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TSG 1899 Hoffenheim: Bursting into the Bundesliga (FM09)
I think many fans are already familiar with Hoffenheim's story. Software mogul Dietmar Hopp, having affection for the club after playing for their youth team in the 50s, decided he didn't want them toiling in the lower divisions any longer. His financial backing started in 1990 when Hoffenheim played in the 8th level of German football. Eighteen years and 120 million pounds later Hoffenheim find themselves at the top of the German football pyramid - the Bundesliga.
I really have no experience managing top tier teams as I've always taken over lower level or mid-level teams previously. I've switched things up this time around for the sake of trying something different and because I've fallen in love with the setup at Hoffenheim. They have a young and ambitious squad, top facilities, and the financial resources to become a force in Europe. Nothing wrong with all of that, right? Should also mention that they'll be moving from their current stadium, which has a capacity of 6350, to a brand spanking new one with a capacity of 30,000 in January (new digs ftw). When creating my manager profile I gave myself both German and Bosnian citizenship. I like to give myself a second nationality as it adds a little backstory and an extra x-factor. There are a couple of Bosnians on the team currently and one of them is my favorite player for the time being, so that I why I picked Bosnia. I gave myself professional experience. On June 12th 2008 I accept a one-year contract valued at 9,500 eur/wk to manage Hoffenheim.  Full Name: Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. :eek: Nickname: Hoffe Founded: July 1st, 1899 Reputation: National (6000), T14th in the Bundesliga Chairman Status: Loves the club Rivals: None Finances: Rich Season Ticket Holders: 14,000 Estimated Value: 57m euros Corporate Facilities: Good Training Facilities: Top Youth Facilities: Excellent + Youth Academy    |
I'll start things off by doing a not-so-brief rundown of the squad as it is currently on day one of my tenure. I've already decided that I'll be using a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. I'll look to explain why in the coming posts.
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GOALKEEPERS
 We should be okay at the keeper position for now. German international Timo Hildebrand comes over to the Bundesliga after being Valencia's first choice last season. He's solid, but nothing spectacular. Austrian international Ramazan Ozcan and Daniel Haas are pretty much a wash in my eyes. I'll probably give Ozcan the nod at first backup for now. I like having three solid keepers, so I won't be shipping anyone out for the time being anyways. Daniel Bernhardt can get the scraps at my U23/Reserves team. The other three young'ns are nothing special and show that I lack a decent keeper prospect.
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CENTREBACKS
 Another place where I'll be able to stand pat for awhile. I think I'd be fine if any of the top five started. Marvin Compper and Matthias Jaissle are the two I'll ask to start and the former might be asked to be captain. Jaissle is part of the German U21 squad currently and has some potential to get better according to my ass man. Swedish international Per Nilsson should see plenty of action as well, especially since I'll have the option to move Compper and Jaissle around. Isaac Vorsah is a manbeast. He should have a very visible physical presence. Good thing he is equally skilled at defensive midfielder, so I can get him on the pitch more often. Fabricio is on a loan to buy contract from Brazilian squad Flamengo. I won't worry about the option to buy him for 3.5m euros until that times comes at the end of the season. He's got some very solid attributes. I'm just not sure if he'll get all that much playing time. Christoph Janker is a depth guy that probably has a spot on the squad since he can cover at right back. You'll find that I've got no problem keeping some extra guys around, since I'm far from a penny pinching situation. :) No one else is worth talking about really.
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FULLBACKS
  There aren't too many natural fullbacks on the squad currently. Obviously, that's partially offset because a few of my centrebacks can slide over. Andreas Beck is another guy that looks to have some potential. Andreas Ibertsberger is an Austrian international that should be fine for now. My assistant seems to think that left back is the weakest spot on my team, so I'll keep an eye on Ibertsberger's form. I'll hope that none of the U23/19 guys have to see first team action. With that said I'll probably have to bring at least one more fullback on board, preferably one that can cover each side.
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DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS
 Luis Gustavo isn't quite there yet, but he's got star potential. Hopefully his tackling is something that will rise. How about that mugshot though? The Brazilian looks like he has a mean streak! Vorsah seems like he should be able to play DM as good as he can play DC. Steffen Haas looks like an okay prospect. However, he's on loan at 3.Liga side Offenbach for the season and I don't have the option to recall him. I'll need to add one defensive midfielder at the minimum.
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CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS
 Sejad Salihovic is my current mancrush. He's a very technical player and set piece extraordinaire. Tobias Weis is a natural side midfielder, but he should be plenty comfotable moving to the inside. That's a good thing as I've got no use for wide players with my formation plans. It's worth noting that Weis is currently named to Germany's main squad. Selim Teber is the current club captain. He won't be starting, so I'll probably give someone else the armband. He's a solid backup to have though.
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ATTACKING CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS
 Carlos Eduardo is another Brazilian with the potential to become a star in the Bundesliga. As far as I can tell, Eduardo has been Hoffe's most expensive transfer at 7 million euros. Moving him up to the AMC spot should make him that much more effective. Christopher Hock is more suited to play on the right side and really he's not that good over there either. He'll probably get moved at some point as he won't have much use on this squad in the long term. I'll need to add another AMC.
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STRIKERS
  I'm a TT&F follower, so I break my strikers up as wwfan asks in his guide. The FCd sits back a little bit to better link with the midfield, while the FCa is the primary goalscorer. With that said, I have no shortage of options here. I didn't attempt to rank them at each spot, only on an overall basis. Time will tell what combinations work best. Vedad Ibisevic is the second Bosnian on the squad. His family has moved around with his great ability. Vedad spent time in Switzerland before moving to St. Louis where he played high school and college soccer. He also played in the USL Premier Developmental League before moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2004. He seems best suited for the FCa spot with his natural goalscoring ability. Behind Ibisevic are three formidible Africans who can hold their own. Chinedu Obasi is very gifted technically and seems suited for the FCd position. It'd be interesting to see him play at MR in a 4-4-2. Demba Ba is pretty good at everything. He has great physical and mentral attributes, while his technicals leave at least a little bit to be desired. For now, I fully intend to rotate Ibisevic, Obasi, and Ba in the starting lineup (2 starts every 3 games) as they have all been given guarantees at first team football and I believe they each deserve it. We'll see how long that works out... Boubacar Sanogo is on a loan to buy contract from Werder Bremen. I'll have an option to buy him for 5 million euros at the end of the season. Sanogo is your classic target man and I could see him being plenty of use against teams with very large centrebacks. Wellington is the third and final Brazilian on the squad. He's solid, but there is a bit of a dropoff from the rest of the strikers and him. He also is in the mold of a target man.
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OVERALL ANALYSIS
There you have it. A pretty formidable team from the start. Chairman Dietmar Hopp informs me that the minimum expectations are a mid-table finish in the Bundesliga. I believe we can aim a bit higher and respond by telling him that we can at least finish in the top half. With those expectations were are giving a transfer budget of 6.5 million euros while the wage budget will be 650,000 euros per week. We are currently spending 379,847 per week, so yeah, that is pretty generous. Obviously I can turn a bunch of that into extra funds for transfers. By nature I'm a pretty conservative spender. I like my current squad quite a bit, so I probably won't be looking to make a big splash during this first transfer window. Not unless someone really catches my eye or a current squad member has a catastrophic injury early in the season. I'd much rather send my soon to be 13 scouts to various places around the globe in hopes of gathering an international who's who list in the world of football. Then we'll see where we are in January. I want there to be some semblance of control in my roster workings. Money won't be much of an object when it comes to bringing more skilled players aboard, but our club reputation will. We have a lot of good going on around here at Hoffe, but the big boys (Bayern, Werder Bremen, HSV, Schalke, etc.) are still the most likely destination for world-class footballers in the Bundesliga. Going solely off of what my assistant marks as "realistic targets" there are only 11 players valued at 5 million euros or more. This will be a work in progress and any players that I bring in the near future will have to be young and ambitious! So here we go. Onward and upward or something. |
WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW
Midfielders, midfielders, midfielders. We need cover at DM, MC, and AMC. Probably three guys and preferably ones that can cover multiple positions. I would also like to bring another versatible fullback on board, so I'm not forced to start sliding my centrebacks around from the get go. I have two guys on loan now (Fabricio and Sanogo) and can have a maximum of four at one time. I fully intend to bring a couple more players on loan as it's easy to bring skilled players aboard that can't do much complaining about their playing time. That's good because I just need some depth and don't really want to make any brash signings right off the bat as mentioned previously. I'll see who's listed for loan. I should have my pick of the litter. Can't see many guys rejecting Bundesliga football, no matter what team I am. |
CONTRACT INFO
Probably makes sense to post this, eh?
NOTES -haven't touched anyone's squad status yet - those are defaults -Shakhtar is after Obasi. Too bad he's under contract til 2012! -Vorsah is recovering from damaged cruciate ligaments. Doesn't sound good, but he's only 2-3 weeks away from being fully healed (hopefully) |
SHORTLIST AND STAFF HIRING
Just about to hit the continue button for the first time in this career. After looking for players at the positions of need listed above I've got 41 players on my shortlist. There are a few guys that don't fit the criteria above and are thus far unrealistic targets. Michael Ballack, Landon Donovan, and Steven Cherundolo. I'd just like to keep tabs on them for now. :)
I've also made job offers to 11 scouts and 6 coaches. A plethora of nationalities are represented as I'm going to be using the majority of them for their scouting knowlege. For example, I'm buying out the contract of one particular Arsenal scout who is rather skilled and also has full knowledge of England, Italy, and the United States. It'll cost me 120k - all worth it IMO! As I couldn't find very many good African scouts I hired a couple of African coaches instead. Nigeria and Ghana ftw (to go along with the Cameroonian scout I offered). Hopefully everyone signs. The prize of the bunch would be Brazilian scout Andre. I offered him 2k per week in hopes of squashing all offers from Brazilian clubs. I'm sure I could scout South America just as effectively without a Brazilian scout as long as I've got the knowledge, but it just wouldn't feel the same. |
STAFF UPDATE
I ended up signing every coach and scout that I made an offer too. It was oh so very suspenseful. ;)
Here's a screenshot of my current staff. It be like the Epcot Center around here!  I poached Karbassiyoon from Arsenal, Karembeu and Walker from Portsmouth, and Lopez from Manchester United. I may have bought some of the others out too, but those four were the most expensive. Having a good scouting staff is imperative to me. Those guys not only had unique scouting knowledge, but very good scouting attributes as well. All in all, I spent 450,000 euros buying out coaches and scouts from their previous teams. |
INTERNATIONAL DUTY AND INJURIES
Six Hoffenheim first teamers are currently on internationaly duty.
-Eduardo, Gustavo, and Fabricio are with the U20 Brazilian squad -Obasi is with Nigeria, Ba with Senegal, and Sanogo is traveling back after playing with Ivory Coast Unfortunately Gustavo will miss his team's game against Argentina as he just tore a groin muscle and is expected to miss 5-6 weeks. In other injury news, Daniel Haas managed to break a finger during training and will also be out 5-6 weeks. Hooray for injuries! |
SIGNINGS COMING SOON?
Slowly but surely reports on my initial targets start coming in from my scouts and assistant manager. For starters, I'm not really impressed with most of the guys available for loan. I'm not sure any of them are too ready for Bundesliga football, though some have potential. This has led me to seek other options.
At DM I'm looking at an unattached player from Brazil. Paulinho Dias has been given good reviews from Brazilian scout Andre and my ass man. He's 20 years old and sort of resembles Gustavo except for his size (he's much shorter at 5-9). Some other clubs are after him, but no major players. I raise his wage demands a little bit and tweak a few other things to make sure he signs. He asks to be part of the rotation and I think I can comply with that. I'm also zeroing in on a Swiss midfielder that's currently playing in the Swiss Axpo Super League. Valentin Stocker is a natural central midfielder, but he should be able to cover at AMC as well. Like Dias he's not a world beater, but is plenty skilled for a young player. Stocker turned 19 in April. He is a team-oriented player with flair and great passing and no real weaknesses. He's valued at 300k. I make an enquiry to his club, Basel, and they tell me they want 1.2m for him. My scouts told me a bid of 675-975k would be necessary, so I don't mess around too much and offer them 975k. We'll see what they think. |
WORKING QUICK - THREE PLAYERS SIGN
Didn't take long to fill some holes. Paulinho Dias signed as I thought he would. From now on I will be referring to him as Paulinho. Is that a Brazilian name wax? :confused:. 11,000 eur/wk until 2011. His value starts out at 825k. Not bad for a free transfer.
 Basel agreed to my new transfer terms, then Valentin Stocker and I hammered out a contract very quickly. He'll make 3.5k eur/wk until 2011. He won't join the squad until the transfer window official opens on July 1st. Hocker is looking forward to playing in a 'better standard of league'.  Finally, I found my depth guy at fullback. American U20 Fabian Johnson fit my profile perfectly. He's natural at both fullback positions, he's young, and he's already acclimated to the German game as he's moving over from 2.Bundesliga side 1860 Munchen, a club he's been with since 2003. He's not going to threaten anyone's starting place, but I should be able to plug him in here and there. It cost me 220k to pry him away and he accepted a contract worth 3.5 eur/wk over 4 years. Again, he'll join us when the transfer window opens.  As for what's next I'd still like to find at least one player to bring in on loan. As to what position I'll be focusing on I'm not totally sure. I have to say that I love the fact that when you play a Germany game you get around a month before you're first friendly is scheduled. I really like being able to have a stable squad put together before any games start. Note: Looking at Johnson's wiki entry, it appears that he has played for Germany's youth teams in the past. He was born in Munich and holds both German and American citizenship. In the game, however, he is declared for the US and is currently part of the U20 American team. So that's that. |
U23 TEAM
You may have noticed all those crappy guys in between my first team and U19 team up above in the MS Excel pics. They form my very formidable U23 team. Okay, so I'm not so sure how formidable they are. They suck, but they play in the 5th level of German football. I'm not totally certain how I'm going to use the team. Imaginary fixtures will be played by that team and I think stats are generated and players' condition should be affected. In that sense, I can really treat it like a regular reserves team I guess. I will have to keep an eye on how older players and foreigners are treated since some or all U23 leagues have player restrictions. I just don't know if the game places restrictions on a league that basically runs in the background.
As for the current U23 squad, I really don't want to just gut the whole team right off of the bat. I probably could and not feel much wrath as pretty much everyone is useless. I've offered everyone under the age of 21 on loan (hence the L's by their names), but there have been no takers yet (lol). If no one wants them the only options I have are terminating their contracts, trying to transfer them (which would be futile I'm sure), or just let them play out their contracts. I think I'm going to slowly add more talented players to the team over the course of the season. We'll see where we are at the end of the season and go from there. Anyone with a contract that runs beyond 2009 or beyond might be in trouble though! |
Also, my U19 team kind of sucks as well. It shouldn't though. Perhaps there is a diamond or two in the rough, because my youth setup is pretty top notch (17 out of 20). Only one kid has more than 3 star (out of 7) potential and that's 15-year old defender Alessandro Giannoni. Don't you bust on me, Giannoni!
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Keep it up Sovvy. Good stuff.
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It's pretty disgusting, am I right? |
MISC
Demba Ba scored two goals for Senegal in a World Cup Qualifier against Liberia and everyone else returns back from international duty in full health. I'll be taking in an AMC/MC loanee on board as soon as I get a scout report on one other guy.
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I am not a big soccer guy but I am finding this easy enough to get. Pick a longer team name next time though, am I right? |
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Sweet. If you (or anyone else) have any questions, do ask. There might be some things that are pretty FM-centric and I'm not always sure what things need more hashing out. |
UPCOMING FRIENDLIES
There was a holdup in getting a target in on loan. I was not able to make an offer to loan anyone and it had something to do with the transfer window not being open. Pretty much every other game I've played before started in the middle of the transfer window, so I don't feel terribly stupid for making that mistake. Since it's now July 1st I can now make loan offers. One thing that's new in FM09 is the ability to ask your assistant manager to compile a report on players that are available to loan at certain positions. I already tried doing this a couple of times and both times came up empty handed. I'm wondering if that's also a side effect of the window being closed. I'm going to try doing it one more time and see if any new AMCs pop up. Doubtful, but I'm really in no hurry. A third side effect of the closed window might be the lack of interest in my young U23 players. Maybe computer teams won't show any interest until the window opens. It's hard to say. They do suck, so... I'll offer them to teams again and see what's cooking. There is only one German cup competition and that's the Deutscher Fussball-Bund-Pokal (or DFB-Pokal). The draw for the tournament is in five days. I'll delve into the particulars of that competition at another time. |
JULY 4TH
Valentin Stocker and Fabian Johnson both officially joined the team. My assistant really likes Stocker and goes as far as giving him 6-star potential at the centre mid position, which is quite a bit better than the 4-star potential he gives him at AMC. I get a note about how the fans are excited for Johnson, likely because I gave him a squad role of 'hot prospect'. Stocker is the much better prospect, but was given a role of 'rotation' instead which will guarantee him some playing time.
A number of my U23 players did wind up getting intererest from teams that'd like to loan them. Mainly 3rd division teams, but a couple of players (Schon and Vukcevic I belive) got offers from 2.Bundesliga (2nd division) teams. All players would act as cover to the first team according to the interested teams. My AMC loan plans have gone awry again. I was focusing on one guy - Bayer Leverkusen's Deniz Naki. I made a loan offer for the 18-year old - taking on all of his wages - but his team wants a bid of 625k to go along with it. In English leagues it's not uncommon for fees like that when you're trying to get a stud to come on board for a full season. In the Bundesliga I don't even have an option for a shorter term loan, so it's pay a fee or don't loan the guy apparently. Naki looks decent, but he's no stud and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay that amount for a short-term role player. I'll immediately look for a transfer, whether it be a free one or not. In other news, more teams have begun to show interest in Chinedu Obasi. These include Hamburg and Schalke. Immediately a news report popped up on how he was flattered and that he'd be torn if someone like Schalke made a bid for him. Well, buddy, did you forgot that 5-year deal you signed with the team less than a year ago? You ain't going nowhere! I'm not going to issue a hands-off yet as that would probably alienate Obasi at this point. Nope, I'd rather wait for him to complain a bit, then back down when he realizes he's not even close to the end of his deal. A number of French teams (as well as Schalke and Hamburg) are showing interest in French-speaking Demba Ba. Well, they can kiss my butt. Oui oui. |
SECOND-GUESSING THE 4-1-2-1-2
As I've got my first friendly coming up very shortly I spent a couple of hours preparing my tactics for the first time last night. In doing this I realized that I'm really not comfortable with the 4-1-2-1-2. I'm not an advanced tactician by any means and I've never used anything BUT a typical 4-4-2. I became apprehensive when it came to various tweaks. I decided that if I didn't change to a 4-4-2 now I probably would later at the first sight of trouble.
There are some advantages and disadvantages to this change. One big disadvantage is that it takes Brazilians Gustavo and Eduardo out of their most comfortable position. Each player is versatile, but they might not be quite as productive in spots other than DMC and AMC. One large advantage to the switch is that I can now keep Ibisevic, Ba, and Obasi on the pitch at the same time. Obasi can play quite effectively at right midfielder. Eduardo will line up on the opposite side and Weis, now displaced by the defensive-minded Gustavo at MCd, will provide depth at all midfield positions. He actually prefers playing on the sides.   |
Loving the detail so far. Sweet player profiles too.
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Keep it up .. Gophers suck.
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LET'S ROCK
My first group of tactics have been created. For those familiar with the Tactical Theorems and Frameworks Project, I chose 'Role Theory' as my mentality system. Never used that before, so we'll see how that goes.
I decided to name a new captain and vice captain. Selim Teber is not in my first team plans and doesn't make sense as captain anymore. I chose Marvin Compper. Like Teber, he's been with the team for awhile, he has high determination and influence, is young, and I see him as a cog in my defense for a long time. Teber is outraged at the change, but fortunately he's the only one. A handful of players express their happiness at Compper's appointment. Verdad Ibisevic goes another route and says he feels he would make a better candidate than Compper - interesting. I'm slightly biased towards defensive players when it comes to the captaincy, otherwise Verdad would be a good candidate. I choose Timo Hildrebrand as vice captain as he has all the right qualities for a captain as well. Time for our first friendly. I won't be going into great detail for these preseason matches. |
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Nice motivation. If I wasn't looping 'Eye of the Tiger' for the entire day I would so play the Minnesota Rouser right now. |
JULY 8 - FC ISTRES (A) - FRIENDLY
FC Istres: 3-1, Draw: 2-1, Hoffenheim: 4-5(Fav)
FC Istres is one of the better teams in France's 3rd division, Championnat National. Haas and Gustavo are still hurt, so they won't be playing. Vorsah is ready to roll while Eduardo's condition is very low, which I'm assuming is because of international play. Teber and Ibisevic have very low morale. Must have something to do with the recent events surrounding the captain's role. For those that don't know, for friendy matches you get to name 12 subs and use 12. Everyone will get some playing time today. We dominate as expected. Salihovic took advantage of a defensive mistake in the 11th minute. Weis latched onto an Obasi cross in the 31st. And finally Ibisevic netted a penalty in the 58th minute. Obasi schooled their left back all day. He should be fun to watch on the outside. Salihovic showed his set piece skills when he clanked one off of the woodwork in the first half. Istres had one shot and it was off target. Possession was 68% to 32% and every other stat favors us as well. Man of the Match was Tobias Weis. Au revoir, FC Istres. Hoffenheim 3, FC Istres 0 |
MISC
-Ukrainian power Shakhtar Donetsk have made an offer worth up to 10.5 million euros for Chinedu Obasi. I tell them that the Ukraine is weak, it's feeble.
-In other Ukrainian-related news, I've made a free transfer offer to a versatile 20-year old midfielder/striker. The unattached Rinar Valeev can play all midfield positions as well as striker. Solid, not spectacular physical and technical attributes. Very good mental attributes. My assistant likes him and a couple of Ukrainian premier league teams are after him. I'm a thrifty guy and I like signing guys for free, so I make an offer for the U21 vice captain. -The draw for the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) was earlier week, so I'll talk about that next -Suprise, surprise. Obasi is upset for me not letting him hold talks with Shakhtar. |
DFB-POKAL CUP
The DFB-Pokal Cup is a single elimination tournament consisting of 64 German league teams. All 36 Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga teams are entered along with other lower division teams. The first round is suppose to pit the amateur teams (which host) against the professional teams, though that doesn't seem to be the exact case in FM.
While many Bundesliga teams are facing amateur teams we get to face professional 2.Bundesliga side FC Augsburg - yippee for us. We'll face them on the 9th of August. That is a week before the Bundesliga season kicks off. The board expects me to reach the semifinals of the DFB-Pokal Cup. No pressure there! |
VALEEV SIGNS
 I have millions and I'm afraid to use them! Valeev accepts a backup role and 4,400 euros/wk. He might not get a ton of time, but his versatility should be a plus if injuries come to play at some point. His value starts off at 1.4 million euros. And oh snap. I don't know how it happened, but as soon as he joins my team I notice he has a sprained ankle and is out for 2-3 weeks. I'm pretty sure I would've noticed the red injured tag when I was looking at him initially. As mentioned previously, he was not playing for a club when I signed him. Whatev. Not a big deal. In other news, Dutch giant PSV is now interested in Obasi. My assistant says I should issue a hands-off warning to clubs and I agree. |
JULY 17 - HEREFORD (A) - FRIENDLY
Hereford: 7-1, Draw: 3-1, Hoffenheim: 1-3(Fav)
Hereford plays in League One, England's 3rd division. Haas, Gustavo, and Valeev are out. Eduardo's condition has improved, so he starts. In the 6th minute Obasi gets the ball in the middle of the opposition's final third. He proceeds to play with the Hereford defense as he circles around to the right and dribbles around everyone and right into the box. He puts away an easy goal. That is precisely why he is staying. After coming on at half time Ibisevic shows some strength in the 49th minute. He muscled his way threw a tackle and placed a shot from just outside the box. In the 78th Andrew Williams gives Hereford some life. Fabricio gave him too much space and Williams made him pay. Th-th-th-that's all folks! Obasi is Man of the Match. Hoffenheim 2, Hereford 1 |
MISC
-I offer a hands-off warning to Greek side Panathinaikos letting them no that Demba Ba is not going anywhere.
-Shakhtar increases their offer for Obasi to 12.7 million euros (from 10.5). Damn, they are serious. But so am I. |
JULY 19 - SCUNTHORPE (A) - FRIENDLY
Scunthorpe: 3-1, Draw: 2-1, Hoffenheim: 4-5(Fav)
Scunthorpe is the second of three League One teams we'll be facing in the preseason. Same drill as before. Demba Ba picks up a knock in the 19th. He's able to stay on, but his condition takes a big hit and isn't rising, so I take him off. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. Scunthorpe strikes first in the 32nd minute as Grant McCann gets some space in front of the box and strikes a violent blast from 30 yards out that beats Hildebrand. We finally get on the board in the 65th as Eduardo links up with Obasi in front of the box. Three minutes later and Obasi scores another as he latches onto a rebound after a short range blast from Sanago gets blocked by the keeper. Johnson and Wellington pick up knocks, Johnson's being bad enough that I take him off the field. In the 91st Wellington connects with a long ball that's over everyone and puts us up 3-1. Obasi and his two goals win MotM. Hoffenheim 3, Scunthorpe 1 |
INJURY REPORT
Demba Ba -- twisted ankle -- OUT for around 3 weeks
Fabian Johnson -- bruised rib -- OUT for 4-5 days Rinar Valeev -- sprained ankle -- OUT for 12 days to 3 weeks Wellington is fine apparently. Daniel Haas and Luis Gustavo should be ready to resume full training in a couple of days. |
JULY 22 - LEEDS (A) - FRIENDLY
Leeds: 6-4(Fav), Draw: 2-1, Hoffenheim: 13-8
Leeds are slight favorites heading into this one. Leed's Neil Kilkenny gets too much space and blasts a 25 yarder home in just the 6th minute. Nice start. In the 32nd Compper misjudges a far post corner kick and knocks it into his own net. 2-0 Leeds. Leeds strike again quickly in the 2nd half. A far post cross finds its way in the corner of the net and they go ahead 3-0. Ozcan is in net FWIW. In the 53rd Weis dribbles down the right and crosses one in front of the net which Ibisevic quickly pounces on and puts in the back of the net. Yay, we finally get one. Some pretty passing in the 75th sees Salihovic net one. We're back in business! Ibisevic cleans up the garbage around the net in extra time and finds the net for the 2nd time. We end up tied at 3. Nice little comeback. Suck on it, oddsmakers! Ibisevic is MotM. Hoffenheim 3, Leeds 3 |
JULY 25 - KV MECHELEN (H) - FRIENDLY
Hoffenheim: Evens(Fav), Draw: 9-4, KV Mechelen: 9-4
KV Mechelen plays in the Jupiler League, which is Belgium's top division. This is our first match at home. Sanago and Ibisevic create havoc with their heads in the 22nd as Ibisevic nets another friendly goal. Salihovic bends one into the goal in the 28th minute to make it 2-0. Obasi gets one in the 82nd. That's it. 3-0 good guys. Salihovic gets MotM. Hoffenheim 3, KV Mechelen 0 |
MISC
-Marvin Compper sustained a chest injury lifting weights and is expected to miss 9-11 days.
-Timo Hildebrand sprained an ankle during training and is out for 4 weeks. I cancelled my friendly with Spanish side Ponferradina. We just had too many friendlies scheduled in too short of a time for my liking. Like 5 in 11 days. I scheduled a game with my U23 team a week before my cup game. It'll be our last friendly. Heh. Forgot that the Olympics were coming up and I have a few players that will be playing in them: Chinedu Obasi -- Nigeria Fabricio -- Brazil Fabian Johnson -- U-S-A, U-S-A That will obviously affect their status for the Bundesliga opener and maybe more depending on how their teams do. |
FINAL FRIENDLY
Hoffenheim 2, Hoffenheim II 1
We barely get by the reserve team. 44 minutes in they were ahead 1-nil, but Ibisevic notched a goal right before the half. Quite a pathetic effort really, since my reserves team is made up of guys that nobody wants to loan, ghost players, and my older youth players that I moved up for the game. Don't know what to think of that performance. The worst part is that Carlos Eduardo sustained strained knee ligaments after turning awkwardly and now he'll be out for 5-6 weeks. Got to love injuries. |
AUGUST 9 - AUGSBURG (AWAY) - DFB-POKAL, 1ST RD
Augsburg: 7-4, Hoffenheim: 5-4(Fav), Attendence: 22,701
Here we go. Everything counts from here on out. As mentioned previously, we are expect to make the final four in this cup tournament. Playing a 2nd Bundesliga team on the road is no simple task. Fortuantely, they are missing a few first teamers as well. 7 bench players and 3 substitutes are allowed. Only 3 non-EU players are allowed in the starting lineup for this cup. ----- Ibisevic---Sanogo Teber---Salihovic---Gustavo---Weis Ibertsberger---Compper---Jaissle---Beck Ozcan ----- Subs: D.Haas, Nilsson, Janker, Vorsah, Dias, Stocker, Wellington Unavailable: Hildebrand, Fabricio, Johnson, Obasi, Eduardo ----- --I have to take Sanago off within the first 10 minutes as he's picked up a knock and his condition has been cut in half. *sigh* --There's a flurry and lots of bodies in front of our net off of a corner in the 15th. Great chance for Augsburg, but we end up blocking and clearing. --After Compper picks up a yellow for a hard trip, one of Augsburg's better players lines up for a free kick just outside the box in the 24th minute. And it ricochets off the wall and out of bounds it goes. --In the 28th minute some nice passing sees Wellington with the ball just inside the box. He has multiple defenders around him, but finds enough space to get a shot off. It goes in! 1-0 Hoffenheim --It's the 36th minute and Salihovic will get a chance at goal as he lines up for a free kick just a small number of yards outside of the box. It deflects off of the wall. --Still 1-0 at the break. The score doesn't show it, but we're dominating. Possession is 59-41, shots are 13-4 (5-0 on target). --Salihovic gets away with a possible penalty in the goalkeeper's area in the 48th. I thought they were offsides anyways. --Someone gets a short range shot against Ozcan in the 51st, but it's saved. We're looking a little shaky early in the half. --Augsburg gets on the board in the 58th. Beck headed it back to Ozcan, but it hung up too long and one of their players intercepted it and put in in the net. 1-1 --Salihovic hits the crossbar on a long bending shot in the 61st --Ibisevic has to come off in the 63rd. Of course he does. Can't be good if he can't even stay on for another second. I have no other strikers, so I bring in Stocker, put him at left midfielder, and move Teber up with Wellington. This should be interesting. --Great chance in the 68th for Augsburg and they score, BUT they get called for offsides. Their player gets a yellow for insubordinance. --I bring on Dias for Gustavo in the 81st. --Jaissle picks up a yellow in the 88th. Probably a good foul as their player was close to breaking in by himself. --We're square after 90. Into extra time we go. --Halfway through extra time and it's still 1-1. Oh the agony! --We're dominating possession, but just can't create a very good chace. --Dias tackles a player hard in the 118th minute and he picks up a red card! Oh dear. I decide to shut up shop and hope it gets to penalties. And it does. --Couldn't make this up. First competitive match and it goes to penalty kicks. The large majority of my best penalty takers are unavailable at this point. --Salihovic lines up first... GOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL --Thurk lines up for Augsburg and... he scores --Teber steps forward... he scores! --Prettenthaler walks up to the penalty spot... puts it in the net --Stocker's up next for us... boo-yah he scores! --Szabics up for Augsburg... Ozcan blocks it! Wooo 3-2 advantage --Here comes Wellington... he buries it! --Sinkala next for the bad buys. If he misses we win... he nails it! booooo --Compper can seal it for us. Come on captain, take control of the ship!.. GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Good guys win! Good guys win! Augsburg's Andrew Sinkala is named Man of the Match. Hoffenheim 1, Augsburg 1 (Hoffenheim wins penalty shootout 5-3) |
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It's matches like that one that make this game the best there is. You can't tell me that watching those little guys line up for penalty kicks isn't the greatest thing ever in a video game!
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Exciting start to the year. Good work.
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POST-MATCH NEWS
-It's a huge relief to find out that neither Verdad Ibisevic or Boubacar Sanogo are seriously injured. They are, in fact, showing no signs of injury whatsoever besides being a little more tanked than everyone else. I was hoping this would be the end result, because I at least saw Ibisevic run onto the field after the penalty shootout!
-Because of his red card Paulinho will be banned for our next cup match. Our opponent for the 2nd Round will be drawn in a week. -I schedule a reserves vs. U19 friendly, so a few players can improve their match fitness. Demba Ba, Rinar Valeev, and Daniel Haas will all see action hopefully. -Chinedu Obasi and Nigeria have eliminated Fabian Johnson and the United States from the Olympics. -Tobias Weis injures his groin in the middle of the week during training and is out for 2-3 weeks. |
2008-09 BUNDESLIGA MEDIA PREDICTIONS
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AUGUST 16 - DORTMUND (HOME) - BUNDESLIGA, 1ST RD
Hoffenheim: 13-8, Draw: 2-1, Dortmund: 6-4(Fav), Attendence: 25,989
 Ibisevic---Sanogo Teber---Salihovic---Gustavo---Hock Ibertsberger---Compper---Jaissle---Beck Ozcan ----- Subs: D.Haas, Nilsson, Janker, Vorsah, Stocker, Ba, Wellington Scratched: Johnson, Valeev Unavailable: Hildebrand, Fabricio, Obasi, Eduardo, Dias, Weis ----- --Dortmund's leaves his area to play a ball and his clearance is pounced on by Beck, who tries to lob a very long shot over the retreating keeper. It goes just wide. --In the 43rd Jaissle gets called four a foul inside the penalty area. Penalty kick for Dortmund. Hajnal sinks it for Dortmund and they take a 1-0 lead. --1-0 is the score at the half. It's a fairly even game, but Dortmund has had the better chances. We haven't put any of seven shots on goal, nor have we completed a cross yet... --Salihovic picked up a bit of a knock in the first half and doesn't look to have enough to play in the 2nd half, so I bring on Hocker for him. --Dortmund scores in the 67th on a long ball that no Hoffenheim player could get to. The scorer walked around Ozcan to finish. --I bring on Ba and Vorsah for Sanogo and Gustavo, who are both very tired. --Ibisevic gets a short range shot in the 75th as he finds space inside the box. The goalie gets body on it and it rolls out of bounds. --In the 87th Teber gets his head on one inside the box, but puts it over the crossbar. --And that's all she wrote. We had a few chances here and there, but couldn't convert any. Bit of a stinker opener. --Dortmund's Dede gets Man of the Match. Dortmund 2, Hoffenheim 0 |
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Tough loss. How will not making the semis hurt you?
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Quote:
That was my first domestic league game. The 2nd Round of the DFB-Pokal Cup won't be until September 23rd. However, you could probably pose that question again after my next post. |
POST-MATCH/WEEKLY NEWS
-I was mistaken about Paulinho's ban. The ban apparently applies to all German domestic competitions. And now he has had two more games added to the ban. Seems a bit harsh!
-The draw for the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal Cup is today. Ugggggggggggggggh. We get Bayern Munich at home (lol). The board had better lower their expectations! -Chinedu Obasi's Nigerian squad just lost to Argentina in the semifinals of the Olympics. They'll play Beligum for Bronze. Fabricio and Brazil will be Argentina's opponent in the Gold Medal game. Hurry back, Chinedu! -Shakhtar are now after Demba Ba and have put a 7 million euro bid on him. Assholes. -There is a newstory that Premier League side Wigan are looking at Landon Donovan. I wouldn't mind bringing Donovan aboard at some point, but I don't think I could if he moves this transfer window. -And the next note I get is that Wigan have made a bid for him. Oh man, I really would like to get in on this action. Donovan had a short stint with Leverkusen 4 or so years ago and has gotten a lot of flack for his lackluster play during that time. It'd make a great story if he came back. I just don't know if I'd like to do that at the expense of a guy like Ba or Obasi. -So.. I make a bid for Landon Donovan!! |
DONOVAN BID
Wigan's offer is listed as 3.9m euros plus clauses. His value is listed at 4.7m, so I start with a bid of that amount. Donovan has already been unsettled by the speculation linking him with Wigan and said that if he was going to be moved that he wanted it to happen soon. I don't have the MLS as a playable league in this career and I wonder if that isn't to my advantage somehow.
I immediately flatter him and tell the press that I'm in awe of his talents. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! |
AUGUST 23 - HAMBURG (AWAY) - BUNDESLIGA, 2ND RD
Hoffenheim: 3-1, Draw: 2-1, Hamburg: 4-6(Fav), Attendence: 51,222
 Ibisevic---Ba Teber---Salihovic---Gustavo---Hock Ibertsberger---Compper---Nilsson---Beck Haas ----- Subs: Ozcan, Jaissle, Johnson, Vorsah, Stocker, Sanogo, Wellington Scratched: Janker, Valeev Unavailable: Hildebrand, Fabricio, Obasi, Eduardo, Dias, Weis ----- --This will be a tough match. That's all I got to say about that. --Hamburg comes out firing early and they get one past Haas in the 1st minute. Blame is being passed on to my captain Marvin Compper. Oh dear. --In the 35th a Hamburg player finds himself totally unmarked on a cross from the right side. Easy goal. My defense is leaving plenty to be desired early on in the season. --2-nil Hamburg at the break. --I replace Nilsson with Vorsah before the 2nd half gets underway. --When things are going wrong, they're going wrong. In the 52nd Hamburg scores on a corner kick. The giant Vorsah's guy gets the header over him. 3-0 Hamburg. --In the 71st Teber gets beat to a ball out wide in Hamburg's corner. Ba latches onto an errant pass from their defender and slips it past the Hamburg keeper. That's our first goal of the season. 3-1 --Bleh. A Hamburg goal off of another cross. Compper beaten again. 4-1 --That's all she wrote. A very poor defensive effort to say the least. --Man of the Match is Hamburg's Marcell Jansen. Hamburg 4, Hoffenheim 1 |
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POST-MATCH/WEEKLY NEWS
-Issac Vorsah twisted his knee against Hamburg and is out for around 2 weeks.
-Vedad Ibisevic hurt his elbow while falling awkwardly and he'll be out for 9-11 days. -Paulinho sustained a bruised jaw in training. He'll be out for about a week. -In other injury-related news, Landon Donovan has broken his leg and won't be seeing any action for 6-7 months. Maybe next summer! lol -Timo Hildebrand has resumed full training. That is good news. Don't think he'll be ready for our next match though. -Tobias Weis resumes full training as well. -Chinedu Obasi and Fabricio are both back from the Olympics. Gold=Argentina, Silver=Brazil, Bronze=Belgium |
AUGUST 30 - KARLSRUHE (HOME) - BUNDESLIGA, 3RD MATCH
 Karlsruhe (0-1-1, t13th) at Hoffenheim (0-0-2, t17th) Form: Karlsruhe - DL, Hoffenheim - LL Last Time Faced: N/A Odds: Hoffenheim Evens (Fav), Draw 9-4, Karlsruhe 9-4 Attendence: 25,990 ----- Sanogo---Ba Weis---Salihovic---Gustavo---Obasi Ibertsberger---Compper---Jaissle---Beck Ozcan ----- Subs: D.Haas, Nilsson, Johnson, Teber, Valeev, Stocker, Wellington Scratched: Hildebrand, Janker, Fabricio, Hock Unavailable: Vorsah(Inj), Dias(Sus), Eduardo(Inj), Ibisevic(Inj) ----- --Let's win one, eh boys? --In the 17th Obasi skips by a defender with the ball in the penalty area. He centres it to Ba and bam, we've got a goal. A lead? But what is that? Somebody check dictionary.com for me. --In the 43rd Salihovic lines up for a free just just outside the penalty area. He goes for goal, but his shot gets deflected off of the wall for a corner. --1-0 good guys at the break. Fairly even game unfortunately. --Ibertsberger crosses to an unmarked Sanogo who is right on the edge of the goalie area and he ricochets a header off of the woodwork and into the goal. 2-0 us! --Some sloppy defending sees Karlsruhe tie it up on a 20-yard blast. --Things get a little dicey in the final moments as Karlsruhe maintain possession in our final third, but no great chances come about. --We get our first ever Bundesliga victory. Victory is sweet! 2-1 Hoffe --Karlsruhe's Bradley Carnell gets MotM Hoffenheim 2, Karlsruhe 1 |
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POST-MATCH/WEEKLY NEWS
-Our next match is against Werder Bremen in two weeks. I'm guessing that has something to do with World Cup Qualifying taking place next weekend.
-On the subject of international play, Chinedu Obasi and Demba Ba will be representing their respective countries for each of their countries. I imagine they'll be ready for Werder Bremer. -My U19 squad won their first match of the season 2-0 over Stuttgart. They face Offenbach in the 1st Round of the U19s Cup on September 3rd. -Okay, so now the rest of my international players are announced. Stocker, Beck, and Jaissle will all leave for U19 duty. Ibisevic, Salihovic, Johnson, Weis, Hildebrand, Nilsson, Ibertsberger, and Ozcan all leave for senior team duty. Matches are being played on the 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th, so I'm not sure who all will be ready to play in our next match. |
DEADLINE SIGNING
As the early transfer window was closing I decided that I would take one last look at potential targets. Yadda yadda yadda I signed a speedy striker from the Czech Republic. Yan Blazek has a rare combination of great speed and great finishing ability. He's 20 years old and comes over from Czech 1st Division team Slovan Liberec for the price of 1.9m euros. He lacks the polish of a world class player, but I could see him finding a niche role for us over time. He accepts a backup role and a contract worth 6,500 euros/wk over 4 years. He probably won't get a ton of playing time right away. Perhaps I could send him out on loan next January when the transfer window opens again.
Here is the U21's wiki entry: Quote:
Hookers, booze, and fucking eh? He'll fit right in.  |
SEP 13 - LEVERKUSEN (AWAY) - BUNDESLIGA, 4TH MATCH
 Hoffenheim (1-0-2, t12th) at Leverkusen (1-0-2, t12th) Form: Hoffenheim - LLW, Leverkusen - LWL Last Time Faced: N/A Odds: Hoffenheim 7-2, Draw 9-4, Karlsruhe 4-6(Fav) Attendence: 35,653 ----- Ibisevic---Ba Stocker---Salihovic---Gustavo---Obasi Ibertsberger---Compper---Vorsah---Beck Hildebrand ----- Subs: Ozcan, Jaissle, Nilsson, Valeev, Teber, Sanago, Wellington Scratched: Janker, Fabricio, Johnson, Dias, Hock, Eduardo, Blazek Unavailable: D.Haas(Inj), Weis(Inj) ----- --Leverkusen on the road will be a tough one. Hopefully Diego doens't kills us. Hildebrand makes his first start this season, though his match fitness isn't quite there. Almost had the entire team healthy until Danieal Haas and Weis got minor injuries during the break. --Leverkusen with a coupe of chances in the first seven minutes. --Almost a 1/3 of the match done and we're fortunate that it's still 0-0. We're playing defensive, but I didn't expect to be in our own end this much. --Diego puts one in from about 500 yards in the 37th minute. 1-0 bad guys. --1-0 at the half. Everything looks way too easy for the opponents. --Vorsah picks up a foul on a corner kick in the opponent's end. All of the sudden he gets a straight red. Not sure what happened there, but that sucks donkey balls. Back to a shell we go. --Hildebrand makes a double save in the 80th and keeps it a one goal game. --Another long shot score for Leverkusen. 2-0 in the 83rd. --Minutes later Beck loses the ball at the half line, their guy runs down the field untouched and centers. Easy goal to make it 3-0. We're being totally outclassed. --Great effort, guys! --Man of the Match is Leverkusen's Daniel Jensen. Leverkusen 3, Hoffenheim 0 |
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Quit playin' like Pussies.
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SEP 20 - STUTTGART (HOME) - BUNDESLIGA, 5RD MATCH
 Stuttgart (0-1-3, t17th) at Hoffenheim (1-0-3, 14th) Form: Stuttgart - LLLD, Hoffenheim - LLWL Last Time Faced: N/A Odds: Hoffenheim 13-8, Draw 2-1, Stuttgart 6-4(Fav) Attendence: 26,006 ----- Ibisevic---Ba Teber---Salihovic---Gustavo---Obasi Ibertsberger---Compper---Jaissle---Beck Hildebrand ----- Subs: Ozcan, Janker, Nilsson, Valeev, Dias, Sanogo, Wellington Scratched: Blazek, Hock, Johnson, Eduardo, Stocker Unavailable: Vorsah(Sus), D.Haas(Inj), Weis(Inj), Fabricio(Inj) ----- --Points please, thank you. --In the 11th Salihovic almost bends one in from 25 yards out. Would've been a beautiful one. --Ibsevic hits the bar with a header in the 39th. Dammit! --In the 41st Obasi dribbles down the right before crossing it to Salihovic in the penalty area, who doesn't hesitate to blast one past the keeper. GOAL GOAL GOAL. 1-0 us. --1-0 at the half. --Gustavo picks up the 5th yellow card for us today in the 63rd. This is quite the blah game. --They score in the 65th. 1-1. --Ugh. A couple chances here and there, but nothing converts. It ends in a draw. --Man of the Match is Stuttgart's Martin Lanig. Hoffenheim 1, Stuttgart 1 |
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That's what I'm sayin'! |
POST-MATCH/WEEKLY NEWS
-Isaac Vorsah is suspended for 2 extra games for his hard foul that earned him a red card against Leverkusen.
-Our next match is against Bayern Munich in the 2nd Round of the DFB-Pokal Cup. Can't help but be scared for this matchup. -Carlos Eduardo should finally be ready to play. -Week after week, I get messages about how Obasi and Ba would like to move to bigger clubs. Oui Oui FC and Red Star Siberia just think they are the best ever. Okay, I get it. We're not even in a transfer window for crying out loud. Obasi is signed until 2012 and Ba until 2011. I'm not going to be held hostage by players that just signed contracts. It gets to be a little too much when you're barely into a career. They're both unhappy and I'm just not sure how much this affects their play. Okay, I'm going to listen to some Radiohead and go cry in a corner now. Bye. |
SEP 23 - BAYERN MUNICH (HOME) - DFB-POKAL, 2ND RD
 Bayern Munich at Hoffenheim Last Time Faced: N/A Odds: Hoffenheim 7-1, Draw 2-1, Bayern Munich 1-3(Fav) Attendence: 6,326 ----- Ibisevic---Ba Eduardo---Salihovic---Gustavo---Obasi Ibertsberger---Compper---Nilsson---Beck Hildebrand ----- Subs: Ozcan, Jaissle, Johnson, Teber, Stocker, Blazek, Sanogo Scratched: Haas, Janker, Fabricio, Dias, Hock, Valeev, Wellington Unavailable: Vorsah(Sus), Weis(Inj) ----- --Heavy underdogs for this one. Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni, Frank Ribery. They are stacked! Hate to clamp up at home, but I'm thinking we'll have to. Probably won't work anyways... --Wish I had Vorsah to handle their giant strikers. --Obasi takes a difficult shot from the right side of the penalty area and it almost goes in. We actually aren't looking too bad 16 minutes in. --A minute later Ibisevic penetrates into the goalie area and is brought down. We are awarded a penalty! The Bayern players are furious! --Ibisevic lines up for the penalty and... he nails it! 1-0 the underdogs are on top. --Takes them all of 2 seconds to return the favor. Klose goes unmarked and heads a cross from the right easily. Demoralization ftl! 1-1 --1-1 at the half. Match is actually really even. I'm surprised we've been in their 1/3 for as much as we have. We have 4 shots on target to their 2. --Pretty boring 2nd half. A chance for them, a chance for us. Nothing too great for either side. --Extra time again! And my players are tiiiiiiiiirrrrred. --Gah! They almost score in the 97th with a header that hits the woodwork. --Bayern score in the 103rd when they should've been called for offsides. Yippee. Ibertsberger gets a yellow for arguing. --Beck finds some space on the right side before he crosses to Sanago in front of the net. He gets his head on it and puts it by the keeper. It's all tied up at 2 with less than 14 minutes to go! --Sanogo does it again in the 114th minute! A poor defensive play put the ball up in the air near the goalie box. Sanogo got higher than Suicane on a Sunday morning and headed it in. Can we pull this one off? I'm afraid Bayern are going to unleash the fury with only 6 minutes to go. --Obasi is about to fall over. His condition is at 53. He won't be able to play this upcoming weekend I'm sure. --Time to deploy my shut-up shop tactic. --The fans want the whistle! And they get it! David has beaten Goliath! 3-2 Hoffe in extra time. Bayern is out of the DFB-Pokal Cup in the 2nd Round!! --Man of the Match is Bayern's Miroslav Klose Hoffenheim 3, Bayern Munich 2 (extra time) |
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Huge win. Still pussies tho'.
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*couple days pass since incident*
1. Left game open overnight. 2. Defrag program runs automatically with option to shutdown computer ticked. 3. Game forced to shutdown without saving. 4. No saves with latest win included. 5. Extremely po'd. 6. Not sure if I have the determination to continue this. 7. :( |
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