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[FM20] An American Abroad - Perhaps...?


ranks39
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So, apparently Korabi have finished their season today(we still have two matches to play).  With Korabi hosting Kamza(3rd place), we now have a chance to essentially clinch the league title with a victory.  We are hosting the bottom side in our split and are playing really well right now..... LET'S FINISH THE JOB BOYS!

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ughhh, just got back up and running - computer has surged but we had lost 1-0, dropping us to third and out of the promotion places completely.....  I hadn't saved since before my previous match so I'm going to have to re-sim these matches but will make sure to get the 0-1 results on both.  What a letdown.

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End of Season Recap

Where to begin with this season??? Coming off of last season, where we had survived on the final gameday of the season, little was expected of the team by myself - boy, did they surprise me!  We were hovering around the upper-half of the season all year long.  Now, the bad part - we came into the split with a real chance of entering the promotion playoff or winning the league outright!  With two games to go, all we had to do was win one of our last two matches to win the league title or, as it turns out, draw one match to clinch a spot in the playoff.  We were unable to do either.  Third place was above my expectation this year but to achieve it in the way that we did is truly painful.

Now, holding onto all of our key players will be tough but I will be leaning heavily on my general manager to make a couple of shrewd signings to put us over the top.

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Pre-Season / Albanian Cup Qualifying

So preseason has come and gone and we've played our Albanian Cup qualifier against a third-tier side - remember that we're in the second-tier.  We have broken our duck and have finally progressed in the cup!  

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And Mustafa has been called up to Albania's U19's.

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We've also signed some loan players and a couple of new faces.

Signed outright:

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In on loan:

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I do plan to rotate a bit more this season...

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September 2021

The season has officially begun and we seem to be picking up right where we left off!  We look like a side that can definitely, at the very least, challenge for promotion.  In our first match, we knocked of Shkumbini, 2-0 away.  We followed that up with a 1-1 draw at home to Beselidhja, a 2-0 away win to Erzeni, a 3-1 home loss to Egnatia and a 2-1 home win against Terbuni.  I have rotated a fair bit so hopefully this will pay dividends as the season turns over to the latter stages.  We are keeping possession well and generally creating chances but in our losses, our conversion has been dreadful.

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October 2021

As well as the season started, October has taken a definite turn for the worst as our attack has become anemic..... This once-promising season has now turned into a dogfight just to make the top half of the table.  Also, the board will not entertain the notion of me going on a coaching course to receive my National C license.  Attitudes are souring and things just reek of a disconnect within the club.

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November/December 2021

Well, November and December were pretty quite months with just a couple of league games and our two-legged cup second round(round of 16).  We were drawn against Kukesi, a Superleague side, and we managed to pull off a couple of good results to advance.  In league, we are still searching for a win to turn our fortunes around and I've switched to a new, two striker formation and brought in a new striker so hopefully going forward we can see some more clinical finishing.

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We've also sold our first-choice right back, Mustafa, to a Superleague side.

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Edited by ranks39
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He's ba-ack!  On loan, of course.   This is just in time to strengthen our squad for our Cup Quarterfinal against KF Tirana, another Superleague side - let's see how this goes!

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Edited by ranks39
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January/February 2022

A new year has again brought an uptick in form from the squad.  The outlook isn't as bad as I had originally thought and our schedule sets up nicely to be able to climb back up the table and get into the promotion playoff at the end of the season(hopefully)!  Again, as I said earlier in the season, I've been rotating my squad a fair bit more than last year when I pretty much rode with the same 11-15 players all year(maybe fitness was an issue down the stretch).

Two wins from two league matches in January really helps - and the fact that Kamza stumbled a little bit - we have closed the gap on the promotion playoff spot(2nd place).  We held strong with a heavily-rotated side against Superleague side KF Tirana in the Albanian Cup, as well.  We started off February with a league win against bottom of the table Oriku before bowing out of the Albanian Cup.  We then went on the road and beat top-of-the-table Laci and came home to defeat second-bottom side, Iliria.  Panoiu(our on-loan Romanian left winger) has been in torrid form!  Our formation change has come good - four at the back, stay at home central defenders and attacking wing backs to provide width/one defensive midfielder to cover the center backs / one Central midfielder that alternates between providing central impetus for our attack or the ability to sit back and spray balls into space / two wingers constantly cutting inside to vacate space for the wing backs / two forwards, one Advanced forward to play in our inside forwards and one poacher to clean up after the chaos of getting so many players into the box.

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Edited by ranks39
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March 2021

The first month of the split has come and gone with just two results, a 1-1 away draw to Laci, the top team in the league and a narrow 1-0 home victory over Beselidhja.  These results have brought us to second place in the league and into the promotion playoff spot.....  It's still all to play for down the stretch but our form is incredible at the moment(also luck is breaking our way, too)!

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April 2022

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An absolutely critical month sees us play each of the top four sides..... We started very slow, losing 1-0 at Kamza and drawing 0-0 at home to Laci.  This meant that Laci were almost assured of the outright title.  Our next match was one of the biggest of our season, playing at home against Terbuni, who were just two points behind us.  Noticing that they were stronger through the middle, I dropped my CM into a DM role and played with two defensive midfielders, hitting almost exclusively up the wings - and to great effect - a 2-1 win puts us 5 points clear with three matches to go(although one of them is against Terbuni again).

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Shades of last year continue to haunt Shenkolli as they fall 2-0 at Beselidhja, who pull to just a couple of points behind to close the month.  We do have a game in hand on them and are four points clear of both Terbuni and Kamzi(who we face in our final two games).

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Laci officially clinch the league championship and promotion to the Superleague.

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I'm a bit confused.... from my understanding with the Albanian First Division, the winners are automatically promoted out of each of the two groups.  Then the runners-up face each other in a playoff with the winner moving on to face the third-bottom Superliga side in the promotion final...... for some reason in my Albanian database I was scheduled against the Superleague team before the First Division team.....

We ended up stealing the match from Teuta and it now looks like we're promoted without even facing the other first division runner-up...... I don't have the editor or any knowledge of how to update it so I'll count my lucky stars and move on.... oddly enough, the match against the other first division side is still on my calendar.... so let's see where that goes.....

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Now, maybe the board will allow me to go on a coaching course for my National C license....

 

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The board have again turned down my request to take a coaching course to receive my National C license citing financial concerns.  Then this comes across my desk:

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Edited by ranks39
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Pre-Season 2022

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A pretty decent pre-season headlined by our 4-1 victory over First Division side Bylis but also a nasty defeat at third-tier side, Gramozi.  We have had quite a few departures(mostly on our youth team) and quite a few incoming players as well.  We are still the least-talented squad in the league...

New Signings:

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August 2022

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After starting life in the Superliga on a definitive high, we have since come back down to Earth a little bit with two losses in two.  This was to be expected, though.  We have another opportunity against bottom-of-the-table KF Kukesi for our first match in September, though.

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September 2022

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September was a mixed month for us(by our standards, it was probably actually very good!) with two wins, a draw and a loss but those results and a number of games in hand keep us rooted firmly in the middle of the table.  For a club that was the popular pick to go down, this has been a fabulous season thus far.  

Here is how the squad looks a couple of months in - I've been tinkering with a few different XI's...  It's a massive squad,  by the way 

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October 2022

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Certainly not a month to remember with just 1 league win in 5 and 1 draw.  We did win our cup match and move on but the month ended with a blitz from top-of-the-table Lushnja.  We still sit 7 points clear of the relegation scrap so that's positive.  All things considered, the season is going great!

Here's how the World Cup groups were drawn:

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Internationally, the Albania U19 squad have won their First Qualifying Round Group for the U19 Euros, with D'Angelo getting on the scoresheet against Estonia!

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For the second qualifying round, they've been drawn in Group 2:

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Here's how Champion's League is progressing:

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Quite a few surprises in my estimation - especially in Groups A, D, and F.

And Europa League:

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And Europa Conference League:

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November/December 2022

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November and December saw us largely hold steady in the Superleague, still firmly mid-table, 11 points clear of the relegation mire.  We've won 3 of our last 5 league matches and bowed out of the Albanian Cup with a completely rotated squad.  I can't be much happier with where we're at in the league one game before the halfway mark!

An incredible season from what I had anticipated.

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January 2023

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Our season continues to take shape as one for the memory banks - I'm just enjoying this!  We continue our up-and-down results and for the most part, we've been very fortunate that other sides are wasteful.  We did grab a couple of transfers at the January window.

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