[FM19] Aim for the Stars, Hit Kabul

[KibworthBull]

After making a complete hash of the database in v1 of this save I am quickly getting on the horse for version 2 - this could go badly wrong and if it does then I will crawl into the background and cry until FM21..

They say you should always start a save with a simple aim so...

Can you win the South Asian Champions League with only Afghan Nationals?

Easy yeah...

The basic Database can be found here - it's one from FM Scout, and all I have made the following changes:

• All Clubs are professional rather than amateur - this stops the merry go-round of players moving clubs every 5 minutes..
• Adjust the season so it runs from January to June - 21 games instead of 14 games - this means there will not be a huge gap between games and aligns a bit more with the Asian Cups

The hardest part of the challenge is that no Afghan clubs currently qualify for the Champions League - we have to make do with the Asian Confederation Cup for now.. As long as we win the league..

I have used the Create a Club function and launch the Afghan Hounds - the type of name that is amusing the first time you hear it and then becomes boring..

Objectives and Basic Road Map:

• Win the League and make our first steps into Continental Football
• Get the League important enough so it has Champions League Football as an end goal!
• Win the Champions League

There might be quite a jump between objectives 2 and 3..

Oh and we have 0 players to start with...

[KibworthBull]

As you would expect when you have a squad of 0 players, recruitment becomes a rush job - I needed to recruit a couple of scouts and then hope I can get some decent players in before they get snapped up by any of the other 8 clubs in the league

First recruit into the club and part of the national squad too. I'm aiming to play with Wing Backs so his physical attributes will stand him in decent stead. I had him on v1 of the save so he is a safe recruit. He'll do a decent job will Maqadar Qazizadah

Modijeb Qaume looked to have a decent scout report, but they have sold me a right dummy here. A Central Defender with 2 Heading and 3 Marking - a back up hopefully

As i've used Create a Club and wiped the squad clean, a lot of the available players are ones that were removed from the original line ups - my captain and a very natural Wing Back for the left hand side Zahib Faizi

Mohammad Naqshbandy is a Striker and without any real attributes that suggest he can play that role to good effect - he is on a very nice wage as well.

 

Needed a goalkeeper and this one is a real life player too.. Another with a host of International caps but at 36 he is long past his peak - he'll do for 12 months. Another who I had in version one - Hamidullah Yosufzai

If all goes to plan, in 12 months, he will be replaced by Ignazio Jafari between the sticks.

Full Back depth is provided by another 16yr old. Israfeel Faqiryar - has HUGE potential and I am fairly confident in my prediction that he wont achieve that potential but he will do a backup job until someone better comes along.

If your still with me, first well done! And secondly, you'll see that I really can't sign Central Defenders. Waheed Mahmodi looked half decent in my original view on the scouting report, but I never learn that trials are a good thing. He's poor but yeah... Not much more to say really there!

The final one for this post, and another of these 16yr olds with a lot of potential..Mohammad Haneef Zahedi, If recruitment goes well then he will be the 3rd or 4th choice striker, if it doesn't.. then I am in trouble!

 

[KibworthBull]

More signings? Yes, More coming in through the door..

Bashir Cutrupi has been snaffled from De Maiwand Atalan, and is a Centre Back with some nice mental attributes. Only 5'8 but he is a brave leader of men. The type we need when your expected to finish bottom of the pile.

The Scouts are starting to find "talent" in the loosest sense of the word now..

Another player with good mentals and our first foray into the midfield market - can play either in the DM or MC positions so gives me some flexability. Haroon Rehemi joins from the same club as Bash did.

Sometimes there is an attribute that just draws you to a player - and set pieces always excite me. Free Kick Taking of 16, and Corners of 11 - for this standard of football, that is David Beckham-esq - Omar Saighani joins as an AM but will likely fill the Striker role.

Our biggest disadvantage we have compared to our rivals is that we have no youth system, the biggest advantage we have is that we have quite a large wage budget remaining because we dont have a large number of dross clogging up the bill. Means we can poach players from other places and pay them what they want/need - Zaker Saadat is such an example as a winger that can play on either side. He's already part of the Afghan U23s

2nd such example of this approach - and one that is making me think that playing with an AMC is a possible approach. Anoush Amiri is brave with a decent personality, and is fairly determined so might be one that makes the most of his ability. Should be part of the national side for a few years as well. Already one of my key players.

And finally for this transfer window (we are still about a month before the season starts #databasequerk) we have the final young boy joining us. A nature ARM but he should be able to adapt to our more conservative RM role to start with. Shahar Zia has been poached from Toofan.

Quite a thin squad overall but we are only missing another MC before we can field a decent 11 for this league. The remaining places will be filled with kids and I might have a glance at the loan market to booster the bench - we only have 21 games a season so we don't need massive depth.

[KibworthBull]

A new day, but the signings keep on coming - up till January 2019 now so just a couple of weeks until the season starts.

The media are quoting 150-1 for us to win the league..

Abdul Sabor Popalzay currently fills the gap as my 2nd CM but I really want him to be the backup option. A passing attribute of 8 is pretty decent for this level, but his lack of any sort of physically worry me a little but we can't be too picky right now.

Ahmadi Hashemi is the back up winger on the right hand side. Quick but likely to only have bursts of speed, impactful off the bench maybe?

Faysal Sakhizada brings my number of RBs up to 3 which in a 17 man squad is possibly a little heavy, but there is something about him that I quite like.  Nothing technical but he is Brave, Determined, Aggressive - a right little terror!

Now moving into complete panic as we are really short on options in the Midfield and we need options on the bench as we have 12 slots to fill - need to ensure the squad is 23 man deep just to have full options on game day - this is my disclaimer for all that happens next...

Arian Hakim brings potential in a number of positions - CM, AM, RM, and ARM depending on what approach I am forced into taking. Ironically he was part of the original squad that I had but cleared as part of the Create A Club process. Welcome back Arian.

Iqbal Noor looks like he can take a mean set piece and another who can play in a number of positions.

Normally a 5'7 Central Defender would scare me a huge amount, but the only other choice is 5'6 so we have taken the plunge. He can tackle and unlike the other choices at CD actually has some potential! Hello Mohammad Ali

Unless anything special pops up, this is the recruitment done, we now actually have to play some matches - which will be nice

[KibworthBull]

January 2019

Just the 2 games in the month as the season kicked off mid January - a very pleasing start as well. Shahar Zia getting a double in an away win where we looked good going forward but very ropey in defence - based on the skills of our Centre Back's this doesn't surprise me greatly - we appear to be following the Kevin Keegan method - if they score 6, we will get 7. The most worrying aspect is that 6 of the side got bookings - you have suspensions at 2,4,6,etc bookings in this league - that could masacre the squad on occasions.

An away draw ends the month - 4 points from the opening couple of matches is a decent return - although the bookies are now thinking we are 2nd favourites for the league, the Board still stay we are the worst in the country - not sure who to believe right now.

[KibworthBull]

February 2019

The transfer window slammed shut in the opening week of the month and we were locked into the campaign with a squad of 21 players - 12 of them only 17 years old. 

The old adage is that it doesn't matter how old you are if you are good enough and the early days suggest that Anoush Amiri is more than good enough despite his tender 16 years on the planet. We look impressive at home with a 100% record, but the first defeat of the season was recorded away at Shaheen - 3 regulars were suspended for this one and it showed. We do end the month top of the tree but the game with the suspensions suggest we are flimsy.

The Golden Generation of all Golden Generations - every single one of them with 5* potential - So Exciting!!!

Disclaimer - I know full well that they are only 5* potential because my entire squad is rubbish and the game is having difficulties trying to gauge abilities right now, but god dammit a man can dream can't he?

Not even I am boring enough to show you the entire intake with screenshots so I will leave you with the best of the bunch in my opinion. Mansur Taheri is a CM with decent work rate and fitness which is never a bad sign and we do have a lack of depth in that area of the field so he will potentially get some chances to shine. 

My scouts have been assigned to the 47 other players that have been generated across the league, and I will pick that carcass clean in the next transfer window.

[KibworthBull]

March 2019

March was only 18 seconds old when Mohammad Naqshbandy smashed home the fastest goal in our history (not much of a record considering it's our first season..) as we went back to the top of the table in a 3-1 victory. Shahar Zia loves playing against Oqaban and he now has 5 in 2 games against the side propping up the rest of the league, we had 2 sent off in that one and still won 4-0, a match that saw Ali Yosufzai become our youngest ever player at just 15yrs and 308 days. He's also likely to get an extended run in the side as captain Zahib Faizi will miss the next couple of months with a groin strain.

Toofan are 3rd in the league and we have a few suspensions thanks to the Oqaban display, but it didn't matter as Naqshbandy smashed in a treble - the first after just 14 seconds - shaving a massive 4 seconds off his previous record.

Everyone else in the league has at least 1 game in hand on us, but we end March with a 5pt lead at the top of the tree.

Edited May 28, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

April 2019

The month started with the good news that both the U18s and Reserves have won their respective titles, which just goes to show that I didn't do a massive amount of work updating the seasons in the database, but hey #databasequerk - I'll focus on the good news that our plans for complete domestic lockdown are in full swing.

Thoughts are turning to next season already with the bulk of the squad out of contract at the end of the year, the media are awosh with speculation.. I jumped early and ensured that the key players from this year were contracted so the below 3 put pen on paper for me.

• Shahar Zia
• Maqadar Qazizadah
• Bashir Cutrupi

The results of the past 24 days since our last match had gone against so we kicked off against Mawjhai Amu in 2nd place, and despite playing with ten men for 83 minutes we were able to sneak a point which I am claiming as a decent-ish result as long as we bounce back with a victory in the next one..

Oh well.. Another red card as well - this time we played with 43 minutes with 10 - the goals we conceded were in the last quarter as well so it feels like a double defeat.

But then we bounced back with incredible style to end the month top of the league again. About as mixed a month as you can ask for across the 3 matches, our lead is 2pts from Simorgh who have a game in hand, May sees a head to head battle and another 4 matches.

[KibworthBull]

May 2019

The Crunchiest Months that has ever crunched.. We were rocked with the news that Shahar Zia will miss the title decider after picking up his 4th booking of the season in the routine victory over Shaheen but thankfully we were able to put that blow to one side and walk through Simorgh like they were not there - 3up before the half hour gave them no way back. 4 clear, game in hand with 7 to play - it's ours to lose now. Omar Saighani had a slow start to the season but his goal and 2 assists against his former club puts him right up there at the front of my mind for Hero of the Month.

The month was excellent - lots of goals, lots of victories, and Simorgh are starting to fall apart, the only fly in the ointment was the final game of the month where we dropped points but with 4 left we have a healthy 7 point lead.

[KibworthBull]

June 2019

The month is about composure - 5 points will win it for us - the final game of the season is home to Simorgh. The nerves were all but dispelled in the 3-0 destruction of De Maiwand Atalan.

The Afghan national side didn't help us out as they called up our first choice keeper (Hamidullah Yosufzai) and first choice Right Back (Maqadar Qazizadah) so they missed the match where we secured our 1st Roshan Afghan Premier League title. The most important bit of information there is that we have confirmed our place at the nearly big table.

Even when we heavily rotate this side is too good for a team near the foot of the table as our reserves smash Shaheen thanks to a treble from Omar Saighani - Omar has been our player of the 2nd half of the season.

FInal Game.. was interesting... winning 1-0 with ten minutes left, we managed to concede three times - 2 of them own goals and have a man sent off! Thankfully it didn't matter a jot and we finished the campaign as clear Champions.

Squad Summary:

Heroes? - The vast majority of them to be honest - we had 7 of the top 10 average ratings, 8 of the squad played 18 or more of the 21 games, 2 players got double figures. I'll pick out 3..

At the midway point of the season Omar Saighani was out the door (figuratively speaking), he had flattered to decieve, true he was being played as a CM when quite clearly he should be playing higher up the field but the 442 formation was working so he had to adapt, and to be fair to the lad, he did, and in some style. In the final 10 games, 8 goals and 9 assists. He's signed on for next season.

If you have followed the story from the beginning then Shahar Zia is a name that might be becoming familiar as he hit 5 goals in 2 games right at the start - as it turned out these were his only goals of the season but 12 assists and 81% passing accuracy with a 7.55 - he should also improve a little bit as well.

Anoush Amiri is still only 16 years old.. That scares me a little bit as Afghan players are supposed to be rubbish, this guy is decent. 15 goals in 21 games explain just a little bit about what he bought to the team, technically he was playing out of position for most of the campaign as he is classed as an AM and he played as an Advanced Forward. I have NO, ZERO, ZIP concerns about whether he will handle the continental football coming.

We can't have heroes all over the place, there has to be a villan - even in a title winning side. I wont call out the Central Defenders as I knew they were poor when they came in. My controlled rage is directed at Zaihib Faizi, my leader, my captain, some seriously good mentals, but was poor and once he dropped out of the side around the halfway mark of the campaign he couldn't get back in and has a contract for another 8 days - Zaihib my friend, the door is there..

The rest of the stats are below - feel free to observe.

So, Champions in first season - great but not the point of the save - it is mearly a stepping stone to future endeavours. That is continental football and that will follow, first things first though, we have players to release and a squad to build for next season.

[KibworthBull]

Afghan Hounds 2019 Retained List

Real life managers talk about this day as the hardest one of all - me? I absolutely love it... (it's easy that this is all fiction..)

Tough decisions to make on some who have peaked, and some easy decisions on those that never will achieve anything beyond mediocre.

Probably the hardest one first up, Haroon Rehemi actually has some decent technical abilities for the level, which is rare, but he just hasn't performed well enough and at 23 is one of the senior members of the squad - I cannot see him improving and our scouts have found several teenagers who are a better fit.

Zaihib Faizi, my leader, my captain, some seriously good mentals, but was poor and once he dropped out of the side around the halfway mark of the campaign he couldn't get back in - Zaihib my friend, the door is there..

I knew that Waheed Mahmodi and Modijeb Qaume were poor Central Defenders when they arrived - the scouts done me over there, but thankfully they were never exposed to the first team too often and they depart knowing that they have a league title on their CVs. Qaume didn't actually perform that badly in his 12 games (6.96)

Ignazio Jafari played in the game where we won the league and the next one and was never threatening to overhaul our 37 year old No.1 keeper - I've signed someone who will do just that so Jafari can move on.

Mohammad Haneef Zahedi was another who only featured briefly but again it's a case of better options are available to fill the backup spaces on our bench.

I think the fact that the board raised NO eyebrows at any of these names suggests that i've got my decisions spot on - which is nice...

Edited May 29, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

The plans for the 2020 Season are starting to take shape - a number of transfers have been confirmed in the off season..

Faysal Haydary comes in as my 2nd choice RW, he had a decent season with lowly Shaheen last time out and my scouts rate his potential quite highly - I'm not massively convinced he will play a huge amount as my best player at the club is 1st choice RW but with continental football coming up a little bit more depth could prove useful.

We have raided De Maiwand Atalan and come out with some absolute gems. Esmat Wafa is the weakest of the 3 and will be a backup option, again I am looking at the fact we could have a few more games so having a little bit more depth will be a good thing and Wafa will be an option off the bench when required.

We have a new first choice keeper for the next campaign in Yar Mohammad Ayoubi, I tried in vain to bring him in repeatedly last season but have finally dragged him down - funny what a league title does to player opinion.. - He is the National U23 keeper and at 17 promises to have a decent career ahead of him.

An Afghan midfielder with double figure scores for First Touch, Passing and Technique is surely a myth, but what can't speak, can't lie, Souleyman Ahmazadi had a poor season with Maiwand last season (18 games at 6.55) but he is 5* CA player in our squad and 5 times better than anything else we have. Surely he cannot fail me..

We had 4 of the top 5 Avge Rated players last season and the 2nd highest scorer in the league - the missing link in the chain was Saywan Mahmodi and it was depressingly easy to steal him off Simorgh - he got 22 in 21 games. He doesn't look great but I put a lot of faith in performances and you cannot disreguard his scoring record for a 17yr old.

I probably didn't need another RB but I may as well haul out the excuse of "squad depth" and move on from Younus Qaumi as quickly as I can - will only play if there are injuries.

I think that Mohammad Nasim Haydary is better than his attributes suggest on first glance - mentally he is decent and the key Central Defender attributes are solid enough for someone of his age - we have really struggled finding a decent CD in the save up until this point.

[KibworthBull]

January 2020

Our first major worry moment, both Yar Mohammad Ayoubi and Hamidullah Yosufzai picked up injuries in pre-season so without another senior keeper on the books I was forced back into the transfer market so Shamsuddin Amiri came in from non-league Kabul Bank on a deal until the end of the season, he is 34 but is a full Afghan international and as the cliche goes - will do a job.

I've also done some digging into our potential Asian Continental Cup campaign and it's a tad long winded..

We are in the Central Asia Zone, starting at the Pre Play Off stage - that's a 2 legged tie. As is the Play Off and then there is a 4 game group stage. If we win that we go into the Inter Zone Play off Semi's, and then a Final and then another Final after that. I would like to think we have enough to get to the Group Stage. We start our journey in February against Alay Osh from Kyrgyzstan.

I bigged up Saywan Mahmodi in the transfers bit and his 4 goals in the opening 2 matches have put us top of the table.

Edited May 31, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

One last bit of transfer news...

Suro Zahedi is a decent option at both RB and CD and comes in from Simorgh and then goes immediately back out on loan to Simorgh - he has already played for 2 clubs this calendar year so I can't play him until next season. Only 18 and he is the best CD that is interested in my club according to the scouts.

[KibworthBull]

February 2020

A routine victory starts the month before all eyes focus on the Asian Confederation and a two legged affair against Alay Osh, which we all know are based in Kyrgyzstan and it was an alright result..... Esmat Wafa scored a nine minute hattrick as a second half sub on his debut. The 2nd leg was a much changed side but they were already dead.

The league campaign continues with us collecting the Ws, Saywan Mahmodi hits our first 4 of the save to bring up 10 goals in just the 6 games, he has also extended his contract until the end of next season. I think that the game is trying to test my spelling with the nations we are playing in the Asian Confed Cup, next up is Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda from Tajikistan - the standard of our opponents has definately improved but we take a 3 goal lead to the mountainous, landlocked country in Central Asia with an area of 143,100 km squared.

The month ends on a frustrating note with a 93rd minute equaliser spoiling our perfect start.

[KibworthBull]

March 2020

It's another Golden Generation guys.. Another one where the potential ability of the intake doesn't quite stack up to what is displayed..

Razwan Amiri, a RW who can cross a mean ball and is quite quick and whippet like. He has the challenge that we have our most talented players ahead of him in that position but he is only 15.

Abdul Basir Shanwary on the opposite flank, is not as technically good yet but he has less of a battle as we don't have huge left sided depth.

These 2 are the best of the bunch, and realistically the only ones who are likely to feature muchly but I've been wrong before and there maybe an outsider pushing through.

Our first leg lead against  Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda was enough as a draw got us through to the Group Stages - the level I thought we could get to, my minimal requirement. Still no prize money at this level but all of our games have been picked for TV. Absolutely no idea if any of these teams are any good! We wont play another league game in March as the 2 matches have been moved for the Asian Confed Cup.

Our problem in the Asian Cup is going to be bookings - 6 of the squad are 1 booking away from a suspension as we kicked off the opening match, but as long as Saywan Mahmodi remains available we will at least be able to score goals - seventh heaven again and we are off and running. 3 players will sit out the next tie, which was a lovely backs to wall type of performance but we won with the odd goal in 3.

[KibworthBull]

April 2020

A month of a thousand games.. or so it seemes. Thanks to our Asian Cup exploits we have 3 games in hand over the rest of the league and we are 4pts off top so maybe a little bit of pressure on the boys, and maybe it is starting to tell as a goalless draw gets the month going - we dominated but couldn't find that elusive goal. 48 hours later we played again, another game in hand, and this one was going the way of a hugely frustrating game as we had 2 dissallowed in the first half and our keeper missed a penalty (Yes, i am one of those guys) but two quick second half goals calmed the nerves and we picked up our first win since late February.

Another Asian Cup win started a run of 4 games in a week where rotation was the key word - a near reserve side picked up the three points against FK Istaravshan Ura-Tyube.

Probably one of my best months - baring the draw at the start, we won every game, have qualified for the Inter Zone Play-Offs and some appearance money in the Asian Cup and sit 3pts clear with a game in hand in the league.

[KibworthBull]

May 2020 (and technically a couple of days into June 2020)

Toofan Away starts the month, 2nd host 1st and it's another long month with 8 league matches - currently only 1 game scheduled into June and the end of the campaign, so it's fair to say this month is key. 3 points were secured thanks to keeper Yar Mohammad Ayoubi scoring his first goal for the club from the penalty spot. A completely rotated side lost in the Asian Confederation Cup but it was the meaningless match of the month, 3 days before we played the team in 3rd.

A tactical masterstroke on reflection as we beat De Maiwand Atalan thanks to a 94th minute winner, they missed a pen and the aforementioned Ayoubi had a MoTM winning display - a rarity for a keeper in this save. Toofan lost 3-1 so with 6 games to play our lead has somehow become 12 points. Mohammad Naqshbandy got a double in the 4-1 victory against near bottom Mawjhai which meant that back to back league titles were in the bag, but most importantly for the save - another season of Continental Football was secured. We don't actually play anymore of the current campaign in the Asian Confed Cup until August which means for some of the squad their journeys have been ran in that one as the door is going be shown to them.

I'm still chasing an unbeaten season so I don't want to relax too much, but clearly the boys do as the unbeaten season goes with a poor 2-1 defeat, Maqadar Qazizadah with his 1 mistake of the season putting through his own net just before half time being decisive.

In the end it was something that we have only just been allowed to do - A WALK IN THE PARK.... 18 points was the size of the win.

Just the 1 red dot..

[KibworthBull]

Season Review

Full Squad Stats:

 

Heroes:

Israfeel Faqiryar is one of those players that you never really notice, but he is there, ticking over and performing to a good standard week in week out - 7.46 from our Left Back - he is improving too as he is now nearly a 4 grey star player. He also saved his best performances for the Asian Confed Cup so a real big game player.

Saywan Mahmodi absolutely flew out of the traps at the start of the campaign but struggled in the latter parts - he still managed 21 goals in 25 matches and that cannot be sniffed at. Mohammad Naqshbandy (13) and Anoush Amiri (12) also got double figures.

Zaker Saadat shows that you can't all score goals - someone has to create them and he was responsible for 13 over the 2020 season, and a 7.40avge rating as well - another quite impressive season.

Villian:

Difficult as no one really had a bad season - we only lost 1 game! I expected a massive amount from Yar Mohammad Ayoubi and he had the worst avge rating for anyone who played double figures, but as a goalkeeper you can't really expect him to do to much in our side - 11 conceded in 23 games is also impressive. 15 clean sheets in 23 - it would be harsh if he was called the villian of the piece. So I will go for Me..

The only reason we lost that game was because I rotated the side too much. A good manager puts his hands up when he makes mistakes.

The league is what it is, it's a very poor league and we are the best team in it, we will get stronger and I fully expect us to continue to win it every year - that's not the save objective as you will know. It's all about winning that Asian Champions League and our first season of Continental Football is still going so I am very pleased about this - the further we go in Asian Confed Cup the higher up the Co-efficient rankings we will go, and the sooner we can get into the ACL.

Edited June 1, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

2020 Retained List

Feels a bit odd doing a retained list when the Continental Football still has a few rounds to play but the finances are shocking (-£115k as we speak) so needs must etc, etc.

• Esmat Wafa came in as back up and had a very good 40 days where he scored 8 times - sadly what was between that was fairly poor so he is first out of the door.
• Hamidullah Yosufzai turns 39 in a few months, back up keeper, I think it's time for someone else - he managed to bag 4 penalties during his time
• Shamsuddin Amiri is 35 and my 3rd choice keeper, signed as cover and only managed 5 games.
• Faysal Haydary barely featured after joining in January, we have many other younger options on the right hand side.
• Faysal Sakhizada and Younus Qaumi provided cover in the RB birth, we had a decent looking RB in the intake so these guys are released into the wild.
• Mohammad Ali stung like a Crocodile and played football like one too..
• Iqbal Noor was always my back up LW but more depth has arrived so pastures new are in his future.
• Ahmadi Hashemi was my back up on the RW slot but it shows just how many decent RW'ers have appeared that we can move Hashemi on.

The most important thing about this list is that this is nearly 1k per week off the wage bill.

[KibworthBull]

July 2021

The transfer window has creaked open and we have a gem..

Jabar Mukhammad is only 16 years old and is already 5* CA and very much up there amongst my best players - he should be the starting RW in my side next year which is tough on Shahar Zia but hey! this is football and only the weak are left behind. Jabar though has a lot of improving to do before we speak about being a wonderkid.. (I can dream)

David Alikhil is amongst my best Centre Back's despite on being 1* CA - there really is a lack of quality in this position in the country right now. His heading is really poor but the Marking and some of the Mental attributes are decent and is young enough to improve.

Rahmat Salehi is purely a back up option between the sticks. He'll be around until I can find something better.

The final one for now is Ovays Ziahi, more of an attacking midfielder than a central one but there is quite a bit of the good old stuff in his favour, he's got a year on a decent wage to show me what he can deliver. I think we are allowed a gamble..

The biggest news of the month is that we have finally gotten our draw for the Inter-Zone Semi Finals.. We are off to India.

[KibworthBull]

August & September 2020

No league action until January so our sole focus is being as prepared as we possibly can for East Bengal and we were ready - nearly 31,000 people saw us leave India with the victory thanks to a debut goal from Jabar Mukhammad, we created soooo many chances but we were lacking our cutting edge, but as the home leg is the 2nd leg I am very confident we can secure our place in the final. The only downside is that Souleyman Ahmazadi will be suspended for the game.

Massive progress though is being made off the field and this is what I am wanting to see - the national selectors getting involved and recognising the talent we have at the club - a couple of the boys have come through our own academy too. Jabar Popalzay is only 16 and an academy graduate so to get an U23 call up suggests real potential - he's my back up RB next season. Anoush Amiri made his international debut.

The previously missing cutting edge was discovered back in Afghanistan and we find ourselves in the Inter-Zone Play-Off Final at the first time of asking.

It's not the Asian Confed Cup final, that is still 2 games away, and talking of away we travel to Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Jayapura who as the name suggests are in Indonesia! It's another 2 legged affair, but that is all next month.

 

[KibworthBull]

October 2020

Just before getting on the plane to Indonesia, disaster struck with the news that Mohammad Naqshbandy will be out for 6 weeks with a sports hernia, coupled with a suspension for Anoush Amiri meant we would start in Indonesia with a debutant up front - Milad Nourestani got the nod but he was hauled off at half time as we changed our shape in the 2nd half and managed to overturn a 0-1 half time score to end the 90 with a 3-1 win.

Amiri returned for the 2nd leg and scored the only goal of the game, meaning in our 1st season of Asian Continental football we had reached the final! We have guaranteed ourselves 500k regardless of the result so some much needed facilities improvement is in the pipeline. Omanese side away from home - this will be our toughest test yet but should have a near 100% strong squad for it.

[KibworthBull]

November 2020

Before the biggest game in the club's history, a new signing.. Zia Burhani comes in as my official back up goalkeeper for the season, just about to turn 17 and very highlighted rated by the scouts and the coaches.

Al-Suwaiq Club have won this competition before, surprisingly, we never have. Both teams lined up with identical 442 formations and these cancelled each other out as there wasn't a highlight until the 35th minute when Mohammad Naqshbandy put an effort just passed the post - he also had one chalked off for offside just before the half time whistle (correct call..) so we went into the break level pegging. A very nervy second half commenced with both sides picking up bookings until a defensive mix up left Naqshbandy the task of beating the keeper from 8 yards (ish..) and he duly dispatched the ball into the net and we lead with 70mins on the clock.

Our lead lasted 40 seconds...

Nothing much happened there after until the 91st minute when Naqshbandy again scored from an offside position - this one looked incredibly tight but I just about support the linesman's decision. Extra Time though with 5 players on a yellow.

105th min - deep ball into the Al-Suwaiq box, a trip, a penalty.. Omar Saighani stepped up and POWERED it home.. The causal obsver of this piece will remember that my goalkeepers are down to take the penalties.. I bottled it OK, and made the change.. I don't regret it so stop with the judgement!

Both teams are absolutely dead on their feet as we entered the 120th minute..

Another ball into the box, another trip and this time Al-Suwaiq have a penalty.. It was slammed home and we were about 80 seconds away from winning the tie..

PENALTIES...

Saighani scored his, but then Naqshbandy and Anoush Amiri failed from the spot - they didn't miss any of there's and by the cruelest way possible we have end our Asian Confederation Cup journey!

There feels like there is no justice in the world - 2 dissallowed goals and a 120th minute penalty all went against us. Gutted.

[KibworthBull]

Pre-Season 2021

After the frustration of the penalty defeat we face a nearly 2 month wait before we can start out 2021 campaign and another title defence.

New blood was recruited in the form of Zohib Amiri, an 18yr old midfielder with a couple of national caps under his belt already - reaffirming my mission statement of getting the best and brightest Afghan's under my control.

[KibworthBull]

January 2021

Our impressive Asian Confederation Cup campaign has moved us up 3 places in the Qualification Rankings, still quite a long way to go until we are getting into the Champions League, but if we continue to strengthen and continue to do well in the Asian Confed then we will get there - I am confident on both scores as I think we are capable of winning that cup after coming so darn close last season.

The sheer frustration of the penalty defeat was partly banished in 45 minutes of the season openener against Shaheen - 5 goals to the good and H/T - the near perfect start. Zaker Saadat scoring more in 29 minutes than he did in 20 matches last season. We went from sublime to ridiculous in the 2nd game, 3-1 up and crusing and we barely scraped a draw out of it, Saywan Mahmodi's double a welcome addition - he hadn't scored in what seems an age!

The club was then rocked I tell yee, when Israfeel Faqiryar damaged his back and would miss the next 2-3 months, our 1st choice LB and player of last season wont be winning the award this year. Yousuf Barkmaz will step in - already near as good but just a bit younger.

[KibworthBull]

February 2021

Back to the Asian Confed Cup and this season's comp kicks off with 6 players suspended and our entire starting side 19 and under -  we only won 5-0... I say only because we dominated this one from start to finish and didn't give them a sniff - the bookies can't see it but I think we can go one better than last year and win this one, there doesn't appear to be a huge amount of quality in this competition so it's anyone's for the taking. 89 people witnessed out reserves lose in the 2nd leg.

When Saywan Mahmodi is good then he is unstoppable, 4 against Oqaban Hindukosh sent us top. We then decided to leave it bleedin late against Balkan Balkanabat, with 10 to play it was 2-2, before 3 goals in 3 minutes make the return leg a little bit more manageable although Bashir Cutrupi did see red. The month's football action ended with a 1st v 2nd tie as we entertained Simorgh, keeper Zia Burhani scoring his 2nd penalty in a week to secure another 3 points.

Good progress in both the Confed Cup and the Leauge, we just need a good intake and we can call this a cracking month.

It talks of a golden generation once more and it does have some nice features..

Sarfaraz Ali Sakhizada, at 15 is already better than the other keepers at the club and immediately becomes my new No.1

Mustafa Wadid is going to have to learn the CM role - my concern is that he looks a little lightweight but apart from that there is quite a lot for this level to be pleased with. We now have a good number of AMC's learning the CM role so it will be fun for me to see who breaks through. Wadid has plenty of time on his side.

Finally a familiar look to the Asian Confed Cup draw with Istiqlol Dushanbe being the only team not part of this group last season.

 

[KibworthBull]

March 2021

March is a fairly odd month - just the one league match, and a grand total of 3 Asian Confed Cup (ACC for future reference) matches. To qualify for the knock out stages we must top the group and with a few suspensions and only 2 available strikers we had some pressure on our shoulders and this showed as we only got a draw out of Altyn Asyr FK Aşgabat - fortunately results went our way as the other match was drawn.  15 year old Sarfaraz Ali Sakhizada made his debut in the routine league victory.

We've struggled to show our best this month but finally picked up our first 3 points of the ACC thanks mainly to Ovays Ziahi getting a double from midfield. Our strikers are being a bit wasteful, we've only got 3 registered for the ACC and this is potentially going to cause us some problems going forward.

The next couple of months are the business part of the season, we will play all but 2 of our league matches and will hopefully qualify from our ACC group. Right at end of the month both Yar Mohammad Ayoubi and Mohammad Naqshbandy got their first call ups for the senior Afghan side, Ayoubi made his debut, Naqshbandy was an unused sub.

[KibworthBull]

April 2021

9 games in 21 days - 1 every 3 days.. Rotation is going to be the key word used in all meetings this month.

Top of the table clash against Toofan to start things off, we left it late but it's a very big 3 points, especially as they had a goal dissallowed in the 90th minute. Then disaster! We handed a massive advantage to Altyn Asyr FK Aşgabat in the group stages with a late defeat - we probably need to win the last 3 games and hope they drop points somewhere as only the top team qualify.

Our under 18s have won their 3rd straight title - they have yet to lose a match in the save.

More proof that we plan to make this as difficult as we can possibly make it in a 1-1 draw against Mawjhai Amu, where we gave away a penalty and the guy that scored it felt so embarrased he then scored an own goal to save our blushes. Vladimir Taalaybek uulu is a name familiar to nobody but he is my hero of the month, 91st minute and he scores the winner against Altyn Asyr FK Aşgabat which means we are level on points with them going into the final game next month - we have to win and then hope they lose - if we get the same amount of points then they will qualify as they have the better head to head record.

Injuries and suspensions are hitting us hard - suspensions always do but thats just the way we play, but this year we've had some injuries - most of my best 11 have missed a game or three with a knock and it makes consistency all the more harder. 3 games in the space of 6 days just feels cruel on our boys but 9 points is the rest, we sit 12 clear at the top now, but the team in 2nd have 2 games in hand and we play them next.

[KibworthBull]

May 2021

Oqaban Hindukosh are all that stand between us and our 3rd straight title - we play them twice in May and if we avoid defeat to them and keep picking up the points then the title will be staying in our trophy cabinet for another 12 months. 

We had no time to celebrate the away victory against Oqaban as we immediately got on a plane to Kyrgyzstan for our final group game - victory and hope are in order.

Our victory was routine, but Istiqlol pulled something amazing out of the bag to get a 2-2 draw and we have qualified and our run continues! Epic!! The sooner we are up the rankings the sooner we can attempt to compete in the Asian Champions League. 

The most pleasing thing about the Asian Confed Cup progress is that is means we have something to play for in the next few months, the league was secured thanks to a double by Zohib Salem, a young striker that has been given a chance to shine as we sit 17 points clear of our rivals with games running out. Technically we need a point but it's ours!.

The 1-0 win over Oqaban Hindukosh meant it was exactly 12 months undefeated in the league and we are 2 games away from an unbeaten season.

[KibworthBull]

June 2021

There is nothing to see here.. 2 games... both won to complete an unbeaten season..

A record 18 players got selected for the internationals this month.

Season Review

It took us a huge amount of time to get over the agonising defeat in the Asian Confed Cup - yes we were still winning games because we were head and shoulders above the rest, our usual dominance didn't appear to be there, I sensed some aprehension and the hangover still lingers with some of the squad.

Goals felt harder to come by, although 4 did make double figures - Anoush Amiri (17), Saywan Mahmodi (13), Zaker Saadat and Omar Saighani (10) - we actually scored 2 more goals this season compared to last so WHAT DO I KNOW!!

Jabar Mukhammad was probably my player of the season - hugely talented for an Afghan I fully expected him to deliver and he didn't let me down at all - 16 assists and 4 goals in his 29 matches. He's set fair to be a star for me for the next decade or so at the very least, unless someone incredible appears.

I used 3 keepers and none of them stood out as my No.1 - I wrote something similar last year but I am not convinced that they are really getting challenged a great deal, all 3 of them are decent keepers with 5* potential, one of them will probably break out and take that jersey but as yet it's tough to see who that is going to be. 

One or two of the older players are staring nervously at the door, I've got a big squad of players (56) with 20 of them showing a possible 5* potential so I don't expect a huge amount of recruitment to happen, a striker or two for definate but it might be time to start culling some of the players who might not achieve the potential.

[KibworthBull]

Retained List

A squad of 56 players IS huge considering a league campaign is 21 games so I am feeling the need to be very trigger happy when it comes to players heading for the door.

• Mohammad Nasim Haydary - played 26 games as a CD in his first season, but didn't feature in his second as better players have arrived
• Rahmat Salehi - 4th choice keeper, randomly his only appearances were 3 substitute appearances. I may have tried him up-front at one point...
• Arian Hakim - CM or RM who has been with me since S1, 4 starts and 22 sub appearances show where he is in the pecking order, I've got a lot of players in the positions that Arian can play in.
• Mohammad Naqshbandy - one time hero, our main goalscoring threat on occassions, 29 goals in 61 games for the club but his performances last season were not as good - he is 28 and i'm signing players of equal CA who are still teenagers.

I also took the opportunity to move on a number of players who were on youth contracts but had never played for the first team : Maqadar Alikhil (Glk), Halid Ahmadi (RB), David Barzarga (CD), Rahmat Arezou (LM), Omar Zia (LM), Balal Amin (RM), Bashir Ahmed Qaume (RM), Omatari Hushmand (MC).

So 12 departures, time to bring some players in..

[KibworthBull]

We've got a couple of months before our next game so the signings will come in drips and drabs so will spread them over a number of posts..

Hafizullah Hashemi is a guy who likes to move around clubs - we are his 4th club in 4 seasons. He was at Oqaban Hindukosh last season and got 9 in 18 and was among the leading scoring strikers in the league. He's a Determined soul (15) and has an Okay Finishing (11) but has precious little else. He will either completely flop and be on his 5th club in 5 years next season or will bang them in. His attributes suggest maybe a bit more on the flopish side, but this is FM and i've had better performances from worse..

[KibworthBull]

July 2021

Two more recruits through the door right at the end of July.

Dad Mohammed Qaume is a Central Defender who can't really head the ball (=2), but can Mark (11) and Tackle (9) so he is 66% there for the minimum requirements for a Central Defender. He's had a couple of half decent seasons at this level and is only 18 so can improve over time. He is a stop gap before my intake produces something better.

The perfect player doesn't exist, especially not in Afghanistan, David Mohammad, is 16 years old and has a little bit of experience at this level, he is a gamble. I'm betting on his potential and not his current ability. He joins a number of other players in the 1* CA, 5* PA camp - someone is going to step up and be counted.

[KibworthBull]

August & September 2021

The long wait for football has ended and we have a 5,000km trip to Malaysia in the Inter-Zone Knock Out Play-Off Semi Finals of the Asian Confed Cup -  we are playing against Johor Darul Ta'zim FC - yep, never heard of them either.

Clearly jeg lag is not a thing on FM as we were 3-0 up after 20 minutes, and also down to ten men. We retired at half time but 4 should be enough but a high number of bookings mean that 3 players will miss the return leg. The highlight was the fact 16yr old Mustafa Wadid got his first senior goal, he is also the youngest player and goalscorer in the cup's history.

The international break at the start of September saw keeper Zia Burhani make his Afghanistan debut.

Saywan Mahmodi made the 2nd leg a foregone conclusion with a couple of goals in the opening 20 minutes of the game - we rotated the side a little bit alongside the suspensions and were never really troubled.

[ToMexico!!]

Been a good read this, such obscurity makes for better reading for me. Good luck in the rest of your continental campaign! 

[KibworthBull]

4 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Been a good read this, such obscurity makes for better reading for me. Good luck in the rest of your continental campaign! 

Thanks so much. Glad your enjoying the journey

[KibworthBull]

October 2021

The Maldives is a lovely place (so i hear), but let's dispatch BG Sports Club as quickly as possible as we want to win this competition. We are at home so have a fantastic opportunity to make this tie done at the first attempt, and thanks to Anoush Amiri the job is practically done.

8 players are 1 booking away from missing the Final Final so an element of rotation is required, so we kicked off the 2nd leg with none of the players close to suspension left back in Afghanistan. We have 6 subs and our striker is only on 47% match sharpness.

A slight palpatation when they took the lead, but our class shown through and we go into the Final Final with NO SUSPENSIONS.... Although Zaker Saadat will probably miss the game through injury.

Naft Al-Wasat in the final. Iraq v Afghanistan

[KibworthBull]

November 2021

12 months on from our last Asian Confederation Cup Final, we are there again. As ever we start massive underdogs, but that's just the way Afghanistan is seen in the world order. 

We are nearly at full strength, only Zaker Saadat misses out.

Just like last year a dissallowed goal starts us off as Anoush Amiri slams one home from a throw in after 10 minutes, but the flag is already high up in the air. Naft Al-Wasat go straight up the other end of the field and get the softest penalty EVER awarded but our 16 year old keeper Sarfaraz Ali Sakhizada saves it.

All of this in the opening 15 minutes! Mega Excitement Folks..

It got even better, on 22 minutes our other 16 year old Mustafa Wadid fire one in from the edge of the box, this one stood and we had the lead.

Half Time and we lead 1-0 but we have 2 exhausted players and 4 on bookings - this could go very wrong.

11 minutes of the 2nd half was all we could survive - long ball over the top and we were level. An onslaught ensued but somehow we were able to prevent them scoring, Ali Sakhizada having an absolute stormer in goal and for the 2nd year running we have Extra Time - we are though running on fumes.

Extra Time delivers very little in terms of chances, a half chance for both sides, and yes folks, we have penalties again - last years killer returns.

It's at this point you need a hero to step up - that man, correction, BOY is 16 year old Sarfaraz Ali Sakhizada who saves 2 out of the first 3 penalties he faced, we all held our nerve and we have done it..

Amazingly we didn't get anyone pick up a 2nd yellow card despite getting 8 players booked.

The question we asked at the start of the save was "Can you win the Asian Champions League with a team full of Afghan Nationals"?

Answer - Not sure yet, but you can win the Asian Confederation Cup!

[KibworthBull]

December 2021

I'm not sure when your reputation increases once you win a major trophy but there has been an Afghan Central Defender that my scouts rate 100 who hasn't wanted to return my calls since I first saw him...

He is now a contracted Afghan Hound! Yar Ali Wafa is a regular for the national side at only 19.

2 years i've been trying to sign Yar! 2 years!

[KibworthBull]

January 2022

Thanks to our cup win we now have a healthy bank balance of £1.5m so I have done the cliche things EVERYBODY does when they get some cash - Youth and Training Facilities Improved, Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching Improved, Zelfy Rehemi, and a new flat screen TV for my office.

Rehemi is another striker, he has 14 finishing which is one of the highest I have seen in the country - this is offset with 4 for Composure, but he has some decent physicals.

He scored on his debut in the opening day win which is very pleasing, what was less pleasing is the fact that our win in the Asian Confed Cup has only moved us up 3 placings in the Qualification rankings - we still need to enter at the lowest level and work our way up - guess we will have to retain our title... The Mawjhai Amu was a real ding dong battle - they have played 2 games now - a 5-5 draw and this 3-4 defeat, I've checked and they are not managed by Kevin Keegan.

The victory against Shaheen set a new league record of 24 games unbeaten.

Edited June 10, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

February 2022

We kicked off February in our attempt to defend our Asian Confed Cup trophy with a match against some familiar opponents, Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda, we played them in Central Asian Zone Play-Off in the last campaign, this time around, it's the stage before this we meet. We left it quite late but eventually it turned into an easy victory - 2 goals in the last 5 minutes have hopefully put the tie to bed.

Between the 1st leg and the 2nd leg saw the transfer window close for the season with a small bit of business, Bashir Ahmed Sharza comes in from De Springhar, the scouts rate him very highly and he is another very high potential player that needs to grow into the first team picture. Leaving the club is Omar Saighani, he scored the winning penalty in the Asian Confed Cup and has been a key player for me since the start of the save, however he is 27 and no longer a regular in the squad - 72 games and 24 goals from midfield is an excellent return, he moves to Oqaban.

My word did we almost completely screw up the 2nd leg against Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda, simply put we were awful and sneaked through 3-2 on aggregate. Talking though of GOD DAMN AWFUL, we finally lost a league match, new boy Ahmed Sharza seeing red too (against his former club) - I'm embarrased and angry. We bounced back to beat Toofan before another visit to an old friend, Alay Osh in the next round of the Asian Confed Cup, and it's fair to say we enjoyed our renuion more than they did - Zelfy Rehemi continued his fine season with a hattrick in the route.

The league defeat has put us 7 points behind with 2 games in hand.

Edited June 10, 2020 by KibworthBull

[KibworthBull]

March 2022

With a 7 goal lead in the Asian Confed Cup we made 11 changes to the side that travelled to Kyrgyzstan, and a solitary goal was scored as a meaningless match passed every by. Zelfy Rehemi is turning into the striker I hoped he would, a second hattrick in a fortnight helped dispatch previously unbeaten and league leaders Simorgh before we went into back to back Asian Confed Cup Group matches against old friends Istiqlol Dushanbe and Dordoy Bishkek.

March is intake month in this part of Asia and as ever it appears a little bit underwhelming at first glance - golden generation of course but everyone is 5* potential at this level it seems.

Hameed Qadami is a right winger in a space where we have plenty of options. He's quick and can be counted on to take a penalty.

We have less options on the left hand side of midfield, so Khaleqdaad Saadat is a welcome addition, his only asset appears to be pace.

There is normally a 4* or 5* newgen in one of the other clubs intake so my scouts are being tasked to find him..

The back to back Asian Confed Cup ties were easy victories which has given us a dominant position in the group so hopefully we can avoid last years mini-wobble and qualify with ease.

[KibworthBull]

April 2022

April means games. April means rotation. April will hopefully mean qualification and topping the league.

Oqaban in the league were dispatched off quite easily with 3 lateish goals. The Ws continued through the month but we had a big blow when Souleyman Ahmazadi was ruled out for a month with a knee injury - comfortably our best CM in a key part of the season. The Dordoy Bishkek result ensured that we had won the group with 1 more game to play - this would fall at the start of May so would give us a chance to rotate and rest for a meaningless fixture. 3 tough fixtures in a week at the end of the month will determine the season, Simorgh (2nd) and Mawjhai (4th) will put tired legs under pressure.

We had Anoush Amiri to thank for beating Simorgh by the odd goal in five.

A perfect month - couldn't have wished for anything better - 5 points clear now with 8 matches left.

Ourselves and Simorgh are running away with things at the top of the table, at the end of May will play Simorgh at home, I would hope to have things tied up by then.

[KibworthBull]

May 2022

The month where we get something around our necks at the end of it.

I decided to try a slightly different formation for the Balkan Balkanabat match with a 4-4-1-1 instead of the traditional 4-4-2 as we have plenty of talented AMCs, this didn't seem to impact our form as we made it 6 from 6 in Group D.

Back to the traditional approach for our revenge mission against De Spinghar Bazan, 3 months since they inflicted our only defeat of the season, we ground them into the dust and then kicked sand in the eyes (possibly..). The following day Simorgh dropped points so the lead is 8pts with 6 to play. It's almost done.

It was 8 with 4 to play as Simorgh came to town for the last game of the month, realistically they have to beat us and then hope we fall apart completely as victory would secure us our 4th consecutive title.

They don't even get a shot on target...

All this league victory does is secure Asian Confed Cup football for next season - and then we need to continue to do well in that competition to improve our reputation and get us the Asian Champions League. THAT is the objective here, the League is irrelevant as long we keep winning it.

[KibworthBull]

June 2022

3 utterly meaningless matches as we admire our winners medals and celebrate our first ever double. We have had 11 players called up for SAFF Championship 2022 and I am attempting to be "shocking" when it comes to tactics.. (it's easy when there is nothing riding on it)

We went Strikerless for the Toofan game, a 4-4-2 with a couple of Shadow Strikers, but this was before we lost the players to the national side. 5 players made their club debuts in the victory against Shaheen as we took the Strikerless on the road for the first time.

Season Review

We broke Afghan League records for most points (60), fewest draws (0), and most goals (64) - the only blot on our copybook was the defeat to De Springhar. Old Boy (he's 33) Maqadar Qazizadah was a somewhat surprising choice for player of the year - 6 players had a better Avge Rating than him, he scored 1 and got 3 assists.. We held our nerve to win the Asian Confed Cup and are in a decent position to have another go at this years competition. We've got £1.5m in the bank so the facilities and coaching are all being improved and we are now seen as the best club in the nation by a country mile, our continental reputation is still poor but we are well and truly on the rise. Our reputation is now a FULL STAR!!

[KibworthBull]

2022 Retained List...

Here it is again, the traditional list of players that possibly have never been mentioned before, getting their first mention when their dreams of professional football are over.

• Mansur Taheri at one point could have been a contender, came through my first intake and played 26 times, scoring 6 goals including some important ones in the Asian Confed Cup. Never got a pro deal and has been let go at the end of his youth contract.
• Suro Zahedi was someone that I chased for some time and is an example of how an improving squad can sometimes leave a man behind. He is a decent Central Defender for this level.
• David Alikhil ironically took Zahedi's spot in the team when he arrived, but has been usurped himself.
• Ovays Ziahi has had 2 seasons to impress me in the midfield and has never really delivered. Tends to perform a bit better in the cups but I have a wealth of options.
• Shahar Zia has massively played his part in us becoming what we now are, superb in the first two seasons but has become a bit part player in the past 2. I take no enjoyment in telling him it's time to say goodbye.
• Zohib Amiri is actually a decent player, BUT he moaned about first team football and got really shirty with me when we disagreed, I stopped considering him for the team and he leaves via the backdoor with his tail between his legs.
• Yar Ali Wafa also leaves - not because I am releasing him, the bar steward has decided to run down his contract and move on. Our best CD by far, 98 scout rated. Does not believe the rest of the squad are on his level. He is correct but I struggle to see where he will go from here..

Ali Yosufzai (1 app), Zohib Salem (4 app, 3 goals), Edriss Rizai (4 app), Milad Jafari (1 app), Milad Nourestani, Mustafa Saighani, Abdul Sabor Islam Amiri, Zubayr Kohistani and Jabar Zekria (all no apps) were all let go at the end of their youth deals.

[KibworthBull]

July 2022

This could be one of the quieter transfer windows.. With Yar Ali Wafa deciding to leave, we have become lighter than I am comfortable in the Central Defender spots. Hashmatullah Hashemi is still 16 and has come through Simorgh's Academy and played the last 6 matches of the season for them. He has the usual 5* potential and would already be considered one of the better defenders at the club despite having everything to improve upon. We are fortunate that we don't need much for our team.

[KibworthBull]

August to October 2022

Very much mixed news... 11 of our squad have been called up for the Asian Games, fantastic that we are so heavily involved but thats 11 players we are missing in the next round of the Asian Confederation Cup. This sort of thing shouldn't happen! 7 out of our best 11 are not available.

Sonbong Sports Group from North Korea our the opponents, amazingly our scouts are having difficulty finding out about them - who would had guessed that!

I've also just noticed that ALL of my goalkeepers are unavailable so a grey out player must make his debut.

I would have preferred more goals at home - 2 players are suspended for the return leg, both of them are Right Backs so this lead is not enough for me to be comfortable.

The gap between matches allowed me to strengthen the attack ahead of the league season, Sayed Hameed Naim has one of the highest finishing attributes in the league (13) and is a real team player. He can't play in the Continental Cup but should give me a few more options in the league.

Beautifully North Korea knocked out Afghanistan from the U23 Asian Games, so we were full strength for the match in North Korea - and boy did it show... The ugliest victory of the year...

It's 6,000km between Indonesia and Afghanistan, we continue our magical mystery tour of Asia and play Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Jakarta with no CMs available thanks to too many yellows. We were strong and were able to pull away in the second half to record another comfy victory. We just need to keep things professional in the return leg to ensure we are in the Final.

We did, so we are..

A trip to Jordan in the final - Shabab Al-Ordon Club we are coming for you.

[KibworthBull]

November 2022

Yet again we have reached the final of the Asian Confederation Cup - twice it has gone to penalties, once we were victors, once we had to wipe away the tears. What will the third visit bring?

Whatever happens it is being done with Zaker Saadat - one of the worst injuries we have had on the save so far.

A common theme in these finals is dissallowed goals - 4 minutes in and we have our first as Anoush Amiri is flagged offside when converting. In the 25th minute, same deal, Amiri shoots and scores and is flagged offside.

The linesman must be broken - Amiri buries a header on 32 minutes but there is no flag? Is the Lino dead? Nope, he remains as he is and we take the lead. 80 seconds later it is 2 as Zefy Rehemi pings one past the stricken keeper.

Otham Ali reduces arrears from the spot just before half time.

If you have been following this save for a while, you know that we pick up a lot of bookings - and eventually it's going to cost us, Bashir Ahmed Sharza picks up a 2nd yellow and we have 30 minutes to survive with 10 men.

Absolutely nothing happened (not even a highlight) for the next 26 minutes until 4 minutes from time and the 4th goal of the game... Jabar Mukhammad I love you more than you can ever know... Afghan Hounds are retaining the title.. (just..) Ayman Al-Maayta forced one over the line in the dying embers of the match but we held our nerve.