Asunto: National Team

You are correct.

Instead of being beaten by Seca's NZ team, Australia will now have to be beaten by Seca's Canadian team =]

Tried something from an idea that was suggested and largely designed by Achmid, and I thought the tactic went rather well. Few things like throw in positions (from myself) were a bit off the mark today, which let us down, but I think our defensive blunders were pretty ugly. Don't know what Mautore was thinking when he headed back out for a corner, and then Nikas did a similar thing straight after the corner when all that was needed was a quick boot for the sideline and it would have been halftime. Instead they get a 2nd corner and score from it.

Also in the 2nd half a costly Mautore fumble allowed New Zealand to snag their 2nd goal.

Our goal came from a New Zealand mistake as well as a misplaced back pass didn't find the touchline and Willis got to it first and set up our unmarked strikers.

Disappointed to go down, but I thought there was a lot of positives to take away from that game. Willis had an outstanding game once again and perhaps was a little unlucky not to have one or two more assists to his name. Thought our 3 man defense held firm for the most part, a few costly mistakes from Mautore weren't helpful.

At the end of the day though, I can't say they didn't deserve the win, but had we have won I don't think they could have said we didn't. Different game styles, but in the end the quality strikers they have perhaps had the biggest laugh of the day.

Anyways, always welcome comments and we'll be ready to take on Colombia next week.
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Hahaha...from the overview that tactic looks vaguely familiar ;)

Haven't watched the game yet though, so may be completely different in around the field.

Seca's been downplaying their squad all week

Sorry. :) I hate it when NT managers do that. My apologies. The "downplaying" was meant to assure New Zealand managers I wasn't going to risk front-line players the week before qualifications.

Fair enough, I thought maybe you might just have under-estimated your backups :p.

Didn't bother myself at all, was just stating that you seemed rather negative on your chances, when I knew you still had a few decent players playing and we were still going to have a pretty close game :).

I have to say, that tactic worked a lot better then expected. Its great to be able to see decent players play one of my tactics.

I think that game had its sections, Australia seemed to do better in the first half of the first half, and for the majority of the second half, whereas NZ had it better for the 2nd half of the 1st half and for certain points of the second half.

Neither team deserved too lose really, was a great game to watch. Mautore...what can I say...for most of the part he played terrific, but those two really costly blunders may spell the end for him :P and for us to hit the post so many times again, ah well it happens.

nice match cometer, I think you did well at selecting the players for the positions I recommended for that tactic

Fair enough, I thought maybe you might just have under-estimated your backups :p.

In part it was the back-ups. In part it was wondering how many Australia regulars would take the field. Since you are seeking re-election I thought there might be a little more pressure to get a result, and perhaps more A-squad Australians would take part.

The back-ups at striker are a big step down from the regulars, but are still very, very good. The back-ups in midfield aren't that big a step back. The defense was much weaker then the regular New Zealand defense (this was my main source of concern). Anthopoulos will be having nightmares about Willis for weeks. :)

It was an interesting match. I've really enjoyed being New Zealand manager, and the rivalry with Australia was no small part of that. I wish your team well in the upcoming qualifying. :)

I thought there might be a little more pressure to get a result, and perhaps more A-squad Australians would take part.

There were thoughts of playing more but only until I realized we had Colombia next week. Once I knew that and with the fact I could eliminate a large chunk of NZ players, I decided to rest important players like Ando,Byers,Howarth,Nikas etc so that whatever happens whoever has control has them at their disposal.

Anthopoulos will be having nightmares about Willis for weeks. :)


In a season or two, I think a lot of teams will have defenders having nightmares about Willis ;).

I wish your team well in the upcoming qualifying. :)

Cheers, we will need it that's for sure. I still believe it's possible, Ireland knocked off Argentina not so long ago, and we've played Mexico recently and only went down 2 - 0, so theoretically we have a chance. Colombia is one side I need to pay attention to as I don't think we've ever played them, so it's going to be a first.

Im sure somewhere in there, we have what it takes to knock them down :D

Looked pretty good, Dave. Unfortunate about Mautore having a poor game. On the upside, Willis looked good down the right, and the changes to the ME look pretty good too... not sure about the heading out for a corner... (were they trying to pass back to the keeper?)... but the game played out quite nicely.

I think that's what Mautore's header was, but Nikas I think tried to header back to Mautore but miscued it. Wasn't too pleased with those :p.

Just like to say thanks for everyone who voted for me. Turned out to be close, and unlike some, I wasn't really surprised it was close but was still slightly surprised it was that close. Will be turning up the cogs in the next few days ahead of the match against Colombia. Going to be a tough campaign but we'll see how we go and I'm up for the task ahead.

congrats mate, youve been doing a great job, keep up the good work

Yep, would have only taken one faithful to change their vote...
So first order of business is to round up everyone who didn't vote for you and ban them. [:P]

Nah well done Dave, deserving of another term. Good luck for the season ahead.

If only :p. On a serious note though I don't hold any grudges against people voting for others or themselves if they feel they will do a better job. As it stands winning by 1 or 20 votes, it still results in another term at the office and another chance to hopefully have success with the national team. There were quite a few country elections which have appointed a different coach to last season, including Colombia so that makes things a bit tougher, but that's where having plus becomes handy ;).
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Grats Davio... I on the other hand was not so lucky to retain the Malaysian Job :(