Conquering Europe

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2045

Finished the league season off with a draw away at B36, but the job was already done. Kari Arge scored to mean that he now has a goal a game for the season.

And the final league table looks like this. 

Only one game left in the Faroe Islands with the cup final. We're playing Skala, who we recently beat, but we'll see what happens.

Malaysia

We took a bit of a doing from New Zealand, but they're a pretty good side, in comparison with us.

We drew with Qatar in what would be the single worst game of football to ever happen. 0 shots on target for either side, 7 shots in total - 4 of which were blocked before they had the chance to drift harmlessly wide. An absolute fucking shitfest. 

Still, I'll take the draw as it keeps us in pole position in the group...

We have games at home to Kuwait and away to Pakistan still to go. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Faroese Cup Final - 2045

Spoiler

Really comfortable stuff. Kjaerbo was carrying an injury, but still got 2 goals and the absolute boy Arge got his usual goal too. 

Skala were pretty shite as well, so that helped.

Anyway, a nice way to sign off from the Faroe Islands. I've now won the title, cup and a lower league title in my 3 seasons here, while my second and third teams both won their divisions this year. To be honest, I think I've gotten quite lucky here - I've assembled a pretty good team, but at the same time I was given Kari Arge in my youth intake and he's since gone on to do this...

I also got given Eli Mikkelson, who, while not quite reaching Kari levels has done this...

Can't really complain with that, and I wouldn't have won the league without being handed these two guys.

Anyway, up next on the list - Georgia.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

How old are you going to be by the time you've finished this?

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2045

Alright enough, pretty unconvincing victory over a properly dreadful Yemen side, and then a draw with Pakistan. That wasn't a very good result either, they're a team we should absolutely be beating, but on the other hand...

Job done, and we can go into our final game against Kuwait with nothing to lose. 

Still on the lookout for a club job. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

3 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

How old are you going to be by the time you've finished this?

In game, I'm 51 at the minute and I've got 46 countries still to go - so an absolute minimum of 97... 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Spoiler

Off to Malta (well, Gozo) and Ghajnsielem FC. They're currently 6th in the Maltese Premier League, and have finished 3rd, 4th and 4th in the last 3 seasons. This is probably one of the best jobs I could have asked for in Malta - this season is done for, but we should have a solid team to build on for next season.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Meet the Team

Anything from 3 to 4 stars says "good player for Maltese Premier League sides", 2 and a half is "decent player for MPL sides"

Good option in Galea up front, bit of a drop off in quality behind that but that's to be expected I suppose. Galea isn't exactly a prolific goalscorer though, his best ever season was 9 in 27 games, so I'll probably look for someone in the summer. Still, he'll do for now.

That's ok - pleasing options at right wing and the rest of the positions are pretty decent elsewhere.

Probably the weakest area of the team. it's decent enough for the league, but not good enough to win it. Definitely improvement needed here.

My defence is pretty strong, although if Saliba gets injured I'm slightly fucked given the complete lack of any cover at right back. Still, pleased with that.

That'll do for now. Nothing special, but not an urgent priority either.

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2046

Solid enough start for us, and we were the better side against Hamrun but couldn't score. As I said, I'm just looking to finish this season well enough and try to build for next season. 

Currently sitting 4th, although Marsa have a game in hand which they should win. We still have a good shot at top 4, which would bring European football for us.

Malaysia

Won't bother talking about the Fiji game, but we were excellent against Kuwait. We'd already qualified, but it's still nice to finish the qualifying campaign with a win. I've loaded up the Malaysian league to try and get some players, and we're looking better now. Hopefully it helps.

Unbeaten in qualifying, although we did draw with really poor Pakistan and Kuwait sides. Still, we're going to the Asian Cup, let's see how it goes.

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2046

Comfortable win, and then a complete nonsense game to finish the season off. We went 1-0 down, then 3-1 up, then 5-3 down before grabbing a couple of late goals. Still, 3 wins, a draw and a loss in my games this season. I'm optimistic that I can have a good season next year.

Means that the final table looks like this, and we're finishing 3rd. Ideal.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Europa Conference League, First Qualifying Round - 2046

Our European journey doesn't last very long, as we bow out immediately against Cypriot side Omonia. We actually played pretty well, for the most part, and I wasn't able to register my new players yet so I'm hopeful that's a good omen.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers 2046/47

For some reason, we had loads of guys who were rated at best half a star and were never, ever going to get a game hanging around the squad, so I punted all of them. Kevin Sultana, who was about my 4th choice striker, also left to play in the Hibernians youth team, so good luck to him. I guess. Everyone in the league is on a non-contract thing and can just be signed for free, so I'm quite pleased that I've managed to keep the vast majority of my squad.

Two familiar names, and two new ones. I'm hopeful that this will supplement what was already a pretty good team for this level. The window is also still open for another month, but I don't plan to sign anyone unless the right player comes up.

Suad Hrustic was the right back in my Leiknir team, but he'll be playing as a centre back here. He's pretty decent defensively. and has some pace so that's always helpful for a centre half. More than good enough for this league.

Spoiler

The golden boy from my Vestur team up next, Kari Arge. He's here to be my main striker, and given that his career goal scoring record currently reads 70 games, 60 goals I'm hopeful that he should be able to do well here.

Spoiler

Peter Bozic is a central midfielder and he looks good. A technically gifted player, his physical stats aren't great but he should be an asset going forward. Certainly better than what I had before.

Spoiler

Last up, Zvonimir Fejzic on loan. A right back, I tried to sign him permanently but he said no, so he's just here for the season. He's fine, pretty dependable defensively (by Maltese standards) and that should do.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

August 2046

Only one game in the first month of the season - an absolute thumping of a St George's side who've been in the relegation playoff's two seasons running. Don't want to get ahead of myself given how shite they are, but that's an excellent start.

Means nothing yet, obviously. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

On 28/01/2021 at 13:44, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Richard Claridge is the new Dave Watts

Kari Arge is the new Dave Watts

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2046

A good month - we were far better than Marsa but just couldn't take our chances and everything else was pretty comfortable.

Through in the cup as well, although we should be beating lower league nonsense like Balzan much more convincingly.

Looks like they'll be 4 teams going for it, although plenty of time for some of them to fall away.

Malaysia

Hmm. That Syria game was quite embarrassing. I mean, they're a decent side, certainly better than we are, but we shouldn't be taking 4 off them.

Made up for it with a good win over Tajikistan though.

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2046

Pretty quiet month, but mostly positive beating the two pish sides and drawing with the good one. Valetta's goal was their only shot on target and came in the 92nd minute so that was really frustrating. Hamrun are a dreadful side, but we had to come from behind as they scored a screamer.

We're in 4th, but had we held on against Valletta we'd be top. It's very tight between four sides, with a bit of a gulf below that.

As an aside, it's a surprise to see St George's in 5th given how appalling they were against us.

Malaysia

We came back from 2 down against India, which was pleasing, but we really shouldn't have been 2 down in the first place. Oh well. Iran are a good team, so no shame in being soundly beaten by them.

Anyway, next month, I have my first shot at glory with Malaysia - the AFF Championships.

We haven't won it since 2010, and Indonesia have won the last 4, so hoping to break their streak. I've decided I'd quite like to win a few international competitions throughout the save - this would be a nice time to start that. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

If you want to win International Competitions just go New Zealand and bitch slap the Solomon Islands every four years

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2046

A great month, let down by a really, really frustrating draw against Gzira. The win over Hibernians was absolutely huge, and we still haven't lost a game this season., but we do have the odd game (Gzira and Marsa earlier) where we're massively dominant, but just cannot score to save ourselves. Need to cut that out.

As I said, still unbeaten but we're in third. Almost half way through the season, we'll need to keep it up and hope that Valletta start dropping some points. 

I've been playing the AFF Championship this month as well, but will be doing a separate post on that. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

The AFF Championship - 2046

My first taste of international competition, and it's the AFF Championship - basically the South East Asian nations playing a cup. We've got Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in our group, while the other group features the Phillipines, Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Brunei and Laos. Our group is certainly much stronger, but I'm hopeful that we can get through the groups. Indonesia have beaten Timor-Leste in the last 3 finals, while we haven't been in a final for 24 years. Let's see how it goes.

Spoiler

A pretty average start, we didn't lose but we should be beating Singapore - on paper, the weakest team in our group. Still, we came back from behind. 

Bit of a nothing start to the group, can't really tell anything from that. 

Spoiler

That's a decent result for us though - Indonesia are a good side. We took an early lead, and basically sat back from there. They broke us down once, and we opened up a bit and actually came closer to winning the game than they did, but I'm certainly pleased with the draw.

It does, however, put a fair bit of pressure on us to beat Vietnam and Thailand.

As I said, need to get a couple of wins in to get through, but I'm basically pleased thus far.

Spoiler

Finally, we've gotten a win. Our goal was a good finish from the edge of the box, but at the same time their defence made an absolute arse of trying to defend a long ball to let us in. Still, we defended ok, and while they were a bit wasteful we were good for the win.

Indonesia's draw with Singapore puts them in a tricky spot to get through, so that's helpful for us.

We're in poll position to get through - a win against Thailand will make sure. 

Spoiler

Absolutely perfect. We got the early goal and that let us sit back and hit them on the break, which we did very well. They weren't very good though, I don't know if they're just generally a bad side or they had a bad day, but I'll take it.

That win sees us through to the semi, and we're guaranteed to top the group as well! Brilliant.

We'll be joined by one of Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia. I'd take either of the first two preferably, but we'll see what happens.

Spoiler

Obviously no involvement for us on the final day, but that 91st minute goal for Thailand sees them follow us into the next round. Quite pleased with that, we absolutely thrashed Thailand while I would expect Indonesia to beat us if we played again.

We'll play Timor-Leste while the Philippines play Thailand. For some reason, the semi and final are both two-legged. 

Spoiler

Decent first leg, and puts us in a good position to get through - almost certainly joining Thailand. 

Hamid had a great game, getting his fourth and fifth goal of the tournament - he's been vital. The first goal was fumbled over the line from a header, while the second was a great finish into the top corner - another where the defence didn't deal with a long ball in anything approaching a competent manner, but works for me.

Anyway, second leg coming up...

Spoiler

The boy Hamid again - now 7 in 6 games for him. We raced into a three goal lead and then completely took our foot of the pedal, and they weren't good enough to take advantage of us barely bothering.

A team we've already beaten 3-0 in this tournament - I'm optimistic.

 

Spoiler

Lightning strikes twice.

Our first goal came from them pushing up after kick off, our keeper punted it up the park for our first touch of the ball and then our striker scored with our second. Lovely. The second was a bewildering penalty - a cross went miles over everyone's head, my striker went to receive it and their defender inexplicably tripped him over. Our final goal was well worked, cut back and finish.

Means that we should be lifting the trophy, but nothing's set in stone.

Spoiler

Didn't get out of first gear, job done.

We're champions!

 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

December 2046

A perfect month, with a special shout out to Mifsud's 91st minute free kick against Floriana. We also only bothered playing in the first 10 minutes and last 5 minutes against San Gwann, so that was fun.

If I was being very critical, I'd say that some of these wins should have been much more comfortable than they were if we'd taken our chances efficiently, particularly the St George's game where we created enough for another 6-0 effort, but that's probably being overly picky.

We're still unbeaten. and in normal circumstances I'd expect a side who've only dropped 6 points to be pulling away, but Valetta are having a ludicrous season as well.

It's still in our hands though, beat them and match the rest of their results and we should be champions. Hibernians and Floriana are still hanging in there, but hopeful they'll fall away a bit. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

The Asian Cup - 2047

Hot on the heels of our success at the AFF Championships, we now head to China to take part in the Asian Cup. As far as I can tell, we're there to make up the numbers and have absolutely no chance of doing anything of note. If we can get through the group stages I'll be quite pleased.

Anyway, our group contains Qatar, Indonesia and host nation China. We've got a decent record against Qatar from the qualifying for this, we drew with Indonesia at the AFF's (although I'd expect them to win when we play) and China we have no chance at all against, but I'd say we're in with a shout of sneaking through, either in 2nd or 3rd. It follows the same format as the Euro's - 6 groups of 4, top 2 from each group go through and the best 4 third placed sides through as well.

Here we go.

Spoiler

A close game, but we absolutely threw it away with a nightmare couple of minutes. Hamid also picked up a knock which will keep him put of the rest of the tournament -  a huge blow given he's the main goal threat in my team.

All in all, not the start I had hoped for. 

Qatar up next. I think that kills any chance of second, but third is still on the table.

Spoiler

Massive, massive result. Fail to win that and it was all over. We had a couple of great minutes to take a 2 goal lead in at half time, and then they came into it well in the second half. They continued to push forward, and that allowed us to go up the park and grab a couple more. They pulled one back, but I managed to waste time for the remaining couple of minutes and see it out. 

Regardless of what happens, we've won a game at a major tournament. I'll take that.

]

Well, I should finish in 3rd no matter what now. I think that a Qatar win would keep us there, as would an Indonesia one, so the aim is to try to keep China's score down and hope it's enough to have us as one of the best four third places sides.

Spoiler

Aye, basically as expected - just comprehensively outplayed by a far, far superior side. We didn't manage a shot until the 85th minute, but of more importance was the other game. Qatar's win sent them into second place, and we finished the group up in third.

But would it be enough to see us through?

Spoiler

It would indeed! 

We're going to get absolutely fucking pumped though.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, saw that coming. Although we lost by more, we actually played better than we did against China - and we were a bawhair away from making it 1-1 at one point, so I'm fairly ok with this.