2024-12-16, 12:30 AM - Word count:
A surprising start to the season so far, we’re in second place! I am really confused about how the leaderboard works (shouldn’t it just be w/l record) but I digress, WE’RE IN SECOND! Although we’re coming off of a rough 3-0 loss against Atletico Medellin, the team I last broke down our first match on, I’m back for matchday 6, and spoiler alert - it was a fun game. We were definitely favored heading into the week, with us having even odds to win vs 13-5 odds to draw and 12-5 odds for Stockholm to win. Regardless, we needed a rebound game after the rough gameday 5 and we certainly got it.
The action started quickly, as five minutes into the game, Mamba tapped it back to Johnson who launched it in for an easy goal to go up 1-0, with momentum. After some good defensive play from us and them, seven minutes later Johnson this time sends it sideways to Artista, who scores an easy goal, with the goalie nowhere near the ball. Fast forward another 10 minutes, and we’re down the field after stealing the ball back from Stockholm, and Artista has the ball. Showing off a bit, he weaves the ball through three defenders and jukes out the goalie for his second goal of the match, 25 minutes into the game.
Now is about where I’m starting to feel bad. We’re back in the game about 3 minutes later, and just display some excellent passing to score easily, almost effortlessly. Cahill, Boycott, Yamaguchi, and Johnson were all crucial to this goal, but only Johnson gets the credit (to be completely fair, that was an amazing kick to get his second goal of the game) and Yamaguchi for the assist. Skipping ahead quite a bit, now we’re at halftime and this remains the score. Both teams have put together good derives, but neither has scored yet. Although I’m confident in our team and know how strong a 4-0 lead is, I’m still nervous, after all, I’m a Niners fan, and I’m practically an expert at blowing it at the last minute.
A minute later I’m no longer worried. Boycott drives the ball up the field and passes it to a wide (HOW TF was he so open) open Yamaguchi who drives the ball into the corner to grab his first goal of the night and bring the lead to 5 nil. The goalkeeper made a good effort on this play but yet again was just barely short. Skipping forward … 5 MINUTES?!, after a huge punt (goal kick) from Stockholm gets intercepted by a brilliant header by myself and sent back their way, Yamaguchi sends it to Wellerman who tosses it to a wide-open Johnson for a HAT TRICK! (I think that’s the soccer term for three goals) At this point, the game is basically sealed, even with essentially half the time left on the clock (50 minutes played so far). This game has been wild so far. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a lopsided game, it was wild.
Fast forward twenty minutes of not much offensive action, and DAMN. you’d think Stockholm would learn their lesson about not leaving Yamaguchi wide open, but they clearly didn’t, and after a successful drive Yamaguchi was able to boot it into the goal with an assist by Boycott for his second goal and bring the game to an almost insurmountable 7-0 lead (not sure if this has ever come back from, whether in FM or IRL). Hell, this score almost looks like a (nightmarish offensively) first-quarter American Football game. Here’s where I’m going to stop for the game. While they did proceed to score two more goals nearer to the end of the game to stat pad for their players, I think the game was over by this point, and although there’s amazing play to be broken down, this was never affecting the outcome.
Final score, 7-2. This has got to be the highest-scoring soccer game I’ve ever watched (I don’t watch much soccer LMAO) but damn. We’ve got to be the best team in the league after that, regardless of the 3-0 loss we just suffered at the hands of the previous best team in the league, Atletico. This game was a great improvement from the previous few games, and although it’s almost definitely an outlier game, it’ll definitely go into my library of things to watch when I want to be cheered up :).
The action started quickly, as five minutes into the game, Mamba tapped it back to Johnson who launched it in for an easy goal to go up 1-0, with momentum. After some good defensive play from us and them, seven minutes later Johnson this time sends it sideways to Artista, who scores an easy goal, with the goalie nowhere near the ball. Fast forward another 10 minutes, and we’re down the field after stealing the ball back from Stockholm, and Artista has the ball. Showing off a bit, he weaves the ball through three defenders and jukes out the goalie for his second goal of the match, 25 minutes into the game.
Now is about where I’m starting to feel bad. We’re back in the game about 3 minutes later, and just display some excellent passing to score easily, almost effortlessly. Cahill, Boycott, Yamaguchi, and Johnson were all crucial to this goal, but only Johnson gets the credit (to be completely fair, that was an amazing kick to get his second goal of the game) and Yamaguchi for the assist. Skipping ahead quite a bit, now we’re at halftime and this remains the score. Both teams have put together good derives, but neither has scored yet. Although I’m confident in our team and know how strong a 4-0 lead is, I’m still nervous, after all, I’m a Niners fan, and I’m practically an expert at blowing it at the last minute.
A minute later I’m no longer worried. Boycott drives the ball up the field and passes it to a wide (HOW TF was he so open) open Yamaguchi who drives the ball into the corner to grab his first goal of the night and bring the lead to 5 nil. The goalkeeper made a good effort on this play but yet again was just barely short. Skipping forward … 5 MINUTES?!, after a huge punt (goal kick) from Stockholm gets intercepted by a brilliant header by myself and sent back their way, Yamaguchi sends it to Wellerman who tosses it to a wide-open Johnson for a HAT TRICK! (I think that’s the soccer term for three goals) At this point, the game is basically sealed, even with essentially half the time left on the clock (50 minutes played so far). This game has been wild so far. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a lopsided game, it was wild.
Fast forward twenty minutes of not much offensive action, and DAMN. you’d think Stockholm would learn their lesson about not leaving Yamaguchi wide open, but they clearly didn’t, and after a successful drive Yamaguchi was able to boot it into the goal with an assist by Boycott for his second goal and bring the game to an almost insurmountable 7-0 lead (not sure if this has ever come back from, whether in FM or IRL). Hell, this score almost looks like a (nightmarish offensively) first-quarter American Football game. Here’s where I’m going to stop for the game. While they did proceed to score two more goals nearer to the end of the game to stat pad for their players, I think the game was over by this point, and although there’s amazing play to be broken down, this was never affecting the outcome.
Final score, 7-2. This has got to be the highest-scoring soccer game I’ve ever watched (I don’t watch much soccer LMAO) but damn. We’ve got to be the best team in the league after that, regardless of the 3-0 loss we just suffered at the hands of the previous best team in the league, Atletico. This game was a great improvement from the previous few games, and although it’s almost definitely an outlier game, it’ll definitely go into my library of things to watch when I want to be cheered up :).
