Maricopa Cup 2008 R2

Date

February 10, 2008

Participants

Andrea Guarducci, Brian Hook, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith, Steve Tucker

Report

On a day when most of the experienced players admitted they did not play well there were two surprise results. Wayne Smith was beaten for the first time in six years by another player from California, and Andrea Guarducci defeated Simon Hutchinson.

Eight players took part in this round. But as some had to leave early and others arrived late so not all of the participants played the same number of games. Therefore, there are two tables for this round: the traditional table sorted by points won and a second sorted by average points won.

Steve Tucker powered by Dominic Hutchinson with a 4-1 victory. Dominic held Tucker to just one goal in the first half. In the second, after Steve had taken a two goal lead, Dominic scored the goal of the game flicking a figure a foot to strike the ball and score past his surprised opponent. For the rest of the half Dominic pulled off a string of saves to stop him getting ‘mercy’ ruled before the end of the game.

A string of saves by Brian Hook restricted Simon Hutchinson to just one goal in the first half as Simon tore through his defense. After Simon’s second goal Hook did get a couple of shots, but neither was a serious threat to his opponent’s goal.

“Andrea’s defense was very, very tough” was Smith’s only comment after his game against Andrea Guarducci. Guarducci’s catenaccio defense and accurate defensive flicks made it hard for Wayne to move the ball into the shooting zone. Smith’s victory came from a goal in the first half, and second with just three seconds remaining in the game.

Dominic claimed his first victory of the day with a 1-0 win over Hook. It was a game where play flowed from end to end as both players tried to gain the upper hand. There were many tense moments as both goalkeepers were called upon to make many saves.

The game between Nieman and Tucker fit the old adage of a “game of two halves”. In the first half Steve was all offense and by half time he had a two goal lead. In the second the roles were reversed as Kevin was the attacking player. Nieman’s goal was a from a long range flick where the figure flew through the defense to strike the ball, which caught Tucker by surprise.

Was it Smith’s failure to get his offense going? Or was it another strong defense performance by Simon? Whichever it was the game ended with Wayne winning 1-0. Simon’s defense prevented Smith from a good shot at goal in the first half. Wayne was relieved to score the goal in the fifth minute of the second half. Thereafter, Simon’s defense keep Smith’s out of shooting zone. The few times the offense did break though Simon’s goalkeeping was up to the task of saving the shot.

A goalless first half was not unexpected as another strong defensive display by Simon prevented Tucker’s efforts to flank his defense. Steve scored the first goal after Simon missed a flick on right side of the shooting line, by the touch line. Tucker shot before Simon could grab his goalkeeper to score. Within three minutes Simon equalized. He pushed forward quickly, going around the right side of Steve’s defense, and blasted the ball into the far side if the goal before Tucker could react to the shot. The remaining minutes were a cautious affair where the ball moved back and forward as both players probed their opponent’s defense without breaking their own defensive lines.

Nieman claimed the first ‘mercy’ rule victory of the day overwhelming Hook 4-0. Despite being on “his heels” for most of the game Brian did have one decent shot at goal. He pushed the ball into the shooting zone and shot quickly trying to catch Kevin off guard as he was reaching for the rod of the goalkeeper. The shot grazed the outside of the post and went out for a goal kick. The game was delayed as Nieman had an unusual cleaning situation. “After attempting a shot the player went into the fire place, it was covered in ash. It took me two minutes to buff the sucker off.” He said with a wry smile.

Dominic played most of the first half of his game against Guarducci near his opponent’s shooting zone. After a number of disputed calls Dominic took the lead before half time. In the second half the game was fairly even as both players pushed forward. In the last five minutes of the game Dominic tried to waste time by blasting the ball out to give his opponent a goal kick and a chance for him to reposition his defense.

Dominic played a fine defensive game as he came under repeated pressure from Nieman. Kevin’s two goals, one in each half, came from quickly taken flicks following poor defensive flicks by Dominic. It was not all one way. Dominic did have the occasional attack, but was never in a position to take a shot at goal.

Guarducci and Hook described their game as “very open”. At one point in the game Brian only had two figures in defense and Andrea three. Both of Guarducci’s goals were scored off Brian’s goalkeeper. The first was when the ball hit the post then bounced off the back of the goalkeeper and into the goal. The second came from a cross that deflected into the goal off the keeper.

Smith’s many year unbeaten run came to an end in a game neither he nor his opponent said they played well in. Wayne described his play as a “nightmare”, as his normally deadly chip shot deserted him. Unable to chip his shots just struck Tucker’s goalkeeper. Ironically Tucker scored the only goal of the game by chipping Wayne’s goalkeeper. Smith did put the ball into his opponent’s goal, and then disallowed it for a finger foul he made while making the shot that no-one else had seen.

After this round of games Hook and Tucker had to leave taking one of the pitches with them. This coincided with the arrival of Munir Merchant. From this point there were just two pitches.

Dominic suffered the consequences of Smith’s defeat as he was ‘mercy’ ruled 4-0 early in the second half. Wayne rediscovered his chip shot “three games too late”. Dominic tried to slow down Smith by blasting the ball up to the other end of the pitch for goal kicks. He was not successful as seconds later Smith would take the goal kick and play the ball back up to his forwards.

Still smarting from his defeat Dominic went straight back into action against Merchant. Neither player had much to say about the game except that it ended as a 1-1 tie.

Nieman felt lucky to beat Guarducci 2-1. All the goals were scored in the first half. Kevin’s cut through Andrea’s defense for his goals, before Guarducci pulled one back. Andrea dominated the second half pressing forward and forcing Nieman to defend in numbers to hang on to his slender lead.

Guarducci went one better in his next game beating Simon 2-1. Andrea scored from a cracking long flick midway through the first half. Simon pushed forward in numbers and finally scored the equalizer just before half time. He continued to press in numbers throughout the second half but was unable to get into a position for a decent shot on Andrea’s goal. Guarducci’s winning goal came with just three minutes remaining from a long flick that sliced the ball into the top corner of the far side of the goal leaving Simon stunned holding onto his goalkeeper.

Having been the player being pressed in his previous two games Guarducci was the more aggressive player in his game with Merchant. Andrea was on the attack for most of the game, but he was unable to convert the possession into a goal. He would move the ball up to the shooting line and then either miss the ball or strike a defender. The few times he did make it through Munir’s massed defense the shot was easily saved by Munir’s goalkeeper.

Smith described his 2-0 victory over Nieman as a “wide open affair”. Neither player kept their defensive lines in place, which is unusual for these two. Wayne took lots of shots, but he missed a lot too. The first goal was scored in a bizarre manner. Kevin’s defensive flicked figure struck one of Wayne’s, which in turn struck the ball into the Nieman’s goal. The second was a shot from the left side of the pitch. Kevin did have plenty of possession in and around Smith’s shooting zone, but was unable to convert his possession into more than just a few shots on goal.

It was the most one-sided “battle of the Hutchinson” in over a year. Simon’s speed was just too much for Dominic who made rash flicks splitting his defensive line allowing his father room to shoot. The first three goals were chip shots over Dominic’s goalkeeper. The final goal was a ground shot that struck Dominic’s goalkeeper’s rod and popped up into the roof of the goal. Dominic concentrated all of his efforts trying to score from long flicks, which meant the few he took were well wide of the goal.

A goal in either half gave Nieman his victory over Merchant. While Munir struggled to push forward in attack his well positioned defensive line and accurate defensive flicks kept Kevin’s attack outside of the shooting zone for periods of time. Nieman was proud of his second goal, a ramp shot that flew high over Merchant’s goalkeeper and into the roof of the goal.

The final game of the day was another close fought encounter between Simon and Nieman as the ball flowed back and forth between the two defensive line. The winning goal came in the third minute of the second half. Simon shot the ball along the ground under Kevin’s raised goalkeeper.

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Final table

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Points average table

As the players played different numbers of game if you sorted the players by the average number of points won the table would look like:

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Newcomers table

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Results

The 'mercy' rule was used

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