Conquering Europe

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2065

We took a bit of a thrashing from Victoris Rosport. but the rest of the month went well. Through in the cup as well - been a while since I managed to win the national cup anywhere (I think Georgia was the last time?) so would be nice to break that streak here.

As I said, I think we'll end up around about here. No danger of relegation, but nowhere near the title either.

Germany

Israel were an annoyingly tough team to break down, but once the first went in it was game over. As I said, we'll qualify without getting out of first gear, so not overly fussed about these.

Top having played a game less than everyone, and we're still to concede a goal.

I'd like to think we'll get there with maximum points.

Edited September 12, 2021 by oneteaminglasgow

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2065

That third game against Titus Petange was an absolute shocker, but we were really decent in the first two games this month. Particularly against Fola Esch, we were in complete control.

Need to cut nonsense like that last game out though.

Dudelange have had a couple of draws this month, but we're not good enough to really challenge them at the top.

Germany

We conceded a goal at long last, but another two comfortable wins for us and we're almost there in terms of officially qualifying for the World Cup.

Aye, we need a point from Greece away and Israel at home. I'd like to think that's achievable.

[oneteaminglasgow]

This is also how one of the qualifying groups looks. Montenegro have Latvia away and Bulgaria at home still to come, so I would genuinely expect them to win those and top the group.

[oneteaminglasgow]

1 hour ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

This is also how one of the qualifying groups looks. Montenegro have Latvia away and Bulgaria at home still to come, so I would genuinely expect them to win those and top the group.

They made an arse of it by drawing with Bulgaria, and then missed out qualifying in second place on goals scored.

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2065

Mixed month, but basically alright. We got a bit of revenge over Titus by sticking them out the cup, and we didn't deserve to lose the one game we lost, but oh well.

Need to get scoring again with a couple of poor efforts in the last two games. 

Aye, I'd say we're still doing well overall. Happy enough with how the season is going.

Germany

Two comfortable wins without getting out of first gear to round out our qualification effort.

Aye, easy stuff in the end, and we're going to the World Cup.

[oneteaminglasgow]

We should be getting through that no bother. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Have any of yer ex players went on to a high level as a player or manager yet?

[oneteaminglasgow]

8 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Have any of yer ex players went on to a high level as a player or manager yet?

Can't see any decent managerial careers, but the bets playing career (by a fairly considerable distance) belongs to Miroslav Ivanovic who I had in my Merani side.

Played a lot in Ligue 1, had a season in the Serie A and tore it up in the MLS for a wee while. That's not a bad effort. Also managed to get himself 35 international caps for Montenegro. 

I also particularly enjoyed Bradley Walker's career - all the way back to my time at Bala. 

Lower end Scottish Premiership to Australia at the end of your career is such a well trodden path, so it's nice to see him do it as well. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

December 2065

Best month of the season thus far. Other than Progres, I wouldn't have expected any of these teams to be up to a huge amount, but we still need to actually go out and win the games so it's good to manage it.

Mike Thill also came into his own this month with a couple of goals, which is no bad for a 16 year old in his first season. He's already rated as one of the better players in my squad, so good that he's finally performing like it.

We're still nine points behind Dudelange, and we're playing them next, but I think we're looking good for a European place if we keep this up.

We're also still in the cup. We'll be playing US Esch, who drew with us last time, but are comfortably behind us in the league. We should have a shot at another semi final.

[oneteaminglasgow]

January 2066

It was the winter transfer window this month, and there were a few players heading off. Skrijelj and Martins were centre halves with about 3 substitute appearances between them this season, so no loss these, but Lima was my first choice right back who the board sold against my wishes. A real pain, as he goes to the only team in the league currently ahead of me, and at 17 looks to have a lot of potential. 

Anyway, it forced me to bring in a new right back in the form of Dario Delannoy. He's pretty average, but a decent enough replacement. I think he'll be your classic 7 out of 10 every week, but nothing else player. Was definitely the best I could do on deadline day anyway, and I got him on a free. Bit on the older side, so if I'm here long term I'll need to replace him at some point but we'll worry about that when it comes.

Spoiler

On the playing side, the month started brilliantly with a victory over Dudelange - their first loss this season - and we followed it up with two good wins over teams lower down the table. However, we went off the rails a bit and we just couldn't take our chances in the final two games, both of which we should be winning.

It means that, despite beating them this month, we're now further behind Dudelange than we were. I've accepted officially that I definitely won't be winning the league this season, will just need to hang on to the best of the rest spot. And see what happens in the cup.

[oneteaminglasgow]

February 2066

Very few games have annoyed me quite as much as that cup loss against US Esch. We scored after two minutes and I'm thinking great, here we go but then they equalise straight from kick off again. Then we batter them for the whole game without scoring, and they waltz up the park about a minute in to extra time and score. An absolute joke.

Rest of the month was pretty good stuff, we should have beaten Racing but it wasn't a huge deal not to do so.

Aye, we need 1 more point to be assured of at least third place, and we're looking pretty solid for second as well.

Which means that European competitions beckons for us. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2066

That was a complete pain in the arse. 3-0 down, we brought it back to 3-3 - then we got a man sent off for a completely needless tackle, and conceded in the last few minutes.

Shiter.

Title race is officially, arithmetically over.

We can still secure second though.

Germany

I don't know why I arranged these matches, but there we go. Dirk Abelmann absolutely loves a goal against random Pacific Islanders.

I can't help but feel that the existing record was a bit more impressive. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2066

Job done. Well done to Moritz Boning who dragged us through that, particularly the latter game where we didn't play that well for large periods but he got a hattrick anyway.

Aye, that'll do for this season. One more game to go, and it's absolutely meaningless for both sides.

Germany

That's our Nations League group for next time. France the big test here, I'd expect them to be quite good. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

May 2066

We finished our season off with a win, and there was much rejoicing.

Probably could have won by more, but it really didn't matter.

And so the final table looks like this. Eight points off top spot, but I think it'll likely take a wee while for us to topple Dudelange as top dogs. 

Unhelpfully, Differdange got promoted as well, and they have a fucking massive budget so you'd expect that they should be quite good. Who knows really, they managed to get relegated with a massive budget so that could happen again.

Up next for me, the World Cup 2066, in England. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

And for the first time in the save, someone other than Celtic or Rangers is champions of Scotland.

Well done to the club club. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

The 2066 FIFA World Cup

For the first time in the save, I go into a major international tournament with an actual chance at winning it. Germany won the Euros just prior to me taking over, and we're currently ranked second in the world so you'd think we should be among the favourites. Plus, it's Germany. Germany are always amongst the favourites, even when their team is comparatively shite.

As I highlighted earlier, my group looks like this...

I would be frankly appalled if we can't get through that. And with that in mind, it was recommended that we arrange some friendlies against African and Central American sides to warm up...

Good few results there. Guinea-Bissau are 14th in the world, so that's a good result. Main negative is that Dirk Abelmann got an injury which will keep him out of the tournament. 

Anyway, onto the group stage

Spoiler

We sit out the first round of games, and I think it's fair to say that South Africa are better than Costa Rica are.

Hopefully we'll be joining them in the next round.

Spoiler

Comprehensive.

I'm sure the Costa Rican fans who travelled to England will be thrilled with their teams efforts.

Spoiler

And again, very straightforward stuff for us. We probably should have scored a few more goals than we did, but oh well.

I don't think South Africa will go much further in this competition.

And we're heading through top.

We should win that too.

Spoiler

We scraped through that, a really poor performance from us. That said, Finland never had any clear cut chances so once we took the lead we were never really in danger of losing it.

I'm glad to get through our poor performance out the way.

Our toughest game yet. We'll need to be much better.

Anyway, the second round in full went as follows:

Shout out to England getting dumped out of their home world cup, and good to see Scotland through as well. 

Spoiler

We had to come back, but a very good result against a very good team.

It was a case of us being more clinical than they were, we weren't dominant or anything like that, but they missed a few chances and we didn't. Lovely.

Next up, we can take on other team from the Iberian peninsula.

And Scotland also go marching on, with an excellent result over France.

Spoiler

Dusan Kucernak is the best player on the planet. 

A great result, they were never really in the game and it's exactly what I needed. Yilmaz' goal was direct from a cross that he clearly never meant, so I knew it was going our way when that happened.

Two brilliant performances since the absolute horrorshow against Finland.

Colombia are a good side. 

 

Spoiler

We were not very good in the first half, but the second half was great and we're heading through to the final. The biggest game of the save so far awaits...

And we're playing Belgium, the reigning world champions. We beat them fairly comfortably last time we played...

Spoiler

So aye, Brazil came third.

Spoiler

We've won the World Cup.

The game was a bit of a shitfest to be honest. They scored from a corner early on, and it had us rattled for a while. We rallied though, and Nettekoven scored from a tight angle to draw us level. Second half started, and as always Kucernak was on hand with a goal, sliding it past the keeper after a great through ball from Nettekoven. The rest of the half fizzled out with little happening, and then in the final few minutes they came very close to scoring twice, which caused me to shite it, but we held on.

And, with that, we're world champions. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Europa Conference League, First Qualifying Round

In the midst of all that, my club side got pumped out of Europe. No complaints really, we were just soundly beaten by a far superior side. Made 70 grand out of it, so that's all I can really ask for.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Balls to Germany. Scotland outlasting England at an English World Cup is the real story of this save

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers 2066

Outgoings first, and for the second window in a row Dudelange have turned up and cherry picked one of my brightest prospects. Bit of a pain in the arse, and the club isn't doing too well financially so I don't even see much of that budget to spend myself.

Other than that, no real losses and good to get a few players out on loan too.

And that's the incoming players, a case of (hopefully) quality over quantitu.

I spent almost my entire transfer bidget on Robert Milenkovski, a centre midfielder from Macedonia. He's a tidy enough player, and he works hard so that's good. Makes my midfield better, and it was the main weak point in my team last season, so hopefully he'll help that.

Spoiler

Luka Stojkovic is the striker I signed to replace Ferreira, and he's a different type of player. He's good on the ball, but his finishing isn't as good and he's slower. However, he's much stronger and he's also 6'5 so that's good, and means I have someone to aim at if I want to go long.

Spoiler

Henrik Krammy is here as squad depth, again in central midfield. Should be a decent enough ball winner, don't think he'll do much else but he'll be fine to come off the bench or give others a rest.

Spoiler

Last up, Kazimierz Bieszczad, a left winger. He's been at Dudelange for about 10 years, and only every made 4 appearances.  He's pretty quick, and his first touch is good, but he's not got much else. Still, he gives us another option at left wing. I think his pace and work rate will be useful to have.

Spoiler