Games 166 and 167 (Friendly match and IVEFA Masters Islandia '99) 06-11-299
Game 166: Draconia - Aros (Friendly):
IVEFA announces the score of today's friendly match:The Technical Information:
Final score: Draconia 2 - Aros 1
Played in: Prurient City Sporting Arena, Prurient City, Draconia
Attendance: 52,960
Referee: Ovan Schlagk (West Uhlan)
Goals: Mirren (DRA, 61.), Reversi (DRA, 70.), Vzaxogram (ARO, 85.)
Yellow cards: Ellis (ARO, 11.), Juventa (DRA, 40.), Manucchi (ARO,
61.)
Substitutions: none
Match commentary:
Draconia continues its winning ways against the fighting Aros!
The fact that this match went ahead despite the recent outbreak of WAR
in Aros was widely regarded as a big surprise... apparently the
authorities had managed to screen the Aros players from any sort of
outside influence, at least on the field there seemed to be no
indication that they were in any way behaving unusual, often cheerful
and "normal" behavior on the pitch...
Aros made its comeback to the internaitonal stage, after the team last
lost to both, Mauretanie and Djeriga in the Copa Vexanova, taking an
early exit from the competition. The new Aros squad is a refurbished
and notably improved one from the Libran team we knew. Particularly
interesting is the rather aggressive forechecking techniques and the
fighting spirit of Aros, that almost caught Draconia by surprise.
The
Pirates, who have had much success lately, finally were rather
challenged in this game, and despite their home field advantage, they
were rather dominated in the first half by the aggressive visitors.
Nevertheless, the Pirates managed to keep their goal clean, thanks
primarily to Gherry and Derry... defender Gherry, who foiled many a
push
from Aros, and reserve goalkeeper Derry, who made a real impression
replacing the suspended Recife!
After the break, the more mature team, Draconia, finally was able to
collect itself, and their experience showed, as they were able to slow
down the frantic pace of Aros, and kept the ball in their own possession
much better. After a yellow foul from Manucchi, and the resulting
free
kick, in which Euwentus hit the crossbar, Mirren was there to catch
the
rebound squarely off his strong left foot, and bombed it past Aros
keeper Osmanli. A little shaken now, Aros took a while to regroup
after
the goal, and within 9 minutes, Draconia was able to coolly capitalize,
and score again to go up 2-0. Aros then stuggled some more, but
towards
the end, they seemed to get a grip, and actually scored the deserved
goal of honor, as the striker with the odd name, Vzaxogram, converted
a
high flank from Ellis for the 1-2, by head.
What future will the Aros players face now, is uncertain. Their
good
play today showed that the team has improved much from the boring pokers
Libra used to be, but with the war, who knows what may happen next.
Draconia on the other hand is slowly becoming a force to be seriously
reckoned with. Although their wins have come at home, they nevertheless
were wins. Would be nice to see just how well they do away.
IVEFA
IVEFA presents the result from today's third-round bout in the IVEFA
Masters played in Islandia:
The Technical Information:
Final score: ARMATIRION 0 - BOWDANI 2
Played in: Myri Stadium, Bjargeyar, Islandia
Attendance: 49,370
Referee: Johnny Whistler (CHR)
Goals: Killehal (BOW, 21.), Marn (BOW, 66.)
Yellow cards: Boyle (ARM, 40.), Franchino (BOW, 55.), Coleman (BOW,
80.)
Substitutions: Latta for Boyle (ARM, 45.), Dunlop for Dodds (ARM, 45.),
Dandoon for A. Moran (BOW, 45.), SanGerins for Hund (BOW, 69.)
Match commentary:
Sensational upset as Bowdani gets revenge over giants Armatirion!
In this rematch of the first round meeting of these two teams,
Armatirion was once again the heavy favorite. However, Bowdani
had
returned back to their no-nonsense winning ways of recent (before they
began to try to get cute that is), and Armatition seemed still tired
and
demotivated from their difficult overtime loss against Westria on
Wednesday, and it almost seemed like Bowdani had rather easy play today,
despite their caliber of opponent!
>From the beginning, Bowdani was the team in control, showing no respect
to their much higher ranked opponents. It was also clear that
this was
an immense matter of pride to them, as they wanted to avenge the losses
suffered to Armatirion not only in the first round of this competition,
but also the 0-3 from the Vexillium Cup, which robbed them of any chance
there!
Bowdani thus ran the show from the getgo, and in the 21. minute,
Killehal brought them ahead, almost expectedly by that time, 1-0.
Armatirion seemed numb, receiving the goal without much emotion.
Bowdani continued to control the game more or less until the halftime
break.
In the second half, Armatirion brought in two new pairs of legs, and
for
a while, they were back to their form of old... but this time, Andy
Hawk
once again showed why he is considered one of the planet's best, holding
no less than three "unholdable" shots from Latta, Parker, and again
Latta! Then, Marn scored a surprise quickie goal for Bowdani
in the 66.
minute, after a very quick counter that rieked a bit of offsides, but
was given good. That was sort of the last nail in the coffin
of
Armatirion, who once again never quite got back into the game as a
result of the goal scored against them.
Overall, a surreal game in which you almost could not recognize
Armatirion... so different was their performance from their usually
brilliant vexillium-class play! But then, every team has its
bad day,
and after the tough loss to Westria, Armatirion certainly had that
today. They will have to return home now, eliminated from the
IVEFA
Masters '99.
Bowdani on the other hand, celebrates perhaps the greatest victory ever
in their history, beatin the team that had beat them twice in recent
times decisively, getting their revenge! Bowdani will now face
Eastern
Zartania in the first determined semifinal match - an interesting
rematch from the Consolation Final at the Smallwick Shootout, in which
Bowdani routed KTZ 4-1... this time, it will be the Zartanians seeking
revenge!
IVEFA