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| The last night of an era |
The Last Night of an Era
Pundits and fans alike were somewhat taken by surprise when the already relegated FC Totti United Ronaldo's manager BarryHero chose to field the strongest team possible at Kent Altin Arena against CrownJules' King Clancy's X11 in Dream League's Division 1a on Sunday night. Instead of focusing on giving the younger Totti boys some game experience, the Totti manager successfully led his team to an impressive 2-1 win against last season's Dream League Cup runner-up. BarryHero explained his strategy in an interview with the Totti News the following Thursday afternoon:
"What people didn't realize ahead of the game is that this would be the last game of two of our most legendary players of all time: midfielder Geraldo dos Santos and forward Erik Hammar. I wanted to give these boys a proper sending off, so we decided to field our best eleven against CrownJules' team. I knew we had a good chance of winning if we played Söderström in goal and played dos Santos and Hammar from the start. Unfortunately our other star midfielder Pelle Josefsson was out with an injury, but we still remained confident in our abilities.
"Hammar ended up scoring two goals, dos Santos had one assist, and Söderström was phenomenal in goal, in their last-ever Totti appearance. I honestly couldn't have wished for a better sending-off for the boys. What makes our performance even more impressive is Josefsson's absence and the fact that midfielder Tom Darren had to be substituted because of an injury early in the second half. We played with a young forward (Efe Özat, 20-year-old forward) in midfield for almost an entire half against CrownJules' team and still won!" BarryHero explained.
"I'm especially proud of the fact that we showed that we still can compete at the absolute highest level. King Clancy's X11 is one of the best sides in the entire Dream League and they have a skillful and experienced manager in CrownJules whom I have the utmost of respect for as a fellow D1 tactician. CrownJules and his team reached the final of the Dream League Cup last season and are likely contenders for a Dream League title some time in the next five seasons. We beat a really strong team, and did so in a convincing manner," BarryHero continued.
"The Totti boys will be back at the highest level. We're in for a couple of difficult seasons now when Söderström is retiring and dos Santos and Hammar have left, but we will be a solid D1 side again within the next four or five seasons. We would have loved to keep Hammar and dos Santos at the club until their retirement but unfortunately our financial situation required us to sell them at this time. They've been excellent ambassadors for the club and have both been instrumental in our extremely impressive D1 run where we finished in the top three for three consecutive seasons," BarryHero said.
Söderström is retiring at the end of the season, having played in 271 official Totti games. Hammar left Totti on Tuesday night for Xpert International Division 6 club COSMOS, while dos Santos signed for the Tribulation Force in Power League's Division 4 during the same evening. Hammar played 364 games for the club (second best in Totti history behind Pelle Josefsson), provided 174 points (best in Totti history), scored 135 goals (best in Totti history), and contributed 39 assists (sixth best in Totti history) during his 19 (!) years with the club. dos Santos played in 348 games (third best in Totti history), provided 147 points (third best in Totti history), scored 55 goals (fifth best in Totti history), and contributed 92 assists (best in Totti history) in his 17 years with the Totti boys.
At the end of last season, also captain Tage Elgström retired after 19 years with the club. He played in 340 official Totti games (third best in Totti history) and scoring 13 goals and provided 31 assists.
FC Totti United Ronaldo still have two more games of the league season left and aim for the spot ahead of Arsenal X11 who currently are last in the table.
/Robert Egert, the Totti News
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