[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

Jomo Cosmos – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

I’m just going to put these 3 months together in to the one update as we’ve had a busy few months! We never really had a pre season and only had room for 2 quick friendlies before the CL groups kicked off.

July, August & September

Premier League

League Table

First up, the league. We’ve had a perfect start here, including a fantastic 4-1 win against last seasons winners, Orlando.

But as you know now, if it’s not Orlando its either Sundowns or Kaiser Chiefs and the latter have made a perfect start to the season, winning all 6 of their games. Due to the CL, we’ve got 2 games in hand and sit 6 points behind.

Champions League

Like I said above, we had absolutely no time to prepare for our first match against ES Tunis and our players were only 70% fit. To make things worse this would undoubtedly be our hardest game of the group, away to the defending champions. Despite this, I thought we battled brilliantly and can hold our heads up high after narrowly losing 3-2.

After that we started to find our fitness and our grove, winning our next 4 matches before drawing away to Etoile du Sahel in the last match. Here’s how the group finished up:

I’m delighted to go through top of the table and really it was quite comfortable after that first match. Finishing top doesn’t seem to have much of an advantage though, here’s the semi final draw:

Yep, Sundowns! They also finished top of their group, which is what I don’t understand. Anyway, we’d probably have to play them in the final if we weren’t matched up so we may as well play them now! I’m thinking if we can get past them then we’ll be too strong for Tunis or Ivory Coast side, AFAD Djekanou.

The Semis take play over 2 legs in October with the final also being a two legged affair, taking place in November.

Super 8 Cup

The Super 8 has always been the one that got away for us but we have a good chance of winning it this season, dispatching Tuks and Ajax to set up a final against Orlando, taking place next month.

Transfers

A really frustrating transfer window for us. The board, even with a new owner, just never increase our budgets, even though we’ve got about a million in the bank. To be honest there’s just not that much quality out there to sign. A few foreign players but that’s no good due to league restricitons.

So with that, we have no signings to report! Very little going out the other way too, with only a couple of youngsters leaving. I’m not too bothered though, our core squad is still very young and have been improving year on year and we don’t really have any real weaknesses.

[pearcey_90]

Missed a whole season, dam. Unlucky missing out by such a small margin The African Champions League seems strange :/ Playing a fellow group winner. So much for winning your group to try and get a potentially easier tie

[B.W.G]

Excellent start to the season,let's hope that sort of form can continue.

[duffy89]

Missed a whole season, dam. Unlucky missing out by such a small margin The African Champions League seems strange :/ Playing a fellow group winner. So much for winning your group to try and get a potentially easier tie

I know, flying throguh the save at the moment! It really is, and I don't like how it's spread over 2 seasons. I'm genuinely baffled by the whole group winners thing, who knows! Hopefully it won't matter and we'll get to the final anyway!

Excellent start to the season,let's hope that sort of form can continue.

Cheers mate, really happy with the squad at the moment. We've got some great young players here and I'm going to try and sign a few of them for any future club I go to in this career.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

Jomo Cosmos – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

October

Premier League

League Table

Another good month in the league as we stopped Kaiser Chiefs in their tracks and punished Sundowns even further (read below to find out why they’re hurting)! The gap on Kaiser Chiefs is down to 3 points now and we still have 2 games in hand.

Champions League

Yes! What a fantastic effort from the lads as we dumped out rivals Sundowns in the Semis! I felt confident going into these matches and new if we kept our heads we’d get though. I was a little worried when we conceded an away goal after the first leg but an early sending off for Sundowns in the second leg helped us win 6-4 on aggregate.

We’re up against ES Tunis in the final after they put out AFAD Djekanou. I’m not wanting to tempt fate but we have a great chance of winning the African Champions League here. In the group stages we beat Tunis 5-3 on aggregate over our 2 games and that included a first leg where we were exhausted. Tunis are defending champions for a reason though, so we can’t get complacent.

Both legs of the final take place next month, and the first game takes place in Tunisia.

Super 8 Cup

I think the scoreline flatters Orlando here as we were in full control of the match but we just couldn’t quite finish our chances. Anyway, we did enough to win the match and that means we pick up the Super 8 cup for the first time! We’ve now won every trophy there is to win in South Africa and I add this to my ever growing trophy cabinet:

[Dexter_Morgan]

You are going really well at the moment hopefully Tunis won't be too much of a tricky game in the CL final, getting the 3-0 win with a fully fit squad in the group should be a good omen for you

[john1]

You're doing brilliantly Congrats on dumping Sundown outs in semi final and winning the final against Orlando Pirates

[duffy89]

You are going really well at the moment hopefully Tunis won't be too much of a tricky game in the CL final, getting the 3-0 win with a fully fit squad in the group should be a good omen for you

Cheers mate, that's what I'm thinking, however, I'm worried at our lack of experience on the big stage, but I've got faith in these lads!

You're doing brilliantly Congrats on dumping Sundown outs in semi final and winning the final against Orlando Pirates

Many thanks, John, it was a very sweet moment for me and the Cosmos, I now have an unnatural hatred towards those 2 clubs plus Kaiser Chiefs. I can't belive I considered managing them one day!

[MrMMA]

Wow, can't wait to hear how the Champions League Final pans out for you.

If you win, time to go out on top?

[duffy89]

Wow, can't wait to hear how the Champions League Final pans out for you.

If you win, time to go out on top?

Cheers buddy! Should hopefully play through it today and get an update up later!

I think it's time, yes. If we win this then there's not much else for me in Africa, but I'd like to have a crack at the Club World Championship before I go!

Not getting ahead of myself though, need to win the damn thing first!

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

Jomo Cosmos – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

November

Premier League

League Table

Another couple of wins to add to our ever growing pile. We’re hot on form this season, and I think the last time we lost a game was our first CL group match against ES Tunis at the start of the season. Since then we’ve just not looked back!

Top of the league now on level points with Kaiser Chiefs but we still have our 2 games in hand.

KO Cup

Another month, another cup competition! This time it’s the Knockout Cup and we’ve comfortably made it to the final, which will be played next month. Our opponents: Orlando Pirates. No surprise there then!

Ok, time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

Champions League Final - First Leg

This was a huge result! Before the match started, I would’ve taken a score draw or even a narrow loss with an away goal but we put in a great performance to win 2-1 and take control of the tie!

I set the boys up to counter attack, getting the ball out to our fast wingers. It worked a treat. Tunis had all of the possession, as you can see, but we were clinical when we had the ball and grabbed 2 valuable away goals.

It wasn’t an easy game though, Tunis missed a penalty when we were at 1-0 and we were hanging onto our lead at the end.

Onto the second leg, back home in Jo-burg…

Champions League Final - Second Leg

Championé, Championé, Olé, Olé, Olé!!!

Yes! We did it! Jomo Cosmos are champions of Africa! This wasn’t as easy as the scoreline suggests, however, and we definitely rode our luck here. Tunis controlled the match from start to finish and we were given a bit of breathing room when we won a penalty, luckily one of our main men, Malesela Moses tucked it away!

I’m over the moon with this, we’ve really stepped up a gear this season and to win the CL in our first year is a fantastic achievement. Dumping out Sundowns on the way made it even sweeter.

The trophy I’ve been waiting for, I’ve got a snug little spot for you in my separate trophy room for “The 14”. Get in there now!

Next Steps

So, we’ve won the African Champions League and ticked off one of the 14 competitions I’m trying to win. Thus ends my time in Africa and my relationship with Jomo Cosmos. I’m not going to walk away yet though, the Club World Championship starts next month so it’d be silly not to take part in that and see what the Cosmos can do on against the World’s best!

After that I’ll be handing in my resignation, and as I noted in the OP, this is a new experience for me and it’ll be tough to wave goodbye to my beloved Cosmos! But there’s just no room for club monogamy in this career, I need to keep moving on!

Anyway, I’ve not resigned yet and want to go out with a bang, so bring on the Club World Championships!

[Reinoud]

Congrats with your first CL! Good luck in the CWC.

[GazTheDoood]

Brilliant CL win mate, congrats. Really built something great in South Africa, great work.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Great job winning the CL mate, are you going to stick around for much longer do you think?

[deltablue]

Congrats on your African success!

[B.W.G]

Congrats on winning the Champions League

[duffy89]

Congrats with your first CL! Good luck in the CWC.

Cheers dude!

Brilliant CL win mate, congrats. Really built something great in South Africa, great work.

Thanks Gaz, it's going to be hard to give up!

Great job winning the CL mate, are you going to stick around for much longer do you think?

Thanks pal, I don't think so to be honest. I'm planning to resign after the CWC, the longer I stay, the harder it'll be to leave!

Congrats on your African success!

Cheers deltablue, mate

[duffy89]

Oh, I forgot to say, we drew Mexican giants, Cruz Azul in the quarters of the CWC. This will be our biggest challenge yet.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

Jomo Cosmos – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

Club World Championships - Quarter Finals

Ach, I’m really disappointed here. I know Cruz Azul are a big club but I really thought we had a chance to get through this tie. In the end we just never turned up. Cruz Azul got off to a flyer, scoring in the first 10 mins and we couldn’t break them down after that.

I suppose I can’t be too disheartened, we did great reaching the CWC in the first place.

Club World Championships – 5th Place Playoff

I didn’t even know this game existsed! Who wants 5th place? Well I do, actually. We absolutely thumped Qatari side, Lekhwlya, with Mathopa bagging a hatrick on the way.

Why couldn’t we play like this against Cruz Azul? Who knows, but at least it recovered a bit of credibility.

December

KO Cup

I always love beating Orlando and we really did them over, winning our third cup of the season. Keep getting to the finals lads, because the Cosmos will always be there to beat you!

Premier League

This proved to be my last league game in charge of the Cosmos and I’m glad I could cap it off with a victory. We’re still unbeaten in the league.

League Table

Sundowns have crept into the lead taking advantage of all the time we’ve spent winning things. They’re 6 points ahead but hopefully the new boss can use our 4 games in hand to close the gap.

Goodbye Jomo Cosmos

So this is it, after 5 years in charge of the Cosmos, I’ve handed in my resignation. It’s been a hell of a ride, going from the second division in South Africa to the best team on the continent. Unfortunately there’s nothing more for me to do here so I have to move on. I’m comfortable with the state I’m leaving the club in though, the bank balance is a healthy £4m, up £3m from when I joined, the 10k stadium is getting sold out every week, there’s good staff in place and I leave behind a young, talented squad.

I’ve managed to rack up a heck of a lot of trophies in my time with the Cosmos and here they are:

I couldn’t have won all those trophies without the help of some great players and it gives me great pleasure to induct 3 more Jomo Cosmos stars into my Hall of Fame to join Matsilele Sono.

INDUCTEES TO HALL OF FAME

Molefi Irfaan – GK

Where would we be without this man? Thank goodness he came through our youth intake in the first year or we would’ve been struggling between the sticks! Always a constant performer, his performances often went unnoticed. He was fantastic in the ACL final in both legs and definitely proved he can play on the big stage. Now has 3 caps to his name for the national side, not bad for a 21 year old. I’ll be keeping an eye on his career as a solid keeper is always hard to find.

Malesela Moses - MR

He didn’t come onto the scene for a couple of seasons but by the end of my time in the cosmos, this kid had turned into a classy winger, and currently holds the record for most assists in a season – 27. 4 caps at international level, I think he’ll be a star for years to come.

Mxolisi Mathopa - ST

Our last inductee is our top goalscorer. A great poacher who knows how to finish, he averaged over a goal a game for me and always turned up on the big games. He’s still only 20 so I think he can develop even further if given the chance. He’s the first great goalscorer I’ve managed and deserves his place in the Hall of Fame.

Now What?

So that’s that. I’m packing up my bags and heading on to pastures new. On that front, I’ve got no real plan in mind here other than the fact I’d like to leave managing in Europe until the end. I’d be open to both international and club jobs and may even do 2 at the same time!

Goodbye Jomo Cosmos, cheers for the memories, no doubt I’ll get drunk and call Jomo Sono begging him to give me my job back and then pull a Di Canio when he refuses, breaking into my old office and ripping down all photos with me in them.

But hopefully I can get a job before it comes to that…

[pearcey_90]

Congratulations on the African Champions League Can sense a period of domination coming along now!

[duffy89]

Congratulations on the African Champions League Can sense a period of domination coming along now!

Cheers mate! You must've posted that as I was writing out my next update though!

[withnail316]

Great progress in Africa, looking forward to seeing where you end up next.

[duffy89]

Great progress in Africa, looking forward to seeing where you end up next.

Cheers pal, should have some news on that soon!

[duffy89]

So, I’ve gone on holiday, applying for everything going, there were a couple of jobs that I didn’t fancy – German third division, a couple back in South Africa, but it was this that caught my eye:

Why the hell not? That’s a nice wee salary too!

This feels right so I accepted straight away and packed my bags for China!

[forameuss]

Big job - certainly able to win the Asian Nations Cup with them. When does that fall? 2019 would be the next one, right?

[duffy89]

Big job - certainly able to win the Asian Nations Cup with them. When does that fall? 2019 would be the next one, right?

Defintiely mate. It's just finished unfortunately (China were dumped out in the groups) so I'll be waiting a while for that one, 2023 to be precise. The WC qualifiers are coming up though, so that should keep me occupied, plus I'll be looking for a club job in China at the same time.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

Background

Well, what’s there to say about China (or the People’s Republic of China)? It’s a pretty damn big place, that’s for sure. And with 1.4bn people there’s got to be XI good football players, right? Well no, not really. Although Chinese football has been on the rise recently and the leagues are starting to gain some financial clout, the national team remains poor by Asian and World standards.

They’ve only qualified once for the World Cup, and that was when Japan and South Korea hosted it in 2002. They lost every game in that group. Furthermore, they’ve never won the Asian Cup, but were runners up in 2004.

As I join, we sit 88th in the world, and have just been dumped out of the Asian Cup in the group stages. The World Cup 2022 qualifiers start this year in July and I have a couple of friendlies to find my groove before that.

Right, let’s see what I’m dealing with here…

First Steps

The very first thing I did, before I even turned up to the training ground was to load up the Chinese leagues. Previously, I had only loaded Australia and South Korea in Asia so hopefully by adding China my pool of players will jump up. I’d also like to manage in China at the same time as the national job, that will cover off the Asian Champions League that I need to win. The leagues come into play in January so I’ll see if there are any vacancies at that time.

Ok, off to the training ground to meet my staff…

Ah, we have a bit of a problem here. All that greeted me upon my arrival was a bloody man and his dog! My assistant manager, Yang Xuefeng , to be precise. He’s the only member of staff I have and looks like he wouldn’t know a football if it sconned him on the head! No wonder this lot haven’t won anything!

So my first task was to get some job adverts out there for coaches, physios, youth team managers and a new ass man. I won’t show you everyone we hired but here’s me new ass man, Choi Jin-Han, who at least looks like he knows which end the goal is. I did try to get my ass man from Jomo Cosmos, good ol’ Booler, but he wasn’t up for it.

Key Players

Onto the squad and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. We have some good talent in here but we’re really lacking in some positions. Here’s our key players:

Li Guobin – GK- What a result! A good keeper is vital to have and boy do we have one here. The Valladolid shot stopper looks fantastic and at 25 I can rely on him for a good few years. He’s probably our best player, in fact.

Zhang Linpeng © – DR/DC/DM – Zhang is the current captain of the squad and I won’t be taking the armband away from him. He’s a solid defender with plenty of experience and he’ll lead my back line.

Hu Boyang – DC – Partnering Zhang in defence will be Hu Boyang, a decent looking centre back who is only 22.

Zheng Long – AML/ML/AMC – He may be 30, but Zheng is still a classy player. I’ll be playing him on the left but can also cover the centre if needed.

Guan Pengxiang – ST/MC- Guan wasn’t in the national side when I joined for some reason. But I’ve called him back up. Only 18 and on none other than Real Madrid’s books, this kid has plenty of potential. In fact, he’s one of 4 young strikers we have which all look very talented. Here’s the other 3:

Ye Shaoshun – ST/AMR/AML – Hummina Hummina, Shaoshun looks like a winner! Currently on loan at Groningen from PSG, He could be a top, top, player one day.

Geng Yan – ST/AMR/AML- Yep, the strikers keep on coming. Geng looks like another great poacher type player. Has already been capped over 30 times and will be getting plenty more under me.

Li Guofeng – ST/AML- The last of our young strikers, Li was in the U20 squad but I’ve promoted him to the senior side. He may be key due to him having a bit of aerial presence. He’ll make a great partner to any of the above strikers.

Now for the curious case of this lad:

Nico Yennaris – DR/DM/MC – Yes, that’s Nico Yennaris of Arsenal. So how the hell did he end up playing for China? Well, here’s his history and as you can see he moved to China in 2014 and has never looked back since! He’s gained a Chinese passport in that time and seeing as he wasn’t going to get a game for England he chose to play for China instead! Fair play to the boy!

I’m a bit of a gooner myself so will be keeping him the squad even if he hasn’t quite developed into a world class player!

Tactics

I’ve not fully decided on what tactics we’ll play. Clearly, we have a lot of talent up front with 4 great strikers but I’m not sure how to incorporate them all yet. I may play a 4-4-2 with wingers seeing as some of our strikers can play wide too.

I doubt that would be wise against stronger opposition though.

Anyway, I’ll do some experiments in the upcoming games – our first is a friendly at home to…Sri Lanka. Welcome to the big time eh?

[am_walters]

As a Gooner, chuffed to see Yennaris involved in the setup!

Born to Greek/Chinese parents, I believe!

Best of luck.

[Paolo Willenté]

Some great work in South Africa, an interesting move to China. Looking forward to reading about your progress. KUTGW

[duffy89]

As a Gooner, chuffed to see Yennaris involved in the setup!

Born to Greek/Chinese parents, I believe!

Best of luck.

So he is! Maybe it isn't so strange after all! Cheers dude

Some great work in South Africa, an interesting move to China. Looking forward to reading about your progress. KUTGW

Thanks, Paolo, good to have you on board mate.

Apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend there everyone, been hectic at the moment but should be able to update at some point today

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

March

Friendly

So my first game in charge was a friendly against Sri Lanka. They’re a pretty awful team to be honest but I was still very happy with the performance.

I set up with a 4-4-2 and it seemed to work pretty well. Hao Junmin played great on the right flank and our young strikers were able to bag a few goals too.

Overall, a very pleasing start to life in China. Our next matches are in June, where we have friendlies against Bahrain and Malaysia.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 18/19

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

June

Friendlies

Another solid performance here as I continued to tinker with the squad. I think the 4-4-2 is working fine though so I’m going to stick with it. Yennaris could actually be a key performer for us as he gives us a bit of defensive cover in the midfield.

What a great performance this was! We’re flying at the moment, scoring for fun and controlling these games! I’m very happy with our attacking options, but I think we may get punished defensively against bigger teams.

All these friendly wins have seen us move up in the world rankings too. Check out Chile by the way!

Next month the real work starts, as we start off our World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign. We start in the second round, a two legged tie against Kyrgyzstan.

[am_walters]

Looking good.

Some storming results against some lesser nations, but, remember, you are only China...

[duffy89]

Looking good.

Some storming results against some lesser nations, but, remember, you are only China...

Cheers dude, haha, aye we only have a fifth of the world's population! Won't get too carried away!

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

July & August

World Cup Qualifiers – 2nd Round

This was always going to be a formality so long as we turned up and that we did. We completely controlled the match and this tie is as good as over.

Some more shooting practice for the boys, but fair play to Kyrgyzstan scoring from one of their 2 shots!

That puts us into the 3rd round of qualifying, a group stage with the top 2 teams progressing to the 4th and final round, which is another group stage.

Here’s who we’ll be up against:

A bit of a tricky draw that. Korea will be our toughest opponents yet but I feel confident that we can get into the top 2 here.

Our first 2 matches are in September. Home to Korea then away to Oman.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

September

World Cup Qualifiers – 3rd Round

Wow! Cultured indeed! We actually had a mini injury crisis before this match, with 3 of our 4 young strikers out as well as our star goalie. I brought in some old and lesser known faces and boy did they do the job!

We really came out of the blocks here and I’m delighted with the performace. I was worried at how we would fare against strong opposition but clearly the lads seem up to the task.

Next up were minnows, Oman. Another fantastic effort from the lads, as we make a perfect start to our World Cup qualifying. Here’s the league table after the first round of matches:

In October we have a friendly away to North Korea before our third qualifying match, home to Iraq.

[Deisler26]

Good luck in the CL!

[duffy89]

Good luck in the CL!

Come again mate?

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

October

Friendly

I put out our weakest side here seeing as we had a big game against Iraq a few days later so I wasn’t too disappointed with the result. Believe it or not this is the first game we’ve not won since I took over! Let’s hope it isn’t the start of something!

World Cup Qualifiers – 3rd Round

I needn’t have worried as we were able to put away Iraq. It wasn’t as easy as the scoreline suggests, however, and we had to battle for this victory.

Here’s how the group looks after 3 games and we’re still sitting nice at the top.

We have a couple of tough games coming up in November, away to Korea before travelling to Iraq.

[elbilly]

That was a great job with Jomo in just 5 seasons! Best of luck with the Chinese national team.

[duffy89]

That was a great job with Jomo in just 5 seasons! Best of luck with the Chinese national team.

Cheers mate!

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

November

World Cup Qualifiers – 3rd Round

This was always going to be our toughest match in the group and I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t sneak something from it. Korea played well though so I can’t moan too much.

This is more like it! What a great response from the lads after the Korea game. Hao Junmin is really stepping up on that right wing despite being 32.

That victory meant this:

And here’s how the group looks with one game to go:

As you can see, Korea also qualified comfortably yet we lead on goal difference. Our final match is against Oman at home in March before the final round of qualifiers start in June.

All these wins are doing wonders for our World ranking and we’re up to 58th in the World!

On the Club job front, nothing has caught my eye as I’m aiming to manage in China. The Chinese leagues will finally be loaded in January so I will start my club job hunt then.

[forameuss]

Good going with China. Do you plan on picking up a Chinese club job at the same time as the nation or just one at a time?

EDIT: Just noticed you answered that very question last time you replied to me...Unfortunate you'll need to wait the long four years for the Asian Cup, but that's what makes this challenge so long and frustrating at times.

[duffy89]

Good going with China. Do you plan on picking up a Chinese club job at the same time as the nation or just one at a time?

EDIT: Just noticed you answered that very question last time you replied to me...Unfortunate you'll need to wait the long four years for the Asian Cup, but that's what makes this challenge so long and frustrating at times.

Cheers mate and no worries! Yeah searching for one at the moment, hopefully I'm not waiting too long or I may have to change my plans.

It's very frustrating, like you said. I'm not even favourite to win the damn thing so it could all be for nothing!

Such is the life of doing your tetradecagon challenge, forameuss, we're in it for the long game!

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

March

World Cup Qualifiers – 3rd Round

Not the best of performances to end off our 3rd qualifying round but a win is a win I guess!

Great news for Hao Junmin though as he became China’s top goalscorer! At 32 he may not last until the World Cup (if we make it) but he’ll certainly be able to help me along the way. Well done son

Here’s the final group standings:

5 wins from 6 was fantastic and we go marching onto the next and final stage of qualifying. The 4th round is comprised of 2 groups of 5 with the top 2 qualifying for the World Cup. Here’s our group:

So we’re up against Korea again and Iran are pretty handy too. They’re going to make qualifying harder than I would’ve liked and we’ll have to play well to get into the top 2. I know we can beat Korea though so I’m feeling quietly confident. Our first group matches are Away to Iran and Home to Lebanon. Both of those take place in June.

Friendly

We had a run out against Nepal (I really need my ass man to start arranging better friendlies) to round off the month and we proved to be too strong for the Everest boys!

The Chinese leagues are up and running now but no news on the club job front, a couple of insecure managers who I’ll be keeping an eye on, however.

[duffy89]

[FM14] It's not you, it's me. I just can't do club monogamy anymore!

China PR – 19/20

duffy89 - Tetradecagon Challenge

June

World Cup Qualifiers – 4th Round

What a great smash and grab! This was always going to be a tough game so I set the boys up to hit Iran on the counter attack and we did that well. Iran controlled the game but we defended brilliantly and hung onto our lead in the end. This will definitely be one of our hardest games in the group so I’m delighted to walk away with 3 points.

Things were a lot more comfortable against Lebanon. We were solid here and got off to a great start, taking the lead after a couple of minutes.

Those 2 wins put us top of the group on equal points with Bahrain, who have also had a perfect start.

Bloody hell, we just can’t stop climbing the World rankings! I’m not sure how accurate the system is seeing as we play pretty weak opposition most of the time but we somehow find ourself in 37th place!

On the club front there could be some news coming up. Stay tuned for that one…

[am_walters]

Some belting results, mate.

37th?! Jesus, well done.

[john1]

Shame to see you left Comos But you're doing epic job with China

[Reinoud]

It's going well with China. Time to get some silverwork in Asia!

[duffy89]

Some belting results, mate.

37th?! Jesus, well done.

Cheers walters

I know, I can't believe it! I really don't think we deserve to be that high up!

Shame to see you left Comos But you're doing epic job with China

It was tough, john, mate. I'm still keeping an eye on all the lads I managed, hopefully link up with them again one day! Cheers

It's going well with China. Time to get some silverwork in Asia!

Thanks pal! Yeah I'm definitely getting trophy withdrawl symptoms, need to start collecting those cups again!