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[FM13] Travelling to Wembley in a Coach & Horses


chile_paul

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The pressure was on and with chances of reaching the play-off's almost impossible we only had pride to play for. Luckily the players at my disposal stepped up to the plate and did me justice, first with a confident 2-0 win against the conference leaders Montreal Impact before demolishing Columbus Crew 3-0. This looked like a completely different team! Amazingly these 6 points, along with results going elsewhere in my favour did give us an outside chance of making the play-off's. If we won and Colombus Crew lost we would be level on points. We had the advantage on goal difference but in the MLS this is less important than goals scored and we trailed Columbus Crew by 3 goals - therefore we needed to score at least 3 more than they did to pip them to the post.

We got off to a flying start away to Toronto FC with centre back Nick Anderson scoring a point blank header from a corner whipped in from Karl Alves in the 9th minute and star striker Stefan van Heijden made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. We just needed one more goal to leap-frog Colombus Crew but despite throwing everyone forward Toronto did their job and held us out, scoring their own consolation goal. To make the pill all the more bitter to swallow Colombus Crew lost their game ensuring we finished equal on points, just one goal shy of what we needed - gutted!

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Not where we deserve to be and below the expectations of the board, but given where we were at the end of September I'd have bitten your hand off for this final league table.

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Not sure how I missed this thread, although I wasn't online during most of FM13 and FM14's lifetime. :p

Awesome that you're managing in MLS. DC United are a good challenge - not as big as the Galaxy or the Sounders, but not too cheap like New England. And not cursed like TFC. :D

You adjusted to MLS rather quickly as well. Hope for more next season.

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Following our World Cup campaign I made the decision to shift the squad around a bit - the one competition I haven't yet won with the USA is the Olympics - this was going to be my priority for the next couple of years as we prepared for the 2032 Olympic Games in France.

The Olympics of course requires a squad with players aged under 23 and as a result I've made the decision to retire a number of the older players (including goalkeeper Jordan Lopez) and bring a number of youngsters into the squad. I've highlighted below a number of players who are going to get more of an opportunity in and around the international team this year as we prepare for and compete in the Gold Cup.

Germaine McManus

Bryan Valashinas

Danny Ramirez

Nathan Hunt

Luis Mario Guemez

Laurence Noto

Jamal Perkins

Jonathan Gott

As you can see a number of these are below the quality you'd normally expect at international level and therefore I fully expect to have a few bruising encounters in friendlies over the next few months, as you can see from the displays below! To be fair, I think these were all credible results and I was delighted by our demolition of Australia. The beating at the hands of the Germans wasn't exactly a surprise!

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Our end of season USA best eleven awards. A few real surprises, Peter Corona is one of the younger players I've brought into the squad in central midfield (although he will still be too old to go to the Olympics) and he has been solid throughout. Nathan Hunt has made it into the best eleven I think purely based on the number of games played compared to the more senior players who I've rotated.

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Phil Kakabouras has deservedly made it into the Best Eleven of all time for the first time - although in left midfield rather than in his preferred position as striker

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Chile_Paul's Career - Season Review - 2030 - DC United

Major League Soccer

Final League Position: 6th

Really disappointing season as a whole. Clearly I took the team over when they weren't in a great position, but I'd been hopeful of managing to recover the position so that we'd at least get a wildcard entry into the play-off's. Alas this wasn't to be and we finished just outside on account of 1 less goal scored than Colombus Crew. Some of our results, especially the last 3 games of the season, give me hope for next year but we definitely need to improve on our consistency.

Lamar Hunt Open Cup

Competition Performance: Winners

My first competition win in North America! We were lucky along the way including having to rely on penalties to beat LA Galaxy in the fifth round. The final however was a non-event as we swept Seattle Sounders aside in a stunning first half performance. The way that we coped in these knock out games really gives me hope that if we can make the MLS play-off's next season we should have the steel and determination within the squad to progress.

CONCACAF Champions League

Competition Performance: Semi-final

We were out of this competition at the semi-final stage before I even joined the club, but our strong performance gives me hope that we should be able to make some good progress in this competition in future years.

Squad

Some great performances from 4 or 5 of the squad who will continue to be the spine of our team for the next few seasons, but then plenty of mediocrity with a few youngsters towards the bottom of the list who are never going to progress in the professional game. Stefan van Heijden clearly was an inspired signing who ensured that we weren't humiliated for the remainder of the season. Karl Alves did ok but probably didn't justify the financial impact that his wages have had on the club - it will take time for us to remedy the hole in our accounts

Transfers - Finances - Board Review

Plenty of transfer movements as firstly my predecessor made substantial changes and then as I came in and attempted to rescue a sinking shift. Stefan van der Heijden was the clear marquee transfer that was needed to give us some firepower upfront and Karl Alves was possibly a step too far on that front. As you can see, following a bank balance of circa £8m when I took over the club is now in the red for the first time in a very long while (oops!). Mike Saucedo was probably my other major flop on the transfer front - I think I'm used to being able to spend big with Sheffield - as a result £300k for a player seemed a bargain, but frankly he's useless and we have much better options with the arrival of youngster Jamal Perkins and as a result Saucedo will be waived at the end of the season.

My Top 3 Players

Stefan van Heijden - A key player who scored a goal every other game for us in a position where we were incredibly lacking in talent. He's an ageing player but hopefully eh will continue to perform well next season until I can develop some decent youngsters.

Andrew Gomez - Andrew is a key part of our strategy and I want to build a team around him for the future as long as he isn't lured over to Europe by the promise of more money.

Chris Banks - Chris is a solid central defender and should be entering the best years of his career - he also picks up plenty of goals from set pieces which have helped us to win some key games.

Fan's Player of the Season - Chris Banks

Best Eleven - 2030

What's Next?

We need to improve significantly next season, I'll be looking to bring in some decent youngsters from abroad and at home - if I can work out how the draft system works in the US - and start to build a solid base on which to build over the next few years.

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OK, so I'm going to have to change the way I report on my intake of youth players as a result of the bizarre MLS system which I'm still trying to get my head around.

As far as I can tell I have a youth intake each season into the club's academy (which is more like a separate club that we're affiliated to, rather than an U-18 team for example) and I'm free at any point to sign any players from my youth academy into the main DC United team. All MLS clubs have their own academy which works on the same basis, other clubs aren't able to sign players from your own academy and vice versa.

Any players from academies who aren't signed by their parent team, along with any other players at non-academy clubs are signed by the MLS as a whole sometime between the age of 18-21 and are entered into the Super Draft where clubs get to pick players one at a time in reverse order based on where that club finished in the MLS the previous season (i.e. the team that finished last in the MLS gets the first pick etc). Based on the experiences of my first Super Draft the only decent players get picked up in the first 3 or 4 selections and therefore unless you are near the bottom of the league you are going to be better off focussing on developing youth via your own academy rather than via the Super Draft.

There are also other drafts - one for senior players released by their club during the season I think and a Supplemental Draft for all youth players not signed during the Super Draft?

So, how did I get on:

DCU Academy Intake

Not a huge amount to write home about here as have a limited amount of talent in the academy which has been supplemented by two players who have an outside chance of making it to the big time. Jair Castro (YP19a) may get signed to our senior side sooner rather than later, not because of his ability, but simply because we have a shortage of decent full backs in the side and we might need some injury coverage.

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Super Draft

We had the 9th pick in the first round of the draft and didn't have many options to play with. Andre Mude is never going to make the big time but may provide some injury cover in central defence. We passed our subsequent drafts as by the time our second round pick came around we were left with dross to choose from.

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PS. If anybody thinks I've understood this incorrectly and can provide any better guidance, please let me know - all help is welcome!

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Not sure how I missed this thread, although I wasn't online during most of FM13 and FM14's lifetime. :p

Awesome that you're managing in MLS. DC United are a good challenge - not as big as the Galaxy or the Sounders, but not too cheap like New England. And not cursed like TFC. :D

You adjusted to MLS rather quickly as well. Hope for more next season.

Thanks rancer, I must admit I thought I'd seen comments from you before, but maybe that was on other threads that I follow on here - regardless it's great to have you on board :)

I'm not sure I've adjusted to the MLS that well, still trying to get my head around it! Any help or advice would be appreciated!

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Chile_Paul's Career - Season Preview - 2031 - DC United

Board Expectations:

Major League Soccer : Conference preliminary round

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup: Not important

CONCACAF Champions League: Not stated

My Expectations:

Major League Soccer : Conference preliminary round

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup: Not important

CONCACAF Champions League: Quarter finals

Budgets:

Allocation Funds: £6.39m

Wage: £63,782 p/w (Currently spending £101,313 p/w)

Balance: -£382,505

Friendlies

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A really comfortable run out in a series of friendlies against USA amateur and local teams has hopefully got us up to a good level of fitness and tactical awareness in preparation for the start of the new season. We definitely struggled last season to adapt to my tactics when I joined mid-season so hopefully this preparation time will pay off. Charlotte Eagles almost gave us a scare in the last game before the MLS campaign kicked off however, taking an early lead before we fought back - I hope that's not a bad omen!

Transfers - In

Far fewer transfers arriving at the club than there were leaving, but hopefully all of them will make a significant impact this season

Vicente Lopez - Re-entry draft - Vicente had been a regular squad player at Portland Timbers if not a first team starter for several seasons, but they clearly thought they could do without him and I snapped him up. Ironically Portland then signed Mitchell O'Brien from me for more money later in the transfer window despite them being almost identical players!

Carl Anderson - Free - Joined on a free transfer from our academy side, however he is a way to go to get near the first team squad and therefore has immediately gone out on loan

Tang Yue - £1.2m - A future star I hope, signed as a result of my East Asian scouting policy. He's joined for a relatively cheap fee but has plenty of potential and will be the back-up choice to Stefan van Heijden at the front of our formation

Han Seung-Jin - £375k - My second acquisition from East Asia, Han has got bags of pace and should be a terrier up and down the left wing, however I'll be asking him to focus on crossing in from out wide rather than running at the goal as he can't hit a barn door from 6 paces!

Shane Brown - £1.4m - A bit of a risk here, but Shane Brown is a decent goalkeeping prospect and a player I'm hoping to develop. He will be my 3rd choice keeper however therefore this is a huge amount of money to have paid and he might not get enough game time if I'm not careful

Germaine McManus - £170k - An absolute bargain here as I snatched Germaine, one of the countries brightest talents, from New England Revolution for only £170k - what were they thinking of!?!

Transfers - Out

A number of players were cleared out who just weren't good enough for this team. Mitchell O'Brien is the only risk to leave as he had a great deal of experience but I think I've bought in 2 players more than capable of replacing him and free up an international space within my roster at the same time. Karl Alves is also obviously a loss, but we just couldn't afford to keep him on board with his wages.

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An absolutely perfect start to the month, led by the dynamic Andrew Gomez from the Number 10 position just behind the striker. In a really close game against New England Revolution Gomez was the star performer picking up 2 sublime goals. He then turned creator in the second game derby away to New York Red Bulls, creating the first goal with a slide rule pass that set debutant Tang Yue free before flicking on a header to Tang Yue for the second. To be fair Tang Yue had a huge amount of work to do to finish this one as he used his strong neck muscles to head the ball in the opposite direction passed the flailing goalkeeper. To top it all off Gomez then scored the 3rd to make it a perfect day.

Keen for some of the glory himself Walter then raised his game in the final fixture of the month from the right wing as he took the ball round the keeper to score before setting up Tang Yue to score his 3rd goal in 2 starts for the second.

Incredibly tight games in all three fixtures so I'm delighted to have picked up 9 points - it's not as if I was all over any of these opponents. That's 6 wins out of 6 if you include the last games from last season so we're on a really rich run of form, long may it continue

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Sitting very pretty at the top of the conference long may it continue, it's very, very early days however and we have a tough trip away to last season's MLS cup winners Montreal Impact up next and they will be looking for revenge given they've had a very poor start to the season

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Thanks rancer, I must admit I thought I'd seen comments from you before, but maybe that was on other threads that I follow on here - regardless it's great to have you on board :)

I'm not sure I've adjusted to the MLS that well, still trying to get my head around it! Any help or advice would be appreciated!

It's already pretty good for someone who doesn't know much about the league.

It's not a bad thing to not know anything. I know too much, and it's not fun for me because I know how to abuse the trade system too much and my time in MLS gets stale quick. :D

It's good to see you having early success this season as well. Still a long way of course before the playoffs and the MLS Cup!

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A slight slip up at the start of the month as we dropped our first points of the season against last seasons champions - normally a point away against last seasons champs would be a great result but Montreal have been shocking so far and having taken an early 8th minute lead I was disappointed not to take the 3 points. We returned to winning ways in the next match at home to Houston Dynamo but we had to rely on 2 late goals including a 92nd minute winner from Stefan van Heijden to get us there; both of the Houston goals should have been saved by the keeper and with no clean sheets in 5 games I made the decision that I had to make a change between the sticks and give youngster Shane Brown an opportunity.

Three games later, three clean sheets and three 1-0 victories. It looks as though my change paid off and potentially has earned us some valuable points. To be fair whilst Shane Brown has made some great saves Chris Banks has been the stand out player in central defence and the whole back four have played well to keep the opposition out.

The final game of the month all went to pot however and despite taking the lead in the 13th minute the defence fell into complacency to allow New England Revolution to score 3 goals and with it take the 3 points.

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Despite that final game of the month, we are sitting extremely comfortably at the top of the table.

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I'd accepted the friendly request away to 108th placed in the world rankings Wales as an attempt to get revenge for a 0-0 result last year. The result we got this time around was absolutely not on the cards, weakened, young side or not. I was not a happy bunny in the dressing room at full time.

To be fair the players responded and put in a cracking performance against a very strong Argentina side, after falling behind we were much the stronger side in the second half equalising in the 82nd minute thanks to Bryan Valashinas's debut international goal until we fell to a very late Argentinian winner.

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We need to turn around our form soon - we've got too easy friendlies set up in May before the Gold Cup kicks off and we need two wins.

We've then got the easiest possible group draw in the Gold Cup which should give us an easy route through the early stages as we attempt to retain our possession of the trophy.

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I only started reading this last night and let me say that what you have done is incredible! an absolute amazing read and I'm glad I managed to get through all 11 pages of it:) the only sad thing is that you left Sheffield Fc and Im not really enjoying America as much. But well done on this career and I loved reading it.

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I only started reading this last night and let me say that what you have done is incredible! an absolute amazing read and I'm glad I managed to get through all 11 pages of it:) the only sad thing is that you left Sheffield Fc and Im not really enjoying America as much. But well done on this career and I loved reading it.

Thanks, you've done well to read all of that in one night. That's almost 20 years of my career lol ;)

It was a tough decision to move on, but I really wanted a chance to play in the MLS. I won't be here forever though and I fully expect to be back in England at some point in this career

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Those of you who have been following my career for a long time may remember a young lad called Steven O'Hara who joined me at Sheffield FC back in 2017 when we were still in League 2. He went on to be a star of our team for 3 seasons and helped us secure back to back promotions up to League 1 and then into the Championship before moving in what was at the time a record £2.7m deal to Celtic.

Well after a long and successful career Steve has decided to hang up his playing boots, but I thought it was worthwhile paying tribute to one of Northern Ireland's best players for a very long time.

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Following the disappointment of our defeat to New England Revolution we stormed back to form in the next game with an impressive win at home to Toronto FC with some great performances from some of my youngsters - most notably Rigoberto Montoya who is really developing into a top class central midfielder. Another youngster Alex Evans scored the crucial winner away to Colombus Crew before we slumped disappointingly to a poor defeat to Houston Dynamo.

We were still top of the league but we then faced two crucial back to back games against the team just behind us in the league and the first tie away in Chicago did not go our way. In fact it was a really poor showing and we were lucky to only lose 2-1 helped by an own goal from one of their own defenders. With a number of our players now heading off on international duty and a few injuries to key players it really feels like things are starting to turn against us.

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It's a good thing we had such a lead early in the season, but it's now being eroded away and if Chicago win the next time we meet in a week or so, they will leap ahead of us in the standings

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The end of May also saw the start of the Open Cup tournament and whilst it's not a top priority for us I wanted to see whether we could retain our crown. A home tie against a non league side should have given us an opportunity for a morale boosting win with plenty of goals - but the game was much tighter than it should have been and we had to rely on a single goal from Germaine McManus to secure our route through the round.

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It feels a bit strange to be posting this mid-season in the US but I've decided to stick to the footballing calendar for the main European leagues in order to share the main annual updates

English Premier League

2021/22 - 1st Man Utd 2nd Newcastle United 3rd Man City 4th Tottenham - Relegated Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Ipswich Town

2022/23 - 1st Newcastle United 2nd Man City 3rd Arsenal 4th Man Utd - Relegated Huddersfield Town, Millwall, Fulham

2023/24 - 1st Man Utd 2nd Man City 3rd Arsenal 4th Newcastle United - Relegated Ipswich Town, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley

2024/25 - 1st Newcastle United 2nd Man United 3rd Sheffield FC 4th Arsenal - Relegated Blackburn Rivers, Stoke City, Wigan Athletic

2025/26 - 1st Chelsea 2nd Man United 3rd Arsenal 4th Sheffield FC - Relegated WBA, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers

2026/27 - 1st Sheffield FC 2nd Liverpool 3rd Newcastle United 4th Arsenal - Relegated Southampton, Wigan Athletic, Bristol City

2027/28 - 1st Sheffield FC 2nd Arsenal 3rd Chelsea 4th Man City - Relegated Ipswich Town, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland

2028/29 - 1st Sheffield FC 2nd Newcastle United 3rd Liverpool 4th Arsenal - Relegated Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers

2029/30 - 1st Sheffield FC 2nd Chelsea 3rd Man City 4th Arsenal - Relegated Sunderland, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic

2030/31 - 1st Chelsea 2nd Liverpool 3rd Sheffield FC 4th Man City - Relegated Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Middlesborough

FA Cup

2021/22 - Winners Newcastle United Runners-Up Ipswich Town

2022/23 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up Man Utd

2023/24 - Winners Southampton Runners-Up Tottenham Hotspur

2024/25 - Winners Stoke City Runners-Up Man City

2025/26 - Winners Chelsea Runners-Up Newcastle United

2026/27 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Newcastle United

2027/28 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up Man City

2028/29 - Winners Chelsea Runners-Up Newcastle United

2029/30 - Winners Liverpool Runners-Up Chelsea

2030/31 - Winners Aston Villa Runners-Up Huddersfield Town

League Cup

2021/22 - Winners Liverpool Runners-Up Arsenal

2022/23 - Winners Man Utd Runners-Up Chelsea

2023/24 - Winners Man City Runners-Up Liverpool

2024/25 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Chelsea

2025/26 - Winners Newcastle United Runners-Up Man City

2026/27 - Winners Liverpool Runners-Up Aston Villa

2027/28 - Winners Norwich Runners-Up Newcastle United

2028/29 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Chelsea

2029/30 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Man City

2030/31 - Winners Liverpool Runners-Up Ipswich Town

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Liga BBVA

2021/22 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Valencia 4th Atletico Madrid - Relegated Recreativo de Huelva, Gimnastic, Granada CF

2022/23 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Sevilla 4th Valencia - Relegated Levante UD, Alaves, Hercules CF

2023/24 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Sevilla 4th Atletico Madrid - Relegated Deportivo La Coruna, Osasuna, Malaga CF

2024/25 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Valencia 4th Sevilla - Relegated Sporting Gijon, Recreativo de Huelva, Getafe

2025/26 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Real Sociedad 4th Real Betis - Relegated Elche CF, Hercules CF, Ponferradina

2026/27 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Sevilla 4th Athletic Club - Relegated Deportivo de la Coruna, Osasuna, Tenerife

2027/28 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Sociedad 3rd Valencia 4th Real Madrid - Relegated Elche CF, Malaga CF, Sporting Gijon

2028/29 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Real Betis 4th Espanyol - Relegated Granada CF, Celta Vigo, Ponferradina

2029/30 - 1st Barcelona 2nd Real Madrid 3rd Valencia 4th Real Betis - Relegated Getafe, Malaga CF, FC Cartagena

2030/31 - 1st Real Madrid 2nd Barcelona 3rd Atletico Madrid 4th Real Sociedad - Relegated Recreativo de Huelva, CD Numancia, Levante UD

Copa del Rey

2021/22 - Winners Barcelona Runners-Up Real Madrid

2022/23 - Winners Real Sociedad Runners-Up Atletico Madrid

2023/24 - Winners Valencia Runners-Up Real Madrid

2024/25 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Valencia

2025/26 - Winners Sevilla Runners-Up Hercules CF

2026/27 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Sevilla

2027/28 - Winners Barcelona Runners-Up Real Madrid

2028/29 - Winners Espanyol Runners-Up Barcelona

2029/30 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Real Betis

2030/31 - Winners Villarreal Runners-Up Barcelona

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Serie A TIM

2021/22 - 1st Juventus 2nd AC Milan 3rd Fiorentina 4th Sampdoria - Relegated ASG Nocerina, Ascoli, Reggina

2022/23 - 1st Parma 2nd Napoli 3rd Palermo 4th Sampdoria - Relegated Udinese, Catania, Brescia

2023/24 - 1st Napoli 2nd Inter Milan 3rd Lazio 4th Spezia - Relegated Atalanta, Bologna, Fiorentina

2024/25 - 1st Inter Milan 2nd Sampdoria 3rd Napoli 4th AC Milan - Relegated Bari, Pescara, Cagliari

2025/26 - 1st Juventus 2nd Parma 3rd Spezia 4th Treviso - Relegated Cremonese, Atalanta, AS Roma

2026/27 - 1st Parma 2nd Juventus 3rd Spezia 4th Lazio - Relegated Bologna, Bari, Cesena

2027/28 - 1st Inter Milan 2nd Juventus 3rd Napoli 4th Parma - Relegated Atalanta, Pescara, Reggina

2028/29 - 1st Inter Milan 2nd Napoli 3rd Parma 4th AC Milan - Relegated Lazio, Genoa, Cesena

2029/30 - 1st Parma 2nd Inter Milan 3rd Juventus 4th Napoli - Relegated Cagliari, Reggina, Bologna

2030/31 - 1st Inter Milan 2nd Parma 3rd AC Milan 4th AC Siena - Relegated Ascoli, Roma, Brescia

TIM Cup

2021/22 - Winners Fiorentina Runners-Up Parma

2022/23 - Winners Sampdoria Runners-Up Napoli

2023/24 - Winners Parma Runners-Up Cagliari

2024/25 - Winners Lazio Runners-Up Juventus

2025/26 - Winners Parma Runners-Up Napoli

2026/27 - Winners Spezia Runners-Up Bari

2027/28 - Winners Ternana Runners-Up Fiorentina

2028/29 - Winners Parma Runners-Up Lazio

2029/30 - Winners Spezia Runners-Up AC Milan

2030/31 - Winners Lazio Runners-Up Parma

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Bundesliga

2021/22 - 1st Borussia Dortmund 2nd Bayern Munich 3rd FC Schalke 04 4th Bayer Leverkusen - Relegated Hertha Berlin, 1.FC Union Berlin

2022/23 - 1st FC Schalke 04 2nd Borussia Dortmund 3rd 1.FC Nurnberg 4th Hamburg SV - Relegated Fortuna Dusseldorf, MSV Duisburg

2023/24 - 1st 1.FC Nurnberg 2nd Bayer Leverkusen 3rd Borussia Dortmund 4th Bayern Munich - Relegated Hannover 96, Hamburg SV, 1.FSV Mainz

2024/25 - 1st Bayer Leverkusen 2nd Borussia Dortmund 3rd Bayern Munich 4th 1.FC Nurnberg - Relegated MSV Duisburg, 1.FC Union Berlin

2025/26 - 1st Borussia Dortmund 2nd 1.FC Nurnberg 3rd FC Schalke 04 4th Bayer Leverkusen - Relegated VfB Stuttgart, VfL Bochum

2026/27 - 1st Bayern Munich 2nd Borussia Mochengladbach 3rd Bayer Leverkusen 4th Borussia Dortmund - Relegated TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, MSV Duisburg

2027/28 - 1st Borussia Dortmund 2nd FC Bayern Munich 3rd Bayer Leverkusen 4th SC Freiburg - Relegated Hamburg SV, Babelsberg

2028/29 - 1st Borussia Dortmund 2nd FC Bayern Munich 3rd 1.FC Nurnberg 4th Bayer Leverkusen - Relegated VfB Stuttgart, SV Werder Bremen

2029/30 - 1st FC Bayern Munich 2nd Borussia Dortmund 3rd 1. FC Nurnberg 4th Bayer Leverkusen - Relegated 1.FC Kaiserslautern, 1.FC Koln, Dynamo Dresden

2030/31 - 1st FC Bayern Munich 2nd Eintracht Frankfurt 3rd Borussia Dortmund 4th 1. FC Nurnberg - Relegated MSV Duisburg, Hamburg SV

DFB Pokal

2021/22 - Winners Bayer Leverkusen Runners-Up Fortuna Dusseldorf

2022/23 - Winners Fortuna Dusseldorf Runners-Up 1.FSV Mainz 05

2023/24 - Winners Bayern Munich Runners-Up 1.FC Koln

2024/25 - Winners Bayer Leverkusen Runners-Up SC Freiburg

2025/26 - Winners FC SChalke 04 Runners-Up MSV Duisburg

2026/27 - Winners TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Runners-Up Wolfsburg

2027/28 - Winners Bayern Munich Runners-Up Wolfsburg

2028/29 - Winners 1.FSV Mainz 05 Runners-Up Borussia Mochengladbach

2029/30 - Winners VfL Wolfsburg Runners-Up Hamburg SV

2030/31 - Winners FC Schalke 04 Runners-Up 1. FC Nurnberg

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French Ligue 1

2021/22 - 1st Lille 2nd PSG 3rd Saint Etienne 4th Lens - Relegated Troyes, Stade Reims, Nancy

2022/23 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd PSG 3rd Saint Etienne 4th Lille - Relegated Auxerre, Istres, Evian TG

2023/24 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd Lille 3rd Montpellier Herault SC 4th AS Monaco - Relegated Guingamp, Metz, Vannes

2024/25 - 1st Lille 2nd PSG 3rd Bordeaux 4th Olympique Marseille - Relegated Nancy, Lorient, Dijon

2025/26 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd Lille 3rd Montpellier Herault SC 4th Saint-Etienne - Relegated Istres, Gazelec FC Ajaccio, Nantes

2026/27 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd PSG 3rd Lyon 4th Lille - Relegated Rennes, FC Sochaux, Auxerre

2027/28 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd Lille 3rd Saint Etienne 4th Lyon - Relegated Caen, Brest, Lorient

2028/29 - 1st Lille 2nd Olympique Marseille 3rd Lyon 4th PSG - Relegated Ajaccio, FC Sochaux, Clermont Foot 63

2029/30 - 1st Olympique Marseille 2nd Lille 3rd Saint Etienne 4th PSG - Relegated Arles-Avignon, Gazelec FC Ajaccio, Rennes

2030/31 - 1st PSG 2nd Lille 3rd Olympique Marseille 4th Saint Etienne - Relegated Brest, Lens, Ajaccio

Coupe de France

2021/22 - Winners Monaco Runners-Up PSG

2022/23 - Winners Bordeaux Runners-Up Auxerre

2023/24 - Winners Olympique Marseille Runners-Up Bordeaux

2024/25 - Winners Monaco Runners-Up Lille

2025/26 - Winners Olympique Marseille Runners-Up Saint-Etienne

2026/27 - Winners Toulouse Runners-Up Monaco

2027/28 - Winners Ajaccio Runners-Up Stade Reims

2028/29 - Winners Toulouse Runners-Up Lille

2029/30 - Winners Lens Runners-Up Sedan

2030/31 - Winners PSG Runners-Up Auxerre

Coupe de la Ligue

2021/22 - Winners PSG Runners-Up Nancy

2022/23 - Winners Olympique Marseille Runners-Up Rennes

2023/24 - Winners Rennes Runners-Up Lille

2024/25 - Winners Monaco Runners-Up Ajaccio

2025/26 - Winners Montpellier Herault SC Runners-Up Olympique Marseille

2026/27 - Winners Toulouse Runners-Up Lille

2027/28 - Winners Monaco Runners-Up Valenciennes

2028/29 - Winners Ajaccio Runners-Up Toulouse

2029/30 - Winners Bordeaux Runners-Up AS Monaco

2030/31 - Winners Auxerre Runners-Up Olympique Marseille

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Clydesdale Bank Premier League

2021/22 - 1st Celtic 2nd Motherwell 3rd Rangers 4th Hearts - Relegated Dundee United

2022/23 - 1st Celtic 2nd Rangers 3rd Hibernian 4th Motherwell - Relegated East Stirlingshire

2023/24 - 1st Celtic 2nd Hearts 3rd St. Mirren 4th Rangers - Relegated Dundee United

2024/25 - 1st St. Mirren 2nd Rangers 3rd Celtic 4th Motherwell - Relegated Ross County

2025/26 - 1st Celtic 2nd Rangers 3rd Motherwell 4th Hibernian - Relegated St Johnstone

2026/27 - 1st Celtic 2nd Rangers 3rd Motherwell 4th St. Mirren - Relegated Kilmarnock

2027/28 - 1st Celtic 2nd Motherwell 3rd St Mirren 4th Rangers - Relegated Airdrie United

2028/29 - 1st Rangers 2nd Celtic 3rd Motherwell 4th St. Mirren - Relegated Dundee

2029/30 - 1st Celtic 2nd Rangers 3rd St. Mirren 4th Motherwell - Relegated St Johnstone

2030/31 - 1st Celtic 2nd Hearts 3rd St. Mirren 4th Rangers - Relegated Dundee

Scottish FA Cup

2021/22 - Winners Motherwell Runners-Up Hearts

2022/23 - Winners Hearts Runners-Up East Stirlingshire

2023/24 - Winners Celtic Runners-Up Dundee

2024/25 - Winners Rangers Runners-Up Hearts

2025/26 - Winners Celtic Runners-Up Rangers

2026/27 - Winners Rangers Runners-Up Kilmarnock

2027/28 - Winners Partick Thistle Runners-Up Celtic

2028/29 - Winners Hearts Runners-Up Ross County

2029/30 - Winners St. Mirren Runners-Up Motherwell

2030/31 - Winners East Stirlingshire Runners-Up St. Mirren

Scottish League Cup

2022/23 - Winners St. Mirren Runners-Up Hearts

2023/24 - Winners Rangers Runners-Up Motherwell

2024/25 - Winners Kilmarnock Runners-Up Celtic

2025/26 - Winners St. Mirren Runners-Up Falkirk

2026/27 - Winners Celtic Runners-Up Falkirk

2027/28 - Winners Motherwell Runners-Up St Mirren

2028/29 - Winners Celtic Runners-Up Partick Thistle

2029/30 - Winners Rangers Runners-Up St Johnstone

2030/31 - Winners St. Mirren Runners-Up Motherwell

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Champions League

2021/22 - Winners Newcastle United Runners-Up Barcelona

2022/23 - Winners Barcelona Runners-Up Man Utd

2023/24 - Winners Barcelona Runners-Up Real Madrid

2024/25 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Newcastle United

2025/26 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up Porto

2026/27 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Barcelona

2027/28 - Winners Newcastle United Runners-Up Olympique Marseille

2028/29 - Winners Sheffield FC Runners-Up Arsenal

2029/30 - Winners Liverpool Runners-Up FC Barcelona

2030/31 - Winners FC Bayern Munich Runners-Up Liverpool

Europa League

2021/22 - Winners Man City Runners-Up FC Schalke 04

2022/23 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up Ajax

2023/24 - Winners Saint Etienne Runners-Up West Ham

2024/25 - Winners Chelsea Runners-Up Sheffield FC

2025/26 - Winners 1. FC Nurnberg Runners-Up Real Madrid

2026/27 - Winners Valencia Runners-Up Newcastle United

2027/28 - Winners Manchester United Runners-Up Lille

2027/28 - Winners Man City Runners-Up Norwich City

2029/30 - Winners Man City Runners-Up Sporting Lisbon

2030/31 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up FC Porto

----------------------------------------------------------------------

World Cup

2014 - Winners Spain Runners-Up France

2018 - Winners Spain Runners-Up Belgium

2022 - Winners England Runners-Up Brazil

2026 - Winners USA Runners-Up Croatia

2030 - Winners England Runners-Up Brazil

European Championship

2016 - Winners Netherlands Runners-Up England

2020 - Winners Italy Runners-Up Spain

2024 - Winners Spain Runners-Up Netherlands

2028 - Winners Germany Runners-Up

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We entered the Gold Cup following a poor run of form and I didn't have high confidence for the competition, however I knew that the FA and the fans would expect us to put up a decent showing and in fact the FA were expecting us to lift the trophy - not necessarily an easy task given recent results and the presence of Mexico in the competition! Therefore the pressure was on and as a result I made the difficult decision to bring back some of the more experienced players into the squad including goalkeeper Jordan Lopez who I'd dropped following a series of poor performances in the last World Cup.

We didn't exactly have the hardest group in the competition and comfortable wins against Cuba and Curacao helped to build some easy confidence and at the very least guaranteed our progression through the group stages - any less and I'd have been forced to fall on my sword!! Honduras in the final game of the group was going to be my first real test of whether I had a chance of lifting the trophy........ unfortunately it was a rout as their left winger Alberto Valladares (who plays for Huddersfield in the Premier League) destroyed us picking up a hattrick and his 7th goal in his 3 games! We scored 2 goals to make the scoreline feel better than it really was, but we'd never really been in this game.

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No real surprises elsewhere, other than perhaps Mexico failing to take 9 points from there group. I'm just hoping now that we get a favourable draw in the quarter finals having failed to finish top of the group.

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The draw for the quarters was favourable as we avoided Mexico and Costa Rica who would have worried me and faced up against Guatemala - a team who've only beaten us once in 12 meetings back in a friendly in 2013. A 15th minute goal from Phil Kakabouras helped settle our nerves and we went on to completely dominate the game with Kakabouras picking up a hattrick along the way.

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In the semi-final however we were drawn back against Honduras - I'm sure there is something not quite right about how that draw panned out!! Anyway, the alternatives of Mexico or Costa Rica weren't any more favourable and we faced the advantage that this time around Valladares was suspended having picked up one too many yellow cards in the previous games. I also made changes in my defence to counter how they had pulled us apart and right back Matt Pope who came into the side ended up with the man of the match award as he helped to keep a clean sheet. We still had to score however and in a really tight contest we had to wait until extra time to make the break through when Real Madrid's Neville Padilla cut in from the byline, held off a challenge from the Honduras defence and fired in a rocket to put us through to the final.

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Gold Cup Final - 28th June 2031

USA vs. Mexico

Tad Gormley Stadium, New Orleans, United States of America

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Route to the Final

Mexico

Mexico had a very similar route to the final, winning their first 2 games comfortably before slipping up having already qualified for the quarter finals. Importantly however they had demolished Costa Rica in the semi-finals allowing them that little extra bit of rest whereas we had to play on an extra 30 minutes as we narrowly beat Honduras.

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USA

Overall I was pleased with our performance in making it to the final given recent form and whilst the defeat to Honduras in the final group stage had hurt we had earned our revenge by putting them out in the semi-final.

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The Line Up's

Strong teams were named by both sides for the final match, although I had young Brian Valashinas playing in the Attacking Midfield role and at the age of 20 it was a huge amount of experience to put on young and relatively inexperienced shoulders. Mexico lined up in a 4-5-1 formation designed to frustrate me - it's a formation I've always struggled to breakdown - so this could be a difficult game.

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The Match

Daniel Williams in central defence has always been one of my favourite players in the USA team and he's now even more popular!! He has a great reputation for standing out in big tournaments, most notably when he almost single handedly helped us to lift the World Cup and once again he was the difference scoring 2 great headed goals at the near post from corners as he made the most of his added height above the relatively small Mexican defenders. Alejandro Garcia had equalised for Mexico in between Williams 2 goals and therefore there was only the one goal in it as we headed into half time, but barely 5 minutes after the start of the second half Padilla picked up his second goal in two games as he skipped past two Mexican tackles to make space in the penalty area before blasting the ball into the back of the net

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took me three days to read all... nice work with Sheffield FC, and now with D.C. United, is there any news from a tiny nation called Dominican Republic in your save?

Yeahhhh, it doesn't look good I'm afraid - I don't think the Dominican Republic are ever going to become contenders for major trophies in this save. A 9-0 hammering this season to Honduras is probably the low point (don't feel too bad, Honduras put 4 passed me!) whereas in 2027 a 2-1 over Bolivia was probably the highlight.

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My side absolutely suck at the minute - we played Chicago Fire for the second time in only a few days and suffered exactly the same 2-1 defeat. Last time around they helped us out with an own goal, this time it took until the 89th minute for us to score, this time from the penalty spot.

It has therefore been 203 minutes since we scored a goal ourselves in open play - not exactly the goal scoring form you'd expect to see from the league leaders and helped on by their 6 points over us Chicago Fire are now breathing down our necks. We rapidly need to improve before all of our early season form evaporates (too late, it already has :( )

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I've mislaid the screenshot but we did manage to progress to the semi-finals of the Open Cup, although we made hard work of it. Germaine McManus picked up an 118th minute winner at home to Portland Timbers before we were taken to extra time again, this time by Colorado Rapids where Stefan van der Heijden scored in the 109th and Walter in the 120th minute.

The extra 60 minutes played across those 2 games hasn't done much to help my squad fitness though and I've got a few players struggling to keep up - even before the continental competition starts!!!

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An improvement in our league form, although not exactly anything to write home about. After a comfortable win against Toronto FC we were hard pushed in 2 back to back games against Philadelphia Union, in both games we relied on a late equaliser in order to secure a point. Three clean sheets in the next 3 games were impressive, but unfortunately we only scored the one goal.

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So, 6 games played, 2 goals conceded and 5 scored - not too sure how the fans are staying awake. I can't complain about my defensive performance but we need to be scoring more goals. At least we've put a halt to the defeats for now. Luckily Chicago Fire have hit a sticky patch and we've retained the top of the table, although we've played one more game than our closest rivals

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We had to play 120 minutes of football again to get there and this time we relied on penalties, but for the second year in a row we've reached the Open Cup final.

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We also managed to squeeze in a money making friendly fixture into what was already an incredibly busy month. I fully expected to lose this game by 3 or 4 goals and when Barcelona scored within the first minute I was really worried - how about this for a turn around though!!! If only we could play like this in the domestic league!

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Chris Banks has been an absolute star in the centre of defence this season - a key player in our success - and this is a very well deserved record. Unfortunately he will be leaving on a free transfer to join PSV Eindhoven at the end of the season.

I'm absolutely gutted as I think he will be irreplaceable but I can't feel bad for him at having such a great opportunity

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Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final - Wednesday 6th August 2031

D.C. United vs. New England Revolution

Maryland Soccerplex, Germantown, USA

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An interesting choice of venue for a major cup final! Let's just assume that it's been majorly developed in the last 20 years!

Route to the Final

New England Revolution

Wow! An impressive run to the final with plenty of goals - I make that 15 goals in 4 games with a really impressive 6-3 win in the semi-final against Sporting Kansas City. They have benefitted with 3 home games out of 4, but based on this record I shouldn't take them lightly. They haven't exactly been setting the world alight in the MLS however so I'm still confident that we've got a very strong chance of retaining the trophy

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D.C. United

Well, we've certainly made hard work of getting to the final with 450 minutes of football under our belts. Our win against non league Bradenton Academics was hardly comprehensive! We've made it to our second consecutive final however and I'm hoping our experience of winning the trophy last season will give us an advantage.

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The Line Up's

Strong line ups from both sides in this years final - last time up we'd been heavily impacted by international call ups - New England Revolution are however missing Jose Angel Gomez who had picked up 5 goals in the semi-final. They line up in a 3-5-2 formation so I will be looking to make the most of space on the flanks, cutting past their midfield and stretching the back 3. We're light in the defensive midfield position so De Fillipo will drop back from central midfield and Gomez will take that position. Victor Lopez will have a huge opportunity in the attacking playmaker role responsible for creating goal scoring opportunities.

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The Match

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The first half was a really tight affair and New England Revolution were creating lots of opportunities with their central midfield 3 pulling all of the strings and creating chance after chance, forcing me to pull Andrew Gomez into a more defensive position and minimising the opportunity for him to do what he does best in creating attacking opportunities for us - luckily for me the shots that New England Revolution were creating were primarily from outside of the box and missing the target.

After half time we took a lucky break and from a corner aimed into the near post Jeff Petrone lost his marker and rifled a shot in passed the goalkeeper. Taking the lead forced New England Revolution to take more chances which gifted us more space. In the 75th minute Stefan van der Heijden broke free but was taken out in the box, he stepped up to dispatch the penalty that he had won and 3 minutes later Andrew Gomez sent in a rasping shot from just outside the box to make it 3-0.

Job done! We've now scored 7 goals with none conceded in the last 2 cup finals!

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Finally, we hit a spell of improved form and we're back playing more like we were at the start of the season. New signing Uche Kalu certainly appears to have had an impact adding more pace and guile to my front line and goals seem to be flowing again. Home advantage is certainly having a part to play in our resurgence as well with 6 of the 8 games played this season at home.

Of course no sooner had we had the message about breaking the longest sequence of unbeaten games for DC United than we were brought crashing back down to earth with a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Chivas USA, but we picked ourselves back up off the canvas and picked up 6 points from 6 in the remaining 2 games of the month.

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At the same time as we picked up form our nearest challenger in the league, Chicago Fire, had a shocking month. We're therefore back at the top of the table with plenty of room for comfort - we're pretty much guaranteed to top the conference now.

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Our strong run of form continued into September with a good 1-0 win over last seasons champions Montreal Impact thanks to yet another headed goal from a set piece from centre back Chris Banks - we're really going to miss him next season, both in terms of his goals but also his solid defensive performances.

2 tough away fixtures followed - first up against Columbus Crew we deserved to win the game but had to rely on a 90th minute penalty to secure a single point before a crazy trip to Kansas. We were 3-1 up and cruising in the 60th minute but a standout hat trick from their striker gave them the lead heading into the final minutes. We pushed everybody up front to try and rescue something from the game and I was so grateful to see left winger Hang Seung-Jin rescue a point during injury time.

In the final game of the month we maintained our goal scoring form, but this time tightened up at the back as we ran out with a dominant 4-0 win over NY Red Bulls.

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Job done in the league stage, we can't be caught now and the focus now is all on the play-offs

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  • 3 weeks later...

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With my place at the top of the league table guaranteed the final 2 games of the regular season were a great opportunity to rest some of my regulars and give a few youngsters a run out in the first team. Neither game really set the world alight, Phil Lewis scored the winner away to Seattle Sounders before a goalless draw at home to LA Galaxy - I was delighted to keep 2 clean sheets though in 180 minutes with a weakened side out. Not a bad way to end the regular season

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So we end the regular season 8 points clear at the top of the Eastern conference - but it will all be worth nothing if we don't go on and win the remaining 3 matches to lift the MLS Cup

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