Port Royal FC MD13

[Quitolis]

This Match Day is a difficult one for the squad. Before Port Royal stepped out on the pitch they learned that Jakarta had won earlier today, meaning the top spot on the Academy leaderboard was out of reach. Fortunately their morale was not tarnished beyond recognition because they still had something to play for today. With a win against Istanbul they could clinch second place in the league. This should be a good matchup for Port Royal, as Istanbul is a fully Legend team sitting at the bottom of the table.

The teams take the field in a night game with the lights on brightly making the familiar X shape under each player. The color matchup is fantastic with both teams wearing their home kits. Hard green for Port Royal and all red for Istanbul.

Port Royal get the opening kickoff and swing the ball to the side where Gerrard makes a pass up the sideline to Thomas Thunder, who is paying absolutely no attention and the ball rolls right by, out of bounds.

The game jumps to halfway through the 2nd minute where Gerrard intercepts a pass in midfield and then Tenderloin gets the pass up the field to Newman who is playing with his back to the defense. This smart positioning allows him to see Velox making a run up the right sideline, so that is where the ball is played. Velox takes two touches and crosses it low to Munchakoopa but the defender is there to clear it out for a corner. This corner comes in and is headed slightly away by the defense, but it falls straight down to the foot of Munchakoopa who takes the shot to the top right corner. The keeper Hall is already in good position to grab it out of the air.

Now in the 4th minute an Istanbul throw in gains them possession and they pass it around the defenders a few times before they find Nunez all alone at the far side of the field. They get it to him just fine but his run falls short as the Port Royal players seem much faster and get back. Gerrard and Thunder double team him and are able to retrieve the ball. Port Royal looks up for the break but Tenderloin does not see the right opportunity so he chooses to maintain possession this time and passes it back to Lexington. The next pass to Velox is the end of the passive decisions because Velox likes to RUN. He gets the ball and instantly turns up field and easily outruns Knight and gets his cross into the penalty area. Again a low cross, this one makes it past a few defenders. It also rolls right by Munchakoopa and Newman who must not have been ready for the cross! A defender and Thunder make a play for the ball and that is when the referee comes running in. He listens to the VAR and they award a penalty kick! It must have been the contact with Thomas Thunder before the ball was cleared out. Newman steps up to the spot and calmly stands over the ball while the keeper has both hands straight up while he thrusts. Newman quickly backpedals, pauses just a beat, and then runs in. On his approach Newman turns his head to look left, and surely this threw the keeper, who decided to dive in that direction. The ball though was shot to the right. A clean and impressive penalty kick from Newman.

We jump only to the 9th minute where Istanbul has a throw in quite deep inside the attacking area. The play off the throw is the most beautiful sequence that I have seen from Istanbul. Naturally the throw is volleyed back to the thrower, but then a third player in red joins and they make a triangle. The thrower makes a nice horizontal run out of the triangle and the pass gets to him exactly at the corner of the penalty area. He takes one touch still moving laterally and then passes it all the way to the other side of the area to Arasov. This was a very forceful pass which was low and on target, allowing Arasov to take the shot first time on net with his strong right foot. This sequence really reminds me of how an offense will set up a goal in hockey. the goalie is watching to his left and then as fast as possible the offense changes the angle and takes the shot. If done quickly this means the goalie is not going to be in the correct position to defend the shot, and that is what happened here. All Arasov needed to do was place his shot, but unfortunately he went for pace instead of placement. Ampharos is able to fall to his right and make the incredible save. BUT it is not over yet. Istanbul recovers the loose ball and passed it back to the top of the penalty area where Knight is waiting to take another try at goal. Cheeseburger is back trying to help defend and he makes a dangerous lunge into the ball right where Knight is standing. Knight is knocked to his knees and the referee goes to the tablet to check with VAR. It was decided that Cheeseburger was able to get the ball first and foremost. He did make contact but it was not reckless and he cleared the ball first. No Penalty.

At the very end of the 10th minute Velox is back retrieving an Istanbul pass that was not on target. He gets in and lets the defense start possession with lots of passing between them. Finally Gerrard has his eyes up field and sees Thunder drifting back into an open position to receive a ball. The long pass is perfect and it finds Thunder cutting into the middle of the field finally opening up some opportunities. Istanbul bites and Thunder finds the opportunity. Newman and Munchakoopa just found a defender to pick on. Newman got right in front of the defender, Mann, and Munchakoopa drifted just beyond him. When Newman received the pass, Mann naturally stepped up to challenge Newman, and that is when Munchakoopa started his run. Now totally uncovered, and Newman did not miss it. The pass was fantastically weighted as it rolls just past Munchakoopa but then slows as he approaches it. Without hesitation, Munchakoopa takes the shot from outside the penalty area. It sails right past the outstretched fingers of Hall and into the goal. A BEAUTIFUL long distance shot but it would be hard to forget the plays of creativity leading up to it. Thunder making space with his feet, and Newman putting the defender in a bind and making the perfect through ball. Just incredible stuff.

The game settled down tremendously after this point, as the next action comes in the 34th minute. Port Royal has a direct free kick about 20 yards from goal. Bolrstoppari as usual is the one to take the kick, and this one goes through the wall but deflects out for a corner. The following corner does not do anything of note. It is cleared initially, but the second attempt from Port Royal also doesn't find a mark and it is more permanently cleared this time.

In the 40th minute Port Royal has another very close direct free kick. This one is just about touching the intersection between the penalty box and the penalty arc. This one slams straight into the face of someone in the wall. Brutal stuff, and to make matters worse it falls right to the feet of Bittner just inside the penalty area. At this point anyone who has watched some Port Royal games knows that Bittner LOVES to just rip crazy shots from distance, and he does not disappoint here. He is off target though, which does happen sometimes. Goal kick for Istanbul. The time doesn't skip and play resumes with a short pass as they try to play it out from their defense. This is extremely dangerous because at the moment of the goal kick there are 5 defenders plus one goalie on the screen and 5 Port Royal offensive players initiating their deep press. Port Royal will need to practice their coordination during the next week, because they are easily broken and Istanbul gets the ball up field quickly. Their striker comes back to receive a pass. He touches it to a front facing midfielder who sees Nunez making the run down the side. That is where the pass goes. Perhaps Nunez remembered what happened last time as he cuts his run shot and tries to play a killer ball. No luck though as Lexington was reading it all the way and steps in to regain control. The second that Port Royal regained possession, Thomas Thunder kicked it in to high gear and started booking it down the left sideline. His efforts were not missed as Tenderloin sees it and weighs a lovely ball over the top of the Istanbul winger, right out in front of Thunder. He chases it down, and is able to stop quickly, while the defender runs past. Now on his right foot, Thunder crosses it in towards 3 teammates running at goal. The cross goes a little too far and the defender is able to get his head on it first. There are two Port Royal players now just past the penalty area. The initial clearance falls to Velox who passes it to Bittner, who then sees Newman playing with his back to goal, but this time in the penalty area. Newman takes a touch to his right, steps into it and SHOOTS. GOAL!! The shot placement was perfect. Newman was running to the left and shot across the face of goal to put it into the right side netting. The keeper tried to get back but was not in time. Another goal where Thunder does not get the true assist, but it was his effort and creativity to get down field and open up the offensive opportunities for the team. Then Newman's sense to find open space inside the penalty area followed by his classy finish.

The pressure is still on as it is only the 43rd minute and we have a Port Royal corner kick. The initial play in goes like it usually does and gets cleared out, but Port Royal recovers it first for follow up opportunities. This time it is Munchakoopa who is recovering the loose ball, and he does not have a passive mindset. He turns right up and runs at the end line. He puts a cross up to the far post, but the keeper has no problem outjumping everyone for the ball. He rolls it out and Istanbul will once again need to pass their way out of an aggressive but uncoordinated press. A quick sequence finds an offensive player coming back to the ball. He tries to switch field but a sloppy first touch spells trouble and Tenderloin is able to step in front and grab it for Port Royal. He wastes no time and sends it up to Newman. Just like that it is 3v3 inside the penalty area. Newman doesn't even consider his team this time and shooooooots. The keeper does touch it barely as it goes over the crossbar. This time the corner goes to the near post and actually does find an attacking player first. Nothing comes of it though as the header goes right over the goal.

In the 45th minute we have Velox taking a throw in at exactly midfield. It is put into play at the feet of Newman who makes like he is going to take off down the sideline. Munchakoopa and Cheeseburger put a twist on Arasov just up field and that is where Newman finds a passing opportunity. It was a really slick and creative way to get out of the side. Port Royal is able to make a few passes through the midfield and switch to the far side. This is another example of an odd situation that keeps happening between Gerrard and Thunder. Typically you would expect Thunder to possess the ball while Gerrard (who plays wider) makes an overlapping run. However what keeps happening most games is that Gerrard gets the ball first and Thunder just stands there awkwardly. I could not help but share this and it deserves actual evidence.

You can see here that as the ball is being played to Gerrard, Thomas Thunder just doesn't really know what to do.



Then it gets even more awkward a second later as Thunder still has not moved and Gerrard is looking for opportunities.



THIS time though, Thunder actually is able to find something. The defender all the way across the field holds him onside and Gerrard makes the pass to the underlapping(?) Thunder.



This play finishes awkwardly as Thunder angles his run directly at the post. As a right footed player this gets odd, and in the end he runs out of time as the keeper comes out to cut off the angle. The ball does go off the keeper for a corner though, so certainly not all bad, and chances continue to be created when Thomas Thunder is on the ball. The corner goes up over the top and it is already half time!

At the half shots are 14(6) for Port Royal and 3(1) for Istanbul. PRFC also has a massive 2.6 to 0.2 lead in xG, which helps explain that the 3-0 score is no fluke. Oddly enough though, Istanbul has maintained 54% possession, though of course done nothing with it.

The second half kicks off with Istanbul possession. They pass it around at the back at first as they must be doing quite a lot off screen. All of their possession must be in their own half as it was in this clip to start half. Right as the next highlight loads there is the heat map showing average position with ball, and this proves my idea about Istanbul. Only their striker has an average position on the offensive side of the field. Meanwhile Port Royal has 8 players with their average position in the offensive side when they have possessions.

We skip a few minutes to the 50th minute where Bittner is taking the ball out from a deep defensive position. Thomas Thunder runs back to receive a pass and receives it while he turns in towards the middle of the field as he did earlier. This opens up a ton of space as 3 Istanbul players initially converge on Thunder before realizing they are late and try to scramble back into position. Thunder runs horizontally into the midfield circle where he makes an inspiring killer pass. This is another one that compelled me to show the evidence of just how great. This pass in the image below is right off the foot of Thunder, on its way between Mann and Pink of the defense. Look at how Mann is running backwards and Munchakoopa is already in a full sprint. The second picture is right when the ball makes contact with Munchakoopa. Everyone is beaten but the keeper. He takes two small touches and takes the shot across goal, but the keeper comes out far. His lunging foot is able to get in the way and block the shot out of bounds.




The following corner was once again a total bore. It got cleared out all the way back to the PRFC defense. The problem was that defender was none other than Velox and that boy likes to RUN. He starts slow and then ends up full sprint down the sideline. Right about when a defender is going to cut off the angle, Velox takes the early cross and it does find the head of Munchakoopa, but he puts it over the top of goal.

Now still only in the 54th minute Port Royal has a throw in far into the attacking area. Velox oddly throws it at an Istanbul defender who poorly clears it and Velox saves it from going out. Odd play. Velox then puts up a sweet cross with his left foot right to the back post. Thunder and Nunez go up for it but it seems to be a tie as the ball bounces nearby and Cheeseburger reels it in. He turns and starts to run towards the top of the penalty area. He must not see any passing opportunities because he ends up taking a few more touches himself before taking a shot. This is another hockey style goal! He waits until the keeper is properly screened, so when he shoots the ball seems to come out of nowhere from the keeper's perspective. It is a nice piece of work from Cheeseburger to do it all himself.


Now a much larger skip, we jump to the end of the 62nd minute where Port Royal is recovering a loose ball in their own end. It feels like most of the time skips are just Istanbul passing it around safely in their own end. Once they try and get the ball up field to do something, they eventually mess up and the highlight starts as PRFC gets the ball back. This time they try a few times to pass up to one of their attacking players who is making a small run backward into space. It has been a nice tactic because if there is no opportunities you just return it to the defense and try again elsewhere. They did this once to Bittner, and then again to Newman, then again to Velox. Lexington tries something different a gets it to Velox in a safer area, and by now we all know what Velox likes to with the ball. RUN!!!! He just rips down the sideline with full energy. you would never know it is an hour into the game. He gets clear of the chasing defender and crosses it finding Cheeseburger, whose head puts it over the crossbar. Great chance though. Time does not skip and we watch the goal kick start some small passes from Istanbul. They link together a dozen small and safe passes before finally trying to get up toward midfield. That attempt goes poorly and they instantly lose possession and PRFC are at it again. a quick pass finds Thunder making that familiar run back towards the ball. This time though the Istanbul player, Lopta, has seen it before and he has had enough. He reads the play and steps in front of Thunder bullying the ball away. He makes an aggressive run with the ball and finds Arasov on the wing. He is able to get a cross in, but it never made it past the first center back. Lexington gets the ball and does not panic. He plays a very smart ball up towards the sideline where Newman runs to it. He gets there just in time and with his outstretched leg gets enough of a touch to send the ball up the field. There is Munchakoopa to chase it down. There is ALWAYS a Port Royal attacking player in a good space. They are seemingly everywhere. Well Munchakoopa turns in and he looks for opportunities, but there is not a great angle to get the ball to Thunder or Cheeseburger. At this point the other players had to slow their runs, and now it was his time to take a big shot from distance. That is how he scored to start the game, so this could be similar. The shot is on target, but not too far from the keeper. It deflects off his arm and over the top of goal. The following corner kick doesn't really do anything and the highlight ends as it seems PRFC are content to pass it around for a bit.

We resume in the 68th minute with Port Royal in an absurdly aggressive posture for a team up 4-0. Everyone but their 2 center backs are up pushing. After a few passes,  the ball finds Velox who starts his run to get around the defender, when he suddenly puts on the brakes. It looks like he nutmegs the poor man as Velox angles his run at goal. He is in great position and takes a shot, but the keeper is able to grab it with his whole torso.

Big skip to the 75th minute with a throw in for Port Royal in the attacking third. Gerrard throws it forward for Thunder who takes a touch to angle himself for a right footed cross from the corner of the penalty area. It deflects off the first defender but Gerrard is able to chase it down before it goes over the end line. He makes a sharp pass to Bittner standing at the edge of the goal box. Bittner takes almost what I would call a deflection of a shot, but it was on goal. The keeper makes a save and pushes it straight into Munchakoopa's leg. It then proceeds to roll way out wide for a throw in. Istanbul is able to break the press quickly after the throw in, and try to make something happen. Eventually it was Lopta who had an overlapping run but his pass was muffed and Port Royal ended the threat. As they have done all game, regaining possession means instant opportunities for Port Royal. They don't hesitate. Gerrard intercepted the ball and gave it to Bolrstoppari, who gave it to Bittner in the middle. Bittner somehow saw Newman in a good spot to come back towards the ball. Newman then quickly sent a killer ball through the middle of the defense as we have seen before. This pass did not have quite enough pace and the defender got there first. He got a touch to keep the ball away from Munchakoopa, but he did not know about Velox! The man was also running with the play and entirely on accident, the defender played the ball out wide right to the feet of Velox. This time Velox made it count. He took one touch at full speed and was fortunate the ball did not go too far. He caught up to it and his shot was unsavable. That made it 5-0 from a well deserved goal from Velox. He had been making big plays all night and deserved for one to be a goal.

With the 5-0 mark achieved the mercy rule was put into action. There were no more key play highlights in the rest of the game and that is it. At the end of the game PRFC had 29(13) shots to Istanbul's 6(1). It was a light work day for Ampharos who only had to make a single save, although it was a great one. The xG favored Port Royal considerably, 4.15 to 0.3. The man of the match is Scott Newman for his 2 goals, 9.1 rating, and 1.2 xG. I know I saw many plays from Newman that were key to setting up real threatening opportunities. Well deserved.

With that, Port Royal do clinch 2nd place in the final academy league standing for season 26!