
Dagenham '17-18 Season
February/March Update
League Match 25
Dagenham - Norwich City (1-0)
Monzon 10' (P)
Recap: Nicola Leali's finest game for us yet. The Italian keeper had 7 saves, all off highly dangerous shots, ending as the MOTM with an 8.8 game rating.
F.A. Cup, Round of 16
Liverpool - Dagenham (2-0)
Monzon 81' (P)
Elito 85'
Recap: A very tense game against a Liverpool squad that's starting to become a bit of a rival. We battled for 80 minutes until our relentless attack finally forced a penalty kick which Monzon coolly delivered, then Elito put the dagger on the The Reds to eliminate them from the F.A. Cup for the second consecutive season.
League Match 26
Liverpool - Dagenham (1-1)
Sturridge 60'
Flanagan 90' (OG)
Recap: Just because we beat them a few days earlier didn't mean we had their number. After ruining our home opener in the second game of the season Liverpool nearly defeated us again until a strike from Reyna near the end bounced off a post and ricocheted off Flanagan to go into the back of the net. It was a painful result for The Reds but a fair score at the end of the game because we had attacked all game long and deserved better.
MAR
League Match 27
Dagenham - Manchester Utd (1-1)
Ljacic 15'
Jones '27 (OG)
Recap: The odds of two consecutive 1-1 draws with us benefiting from an own goal in each have to be diminutive, but we'll take it. Again we forced the issue resulting in Man U's own goal and Ljacic's goal was a RIDICULOUS strike from about 30 yards out nicely placed in an upper corner.
F.A. Cup, Quarter Finals
Manchester Utd - Dagenham (2-6)
Caseres 2'
Reyna 6'
Nimely 17'
Caseres 45'
Fletcher 45+'
Nimely 45+'
Zindilis 72'
Stefanovic 79'
Recap: I don't have the words to express the awesomeness of this game. I simply just wish we would had scored half of these goals in our game against Man U a few days before. We embarrassed them, at Old Trafford, from the get-go. It was BEAUTIFUL. We now march into the semi finals surely the favorites to win it all, with Newcastle Utd, Aston Villa, and Southampton also making the final four.
League Match 28
Hull City - Dagenham (0-0)
Recap: Ugh, just a disappointing/frustrating result in a game where we put up plenty of shots. Maybe the short break for international friendlies did us wrong, who knows, but missed points suck.
League Match 29
Dagenham - Arsenal (3-3)
Traore 10'
Nimely 19'
Wellington Silva 21'
Nimely 24'
Reyna 30'
Traore 81'
Recap: The first 30 minutes of this game were as intense as you can get. More often than not you're not going to be able to stop Lacina Traore (6'8", 192lbs), you can only hope to contain him. We tried our best to increase our lead after finally taking over the game midway through the first half but we were unable to convert our chances and Traore eventually evened up the game near the end to take 2 points away from us in disappointing fashion.
British Premier League Standings
1. Chelsea - 65pts
2. Dagenham - 61pts
3. Manchester City - 59pts
4. Liverpool - 58pts
5. Arsenal - 57pts
...
6. Tottenham - 52pts
7. Manchester Utd - 51pts
...
18. Hull City - 25pts
19. Nott'm Forest - 21pts
20. Wigan Athletic 10pts
Not a lot of games these past couple of months and for the most part some really good results, just not good enough for us to stay in 1st place - we actually held that spot before the draws against Hull and Arsenal sent us back to 2nd. Of course, the first game in April will be a matchup against Chelsea that will likely be key in deciding the league winner. As you may have noticed we're also having an outstanding run in the F.A. Cup where we're set to face off against Aston Villa in the semi finals. We'll actually face Aston Villa at least twice in April as we're also scheduled to face them 3 days before the F.A. semis and just 4 days after visiting Chelsea. We'll also play against Newcastle and Tottenham this month.
We're really looking forward to the end of April because there are some guys in the academy that may get the call up for the final 4-5 games of the season (and maybe even the F.A. Cup final?). That being said there's been some movement in the academy with scouts sent to France, Uruguay, and South Africa so let's look at the youth squad:
- Dean Murphy (MID, 59-65 OVR, 81-91 POT): 17-year old from Ireland who is likely to be an LM but may get a tryout at CAM.
- Sean Foran (LM, 60-64, 83-89): 15-year old from Ireland finally settled in at a position. The left-footed kid could be Reyna's future replacement.
- Nathan Kenny (RM, 59-63, 83-89): 16-year old from Ireland who has our scouts very excited. Now settled in at RM he could be our future replacement for Elito.
- Davor Alanovic (LB, 52-56, 81-87): 16-year old from Croatia has outstanding potential and mammoth stature at 6'7" and 176lbs. He'll be played at CB and we'll work really hard to develop him into an excellent defender.
- Mario Diaz (LW, 56-60, 76-82): 17-year old from Mexico with a lot of confidence. Our scouts are trying to convince him that he's better off staying in the academy for a year even though he feels he's a better talent at the moment than some of the names on the roster. We don't disagree, but he would have a tough time cracking the B-team right now. We're excited about him though.
- Faruk Bahamdan (CAM, 46-48, 74-80): 16-year old from Morocco who settled into his position early on. He's raw, so he'll need a lot of time in the academy to develop.
- Pablo Escobar (CAM, 46-48, 74-80): 16-year old from Venezuela who needs to remain in the academy for at least a full season. He has recently shown some higher flashes of potential than when previously evaluated.
- Ciaran Kavanagh (CM, 46-52, 71-79): 16-year old from Ireland who found his niche in the midfield. Projects as more of a sub.
- Magnus Gerndt (RW, 51-55, 72-78): 16-year old from Sweeden who projects as no more than a role player.
- Cesar Miguel (CDM, 44-46, 72-78): 16-year old from Venezuela who needs a good amount of development. There have been some rumblings about his desire to be called up but we anticipate the club would let him walk instead.
- Matthieu Maupay (MID/ATT, 37-49, 63-83)*: 15-year old from France is the most recent addition to the squad and would do himself a huge favor if he developed into a striker.
- Carlos Alberto (CAM, 50-54, 69-73): 17-year old from Colombia who hurt his chances to be more of an impact player when he failed to stick as a striker. He doesn't project to be a starter for us.
* Denotes recent addition to the academy.
Enric Tilea (CM, 56 OVR, 71-75 POT), 17-year old from Romania, got the call up to the big team after requesting so. He put in his time in the academy but isn't more than a reserve at the moment.
Our current roster (* Denotes player graduated from the youth academy):
As you may have noticed there was also some international action

International Friendlies
Norway - Venezuela (3-1)
Aristeguieta 5'
Aristeguieta 33'
Rondon 36'
Bendiksen 90+'
Recap: Thorough beat down of the European hosts with nice results from our starters upfront. I'm not sure whether Norway has qualified for the WC but they were a nice test.
Finland - Venezuela (2-1)
J. Vallejo 45'
Ring 82'
A. Vallejo 90'
Recap: We played a mix of our A and B team on this one and squeezed out a victory in the end but we definitely outplayed the hosts and performed well overall.
MAR
India - Venezuela (1-3)
J. Vallejo 11'
Perdomo 28'
J. Vallejo 54'
Pradhan 57'
Recap: India simply does not have a very good team and as such I played the B team against them and came out pleased, especially because the strikers continue to score.
Wales - Venezuela (1-1)
Rondon 6'
Robson-Kano 19'
Recap: Good tune up match for us before the World Cup as I'm not sure we'll get more games before then. Feeling as good as I can with this roster.
So all in all we went on the road to Asia and Europe and performed well. I'm really looking forward to this World Cup and want to, at worst, make it past the group stage. A final four finish would be outstanding.
And that's it for now

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