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12-01-2005, 10:11 AM
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#1 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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FM2005: a frog at the World Cup?
Well, well, well, look how far we have come. From stealing a promotion to the EPL after only my first season at Loftus Road to avoiding relegation in that first season up to qualifying for European competition in our second season up to being runner-up in the UEFA Cup in that first season of European competition and qualifying for the Champions league! And that was only on the domestic side of things!!!
But there's something new and this frog has gone terrestrial since taking over the reigns of the Ivory Coast national team and for this installment, I've gone back to more of a "frog in football" theme that I used in my first dynasties (see a frog at Kenilworth Road, a frog at Loftus Road, a frog in the Premiership, and finally a frog in Europe, from another life  ) since I will be reporting more in depth about my travails as the manager of the Ivory Coast national team, which I hope I can bring to their first World Cup in 2010 after leading them to a runner-up spot in the African Cup of Nations 2008.While this will be my fifth season as the manager of the Queens Park Rangers as we enter the 2008/09 season, I will ease through the Q.P.R. games and season a bit more swiftly, trying to concentrate on the International side of things. Main reason for that is that I've started playing WSM2006 and will lead two careers up front but I just can't let go of this one without knowing what could have happened with my Ivorian friends.  I've made the cutoff a bit earlier than usual as we are in June 2008 and Ivory Coast is getting ready to play their first match in the Group stage of the World Cup qualifications. Because of this, we'll have some tidbits of news about Q.P.R. that will relate to the season that just ended. Well, the date if June 2 and Ivory Coast's first Group stage match is in 5 days. I hope you'll all be reading! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-01-2005, 12:51 PM
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#2 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 2, 2008
I get the news that Gilles Donald Yapi Yapo sprained a wrist and will miss one week, taking him out of the Ivory Coast squad. With my latest selection of players for the squad, the media comment that I have selected a squad boasting a large number of youngsters and that I must believe that it will be possible to win the game with youth. Well the youngsters in question are mostly deep backups. June 4, 2008 Dang! Cheik Ismael Tioté twisted his ankle and will miss one week and Ange Kouyo strained a calf and will miss two weeks. While not really starters, these two latest injuries are killing our depth at centreback. I'm allowed to call up some replacements but oh surprise, when I ask a 24yo D/DM R called Zoro, he rejects the callup! He comments to the press that he is not prepared to play second fiddle and added that playing for his country was an honour but if I had wanted him to play, I would have picked him in my original squad. He has 8 caps with Ivory Coast already, so it's not as if he's saving his internation cherry for the perfect one... oh well... June 5, 2008 Cristiano Lucarelli is back to full trai... err full resting  I sign a new scout, a free agent with no experience that wanted to become an assistant manager. He's got 20 to judge both player ability and potential. Once he arrives to Loftus Road, I ship him and already regular Q.P.R. scout Bob Pearson to EURO 2008 to report on pissble signings... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-01-2005, 03:32 PM
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#3 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Realy looking forward to this. I got more interested in the IC management than in your club management.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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12-02-2005, 12:47 PM
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#4 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 6, 2008
Well, after a few injuries to minor members of the squad, I hear about one that will hurt. Kolo Touré strained his groin and will miss two weeks. SHIT! There are no possible replacement for our best centreback. This two weeks off means he will miss BOTH of our first two African Section games. Continuing with news regarding the qualifers, Ivory Coast's World Cup African Qualifying Section game against Gabon tomorrow is being billed as a game which I should not take for granted. With Ivory Coast fans expecting a comfortable victory the media say that I'll have to remember that even though Gabon may the weaker side on paper, they still have the ability to pose Ivory Coast's backline problems if they aren't treated with respect. This doesn't keep backup striker Eli Kroupi from being confident that Ivory Coast can do well against Gabon on Saturday. The 28yo striker told a local newspaper that he felt confidence was high in the Ivroy Coast camp and he hoped they could give the country something to cheer about by winning in style. I'm approached by a local Ivorian newspaper with a question regarding Zoro, that dude that rejected my call up a few days ago. "After Zoro rejected your late call up, would you select him for the Ivory Coast team again?" While I didn't answer that I would never, ever pick him to play for me, I still told that reporter that this matter may be beyond an apology. Zoro has shown shown direspect to me and the team. With group match about to start in the African section, here's a quick lisitng of who is in our group, presented in order of World Rankings: Ivory Coast (23rd) Zambia (64th) Libya (93rd) Rwanda (83rd) Mauritania (190th) Gabon (107th) With each team playing each other twice (home and home) and the top team qualifying for the World Cup, with these teams ranked the way they are, we should be the clearcut favourites to be in South Africa in 2010... Games still have to be played and I cannot be too confident... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-02-2005, 12:54 PM
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#5 |
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College Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Beantown
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Africa has one of the shittiest formats I have seen.
Top two from each group should qualify to a final group with half the teams in that final group making it.
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Boston Bashers - III.14 - (8347) |
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12-02-2005, 12:56 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Agreed, it's a very unforgiving setup, made even worse by South Africa's free pass as a host country. We have four groups and I'm sure some other groups are much tougher. I don't have it in my notes here, but I'll try to get the other groups and world rankings in a future post... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-02-2005, 12:57 PM
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#7 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Wanted to add for those that are new in here that anything written in orange should relate to Ivory Coast while the rest should be more club related (i.e. Q.P.R. or personal stuff)...
Simply in hope that I'm attracting new people in here, not that I don't like the regulars, it's simply nice to see new people reading you FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-02-2005, 12:58 PM
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#8 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Thanks, I hope the team will give me the chance to make you like it all the way to the World Cup FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-02-2005, 03:25 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 7, 2008
WC2010 Qual, African Section, Match #1: Ivory Coast play Gabon at home. They are ranked 107th in the world to our 23rd rank. Yago and Abdoulaye Meďté will man the centre of our backline. Meďté is fairly dependable but Yago has been known to down games at inopportune times... Other games in our group include Libya hosting Rwanda and Mauritania hosting Zambia. As usual with World Cup qualifiers, we'll be allowed to use 3 subs out of a bench of 7 players. Gabon show a 5-3-2 formation with 2 wingbacks to start the game. The home crowd goes wild in the 10th minute after Salomon Kalou converted a sweet cross pass from Arthur Boka into a nice top corner goal! A great, vicious strike that gave us a 1-0 lead! We add to our lead in the 24th minute when Didier Drogba dribbled down to the byline before leaving the ball back to Salomon Kalou and running to the 6 yard box where Kalou sent him the sweetest of high ball that Drogba headed in. Another crowd pleaser and we're up 2-0!!! That is the halftime score and while we're ahead, we're hardly dominating in terms of shots. We're only outshooting them 6(2) to 2(1) but it's not because we're not winning possession, as we controlled the ball for 63% of the first half, 31% inside their half of the field. The second half is absolutely crazy as we do everything we want but we can't score! Final Score: Ivory Coast 2, Gabon 0 We outshot them 24(11) to 2(1) on the game  et won possession in the second half with 78% , 50% inside their half of the field !!!I don't understand why or how their keeper didn't get the Man of the Match, except for the fact that left winger Kanga Akalé had a near perfect game. He got the Man of the Match with a rating of 10 with 15 runs past opponents. Arthur Boka, Salomon Kalou, and Didier Drogba also had good games, rating at 8. In other games of our group, Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda and Zambian won 2-1 over Mauritania. Here's the group table after this first round of games:
Back home, the media are talking about us enjoying near total domination over a distinctly average Gabon side. They also point out that in reality the winning margin could and perhaps should have been far greater. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-06-2005, 12:40 PM
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#10 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 8, 2008
Color me stupid but I realized today that I never asked my physios for a complete report on Steve Finnan. Currently out for 5 months, they recommend surgery for him, surgery that would put him out of commission for anywhere between 2 and 6 months. I send him to the knife and get the good news that it wasn't as bad as first thought and Steve could be back in 4 months... weehee!!! See tk, not all surgeries go bad The Ivory Coast squad is to be decided today for our upcoming qualifiers against Rwanda. In an interesting turn of events, Zoro has publicly apologised to me for refusing to be called up as late replacement to the national squad. The 24yo Messina fullback admitted that he had been wrong to turn his back on Ivory Coast and hoped it had not done any lasting damage to his international career... errr, fat chance of that my friend...  I select my squad and guess what... Zoro isn't in there June 9, 2008 With the squad selected, the media are commenting that Zoro looks likely to have more time to play for his club in future after his public dispute with me resulted in him being left out of the Ivory Coast squad. With the media speculating that the Messina fullback's international career could be over, Zoro will no doubt be thinking about what might have been as his compatriots join up with my latest Ivory Coast squad. June 12, 2008 Stoke offer to loan Jonathan Burton for three months. They have top facilities and are playing in the Championship, thus giving Burton some senior side playing time so I accept. This is a bit weird though, loaning player during the Summer months but oh well... June 13, 2008 With Ivory Coast fans expecting a comfortable victory over Rwanda, the media are commenting that I will know that even though they may be the weaker side on paper, Rwanda still have the ability to pose Ivory Coast's backline problems if they aren't treated with respect. Goo to see that Kolo Touré's brother, Yaya, insists that his teammates not take Rwanda lightly when they meet tomorrow. The 25yo midfielder told a local newspaper that although the country expected Ivory Coast to win easily, it was vital that they did not under-estimate the Rwanda team. June 14, 2008 Tomas Locatelli has set a date to his retirement. The 32yo attacking midfielder will retire in July of 2009 and sadly, it won't be as a Ranger. He's been unhappy most of last season as I was unable to find a spot to play him in regularly... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-06-2005, 12:55 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 14, 2008
WC2010 Qual, African Section, Match #2: Ivory Coast play Rwanda on their home pitch. They are currently ranked 83rd in the world to our 23rd place and we are 4-7 favourites to win this game. Other games in our group include Gabon hosting Mauritania and Libya visiting Zambia. I make no changes to the starting eleven. Rwanda show a fairly basic 4-4-2 formation but with heavy push from the wings. Not too sure this is a good idea as the weather is calling for some very hot temperatures, at 35C for the start of the game... Kanga Akalé takes the ball to the byline in the 28th minute, only to stop there and center it to the feet of Bonaventure Kalou on the penalty spot. He drives it in low and off the post for th 1-0 goal! We add to our lead 7 minutes later when again Akalé centers a neat ball, this time to the 6 yard box where Didier Drogba is left with an easy finish. 2-0 and at that point, we are outshooting them 8(5) to nothing... 2-0 is the halftime score and we added a few more shots while not allowing one to them. We've now put 7 of our 11 shots on target. They are fighting possession though... Try as they might, we don't allow them too close to our goal in the second half and the score remains unchanged. Final Score: Ivory Coast 2, Rwanda 0 Another "bleh" of a second half that means we didn't kill a team that we should have. We did outshot them 17(9) to 1(0) though... Kanga Akalé was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9, 2 assists and 11 runs past opponents. Arthur Boka, Salomon Kalou and his brother Bonaventure all got ratings of 8. The media are reporting this as a near total domination by Ivory Coast. They are also saying that the margin of victory should have been much bigger... Two 1-1 draws happened in the other games (Gabon/Mauritania & Zambia/Libya) of our group and after 2 games for every team, we're sitting atop the group table with our next match being against 3rd place Libya on July 5. Here's the group table as it stands now:
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-06-2005, 03:27 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 15, 2008
The European club rankings have been announced and the good news is that Q.P.R. have moved an astonishing 84 spots, up to 35th place! Even better, Valencia have been ranked the top team in Europe and we trounced them! Here is the the list of the 50 top clubs in Europe:
And here is the list of all the English clubs ranked in Europe:
From this ranking, Newcastle, Tottenham, and Charlton are all due for a fall since they are not in any European Competition this season. June 16, 2008 Jonathan Burton has agreed to go on loan at Stoke. The 19yo told The Sentinel that he was still learning his trade and that he felt the loan move would be a good step up from playing reserve team football. Now that's a good attitude! June 19, 2008 Capping an amazing season, Cristiano Lucarelli has been selected as Q.P.R.'s Player of the Year by the club supporters. Lucarelli proved to be the main scoring threat, supported by others, but his physical presence in front of opposing keepers has been a great threat for the Q.P.R. attack. Our U18 squad gets a fresh batch of youngster. While they look mostly like waterboys, my assistant points out a 15yo promising midfielder name Richard Russell. One crappy thing about him is his low determination (6) that will probably hold him back. We've been given $24.5M for TV rights for the upcoming season. This gives usa whopping $54.55M in the bank. Despite this big stash of cash saved, the board announce only a transfer budget of $10M. BOOOOOOOOO!!!! This won't be enough to make any kind of big splash on the market... sigh... There is one good news though as the board have announce plans to enlarge the stadium by 3000 seats. Yeah, only 3000 but still 3000 is better than nothing. Maybe if we go and do very well in the Champions League they will realize that I'm for real Since this isn't such a big upgrade, they also add that the expansion will only take a short time to complete. In fact, it will be ready before we will have played our last friendly.This is also the time of year where the board, and the fans, tell me what they expect from the club in the upcoming season. As usual, the board are a bit more lenient than the fans and they expect the team to achieve a respectable position in the EPL while the fans want nothing short of us challenging for the EPL title this season. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-06-2005, 03:35 PM
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#13 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 24, 2008
Ajax and Burnley have offered me friendlies, respectively on August 1st and July 23rd and I accept both. I have made offers to Luton at Kenilworth Road on July 1st and Arsenal at Loftus Road on July 4 and both of them have accepted. I'm a bit confused as to when we will play again, given that we should enter the Champions League qualification stage at some point. I just don't know what point yet... June 28, 2008 Given Steve Finnan's injury, right fullback is kind of high on my list of priorities. I try a bid on a player I already tried getting in the past, Middlesbrough's Andrews Gorlitz. Gorlitz is a 26yo D/DM R that could even take over straight for Finnan. He's valued at $7.8M but I know that Middlesbrough will be reluctant to let him go so I offer them everything I can, $10M. June 29, 2008 The Ivory Coast squad is to be decided today for our match against Libya in a week. I add Kolo Touré to the squad even though he is very unfit at the moment. It wasn't long. Middlesbrough has rejected our bid for Andreas Gorlitz. We'll looke elsewhere. In the final of EURO 2008, Russia win a tight match against Torkey, 1-0. In the wake of the country's poor performance, the English Football Association sack Sven-Göran Rocksson from his position has national team manager. They were disappointed with the team's awful performance in the European Football Championship and feel that a new manager is required if the team is to improve in the future. Can't say I disagree with them as England lost in penaltie to Italy in the Quarter Final round. If not for my position with Ivory Coast, I'd be tempted to try my luck with England... I enquire to Benfica about the availability of 28yo right fullback Miguel. He is valued at $6M. June 30, 2008 I get the news that the Olympics group have been drawn. Olympics? hrm, that's interesting Ivory Coast U23 have been drawn in Group D of the Olympic Games with Holland U23, Morocco U23 and USA U23. Group matches will start on August 7 but I have now clue if I am the manager by default. In fact, I'm not even sure we'll have enough players to suit a U23 squad... We'll see about that in due time...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-06-2005, 03:38 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Forgot to add this tidbit of information. Here are the groups for the Olympics:
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-07-2005, 12:50 PM
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#15 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 1st, 2008
The board is still delighted with my work. This would usually be a Christmas in July kind of day, what with all the players seeing their contracts expire and then see them move to a new team on a Bosman type move, but not for us. The only player we got coming for now is Polish striker Andrzej Niedzielan, coming from Feyenoord on August 1st. This doesn't mean that some players on our squad won't be going away. That's the case for maligned keeper Generoso Rossi who will now be fixing games for Sheffield Wednesday. Tomas Locatelli and Martin Rowlands are now out of contract and they have both left the club. Strike Grzegorz Rasiak and reserve keeper Jake Cole will remain at the club on month-to-month contracts for now. Among the players staying at their club with expired contracts, I'm intrigued by this central attacking midfielder, 26yo Mikel Arteta. Dude is a Spaniard currently on the Real Sociedad roster. He's on my shortlist since one of my scouts once reported that he had no future in professional football. Hrm, my assistant also believes that signing him wouldn't be worthwhile. He is described as a midfield playmaker with some dang fine skills. Look for yourself by clicking this thumbnail...  He's got ugly stats, that's for sure, averaging around 6.4-6.7 in form ratings, but I'm thinking that put in the AMC spot in our formation, he could be at least serviceable to give a breatehr to Youssouf Hersi and Bonaventure Kalou. I'm gonna wait before offering him anything but I'll keep him on my radar screen... Benfica has dismissed my enquiry about Miguel. I offer them $10M for the right fullback valued at $6.2M but they shoot me down within an hour of the bid, bleh... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-07-2005, 03:16 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 1, 2008
Friendly #1: we play Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. As you see, I'm saying Kenilworth Road and not simply "their pitch". I still like playing there, see my previous dynasties to understand why Just before the game, I see that Christian Wilhelmsson is being scouted by Aston Villa. He is valued at $15M with a minimum release fee set at $18M. He's currently earning $42k and would like to double that to $85k to sign an extention. While he is indeed a key member of the squad, a difference maker I should say, I'm not sure I'm ready to offer $85k to one guy, although we do have a bit of room under the budget. He also has for minor concern that he'd like a new contract. I offer him $61k per week with his requested $1.5M signing on fee but in the process I up the minimum release fee to $30M. The game itself is fairly uneventful as we prove to be too much for the poor Hatters, without even trying our hardest. Two goals within two minutes in the 20th and 22nd minute were enough to secure the win with Cristiano Lucarelli picking up where he left off with one goal and Bonaventure Kalou with one on a power header from the penalty spot. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Luton Town 0 We were outshooting them 5(4) to 1(0) at the half and we shut them down in the second half, ending the game ahead in shots, 10(5) to 1(0). Bonaventure Kalou was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He completed 22 of his 24 passes and scored a goal. Freddy Guarín and Peter Lovenkrands both rated at 8 in this game. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-07-2005, 03:18 PM
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#17 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 2, 2008
No real clue why, as I've never scouted him, but I'm alerted via a news message that Roma have offered a contract to Valencia's 19yo striker Daniel Sturridge. Intrigued I go take a look at his profile and I'm a bit wowed. First by his skill set (20 finishing is very neat for a guy who's not even 20) and then by the unexplained fact that his contract is unprotected and that even though he's only 19, I could sign him away from Valencia and bring him back to his native England without having to pay any compensation... The kid wants a 3 year contract worth around $27k per week with a signing on fee of $360k. Seeing how we're some $190k under budget and how my assistant is saying that he believes that Sturridge has considerable talent for his age, I offer him almost what he wants. Almost in the sense that I remove the 15% yearly wage raise but add $40k to his signing on fee. That much money under budget makes it very tempting to go back to Mikel Arteta and make him an offer but I resist, for now... Later on in the day, I learn that Deportivo have also offered a contract to Sturridge. July 3, 2008 Dang, the kid is quite popular! It's now At. Madrid's turn to offer Sturridge a contract. Christian Wilhelmsson has rejected our first offer although he is willing to negotiate. I offer him a bonified weekly wage of $70k per week, leaving the rest unchanged. Again, on the eve of a World Cup qualifier, the good people of Ivory Coast are expecting a big win for us against Libya. And again, the media are saying that even though Libya may be the weaker side on paper, they still have the ability to pose Ivory Coast's backline problems if they aren't treated with respect. Backup keeper Daniel Yeboah is the vocal one this time around and much like some of his teammates in past qualifiers, he warns about complacency. He insists that Ivory Coast will not take Libya lightly when they meet on Saturday. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 12-07-2005 at 03:18 PM. |
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12-07-2005, 03:19 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 4, 2008
Friendly #2: we play Arsenal at Loftus Road. This is our annual friendly against our rivals. While the Gunners really tried everything they could, Simon Jentzsch was too much for them, once again and goals from Danny Shittu¨(4'), Güiza (56'), and Peter Lovenkrands (78') sealed a nice win for us. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Arsenal 0 They still outshot us 13(9) to 8(4) and I honestly have a hard time explaining how we ran away with that one. As would be expected, Simon Jentzsch got the Man of the Match selection with a rating of 9, while his backup, Dean Morgan, playing only 15 minutes, also rated at 8. Youssouf Hersi and Thierry Henry both left the game injured within four minutes of one another at the end of the first half. While Henry will okay in a week after suffering a damaged neck, the news about Hersi is saddening. It's unclear how it happened but the 25yo attacking midfielder sustained a fractured skull and will miss the next 5 months, basically keeping him away from the pitch until New Year's Day. Ouch...  I'm immediately reminded of Mikel Arteta and while my assistant still believes that signing him wouldn't be worthwhile, I take the plunge and approach him to sign with us. Even though he's currently earning $75k per week, he's "only" looking for a contract worth around $60k per week with a signing on fee of $550k. I offer him $50k per week, we'll see how he responds... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-07-2005, 03:32 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 5, 2008
WC2010 Qual, African Section, Match #3: we play Libya on their home pitch. They are ranked 93rd in the world to our 23rd rank in the world. The other games in our group include Mauritania hosting Rwanda and Zambia hosting Gabon. Kolo Touré is back and even though his condition is only at 90%, he plays at centreback, a position where players tend to stay fresher during the cours of a game, and I decide to give him the start. Libya show a 5-3-2 formation with two wingbacks to start the game. We're holding the ball a whole lot early on but we're not trying to goal for the goal. Their left fullback is given a second yellow card in the 14th minute and they'll have to finish the game at 10 men on the pitch. They go to a 4-4-1 formation... We keep applying pressure and we looked almost certain to take the lead in the 25th when a corner kick from Salomon Kalou to Kolo Touré's feet left him all alone with the keeper but the keeper threw himself in front of Touré's shot for a magical save! We finally take the lead in the 41st minute when Didier Drogba powers a header past the keeper from the penalty spot on a center from Arouna Koné. At that point, we were outshooting them 15(5) to nothing, but the score was still only 1-0... And 1-0 was the halftime score with us outshooting them 18(7) to nothing. Possession is hard to understand though. They are winning it with 51%, 34 of these IN OUR HALF OF THE FIELD!!! Can't explain that... Following a collision with an opponent, Kanga Akalé's condition dips to 48% in the 49th minute. I pull him out and put Cedric Konan in. The halftime adjustment of asking the guys to take the ball wider finally pays off in th 58th minute when Didier Zokora plays a ball wide left for Konan who takes a defender with him befor centering the ball to Koné who fires a vicious shot that gets deflected by a defender before going in for the 2-0 goal. Final Score: Ivory Coast 2, Libya 0 Yet another 2-0 win that could have been much, much more. We outshot them 28(12) to nothing! Heck, look at the match stats... Believe it or not, there was a crowd of 62490 to see this kind of game, ouch... Didier Drogba was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 8. He scored a goal and put 4 of his 6 shots on target. Kanga Akalé, Didier Zokora, and Arouna Koné also all rated at 8. Rwanda won 2-0 over Mauritania while Zambia won 2-1 over Gabon. Here's the group table after three matches...
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-07-2005, 05:37 PM
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#20 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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You're coasting through the group play
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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12-08-2005, 07:54 AM
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#21 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
you're right about that but I realize I never showed them stats for our last game. Wrote "look at the match stats" and never uploaded/showed them Here they are:  I've not see many games like this in my FM careers... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-08-2005, 11:46 AM
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#22 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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must not comment on players...
must not comment on players... good job in the qualifying. I qualified brazil 3rd/4th in South America during my run... it is interesting that after the WC, the new manager dumped 20-21yo phenom GK who won the world cup including stopping spain in pk's. ah well. |
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12-08-2005, 05:08 PM
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#23 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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Ok, was I the only Hattricker to think it was cool to see that they're adding Cote d'Ivoire to the teams for next season?
/tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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12-08-2005, 07:44 PM
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#24 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
can't speak for others but it absolutely jumped at me when I logged into HT this morning Very cool indeed. Would you had had the same reaction without this dynasty? I'm sure I wouldn't have cared as much That's how great FM is...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 05:08 AM
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#25 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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I think it's time for you to try to get the Toure brother to Ellen Road!@
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12-09-2005, 10:07 AM
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#26 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 6, 2008
Christian Wilhelmsson has put pen to paper on a lucrative two year deal wirth $7.2M. Hopefully he won't sit on his well-paid ass and he'll keep doing his magic for us this season and the next I get the news that the physio I'd made a contract offer to has agreed to it and signed with and that's only when I see the name in the news header that it strikes me as special: Alan Shearer. Yeah, THE Alan Shearer. He's a 20 rated 37yo physio who seem to have just retired as a player. Based on his 63 caps and 30 international goals with England, it can only be the one. I also added another French dude as another physio. I find that our depth is kind of low on defense and I may concentrate on that area in this transfer window. There's one Anthony Vanden Borre with SC Freiburg who's tickling my fancy at a value of $4M but he'd probably cost much more than that. July 7, 2008 Sam Allardyce has been named manager of the England national team. I find that kind of surprising as he didn't strike me as a super-manager. He was currently unemployed after being sacked by Leeds in mid-April 2008. He failed to keep them at the Premiership level after promoting from the Championship after the 2006/07 season. Another surprise hits me as I read that Manchester United have appointed Javier Clemente to be their new manager. I never realized that Alex Ferguson had retired... About Clemente, he was a free agent after being sacked by Leverkusen earlier last season. In line with trying to find a defender to add some depth, I find it real hard to make any kind of a significant bid with "only" $10M to spend. I offer the whole $10M for Petri Pasanen, a 27yo D RC Fin valued at $8.4M. My home friendly offers to Feyenoord (07/10) and Real Madrid (07/15) are both accepted. The board even estimates that the Real Madrid one could bring us $650k in revenue, of which I offered a cool $100k to Real Madrid to accept. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 12:45 PM
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#27 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 8, 2008
Ahh those two sweet news headlines again... "Arteta rejects R. Sociedad offer" "Arteta accepts Q.P.R. offer" As I said before, his form average seems a bit low but his skill set, and his description as a midfield playmaker, lends him to make a pretty nice backup to Bonaventure Kalou in the AMC spot of our formation. On top of it all, he already speaks English as he played for Everton in the 2004/05 & 2005/06 seasons and prior to that, for Scottish side Rangers in the 2002/03 & 2003/04 seasons. Hopefully this knowledge of English football will help him fit in with the team a bit faster. July 9, 2008 Well, our bid for Pasanen has been rejected without any possible negotation. I had offered the top I could, so no reason to pursue that avenue... I did find something interesting, on the Arsenal roster, again. Ivory Coast attacking fullback Emmanuel Eboué is playing on a unprotected contract that runs until June 2009. This means we could offer him a contract and I'd only have to pay his value of $4.6M to get him to us... Even better, as you probably remember, Eboué can play on either side of the defense. We're $120k under the wage budget with Andrzej Niedzielan coming in on August 1st at $50k per week so we still got some wiggle room. I decide to make him a first offer that is quite a bit under the $43k weekly wage he is asking for. I offer him $30k per week as a player on squad rotation instead of first team. I also upped the minimum fee release clause from $6.6M to 12.5M. July 10, 2008 Daniel Sturridge has accepted our offer and will join us on August 1st. He rejected offers from Betis, Roma, and Deportivo to come back to his native England. I forgot to get a screenie of his profile page but I'll post it a bit later... He's a 19yo striker with astonishing finishing skills and some good all around skills for a striker. I'd rather have a youngster in the first team up front than on defense so he could get some first team play, probably relegating Raúl Sáchez further down the depth chart. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 12:53 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 10, 2008
Friendly #3: we play Dutch side Feyenoord at Loftus Road. We already had many players that are match fit so I may test a few things with some youngsters (Chris Dawson & Ian Collins) or some new dudes who need to fit in (Mikel Arteta). We dominated that game but were never able to score a goal, despite putting 13 of 16 shots on target. We also never allowed them to get any close to our goal, allowing only one shot, and off target at that, on the whole game. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Feyenoord 0 As you'd expect, their keeper got the Man of the Match selection with a rating of 10. On our side of things everybody got a 7. That includes newcomer Mikel Arteta but I found him very accurate in his passing, completing 21 of 23 passes and putting his 2 shots on target. July 13, 2008 Okay, now I'm confused. Emmanuel Eboué has answered our contract offer saying that he has committed his future to Arsenla by agreeing terms to a new contract but he's still showing his old unprotected contract that runs until June 2009 and pays him only $9400 per week... Hrm... Let's offer him a bit more. I offer him $40k per week this time... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 03:23 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 15, 2008
Friendly #4: we play Real Madrid at Loftus Road. This game has been picked up for live TV coverage and they are predicting a close win by Real Madrid but we won't let it happen. Cristiano Lucarelli scored the only goal of the game in the 19th minute when he headed in a center to the 6 yard box from Jon Dahl Tomasson. Despite our complete dominance of the field, we won't be able to add another tick to the scoreboard. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Real Madrid 0 We did outshoot them 17(9) to 6(3) so the score could have been much more one-sided. July 16, 2008 Ahh, those two headlines again... "Eboué rejects Arsenal offer" "Eboué accepts Q.P.R. offer" The move is delayed for him to get a work permit though. I don't see how this should be a problem. He was playing with Arsenal after all, even if not regularly though... About Eboué as a player, he shows some nice skills and is described as an attacking fuul-back. I'll show his profile once his work permit is approved and he arrives to Loftus Road. July 18, 2008 Grrrr, Manchester City approach Alan Shearer to become a physio for them. We would be compensated with $56k if the deal goes ahead. July 19, 2008 Gah, well, our name still isn't big enough as I watch Shearer sign with Man City, only two weeks after signing with us. Oh well... Five of our matches in the first half of the season have been picked up for live TV coverage: 08/10, at Fulham 09/15, Everton at Loftus Road 10/25, Manchester United at Loftus Road 11/01, at Chelsea 11/22, at Liverpool Kinda surprised not to see Arsenal in the list although the last three games should be big ones... July 20, 2008 Good news! The stadium expansion is completed. The addition of 3000 seats brings the total capacity to 28000. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 03:25 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 23, 2008
Friendly #5: we play Burnley on their pitch. With Luton, they are the smaller teams we will play this offseason... Prior to the game, I see that Newwcastle and Aston Villa are both scouting Abubakari Yakubu. His contract is unprotected but runs until June 2009 so they'd have to pay a $4.6M compensation if they were to offer him a contract. Strangely, it's the exact same amount I would pay to get Emmanuel Eboué. I'd hate to get a new right fullback only to lose one the same way... Wait and see I guess... We're just too tough for Burnley in that one and we run away with it on goals from Cristiano Lucarelli (31') and Raúl Sánchez (50' & 66'). Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Burnley 0 To tell you how much we dominated them, we outshot them 17(9) to 3(1) on the game. They just didn't the superkeeper on their side this time around... Mikel Arteta showed some flashes of greatness, collecting the Man of the Match mention with a rating of 9. He completed 22 of his 24 passes, 7 of them key passes and assisted Sánchez on the first of his two goals with a great pass. Fabrice Fernandes, Cristiano Lucarelli and Raúl Sánchez all rated at 8. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-09-2005, 03:47 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 24, 2008
I learn that Didier Drogba sprained his ankle during training with Chelsea and he will miss 4 weeks. The next World Cup qualifier for Ivory Coast is only on September 6, so he should be back, albeit maybe a bit unfit... I just got reminder of all the players with contracts expiring in June 2009 and yowza! This is gonna be a rough season in terms of contract renewals, let me tell you that. Take a look at this list:
Some will simply be let go (Cygan, van der Gun, Zenoni?, Tomasson?, Bircham, Sánchez) but some I'll really want to keep (Kalou, Yakubu, Fernandes, Güiza or Lucarelli)... Should make for an interesting season off the field... July 25, 2008 The draw for the Champions League 3rd Qualifying phase happened today. With 32 teams in the draw, we get a rough one, at least at first look. We will play Italian side Torino. They finished 3rd in Serie A last season. Dang, there are some much easier teams out there... I was so used to playing the first leg away but this time around, the first legt will be at Loftus Road on August 6 and the second on their pitch on August 20 with the winner moving on to group stage. July 29, 2008 UKBetting.com have announced the odds for the EPL division Title and Manchester United have been made 6-4 favourites to win it all. The other main contenders are: Chelsea and Liverpool both at 7-4, Arsenal at 2-1, Q.P.R. and Blackburn both at 33-1. The media comment that the bookmakers believe that we definitely have the quality to mount a serious title challenge and that no matter what happens we will be three or thereabouts come the end of the season. Oh, how far have we come from the relegation battlers that we once were FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-10-2005, 09:24 AM
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#32 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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disclaimer: this is off the dynasty and about real worl
As many of you have probably seen, Ivory Coast have been drawn into the "Group of Death" for the 2006 World Cup, with Argentina, Holland, and Serbia & Montenegro. Here's an interesting article about the Kalou brothers. Apparently, Salomon has not capped for Ivory Coast already and is looking to possibly getting his Dutch citizenship since he's moved to Holland when he was 15 (he's 20 now). He's trying to get this citizenship thing to go faster than usual and this means that the two brothers could play against each other in the WC... Story from BBC SPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/spo...06/4516202.stm Quote:
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-12-2005, 12:04 AM
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#33 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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12-13-2005, 07:22 PM
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#34 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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*Ahem*
It's Tuesday. I miss my updates of the squad! j/k of course, but I am looking forward to more updates coming back. /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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12-13-2005, 07:35 PM
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#35 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
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Quote:
Any examples? And where is this club>
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Underachievement The tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut by the lawnmower. Despair It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black. Demotivation Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people. http://www.despair.com/viewall.html |
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12-13-2005, 08:12 PM
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#36 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
well, I have quite a bit of unreported stuff but Monday was spent in preparation of being off work today (in training all day) and I fear that tomorrow will be spent getting back on track... don't worry though, as I said, I got plenty to report, including some Olympic Games action FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-14-2005, 01:43 AM
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#37 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
Emmanuel Eboué who should be the heir apparent to Bisan Lauren as the Gunners' rightback also followed the same route. By the way, here is the Wikipedia entry for ASEC. Last edited by daedalus : 12-14-2005 at 01:49 AM. |
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12-14-2005, 07:13 AM
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#38 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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The whole Salomon Kalou situation is pretty stupid, by the way, the kid won't play much for the national team anyway in the future. Right now he became the object of a prestige battle between politicians and non-politicians. Ugly story that makes the headlines of the news every day since the whole drama started about (I think) a year ago.
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* 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail |
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12-14-2005, 10:58 AM
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#39 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Ahh, the opinion of a local
Quote:
you mean for Holland, right? That was my first thought about the whole thing. Wouldn't there be more of a chance for him to get a regular spot in the Ivory Coast than on the Holland team? One would think so... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-14-2005, 12:42 PM
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#40 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 30, 2008
Dang, Emmanuel Eboué's work permit has been turned down. I appeal it and we should have a decision on August 13. He has 31 caps with Ivory Coast, one would think this should be good enough... July 31, 2008 Speaking of Eboué, he strained his back and will miss three weeks. The next World Cup qualifier for Ivory Coast is only in September, so he should be all right. Today's the day to send our list of 25 players selected to be eligible for our Champions League Qualifier. Andrzej Niedzielan will be ineligible for this one as he'll get here only tomorrow... The good thing is that we'll be allowed to swap 25 players (i.e. submit a whole different list) if we make it past this qualifying round. August 1st, 2008 The board is very pleased with my work as manager of the club. Andrzej Niedzielan arrives to Loftus Road and as a bonus, he's already match fit! I think I've posted his profile in the past, but here it is again. As you can see, the guy is a killer around the net with great finishing (20), heading (16), some explosiveness and speed. I think once he's gotten used to playing in England, he'll be a great asset for us. Daniel Sturridge also arrives to Loftus Road from Spain. At only 19 years of age, the kid is already valued at $13.5M, woah. As I said before, the kid's an amazing finisher already (20!) with decent pace and good decision making skills. His low determination is kind of sad but he's already developped in somebody who's at least worthy of a start here or there for us. At only 19, he's already got 12 U21 caps with England. You can see his profile below...  After these two arrivals, our wage total sits at $900k, still under the $950k weekly budget that I'm given. With the arrival of two strikers, I give Grzegorz Rasiak his free transfer. He had been on a month-to-month contract since his old contract had run out at the end of June. And then... BOOM!!! "The board are pleased to announce that as a result of an improvement in the club's financial position, they have raise your current transfer budget by $17M to $27.5M"... SWEEEEEEEEET!!!! Time to go a shop-ping! Time to go a shop-ping! Time to go a shop-ping! I got some ideas for what to get with that money. Definitely some defenders, as I find that our depth is a bit thin. I'm also thinking about a good/great left winger. Fabrice Fernandes can do the job well, but after him, Peter Lovenkrands is not always up to par... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-14-2005, 03:16 PM
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#41 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 1, 2008
Friendly #6: we play Dutch side Ajax at Loftus Road. This is our last friendly of this offseason and our next game will be the 1st leg of our Champions League qualifier series against Torino in 5 days. I forgot to save the pregame lineup for this game. Even though we sprayed their keeper of shots, we end up losing this one 0-1 on a lucky goal in the 53rd minute. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Ajax 1 As I said, we outshot them outrageously, 25(15) to 8(4) yet were unable to put one past their keeper. I'm not really concerned about it though, as it is still only a friendly. Both Daniel Sturridge and Andrzej Niedzielan had solid if unspectacular first games with The Rs. August 5, 2008 Dean Morgan complains in the media that if I don't play him with the first team squad, he may be looking at leaving the club. Sorry kid, Simon Jentzsch is still the man for us. I'll see if I play you in some cup games at one point... While shopping for possible talents to bring to Loftus Road, I happen upon this Swede currently playing at French side Auxerre called Alexander Farnerud. The dude is listed as 24yo AM/F RLC with neat skills all accross the board. I like his ability to play on either side of the wings, making him a possible backup winger giving us great depth. He is currently valued at $9.2M but I see that he's got a minimum release clause that goes on at $12.5M. I offer Auxerre $11.5M for him. Another player that looks interesting is 27yo D RC Petri Pasanen, a Fin currently playing at Werder Bremen. He is currently valued at $8.4M with great skills for a fullback. I offer them $10M but that offer is shot down quite quick. Right after that offer, I hear from Auxerre about Farnerud and they want $6.4M now and $7.6M over 6 months for a total of $14M... I offer them $12M, still a bit under the $12.5M minimum fee release clause... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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12-15-2005, 04:21 AM
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#42 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
What's that? I think I just heard Big Phil mentioning the name of his old partner. Something about a fellow name Kolo or some such. |
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12-15-2005, 01:29 PM
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#43 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Quote:
Apparently he was touched so much by being asked by legendary Marco van Basten so much that he couldn't say 'no' anymore. But Van Basten could be gone in a few years and Kalou will be out of sight, out of heart from the national team. Personally, I don't see a good future for the younger Kalou brother on the Holland/Netherlands/Oranje squad, even though Van Basten claims he needs Kalou.
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* 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail |
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05-31-2006, 02:06 PM
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#44 |
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College Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Beantown
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I wonder what happened with this dynasty
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Boston Bashers - III.14 - (8347) |
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05-31-2006, 03:19 PM
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#45 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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kinda funny you bumped this as many things have reminded me of that great dynasty:
- the upcoming world cup - the fact that AE will apply to get an HT team in Ivory Coast - the signing of Salomon Kalou by Chelsea yesterday... Sadly, not much happened after my last post in here. I moved on to WSM2006 around the time of the last post in here and I played it for a while I remember that I had a few pages of notes that were not reported in here and I threw them away maybe a month or two ago I took a good two month off from WSM and just restarted playing it but time is hard to come by. Maybe I should pick up my old QPR career in FM2005 and get it to the World Cup. I'll try to find a few minutes to load it up tonight and see where I left it... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-31-2006, 03:37 PM
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#46 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Ron, Mexico
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It was nice to see Didier Zokora on the team. He's currently the starting DMC in my Everton career that I have going. I have no complaints with the guy. Well other than the time of the year when he leaves for the African Nations Cup, but other than that he's good.
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Hattrick - Seattle Reign (224367) |
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06-03-2006, 07:48 PM
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#47 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quick update on this, the date in the game is now August 13 and on the few pages of notes I threw away were some interesting little thigns. namely, the Ivory Coast U23 squad has played two games in the Olympics tournament, drawing 0-1 with Holland and winning 1-0 with Morocco. Their next match is on the 13th against USA. interesting...
As for The Rs, they have played one game in the EPL, winning 2-1 over Fulham. Also, in my unread emails, I had an enquiry from Valencia about how much I would like for Abubakiri Yakubu... I might play this career, although I got the job of manager for Canada in my WSM2006 career and would also like to try out with that one. On top of all that, I'm really scrapping from free time, so it's all up in the air if I'll ever update this career here... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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06-04-2006, 10:36 AM
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#48 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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I would be quite willing to switch my following to your WSM'06 career. No problem.
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07-12-2006, 12:51 PM
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#49 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
well, wish granted??? FM
__________________
A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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