Subject: [u21 NT] Fixtures

Our fixtures for this season are starting to take shape.

We start with a friendly against New Zealand this week (1).
After that we're into the u21 Mini World Cup, for the sides that didn't qualifying for the WC itself. The draw will take place today, so I'll update the exact fixtures tomorrow.
The tournament will have a group face (weeks 2 to 4) and then four knockout rounds (week 5 to 8).
We have a potential friendly against India in week 5, but i'd hope we're still in the MWC at that stage.

Week 9 is still open for a friendly.

Weeks 10 to 14 will be taken up the the African Cup of Nations. Eight teams are participating.
Our group consists of: South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Algeria.
The other group includes: Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon.
Weeks 10 to 12 will be the group stage. Weeks 13 and 14 will involve all the sides in playoffs, semi's and finals.
I'm hoping we're good enough for a place in the final, most likely against Senegal.

Week 15 is a friendly against Ecuador.
Week 00 is still open for a friendly.
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Mini World Cup draw in progress. Our group consists of Bulgaria, Iran, Peru and South Africa.

Bulgaria -> 407 users, 40 players average R4.7m, 49.9 mark last match
Iran -> 15 users, 2 (!) players average R1.8m, 32.9 mark last match
Peru -> 509 users, 11 (!) players average R4.0m, 47.8 mark last match
South Africa -> 25 users, 40 players average R2.9m, 46.9 mark last match

With 11 groups, the 11 winners and only 5 second placed teams will qualify for the knockout stage.
Beating Bulgaria and Peru is not out of the question, but they'll be the favourites here with their much larger communities.

Slightly disappointing start to the season, going down 1-0 to New Zealand in the friendly this morning. They fielded a slightly weakened side but we were unable to break them down, despite having the better of the match, statistically speaking.

We edged possession (51-49) and shots (13-10) and dominated territorially (37-63), managed to hit the woodwork once but had too many shots straight at their keeper. Early in the match, Ndaguana seemed reluctant to pull the trigger when he had the chance but took a couple of good shots later. Vukubi's ability to win the ball was a great asset after he came on, and he had a great strike from a free kick. On another day, one of our efforts might have gone in.

At the other end, New Zealand had a good few chances to score more than the one they got, so I can't really argue with the result. Their single striker tactic was a bit of a surprise but I don't think it really made much difference overall. The 20 day injury to Johnson, after only 21 minutes, is a disappointment. It won't weaken us too much for the MWC but I can sympathise with his club.
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Well played but maybe too few goals in the two bands, the result could be anyone. More lucky next time, you have a hard group in the mini WC

Never gonna score many goals with both teams putting 5 defenders across the back, and one stiker. That said, both teams had quite a few clear chances. Stikers were often one on one with the keepers and most of the time the keepers came out on top. Pity we lost, I think we deserved a draw.

A draw was the only outcome when looking at the stats against Peru. Very even stats, very even teams. Didn't expect a win, but we never really looked like we were going to be defeated as well, Fair result.

Hmm, I can't believe that I haven't posted anything about our match. Thought I had!

Yep, fair result. Considering how few active managers we have, we've done well to have an u21 side this competitive. Unusually for this side, we were the ones that scored early (8th minute) but unfortunately we conceded the equaliser in the 69th minute.

A win would have made our lives much easier, but a point is still helpful. Even so, qualifying from this group in second place will probably require 7 points and that means beating both Bulgaria and Iran. Bulgaria used an U20 side in their 12-0 demolition of Iran last week and will be very tough opposition with their full squad on the field.

We're up against Iran this week. I'll have to consider whether to field a weakened side to avoid any injuries or suspensions for the big game against Bulgaria, or go full strength in case goal difference becomes an issue.

We have one player out injured at the moment (Patrick Johnson).
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Yep, I waited for a while to see if anyone is going to comment on the game, but nothing happened so I decided to throw the first stone. Looks like you have a few tough decisions ahead of the game against Iran. Good luck! I am sure you will make the right one.

Our star keeper, Jaba Shasha, picked up an injury yesterday. He's out for 13 days which means he misses our last two qualifiers. :(
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Our reserves put up a good effort today. I chose to go with a side made up completely of players not currently in the first eleven, and included four players getting their first caps: Katongo, Lushozi, Niang and Marumo.

The youngsters started off slowly, taking 22 minutes for Roskruge to get on the end of a Ramakgopa pass, hitting the bar but going on. The score stayed that way until half-time but, after the break, they came out all guns blazing. Roskruge out away another inside 7 minutes for his hat-trick and Vukubi, his replacement, slotted a hat-trick of his own for a final tally of 6-0.

The Bulgaria-Peru match has just finished with Bulgaria winning 1-0. Looking at the possible combinations, that's probably the best result for us though it doesn't really make much difference. I seriously doubt that 2nd place on 5 points (what we'd have if we draw with Bulgaria) would be enough to qualify, so we must win next week.

Although Bulgaria had the better of the match, Peru made a good fight of it. Considering our draw with Peru last week, we must be in with a shot. My major concern is that we'll be missing Shasha in goals and cannot afford to give away any easy goals.
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2 hat-tricks. nice.

Woeful performance this week and we go crashing out of the MWC. We didn't have the strength, especially at the back, to cope with Bulgaria but I would've hoped that we could make a fight of it.

I plan to take a closer look at our performances so far this season and will hopefully post some thoughts here.

In the meantime, I'm trying to arrange friendlies to fill the gaps in our upcoming schedule.

Tough match Marcl , we need more users so we will have more junior schools , in that way we can be much more stronger , lack of users is bringing us to limitations . I am pleased with the work you are doing pity about those limitations , let's grab some friendly wins

Goodluck

Users has always been a problem. Not much we can do about it. Those that are here will just need to invest more in the junior schools in as far as coaches are concerned as well as monitor it closely. I have pulled some great players from it and sold some who have been trained by others.

Yep, low user count makes things difficult but we have a pretty decent side considering.

We have so few managers that are active, producing players from their youth schools and, almost as important, training South African players.