I’ve been playing this soccer management game called Hattrick for close to seven years now. I first started playing with my friends in the 11th grade and we’d always check our teams’ status during the spare time left in our biology class. We had a blast managing our teams and challenging each other to matches, with the bragging rights going to the victors. By the way, I was rarely one of the victors. Since then, however, most of my friends have stopped playing the game altogether, and as for me… I was a big enough dork to login every once in a while to make sure my team wasn’t deleted. As the years rolled by I’ve gone through spurts where I would put effort into the game, but I’ve been pretty inactive. This year things are changing.
The new season of Hattrick started on July 23 and so far it has been a season of rebuilding for my team, Final Fantasy. In the several years of inactivity, I’ve managed to accumulate quite a bit of wealth for myself. With $10,000,000, I rebuilt my arena, bought some fresh players, and revamped the team’s strategy. Now, with the season 4 games in, I’ve managed to secure a 3rd place seat in my league.
My latest match, played this past Sunday, was a loss to the Carolina Blues, a team that squeezed by me by one goal. Interestingly, the Blues’ win over me didn’t do much for them in the league standings. On the bright side, as long as I lose games by small margins and keep my opponents to low scoring games, I should have a shot at staying in the top 3. On the other hand, every team in my league with the exception of REAL MADRID VNISTEL has a shot at beating me, depending on players injuries, weather conditions, etc. Usually there are at least two teams in a league that are a breeze to beat, but this season is shaping up to be a difficult one.
Anyway, my plan is to chronicle my team’s games on this blog, not just to record the games, but to help spread the word about one of the most sophisticated online soccer management games of all time. This is not to say the game isn’t vastly popular, especially among the international community, but it is too good for me to ignore on this blog.
The matches between teams are automatically generated by the system, which crunches a ton of numbers and variables that are based on player stats, weather conditions, team formations, team strategies, etc. The most intriguing aspect of this game is how unpredictable it can be. For example, you may go into a match believing you will crush your opponent. Let’s say you know for fact that all of your players, when matched up with other team’s players of the same position, will outperform. So the game begins and you start off in the lead, but all of a sudden one of your best players gets injured and is out for the rest of the game. Just like that, the game’s momentum shifts in favor of your opponent, who capitalizes on your injury and pulls out a victory.
Here is the official generated report of my match against the Carolina Blues:
The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 16790 had shown up at Southeast Carolina Stadium for the match. Carolina started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. Lineup: Galfano – Hansen, Chevreux, Segura – Ķiķins, Boogers, Bergkamp, Mihai – Soyum, Perkins, Pollock.
Fantasy had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Riou – Yli-Luomala, Klukovics, Lona – Shackelford, Iglesia, Gee, Apesteguía – Mexía, Breeden, Cathey.
Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Fantasy on this day. The visitors’ central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to Angelo Soyum, but the Carolina player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 – 0! Carolina’s Sytze Bergkamp left the field after 17 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Ricky Griffin. Mohammad Hansen really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great play by Ricky Griffin after a corner. Fantasy showed their counterattack skill in the 21st minute, with Trevor Breeden scoring uncontested for 1 – 1. The visitors’ central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to Nick Pollock, but the Carolina player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 – 1! Carolina put in a good effort on the right, but Brent Perkins saw his volley fly wide of the mark in the 34th minute. In the 41st minute, Carolina put themselves up 3 – 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to Angelo Soyum, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the ‘keeper and knock the ball home. Carolina will have to do without Hylke Boogers for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 44 minute mark. He was substituted by Eduardo Agoglia. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 – 1. The game was a stalemate so far, with possession split evenly between the teams.
Fantasy’s counterattacks created a good chance for Orlando Lona on the right, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. With 61 minutes played, Arkādijs Ķiķins could have brought this one home for Carolina as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Fantasy’s Olgerts Klukovics a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind in the 64th minute. In the game’s 75th minute, Fantasy replied and reduced the lead to 3 – 2. Mikey Gee scored on a marvellous cross pass coming in from the left. Carolina’s Brent Perkins had an excellent opportunity in the 80th minute, shooting on a through ball down the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! In the game’s 83rd minute, Fantasy’s Trevor Breeden fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Trevor Breeden for diving. Carolina, bringing their ball possession to 54 percent, dominated the battle.
Carolina’s top performer was clearly Angelo Soyum. Eduardo Agoglia on the other hand, had a terrible day. Fantasy’s top performer was clearly Vesa Yli-Luomala. On the other hand, Carlos Gustavo Iglesia’s play was disheartening. The match ends 3 – 2.
I’ll make sure to post this coming Sunday’s match when it is available.
Filed under: Alex Taldren, Hattrick, Online Soccer Management
