zacram

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QATAR

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Nation Profile


Nickname: The Maroon

Capital City: Doha

Population: 1.85M

Rivals: U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain

National Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 50,000

Football Association Founded: 1960

World Ranking: 86th

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The Challenge

I have decided to make a story of a new long term save i intend to do, which is very similar to the classic "San Marino Challenge". Whereby you take over a Nation (Qatar) and a club within the domestic league, with the ultimate aim of leading both the domestic league and International team to glory.

I made a poll of 12 possible Nations and put the question to you guys to choose me a Nation to begin this challenge. I would like to thank everyone for voting, and am glad I can start a story the majority of you wanted to see. You can see the results of this below:

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Manager Profile

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Club Overview

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Full Name: Al-Shamal Sports Club

Founded:
1980

Ground: Al-Shamal SC Stadium

Capacity: 5000

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I decided to takeover Al Shamal, as they were predicted to come bottom of the Qatar All Star league (top division). They were basically the worst side in all aspects of the division - financially, facilities etc. My thinking is that i can develop this into a decent club, which would increase competition in the league and therefore improve it.

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Key Players

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*Will do a National squad overview when i play my first match*


Transfer Budget: 177k

Wage Budget:
28 p/w ( Total 24,092)



Season Objectives



National Team: Reach the Quarter Final of the Asian Cup ( starts Janary)

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Club: Stay Clear of Relegation


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For some reason I am expected to win the Qatari Stars Cup which seems a bit ambitious when looking across the other competitions. I don't have any experience in this league so not sure how challenging that trophy will be. Only time will tell!
 
Looking good mate, can't wait to see Vinny Mac lay down the smack in the middle east! Will follow!
 
Did a Qatar save in FM14, it's fun but if you don't have a sugar daddy sheik finances will be a nightmare - I managed Qatar SC and despite not being a major club the sheik kept saving the balance with 10M cash injections every year... Al Rayyan is a very popular and rich club and starts in 2nd division, just a hint ;)

As for the national team, your best chance to improve it is attracting good foreigners in the Q-League and wait until they become eligible for Qatar, which is what they're also trying to do IRL - it's only 3 years for Qatari nationality, though it's still 5 to play for national team.

Good luck, at the very least you can hire the Iron Sheik as your assistant manager :)
 
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Pre Season

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An undefeated pre season was very encouraging. Although we didn't play any big teams, they were still mostly ranked similarly to ourselves.

Transfers

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Edu looks a really good prospect for the future, and is already one of my best MR's. Managed to pick him up on a free and also think he may have the quality to become a National player when he gains Citizenship

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I spent quite a lot on Al-Awi, but has some of the best attributes for a Lb that i could find for my teams level and at the age of 23, he should be a decent player for a few years to come. With only being allowed 7 foreign players to be registered it is vital to sign Qatari Nationals (Also to aid there development for the National Side)

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Ribeiro was my other big signing of the season. A 24 year old Brazillian Cb with decent stats and potential, to help fill a position that i was lacking real quality in.

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Al Zein is a bit of a veteran at the ripe age of 38, but had really good stats and still has a lot to offer (for this season anyway) am also going to try get him mentoring Edu. Mohammed was just a cheap Cm to try bolster the squads depth in that position. Al Rabiel is a young Qatari cb and has decent potential, is a bit down the pecking order but will come in useful as injuries take there toll.



August

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August was a really decent month for us getting 6 points out of 9. Fartoos was in terrific form in the 3 games, picking up 4 goals, 1 assist.


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(Not many pictures of this incredible player online for some reason)





International Friendlies

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Chile (12th) vs Qatar (86th)

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We got absolutely battered in the match and struggled to really create anything going forward, as you can see form the stats. Chile put out a very strong side so a 4-0 defeat wasn't actually too bad i didn't think. I decided to field a 4-4-2 formation which may have been a bit to aggressive against a very good Chilean side. Switched this to a 4-5-1 in the second half and we looked to get a bit more control in the game, despite conceding a further 2 goals we did look better than the 1st half.



Qatar (86th) vs Brunei (195th)

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So from from going from playing the 12 ranked Nation in the world to 195th. This was a walk in the park really for us as expected. Brunei didn't really put up a fight at all and we bossed the game from start to finish. Was actually a little disappointed not to create/score more if im being honest. Went with an attacking 4-3-3 and to only score 6 past a very average side i don't think was enough.


 
Did a Qatar save in FM14, it's fun but if you don't have a sugar daddy sheik finances will be a nightmare - I managed Qatar SC and despite not being a major club the sheik kept saving the balance with 10M cash injections every year... Al Rayyan is a very popular and rich club and starts in 2nd division, just a hint ;)

As for the national team, your best chance to improve it is attracting good foreigners in the Q-League and wait until they become eligible for Qatar, which is what they're also trying to do IRL - it's only 3 years for Qatari nationality, though it's still 5 to play for national team.

Good luck, at the very least you can hire the Iron Sheik as your assistant manager :)

Well i have gone for a side that doenst have the best of finances :S but will see how i get on this season!! If it all goes to pot will possibly try jump team haha.

Yeah i figured i will need to try and bring in some young foreign talent. Unfortunately my scouting pool is quite small atm, and cant find too many decent players willing to join me! I do always like to sign players with decent potential so am keeping an eye out!

Cheers for the advice though man was really useful! Have already found some of my foreign players (already there when i took over) have become Qatari nationals which helps with the foreign players limit :)
 
Know what its like to be stratching around for images mate. Believe it or not, there are not a lot of pics of Indian players floating around the net either lol
 
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September

New Signings

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A young Omani left winger, with great potential - picked up on a free. Have sold a few foreign players which has allowed me to look at non Qatari nationals. It is likely he will play for Oman rather than Qatar in the future as he is currently in the Oman U23 squad but who knows.

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Simelela a young CM with good potential whom i also managed to get on a free. Could potentially develop into a good player and is very versatile across the entire midfield which is very useful.

Results

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We were unlucky in this match, created a decent amount of chances but couldn't stick them away. Was tough to come away with nothing especially being a home game.


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Fartoos came on in the second half, mainly due to the injury to Dagano and completely changed the game. Scored within 2 minutes of coming on and then got his second to seal the victory. A great victory away from home

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This was a solid team performance against a good side in the division. The young 17 year old Brazillian winger Edu got Man of the match. Got his first goal and also assisted Fartoos for the second.

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A fantastic result away to the current champions. The team played well but they were the better side by a long way and two penalties got us a lucky point. The last of which was the last kick of the game!
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This was a good performance but a poor result. Al Shahaniya are struggling at the bottom of the table and with our current form i was expecting a win from it. We led the games 3 times but still failed to see out the game.

Qatari Stars Cup Group A

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This was a really good win for the side. We were missing few players to internationals and combined with internationals, the squad was looking very thin. This has moved us up to 1st in the Qatari Stars Cup Group A.

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Another massive win in the league away from home. New signing, Brazillian Cb Nathan Ribeiro had a massive game for us, scoring 2 goals including the winner in the 89th minute. Finally proving why we splashed the cash on him at the start of the season.


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That makes it a run of 7 games unbeaten in the league now. Another good performance from the team with my other big season signing the lb Al-Awi picking up MoTM for the first time at the club.

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I thought this season was going to be a struggle but after 10 games we are sitting up in 3rd place. Hopefully our form will continue and we will have a chance at making it into the Asian Cup of Nations.

International Friendlies


Nepal (166th) vs Qatar (100th)

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The squad has a lot of injuries atm, so we were missing some key players. However, to only win by one goal against Nepal wasn't great. It was quite an even match tbh and we trailed twice in the match. The main thing was we got the win but was more of a struggle than i thought it would be.

Columbia (4th) vs Qatar (100th)


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As expected we got absolutely battered on the stats front against a Colombian side ranked 4th in the world! Went for a counter attacking 4-5-1 to try hold out defensively. In the end the team did a pretty good job and am very happy with a 4-1 loss away from home.

 
November

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It was a pretty even game in truth and a draw was a fair result. Happy to pick up another point away from home, although we unfortunately picked up 2 injuries - Fortunately they didn't extend beyond this match.

Qatari Stars Cup - Group A



A huge win for us at home to Al-Sadd in the Qatari Stars Cup, making in 2 wins out of 2 so far. Dutch playmaker, Boutahar had a massive game for us bagging a first half hat trick! He has now also gained Qatari Citizenship so is no longer a foreign player in my squad.


Gulf Cup of Nation

Squad Selected for Tournament
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I chose which i thought had the best potential to do well in the tournament. There were quite a few injures within the National Pool which also effected my selection. Unfortunately, as you can see the squad is quite old overall with the majority of players being around the 30's. I may need to start trying to introduce some younger players with potential in the upcoming friendlies.

Key Players

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Groups

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The group didn't look too bad Oman were the highest ranked side in the group, followed by Qatar, Kuwait and the Yemen. I was very confident of getting to the Semi-Finals and hopefully topping the group.

Results

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A huge win for the team in the opening game. We went into half time 1-0 down, but after a stern telling off and slight formation change the team came out firing on all cylinders. Our key striker Soria led the team bagging himself a hattrick.

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This was a disappointing loss against a Kuwait side i thought we were capable of beating. It was a fairly even game, but maybe they just about deserved the win in truth. The big problem we are having is player fitness in this tournament as pretty much all the starters from the previous match were down to about 80% condition which isn't ideal, within a relatively thin squad.

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A comfortable win in the end against a very average Yemen side. We made hard work of it and again, going into half time 0-0. Oman and Kuwait both beat Yemen by at least 5 goals so I was disappointed not to at least match that. Soria getting another 2 goals for the team.

Semi - Final (Finished 2nd in group)

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We were drawn against Kuwait again in the Semi-Finals, seeking revenge for the drop match loss. Unfortunately things did not go to plan. The team was knackered going into the match and we only had one fit striker in Soria. He then got injured at the start of the second half and although i went attacking a lot of players had to play out of position and we failed to grind out a result.

3rd Place Playoff

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We went into the 3rd place playoff, against a Saudi side that had topped there group. Fortunately Soria was fit again and scored within 27 seconds of the game! The match was quite even but we performed much better than we did against Kuwait and took our chances well.


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Soria had an incredible Tournament, picking up best player and top goalscorer. I was really hoping to win this tournament, and was very disappointing to lose to Kuwait twice as I believe we have a better team. Perhaps I was outwitted by there tactics!?!

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Sebastián Soria
 
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We picked up 6 points in the league throughout December, with back to back 2-0 wins. Fartoos scoring 3 goals over the two matches and quickly establishing himself as the teams leading frontman.
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We were sitting top of Group A heading into the final two matches of the Qatari Stars Cup and felt confident we would be able to hold on and qualify for the Semi-Finals. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and we lost both matches by a 1 goal margin. One win in either of these matches would have taken us through with our superior goal difference following our 4-0 demolition over Al-Sadd last month (They ended up winning the group!).

My main focus is the league anyway so am not to bothered crashing out of the Cup.


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Said Boutahar was the teams stand out performer in the Qatari Stars Cup - joint top goalscorer with 4 goals and second best rating over the 4 group stage matches.


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The match against Kuwait was the worst match of my career on this save. We were terrible form start to finish and were actually 5-0 down at half time! Kuwait are becoming my bogey team so far thats 3 losses out of 3 against them so far!

We improved against Guam and recorded a comfortable 4-0 win. We were always expected to win the game but again would have liked to have gotten a couple more against a very average side!



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Japan are one of the strongest sides in Asia and so we were never likely to get a result out of this match. We started poorly and were 3-0 down in the 1st half. Changed it up slightly in the second and looked much better drawing the half 1-1

I am still struggling to find the best formation for Qatar, the best players are all up front which doesn't bode well when playing against better opposition.
 
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A red card in the first half against Oman put us under early pressure and meant we had to make an early adjustment to the formation, with the loss of a midfielder. We went into the break 0-0 but the ever present Soria put us in front with a header at the back post. A second goal 10 mins later Al-Haydos secured an unlikely win for the 10 men of Qatar, getting us off to a great start in the competition.

I was confident of taking another 3 points against Bahrain, who i had targeted as being the weakest side in the group, but we failed to take our chances. We took the lead in the 73rd minute with another goal from Soria but couldn't see the game out conceding late on in the 87th minute




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The final game in Group C was a decider to finish top of the table. Iran went into the match as favorites, and controlled the game from the start. We failed to create much up front until a goal in stoppage time form Ezekiel, to make the game look a bit closer than it actually was.

Oman managed to beat Bahrain which meant that we finished second in Group C and were drawn against South Korea in the Quarter Final. Again we were heavy underdogs and quickly went 2-0 down. Mohammed then gave a penalty away and received a red card and we ended up going in 4-0 down at half time. I thought we were going to be humiliated but decided to go slightly more attacking in the second half, and it worked as we went on to win it 3-2!


All in all it wasn't to bad a tournament for us in the end maybe we could have done better against Iran, which would have drawn us an easier team in the Quarter Finals but we were never expected to go very far. Perhaps the greatest moment of the tournament was the discovery of Ezekiel, who looks quality and is only 21! A player to build an international team around! He had been out with a long term injury until now during my save so was the first time I could really get a good look at him.



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South Korea are the AFC 2015 Champions!

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Despite the start of the AFC the league carried on as normal. We lost Brazilian born central defender Ribeiro, who i called up to the Qatar squad due to his dual nationality.

 
End of Season Round Up

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February was a bad month for us picking up just 3 points from a possible 12. We had difficult fixtures against arguably the best 2 teams in the Nation; Al-Sadd and Lekhwiya, but didn't shame ourselves losing by only a single goal in both matches.

The only really bad result was the loss at home to Al Kharitiyath, but we received two red cards and were never really going to manage a result.


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We finished the season in 5th place, which is an amazing achievement considering we were favorites to be relegated at the start of the season! It would have been great to finish in the top 3 as i believe we would have qualified for the Asian Champions League, but was purely aiming to stay up this season and we did that with ease! Next season we will be aiming for that top 3 finish for sure!

The 5th place finish was also a new record high for Al-Shamal and managed to pick up Manager of the Season along the way




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Player of the Season


Ali Mejbel Fartoos

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28 matches: 21 goals, 13 assists, average match rating 7.46



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This was our first friendly since the AFC, and i must say we looked really good! We got off to a terrible start and were trailing 2-0 within 14 minutes, but the team rallied together and fought our way back into the game. By this stage we were in complete control and thought we would press on and win the match, but Peru scored a direct free-kick against the run of play in the 78th minute only for us to equalize within a minute.

A really good result away from home against a Peru side, that on paper should have beaten us. I have been tweaking the international sides tactics quite a bit and am hoping i am now onto a more effective formation.


Coming up - Prince Cup and WCQ......
 
Nice year for Al-Shamal mate. The national side looking pretty good as well.

No doubt you are keeping a close eye on Imoh Ezeqiel? He is a big talent in Qatar!

Tried to bring him to the Championship but could not get a WP. :'(
 
Nice year for Al-Shamal mate. The national side looking pretty good as well.

No doubt you are keeping a close eye on Imoh Ezeqiel? He is a big talent in Qatar!

Tried to bring him to the Championship but could not get a WP. :'(

Cheers man. Yeah national side has a lot of decent strikers but not a huge amount of quality in midfield or defence.

Yeah Ezeqiel looks really good! Unfortunately has been injured for a large amount of the season so haven't really been able to use him. For Qatar to much so far!
 
The Prince Cup


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We managed to make it to the semi-finals of the Prince Cup before being knocked out by Al-Sadd. We had some good results along the way and managed to get a lot further than expected in the cup. It looks like it will be very hard to knock Al-Sadd and Lekhwiya off the top 2 spots in Qatar.

Lekhwiya went on to win, completing the domestic treble for them!


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Qualification

Group


Brunei (187th)
Guam (174th)
Lebanon (125th)

Maldives (148th)
Qatar (100th)

This is a really good draw for the initial part of the qualification and should easily progress out of this group. I will be aiming to do so unbeaten as i don't really expect to big a challenge from any of these nations.

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We dominated the match and got off to a good start going in at half time 3-0 up. We then really eased off in the second half and didn't really create anything which was disappointing. Still got the vital 3 points.


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I had to rotate the squad quite a but from the side that faced Guam, due to player fatigue. We looked really good in the match and deserved to win it, but failed to take our chances. They scored a direct free kick from just outside the box and managed to hang on, even with 10 men. Fortunately it was only a friendly!

 
Pre-Season 2015/16
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Last season was a great success and we achieved way beyond expectation and were challenging at the top of the table. My aim this season is to finish 3rd and i believe that will get us into the Asian Champions League - No way we will be able to break into the top two Qatari teams Al-Sadd and Lekhwiya, despite some decent results against them last season.

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Unfortunately the clubs finances are terrible despite staying well below my wage budget, and have was given no transfer of wage budget this season.

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I have there transfer listed all my high wage earners and have so far only managed to sell one of my star players from last season, Said Boutahar. He was on 6k a week, compared to the average which is probably below 1k.

My transfer policy now is also to only sign foreign players under the age of 21 that have no caps for there nation, as it takes 5 years before they can play for the national team, so by 25/26 they should be hitting there peak (if not called up to previous nation). Not to bothered about the age of Qatar players, just trying to get the best i can afford.


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My scouting is limited to Asia, but am occasionally offered a player out of contract by there agent. I there have to look ta the history and take a punt as i cannot see any stats!

Here are the notable players i have signed so far

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Saw he had 4 U20 caps for Brazil, so must be a pretty decent player. His stats look really good for a 20 year old and wont get any Brazil caps, so hopefully in 5 years time he will be a quality striker for my Qatar side.


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Grant was released by Everton at the end of the season, and again i took a punt on him as thought he cant be too bad for this level of football. Stats look pretty decent and is by far my best CM after losing Boutahar, so will hopefully be my star midfielder. Again he wont be called up to England so hopefully in 5 years time i can add him to my Qatar squad.


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I left pre season to my assistant manager and it went really well winning 4 games out of 5. The only loss came against Liverpool but a 3-1 scoreline is pretty good i think. In hindsight i should have taken control for that match as it is not very often i can play against opposition at t hat level.
 
great win for the kiwis ;) you've been unlucky Tim Payne can spend one million games without hitting the goal for me...

Some nice foreign signings for the future of NT, I'm trying to do the same with New Zealand and it feels even dirtier without the sheiks.
 

August

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Not a bad start to the season getting 7 points from a possible 9 in the first 3 matches of the season

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New Brazilian striker Marcelo scored on his league debut, but was cancelled out by a goal in stoppage time in the first half. Bit disappointing to lose as i really need to win my home games especially against a mid table side!

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Fartoos carried on his terrific form from lat season and bagging two goals. The 33 year old Qatari striker is banging on the door for a National recall, to build on his previous 5 caps.

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We dominated the match but failed to make anything of it in the first half. A stern half time team talk, turned things around for us and we came out all guns blazing and recorded an expected victory for us.


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Qualification

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This is possibly our toughest fixture in the group, away to Lebanon, but it wasn't much of a challenge and we recorded a very comfortable 3-1 victory. I brought my club striker Fartoos into the side for the first time under my management and he didn't disappoint, bagging a brace and his first ever goals for Qatar.


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A very easy match for the team. We were 3-0 up within 14 minutes and i thought we would go on to double digits when they got a man sent off in the 17th minute. Seems to have happened a few times to me on FM tho but they suddenly started playing better despite losing a man! Was disappointing to concede but we still ran out easy winners to go top of the group with maximum points so far.
 
great win for the kiwis ;) you've been unlucky Tim Payne can spend one million games without hitting the goal for me...

Some nice foreign signings for the future of NT, I'm trying to do the same with New Zealand and it feels even dirtier without the sheiks.

Yeah i actually think the keeper saved the free kick and he ran in to tap in the rebound come to think of it, so would be pretty hard for him to miss this one haha.

I could do with a wealthy Sheik staking over my club tbh - Finances are terrible, hut am still finding cheap foreign talent to bring in so is still working at the moment!
 
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Umm-Salal are a pretty average side in the division and had hoped to get at least a point, despite bring away fro home. It was a tough defeat to take but they probably deserved it. But i need to be getting a result in these kind of matches if i am to take that 3rd spot!

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This was a very exciting and open match to watch. I went with an attacking 4-3-3, as i was at home to a newly promoted side but they kept pegging me back. Fortunately Fartoos got a vital goal for us in the second half to seal the 3 points

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Away to the league leaders was never going to be an easy match. We actually created just as many chances as they did in the game and possession was slightly in our favor, despite losing 3-0. They just took there chances and were more clinical in front of goal. I never really expected a result and was actually pleased with the teams performance despite the result!

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Back to back away matches against the 2 big teams in Qatar was never going to be easy and they tore us apart in the first half and it could easily have been 3 or 4 nil. I switched the formation up at half time and we looked much better, so believe i got my tactics wrong at the start in this game! I will remember for next time as the 4-4-2 in the second half caused them some problems.

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I went very attacking in the match again, playing with a narrow 4-3-3 as decent wingers are currently injured. We looked really good going forward, but very dodgy at the back. They took the lead 3 times in the match, but we kept clawing our way back in and eventually took the lead with a penalty midway through the second half. Not a convincing win to say the least but a much needed 3 points after our last 2 matches!

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Going to have to step it up a bit over the next few matches, and really close in on the top three. A big surise is Al-Jaish currently being above Al Sadd!

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Qualification

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Ceara has just become eligible to play for Qatar, and is a much welcomed addition to the squad. We really lack CM's in the NT so was very grateful to receive this news. He is only 26 so will be around for a while and is likely to be an instant starter for my team.

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A comfortable away win against the Maldives continues our 100% record in the group stage thus far. The Maldives are second in the group so this has opened up a 5 point gap at the top. Soria and Ezekiel my reliant strikeforce got the job done yet again up top for me.

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We absolutely battered Thailand in this Friendly but only won it 1-0. We managed to have 15 shots on target and only convert the one, so perhaps they have some wonder-kid goalie who knows! Made alot of changes due to injury and fatigue so was good to get a look at few different players and also dished out a couple of debuts
 
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