dothestrand Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 I don't usually manage national teams for the same reasons club managers do. You don't feel you can get your hands dirty and develop and mould a squad, and you're at the mercy of what you're given by the clubs around you. Plus there's the irregularity between matches, so seasons zip by incredibly quickly. I wondered what's the worst country you could manage in FM19. The answer was Liechtenstein, but looking at the players available, I didn't see any way I could do much with them. Next worst are Kosovo, one of FIFA's newest additions, sitting at 139th in the world! There are some things going for them though. There is some talent there already - Berisha (Lazio), Celina (Swansea) and Zeneli (Reims) give us good attacking options from midfield. What I'm really hoping for is to convince some uncapped guys from Sweden, Switzerland and anywhere the Kosovan diaspora has settled, to switch allegiances and join me. The board are expecting me to qualify from the Nations League Group D - as we're up against Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands and Malta, I wouldn't expect anything less. Euro 2020 qualifying will come next. I'm hoping we put up a decent show when that comes around. If a few regens come through and we can tease out a few guys willing to make good on their Kosovan heritage, who knows how far we can go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dothestrand Posted July 31, 2019 Author Share Posted July 31, 2019 The Nations League group stage is over.....and we won it very, very easily. We have 6-7 players of decent international quality that other minnows just couldn't match. Valon Berisha of Lazio would get into any semi-decent national side. Zeneli is our biggest threat from the flanks, whilst Sadiku and Kryeziu give us a decent base in midfield (and some time centre back). Zhegrova is our best (and only young talent). And winning the Nations League group has got us to 128th in the world (+11 places)! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dothestrand Posted August 1, 2019 Author Share Posted August 1, 2019 Just over halfway through Euro 2020 qualifying and we're doing OK. Narrow defeats to France and England, a home win against Finland followed by a narrow defeat away, and an away draw against Georgia. In amongst this was a friendly draw against Norway. We're currently not last, and if we continue that way, that's great progress. We're up to 121st in the world too! Muric and Qaka have switched nationality to join us. Muric is a wonderkid goalkeeper, so that's a great bonus. It would be great to convince Hadergjonaj to join us. He now plays for Kosovo in real life but he's a top quality RB. I'll keep trying. There are a few other Swiss guys who'd add depth to our squad who're rejecting our advances, but I can tell you, they're never getting capped by Switzerland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dothestrand Posted August 3, 2019 Author Share Posted August 3, 2019 Superb last second (97th minute!) win against Georgia to round off the Euro 2020 qualifying! Even though there is a round of games to go, we have a 4pt lead over Finland, so we're definitely 4th! And then we followed up nicely with an away draw to Romania thanks to another injury time goal. We're up to 118th in the world now. The board have said unless there are improvements, they will start searching for my replacement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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