Subject: National Team

not when Byers nails 4. Willis got 3 assists but :p.

We won 5 - 2 (We scored 6 :p)

Pretty happy with that result, for a while I was wondering if that was their 1st XI or not. I still am wondering because we totally buried them and by half time the match was basically over. Good for ranking points though :p.

Wow, impressive result! And a nice game of Andy, it looks as it was one of those Mini WC games :))

felt like it when we were 4 - 0 up although the opening goal from Willis to Byers was fascinating. Byers running in parallel but a bit ahead of Willis then all of a sudden once Willis got to a certain spot on the wing, cut straight back towards the penalty box and Willis passed almost immediately and went straight through the defensive line as their defenders were still sliding across :D.

Just seen it, splendid! :)

I've had a nice on against Mexico few minutes ago. 0:1 after penalty, throw in...one guy got the ball - previously he used to kick it back to throw in or back to the defs. And when I was expecting that he suddenly dribbled through the def on the wing, passed to another mid in penalty box, who passed it to the striker and - red card, penalty, 1:1. :)

haha nice.

Did cometer just out-tacticise Wal-Mart? :P

Nikas sure loves to bombard down the wing, like how Byers like to butcher his penalties :P LOL
good thing it didnt really matter at that point
(edited)

As I said pre-game, just warming up :p.

In defense to Byers, he scores more from penalties then he misses, plus he bagged 4 from 6, I doubt you can complain when he has shot 1 from 9+ before :p.

I thought the offensive side of their tactic was quite well researched. They didn't get rewarded very often, but our defense did a lot of scrambling and our weak-side defender would have spent a lot of game sweating as he tried to mark 2 or 3 players.

Essentially we just killed them in the midfield. Their wingers were rarely in it, so it was essentially a mid and a def-mid for them vs Broxton + Oliveira/Baveas + Timpano for us. So with us winning the battle there, Willis unmarked on his wing, and only 3 at the back, it was simply a matter of finishing, which Byers had in spades on the day.

Entertaining game to watch though, always good to see two sides playing attacking football.
(edited)

I was about to post a witty comment..

"Go Byers, its your birthday!!"

When i realised it actually was his birthday....

Not being one to state the obvious, it is now... Go Byers!!

Looks like we're the unofficial world champion again after a long absence. We haven't had it since borkos was managing but our win over Ceska Republika gives us that title again :).

And now it is time to hold onto that tightly, and show that we really do knock over beasts of Nations.

Yeah! :) I think 3 weeks of having it are possible, maybe more if we at least draw with Croatia...

We take on Moldova tomorrow. Moldova are going in with their 1st XI but we will be going in with a 2nd XI type side to give key 1st team players less chance of getting themselves suspended or injured for the qualification match against Uruguay the week after. Should give some players a good chance of getting some game time. I'm not really too bothered about a win tomorrow, I'll still try to win but the idea largely is to prevent massive suspensions as well as giving a few other players a chance to push for selection in the qualification season.

I have a rough idea of the side likely to start tomorrow, but I still have a handful of players I'm still tossing up between and I'll be thinking about that overnight.

I think we'll get over the line quite comfortably and finish this season's campaign off nicely with only the 2 losses against NZ and Turkey.

Has been a really solid season and certainly been one I've enjoyed and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

line up has been finalized. some have played first team matches in the past but who I consider right on the edge of both 1st XI and 2nd XI and if they were to get injured or suspended we'd be able to cover (would still prefer they didn't). Some other players get a rare opportunity.

Moldova haven't really ever been much of an attacking side, most of their formations feature a heavily packed defense. I'd be expecting something similar from them today, although not necessarily being the same type of tactic they've used in the past.

Our defenders are going to have to be up to the task of cutting out the few chances they are likely to get, as I think if they play something defensive, they'll restrict their chances of scoring.

A high win would give us a great chance of overtaking NZ on the rankings for the first time in a while but realistically I can't see us jumping them this week.