into the match, Hippopotami's Oliver Angulo demonstrated his famed speed as he raced past his marker and passed the ball to Tor Tetlie who chipped it in for 1 - 1. Hippopotami had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 65 minutes in when Tor Tetlie came up alone against Jayson Tuttle who managed a block. Hippopotami's Tor Tetlie managed to lose the defenders as he came down the right side and scored, putting the visitors ahead, 1 - 2. The Wahoos free kick 71 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But there was an idea to it - the misdirected ball was turned into a cross towards Shawn Farmer, who was waiting for it in the box. That's 2 - 2! Don't forget to thank the assistant coach for that gem of a routine! Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 57 percent of possession. Wahoos's top performer was clearly Jayson Tuttle. Wilbur Houser on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami's top performer was clearly Carlos Thacker. Arkadiusz Cyburt turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 2. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 43% 57% 43% 57% Series Standings
Fixture Recap I was watching this game closer than I had watched a hattie game in a long time (it lost its charm when the chat room went away). I am quite conflicted- it's the battle of expectations versus adjusted expectations. A coworked or mine is a Dolphins fan and he was just enjoying this past season as they went from 1-15 to 11-5. But after they lost to the Ravens, he was so disappointed and was back on being down on them. I couldn't help but continuously remind him that you didn't in your wildest dreams even have them in this game so you just can't be too down. But once you taste success, I guess you can never have enough. To get back to the game, I'm thrilled that a game that was painted "L" in even our best case scenario turned into a "D". But when we went up 2-1 after Tetlie's second goal, that was as happy as I had been about hattie in a long time. When they scored the equalizer, it was all I could do to stop hitting refresh every minute to see if he or I would score the next goal. It was almost a little tough to leave with "only" a draw, especially considering we had 4 scoring chances to their 2. A couple of little tidbits for the record book. First is that I bet this is the first 10 game unbeaten streak we've had, for competitive games anyways. Same with the 9 game win streak that was snapped- I'm pretty sure we've never had anything that long, at least not since III. Looking back in my spreadsheet, I think we had a 13 game win streak to close season 26 and start season 27 but that was a long time ago. The 69 stars we put up tonight is tied for 2nd best with a 69 star game in season 34, trailing only a 70.5 star game that season. I haven't gotten the 70 star achievement yet as that was from the days before achievements and I'm hoping to get it this season but I'm not sure where I'm going to squeeze another star from. It was also my 13th best match ever by rating, 90% of my best. Most of the ones at the top of that list are week 14 MotS's, however, whereas this has to be one of the highest normals. It was also the second highest road rating ever, trailing at 91% season finale. Next week, at the halfway point, I'll dissect what each team has left on the schedule as I should study up and see who is in the best shape to make it out of this. As you can see from the standings, there's not much separation at the top. The bottom two have guaranteed spots and The Bridgemen are all but locked into 6th. But then there's the top 5, all within 2 points and anyone could win this. At the end of the day, we just turned a certain loss into a point in a game Hippos fans will remember for a long time. Gentlemen, we have ourselves a ball game! SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 04-01-2009 at 08:53 PM. |
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03-10-2009, 03:54 PM
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#40 | |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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Yeah, well... it was luck, i guess... losing possession 55-45 and still getting multiple penalties and SEs and a regular... ah well.. it's nice to be winning... and i think my defense rating may drop a little in the not too distant future as I'll be selling the 23 (or almost) defender when he pops. |
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03-12-2009, 12:57 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 7: Old Town Tavern - Houston Hippopotami
Cup Game Preview
Remember what I said about the huge fixture this week, I might have to hold back a little talent in the cup. I want to get Kavelashvili in the game for the possible natty team (and just profitable training) implications. Gafni is still hurt so I couldn't play him even if I wanted to. But I think other than that, I'll be playing all starters. Linneberg and Delcarte are pretty much identical- Delcarte is maybe a half level better at defense but Linneberg has better secondaries and both have divine set pieces. This means I'm going to start losing form on some of those older subs, which could really come into play with injuries and cards. But it's a chance I'm going to have to take because we're going to need every rating point we can get this week. HO is showing us with a 40% chance to win, 25% to draw, and 35% to lose so those aren't great odds even at full strength. We should still win the midfield battle and I have enough ratings on the pitch to get the win. Quote:
As for our opponent, Old Town Tavern hails from IV.49. If that sounds familiar to you, that's because it was home to the Screamin' Seamen for many seasons. For the record, that franchise is now back in IV, but IV.29, and goes by the name Club Deportivo Ibáñez. Just a little factoid I looked up before the game. He runs a good midfield, usually high solid or excellent, and fairly strong ratings across the board, almost all in the passable to excellent range. We're a slight tick better at most of those across the board, but it will be close. And this assumes they're as good as they've been so far this year and haven't been holding back. Hm... Cup Game Box Score Kits
Tavern 2 – 3 Hippopotami (219734536) 3-12-2009 01.00 77784 spectators arrived at The Pub, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Tavern decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Silyanovski - Smith, Haider, Burch - Schmeißer, MacElfrish, Ferrère, Conan, Tömösi - Peters, Mcmullen. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Özkutay - Kavelashvili, Huenul, Linneberg - Partridge, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Hippopotami took a creative approach on the field. Tavern took the lead 10 minutes into the match after a magnificent free kick by Jeffrey Mcmullen that made the score 1 - 0. László Tömösi almost managed to score another goal for Tavern, coming from the right, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors' keeper. Charlie Partridge finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 1 - 1 12 minutes into the match. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 after 13 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from Stéphane Ferrère, who, unaided, came in from the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors' keeper. There was concern in the stands when, at the 15 minute mark, Tavern's Jeffrey Mcmullen hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. After 41 minutes, the visitors evened the score after Tor Tetlie made it through the middle and struck home the 2 - 2 goal. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Tavern's László Tömösi got himself booked. It was 2 - 2 at the break. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Tavern, with an impressive 54 percent possession of the ball. After 66 minutes, Hippopotami's Damion Marsh made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Tavern's Walter Schmeißer a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 71 minutes into the game. 81 minutes into the game, László Tömösi came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. Hippopotami's Tor Tetlie made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 83 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender sprang up, clearing the ball on the line. Nicholas MacElfrish made a superb strike after 84 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors' defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. This half belonged to Tavern, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time. The most dominating Tavern player was without a doubt Nicholas MacElfrish. However, Eduard Haider made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami's best player was Carlos Thacker. Zurab Kavelashvili was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 54%   46% 55% 45% Cup Game Recap When I saw that halftime possession, I was definitely worried. It looks like they saved their best effort so far this season for our game. Karma was a little unkind to us Sunday but helped us out today as we were 3 for 4 on chances to his 2 for 6. Tho, to be fair, we have a good defense and we have a pretty good attack compared to his defense. So many little notes, so little time. We hit 70 stars in this match for only the second time ever. It hasn't been updated yet, but that will get me another 5 achievement points, 30 up from the 25 for 60+ stars. That will push me over the 300 achievement point barrier as well. Next, the undefeated streak was pushed to 11. The top 15 undefeated teams in the US stop at 12 in a row so we're just off that list. For Div III, we're tied for 6th with Crizackheads, our next cup opponent. Speaking of which, we get our first home cup game since season 28 next week. This would normally have me all tingly and excited, particularly since Crizackheads is about the same level of team as the Hippos or maybe just a smidge better. However, as luck would have it, they're located in Houston as well... which means it's a derby. So much for home field advantage. Also, unless I'm mistaken, if I survive next week, I actually get a week off for a friendly before the next cup game for the Masters. If that's the case, I would have no friendly after my second Bridgemen game but between the game vs the Wahoos and at T Hills FC. If that all is true and comes to fruition, that could be very fortunate and I could really take advantage of it. However, I'm not even sure that is true and victory next week is no certainty. Onto the Bridgemen and the end of the first half in III.3! SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-16-2009, 01:14 PM
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#42 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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at the break, CCFC has 6 wins, 1 draw, +16 gd and ranked #45 (#5 autopromote slot for III->II).
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03-16-2009, 02:45 PM
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#43 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Where are you getting the promotion info? I'd be curious to check as the season goes along. I'm about to do this week's fixture writeup and part of it looks at the possible scenarios out there for us
SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-17-2009, 01:32 PM
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#44 | |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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Quote:
Go to your series page (mine is iii.14). click on the link that says "Promotion Status" in "More info" about your league. --tim |
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03-19-2009, 07:42 PM
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#45 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 7: Houston Hippopotami - Bridgemen
Fixture Preview
Every season, there's a team or two who is in a little over their head in III. They won a weak IV and were able to build crazy team spirit and coast. Once in III, some of them quit partways through the season but most take their medicine and return to IV, to get stronger and come back. The Bridgemen are this year's version of that team. Everyone else is a step or two above them. Their only wins this season are over the two walkovers. However, they'll at least finish 6th and get a chance to stay with a qualifier. Substitutions are one of the more useful innovations in the past few seasons. I've only used them in Youth Academy games so far but this seems like a good game to try it out in a real game. I'll play Sidorczak to keep his form up since he and Partridge are mostly a wash and get Kavelashvili his training this week. The subs will be Treibahs at forward and Little at striker- I'll put in conditions that if the lead is ever more than 1 or we're losing at halftime, Thacker and Tetlie will come in. That would instantly bump up the midfield and strikers well above what he is capable of. I don't think I'll use orders all that often, but I like it in moderation. It's a good opportunity to get some experience and training for young guys or some rest for carded or older guys. It's a good change that was well overdue and I can see utilizing it a lot in early cup games. Kits
Hippopotami 3 - 1 Bridgemen (217931300) 3-16-2009 01.00 Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 57179 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Özkutay - Linneberg, Huenul, Kavelashvili - Sidorczak, Marsh, Little, Quijada, Regúlez - Treibahs, Angulo. Bridgemen tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Starters: Cooke - Porto, Orgad, Mesika, Pinczés - Bagay, Williams, Waller, Miller, Klangdahl - Shaver. Hippopotami demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. Hippopotami broke through on the left 20 minutes into the game, with Oliver Angulo firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 1 - 0 lead. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Hippopotami's Volfs Treibahs a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 23 minutes into the game. Unfortunately for Bridgemen, Clayton Shaver was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. Frederik Roosenboom replaced him. Donald Sidorczak made one of his many fine passes from the wing into the middle 24 minutes into the match. Volfs Treibahs bravely attempted to execute a diving header and the ball was met firmly with his forehead for Hippopotami. 2 - 0. Bridgemen's Yossef Mesika got himself booked for a foul. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami's Oliver Angulo putting the lead up to 3 - 0. After 42 minutes, Yossef Mesika replied with a fantastic free kick and the ball went in off the bar. 3 to 1. Halftime score was 3 - 1. Hippopotami enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession. Oliver Angulo could have put Hippopotami up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 56 minutes. Hippopotami's Volfs Treibahs left the field after 68 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Tor Tetlie. Hippopotami's Thomas Little saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 69 minutes. Andrei Cojocaru was called on to replace Bridgemen's Rotem Orgad after 78 minutes following a nasty collision. Oliver Angulo almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, coming from the right, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors' keeper. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time. Batı Özkutay performed admirably for Hippopotami. Zurab Kavelashvili on the other hand, had a terrible day. Bridgemen's best player was Mikey Miller. Frederik Roosenboom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 1. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 59% 41% 57% 43% Series Standings (having problems cutting and pasting- see next post) Fixture Recap The substitutions did exactly what they were supposed to. I didn't need Thacker so he's rested for the cup and avoids injury and card. I didn't want one of my big scorers injured so I played Treibahs in place of Tetlie. Treibahs got hurt and Tetlie had to come in but better than the other way around. I would have liked to get some more points to help that differential but I'm working more towards points. This season, both will be crucial. Next up, a very tough cup game. But first a look ahead. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 03-19-2009 at 08:49 PM. |
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03-19-2009, 08:48 PM
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#46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Series Standings
Table
A Look Ahead
Here's my best guess as to what happens. Walkovers (including Bridgement) are in blue, projected wins are in green and losses in red. Basically, I've gone with all home wins with the exception of myself winning at T Hills FC. If that happens, the final standings will be as follows: Hippo 34 Selma 33 Supra 28 Wahoo 28 THills 22 However, that's a near perfect scenario for us and lots can happen. Five Teams
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-19-2009, 09:45 PM
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#47 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Cup, Round 8: Houston Hippopotami - Crizackheads
Cup Game Preview
Last week, I already mentioned the rotten luck that this was a derby so only a limited midfield advantage. We get to play all of our best players after holding back a little in series against The Bridgemen. Unfortunately, if they play as well as they can, we still will likely lose with percentages running about 35/20/45 (W/D/L) against us. He has been playing two different teams, similar to what I have been doing- holding back some players and making sure to get some others in. He played pretty much all of his big guys this past fixture so we might catch a break if he keeps the pattern up. Cup Game Box Score Kits
Hippopotami 4 - 1 Crizackheads (219999361) 3-19-2009 01.00 81000 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. The derby had been the talk of Houston all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hippopotami. The following players had been chosen: Özkutay - Delcarte, Huenul, Cyburt - Partridge, Marsh, Thacker, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. Crizackheads decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. The following players took the field: Jansen - Ogén, Aguiar de Luque, Mclain, Sepulveda - Procner, Jágerský, Rotheigner, Torres, Groise - Wu Han. Hippopotami demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Crizackheads on this day. A lovely rush by Crizackheads's Otto-Jan Groise past Chema Delcarte should have resulted in a goal, but the finish was just wide. Given a free kick at a sharp angle, Hippopotami went for a variation that loyal fans may recognize from training. A sideways passing move moved the defence out of position and let Aurelius Huenul slip through on goal. No hesitation - and it's 1 - 0, 5 minutes into the game. Crizackheads almost scored after a swift counterattack 17 minutes into the game, but Hoss Sepulveda put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. A lunatic dribble by Ives Torres, in front of his own keeper, set up Hippopotami's Tor Tetlie for an embarrassingly easy strike after 20 minutes. 2 - 0! After 27 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by Charlie Partridge might have resulted in another goal for Hippopotami. However, Christopher Jansen made a spectacular save. 2 - 0 was the halftime score. This half belonged to Hippopotami, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Hippopotami scored another to make it 3 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for Oliver Angulo after 62 minutes. A well placed corner kick from Chema Delcarte was followed by Zacarías Regúlez's hard but accurate header. The nice combination marked a goal for Hippopotami, the score now 4-0. A great pass from the defensive line of Crizackheads resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by Hoss Sepulveda in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. The away team reduced the score to 4 - 1, as George Mclain struck home, set up well by a play on the left 86 minutes into the match. Crizackheads's Otto-Jan Groise got himself booked for a foul. Oliver Angulo should probably have put his team up another goal after 88 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by Christopher Jansen kept the visitors in the game. With 88 minutes played, Crizackheads's Santiago Ogén fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Santiago Ogén for diving. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 56 percent of possession. Hippopotami's top performer was clearly Carlos Thacker. On the other hand, Arkadiusz Cyburt's play was disheartening. Crizackheads's best player was Lee Wu Han. Mieczysław Procner turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 1. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 59% 41% 56% 44% Cup Game Recap This was a mirror of last week's game. Last week, I saw us down in possession at halftime and was really worried. This week, with a 2-0 lead and 59%, I knew that barring something crazy we had this one in the bag. It seems like we've been smashing records every week this season, and this game is no different. This will be the first season ever we have advanced to round 9 in the cup! We had been to round 8 three times but never had won our round 8 game. Looking at the calendar, there is no week off for the Masters so I was incorrect on that account. That undefeated streak is now up to 13, which is good for 6th in the entire USA. Like last week, our next cup opponent is on the list as Max's Marauders is 5th with 15 in a row. This means he has won (14) or drawn (1) every game this season, starting with the cup in week 1 until now. The top streak in the US is 17. Speaking of Max's Marauders, if they play their best game and they play ours, we win. We should have elevated team spirit from another game against The Bridgemen and their midfield is ok but not spectacular and we've been putting up crazy midfields this season with a combo of good health, good form, and good card status. I'm hoping to keep that up. Also, after the Wahoos game, I touched on the "best game" rating and how we hit 90% in that game. This game, we tied our best ever, a 306 Hatstats end of the season MotS in January of 2008. This one was a 317, our highest total ever. With all of these team records falling, I think it's time for another little feature, this time about Achievements. SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-23-2009, 01:19 PM
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#48 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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Another week, another virtual walkover and a 7 point lead with 6 to go and another virtual walkover this coming weekend...
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03-24-2009, 09:05 AM
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#49 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Quote:
I was not so fortunate... (story to come )SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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03-25-2009, 02:37 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Back in Houston!
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Fixture, Week 8: Bridgemen - Houston Hippopotami
Fixture Preview
Well, you saw the plan. If we win out, we shouldn't need a lot of help to win III. So, onto week 1 of the second half of the season. We have a winnable series game and winnable cup game but I'm going to have to spread out the talent a little. It will be similar to last week except Tetlie will be playing the whole game with Treibahs hurt. I have this nice security blanket with substitutions should something go wrong. But the rain was falling in Jersey on this dark day... Kits
Bridgemen 1 - 1 Hippopotami (217931302) 3-23-2009 01.00 The crowd of 35087 turning up at Bridgemen Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Bridgemen started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. They fielded: Cooke - Porto, Orgad, Mesika, Pinczés - Bagay, Williams, Waller, Miller, Klangdahl - Roosenboom. Hippopotami decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Özkutay - Delcarte, Gafni, Kavelashvili - Sidorczak, Marsh, Little, Quijada, Regúlez - Tetlie, Angulo. The wings were the focus of most of Bridgemen's attacks on this day. Hippopotami showed off their creative tactics. Mikey Miller showed great fighting spirit and didn't seem to mind the rain at all. Tor Tetlie had a good try after 6 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. Oliver Angulo slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. Bridgemen created a good opportunity to score 37 minutes into the match when Graham Waller's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 41 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from Erdem Bagay, who, unaided, came in from the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors' keeper. Halftime score was 1 - 0. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Bridgemen, with an impressive 54 percent possession of the ball. The bench was restless, and in the 46 minute the coach gave Carlos Thacker the opportunity the player had been hoping for. Thomas Little reluctantly left the field. The visitors' Tor Tetlie was alert on a play coming in from the left, tying the score at 1 - 1 after 58 minutes. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami's Donald Sidorczak got himself booked. After 77 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to Hippopotami's Juan Alberto Quijada being carried off the pitch and replaced by Arkadiusz Cyburt. Chema Delcarte became the new Hippopotami captain. 84 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Oliver Angulo, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. With 85 minutes played Yossef Mesika almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but the visitors' Batı Özkutay was onto it, grabbing the would be breakthrough ball. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami's Zurab Kavelashvili got himself booked. Bridgemen enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession. Most important Bridgemen player was Mikey Miller. Frederik Roosenboom on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami's top performer was clearly Carlos Thacker. On the other hand, Zurab Kavelashvili's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 1. Rating details
Highlights
Possession 54%   46% 52% 48% Series Standings
Fixture Recap I didn't watch this game as I was out on Sunday but as soon as I saw my front page and the "15 game unbeaten streak", I knew something had gone wrong as I should have also had a "4 game winning streak". The rain ruined some of our scoring chances and ratings of our quick players while my midfield was awful due to holding back Thacker and Quijada being injured. Now we really need some help since we're 1 point behind Selma and 2 behind Supra. Like I said, I think Supra will come back to earth but Selma has an easy second half schedule and I need someone stealing points from them. What a difference a week makes. Quijada and Treibahs are hurt. Selma has wrenched the series favorite mantle from us. Thinks are certainly looking most bleak... "The Monarch" What is that on the horizon? Is it a bird? A plane? Superman? No, that'd be silly. But it is royalty- John King, "The Monarch", and his mythical playmaking (and formidable passing) will be manning the midfield in our upcoming matches. He's instantly our best middie and comes to us in solid form and in our hour of need. I'd been wanting to upgrade the midfield for a little while now and this is a perfect opportunity. The cup run brought in some extra cash and I had some cushion already. Ultimately, I'll have to sell someone once Quijada comes back (likely Marsh) to offset some of the $3.1M I paid for him but, more importantly, to offset the increased wages. But we'll worry about that once the dust settles. For now, it's time to prepare for the cup and then try to steal a series game or two! Quote:
SI
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Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" |
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