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The Reinvention of Dustin Powers, International Manager of Mystery


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Haiti 2014 Update: Caribbean Championship Knockout Rounds

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Semi-final

Puerto Rico were all that stood between us and a place in the final. They had beaten us in a friendly fixture last year but that was a close game that they only got into after my keeper had been sent off so I thought we had a decent chance. It turned out I was right as we controlled the game from start to finish and won comfortably 3-0. No loss of concentration or panicky final ten minutes this time!

Final

So it was to be Jamaica again, the team that had beaten us so easily in the previous round. But football is a funny game and we somehow managed to confound all pre-match predicitions by storming into a two-goal lead before half-time. The Jamaicans regrouped and came out stronger in the second half. I was worried when they pulled a goal back but we defended solidly after that and, except for a shot bouncing back off the post near the end, they never went close. Against all odds, we held on to win 2-1 and claim the Caribbean Championship!!

2014CaribbeanChampions.png

End of season review coming up :)

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2014 Review: Haiti

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Quick Overview

2014 Caribbean Championship: Winners!!

2014 Results

2014HaitiFixtures.png

December 2014 World Ranking: 142 (-16)

World Rankings Graph

It was good to get back to competitive actiont his year after a year of friendlies in 2013. And even better, we claimed the title to become Caribbean Champions. We may have scraped and stumbled our way there but no-one can deny us the glory!

Our form in firendlies suffered a bit, mainly due to my conscious decision to take on higher ranked opponents. That in turn resulted into a small slide in the world rankings but I'm sure we'll rise again once the Caribbean Championship is factored in.

Key Players

Here are a few of this year's top performers from the squad:

  • Steward Ceus (GK) - a dcent goalkeeper is always a big pplus in a minnow team and that's what we have in this guy. My onloy concern is that he was waived by his MLS club Columbus earlier in the year and has yet to find new employers.
  • Romain Genevois (DRC) - Has the best stats of any player in the squad and also plays club football at the highest level with Stade-Rennais in Ligue 1.

  • Regillio Nooitmeer (DRC) - our most consistent performer whether at right back or central defence. Injuries to othe rplayers meant he played some games at left-back and in midfield as well.

  • Pascal Millien (AML) - did a great job of cutting in from the wing to provide some crucial assists and goals.

  • Jean-Dimmy Jéoboam (ST) - this guy was a fringe player without an international goal to his name before this year but he came good at the Caribbean Championships, finally breaking his duck and then going on to add three more including the opener in the final.

I also got Belony Dumas to chose Haiti over the country of his birth France. He's not the best defender we've got but he adds much needed depth to the squad and I hope more French-Haitians will follow in his footsteps soon.

The Year Ahead...

The big focus this year will be the Gold Cup in June. I don't expect us to do much against the likes of the U.S.A. and Mexico but a little run to the knock-out stages would be nice. Beyond that, qualifying for Russia 2018 will start soon but I'm not sure if I'll stick around that long... Too many players are retiring and not enough regens have appeared yet who are eligible/want to play for us (a downside of not having a Haitian league file loaded). But with the Asian Cup, African Cup of Nations and Copa America all taking place this year, I'm hoping some new jobs will come up.

The Story So Far...

[font=courier new][b][u]Year[/u] | [u]Nation[/u]        | [u]World Ranking[/u] | [u]Notes 
[/u][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7839277&viewfull=1#post7839277"]2011[/url] [/b]| New Caledonia | 167th (+3)    | Pacific Games QF
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7843543&viewfull=1#post7843543"]2012[/url][/b] |[/font] [font=courier new]New Caledonia | 136th (+11)   | OCE Nations Cup finalists, Coupé DOM Group Stage, Sacked Nov 2012[/font] [font=courier new]
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7846515&viewfull=1#post7846515"]2013[/url][/b] | Haiti         | 126th (+19)   | Friendlies...[/font]
[font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7853557&viewfull=1#post7853557"]2014[/url] | Haiti[/font][font=courier new]         | 142nd (-16)   | Caribbean Championship Winners![/font]

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Doing well in the Caribbean
Qualifying for the Gold Cup will really be a test. You're doing well in the Caribbean; keep it up!
Impressive now win a world cup :p
Cheers guys! :thup: The World Cup is definitely a career aim but maybe not with Haiti... ;)
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2014 International Review

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World Rankings (top 20)

England are still on top with Uruguay second after their World Cup win. Croatia are still up there in 3rd with Holland and Portugal also flying high after good showings in Brazil. Scandanavian fans will be pleased to see Finland and Iceland doing so well while Brazil are still waiting for a return to the top 20:

2014WorldRankings.png

The big one this year was the World Cup in Brazil. The hosts were a big disappointment, crashing out in the group stage with 3 draws. Spain were even worse, picking up a mere two points. England got out of the group stage only to lose on penalties to eventual semi-finalists Switzerland in the 2nd Round. After an exciting tournament, the final was predictably drab with Uruguay finally beating a Portuguese side reduced to 9 men with a single goal in extra time.

Here are all the tournament results from this year:

International Champions

Intercontinental

World Cup: Uruguay

CIS Cup: Russia U21s

Coupe de l’Outre-Mer: Guadeloupe

French Youth Invitational: Spain U21s

Indian Ocean Island Games: Comoros

Africa

CECAFA Cup: Zambia

CECAFA U20 Cup: Uganda U20s

Cosafa Cup: South Africa

Cosafa U20 Cup: South Africa U20s

UNAF U23 Championship: Egypt U23s

UNAF U20 Cup: Egypt U20s

WAFU Nations Cup: Senegal

Asia

Asian U19 Championship: South Korea U19s

Asian Games: Kuwait U23s

ASEAN Championship: Malaysia

ASEAN U19 Championship: Indonesia U19s

Challenge Cup: Tajikistan

East Asian Championship: Japan

East Asian Games: Japan U23s

Gulf Cup: U.A.E.

U23 Gulf Cup: Bahrain U23s

HK-Macau Interport: Macau

Marianas Cup: Guam

WAFF Championship: Iran

Europe

Euro U19 Championship: Spain U19s

Baltic Cup: Estonia

Baltic U21 Cup: Lithuania U21s

Baltic U19 Cup: Latvia U19s

North America

Caribbean Championship: Haiti!!

Inter-Guyana Games: Guyana U20s

South America

Superclasico de las Americas: Brazil

Oceania

N/A

International Awards

World Cup

Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Golden Boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Best Young Player: Luc Castaignos (Holland)

Best Goalkeeper: Fernando Muslera (Uruguay)

Dream Team

World

Golden Ball: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd/England)

World Player of the Year: Fabio Coentrão (R. Madrid/Portugal)

World XI

Africa

Player of the Year: John Obi Mikel (Chelsea/Nigeria)

Young Player of the Year: Joel Chukwuma Obi (Parma/Nigeria)

Team of the Year

Asia

Player of the Year: Kesuike Honda (CSKA Moscow/Japan)

Young Player of the Year: Ji-Dong Won (Sunderland/South Korea)

Europe

Best Player in Europe: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd/England)

Golden Boot: Nolan Roux (Stade Brestois 29/France)

South America

Player of the Year: Leonardo Alonso* (Velez/Uruguay)

Team of the Year

Oceania

Player of the Year: Paul Cunnigham (SSAFC/New Zealand)

*denotes regen

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Mini Update: 2015 Gold Cup Preview

Success in the Caribbean Championship had secured us a spot at the 2015 Gold Cup, hosted as ever by the U.S.A. With 8 of the 12 teams in the group stage advancing, I was hopeful of reaching the knockout rounds. I say 'was' because this is the draw we got:

2015GoldCupOverview_Stages.png

That's right - the host nation, Honduras (who reached the quarters at the 2014 World Cup and have just won the Central American Nations Cup - you'd think they'd keep the two regional championship winners apart) and Canada, who beat us 3-0 in a friendly not so long ago. It's going to be a tough three games....

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  • 2 weeks later...

2015 Haiti Update: Friendlies and the Gold Cup

Friendlies

The year started for Haiti with a few warm-up games ahead of the summer's continental competition - the Gold Cup. Our first action of the year was a visit to Panama, where we played out a very even game with the 1-1 scoreline fair to both sides. We then played one of the craziest matches I have ever seen in FM as we took on St Kitts & Nevis in a friendly. We went 1-0 up, then 3-1 down before storming back into a 5-3 lead. St Kitts then levelled the match at 5-5 before a late own goal gave us a 6-5 win! It was quite a game but one that raised some doubts about our defence and team composure... Those fears were worsened in the next game as we lost 2-1 at home to St Vincent, conceding twice in the last 20 minutes. Just before the Gold Cup commenced, some confidence was restored with a 3-0 win over Curaçao but, with a tough group to come, I wasn't hopeful of our chances.

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Gold Cup Group Stage

Ahead of announcing the squad, I was hoping the prospect of competitive international football would entice some French-Haitian youngsters over to our side but it didn't happen. Injuires had left me with barely enough fit players in the national pool to name a squad and with U.S.A., Canada and Honduras as our opponents, I knew it would be tough. Things got tougher after the first game as we were completely outplayed by Central American Nations Cup winners Honduras in a 4-1 defeat. That was disapponting as we had taken an early lead and went in at half-time level. That meant our next game against Canada was a must win if we were to have any chance of going through. Again, we were outplayed and lost 3-1 all but ending our hopes. The final match against the U.S.A. wasn't much better as, despite playing against ten men for most of the game, we couldn't create any chances and lost 3-0.

That left us firmly rooted to the bottom of our group:

2015GoldCupGroupStages.png

For the record, Mexico would go on to win the tournament beating Jamaica in the final.

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Don't Haiti Me For Leaving....

After the tournament, I decided to end my association with the Haitian FA. It had been fun but with several players retiring each season and not much new talent coming through, it seemed like a good time to go:

2015HaitiQuit.png

...but it's time to test my Honduras :D

I didn't stay unemployed for long as the manager of Honduras quit his post at the end of the Gold Cup. I applied and...

2015Newjob.png

This is a pretty big job compared to my two previous outings as Honduras have a serious claim to be one of the top sides in the region behind U.S.A. and Mexico. World Cup quarter-finalists in 2014, current Central American Champions and semi-finalists at the recent Gold Cup means expectations are high. An immediate goal has to be qualifcation for the 2018 World Cup. The CONCACAF qualifying section is already underway but we won't enter until the third round, which is a group phase. In the meantime, I will arange some friendlies to get a closer look at the players.

There are a few well-known players still active in the squad such as Wilson Palacios and Hendry Thomas. One exciting thing about this job following the limited selection opitons with Haiti is the number of regen youngsters available, the best of whom I have highlighted below:

Behiker Rodas - great to have a young goalkeeper good enough to be first choice. As with many of his compatriots, he currently plays in Costa Rica for Saprissa but is being tracked by several Mexican and MLS clubs.

Jorge Rodriguez - also plays for Saprissa. As of yet uncapped but I will hand him his debut in defence soon.

Nelson Suazo - After a couple of promising seasons in the domestic league for Olimpia, this young central midfielder made a surprise move to Al-Ahly in Egypt and is already a regular in the national side.

Noel Faustino Izaguirre - Another uncapped Saprissa player but looks like he could push Suazo for a first team place.

Efrian Diaz - This guy looks a real talent! Also came from Olimpia before moving to Saprissa and then Toronto FC and he has scored goals everywhere he has played. An impressive scoring record at international level also make him an automatic selection.

With these youngsters mixed in with the 'old hands', I'm pretty confident we can make it to Russia 2018!

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Good step up from Haiti, suprised you got the job as I've tried this before and my reputation didn't seem to increase.
I think my regional reputation helped. Perhaps if I had waited for jobs to come up after the Copa America or Asian Cup, my global standing m,ght have not been good enough for a similar level job.
Honduras is definitely a step up! Nice position :)
Cheers - I was happy to get the job, even happier when I saw the young talent coming through. Olympics next year so I'm thinking of putting myself in charge of the U23s and having a go ;)
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2015 Review:

Haiti

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Quick Overview

Gold Cup: 4th in Group Stage

2015 Results:

2015HaitiFixtures.png

June 2015 World Ranking: 131st

(resigned from position on 27/6/15)

Honduras

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Quick Overview

2015 Results:

2015HondurasFixtures_Fixtures.png

December 2015 World Ranking: 30th (-1)

After a disappointing but expectedly so Gold Cup campaign, I resigned from Haiti but did not stay unemployed for long as Honduras came calling after the tournament was done. With the nation seeded into the third round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, I had a look at the players with three firendlies and was farily happy with what I saw. First of all, we took on Colombia, ranked 9th in the World following their run to the Copa America final, and came away with a credible 1-1 draw. A nil-nil tie with Venezuela left me slightly frustrated but there were encouraging signs in our attacking play. Those promising signs became match-winning reality in our final friendly of the year as we beat the US in their own backyard by a whopping 4-1 scoreline! Bring on World Cup Qualifying!!

The Story So Far...

[font=courier new][b][u]Year[/u] | [u]Nation[/u]        | [u]World Ranking[/u] | [u]Notes 
[/u][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7839277&viewfull=1#post7839277"]2011[/url] [/b]| New Caledonia | 167th (+3)    | Pacific Games QF
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7843543&viewfull=1#post7843543"]2012[/url][/b] |[/font] [font=courier new]New Caledonia | 136th (+11)   | OCE Nations Cup finalists, Coupé DOM Group Stage, Sacked Nov 2012[/font] [font=courier new]
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7846515&viewfull=1#post7846515"]2013[/url][/b] | Haiti         | 126th (+19)   | Friendlies...[/font]
[font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7853557&viewfull=1#post7853557"]2014[/url] | Haiti[/font][font=courier new]         | 142nd (-16)   | Caribbean Championship Winners![/font]
[font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7885425&viewfull=1#post7885425"]2015[/url] | Haiti         | 131st (+12)   | Gold Cup Group Stage; resigned June 2015
2015 | Honduras      | 30th          | Took job June 2015[/font]

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2015 International Round-Up

This will just be a mini round-up as I fogot to take screenshots of most of the finals and the match detilas are no longer available... Nevermind, perhaps a streamlined overview of the major finals only is the way to go. :)

U20 World Cup: Turkey U20s

African Cup of Nations: Ivory Coast

Asian Cup: Japan

Copa America: Colombia

CONCACAF 2018 World Cup Qualifying 3rd Round

In other news, the draw has been made for the 3rd Round of World Cup Qualifying in the North American zone, the point at which Honduras enter along with fellow seeds U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica (unfortunately, my former nation Haiti missed out losing their final 2nd Round match to St Lucia, who snatched top spot in their group as a result). I'm pretty pleased with the draw which gives us a decent chance of making the top two and qualifying for the final stage (FA minimum expectation)

2018WCQ3rdRoundGroups.png

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Honduras 30th in the world? Blimey.
That's on the back of the quarter-finals at the last World Cup and a recent Central American title - hope I can keep them up there!
From New Caledonia to Honduras in 5 years? Nice going.

Easy group to qualify into the Hex on paper. Now time for you to prove it on the pitch.

Happy with the progression so far - at least I have decent players to choose from now! Getting to the Hex is the minimum expectation, which should be straightforward enough.
Excellent Career mate, think i might have a go at this if i have time.
International management makes for a fun career, especially if you don't have time to play extended FM sessions (like me right now...)
Much better move there. Should get a few players of decent quality who can carry the side.
Players are much better and there are decent regens too! :)
Good step up given their current position.
I was surprised when I was offered the job (thought I'd be laughed off) but happy to accept.
Qualifying for the final stage should be easy enoughin that group.
Yes, 2nd place should be no problem. Hopefully we can go all the way and make the World Cup finals too.
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2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament

At the start of the new year, I got a message in my inbox about the upcoming Olympic qualifiers. As there was no designated manager for the U23 side, I was offered the chance to hire someone, appoint a coach or take charge myself. With World Cup Qualifying not kicking off until the summer and no spring friendlies arranged, I thought 'why not?' and packed my bags for a couple of weeks in Panama.

The qualifying tournament is simple enough - 8 teams divided into two groups of four with the top two advancing to the semis. Win through to the final and you've qualified for the Olympic Games. The Mexican U23s would be the toughest opponents in our group but with Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica making upo the four, I was confident of making the semis. I was able to call upon a few of the younger regulars from the senior squad and took the chance to get a closer look at some players from the U20 squads of the present and recent past.

Group Stage

We got off to a flyer against Trinidad & Tobago U23s. An early lead from Diaz, drafted in from the senior squad, set us on our way and a red card for our opponents a few minutes later put us firmly in control. It was then a matter of 'how many?' with the answer being five. Mexico U23s would surely provide a sterner test in the next game and so it proved as we played out a tightly balanced game. We took the lead just before half-time but the Mexicans equalised just after the break and it would finish 1-1. That result gave us a lot of confidence going into the final game and we made it count as we hammered Jamaica U23s 6-0, allowing us to qualify in style as group winners!

2016OlympicQualsGroupTables.png

Semi-final

We faced Costa Rica U23s in our semi with not only a place in the final at stake but also a place in the Rio Olympics for the winner. Our form and confidence from the group stage carried over as we dominated the match. Again we benefitted from our opponents ill-discipline as, despite no red cards, we won two penalties, both converted, as we cruised to a 4-0 victory, thus bringing up this message:

2016QlympicsQualification.png

Final

Which just left the small matter of the final to play. With qualificaiton for both us and Mexico already assured, the game was a bit meaningless but a trophy is a trophy so I out out my best side, hoping to go one better than our draw in thr group stage. This time, it was not to be however. It was a close game again but Mexico just edged it and that was reflected in the 2-1 scoreline. Still, we did well to qualify, speaking of which, here's the draw for the Olympic Games Football Tournament:

OlympicGamesOverview_Stages.png

OlympicGamesOverview_Stages-2.png

That looks like a finely balanced group. A lot depends on how strong the youth of the other nations are but, with a bit of luck, we could make it to the knockout phase.

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2016 Honduras Update: World Cup Qualifying

Friendly

Before World Cup Qualifying got underway, I put my boys through their paces with a friendly against regional powerhouse, Mexico. I was delighted when we raced into a two goal lead but it wasn't to last as Mexico gradually came back into the game and grabbed themselves a 2-2 draw. Although we couldn't hold on for a famous win, it was a promising sign that we can match the best in our qualifying zone.

World Cup Qualifying Third Round

Before heading to Rio for the Olympics, it was back to action with the senior side for our first two World Cup Qualifying matches. We started with a home game against Curaçao, which was won in style. Six players got their names on the scoresheet as we marked my first competitive game in charge with a 6-1 victory. A few days later, we made the trip to the Sir Viv Richards Stadium to take on Antigua & Barbuda. This game was a little tougher as we fell behind early on and had to fight our way back to a 2-1 win. Still, that gives us six points and puts us joint top with U.S.A., our opponents when qualifying resumes in the autumn.

Just ahead of the Olympic games squad annoucement, I got this job offer:

2016JobOffer-Chile.png

I was tempted but it is too soon with me having just taken the Honduras job. In the context of this career and what my aims are, I think I will pass on any other South American or major European jobs for the time being.

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2016 Olympic Games

Rio-2016-Summer-Olympics-Logo.png

Warm-up Games

Before heading to Rio, we hosted the New Zealand U23 side for a pre-tournament friendly. That proved easy enough as we strolled to a 5-1 win inspired by a hat-tirck from star striker Efrain Diaz, who is now attracting a lot of interest from Spanish and Italian clubs. We then played Brazilian club side Juvetude on the eve of the tournament, picking up a 2-0 win.

Group Stage

For the Olympics, I had named an 18-man squad taking Kuban's Jhonny Palacios, Espanyol's Emilio Izaguirre and Birmingham's Hendry Thomas as my three overage players. I had also been able to call upon several under-23 senior squad regulars meaning I had 12 full internationals at my disposal. I was hoping to make it through to the quarters at least. South Korea U23s were our first opponents and it turned out to be a very tight game. We had more of the ball but it was difficult for both teams to create chances and, in the end, 0-0 was a fair result. It was then I realised I was the victim of an FM bug - one of my overage players, Hendry Thomas, had picked up an international suspension following two yellows in our World Cup Qualifiers. I though the ban wouldn't apply for the Olympi,cs but when I saw he was unavailable for the South Korea game, I thought he would be back for the second match. However, he ended up banned for the entire tournament (despite having 'banned for ONE international match' next to his name :mad:) meaning I had only 17 players to chose from and one of my overage slots had been wasted...

Our next game was against Cameroon and again, it was a tight affair. We were matching our opponents for most of the game but tired towards the end. That cost us as two goals in the last 13 minutes consigned us to defeat. We therefore had to beat Romania in the last game to have any chance of going through. It soon became clear that we were second best in the match however and we were lucky to only lose 1-0 going home with a single point and no goals scored.

2016OlympicsGroupD.png

For the record, Germany U23s would go on to claim gold, beating China U23s in the final.

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Chile is in the Olympics as well. Bigger nation. You're staying cause you've just joined Honduras and want to see them though? I can understand that :)
Yea, that made me think about it a little bit but I'm not so keen on South America at this point - I've managed there on previous FMs and I've found that, with the 18 game World Cup Qualifying tournament and the Copa America coming in a 4-year cycle, it soon gets repetitive... Also, as I said before, I want to manage a few smaller nations first before I go for a big/biggish job.
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2016 Honduras Update: World Cup Qualifying

World Cup Qualifying Third Round

Once the football world had returned from its summer break, we were straight in the thick of it with a visit to Washington to take on the U.S.A. An early own goal from the home side gave us a great start but, alas, that was about as good as it got as the Americans had gone 2-1 up by half-time and then added two more goals in the second half to record an emphatic 4-1 win. We responded well in our next game away to Curaçao as we secured a comfortable 3-0 win without letting our opponents have a single shot on goal. That result meant qualification for the final round of qualifying was assured for both us and the U.S.A. rendering the last two games as dead rubbers. We were determined to finish strongly though and that's what we did as we stuffed Antigua & Barbuda 6-0 and then got some sweet revenge over the U.S.A. with a glorious 4-0 win that gave us top spot in the group:

2018WCQ3rdRound.png

In the new year, we will enter the final phase - a 6 team group featurşng all of the qualifiers from the third phase (known locally as 'The Hex') with the top three going striaght to the World Cup and the 4th place team going into a play-off with one of the Asian nations.

Friendlies

We finished the year with two friendlies in november for which I took my Honduran squad to Europe. First, we visitied Limerick to take on the Irish. In an even game, we had the lead for a long period of the game before conceding a late equaliser as the game finished 1-1. We then moved on to Wrexham to play Wales but we couldn't reach the same level of performance, losing 4-1.

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2016 Review: Honduras/Honduras U23s

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Quick Overview

2018 World Cup Qualifying Third Round: 1st in Group 3

2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying (U23): Finalists

2016 Olympic Games (U23): Group Stage

2016 Results:

2016HondurasFixtures.png

U23s Results:

2016HondurasUnder23sFixtures.png

December 2016 World Ranking: 35th (-4)

A decent first full year in charge as we made it to the final round of World Cup Qualifying and gave the youngsters some tournament experience at the Olympics. Next year will be busy as we start with the Central American Nations Cup in January, which acts as a regional qualifier for the Gold Cup. In order to reach the latter tournament, we will have to get out of this group in the former:

2017CentralAmericanNationsGroupDraw.png

That's two tournaments (potentially) with ten games of World Cup Qualifying to play as well (and maybe some play-off games at the end of it!) The aims have got to be: win the Central American Nations Cup, make the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup and qualify for Russia 2018. Wish me luck!

The Story So Far...

[font=courier new][b][u]Year[/u] | [u]Nation[/u]        | [u]World Ranking[/u] | [u]Notes 
[/u][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7839277&viewfull=1#post7839277"]2011[/url] [/b]| New Caledonia | 167th (+3)    | Pacific Games QF
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7843543&viewfull=1#post7843543"]2012[/url][/b] |[/font] [font=courier new]New Caledonia | 136th (+11)   | OCE Nations Cup finalists, Coupé DOM Group Stage, Sacked Nov 2012[/font] [font=courier new]
[b][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7846515&viewfull=1#post7846515"]2013[/url][/b] | Haiti         | 126th (+19)   | Friendlies...[/font]
[font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7853557&viewfull=1#post7853557"]2014[/url] | Haiti[/font][font=courier new]         | 142nd (-16)   | Caribbean Championship Winners![/font][font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7885425&viewfull=1#post7885425"]
2015[/url] | Haiti         | 131st (+12)   | Gold Cup Group Stage; resigned June 2015
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7887107&viewfull=1#post7887107"]2015[/url] | Honduras      | 30th          | Took job June 2015
2016 | Honduras      | 35th (-5)     | Reached 4th Round of WCQ; Olympics[/font] Group Stage

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2016 International Round-Up

There was not much in the way of major tournament action this year with most nations focusing on the start of a new World Cup Qualifying Campaign. There were two continental championships, however, as well as the Olympics and the Arab Nations Cup to keep football fans busy:

Euro 2016 Final: Italy 4, Serbia 0

OCE Nations Cup Final: New Zealand 3, Fiji 1

Olympic Games Final: Germany U23s 3, China U23s 1

Arab Nations Cup Final: Morocco 2, Algeria 1

Next year, we have the conclusion of qualifying for World Cup 2018, the Confederations Cup, U20 World Cup, African Cup of Nations and the Gold Cup to look forward to. :)

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2017 Honduras Update: Copa Centroamericano

87000416.png

Warm-up Matches

Despite the tournament starting in January, we had a chance to play a couple of warm-up games. First, we played host to Paraguay and did well to come from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw. We then headed to Costa Rica for the tournament itself and played a friendly against domestic powerhouse Saprissa. It turned out to be an easy win as most of their best players were on international duty for the tournament and we strolled to a 4-0 win.

Injury Crisis

While the warm-up games went well, we suffered a series of injuries to the squad I had selected. For some reason that I could not fathom (beyond it being an annoying bug in the game), I was not allowed to call up replacement players before the tournament started. This was despite me naming my squad a full two weeks beforehand and injuries ocurring literally the day after the squad was announced. In the end, we had 5 players out before the action even got underway, including star striker Diaz:

2017CentralAmericanNationsCupInjuryCrisis.png

Group Stage

The time soon came to forget about injuries and get on with the tournament. Our easiest game was first with Nicuragua offering little resistance as we won 3-1. We were also in control against Panama, a game in which Wilson Palacios became Honduras' most-capped player, but we struggled to get our shots on target only winning 1-0 despite our dominance. That meant our match with El Salvador was just to decide who would top the group. Our opponents took the initiative and the lead early on and we were lucky to pull the scores level before half-time. We were on the backfoot in the second half as well but luck was on our side as we got a penalty 20 minutes from time to secure a 2-1 win and top spot in the group.

2017CentralAmericanNationsCupGroupStage.png

Semi-final

That set up a clash with Guatemala, which we were heavy favourites to win. In spite of the pre-match predictions, we had a tough time taking control of the game, twice falling behind before a goal from young midfielder Nelson Suazo seven minutes from time gave us a 3-2 win.

Final

Onto the final then to face host nation Costa Rica. Could I add the Central American Cup to the Caribbean one I had won two years ago? We certainly played well enough to win but, after riding our luck against El Salvador and Guatemala, it was our turn to be on the wrong end of the scoreline as Costa Rica made the most of their chances to win 2-1.

In the end, I was disappointed to lose, especially as the FA had expected a win. Luckily, they were appeased by our qualificaiton for the Gold Cup, where we will get our chance for revenge over the Costa Ricans:

2017GoldCupGroups.png

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2017 Honduras Update: World Cup Qualifying, The Hex (Part 1)

Between the Copa Centroamericano and the Gold Cup, we had five World Cup Qualifiers to play as we attempted to make it to next year's tournament in Russia.

We had the easiest game first as we played Panama at home. True to form, we won 3-0, young stiker Moran stepping up from the Olympic squad to the senior side and bagging a brace. All the optimism that came with that match was soon ruthlessly wiped out as we were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline away to El Salvador. Reeling from that setback, we sent to Canada needing to get back on track. We did not play well again but this time defended better, holding out for a 0-0 draw.

Then, we had the toughest opponents to face - Mexico and the U.S.A. We put in a decent effort at home to the Mexicans but they were too strong for us and cruised to a 4-2 win, Carlos Fierro scoring a hat-trick. With just four points from four games, we really needed a result away to the U.S.A. to stay in touch with the top three. A Jozy Altidore brace early in the second half made it seem as though we were on the way to another defeat but we rallied with young defender Jorge Rodriguez getting a brace of his own, the equaliser coming in the 88th minute.

That means we sit in 4th place (which means a spot in a play-off agsinst New Zealand) at the halfway point, 5 points behind the automatic qualificaiton spots. We need to play a lot better when the qualifying campaign resumes after the Gold Cup

2018WCQHexTable5gamesa.png2018WCQHexTable5gamesb.png

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Cheers deltablue - I think we can turn it around as we have Canada and El Salvador to play at home and one more game with Panama, all three of which should be winnable. One heavy defeat aside, we have a decent recent record against the US too so if we can beat them at home, that should be enough. Mexico away will just be a matter of damage limitation though!

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2017 Gold Cup

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Hosts: U.S.A.

Holders: Mexico

Warm-Up Matches

Hot on the heels of World Cup Qualifiers against Mexico and the U.S.A., we hosted a full-strength Argentina. Messi and Agüero made sure it would not be a confidence building exercise as they bagged a brace each in a 4-2 win. Needing an easier opponent to get confidence back up, we went to Bermuda and took on the Bermuda Hogges. Seven goals later (eight if you count the fact that thier goal was scored by one of our defenders) we had put smailes back on our faces and were ready for the tournament.

Group Stage

Our first opponents were Costa Rica, the same side who had beaten us just a few months ago in the Copa Centramericano final. An early goal set us on our way and we were dominating the game by half-time. I warned the players not to get complacent and that seemed to do the job as Diaz doubled our lead ten minutes after the restart. However, it seems we got complacent about not getting complacent and Costa Rica took advantage. 10 minutes after Diaz's goal, we found ourselves 3-2 down - a penalty, an own goal and our opponents momentum doing for us. There was no way back after that as we started the tournament in the worst way possible.

That made our clash with Canada crucial. We were all over them but the goal was just not coming. Sure enough, we found ourselves behind as Canada's one and only shot on target found the back of the net early in the second half. Luckily, my team responded well and Diaz had soon equalised. Try as we might, we couldn't get the winner after that and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Despite a solitary point from the opening two games, I was still hopeful of going through as one of the best third-placed sides as our final game was against one of the weaker sides in the competition Puerto Rico. Again we dominated but this time we were more clinical in front of goal. Apart from a brief wobble when a shot bounced off the post, hit our keeper and went in, we were in control and cruised to a 3-1 win.

In the end, that was enough to qualify for the quarter-finals but we would need to improve to progress further than that.

2017GoldCupGroupsSTageTablesa.png2017GoldCupGroupsSTageTablesb.png

Quarter-finals

A little bit of luck as we avoided the U.S.A. and Mexico, instead being paired with Jamaica in the last eight. It was an even game but we were more efficient in front of goal. Youngster Moran would be the hero, scoring twice as we won 2-0 and advanced to the last four.

Semi-finals

Mexico awaited in the semis. I told the players to do it for the fans and they did put in a good effort. Alas, it would not be enough as two goals from Javier Hernandez consigned us to a 2-0 defeat.

Mexico would go on to beat Costa Rica in the final with the knockout results going as follows:

2017GoldCupKnockout.png

It won't surprise you to learn that the U.S.A. coach was sacked after the tournament... Interesting to see Costa Rica do so well - a good thing they didn't make it to the final stage of World Cup Qualifying!

I was satisfied with a semi-final appearance as were the Honduran FA. No shame in a defeat to Mexico. Hopefully, that will give us some confidence going into the final round of World Cup Qualifiers.

Once the tournament was over, Mario Martinez was picked in the Gold Cup Dream Team, the only Honduras player to receive such an honour. There was also a brief scare as one of our top players Emilio Izaguirre announced his retirement from international football but, luckily, a quick chat and the promise of another World Cup to come resulted in him changing his mind.

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