Asunto: National Team

Squad cutting to 40 is severely harsh. Worked out a draft list (still to be finalized before I make the cut) and it sees a large number of worthy NT squad members axed because this 40 limit is unaccomodating for including both U21 and Senior players. Currently my list consists of around 26-27 1st XI players, the rest will be filled by U21 players and when an U21 game commences a few 1st XI players will be needed to be shifted out to accomodate the extra U21 players. This is seriously messy stuff. I can't believe how tight it is.

Serious apologies for those who get their player/s cut in the process, it's a stupidly low limit.

Cuts will probably be made closer to Saturday/Sunday. I stress this is simply to comply with the new regulations and in most cases isn't because they're not in with a shot.

Haha I'm going to have Australian Cup game :D Willis&Maras vs Leijer :D

We're set to take on Ireland in the next 10-20min. Most of these clashes have been pretty even in the past and Ireland have usually given us a few problems. That was then. We've improved a bit since our last encounter although a few of the players who would normally play won't due to form/injuries etc (the usual reasons). Quite often Ireland have employed an offside trap rather effectively against us, something to consider again as a possibility. Have a few concerns with whether I'm going in with the right approach as another loss here spells a bit of trouble for ranking points.

As the rain continues to fall, let's hope we're in for a good game :).

Pretty happy with that performance. Could have had a few more but Ireland could have had another 1 or 2 also. Good result in the end, had most of the hot spots covered and we were able to win without the use of Willis and Baveas. Defense had a solid day, had a bit more trouble when Matthews came on due to the defending skill of Matthews and Kilkelly occasionally got caught with the ball. Otherwise a fairly comfortable win.

Solid win against a very decent squad. Nice result cometer :)

You know it's all Hirons :p. Everytime he plays we win more times then when he doesn't ;).

For those interested, Wesley Broxton might be listed very shortly. Don't expect it to be a cheap price though if the price listed on the transfer ad is anything to go by.

wasnt he just sold not too long ago?

nah, has been on transfer ad for a while though. Last sale for Broxton was January this year.

vaaaduump (the sound from "Jaws") :D

Looks like we've got a match as soon as they decide to accept it against Cyprus. Best I could do given everyone else is either in the U21 WC or not interested in taking us on (with the exception of a few teams who were quick to organize games). Going to be a couple of scratchy weeks whilst the U21 WC takes place. We'll probably go in with a reduced lineup, haven't quite gotten the squad cutback yet so it won't be U21 from us given the time shortage. Hopefully we'll get a few U21 games over the next few weeks, along with a quick competition to start next week.

Well, I think it's a certainty we'll be going backwards a fraction in ranking points, even if we win 20-0. In saying that though, I'm using a bit of a mix of players who haven't really played for a while, although there's a few 1st teamers out there to make sure we get some reasonable win to restrict the points we lose. A fair few of the players playing today are probably in their last game before being dropped due to the cuts that will be imposed shortly afterwards. Hoping for a 15-0 or higher win. Apologies for the match, I'll try to get a more even match next week (before others pre-arrange matches, so as to avoid the issues faced this week).

Kypros is unlikely to change their tactic, not that I guess it really matters due to our superior player skills. I've gone in with a slightly more offensive tactic then usual to try to keep the ball down their end, probably could have even used a turkiye style wall tactic but didn't end up going with that.

We should be reasonably safe for a top 2 seed, given Canada's got a few difficult U21 games ahead but I'll try to get as close to 2200 by the time the qualification draw takes place to ensure we get a 2nd seed.

16-0 win in the end, should restrict the amount of points we lose to hopefully single digits. Some nice stat boosting to a few players though including Zdrilic and Bourke. Probably could have even rested a few more (Byers,Timpano,Cunico) and still gotten as good a result. We'll see how we end up tomorrow when the updates come, we shouldn't drop too many.

Job done. :)

In the end figured a match was better than no match at all. In the end we got the result I was after, so damage control was limited. Might start working on getting a game scheduled for next week now, rather than Monday :p.

Yeah less games like that would be good. Purely from the selfish perspective, it takes a long time to get all the goals for the end of season video :P

Nice to see Croxall get a run, he was a little bit slow with his decision making, but had a few decent shots on target that pulled some of the Cypriot keeper's best saves.