Subject: [NT] Spin

Really big win :)
Canada has a very good manager, they won against decent teams last season, Montenegro, USA, Uruguay, all 2`nd pot teams, and I knew it would be hard. Now we are taking on Estonia next week, hopefully I will have most of the players available.
The best defender, Lanev and the best midfielder Cocks coundt` be on the pitch for this game due to their form, but hopefully they will improve it soon.

Difficult game against Estonia tomorrow, a team that can easly win this group judging by their players. I will not change a lot tomorrow, still going to play with 5 defenders as we don`t have a lot of options in the midfield. I`m just hoping to keep the score decent.

For the next game home, if somebody wants to host it, i`m more than happy to select your stadium. Let`s go Kiwis!! :)

3-1 against Estonia :)
The beginning of the game was ours, we could have scored twice in the first 15 minutes, then slowly Estonia managed to take control and put a lot of pressure on us.
Arrowsmith did great today, 5 shots and 3 goals, and we manage to take 3 points against a team that every WC are fighting for the trophy.
I would trade this result for 4 points against Norway though :)

Big result!

1. New Zealand 3 3 0 0 9-1 9
2. Norge 3 2 1 0 5-1 7
3. Eesti 3 1 1 1 7-3 4
4. Canada 3 1 0 2 5-4 3
5. Cymru 3 1 0 2 2-10 3
6. al-Jazā’ir 3 0 0 3 1-10 0

This is how to group looks like right now...Next game is against Cymru
Against Algeria, we should have scored at least 9-10 times, but Atkinson missed every shot he had on goal. I really hope the table is not going to be decided by the goal difference :)

New Zealand al-Jazā’ir
algeria Tactics Algeria
61% Possession 39%
28% Play in the half 72%
31 Shots 0
1 Fouls 2
0 Yellow cards 0
0 Red cards 0
2 Offsides 1
78.9 average mark 56.7
incredible Shooting good
incredible Passing very good
incredible Defending very good

And we set up a new record for the average mark :)
That`s not the real one though, it`s due to the midfielders flow in passing and the fact that i played 2 wings that got high marks...against a similar team, we would get around 72-73

We have a pretty decent team, but i`m worried about the strikers...magical pace and 16 technique is not going to guarantee me the same result against Norway or Estonia.

> I really hope the table is not going to be decided by the goal difference :)

As long we're leading the table, I don't care about goal difference ;)
The next two matches will be crucial, especially vs. norway. After matchday three we've got more than we could have expected!

6 points in the next 2 games will give us an important advantage, but it will be hard...Maybe Cymru is not the best team, but just like we beat Eesti, they could take 3 points against us. And then there`s Norway, who has a very good manager and a better squad than us.
Let`s wait and see :)

So this is what the table looks like right now...

1. New Zealand 4 4 0 0 12-1 12
2. Norge 4 3 1 0 16-1 10
3. Eesti 4 2 1 1 9-4 7
4. Canada 4 1 0 3 6-6 3
5. Cymru 4 1 0 3 2-13 3
6. al-Jazā’ir 4 0 0 4 1-21 0

We are leading with 12 points, 2 in front of Norway and 5 in front of Estonia, but the next 2 games are crucial. The goal is to get at least 3 points againts Norway, who seems like the favorite of the group now in my opinion. They have a really good manager and slightly better players.

Looks nice, well done so far.

I would be surprised to see you get more than 3 points against Norway ;-)

Thank you. I know, 3 points seem like a good outcome after the 2 games against Norway, but I'm still hoping for a positive result against them.
Their manager won the Champions Cup once, the biggest international competition between clubs, and played a few more finals, so he definitly has more experience than me.
Our team is still very young, average age of around 27, and can still improve during this season.

I am in the hospital with my wife, waiting for our second child, but i set up the team and made the tactic last weekend for this game.
Let's go New Zealand!!

Wow, good luck with both.

Thank you :)

So close...anyway, there are more important things, hope everything goes well in hospital!

I am not going to lie, tactic, Norway was better and deserved the win. They controlled the middle of the pitch and even though we had an even ammount of chances to score, they had 1-2 extra more clear than us. I was thinking that he will play a winger, otherwise i would have played 4 defenders.
This tactic worked against Estonia, and I have a saying, if it works, dont change it too much. I just adapted it to what i saw in the past few games .
I will have to rethink the tactic for the next game. We still have 2 more chances, in 2 weeks against Norway or to beat Estonia again.