| CNP Football Tournament (http://kics.net) 3rd~5th October 2003 |
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Tournament MVP: Sean Freer (for winning it all
with a spectacular curving ball in the championship game) OVERVIEW Markus Hatzelmann said it best with his observation that the Han River Harriers put in a very ¡°Germanic¡± performance in conquering the third annual KICS Peace Cup (recall Gary Lineker¡¯s famous: "Football is a game in which 22 men run round after a ball, and at the end Germany win.") Even the Harrier¡¯s progress through the tournament resembled the kind the German national team makes in either European or World Cups: Gritty, sometimes plodding performances in the early stages (bickering all the while), but just enough to get to the knock-out round; never-say-die narrow escape in the quarter finals; superior tactics to overcome a more flamboyant opponent in the quarters; final victory, based on team discipline – never losing shape, sticking to the game plan, accurate passing under pressure -- and of course ruthless defending. By the end the Harriers barely resembled the cocky gaggle of a team that managed, despite themselves, to beat Uzbekistan in the opening game. The Harriers team that emerged was disciplined and quietly confident, aware of each other¡¯s respective strengths and optimistic about the remainder of the league season. DAY 1 – Friday, October 3, 2003 Han River Harriers 3 - 1 Uzbekistan Man of the Match: Patrick Rasquinet The thrill of victory¡¦ or ¡°winning ugly¡±, for an ugly win it was. With the possible exception of the Uzbekistani center forward and their center mid, the Central Asian players were clearly out of their league against the Harriers. One could tell they didn¡¯t play together regularly as their passes were easily anticipated while their crude attempts at individual play were quickly shut down by Harrier mid-fielders and defenders, in particular central defender Patrick Rasquinet, a Belgian in his debut performance for the Harriers. All the more disappointing then was the lackluster performance put in by the Harriers. Numerous passes were mistimed and there was very little creativity by any players. For the most part, the game consisted of long balls or individual runs to get the ball down the pitch followed by hopeful chips into the middle of the box looking for headers from one of our strikers or Lawrence Heavey, who is always dangerous in the air; certainly an effective tactic against the likes of Uzbekistan but the players knew even then that the same tactic wouldn¡¯t work against stronger teams in the tournament. One of the first chances of the game came from Ryan Freer on loan from goodness knows where. Ryan plays remarkably like his brother Sean with quick jerky movements and bursts of speed, usually topped off with a hard shot on goal. In this instance, about three minutes into the game, he attempted to score from about nine yards out but his shot ricocheted off the side post and bounced around between players at the goal mouth only to be cleared by an opposing defender. Later Ryan would make up for his miss with a pin-point accurate cross to Evan Hale who made no mistake with the header. The first goal of the match was also a header. Dave Shin made one of his patented runs down the left side and crossed the ball to Sean unmarked on the far side of the net. Sean headed the ball strait down right next to the keeper¡¯s legs and scored. Down the left side Dave was having a field day with the Uzbekistani right back, turning him inside out almost at will. Even David admitted however that he could have done better distributing the ball to the forwards. Likewise, defender Karl Jackson, a master of control in tight corners, toyed with opposition mid-fielders and supplied many useful chips into the box. Ultimately he spent too much time forward. Later, in the quarterfinals this tendency would cause a few difficulties as the defense would be over run on counterattacks while he was stranded in mid-field. Near the end of the half, one of Karl¡¯s aforementioned ¡°useful¡± chips resulted in the second goal for the Harriers. The ball landed hard on Evan¡¯s chest, and he did well to get it under control, turn, and blast a shot into the back of the net. Uzbekistan¡¯s lone goal was a fluke. Their hefty but competent mid fielder sitting alone at the top of the box took a speculative looping shot at goal. Kevin Kowell, in goal, and probably the most consistent player on the pitch till that point, assumed the ball was heading out and allowed it to go over his head¡¦ into the net. Big Kebin sometimes gets mixed up over when and when not to use his hands. But he¡¯s learning¡¦ Despite the general sloppiness of the game a few elegant plays were made once the Harriers chose to pass. In the final minutes David, surrounded by two defenders, made a long pass back to Randal Smith who one-touched a long Beckham-like cross to Lawrence, leaping high to meet it. Lawrence¡¯s shot was intercepted by an opposition defenseman who then failed to make the clearance. After a brief ping-pong match and several hacks at the ball a shouting match broke out between Lawrence and one of his colleagues from the opposition. This resulted in the first of seven yellow cards the Harriers were to earn in the tournament. At the end of the day players left the field with a good feeling assuming (wrongly as it would turn out) that the kinks displayed during the game would be gone once we played our next match against the Japanese. DAY 2 – Saturday, October 4, 2003 Han River Harriers 0 – 1 APRO (a Japanese team) Man of the Match: Chris Morcom ¡¦And the agony of defeat. Worst of all, the Harriers deserved it. Of all the teams in the tournament the Japanese (a.k.a. APRO) were by far the most organized and had the best passing. It didn¡¯t help that the Harriers came into the game over confident (cocky) thinking their diminutive opponents would be a push-over. The 3-5-2 lineup employed against them turned out to be completely inadequate as the Japanese proved their slight builds were in fact their greatest strength. From the opening kickoff they smothered the Harrier¡¯s mid-field using speed and agility giving the good guys little or no space to maneuver or maintain shape. Rarely did an APRO player touch the ball more than once before passing and they constantly switched to the opposite side of the field with long but accurate passes. It was an overrun. Had the Japanese possessed a creative striker – perhaps their only lack – the score would have been much worse than 1-0. As it was, their goal came as a result of an offside trap gone awry. Karl would later observe that once an offside trap fails there¡¯s little the defense can do other than sit back and watch the resulting one-on-one. In this case a lanky Japanese forward got the better of Johnny Ziomek with a side-step and easy tap-in. Frustrated and cantankerous, the Harriers became more aggressive during the second half and yellow cards were soon in evidence: Markus got one for a late challenge after an APRO man beat him to the ball; Lawrence got one for sweeping the feet out from under a player (Sean said he could here the ¡°crack¡± of the poor fellow¡¯s shin pad as he went tits up). Both Kevin and Randal should have been carded for over zealous challenges but their charm and boyish good looks left both unpunished. Kevin, as is his want, simply plowed over a player who happened to be in the way. Randal, much more subtle, crashed into the back and nearly crippled an opposition striker (the lanky one who scored their goal) as the two of them went up for a high ball. Not that these incidents are anything to be proud of¡¦ Left wing Chris Morcom was the lone bright spot in the Harrier line-up. While his team mates were sending speculative long balls down the line he kept his head and made intelligent short passes to the center of the pitch and generally kept the Harriers looking respectable. For this he is the player of the game. Han River Harriers 1 – 0 Daejeon FC (an International team of players hailing from Daejeon) Man of the Match: Markus Hatzelmann Once again the Harriers made it hard on themselves turning what should have been an easy win into trench warfare. Again the passing was deplorable and there was too much reliance on long balls down the touch lines. On the bright side, the Harriers refused to give in and were strong defensively despite Daejeon having a very fast and talented right wing. On the two occasions he managed to by-pass Randal to make the cross, Karl and Lawrence (who had dropped back from midfield) were there to clean up the mess. Evan¡¯s goal in the second half began with a pass from David to Joos. From twenty yards out the Dutchman took a hard left footed shot at goal which the keeper parried towards Evan who sent it strait back into the onion bag. Evan¡¯s tenacity would work against him later in the half when he and an opposing defender knocked heads while challenging for a high ball at the corner of the box. Despite Evan¡¯s message of peace the referee saw fit to award a yellow card. Apart from making several crucial challenges Markus could be heard rallying his team mates through out the game. Few would disagree that he deserved the game ball for this match. Preparations for the next day¡¯s games entailed copious amounts of a bubbly amber colored liquid (probably some kind of vitamin supplement) and seclusion in a top flight training facility known as a ¡°noraebang¡±. The efforts of those inside were evident by the wailing that could be heard outside the building – obvious signs of exertion and physical suffering. DAY 3 – Sunday, October 5, 2003 Han River Harriers 2 – 2 <5-4 in the penalty shoot-out> Diadora (a Korean high-school team) Man of the Match: Johnny Ziomek It seemed the Harriers hadn¡¯t learnt their lesson from the game against the Japanese. Finishing second in their group with a recent victory against Daejeon under their belt and with Trent Anderson joining the line-up, the assumption was that the Diadora would be a push-over. They were high school students after all. But once again the game took on a familiar feel as long and accurate crosses flew over the midfield on to teenage feet running full bore for goal. The men in blue (a fetching dark blue this time) could only respond with ineffectual long balls down the line which only served to tire their already tired strikers.
Not long afterwards, Joos and Trent, running in tandem up the middle, made a one-two wall pass to fool the defense and leave Trent on his own with the goalie. The poor lad didn¡¯t have a chance: Trent coolly picked his spot and scored. But the Harriers were still down a goal and tensions were high. The young Korean team began to lose confidence while the Harriers were emboldened by several near misses. It was only a matter of time. Sure enough, with five minutes left in the game Evan was once again the man of the moment, muscling through two defenders and hammering in the tying goal. When both teams settled themselves in the center of the pitch for the ensuing penalty shoot-out confidence was high in the Harriers camp while the teenagers were slumped and moping, looking as if they had already lost. As it turned out, their feelings were justified¡¦ The penalty shootout unfolded thus (with the Harriers shooting first):
When the two sides lined up for the usual handshakes and hearty farewells one of the opposition players started to insult the Harriers. Kevin put a stop to that; however, taking into account the emotional and confusing time that puberty can be he let the poor lad live. For saving two penalties and intimidating the hell out of little teenage boys, Johnny gets the nod as man of the match. Han River Harriers 0 – 0 <4 – 1 in the penalty shootout> Seoul United (a mainly African-French-North American team) Man of the Match: Johnny Ziomek This was Trent¡¯s shining moment. Somewhere between the end of the game with Diadora and the start of the Seoul United match he took hold of the reigns of the team. With his experience playing at university in Portland he recognized strait away that the Harriers would have to change their formation to something more defensive if they intended to beat Seoul United. So instead of the Harrier¡¯s usual 3-5-2 formation he instituted a 5-3-2 formation which was maintained till the close of the tournament. The game plan would be simple: let the ball come to us, if stuck, kick the ball into the corners, and above all, defend like life depended on it. Hopefully the Harriers would either win a goal on a counter attack or else win a penalty shoot-out. Just before the players went on the pitch Ryan brought out a bag of little pink candies, or what appeared to be candies (certainly by the way the players were gobbling them down). Upon closer inspection these ¡°candies¡± turned out to be pain-killers! The IOC is investigating. Seoul United played as expected, with a full-on assault led by Fudgi and Adams. Unlike the Japanese or the Koreans, these were big men and Kevin, Karl, Lawrence and Randal had their hands full trying to keep them at bay. Only when United strikers tried individual efforts were the Harriers confident of shutting them down. This was due to the tight game the Harriers played, never allowing the United forwards any space once they crossed the center line. Fudgi -- running, stopping, turning -- was most threatening when he combined with his midfielder Christophe, United¡¯s latest acquisition from the now defunct French team. On several occasions their passing plays managed to split the Harrier¡¯s defense. One such play is worth mentioning¡¦ At one point in the second half, Christophe had made a perfectly weighted pass, past Randal, to an on-coming Fudgi who ran strait towards the Harrier net. Randal did well to get back but was not able to fully stop Fudgi¡¯s shot. Johnny managed to deflect the ball to the right were Adams (a United player) with Kevin in toe, both lunging in. The ball bounced back to Fudgi, still on the ground, and he attempted a deflection but instead only managed to graze the ball, sending it spinning along the goal line. Frantic, Kevin dives over Johnny who is prone and still unaware of the location of the ball. In mid-dive Kevin somehow manages to direct the ball away from the net where it is finally cleared from danger. Exactly what happened, no one is certain of, but one thing is for sure, Kevin can rightly claim to have had a hand in the Harrier¡¯s final victory. With the second half winding down the Harriers had very little left in them. Seoul United was gradually creating more and more space with Gregoire Frecon (another French import on United) getting very close with some mid-range shots. Players like David and Sean who depended heavily on their running game, looked particularly punch drunk, so it was to everyone¡¯s relief that the final whistle blew signaling another penalty shootout. The Harrier¡¯s lineup was the same as it was against Diadora with the exception that Joos moved into David¡¯s place in the line while David took the place of the fifth shooter. Seoul United shot first¡¦
An eye witness (with a twin brother and having a first name beginning with ¡®S¡¯) claims that David was shaking with relief at not having to take the fifth penalty shot. Be that as it may, the Harriers were off to the finals! Han River Harriers vs. SBFC ¡°Jokers¡± ( a mainly North American team) Man of the Match: Trent Anderson A number of players were limping by time the final rolled around. Trent had water bottles strapped to both ankles while Lawrence had his right thigh bandaged. The game plan would be the same as it was with Seoul United, and with another dip into the pain killers the Harriers were once again on the pitch awaiting the whistle for their most important game since the formation of the team in back in August. SBFC came on strong and their defense consisting of Wayne and their new #7 seemed impenetrable. One of the most dangerous Jokers, interestingly enough, was Nick Chadwick who made several threatening crosses into the box. Fortunately his crosses and most others were headed safely away by Markus, Karl, Trent and Lawrence. On at least two plays the Jokers hit the crossbar: once with a header and once from a shot from distance. Kevin and Randal on the flanks communicated well to mark on-coming strikers who were constantly switching sides. It was a rough game: Markus landed hard on his head after being sub-marined while jumping for a header; Lawrence was kneed in the back, and Evan was brought down on a number of occasions. Not that the Harriers were saints: Sean (for a high kick), Lawrence (innocent!) and Evan (innocent!) all received cards this game.
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