Subject: [u21 NT] World Cup

Marvellous. We've drawn Poland.

Poland (21475 users, 29 players @ R7.8m)
Latvija (192 users, 24 players @ R4.3m)
South Africa (12 users, 40 players @ R2.5m)
Makedonija (76 users, 27 players @ R2.4m)
Viet Nam (496 users, 34 players @ R2.3m)
Nicaragua (22 users, 20 @ R0.9m)

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2 place to achieve.
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Yes, we can shoot for second but will do well to get third.

Macedonia were in our group last time around and we beat them 1-0 in both encounters.
Vietnam are growing stronger rapidly and have a sizeable user base.

Poland plans to different variants of the qualifying rounds, so it may be a few surprises. For example, playing only 20 yeras players. Even the Polish coach believes that South Africa is the most dangerous.

Just to put things into perspective, Poland currently have 32 players in their u21 squad. 31 of them are valued at R3.8m or more. We, on the other hand, have only 6 outfield players worth that much. If Poland fielded their worst XI, they would still be far, far stronger than us.

With that out of the way, let's focus on our first match. Tomorrow we face Macedonia in a match we have every chance of winning. Macedonia have an important player out with injury, their R10m keeper. They will likely call on a R4.9m replacement in superdivine form while we have Katongo (R11m in brilliant form) in goals. Other than that, Macedonia will be at full strength while we will unfortunately be without Ashley Champion in midfield.

I'll begin working on the team selection now and should have notifications sent out to managers some time today or tomorrow.

I think champion will be on slight injury tomorrow. If you really need him you can play him even with that slight injury. Its ok with me.

Thanks Phibeon. I'll let him have his rest. Hopefully we'll have enough to get the 3 points anyway, then he can came back for the big match against Poland.

EDIT: I've put him on the bench as the second, spare, midfield sub. He won't play unless we have a couple of injuries or somthing during the match.
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Even the Polish coach believes that South Africa is the most dangerous

yeep it's true :]

We will play our best players but U surely won't lose to high :)

I wish u second place good luck

In a strange match, we eventually got through comfortably against Macedonia with a 6-3 victory, Lechesa bagging all 6 goals. Now we're up against Poland and all we can really hope for here is damage limitation.

Zulu is suspended but otherwise we're at full strength. I'm on the verge of dropping Matamela, the most valuable outfield player we have, from the squad entirely. I'm making a final attempt to get a skills update from his manager (the last one was in June). Matamela is an unusual case. Despite his high value, he gets very poor marks. As far as I can tell, he is totally one dimensional, with a very high playmaking skill and absolutely nothing else above about adequate. When I have used him, he's been woeful and contributed almost nothing to the team. He also doesn't appear to be getting proper training anymore, seldom playing more than 45 minutes per week. If I don't get an update by next week, he's out.

WE lost but at least now our goal difference did not go into negative. Lets just win what we have left and also score a few goals along the way.

I'd probably have taken that score (2-5) if I was offered it before the match, considering how Latvia were trounced 14-0 last week. There's a long way to go, but we can be satisfied with the situation so far.

Qualification has gone well so far but tonight we have an important fixture against Latvia. They are looking like our chief rivals for second spot, and qualification, behind Poland.

Our results to date:
Won 6-3 vs Macedonia
Lost 2-5 vs Poland
Won 6-0 vs Nicaragua
Won 9-0 vs Vietnam

Latvia's results to date:
Lost 0-14 vs Poland
Won 4-3 vs Vietnam
Won 7-1 vs Macedonia
Won 6-0 vs Nicaragua

Group standings:
1. Polska U21 4 4 0 0 46-3 12
2. South Africa U21 4 3 0 1 23-8 9
3. Latvija U21 4 3 0 1 17-18 9
4. Makedonija U21 4 1 0 3 13-27 3
5. Việt Nam U21 4 1 0 3 8-26 3
6. Nicaragua U21 4 0 0 4 0-25 0

Very important fixture. Good luck!

Well, the marks suggest that losing 1-2 was the correct result but honestly, I wasn't happy with my tactics at all. It was badly affected by the keeper to wing bug, amongst other things.

Hopefully I can turn it around in the return leg in two weeks time. Our goal difference at the moment is very good, so if we can beat them next time we still have a strong chance of qualifying. Lots of matches to go after that though, so anything can happen.

Don't worry mate , it was a one off ! We re all behind you


Goodluck we believe in you

Too bad about result.

What exactly is this keeper to wing bug which you specify?