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USA! USA! USA!
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Jul 6, 2015 15:24
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I expect a similar result in 2030.  Ok 3-2 is also good.
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Jul 6, 2015 15:29
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As expected from the US Women's Team. Now all we need now is the men to follow suit.
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Jul 6, 2015 16:22
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habeasdorkus posted:USA! USA! USA! I like to believe the God-King was behind this in some way.
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Jul 6, 2015 18:47
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dorkus, I just wanted to thank you for one of the finest LPs I have ever enjoyed. I only learnt of it a few weeks ago and have been chewing through it, page by page, since then. I must confess that I was almost rooting against you in the CL final against Juve because I knew that you would hang up your spurs if you won the septuple. That said, this thread has gone very dormant but I hope that you will carry on through the 2030 World Cup (assuming that you actually have any healthy players, that is) and then sent it to the archives. This LP deserves to be preserved, but it should end on a high note... that being the most prestigious sporting event in the world.
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Jul 18, 2015 07:44
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One thing on Scotland v Wales Final in the Euro's in FM14 Scotland seems to get stupidly good. In my long-run FM14 game a year ago the 2026 Worldcup final in the USA was Scotland v America. I clawed through Spain & Brazil while Scotland took out Italy and Germany which surprised the hell out of me. Both teams lucked out and produced Messi level talent players, I think the MLS academies were bugged somehow because I checked players in the out of game editor and the average player on my world cup team was on skill parwise to Dempsey & Donovan, and my star CB/DM had a CA of like 190 which was crazy. Scotland had some crazy numb. 10 who was a star player at Madrid.
Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 18, 2015 09:42
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habeasdorkus posted:
Meanwhile: http://www.espnfc.com/concacaf-gold-cup/match/430268/united-states-jamaica/report
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Jul 23, 2015 01:27
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Is FM2015 not very good? It is on special on Steam this weekend, but I noticed that it only has a 75% approval rating from about 3,500 reviews. This isn't terrible, but it's hardly a ringing endorsement for the most recent instalment of a rather beloved franchise - any thoughts?
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Jul 31, 2015 22:28
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JustJeff88 posted:Is FM2015 not very good? It is on special on Steam this weekend, but I noticed that it only has a 75% approval rating from about 3,500 reviews. This isn't terrible, but it's hardly a ringing endorsement for the most recent instalment of a rather beloved franchise - any thoughts? IMO it's the best game since that one with the crazy match engine that everyone loves, 2012?
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Aug 1, 2015 03:18
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JustJeff88 posted:Is FM2015 not very good? It is on special on Steam this weekend, but I noticed that it only has a 75% approval rating from about 3,500 reviews. This isn't terrible, but it's hardly a ringing endorsement for the most recent instalment of a rather beloved franchise - any thoughts? Its a FM game. Besides experiencing quite a few more injuries, and not being able to climb as fast , compared to FM2014, I like it.
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Aug 1, 2015 04:41
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1000 years of FM15 Wrexham never won the Prem, though it did win a bunch of FA cups. I do love that Chelsea imploded, though.
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Aug 4, 2015 18:42
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Chapter the Third: The Hex, Part 1 January 1, 2029-June 10, 2029 When I said I was going on vacation at the end of the last update I bet you didn't think I meant a real life one. I could take one ingame, too, as I don't have a whole lot to do until our first match in the Hex round against Honduras is at the end of January. After that it's a month and a half until we face Jamaica in Kingston and Trinidad in Nashville during the March international break. Then it's another two months that I'll spend avidly watching Wrexham's title defense before two more Hex matches on May 29th (against Costa Rica) and June 1st (a trip to the Azteca in Mexico City).  The Hex, or Hexagonal, is the final stage of World Cup qualification for North American nations. Home and away matches between each of the six nations are held over the course of the year with the top three nations qualifying for the World Cup and the fourth placed nation going into a home-away playoff against The Hex was used for the first time in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, and has been popular enough that it's still being used for the upcoming 2018 qualification. While the United States and Mexico are the clear favorites to qualify home games in places like San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and San Jose, Costa Rica are tough matches for anyone shy of the true giants of world soccer. Heck, in 2013 Mexico finished 4th and barely made the World Cup after beating New Zealand in the playoff. And they only made the playoff because the United States scored an otherwise meaningless goal in the final seconds of their last hex match against Panama that moved the Mexicans into fourth place. Also:  There's nothing like a World Cup qualifier played in Colorado on a balmy March evening. Suck it, Los Ticos. Costa Rica would get a measure of revenge when the US came to play later in the Hex by giving them incredibly crappy training facilities, and if you look up any video of the snowy match on Youtube you'll find irate Costa Ricans still complaining about the game not being canceled.  Was there really any chance of someone else winning this? He's not even 20 and yet Moctezuma is already the highest achieving American player in the club game of all time as a regular on a Premier and Champions League winning team.    The yearly best 11 is a bit off considering that only one player played in all seven senior team matches. I'll have a rundown of the USMNT at the end of the club year on who really deserves these spots.    It's a clean sweep for the Meteor!  I signed Keith Coleman on a free and he was the first American I brought to Wrexham. Injury has sapped him of his potential, though he's still good enough to be wanted by a still-relegated Tottenham. I'm impressed that Wrexham got more than a pint of beer for him.  Especially since he's a class A jerk who's now refused multiple transfers because they won't pay him enough money even though he's currently making almost nothing. I think his contract is out at the end of the year, at least.  In the wake of my departure Brony Hunter abolished term limits.  The locals roused a mob to take over the tabulation when an American club member was rumored to be ahead in the vote count.  All Ali Does Is Slump, his strike in this FA Cup match is only his third of the season after scoring twelve last year.  The Golden Boy (more like Golden Man these days) gets a contract extension and a small raise.   Allan and Reed, meanwhile, add a year to their current deals at the same wages as before. It must be contract week at Wrexham HQ.  What are you doing?! Palma was signed through 2033 at £8,000 a week! Not only did you give him a raise but you shortened the contract!  If Wrexham doesn't win the league title this year, the culprits will include taking a solitary point from 17th placed Brentford. The draw puts Manchester City in first on 52 points from 22 matches, while Wrexham has 51 from the same number of games.  I'm detecting a bit of a crisis in North Wales.  Williams out!  Team USA has a clean bill of health other than the dislocated shoulder of Isaac Parsons, so I take the opportunity to bring in some younger players for our upcoming match against Honduras.     Let the whining commence.  I'm sure the European coaches are just fine with me taking their players in the middle of the season despite not being in an international break. It's nice to be Paul Elliot for once.  Wrexham's back atop the table! They're now four points ahead of Manchester City with a game in hand and three up on Manchester United.  Prior to the match the media settles on Abel Oliva being the biggest threat on the Honduran team. He's a solid mid-tier striker with some serious flair, and he could give our defense the fits. vs Honduras, January 30, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  Honduras topped El Salvador by just two points in the prior round of qualification. It's got their coach on the hot seat, and if they start off slow we could see a panic move that sees him sacked and an emergency caretaker brought on. Moctezuma won't be starting, seeing as he's still tired from his match two days ago, but if we get into the second half and we're struggling he's primed to come off the bench. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Latham, Needham, Ramirez, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Fisher (c), Enriquez, Clavijo, Garcia. Subs: Toninho, Delgado, Lozano, Bartlett, Wood, Stevens, Rusling, Dixon, Barrett, Ulusal, Paredes, Moctezuma. We have plenty of possession, but are failing to apply the screws to the Honduran defense. They're the ones who look more likely to score, in all truth, and they almost do when Oliva sends the ball into the side netting on a counter-attack in the 8th minute. The striker gets free on another counter right before the half, and luckily misses into the side netting for a second time. Our best chance in the early going comes on a Joey Garcia effort to start the second half, but he can't get the ball to dive back under the crossbar and into the upper 90. Oliva continues to cause trouble, but his surging runs are limited after he earns a yellow card for diving. Still,it's all square in a scoreless game when I bring on Andrew Paredes for his senior team debut at 58 minutes, and I don't hesitate to put Moctezuma into the mix as well. The players take over the game from that point, stifling Honduras, but frustration piles high as we can't get our shots to fall. The guys do their all to grab the late winner in the final ten minutes, including a crossbar rattling header from Moctezuma and an effort from range that proves Paredes has plenty of confidence to play at this level, but at the end of the day it's an aggravating home draw that sends the fans away muttering dark imprecations.   USMNT 0-0 Honduras  Now we have to stew over taking only one point for six weeks. Or rather, I do. The players all have to get back to their clubs.  Before I know it, though, it's already late February and the Confederations Cup is being drawn.  If Argentina and Germany don't advance from the group stage I'll eat my hat. In our group we've got a difficult but not impossible task in overcoming both Senegal and Scotland. Making the finals will mean we have to beat Argentina or Germany, though, and to win the thing we'll probably have to beat Spain on their home turf or the other of Argentina/Germany. Anything can happen in a single game, but I'm not overly optimistic.  The Gold Cup is also drawn. The level of competition won't be nearly so high.  That said, we're going to be sending along our B team rather than our best players. They'll more likely than not survive to the latter stages of the tournament, but it's going to be very hard to beat a full strength Mexico team and the better Central American nations could give us fits.  Ouch. Toninho had already been losing his starting spot to naturalized American Pasquale Paladino, and now his career might be in jeopardy. .png) Thinking of you, buddy. Sorry I can't do more to raise your spirits.  That's not as devastating an injury as the one Toninho suffered but it does mean he'll miss the Jamaica and Trinidad matches. That's not great considering how the talent distribution for the United States doesn't have much by way of midfield destroyers. It's especially dire when we use the 4-5-1 and a defensive midfielder, where I'm calling up never before capped 24-year-old Salvadore Rojas along with occasional senior team member Peter Romaneiro to man the spot.  Of course Chris Ramirez is hurt. It's what he does.   He's only 24 years old. He was originally a 4 star potential player for Wrexham, now he'd likely be a 1.5 or 2 star one. My hopes of him ever being a rock in the center of our defense have more or less evaporated like a morning fog. Despite all of that, though, he's still probably the best centerback the nation has even after having racked up over three full years of time in the trainers room since arriving on the scene nine years ago.  That last minute equalizer must have been gutting, but Wrexham has been on fire over the last month and a half, with Paul Williams winning the manager of the month award for the third time this season. The draw keeps them a point up of City on the table.  Graham Graham is well situated for his future as a grandfather. At Jamaica, March 16, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  Scotland, Uruguay, Turkey, and France stand between us and a #1 seed at the World Cup as the latest FIFA rankings have us in 12th place. We're going to have to actually get back to winning our qualification matches, though, and if we blow this the way we blew the last match, I'm going to become mildly concerned. That win will have to come without Isaac Parsons for about half of the match, he's just coming back from injury and I don't want to run him out there for more than 45 minutes. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Needham, Latham, Jimenez, Romaneiro, Hughes, Enriquez, Fisher (c), Ulusal, Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Bartlett, Klaas, Stevens, Rojas, Ramos, Rusling, Barrett, Clavijo, Paredes, Garcia. I'm pulling my hair out as Jamaica has their way with us, and watch them take the lead in the early going on young striker Steve Wood's 20th goal for his nation. That deficit remains at the half, and then continues into the second half as our Yanks repeatedly jerk their shots high, wide, and not infrequently high and wide of the goalmouth. Our humiliation is complete when Jamaica humbles us with a second goal from a corner kick.   Jamaica 2-0 USMNT  Moctezuma needs to score and create goals if we're going to do anything at the Confederations and World Cups, so his slump is deeply troubling.  Our World Cup plans aren't actually at risk yet, but this is not the hot start to the final round of qualification I wanted. Especially troubling is our fecklessness in front of the goal across both games so far. vs Trinidad and Tobago, March 20, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  If we don't win here it's time to panic, and while we're huge favorites to win I'm taking nothing for granted going into this game. Trinidad has been very good so far in their first two matches, drawing with Mexico and beating the tar out of Costa Rica in Costa Rica. They've blitzed the goal in those matches, scoring three times against Mexico and four against Los Ticos. Considering that Mexico and Costa Rica are the two best non-United States teams in North America we're running into them at exactly the wrong time. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Needham, Bartlett, Jimenez, Ramos (c), Hughes, Paredes, Barrett, Moctezuma, Garcia. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Latham, Stevens, Klaas, Romaneiro, Rojas, Ulusal, Enriquez, Fisher, Rusling, Clavijo. The crowd is on it's feet but left groaning after a great, unselfish play from Joey Garcia tees up the ball for Moctezuma in the 6th minute that the 19-year-old skies over the crossbar. Our ineptitude around the net continues. Garcia keeps plugging away, though, and is able to send another ball into the box ten minutes on that his Partizan teammate Andrew Paredes slugs into the net for our first goal since the start of 2029. Our players continue to shred the Trinidad defense like tissue paper, but our finishing makes like Moctezuma, and we're only a goal ahead of the visitors after a half-hour despite innumerable chances. It takes a free kick from the ageless Jose Francisco Ramos to give us that second goal lead before the break. The second half sees us score another well deserved goal when the team takes the opening kickoff and proceeds to string together a sixteen pass sequence that ends in Moctezuma calmly setting up a Garcia goal to make it three-nil. A fourth comes from a surprising source, as centerback James Needham has the ball fall to him after another free kick opportunity. It's exactly the performance we needed after our sluggish start to the Hex, and plants us in second place only a point back of Mexico at the top of the table. Man of the Match: James Needham.   USMNT 4-0 Trinidad  Fan match confidences for the first three games of the Hex: vs. Honduras- 28% at Jamaica- 22% vs. Trinidad- 60% I haven't exactly been covering myself with glory.  Bah. We're not getting a top seed, are we?  The thrashing of Trinidad and Tobago did a world of good for morale, which was pretty down after the Jamaica debacle.  I'm not sure if Wrexham's success now that I'm gone proves me a better or worse manager than Sir Alex Ferguson. After he left Manchester United they crashed all the way to seventh place the next year, getting his handpicked successor sacked and causing a great gnashing of teeth and the ritual sacrifice of Marouane Fellani. But was that because United's roster was really so awful that only he could drag them to a title? Or was it because he failed to assure their continued success after his succession?  Regardless, a double is still possible for the Dragons. Arsenal shouldn't be too difficult, they're barely hanging on in fourth place, just ahead of Swansea. No one is catching Wrexham in the league. They beat Derby recently and now have 85 points with 3 games remaining while United and City are tied for second with 77 points. If either Manchester club were to win out they'd end with 86 points... so they'd need Wrexham to lose all three of their remaining matches to have even the faintest prayer.  Yeah, I don't see them overcoming a three goal deficit in Wales. Grwn and the Dragon Tamer can start booking tickets for Spain and the final.  And Wrexham doesn't make their fans wait long to clinch the league.  Four in a row, and six in seven years. Those both represent achievements that no other team in the history of the Football Association can match. Not Arsenal. Nor Liverpool. Nor Chelsea. Nor Manchester United.  Naturally I got media inquiries about the event, and naturally I backed my man Paul Williams even if I took care to point out what a wealth of talent he inherited.  Wrexham has been on a tear since getting knocked out of the FA Cup in January, winning seventeen of nineteen matches while not losing once. They have two matches remaining, the season finale against Aston Villa and then a Champions League final rematch against Juventus.  Why can't my national team players stay healthy?! Garcia could miss both the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup with this injury.  Hahahaha.  Sky Shadowing can't get over the hump. Southampton went from challenging for fourth place at midseason to finishing eighth.   And of course, despite winning the league by 10 points, the bigotry towards Wrexham players continues despite my departure.  It's apparently much easier to win games when you're not using a 2-3-5 Pyramid.  I think doing the double in his first year as coach has cemented Paul Williams as my long term replacement. I wonder how long it will take for a segment of the fanbase to decide that Paul Williams was the genius all along and that I really was never all that great.  If the new stand isn't named after me I'm going to be offended. This will give the town of Wrexham, population 64,000, a 50,000 capacity stadium. That ratio of seats to people is making Wrexham comparable to a midwestern college town in the United States.  Now that I can turn my attention away from Wrexham there's the issue of injuries on the USMNT, and the fact that Jose Francisco Ramos, who scored a free kick goal in our last match, is retiring at the age of 33.  Oh come on.  When the squad comes together it marks the start of a full month where they'll be together, playing in two World Cup qualfiers, two friendlies, and at least three Confederations Cup matches. This is our best chance to build squad cohesion before next summer, which is what makes it so frustrating to be missing at least four players who are likely to be on our World Cup roster.  I'm also not looking forward to how thin our Gold Cup team is going to be. We could get upset well before the late rounds given the middling MLS quality players I'm going to have to give a shot at international play. vs Costa Rica, May 29, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  The Hex table is jam packed. Mexico is on top with five points, Jamaica is at the bottom with three, and everyone else has four. That includes us and Costa Rica. With a trip to Mexico looming large four days from now it's vital to win our home match and keep our spot near the top of the qualification table. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Latham, Bartlett, Bruno (c), Padilla, Enriquez, Paredes, Coleman, Rusling, Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Lozano, Jimenez, Needham, Hyndman, Barrett, Hughes, Fisher, Ulusal, Clavijo, Williams. Costa Rica bite early with a goal against the run of play and Moctezuma's attempt at an answer clips the bar before going over. Ten minutes later Keith Coleman, the oft-injured Wrexham ex-prospect, scores his first ever goal for the United States by getting the rebound from his own shot and putting it home. Paredes hits the post on our third irritatingly inaccurate shot of the day just after as we keep up the pressure. It culminates in a Moctezuma goal that puts us ahead after 34 minutes. Keith Coleman, showing the sort of flair and verve that had made him a touted prospect before injuries derailed his career, scores again as halftime approaches, and we've stormed back from a deficit. Before all is said and done we score a fourth as 21-year-old Jesse Clavijo finishes off a set piece with his first ever goal for the team. He's come on for Moctezuma, who I need fresh to face Mexico. The late minutes see Los Ticos score again, but it's a minor sour note after an incisive display that keeps us a point back of Mexico and in second place. Man of the Match: Keith Coleman   USMNT 4-2 Costa Rica At Mexico, June 1, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  Not looking forward to facing Stringel. I want to play a defensive game, aiming for a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. If we can manage that we'll be in great shape to lock up qualification early. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Latham, Needham, Jimenez, Hyndman, Padilla, Hughes, Fisher (c), Ulusal, Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Lozano, Bruno, Bartlett, Coleman, Rusling, Barrett, Paredes, Clavijo, Williams. This match would have been hard enough if we had played mistake-free football. So it was even more of an uphill battle when James Needham put the ball past Paladino to gift Mexico an early lead. Then Isaac Stringel, Wrexham Superstar made it 2-0 before the half closed, and we were lucky it took them that long to score again. They added a third after the break from a free kick, and the only silver lining is that we were merely bad in the second half rather than the complete clusterfuck of incompetence in the first.   Mexico 3-0 USMNT  Fresh off of comprehensively kicking our rear end, Isaac wins his third Best Player in Europe award. It's his fourth. He's twenty-five years old.  Keith Coleman, meanwhile, gets a free transfer out of Wrexham. Hopefully he can build on the two goals he scored against Costa Rica, because we're going to need the help.   Well, that stunk. If we don't turn things around real quick we're going to get bounced right out of the Confederations Cup, and not going to make much noise in the Gold Cup either.   
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Aug 6, 2015 21:05
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Whoa, those injuries seem to really be blighting the US team. Good to see you left Wrexham strong enough that the AI can't run it into the dirt, though!
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Aug 6, 2015 22:15
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Thanks to the goons, I'm more afraid of Scotland in the Confed Cup than Spain. Also, welcome back! 
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Aug 6, 2015 22:30
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what do Paul Williams coaching stats look like and how do you rank among all time greatest coaches?
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Aug 6, 2015 23:13
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Paul Willy is a pretty darned good manager at this point, the main thing he's lacking in is discipline: I'm second only to Sir Alex in the game's reckoning, though Mourinho would come in third if you added his alter-ego Bruno Santos to his real life score: 
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Aug 7, 2015 18:32
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Interlude: The Year in Football/Futbol/Fußball/Calcio/Soccer, 2028-2029 June 8, 2029 Well, lets see how the world did in my absence. With fewer leagues being simulated there's less to talk about, but there were some surprises. United States  One year after winning the MLS Cup, the New England Revolution fail to even make the playoffs. DC United, which barely sneaked into the playoffs last season wins the whole thing. England  The big story is that Manchester City, after missing out on the Champions League every year since 2023, vaulted from an astonishingly poor 9th place finish to 2nd.  If I remember correctly, it's been a while, Norwich is Wrexham's feeder team. Which means that Wrexham's feeder team is now in the Premier League with them. Tottenham and Newcastle also rejoin the EPL, while Tackleford can't seem to get over the final hump to reach Premier League joy.  I'm ashamed with how quickly Wrexham was knocked out of the FA Cup.  And the League Cup as well. It's a good thing that they won the double or Paul's position might have been immediately precarious. Europe  Nothing interesting here.  Or here.  But Juventus will not be playing for a third straight European Cup, because they won't even make the coming season's field. Continental  Flamengo wins the Libertadores for the first time since 2023, and are currently in the 2029 semi-final against Sporting Recife. If they make the final they'll face either rank outsiders Atlas of Mexico or 9 time Argentine champs Racing Club.  4-peat!  Hey, a smaller league club won a major trophy! Congratulations to Benfica. International  I still can't believe it was a Scotland v. Wales final. Scotland will not be easy to beat in the rapidly approaching Confederations Cup.  We should have won gold. I hate coming up just short.  Finally, Senegal booked their appearance in the Confederations Cup with a wild win over Algeria that saw them storm out to a 3-1 lead and then hang on grimly for dear life as the final 30 minutes ticked down. USMNT With fewer games there's less of a chance to get to know our guys, so along with an update on the foot-to-ball world, here's a rundown of the players in contention for the upcoming World Cup squad. You'll notice that we're stocked at a few positions and incredibly shallow at others. Goalkeeper: We've got a surfeit of mediocre options here, none of these guys are particularly good but at the same time none are likely to kill us. Rubio de la Fuente has been the worst of the quartet in high pressure situations, but I'm likely to go with whoever is in the best form come next summer. Our youth program has one potential stud for the future, Paul Peachey, but the 19-year-old is nowhere near ready for a starting job at even the MLS level.     Left Fullback: With longtime Internacional defender Bruno retiring, we're extremely shallow at left back. Erik Jimenez has regularly outperformed his mediocre attribute scores, but he's made of tissue paper and constantly hurt. That leaves me forced to either use a mediocrity like Allen Bower or play one of our centerbacks out of position.   Centerback: Centerback would be a bright spot if only the players could stay healthy. Chris Ramirez has somehow turned into a decent defender, while the aging Latham and Needham haven't seen their stats drop off so much that they're no longer capable. Bartlett and Stevens are competent backups, while Andy Klaas and Alex Clavijo could make the team if they continue to improve over the coming year.        Right Fullback: And now we shall pray for the health of Isaac Parsons, who is definitely one of the five best American players right now, but who we have no replacement for. Our best hope would be that Matt Quinn improves dramatically before the World Cup, because otherwise 33-year-old Darren Latham will be our backup.   Defensive Midfielder: What I wouldn't give for a real midfield destroyer. Christopher Hyndman and Peter Romaneiro are the best of a bad bunch, and neither of them are particularly good at the job. Youngster Taylor McClellan might make the team, but seeing as he doesn't even have a club right now that seems like a forlorn hope.    Central Midfielder: Finally, back to our strengths. Bobby Padilla has been far better for the national team ever since I stopped putting him in a defensive midfielder role, while Michael Enriquez, Xavier Hughes, and Paul Barrett are all solid creative forces in the middle of the pitch. These four are being pressed by Casey Medina and Matt Brown, two younger players who each have silky smooth passing skills and near world-class creativity.       Right Winger: Our bounty continues on the right wing, where Captain Hunter Fisher has reached his full potential, and where our best player, Wrexham's own Rodrigo Moctezuma, is most comfortable. Add to that the rapidly improving Andrew Paredes, and we have a situation where solid players like Osvaldo Vazquez and Eric Meza can't even crack the squad.      Attacking Central Midfielder: Keith Coleman is fragile and an rear end in a top hat, but he seems to have finally made good on some of his once limitless potential. He'll share time with the central midfielders like Hughes and Barrett. Fred Spence might also make the team, despite his age he's regularly played well in big matches.   Left Winger: Sinan Ulusal needs to hold off father time for one more year, because otherwise our best option on the left wing might be playing Moctezuma out of position. David Rusling is nothing special, and Matt Orozco would have to take a big step forward in just a year to justify a spot on the team.  [IMG]http://lpix.org/2033838/Dave Rusling_ Overview Profile.png[/IMG  Striker: Rodrigo Moctezuma can also play as a striker, but his sub-par finishing and composure makes him a worse choice than the decent and well rounded Joey Garcia. It's a real shame that David Hunt's career was ruined before it had a chance to even start, because a good young striker would be great to have as a backup. Instead we're stuck with Jesse Clavijo and Craig Williams, both limited players with significant flaws.     We're going to need a miracle to win the World Cup next year, but the first step in that process is acquitting ourselves well in the Confederations and Gold Cups.
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Aug 7, 2015 19:53
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So besides Monty, who else could get a spot at Wrexham? Also I forgot to ask last time, what witch did you anger to cause this rash of injuries for the USMNT? Dreamsicle fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Aug 10, 2015 |
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Aug 9, 2015 18:54
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Oh hey, I'm still President? Neat.
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Aug 9, 2015 23:58
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What in the world is wrong with Xavier Hughes pace? How can you be 3 stars with 9 pace?
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Aug 11, 2015 00:03
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Sicke posted:What in the world is wrong with Xavier Hughes pace? How can you be 3 stars with 9 pace? You gotta remember that the stars are based off of US National Team standards. Nobody outside of Moctezuma would rate better than 2.5 stars at Wrexham, tops. Xavier Hughes would probably rate 2, but despite his low top speed he's pretty good at everything else a midfielder needs to do. Dreamsicle posted:So besides Monty, who else could get a spot at Wrexham? I doubt anyone other than Moctezuma could hang with Wrexham. Isaac Parsons might get a look as a squad player, and a couple of the younger guys like Paredes have enough potential that they could eventually fit the club. Regarding injuries, this whole national team is crazy fragile. I'm guessing it's partly bad luck, partly having a lot of injury prone players, and partly that the US appears to have gotten rid of Obamacare and replaced it with Mad Max style bloodbags as a cure-all.
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Aug 14, 2015 20:09
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Chapter the Fourth: More Jekyll than Hyde. June 8, 2029-July 2, 2029 I have no idea how we're going to do in the Confederations Cup. We should be aiming to reach the semifinal, if we can draw with Scotland while beating Senegal we have a pretty good chance of doing that (I don't suspect anyone is going to beat Spain on their home turf, so it's all a question of who gets the second semifinal spot in our group). But we've also been brutally inconsistent in World Cup qualifying, getting obliterated by Mexico in our last match while being unable to beat Honduras at home. This could be a short stay in Europe for the Yanks.  And another USMNT player sets his retirement date. I truly hope Erik Jimenez stays healthy, because he and Bruno are the only non-League One quality options at left fullback. Compare that to Attacking Midfielder and Right Wing, where we have four or five Premier League level talents at each.  I'm just going to keep telling myself that it's just a friendly and that I picked my squad primarily to get them match fit for the Confederations Cup. We didn't play quite as bad as the score looks, but we've now lost two matches in a row by the score of 3-0. And Cameroon isn't that good.  Fingers crossed, especially as Joey Garcia is out injured until early July.  Two goals in the first seven minutes of our final tune-up sets the tone of the match, and we run the Aussies off the pitch. Team USA's transatlantic flight to Spain is much more enjoyable than I'd have expected after getting thumped by Cameroon.  There goes Sky Shadowing, always flashing that cash. I still regret failing to sign Williams on a free transfer in June 2027.   No use delaying the inevitable. Bring on the Scots. vs. Scotland, June 17, 2029 Confederations Cup, Group A  The team has played like crap whenever I've sent out the 4-5-1. We give the other team too much space to work in, our defense can't handle the pressure, and we end up getting scored on repeatedly while being unable to do anything to our opponent on the counter because of the space between the wingers and the midfield. So I'm tossing it aside and using the 4-2-3-1 regardless of our opponent. Also, in an effort to get all of my best players on the pitch at the same time, I've flipped Hunter Fisher to the left side of the pitch and moved Rodrigo Moctezuma into the striker role. I'm sure talent is more important than playing people in their natural positions. God help me, I'm Roy Hodgson. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Needham, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Coleman, Fisher (c), Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Bruno, Latham, Hyndman, Enriquez, Barrett, Ulusal, Rusling, Clavijo, Williams. We're the better team throughout the first half, but Paul McStay makes us pay when we let him have a bit too much daylight while Andrew Paredes scuffs our best chance in the first half. We look completely out of ideas for the first twenty minutes of the first half, so I yank Keith Coleman (who's naturally picked up a ding) and Chris Ramirez for veteran Darren Latham and Michael Enriquez, one of our passel of daring young midfielders. I immediately look like a genius as a 13 pass sequence that started with Latham recovering a lost ball ends with Paredes threading the ball across the goalmouth to the unmarked Enriquez for the equalizer. That wakes the Scots out of their gamelong stupor, and Pasquale Paladino has to make Scotland makes a game of it late, forcing Paladino to make two saves in the final minutes. Got the point we need, though.   USMNT 1-1 Scotland  It would be both awesome and a shock to see us get a draw. Also, pretty much every time a media outlet talks about team USA the first name they mention is Moctezuma. I'd be worried about the kid's ability to handle the pressure if I hadn't raised him from a pup myself. vs. Spain, June 20, 2029 Confederations Cup, Group A  We're not getting anything from this match, so I'm keeping my powder dry for Senegal. Only Paladino, Needham, and Moctezuma started against Scotland. Meanwhile we're staying in the 4-2-3-1, but I've used our training time to practice defensive positioning and set us to play a low tempo bus-parking style of play. The last thing I want is for us to get blown out and need a dozen goals against Senegal to advance. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive. Starting 11: Paladino, Lozano, Latham, Needham, Bruno (c), Hyndman, Enriquez, Moctezuma, Ulusal, Rusling, Clavijo. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Parsons, Jimenez, Ramirez, Padilla, Hughes, Coleman, Barrett, Fisher, Paredes, Williams. As anticipated we're giving plenty of possession to Spain, but the players are sticking to the disciplined, defensive style I was aiming for and that's defanged the Spanish in the early going. Thus, when Sinan Ulusal scores a shocker in the 18th minute, we take the lead. Any dreams of beating Spain are quickly dispatched when Manchester United's Gregorio, longtime foe of Wrexham, equalizes four minutes later. That's the score when we go into the lockers as Rodrigo Moctezuma continues his poor international form by scorning an easy chance late in the first half, but I'm happy as a clam that we're not getting run off the pitch. When the hour mark rolls around we're still even at one goal, and it's enough to make me bring on Parsons and Ramirez in an attempt to pick up the unexpected point. The Spanish attack only strengthens as time grows short, but Paladino holds the line with eight saves and we steal a surprise point.   USMNT 1-1 Spain  You better be pleased. That was not an easy match!  He's got no interest in becoming a coach. This is the end of the line for Justin Bailey and the world of football.  Wrexham continues to seek a competent defensive midfielder after selling Kamel Zouaghi last summer.  I plan on some editor shenanigans when it comes time to play the Gold Cup as the two competitions don't run concurrently and there's no reason why members of our A team should be missing out simply because the game isn't good at international registration when tournaments take place within a month of each other. vs. Senegal, June 23, 2029 Confederations Cup, Group A  Senegal lost to Spain by a score of 4-1 and then fell to Scotland 5-1. So not only do we need a win here, we need to beat them by at least a four goal margin to ensure that we go through. Otherwise it'll take a non-draw result in the Scotland v. Spain match to get out of the group stage. Ideally Scotland will beat Spain while we beat Senegal, causing the hosts to crash out unceremoniously in the group stage. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control. Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Bruno, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Coleman, Fisher (c), Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Lozano, Latham, Needham, Hyndman, Enriquez, Ulusal, Barrett, Rusling, Williams, Clavijo. I've realized that you shouldn't let kids too young to drink pack for themselves on international trips, because Rodrigo Moctezuma forgot to bring his finishing boots to this tournament. He adds two more missed chances to his worrisome total. We get our win, though, as the soon to be retired Bruno scores twice on set pieces. Despite our mastery of the match and the two-nil score, I'm becoming alarmed as we enter the final half hour as Scotland and Spain remain locked in a goalless draw. At the moment we'd fail to move on due to having beaten Senegal less soundly than they did. Then Spain scores on Scotland after 75 minutes of play, and we move into second place, and I can breathe a little easier. My attention to the Scotland score flags briefly when Chris Ramirez is sent to the showers after an uncalled for red carded in the 87th minute when the ref gives full marks to a dive by Senegalese striker Osumane Diop. It's crap, but immaterial to the outcome of the match. Thus, instead of the game being played on the pitch below them the entire stadium is watching the scoreboard intently as the final minutes tick down. Our two goal lead is safe, but will Scotland equalize and send us home despite not having lost a single match? No! Scotland loses 1-0! USA! USA! USA! Man of the Match: Bruno   USMNT 2-0 Senegal  drat right I'm appealing. He'll be eligible to play until the appeal is ruled on, which might not be until after the end of the tournament.  A shame he's retiring considering he just found his scoring touch.  We eked into the semifinal, if Spain and Scotland had drawn they would have both advanced thanks to how many goals they scored against Senegal. It would have been maddening to go home despite taking five points and drawing the #1 team in the world in their own house.   At least we're doing better than Tahiti, who beat New Zealand to represent the Oceanic Football Confederation in the past two Confederations Cup and who boast a 1 to 25 goals scored to goals allowed in those six matches.  That's pretty impressive for a kid who turned 20 less than two months ago.  I kind of figured that was going to happen...  But hey, it opens up an opportunity to get popular with the booming Israeli soccer fandom! And, as seems to be a happy tradition with Wrexham's overseas affiliates, Kiryat-Shmona doesn't appear to have utter shitheads for supporters. Heck, right now they're the first Jewish Israeli team to have an Arab Israeli manager. I was worried for a second that they'd be similar to Beitar Jerusalem, whose supporters are wildly anti-Arab and who got their team docked two points in the 2014-2015 season for repeatedly chanting racist slogans at non-Jewish players.  It'd help a lot if Moctezuma was finishing the chances he keeps creating. Without a good game from him I don't see how we get past the Germans.  Darn. I was hoping that El Juez and El Compadrito might be able to slip the Argentines past Spain since Argentina is well superior to the USMNT but definitely a half level below Spain and Germany. vs. Germany, June 28, 2029 Confederations Cup, Semifinal  We just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The only advantage we have over a truly stacked Die Mannschaft is a day's extra rest, they played their final match of the group stage on the 24th while we played ours on the 23rd. Given that the odds have us as 12-1 underdogs, or about 8% to win, we're going to need more than a little luck to make our second straight Confederations Cup final. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive. Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Needham, Bruno, Enriquez, Padilla, Paredes, Coleman, Ulusal (c), Moctezuma. Subs: Delgado, Lozano, Jimenez, Latham, Hyndman, Hughes, Barrett, Fisher, Rusling, Clavijo, Williams. As expected, we must weather the storm. Germany finds a gap in our set piece defenses to take an early lead in the 12th minute, but shortly thereafter things begin to turn as Rodrigo Moctezuma discovers that he brought his scoring shoes to Spain after all. First he makes a great play to intercept a backpass intended for Germany's Sven Schick, who gets dispossessed and left in the dust as Moctezuma scampers down half the pitch with no one near him before beating the keeper at the far post to tie the match in the 19th minute. Ten minutes later he breaks the offside trap as Paladino launches a goal kick 70 yards downfield, over the head of the two opposing Centerbacks, and finds himself with all the time in the world needed to dribble past the keeper and put us ahead. We enter halftime with a lead, but with 45 minutes left to play I caution everyone to keep their energy levels up and play it safe. So what happens in the first minute of play? Young Andrew Paredes calmly takes on two defenders, leaves them for dead, and puts a cross directly onto the unmarked forehead of Sinan Ulusal to give us a two goal buffer. It turns out we need it. Germany doesn't stop coming, getting one back in the 63rd minute, and equalizing when James Needham, a stalwart on defense since I took over the national team, scores an own goal with 28 minutes left. It's three-all headed into extra time, when Ivan Srdaev, Barcelona's long-tenured defensive midfielder, breaks down and leaves Germany without a player and us with a man advantage. Even with that advantage Germany matches us stride for stride, and each nation's citizens in attendance gasp and scream as the ball bounds everywhere but the net. When the final whistle blows it's onto penalties, where Germany and the United States trade successful efforts until Pasquale Paladino gets just enough mitt on a Johannes Witt attempt to give Sinan Ulusal the chance to finish things. Ulusal, as he has seemingly every time he's been called upon, puts his adopted nation on his back and buries his effort. Bring on Spain, again. Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moctezuma   USMNT p 3-3 Germany  I'm relieved that we didn't end up going down because James Needham, he of 53 international caps, scored an own goal. There's no way I would have avoided being pilloried in the press after that sort of error cost us a trip to the final.  Stoke signing wonderkids? Weird. Their current modus operandi is to sign FORMER wonderkids.  Considering Bouzid's sophmore slump, which saw him drop from 12 goals and 11 assists in 31 matches all the way down to 5 goals and 2 assists in 18 matches, this is a pretty good price.  I hope the sale wasn't predicated by a deteriorating financial position, though. Wrexham's worth fully £300,000,000 less than this time last year.  It worked last time, didn't it? vs. Spain, July 1, 2029 Confederations Cup, Final  After the slugfest with Germany we're pretty tired and Spain are as implacable and imposing as ever. Stranger things have happened, though, and Spain is without either of their best attacking midfielders. Of course, all that means is that their replacements are “among the best” rather than “among the very best.” Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive. Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Latham, Bruno, Jimenez, Enriquez, Hughes, Fisher (c), Coleman, Clavijo, Moctezuma. Subs: Delgado, Lozano, Ramirez, Needham, Hyndman, Barrett, Padilla, Ulusal, Paredes, Rusling, Williams. Despite ceding the vast majority of possession to the home team, we strike first on a lightning counter in the 13th minute as Hunter Fisher launches a perfect cross to Jesse Clavijo at the far post. We can't maintain that lead for long, though, as Spain tears through our set piece defense to draw even before a half hour has past. Then a wild stroke of luck goes our way. What should have been a simple clearance on a poor cross turns into an own goal when Spain's right back collides with his teammate while leaping for the ball inside the six yard box. The ball strikes him in the shoulder, deflects precipitously past the dumbfounded keeper. Thanks to the grace of the football Gods, we've suddenly regained the lead, and we protect it until the first half ends. This isn't the first time the United States has lead at the half of the Confederations Cup final. Back in 2009 the United States found themselves up 2-0 over Brazil thanks to early goals by Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. But Brazil roared right back, scoring three in the second half to deny the US. Now, 20 years later, we have a chance to succeed where we had previously failed. Throughout the second half Spain backs us repeatedly to the brink, but can't push us over. I respond by ordering an even more tightly packed defensive formation, sacrificing width and any hopes of a third goal in order to keep as many men as possible between the goal and Spain's furious strikers. But 45 minutes is a long time to defend, and it only takes one mistake to undo huge amounts of hard work. That mistake comes in the 85th minute, after Michael Enriquez makes a great sliding tackle to knock the ball away from Victor Sanz. The ball rolls past a surprised, wooden James Needham, and to the feet of Amador in front of the net. It would have been impossible to miss, and for the second time in as many games the long time LA Galaxy veteran has let his team down. With only scant minutes remaining in regulation I make no efforts to go on the attack. Spain have looked far likelier to score and I am certain that if we're going to win it appears we'll need yet another lucky break in the shootout. So I'm busily looking at who to bring in for our final substitute, then, when Pasquale Paladino launches another rocket goal kick downfield. It deflects off of the head of Spaniard Lionel Vicente, and directly to an onside and wide open Jesse Clavijo. Clavijo, an afterthought coming into this tournament and only on the roster because he doesn't embarrass himself playing at left wing, wheels and fires from thirty yards out as defenders bear down on him. The ball tears through the air, over the goalkeepers outstretched mitts, off the underside of the crossbar, and into the net. The 100,000 spectators in Barcelona are shocked silent, and remains so until the final whistle blows. We've just slain the dragon in it's own den. Man of the Match: Jesse Clavijo   USMNT 3-2 Spain  Holy.  Hell.  Happy to have had you along for the ride, Bruno. I don't suppose you'd consider putting off your retirement until after the World Cup?  Uh, thanks, but why would I want a statute of myself outside of National Stadium? I'm a Mets and Red Sox fan. And why would you be putting the statue outside of a baseball stadium anyways?  We were 2-1-2 in World Cup qualifying, and coming off of a 3-0 trouncing at the hands of our biggest rivals. Simply getting to the semifinal of the Confederations Cup was my goal. Instead we win the drat thing. Now, just about everything had to go right for us to win, from Spain scoring a late goal against Scotland to just get us out of the group round, to somehow beating Germany on penalty kicks, to scoring three goals on five shots in a final where Spain otherwise kicked us in the balls and took our lunch money. But who cares how we did it, smash and grab looks just like tiki-taka in the record books. I just hope we didn't waste all of the luck we're going to need next year at the World Cup. The Hex  Gold Cup 2029 
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Aug 14, 2015 22:43
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Wow. Congratulations!
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Aug 14, 2015 22:54
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Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, Scott Brown always win.
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Aug 14, 2015 22:55
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Here is your winner and the NEW FIFA Intercontinental Champion, Scott Brown!  Congratulations!. I also made sure I got the old IC belt otherwise you would have definitely been cursed.
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Aug 14, 2015 23:03
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Chapter the Fifth: The B Team. July 2, 2029-August 1, 2029 I've lubricated the offices of His Imperial Majesty of FIFA, Sepp Blatter.* It seems that we now have a properly outfitted Gold Cup squad:  * It turns out that Blatter decided that his resignation back in 2015 wasn't official, and while he's currently under indictment for massive corruption in 150 nations he never leaves his fortress in Moscow, which was given to him along with a robot body by Vladimir Putin. Also, FSB agents kept killing anyone who claimed he isn't the head of FIFA, so after a few years and a few dozen polonium poisoned bodies later everyone decided to just let him have his way.  Don't do anything stupid, Paul. vs Cuba, July 10, 2029 Gold Cup, Group C  It's nice to go from facing nations like Germany and Spain to ones like Cuba. Even using a much weaker squad we should do very well in the Gold Cup. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Delgado, Quinn, Ramirez, Klaas, Jimenez, Ramos, Padilla (c), Vazquez, Medina, Clavijo, J. Garcia. Subs: Toninho, Donaldson, B. Garcia, Hartman, Enriquez, Meza, Moctezuma. Joey Garcia gets us on the board in the 25th minute and we walk through the overmatched Cubans. The only concern is that we allowed too many dangerous counter attacks for my comfort, and broke up our clean sheet with a last minute goal. Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moctezuma   USMNT 3-1 Cuba  What?!  For shame. £46.5m is a lot of scratch, but Moctezuma is already good enough to start on a Champions League winner and is only going to get better. You're a fool, Paul Williams! You're going to run my beautiful edifice into the ground!  Good. I'm going to hold you to that. vs. Guatemala, July 14, 2029 Gold Cup, Group C  A win over Guatemala gets us into the quarterfinal, and shouldn't be much more difficult to obtain than our victory over Cuba. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Toninho, Donaldson, Ramirez, Klaas, Quinn, Hartman, Medina, Vazquez, B. Garcia (c), Clavijo, J. Garcia. Subs: Delgado, Jimenez, Bartlett, Ramos, Enriquez, Spence, Moctezuma. Joey Garcia knows he's on the trading block, and is trying to look good for his suitors. He improves on how quickly he got on the board over the prior match, netting after two minutes rather than 25. He adds a second in the seventh minute, and the Serie A squads that have scouts on hand are eager to see even more. He gets his hat trick 10 minutes on thanks to a pretty soft penalty awarded by the Montserrat referee. A lackluster second half sees Guatemala score twice, but we're already so far ahead that there was nothing they could do to catch up. Man of the Match: Joey Garcia   USMNT 4-2 Guatemala  See how much easier that is than the Confederations Cup? And I'm not even using close to our best possible team.  Oh goddamnit. Who the hell was making him train when we have a game in two days?! Coaches get their brains removed when they take a job with a national team, apparently.  Garcia's been attracting a fair amount of interest, and he was never going to break into the Wrexham squad. He'll do well to play in either Serie A or Ligue Un so long as he has a starting role. vs. Jamaica, July 17, 2029 Gold Cup, Group C  It would be nice to beat Jamaica, who have also already qualified for the semis, to ensure that we get placed on the opposite side of the bracket from Mexico. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Delgado, Quinn, Donaldson, Ramirez, Jimenez, Padilla (c), Vazquez, Meza, Spence, Moctezuma, Bennett. Subs: Toninho, Bartlett, Klaas, Hartman, B. Garcia, Morales, J. Garcia. Atilla Kovacs, head coach of Bayern Munich, has made the trip all the way out to San Jose to scout Rodrigo Moctezuma. Unfortunately we're not giving him much to look at, and after twenty minutes Jamaica has been by far the better team. Moctezuma finally has a chance to show off for his potential new boss, but fluffs an easy opportunity. We allow Jamaica to score not long after and enter the locker rooms looking unsettled and sub-par. Things don't improve in the second half - despite Jamaica being forced to play the final 15 minutes with 10 men due to injury and no remaining substitutions we don't come close to a draw.   USMNT 0-1 Jamaica  Our sleepwalking form against Jamaica means we get to face a pretty good Costa Rica squad instead of minnows El Salvador. Complacency is a bear, and the only silver lining is that we're still on the other side of the bracket from Mexico.  At least the loss to Jamaica won't affect our FIFA ranking. We're still not very likely to be seeded, but the possibility remains if we close out qualification extremely well.  I'm going to hold my tongue in the media about this, but Paul Williams knows how poorly I think of this deal. And there was no reason at all to move Moctezuma, he was under contract for another three seasons. He had no ability to force a move and gave no indication of wanting to move.  Mazel tov to Joey G, though. He's now a part of the first team on a good club in a top flight division. That's much better than being a rotation option for Toronto in MLS, which is where I found him before the Partizan Project. vs. Costa Rica, July 22, 2029 Gold Cup, Quarterfinal  Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing, and I will gut anyone who says that losing to Costa friggin' Rica is OK. They're a bunch of wusses! Their nation doesn't even have an army! We gotta crush these literal tree-hugging hippies! For Freedom! Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Delgado, Quinn, Ramirez, Bartlett, Jimenez, Padilla (c), Ramos, Moctezuma, Medina, Clavijo, J. Garcia. Subs: Toninho, Donaldson, Klaas, Hartman, Morales, Garcia, Bennett. Moctezuma can't finish for anything, missing yet another chance in the seventh minute. That's not a problem for Joey Garcia, though, who puts us ahead in the 27th minute on a sparkling volley. That's the slim lead we take into the break, so I give the players a haranguing. It works well enough, with the game sealing goal coming after Clavijo earns a penalty and then converts from the spot himself. Costa Rica bang the post in the closing minutes, but for once we keep a clean sheet despite some hairy moments towards the end of the match. Man of the Match: Erik Jimenez   USMNT 2-0 Costa Rica     Wrexham has apparently decided to sign every early 20s defensive midfielder in the world. vs. Jamaica, July 26, 2029 Gold Cup, Semifinal  It's our second match against the Reggae Boyz in nine days. Maybe it's a good thing we got our crap performance out of the way in the group stage? Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Delgado, Donaldson, Ramirez, Klaas, Jimenez, Padilla (c), Vazquez, Moctezuma, B. Garcia, Clavijo, J. Garcia. Subs: Toninho, Quinn, Bartlett, Hartman, Ramos, Meza, Medina. Yep. After five minutes of play we've already put more points on the board than in our first tilt with the Jamaicans, thanks to Moctezuma finally finishing off one of the bajillion chances he regularly creates. We should have had a second, but the ref blew the whistle before Joey Garcia could add to his tournament leading total. Clavijo gets the second goal instead, and we roll to a pleasing victory and yet another United States v. Mexico final. Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moctezuma   USMNT 2-0 Jamaica vs. Mexico, July 29, 2029 Gold Cup, Final  Mexico hasn't won a Gold Cup in a decade. They have the best striker in the planet on their team, a player who I raised and molded into perhaps the best player on the planet. They have a midfield general who managed to hoodwink me in my club days and was the underlying cause of the disastrous Sinan Ünsal transfer, my single worst piece of business. Beating them is going to be almost as hard as beating Germany and Spain. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Counter Starting 11: Delgado, Quinn, Ramirez, Bartlett, Jimenez, Padilla (c), Ramos, Moctezuma, Medina, Clavijo, J. Garcia. Subs: Toninho, Donaldson, Klaas, Hartman, B. Garcia, Vazquez, Meza. Isaac Stringel does that thing he does in the 18th minute, but Bobby Padilla hits right back on a long range free kick. That's where the good news ends. Mexico scores again five minutes later, and it seems that early match is a track meet. It's the type of track meet where one of the runners trips over a hurdle and eats a face-full of dirt, though, as we quickly fall behind by two goals. That becomes a three goal deficit right after the half, and we don't even come close to getting back into the match. Diego Armando Cardiel of Roma proves the deadlier of the two Mexican strikers, as he completes his hat trick to finish the process of grinding us beneath their boot-heel, and only then lets the ref mercifully whistle the end of the match.   USMNT 1-5 Mexico  I know you can't win 'em all, but losing 5-1 to our mortal enemies in front of our own fans is a bitter pill. Mexico has now beaten us twice in a row by a combined score of 8-1.  Yeesh, nearly a clean sweep for El Tri. They won all six of their matches by a combined tally of 19-3.  I wish I knew how we were going to do come the final five qualifying matches. We've beaten some of the best teams in the world, and also lost to Jamaica in San Jose. I'm confident that we're going to qualify, but beyond that I have no idea what our record will be when the Hex comes to a close in three months. 
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Aug 15, 2015 02:04
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Damnit Scott the Confed cup win was glorious but losing at home to Mexico by 4...really
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Aug 15, 2015 02:18
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And the Gold Cup streak is over. Also, drat you Paul!  By the way, has the Mexican Team changed since 2027? You were always able to not get embarrassed by them even in a loss, but your recent form against them is concerning. Dreamsicle fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 02:40
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This team absolutely plays to the level of the competition. That being said, the Gold Cup squad was much, much weaker than the Confederations Cup one... and had the bad luck of running into a stacked Mexican team (in part because this game loves Mexico for some reason despite the fact that if anything they're even bigger underachievers than the United States).
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Aug 15, 2015 02:49
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Chapter the Sixth: The Hex, Part 2 August 1, 2029-December 31, 2029 C'mon. Just five wins in a row., including one over Mexico. That's all I want. Then we can settle in for a six month wait until the World Cup rolls around! Failing that, qualifying before the final international break would be really nice.  Paredes is listed as a “Key Player” on the Gladbach squad, which means he should get plenty of opportunities to shine in the Bundesliga. He's at the age where he could explode onto the world stage as a monster star in just a season of time.  Heeeey! Boumsong gets his due at a charity testimonial between the two English teams that he played for. Neato. I still remember his presence in the middle of my early EPL defenses.  Crud, though at least it makes my team selection a little easier.  Garcia is going to be my first choice striker, so it only makes sense to add him in as vice captain.  Paul Williams is selling off the farm, though in this case I'd have taken that offer in a heartbeat. Spyropoulos is a centerback with a jumping reach of 6 and a marking of 10 to go with Positioning 10.  That should be a good enough group to beat Honduras. Right?  Woo! See how well you do when you're not using a youth goalkeeper in actual matches, Paul?  This team is never going to be healthy. At Honduras, August 15, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  This is an away match at a country we should be defeating handily! Don't blow it! Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Latham, Stevens, Bartlett, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Coleman, Moctezuma, J. Garcia (c). Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Donaldson, Klaas, Needham, Couch, B. Garcia, Lopez, Enriquez, Ulusal, Clavijo, Williams. Honduras strike first in the 16th minute, reminding me that our defense is awful. They reiterate the point after halftime and we're suddenly sitting in fifth place and at very real risk of being on the outside looking in with four matches to play in qualifying. Then Andrew Paredes puts the team on his shoulders, scoring twice in the final minutes to salvage a draw. It's still not a good performance, but at least it's a point, and leaves us tied with three other countries for second place in the group. Man of the Match: Andrew Paredes   Honduras 2-2 USMNT  I don't care if you're feeling down in the dumps because you all played like crap. I only care that you play better, because this is unacceptable.  I guess Williams wasn't interested in putting up with Damgaard's poo poo.  He is winning trophies, though. Only five more to go to match my best, Paul!  Troyes is a French club that has spent most of it's life in the lower leagues of France, but they have a new Brazilian owner that's invested heavily and they managed to finish second last year to PSG and earn a Champions League spot.  Ok, now this should be good enough for matches against Jamaica and Trinidad, right?  Moctezuma is now the sixth former Red Dragon on the current Real Madrid roster, along with the Bastard, Bram Aarts, El Compadrito, Enrique, and Christian Taffarel. It's like a reunion over there! All for the low, low price of £204.5m.  I'm really starting to regret giving Joey Garcia the vice-captaincy. vs. Jamaica, September 7, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  Our B team beat Jamaica. This should be easy... Our B team also lost to Jamaica. This might be hard. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Bartlett, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Vazquez, Medina, Paredes, Garcia (c). Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Donaldson, Stevens, Needham, Couch, Hartman, Lopez, Enriquez, Moctezuma, Zimmerman, Clavijo. Jamaica scores in the 7th minute. We're an omnishambles. They proceed to play a violent game, and the ref is happy to let them. Mark Bartlett, one of our revolving menagerie of mediocre centerbacks, is injured in the 26th minute. Thank God we have Andrew Paredes, our sole shining star, who is able to even things on a corner kick before halftime. Paredes isn't done, scoring the go ahead goal in the 70th minute after more rough play from the Jamaicans made for a bumpy second half. Minutes later, after the 14th Jamaican foul of the night, Bobby Padilla curves a beautiful free kick in for a third goal. Man of the Match: Andrew Paredes   USMNT 3-1 Jamaica  This team has some firepower up front, but it really lacks any sort of quality defense. None of our centerbacks would be more than squad players in the Premier League, and they can never stay healthy!  Bah, humbug. This reminds me that I don't recall ever hearing back about Chris Ramirez's red card in the Confederations Cup. Apparently they tossed the suspension, because he's been available in every game since. At Trinidad and Tobago, September 11, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  Trinidad and Tobago have taken four points through their first seven matches. They're not mathematically eliminated quite yet, but they're five points behind the final qualification spot with only three games to play. Three points will also assure our qualification, so this is a pretty big match. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, C. Ramirez, Needham, Jimenez, Hartman, Vazquez, Paredes, Medina, Moctezuma, Garcia (c). Subs: Rubio de la Fuene, Delgado, Donaldson, Stevens, Ramirez, Padilla, Enriquez, Couch, Lopez, Zimmerman, Clavijo. Trinidad, and our porous defense, isn't going to make this easy. Within five minutes we're down two goals. After twenty, we're down three. The man responsible for all three goals is James Needham, who apparently died back in the summer and only now am I noticing because his legs keep falling off. Still, we have offense to spare. Paredes pulls one back just before the break, and Moctezuma gets a second bwith a full thirty minutes to play. It's looking like a rip-roaring comeback will take place. Then our defense stabs us in the back again, as Scott Stevens, who replaced James Needham at the half, puts in an own goal. Even another goal created by Paredes can't keep us from going down to defeat.   Trinidad 4-3 USMNT  Needham is done. His international career is now over. Who I replace him with, I don't know, because all the American defenders I see right now are lower league quality.  He played for us in the Gold Cup. Does that not count because it was our B team?  Great. Now we don't have a single left back of even Championship quality.  Wrexham is feeling sympathy pains.  STOP GETTING INJURED CONSTANTLY.   AAAAAAAAHHHHH!  I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER DEFENDERS, YOU DUMMIES.  ENOUGH ALREADY! YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY CONCUSSED OR NOT! vs. Mexico, October 12, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  We need to win if we want any chance at making our final qualification match meaningless, and prevent us from entering a playoff against New Zealand for the final World Cup spot. Given how well Mexico is playing, and how our defense isn't, I think the only way that happens is if there's a goal bonanza. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive Starting 11: Paladino, Latham, Donaldson, C. Ramirez, Bartlett, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Enriquez, Fisher (c), Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Wynalda, Bower, P. Ramirez, Stevens, Hyndman, Medina, Vazquez, Ulusal, Clavijo, Garcia. It takes Mexico four minutes to get on the board. We are doomed. We've always been doomed. Andrew Paredes makes another great play, this time finding Hunter Fisher at the far post for the equalizer. We're saved. We've always been saved. Late in the first half another counter attack sees Rodrigo Moctezuma break free thanks again to Andrew Paredes. We're winning! Who ever thought we wouldn't? On the other side of the break Paredes blows by his marker and is in perfect position for a Michael Enriquez pass, and he buries the shot to give us a two goal lead. Our lord and savior! Who else could it be but Andrew Paredes! Our defense is holey in a much different way, and within five minutes the game is back with a goal. Are we going to survive? No, no we are not going to survive. In the final minute of stoppage time Mexico break through again, and we are denied victory. Our souls are still at mortal risk, perilously close to being consigned to Man of the Match: Andrew Paredes, who died for our defenses sins.   USMNT 3-3 Mexico  YOU'RE SATISFIED WITH BLOWING A TWO GOAL LEAD? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! ARE YOU POINT SHAVING FOR SOME GAMBLING SYNDICATE!?  Paredes has been magnificent:  8 goals and 6 assists in 13 matches over the past year. Six of those goals and three of the assists have come in just the past four qualifiers. Without him we'd be up the creek without a paddle. At Costa Rica, October 16, 2029 CONCACAF World Cup Qualification, The Hex  If we win or draw we finish second or third in the group. That's awful, but we still qualify for the World Cup. If we lose, we finish 4th. That is a fate too horrible to comprehend. I do not want to pin our hopes on a home and away tie with New Zealand. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Counter Starting 11: Paladino, Latham, P. Ramirez, C. Ramirez, Bartlett, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Enriquez, Fisher (c), Moctezuma. Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Wynalda, Bower, P. Ramirez, Stevens, Hyndman, Medina, Vazquez, Ulusal, Clavijo, Garcia. Congratulations Pablo Ramirez, you've earned yourself another start with your third minute header. Even if you're just as bad defensively as all the other American centerbacks, at least you contributed something more than dumbly looking on as micro-nations like Trinidad drop four goals on us. From that point on Costa Rica spends most of the match defending and trying to murder our players. Moctezuma goes down injured, badly, in the 11th minute, while Paredes hits the crossbar twice and is denied thrice by a sprawling Costa Rican keeper. Late in the match Xavier Hughes must also take a stretcher off the pitch as Costa Rica are scything us down and have earned six yellow cards for it with a full twenty minutes left to play. It doesn't score them any goals, though, and we make that early header stand up by keeping our first clean sheet since playing Senegal this summer. Man of the Match: Chris Ramirez   Costa Rica 0-1 USMNT  Well, that took long enough, but we ended up finishing second in the group behind only Mexico thanks to Mexico's 7-0 dismantling of Honduras in their final qualifier. Mexico is scary as hell, guys.  Also scary is how bad our defense was. We racked up plenty of goals, but unless we do something about the defense we're not going to last long next summer. Still, we've got eight months before the World Cup to figure something out. Now, about those injuries inflicted by Costa Rica as they decided it was better for them to attack our players than actually qualify for the World Cup.  That's not too bad, he won't miss much time with his club. What about Moctezuma?     This loving game. 
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Aug 15, 2015 06:40
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So, that's you eliminated in the group stages, right?
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Aug 15, 2015 14:17
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Talk about an injury crisis.
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Aug 15, 2015 16:09
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I guess even here the FIFA Intercontinental Championship (Confederations Cup) is cursed. Makes sense since the 2025 Confed Cup winner (England) got bounced in the second round when they were the favorite to win it all.
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Aug 15, 2015 16:15
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Bumping in case this gets worked on. (I did this for an old JA2 lp so I don't think I'm breaking rules). In a related note, FM16 is coming out and there's integrated create-a-club which means it's easier for you to create Tackleford and crush them.
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Oct 7, 2015 22:16
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FM16 beta's out and it looks promising. Maybe we could start a succession game once the full game is released. Any takers?
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Oct 28, 2015 21:51
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I'm not dead yet.
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Dec 14, 2015 05:50
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Just take your time man, as long as the thread doesn't get archived it'll be fine.
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Dec 18, 2015 03:36
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Bumping this because Habeas stated he still has plans for this. In the event something happens, can incomplete LP's go in the archive?
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Feb 17, 2016 03:10
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Dreamsicle posted:Bumping this because Habeas stated he still has plans for this. In the event something happens, can incomplete LP's go in the archive? Clearly the problem is someone is doing a LLM run with Leicester
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Feb 17, 2016 07:26
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Ironically went to the national mob museum in Las Vegas today and they had an exhibit on the US busting FIFA and Blatter and I thought of this thread
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Feb 17, 2016 08:36
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