[DaddyTorgo]

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August 10^th, 2009
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This might be as important a day as the day we signed Edwin Congo. At least that’s what I tell myself when I get off the phone at 4:45 in the afternoon to hear that Mutilvera’s Oscar Murillo has agreed to a deal with San Marino. Murillo is a 27 year-old Spanish central attacking midfielder/striker. He agreed to join us for free, although his wages do come in at a hefty $150,000 a year. But he’s one of the best players we have at the club now.


He’s much better than Omar El Kaddouri, so perhaps I can play him “in the hole” in an unbalanced formation. At worst he is still fairly young and thus if he performs he may get snatched up and provide me with some transfer income.


I decide upon consideration to tell the board to leave my win bonuses at normal. I don’t want to motivate the players to succeed too much, as I would like to strengthen the squad a bit further before aggressively pushing for promotion.


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August 14^th, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Gela


I’m experimenting with an unbalanced formation, pulling one of my support midfielders out to be a wing midfielder and maintaining one central and one wing attacking midfielder. This way I can have both Murillo and Congo on the pitch at the same time – although with Cesca also my best bet might be a traditional 4-4-2 with 2 strikers and an attacking midfielder.


Gela were still favored in the pregame odds, so this will be a good test for us in that sense. Gela score a late consolation goal in the 88^th minute, but a pair of first-half strikes, one a volley off a corner and one a clean break of the offside trap by Congo via Murilla propel us to a 2-1 lead. Belforti missed a penalty-kick in extra-time or it would have been a 2-goal win again.


My 3 forwards were given ratings of 7.3 (Guaita – AMR), 7.5 (Murilla), and 7.7 (Congo) for the match by the postgame reporters. All-in-all definitely a game we can build on I hope.




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Sunday August 16, 2009
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I awoke with butterflies in my stomach. Today was the day that the bigger-fish of Pescara were coming to San Marino. The media had been downplaying the match all week, trying to cushion the blow of what was sure to be a loss to the larger club.


I got to the stadium early and took several restless laps around the field and through the locker room as I waited for the team to arrive. My plan for this match was to play more defensively, hope to catch Pescara on the counter as they press forward hoping to exploit their talent. But I was realistic about our chances. For what it is worth, my advance scout Cristian Gasperoni agrees with my plan to try to exploit their defense through speed and crosses into the box.


Copps Italia di Lega Pro Group F – Match #2 against Pescara


Location: Olimpico, Serravalle
Referee: Andrea Chiocchi
Weather – Dry, 80 degrees
San Marino News: None
Odds: Pescara: 4-6 (Fav), Draw: 9-4, San Marino: 7-2
Attenance: 398