The First American Legend: Czeching In

American managers have been condemned to just domestic success throughout history. In this career, I hope to become the first American to win major European titles, and establish myself as the world's greatest manager by the time my career is up. I also don't plan on jumping ship to any major European sides at any point, preferring to build a team up to the top level.

I'll be taking over the New York Red Bulls after holidaying through to January 2012, assuming that Hans Backe fails to bring an end to New York's trophy drought. I apologize in advance for the lack of updates that will occur during the first season, as I've already played through it and don't have the screenshots to provide much of a narrative. I will, however, provide a summary for the 2012 season, and begin better updates from 2013, going forward.

Career:

Club Management

Year      Club            Country          League           Finish     Cup        Continental    Notes
2012      New York        United States    MLS              Final      Final      N/A            [b]Supporters' Shield Winners[/b]
2013      New York        United States    MLS              Final      [b]Winners [/b]   [b]Winners[/b]
2014      New York        United States    MLS              [b]Winners[/b]    [b]Winners[/b]    Quarterfinal*  [b]SS Winners, Club World Cup Winners[/b]
2015-16   Sparta Prague   Czech Republic   Gambrinus Liga   [b]1st[/b]        [b]Winners[/b]    EL - 4th QR
2016-17   Sparta Prague   Czech Republic   Gambrinus Liga   [b]1st[/b]        Semifinal  [b]CL - Winners[/b]   [b]Czech Super Cup Winners[/b]
2017-18   Sparta Prague   Czech Republic   Gambrinus Liga   [b]1st[/b]        [b]Winners[/b]   [b] CL - Winners[/b]   Club World Cup Runners-up
2018-19   Sparta Prague   Czech Republic   Gambrinus Liga   [b]1st[/b]        [b]Winners[/b]    [b]CL - Winners[/b]   [b]UEFA Super Cup Winners[/b], [b]Czech SC Winners[/b]
2019-20   Sparta Prague   Czech Republic   Gambrinus Liga   In Progress - [b]Czech SC Winners, UEFA SC Winners, CWC Winners[/b]
* - At time of resignation

International Management

Year   Country        Competition Results
2012   N/A
2013   N/A
2014   Cameroon
2015   Cameroon       [b]African Cup of Nations - Winners[/b]
2016   Russia
2017   Russia         [b]FIFA Confederations Cup - Winners[/b]
2018   Russia         [b]FIFA World Cup - Winners[/b]
2018   United States
2019   United States  CONCACAF Gold Cup - Runners-up; Copa America - Runners-up
2020   United States

Hall of Fame Rankings (as of July 18, 2018)

World: 7th

Europe: 15th

North America: 15th

United States: 5th

Czech Republic: 1st

American: 1st

December 30, 2011: Michael LeClair has been named as the new manager of New York Red Bulls, to replace Hans Backe after a disappointing playoff season. New York finished third in the Eastern Conference, fifth overall, before being knocked out in the Eastern Conference Final by hated rival D.C. United.

The appointment of the 31-year old LeClair is seen as a surprise, given his lack of prior managerial experience. As a long-time Red Bulls supporter, however, management expects LeClair to be familiar with the setup of both the league and the club.

2012 Season

Game Setup

Leagues loaded: Argentina (view-only), Australia, Austria (view-only), Belgium, Brazil (view-only), China (view-only), Denmark (view-only), England, France, Germany, Greece (view-only), Holland (view-only), India (view-only), Ireland (view-only), Italy, Mexico, Peru (view-only), Poland, Portugal (view-only), Scotland (view-only), South Africa (view-only), South Korea (view-only), Spain, Turkey (view-only), United States, Ukraine (view-only), Wales

I'll be opening things up when I'm looking for a new job.

Expectations:

MLS - Reach MLS Cup Final

US Open Cup - Enjoy the competition

Designated Players:

Thierry Henry - ST, 34 years old - Henry will be expected to shoulder the scoring load for New York, coming off a season in which he scored 18 goals in 31 league games.

Rafa Marquez - D ©, DM, 33 years old - Marquez is expected to be a rock in central defense, partnering with the promising Tim Ream. Should circumstances require it, he will be moved up to defensive midfield.

Frank Rost - GK, 38 years old - A target of serious criticism from Red Bulls supporters, who felt that management wasted DP money on a goalkeeper, Rost has high expectations.

Expected Starting XI:

GK: Frank Rost

DL: Roy Miller

DCL: Tim Ream

DCR: Rafa Marquez

DR: Sheanon Williams (acquired from Philadelphia on a free transfer)

DMC: Teemu Tainio

ML: Robbie Rogers (acquired from Columbus on a free transfer)

MR: Jan Gunnar Solli

AMC: Sadio Diallo (signed from SC Bastia for $50,000)

STR: Emilio Renteria (acquired from Columbus on a free transfer)

STL: Thierry Henry

Good idea for a thread - I'll be reading with interest!

2012 Pre-Season

Pre-season did not go anywhere near as I had hoped. With the new formation and the four new starters, however, one should definitely have expected that. We turned things around well at the end against lower-quality opposition, picking up away wins in Suriname, two in Iceland, and Iraq, before coming home and registering a very disappointing 1-0 win against an amateur American club. The home loss to Toronto was particularly disappointing, as they had finished dead last in MLS in 2011, earning just 34 points from 34 matches. The last match did, however, give us a good chance to scout future prospects for the 2013 MLS Superdraft. Still, we finished well, and morale is high going into the season-opener against Houston.

2012 First Half

The season started off astonishingly well. Robbie Rogers scored on his Red Bulls' debut just 33 seconds into the opening match against Houston, en route to a huge opening win over the Dynamo. Our away form wasn't up to par, however, particularly with our bogey team, Toronto. The home draw to Los Angeles established them as our main competition for the MLS Cup title.

Thierry Henry got off to a blazing start to the season, scoring 14 goals in the first 17 matches. Corey Hertzog and Emilio Renteria are second on the scoring charts with four each.

2012 Second Half

The second half went as well as the first, including a very good cup run, even if the board didn't much care for the competition. Unfortunately, Metro's shot at earning its first piece of silverware did not go as planned, with the Galaxy claiming the title in a hard-fought match, earning the CONCACAF Champions League berth that goes along with it.

The fixture screenshot takes us to the 33rd match of the season, after which the Red Bulls did, successfully, claim their first trophy: The MLS Supporters' Shield! Metro fans were ecstatic with this, as the long-starved fans finally got to celebrate a title. The win puts New York into the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League, for a chance to claim continental glory. Still, MLS Cup, the main prize of the league, awaits.

2012 Playoffs

The regular season closed poorly after the disappointing US Open Cup loss, with two draws and a loss. The line-up against Colorado was mostly a reserve side, but the side's morale was decimated by the poor conclusion, and we started the playoff campaign with a frustrating 3-3 draw away to Portland. Still, that left everything to play for in the fortress that is Red Bull Arena, and Thierry Henry put the team on his back to carry the team to victory, and the Eastern Conference Final:

The Eastern Conference Final was rematch of the 2011 Conference Final, against hated rivals D.C. United. Unlike the previous year, however, New York's regular season form gave them home-field, and it showed. Despite D.C. dominating a large part of the proceedings, we ran out 4-0 winners, thanks to clinical finishing in front of goal.

Henry was the star of the show again, knocking home two early goals, forcing D.C. to chase the rest of the game. That set up another cup final with the Galaxy, with New York hoping to exact some revenge for the U.S. Open Cup defeat.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Despite a hard-fought effort, dominating most of the possession, a diving header from Omar Gonzalez in extra time was enough for Los Angeles to claim their second consecutive MLS Cup.

2012 Season Review

MLS Supporters' Shield - Champions

MLS Cup - Lost in the Final to Los Angeles, 3-2, after extra time

US Open Cup - Lost in the Final to Los Angeles, 2-1

Award Winners:

MVP - Landon Donovan (Los Angeles) - 36 appearances, 23 goals, 13 assists, 7.58 avg. rating

Golden Boot - Thierry Henry (New York) - 37 appearances, 33 goals, 4 assists, 7.48 avg. rating

Rookie of the Year - Chris Goodfellow (Real Salt Lake) - 19 appearances, 3 goals, 2 assists, 6.88 avg. rating

Newcomer of the Year - Javier Camunas (Seattle) - 32 appearances, 9 goals, 7.06 avg. rating

Defender of the Year - Rafa Marquez (New York) - 38 appearances, 0 goals, 7 assists, 7.09 avg. rating

Goalkeeper of the Year - Andre (Chivas USA) - 32 appearances, 34 conceded, 11 clean sheets, 6.87 avg. rating

Coach of the Year - Bruce Arena (Los Angeles)

Well, we fulfilled the board's expectations, but still fell short of what I was hoping for. When you get to two finals, you hope to earn some trophy from that. Hopefully 2013 will be better for the club.

We also made quite a few mid-season transactions, which backfired tremendously, as I didn't quite have a grasp on the MLS salary structure. In the end, however, we made the following transfers:

Transfers In:

February 18 - Baggio Husidic (Free)

March 8 - Steward Ceus (Free, Waiver Draft)

March 8 - Kosuke Kimura (Free, Waiver Draft)

March 11 - Simon Dawkins (Free)

March 17 - Cristian Nazarit (Free)

March 18 - Evan Newton (Free)

April 4 - Jorge Flores (Free)

July 1 - Gale Agbossoumonde ($275,000 - Ft. Lauderdale Strikers)

July 15 - Anderson Pico (Free)

August 21 - Mariano Trujillo (Free)

September 15 - Stefan Frei ($160,000 + 2 Draft Picks)

Transfers Out:

February 25 - Matt Kassel (FC Dallas - Draft Pick)

March 2 - Ugo Ihemelu (Houston - Draft Pick)

July 1 - Tyler Lassiter (Chicago - Free)

July 2 - Marcos Paullo (Free)

July 9 - Kosuke Kimura (Free)

July 16 - Roy Miller (Free)

August 1 - Simon Dawkins ($24,000 loan fee - Cardiff)

2012 Best XI:

Looks good, will be following for sure! Good luck!

2012-13 Off-season, 2013 Preseason

MLS lifts its salary and squad constraints in the off-season, and we decided to take full advantage of this to add some squad depth, and some young players who looked promising for the future. A lot of the American amateur clubs had released players early, making them eligible to be signed outside of the MLS Superdraft structure. To that end, we brought in the following, with plans to move them around the league for draft picks if they failed to make our squad. (Screenshots will be provided for the players who made the squad - as of April 21, 2013)

Transfers in:

November 26 - Nik Besagno (Free - Kitsap Pumas)

December 15 - Josh Wicks (Free - IFK Mariehamn)

December 23 - Eddie Gaven (Jan Gunnar Solli + Draft Pick - Columbus)

January 3 - Lawrence Aziz (Free - Vermont Voltage)

January 3 - Abraham Jimenez (Free - New Orleans Jesters)

January 10 - Fabian Castillo (Free - St. Louis Lions)

January 10 - Soe Min Win (#2 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 10 - Bill Moon (#12 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 10 - Steve Hunt (#17 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 10 - Mike Majiet (#22 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 10 - Daniel Hernandez (#48 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 10 - Mick Rawcliffe (#53 Overall Pick - MLS SuperDraft)

January 11 - Alex Suarez (Fabian Castillo + 3 Draft Picks)

January 11 - Danny Mwanga (Free - Philadelphia Union)

January 11 - Teal Bunbury (Free - Philadelphia Union)

January 12 - Ike Opara (Free - Columbus Crew)

January 13 - Danny Cepero (Free - Real Salt Lake)

January 15 - Noah Poole (#35 Overall - MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 15 - Colin Knight (#53 Overall - MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 21 - Alexander Kacaniklic (Free - Port Vale)

January 21 - Nicolau Dumitru (Free - Napoli)

January 21 - Chancel Mbemba Mangulu (Free - Anderlecht)

January 21 - Marjan Markovic (Free - OB)

January 21 - Gael Nlundulu (Free - Lausanne)

January 21 - Esmael Goncalvez (Free - OGC Nice)

January 21 - Vedat Erdogan (Free - Besiktas)

January 21 - Adigun Babaloa (Free - Gombe United)

January 21 - Cesar Carranza (Free - Lanus)

January 21 - Daniel Bessa (Free - Inter)

January 21 - Marco Leininger (Free - RB Salzburg)

January 21 - Jorge Alpizar (Free - Orion)

January 21 - Gai Assulin (Free - Manchester City)

January 21 - Vincent Weijl ($12,000 - Eibar)

January 21 - Paolo Castellini (Free - Parma)

January 21 - Serges Deble (Free - Charlton)

January 21 - Graham Rayner (Free - Bradenton Academics)

January 21 - Sebastian Molina (Free - Springfield Demize)

January 21 - Giovanni Ferrara (Free - Chivas El Paso)

January 21 - Effort Bhengu (Free - Kansas City Brass)

January 21 - Alejandro Arjona (Free - Los Angeles Misioneros)

February 1 - Darron Gibson (Free - Manchester United - DP Contract)

February 13 - Michael Brandner (Free - RB Salzburg)

March 7 - Freddy Adu (#17 Overall Pick - Waiver Draft - Philadelphia Union - DP Contract)

March 10 - Michael Tetteh (2 Draft Picks - Seattle)

In addition, we added three players from the youth squad, one of whom was immediately capped by the United States senior team. He's going to be a gem:

Robert Martinez - Cut March 6

Alan Harrison - Cut March 6

Paul Manuel

2013 Pre-Season

With all of these new signings, we embarked on our pre-season in Colombia. Things didn't start very well at all, with draws to Once Caldas and Millonarios, and a big loss to Deportivo Cali. Luckily, things turned around at the end of our tour, registering a big 3-0 win against Medellin (birthplace of Red Bull icon Juan Pablo Angel). The rest of pre-season turned around in a big way, with a win over Liga de Quito, who had beaten us 2-0 in the last pre-season. A home win over Sparta Prague, followed by a huge win in Guatemala over Xelaju and a comfortable win over Keflavik in Iceland put us on our way to a good MLS campaign. Unfortunately, with so many off-season signings (a feat that will not be repeated), a lot of cuts had to made. Fortunately, many of the players were of MLS quality, and there was a market for them in the league. As players became surplus to requirements, we offered them out to the other clubs in the league, and picked up some valuable draft picks for next year.

Transfers out:

November 26 - Evan Newton (Free - San Jose)

December 12 - Steward Ceus ($16,000 - Houston)

December 13 - Cristian Nazarit ($16,000 - San Jose)

December 23 - Jan Gunnar Solli (Eddie Gaven - Columbus)

December 27 - Jorge Flores (Draft Pick - Real Salt Lake)

December 31 - Frank Rost (Free)

December 31 - Mariano Trujillo (Free)

December 31 - Donny Toia (Free)

January 7 - Emilio Renteria ($500,000 - Real Salt Lake)

January 9 - Emmanuel Gyamfi (Draft Pick - Colorado)

January 10 - Baggio Husidic (2 Draft Picks - Real Salt Lake)

January 11 - Fabian Castillo (Alex Suarez - FC Dallas)

January 24 - Teemu Tainio ($650,000 - SK Brann)

January 26 - Nathan Garner (Free - San Jose)

January 26 - Matt Tena (Free - San Jose)

January 27 - Noah Poole ($1,500 - Portland)

January 27 - Alexander Kasaniklic ($80,000 - Philadelphia)

February 2 - Danny Cepero (Draft Pick - San Jose)

February 3 - Serges Deble ($100,000 - Portland)

February 7 - Jorge Alzipar ($250,000 - Houston)

February 20 - Marjan Markovic ($35,000 + 2 Draft Picks - Houston)

February 24 - Gai Assulin (Draft Pick - San Jose)

March 2 - Esmael Goncalvez (Draft Pick - Philadelphia)

March 2 - Chancel Mbemba Mangulu (Draft Pick - Portland)

March 2 - Nicolao Dumitru (Draft Pick - Chicago)

March 2 - Riyad Mahrez (Draft Pick - Chicago)

March 2 - Mick Rawcliffe (Draft Pick - Philadelphia)

March 3 - Effort Bhengu ($90,000 - Portland)

March 3 - Daniel Bessa (Draft Pick - Chivas USA)

March 3 - Sebastian Molina (Draft Pick - Portland)

March 3 - Vincent Weijl (Draft Pick - Chivas USA)

March 5 - Graham Rayner ($55,000 - Portland)

March 6 - Robert Martinez (Free)

March 6 - Alan Harrison (Free)

March 6 - Vedat Erdogan (Free)

March 6 - Adigun Babaloa (Free)

March 6 - Paolo Castellini (Free)

March 12 - Mike Majiet (Free)

March 12 - Abraham Jimenez (Free)

After all of these transactions, we ended up with the following draft picks for the 2014 season:

MLS SuperDraft:

Real Salt Lake's 1st round pick

Houston's 1st round pick

Portland's 1st round pick

Chicago's 2nd round pick

Philadelphia's 3rd round pick

MLS Supplemental Draft:

1st round pick

2nd round pick

3rd round pick

Seattle's 3rd round pick

One problem that arose during the off-season was the fact that we now have four designated players, after selection Freddy Adu in the Waiver Draft. I opted to remove Darron Gibson from the squad, preferring to have more Americans in the squad. Because of quirks in MLS, however, he is ineligible for waivers, and is currently languishing in the reserves. I'm hoping to move him in the summer window, but failing that, he will be a part of the squad after the season. I also realize that there may be objections to me bringing in so many players in the off-season and unloading them relatively quickly, but I did it all within the constraints of MLS, so it seems legitimate to me.

Interesting moves mate. You sure signed a lot of players. Lots of wheeling and dealing.

Perhaps you can trade Gibson to a team that wants him in the future for a pick or something...

How's MLS in FM12 to you?

Good luck in the new season (except against TFC and Vancouver )

2013 Season Preview

Finally, we make it to the present. The season is just underway, so I've whited out anything that would give away the results from the early part of the campaign:

Club Profile - Henry serves as captain yet again, with Marquez taking the reins as vice-captain from the departed Frank Rost.

Squad - The squad looks great for the season. The only issue we have is a lack of depth at right midfield. All we have as backup is recently-drafted Steve Hunt. Freddy Adu can provide cover at right midfield, but he's slotted in as the starter at center attacking midfield. We also went from having just three American starters last season (Ream, Williams, Rogers) to nine (Frei (naturalized), Manuel, Ream, Agbossoumonde, Williams, Rogers, Gaven, Adu, and Bunbury/Mwanga (naturalized)/Agudelo).

Squad Registration - The salary situation is pretty tenuous, and will likely lead to us cutting or transferring players throughout the year, once again. With a settled squad though, there should not be anywhere near as much action as last season.

Staff

Finances - Finances look good, but with the designated players on the squad, it's impossible to make money. Thankfully, Red Bull provides a really strong financial backing, and we have a lot of room for error

Facilities - The facilities are great, and there is an upgrade pending for a training facility upgrade in the pending off-season.

Expectations:

MLS - Win MLS Cup

US Open Cup - Not important to the board

NACL - No expectations yet

Interesting moves mate. You sure signed a lot of players. Lots of wheeling and dealing.

Perhaps you can trade Gibson to a team that wants him in the future for a pick or something...

How's MLS in FM12 to you?

Good luck in the new season (except against TFC and Vancouver )

I've tried to move Gibson around MLS, but there aren't any takers. Moving DPs in the league is incredibly difficult. When Adu popped up in the Waiver Draft, I was ecstatic.

MLS is pretty solid, much improved from previous editions. Still, there are some little glitches, but that's to be expected with a league system that's so bizarre. I'm pretty sure a lot of the guys on Generation adidas contracts should have graduated from the program (Tetteh, Agudelo, Hertzog), but they still don't count against the cap.

2013 All-Star Break Report

First Half Events

The season has obviously started off very well for us. The recent dip in form can almost entirely be attributed to absences as a result of the Gold Cup. In the last match against San Jose (same day as the Gold Cup final), we started our third-string goalkeeper, a backup centerback, a defensive midfielder as the second centerback, and a left midfielder at left back. We also had a hell of a last week, with four matches between July 20 and July 27. That said, to get 7 points from those matches was immense. With the Gold Cup now over, things are looking much brighter for the second half. The first half did provide some great moments, however. We registered a club record victory over Portland, 6-0. We also got to relish from afar the tears of the Galaxy faithful, as they got obliterated in the US Open Cup by an amateur side, losing to Chivas El Paso, 4-0.

Transfers - We have made a few moves so far, with their effect on the club being negligible at best. We let go of Corey Hertzog because he was unhappy with his playing time. To my surprise, despite his Generation adidas contract, there were no takers in the league, and he remains without a club. Danny Mwanga had to go for the same reason, and we landed a nice $200,000 from Chivas USA. Josh Wicks was also very unhappy with his lack of playing time, and we were happy to ship him to FC Dallas for $150,000 and an allocation. To provide experienced cover, we brought in Chase Harrison, a veteran of the American lower divisions. At the start of the French transfer window, we got an offer from Caen for Darron Gibson, saving him from the indignity of the reserves, and collected a solid chunk of allocation money. The transfer of Dax McCarty was unexpected, but the $900,000 offer from Club America for our backup defensive midfielder was too good to turn down. That, however, left Michael Brandner as our sole backup at the position, and with Rafa Marquez away with Mexico for both the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup, we needed an MLS-quality starter, which led to us acquiring Paulo Nagamura from Chivas USA for a $350,000 allocation and a draft pick. Simon Dawkins' return from Cardiff on loan was unwelcome, so we let him go straight-away without adding to our salary budget. Nagamura's salary, combined with the free agent signing of Omar Cummings prompted us to make a move to get under salary restrictions when Thierry Henry returned from a three-week injury, so we sold Argentina U-20 defender Alejandro Arjona back to his native country, getting $625,000 from Boca Juniors, which was a pleasant surprise. We also needed more cover in the midfield, so we brought in a former Academy player, who MLS restrictions stole from the Red Bulls in the first place, grabbing Dilly Duka from Real Salt Lake for $100,000. Sergey Gobatov was an addition deemed surplus to requirements before he ever joined the club (thanks to Nagamura), so we immediately moved him to San Jose on a free transfer. To close out our transfer dealings, we added two promising Africans in Samuel Asamoah and Roland Traore, who came highly recommended by my West African scout. Again, salary cap restrictions led to a cut I was unhappy to make, as we were forced to sell Sadio Diallo to Chivas USA for $375,000 when he returned from an injury. In this transfer window, I've had to fight off Zurich and Sion for the services of Stefan Frei, as well as approaches from Palermo for Gale Agbossoumonde. I'd need an outrageous offer to sell either one (upwards of $5,000,000). The highest offer for Frei was $750,000, and I managed to get Palermo up to $3.8 million before they backed off.

We also got some unexpected bonus money when Jozy Altidore was sold by AZ Alkmaar to Bayern Munich.

Squad Stats - Scoring has been distributed a lot better through the squad this year, in large part because of Thierry Henry's rapid decline. Still, he's hit 8 goals in 19 appearances, which is respectable enough. Teal Bunbury has been a revelation. Coming off a season in which he scored 1 league goal in 14 appearances for Philadelphia, he's knocked in 8 in 20. Unfortunately, he was just sidelined with a knee injury, and will be out until October. It will fall on Juan Agudelo and Omar Cummings to take the scoring load off of Henry, an effort that began very well for Cummings, as he grabbed two goals on his debut against an admittedly poor Vancouver side. Paul Manuel has done exceptionally well at left-back in his rookie campaign, and is on the fast-track to winning Rookie of the Year. In addition to his league performance, he has secured two senior caps with the United States. Tim Ream has also been electric. Despite not changing the corner set-up from the previous season, in which we scored 6 goals total off of corners, Ream bagged his 6 goals in the first 10 matches, all from corners. Along with centerback partner, Gale Agbossoumonde, we've formed a really strong backline, and had allowed by far the fewest goals in the league until the Gold Cup.

Managerial notes - I've started an unhealthy rivalry with Bruce Arena in Los Angeles, and criticize their team every chance I get. I like to think it helped contribute to their early and hilarious demise in the US Open Cup. I also attempted to land a job in international management, as the managers of Australia and Bahrain (both World Cup-bound) both retired, and Brazil sacked their manager after a group stage exit in the Confederations Cup. Unfortunately, they weren't very interested in me, and it seems like it will be a while before I can get into international management.

July 31, 2013 World Update

Time to take you around the world, giving you recent champions and important events.

World:

2013 Confederations Cup

1st - Uruguay

2nd - Spain

3rd - Japan

2012 Olympics

1st - Great Britain

2nd - Ghana

3rd - Uruguay

2011 U-20 World Cup

1st - England

2nd - France

3rd - Austria

Club World Cup:

2012 - Barcelona

2011 - Barcelona

Europe:

2012 European Championship

England 0 - 1 Croatia

2013 U-21 European Championship

Sweden 0 - 1 England

UEFA Champions League

2012/13 - Real Madrid 3 - 0 Tottenham

2011/12 - Barcelona 2 - 0 Inter

Europa League

2012/13 - Bayern 0 (8) - 0 (9) Valencia

2011/12 - Sporting Lisbon 3 - 0 Roma

South America:

Copa Libertadores

2013 - Palmeiras (BRA) 4 (4) - 4 (5) Liga de Quito (ECU) - Aggregate final, LD Quito wins on penalties

2012 - Fluminense (BRA) 1 - 2 Club America (MEX)

North America:

2013 Gold Cup

United States 1 - 0 Honduras

CONCACAF Champions League

2012/13 - Chivas (MEX) 4 - 1 San Jose (USA)

2011/12 - Los Angeles (USA) 1 - 1 Monterrey (MEX) - Monterrey wins on away goals

Asia:

AFC Champions League

2012 - Okayama (JPN) 2 - 0 Lekhwiya (QAT)

2011 - Al-Sadd (QAT) 0 - 1 Nagoya Stolz (JPN)

Africa:

2013 Cup of Nations

1st - Tunisia

2nd - Cote d'Ivoire

3rd - Mali

2012 Cup of Nations

1st - Tunisia

2nd - Ghana

3rd - Morocco

Champions League

2012 - Wydad Casablanca (MAR) 1 - 2 ES Tunis (TUN) - Aggregate finals

2011 - Al-Ahly (EGY) 5 - 6 Zamalek (EGY)

England:

Premier League

2013 - Manchester United

2012 - Manchester City

FA Cup

2013 - Manchester City

2012 - West Brom

Carling Cup

2013 - Aston Villa

2012 - Manchester City

France:

Ligue 1

2013 - Marseilles

2012 - Marseilles

Germany:

Bundesliga

2013 - Bayern Munich

2012 - Bayern Munich

Holland:

Eredivisie

2013 - FC Twente

2012 - AZ Alkmaar

Italy:

Serie A

2013 - Napoli

2012 - Inter

Spain:

La Liga

2013 - Barcelona

2012 - Barcelona

Mexico

2011 A - Puebla

2012 C - Santos Laguna

2012 A - Pumas

2013 C - Atlante

United States

Major League Soccer

2012 - New York 2 - 3 Los Angeles (aet)

2011 - D.C. United 0 -3 Los Angeles

US Open Cup

2012 - Los Angeles 2 - 1 New York

2011 - Seattle 2 (3) - 2 (5) Los Angeles

MLS All-Stars

2012 - MLS All-Stars 0 - 3 Liverpool

2011 - MLS All-Stars 0 - 1 Newcastle

MLS managers:

Chicago - Frank Klopas (USA)

Chivas USA - Dominic Kinnear (USA)

Colorado - Robin Fraser (USA)

Columbus - Trond Solleid (NOR)

D.C. United - Ben Olsen (USA)

FC Dallas - Jason Kreis (USA)

Houston - Dave Dir (USA)

Los Angeles - Bruce Arena (USA)

New England - Steve Nicol (SCO)

New York - Michael LeClair (USA)

Philadelphia - Peter Vermes (USA)

Portland - Piotr Nowak (POL)

Salt Lake - Frans Adelaar (NED)

San Jose - Frank Yallop (CAN)

Seattle - Sigi Schmid (USA)

Sporting Kansas City - Preki (USA)

Toronto - Bob Bradley (USA)

Vancouver - Teitur Thordarson (ISL)

If anyone wants to know about any transfers or other important events (unlisted league winners, managerial changes, etc.), ask and you shall receive.

2013 Regular Season Report

We last left you at the All-Star Game, which ended in yet another defeat for the MLS All-Stars, as they fell to Wigan Athletic, 2-1, at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Perhaps it's time to quit bringing in foreign "super"clubs?

Major League Soccer

The second half of the season was absolutely miserable in league play. With the additional burden of six CONCACAF Champions League games, along with injuries to Robbie Rogers and Rafa Marquez, the squad's depth did not hold up well at all. Our goal differential in the final 12 matches was 0, as opposed to our +41 from the first 22 matches. We close the regular season on a five-match winless streak. On the bright side, we're also unbeaten in three. Still, we're in the playoffs, and were in with six matches to spare. Home-and-away against D.C. United in the Conference Semifinals will be exciting for both the players and the fans, but at the moment, there isn't a lot to be optimistic about...

...or is there?

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Yes! Thanks to an epic, historic run in the domestic cup competition, the Red Bulls have lifted their first U.S. Open Cup! The final was a hard-fought affair, with Academy product Dilly Duka grabbing the game-winner in extra time. Unfortunately, as you can see, our efforts in this competition cost us the services of star left midfielder Robbie Rogers, who was ruled out for two months with strained knee ligaments. Regardless, it was great to win a knockout competition, and this gives us some hope for success in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Speaking of knockout competitions...

CONCACAF Champions League

Group Table

Fixtures

New York's voyage into the CONCACAF Champions League went perfectly. The performance under me is in stark contrast to the Red Bulls' first appearance in the competition, in 2009, when New York was eliminated in the preliminary round, 4-3 on aggregate, by W Connection of Trinidad and Tobago, leading to the sacking of Juan Carlos Osorio. The campaign got off to a great start in Puerto Rico, where the 3-1 result was very flattering to the hosts. Chivas de Guadalajara should have been a much tougher test, as MLS clubs have traditionally struggled mightily against their neighbors to the south. Chivas' visit to Red Bull Arena (immediately following a visit from Chivas USA, incidentally), did not at all go as the Mexicans would have hoped, as we dispatched them with a shock 2-0 victory (Supporters' Reaction). Home matches against Saprissa and Puerto Rico went perfectly to plan, setting us up with our biggest test of the group stage: a visit to Estadio Omnilife in Guadalajara. We went in hoping for a draw just to save face, since we had already qualified for the quarterfinals with the win over Puerto Rico.

In Guadalajara, we were absolutely dominated from one end of the pitch to the other. Thankfully, an unbelievable performance in goal from Stefan Frei, coupled with some wasteful shooting from Chivas, kept the Mexicans scoreless, and kept us in the match. Fatigue had forced us to start Juan Agudelo up top, alongside Omar Cummings, despite the fact that Agudelo had not scored in MLS play since June 1. The Champions League seemed to appeal to him, however, as he had bagged goals in both ties with Puerto Rico. And, as fate would have it, it was Agudelo who proved to be the hero for us on the day:

[video=youtube;ryGxyyvr4bE]

A great (potentially illegal) tackle from Robbie Rogers stripped the Chivas right back of the ball. He took a couple of touches, and fed a great cross to the streaking Agudelo, who put home the winner with ease in the 93rd minute, giving us the 1-0 victory in Mexico. We closed out the group stages with an easy 2-0 win in Costa Rica, despite having absolutely no regular starters in the XI. The Champions League quarterfinals will be an MLS-Mexico shootout. New York, D.C. United, Los Angeles, and UNAM Pumas qualified as group winners, with Chivas, Atlante, Cruz Azul, and New England qualifying as group runners-up. The draw for the knockout stages is on December 11, with the quarterfinals beginning in early March.

Transfers

We made just two transfers of any kind after the All-Star Game. First, we brought in another Generation adidas player, signing Grant Boyce from Real Salt Lake for a 2015 Second Round Superdraft pick. Given that Boyce was taken #2 overall in the 2012 Superdraft, we were thrilled to make this acquisition. Going out of the club, we sent Soe Min Win on loan to our new feeder club, San Francisco (PAN). His loan spell there lasted just 24 days, however, as an injury crisis in New Jersey forced us to recall him, having played just two matches for the Panamanian club.

2013 MLS Cup Playoffs Preview

The MLS Cup Playoffs are officially underway. In the Wild Card round, Portland knocked off Colorado, 4-0, while Chicago beat Columbus in Ohio, 2-1. That sets up this bizarre playoff tree, with Chicago playing in the Western Conference bracket, and Portland playing in the East. For me, the favorites have to be New England and, believe it or not, Chicago. New England finished the season in great form, and haven't lost in the league since mid-September. We've limped into the playoffs, as has D.C. I hope that we can gather enough momentum to propel us to an Eastern Conference Final at Gillette Stadium, where we lifted the US Open Cup earlier in October. The West, all appearances aside, is atrocious. San Jose puttered their way to the Supporters' Shield, their ineptitude matched only by my own. Los Angeles is getting old, and it's showing. Seattle's playoff hopes are done almost before they get started, as they have FIVE players suspended for the first leg against the Galaxy. Chicago stormed into the playoffs, going unbeaten in October and dispatching a tough Columbus side on the road in the Wild Card round. But, really, they're the favorites in the West almost by default.

As for us against D.C.: We split the season series with them. We won at home, 2-0, in April, while D.C. took the return leg, 3-1, in early October. All signs would point to them having a slight advantage. Hopefully we can get back on track, or it could very well be the unemployment line for me.

Still, we're hoping for the best up in Harrison, and we would love to lay claim to our first MLS Cup in the coming weeks.

2013 MLS Cup Playoffs

Eastern Conference Semifinal, First Leg

The Eastern Conference Semis put us up against D.C. United for the third straight postseason. Our 4-0 win over them in the 2012 Eastern Conference Final gave us confidence in our ability to knock them out. The away leg in Washington went perfectly to plan, as we dominated possession and restricted them to very few good chances on goal. Freddy Adu’s goal in the 35th minute against his former club was enough to give us the 1-0 advantage going back to Red Bull Arena.

Eastern Conference Semifinal, Second Leg

All we needed to progress was a draw or better. Things got off to a great start, as we again dominated possession, resulting in Teal Bunbury’s goal in the 22nd minute. The goal was Bunbury’s first in over eighteen hours of football, and his relief was apparent, with him coming close to bagging his second two or three times throughout the rest of the match. D.C. never really threatened to come back, as their one shot on target demonstrates. It was easy sailing for us, and we progressed to the Eastern Conference Final for the third consecutive season.

In the other Eastern Conference Semifinal, Portland pulled off a shock upset, upending the New England Revolution, 1-0 on aggregate. The Revs had been my favorite to get through and possibly beat us, so for Portland to make it through was a huge relief. Plus, it gave us home field for the conference final, which is a huge bonus. Things went as I expected in the West, with Chicago knocking off the Supporters’ Shield winners, San Jose. Los Angeles went through with ease on the back of a 5-2 win in Seattle.

Eastern Conference Final

The weather conditions for the Eastern Conference Final can be described as sloppy, at best. We were absolutely dreadful in front of goal, and could not grab a solid advantage despite dominating play. Thankfully for us, Portland goalkeeper Troy Perkins had an absolute nightmare of a game. We scored our first off of a corner. A Tim Ream header came off the bar, hit Perkins, and crawled over the line. That looked to be enough to send us to the MLS Cup Final, but it was not to be. Portland got a corner late on, and Kleiton Domingues lunged for a diving header that flew into the roof of the net. That sent us to extra time, where another shocking mistake from Troy Perkins gave us the lead. He simply mishandled an easy cross and dropped it over the line. That forced Portland forward, and our counterattack finally hit back. Juan Agudelo, famous for his late-game heroics in Guadalajara, grabbed another late goal, sending us through as 3-1 winners after extra time. There, we would again meet the Los Angeles Galaxy, who won the West with a stunning 7-0 win over Chicago.

In between the Conference Finals and MLS Cup, there was a double slate of international games. While things went well for our players on the pitch, Gale Agbossoumonde was injured in training with the United States, setting our final preparation way back. Boss’ injury meant that Ike Opara would start alongside Tim Ream in the center of defense – a massive downgrade. Also during the break, Landon Donovan set the United States record for caps, earning his 165th in a friendly against Australia.

2013 MLS Cup Final

With Agbossoumonde recently injured, and Robbie Rogers still unable to return from injury, we were simply unable to cope with the Galaxy at Buck Shaw Stadium in San Jose, California. Stefan Frei had perhaps his worst game with New York, and the inexperience of many of our players was glaringly apparent. The Galaxy grabbed an early lead, and never much looked like losing it, despite our huge possession advantage. No one can say we didn’t really go for it though. After David Beckham was sent off for his second yellow card in the 62nd minute, we went to a 3-3-4 formation, and had a few good chances at closing the gap. Unfortunately for us, Robbie Keane absolutely destroyed Opara in the open field in the 74th minute, and he put the game on ice. With the win, the Galaxy won their third consecutive MLS Cup, and their league-record fifth title.

Our late-season form never hinted at an appearance in the MLS Cup Final, so we were happy to get there. Still, when it came down to crunch time, we failed to perform, and that's a major disappointment. With the loss, our record in cup finals falls to 1-3. The off-season is going to involve a lot of re-tooling. We also have to hope that some European teams come in to poach the Galaxy's stars, because they are clearly the class of the league.

2013 Season Review

MLS Supporters' Shield - 3rd

MLS Cup - Lost in the final to Los Angeles, 3-0

US Open Cup - Winners, 1-0 after extra time, over New England

Award Winners:

MVP - Landon Donovan (Los Angeles) - 27 appearances, 13 goals, 12 assists, 7.34 average rating

Golden Boot - Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) - 29 appearances, 23 goals, 3 assists, 7.40 average rating

Rookie of the Year - Paul Manuel (New York) - 34 appearances, 0 goals, 2 assists, 7.17 average rating - Interestingly, 2012's Rookie of the Year has already retired

Newcomer of the Year - Jose Ortigoza (Los Angeles) - 23 appearances, 10 goals, 3 assists, 7.12 average rating

Defender of the Year - Tim Ream (New York) - 30 appearances, 8 goals, 3 assists, 7.41 average rating

Goalkeeper of the Year - Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles) - 30 appearances, 29 conceded, 6.87 average rating

Fair Play Award - Robbie Keane (Los Angeles) - 36 appearances, 0 red cards, 0 yellow cards

Coach of the Year - Bruce Arena (Los Angeles)

USA Player of the Year - Landon Donovan (Los Angeles) - 32 appearances, 18 goals, 11 assists, 7.36 average rating

USA Young Player of the Year - Gale Agbossoumonde (New York) - 34 appearances, 6 goals, 0 assists, 7.42 average rating

Ballon d'Or - Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

World Player of the Year - Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2013 MLS Best XI

We fell short of the board's expectations. They wanted us to win MLS Cup, and we couldn't do it in the end. The US Open Cup win did not much matter to them, and they expect a semifinal appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League, so that isn't working to my benefit. I ended the year with insecure footing in my position, but the flip to 2014 put me back in a stable place.

2013 New York Best XI

Overall New York Best XI

Final 2013 Squad

Freddy Adu

Gale Agbossoumonde

Juan Agudelo

Anderson Pico

Samuel Asamoah

Lawrence Aziz

Grant Boyce

Michael Brandner

Teal Bunbury

Omar Cummings

Dilly Duka

Giovanni Ferrara

Stefan Frei

Eddie Gaven

Chase Harrison

Thierry Henry

Sacir Hot

Steve Hunt

Marco Leininger

Paul Manuel

Rafa Marquez

Paulo Nagamura

Ike Opara

Tim Ream

Robbie Rogers

Alex Suarez

Michael Tetteh

Roland Traore

Sheanon Williams

Soe Min Win

Here's to a better 2014! Filled with continental glory and the elusive MLS Cup!

Unlucky ArsenalMetro! You will beat the Galaxy one day...you surely have to win the MLS Cup next year (or lose to TFC in the Eastern Final... )!

Unlucky ArsenalMetro! You will beat the Galaxy one day...you surely have to win the MLS Cup next year (or lose to TFC in the Eastern Final... )!

Thanks for the support! We simply have to get past them if we want to win anything. We were lucky that they gave up on the US Open Cup last year, that's for sure.

2013-14 Offseason, 2014 Preseason

Looking to recover from another crushing MLS Cup loss, we brought in a number of players – some to contribute immediately, some for the future.

Youth signings:

Alberto Ortiz

Michael McCarthy

Juan Carlos Rojas

Dean Kitson

Transfers in (bolded players made the team):

December 6 – Alberto Casanova (Draft Pick – Los Angeles)

January 5 – Darlington Nagbe (Free – Portland)

January 7 – Arturo Serrato (Free – Jersey Express)

January 9 – Christian Mendez (#5 Overall Pick – MLS Superdraft)

January 9 – Curtis Brown (#7 Overall Pick – MLS Superdraft)

January 9 – Randy Smith (#8 Overall Pick – MLS Superdraft)

January 9 – Andy Williams (#16 Overall Pick – MLS Superdraft)

January 9 – Oscar Perez (#42 Overall Pick – MLS Superdraft)

January 10 – Jack McInerney (Free – Philadelphia)

January 14 – Alejandro Vallejo (#17 Overall Pick – MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 14 – Scott Gutierrez (#37 Overall Pick – MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 14 – Hernan Guerrero (#50 Overall Pick – MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 14 – Lapa (#56 Overall Pick – MLS Supplemental Draft)

January 21 – Mohamed Emam (Free – Wadi Degla)

January 21 – Rodolph Toure (Free – Sabe)

January 21 – Will Keane (Free – Manchester United)

January 21 – Jackson Beckham da Silva (Free – Fiorentina)

January 21 – John Obem (Free – Lobi Stars)

January 21 – Jordan Jones (Free – Middlesbrough)

January 21 – Nam Jung-Wook (Free – Central Jersey Spartans)

January 21 – Ibrahim Ouattara (Free - JCA)

January 21 – Nicholas Mohammed (Free – Feyenoord Fetteh)

January 21 – Alexandre Mendu (Free – Jersey Express)

January 24 – Clint Dempsey ($3,100,000 – Tottenham)

January 26 – Kyle Beckerman (Free – Columbus)

January 27 – Reda el-Huashle (Free – Al-Ahly)

February 8 – Terry Boss (Free – Portland)

February 10 – Cui Yangang (Free – Tianjin)

February 28 – Alex Ibrahim ($75,000 – FC Ebedei)

The big signings there are obviously Clint Dempsey and Kyle Beckerman. We brought Dempsey in as our third designated player, replacing Rafa Marquez, who we let go on a free transfer to Tigres of Mexico. Dempsey was transfer-listed at White Hart Lane, but still commanded a hefty sum. We had a deal lined up with a Brazilian striker, Vandinho, but the allure of bringing Dempsey to New York was too much to resist. To generate the allocation funds to bring him in, we had to make some tough sales. Beckerman slots in as our starting defensive midfielder to replace Marquez. Darlington Nagbe should feature in a pretty big role, as the declining Thierry Henry leaves us with a lack of firepower up front. Incidentally, this marked the first season where I didn’t pick a player in the Waiver Draft. It was also the first year anyone else selected a player, with Portland selecting Fabian Espindola with the pick before me.

Our preseason was amazing. To be fair, the quality of opposition was greatly diminished from years past, but we still allowed just one goal in seven matches, which is something to be proud of. Also, closing preseason out with wins of 7-0 and 10-0 bodes very well for our upcoming CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal with New England. I have nothing but praise for the entire squad after those performances. Of course, players had to be cut to stay within roster restrictions. To that effect…

Transfers out:

November 27 – Chase Harrison (Draft Pick – Chivas USA)

November 28 – Sacir Hot ($30,000 – Toronto FC)

November 30 – Michael Tetteh (Draft Pick – Houston)

December 31 – Rafa Marquez (Free – Tigres)

January 1 – Marco Leininger ($300,000 – SK Rapid Wien)

January 16 – Juan Agudelo ($600,000 – Karsiyaka)

January 28 – Paulo Nagamura ($450,000 – Atletico Paranaense)

February 12 – Roland Traore (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 12 – Alex Suarez (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 12 – Lawrence Aziz (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 13 – Jackson Beckham da Silva (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 13 – Samuel Asamoah (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 13 – Steve Hunt (Loan – San Francisco (PAN))

February 24 – Andy Williams ($10,000 – Seattle)

February 24 – Alberto Ortiz (Free – Waivers)

February 24 – Dean Kitson ($2,000 – Real Salt Lake)

February 25 – Omar Cummings (1-year international slot – Portland)

February 26 – Oscar Perez ($10,000 – Seattle)

February 27 – Hernan Guerrero (Free – Waivers)

February 27 – Scott Gutierrez (Free – Waivers)

February 27 – Alejandro Vallejo (Free – Waivers)

February 28 – Alberto Serrato (2 Draft Picks – Vancouver)

February 28 – John Obem (2 Draft Picks – Vancouver)

February 28 – Randy Smith (Draft Pick – San Jose)

February 28 – Juan Carlos Rojas (Free – San Jose)

March 1 – Alberto Casanova ($30,000 – San Jose)

March 1 – Rodolph Toure ($750,000 – Seattle)

March 2 – Lapa (Free – Waivers)

March 2 – Mohamed Emam (Free – Waivers)

March 2 – Nam Jung-Wook ($150,000 – San Jose)

March 5 – Michael McCarthy (Free – Waivers)

March 7 – Jack McInerney ($90,000 – Seattle)

Getting rid of Rafa Marquez was a no-brainer. He’s quickly declining, and his constant injury problems lead to him being more of a detriment to the team than anything else. We were shocked to get $300,000 for Marco Leininger, as we really don’t see him amounting to an MLS-quality centerback. Selling Juan Agudelo was a tough decision from a sentimental point of view, but he hasn’t been developing as we’d hoped, and we wish him the best on his Turkish adventures. Plus, his sale generated the funds to bring in Dempsey. Paulo Nagamura became surplus to requirements when we signed the cheaper, better Beckerman. All of the players out on loan have stagnated a bit, so we wanted to get them some late-season playing time in Panama. When they come back, we’re going to have a bit of a crisis at the club, as we already have the maximum 30 players. They’ll bring us to 36, and some tough cuts will have to be made in the early days of the season. Omar Cummings was, like Marquez, headed into a rapid decline (courtesy of the 8-month injury layoff he had before joining our club), so he had to go. And finally, to bring in a combined $900,000 for Rodolph Toure and Nam Jung-Wook was incredible. Though we were looking forward to having a North Korean suit up for the team, they both lacked the potential that other players at their positions had, so they really had to go.

On the draft pick front, we have, for 2015:

MLS Superdraft

1st round pick

Chicago’s 1st round pick

Sporting Kansas City’s 1st round pick

Vancouver’s 1st round pick

Houston’s 2nd round pick

Chivas USA’s 2nd round pick

D.C. United’s 3rd round pick

3rd round pick

Real Salt Lake’s 3rd round pick

Houston’s 3rd round pick

Chivas USA’s 3rd round pick

MLS Supplemental Draft

1st round pick

Chivas USA’s 1st round pick

Chicago’s 1st round pick

Houston’s 1st round pick

2nd round pick

San Jose’s 2nd round pick

3rd round pick

Chivas USA’s 3rd round pick

If we see anyone in MLS that we’re interested in, most of these picks will be gone, as they’re hardly worth anything in terms of player quality.

I feel it’s worth noting (if I haven’t already), that every player brought in was either scouted by one of my 17 (!) scouts, or was offered to us by their agent.

2014 Season Preview

Club Profile – Thierry Henry will wear the captain’s armband again, with goalkeeper Stefan Frei stepping up as his vice-captain.

Squad – As with last year, I’m very happy with the balance of youth and experience that we have on the team. I’m hoping to see more young players step up. Soe Min Win is one of the guys I’m expecting to make a big step up.

The addition of Clint Dempsey will change things in midfield. Eddie Gaven, who frustrated me to no end with his wasteful finishing last year, will move to the bench. Dempsey will slot in as the center attacking midfielder, with Freddy Adu moving to right midfield. As I mentioned with Beckerman before, he will be our starting defensive midfielder. Other than that, things will stay very much the same. Gale Agbossoumonde and Paul Manuel have come to me requesting a transfer to a bigger club, but they both seem content now to stay until the end of the season.

We were very proud of our nine-American starting XI last year, and we’re even happier to bring that number up to 10. The only non-naturalized player in the regular starting lineup is Henry, but by the end of the year, I don’t expect to see him as a regular starter. By the season’s close, we should see an all-American starting XI.

Squad Registration – Our cap number is surprisingly comfortable. Unfortunately, we’re at the limits with 29 registered players and 11 internationals, so we’re going to have to make cuts as players roll into town throughout the season.

Staff – We have a great coaching staff, complemented by an amazingly large scouting team. The joys of having organizational money to burn in MLS.

Expectations:

MLS – Win MLS

NACL – Reach Semifinal

US Open Cup – Not important to the board

We start our campaign off with the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals against New England. A win is crucial in fulfilling the board's expectations.

2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League, Knockout Rounds

Quarterfinals

Our first plunge into the knockout rounds of the Champions League was an all-American affair, taking on the New England Revolution in the quarterfinals. We’ve had the better of New England over the past few years, and that gave us confidence heading into the first leg at Red Bull Arena.

First Leg

Things went perfectly to plan for us. We completely dominated the Revs from start to finish. A Tim Ream goal from a corner kick was followed almost immediately by a goal from Teal Bunbury, and that was more than enough to give us a solid lead heading to Foxboro. This game also marked Clint Dempsey’s competitive debut for the club, and it was special for him, coming against his first club.

Second Leg

While a 2-0 lead was good, we knew that New England could come back quickly. In the 21st minute, however, Eddie Gaven drew a penalty for us, that Thierry Henry dispatched of easily, giving us a nearly insurmountable 3-0 advantage. Robbie Rogers made it 4-0 on aggregate later in the first half, and the Revs were disheartened. Over the 180 minutes, they managed to log just one shot on target, making our progress to the semifinals an easy task. The semifinals would be a different story, as we were drawn against…

…of course, the Los Angeles Galaxy, our main nemesis. Thankfully, we had the advantage of having the second leg at home, so we headed out to Carson, California, for the first leg of this crucial tie.

Semifinals

First Leg

Things started off beautifully for us. Robbie Rogers again popped up with a goal, in the fifth minute, but things went downhill from there. Recently acquired Kyle Beckerman went down with a serious injury in the 31st minute, forcing us to bring on Michael Brandner. The injury, we found out after the match, would keep Beckerman out for at least three months. Still, there was a game to play, but the loss of Beckerman really hurt our defensive efforts. Luis Cardozo grabbed the equalizer for Los Angeles in the second half, but we managed to keep things level the rest of the way, and headed home with an important away goal.

The run-up to the second leg was nerve-wracking, to say the least. We had to wait three weeks for it, and were closely monitoring the injury recovery of star left back Paul Manuel, who in the end, was not quite fit for this match. We also still don’t quite have enough faith in Brandner to make a regular contribution, so we brought in defensive midfielder Baraka from Seattle to take over as the starter there. But more importantly, we had to put together a makeshift defense for us in the most important match in club history, with Sheanon Williams sliding over to left back. Gale Agbossoumonde picked up a yellow card suspension for the second leg, forcing us to start Ike Opara alongside Tim Ream. Egyptian U-20 captain Reda el-Huashle was called upon to make his club debut as the starting right back.

Second Leg

But the hastily-constructed defense held firm. Teal Bunbury’s pace up front destroyed the Galaxy’s backline, and he came up big with a goal in the 33rd minute. Five minutes later, Thierry Henry doubled our advantage, and we were flying headed into halftime. Los Angeles threatened immediately from the second-half kickoff, but Bunbury’s pace again burned the Galaxy, and he made it 4-1 on aggregate in the 47th minute, which was more than enough to send us to the CONCACAF Champions League final. And couldn't we have only gotten there by besting our biggest competitive rival? I think it's just poetic.

2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League Final

The Champions League final matched us up with Mexico’s Cruz Azul, who, like the Red Bulls, have a poor reputation when it comes to winning trophies. They haven’t claimed a Mexican title since 1997, and had finished runners-up in the Champions League in both 2009 and 2010. This edition marks the fourth consecutive year in which a Mexican club was drawn against an MLS side in the final, with the Mexican team prevailing on all previous occasions. I was very happy that we had the first leg at home, because I wanted us to get out on the right foot against some strong opposition. The first leg also marked my 100th game in management, a milestone I hoped to celebrate properly.

First Leg

And celebrate we did. We were surprisingly strong from the start, and our efforts were rewarded with Clint Dempsey’s first goal for the club on the stroke of halftime. Just after halftime, it was that man Dempsey again, drawing a penalty for us. Eddie Gaven, fresh off the bench as a halftime substitute for Thierry Henry, dispatched the spot kick, giving us a shock 2-0 advantage. Dempsey’s stellar night took a sharp turn downward eight minutes later, as a really rash challenge in midfield earned him a straight red card, and an automatic suspension for the second leg. To protect the advantage, we dropped Freddy Adu into a central midfield role, and left Teal Bunbury as our lone striker. The defense was immense the rest of the way, and Cruz Azul rarely conjured a serious threat on goal. Our efforts were aided by a silly red card given to Cesar Villaluz, who lashed out at Reda el-Huashle after the Egyptian won the ball from him in the tackle. Rather than try to add a third after the red card and risk Cruz Azul scoring an away goal, we elected to maintain our possession and close the books on a 2-0 win.

Second Leg

That decision seemed very foolish in the early goings in Mexico City. Cruz Azul pegged us back with a goal in the 3rd minute, followed by the equalizer in the 14th minute, and the situation looked bleak for us. Luckily, the defense settled down, and we nearly reclaimed the lead on the stroke of halftime, but Teal Bunbury’s effort struck the inside of the post and caromed out for a throw-in.

So it would come down to the final 45 minutes of the tie. An away goal would be huge for us, as it would require Cruz Azul to score two to win. To that effect, we brought on our young Nigerian striker, Alex Ibrahim, acquired from the Nigerian Second Division in the winter transfer window, for Thierry Henry, who had picked up a knock in the first half. Ibrahim seemed to be in a rich vein of form, having bagged his first two goals for the club in the weekend fixture against Portland. The half was understandably cagey, and the move to bring on Ibrahim looked to be a poor one, as he spurned two golden chances to give us the lead. Thankfully, my faith in the youngster was rewarded in the 76th minute.

[video=youtube;9RrHfXm0TY0]

Ibrahim, who had been described as a poacher by my scouts, lived up to his reputation, sliding past his defender to knock in a cross from Sheanon Williams, giving us a late lead, one that seemed to assure us of the title. We knew, however, that Cruz Azul could strike quickly, having learned our lesson in the first half. We immediately brought on Michael Brandner for Eddie Gaven, and packed the midfield and our defensive half. The defensive switch proved to be a masterstroke, and despite a valiant effort from the Mexicans, they could not breach our goal again. Despite losing 2-1 in Mexico City, we claimed the tie, 3-2 on aggregate, becoming the first American team to ever win the CONCACAF Champions League!

With the win, we earned the right to represent CONCACAF at the Club World Cup in December, with the prospect of matching up against European champions Manchester United, who claimed the UEFA Champions League crown in Amsterdam, defeating Barcelona on penalties.

The win vaulted me into the American Hall of Fame, but I still have a way to go before I catch Bruce Arena as the most decorated American manager.

The next update will be a detailed record of the 2014 World Cup. As for me, I’m about to road-trip to the real-life Red Bulls’ playoff quarterfinal against the Galaxy (8 hours round-trip!). Have a good weekend, all of you, but more importantly…

LET’S GO RED BULLS!

Great thread. I'm an enjoying this alternative reality in which Gale Agbossoumonde is actually good and the US actually has a quality left back.

How does the DLR work in North America? If MLS does better and better in the NACL, do salary cap levels rise?

Great thread. I'm an enjoying this alternative reality in which Gale Agbossoumonde is actually good and the US actually has a quality left back.

How does the DLR work in North America? If MLS does better and better in the NACL, do salary cap levels rise?

The salary cap rises yearly, and clubs participating in the NACL get extra allocation money. For participating, I got something like $93,750, and roughly $175,000 for winning. I have no idea how it affects the DLR, but I can't imagine that the effect would be too great, because the tournament itself doesn't have a very high reputation. I would guess that a good performance in the Club World Cup would be more likely to push up MLS's reputation.

Qualifying for Brazil 2014

Qualification for the 2014 World Cup was full of all the twists and turns one has come to expect. Some high-profile teams missed out, making room for some shocking entrants.

Africa

2010 hosts South Africa had the most disappointing qualifying campaign on the continent. Despite registering a goal differential of +10, they came second in their group to Libya, ending Bafana Bafana’s chances of returning to the World Cup before the playoff. Gabon took advantage of their absence, knocking out Libya, earning their first-ever World Cup berth.

Asia

It was a bad year for former tournament hosts. South Korea bombed out of qualification in the group stages, coming fourth in Group B. Elsewhere, things went as expected, with Japan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia earning automatic berths. Iran won the Asian playoff against Qatar, before beating Jamaica in a home-and-away for a berth in Brazil 2014.

Europe

European qualification was wild, to say the least. Scotland qualified for their first tournament since 1998, topping their group that contained Euro 2012 winners Croatia, as well as Serbia and Belgium. Bulgaria surprised everyone to top Group 2, sending Italy to the playoff. Germany carried the torch in Group 3, while Holland unsurprisingly won Group 4. Group 5 was a shockingly weak group, as evidenced by the 1-2 finishers: Iceland and Albania. With the group win, Iceland qualified for their first-ever major tournament. Portugal dominated in Group 6, with 2018 hosts Russia finishing a disappointing fourth. Group 7 was headlined by a very solid Greece team, with no one challenging them seriously for top spot. Group 8 looked to be set up well for England, but Ukraine put in a stunning qualifying performance, scoring 29 goals while allowing just 4, giving them the group win by six points. Group 9 was a two-team battle, with France and Spain of a much higher class than everyone else. France triumphed with a goal differential of +17 to Spain’s +13, sending the defending champions to the playoff round.

In the playoffs, Albania booked their first trip to the World Cup with a 3-2 aggregate win over Romania. Ireland qualified for the first time since 2002, besting Slovakia 3-2 on aggregate. In a tasty tie, England faced off against Croatia. England claimed a 3-1 win in Croatia, but the European champions came back with a vengeance at Wembley. After a Theo Walcott goal gave the English a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 aggregate lead, Croatia stormed back with three goals, sending the game to extra time and, eventually, penalties. Luckily for the English faithful, England’s penalty curse would not continue. Croatia converted their first three penalties, but missed the rest. Stewart Downing’s spot kick dramatically punched England’s ticket to Brazil. In an equally fascinating affair, Italy faced off against Spain, a battle of the previous two World Cup winners. The 2010 champions claimed a 1-1 draw at the San Siro, but a blistering performance from the Italians in Sevilla gave them a 2-1 away win, and they booked their trip to Brazil.

North America

CONCACAF qualifying went almost as one would expect. Honduras was surprisingly knocked out in the third round, earning just two points from their six group matches. In the hexagonal, Mexico led the way, with the United States and Canada following – all three earned automatic bids, the Canadians earning their first since 1986. As mentioned before, Jamaica drew Iran in an intercontinental playoff, falling 4-1 on aggregate.

South America

With Brazil’s qualification to the tournament booked as hosts, the spots in South America were entirely up for grabs. Argentina dominated with 13 wins, followed by Uruguay and Chile. Venezuela, despite a goal differential of -9, qualified for their first World Cup finals, and Paraguay bested Ecuador and Peru on goal difference to qualify for a playoff with the Oceania representative, New Zealand. A 4-2 aggregate win gave the final spot in the tournament to the South Americans, allowing the anticipation for Brazil 2014 to begin building.

2014 World Cup – Brazil

Red Bulls Call-ups

Group A – Hosts Brazil were drawn with a difficult group by host standards, matched up with Albania, Egypt, and the United States. Group favorites Brazil and the United States kicked off the tournament with a 1-1 draw. Santos’ Neymar opened the tournament’s scoring in the 71st minute, but the real highlight came in the 89th minute. New York Red Bulls defender Paul Manuel lined up for a free-kick outside the area, and

. Egypt and Albania also played to a 1-1 draw. Brazil followed up their first match with a disappointing 2-0 win over Albania. Landon Donovan proved the hero for the United States against Egypt, scoring a 91st minute equalizer from the spot in a 1-1 draw. In the final group matches, the United States dominated Albania in a 3-0 win, and Brazil finally rounded into form, bagging a 4-0 win to put them top of the group.

Group B – The tournament’s “Group of Death” was always destined to be a tight affair, with Chile, England, Holland, and Morocco fighting for places in the second round. Holland and England set the pace from the off, earning 2-0 wins. In the second set of matches, Morocco earned a shock result, beating England 2-1, despite registering just five shots to England’s 18. Chile also earned a surprise win, with a Diego Rubio goal giving them the 1-0 victory. That left everything to play for in the final matches. Chile handled their African opponents well, booking their spot in the next round with a 2-0 win. Holland took a 29th minute lead against England, but fantastic play from set pieces ended up deciding the match. Ryan Shawcross was the hero for England, heading in corners from Leighton Baines and James Milner, propelling the English to the second round.

Group C – 2010 3rd-place finishers Uruguay headlined Group C. Joining them were Ireland, Japan, and Mexico. An Edinson Cavani doubled led them to a 2-1 win over Mexico in their first match, with Japan earning full points from Ireland in a 1-0 win. Mexico came back from their opening loss well, a Javier Hernandez double giving them a 2-1 victory over Japan. Cavani registered a brace again against Ireland, propelling Uruguay to another 2-1 win. Mexico booked their place in the second round with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Ireland, Hernandez coming up with another two goals, giving him five in the group stages. After Alvaro Fernandez was sent off in the 22nd minute for Uruguay, things looked dire for the South Americans, as a 2-goal win for Japan would put them through. They took a 2-0 lead, but Ryuki Iemoto picked up a straight red card in the 66th minute, evening the match at 10 men. Luis Suarez was once again the World Cup hero for Uruguay, grabbing a goal in the 75th minute. Despite the 2-1 loss, Uruguay qualified on a tiebreaker, with five goals scored besting Japan’s four.

Group D – Portugal were the obvious favorites in Group D, with Bulgaria, Ghana, and Iran filling out the group. Portugal started things off with an easy 3-0 win over Iran, and effectively booked their passage to the second round with a 1-0 win over Bulgaria in their second match. After Ghana drew Bulgaria in their first match, they knocked off Iran, 2-1, putting the Portuguese through officially. All Ghana needed in their final match was a draw against an unmotivated Portugal side, and they earned it the hard way. Despite going down 2-0 early, and Andre Ayew missing a 60th minute penalty, they grabbed the two goals they needed to progress. In what became a meaningless match, Bulgaria beat Iran, 4-2.

Group E – Argentina were thrilled with their draw, as they found themselves in group with Bahrain, Canada, and Ukraine. Unfortunately for them, Lionel Messi tore a groin muscle just eight minutes into their opener against Canada, ending his tournament very prematurely. Despite that, their quality saw them through their first match, a 2-0 win. Ukraine were the weaker side against Bahrain, but a goal in first-half stoppage time was enough to give them a 1-0 win. Angel di Maria’s goal against Ukraine gave Argentina a 1-0 win in their second match. Canada and Bahrain made things very interesting late. Josh Simpson’s 92nd minute goal put Canada up 3-1, but Bahrain fought hard to keep things close, with Abdulla Omar scoring in the 95th minute, but to no avail: Canada 3 – 2 Bahrain. Argentina’s progress was assured with a 3-0 win over Bahrain. Ukraine and Canada had all to play for in their match – a win would send either team through, and a draw would put the defensive Eastern Europeans into the the second round. Ukraine dominated possession 68%-32% and never gave Canada much of a chance to grab a goal. Ukraine progressed, despite only earning four points and only scoring one goal.

Group F – Germany’s group went exactly as one would expect. They bulldozed their way through the group with three wins, and the stingy Greek defense gave them 1-0 wins over Australia and Cameroon, which was good enough to put both European sides through.

Group G – Scottish dreams of glory were quickly dashed. A favorable draw served them up with a very good France side, and mediocre opposition in Paraguay and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis came up big early on against Scotland in the opening match, a 16th-minute goal from Abdoh Autef setting the stage for the rest of the match. With Scotland pressing for an equalizer, Nassar al-Shamrani grabbed an 85th-minute goal, condemning Scotland to a 2-0 defeat. Karim Benzema and Jeremy Menez scored for France against Paraguay in a 2-0 win. Scotland looked to be cruising to a win over Paraguay, leading 3-1 heading into the late stages of the game. Paraguay, however, launched a stirring comeback, with Oscar Cardozo bagging a late brace with goals in the 87th and 92nd minutes, earning them a shocking 3-3 draw. France easily dispatched of Saudi Arabia in a great team performance, 3-0, to ensure their progress. Scotland would need a win over France and help from Saudi Arabia to get through, and things looked great for them early on, with Steven Naismith opening the scoring in the 5th minute. France scored a 52nd-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw. A win would have been for naught in any event, as goals from Nelson Valdez either side of the interval sent Paraguay through to the second round.

Group H – Italy had to have been stunned by their draw, as they were fortunate enough to be in probably the worst World Cup group in history, up against nothing but tournament debutantes: Gabon, Iceland and Venezuela. In typical Italian fashion, they were workmanlike in their wins – 1-0 against Gabon, 1-0 against Venezuela, and 2-1 over Iceland. The second spot was surely up for grabs. Iceland opened things up with a 2-0 victory over Venezuela, aided by Venezuela’s Miku earning two yellow cards and a sending off just before halftime. A 1-1 draw between Iceland and Gabon left the second spot to play for in the final match. Were Gabon to earn a win over Venezuela, qualification would have come down to goal difference. Luckily for Iceland, Gabon and Venezuela played to a 1-1 draw, making their match against Italy irrelevant, and the two European sides went through to the knockout rounds.

Second Round

Everything looked pretty straight-forward in the second round. Brazil was again wasteful in front of goal against Chile, but managed to triumph on penalties. Despite dominating the match, England was unable to score against the United States, until Wayne Rooney popped up as the hero late on, grabbing an 88th-minute winner. Ghana and Mexico was a wide-open affair, as one would expect. Andre Ayew scored early in the second half, but Maza Rodriguez dramatically sent the match to extra time with a stoppage time goal. Ayew came up big again with a 98th-minute goal, and the frustration was evident on Mexico’s faces. Rodriguez earned a straight red in the 107th-minute, allowing Ayew to take over the game. He added his third and fourth goals of the match in the 108th and 111th minutes, sending Ghana through as 4-1 winners. Portugal dominated against Uruguay, but could not convert their numerous chances. With Uruguay’s only shot on target, Luis Suarez scored in the second half, giving Uruguay a 1-0 win. Argentina came out flying against a defensive Greece, but failed to convert their chances. A red card to Kostas Mitroglou in extra time did not deter the Hellenic side, and they managed to get the game into penalty kicks, where Argentina fell apart. Sergio Aguero and Cristian Ansaldi missed their opening penalties, while Greece was clinical. Despite being outshot 21-1 over the course of the match, Greece went through as 4-1 winners in the shootout, in the biggest upset of the round. Ukraine staked an early 2-0 lead against Germany, but Taras Stepanenko’s 49th-minute sending off allowed Germany back into the match. They managed to force extra time, and grabbed two goals in the extra session, going through 4-2 after extra time. Despite taking a shock 1-0 lead against France, Iceland’s World Cup dream came to a screeching halt, as France knocked home five in a 5-1 victory. Italy put in another solid performance in the final second round match, earning a 2-1 win over Paraguay, the only Paraguay goal coming as pure consolation in the 91st minute.

Quarterfinals

Brazil - Uruguay

Brazil were certainly favorites to progress in their all-South American clash with Uruguay. Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani had different ideas, however, and put Uruguay up 2-0 going into halftime.

, an award of which he is sure to be proud. A 56th-minute goal from Leandro Damiao gave the hosts hope, but their offense continued its putrid form, and they could not muster a serious effort at an equalizer. Uruguay progressed to the semifinals again, winning 2-1 at the Maracana.

England - Ghana

England were also heavy favorites against Ghana, but the Africans came out with a storming performance, forcing England into a defensive posture. Luckily for them, they have the pace of Theo Walcott on their side, and he scored just before halftime on a quick England counter-attack. Despite Ghana’s best efforts, they could not grab the equalizer, despite outshooting England 22-9. England went though as 1-0 winners.

Greece - Italy

In an outrageously dull affair, Italy showed their quality against Greece. A 12th-minute goal from Giorgio Chiellini was enough to put the Azzuri into the semifinal. They controlled possession throughout, winning the statistical battle 62%-38%. Greece 0 – 1 Italy.

Germany - France

Jeremy Menez provided all of the scoring that France would need against their European rivals, Germany. His 16th-minute goal was the lone highlight in a poor match, but it was enough for the fans back in Paris. Germany 0 – 1 France

Semifinals

Uruguay - France

Despite a boring scoreline, Uruguay – France was a fierce match, with a combined 14 yellow cards and 2 red cards. After Loic Remy missed a French penalty in the 30th minute, Facundo Piriz picked up Uruguay’s second red card of the tournament, sent off for his second bookable offense in the 35th minute. Karim Benzema capitalized on the man advantage with a first-half stoppage-time goal, and it looked like smooth sailing for the 2006 finalists. Despite being a man down, Luis Suarez came up huge again, scoring in the 67th minute. Uruguay’s defense held strong throughout regulation, sending the match to extra time. Early in the extra session, Adil Rami made things very interesting, picking up his second yellow card and ending France’s advantage. Neither side really pushed for the winner, and the match went to penalties. Yann M’Vila and Nicolas Lodeiro converted their opening penalties, but things then fell apart for France. Mathieu Debauchy had his effort saved by Fernando Muslera, and Benzema skied his spot kick over the bar. Uruguay converted their chances, before, who else, Suarez slammed home the winning penalty into the top corner. To the elation of the Uruguay fans, they were through to the final, where they would face the winner of England – Italy.

England – Italy

Standard fare for the Italians: an incredibly dull match. They controlled possession, and were content to force England to chase the match. Goalkeepers Joe Hart and Salvatore Sirigu saved any chance that came their way, and the match went to extra time. In the 115th minute, Tom Huddlestone was shown a yellow card for a foul roughly 30 yards out from goal. On the ensuing free kick, Italy captain Daniele De Rossi lined everything up, and sent a

around the wall and into the back of the net. Italy held firm for the final five minutes, setting the stage for a classic affair against Uruguay.

Third Place Match

England – France

Both sides were clearly demoralized from their heartbreaking semifinal losses, and it showed with the performance on the field. While this match has often been an entertaining affair, both sides throwing everything they have forward, that was not to be on this day. An 18th-minute red card from Kyle Walker could have opened up the match, but France failed to take the initiative. They were punished by Wayne Rooney, who scored two goals after the interval, propelling England to their best World Cup finish since claiming the title in 1966. England 2 – 0 France.

2014 World Cup Final: Uruguay - Italy

World Cup Review

Featuring the winners of the first four World Cups, Uruguay-Italy had the feel of an instant classic. With their impenetrable defense at the back, Italy looked set to put the game on ice in the 22nd minute, after they were awarded a very questionable penalty after a soft foul by Facundo Piriz. Domenico Criscito stepped up to take the spot kick, but Fernando Muslera turned hero for Uruguay, tipping the effort over the bar. That was the only real chance of regulation, and the match went to extra time, tied 0-0. Extra time played out just the same, with both teams apparently willing to put all of the pressure on their goalkeepers. After their semifinal penalty win and the save earlier in this match, Uruguay surely had to have confidence in Muslera to carry them to victory. The final whistle blew, and yet another World Cup final would be decided on penalties.

Penalties

URU: Edinson Cavani scored - Uruguay 1 - 0 Italy

ITA: Daniele De Rossi scored - Uruguay 1 - 1 Italy

URU: Jorge Fucile MISSED WIDE - Uruguay 1 - 1 Italy

ITA: Mario Balotelli scored - Uruguay 1 - 2 Italy

URU: Santiago Garcia scored - Uruguay 2 - 2 Italy

ITA: Giampaolo Pazzini scored - Uruguay 2 - 3 Italy

URU: Juan Manuel Diaz SAVED - Uruguay 2 - 3 Italy

Francesco Della Rossi stepped up for Italy, with the chance to clinch Italy’s fifth World Cup. He took a deep breath, began his run up…and SKIED IT OVER! Uruguay was in with a chance, however slight.

All of the weight in the world was on the shoulders of Uruguay’s stalwart defensive midfielder, Diego Perez. He made his run…looked to put the kick to Salvatore Sirigu’s right...Sirigu reads it well, dives, and SAVES IT! ITALY ARE ONCE AGAIN ON TOP OF THE WORLD!

With that, Italy lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for the record-tying fifth time. All eyes are now fixed on the preparations for Russia 2018.

Award Winners

Golden Boot - Andre Ayew (Ghana) - 5 appearances, 6 goals, 7.84 average rating

Best Player - Andre Ayew (Ghana)

Best Goalkeeper - Salvatore Sirigu (Italy) - 7 appearances, 2 conceded, 5 clean sheets, 7.27 average rating

Best Young Player - Raphael Varane (France) - 7 appearances, 1 goal, 1 assist, 7.24 average rating

Dream Team

Goal of the Tournament - Luis Suarez - Uruguay 1 - 0 Brazil, 33rd minute:

[video=youtube;CKkUdP_Y01g]

Congratz on the Champions League win!

And good going by Canada...I would be happy enough if they made the World Cup 2014 IRL!

This is an amazing read, it has taken me a week to get through it all but I love the depth you go into! Not to mention, I love the american league and love New York Red Bulls!

2014 All-Star Break Report

MLS All-Stars 0 - 2 Arsenal

First Half Events

The first half started very well for us, with us claiming the first ever CONCACAF Champions League for the United States. We maintained pretty solid form up until the World Cup, but were absolutely unable to keep up with San Jose, who dominated everyone in their path in the opening months. With six players called up to the United States for the World Cup, we were left with very little depth, or quality in the starting XI, and our form clearly suffered as a result. The May 24 match against FC Dallas was our first without the World Cup players, and we fell to a tough 1-0 defeat at Pizza Hut Park. We rebounded against Philadelphia in the next match, giving me hope for the next month. Everything fell apart after that, and our players in Brazil were discontent with the situation at home. Throughout the World Cup, we had Ike Opara, Tim Ream, Robbie Rogers, and Teal Bunbury all express their desire to move to a bigger club. Relationships were mended with Rogers and Bunbury, but Opara was furious with not being allowed to leave, as was Ream. After the World Cup, our form rebounded in a big way. Our Los Angeles jinx appears to have passed, as we registered back-to-back 3-0 wins over them at Red Bull Arena, one in the league, and one in the US Open Cup. In the Open Cup, things are well-set for our second consecutive title, as we are the only remaining MLS side in the semifinals. To fall short at this point would be nothing short of humiliating. We were handed an easy draw in the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round, drawing Haitian opposition, and we will likely blow them away. Thierry Henry announced his retirement at the end of the season, and we plan on adding him to the staff when his playing career ends. With regard to former players joining the staff, we brought on Teemu Tainio as a coach, following his retirement from playing.

Transfers - It's been an active season on the transfer front. Thiaguino was a faulty signing, and we put him on waivers as quickly as we could. Will Keane missed the cut and moved to Seattle. Jackson Beckham da Silva didn't fit our plans, and we moved him to a very poor Salt Lake team on a free. No one in the league would take Terry Boss, even on a free, so we sent him to San Francisco (Panama) to get around roster restrictions. While we liked Jordan Jones and Roland Traore, they didn't fit in the plans for the season, and they were both waived. We had a lot of young players who we wanted to get game time, so Nicholas Mohammed, Ibrahim Outtara, Steve Hunt, Alex Suarez, Samuel Asamoah, and Lawrence Aziz were sent to Atlanta on loan. Anderson Pico was becoming a problem in the locker room with his poor morale, but Portland was willing to take him off of our hands for $60,000 and a draft pick. Ike Opara's discontent led to his departure, and we were happy to get $1.4 million from Brann of Norway for him. As mentioned before, we brought in Baraka after Kyle Beckerman's long-term injury. Club favorite Juan Pablo Angel was brought back to the club on a very cheap contract, but he picked up an injury in his return, and was sidelined for a while, forcing his release upon his return. We had a deal lined up to bring in young South African goalkeeper Ryan Comitis for the last year and a half, and were happy to finally welcome him to the club. David Argueta and Krisztian Adorjan joined the club at the opening of the transfer window on free transfers. A lack of quality up front necessitated a $110,000 move for Brazilian striker Joao Paulo, who arrives from K-League club Gwangju FC.

Squad Stats - Teal Bunbury was our star of the first half, his 12 goals in 19 appearances earning him a spot on the United States World Cup roster, as well as garnering interest from European clubs. Ream was also a star, his 7 goals marking him as a constant threat on set pieces. Clint Dempsey failed to live up to expectations at the start of the campaign, and was consistently our worst player on the pitch. He has turned things around recently, settling in as our right midfielder. His form led to a devastating exclusion from the US squad in Brazil. Soe Min Win has stepped up well, and looks set to be a starter in 2015. Likewise for Reda el-Huashle, who has been a revelation at right back. Thierry Henry has turned from goalscorer to distributor, with just 5 goals in 21 appearances.

Managerial Notes - My job security plummeted with the results during the World Cup, when we fell to fifth in the Eastern Conference. The board evaluated my status as "very insecure" before the 3-0 win away to conference leaders Kansas City. That win alone bumped me back up to "stable." In bigger news, I've finally gotten my start in international management. I was a little disappointed that the United States did not part ways with Jurgen Klinsmann after the World Cup, given the disappointing second-round exit, but there were a number of other openings around the world. I put in very hopeful applications to England and Ireland, which were expectedly laughed off. Egypt and Cameroon, however, were very interested in my services. Cameroon offered me their job first, and I took it quickly. Cameroon currently sits tops in their 2015 African Cup of Nations group with three wins from three, but their group stage exit in the World Cup prompted a managerial change. I kick things off with a friendly in Croatia in August, before resuming the qualifying campaign in September. I plan on staying with the team through the 2015 tournament, but probably not through the World Cup. Cameroon is currently ranked 20th in the FIFA rankings.

MLS Managers

Good luck with Cameroon

August 1, 2014 World Update

I've cleaned this post up a bit, so it will be easier to navigate. The most recent tournament winners will be listed in text, with the past winners screen in the links. All listed winners won their title in 2014, unless otherwise noted. If you have any questions about details, feel free to ask.

World

FIFA World Cup - Italy

FIFA Confederations Cup - Uruguay (2013)

FIFA U-20 World Cup - Argentina (2013)

Olympic Games - Great Britain (2012)

FIFA Club World Cup - Real Madrid

Europe

European Championship - Croatia (2012)

European U-21 Championship - England (2013)

UEFA Champions League - Manchester United

UEFA Europa League - Tottenham

South America

Copa America - Uruguay (2011)

Copa Libertadores - Universidad de Chile

Copa Sudamericana - Cruzeiro (2013)

North America

CONCACAF Gold Cup - United States (2013)

Central American Nations Cup - Honduras (2013)

Caribbean Championship - Jamaica (2012)

CONCACAF Champions League - New York

Asia

Asian Cup - Japan (2011)

AFC Champions League - Al-Ahli (KSA) (2013)

Africa

African Cup of Nations - Tunisia (2013)

CAF Champions League - ES Tunis (2013)

England

Premier League - Manchester United

FA Cup - Liverpool

League Cup - Manchester City

France

Ligue 1 - Lyon

Germany

Bundesliga - Bayern Munich

Holland

Eredivisie - FC Gronigen

Italy

Serie A - AC Milan

Mexico

Primera Division - Pumas

Spain

La Liga - Barcelona

United States

Major League Soccer - Los Angeles (2013)

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup - New York (2013)

MLS All-Star Game - Arsenal

2014 Second Half Report

MLS Regular Season Review

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

CONCACAF Champions League

African Cup of Nations Qualifying

New York Red Bulls

Major League Soccer

We continued our great post-World Cup form, starting off the second half with a big 2-1 away win to then-leaders San Jose. We had just two losses in the second half, falling to Chicago in a frustrating loss that featured a Tim Ream red card for a professional foul, and losing to Chivas USA in a very poor performance. At home, we were unbeatable…untieable also. This culminated in a 6-0 win against strugglers Toronto with a starting XI that was almost entirely made up of reserves. Even though we clinched a playoff spot after the win over Houston, we did not let up at all, finishing the league campaign with six consecutive wins. That streak, combined with slumps from Los Angeles and San Jose, allowed us to rise up the table and claim our second MLS Supporters’ Shield, good for a place in the 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. It was a record-setting effort, as we broke the league record for points, besting our 70-point season in 2012.

Freddy Adu, at one point, claimed the club single-season assist record, but he was bested in the end by Kyle Beckerman, who registered 18 assists throughout the year. We experienced an injury crisis late on, as Paul Manuel and Teal Bunbury picked up injuries that would keep them out for a significant period. Fortunately, they were healthy enough to participate in the playoff campaign, though getting them to match fitness will likely be a struggle. New England fell apart in the second half, earning just 13 points from their final 14 matches, including an 11-match winless run to close the campaign, that led to Steve Nicol being sacked before the Wild Card playoff.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

The U.S. Open Cup went as we expected. An easy 2-0 away win at Rochester set up the final at Harrisburg, which also was an easy match. Three goals later, and we claimed our second consecutive U.S. Open Cup title.

CONCACAF Champions League

Because we failed to win either MLS Cup or the Supporters’ Shield last season, we were forced into the preliminary round. Fortunately, we drew a team from Haiti who had absolutely no quality, and we crushed them, 11-0 on aggregate. Our 7-0 win in the second leg was a club record victory. That put us in a group with Mexico’s Monterrey, Honduras’ Marathon, and Panama’s Tauro. We kicked things off well, and continued our form in the tournament throughout, winning all six of our matches, and allowing just two late goals against Monterrey in a 5-2 home rout. Marathon was the surprise of the group, beating Monterrey in their opener and drawing them away, putting them through to the quarterfinals as the second-placed team in Group D. Monterrey’s failure to advance made them the first Mexican team in CONCACAF Champions League history to fail to qualify from the group stage. In the other groups, San Jose, Chivas de Guadalajara, and Pumas went through as group winners, while Atlante, Los Angeles, and Vancouver qualified as second-place teams.

Transfers

We added two players to the squad in the second half. Needing extra cover at left midfielder, we acquired former Red Bull Austin da Luz from Portland for $200,000. We also added Damian Martinez as a young goalkeeper, the former Arsenal man coming into the squad at the perfect time. Soon after Martinez’s arrival, Stefan Frei picked up an injury that would keep him out for a month, so Martinez slotted into the starting XI early in his New York career. A few players saw their careers in New York come to an end. Baraka was sold to Houston for $650,000. Samuel Asamoah left for Real Salt Lake on a free transfer, an injury that he had picked up on loan really sapping his quickness and making him a mediocre player, at best. ChievoVerona came in with a $600,000 bid for Canadian goalkeeper Giovanni Ferrara, and we chose not to interfere, letting him go to the Italian side.

MLS Cup Playoff Preview

Two manager-less clubs faced off in the Wild Card round, with Real Salt Lake claiming victory in a 4-1 extra time victory over slumping New England. In the other match, Columbus beat Houston, 2-0, at Robertson Stadium, setting them up with a conference semifinal match against us. We expect to romp through the round. Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia face off in the other Eastern Conference semi, a tie which I expect the Union to triumph in easily. In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Galaxy take on Real Salt Lake, which should be an easy win for Bruce Arena’s side. Chivas USA takes on last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners, San Jose. It’s tough to bet against the Earthquakes, so I won’t bother to. Still, I expect to see yet another rematch in MLS Cup. Our form has been great, and we’re definitely favorites to claim the title. Los Angeles has shown their ability in the playoffs in recent years, and they should take the Western title yet again.

Cameroon

Debut

Croatia 3 - 0 Cameroon - My debut as Cameroon manager was disappointing at best. Luka Modric put our defense to the sword, as they were settling into my new tactical scheme (which is identical to New York's). Though we won the possession battle, there weren't many positives to take from the defeat, other than Samuel Eto'o setting the cap record for the country.

African Cup of Nations Qualifying

Guinea-Bissau 0 - 3 Cameroon - Cameroon's first competitive match under my leadership was much better than my debut. We created a ton of chances early, and Vincent Aboubakar gave us the lead in the 41st minute. Titi added a second early in the second half, before Aboubakar bagged his second late on to seal the win. With the win, all we would need to go through would be a draw against Burundi four days later.

Cameroon 1 - 1 Burundi - Disappointing. Though we booked our place in the 2015 African Cup of Nations, earning just a home draw against pointless Burundi, our finishing was awful. We dominated proceedings, but could not capitalize. Still, a point was good enough for qualification, and that was the ultimate goal.

Benin 0 - 3 Cameroon - We wrapped up our campaign with a meaningless mach in Benin. Still, the guys came out motivated and we took a lead in the second minute. It was smooth sailing from there. Aboubakar gave us a 2-0 lead in the 75th minute, before Nicolas Nkoulou added a stoppage-time header for the final 3-0 result.

African Cup of Nations qualifiers

African Cup of Nations Group Draw

2014 MLS Cup Playoffs

Eastern Conference Semifinal, First Leg

Things couldn’t have started off more surprisingly, or poorly, for us. Tim Ream found himself wrong-footed near the goal line, and a harmless cross in skipped off of him and past a stunned Stefan Frei, to the delight of the Nordecke in Columbus. We were certainly the more talented side on the field, and Grant Boyce, drafted into the lineup in place of Freddy Adu, scored a great equalizer 14 minutes later. I gave the team a really harsh halftime talk, and they came out with a vengeance in the second half. We forced a Columbus own goal to give us a 2-1 lead, before Joao Paulo took advantage of a tired Columbus defense to add two goals late on, giving us a very comfortable 4-1 lead heading home.

Eastern Conference Semifinal, Second Leg

Because of the quick turnaround between matches, coupled with Columbus’ very tired legs (3 matches in 7 days will do that to a team), we decided to rest our regular starters and put the reserves out there. This match also gave us an opportunity to give match time to Teal Bunbury and Paul Manuel, who were lacking match fitness following their extended lay-offs. Our depth really shined through in this game, and we did not give Columbus a sniff at goal. Another Columbus own goal gave us a 5-1 aggregate lead early in the second half, and we coasted to the finish, booking our place in a fourth-straight Eastern Conference Final.

Playoff Bracket

Conference Final Draw

With D.C. United missing the playoffs, we were finally given the opportunity to face some new opposition in the Conference Final. Philadelphia defeated Sporting Kansas City, 3-2 on aggregate, propelling them to their first Conference Final. We were certainly heavy favorites, having beaten Philadelphia both home and away during the regular season.

Eastern Conference Final

We got off to a flying start. Grant Boyce continued his great playoff form, scoring a nice goal for us in the 7th minute. Tim Ream essentially put the game beyond doubt 12 minutes later, scoring a signature header off of a corner. (NOTE: Despite Ream’s outrageous goal-scoring record this year, which you’ll see in the year-end wrapup, we only led the league in goals from corners by three.) Boyce added to his goalscoring total late in the first half, sending us to the locker room with a very comfortable 3-0 lead. Teal Bunbury came on as a halftime substitute in an effort to gain some more match fitness. He put in a rewarding goal in the 72nd minute, slamming the ball home and putting the finishing touches on a 4-0 win, which would send us to the MLS Cup Final once again. Would things be different this time around?

They certainly would. Chivas USA upset their in-stadium rivals, Los Angeles, in the Western Conference Final, en route to their first ever MLS Cup Final. While this diminishes the occasion a little bit, as we really wanted to celebrate in front of the Galaxy, lifting the trophy would be a great end to the Major League Soccer season, and would set us up well for our trip to Japan and the Club World Cup.

2014 MLS Cup Final

GLORY! We headed to Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois as clear favorites against Chivas USA, hoping to claim the MLS Cup title for the first time. Things did not start off well. Chivas USA absolutely dominated us, registering six shots and 70% possession in the first ten minutes. A slight tactical adjustment led to us hassling them when they were on the ball, and they were clearly uncomfortable with the additional pressure. We had an early chance to claim the lead, with a questionable foul in the area being called against Chance Myers, giving us a penalty kick. Joao Paulo stepped up to take it…and air mailed it, high and wide, a terrible effort. The match settled down after that. Grant Boyce’s playoff campaign ended in first-half stoppage time due to injury, forcing us to bring on Eddie Gaven, moving Clint Dempsey to attacking midfield.

In the second half, we had chance after chance, but were incredibly wasteful with our finishing, as our total three shots on target demonstrates. Still, we kept Chivas out thanks to a couple of miraculous saves by Stefan Frei, and the match went to extra time. Nothing of real note happened in the extra session, demonstrated best by the last minute of play: “New York throw-in…passed back…out of play. Chivas USA throw-in…passed back…out of play. New York throw-in…etc.”

So we went to penalty kicks, a fitting end to a match that could have been decided by a first-half spot kick. Chivas USA’s Brian Montenegro stepped up first, and sent his kick right down the middle, much to the chagrin of Frei. Reda el-Huashle was confident with his effort, leveling things at one. After Brandon McDonald put Chivas USA on top again, we sent up Joao Paulo, a move certain to restore the player’s confidence. It showed, and his penalty to the top corner was a thing of perfection. Nick LaBrocca dispatched of his spot kick easily, as did the halftime substitute, Gaven. The turning point came with Chivas USA’s fourth attempt. The left-footed Tim Velten stepped up to take his kick, and opted for power. That power, however, led him to nothing but the left post, and the ball bounced clear! Darlington Nagbe, fresh off of his first United States cap, solidified our lead, leaving everything up to Cristian Maidana. He shirked the pressure and converted his kick. That gave Clint Dempsey, much-maligned designated player, a chance to redeem his 2014 season, one that saw him depart from England unceremoniously and left off of the United States World Cup squad. Dempsey began his run-up…and buried his chance into the side netting! New York wins MLS Cup!

FINALLY! Our first MLS Cup title, and I couldn’t be more proud. Our work isn’t done yet, as we have the Club World Cup ahead of us, a campaign which will kick off against Cote d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosas in the tournament quarterfinals.

Another great season with the Red Bulls. And some positive results with Cameroon as well.

Best of luck in the Club World Cup and represent MLS!

Play-in Round

(JPN) Okayama FC 1 - 0 Waitakere United (NZL)

Quarterfinals

(QAT) Al-Gharrafa 1 – 0 Okayama FC (JPN)

(USA) New York – ASEC Mimosas (CIV)

In MLS’s debut in the Club World Cup, we took on the African champions, ASEC of Cote d’Ivoire. We were heavily favored, and our quality shined through early. Tim Ream scored off of a corner, as has become standard. Marko Mohammed Camara equalized seven minutes later. Despite the demoralizing equalizer, we maintained our firm grip on the match, and our control was rewarded late on. Teal Bunbury played a great through ball, and Joao Paulo latched onto the end of it, passing it into the net past a hopeless Almamy Sogoba. The 2-1 lead held up for the final minutes of the match, sending us through to the semifinals…against Manchester United.

2014 FIFA Club World Cup

Semifinals and Final

Semifinals

(QAT) Al-Gharrafa 5 – 1 Universidad de Chile (CHI)

(USA) New York – Manchester United (ENG)

Unbelievable. I have no words to describe the performance, heart, or result that we got out of this. Louis van Gaal’s United side controlled the opening stages of the match, and did so up until Clint Dempsey received a red card for a dangerous challenge on Jonny Evans in the 21st minute. To adjust tactically, we brought on Freddy Adu for Joao Paulo, moving into a defensive 4-1-3-1 posture. After that, we gained some control, and United’s efforts were limited mostly to long-range efforts. We kept a 0-0 scoreline through halftime, which I don’t think anyone expected after the sending off.

In the second half, Nani gave United the lead from what was certainly an offside position. He collected the rebound from a Wayne Rooney shot that was saved by Stefan Frei and slammed it into the back of the net. Things looked very bleak for us, until Teal Bunbury became a New York legend with his equalizer in the 65th minute:

[video=youtube;yrw_DXkFweU]

Despite some hairy moments, our defense held firm. With no extra time in the Club World Cup, the match went straight to penalties, a prospect with which we were terrified, given United’s technical qualities and the strength of David de Gea in goal. Still, we had a little bit of hope, and it was well-warranted. Both sides converted their first three chances, before Wayne Rooney stepped up. Images of John Terry slipping and missing his penalty for Chelsea in Moscow were running through my head. To his credit, Rooney didn’t blast his chance wide. He did, however, completely telegraph his shot, and Stefan Frei came up with a huge save. After Darlington Nagbe converted his kick, Darren Fletcher had to make his to keep United in it, and he did. Bunbury stepped up to claim the headlines…AND HIT THE POST! At this point, I thought we were finished, as our penalty taking quality dropped immensely after the first five. Nemanja Vidic scored for United, followed by our young defensive midfielder Michael Brandner converting his kick with authority. Phil Jones and Robbie Rogers traded blows, sending French legend Patrice Evra to the spot. It was a weak effort, and Frei not only saved the shot, he held it. That sent Tim Ream to the spot with a chance to win it for New York. No one would ever describe him as lacking composure, and that gave us confidence. He began his run-up…and SCORED! NEW YORK DEFEATS MANCHESTER UNITED! ON TO YOKOHAMA!

Third Place Match

{ENG) Manchester United 4 – 0 Universidad de Chile (CHI)

Final

(QAT) Al-Gharrafa – New York (USA)

The final seemed almost an afterthought after the Manchester United win, akin to the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team’s win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. A loss here would have been a massive letdown, but thankfully, that was not to be. Based on their performance in this match, I have no idea how Al-Gharrafa beat the South American champions by four goals. That was good for us though, as we were clearly the better side on the pitch. Joao Paulo opened the scoring in the 28th minute, with Gale Agbossoumonde scoring 11 minutes later to double the advantage. Al-Gharrafa never threatened, so we gave some deserving players time in the final. Robbie Rogers came on as a substitute for Austin da Luz in the 82nd minute, and scored on his first touch, volleying in a defensive header that was cleared out after a corner kick. Paul Manuel’s free kick six minutes later found the head of a diving Agbossoumonde for our fourth and final goal. With the final whistle, the journey was complete, New York are both treble (arguably quintuple) winners and world champions!

Superb season there AM, especially that win against United How much longer do you think you'll stay at New York?

2014 Season Review

2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League - Winners

MLS Supporters' Shield - Winners

MLS Cup - Winners

U.S. Open Cup - Winners

FIFA Club World Cup - Winners

2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League - Quarterfinals v. Los Angeles

Award Winners

MVP - Landon Donovan (Los Angeles) - 30 appearances, 12 goals, 12 assists, 7.35 average rating

Golden Boot - Carazinho (San Jose) - 33 appearances, 21 goals, 7 assists, 7.17 average rating

Rookie of the Year - Denzil Powell (Colorado) - 29 appearances, 12 goals, 5 assists, 6.96 average rating

Newcomer of the Year - Gonzalo Vargas (Toronto) - 25 appearances, 20 goals, 3 assists, 7.35 average rating

Defender of the Year - Tim Ream (New York) - 30 appearances, 16 goals, 3 assists, 7.74 average rating

Goalkeeper of the Year - Andre (Chivas USA) - 37 appearances, 48 conceded, 9 clean sheets, 6.99 average rating

Fair Play Award - Isaac Acuna (Chivas USA) - 35 appearances, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards

Team Fair Play Award - Chicago

Coach of the Year - Michael LeClair (New York)

New York Player of the Year - Tim Ream

USA Player of the Year - Tim Ream (New York) - 45 appearances, 24 goals, 4 assists, 7.73 average rating

USA Young Player of the Year - Paul Manuel (New York) - 33 appearances, 1 goal, 12 assists, 7.48 average rating

Ballon d'Or - Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 44 appearances, 20 goals, 13 assists, 8.08 average rating

World Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 51 appearances, 38 goals, 12 assists, 7.83 average rating

2014 MLS Best XI

2014 New York Best XI

Overall New York Best XI

Final 2014 Squad

Krizstian Adorjan

Freddy Adu

Gale Agbossoumonde

Lawrence Aziz

Kyle Beckerman

Grant Boyce

Michael Brandner

Curtis Brown

Teal Bunbury

Ryan Comitis

Austin da Luz

Clint Dempsey

Dilly Duka

Reda el-Huashle

Stefan Frei

Eddie Gaven

Thierry Henry

Steve Hunt

Alex Ibrahim

Joao Paulo

Paul Manuel

Damian Martinez

Christian Mendez

Alexandre Mendu

Nicholas Mohammed

Darlington Nagbe

Ibrahim Outtara

Tim Ream

Robbie Rogers

Alex Suarez

Sheanon Williams

Soe Min Win

2014 was an amazing year for the club. We won every trophy that we were eligible for, sometimes in miraculous fashion. Because of our success, which resulted in a rise in reputation to three stars, European sides came in and unsettled our players. As you'll notice from the final squad images, Gale Agbossoumonde ($5 million - Wolfsburg), Teal Bunbury ($4.3 million - Siena), Paul Manuel ($6.25 million - Toulouse), Tim Ream ($5 million - Leicester), and Robbie Rogers ($4.1 million - Zurich) are all headed off to Europe. I'm not immune to European interest either, as I was rumored to be the next manager at Toulouse, currently sitting mid-table in Ligue 1. I've achieved absolutely everything I can in New York, so leaving on top might be in my best interests. I don't want to leave my club on a down note, as Bruce Arena just did, announcing his retirement from the game after a trophyless season with Los Angeles. With the African Cup of Nations coming up, it might be time for me to focus on that tournament before heading to greener pastures elsewhere. I was just offered a 4-year contract extension with the Red Bulls that I turned down, so we'll see where things head in the near future. Any suggestions?

If you get the chance to move to Europe go for it, things can't go much higher for you at New York

The End of an Era

January 2, 2015: Michael LeClair has announced his resignation from the New York Red Bulls. After leading the club to seven titles – 2014 MLS Cup, 2012 and 2014 MLS Supporters’ Shield, 2013 and 2014 U.S. Open Cup, 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League, and the 2014 Club World Cup - LeClair decided that he has achieved all he can in New York.

“It has been a phenomenal three years here in New York,” LeClair said. “I’ve been an avid fan since the club came into being, so to guide the club to so many honors during my tenure has been nothing short of a dream. However, I must now turn my focus to Cameroon as we head to the African Cup of Nations. I wish New York the best of luck in all of their future endeavors, and would love to come back to the club in the future. I would like to thank the fans and the board for their continued support, and for having faith in me from the start. Again, I’ve had a great time here, and I will never forget the lessons I have learned during my stay. Thank you very much.”

LeClair has been linked to managerial positions all around the world, and is rumored to have turned down an approach from Ligue 1 club Toulouse in recent weeks. He is also rumored to be the next manager of Xolos Tijuana in Mexico, but whether they choose to replace manager Jose Luis Real is yet to be seen.

His departure has been followed by an exodus of backroom staff, including club icon Mike Petke, as well as assistant manager Chris Armas.

Turkish manager Ertugrul Saglam, who was sacked from his managerial position at Bursaspor in April 2013, is the favorite to replace LeClair as New York manager.

Fantastic thread, congratulations especially on the CWC win!

Keep it up mate!

2015 African Cup of Nations

November Friendlies

Pre-Tournament Friendlies

With me still in charge of New York in November, I wanted to bring Cameroon to me, rather than travelling halfway across the world to meet them. To that end, I scheduled November friendlies away to the United States and Canada.

November friendlies

United States 0 – 1 Cameroon – This result was absolutely shocking, to be quite honest. Where Cameroon had failed to qualify from the group stages in the World Cup, the United States were minutes away from forcing extra time against eventual third-place finishers England. Playing at Gillette Stadium, the first half was a very even affair. Substitute Yannick Ndjeng came on at halftime, making an immediate impact, grabbing the game’s only goal in the 50th minute. As New York manager, this was also a match that made me proud, when Darlington Nagbe came on as a substitute to make his United States senior debut.

Canada 1 – 4 Cameroon – BMO Field in Toronto played host to the Vincent Aboubakar show. Slicing through the sluggish Canadian defense, the quick Valenciennes striker managed to net four goals in the first half. We came out expectedly complacent in the second half, but with the result so far in hand, that was perfectly fine. Canada got a consolation goal from a late penalty kick, following a foul in the area by right back Allan Nyom.

Pre-tournament friendlies

We wanted to give the team a little bit of extra experience before the tournament kicked off. We scheduled friendlies for January 10 and January 13, the first in Soweto against South Africa, the second in Casablanca against the premier Moroccan club, Wydad Casablanca.

South Africa 1 – 0 Cameroon – Despite the result, our performance in this match was very promising. As I wanted, we dominated possession, and South Africa never actually threatened our goal. Another silly foul in the area by Allan Nyom gave them a penalty, which they converted. This made our match against Wydad Casablanca crucial, as no team wants to head into a major tournament with two consecutive losses.

Wydad Casablanca 0 - 4 Cameroon – Much better. Vincent Aboubakar got us off to a good start early, scoring in the 13th minute. Backup right midfielder Benjamin Moukandjo scored a nice goal late in the second half, before Aboubakar grabbed his brace with a goal in first-half stoppage time, sending us into the changing room up 3-0. Substitute forward Yannick Ndjeng closed the scoring with a good finish in the 65th minute. Everything seem to be coming together just in time for our group stage opener against Egypt.

2015 African Cup of Nations – Morocco

Group A – The first group in the tournament was absolutely Ghana’s to lose. Despite the pressure on them as group favorites, the Black Stars did not wilt. After Guinea set the tone with a 4-0 win over South Africa, Ghana obliterated Angola, 6-0. With the group’s leaders firmly set in stone, Guinea – Ghana was essentially the match that would determine top spot in the group. Ghana dominated proceedings, and claimed a 3-0 victory. South Africa gave themselves hope with a 3-1 win over Angola in their second match, but their progress was not to be. A gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Ghana, coupled with Guinea’s 4-0 win against Angola saw the Bafana Bafana out of the tournament, with Ghana and Guinea going through.

Group B – Hosts Morocco were certainly hoping to take advantage of their group, featuring Algeria, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria. Their hopes were dashed quickly, however. They opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Nigeria, and closed it with a 3-1 loss to Algeria, a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso sandwiched in the middle. Algeria played very well, claiming three wins from three. Nigeria were clearly second-best in the group after their 3-0 loss against Algeria, but a 2-0 win against Burkina Faso in the final group match was enough to see them through.

Group D – Two-time defending champions Tunisia highlighted a weak Group D that also featured Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. Tunisia lived up to the hype, winning the group with a perfect record. Senegal, who certainly had high hopes for the tournament, put in a hugely disappointing performance, only claiming one point, in a 1-1 draw with Zambia. Sierra Leone took advantage of the weak Senegalese side, opening their tournament with a 3-1 win, but they failed to build on their good start, losing their remaining two matches. Zambia had just one point from their first two matches, but in a winner-take-all affair with Sierra Leone, they claimed a late 2-1 win, sending them through to the quarterfinals.

Group C – We weren’t really sure what to expect going into our group. Wins like we had against the United States and Canada made us hopeful, but we couldn’t forget about our qualifying draw against Burundi and our pre-tournament loss to South Africa.

Egypt - Cameroon

Any fears we had were quickly put to rest, when Benoit Assou-Ekotto gave us a very early lead, scoring from open play in the 8th minute. Vincent Aboubakar doubled the advantage three minutes later, before putting us up 3-0 in the 22nd minute. He completed his hat-trick in the second half on a penalty kick, giving us a very, very positive 4-0 win to kick off the tournament.

Cameroon – Togo

Our second match put us up against a Togo side who had made a big statement with their opening 1-0 win against Cote d’Ivoire. It was a frustrating affair for us, to be sure. Despite being the much better side, we hit the post four times before finally taking the lead in the 80th minute, courtesy of a Sebastien Bassong header. Benjamin Moukandjo sealed the victory six minutes later, scoring a really weak effort that really never should have gone in. Still, we headed back to the hotel with a 2-0 win in the bag, six points to our credit.

Cote d’Ivoire – Cameroon

Following their 2-0 win against Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire were sitting in second place in the group. A win would put them through, so this match was huge for them. But, who would we be if we didn’t make things outrageously difficult for them? We dominated them from the off, but were unable to take advantage. I gave the players a serious lecture in the locker room, and they came out much improved in the second half. Titi gave us a lead in the 53rd minute, before Vincent Aboubakar scored the eventual goal of the tournament in the 64th. Despite having their tournament lives at stake, Cote d’Ivoire never really pushed for an equalizer, and we ran out 2-0 winners. Their lack of ambition was punished, as Togo grabbed a 1-1 draw with Egypt, enough to see them through to the quarterfinals with four points.

Quarterfinals

Cameroon – Tunisia

We were pitted with what was certainly the toughest quarterfinal match, as we were somehow drawn against Tunisia, despite the fact that we both won our groups. Tunisia were coming off of a great group stage, and had the added confidence of having won this tournament in both 2012 and 2013. Fortunately, we got off to the perfect start. Vincent Aboubakar continued his incredible tournament form, scoring in the 4th minute. An injury to right back Allan Nyom looked set to ruin our chances of progress, but Carlos Kameni stood tall in goal for the rest of the match, preventing Tunisia from leveling the score. His six saves were good for man of the match, and saw us progress to the semifinals, where we would play the winner of the next match…

Algeria – Zambia

Zambia’s dream run came to a crashing halt in Rabat. They were dominated from start to finish by their North African opponents, who took an early lead on a Mehdi Lacen goal in the 14th minute. Zambia continued to sit back and absorb the pressure from Algeria through halftime, but attempted to come out of their shell in the second half, to disastrous results. Hilal Soudani doubled the advantage three minutes after the restart, before Amir Sayoud and Habib Bellaid completed the scoring in a 4-0 rout. In the end, Algeria outshot Zambia 25-8, while maintaining a 60-40 advantage in possession.

Ghana – Togo

Group C runners-up Togo were the clear underdogs on the day, but this is football: anything can happen. And on this day, the impossible did happen. The Togo side put in a tremendous performance, restricting Ghana to mostly long-range efforts. It certainly didn’t hurt that Ghana were in the midst of a tremendous injury crisis, forced to only name a bench of eight, as opposed to the permitted 12. Togo got their dream goal in the 59th minute, courtesy of Rennes midfielder Razak Boukari, and that goal was all they would need to go through. Ghana 0 – 1 Togo

Guinea – Nigeria

Togo’s semifinal opponent would be either the upstart Guinean side, or African heavyweights Nigeria. Surprisingly, it was Guinea who grabbed the advantage early. Mamadou Bah gave Guinea the lead with a thunderous strike in the 5th minute, giving them a 1-0 lead. Nigeria pressed for the equalizer throughout the half, and their efforts were rewarded when Onyekachi Apam scored on a corner kick in first-half stoppage time. One would have expected Nigeria to assert themselves in the second half, but their efforts were thwarted when they gave up a penalty in the 57th minute. Ismael Bangoura stepped up to bury the spot kick, giving Guinea a thrilling 2-1 lead. 15 minutes later, however, it was Rubin Kazan striker Obafemi Martins who put Nigeria back on level terms, his pace allowing him to break through on goal and beat Guinean keeper Youssouf Toure. The score would remain 2-2 through the rest of regulation, as well as extra time, sending the match to penalties. The two teams traded goals in the first two rounds, and Kevin Constant put Guinea up 3-2 with their third effort. Chukwuma Akabueze was denied by Toure, however, and the Guineans had to be blessing their luck. Lansana Toure scored Guinea’s fourth, leaving everything up to Peter Suswam to keep Nigeria alive. His effort was well wide of the goal, sending Guinea through to the semifinal on penalties, good for their deepest run in the tournament since a second-place finish in 1976.

Semifinals

Cameroon – Algeria

Following Algeria’s dominant win over Zambia, we were a little bit concerned about the quality we were going up against. As is standard practice for this side though, we scored early. Gaetan Bong put us up 1-0 within the first 10 minutes. The lead did not last long, as Benoit Assou-Ekotto failed to clear a ball out of the area, before an Algerian attacker slammed a shot in off of him. It was doubly humiliating for the Wolfsburg man, as he was credited with an own goal. Luckily, Nicholas Nkoulou restored our advantage in the 22nd minute, before a frenzied Cameroon attack closed out the half. Alex Song made the lead 3-1 with a long-range strike in the 30th minute, and Samuel Eto’o closed the first half scoring in stoppage time. The score was 4-1 at the break, and would remain so through the final whistle, putting us through to the final against either Guinea or Togo in simple fashion.

Interestingly, this match marked the first time I ever noticed flares in the stands. Props to SI for this nice little touch.

Guinea – Togo

The semifinal between two teams that no one expected to get this far was, as one would expect, a sloppy and poorly-played affair. It is these types of matches that lend themselves to late drama, however, and today would be no different. In the 93rd minute of regulation, a Togo cross deflected off a Guinea defender, leaving Serge Gakpe all alone with the keeper. He struck his gifted chance with authority, setting off massive celebrations in Lome. A few kicks of the ball later, and Togo were through to the final for a rematch with Cameroon.

Third Place Match

Guinea – Algeria

It was a closely-fought match in Marrakech, with the Guineans edging Algeria for third place, a tremendous effort on their part. The lone goal of the match came from Kamil Zayatte in the 64th minute. Guinea 1 – 0 Algeria

Final

[NOTE: This final was actually played twice. I won the first time, 3-0, but (SPOILER ALERT) after I resigned, I holidayed, choosing to apply for all jobs, but I forgot to check the “return from holiday when a job is offered” box, which led to me being hired at Stafford Rangers, Livorno, and Fiorentina, all within four days. I, of course, forgot to save after the final. Rather than have this managerial indecisiveness sit in my profile for the rest of the save, I chose to go back and replay the final, and let whatever result occurred stand. So, that said…]

The final started off in the most frustrating way for us. Despite the fact that we had done very well against Togo in the group stage, they came out and took the lead in the first half, courtesy of a Razak Boukari goal. We went into halftime down a goal, and I questioned the team’s desire to actually win this match. The talk seemed to work wonders, and star striker Vincent Aboubakar leveled terms with a typical placed finish in the 53rd minute. Despite hitting the woodwork twice in the final 37 minutes, we couldn’t grab a goal, which sent the match to extra time.

Thankfully, we wouldn’t have to deal with penalties on this day. Benjamin Moukandjo came up big for us in the 107th minute. A great throughball from Leonard Kweuke set Moukandjo up perfectly, and he slotted his chance to the far post, giving us a 2-1 advantage. Sebastien Bassong sealed the result for us 10 minutes later. A corner from Benoit Assou-Ekotto found the $17 million PSG man at the near post, and he headed past a helpless Abdourahmane Oukpedjo to give us the 3-1 lead. Our defense held firm for the final minutes of the match, and to the delight of the Cameroon fans, we won the African Cup of Nations! It was the country’s first title in 13 years, and the performance in achieving it was absolutely delightful.

Award Winners

Best Player - Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon) - 6 appearances, 6 goals, 4 assists, 8.25 average rating

Golden Boot - Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon)

Best Goalkeeper - Carlos Kameni (Cameroon) - 6 appearances, 2 conceded, 4 clean sheets, 7.32 average rating

Fair Play Award - Serge Gakpe (Togo) - 6 appearances, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards, 7.13 average rating

Dream Team

Goal of the Tournament - Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon) - 64th minute, Cote d'Ivoire 0 - 2 Cameroon:

[video=youtube;60Z8BUhsjk0]

Despite the win, Cameroon never really grabbed hold of my heart, and I stayed true to my plans to resign from the post at the conclusion of the tournament. I did so on February 20, but not before moving up to third in the American Hall of Fame. The win also marked the first time an American manager won a continental tournament other than the Gold Cup, which is a feat that I am most certainly proud of. I’ll be taking a well-earned holiday over the next few months, and will be fielding job offers from all around the world, looking for my next task.

The Job Search

I celebrated with the team in the two weeks following the long-awaited African Cup of Nations triumph, before packing my bags and heading on a very nice Caribbean vacation. I watched in relaxation as teams fell apart in the second half of their European seasons, and felt a nice sense of accomplishment as they called me up, hoping that I would be their savior. I had a lot of job offers come in, from the bottom-feeders of the Mexican Primera, to lower-league English offers, to some Eastern European powerhouses. I rejected a few, and those that seemed intriguing, I elected to delay until the end of the season, preferring a fresh start as opposed to a rescue mission. That said, I rejected the following offers straight away:

January 26: Xolos Tijuana (Mexico, Primera Division)

February 22: Millwall (England, League One)

February 26: Peterborough United (England, Championship)

March 9: AA Gent (Belgium, Pro League)

March 25: Padova (Italy, Serie B)

March 27: Barcelona B (Spain, Liga Adelante)

April 23: Houston Dynamo (United States, Major League Soccer)

April 29: Panserraikos (Greece, SuperLeague)

That left me with six offers that I chose to leave a decision on for later:

February 25: Feyenoord (Holland, Eredivisie)

March 5: Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Gambrinus Liga)

March 13: Pierikos (Greece, SuperLeague)

April 9: Ipswich Town (England, Championship)

April 11: Birmingham City (England, Championship)

May 17: Dinamo Moscow (Russia, Premier League)

It's May 24 in-game, and it's decision time for me. Any thoughts on where I should continue my managerial journey?