Goleta Hotspur (#12) -V- Route 57 FC (#13)
Gameweek 15:
Saturday 7th December – Monday 9th December
Roughly five years ago, this pair were taking points from each other in League One. Now, they’re playing for something a lot more important.
Okay, so it’s not the Champions League Final that they were both dreaming of, but it’s a Final nevertheless. Through a neat series of results, Route 57 FC enter this game as defending champions. This weekend, they face off as adjacent ranks in the Best-ish table; totalling 571-569 matchpoints across the season so far, so this has all the makings of a very tight Final.
Both teams entered the Intramural League via the Champions League Group Stage Slip’n’Slide. Route 57 FC won three, lost three in the First Round but missed out on the Quarter-Finals on a matchpoint differential (albeit a substantial one 290 over 238). Goleta started well, they won two of the first three, but lost the last three and dropped out.
In the IML knockouts, Goleta won all four of their games en route to this Final. Route 57 won three of four, only losing one Quarter-Final match 26-25. They stormed their last IML match though, bringing home 72 matchpoints, almost doubling their opponent’s score.
The Premier League side were somewhat unlucky midweek in their match against the league leaders Gloopy Yarbles as Fabian Schär and Niclas Füllkrug both found the net, but remained on the R57 bench; Joe Gomez took priority on the vacant space left by Gabriel, but could only add one more.
Conversely, Goleta had an excellent midweek outing, also against their league leaders, seeing double-figures from Jurriën Timber and Noni Madueke and a nine from Mikkel Damsgaard too. They earned themselves three points and a chance to escape the relegation zone this month. As the fourth-highest scorers in the league, one would expect them to be doing a lot better than eighth place with a 4-10 record.
Intramural League Semi-Final Results
Preview:
Both teams have lined up in a classic 4-4-2 formation.
Goleta Hotspur have a very London-heavy squad which includes Colwill, Palmer and Madueke of Chelsea, Timber in the red and white of Arsenal, Romero and Drăgușin hotspuring for Hotspur, Andreas Pereira and Harry Wilson for the Cottagers, and Mikkel Damsgaard who scored for Brentford on Wednesday against the Villa.
Route 57‘s Bakayo Saka has scored 38 matchpoints in his last three games. He, and possibly the high-scoring Gabriel, could face Fulham on Sunday afternoon. Fabian Schär, who plays every minute when fit, scored against the best defence in the PL – Liverpool – on Wednesday, and (as mentioned above) Herr Füllkrug also found the net midweek.
Both teams have started Raya and Strand Larsen at either end of the pitch, so unless either fail to appear, they will cancel each other out.
The Final
Saturday
It was a quiet beginning for the 2024 IML Final. Day One offered us only two players from each team, but there were two potentially tasty face-offs: Damsgaard (GH) against Schar (R57), and Archer (GH) versus Tielemans (R57).
Unfortunately, the Liverpool game was called off due to storm warnings on the west coast, ruling Robertson (GH) out of the Final.
In the end, none of the four openers shined for their managers. Damsgaard came on in the 73rd-minute with Brentford 3-2 up. He was not involved in the final goal of the game, however, when Schade put the ball past the visitors for the fourth time that afternoon, Route 57 lost another point, making Fabian Schar pointless on the gameweek.
In the game at Villa Park, Southampton failed to register a shot on target all game, and both featured players were pulled off in the second half – Tielemans, frustratingly, in the 58th-minute and Archer about a quarter-of-an-hour later.
Goleta Hotspur 3 – 1 Route 57 FC
Sunday
Fulham v Arsenal promised a lot. Not only were both teams on the verge of big climbs up the table (Arsenal gunning for 2nd, Fulham could’ve climbed to 5th), but Saka and Gabriel (R57) were competing against Timber, Wilson and (owing to Robertson’s absence), Andreas Pereira would also be involved. In the last four meetings between the two London rivals, either Saka or Gabriel have scored for Arsenal, and last year Pereira also put his name on the scoresheet after he intercepted a poor pass from Saka and put it away inside the first minute.
This week, none of the above were involved in either goal at the Cottage, although Bakayo had a late winner ruled out as Martinelli was judged to have been just a shin offside on the left wing.
In the other game, Bournemouth came from behind to beat Ipswich away, and Ilya Zabarnyi impressed the critics with his performance. Despite not collecting another clean sheet, he did enough to earn two bonus points for Route 57 FC (increased from 1BP shortly after the West Ham v Wolves match on Monday evening).
The fourth and final game of the day had an improving Chelsea travel eleven miles north-east to have a go at a faltering Tottenham Hotspur. It was a high-scoring game and finally brought some goals to the IML Final. In the 11th-minute Kulusevski (R57) danced his way across the box to the D and fired in from 18 yards to take Spurs 2-0 up, and give Route 57 a long-awaited lead. That lead lasted until the 61st-minute when, just as everyone was receiving their second appearance point, Caicedo was brought down in the box and Cole Palmer was offered the chance to equalize. He took the penalty with confidence and Goleta were back in front.
That confidence turned into showing-off twenty minutes later when Palmer was offered a second chance from 12 yards. Despite being just one goal up with over ten minutes to go, ‘Cold’ Palmer coolly dispatched a Panenka and let Route 57 (and Spurs fans) reeling. The high-scoring result did no favours for Colwill nor Drăgușin (1FPt & 0), but did wonders for Goleta’s midfield (18 for Palmer + 1 for Madueke’s four-minute cameo).
Goleta finish Day Two thirteen points up, but with only Jørgen Strand Larsen (shared) to join in. Route 57 FC pinning their hopes on Emerson, Bowen and Füllkrug away at Wolves.
Goleta Hotspur 29 – 16 Route 57 FC
Monday
There was good news and bad news for R57 at 7pm – Bowen and Emerson were set to take to the field, but Füllkrug was to watch from the bench and Max Kilman, playing against his previous club, was going to start and so take the slot left by Gabriel. Kilman had played 45 minutes against Wolves in claret and blue in a friendly last July, and before that he was in Wolves gold defending against the Hammers. In their last Premier League meeting, West Ham won 2-1 (away). Tonight, eight months later, West Ham won 2-1 again (this time in London).
The first half was largely uneventful, but Emerson picked up a yellow card as the clock reached 45′, meaning the R57 was another point down, and the Italian will miss the next game too. The second half brought the drama back into the IML Final. In less than ten minutes after the restart, Bowen assisted Souček and the Final was alight once more. Now 30-22 to Goleta.
As the hour-mark was reached, the second appearance points were added to the players on the pitch and Emerson was prospectively, temporarily, given four points for keeping Wolves from scoring. This brought Route 57 a lot closer, 31-30, but just nine minutes later Matt Doherty got his first goal of the season and wiped out that short-lived clean sheet. However, just three minutes after the equalizer, Jarrod Bowen put on his cape and finally gave R57 some sort of hope. 31-31.
This left the Premier League side on the verge of retaining their crown. With no-one (unique) left to improve Goleta’s score, all Route 57 needed was a point. But at the same time, the comeback could also be jeopardised by another equalizer, another booking or other negative. Eyes were on Lopetegui to see if he would bring on the recently-recovered Füllkrug…
In the final five minutes West Ham made a triple substitution, which did not include the German striker, guaranteeing Route 57 would receive +5 from Caicedo’s assist the day before. The game finished 2-1 to West Ham, Bowen received 3 bonus points (and a yellow card after the final whistle), and Route 57 took the win at the very end of play.
The Final Score
Goleta Hotspur 31 – 38 Route 57 FC
| Goleta Hotspur | Route 57 FC | |
| Score | 31 | 38 |
| Goals | 2 | 2 |
| Assists | 1 | 1 |
| Yellow Cards | 0 | 2 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| G/D Clean Sheets | 0 | 0 |
| GK Saves | 1 | 1 |
| Minutes Played | 649 | 914 |
| Bonus Points | 3 | 3 |
| Team Performance (Total BPS) | 103 | 170 |
| Substitutions | 1 | 2 |
| Man of the Match | Palmer (71 BPS) | Bowen (36 BPS) |
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