Qatari Challenge

October

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The last match in the previous post (4-3 win) should also have been included in this post

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Match below is a Qatari Stars Cup Match

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What a month for Al-Shamal to get us back on track in the league, picking up a whooping 10 points out of 12!! As well as a win in the cup. The draw was away to high flyers Al-Jaish, so was actually a pretty decent result.

Marcelo has been in blistering form this month scoring 10 goals in the 5 matches!

The match against Al-Arabi was ridiculous to watch as 9 goals in the first half, which included a hattrick for Marcelo inside 19 minute. They looked like they were going to make a huge comeback in the game but Farydon sealed the 3 points in the 82nd minute.


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November

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Qualification


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Only a 1-0 win away to Guam, which i really don't think is good enough! We did dominate the game, but failed to convert as many as i would have liked. We have some really decent strikers, that should really be bagging a number of goals in these games.

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Well this was a bit of a reality check for the team! We had been cruising in the group so far and didnt think Lebannon would cause to big a threat considering we beat them 3-1 away. We found ourselves 2-0 down and then had one of my center-backs, Traore sent off with a second yellow for descent. The team team dug deep and managed to battle back for a draw.

Lebanon would have been level on points had they won, and there is only one game remaining. Only the top team progresses, so this result means that i will only need to draw my final match to progress.

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A disappointing defeat in the Cup, but was fielding a rotated squad. The league is my priority as i really want to qualify for the Asian Champions League, so have little interest in this competition.

December

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Not a great month for us really two of the losses were in the cup, so am not to concerned with those. The result i am most dissapointed with was the 3-2 loss to Al-Ahil. We didn't perform well and they deserved to win in all honesty but the top 3 in the league dont lose that many games and so i really need to keep the pressure on.

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So we crash out of the cup, finishing in bottom place in Group B. Not good to see really but i had been using it as a bit of a development competition a previously stated. We also had a tough group with both Lekhwiya and Al-Jaish. I can now fully focus on the league for the second half of the season​
 
January
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It was a bad start to the month losing 3-0 away to Al-Wakrah, which was another slip up in the quest to make top 3. The gap was opening up at the top now an we really needed to get back to winning ways. Fortunately the team rallied and won the remaining 3 matches in January, to keep us in with a shout. We still have to play the top 3 teams at home and so will be a chance for us to possibly gain some ground!

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February
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This was a huge month for us with home matches against both Lekhwiya and Al-Sadd. Some huge results for us aswell, as we managed to get 10 points out of 12. Marcelo missed a penalty in the match against Lekwiya, that would have made it 2-0 at the time, but instead we found ourselves 2-1 down and a late equalizer got us a deserved point. The Al-Sadd match was much closer than the result shows, it was pretty even but for once we were the team to take our chances and have now given us a real chance to make the top 3 and get into the Asian Champions League.

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Only 5 games remaining and we are just 3 points off Al-Sadd in 3rd. The next match is at home to 2nd place Al-Jaish and a win would move us to within 3 points of them aswell!​
 

March


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We only had 3 matches in March because of Internationals which i will put at the end. Another good month for Al Shamal, as we picked up 7 points out of 9. We could only manage a draw against Al-Jaish, which means we fail to make any ground on them, and leaves us with only an outside chance of making the top 3 and that all important Asian Champions League spot.

Marcelo also picked up an injury in the draw with Al-Jaish which will rule him out until the final game of the season. He has been are goal machine up front this season and will make the challenge that bit more difficult. My young back up striker, Farydon stepped up to take his place and bagged 4 goals in the match against Al-Arabi!

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There were only 2 games remaining for us in the league as we entered into April and below are the results of the teams in the race for the top 3

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We managed a comfortable 5-2 away win to bottom placed Al-Shahaniya, thanks to 4 goals from veteren striker Fartoos proving he still has what it takes.

I was delighted to see that both Al-Sadd and Al-Jaish lost, which left the table looing like this

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Those results have put us up to 2nd place with a game remaining. Unfortunately Al-Jaish and Al-Sadd have a game in hand, but luckily that is against each other! The result of that match is below.

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This was the worst result possible for us, as we move back down to 4th place because of Al-Sadd's superior goal difference of 3. This put making the top three out of our hands going into the last game and had to hope someone sipped up.

Final Day of the Season

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WE ARE IN THE ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NEXT SEASON!

Al-Sadd can only manage a draw at home to the side at the bottom of the table, and grab another win, which means the final table looks like so.

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Vince McMahon does it again and is awarded the Qatari Stars Manager of the Season.​
 
Well done Vinny Mac! Champions League & Manager of the Year! Fantastic progress so far mate, keep it up.
 
Qatar Crown Prince Cup/Prince Cup
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At the end of the season i was entere into a trophy i had never seen before called the "Qatar Crown Prince Cup". This is a tournament entered by the teams that finish in the top 4 in the Qatar Stars League...Not quite sure what the point of it is. Anyway it didn't go so well and we lost 3-1 to Al-Jaish.

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Moving swiftly on from the Qatar Crown Prince Cup, we then enter the Prince Cup, which was a much greater success for us.

2nd Round
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A comfortable win against a side in the division below. Marcelo scored another 4 goals for us, including 3 from the penalty spot!

3rd Round
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A huge win for us against Al-Gharrafa, as they have proved decent opposition in the league previously, so was great to smash them 5-0! Another hatrick for Marcelo, the guy is a goal scoring machine this season. Making that 7 in the last 2 games.

Quarter Final
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A bit of a dull 0-0 match. The shoot-out then proceeded to have 47 goals in it!!! Before we fianlly came out victors 24-23!

Semi Final
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A massive win for us against Al-Jaish who we have struggled to beat all season! Our record against them this season before the match was lost 2 and drawn 2 so was great to finally get a win and puts us into the cup final! We were lucky to win the game by such a margin but we took our chances and good to see we weren't reliant on Marcelo as normal!

FINAL
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WE HAVE WON THE PRINCE CUP!!

This was our first ever win against Lekhwiya and what a way to do it, in a cup final! This brings my first silverware to AL-Shamal and hopefully a big boost to our reputation! We took the lead but then quickly found ourselves 2-1 down. A brace from Fartoos then got us the lead and we managed to hold on!

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I hadn't realised that the prize from winning the tournament was Champions League Qualification! I never actually received confirmation of making the ACL after we came 3rd in the League so maybe just aswell we won this as am now not sure we were ever in it!

I think i need to start reading the tournament rules!

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Unsurprisingly Marcelo is the tournament top goal scorer with 8 goals in the matches!

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Big Vince Mcmahon has now entered the Qatar Hall of Fame!

What a season we have had, unfortunately finances are still terrible so am likely going to lose Marcelo at the end of next season as i doubt i can offer him the money he would want! I think if the finances dont improve by the end of next season i will be looking to move.​
 
Lippo255 said:
Well done Vinny Mac! Champions League & Manager of the Year! Fantastic progress so far mate, keep it up.
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Cheers man, well Vinny Mac is now in the Qatar Hall of Fame! haha.
 
Season Top Performers

1st Place - Marcelo
32(1) appearances, 31 goals,13 assists, 7.57 avg rating

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No big surprise that Marcelo was my player of the season, he was unstoppable upfront for most of the season and ultimately led the team to such a great season. He could possibly have got more goals but i did play him as a midfielder for some matches due to injuries, and is still rated among my best CM's.

Good news is that i have extended his contract to 2018 so have him for 2 more years, but he did insist on a release clause of 300k.

2nd Place - Abdulla Al-Awi
33 appearances, 3 assists, avg rating 7.38

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Although Al-Awi only managed to get 3 assists throughout the season, he was a solid performer at LB and was used whenever available. I signed him in the first season and performed well, but was even better this season and was consistently getting decent match ratings. Although not a huge threat going forward he was a solid performer and deserves a mention. Unfortunately he has expressed the desire to leave for a bigger club....

He is only 24, and i am very tempted to reward him with his first international call-up. We have very few decent LB's in the NT and the best we have are in there 30's, so why not give a young lad a chance.

3rd Place - Ali Mejbel Fartoos
29(2) appearances, 20 goals, 7 assists, avg rating 7.3
 4(3) appearances, 3 goals, avg rating 7.1 - International

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Fartoos was my player of the season last year, but has been out done by the young superstar Marcelo this season. He has still had a great season scoring 20 goals in just 29 appearances at club level and has often been used along side Marcelo up front. He has also turned out some decent performances on the international stage but is only really required when we have a large number of injuries.

Now at the age of 33, he is past his peak but i still believe him to be an essential member of or squad next season. All my other strikers are below 23 and so he brings alot of experience up front and on the training ground.​
 
Hopefully Marcelo's performances don't attract too much interest from bigger clubs. 300k looks to be a steal!
 
Lippo255 said:
Hopefully Marcelo's performances don't attract too much interest from bigger clubs. 300k looks to be a steal!
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I know his agent wouldn't raise above 300k on it. As long as he stays in Qatar I will be happy though. As my main aim is the NT.

Will look to jump teams at the end of the season as well if finances don't improve! Wage budget getting lower and lower atm haha.
 
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