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2017 Honduras Update: World Cup Qualifying, The Hex (Part 2)

Barely was the Gold Cup over and we were back into competitive action, trying to bridge the 5 point gap between us and the automatic qualificaiton places for Russia 2018.

It started with a trip to group whipping boys Panama. With only 1 point and 1 goal so far, it should have been an easy win. The final score of 3-1 might suggest that it was but, in an all-too-familiar scenario for Honduras of late, we made life hard for ourselves. A goal up and crusing, we went to sleep and let Panama score a soft equaliser from a corner. It should have swung back our way just after that as our opponents were reduced to ten men and we then won a penalty. I guess the pressure got to Diaz though as he blazed his shot wide. There was to be a final twist in our favour as debutant 18 year-old winger Leoandro Morales scored a cracking solo effort to give us the lead and Diaz made up for his earlier miss with a counter-attacking goal as Panama desperately tried to salvage a point.

Next up was one of the key games as we played host to El Salvador. If we won, we could close the gap to just two points but if we lost, we coould kiss our automtic qualificaiton chances goodbye. It started terribly for us as El Salvador were in control and grabbed an early goal. They then made the mistake of sitting back to protect their lead and we slowly came back into it. We were then handed a big chance to get back in it as we won a penalty in first-half stoppage time. Diaz made no mistake this time as he coolly slotted the ball away to level the match. In the second half, it was all one way traffic from us and a first goal for Honduras from striker Ortega gave us a priceless 2-1 win.

A few dyas later, we hosted Canada. Despite the calls of some Canadian colleagues for a tie, this was one we had to win and, coming confidently off the back of the result against El Salvador, we did just that. Another of my young stars, Reyes gave us a first half lead before Morales, in his first ever start, added teo more in the second half for a 3-0 win.

That result means the table with two games to play looks like this:

2018WCQHex8gamesa.png2018WCQHex8gamesb.png

A fantastic turnaround now sees us in the automatic qualification spots! However, this is far from over. Our final two games? Mexico away and U.S.A. at home.... El Salvador must face the U.S.A. away but they finish with Panama at home meaning we will need something from one of those last two games. At least, we are guaranteed a play-off spot.

And a special mention to our newest star - Leoandro Morales. Just 18 and had never played for the national side before these macthes but scored crucial goals for us to boost our qualificaiton chances. I just wish I had picked him sooner!

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2017 Honduras Update: World Cup Qualifying, The Hex (Part 3)

It had all come down to the last two games. We sat in the third and final qualification position, one point ahead of El Salvador but with two tough games against Mexico and the USA to come, we had a lot of work to do...

Away to Mexico (14th October, 2017)

The last thing you need when qualification is in the balance is a trip to play the best side in the region in front of 100,000 fanatical home fans. Our trip to the Estadio Azteca would not be a pleasant one... The pressure got to my boys and we were two goals down inside 5 minutes. Things got worse from there and we went into the break having conceded FIVE times. I made sure the players understood the atmosphere in the dressing room was a lot more hostile than the one in the stadium and we at least put in a better second half showing, salvaging a little pride as we reduced the defecit to 5-2. Luckily, El Salvador had also lost in their tough away tie with the US so we still had the advantage.

Home v. U.S.A. (18th Ocotber, 2017)

With El Salvador at home to Panama, the weakest side in the Hex, we needed a win over the Americans to be sure of going through. We didn't get off to the best of starts as the visitors scored after 4 minutes. We didn't let our heads drop however and we were soon level as Oscar Reyes continued his fine form with the equalising goal. But then came the news we had been fearing - El Salvador were a goal up in their game and we had to win. We pushed forward for the goal but had to remain diligent against the counter-attacking threat of the US forwards. Despite chances at both ends, no more goals were forthcoming and with El Salvador now 2-0 up, the play-offs beckoned. But, wait!! With less than quarter of an hour to play, news came through that Panama had pulled a goal back. Then, what?!? Panama scored another moments later!! The team that had only picked up one point in nine matches had suddenly snatched a 2-2 draw meaning our 1-1 tie with the Americans was enough to send us to the World Cup!!!!

The final table:

2018WCQHexFinalTable1.png2018WCQHexFinalTable2.png

You have to feel sorry for El Salvador who just couldn't pick themselves up after that and went on to lose the play-off with New Zealand...

Friendlies

That mean our year finished with two friendly matches. They were organised by by assistant as I had left those slots free in case of play-off action so we played out an easy and rather pointless 6-0 win over Montserrat followed by a 3-1 win over Armenia thanks to a Diaz hat-trick (In was surprised to note afterwards that Armenia were ranked 31st in the world going into the game!)

Special mention this time to Oscar Reyes, scorer of the goal that got that vital point in the final qualifying game and one of my best young players.

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2017 Review: Honduras

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Quick Overview

Copa Centroamericano: Finalists

Gold Cup: Semi-finalists

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying: 3rd (qualified for World Cup 2018)

2017 Results:

2017HondurasFixturesPart1.png

2017HondurasFixturesPart2.png

December 2017 World Ranking: 40th (-5)

Quite an action packed year in the end with a total of 26 matches played! Overall, I was happy to qualify for the World Cup and I think we put in a decent showing in the Gold Cup. The only disappointment was that we couldn't win the Copa Centroamericano but we only have to wait until January 2019 for another shot... if I stay that long of course!

Without a doubt, the star player over the course of the year was Efrian Diaz. His goals in the Gold Cup and the qualifiers helped us go far and if he had been fit for the Copa Centroamericano, I'm sure we would have won it.

The Year Ahead...

There's only one thing we are focusing on next year - the World Cup in Russia. I know we will go as one of the underdogs but I'm hoping a kind draw will give us a chance of making the knockout rounds.

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
[/font][font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7900475&viewfull=1#post7900475"]2016[/url] | Honduras      | 35th (-5)     | Reached 4th Round of WCQ; Olympics[/font] Group Stage
[font=courier new]2017 | Honduras      | 40th (-5)     | Copa Centroamericano[/font] Finalists; Gold Cup Semi-finalists; Qualified for World Cup

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2017 International Review

Here's a look at the major international finals from the last year:

Confederations Cup Final:

Uruguay 3, Japan 1

African Cup Of Nations Final: Tunisia 2, Mali 1

Gold Cup Final: Mexico 1, Costa Rica 1 (Mexico win 4-2 on penalties)

Under 20 World Cup Final: Argentina U20s 2, Mexico U20s 1

Mediterranean Games Final*: Spain 4, Algeria 2

*Of course, this is not a major final in real life as it is an U23 competition but one thing I failed to spot when setting the game up was that this was created as a full international tournament with Spain, France, Italy and others sending full-strength squads so I thought I would include it.

2018 World Cup Group Draw

With qualifying now over, here are the 32 nations who made it and their groups for next summer's tournament in Russia:

2018WorldCupGroupsA-B.png2018WorldCupGroupsC-D.png2018WorldCupGroupsE-F.png2018WorldCupGroupsG-H.png

Major shocks from the UEFA qualifying pool as Spain and France fail to qualify having not even made it to the play-offs!! There also seems to be a shift in footballing power in Africa with Ivory Coast missing out. As for Honduras, we have a chance, albeit a small one, of making the next round. It should be noted however that Uruguay are currently ranked number 2 in the world and Mail were African Cup of Nations finalists last year...

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Not a bad group for you. Surprised to see Kuwait in the World Cup, too.

If I'm not mistaken that's the second World Cup in a row for them! DodgeeD, do they have any stars?

And great work qualifying with Honduras, although I'd imagine Belgium's [2012] youngsters (who by now are usually at their peak) will be too much for you. Are you planning on moving on after this tournament or having a go again?

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There are definitely worse nations that you could have been pitted against. However, it will still be a difficult one. Always the possibility of sneaking past though :)

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Not a bad group for you. Surprised to see Kuwait in the World Cup, too.
Kuwait seem to have a decent side and they have performed well in some of the minor regional Asian championships. A bit of a surprise to see Scotland there too - they topped their group ahead of Portugal and France!
If I'm not mistaken that's the second World Cup in a row for them! DodgeeD, do they have any stars?

And great work qualifying with Honduras, although I'd imagine Belgium's [2012] youngsters (who by now are usually at their peak) will be too much for you. Are you planning on moving on after this tournament or having a go again?

Cheers Chutney. My predecessor did indeed take Honduras to the 2014 World Cup. The squad has a nice mix of older players like Wilson Palacios, Hendry Thomas and Izaguirre and some exciting regen talent too, the main star being Efrian Diaz. I will profile some of the key members of the squad in my pre-tournament report. Also, Belgium do have many of those youngsters like Hazard now at their peak - we play them in the first game so hopefully we can exploit some big game nerves on their side.

As for me, I'm not sure what to do after the tournament. I'm sure many jobs will be available as managers resign, retire or get the sack but I'm not interested in a move to a 'major nation' just yet. In an ideal FM-world, the Kuwait job will open up as they have a few tournaments (WAFF Championship, Gulf Cup and Asian Cup) coming up next season. If I stay on, there will be the 2019 editions of the Copa Centroamericano and the Gold Cup to aim for so we'll wait and see.

There are definitely worse nations that you could have been pitted against. However, it will still be a difficult one. Always the possibility of sneaking past though :)
It was one of those kind of draws - could have been worse, could have been better. World ranking wise (not the definitive guide I know) we are just above Mali and about ten places behind Belgium so it should be close.
Very good group, and you owe Panama big time.
We certainly do! :D I had the 'goal updates' widget running during that game but missed their goals coming through as I was focused on our won attempts to get a winner. It was a nice surprise to suddenly see that it was 2-2!
Gonna be tough in the World Cup but good luck.
It's always going to be tough for a team like Honduras ;)
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2018 Honduras Update: World Cup Preview

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Warm-up Matches

We didn't have any friendlies to play in the spring (for some reason, those dates are always greyed out when I try to arrange a match) so I decided to put my boys through their paces with 5 fixtures in late May and early June. We started with a send-off game in front of our own fans against South Korea (chosen for their similar world ranking to Belgium). It was a very even game but in the end we just edged it with another young striker Angel Palacios giving us a 1-0 victory 11 minutes from time.

We relocated to Eastern Europe as the finals drew nearer, first visiting Sofia to take on Bulgaria, a side who had very narrowly missed out on qualifying for the World Cup. I was expecting a tough game but for some reason the Bulgarains chose to give debuts to nine players and we were able to impose ourselves on the game qıite easily. Wilson Palacios and Fonseca, a 21 year-old defender in just his 3rd international game, scored the goals in a 2-0 win.

A little closer to Russia next as Honduras arrived in Baku to take on Azerbijan. Again, we were in control throughout the game and again we won 2-0, this time thanks to Angel Palacios and an own goal. And then we came to Russia itself with a friendly against the host nation. This was our toughest test yet and we were rocked by a hat-trick from Welliton (a naturalised Brazilian) inside the first half hour. Diaz pulled one back for us in the second half but there would be no more goals as we lost 3-1. There was time for one more practice match as we took on Russian side Biolog. We dominated the game but were a little wayward with our shooting, only getting 5 of our 20+ shots on target in a 2-0 win.

All in all, a decent build up and I think I've seen enough to say that we can at least make a good showing and, with a little luck, get out of our group.

The Starting XI

With my final squad now named, here's a look at the players I will pick as my first team, if fit. We will play in a 4-1-4-1 formation (or 4-1-2-3 depending on how you view my advanced wingers)

Behiker Rodas (Goalkeeper) - only 24 but with 40 caps to his name already. Was an injury doubt but thankfully recovered in time.

Yoni Alexander Henriquez (Right Back) - perhaps the weak link in the squad but he has been a default starter in most of my games so far due to a lack of depth in his position.

Emilio Izaguirre (Left Back) - thankfully went back on his decision to retire after last summer's Gold Cup, going on to play a key role in qualifying. With 114 caps, his experience will be invaluable.

Jhonny Palacios (Centre Back) - one of those players who always seems to raise his game for his country. Plays for Kuban so this will be like a home-from-home World Cup for him.

Ramon Fonseca (Centre Back) - a new addition to the squad after regular starter Rodiriguez picked up an injury. He impressed in the firendlies enough to get the nod ahead of more experienced but old and slow defenders.

Hendry Thomas (Defensive Midfielder) - team captain and another player in the centruy club with 120 caps to his name. He's planning to retire from the game for good after the World Cup but we already have his replacement with us in the squad in the shape of 20 year-old Kevin Lagos.

Wilson Palacios (Centre Midfield) - our most-capped player, still going strong at 33. Most of our play goes through him.

Nelson Suazo (Centre Midfield) - another youngster who has amassed a great deal of international experience in a short time and will be playing at his second World Cup.

Mario Martinez (Right Wing) - our best performer and last summer's Gold Cup and we'll be looking for his goals and assists in this tournament once again.

Oscar Reyes (Left Wing) - One of only two players from the Honduran league (after Fonseca) in the starting line-up (that won't be true for much longer though as he has agreed a deal to move to Stade Rennais in July). One of my finds as he was uncapped before I took the job. Scored some vital goals in qualifiyng and will hopefully do the same here.

Efrian Diaz (Striker) - our best striker by a distance. He will need to be on form if we are to get the goals to go through.

With the tournament days away, it seems the media don't make much of our chances:

2018WCOdds.png

But I have a sneaky feeling we can surprise the Belgians and get a result against Mali to make the second round. ;)

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2018 Honduras Update: World Cup Group G

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Matchday 1 v. Belgium

Bad news before the game as Nelson Suazo picked up an injury in training that would keep him out for all of the group stage. That meant adjusting my 4-1-4-1 to a 4-1-3-2, bringing in experienced striker Roger Rojas to partner Diaz. That proved to be a masterstroke as they each grabbed a goal before half-time. The Belgians were all over the place and had hardly mustered an attack, let alone a chance. I told the players to keep it going in the second half and, although we came under a little more pressure, we kept our cool for a famous 2-0 win!

In the other game, Uruguay (defending World Champions it should be noted) beat Mali 2-1.

Matchday 2 v. Mali

After the surprise win over Belgium, we were confident of getting a result against Mali that would go a long way to sending us into the next round. It soon became clear that our opponents were fired up for this game though with many a rough tackle flying in. Those tackles resulted in me losing both of my wingers, Martinez and Reyes to injuries before half-time. That shook us up a bit and Mail took advantage taking the lead with the last kick of the first half. We tried to force our way back into the game in the second half but it would prove futile as we left ourselves exposed on the counter-attack and Mali duly took advantage, scoring another with 7 minutes to go and beating us 2-0.

A surprise result in the other game as Belgium bounced back from their opening defeat to beat Uruguay 2-0. Tha meant all 4 sides were level on three points going into the final game!

Matchday 3 v. Uruguay

Going int o this game, we knew a point would be enough to send us through. The only problem was we had to get that point from the reigning World Champions, who, due to goal difference, had to win to advance. Much to my surprise, we had a lot of the early chances as the Uruguayans struggled to get hold of the ball. We took adavantage with 18 year-old winger Morales (in for the injured Martinez) giving us the lead on 25 minutes. I expected Uruguay to come at us after that but we maintained our lead until half-time and actaully had a couple of good chances to extend it. The South Americans finally remembered how to play in the second half and I was concerned that we would come to regret those missed oppotunities. Eventually, they equalised through an absolute screamer from 30 yards. A point, however, would still be enough for us. Uruguay had their chances but we always posed a threat on the break and so it was that a quick counter-attack in the final moments of the game put Diaz through on goal to give us a 2-1 win and send us into the next round!

Mali and Belgium played out a tense 0-0 draw, which was enough to send the Africans through in second place.

This is how the final group table looked:

2018WorldCupGroupH1.png2018WorldCupGroupH2.png

Disaster for Uruguay and a pretty poor showing from a Belgian side packed with players from some of the top clubs in Europe. Still, I'm not complaining! :D

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World Cup 2018 Group Stage

This is how the rest of the groups looked:

2018WorldCupGroupsA-C.png

2018WorldCupGroupsD-F.png

2018WorldCupGroupsG-H-1.png

Host nation Russia fell at the first hurdle then but were unlucky to finish 3rd on 6 points. The biggest surprise has to be Algeria, who topped Group B with 9 points (some may argue that Scotland getting through the group stage counts as a bigger shock though)! Apart from that, the only other surprises were early eliminations for Holland and Uruguay.

And this is how the teams line up for the second round:

2018WorldCup2ndRoundDraw.png

A tough tie for us but it was either Germany or Argentina so it doesn't make that much difference. Keep your eye on Algeria too - they have a good chance against Norway I think.

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2018 Honduras Update: World Cup 2nd Round

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Second Round v. Germany

So our 'reward' for topping our group was a knockout clash with one of the pre-tournament favourites Germany (didn't matter really as had we finished second it would have been Argentina). Unfortunately, it seems the occassion got to my players a little as we started very nervously and the Germans were two goals up inside 15 minutes. Diaz out us back in it just before the half hour mark but we then went to sleep a bit and let Germany score a soft goal from a corner. Despite the fact that we were playing superior opposition, I gave the team a bit of the hairdryer treatment at half-time and they responded. An early second half goal from Rojas made it more of a contest and after that we played a lot better. Unfortunately, we couldn't convert our chances into goals. We did go very close in stoppage time however with the German goalkeeper producing a brilliant save to deny Diaz, meaning in the end we lost 3-2.

No shame in that defeat, both in terms of the opposition we were up against and the quality of our play, especially in the second half. Now, I'll wait and see what jobs open up after the tournament but I won't be quitting just yet - I'll happily stay on with this group of players if nothing tempting comes along.

The rest of the second round fixtures played out like this:

2018WorldCup2ndRoundResults.png

Algeria march on and the Czechs provided a minor shock as they knocked out Portugal (a virtual pre-cursor for tonight's Euro 2012 game perhaps?) Scotland also continue to impress - had we beaten the Germans, we would have played them in the quarter-finals!

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World Cup 2018 - The Last Eight

2018WorldCupLast8.png

Scotland's run finally came to an end in the quarter-finals but only just as Germany needed penalties to get past them. Algeria's crazy run also continued until they came up against an in-form Italy side in the semis. In the end, Italy were deserved winners having won every single game and then proceeding to destroy Germany in the final. England suffered semi final heart break against Germany once more (preferrable to group stage disappontment or second round humiliation I suppose!)

After the tournament, more than half of the teams started to look for new managers. Unfortunately, Kuwait did not and I didn't fancy a move to a European or South American side at this point so I've decided to stick with Honduras. :)

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Beat Brazil only to lose to the Germans - typical England!

A great World Cup for Honduras, not helped by the draw but did well to get out of the group and a kinder draw might have seen you through further. What's the ambition going forward with Honduras? Win the Gold Cup? Establish yourselves as CONCACAF's top team? 2022 World Cup?

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Beat Brazil only to lose to the Germans - typical England!

A great World Cup for Honduras, not helped by the draw but did well to get out of the group and a kinder draw might have seen you through further. What's the ambition going forward with Honduras? Win the Gold Cup? Establish yourselves as CONCACAF's top team? 2022 World Cup?

Thanks ism-scfc. :thup: The immediate goal is to win the Central American Cup (coming up in January 2019) and have a crack at the Gold Cup a few months after that. However, I am always open to offers and may jump ship before then if the right job comes along. ;)
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Great work DodgeeD! I wasn't sure you'd do anything more than perhaps a draw against Mali (as even they are usually pretty strong in later years), and you end up topping the group! How has that boosted the World Rankings?

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Nice World Cup.
Great job finishing first, unlucky on the draw though. Germany where always gonna be hard to beat.
Good job DodgeeD. :)
Thanks guys :thup:
Great work DodgeeD! I wasn't sure you'd do anything more than perhaps a draw against Mali (as even they are usually pretty strong in later years), and you end up topping the group! How has that boosted the World Rankings?
Post-World Cup, we shot up from around 40th to 20th but we have now slipped back a little to 23rd.
Well done dodge! loving this story mate.
Thank you - it's turned out to be a fun save!
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2018 Honduras Update: Autumn Friendlies

After all the fun of the World Cup, it was back to friendlies until the end of the year. We had 5 arranged against various opposition.

First, we played regional rivals El Salvador. They had given us a hard time in World Cup Qualifying so it was a good sign of our progress that we controlled much of the game. However, it was also a bad sign that we conceded an easy goal to fall behind and ultimately had to settle for a 1-1 draw. We then travelled to Montreal to take on the Canadians. Again, we were the better team but this time we made our chances count, establishing a two goal lead before a late own goal for Canada. Still, a 2-1 win was a good result.

With the Central American Nations Cup coming up, we set up a match with Nicuragua. They are one of the weaker sides in the region and it showed as Efrian Diaz scored all the goals in a 4-0 win. To round the year off, we headed to Scandanavia to take on Norway. We were on the back foot for most of the game but our counter-attacking play saw us grab two goals. Norway eventually pulled one back but we would hold on for the 2-1 win. We then made the short journey to Denmark but we were not so lucky this time, again outplayed as we lost 1-0.

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Should I stay or should I go?

QatariJobOffer.png

On Dec 31st, I received a job offer from Qatar... Not sure what to do so I'd like your opinions on it. Here are a few pros and cons about taking the job:

Pros - Qatar are hosts for the next World Cup

- There are plenty of extra tournaments to keep me busy in the meantime (Gulf Cup, Arab Cup of Nations, WAFF Championship and more if I take charge of the U23 side)

Cons - Qatar have not qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup

- The current squad looks pretty weak and my Honduras team is much better.

- The Central American Nations Cup is about to start and if I leave Honduras now, I may never get another shot at it.

- We are a few months away from the CONCACAF Gold Cup

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I wouldn't go personally, I get the feeling it's only really hosting the World Cup that is attracting you, and that wouldn't be enough of a draw for me, unless of course you feel you can do well with them and perhaps make a bit of a show at your own World Cup? In reality though, the squad probably isn't good enough for that.

Up to you, but I would stay with Honduras.

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2018 Review: Honduras

376.png

Quick Overview

World Cup: Second Round

2018 Results

2018HondurasFixtures.png

December 2018 World Ranking: 20th (+20)

A very good year for Honduras with some promising results. We were able to hold our own against more established footballing powers and ruffle a few feathers at the World Cup. Some of the older players such as Hendry Thomas have retired now but a very good group of youngsters has come and taken their place meaning the future looks bright.

The Year Ahead...

So, in the end, I turned Qatar down. I will definitely manage in the Middle East at some point in this career but now is not the right time. I have two tournaments coming up next year with Honduras and I would like the chance to win something with this group of players. The groups for the Copa Centroamericano have been drawn and look like this:

2019CentralAmericanNationsCupGroups.png

We are clear favourites for the competition (hosted by Guatemala f.y.i.) and winning it has to be the target.

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
[/font][font=courier new][url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7900475&viewfull=1#post7900475"]2016[/url] | Honduras      | 35th (-5)     | Reached 4th Round of WCQ; Olympics[/font] [font=courier new]Group Stage
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/307332-The-Reinvention-of-Dustin-Powers-International-Manager-of-Mystery?p=7904723&viewfull=1#post7904723"]2017[/url] | Honduras      | 40th (-5)     | Copa Centroamericano Finalists; Gold Cup Semi-finalists; Qualified for World Cup
2018 | Honduras      | 20th (+20)    | World Cup Second Round
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2018 International Review

There was only one tournament people were watching this summer:

World Cup Final: Italy 4, Germany 1

End of Year World Rankings:

2018WorldRankingsa.png

Look who sneaked into the top 20. ;) Algeria saw a huge jump after their World Cup semi-final run while Scotland were also big climbers this year.

Next season will be busy on the continental championships front with the Asian Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Gold Cup and Copa America all taking place along with the U20 World Cup.

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Thanks Paul - can't complain too much about getting a tough team at the World Cup! Very happy to have moved so high up the rankings though - hope we can do well enough at next year's tournaments to stay there. :)

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Fantastic work with Honduras- getting to the knockout stages is a great achievement!

I wouldn't have taken the Qatar job; seems too much of a step back, and you'd do well to win a game at the WC, let alone qualify for the latter stages.

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Great concept and great career! :thup:

The most fun I ever had (in international management) was with Guadeloupe a few years ago. I may have to look into those extra leagues and competitions and get back into small nation management at some point. :)

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