deltablue Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 That's fantastic! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 World Football News OK, this is the section that I'll use to fill you in on all the gossip, comings and goings and the breaking news stories from around the world of football. I'll normally only update once a year unless anything major happens mid-season Headlines Javier Clemente resigned from his position as manager of Cameroon following the clubs exit in the group stages and announced his retirement from the sport. Domestic coach Bert Ebwelle, who recently won the MTN Elite One trophy with Tiko Utd is appointed to replace him, which is not likely to be taken well by the global stars of the international team. Luka Modric became one of the worlds most expensive players as he jetted out of Tottenham to become one of the Galactico's of Real Madrid. Tottenham prospered in his absence however and managed to reach 5th place in the Premier League - a great result for manager Alex McLeish having almost seen Spurs relegated in the previous season Shakhtar Donetsk continued to show the emergence of Eastern European teams as the financial powerhouses of Europe by splashing out a combined £47m on Abel Hernandez and Yann M'Villa Liverpool boss Marcelo Bielsa had been blown away by Andriy Yarmalenko's performances for Ukraine in the world cup where he finished 3rd place in the goal of the tournament competition and shelled out £17.5m to bring him to Anfield Alan Shearer was awarded the English Premier Division's manager of the season award for his efforts in lifting Everton into 7th place in the table Pep Guardiola was announced as the new Spain boss following their semi-final defeat at the hands of France in the world cup. Roberto Mancini was tempted away from the streets of Manchester to take over at Barcelona and Rafa Benitez has been given the opportunity by the regime at the Ettihad to return to England and challenge to retain the Premier League title. Danny Cadamarteri's first managerial role in Wigan ended in disaster as they were relegated to the Championship for the 2nd time in 3 years. Cadamarteri had been appointed after previous manager Glenn Roeder had moved to take the reins at Derby, but he wasn't available to avoid the drop and a number of key players including James McCarthy have now left the club as Wigan attempt to balance the books in preparation for a year in the Championship Another rookie coach, in the form of Norwich's Chris Smith, is also looking for new employment having been unable to persuade his employers of his credentials, despite avoiding relegation for the second year in the row. The League Manager's Association have lodged official complaints with the Premier League over Smith's treatment, but Norwich have already hired ex-AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek to replace him Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid side continued their dominance as they lifted the Champions League for the 3rd season in succession after beating Man City on penalties in the final. Already at the age of 51, Mourinho is widely recognised as being the second best manager of all time, behind only Alex Ferguson Fiorentina lifted the Europa League title thanks to a single goal from Stevan Jovetic in a 1-0 victory against Lyon. This means that Spanish clubs have now won 5 of the last 6 European competitions! Chelsea fans were disappointed as Florent Malouda announced his retirement as a player at the age of 34. Despite only being an infrequent squad player, Malouda remained a favourite of the Stamford Bridge fans and will be sorely missed. Over on the other side of the Atlantic David Beckham also thought it was time to announce his retirement from the game in order to spend more time on his new career in politics! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Roll of Honour Premier League 2011/12 - 1st Liverpool 2nd Man City 3rd Man United 2012/13 - 1st Man City 2nd Man United 3rd Liverpool 2013/14 - 1st Man City 2nd Liverpool 3rd Man United FA Cup 2011/12 - Winners Aston Villa Runners-Up Brighton 2012/13 - Winners Man Utd Runners-Up Stoke 2013/14 - Winners Arsenal Runners-Up Bolton League Cup 2011/12 - Winners Man Utd Runners-Up Watford 2012/13 - Winners Derby Runners-Up Arsenal 2013/14 - Winners Stoke Runners-Up Wolves Champions League 2011/12 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Lyon 2012/13 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Liverpool 2013/14 - Winners Real Madrid Runners-Up Man City Europa League 2011/12 - Winners Sevilla Runners-Up Marseille 2012/13 - Winners PSG Runners-Up Arsenal 2013/14 - Winners Fiorentina Runners-Up Lyon European Championships 2012 - Winners Spain Runners-Up Italy African Cup of Nations 2013 - Winners Mali Runners-Up Congo World Cup 2014 - Winners Mexico Runners-Up France Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 Chile_Paul's Career - Season 4 Preview - Bamboutos de Mbouda Media Expectations: Media Prediction: 7th Board Expectations: Elite One - Achieve a respectable league position Cameroon Cup - Quarter finals CAF Champions League - No expectations set My Expectations: Elite One - Mount a serious title challenge Cameroon Cup - Go that one step further and lift the trophy CAF Champions League - Enjoy the experience. Making the group stage will earn some serious dough! Squad: The main changes have occurred up front where Moussa Nassourou left to play in Norway and I bought in two older and more experienced players in to replace him. Emile Mbamba and Weaka Wisseh both have stats as strong as Nassourou and either should be able to play alongside Kanga and supplement his goals. Otherwise I've bought in Duplex Kanga, another more experienced midfielder to provide competition and depth to my midfield and a number of youngsters who won't be regulars in my first team this season but will break into the side in future years. Backroom Staff: Andrzej Perkins, my only English coach has left the club as he was overpaid and wasn't really up to the job and Vincent Job joins as a long overdue goalkeeping coach Transfers: Much balancing of the books this season has seen a number of higher paid players leave the club on big transfers with more players joining but on lower wages - therefore providing more squad depth which will be required when we start competing on 3 fronts..... Toussaint Adome who has been on loan with the club from KSA for 2 seasons now has also joined on a permanent deal Duplex Kanga - an experienced midfielder who joined from KSA. I know KSA are struggling financially at the minute, but I can't understand why they've let this guy leave. Emile Mbamba - a front man with a CV detailing spells across Europe and most recently Indonesia, he should help to make up for the loss of Nassourou's goals Weaka Wisseh - my second striker to join in the window, Weaka is a capped international for Liberia and has plenty of talent Jovanie Tchoutacha - a young defender who joined on a free from Coton Sport who currently represents Cameroon at U-21 level. A real talent for the future. Finances: Wage Budget: £4,391 p/w (£3,884 p/w) £505 p/w Wage Bill: £4,343 p/w (£4,189 p/w) £156 p/w Transfer Budget: £5.8k (£5.8k) N/A Bank Balance: -£106,634 Average Ticket price: £1.00 (£1.00) Season Ticket Holders: 1,225 (1,190) Season Ticket price: £2.00 (£2.00) Estimated club value: £150k (£120k) £30k Reputation: Club Reputation: National Ranking within Cameroon: 10th (12th) +2 Cameroonian world ranking: 17th (56th) +39 Elite One competition ranking within Africa: 25th (22nd) -3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaUlHuNtInGtOnLuFcBoY Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Love your world football news section mate. Always nice to see how things are coming along not only in terms of your career, but also the other footballing news that doesn't necessarily concern you so! Plus your career is going pretty well so far and I love the set up of this thread so keep it up mate! Just a quick question on all the career updates I follow... how are Leeds doing please :L? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 Love your world football news section mate. Always nice to see how things are coming along not only in terms of your career, but also the other footballing news that doesn't necessarily concern you so!Plus your career is going pretty well so far and I love the set up of this thread so keep it up mate! Just a quick question on all the career updates I follow... how are Leeds doing please :L? Cheers Thanks, I'll try to remember to include an annual Leeds update. You'll be saddened to know that they went down into League 1 at the end of the 2012/13 season, although jumped straight back up as champions. They're currently mid table after 14 games. After sacking Simon Grayson in March 2012 the quickly went through two other managers in the form of Nigel Adkins and Gary Smith. Current manager, Richard Money has been in charge since December 2013. Jonny Howson is captain and the most notable transfer was Robert Snodgrass moving to Bolton for £3.1m Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 The fixture computer has been really tough to us this season and we've got early away games to Astres, KSA and Canon to contend with, couple with a huge gap between the first 2 fixtures in August / September and the next match in October. As a result it was imperative that we got a good start as we had done in previous seasons - against Sable however we were disappointing, and seemingly had lost some of the balance and confidence that we'd had as a team at the end of last season. Things had started so well, with Franck Kanga popping up with the first goal after the 5th minute, but after that we struggled and let Sable back in to pick up a point. The away game against Astres was a much tougher affair and I was far more realistic about our chances of picking up 3 points - and things were looking very bad when we were 2-0 down after only 19 minutes. With a huge amount of luck though we bounced back, they conceeded an own goal after 32 minutes to let us back into the match, and shortly after half time, it was that man again Franck Kanga who tucked in the equaliser with our only shot on goal all game. So 2 points for 2 games, definitely not title-chasing form, but not a disaster either. Now we have a month long holiday before our next league match :confused: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 First round of the cup was un-inspiring. I put both of my new front men together in attack, hoping that they would have an easy time bagging a couple of goals against easy non-league opposition. In fact neither of them had a shot on target all game and we had to rely on an own goal from the opposition to put us through. The second round against Renaissance was much better, feeling more like the team from last season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 We started the month as we had finished August and September with another score draw away to KSA. Despite being worried about taking only 3 points in the first 3 games, the team rallied immediately afterwards and went on a great winning run during October. We're still a fair way behind the leaders, but are now looking much better than we were after the first 3 games. Weaka Wisseh has now found his goal scoring boots after a slow start and capped off a great October with 7 goals in 6 games, including a hat-trick in the match against Renaissance. If you include Canon, we've now played 3 of the top 5 away from home and not lost - so that is a good position to build from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 A nice little record to break......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 Coton Sport did incredibly well to reach the final, having not really been given much of a chance of even qualifying for the group stages! However they were well outclassed when they did make it, losing heavily over 2 legs to their Tunisian opponents. They will have picked up a load of cash though, £606k for the losers on top of some serious win money in the group stages, which will make them a force to beware of in the coming years. Hopefully it will also have given the overall Cameroonian game a boost in the African competition rankings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 Our great run continues, with only one slip up against Coton Sport. I had hoped that they would be sufferring from fatigue coming into this match from their Champions League exploits, but they were strong from the first minute and scored an early headed goal from a corner. We fought back and equalised before half time, but in the end they were too strong and took all 3 points. I was concerned that this might dent our confidence and mark the start of a slide, and whilst we were nowhere near as strong as we had been against both Tonnerre and Panthere du Nde we managed to sneak 6 points out of them and re-assert ourselves as credible title contenders. Coton Sport really are setting up a very strong title challenge and it is going to be very difficult for any of the chasing pack to catch them if they can maintain their current form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Going along quite nicely so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 CAF Champions League winners ES Tunis continued to represent the African continent extremely well and made it through to the FIFA World Club Cup final after beating Vasco on penalties in the semi-final. Real Madrid, however, were not prepared to risk losing this competition for the 3rd time in a row and were devastating........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 A straight forward win in the cup means that we've met the board's expectations and have an away draw against a team from the division below in order to make the semi's. It was an even more impressive performance given that Franck Kanga was sent off for a scything challenge whilst the scores were 0-0. The downside is that we're now going to be missing our top goalscorer for the next 3 matches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 So, half way through the season and the team are absolutely buzzing and playing some stunning football. The 5-1 away win against last year's league champions was a joy to behold, Franck Kanga picked up another 2 goals to add to his tally and it looked as though we were going to score every time we went forward. The 1-0 victory over PWD Bamenda looks much tighter than it actually was, in reality though it was us versus their goalkeeper and it took until the 82 minute for Manuel Cabit to score a screamer into the top corner from a tight angle. The title could well turn into a 3 horse race with the other teams starting to drop points - and we're home to Astres in the next game - bring it on! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 One notable piece of transfer business to update you on at the halfway point. Makarani Kingwande has moved to Elite Two side Impots FC for £30k - he was a promising youngster, but wasn't getting enough game time to progress and given other options higher up the pecking order I opted to move him on. In his wake I've bought in Conte Vamadouba who will be a regular squad player and a long term replacement for Justice Wamfor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Good improvement from a slow start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Picking up nicely now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatTraveler Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Very good results, clearly in the Title challenge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hook Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Enjoying the career so far! Match ticket £1 Season tickets £2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cswalk08 Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 You're right there for the title! Good luck in catching it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Enjoying the career so far! Match ticket £1 Season tickets £2 I just wonder who the 2,500 mugs are who turn up and pay £1 for every game and spend £13 for the season, when they could have bought a season ticket for £2!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 You're right there for the title! Good luck in catching it. Thanks, I might need it to catch Coton Sport! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 My first offer of international management, albeit at a very low level - what do you all think? I should perhaps point out that the role of an African U20's manager in my save is not a quiet one, as there are 3 main competitions that I'd be competing for on either a 2 or 4 year cycle, on top of the normal U20 competitions: CAF U20 African Championship Jeux de la Francophone WAFU U20 Cup Should I take the job offer? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Hmm, I probably wouldn't myself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Might be fun, depends on how big the pool of players is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Might be fun, depends on how big the pool of players is. Yeah, there is a substantial pool of players given that I have almost all of the African leagues loaded - 87 already in the National Pool eligible for the U-20's and circa 400 others on the player search. Anyway I've decided to take the job and see how we get on........Still looking for my maiden title on this career save and maybe I'll get it with Mali U-20's? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Well we didn't mae it easy for ourselves, conceeding in the 91st minute and having to rely on extra time, but we're through to our 3rd Cameroon Cup semi-final in 3 years........ A tough game against KSA to get through, but we're at home and they have really dropped their level of performance this season, so we have a good chance of making the final, where we could well be up against Coton Sport! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 The league had been going so well with yet another winning run extending for 6 games, but coming up to Coton Sport away from home we needed to ensure that we got a draw to prevent them from pulling further away. We performed well for the first half and despite them taking the lead, we matched them and pulled one back not long before half time. However in the second half they powered away and really showed their class, snatching 2 wonderful goals. This wouldn't have been a complete disaster, if we continued to win games, but after a relatively comfortable win against Mont Cameroun we faced another tough game at home against 3rd placed Canon who were trailling 4 points behind us. We started well and took an early lead, but Canon were absolutley clinical on the counter-attack. Despite us having the vast majority of possession and chances, they scored 2 fantastic goals where they ran the length of the pitch to slot home. 4 shots on goal, 4 shots on target and 3 goals - gutting. Coton Sport are now 8 points clear in the title race and Canon are only a point behind us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 A really great performance by Cameroon, although they didn't quite make the final step. Samuel Eto'o is less than popular with the fans having been sent off for a stupid tackle in the semi-final which meant that he was suspended for the final game against South Africa. South Africa are really showing their strength in this competion - runners up in 2012, semi-finalists in 2013 and finally winners in 2015. They had a tough route to reach the final this year as well! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Our first adventure into the CAF Champions League sees us progress through to the second round after an easy win against Miembine of Zanzibar, however the draw has not been kind to us and we'll be extremely lucky to get passed last season's CAF Confederations Cup winners Sundowns. The money spinning group stages seem a very, very long way off at the moment.......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Ouch, be good if you can run them close though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 A few more promising prospects coming into the ranks to bolster myU20 and reserve squad, but I'm not yet convinced that I'm seeing value for money for the increased investment that I'm putting into the youth set-up (my junior coaching busget is now circa £12k per month, which for a club who's average ticket price is only £1 is a heck of a lot of money) Ghislain M'Pondo - always a concern when your most promising youth prospect is listed as Unambitious; at least if he turns out to be any good he'll be less interested in big money moves elsewhere! Gustave Atangana - some ok Defensive Midfielder stats, but has a very long way to go in order to break into the first team. Armand Dubois Abouna - worryingly low physical attributes for a midfielder David Etame - I would argue one of the more promising of the 4, at least he has some good technical charecteristics, maybe he can become a set piece specialist? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 African U-20 Championship So, my international career (if you can call U-20's tournaments as proper internationals) launched me straight into the deep end with the African U-20 championship with no prior friendlies in which I could learn about my squad. Things got off to a bad start, with a disastrous 4-1 against Ghana - we started well enough in a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, but when we went a goal behind I reverted to my Bamboutous 4-4-2 formation which really didn't suit the team and Ghana managed to find holes all over my defence and rip us apart. The next game was much better and we stuck to the original 4-1-2-2-1 formation throughout. However despite dominating throughout the game against Guinea we couldn't find the winning goal and had to settle for a 1-1 draw......... .....and so the reality of international management struck home, 2 games in with only 1 point on the board we were faced with the prospect of having to win our remaining game against the hosts Senegal and hope that Ghana beat Guinea in order for us to progress. Luckily we were able to repeat the performance against Guinea but also find the required goals and ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. The only downside is that our leading striker from Monaco, Emmanuel Traore got himself sent off which meant that if we did qualify for the semi's he would be suspended......... .....and qualify we did, with Ghana beating Guinea 1-0 after Guinea had also gone down to 10 men. So, my first tournament and we through to the semi-finals...... The bonus surprise is that qualifying for the semi's has given me automatic qualification for the U-20 World Cup as well! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 .............and a really good 2-0 win in the semi-final see's us through to the final! A great achievement for my first tournament in charge of the team. We'll be lining up against Nigeria in the final, who had a dominant win against Ghana in the semi's Road to the Final - Nigeria Road to the Final - Mali Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Unfortunately, however Mali U-20's will still be searching for their first African Youth championship trophy having been thoroughly outplayed by the Super Eagles. We competed well in the first half but Nigeria stole the lead after 38 minutes. After half time we had no choice but to move to a more attacking mentality and as we pushed forward we left more and more gaps at the back which they exploited to the full. In the end the scoreline flattered Nigeria but they didn't care as they went on to lift their 7th African Youth title Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 So, life has been pretty hectic as a Football Manager since taking on the Mali U-20 job, whilst the youth championship has been going on I've also had the semi-final of the Cameroon Cup to compete in as well as the ongoing league battle. Maybe the travelling back and forth to Senegal meant that my preparation for the cup wasn't as good as it should have been, and the team weren't on form as we went up against KSA. Despite that, they were also poor having been on a poor run of 5 games without a win, and the result wimpered out into a goalless draw - the first game that we've played in over a year without scoring! As a result the decision as to who would make it to the final, where in a huge shock they would be facing Tonnerre KC rather than Coton Sport , rested on penalties. With a number of my normal penalty takers missing because of injury, suspension and earlier substitutions the result was far from certain, but in the end the trusty foot of Conte Vamdabouda put us into the final for the second time in 2 seasons! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Back in the league I had recovered my winning formula, following the disappointing 2 results against Coton Sport and Canon, and once again we were staring to put together a winning run. Critcally though the league leaders Coton Sport had started to drop points with several draws, and suddenly we had a genuine title race back on with only one point splitting us from Coton Sport. The situation therefore was simple, it would take a mircale for either Astres or Canon to catch us and therefore my only focus was on taking 9 points and hoping the Coton Sport slipped up in one of their 3 remaining games. Bamboutos run-in - less than straightforward with 2 away games against Tonnerre KC and PWD Bamenda, neither of whom would be push over's despite their low league position and a very challenging home game against last years league winners Tiko Utd Coton Sport run-in - arguably the tougher of the 2, although with the benefit of more home games, after a tough away fixture against KSA they have a very straight forward home game against YOSA followed by their second home tie against Canon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 As expected, the match up against Sundowns in the first round proper of the Champions League was one challenge too many for this season. We fought against them well in the first leg at home and in fact we had the majority of the possession, however they were doing a lot more with it and looking dangerous up front. They got the away goal that they were looking for, and despite Justice Wamfor equalising from a direct free kick they had done what they needed to and took the advanatage into the return leg. Back In South Africa, they were clearly feeling comfortable in front of their home crowd and whilst we made a game of it, and once again had our fair share of possession they were absolutely clinical and picked up 4 goals, with a hat-trick by the absolutely stunning Francis Kahata - if only I had a few players like him! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Well, we almost threw away our chances in the first of our final 3 must win games against Tonerre KC. We were missing a few first team players and it was Franck Kanga's first full game back after injury and he was short of form. I was however afforded the luxury of knowing that it was almost impossible for me to lose 2nd place and as a result as the game progressed I was able to take a more gung-ho attitude. Even so, however I was struggling to break Tonnerre down and find a way through their well organised defence and they were posing a problem on the counter-attack. With 10 minutes to go I made the decision to bring Justice Wamfor up from defence and into his more favoured midfield role, introducing Robert Ntolla back into central defence for his first game after returning from 5 weeks out through injury, and as we got more and more desperate I moved to a 4-2-4 formation. As the clock ran down I well and truly thought we'd thrown it away, until with the last kick of the game Rodrigue Wamfor (YP4) lofted in a high cross from deep and it was that man Justice Wamfor who rose above the Tonnerre KC goalkeeper to head in the winner! Talk about nail-biting stuff! The game against Tiko United on paper should have been much harder, but Franck Kanga was back on form with 2 great goals to set up the win, before Weaka Wisseh stuck in a 3rd. So, the question on everybody's lips is could Coton Sport keep up their run and keep the race alive into the final weekend......... In their first game, they managed a comfortable 2-0 win against KSA, but to everybody's shock they bottled it in front of their home fans against the easiest opponents and failed to score against YOSA. Critically this means that we have the advantage going into the final game of the season, one more victory and we're the champions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Wow, looks like a tight final day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 So, we went into our final game of the season requiring a win to guarantee the title. Understandably, there was a great deal of nervousness in the camp in the build up to the game and this was obvious in the first few minutes with some basic mistakes and misplaced passess. As time went on however we established ourselves in the game and started to create some chances. In the 40th minute we finally got the break through we were looking for and took the lead with a goal from winger Emil Atangana. In an added bonus, the news came through that Canon were holding Coton Sport to a 1-1 draw, but then in the 2nd added minute of first half injury time Canon had their leading striker sent off - could they hold Coton Sport for another 45 minutes with only 10 men? Early into the second half the pressure jumped up as news came in that Coton Sport had made their extra man count and taken the lead - as a result we really couldn't afford to slip up as an equaliser from Bamenda would hand the title back to Coton Sport! As the minutes counted down, the mistakes started to slip back into our game and Bamenda picked up more and more chances, but finally in the 90th minute as Bamenda's latest attack broke down, we counter-attacked, Franck Kanga crossed into the box, Haman Koutan shot from wide which was saved by the keeper, but Weaka Wisseh played his role to perfection as a poacher and slammed the rebound into the back of the net......... we'd done it, the Coton Sport result was irrelevant, we were champions!!!! It didn't have any relevance in the end but Coton Sport won the game against Canon....... so it was the failure to win against YOSA that lost them the title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 We had to keep the celebrations from the league win relatively short, with a tough game in the cup final against Tonerre KC only a few days away - despite all my efforts though I couldn't stop all of the celebrations following the clubs only ever league win! On paper the final against Tonerre should be relatively straight forward, but they'd pushed us all the way only a few games back and my record against them reads played 4, won 2 and lost 2. They've also got a number of players that I'm coveting and would love to bring into my side in the form of Willy Boumsong and William Diabakala, so they're not a team to be messed around with. Bamboutos Route to the Final After an un-inspiring start to the cup run with a poor 1-0 win against Best Stars our form definitely picked up with good wins against Elite One sides Renaissance and Sable. We almost slipped up away to Elite Two side Esparance Guider, but recovered to win in extra time and then relied on the pot luck of a penalty shoot out to get passed KSA Tonnerre KC Route to the Final With the exception of the semi-final win against Coton Sport, this was a straight forward set of fixtures as you could hope for with 3 non-league ties and a home match against a team in Elite Two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 In the end, this was a walk in the park with Tonnerre KC failing to turn up. We took the lead in the 4th minute with a well struck penalty from Duplex Kanga (incidentally our first penalty of the season) and we were already playing Tonnerre off the field when they harshly had their centre back sent off for a tackle on Franck Kanga as he was motoring up the park, their player was definitely not the last man however, so the referee did us a favour. Domingos scored the second, volleying the ball after a corner from Emil Atangana, to make the game safe - really Tonnerre were so bad, we could and should have scored more! Never mind though, because we've done the double!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Some more good news, which sees us matching the junior coaching in place at KSA and Brasseries who are continually churning out some really exciting prospects. I just wish I had some finds available to encourage the board to improve the training and youth training facilities! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Congrats on the double! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Congratulations on a fantastic season! Do you think you'll be able to start making inroads in the Champions League soon? Are you going to stick it out in Cameroon until you do? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Congratulations on a fantastic season! Do you think you'll be able to start making inroads in the Champions League soon? Are you going to stick it out in Cameroon until you do? Bamboutos FC are refusing to comment on speculation that manager Paul Scholey, having just lifted the Cameroon Cup and the Elite One league table, is about to leave the club, stating only that Scholey, who is under contract until the end of the 2015/16 season is currently making preparations for next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Chile_Paul's Career - Season Review - 2014/15 - Bamboutos FC Elite One League - Champions A really stunning performance this season saw us champions of Cameroon, lifting both the Elite One trophy and the Cameroon cup. Perhaps the only downside was the fact that we had to rely on Coton Sport slipping up elsewhere as they outplayed and beat us in both fixtures and we failed to come up against them in the cup after Tonnerre knocked them out in the semi-final. The other disappointment of course, was in the Champions League where we came up against much stronger opposition in the first round proper. The concern is that there were a number of other teams in that same draw who we would have struggled against and we would need to win in both the first and second rounds in order to make it the money spinning group stages......... Final League Table Transfers We ended the season comfortably in profit from our transfer dealings with big money dealings for Jean-Marc Hatchi and Moussa Nassourou as they left the club, with players of equal if not better quality joining on free transfers. The money was well needed given the financial challenges on the club. Jacques Momha - Jacques was bought in as my first choice left back and cover for left midfield, but he struggled to settle in the club and after a few games he was dropped to make room for Tchouatcha and he struggled to make the position his own after that. Jacques has now retired...... Jovanie Tchouatcha - Introduced into the squad as a youth prospect I didn't expect him to make much of an impact on the first team, but when we was given his chance he jumped at it and had a fantastic season. Now a regular member of the back four, as long as I can dissuade any larger clubs from making a bid that I can't refuse Emile Mbamba - Emile had a shocking first 3 or 4 games and with his confidence at a low ebb I thought I had made a mistake bringing him in, but whilst he never looked like being a world beater he slowly recovered during the season and has established himself as a good squad player Gatean Savi - Another youth prospect, didn't dazzle me in his few early appearances so I shipped him out to YOSA on loan for the season - worryingly he didn't manage to score a goal for them so I'm worried that he might not have what it takes Weaka Wisseh - The pressure was on Weaka from the start as he came in on high wages of £400 p/w and it took him a few games to gel with stike partner Franck Kanga, but a few games in he started to perform and went on to have a dazzling season, scoring 16 goals and taking the Elite One golden boot! Star Signing Finances Another healthy net transfer profit of £208k last season, along with increased prize money from our appearances in the Champions League saw a net profit of £98k. As a result our bank balance has improved to circa £150k in the Red. We need to make it through to the latter stages of the Champions League next season to really bring home some money! Squad Player of the Season - Franck Kanga - A really tough choice this year, as there were plenty of candidates but Franck had another good season and despite not being our top goalscorer (he played in fewer games because of injury) he really scored the goals in the important games when it mattered. Fan's Player of the Season - A bit of a surprise to me when I heard how they'd voted, but they picked Claudio Jose Domingos. Undoubtedly a great performer for the team, he was a rock at the centre of defence and popped up with some important goals at the right times. Team of the Year Season Summary Next Season? We'll have to wait and see; I'm under contract for another season, but I hadn't expected to win both the league and the cup this year..... plus we're out of the Champions League campaign and the next campaign will take up 2 whole seasons. I don't like walking out on clubs when I'm contracted to them, but if I get the right offer from the right team than I might be tempted. Come the end of the season I'll definitely be leaving unless I know I've already qualified for the Champions League group stages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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