Games 122 and 123 (Copa Vexanova Ordland '99) 03-17-299

Game 122: Northern Gronk-Bowdani (Copa Vexanova Ordland '99)

NOVEFA announces the result of the Group D game of the first round of
the Copa Vexanova Ordland '99:

The Technical Information:

Final score: NORTHERN GRONK 1 - BOWDANI 3
Played in: National Stadium, Newton, Ordland
Attendance: 55,200
Referee: Ulf-Ingar Kundur (Islandia)
Goals: Ioe (BOW, 42.), Killehal (BOW, 52.), Rimlahim (NGR, 60.), Marn
(BOW, 78.)
Yellow cards: Sadface (NGR, 42.), Coleman (BOW, 51.)
Substitutions: Doma for Zloba (NGR, 45.)

Match commentary:

Bowdani is still impressive, dispose of lackluster Hurricanes!!

In this much-anticipated match two of the planet's largest nations
clashed in what only a few months ago would have seemed like a gross
mismatch in favor of Northern Gronk:  the rock-solid NG defense,
sarcastically called "the masons" for building a virtual defense wall
that boga their opponent into submission by preventing them to score,
had been most effective, even feared in the Vexillium Cup CD'98 -
Northern Gronk had back then easily disposed of Bowdani, who was a
bottom ranked team back then.  Well things have sure changed a lot in
four months, as NG was definitely rusty after a long break, and with
their domnestic leagues only just resuming after the winter break.
Meanwhile, Bowdani had done a complete overhaul of their team, and
earned victories against such football greats as Whitlam and Eastern
Zartania recently, before declassing Otago/TDCorp 6-2 the other day to
take top spot in Group D...

Well, the top spot is now permanently theirs, as the Hurricanes had
their troubles today.  At first, it seemed like business as usual, with
NG building their feared walls around their defensive zone.  But just
when it looked like they were going into the break scoreless, a yellow
foul by Sadface opened up the door for Bowdani, in a free kick
opportunity.  Killehal was on location to kick, but he faked, and bunted
the ball to the left, where Punneratau received, passed way over the
heads of NG players to the OTHER side, where Ioe was waiting uncovered -
the midfielder, in his first ever start for Bowdani took a heart and
fired at the goal, and, indeed, goalie Vratar stood on the wrong foot,
and Ioe had scored the 1-0 for Bowdani.  He was so thrilled, for a full
minute he kept frolicing around the field, and was basically floating in
bliss for the rest of the game!

After the break, Northern Gronk would make a fateful decidion:  they
changed their game plan, and went from their proven wall recipe to a
loose attacking style rarely seen from them.  It just didn't work.
Sure, they had more goal chances, but now, their defense was lacking
clearly, and Bowdani had many dangerous counter chances.  Indeed,
Killehal scored the 2-0 for Bowdani in the 52. minute - now NG had no
choice, they had to attack!  Finally, Rimlahim scored the connecter 1-2,
eight minutes later, but Marn sealed the debacle for NG with their third
goal, and that was it for the hurricanes, who left the pitch dejected.
They must now beat Otago/TDCorp to take their chances in the wild card
matches.  Bowdani meanwhile is the most improved team of the year,
without a doubt, and they move on to the next round as the big winners.
Look out, they have become a real force to be reckoned with!

NOVEFA announces the result of the Group E game of the first round of
the Copa Vexanova Ordland '99:

The Technical Information:

Final score: THISTLAND 0 - INDEPENDENT WESTRIAN KUKURIA 1
Played in: Copernicus Stadium, Copernicus, Ordland
Attendance: 33,200
Referee: Trevor Speaks (Bowdani)
Goals: Bonbeto (IWK, 24.)
Yellow cards: Christo (IWK, 57.)
Substitutions: Alon for Linitencatoriel (IWK, 45.), Helfershelfer for
Dagobert (IWK, 45.)

Match commentary:

IWK prevails in the duel of the dwarfs, with clever game-managenemt!

This was a pretty evenly matched game:  Thistland had demanded respect
with their good showing at the LSA Trophy earlier this year, where they
went all the way to the finals where only Phenixia could stop them at
home.  IWK was known to have a good talent pool, and was predicted by
many insiders to be a candidate for a wild card berth, despite their
inexperience.

Indeed, in the early going the game was pretty even, with the slight
edge to IWK.  And it was the Banana Warriors that actually pulled ahead
by a scrambling goal from Bonbeto (a.k.a. Friedrich Neumann), after a
hokey-pokey in the penalty box that had the Thistles unable to clear the
ball with the required finality.

Just minutes later, Geigy had the chance of the evening, with a free
shot right in front of the goal, but in his nerveousness, he pulled it
way over the goal, which drew abusive reactions from the crowds.
Nevertheless, Geigy was not too shaken, and ended up playing a good
overall game.

IWK slightly changed their tactics now, and became more defensive,
trying to protect their narrowest of leads.  Until the break, there was
very little action, and the game sort of lost spark.

In the second half, Thistland tried to charge hard, and they put some
serious pressure on IWK.  In the next 20 minutes, IWK had their hands
full to keep their goal empty.  Issel was on the mark, and Tunte's
defense was immaculate, however.  In the 57. minute, though, Ferguson
almost scored for certain, as he took a dash at the goal, having outrun
two IWK defenders - Christo was the last line of defense, and he had no
choice but to foul... but it was a foul that probably prevented the
equalizer, and in retrospective, well worth the yellow card it earned.
The resulting free kick from near range came up too soft, and IWK stayed
ahead.

Thistland finally began to run out of steam, and the game began to
fizzle out.  IWK kept the ball in play and in their own possession, and
Thitland did not have the impetus to try and wrestle it away anymore.
The game ended without much more fireworks, 1-0 for IWK.

This of course sends Thistland packing, and guarantees IWK a shot at a
wild card.  They will now have to face Westria, the "big brother", in
what promises to be a regional football fest!