Uudised

Tervist. Ma olen Noflik, Niflheim Vikinger'i omanik Hollandi V.196 liigas. Olen teie juhiks käimasoleva Hattrick Mastersi ajal!

See hooaeg tervitab Hattrick Masters 193 osalejat, kellest 3 on endised meistrid: Beltxis, AC Ziky Team and Hapoel Nahariya. Kas kellelgi neist legendidest õnnestub napsata meistritiitel teist korda? Kahjuks pole nad end veel teise vooru kirja saanud.

Teiste favoriitide hulgast on Läti meister SX 200 vastamisi Hollandi Ruckers Utd'ga, kes on spetsiaalselt selle hooaja Mastersi jaoks hankinud endale oma päriselu koduklubi staaridest koosneva meeskonna. Keskvälja hiiglane MTigers Rumeeniast on vastamisi väga tugeva Bundesliga võitjaga, Tantris Shanghai'ga. Ka mõne väiksema meeskonna jaoks on head šansid esimesest voorust edasi pääseda. Iraagi King Akre on vastamisi Trinidad & Tobagost pärit Wes Side Connection'iga ning toimub lahing Kariibimere meistrite Jamaica ja Barbadose vahel.

Mõne võistkonna jaoks on esimene voor suhteliselt lihtne, mõni favoriit langeb varajase väljakukkumise ohvriks, aga pärast esimest vooru saame me ühe sammu jagu lähemale teadmisele, mis võistkond kujundab Hattricki ajalugu. Mis võistkond elab igavesti.

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Esimene voor

Turniir on ametlikult hoos! Mõned tugevad võistkonnad langesid esimeses voorus, aga keegi favoriitidest hinnalist viga ei teinud.

Romasz’il, meeskonnal kõrgeima palgaga, oli tegemist, et surumistaktikat kasutavast Liverpool Football Club (1982) jagu saada, aga peale vigastust ja mõningast rivistusesisest segadust külaliste poolt, kadus nende lootus Romasz peatada. Hapoel Nahariya’i 6-2 võit võis tunduda lihtsate killast, aga -Alberto- pakkus tugevat konkurentsi, saades titaanliku keskväljareitingu. Tantris Shanghai näitas julgust, mängides 5-2-3 formatsiooniga, aga nende vastane Mtigers sõitis neist lihtsalt buldooseriga üle ja võitis 4-0. Stiinta United mängis samuti muljetavaldava mängu, jättes Belair Allstars’i nõutult tühjade kätega.

Paljud meeskonnad läksid välja lausrünnaku taktika peale, et neil oleks vähemalt lootus suurema vastase vastu. Üks nendest oli El Salvadori CA Santaneco Juniors. Nad suutsid saavutada mõeldamatu, lüües õnnetut Inglise meistrit Potatoe Heads’i suurejoonelise 5-0 skooriga.

Üllatavalt võrdne mäng toimus Tokyos, kus Kawasaki Tigers’il polnud Nöibärn’i vastu probleemi palli valdamisega, küll aga väravate saamisega. Pikka aega tundus, et varakult saadud 1-0 on võiduks piisav, aga näiliselt ohutu löök 76. minutil Nöibärn’i ründajalt Tubbingult tõi külalised äkitselt mängu tagasi. Viimaste minutite surve paistis olevat Nöibärn’ile liialt koormav ning Kawasaki Tigers’il õnnestus olukord ära kasutada, saades võiduvärava mõned minutid enne lõpuvilet.

Teisel voorul on meie jaoks juba varuks mõned huvitavad mängud: MTigers on vastamisi endise HT Mastersi võitja Hapoel Nahariya’iga ja toimub „Inglise“ lahing Okeaania meistri FC Sudtirol Alto Adige ja Inglise karikasarja võitja Holy Rollers vahel. Eestipoolne Lazybones on vastamisi Nordby’ga, kes juba kaheksandat hooaega järjest asub Norra Tippeligaen’is. Ning kas Kanada Thoroughbreds suudab panna punkti suure kulutaja edule, Poola Romasz’ile?

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2nd Round
The 2nd round proved to be a real warzone, leaving 36 players injured. The roughest match was between AC AS and Erster Im Länden where 3 players had to be brought off in stretchers. This round also had some close matches, a total of 4 games ended in 5-4 after extra time.

Last season’s winner Beltxis have been defeated very early this time around, Traktorist proved to be a too strong opponent and managed to bring it on down after extra time: 2-1. MTigers were the first team to reach divine (very high) midfield this season, but it wasn’t enough to beat Hapoel Nahariya in a stunning match, the former champions left Romania with a 4-3 victory. Not all games were exciting however, the one between Saints Regia and Straikeris was one of defensive play. Both managers decided to play a 4-5-1 lineup, which resulted in only a handful of shots on goal. And if things weren’t bad enough for the home crowd, the away-team Straikeris left with a 1-0 victory.

AC Ziky Team had not a care in the world after they got up 2-0 at half time against Hlv86. In the 2nd half things turned around pretty rapidly, after just 17 minutes of play Hlv86 found themselves leading 3-2. How Hlv86 managed to stay ahead, no one knows, but somehow they did and the unlucky AC Ziky Team are out of the Masters. FC Café Ubåden are also out of the
Masters, after pounding SC Buochs with a recordbreaking 13-0 in the first round, GB Rovers were too strong: 2-4.

Lazybones seemed to have chosen their teamname carefully, against Nordby the players started very lazy and conceded 4 goals before half time. Only in the last 10 minutes they picked up the pace and scored 3 goals, creating a nervewrecking injury time. It didn’t come to extra time, because Nordby held up and won 4-3.

The 3rd round draws 2 nation-clashes already. The Norwegian forces Nordby and Trondheim Thunder, and the surprising Angolese teams AC Luanda and AC AS have to face eachother. But just like any round, some big games are coming up aswell: Belarussian champions FC Boars will meet Croatian cupwinners Viva Ludež in an Eastern European clash. Hapoel Nahariya has a tough draw once again, they must face Latvian FK Pirates this time, and Portuguese champions Teamaço has to visit the impressive Ukranian champions FC Granit.

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3rd Round

The 3rd round saw the fall of the last former champion that was still in the Masters, Hapoel Nahariya. FK Pirates did a good job in deregulating Nahariya’s play and managed to beat them in their own stadium with 2-1. The first penalty-decider in this seasons’ Masters also occured this round, FC Boars was on the lucky side here, they beat Viva Ludež after being dominated the entire 2nd half.

Iraqi King Akre is slowly but surely getting better. In the first rounds they were hardly impressive, now they managed to beat Club Atletico Santaneco Juniors with an inspiring 8-2. The Luandese derby between AC Luanda and AC AS showed the meaning of soul, these 2 squads with relatively low funds were going all out, and only in the 88th minute did the homeside AC Luanda score the winning 2-1 goal in this thriller. The victory didn’t come without a cost, 2 players from AC Luanda will be injured for a considerate time due to horribly misplaced tackles made by the AC AS players.

Another thriller was being played in Belgium, Spiroezie and Schlappekickerhausen both scored 4 goals in regular time, in which especially Spiroezie played very strong. In extra time it was Spiroezie who scored the golden goal, putting a 5-4 result on the scoreboard. The other golden goal decider was between Sport Latita and FC Sudtirol Alto Adige, Sport Latita showed some fierce counters but it was FC Sudtirol Alto Adige who managed to score the golden goal: 1-2.

The 4th round, with only 32 teams left, has some serious games coming up. The Belgian and Ukranian cupwinners Spiroezie and Traktorist will very likely create a great match. A western European clash between German Boca JBA and Belgian FC Goudenploeg, FC Boars from Belarus will visit Poland to face Romasz, and the only African team still in, AC Luanda has a decent shot at beating their Japanese opponents United Min.

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4th Round

We’re almost halfway, smaller teams are slowly but surely getting knocked out and teams are pulling out the big guns. Spiroezie and Traktorist played the, arguably, best game so far. Spiroezie lead almost the entire game, but won only 2-1 in this close match. This wasn’t a game for the leftbacks, all goals came from an attack on the right.

Romasz managed to win with 3-1 again, the 3rd time this tournament. This time, FC Boars was on the losing end. Sini Zverove may have put themselves in a favourites position after their incredible 7-2 victory over Deportivo Flecha. Vienna Warlords had a great track record so far, they scored 18 and conceded just 1 goal. Opponent Alderwood Chiefs couldn’t show these numbers, but they probably won’t mind that much after a sound 4-1 victory.

FK Pirates managed to kick out another high profile team, Kawasaki Tigers put up a good match. But FK Pirates showed great stamina, just like last round, and scored twice in the last minutes of the game, resulting in a 4-2 win for the Pirates.

The 5th round will be with teams from all around the world, no nation has 2 teams left. Noth America’s last hope, Alderwood Chiefs, will face FK Pirates in Latvia, and South America’s last contender Camiseta Blanqirroja will go to Portugal and play Fon Utd FC. As for the big games, FC Granit can take a Ukranian revenge against Belgian Spiroezie, and Sini Zverove from Bulgaria gets Kastelin from France as visitors.