[FM18] Scandimania [Closed]

[rodesire]

Europa League Group E Game 3

Off to London we go to face third placed(!) Spurs.  They leave us with no doubt though who's the top dog today.  They keep sending cross after cross into the area as we struggle to contain them and eventually succumb to a 3-1 loss that flattered us a lot.  They should have had 5 or 6 and Starka's goal on a break was nice for a change.

As OM and Spurs game was 1-0 to OM and we're all on 6 points, it is us who's down in third now which is unfortunate as no other group has a team on 6 points not in top2.  Maribor seem to be the whipping boys of the group dead bottom.

[Sheriff7]

Excellent results in a very difficult group.

[rodesire]

2 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Excellent results in a very difficult group.

Speaking of..

we faced Spurs again in the reverse fixture.  It's interesting that neither Spurs nor OM would end up beating last year's attendance record with Maribor even falling below our highest league attendance.  We can only hope this will change as we start doing better in Europe.  Anyway, back to the match and we played a much brighter game as we scored an early goal and kept Spurs at an arm distance for the whole of first half.  That's when disaster struck as we half cleared a corner and Tim Jedvaj arrowed a 30 yard thunderbolt from the corner of the area.  One of those wondergoals you need to unlock a tidy defense. Still I stayed negative hoping for at least a point but our dreams were dashed as a deep cross bounced of a defender into Starka and into the goal. 2-1 to Spurs and we'll be entertaining Maribor next.  A win is a must if we are to have any chance of qualifying out of this group.

[rodesire]

Before we head for the international break yet again that will decide if we go through to play at Euro2024, here's a couple updates.

I bought more players!

Matthias has been a terror around the league for a couple seasons now and I am delighted to be able to welcome him to our team.  He'll take a spot in our second eleven behind Starka.

Hjorvar is a massively talented goalkeeper and with our gk worries I expect him to get a fair few games this season and hopefully improve. Otherwise I'll ship him off on loan just before the start of the league season proper.

I got my continental C badges and was able to convince my chairman to give me some more money to study for the B badges. No complaints about it either this time round.

[rodesire]

Last international break of 2023

Before facing Serbia in a massive clash for us I hired Belarus to be part-time whipping boys for some morale increase.  The match did not reflect that, however, as we struggled to break them down but came away with a hard fought 2-1 win using mostly our second XI. Some big caps there for the kids who needed them most.

Surprisingly, this was the result that got me to a stable position with Icelandic FA.

[rodesire]

Oh Serbia, the land of much talent but so little end product so far this save.

We face them knowing that a draw might be enough to go through as one of best second placed teams.  A loss would push them above us.

And we start strongly, scoring within 4 minutes just to be pegged back by a Messi-esque slalom goal from Jovic after 25minutes.

Gylfi Sigurdsson brought us in front with a majestic long shot of a corner only to be pegged back by another slalom goal, this time from a Serbian wonderkid.

2-2, it ends.

We knew we were second but was it enough to qualify?  Only just, we scrape in by a single point leaving Greece out of Euros for now.

Overall, there were a few more surprises with Romania, Turkey, Austria, Denmark and Czechia (featuring reigning Ballon d'Or winner Schick) all failing to come through.

On contrary, Albania, Scotland and us qualify and with only four more slots left, these Euros are gonna be excellent.

[rodesire]

Let's get financial

Before we head into the last two games in the Europa League, let's have a brief look back at the season, especially financially.

We've done incredibly well in all competitions this season, landing a domestic treble (Domestic Super Cup next year maybe too?) and progressing to the Group Stage of the Europa League through the EL qualifiers as an unseeded team.

The prize money went down because of Europa League rather than Champions League group stage participation.  Next season we'll lose the Champions League TV money since EL is about 10% of that.  The rest of the corporate income is less than 300k and doesn't come close to covering wages.

Domestic TV deal is still tiny.  Last year's was 51k, so it's a slight increase but nowhere near enough for the league to be sustainable. The only way I can see improving the domestic football medium term is signing terrible youngsters on multimillion deals that would come in instalments to prop up the clubs. There just isn't enough money with 11 home games a season and 1-3k stadiums.

The real surprise of this story is the following two messages.

This clearly states we made a loss, blah blah blah.

Wait a minute, how did we make a profit and a loss in the same year?

...

Whilst you think about that spare a thought for me, whose board just went completely crazy ambitious domestically.

[rodesire]

Europa League Group E game 5

Let me be crystal clear, we had to win this one to have any chance of progressing into the knockout stage.  Yep, in a group containing OM, Spurs and Maribor.  So off to Slovenia we go.

A surprisingly even game given how fresh my team should be for these matches.  As usual, we shithouse our way into an early penalty to give us a somewhat undeserved lead.

The rest of the game is pretty standard European experience, both teams have some half chances, no-one scores.  That is until Robert Runar decides to go postal and smash a 25 yard drive into top corner.

Good lad, Robert, no wonder he usurped the AMC spot from my brightest ever youth talent Valgeir.  Anyway, we close out the game without really pulling away.

Three more points to us and unfortunately OM beat Spurs yet again, so we'll need a two goal victory to go through in two weeks time.

[rodesire]

Invincibles

Molde becomes the first club this save to complete an unbeaten domestic league season.

Doubly impressive considering they came from nowhere last season and have only signed one first team player all year.

[rodesire]

Time to finally splash some of that UCL cash!

I have been courting this youngster for quite some time and he's finally lowered his demands enough for me to be able to afford him.

A record Icelandic signing and I can only hope he's worth it.

My left wingers have been doing okay but not exactly setting the world on fire and more importantly they seem to have run out of potential barely at 21 years old.

Ahmed looks amazing and still has that 5* PA and a great personality.

[rodesire]

Europa League Group E Matchday 6

No pressure there, facing OM, two-goal winning margin to go through to the knockout round.

We square off at Iceland's national stadium (our own still has zero seats and 3k terrace capacity but the board refuses to do anything as we only averaged 850 attendance in the league).

The crowd is sparse at best as most decide to tune in for FH decider away at Genk, ridiculous really as they can still progress if they better Galatasaray's result against Arsenal.

OM brought some of their younger players as subs which is a first this group stage and bizarre given they still need some result today.

Anyway, off we go and the match is very very even. Both sides have chances in the first half but no goals.

I blink first and set the subs to attack OM as I figure there is no point playing for a draw at this stage. Yes, coefficient points are important but not today.

Today we go all in as Ocampos runs away on a 1-on-1 only to hit the bar and smash the rebound into Trausti.

5 minutes to go, it's OM corner and we break. And boy do we break hard, Eggert carrying the ball on the left, skipping past an outstreched centre-mid. Suddenly it's 4 on 3.  Eggert goes narrow, attracts centreback's attention and squeezes a pass into onrushing Atli who plants one into top corner. The crowd erupts as we go in front.

Undeterred, OM almost equalize from the kick-off but we hold on.  3 minutes added on as I instruct the boys to go forward once more.

3 teams are on 12 points now but we need another goal to go second on a tiebreak.  If only we hadn't conceded so many goals in London on matchday 2, we'd be in knockouts already.

We break one more time, Gylfi skips a challenge, goes past another one and whips one in. Atli gets tangled with two centrebacks, cross goes past.. into the path of unmarked Eggert who absolutely thunders it in off the near post.

2-0, we're through and I need a moment as everyone serenades us to La vie l'OM.

What a match that was and what a huge huge result!

We're through to the knockouts, impossibly, absurdly completing a double against OM. We only conceded against Spurs in this group which sounds ridiculous.

FH in the end choked hard against Genk. They were ahead but got a red card and eventually succumbed to a 1-2 loss.  Gala lost to Arsenal and it's truly a case of what could have been as they had the tiebreaker against the Turks having played out a 1-2 and 5-2 earlier in the group.

Overall there were plenty of surprises as no Portuguese side made it through, OM, Augsburg, Fiorentina and CSKA all failing to progress. On the contrary we have been joined by 3 more nordic sides in the knockouts.

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

It's the old times and there are no seeds in R32 draw.

Could we be in for a chance at one of the weaker sides in this one?

Not today, Satan. Not today. We're off to Eternal City in February as I hope against hope we can conjure some magic.

[rodesire]

I've been spending 30k a month on scouts in Scandinavia looking for bargain without too much to show for it.

Until now, enter Albin.

We got him for paltry 500 pound compensation and 5% of next sale. I am absolutely delighted with this one, the guy looks incredible for his age, only Natural Fitness is quite a bit lower than I'd like but we can work with it.

[rodesire]

Ah, the sweet smell of fresh facilities in the morning..

That should take our facilities to good/good and become the best available in Iceland.  Given my entire first team is U23, that will be vital to unlock that extra little bit from each and every one of them.

Upgrading youth Rec and Junior coaching only came as an option during the season break, so I took advantage of it first time.  We're still at average/adequate which is way short of where I'd like to be but there doesn't seem to be an option to expand it further despite most of the league boasting better setups.  I guess it's a reputation issue?

[rodesire]

Hazard won Footballer of the Year with Schick(!) claiming the Golden Ball with Bayern.  He's become Lewa incarnate scoring 35 in 42 for them.

With me activating top leagues next summer I expect a lot of changes in these rankings as the old guard slips away.

We also got a World Cup qualifying group drawn up and it's a decent one.  Ireland are a deceptively tough bunch (double against Serbia in our group, remember?) but Norway and Romania are two of the weakest top seeds we could have gotten as pot3 team.  I fancy us grabbing a second here and if we can get a result in Bucharest, we might be in with a shout to go to the World Cup.  Remember, in this universe, the world cup still only has 32 teams with 13 European Qualifiers.

Speaking of competitions, we lost our key centreback for this summer's Euros. Just really really disappointing.

[rodesire]

Looks like we hit a sweet spot where everyone Scandinavian is getting interested in our players.

Whilst I have been able to keep most of my best players, a lot have left.

These two have been really decent deals as I don't see them growing a lot more but they could command ~1m fees in the next few years, so that's another good chunk of money for us.

I could not renegotiate Rui's contract and off he went to Hammarby (same as Robert Runar) for barely 145k.  This is definitely the one that got away.  With some more training I think he could be a Bundesliga starting fullback but is just below that level for the moment.

This was a random deal as I got an offer for one of my older players (24, lol) and took it right away. Huge overpay and I have replacement eager to play already.

Now Soldo was a Croatian defender who I hoped would play nicely with the squad.  However, he could not have a decent game to save his life and after a season on loan I shipped him off for 200k+20% which turned out to be a total of 300k.  Not bad for a 18month rental given he only played half a dozen games for us.

[rodesire]

Having lost two fullbacks I went a bit crazy and panic signed an unattached Danish wingback.

He's not particularly good but should hold his own in the second XI until the end of the season when the kids will hopefully be good enough to take over.

Last season's success increased our season ticket sales quite a bit, I'd expect around 1-1.1k attendance now for league matches which would be a big boost to us.

Maybe we could even warrant an expansion or a brand new stadium at this rate.

[rodesire]

Europa League 1st Knockout Rd first leg

We are hosting Roma in our first ever knockout round match and they brought their strongest team onto the pitch.  We're missing Trausti in goal who happened to break his hand and is out till summer.

We soon learn that we cannot really compete with the Italians as they smash us to smithereens in midfield and only poor finishing and some astonishing saves by Alexis are keeping us in this one.

Still, the deadlock is soon broken as Njie scores from a corner routine and Roma keeps piling on.

We do manage to break on the counter and score and equalizer but that's all we manage today. 1-1 on the day and whilst coefficient points are great I am despondent at how poor we are.

[rodesire]

Europa League 1st Knockout Rd return leg

The squad is off to Rome for the return match as we played League Cup A match with our second XI to keep fitness up.

The lads are excited as we tour Coliseum as I muddle through parallels between us and ancient gladiators, looks like everyone is ready for a proper good match.

Except we were not. Not one bit. Roma throws wave after wave at us and there is nothing I can do, they're just that much better in the opening half an hour.

Suddenly the game settles a bit as we manage to get a hold of the ball for a while and we're actually in it!

As the half draws to its close we break and Ahmed goes on a mega slalom past three defenders before stabbing the ball near post.

Suddenly we're in front against all odds and the run of play.

Roma comes back mercilessly in the second half, tackling hard and hounding us whenever we get possession.

Lo and behold, N'jie pops at the back post yet again levelling the game and aggregate at 1-1 and 2-2 apiece.

As the game progresses, it's end to end stuff. Marcelo Jose is injured, so I have to throw Alexander Mar in his place.

Unluckily for me, he misses a 10 yard shot with minutes to go. Even worse for us, they score with the last hit of the ball.

Devastating devastating loss, even though Roma deserved this across both legs.

 

[rodesire]

International update

I wasn't planning to have one but I did wonder how come I cannot play international friendlies before the major tournament?

This gave me a clue.  Other than ridiculously low wages (Iceland pays me 6x) it's clear they just fired their coach, wonder why..

Oh right, it was Nations League playoffs and Denmark failed to get through their group.  To be fair to them, they had a bit of a ridiculous task going past Turkey and Romania who are both top15 sides with a lot of young talent.

We also found out the draw for the Euros.  One missing team above is Sweden.

Our group is alright, Holland is going to be tough to beat but I am hoping for points against both Switzerland and Croatia, the latter is a shadow of what it used to be.

Group D could be a group of death as Albania almost topped their qualifier and Russia was behind England only on goal difference.

[rodesire]

League Cup A 2024

Our fifth foray into this fun little competition, having won the last 2 editions.

The group stage overlapped with the Europa League a tad but I was playing my second XI in most of the matches, so it didn't really matter.

Worryingly the goals dried up towards the end of round robin and I only just topped an easy group.

We then took forever to score against IBV who were happy to sit deep in a 532 before turning on the jets against KR in the semis.

Our reward was a second division side in the final and we dispatched them but not exactly comfortably.

[rodesire]

Pre-season news

We have once more expanded our data facilities, it's my favourite expansion type as it's so cheap yet feels like you're improving the club nonetheless.

We have also signed another centreback, joining us from Breidablik, a hugely talented 16 year old who I expect to be in second XI in 2025/6 if he develops well.

Last but not least, we're now overwhelming favourites to retain the league title with the bookies, last year's surprise challengers Fylkir are predicted to battle relegation smh, we'll see how it pans out.

[rodesire]

Icelandic Champions Cup 2024

The curtain-raiser?  More like a glorified pre-league friendly as we face last year's last gasp second place FH.  They'd been surprisingly poor most of the year but a late surge got them into comfortable Europa League spot and a date with us.  My issue was that my third striker had refused to score for a while, like since last year and it's May already!

Luckily, he found his shooting boots alright this time round. In fact, it was an emphatic opening half an hour as we streaked 3-0 ahed and then just saw the game out though it could have easily been 5 or 6 goal margin.

Yet another cup and we're ready for the league to restart!

[rodesire]

More transfers!

My scouts love Finland as the here seems to be a real gold mine of cheap talent there (think I will go to Finland myself once I am done here)

Yet another dirt cheap signing but would you look at him, prototypical deep playmaker just spraying the balls around and with bags of potential he could be amazing for us.

Jose Costa is more of a random signing as I scrape Lusitans for any talent, he's only listed at 3* PA but I'd love to make some profit on him in a couple years time.

Another big 16 year signing is Fredrik

One of our most expensive signings ever, he's a highly rated centreback and got great mentals already.  I hope he can will out physicals and technicals in the next 18 months as I'll be looking for him to claim second XI spot by 2026

Finally, Eggert was asking for 1.4kpw and that's not something you give to an average winger with no growth left in him.

He was promptly shipped off to our main competitors FH, hopefully he'll do well there.

[Jimbokav1971]

Just a suggestion @rodesirebut maybe you might want to make your 2nd post hidden using the spoiler function. 

Like this. 

Spoiler

Because when someone reads from the start of the thread, (as I am about to do and read the whole thing), you probably don't want me knowing what you have won and where before I have actually got there.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Wow.  Can we have an update on Magnus please. He's more than a bit special. He's ridiculous! 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 11/04/2020 at 16:04, rodesire said:

Well that £500,000 you started with didn't last long. 

Still, the door to Europe and it's associated wealth is well and truly open now. It just depends how much you can pick up. 

[Jimbokav1971]

And stop buying players! 

[rodesire]

24 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Just a suggestion @rodesirebut maybe you might want to make your 2nd post hidden using the spoiler function. 

Like this. 

  Hide contents

Because when someone reads from the start of the thread, (as I am about to do and read the whole thing), you probably don't want me knowing what you have won and where before I have actually got there.

 

Smort!

[rodesire]

3 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

And stop buying players! 

Sorry I just can't  My u19s are extremely poor quality wise and with all the sales I need their replacements ready for next couple of years.  I cannot really afford anyone at the level that I am selling at.

Quote

Wow.  Can we have an update on Magnus please. He's more than a bit special. He's ridiculous! 

Well, let me just get through the Euros and let's see how he has developed..

Edited April 24, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

A jolly financial update

A far cry from the early days of insolvency as we're ready for 10 big leagues to join the fold and search for fresh cheap players.

I have also started my penultimate badges as I got some Europa League TV revenue which is less than 10% of what we received for going less of a distance in Champions League

[rodesire]

Continental review 2023/24

Europa League was a bit more hipster this year with PSV and Zenit making QF and Slavia, Dynamo and Malmo making R16. In the end it was Spurs lifting a trophy.

Champions League was immensely boring.  It's been 6 years and same old teams in QF. Celtic almost toppled Barcelona in R16 though for a change.

[rodesire]

May 2024

We've enjoyed yet another strong start to the season, progressing in the Cup and not dropping any points in the league.

I've slightly changed the tactics to press more and it seemed to help against some of the medium stubborn defenses as they melted most of the time, though we did concede a bunch of comical goals.

We're leading comfortably in the league with FH and Fylkir having a torrid starts to the season.  Our local rivals KA (who just promoted) are in surprise second, let's see if they can hold it for a bit longer.

[rodesire]

International news

We're almost ready for the Euro2024, hosted by Germany whilst England will be defending their first champions title.

But first, we get the Nations League Division C draw and it's not terrible.

Georgia are a legit power on this save, just below Denmark who are borderline absurd (they win a lot but then get roflstomped by randos).  Hungary are a good old minnow, have their flashes but ultimately fail.

I think a double against Hungary, 4 points against Georgia and a point at least Denmark is realistic but promotion is a bit of a stretch (so I might get in trouble with the board yet again).

As a warm-up before Euros we only played a couple matches, against Scotland and Slovenia with the aim of bedding in the new generation and giving them any caps available whilst keeping elder members of the squad fit.

The plan worked perfectly as we managed to stay unbeaten and not concede a single goal with only a single moderate injury, I'll take that any day!

[rodesire]

One thing that is wonderful and terrible about the Icelandic football is the league season.

It's extremely short - spanning just under 5 months with 22 games packed in it. There's also no allowance for international games which means that if you were to postpone your matches, you'll end up with a massive crush of games towards the tail end of the season.  Add in 8 European qualifier games and suddenly you have 20+ games in August and September.

I did that last season and it was not fun, so this year I am taking the hit and playing through the internationals.

If this is not a definition of YOLO and trust in my second/third XI, I don't know what is.

And the best part is we still won the derby (of course it was the one fans cared about) 5-1 with 6 debuts given!

[rodesire]

Club European coefficient fun

It's time to reveal the coefficients for the 2024/25 European season and all is well in Iceland.

The league rep has jumped significantly, hopefully we can continue this trajectory as we're now back in 2.5* territory which should unlock much better players for the clubs around us.

We also rose massively in the nation coefficients table.  Now usually I would quite dislike for unseeded teams to be jumping into second/third qualifying round but in Iceland?  That's exactly what you want - fewer games to rearrange domestically and stronger performances all around.

As for us, we had yet another barnstorming rise in coefficients and we should now be seeded for at least a round in the Champions League qualifiers, maybe even two.

[rodesire]

EURO 2024 - Group B - Matchday 1

On the first day of Euros I thought I'd let my second XI start the tournament.  I had a feeling we could grab a point with our backs against the walls and then snatch a win against Switzerland in game 2. 4 points should be enough to qualify, especially given that best 3rd places go through too.

The match itself could be described through Neven Zezelj in entirety.  He's a Croatian wonderkid whose body language wasn't very positive as it was his second cap for the national team.  Whilst immensely talented he was struggling early on. Enough to tangle my left winger in the box within first 20min. Penalty to Iceland, 1-0. Still, Neven kept going. Putting in wayward cross after wayward cross. Not much happened for another hour and it was 80 minutes on the clock when a poorly defended corner fell to our protagonist, 10 yards out.  Would he able to score and make himself a legend? Nope, he shanks it into row Z.  As the match goes late, Iceland breaks, on the left, Magnus Magnusson leading the charge only to be chopped down by Neven in excatly the same spot as in the first half. Gylfi Sigurdsson doesn't make a mistake, 2-0, as we shock Croatia.

 

There is a similar shock in the other group game as Swiss defeat Holland 1-0. We're playing Swiss next with the knowledge that a point will be enough for both teams to advance if Holland and Croatia do not play out a draw.

[rodesire]

EURO 2024 - Group B - Matchday 2

It's time for the first XI to shine! We're facing Switzerland, the surprise perennial almost good enough but not quite to challenge for the titles.

I thought I'd put something witty about the match but the truth is they absolutely destroyed us.  We were lucky to go into the break 0-1 down with their main striker out for the tournament.

We grabbed an equalizer through a corner melee as one does but didn't create anything after that. Once again Magnus couldn't score to save his life as we held onto a draw.

In the other match in the group it was Croatia who won against Holland.

This means, Holland cannot go through to the next round as we're still top of the group.  We're mathematically through to the next round, so i'll play my second XI once more against the Dutch.

Injuries are a concern, 4 of my 7 attacking players are on a mend but we should be welcoming 2 back in time to be on the bench in R16.

[rodesire]

EURO 2024 - Group B - Matchday 3

It's a match that means nothing for either team except for the World ranking points.

The Dutch are still playing their narrow 41221 (DM-2MC-2AMC-ST) and they're owning us.  We bend and break early as we concede from a cross. God knows how any of Dutch players ended up on the wing.

Still, we fight tooth and nail and break efficiently as just after half an hour we find a beautiful little combination to bring us level on the night. Not much happens except for the Dutch attacking us like crazy as they finally break the deadlock with the last kick of the game breaking our hearts but not spirit.

Other than our group, there's been a couple more surprises with Scotland knocking Austria out and Wales crashing out of group completely having defeated France on matchday 1. 

Next up we'll be facing Swedes in the battle of Scandinavia.

[rodesire]

German and French leagues are now active and most of my players are wanted by a bunch of second division clubs.

So far the most surprising action has been Balafas moving to German R** B***.  I did not see him as able to develop so it's a bit of a shock.

In other news, my first job interview this save! La Vie L'OM is well and truly on the table.  I'll use it to try and coerce the board into some upgrades.

[rodesire]

June 2024

We're still playing domestic games, you know?

Not a very busy month, sadly, but we're still unbeaten, going 5 for 5 this month with youngsters getting vital league minutes.

We're now 6 points clear at the top with FH 12 behind although they have a game in hand. Hopefully we can get to 40 points before September as that should be enough for the title.

In the Champions League we'll be facing the Armenian Champions, quite the trek from Iceland. In the Cup it's bottom of the league Vikingur away.

We're doing okay financially but could use some European money to allow us to do some more upgrades in winter.

[rodesire]

Big signing alert

I have been tracking this forward for a few months now and I think the time has come for us to splash a bit of cash to improve the team a notch.

Please welcome Goncalo Oliveira. He's going to earn almost double next highest wage with huge incentives and barely a 400k release clause.

But would you look at him.  Such an upgrade on the fast strikers we have.  And he's strong enough to play DLF, I am very excited what he will be able to do once he settles.

[rodesire]

Euro 2024 - Second Round

It's the battle of Scandinavia as we're facing Sweden, ranked 17th in the world.  They have a solid squad but frankly, they're not scary good.  Coupled with their lack of conditioning having played last game 48 hours after us I reckon we have a good chance to go through.

It's a cagy start as neither side wants to overextend, we get to 18 minute mark without an incident and then it happens. Gylfi with the ball when he suddenly gets karate chopped from behind near centre circle.  The ref  runs over to immediately send Pontus Jansson off.  What was he thinking? The cameras pan immediately to Cray Ray Romano in the stands. Meanwhile Swedes are down to ten men and seemingly content to take this to the penalties.

I, however, am not. We switch into a more attacking formation and start overloading the halfback spaces as they start to struggle with our numbers. Finally, a breakthrough as Magnus scores of a gorgeous throughball. It's 1-0 at the half and I intend to get a second to kill the game off.  The second half is largely a continuation of us dominating but patiently building attacks.  It's on the hour mark that Runar Mar sends a speculative cross from halfway line only to be met by Van Persie like volley into far corner. Brace for Magnus, 2-0 for us and the subs are getting ready to give attacking first teamers some much needed rest.  Runar Mar scores from a corner deep into injury time to put an exclamation mark on this win.  3-0 on the night and we're through to meet either Turkey or Germany in QF

[rodesire]

Euro 2024 - Quarterfinal

Surprise, mother****a! You thought we were gonna get smashed by Ze Germans? Well, Turkey defeated the 50 shades of Grau players and facing us.

Once again we have extra day of rest and boy can you see that in the condition of the players.  I am playing mostly second XI defenders but the rest remain from the R16 match against the Sweden.  Turkey plays exactly the same XI as 3 days beforehand with most of their condition in low 80s at the kickoff and I smell blood.

Yes, they are better and every attack it looks like they could score but we seem to be winning the little duels where energy is what counts. We get to halftime without any major events.  An hour in I throw on Magnus and Gylfi with a view to kill them off on a break before extra time.  Alas, it's Turkey who are in ascendancy and hit the crossbar 5 minutes from time. It's 0-0 after 90 and into extra time we go. Tired legs but bright minds as we start to wrestle the control of this match now. It's almost half time in extra time when my left winger bursts forward to overhit his cross but everyone is so tired and it's Gylfi Gudmundsson at the far post with the emphatic finish! 1-0 to Iceland as we switch sides. Turkey go a bit more attacking as a few minutes later we get another opening. A long ball over the top, Magnus runs onto it and passes it in between the keeper's legs into the back of the net, 2-0 on the night and the party is starting in the stands.  Cenk Tosun does get a consolation goal from a corner but it's too little too late for the powerhouse as we march into the semis.

 

 

[rodesire]

Euro 2024 - Semifinals

Once again it's an upset in the QF as unfancied Ukraine outslugs the French having just defeated reigning Champions England in extra time in R16.

This time it's us at a fitness disadvantage as I try and find someone, anyone fit enough to play 69 hours after an exhausting 120 minute game. I cobble a squad together but we're struggling.  In fact, this is the worst we've done since qualifiers as we just cannot handle Ukraine's slick play at all. Except, once again it's a long ball over the top and Magnus scores from a 1-on-1. Ukraine redoubles their efforts but as it stands we're just 45min away from the final at the break.  That's when the tide turns.

We get a corner 52 minutes in and execute it to perfection with a powerful header giving Magnus his second on the night. As the whole team joins him in celebration, the assistant referee waves for an illegal push against Ukrainian midfielder. I am fuming on the touchline as the goal looked perfectly fine.  Ukraine won't mind though, as they break decisively, splitting our ragged defence and grab an equalizer. And just like that 2-0 became 1-1.  67 minutes in, it's a corner against us, we half clear it only to concede a 30 yard screamer in off the post.  One of those days then. Our misery is compounded as we are given a late penalty against that finishes us off. 3-1 and Ukraine go to their maiden final.  Did they deserve it? They did but that cornergate will be one to remember for generations to come. On the replay I found the decision dubious at best but those are the breaks, I guess.

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In the end it was Lorenzo Insigne, whose goal propels Italy to their second ever European Championship and first since 1968.

It was a fantastic knockout stage with Patrik Schick destroying Belgium in round 16 only to be vanquished by the nearly men of Switzerland.  We had a fine run of course but it was Ukraine who were the most hipster team, 4 years after Romania was a penalty away from their maiden EURO win.

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@Jimbokav1971

This is Magnus in early 2021, at the age of 17.

21 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

This is Magnus, the conqueror of Sweden and Turkey at the age of 21. He hasn't developed much, I am afraid and he doesn't seem to have any PA left in him either which is a shame.

He moved away from KR to Rosenborg as he ran down his contract.  There it took him half a year to score but then he averaged 3 goals every 5 games in all competitions which is a solid return and he just moved to Angers SCO after a major bidding war between Europa League hopefulls in France and Germany.

[rodesire]

Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round - Game 1

We're off to Yerevan to play Alashkert. For once media thinks we are big favourites and a glance at their squad has me agreeing with them.

The match itself is extremely one-sided as we get two goals within opening quarter hour and then it's just a matter of punishing them ever more. 6-0 on the night and we'll enjoy the return leg in Iceland.

If you think we were unfriendly, spare a thought for Valetta.

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I hit 200 games in total and it has been lovely. I hope I'll be done with Iceland before I hit 600 which is ambitious but just about possible.

More importantly, I want to leave a legacy, one that shall not be undone easily by my successor, and improving facilities is key to that.

Both training and youth facilities are now great/great joint best in the country with Breidablik and Fjollnir

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UEFA Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round - Volsungur leads 6-0 on agg

Home leg with first XI already leading 6-0? That's a recipe for a massacre.

And we delivered with Atli scoring a perfect hattrick and 5 in total, 9 goals for the team and 15-0 on aggregate in what is I think my biggest ever win on aggregate.