FM14 Level 8 USA Amateur Climb
 

Welcome to Trentini Stadium in the small town of Wake Forest, North Carolina. Built in 1940, formerly called Groves Stadium, Wake Forest University played here until they moved to Winston Salem in 1957. Since then its been home to Wake Forest Rolesville High School, and starting in January 2012, it became the new home of the Wake Forest Cougars, an amateur soccer team in the Appalachain Premier League, a fully amateur league centralized in NC/VA with some scattered teams elsewhere in the southeast. We've got 500 seats to try to fill and a lot of room to expand.



Head Coach/Management Setup

I live 3 blocks from the stadium (just like in the real world!), which is a good thing since I'm coaching this team for free and can't afford a car unless I'm able to take the team up a few ranks in the very deep United States soccer system.

37 year old Richard Dixon has no professional soccer experience, but that's ok, because no one around me does either.

I set things up so that my U18's and Reserves are managed by my staff, but they are going to be required to play the same formation as the senior team. I'll be doing absolutely everything else.



We'll look at the staff and players next. In part I chose to start with an amateur side because my options are limited and I can get right into playing games. But its safe to assume that absolutely everyone sucks. Morale will probably dictate a lot here, we could win the league or finish dead last, who knows. Ratings above 5 in technical skills are to be cherished. Injuries will be everywhere. Lets see what happens!

So as always with me and dynasties, I make no promises that this doesn't die in 2 days. Honestly a lot of it may depend on how easily I can get highlights uploaded, or how tedious I find it to upload a screenshot or two here and there to keep things interesting.

If I can get immersed in the team though and if we can make some progress, I really do intend to try for some crazy climb to MLS with a fake team from my hometown. I have found this concept pretty darn appealing and I've gotten into FM for the first time since my Woking/Ipswich dynasty from FM10.

Because I do want to go through all my players (which I haven't done yet) we'll probably start a little slow but once the season starts we should get through this first year pretty darn fast, by FM standards.

Getting food, and then we'll start the team review and see if we can rush through a few friendlies today.

Oh heck yes!!! I hope you do continue it, your other one was the best I've ever read on FM. I'll definitely be reading.

fwiw, I've enjoyed my 1+ year at Georgia Revolution thus far.

Wake Forest Staff


Dennis King - Assistant Coach - 32 y/o, Determination 11, Adaptability 10, discipline 9, everything else 5 or below. This is about what we expect at this level, though I will immediately look for a more determined coach if nothing else.

Fernando Johnson - Head of Youth Development - Adaptability 10, Discipline 11, Determination 7, everything else 4 or below. This is a role that I don't think existed in FM10, but since we don't expect to get much out of youth with the basically zero training we have, its not a big concern.


Samuel Glazer - Head Physio - Physiotherapy 5.


Jason Cunningham - Chief Scout - Judging Ability 3, Judging potential 3.


I fire my assistant, there are a number of coaches out there who look better, most of them are better "coaches" than assistant's, but at this level, I'll take that chance.

I also have room for one more staff member, so I'm looking to hire a regular coach to make our training a little less awful as well.

Thanks :)


Yeah I had a lot of fun with my first trial run through this, enough to think it might be worth writing something up.

Competitions

Before we get into the roster lets look at the schedule a bit. It's January 12th right now.

Appalachian Premier League - League play doesn't start until May 3rd, so we've got months before this.

Old North Cup - This is a small North Carolina based cup. Play for it starts February 19th. Its the first competitive event we'll see. This competition has 15 teams in it. There are two North Carolina teams in Level 3, the USL-PRO league, the Carolina Railhawks and Charlotte Eagles. Everyone else is scattered through the lower divisions. Winning a game in this tourney depends entirely on the draw.

North America Amateur Cup - This is a large tournament of amateur teams. The draw isn't until June. We can make some noise here if we get lucky.

North American Open Cup - This is a prestigious tournament within the US, it looks like our equivalent of the FA Cup. The great thing about this is that all the bottom tier teams get placed in groups for Phase 1, so we're guarenteed to get a lot of experience here. Group play starts in March and continues through the end of April. While we care about this tournament a lot, this will also give us a great chance to really get to know the team before league play starts. All the teams we will face in group are in the same level of division play as us. Its an 8 team group and 4 teams will advance.


Friendlies

We only have two friendlies scheduled over the next 6 weeks. My options for additional friendlies are non-existent, so I set up a couple games with the reserve team during the longer downtimes to help with our fitness.

At this point there's no reason to separate senior team from reserve from U18, so here's everything. I'll note where I expect guys to land. Projected Starter in bold.

Goalkeepers

Phil Harrington - 23 y/o - Agility 8, Positioning 5, Reflexes 7, Command of Area 7, Handling 8.

Clark Garcia - 16 y/o - Agility 8, Positioning 5, Composure 8, Decisions 6, Concentration 7, keeping attributes all 4-6.

James Barton - 16 y/o - Agility 8, Positioning 6, Reflexes 8, all other Keeper traits 3-5.

Harrington seems like the more talented guy, but only slightly. Garcia though with much better composure and decision making. I don't think its generally a good idea to run a 16 year old out there every game, so its very possible that I simply alternate starts between Harrington and Garcia for some time. Barton will likely rot.


Defenders

Left

For Defenders I tend to make judgements based on Fullback (defending) and Central Defender abilities, even though my right and left defenders may play up sometimes.

David Campbell - 21 y/o - Stamina 10, Positioning 5, Marking 2, Tackling 6 - Campbell is a better athlete, and has a better work rate than Rongen, more determined too.

Sean Rongen - 16 y/o - Stamina 5, Positioning 4, Marking 6, Tackling 6 - other key mental attributes all 6-7.

There are three primary DC's who can also play on the left side. We'll look at DC's first and see if any should be added to the depth chart here as primary left side defenders.


Central


*Hernando Galvis - 24 y/o - Strength/Jumping 11, Determination 14, Positioning 4, Composure 5, Tackling 8, Heading 6, Marking 4 - With high determination and leadership, Galvis is the team captain. He can tackle a bit too if he lucks into the right position.

Jamie Marrow - 15 y/o - Str 8/Jump 13, Determination 10, Heading 8, Marking 5, Tackling 7 - all other noteworthy mental attributes 5 or 6. Marrow can also play both the left and right side of the defense acceptably, which I love for depth, especially at this level where injuries are going to happen.

Garry Garcia - 16 y/o - Str 7/Jump 7, Heading 7/Marking 8/Tackling 7, Mental attributes 4-5.

Steve Groves - 23 y/o - Str 12/Jump 13, Determination 9, Composure 7, Tackling 8, other ratings 3-5.

Joe Pickering - 15 y/o - Str 8/Jump 16, Composure 6, Concnetration 8, Decisions 2, DDetermination 8 - technical skills very poor

Don Burke - 24 y/o - Str 7/Jump 16, Technical and Mental attributes all 6 and below, nothing at all stands out.

There will probably be a lot of rotation here. Does the guy with a 7 composure but no ability to get his head on the ball trump the guy with a little technical skill but 2 decision making!? Galvis as one of the few leaders, and Marrow as a guy who can play anywhere on the back line get the early edge.


Right

Bob Varela - 15 y/o - Sta 8/Accel 10, Positioning/Marking/Tackling all 6, Work Rate 9.

Joe Jackson - 26 y/o - Sta 11/Accel 7, Concentration 3, Work Rate 9, all other ratings 5 or 6.


Both Jackson and Varela are highly determined which I like in general. With one of these guys being a 15 year old though, the most likely scenario is that they simply rotate games if I don't sign another player here.

I almost never run wingers in a DML/DMR/AML/AMR position, but I did get really fond of the 4-4-2 diamond formation with a DMC/AMC in FM10. Lets see what roles we do well though and try to build around it.

Midfielders

Defensive Mid

Brian Williams - 16 y/o - sta 8/str 8/accel 5, marking 6/tackling 6/passing 7, decision 7/positioning 6/teamwork 9/work rate 9

Timothy Pena - 23 y/o - St9/Str 6/Accel 6, marking 4/tackling 9/passing 5, decision 1/positioning 4/teamwork 6/work rate 10/concentration 2


Both players are "unconvincing" at MC. Williams is probably the best all around player we've looked at so far. Pena leaves an awful lot to be desired and if I want to run a DMC anywhere close to full time I'd really really hope to replace him.


Left Mid

Luca Colangelo - 19 y/o - sta 5. crossing 5/passing 4/tackling 3. Anticipation 4/decisions 4/determination 5/off ball 4/teamwork 14/work rate 10

Adrian Salas - 16 y/o - sta 4. crossing 3/passing 3/tackling 1. Anticipation 3/decisions 1/determination 15/off the ball 6/teamwork 2/work rate 3

Dylan Rose - 16 y/o - sta 5. crossing 5/passing 5/tackling 1. anticipation 1/decisions 2/determination 12/off ball 1/teamwork 7/work rate 10 - Best at AML, but decent enough ML

Salas does have notable speed compared to most players on the team. I have Colangelo listed as my starter but would likely rotate the two at first and give Salas' speed a chance to make a difference.


Central Mid

Gary Glaser - 17 y/o - first touch 7/marking 5/passing 5/tackling 3. creativity 3/decisions 2/determination 7. off the ball 4/positioning 4/teamwork 7/work rate 11

Ashley Sandoval - 16 y/o - first touch 5/marking 2/passing 5/tackling 3. creativity 3/decisions 2/determination 7. off the ball 6/positioning 5/teamwork 7/work rate 12 - can play AMC secondarily

Bayard Perkins - 24 y/o - first touch 3/marking 6/passing 4/tackling 3. creativity 4/decisions 5/determination 9. off the ball 4/positioning 3/teamwork 5/work rate 9 - can play AMC secondariliy

Mark Shakespeare - 16 y/o - first touch 3/marking 5/passing 6/tackling 3. creativity 5/decisions 5/determination 10. off the ball 6/positioning 2/teamwork 4/work rate 9. Can play ML

Glaser/Sandoval get a slight edge due to teamwork/work rate, I suppose. Both of them with a slightly superior first touch too. There is a problem though that these are the only four MC's on the roster at any level. If I want to play a more standard 4-4-2, or a 4-1-4-1 which I had some success with before, I would need to sign a couple more players here unless I got miraculously lucky with injuries.


Right Mid

Ian Cooper - 16 y/o - sta 10. cross 8/passing 6/tackling 2. anticipation 3/decisions 3/determination 13. off ball 7/teamwork 4/work rate 8. - primarily AMR

Tim Reading - 25 y/o - sta 4. cross 6/passing 5/tackle 2. anticipation 3/decision 3/determination 13. off ball 2/teamwork 3/work rate 7.

Bo Thompson - 16 y/o - sta 5. cross 5/pass 5/tackle 3. anticipation 3/decisions 4/determination 13. off the ball 3/teamwork 4/work rate 7 - Primarily AMR

Gary Martin - 27 y/o - sta 5. cross 3/pass 3/tackle 2. Work rate only mental ability over 5. AMR/AML/MR.


Three of these guys are primarily attacking mids, though Cooper looks like he could work out real nice at the standard MR position as well. Martin is a waste of space no matter the position.


Central Attacking Mid

Ronnie Navarro - 16 y/o - Accel 6. Dribble 6/First Touch 7/Passing 6/Technique 3. Creativity 3/Decision 4/Flair 10/Off Ball 6/Work Rate 10

Ashley Sandoval - 16 y/o - Accel 12. dribble 2/first touch 5/passing 5/technique 4. creativity 3/decisions 2/flair 11/off ball 6/work rate 12.

Bayard Perkins - 24 y/o - Accel 7. Dribble 3/First Touch 3/Passing 4/Technique 6. Creativity 4/Decisions 5/Flair 10/Off Ball 4/Work Rate 9


So the problem here is that Navarro is primarily a striker and Sandoval/Perkins are primarily MC's and weaker attacking. Though to be honest they aren't great at either even by amateur standards. If I have enough other strikers I could see rotating Navarro/Sandoval here if I wanted to force my 4-4-2 diamond formation.

I am a little scared that I've looked at almost my entire roster and have no confidence in which formation is going to be best for us.

Strikers

Ronnie Navarro - 16 y/o - Pace 9. Crossing 5/Dribble 6/Finish 5/Heading 4. Anticipation 2/Composure 5/Flair 10/Off Ball 6/Work Rate 10

Jonny Clark - 16 y/o - jump 14/str 10. finish 7/first touch 5/heading 5. Anticipation 6/Bravery 4/Determination 9/Teamwork 9/Work Rate 12.

Leon Roth - 16 y/o - pace 7. cross 2/dribble 4/finish 3/heading 5. Anticipation 4/composure 4/flair 5/off ball 7/work rate 9.


Only 3 strikers on the roster. Clark is listed best as a target man. He's pretty decent looking as an Advanced Forward too though, the only big hole there is poor pace. His flair is as good as Navarro's though.

So Now that I look this over more, it looks like we're really being pushed into a formation with wingers, which is fine, its just not something I've played in awhile.

Left Attacking Mid

Dylan Rose - 16 y/o - accel 9/agi 11/balance 9/pace 10. cross 5/dribble 4/technique 10. decision 2/flair 16/off ball 1.

Luca Colangelo - 19 y/o - accel 6/agi 8/balance 7/pace 7. cross 5/dribble 5/technique 5. decision 4/flair 16/off ball 4

Brian Davidson - 19 y/o - accel 9/agi 6/balance 9/pace 8. cross 5/dribble 5/tech 5. decision 4/flair 15/off ball 5.

Rose probably wins here despite being non-existant off the ball... he's the best athlete of the bunch with a big advantage in technique.


Right Attacking Mid

Ian Cooper - 16 y/o - Accel 4/Agi 6/Balance 5/Pace 9. Cross 8/Dribble 6/Technique 13. Decision 3/Flair 13/Off Ball 7

Gary Martin - 27 y/o - Accel 9/Agi 8/Balance 8/Pace 11. Cross 3/Dribble 3/Technique 3. Decision 2/Flair 10/Off Ball 5

Bo Thompson - 16 y/o - Accel 11/Agi 9/Balance 9/Pace 10. Cross 5/Dribble 2/Technique 5. Decision 4/Flair 14/Off Ball 3

Johnny Clark - 16 y/o - accel 5/agi 7/balance 5/pace 5. cross 5/dribble 5/technique 5. Decisions 5/flair 12/off ball 7.


Martin can play right and left side, though he's right footed only, so he's clearly better on the right. Cooper is the best technically by a ton, but less of an athlete.



Formations

So I think this gives us our answer. Our primary formation at least at the start of the season will be a 4-5-1 with a DMC, two central mids, and attacking mids on each side.

We have a lot of central defenders, even though they aren't really standouts, I could see more defensive options coming out of this being a 5-4-1, dropping the wingers back and subbing a DC for the DMC, and a 4-1-4-1 where we simply pull the wingers back to give us more of a defensive shape.

Player Acquisition Goals

With only 3 strikers on the roster and injury issues being what they are at this level, there is no way we are running any two striker formations. I'll probably try to pick up one striker no matter what just because injuries can pile up so badly.

I also need MC depth pretty badly, again knowing injuries will likely come, and knowing that none of these guys are great athletes and there will be a lot of player rotation happening, with only 4 MC's on the roster a single injury would destroy me.

From a talent perspective my second DMC looks awful, I really really want to replace him. Other than that, its hard to make any plans. No one is safe if I can find upgrades that want to come to Wake Forest, so it 100% depends on the market. So that's the next step, to get my scout moving and to start to figure out what moves I can make.

I officially set my tactics to 4-5-1, 5-4-1, and 4-1-4-1. I set us up for fitness training, hoping to get these guys fit ASAP so I can start working on tactics, because its going to take more than a full year to learn any tactic even reasonably well.


New Coaches

We welcome 27 y/o Spencer Wadsworth to Wake Forest as our new assistant coach. Determination 19, Adaptability 12, Discipline 11, Motivating 5. His coaching is awful, but no worse than the dude we just fired, so overall this is a nice upgrade.

30 y/o John Sammons also joins us as a coach. 16 determination/18 discipline/7 attacking/6 technical, he'll coach up a little offense and take a little pressure off our assistant.

January 18th - Senior vs Reserve Match

I'm pretty careful about setting this one up as I want my starter and backup from each position on the senior squad so I can control playing time. Normally I fly through friendlies but lets watch this one since its the first time we've ever actually seen these players.

GK: Harrington
DL: Campbell
DC: Galvis
DC: Marrow
DR: Varela
DMC: Williams
MC: Glaser
MC: Sandoval
AML: Rose
AMR: Cooper

16: We give up a goal on a free kick, a cross and header not stopped. 0-1

17: Free kick from near midfield, the ball is played into a very crowded box, it hits someone and falls to the ground, Sandoval is first to it and slams it into the net. 1-1

44': AMR Cooper is hurt and has to come off. Martin is in as his backup.

45': first highlight in almost 30 minutes, a crappy shot from 30 yard out that wasn't remotely close from Sandoval.

HALF: DC Marrow and MC Glaser have minor injuries too.

58': Wholesale subs here to get everyone a little time running around in a sort of real match.

82': We have a really nice play off an interception near midfield, one pass ahead from a DC to a mid, a lobbed ball into the box and a nice volley from our backup striker Roth, but Roth was called offsides. Still nice to see the play.


Wake Forest 1 : 1 Wake Forest Reserves


Man of the Match: Ashley Sandoval (MC)
Notables: Sandoval (7.3)

Everyone else on the team is in the 6.4-6.8 range. No one played badly really.


Injuries

The bane of amateur teams with worthless physios and awful training, a lot of people are going to get hurt trying to prepare for the season:

AMR Ian Cooper - out 9-12 days with a bruised shin.

DC Jamie Marrow - 6-8 days, dead leg.

Not bad, We get out of our first friendly without month+ injuries, I'll take it!


I don't think we learned a whole lot though. And our next two opponents are in much higher divisions, so I don't know if we get a lot out of this except for fitness until the North American Open Cup starts.

No luck with the integrated youtube, this took like 15 minutes of upload/processing time, but at least its a solution:

After a few days my scout has given me a nice big list of local players to look through. I end up making offers to players at numerous positions, if all of them were accepted it would overhaul the team quite a bit. We'll see who is interested though.

New Signings

24 y/o DL Danny Coggins joins us from North Meck Soccer Club, where he was a reserve. They're a division above us, so he's come here for the promise of playing time.

Marking 6/Tackling 7, Accel 9/sta 8, Anticipation 5, Concentratio 8, Positioning 6/Teamwork 5/Work Rate 9.

His Marking and Tackling are as good or better than anyone else we have on the roster, without really giving away anything anywhere else. Coggins will come in and immediately start.


20 y/o MC Jhonatan Mora - I didn't misspell the first name. That's Jhon.

First Touch 12/Marking 4/Passing 5/Tackling 2. Creativity 2/Decisions 4/Determination 14. Off Ball 4/Positioning 2/Teamwork 8/Work Rate 12.

Not very good outside of probably having the best first touch on the entire team. But remember that we only have 4 Central Mids on the entire roster, and our options were limited. Without a lot of highly skilled technical players I take the guy with the best determination and work rate.

He's also the best athlete, pretty fast, and a natural fitness of 17, which might help at these injury prone super low levels.

That was a lot of writing to say "meh, a rotation player unless he shows himself to be better on the field" :P

New Signing

16 y/o DR Steve Arroyo

Arroyo was a U18 player for the Richmond Strikers, yet another player a tier above us who joins to the promise of playing time.

Marking 10/Tackling 9, Anticipation 8/Positioning 8/Teamwork 8/Work Rate 12. Stamina 10. Those numbers are basically spectacular for this level. His all around technical skills make him the best defender on the team and its not even close. He is slow, with an acceleration of 3, and a concentration of 3, so perhaps prone to lapses, but the guys we had in place there couldn't concentrate on the game much better.

This gives us two very young players that will simply rotate every game at DR.


23 y/o MC/DMC Jose Alejandro Tapia

This is the first player we've signed away from a team in our own league. Tapia left the Twin City Patrol to join us, even with only a promise of being a rotation player.

First Touch 6/Marking 5/Passing 7/Tackling 5.

Creativity 6/Decisions 5/Determination 7. Off Ball 5/Positioning 5/Teamwork 5/Work Rate 6.

Most of those numbers are ok, he's nice and consistent without any 1's scattered in critical spots, but the low teamwork/work rate could be a problem since he's just more consistent than most... not actually all that much better. Anyway, he'll get in the rotation at MC.

Additionally, he can play DMC, which could be helpful since I don't really like my backup there, but I couldn't find better on the market so I'm keeping him.

New Signing

I guess I am getting everyone I went after!

26 y/o GK Amidu Gyan

4 Aerial/6 Command of Area/Handling 7/One on One 4/Reflexes 4

Composure 9/Concentration 7/Decisions 6/Positioning 8/Agility 9


Gyan is *very* slightly worse in the air (4 compared to 5), 1v1 (4 vs 6), and has notably worse reflexes (4 v 7), but is dominantly better across the board mentally, +5 composure, +3 concentration, +4 decisions, +3 positioning.

I think this makes Gyan the very clear starter and, along with DR Arroyo, likely the best new signing to date.

Gyan was a reserve keeper for the Greensboro Rangers, a semi-pro team many tiers above us. Gyan wasn't being paid and wasn't playing though. Given my impression of his ratings and knowing that I tend to start the same keeper every match, I went ahead and gave him key player status.



An AMR we were trying to sign got hurt in the last couple days and is out long term, so that transfer was cancelled. I also made a bid for a very promising looking 15 year old Striker, but he signed with a team in a higher division. So we're not getting everyone :)

Friendly #2

We host CASL Chelsea, a team we can play because they're nearby. They're in a much higher league than us though and we're probably going to get smashed and as a result are going to try to breeze through this one.

I do start all my new players today.

We're scoreless at halftime, with neither team putting a shot on target yet. I make all my changes around the 60 minute mark, again just worrying about fitness here.

My backup AMR gets hurt after going in.

80th minute we have a nifty give and go to get ST Roth a clean look in front of the keeper, and he puts it wide.

Wake Forest 0 : 0 CASL Chelsea

A good result for us, most ratings in the 6.6-6.8 range, new MC Jhon Mora with a 6.2. Neither team put a shot on target all match.

My new keeper Amidu Gyan was man of the match.


Injury Update

AMR Bo Thompson twists his knee and is out 4-5 weeks. Our starting AMR went down in our first friendly, but not for too long, so this doesn't hurt us too much yet.


New Signing

24 y/o AMR Ryan Crook - Another guy who was a reserve one division above us, not my first choice but not bad really.

Crossing 6/Dribbling 7/Technique 8

Decisions 6/Flair 13/Off Ball 4

Accel 8/Agi 7/Balance 9/Pace 6

Crook likely immediately becomes my backup AMR, competing with Ian Cooper, and likely rotating with him since Cooper is 16 years old.

New Signing

16 y/o ST Samir Pace Pace was also playing on a team above us.

Dribbling 5/Finishing 4/Heading 3

Anticipation 2/Composure 7/Flair 8/Off Ball 5/Work Rate 11/Pace 10

Not great by any stretch, but he pretty much holds up at the same level as our other attackers, and I do fear that 3 won't be enough with injury problems. Pace will get his chances.



With that, we have signed 7 new players, a lot more than I expected would come here. Three of them are clear starters (GK/DR/DL), one of them will be in full rotation (AMR), and the other three are in a mix of depth where I have no expectations for them (MC/MC/ST).

That may simply end up being too many players if we don't suffer injury problems, but I expect injury problems. Still at some positions (GK and AMR mainly where we had full depth already even to account for an injury) we may end up cutting the odd man out as a result of the signings, if the guys pushed down the depth chart aren't willing to play on the reserves or U18's all year.

League odds come out, despite league play not starting for 3 more months. But at this crap level really no one has any idea, and every team in the league is given equal 7-4 odds.


Transfer Deadline

We hit Feb 1 as the transfer deadline passes, but we've already made all our moves. And hell free transfers are always allowed, so its a bit of a meaningless day for us.


We get a $10k jersey sponser, which seems like a lot for a completely amateur team.


Friendly #3 - Feb 1st

We host the drastically better Raleigh Pioneers today, again just caring about fitness. Games are getting closer, hang in there!

35': We've actually dominated so far, posession and chances. Our new ST Pace has had a couple shots on target. I've also seen a nice long ball from one of our new MC's, and a nice cross from AML Dylan Rose into the box, some decent play here.

But, we make it to the half scoreless.

48': My new DR signing Arroyo, the one I've hyped as probably my best defensive player now... gets hurt and has to leave the match. Uhoh.

56': Time for those fitness subs.

The fans must be bored with these matches, they don't even get to see the bigger club come into town to run up the score on us.

Wake Forest 0 : 0 Raleigh Pioneers

MC Jhon Mora is man of the match with a 7.0 rating. 6.4-6.8 for everyone else.


Injury Update

No long term injury for Arroyo, thank god.

MC Ashley Sandoval got hurt near the end of the match though and will miss about 10 days.


Old North Cup Draw

This is the tournament for North Carolina teams. This will be our first competitive match in about 2 1/2 weeks. We could draw a USL team and get smashed 5-0, or draw a division opponent and have a good opening contest.

Ugh, wow. 13 other teams in this stage, and we get the most difficult one, the Charlotte Eagles from the top USL league. We get it at home at least!

FWIW, agreeing to participate in the media coverage of deadline day was a very good move for me (one I'd never done before since I only recently converted to FM 14).

The rumors page proved to be a wealth of information about which previously unknown to me players needed to be scouted & ultimately led to me stealing a badly needed legit backup GK just days before the start of my 2nd season at the helm of the Georgia Revolution. (My scouts had turned up nothing better than a 0.5 current, I now have a 3.5 current as my backup/possible rotation guy)

Friendly #4 - Feb 8th

Our last friendly, against the Reserves. I change up a lot of the starters juts for playing time reasons.

We draw a penalty early on as AMR Cooper is fouled in the box. MC Shakespeare takes the PK and scores. Not a lot of action the rest of the half.

DMC Williams picks up a minor injury and I don't want him getting hurt long term if I can stop it so i sub him out right away.

AML Colangelo gets a goal in the 61st minute, and after it we make our wholesale subs for the fitness.

We win this one easily, as we should.

Wake Forest 2 : 0 Wake Forest Reserves

AML Luca Colangelo is man of the match with 1 goal and a 7.4 rating.

Shakespeare with a 6.8 rating and the other goal. DL Coggins 7.3 on an assist, Cooper 6.8 with an assist. No poor ratings out there, 6.4+.


Injury Update

DMC Brian Williams is out for about 2 weeks. He'll likely miss our cup match, but won't miss anything that we can actually win, so that's good.



Most of our players aren't match fit yet, some are getting there though. I'll get my guys into reserves matches and U18 matches for fitness when possible, and our Cup match is really just another warmup with the crap draw.

I'll also see if I can get another friendly or two scheduled after our Cup match since there's another long downtime period.

Oh that's interesting, I went through it the very first career I messed around with and have been skipping it since, I'll take a closer look next time.

Season Ticket Sales

80 people have nothing better to do than to buy season tickets to see the Wake Forest Cougars. I guess our squad does run about 35 men deep, and many of those are 15-17 years old, so I assume most of those tickets are parents and siblings.


Player Leaving

We're starting to see bids made on our players, if its a team in our league trying to poach a player I probably won't mention it unless the player chooses to leave. I will make note of higher level clubs swooping in. And of course, actual player movement.

DC Steve Groves leaves us to sign with the Blacksburg Bears. Groves was my 3rd, maybe 4th best DC, so its not a huge loss, but it is a loss of a player who would have seen significant minutes.

February 19th, 2014

Old North Cup First Round

Wake Forest Cougars (APL) vs Charlotte Eagles (USL-PRO)

Attendence: 213
Odds: Wake Forest Win: 20-1 Draw: 11-2 Charlotte Win: 1-14 (Favorite)

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
DR: Arroyo
DC: Galvis (c)
DC: Marrow
DL: Coggins
DM: Pena
MC: Shakespeare
MC: Mora
AMR: Cooper
AML: Rose
ST: Navarro

SUBS: Tapia (DM/MC), Martin (AMR/L), Pace (ST), Pickering (D LC), Williams (DMC - just off injury), Sandoval (MC), Varela (DR)

It'll take me a little while to figure out a good rotation of subs.

Yeahhhhh... look at those odds. This is the almost certainly the most difficult opponent we will face this year. We could literally go 3 or 4 years without facing an opponent of this caliber outside of a friendly and it would not be a surprise.

We come out with a defensive mindset. I instruct my players to retain possession when possible and go at a slow tempo. Lets drag this out on the chance that Charlotte has a bad day.

10': They get into the area twice here, but a shot from the right side is blocked.

14': A poor pass by Charlotte gives us an interception in their end, a through ball goes into the box but it reaches the keeper before Navarro can run onto it. The keeper with a long pass, a run down the left, cross into the box and their man Bates volleys it in. 0-1

20': Another bad pass on their side gives us possession, Rose with a ball down the left side for Navarro, he crosses into the box for Cooper who heads it but wide. But its a decent looking attack against this caliber of opponent.

22': Cross into the area for their guy Bates, its a clear cut chance but Gyan blocks it. They get a corner though, and they get a head to the set piece and score. 0-2

31': A nifty quick 2 passes after a long ball sets them up for another easy goal. 0-3

HALF: They outshoot us 8-2, with 5 on target, none for us. About what was expected.


59': Rose finds Navarro for an easy goal but Navarro was literally standing in the 6 yard box by himself when the pass was made. Just a little bit offsides.

80': They have one disallowed too for offsides.

80': Martin, Sandoval and Tapia in for Cooper, Shakespeare and Mora, just subbing out tired guys.

That's it.

Wake Forest 0 : 3 Charlotte

No one below a 6.0 on our side, Arroyo actually held up a 6.8, not bad.




Our reserves only play once between now(Feb 19th) and our next match on March 8th. I get a friendly scheduled for March 1st to keep us playing.

Again fwiw, I found it damned near impossible to find friendlies that a) your board will allow on the road and b) other clubs deem worthy of the trip to play at your place. Trips to/from Chattanooga to Conyers, GA were "too far". And after losing to the Silverbacks U18s 8-0 I decided that wasn't the best plan either.

Just adds to the fitness issues which are already tough enough.

Injury Update

DL Sean Rongen hurts an ankle in training and is out 6-8 weeks. He's on the reserve team and 3rd on the depth chart, at best, but worth noting a long injury like that as it puts us at risk if another DL gets hurt.


Training Update

So I had the team on fitness training early on. Were reaching a point where we're going to be playing weekly for awhile and hopefully fitness won't be an issue anymore, so its time to switch to tactics training. Our mastery of our tactics are non-existent. Based on my trials runs doing this, it will take into next season before we're good at any of them.


March 1st - Friendly

We host the Carolina Dynamo, a team in a lower level USL league, still light years ahead of us, but not quite Charlotte Eagles level.

We give up 5 shots and 1 goal in the first half and get nothing of note ourselves. No injuries though!

51': midfield possession for us, a pass to Shakespeare about 30 yards out, he knocked it into the area and Navarro gets behind the defense and is first to it, their keeper rushes out but can't stop it, goal!!!


55': They quickly answer back, but who cares, whee!

70': After giving up a 3rd goal we sub out our guys.

76': A throwin in enemy territory, Tapia with a cross into the box, Martin is there unmarked, heads it and its by the keeper and into the right side of the net!

88': Tapia with a ball down the right sideline, Martin gets to it before his defender (who is hurt and not moving fast), its a cross from the right sideline, Pace gets a very awkward head to it, but somehow the keeper dives wrong for it, and it dribbles its way into the net in slow motion. Goals upon goals!!!


I can only get so excited about a friendly, but we put together some nice moves in that one.

Wake Forest 3 : 3 Carolina Dynamo

Man of the Match: Gary Martin (8.0)
Goals: Martin, Navarro (7.0), Pace (7.4)
Assists: Martin, Tapia (7.0), Shakespeare (6.8

Arroyo with a 6.1, no one below that today.

Well that was more exciting than I ever imagined it would be.



The next 7 weeks will all be matches against competition at our level in the early group stage of the North American Open Cup. I'm excited to have officially made it through the preseason, now we can really get focused on competitive play.

Yeah. I do have some advantage in that there are three teams in Raleigh (Raleigh Pioneers, CASL Chelsea and Carolina RailHawks), which distance wise is probably the equivalent of getting to downtown Atlanta from Alpharetta when there's no traffic, maybe a little further.

The Carolina Dynamo are in Greensboro but are big enough to be able to make the 90 minute drive to Wake Forest apparently, and the USL team in Charlotte that just smashed us in the Old North Cup is sometimes an option.

I expect a very heavy dose of those teams for the forseeable future in friendlies. I'm very surprised we didn't lose one of those in an 8-0 fashion.


I have no problem scheduling my reserves as needed, but it can be a little annoying to micromanage which players are available for the reserves to make sure each side has a full roster.

Here is our group for the upcoming North American Open Cup. We play each team once, top 4 advance.





Player Departure

DC Jamie Marrow leaves Wake Forest for league rival Blacksburg Bears. Marrow was going to start for us and this is a pretty big blow.

With the recent departure of DC Steve Groves, this now leaves us with 4 central defenders in our organization. 16 y/o Garry Garcia and 15 y/o Joe Pickering will attempt to fill in for Marrow. We will immediately begin searching for a new DC, for depth/injury insurance if nothing else.


Marrow was also the team's Vice Captain (our other starting DC Galvis is captain). I select AMR Ian Cooper as my new vice captain.


New Signing

We quickly find a new DC.

27 y/o Tommy Lassiter is leaving the NC Fusion reserves (one tier up) to get the chance to start for Wake Forest.

Heading 8/Marking 5/Tackling 10

Composure 4/Concentration 6/Decisions 4/Determination 4/Positioning 6

Jumping 9/Str 11

Lassiter is equal or better than the other defenders we had as backups and will likely get a lot of playing time, very posssibly becoming our second starter. Lassiter also has the advantage of being able to play fullback on either side adequately.

He is also nowhere near match fit and will be playing with the reserves probably for a few weeks.



Player Departure

AMR Gary Martin has followed Jamie Marrow to the Blacksburg Bears. Martin has been featured prominently in our friendlies and was not going to start but was going to get a ton of playing time.

AMR is a position where we have significant depth and Ryan Crook will step in as the backup (and likely in full rotation) with youngster starter Ian Cooper.



Some good news on the player movement front, DMC Brian Williams was offered a position with a higher tier club, North Meck SC, and turned them down. He's one of our key starters in what should be a pretty solid defense, relative to our level of course. I was very worried about losing him.

March 8th, 2014

North American Open Cup Phase 1 Group O

Cedar Hill Lakers (SSD) vs Wake Forest Cougars (APL)

Attendence: 978

Odds

Cedar Hill 5-4 (fav)
Draw: 11-5
Wake Forest: 7-4

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Pickering/Garcia/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Tapia/Mora
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Our captain, DC Hernando Galvis had a nasty cold earlier in the week. He's back and available but nowhere near full strength yet. With no chance of going 90 minutes, I decide to rest him today.

On the road, we start in a defensive mindset. This will likely be my default mode for awhile even with this aggressive formation.

19': We dodge a bullet as Garcia completely misplays a long ball giving their striker a clear cut chance against us. He fails horribly at getting on target though.

22': Our best chance so far as Navarro makes a run down the right and into the box for a shot. He has a man close by so its not uncontested, but it was a decent look.

38': Bot of our attacking mids have picked up minor injuries... ugh.

HALF: Scorless at the break. We outshoot them 4-3 and have the only shot on target so far. They are playing pretty aggressive, committing 11 fouls against us already.

I sub in Ryan Crook for Ian Cooper at AMR, gotta make sure at least one of my starting mids doesn't get hurt worse.

49': Crook with a nice run down the right, a floated cross, Navarro heads it and its deflected wide, Corner. Corner comes in, and there's a penalty!!!! MC Jhon Mora is going to take it, he calmly puts it into the lower left corner. 1-0

72': our new signing Lassiter comes in for DL Coggins, who isn't hurt, but must have taken a beating out there, his fitness tanked and isn't coming up all that quickly. Lassiter isn't match fit, so this is a risk.

73': Cedar Hill goal kick, we get it near midfield, Navarro takes a pass and is off to the races, running by a defender and getting a great look as the keeper rushes out. He lobs it over the keeper... but just wide.

76': A long ball down the right comes in for Cedar Hill, they win the header, sending it into the box. ST Perez rushes behind our defense and Garcia and Pickering aren't even moving. its a 1 on 1 with the keeper, who doesn't have a chance here. Easy goal for Cedar Hill. 1-1

80': They have it in our end, a pass to the near post and their man has it on top of the goal, but a little wide and its crowded back there. He can't find an angle to score.

82': MC Sandoval comes in for Mora.

90': Tapia to Lassiter, he volleys it foward from midfield, Navarro is there, evades one tackle, fires a shot... the keeper gets his hands to it, but doesn't stop it, the ball goes high into the air, comes down and slowly bounces into the goal. That should be a last minute victory for Wake Forest! 2-1


That's it!


Cedar Hill Lakers 1 : 2 Wake Forest Cougars

Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (7.3)
Goals: Navarro, Jhonathan Mora (6.9)
Assists: Joe Pickering (6.8), Tommy Lassiter (6.8)
Notables: Danny Coggins (7.0)

Highlight




Navarro's game winner!



-- We receive $7,750 for our win today, a pretty huge amount for a team our size.


Injury Update

-- AML Dylan Rose will miss about a week with the injury he picked up today.

Not bad, but enough that he'll miss our next match.

Player Departure

The Blacksburg Bears poach a third Cougar, today signing 16 y/o ST Jonny Clark. Clark was dead last on the depth chart, so I can't say I'm shocked to see him go.


Training Update

I've mentioned before that this will be a season long process:



Yeah... we have a long way to go.

March 15th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Wake Forest Cougars (1-0-0, 3rd) vs Port Charlotte Barracudas (0-1-0, 5th)

Attendence: 476

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Colangelo/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Galvis is back to full fitness and a clear starter. Shakespeare and Colangelo get their first starts today, the latter due to Rose's injury. Eventually we'll have a lot more squad rotation than this week to week, but I'm happy with small changes for now.

Defensive Mindset today.

9': Some lengthy possession by Port Charlotte, there's a cross from the left side from Akin to ST Grey, he controls it reasonably well at the edge of the box, blasts a shot on a half volley and its in. No chance to stop that. It'd also be off target 95 times out of 100. 0-1

10': Cooper down the right, a low cross into the 6 yard box, Navarro volleys it in! Looked easy! 1-1

28': A goal kick from Gyan lands on the foot of Navarro about 30 yards out, the defense isn't really there... the keeper rushes out, Navarro shoots, and its just wide.

37': AML Colangelo with a minor injury.

39': Port Charlotte are dominating posession. I tell the team to hold onto the ball a little more.

43': A pass from Colangelo to Navarro about 20 yards from goal, the defense again isn't quite there, this is another clear cut chance, though not as easy as the last. The keeper gets to this one and stops it.

HALF: Pretty slow after the two quick strikes in the first 10 minutes. They dominate possession but shots are pretty even, and minimal on both sides. Their goal was pretty lucky though and we're generating better chances.

Sandoval in, Colangelo out. Sandoval at MC, Shakespeare to AML.

56': We are definitely controlling posession better now. Lots of midfield passing, then sent out to the right to Cooper, he gets into the penalty area, centers it, Navarro and a defender are there, the ball kind of settles in between them and this is where amateur play gets hilarious. They both stare at it for a moment, not knowing what to do. Then Navarro kicks it into the defenders legs, and its finally cleared.

60': Navarro out, Samir Pace in. Entirely fatigue related.

73': Pena in at DMC for Williams.

79': Maybe I should be ok with a slow draw, but eh, we're at home. Lets not hold the ball as much and lets open up and attack some.

80': Really pretty movement between Pace and Cooper. Pace sends it out to Cooper, Cooper holds the ball and draws the defense, the pops it back into the middle of the box, Pace runs onto it nicely and scores! 2-1

85': Wow. Gyan with a save... one of our DC's, Garcia, is slowly walking away from him. Gyan drops the ball and kicks it... right into Garcia. The ball bounces off Garcia, over Gyan's head and into the net. 2-2

88': Its another quick strike for Port Charlotte, a pass into the middle of the area from the left side, the defense is there, but its a nice shot under pressure and Gyan can't make the stop. 2-3


And that's it, a crushing defeat due in part to a silly, fluky own goal.

Wake Forest 2 : 3 Port Charlotte

One of their goal scorers, defender Frankie Gray, is man of the match.

Goals: Navarro (7.1), Pace (7.2)
Assists: Cooper 2 (7.3)

6.1 ratings from Arroyo and Garcia in defense today.



Pace's goal that briefly gave us the lead.

The own goal. Never seen anything like it. Amateurs!


I don't intend to pump out this many highlights all the time, excitement for the new season I suppose :)

Oh, and a guy telling us about issues with his League of Legends match in mumble made it in the recording, oops! I'll have to be more careful about that too hah.

Injury Update

AML Luca Colangelo was hurt in that loss and is going to miss 3 weeks. We call Brian Davidson up from the reserve squad for now.

... days later

AML Dylan Rose is hurt in training and is going to miss about 10 days, so he's going to be out for another match.

March 22nd, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Rhode Island Reds (2-0-0, 1st) Wake Forest Cougars (1-0-1, 3rd)

-- Rhode Island has two wins, 6-0 and 4-0.
Attendence: 967

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Galvis/Garcia/Varela
DM: Williams
M: Sandoval/Tapia
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Pace

Lots of changes today, only the DC's, DMC, Cooper at AMR and the keeper stay the same.

Defensive Mindset today. Retain possession from the start.

2': A lob down the left side gets one of their forwards in a good spot, he's into the left side of the area, shoots... saved by Gyan. We stop the corner.

29': Some midfield control, a pass ahead to Pace, a through ball into the area for Cooper, its a clear cut chance... but he pushes it wide left.

HALF: And that's it, very very boring. I'm ok with that. Pace has a minor injury. I'm bringing Navarro in for the 2nd half.

65': Throwin for them at midfield, they throw it towards their own end but the defender doesn't collect it. Navarro is there and has a 1 on 1 with the keeper.. and he sends it way high. Clear cut chance and that needed to score.

72': Pena in for Williams, Mora in for Tapia.

87': Pena with a free kick from just outside the area, its on target, but saved pretty easily.

89': Davidson to Navarro, he cuts out wide and goes deep near the end line, a low cross into the 6 yard box, Mora is there... but off a defender and out for a corner. They clear the corner.

93': A goal kick sent long by Gyan, Navarro gets it and these amateur defenders just suck in these spots. Navarro into the area, 1 on 1 again with the keeper... who saves it. Damn!

Rhode Island 0 : 0 Wake Forest

DC Garcia with a 6.3 today, everyone else 6.6-6.8. Their keeper is man of the match.


So I'm happy getting a draw on the road against a team that scored 10 goals in their first two cup matches. I'm less happy with the fact that we had 2 breakaways and 4 clear cut chances and failed to score.




With 3 out of 7 matches played we're in a solid enough position here and could still easily advance.


Injury Update

our backup ST Samir Pace has a thigh strain and is out for 4-5 weeks.

March 29th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Wake Forest Cougars (1-1-1, 4th) vs Garden Grove Boomers (2-0-1, 3rd)

Attendence: 467

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Pickering/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Navarro

Pickering in for Garcia at DC, Garcia hasn't been good at all. Lassiter is still working on his fitness after joining the team. I'm hoping he can get a start in 2 weeks. Gary Glaser gets his first start in the midfield.

Standard mindset today at home

12': Corner for Wake Forest. Its lofted into the area, Glaser goes up for the header, he's fouled, penalty!! Mora takes it and scores! 1-0

22': We face two shots in a very crowded penalty area after some buildup on the right from Garden Grove. One shot off the bar, one is blocked.

23': Defensive time.

28': We control possession in their end, Williams to Mora, Mora sends it into the left side of the area, AML Davidson gets to it, shoots from the left side, and its in!! 2-0

37': A cross in from Garden Grove, Gyan turns it behind and its a corner. Corner comes into the 6 yard box. Gyan probably should have been able to get it, but an attacker was there to put it in. 2-1

HALF: We still lead at the half but the 2 goal lead would have been nicer.

54': Navarro takes a free kick from 25 yards out, the keeper has to dive to make the stop, but he does stop it.

58': Coggins makes an interception in the back and passes it up to Davidson. Davidson with a run down the left side... a hilarious run, he barely kept control of the ball without a defender in sight, total amateur play. But he gets a cross into the far side of the area, AMR Crook is there, runs down to the baseline, two defenders there.. he keeps control of the ball and is able to get a pass to the center, Navarro is there and blasts it in!! Pretty ugly looking outside of the finish but it totally counts! 3-1

65': Corner from Garden Grove, its sent near post and headed into the side net.

69': Shakespeare in for Davidson at AML, Lassiter in for Pickering at DC.

88': Cross in from the right for Garden Grove, a header from about 8 yards out... wide and high, not a bad look though.

92': A shot from 20 yards out for Garden Grove, Gyan pushes it away to the right, but it stays in play. They get to it and cross, headed out by the defense.

That's it, nice win!!

Wake Forest 3 : 1 Garden Grove

Man of the Match: Jhonathan Mora (8.7)
Goals: Mora, Davidson (8.3), Navarro (7.4)
Assists: Mora, Glaser (7.1), Crook (6.8)
Notables: Arroyo (7.1), Coggins (7.0)


We move into 2nd place with the win, but there's only 2 points separating 5th and 1st, so its still really wide open.


-- We get another $7,750 for the win here. Money in the bank.

Two questions:
(1) Where did you get that mod?
(2) Is there a Hawaii team in there? I always thought about doing this kind of thing with a team from Hawaii.

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Football Manager 2014 - Full Game Out Now!

Someone on the SI Foriums released the mod, but there were some issues with it, our own AnalBumCover did the work to clean it up here.

As for Hawaii, I'm on my laptop so don't have the game open right now, but downloading that file and searching through it, I did find a team named Honolulu, so there's at least one!

You could use the editor if you wanted to move teams around.

The team I'm playing in Wake Forest isn't in the mod by default. I edited things myself to move a nearby team there.

Following.

If/when I get FM14, I'm so downloading this mod as it'd lend itself to a more story-based dynasty rather than me just screaming in fury at the game.

Will be following this with interest.

I'm not familair with the set up in the US at that level, is there any element of promotion or relegation?

This is a fictional mod that does include promotion/relegation.

Awesome :)



What britrock said, completely fictional US System. The higher level teams all exist, and some of the low level ones do in some form (like development academy teams), but not in the same sense that they do in the game.

MLS sits at the top but with relegation and without a draft, etc.

April Update

-- We learn that AMR Ian Cooper and DR Steve Arroyo trained well this month. Cooper is noted to have made small gains in Anticipation, Concentration, Leadership and Teamwork. Arroyo with gains in dribbling and many mental attributes including positioning and composure.

-- The board is satisfied with my leadership. The signing of Jhon Mora is a plus, and its also noted that we made $22,220 profit last month, showing how important those $7750 rewards for cup victories are to us.

-- backup ML Luca Colangelo has resumed full training. 3rd stringer Davidson did pick up a goal in our last match and has probably earned a bit more playing time though.

April 5th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Wake Forest Cougars (2-1-1, 2nd) vs Root River Bandits (1-1-2, 6th)

Attendence: 474

-- We can't clinch advancement today but a win would make it extremely likely.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Glaser/Tapia
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Roth

Leon Roth gets his first start at striker, some rotation elsewhere, and Rose is back in at AML as soon as he's healthy.

Standard mindset at the start.

19': Gyan has to make a save on a shot from 35 yards out, damn thing almost floated in.

31': Now their keeper does the same... really poor cross from Cooper on a long free kick, but it almost surprises the keeper.

HALF: 5 shots taken, all 5 on target (2 from us, 3 from them), but only 2 of them were even shown in highlights. A pretty crappy first half. I tell the guys to attack more in the second half.

47': A counter by Root River after an interception, a long ball to a striker that Garcia misdjudges badly, leading to a pass and shot from about 15 yards out.. Gyan with the save though, and a corner is poorly taken into the side net.

55': Another long ball from Root River poorly defended, a shot from their striker Lee is saved.

64': Tapia with a though ball into the penalty area after some buildup on our offensive end. Roth makes a run, and he's brought down from behind! That's a penalty! Yellow card for hteir defender Elliot. MC Glaser takes it and scores easily! 1-0

66': Two shots off a corner for us, but easily saved.

69': Long ball from Glaser, Roth gets behind the defense and has a 1 on 1 with the keeper.. except he either can't control the ball or just doesn't know how to shoot. He holds it up in the penalty area until a defender arrives, and the defender blocks it.

70': Davidson in for Rose at AML.

71': Cooper down the right side, a low cross into the area, Roth is there... shoots, and scores! The ellipses there wasn't for dramatic effect. Its for the delay between the time that Ross got his foot onto the ball to stop it, and actually setting up and taking the shot. The defense is just as bad as he is at least. I'm not seeing this kind of stutter from Navarro when he receives a pass usually, I assume that means something. 2-0

75': Lassiter in for Garcia, Pena in for Williams at DMC.

92': One last chance for them, a header off a long free kick is wide.

92': A last minute yellow card for defender Manzo for Root River.

Wake Forest 2 : 0 Root River Bandits

Man of the Match: Leon Roth (8.0)
Goals: Roth, Glaser (7.0)
Assists: Roth, Cooper (7.6)
Notables: Gyan (7.0), Arroyo (7.0), Galvis (7.2)

-- Another $7,750 for the win today.





Just two matches to play, so while we haven't mathematically advanced yet, even if we lose our last two it still seems pretty likely.

Injury Update

-- Starting keeper Amidu Gyan strained his groin today in training, he's going to miss 4-5 weeks. Phil Harrington is back into the starting role.


-- ST Samir Pace resumes full training after his injury a couple weeks ago.

-- two weeks between matches here, I hadn't noticed that at first.

April 19th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Richmond Tide (1-2-2, 6th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (3-1-1, 1st)

Attendence: 476

We can clinch advancement out of our group with a win today.

Starting Lineup

GK: Harrington
D: Coggins/Galvis/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Tapia/Mora
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Lassiter gets his first start today, I'm not sure he can go 90 quite yet, but he's getting close. Harrington for the injured Gyan, Davidson at AML instead of Rose due to recent form. Otherwise, we're starting what I think is our best team today.

Defensive mindset on the road.

11': They attack hard, geting the ball into the box twice, a nice tackle from Galvis saves us once, a header on a cross stops the second effort, and we withstand a rather long highlight in our defensive end without allowing a shot.

28': This game has been full of Richmond attacking highlights.

42': They earn a corner after a long free kick sent into the box, but we clear it out easily.

HALF: Each team has 3 off target shots. I've seen none of my own in highlights, I've seen all of theirs, and I've seen about 5 other highlights where they have put a ton of pressure on us but our defense has cleared at key moments. They hold a reasonably heavy possession edge over us and I tell the team to hold onto the ball a little more here.

46': They earn a corner right off the bat, its taken, a header.. Arroyo clears it off the line, whew.

81': Rose in for Davidson, Pena in for Williams.

92': I get to watch my first offensive highlight of the entire match, we take a corner and they clear it immediately. We keep the ball and clumsily build back up again, Rose sends a cross in from the left side and it goes through the box untouched.

The whistle finally blows around the 94 minute mark (after 2 minutes of scheduled added time).

Richmond 0 : 0 Wake Forest

They have a defender earn man of the match.

All of our ratings are between 6.2-6.8, most of them 6.6/6.7.

Ian Cooper picked up a minor injury in the final couple minutes. Damn.

Injury Update

Cooper is going to miss 3 weeks with this injury. That will see him missing a couple league matches.



Three teams clinched spots in the next round today, Wake Forest are one of them. I believe after this we go straight to single elimination draw style matches. We do have one more group match to play.

April 26th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Phase 1 - Group O

Wake Forest Cougars (3-2-1, 2nd) vs Belleville Squires (2-1-3, 5th)

Attendence: 457

Belleville could qualify with a win against us and some help. We'll try to keep them down because why not.

Starting Lineup

GK: Harrington
D: Coggins/Galvis/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Rose/Crook
ST: Navarro

Glaser in at MC, Rose/Crook at AM, roster unchanged otherwise.

Standard mindset today.

10': Belleville goal kick, we recover it, move forward pretty quickly, Mora ahead to Navarro, he's got his man beat, he tries to chip it over the keeper from 18 yards out, but not high enough, keeper catches it.

41': AMR Ryan Crook is hurt and has to come out immediately. Crap, that's my top two AMR's gone. Samir Pace, mainly a striker, can also play an acceptable winger. He's in.

43': We earn a corner on a Rose cross into the area, first corner they head it behind, second the keeper grabs it.

HALF: We are dominating this match, 5 shots to 1, 59% of the possession, just no goals yet.

69': they intercept a pass in the midfield, a pass down the center, then sent out wide right, crossed into the area and ST King heads it in. A nice little play there for Belleville. 0-1

We'll attack to try to get the goal back.

70': It doesn't take long at all. Navarro has it near midfield, sends it ahead to Mora, the defense is closing in but he takes a shot from just outside the box and its by the keeper and in, very well placed! 1-1

75': The little used Bayerd Perkins is in at MC for Glaser.

And that's it.

Wake Forest 1 : 1 Belleville

Man of the Match: Jhonathan Mora (7.8)
Goals: Mora
Assists: Navarro (6.6)
Notables: Glaser 7.1

We were by far the better team today and we should have won that one. We needed to finish a bit better.



We luck out in that Crook doesn't have any sort of long term injury after this one.

Next up we'll find out who we play next in the North American Open Cup, and we begin league play on the road in Hickory, NC.

North American Open Cup First Qualifying Round Draw

We get a home match, but we're playing the Dallas Fort Worth Tornados, they're two or three full tiers above us. We will be pretty big underdogs.

The cup match also crowds our schedule up quite a bit, our league opener is May 3rd, and we will now play 5 matches between May 3rd and May 16th.

May Update

Glaser (rotation MC), Pena (backup DMC) and Perkins (backup MC) all trained well this month. ST Ronnie Navarro trained poorly and has shown a slight drop in many areas.


-- The board is pleased with my leadership. Signing Mora remains the top highlight. We also made $10,450 profit last month.

May 3rd, 2014

Opening Day!

Hickory Heat vs Wake Forest Cougars

Hickory play on the field of Lenoir-Rhyne University, its a small 500 seater just like ours.

Attendence: 192


Starting Lineup

GK: Harrington
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Varela
DM: Williams
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Navarro

We make some changes because of the upcoming need to rotate players heavily in this stretch. Defensive mindset on the road today.

5': They get the first shot of the game off a free kick, but its wide.

17': Interception from Mora in midfield, a pass to Navarro, he lays it back to Williams who hits it ahead to Mora on a run, he shoots from 18 yards out, goal!!! 1-0

18': A pass from Davidson to Mora who is in the left side of the penalty area, he shoots... by the keeper, hits the crossbar, and out, so very close.

30': Disaster for us, trying to hang on to the ball deep in our own end, short passing intead of clearing. Their striker Pops just takes it away from Galvis and scores easily. 1-1

41': Free kick Hickory, they get a head on it, Harrington stops it, they get another look... blocked, and a foul on them trying to get to the loose ball. Whew.

45': Davidson with a free kick from 35 yards out, he lofts it into the box, Navarro is under it by himself, a volley, clear cut chance for sure... but he takes it at too sharp an angle and sends it wide.

HALF: We should be ahead, but that mistake by Galvis was just too big.

60': Mora picks up an injury. He can stay in, but I think I want him out ASAP.

64': Tapia in for Mora, Bo Thompson in for Crook at AMR.

74': A throwin in their territory, Davidson passes to Mora in the box, he's got a great look... but hits it just inches wide left.

86': They control it for awhile, finally getting a pass into the area for a striker, he shoots from a dangerous area, but its crowded and the shot is blocked and then cleared.

88': Sandoval in for Shakespeare.

92': Navarro tries a shot from 25 yards out, he makes the keeper dive for it which is often enough for a goal at this level, but the keeper gets to it and hangs on.

That's it, we'll take a road draw for our opener.

Hickory 1 : 1 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Jhonathan Mora (7.3)
Goal: Mora
Assist: Williams (7.2)

Navarro really had a bad day, 5.8 rating, one of the first really poor ratings I've seen.


Our first goal of the season:




Injury Updates

GK Gyan is back to full training, we'll see if he can start right away or not. Harrington hasn't been bad, honestly.

MC Jhonathan Mora is going to miss 2 weeks with the injury he picked up today. That's going to be 3 league matches, which sucks since he's been one of our best players, probably our single best player.

Excellent. Thank you! I played with a similar mod in FM2011. I nearly took San Diego Boca to the MLS Championship before I got bored with it.

So I looked a little closer at Hawaii now that I have the game open, and there is a "Hawaiian Islands Invitational" Tournament in the game. The Honolulu Islanders and Hilo Tsunami play each other. Hilo is in the bottom rung like my Wake Forest team is, they're in the "South Pacific Coast" league with teams from Nevada and California it appears). Honolulu is in "Gold Coast Division 2" which looks like its a number of rungs above the bottom. they're a semi-pro team. I'm assuming those are the only two Hawaii teams.

The rest of that tournament are bigger international teams, an MLS team, a couple Japan teams and a Korean team. So its basically like the Maui Invitational in college basketball where teams come from all over to beat the crap out of Chaminade :)

EDIT: of course you could just move teams around if you wanted more in the editor.

Hey... even Chaminade beat #1 Virginia once. :) That sounds great. Thank you for looking that up!

May 7th, 2014

North American Open Cup - First Qualifying Round

Wake Forest Cougars vs DFW Tornados

DFW are 2 tiers above us, so this might get ugly.

Attendence: 477

DFW: 4-5 (Favorites)
Draw: 2-1
Wake Forest: 3-1

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Shakespeare/Glaser
AM: Rose/Crook
ST: Pace

Pretty close to wholesale changes since we're on such short rest. Gyan is back in the lineup after his injury.

We will defend and try to make this a slow game.

2': They send a cross into the box, we clear it... but apparently Shakespeare held his man, and there's a penalty given. Its made easily. 0-1

12'; a cross in from the right for them, Gyan punches it away, but not very far. They have a man there, clear cut chance... but he fire it wide.

41': Cross in from Crook to Pace, he get behind the defense and has a great look, but its saved.

HALF: After the early goal things get really slow.

50': A lob over the defense by their midfielder Salazar. A striker controls it extremely nicely with his chest and has a very easy shot from the penalty spot, and we're down 2. 0-2

55': A through ball to pace, he's got a great look... but saved. Glaser takes the corner, Pickering is there at the near post, and he heads it in!! 1-2

57': We control it in the midfield, Glaser with a lob up ahead into the left side of the box, Rose gets there nicely, there's no one near him, he blasts a shot, into the net!!! Two very quick goals to tie it up! 2-2

66': Shakespeare is hurt and has to come out. I bring Bayerd Perkins in for him. Tapia comes in for a tired Glaser at the same time.

81': We earn a corner, Tapia takes it near post, Pickering is there again, he just misses on the header. Almost another goal the same way as the first!

84': Roth is in for Pace.

END OF REGULATION - I totally forgot to mention the structure. There are no replays in the competitions I've seen so far at this level. Extra time/penalties if tied after 90.

100': We control it in their end, a few short passes, then Tapia hits it ahead to Crook in the area, he turns and shoots left footed, and beats the keeper, goal!!! 3-2

101': A shot from about 20 yards out for DFW is just wide.

104': Free kick from the left side for us, its played into the box, and there's a penalty given! I have no idea where, it is crowded in there, but ok! Perkins takes the penalty, goal!! 4-2

EXTRA TIME HT - We just need to hang on to a two goal lead now!!

110': Waste all the time, boys.

That's it, great win!


Wake Forest 4 : 2e Dallas-Fort Worth

There are bigger upsets that can happen, but still this is a team a good ways above us, they really should win this most of the time.

Both of DFW's goals came from the same player, he got man of the match.

Goals: Pickering (8.4), Crook (8.2), Rose (7.7), Perkins (7.2)
Assists: Pickering, Glaser (6.9), Pace (6.6), Tapia (6.9)
Notables: Arroyo (7.0), Campbell (7.2), Pena (7.0)


We only allowed them 6 shots all match, despite them winning possession 55/45. We were better in the air, winning 71% of our headers to just 54% from them, maybe they kept trying to cross it in and we were able to clear out enough. We shot 11 times and our goals were not flukey at all, they were strong strikes from good positions.


-- We receive $15,500 for the win today! Money in the bank!


-- No long term injuries for Shakespeare, so that's really good for us.

North American Open Cup - Second Qualifying Round Draw

224 teams in the draw here, no top teams yet in the draw.

We get a good draw here, we're going to play the Montgomery Yellowhammers, at home. They're from Alabama. They're in the Atlantic Coast Amateur League, one tier above us. (we're in the US Amateuer Regional tier, they are in the US Amateur Premier Tier).


-- We are getting slightly better at our tactics:




May 10th, 2014

Danville Villains (0-0-1, 16th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (0-1-0, 11th)

Some teams have already played 2 or 3 matches, so the standings are meaningless.

Attendence: 253

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Varela
DM: Williams
M: Perkins/Tapia
AM: Colangelo/Thompson
ST: Navarro

We change up every single one of our infield players today.

1': We get a chance out of the opening kickoff, a ball ahead to Thompson coming in from the right side, its actually deemed a clear cut chance, but he puts it over.

17': They earn two corners, first turned behind, the second is headed off the post and cleared. Whew.

21': Our second shot, also from Thomspon, our second clear cut chance, and this one is saved. That wasn't an easy one though in my opinion. Navarro lobbed it out right for him and he tried a tough volley.

28': Navarro receives a pass about 25 yards out, lobs it into the left side of the box, controlled well by Colanegelo, he shoots, goal!! That was a very tough angle, nice shot! 1-0

33': Tapia ahead to Navarro, he ends up deep near the end line, has to hold up for some help, passes to Thompson, but his shot is saved. I actually think that was an easier look than both his clear cut chances from earlier.

HALF: A decent half, but I think we're a much better team than Danville, only allowing one off target shot so far and we feel in total control. I just hope we don't regret only getting one goal.

54': Thompson is tackled hard and his fitness goes into the tank, but he's not hurt, hopefully he can recover.

57': A cross from Colangelo is turned behind for a corner, he also takes the corner and its saved.

74': Crook in for Thompson, Sandoval in for Tapia.

82': A ball into the box from them from about 35 yards out... their strike gets a head to it and its not a strong header, but its enough, its by Gyan and in. 1-1

87': Their two forwards with a give and go, ST Soto just sprints by Garcia, gets into the box and gets an esay goal. 1-2

And that's it.

Danville 2 : 1 Wake Forest

A really ugly final 10 minutes from us. We should have been ahead by more than 1 goal, and we were completely unable to get anything going in the second half, we only took 1 second half shot. They only shot 4 times all match, but those last two were both golden.

I make sure the team knows they played like crap.

Goal: Colangelo (7.1)
Assist: Navarro (6.8)

Injury Update

ST Roth picks up a groin strain in a U18 match and is out 4-5 weeks. I didn't realize he was playing in that, I would not have allowed it. That sucks, that brings us down to two healthy strikers. I may need to sign another just in case.

MC Sandoval is also out 4-5 weeks with an injury. That is less important.

May 13th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (0-1-1, 12th) vs Nashville Soul (2-0-0, 3rd)

Its our league home opener today

Attendence: 253


Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Pickering/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Shakespeare/Glaser
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Pace

Coggins is the only guy out there playing 2 in a row, the rest all changed.

Standard mindset at home today.

4': We earn an early corner, taken near post to Pickering, who isn't close on the header.

5': Pace with a bit of a break, his man is close by though and he can't get a great angle... still a clear cut chance, but saved.

16': Their ST Griffiths gets a good look from 18 yards out, he sends it wide though. If he was on target Gyan probably wasn't stopping it.

33': Lassiter with a horrid clearance from our corner sees them get a great looking shot.. it hits the post. We are extremely lucky.

42': Davidson with a free kick, it hits the bottom of the crossbar and stays in play, the keeper dove after it and is down, Crook gets to the ball first and pokes it in! 1-0

44': Glaser with a shot from 20 yards out after a nice pass from Davidson, its struck hard and low, but just wide.

HALF: Solid half, we allowed 2 great looks to them but they are putting absolutely everything wide. We have a couple more shots and way more on target, I'm not pulling back to defend too much here, I want another goal.

54': throwin in their end, pace with a short pass to Davidson, to Shakespeare in the area, he shoots... saved by the keeper, the rebound goes to the left side of the 6 yard box, Pace is there and shoots from a tight angle, goal!! 2-0

56': with a 2 goal lead we'll go ahead and give the order to play more defensive.

58': The ball goes back and forth through our penalty area so many times I lose count, headers that aren't strong enough to clear the danger totally, shots blocked and recovered by Nashville... finally a shot is wide by them.

72': Colangelo in for Davidson, Cooper (recently off the injury list but not in shape to start yet) in for Crook. I pull them back into the midfield and break out our 4-1-4-1 formation for the first time.

88': Tapia in for Glaser

That's it!

Wake Forest 2 : 0 Nashville

Very strong win for us today.

Man of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (7.7)
Goals: Crook (7.4), Pace (7.6)
Assists: Shakespeare, Davidson (6.9)
Notables: Arroyo (7.0), Coggins (7.2)

The current standings look like this, and that's the teams in the league since I don't think I've ever shown them before.


League Structure

I assume this is an amateur thing to save money on travel costs... so there's 16 teams in the league. Instead of playing everyone twice for a total of 30 games, what happens is that everyone plays each other once, for 15 games. After those 15 games, the league "splits" into the top 7, and the bottom 9. The top 7 teams then play each other one more time (which gives them a total of 21 games played), while the bottom 9 all play each other one more time giving them a total of 23 games played. Those splits are used to determine who makes the playoffs and who gets relegated. Well, except no one gets relegated since we're at the very bottom.

So if we are in 7th place after 15 games, we break off into that top half, and if we lose every game from then on, we still finish 7th place, even though there will be teams in the standings with more points than us, they'll be from the "bottom half" and the best they can do is 8th.

More on that later, the main thing to get for now is that the top 7 is MASSIVELY important over the course of the 15 game split.

New Signing

16 y/o ST Pierre Reynoso signs with us from the Fayetteville Liberty, our next opponent.

Crossing 2/Dribbling 1/Finishing 5/Heading 5/Pace 4

Anticipation 1/Composure 6/Flair 9/Off Ball 6/Work Rate 10

He's not good. But hell no one on our team is. His total inability to dribble the ball combined with a total lack of ability to anticipate what's about to happen could lead to hilarious results.

We signed Reynoso because of the injury to Roth, I'm not comfortable only having two healthy players on the roster at a single position. I should have signed a guy like this awhile ago when our 4th string striker signed elsewhere.

May 16th, 2014

Fayetteville Liberty (2-1-0, 3rd) vs Wake Forest Cougars (1-1-1, 7th)

Attendence: 280

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Galvis/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Tapia/Mora
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Mora is back from injury and immediately back in the lineup. Rose/Cooper are our best wingers, so we're fielding a really strong lineup today given the rotating that's been going on.

Standard mindset even on the road, lets see if we're better being less defensive in all situations.

3': Navarro just took a shot that went out for a throw-in. That is, he was in the left side of the penalty area, not even at the baseline... he was outside the 6 yard box. It was a bit of a tough angle... and he basically shot the ball straight sideways, and it went all the way over the sideline for a throw-in. I'm in awe.

26': Rose has two men on him, he controls the ball nicely on the left side and crosses in to Tapia. Tapia with a run into the box, lays it off for Navarro who shoots and scores a very easy goal! 1-0

HALF: We have 6 shots, the only one on target was the goal. But Fayetteville haven't managed even a shot yet. We look pretty strong here.

52': Their first shot is a scary on target shot on a free kick, but Gyan pushes it away. They get another free kick from the side, we head it behind, corner. The corner is headed clear.

67': We win a header off a goal kick and attack quickly, Rose down the left sideline, crossed into Navarro about 10 yards out, he has time to hold the ball and place his shot, but the keeper blocks it and they clear. Damn!

70': We possess the ball in the midfield, Cooper with a long lob forward, Navarro controls it very well with his first touch, dribbles into the penalty area and scores, good goal! 2-0

71': Glaser in for Mora, Mora is back but not quite ready to go 90.

77': They get a goal back on a corner, headed in. 2-1

79': Cooper has picked up an injury, hopefully not a bad one.

84': They get a great look on a long ball but Gyan makes the stop. Corner, Williams heads it away.

85': Colangelo and Crook in for Rose and Cooper. Lets be smart and defend for a few minutes here.

90': Colangelo with a cross, Navarro heads it... into the side netting, that was a decent look and almost a hat trick.

92': Ahh, full out amateur play. midfielder Johnson for Fayeteville is at the sideline maybe 25-30 yards out and sends a cross into the box. Except its a crappy cross, right at Gyan. If Gyan doesn't move, literally, the ball bounces off him and we have a shot to clear. Instead, he dives to the ground... and the ball bounces over him and into the net. 2-2

And that's how it ends.

Fayeteville 2 : 2 Wake Forest

Well, we just totally gave away 2 points there.

Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (8.8)
Goals: Navarro 2
Assists: Tapia (6.9), Cooper (7.4)
Notable: Williams (7.1)

We out-shot them 10-4, controlled possession, were the better passing, tackling and heading team. We were better in every way, until Gyan literally dove out of the way of the ball so it wouldn't touch him on the way into the net.


Injury Update

AMR Ian Cooper has a very hard time staying on the field. He's going to miss another week. Luckily Ryan Crook has looked pretty decent in his place.

May 21sh, 2014

North American Open Cup - Second Qualifying Round

Wake Forest Cougars vs Montgomery Yellowhammers

Attendence: 500

-- our first sellout!

-- Montgomery are large 1-2 favorites today, we're 9-2 to win.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Shakespeare
AM: Colangelo/Crook
ST: Navarro

We change all but Galvis/Arroyo/Navarro in this one.

Defensive mindset against the presumably stronger team.

2': They earn a corner, we head it away but not very far, they control still in the penalty area, one pass to an open man, easy goal. 0-1

5': A long run of possession for Wake Forest, mostly up the middle on offense, Navarro gets a pass 25 yards out, holds it nicely, Colangelo cuts, NAvarro hits him with the pass, great shot, goal!! 1-1

7': Highlight opens with NAvarro making a run into the right sid eof hte area, he holds it up to wait for help, passes to Shakespeare, he puts it in! 2-1

-- that's 5 shots, 3 goals between the two teams.

We saw one highlight the rest of the half, of Navarro putting a shot well wide.

HALF: Navarro with two assists, very nice!

60': They intercept a pass in midfield and get the ball ahead quickly, a shot from the left side of the penalty area is saved by Gyan.

70': We're seeing them attack more here, Arroyo with a nice header to stop a cross coming in, they recover and shoot and Gyan has to make a save, turning it behind for a corner. Pena sends the corner away.

73': We drop back to a 4-1-4-1 formation, Shakespeare moves over to ML, Perkins comes in for Colangelo and will play in the center of the midfield.

79': Tapia in for Pena at DMC.

85': A long goal kick from their keeper, we miss it and it takes a high bounce behind the defense, their striker has a 1 on 1 against Gyan.. Gyan rushes out, and stops the shot!!

That's it! We seem to play pretty well as underdogs, at home at least!

Wake Forest 2 : 1 Montgomery

Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (8.3)
Goals: Colangelo (7.3), Shakespeare (7.9)
Assists: Navarro 2
Notables: Glaser (7.0)

Coggins with a pretty rough 6.3 rating at DL today.


-- We receive $31,000 for the win. That's a huge amount for this team. We actually have $100,000 in the bank now. The team has brought in $127,000 this year so far, and $70,000 of that is from prize money.

-- I take advantage of the good mood and ask the board if I can hire another physio and another coach, they agree immediately on the physio, they don't agree on the coach, but I plead with them and state that our players can't reach their potential without it, and they relent. I'm not sure why they care, the coaches are working for free anyway.

I make a couple coaching offers.

North American Open Cup - Third Qualifying Round Draw

So it looks like the bigger teams have yet to enter the competition still, down to 136 qualifying teams in the pool.
We draw the Ogden Outlaws from the Gold Coast 2nd Division, also a couple tiers above us. We do get the draw at home, so hey, lets pull off another upset guys!

Continuing to win in the cup matches does mean that we're never going to get any rest, but I'm not sure it really matters, since for the guys under age 18 you have to rotate a lot to keep them from getting jaded anyway, I think?

New Staff Member

We sign a new physio with a rating of 6, Josh Watts. Hopefully having two crappy physios helps a little more with the injury problems than just having one.

We also sign 34 year old Zizi Roberts as a coach. Roberts can actually coach a bit, 7 attacking/7 defending/8 man management/15 adaptability/16 determination. I put him on tactics and defending, which lets my assistant and other coach lighten their load a bit so our training improves in about 5 areas. Now we're talking about improving from 1* to 1 1/2* or 1 1/2* to 2*... so its not exactly great, but we're not paying for any of this so we might as well maximize what little we can do.

May 24th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (1-2-1, 11th) vs Cleveland Stokers (0-2-2, 15th)

Attendence: 247

-- So as fun as it is to make $31k for a win, we need to start winning some of these league matches instead of letting bad things happen in the final minutes.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Lassiter/Varela
DM: Williams
M: Perkins/Mora
AM: Rose/Crook
ST: Pace

Crook is the only guy trying to go two matches in a row here, and only because Cooper isn't really fit after yet another injury.

Standard mindset at home against a weaker team today.

2': We attack after a free kick in midfield, Crook crosses, its headed but not fully cleared. They get the ball but either Rose steals it away or they just have poor control and lose it while trying to clear. Either way, Rose is there in the box, gets the ball back and scores! 1-0

14': A lob by Cleveland gets a man open behind the defense (pickering way out of position), Lassiter races back though and is able to block the shot as its taken. A very key play on defense.

29': We get a great look on a cross in by Crook, Pace heads it.. into the crossbar, so close!

HALF: Each team has 5 shots, we have the only one on target, and the only goal as a result.

51': Pace with a good pass to Rose coming in from the left side... he gets our first clear cut chance, but the keeper makes the save. We get another shot off the corner, turned behind... and another shot off the next corner, but this one goes wide for a goal kick.

54': A lucky break as they get a cross and header, but its high, it was from very close range, though it was contested.

57': Their ST Sinisterra scores on a nice volley after a cross came in from the left side. 1-1

63': New ST Reynoso comes on for AMR Crook. Pace moves to AMR, Reynoso up front. Tapia in for Perkins at MC.

85': Williams is hurt and has to leave the match. Tapia moves to DMC, Shakespeare is in at MC.

85': I want to attack here.

87': Pickering with a nice open field tackle to win the ball in defense, it starts a counter attack, Rose with a long cross to Pace, Pace in the area.. he's brought down, penalty! Mora takes the penalty... and its saved. UGH.

And that's it.

Wake Forest 1 : 1 Cleveland

We're giving away points left and right in league play. I give the "aggressive" post match talk telling the team this simply isn't good enough, and many of my players are fired up as a result.

Man of the Match: Dylan Rose (7.3)
Goal: Rose
Assist: Pace (6.7)

We managed 16 shots to their 8, 6 on target to their 1, 3 clear cut chances, we wre just better in every way, we have just got to close this game out. Hell, we missed a penalty in the 87th minute!


Injury Update

DMC Brian Williams has broken his wrist. He is going to miss two months. Going into the season when I was scouting out my team I said that I thought Williams was possibly my best player, and is absolutely at the position where the difference between my starter and backup is the greatest. This is a loss that I am very sad to see.

MC Jose Alejandro Tapia can fill in as a rotational DMC along with Tim Pena, which shoudl be mostly fine.




1/3 of the way through the season. We're fine, but we do need to get some wins soon. Remember the big goal is top 7.

Interesting, because the Atlantic Coast Premier is also a split season league but with a different split. 20 teams, play 19 games games and then split 10 & 10.
9 more games played against your "half", total of 28 regular season matches.

Same idea, executed differently.

This looks like it's a lot of fun...a different kind of football in the American South. :)

I might have to see if my laptop can run FM 14 well enough to make buying it worthwhile, because I think this would be an enjoyable challenge.

I'll be following!

May 28th, 2014

North American Open Cup - Third Qualifying Round

Wake Forest Cougars vs Ogden Outlaws

Attendence: 460

No sellout!?

-- Ogden are 2-5 favorites, we're 13:2 to get this one. The odds keep getting longer and longer.
Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Garcia/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Navarro

I am very lucky that Ryan Crook is one of the stronger guys on the team in terms of fitness. Cooper should be ready to go next match. I also think Mora has been strong enough that I want to keep him in today instead of rotating for a slightly more fit player.

We're obviously defending today.

15': Coggins misjudges a cross that allows Ogden to get a really good look from about 10 yards out and they score first. 0-1

28': they cross, we head it out, but they recover the ball and we get very lucky as a shot hits the crossbar and goes just over.

30': Mora finds Davidson coming in from the left, he shoots but its way off. We've had a few offensive highlights and a few nice plays, just nothing put together yet.

32': There it is! Davidson with a run down the left, a cross to the penalty spot, Mora is there and sticks it in with a great left footed volley! 1-1

41': They build up and get a shot off from the right side of the area, but its right at Gyan. Even then, its scary, anything on target is terrifying at this level. He makes the save.

HALF: I tell the team that I honestly think they can win this one. They are outshooting us 6-3, but we are hanging on to possession nicely, with 59% of the play so far, we are doing great in the air and we are winning our tackles. We really have a shot I think.

53': We control the ball for a good long while before Mora finally works it forward, he hits Crook on the right, he shoots, but its not a great angle and he puts it into the side netting.

54': we intercept a pass in their end, Navarro goes by a man and gets a little space on the left side of the area, he shoots.. its just off the bar. That was a tough shot with his weaker foot, but a good effort.

69': Perkins in for Glaser, Pace in for Crook at AMR.

90': Throwin in their end, Mora takes a shot from just outside the penalty area, but he misses badly.

94': Mora is hurt, and forced to leave the match. Ugghhh, I don't want him hurt!

FULL TIME: Tapia is going to come in for Mora, and I've used all my subs, so this is my team for extra time.

101': A nice run from MR Myers on their side, there's a pass ahead to him, Coggins makes a great slide to get in front of him as he shoots, and blocks it.

103': Coggins yellow.

Extra Time HalfTime: We might have to hope for penalties here.

114': They shoot on a free kick, miles wide.


Full Time: And that's it, we go to penalties.

Perkins: right side, good. 1-0
Hardy: right side, good. 1-1

Coggins: bottom left corner, good. 2-1
Ammann: almost right down the middle, good. 2-2

Navarro: right side, good. 3-2
Maldonado: right side, good. 3-3

Garcia: left center, good. 4-3
Quintero: right down the middle, it hits Gyan, but goes in. 4-4

Davidson: left side, good. 5-4
Roberts: left side, good. 5-5

Tapia: top left corner, good. 6-5
Carlton: left side, good. 6-6

Arroyo: top right corner, good. 7-6
Lenweke: right side, good. 7-7

Galvis: bottom right, good. 8-7
Prado: left side... Gyan dives left, but the ball goes inches over him. 8-8

Pena: left center, good. 9-8
Myers: right side, good. 9-9

Pace: left side, good. 10-9
Angeles: lower left, good. 10-10

Gyan: slightly left of center... their keeper saves.
Rodriguez: right side, good. 10-11


Penalty kciks at this level are hilarious, the keepers are so bad they can barely move, so as long as you don't just miss the target, you're extremely likely to score. We make it all the way to keeper vs keeper, and Gyan couldn't finish.


Wake Forest 1 : 1 (10-11 on penalties) Ogden

Man of the Match: Jhonatan Mora (8.0)
Goal: Mora
Assist: Davidson (6.9)
Notables: Garcia (7.0), Galvis (7.1)


Most importantly probably, there is no long term injury for Mora.

Also, we now have a few weeks where we just have 1 match a week, before the start of the next cup competition, the far less lucrative "North American Amateur Cup".

Yeah, the 7 and 9 split is really weird. The first time I played through this in what essentially ended up a test season, I had no idea what the split was, assumed 8 and 8. I finished 7th and was very surprised to find I was the last team in!


Thanks :)

How are you getting tactics familiarity up as an Amateur team? I keep getting stuck at the same levels no matter how many games I use the exact same tactics.

FYI tactics familiarity is based on how much time you spend training the tactic(match training on tactics) not how much you use it in the matches themselves.

But there is no match training for Amateur teams.

Ah well ... haven't played with an amateur team in a few versions. Not too sure about that one :P

I mean I could be wrong. Who knows?

There's my team training scheduling. Looks like we're allowed to practice 2 days a week. I'll leave general training and match training on tactics for the entire season probably. By next year we'll probably know our tactics well enough that I can afford to do other things sometimes.

I have no idea about optimizing any of it, I'm just winging it for the most part.

You can speed it up, if you like, by moving the 'Scheduling' slider at the top(right now the progress will be pretty slow because you're not spending much time on match training. I usually have it at the other end until we know tactics well).

That slider is greyed out, can't move it. I don't see anything official on it but some googling makes it look like semi-pro and amateur teams don't' have control over that.

Makes sense.

-- I haven't done a good job of reporting cards in matches, there aren't a whole lot usually though. It looks like suspensions start after only two yellows, even for league play? DL Danny Coggins picked up his 2nd yellow and will sit a match.


-- Two of my reserves have now come to talk to me about getting a shot at playing time. One of them was an MR only, Tim Reading, andI told him he was a backup and to deal with it. He continued complaining, so I released him. The other is DC Don Burke, I don't think he's as good as my other DC's, but its not like we're playing spectacularly well, and some of his ratings don't suck, so I tell him I'll give him a chance.

May 29th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (1-3-1, 9th) vs Asheville Attack (2-2-1, 6th)

Attendence: 246


Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Burke/Varela
DM: Tapia
M: Perkins/Shakespeare
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Reynoso

Lots of changes again today, Cooper is finally back in the lineup at AMR (though Crook has done quite well so I'm not sure there's really a gap in talent there like I first thought), Tapia starts at DMC, Reynoso gets the start at striker.

Standard mindset at home today.

12': They put a free kick from 25 yards on target, but Gyan saves.

20': Some nice Asheville passing, the penalty area is crowded ut they do get a look , they can't put it on target though.

35': Asheville clear cut chance, a pass comes into the 6 yard box from the left, their man is a bit slow to shoot though and we get a defender there to tackle it out. Corner goes nowhere.

HALF: Shots are even at 4, we have 3 of them on target but haven't seen any of them in highlights.

I tell the team to retain possession, they are holding the ball way too much, and its not like our quicker play is getting us more shots.

56': They get a long ball down the right, a cross, Varela heads it out, but they recover, a centering cross, Marshall is there and heads it in. 0-1

60': Lets attack.

67': Pace is in for Reynoso.

73': Pace is hurt and has to leave the field. Luckily Navarro is also available today off the bench, I had them both as subs for AM coverage. I go ahead and bring Mora in for Perkins too, to try to spark the offense.

82': I think this is the first time I saw the team shoot in a highlight, Rose puts one wide from outside the penalty area.

88': Their defense is holding the ball, we put some pressure on and force a poor clearance, Shakespeare intercepts, passes ahead to Rose, he crosses to the other side of the penalty area, Cooper with the shot, goal! 1-1

That's it, its another draw, but somehow when you're trailing all match and come back to tie it doesn't feel quite as bad when its the other way around :D

Wake Forest 1 : 1 Asheville

Man of the Match: Dylan Rose (7.5)
Goal: Cooper (7.2)
Assist: Rose
Notables: Pickering (7.1), Shakespeare (7.1)


Injury Update

Of course. Samir Pace is out for 2 months with a badly sprained ankle. ST Leon Roth is expected to have recovered from his injury in about 4 days, so we'll hopefully have three guys available again soon to play up front.

-- So I gave reserve DC Don Burke a start last match after he complained about his playing time. He put up a 6.5 rating, it was the worst on the team, it wasn't completely horrible though.

-- Also a note about DC Joe Pickering. When I started this I assumed he'd be my #4 DC or so, but I totally ignored the fact that the guy is 6'8", which may or may not be the reason that he seems to consistently give me much higher ratings than any other DC on the squad so far. I think he's done enough to earn first team status at this point.

June Update

-- DMC Timothy Pena, MC Bayard Perkins and MC Jhonatan Mora are all noted for training well this month. Since we're training tactics (I assume that's why at least), we're seeing lots of spots where mental attributes start to inch up, notably composure, anticipation, and decision making. I'm not quite sure I should value those things over say, passing, for my midfielders.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. Signing Mora is still the highlight. The signing of DL Danny Coggins is a "slight disappointment". I dunno, he's not been great, but he has a 6.60 average rating over 12 total matches. I guess his backup has a higher rating in a smaller sample size. Maybe I'll rotate them more evenly and see if Campbell is more deserving of the starting spot. We made $55,330 last month. It might be years before we make that much in a month again.

Injury Update

DC Garry Garcia was hurt in training, he'll miss 2-3 weeks. Not a huge deal as long as the rest of the defense stays pretty healthy.

North America Amateur Cup - Qualifying Round Draw

160 teams in the pot here. We actually draw a division rival, the Huntington Hammers. We'll get them at home, in about 10 days. Oddly enough that's the team we're playing in our next match.

-- ST Leon Roth resumes full training. He won't be playing just yet, but its good to have 3 healthy strikers again.

-- MC Ashely Sandoval also resumes full training.

June 6th, 2014

Huntington Hammers (5-0-1, 1st) vs Wake Forest Cougars (1-4-1, 10th)

Attendence: 268

Odds: Huntington are 4-6 favorites, we're 9-2 here. That's pretty big, as for the first month or so the home team are 5-4 favorites in every match. With 15 points in 6 matches Huntington have earned it though.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Galvis/Pickering/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Rose/Crook
ST: Navarro

Huntington Striker Gus Chapman has 6 goals in league play already, so he's a big concern of ours. We're going to try to close down on him and force him onto his left foot, since he's only competant with his right.

We'll defend and try to hold possession as much as we can today.

3': Free kick for us about 25 yards out, Pickering takes it and shoots, on target but saved.

9': Coggins throwin deep in their territory, to Rose, back to Coggins, to Mora in the area, he slides it over to NAvarro who has an angle and scores!! 1-0

18': Pena intercepts a pass in the defensive end and starts a counter, up to Mora, ahead to NAvarro, he puts it out wide for Rose, Rose crosses to Crook who fires a hard shot, but the keeper stops it.

26': We've seen some Huntington highlights but any shots they've managed have been off target.

HALF: We race to the half after that, I'll take it! We have 5 shots to their 4, but weve put 3 on target, none for them yet. We are slightly ahead in possession, just need to hang in there for another half, but that's been very tough for us thus far.

46': They get a solid looking shot from 20 yards out to start the second half, but Gyan makes a nice save.

48': Pickering a yellow.

76': Navarro is hurt, can stay in.

78': Colangelo in for Rose, Shakespeare in for Glaser.

83': Tapia in for Mora, we pull our attacking mids back and settle into a 4-1-4-1 for the final minutes.

We hang on to this one!

Huntington 0 : 1 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (7.2)
Goal: Navarro
Assist: Mora (7.0)

So we finally manage a win in league play and its on the road against the #1 team. We got some luck here, they outshot us 9-5 and definitely beat our defenders a number of times but only put 1 shot on target all match. We didn't give them any easy looks, but they had a number of plays where a good shot would have tied it for them.

June 13th, 2014

Kentucky Colonels (2-3-2, 9th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (2-4-1, 8th)

Attendence: 170

Odds: We are 4-6 favorites on the road today, I'm extremely surprised to see that.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Galvis/Pickering/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Cooper back in the lineup at AMR, lets see how long he goes without getting hurt. Campbell and Lassiter get starts in the defense.

Defensive mindset on the road.

2': A cross in from the left for Kentucky, headed by ST Wolin, it hits the bottom of the crossbar and bounces in. 0-1

8': Some buildup on offense for us, Mora to the right for Cooper, its a clear cut chance, but blocked and out for a corner. We earn a 2nd corner, and that one is poorly taken into the side netting.

10': Awful goal kick for Kentucky, Rose passes it forward to Navarro, he runs into the area and has our second clear cut look... its high.

19': Navarro ahead to Mora, our 3rd clear cut chance of the match... blocked by a defender.

38': Kentucky defender Polack picks up a yellow.

HALF: Each team has 4 shots, the difference is that 3 of ours really were great, great looks and we should have at least 1 goal right now. I tell the team they need to be better, and open things up a little for a less defensive second half.

57': After a lot of possession for KEntucky, they get a lob ahead behind our defense, a striker has a clear cut chance for them, but he can't get it by Gyan who was rushing out.

73': Shakespeare in for Glaser, Colangelo in for Rose, lets attack boys.

88': A long ball ahead, their ST Wolin runs onto it, Pickering is there as well, Wolin struggles to control the ball but he is able to in the end, and he gets a shot by Gyan and in. 0-2

Kentucky 2 : 0 Wake Forest

I make sure the team knows that they did not play well enough today. We had all those great chances early on, and once we couldn't convert any of them and Kentucky got into the lead, they really locked things down.

June 17th, 2014

North American Amateur Cup - Qualfying Round

Wake Forest Cougars vs Huntington Hammers

Attendence: 189

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Burke/Galvis/Varela
DM: Tapia
M: Perkins/Shakespeare
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Roth

Wholesale subs today, a weaker lineup but we don't really care about this tournament all that much, especially when we need to string together some league wins to get into the top half so badly right now.

5': Lots of things here to make me happy. A long ball from Huntington, but Burke heads it away. Very frequently the defender just misjudges and gives a breakaway to the opponent. Davdison has a pass intercepted, but he puts on a burst of speed to go recover the ball, then a nice cross from Davidson to Roth who pokes it in! 1-0

10': Shakespeare to Crook, back to Shakespeare, now forward to crook making a run, Crook lobs it into the penalty area, Roth controls it, shoots and scores! 2-0

25': Shakespeare with a corner, Burke has it near post on his foot, but doesn't control it well and a defender gets there and blocks his shot.

33': We earn one corner, a couple shots are blocked leading to a second corner, that one is cleared.

35': After a nice buildup by us, Crook passes to Roth who shoots from just outside the penalty area, its just inches wide.

44': First Huntington highlight, they work it forward and get a clear cut chance from about 8 yards out, but Gyan makes a solid save.

HALF: We find 9 shots this half, 4 on target. We only allow the one late look, and it was a really scary one, but we are just playing great so far. I tell the team that and tell them to keep it going.

48': The hat trick! Some nice passing to get the offense forward, Davidson out wide, crosses to the 6 yard mark, Roth heads it in! 3-0

We see a few more highlights after this but nothing really noteworthy. Huntington just completely shut down after this.

Wake Forest 3 : 0 Huntington

Man of the Match: Leon Roth (9.6)
Goals: Roth 3
Assists: Davidson 2 (8.8), Crook (7.2)
Notables: Gyan (7.6), Varela (7.6), Burke (7.4), Coggins (7.8), Tapia (7.8), Shakespeare (7.2), Perkins (7.2)

Maybe the most notable thing here is that only one player couldn't manage a 7.0 rating today, and that's team captain Hernando Galvis. It just seems like he's less involved back there... he did have a couple tackles, but Burke was involved more in the air and made double the interceptions in the back.

Roth was, obviously, amazing. Due to injury combined with my initial impressions of his skills, he's only played in 3 matches for me, and one was as a very late sub. His other start netted him a goal and an assist, so this guy needs to be given more chances to show what he can do.


To highlight the difference in stature between this tournament and the North American Open, we receive $310 for this victory... compared to $7700 in the initial rounds of the other cup.

North American Amateur Cup First Round Draw

So the qualifying round got us down to 128 teams, so this looks like a standard tournament with 7 rounds to decide a winner. We get another home match, we are getting really lucky with these draws. We're going to get the winners of the California Gold and Dothan Dodgers. California are in the tier above us, Dothan are in the same tier as us.

June 20th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (2-4-2, 11th) vs Model City Kings (3-2-3, 8th)

Attendence: 207

-- The stnadings remain super crowded and tons of things can change every match. Just a couple wins would vault us way up.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Sandoval/Mora
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Navarro

As much as I'd love to run out the same roster that just played so well, we're going on 3 days rest and just can't.

Standard mindset at home today. Retain possession instruction stays on.

13': Pena wins a header to start an attack for us, Rose with a pass down near the baseline for Mora, Mora runs onto it, drives a cross hard through the 6 yard box, Cooper is at the far post and heads it in! The keeper had zero chance. 1-0

24': Rose with a lob from 35 yards out into the penalty area, Navarro with nice control to bring it down, turns, shoots far post, and scores! The keeper again had no chance at ever stopping that. 2-0

26': Model City with a long shot off the left post.

34': Cooper with a corner, Pickering is there, he's brought down... but its deemed a fair tackle.

38': Cooper with a corner, Pickering is there again, heads it, goal! The keeper got a hand to it but couldn't stop it. 3-0

46': Seconds before halftime, Arroyo intercepts a pass, up ahead quickly to cooper, to Mora, he and Navarro have a 2v2, Mora ahead to Navarro, he shoots and scores! 4-0

HALF: Look at all these goals, damn. We shot 4 times, 4 goals. Model City has 1 shot.

60': Campbell yellow card.

71': Mora and Navarro out, Shakespeare and Reynoso in.

We coast to the win here.

Wake Forest 4 : 0 Model City

Man of the Match: Ronnie Navarro (8.8)
Goals: Navarro 2, Cooper (8.5), Pickering (8.5)
Assists: Mora 2 (8.5), Cooper, Rose (8.0)
Notables: Gyan (7.2), Arroyo (8.0), Lassiter (8.1), Campbell (7.9), Pena (7.5)




We jump up to 7th with that win, but things are still so close.

June 27th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (3-4-2, 7th) vs Jackson Red Shirt (2-3-4, 13th)

Attendence: 251


Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Galvis/Lassiter/Varela
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Roth

I rotate out most of our super young guys here, everyone is pretty hot right now so lets see how this works. Standard mindset with retain possession on.

1': We get a free kick after pushing forward on the opening kickoff. Galvis takes it and sends a shot just high.

3': Roth about 30 yards out sends a great ball into the area for Mora, Mora has a clear cut chance and sends it wide, I have no earthly idea how he missed that.

11': Corner for us, they head it out but Campbell is there and blasts a shot... off the crossbar.

24': Lassiter with a yellow.

32': After a throwin, Mora hits Davidson cutting in from the left, the keeper tries to come out, but Davidson puts a good shot by him and into the right side of the net. Very clean play. 1-0

37': Slightly less clean, a cross from Varela in to Davidson, he has another good look here, but seems to fumble with the ball for a moment and strikes it into the back of Roth... that could have been better.

HALF: We outshoot them 7-3, but only 1 shot on target, luckily for us it went in. We dominate possession and pretty much everything else. Lets get another goal to make it feel a bit easier though.

58': Reynoso in for Roth, Roth took a pretty bad knock and his fitness dropped to 17%. He doesn't show as hurt though, just really shaken up I guess.

65': They get a breakaway after a nice lob pass, but their attacker tries a soft lob over Gyan, and its not high enough, Gyan is able to reach it.

67': Another through ball for Jackson, another good look but Gyan is there to push the shot away.

70': Oh how did we not score! A corner taken far post, its headed and saved, rebound falls to pena, he shoots, but the keeper recovers just in time to make a diving stop.

83': Campbell with a good clearance of a dangerous cross/redirected header that sent the ball through the 6 yard box.

86': Shakespeare in for Glaser, Colangelo in for Davidson.

We control much of the possession in the final minutes and get another win!

Wake Forest 1 : 0 Jackson

A Jackson defender is man of the match.

Goal: Davidson (7.3)
Assist: Mora (7.1)
Notables: Campbell (7.0)


-- We move up into 4th with the win today. Its still super crowded though, just 4 points between 4th and 12th. We're also only 3 points out of first, so there's that.

Injury Update

AML Dylan Rose is going to miss 5-6 weeks with a back strain he picked up lifting weights. We are ok with Davidson/Colangelo, but Rose has been playing quite well so it sucks to lose him.

July Update

-- ST Navarro, DMC Pena and GK Gyan are noted for training well. Backup GK Harrington was a negative here.

-- The board remains very pleased with my leadership. Signing Mora is the best thing i've done, clearly. No negatives this month. We made $615 profit, hah.


-- Tactics continue to improve:




July 4th, 2014

Blacksburg Bears (1-4-5, 15th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (4-4-2, 2nd)

Attendence: 188

Blacksburg signed 3 players from us early in the year, DC's Jamie Marrow, Steve Groves and Midfielder Gary Martin. We definitely want to beat these guys more than we would a normal team.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Pickering/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

I tell the team I expect a win today.

3': Great passing, Coggins wins it deep in our end, we try to quick counter but dont' find anything, and pull the ball out to set up the offense, we have a very patient buildup, lots of guys could have forced long shots but didn't, in the end Navarro was able to find Mora on a little run and Mora got a great look 10 yards out to score. 1-0

4': Mora to Davidson, he takes the ball out wide, passes back to Mora and the defense is just not there, Mora from the same spot as his first goal, its in again! 2-0

7': Marrow with a yellow for blacksburg.

11': Navarro to Mora, through ball to Shakespeare, he's in the area alone, goal! 3-0

32': We give one back, again the DC's misplaying a lob, their ST Cruz has an easy one. 3-1

HALF: We outshoot them 6-2, dominate 61% of possession and should be in full control. We do need to make sure we don't give one back though and let Blacksburg make this a contest. We'll defend.

55': Navarro with a 20 yard run up the middle himself, a shot from outside the area, just over.

70': Coggins has picked up a minor injury, I put Burke in for him.

72': Sandoval in for Shakespeare, Colangelo in for Davidson.

72': We intercept a pass in defense and send it long, Navarro with a near total breakaway, just one defender who can keep up, sadly that defender does catch all the way up and tackles the ball away from Navarro as he tries to shoot, corner, which we can't get anything from.

84': Blacksburg earn a corner after a cross, Gyan catches the corner though.

Good win!

Blacksburg 1 : 3 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Jhonatan Mora (9.4)
Goals: Mora 2, Shakespeare (7.7)
Assists: Davidson (7.4), Navarro (7.4), Mora
Notables: Gyan (7.1), Pena (7.1)




We're up to 3rd, tied for 2nd in points. Still.. just three points ahead of 8th. Five matches to go, need to be top 7.

I'm seeing a lot of teams having injury issues with strikers the same way we are, but they don't have the depth, so they end up starting defenders at forward. The number of ST's that show up when i search are very small, and they're all already on other teams in my tier. I was just aggressive about making sure i had enough in the preseason. It'd be nice if there was a pool of free agents below this.

The World Cup is going on. Brazil failed to make it out of groups.

Quarterfinal reults:

Poland 2 : 1 Argentina
Uruguay 2 : 0 Ivory Coast
Spain 4 : 1 Mexico
France 2 : 0 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Poland/Uruguay, Spain/France semis.


July 8th, 2014

North America Amateur Cup

Wake Forest Cougars vs California Gold

Attendence: 188

Californis is one tier higher than us.
Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Galvis/Arroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Glaser/Shakespeare
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Navarro

Even on short rest we keep some of our starters from last game around, a little less than half the team is rotated out.

We'll come out defensively against the higher tier team.

11': Navarro hits Crook cutting in from the right for a clear cut chance, shot is stopped though. Corner goes nowhere.

21': Galvis takes a corner for us, it either hit the post or it was headed by a defender on the line, but weakly, the ball falls to Tapia in the area and he shoots before anyone can react, goal! 1-0

26': A long run of possession on offense for California, they end up getting a ball into the box, a header from a striker that basically just redirected it, but wide.

30': we have it about 30 yards out, Navarro lobs a ball into the left side of the area, Davidson is there and takes a nice low shot by the keeper and into the right side of the net! 2-0

HALF: We outshoot them 5-3, 3 on target , all other things pretty even. I tell the team they're playing great and to keep it up.

55': Shakespeare with a shot from 20 yards out, their keeper gets a hand to it but dives for it, it bounces and hits the crossbar and lands in play. Their defender tries to clear but can't and accidentally pushes it into his own net. Own goal! 3-0

64': Way, way too easy. Shakespeare corner into the 6 yard box, it lands at Pickering's feet, he is essentially unmarked and the keeper hasn't moved over to that side. Hilarious amateur play. Easy goal. 4-0

73': Navarro, Glaser, Shakespeare out, Reynoso, Sandoval, Perkins in.

82': We build up a bit on offense, a ball to Reynoso at the top of the key, he passes over to Crook who shoots and scores! 5-0

Beatdown.

Wake Forest 5 : 0 California

Man of the Match: Joe Pickering (8.9)
Goals: Pickering, Tapia (8.9), Crook (8.7), Davidson (8.6)
Assists: Shakespeare 2 (8.6), Galvis (8.4), Navarro (7.9), Reynoso (6.8)
Notables: Gyan (7.3), Arroyo (8.3), Campbell (8.5)


-- We get $485 for the win. That's less than $100 per goal. :D

North America Amateur Cup - Second Round Draw

68 teams remain (did some get added, I thought we had a power of two number before, maybe I did math wrong). We don't get a home game, but we do get a game against a division opponent. We'll be playing the Twin City Patrol next round. They currently are in 2nd place in the league. We haven't played them yet I don't think.


July 11th, 2014

Roanoke Magic (4-4-3, 8th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (5-4-2, 3rd)

Attendence: 246

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Lassiter/Arroyo
DM: Pena
M: Sandoval/Mora
AM: Colangelo/Cooper
ST: Roth

Lassiter is the only change for the defense, the midfield/offense completely rotates though. Defensive mindset on the road today.

11': Mora to Roth in the area, Roth goes down, but its a legal tackle. We earn a corner but they clear it.

27': We pass the ball around forever, finally Roth with a ball into the left side for Colangelo, he has a great look, clear cut chance, but off the right post. Davidson would have scored.

32': Colangelo is hurt and forced to leave the match immediately. Reynoso can play AML and he's coming in.

HALF: Pretty terrible half of soccer all around. We shoot 3 times, all off target, they haven't managed a shot yet.

49': They have a corner, taken into the 6 yard box, Gyan goes for it and really should have had it, but doesn't get to it, they head it in. 0-1

65': Lets try to attack.

71': Mora gets a knock and his fitness goes to crap. I bring Glaser in for him.

We don't see a single highlight for the final 40 minutes.

Roanoke 1 : 0 Wake Forest

Only 7 shots total for the entire match between both teams, we just got 1 in the second half.


Injury Update

Colangelo is going to miss 5-6 weeks. Rose is still out for at least 3 weeks as well.

Reynoso can play AML, and Samir Pace is coming back from injury in a matter of days to give us ST coverage. Shakespeare plays ML, so we could also use him and go 4-1-4-1. We'll manage, probably.


We fall to 6th in the loss, we're in a 4 way tie at 19 points between 5th-8th but have goal differential. Its still a giant clusterfuck and we could finish anywhere between 1st and like 12th reasonably.

Hope you don't mind the semi-regular stream of compare/constrast to my own experience with the same mod) .... interesting that you can't find ST which seem to be a dime a (fairly untalented) dozen in my universe but I can't find a DMC to save my life.

Guessing here but could that be from four matches in the first round that haven't been played yet? (60 have won + 8 still alive temporarily since they haven't played and are listed in the 2nd Round draw as an either/or pairing)

Not at all!




My sense at this point of the season is that I would have a hard time finding anyone at any position if I had a really unlucky string of injuries and lost all my players in one spot. When I look at the list of guys my scout recommends and filter out unrealistic targets, there are zero "free agents" who aren't already on another amateur team. And the later in the season it gets, the less willing guys seem to be to move from one crappy amateur team to another just because you throw a contract at them. So if I lost all my GK's, or DMC's, or ST's, over the next few matches to a bad luck run of injury, I'd expect to be 100% fucked.

I'm assuming the AI teams just didn't work as hard as I did in the preseason to make sure I had extra depth at key positions (I have 4 keepers and 4 strikers on my roster despite only ever playing 1 at a time). So a couple of them got unlucky with injuries and those are the ones at the dead bottom of the table.

I could easily be wrong, and there's just a bug with AI running amateur teams or something that I'm not seeing, this is just my sense of it after playing (and crushing) two teams in a row who were playing two defenders at forward.

I'm hoping to promote to tier 7 and hoping that this won't be a problem anymore, since tier 7 teams should hopefully be able to poach players out of tier 8 with relative ease.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but ... I've lost at least 2-3 players from a 7th tier TO 8th tier sides. Not quite as many as I've taken from them but -- at least in my universe -- unless they're within a hundred miles or so if you then message about "not interested in discussions, not willing to relocate for what your club is offering" becomes very commonplace (despite the fact that I never even get around to making an offer because they won't discuss).

Following!

Poland beats France 1:0 in one semifinal, Spain over Uruguay in the other (oops, I think I had the matchups wrong). Poland beats Spain 2-1 to win the world cup.

-- The USA only got 1 point in the group stages, a draw against Portugal. This performance got Jurgen Klinsmann fired.

-- The Old North Cup concludes, this is the competition between all the teams in North Carolina. The expected final would be between the Carolina RailHawks and Charlotte Eagles, both in the top USL division. Instead, the Wilmington Hammerheads in the USL-PRO EAST Division upset Charlotte to make the finals. The RailHawks do win the final 2-0.

-- Looks like I'll be losing my assistant coach soon, about 10 teams have offered him a job coaching their reserve teams. All of these teams are in much higher tiers though, so I am assuming he's going to take one of them.


July 18th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (5-4-3, 6th) vs Owensboro Cookers (5-4-3, 7th)

Attendence: 271

-- With just 3 matches to go before the split they all matter a ton, but one against a team with the same number of points as us seems extra important.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Burke/Arroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

We'll try Burke with Pickering at DC, Davidson will be the AML every chance he's fit enough to do it, and Shakespeare/Mora is my best combo in the midfield I think.

35': We haven't seen a single highlight yet. Unfortunatley, play stops here as Pickering is hurt and must leave the field. Lassiter is in.

HALF: Well that was dull. We haven't managed a shot yet, Owensboro has 3, all off target, none worthy of breaking into a highlight for. We're going to attack in the second half.

52': Shakespeare with a giveaway in midfield, they attack, getting a shot from the left side of the area, Gyan dives for it and pushes it away.

53': Breakaway for Owensboro on the right, MR Franco ends up all alone in the area and scores an easy goal. 0-1

61': Mora to Shakespeare for a great volleyed goal, but offsides.

77': Glaser in for Shakespeare.

88': A glaser cross earns us a corner, Davidson takes it, near post, Lassiter is there and heads it in!! Equalizer! 1-1

95': Only 3 minutes of extra time scheduled, so when a highlight starts at 94:30 I expect the whistle to blow any second, but we are given time to get our attack in, Glaser with a chip ahead to Navarro, Navarro turns and puts it into the area for Mora, Mora is all alone 10 yards out and he puts it on target!!! Did the ref lose track of time here? I'm glad he did, that's for sure! 2-1

The whistle does blow right after play is re-started.

Wake Forest 2 : 1 Owensboro

Man of the Match: Jhonatan Mora (7.3)
Goals: Mora, Lassiter (7.3)
Assists: Navarro (7.3), Davidson (6.9)
Notables: Arroyo (7.1)

Injury Update

DC Pickering is going to be out for about 2 weeks with a bruised rib.





We sit in 4th place with two matches to go until the split. Our remaining matches are against the #1 team and the #16 team.

That does make sense now that I think about it. No one moves to another city and finds a new full time job for what is still little more than an adult rec league level of play.

-- Bench Coach John Sammons is also getting a lot of offers to coach higher tier Reserve Squads. Neither have left just yet, but I'm sure its coming.


July 22nd, 2014

North American Amateur Cup - Second Round

Twin City Patrol vs Wake Forest Cougars

Attendence: 219

Note this is a cup match, not the league match. We will play these guys in another week in league play.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Garcia/Burke/Varela
DM: Tapia
M: Perkins/Shakespeare
AM: Reynoso/Crook
ST: Roth

As much as I would love to win cup matches, we play a much more important league match in like 4 days, so guys like Mora, Arroyo, Cooper, Davidson, Navarro, they all sit.

One of their strikers, Clark, I give a "close down" order to, and their AMC Tuttle is left footed only and a pretty big scoring threat, so I want to make use his weak foot whenever possible. Both of them have 4 goals in less than 10 starts.

3': Midfielder Charles Luna with a yellow.

5': Build up down the right for Wake forest, Varela up to Crook, a cross to Reynoso, he shoots from near point blank range, but, right into the keeper's stomach.

12': Midfielder Luna with a foul... that's a his second yellow, he's gone!

29': Throwin in their end, Roth passes to Reynoso in the area, he centers to Shakespeare who pokes it into the net! 1-0

HALF: We fly to the half after that. We're playing better in every facet, and were off to a decent start before we went a man up, but now we should really have this. I tell the team I want to see more out of them and hope to see a second goal to make this safer.

46': We open the second half with lots of short passing and slowly work the ball forward down the left sdie. Reynoso near the corner passes to Perkins, Perkins to Roth, he shoots and scores! We get that 2nd goal real fast. 2-0

57': Yellow for Perkins.

59': Great long ball from Crook into the area, Roth controls it well, that's a clear cut chance.. but saved. Corner taken by Shakespeare, Garcia heads it, its saved but the rebound to Burke, he puts it in! 3-0


That's it!

Twin City 0 : 3 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Garry Garcia (8.5)
Goals: Garcia, Shakespeare (8.5), Roth (7.5)
Assists: Shakespeare, Perkins (7.3), Reynoso (7.4)
Notables: Varela (7.4), Burke (7.2), Campbell (7.5), Crook (7.0)

Garcia had 8 headers, 3 of them key, in defense today, plus the goal to help earn him man of the match.


-- We receive $969 for this victory.

So its really hard to win if you go a man down 12 minutes in. I'm not sure if there's much to learn from this to apply to our upcoming rematch in league play.

-- Assistant Spenser Wadsworth takes a job coaching the reserves for the Yakima Reds in the Gold Coast 2nd Division

-- Coach John Sammons is now coaching the reserves of Indiana Utd in Colonial Division 2.

-- Both of those leagues are in the "US Supplemental Division 2" tier. That's two levels above us.

-- So I saw all the job offers come in for those coaches, but I never saw a notice that they took the jobs and left Wake Forest. I only noticed it happened because I got a notice that many training categories now lacked coaching.

I offer the assistant job to my remaining coach, Zizi Roberts. He accepts. I then make offers to fill the open coaching spots.

North America Amateur Cup - Third Round Draw

Down to 32 teams. We get another home match, this one against St Louis Kutis SC from the "All-American Amateur League" one tier above us.

July 25th, 2014

Wake Forest Cougars (6-4-3, 3rd) vs Tupelo Possums (1-3-9, 16th)

Attendence: 264

We would probably clinch a top 7 spot with a win today.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Garcia/Lassiter/Aroyo
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

3': Davidson with a free kick from 40 yards out, his kick ends up more of a shot than a cross... it hits the crossbar, falls to Mora, but his followup shot is blocked. The ball hangs around in the penalty area for what seems like years before finally being controlled by Navarro, but his shot is wide.

9': A long shot from Coggins earns us a corner. Its cleared easily.

10': Davidson finds Mora who has a good look, shot is blocked though, and we earn a corner, which again is cleared.

20': They attack straight up the middle, two nice passes to get foward, a through ball into the area, their ST Saunders is the only one there, and he wins the 1 on 1 with the keeper. 0-1

24': Mora into the right side of the area for Cooper, but his shot is well wide.

HALF: I lay into the team a bit at the half, and most of them seem motivated by my words. We have 6 shots to their 3, but only 1 on target. We are passing better, and are better in the air, we really should be able to get this goal back.

63': Navarro shoots from 20 yards out, its wide though.

64': Glaser with a lob ahead to Navarro, he gets behind the defense but pulls up and shoots a long shot instead of trying to get into the area. Its high.

75': Shakespeare in for Glaser, Tapia in for Pena

80': They earn a corner off a free kick, we're unable to clear it after a weak header away, the ball is kicked around in the crowded box for a moment before their man Saunders puts it in. 0-2

84': We get a corner, taken to the near post, headed by Garcia... off the crossbar.

Yup. That just happened.

Wake Forest 0 : 2 Tupelo

I obviously tell the team that this was a match we have to win, and I'm extremely disappointed.

I think we actually didn't play all that poorly, we generated 15 shots after all, but only 1 on target, and there were many highlights where it seemed like we were settling for a difficult shots where in other games we would hold the ball up or make the one extra pass to find a better look.




So we play the #1 team, Twin City. Hickory is in 8th, and they play the team that just beat us, Tupelo. Huntington, the current 7th place team, plays #13 Model City. Man we really, really blew it today. We're now in an extremely tough spot.

New Staff Member(s)

We sign 44 y/o Abdul Thompson Conteh as a coach. He played in MLS but this is his first chance coaching anywhere. 14 determination/14 adaptability/13 discipline. His coaching attributes are all 6-7.

We also sign 43 y/o Antonin Plachy as a coach. 8 man management. 6 in many attributes, atacking/defending/mental/technical. 13 determination/13 motivation/13 discipline/12 adaptability.

-- Most of our "general" training (tactics/ball control/attacking/shooting) are now at a 2* level. str/aerobic/defending are at 1 1/2*, sorry goalkeepers, you get 1* training.


-- AML Dylan Rose has resumed full training. He's been out for a month so he isn't going to be starting in our next match, but it'll be good to have him back soon.

August Update

-- Cooper, Tapia, and Lassiter are noted for training well. DMC Brian Williams trained poorly, but he's been hurt for awhile.

-- The board remains very pleased with my results. The singing of Mora is going to carry me through the whole season as a positive note. Our awful 0-2 loss to the worst team in the league is a negative, as it should be. We made $1,690 last month!

August 1st, 2014

Twin City Patrol (7-5-2, 1st) vs Wake Forest Cougars (6-4-4, 6th)

Attendence: 263

We crushed Twin City on the road in a cup match recently, but it was due in large part to an early red card for them.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Lassiter/Aroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Navarro

I make a number of changes from my last lineup, not really due to fatigue though, just because I refuse to run the same lineup out there that shit the bed in our last match.

Their two biggest threats are both at ST today, David Tuttle and Jonathan Carter, we're closing down on both and trying to force them to their weaker side.

Defensive mindset today.

12': Tapia a free kick from 20 yards out, but he puts his shot high.

22': Yellow for Campbell

30': Corner for Twin City, its too close though and Gyan catches it.

31': A long ball to Navarro, he takes it down the left side, gets it into the area for Davidson, shoots.. saved.

42': Davidson sends the ball to the end line, Mora gets to it and crosses into the area, Navarro with the header... saved.

HALF: Shots are even at 3, we have 2 on target, but both were weak efforts right at the keeper. Just one for them. They are doing a little better in the air winning headers, which is unusual for us, we almost always win there.

So far, all the other games are working out for us. Hickory is tied with Tupelo, Huntington is getting upset by Model City, even a team ahead of us, Asheville, is getting beaten. That could all change quickly, but right now we'd sit in 4th.

54': Navarro lobs the ball into the area for Davidson, he's got a 1 on 1 with the keeper, he actually chips it over him... I have not seen that work a single time this season at this level, but Davidson does it! He gets it into the net! 1-0

57': Their ST Carter receives a header in the area and gets a shot, but its wide.

59': Long pass from the midfield ahead to Midfielder Alvarado, he knocks it well ahead with his first touch and runs the ball down and gets it by Gyan. 1-1

60': Other games have evened out and it looks like if we lose we will not finish top 7.

76': Reynoso in for Navarro, Pena in for Tapia, Burke in for Pickering, all for fatigue.

81': They have a throwin deep in their own end, slowly build it up the field, midfielder Luna down the left side, crosses in and ST Carter shoots... its a clear cut chance, and it hits the left post and bounces in. 1-2

Not another highglight until the very last moments.

Twin City 2 : 1 Wake Forest

Man of the Match : Brian Davidson (7.4)
Goal: Davidson
Assist: Navarro (7.0)

We didn't actually play that bad in the loss, but that stings.




And that's that. Why does it have to be split at the top 7!? Roanoke makes it over us despite the same goal differential, having scored one more goal so far this year.

So we've got 8 more matches to go, but nothing at all to play for. Lets finish 8th, I guess!

Check the payout table. For me the diff between first of the last & bottom of the last is fairly substantial (about $325k, diff between a profitable year & a year in the red)

-- DL David Campbell will miss our next match after getting his 2nd yellow card.

-- AML Luca Colangelo is back to full training

-- Our assistant coach Zizi Roberts "starts on a coaching course" to get him a "Continental B License". I dunno what that means, but he's paying for it himself.

I'm dropping the highlight level to "key highlights" instead of "extended highlights" to get through the season a bit faster, since we have nothing to play for outside of the Cup we're still in.

August 15th, 2014

Jackson Red Shirts (5-4-6, 11th) vs Wake Forest Cougars (6-4-5, 8th)

Attendence: 210

Somehow Jackson are 1:6 favorites for this. WTF?!

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Pickering/Lassiter/Aroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Shakespeare/Mora
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Roth

Campbell sits today with his yellow card suspension.

4': A nice cross in from the left and header by their ST Teran for a goal. 0-1

HALF: Reynoso in for Roth, who picked up a knock that dropped his fitness a bunch. Only two shots each today so this would be pretty boring even with extended highlights.

64': Glaser in for Mora

70': From a Standard mindset to attacking.

71': AMR Ryan Crook is hurt and must leave the match immediately. I don't really have anyone who fits there. MC Bayard Perkins is going to come in and do his best.

81': We build up possession and hold the ball for some time, short passing, eventually Reynoso finds Davidson who has a clear cut chance coming in from the left... but he puts his shot wide.

And that's it.

Jackson 1 : 0 Wake Forest

Notables: Shakespeare (7.0)

AML Davidson with a rare terrible game, 5.9 rating for him.

Ah, good idea. However, this is an extremely cheap league. 1st pays $31,000. 8th pays $14,000, going pretty steadily downward to $1600 for 16th place.

We've made a profit of $106,000 this year so far, half of that due to that one win in the North American Open awhile back. $13k isn't going to be enough for motivation sadly.

-- DL David Campbell will miss our next match after getting his 2nd yellow card.

-- AML Luca Colangelo is back to full training

-- Our assistant coach Zizi Roberts "starts on a coaching course" to get him a "Continental B License". I dunno what that means, but he's paying for it himself.

I'm dropping the highlight level to "key highlights" instead of "extended highlights" to get through the season a bit faster, since we have nothing to play for outside of the Cup we're still in.

August 20th, 2014

North America Amateur Cup - Third Round

Wake Forest vs Kutis SC

Attendence: 190

Kutis are 1-4 favorites, we're 9:1 to win this one. The oddsmakers are really really down on us after a little losing streak. These guys are in a higher division though.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Galvis/Varela
DM: Pena
M: Glaser/Mora
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Defensive mindset. We'll do extended highlights for the cup match.

10': Cooper with the corner kick, Pickering gets his head to it and puts it in! 1-0

13': Davidson being aggressive wins us the ball in the midfield, we don't attack directly, we build up play and take our time, eventually Davidson lobs a ball over the defense, Navarro runs onto it and gets a clear cut chance, but their keeper rushes out and stops it. It goes back for a corner, we get a shot off the corner but its a weak one.

23': Mora is hurt and must come out. Shakespeare is in.

24': Cooper with a free kick from 35 yards out, he shoots, I think, it seems like a very forceful ball if it was supposed to be a cross. Their keeper gets in front of it, but can't hold it, and a defender clumsily puts it into the net! 2-0

32': Shakespeare with a good ball ahead to Navarro, he has to slow down to control it though and the defense gets back. He tries a shot but its well wide.

35': Cooper with another free kick, they try to clear but can't competely, Shakespeare puts it ahead for Pena in the area and he finishes! 3-0

42': Navarro back to Shakespeare, he sends it right to Cooper, Navarro makes a run, Cooper immediately sends it forward, Navarro gets into the right side of the area, shoots and its into the left side of the net! 4-0

HALF: Man where was this team against Tupelo a couple weeks ago. *bitter* I'm bringing Reynoso in for Navarro. Reynoso hasn't scored for us yet, putting him in now probably gives him his best chance.

58': I didn't mention a yellow for Kutis defender Walburn earlier in the match, but its relevant now as he picks up a second and is sent off.

69': Samir Pace coming in for Cooper, his first action in over a month thanks to injuries.

That'll do it!

Wake Forest 4 : 0 Kutis SC

Man of the Match: Joe Pickering (8.7)
Goals: Pickering, Pena (8.4), Navarro (8.2)
Assists: Cooper 3 (8.3), Shakespeare (8.5)
Notables: Gyan (7.2), Varela (7.9), Galvis (7.7), Campbell (8.0), Glaser (7.8), Davidson (7.7)

-- We get $4,840 for winning this one. Not bad given that the first round win was worth $200.


Injury Update

Jhonathan Mora is out for the rest of our season, he has a dislocated shoulder and is out for 3 months.

Strange that it's top 7 instead of top 8.

North America Amateur Cup - Fourth Round Draw

Down to 16 teams. We luck out with another home match. We're going to be playing Tiburones United, from Carlsbad, CA. They're in the Gold Coast Amateur League, one tier above us. We beat another team from their division, the California Gold, earlier in the tournament.

We'll play this one in early September.

August 23rd, 2014

Wake Forest (6-4-6, 10th) vs Huntington Hammers (7-1-7, 11th)

Attendence: 205

Odds are basically even here, nice to not be some crazy 1-3 underdogs in league. Huntington have lost their last 5 matches in a row.

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Galvis/Arroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Perkins/Shakespeare
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Some changes in the midfield. Rose and Williams are both fit again finally but tired. I hope to play them next match.

14': They ahve a corner, taken near post, and headed in. Ugh. 0-1

44': Campbell wins a ball on a tackle to start our offense, Davidson with a cross to the 18 yard line, Perkins heads it foward, Shakespeare volleys it, and its in! 1-1

46': Complete breakaway for Navarro, but instead of running at the keeper, he pulls up from 18 yards out, waits for the keeper to come out a bit, and shoots it right at him. Cooper takes the corner, Galvis is there and heads it.. .goal! 2-1

HALF: We get two quick scores to take the lead, glad to see that.

60': Lassiter in for Pickering, who is tired.

69': Lassiter picks up a small injury, but can continue playing.

81': Shakespeare starts our offense with an interception, ahead to Cooper, to Navarro, he holds it up at the top of the key, passes left to Davidson cutting towards the goal, Davidson fires and scores! 3-1

89': A yellow for Campbell

That's it! Good win, especially after giving up the opening goal.

Wake Forest 3 : 1 Huntington

MAn of the Match: Mark Shakespeare (8.0)
Goals: Shakespeare, Galvis (7.4), Davidson (7.4)
Assists: Perkins (7.4), Cooper (7.2), Navarro (6.8)


Injury Update

-- DC Tommy Lassiter is going to miss 2 weeks with a bruised rib.

-- DL Campbell misses another match due to an extra yellow card.



We're up to "accomplished" in most areas now, still have a ways to go but I enjoy seeing that message!

September Update

-- Ian Cooper trains well, ST Navarro does not.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. A great team atmosphere is a big reason. Our 0-2 loss to Tupelo is the big negative. We made $2.5k profit last month.


September 3rd, 2014

North America Amateur Cup - Fourth Round

Wake Forest Cougars vs Tiburones United

Attendence: 195

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Coggins/Pickering/Galvis/Arroyo
DM: Williams
M: Glaser/Shakespeare
AM: Rose/Cooper
ST: Navarro

We're a healthy Jhon Mora away from being able to field our best possible roster. Coggins in for Campbell due to card suspension, Campbell seems to be playing better there, but that's close.

Defensive mindset/retain possession, pretty much our default method of playing at this point.

8': Beautiful play after a long goal kick, Navarro heads it down to Shakespeare, wide right to Cooper, Cooper with a strong cross to the far side, Rose slams it in! 1-0

17': Cooper down the right side, a cross to the 6 yard box, near post, Navarro stops it with his left foot, and has just long enough to settle himself and put it in! The keeper made a move to the far post, misjudging the cross. 2-0

35': Cooper has it again, this time a short pass to Shakespeare about 25 yards out, he pokes it ahead to Navarro, Navarro passes across to the other side, where Rose puts it in again! 3-0

43': Rose with an interception in defense, starts the attack, ahead to Navarro who runs forward a ways, then lays it to Shakespeare, he shoots from just outside the penalty area, two men nearby, that's a tough shot, but its on target and by the keeper! 4-0

HALF: Man we really came to play today.

89': Well, we don't get much time to enjoy Dylan Rose's great play today. He goes out injured here. Davidson is in.

Wake Forest 4 : 0 Tiburones United

Man of the match: Dylan Rose (9.2)
Goals: Rose 2, Navarro (8.3), Shakespeare (8.6)
Assits: Cooper 2 (9.1), Navarro 2
Notables: Gyan (7.1), Arroyo (8.0), Galvis (7.6), Pickering (7.7), Coggins (8.0), Williams (7.5), Glaser (7.6)


-- NO long term injury for Rose. Whew.

-- We get $14,530 for the win today, and we're on to the quarterfinals of the Amateur Cup!

North America Amateur Cup - Quarterfinal Draw

There are two teams left from the bottom tier, ourselves and Hawaii's own Hilo Tsunami. Everyone else is in the tier above ours. One team, "Match Fit Academy" seems to be one of those fairly loaded teams, that seems like the only team we specifically want to avoid.

Match Fit will travel to Hawaii to play Hilo.

We're going to get another home game, against another Gold Coast team from California, the Southern California Seahorses, from La Mirada, CA. We play them in two weeks.

September 9th, 2014

Nashville Soul (5-4-9, 13th) vs Wake Forest Cougars(7-4-6, 9th)

We won in the first meeting earlier this year.

Attendence: 210

Starting Lineup

GK: Gyan
D: Campbell/Pickering/Galvis/Arroyo
DM: Tapia
M: Glaser/Shakespeare
AM: Davidson/Cooper
ST: Navarro

Rose and Williams (DMC) aren't ready to go two in a row yet, the rest of the team is. We have one more match between now and our Cup match, so this is basically the team I hope to play in the cup match, and our next match in a few days we'll rotate out most everyone.

Defensive/Retain possession as always. Just key highlights here.

12': Cooper with a cross into the area, Navarro with the header, looks easy! 1-0

14': Glsaer with a key lob down the left for Davidson, passes ahead to Navarro, he shoots, but saved.

30': Free kick out right near the end line, Cooper crosses in, Shakespeare with a shot, blocked, but Tapia is there to finish on the rebound! 2-0

31': A defender of theirs holding on to the ball in their own penalty area just passed the ball directly to Cooper, who takes the gift and puts it in the net. Wild. 3-0

HALF: I misclick on the team talk and tell teh team I'm NOT happy with them. Whoops.

86': They get one back on a corner. 3-1


Nashville 1 : 3 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Ian Cooper (8.3)
Goals: Cooper, Tapia (7.7), Navarro (8.1)
Assists: Cooper 2
Notables: Arroyo (7.0), Shakespeare (7.6)

Cooper is killing it lately.

September 12th, 2014

Danville Villains (7-4-8, 11th) vs Wake Forest Cougars(8-4-6, 9th)

We lost at home earlier in the year.

Attendence: 268

Starting Lineup

GK: Harrigton
D: Coggins/Burke/Garcia/Varela
DM: Pena
M: Perkins/Sandoval
AM: Davidson/Crook
ST: Pace

Everyone who we want in our cup match, even our keeper, is sitting today.

30': Crook sends in a crappy cross that their keeper collects. The keeper drops the ball to kick it away, and he mishits it, so instead of sending it 50 yards downfield, he basically lobs it 10 yards away to Davidson, who volleys it before the keeper can recover, and puts it on target into the empty net. 1-0

HALF: LOL? We have 6 shots to their 0, and 65% of the possession.

48': We get a highlight of their first shot. Its weak and saved by Harrington.

49': This was better from them, a cross in from the left, Headed, Harrington gets a hand to it but can't stop it. 1-1

75': Crook with a nice lob to Pace, who controls it well with a step on his man, he lines up a shot and scores! 2-1

And htat's it.

Danville 1 : 2 Wake Forest

Man of the Match: Ryan Crook (7.4)
Goals: Davidson (7.2), Pace (7.3)
Assists: Crook
Notables: Sandoval (7.1)

We were the far better team today, only allowing 3 shots, taking 10 ourselves, and controlling nearly 60% of the possession, but it took awhile to seal it.