Flez85's Trot Around The Globe

[flez85]

July 2020

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Another good run of results and the 1-0 win over Suwon could prove to be crucial. We're also through to the quarter final of the Korean FA Cup with our 5-2 win over Seongnam. Closing out the month at Jeonbuk had me worried, especially when Tsoloane Muso opened the scoring on the 29th minute, however we were able to come back and score two just before half time then closed out the win in the second half by bagging two more while holding them scoreless.

Squad

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Ueland has really come on this month scoring 7 in the three games he's played in. Hopefully it's the start of a good string of performances from him.

League Table

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At the very least we've ensured we'll be playing in the top group when the league splits. In other satisfying news we helped make it very hard on Jeonbuk to make it into the top group. They just got a new manager who's taking over in almost the same situtation where I came in, hopefully he finishes 7th and gets fired.

Upcoming Fixtures

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An easy FA Cup draw against lower opposition and a soft remaining three games in the league should allow us to have a good month.

In other news...

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I applied and interviewed for the Ulsan job for the second time in my career and it was the same story this time around, they wanted me to agree to play direct soccer and I refused. They decided to hire my replacement from Jeonbuk instead. So, I get fired for finishing 7th when it was the highest possible position we could take and my replacement gets headhunted by a bigger club for languishing in the bottom half of the table.

​

 

[flez85]

August 2020

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3 wins from 4 in the league and we're through to the semi final of the FA Cup. The lone loss to Chunnam is worrisome as we were completely played off the park by the third placed team. We'll need to do much better than that if we want to challenge for the title like the board is expecting.

Squad

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Ueland continues his fine form with 3 scored and 2 assisted in his 4 games of the month. Also worth mentioning are Ya Yajun and Kim Sung-Soo who have both done well the last few months.

League Table

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I was focused so much on whether Jeonbuk would make it into the top half that I didn't even realize we were pulling away slightly at the top. Good news on both fronts as we're 4 points clear up top and Jeonbuk couldn't make it in to the top group.

Upcoming Fixtures

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We've done very well so far this season but now comes the time to find out if we can keep it up. For the final ten games we'll play every team in the top 6 twice. Also this month we face Jeonbuk yet again, this time in the semi final of the FA Cup.

African Cup of Nations Qualifying

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Should be a little more difficult than our WCQ group due to the presence of DR Congo but I'm still confident we can get the job done.

Upcoming Fixtures
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Two nations we should beat handily.​

 

[flez85]

September 2020

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Big results this month as we beat Jeonbuk to advance to the FA Cup final to face Seoul, and also defeated 2nd place Suwon to put some more space between us in the table.

Squad

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Forgot to set the sorting back to avg rating so it's sorted by player potential and I've already played a couple of games past the update so would be misleading if I retook it. Ueland would have probably been my choice of player to talk about as the striker has found his rhythm and bagged some more goals this month.

Table

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It's actually our defense (strange for tactics I've made) that has been setting us apart from the rest of the league as we've allowed 7 less goals than anyone else. 5 points separate us from 2nd placed Suwon but there's still a lot of soccer left to be played.

Upcoming Fixtures

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We'll look to get some revenge on Chunnam to start the month after they demolished us the last time we played, then towards the end of the month another crucial match against Suwon this time at home.

African Nations Qualifying

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Two wins but should have been more. Really frustrated at the South Sudan match, left it until very late to get the 3 points.

Group
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As expected it's looking to come down to us and DR Congo.

Upcoming
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It should come down to the results between us and DR Congo so we have a good opportunity to make the group ours for the taking.​

 

[flez85]

October 2020

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First time we played Chunnam this year we won 4-0, seems like they have made it a point to pay us back with winning the last two games against us by a total of 7-0. We also were demolished by Pohang and were lucky to make the score look more respectable than it was. Good news is we're FA Cup champions winning 4-1 against Seoul in a match more even than the scoreline reflected.

Squad

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Ueland has fallen off a bit but Ahn Ji-Sung has upped his performances. Jung-Hun is finally back from injury, hopefully he has recovered well.

Table

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Suwon failed to make our losses their gain and with our win over them we pulled back to 5 points at the top. Only three games left in the league and looks like despite my reservations we're matching the board's expectations and hopefully can surpass them by taking the title.

African Cup of Nations Qualifying

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Couldn't get the win at DR Congo despite being the better team but a draw still sets us in a favorable position with the next match between us being played at our stadium. Namibia never got into the game as we thrashed them 5-1.

Group
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Sitting on top by goal difference.

Final Games
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It should all come down to our home match against DR Congo. I like our chances.​

 

[flez85]

November 2020

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A disappointing 2-4 loss to Sangju to start the month had me fearing the worse but we bounced back nicely with some changed up tactics to finally get the better of Chunnam. Closed out the season with an exciting win over Ulsan that saw 4 goals scored between both teams in the final 15 minutes.

Squad

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With no wage budget to work with instead of carefully considering which players will have their contracts expire I've just ignored it all together so not sure how many will be in next year's squad. I'll figure all that out when I get the updated budget, frankly at this point I'm expecting to rebuild from the ground up. Ahn Ji-Sung finished on a high as the best player over the last couple of months, just checked and we will have him until the end of 2022 at least.

Final League Standings

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Actually clinched it with one game to spare so the Ulsan game meant nothing, still glad to finish on a high.

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Looks more comfortable than it was and I'm overjoyed we've been able to win with what I perceived to be a mid-table squad at best. Ulsan won the Asian Champions League this year so my hopes are up that we'll be able to compete for my second continental title straight away.

African Cup of Nations

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Beat South Sudan handily as we should have but the match against DR Congo was more even than I would have liked. We're going to have to do better if we're to have a chance of winning it all.

Final Group Standings
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Looks like we would have qualified no matter the result against DR Congo as they're advancing alongside us.

Group Draw
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We're the lowest ranked nation in the group and the next lowest happen to be the hosts. This will be a tough group but on the plus side if we manage to qualify I like our chances of winning the trophy.​

 

[flez85]

2021 Proposed Wage Budget

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For aiming to retain the league title we're going to get almost $20k less p/w than we're currently spending. Overall since I started they've cut the budget down over $50k p/w. As much as I've enjoyed it here I don't think we can have another year like last year without being able to strengthen the squad so I'm not sure I want to hang around much longer.

Because I Want This Post to be Larger
(And to gloat just a little)
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Decent career so far.​

 

[flez85]

That Was Quick

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No proposed talks to stay at the club, just an ultimatum. I returned the league title to them for the first time since 1997 and they go and treat me like that?

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Well then screw you guys.

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On club info screen finances said Secure. That and the fact they finished 3rd last year meaning they'll also be playing in the Asian Champions League made the job too appealing not to go for it.

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They know and value my abilities, unlike some other South Korean clubs.

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Never in doubt.​

 

[flez85]

Chunnam: A Background

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Despite never winning South Korea's top league they won the Asian Champions League just two years ago. This should be my final stop in Asia, I believe this club is capable of winning everything under the Asian sun and plan on sticking with them until they do.

African Cup of Nations

Group Stage
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Easier than I thought it was going to be as we won every match on our way to topping the group. Next up was a quarter final match where we drew 21st ranked Angola.

Quarter Final
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Dominance. Sure they got off some shots but if you take away the 5 pot shots from a distance that they were never going to score from they only had 4 total shots and 0 ccc's compared to our 6 ccc's. Next up in the semi final we were to meet 16th ranked Ghana.

Semi Final
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This match was a different story, we only had one clear chance but one that we put away. They had every opportunity to win the game but somehow we held on to advance to the final. Who else would we play other than the host nation that we already beat in the group stage?

Final
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Could have won by more, could have been unlucky and lost so I'll take this result! That means I've won pretty much everything I can in Africa, at the club level winning the top division in South Africa and the African Champions League with Jomo Cosmos and now the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria. I'm unsure where to go on the international scene from here, part of me wants to stick with Nigeria and try to upset the odds in the next World Cup, another part of me wants to keep an eye out for a job opening between now and then that gives me a better chance of winning the world's most prestigious trophy. I like underdogs though so more than likely I'll stick with Nigeria.

Asian Champions League Group Draw

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We should be clear favorites to win this group, none of the other teams have tasted much Champions League success whereas we won it recently.​

 

[kandersson]

korean clubs seem to hate you with a passion... sure it all looks nice and pretty now, wonder how long before Chunnam start mobbing you as well though...

on the other hand you've done great in africa, honestly you should consider heading back there you belong with Africa!

Toto - Africa - YouTube

 

[flez85]

Preseason 2021 Transfers

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This is probably the most active I've been in terms of buying and selling. Juan Pablo Soto is the only one I'm still having second thoughts about selling as he was the league's top goalscorer a season ago but I feel like there wasn't really much of a dropoff between him and the two behind him and I like to play with just one up top. Also knew I'd be spending big and wanted to be bringing an equal amount in to what I was spending (see, I'm still trying to justify it). The club was also absolutely stacked at central defense as they played a 3-5-2 so sold on some of them to bring in fullbacks.

Ins
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Some of these guys aren't worth mentioning specifically as I had to completely rebuild the fullback positions bringing in not only first teamers, but backups and cover as well. Pradhyum Raj comes in to fill out one/both of those positions and to take up our Asian foreign player slot. Splashed the cash on Seung-Hwan as I (probably foolishly) sold our first team DM but feel Seung-Hwan is a significant upgrade. Ki-Hyun was originally signed as first team but after bringing in Moneke he'll play backup to Moneke and Raj. After Dario Gonzalez (a player already at the club) took up South Korean nationality it freed up one of our foreign slots so I went to Nigeria to find out of contract Moneke who had won a couple of caps for me on the national team, he'll come in as first choice right back.

And the signing of the year, (re)introducing Tsoloane Muso:
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I had to nab him, didn't I? I looked into bringing him in at Busan but because of the financial restrictions there and because at the time Jeonbuk seemed the better place to play for him it didn't happen. Look at that progression since he was a young lad at Jomo Cosmos! My new (American, of course) assistant claims he's close to his full potential but I don't believe him, this kid can go a long way in the game.

Friendlies

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Arranged and controlled by my assistant. Would have liked to see a win over Guangzhou but a draw's good enough for me, especially with the way the assistant was rotating the squad.

Speaking of my assistant, here he is:
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Former LA Galaxy man getting his coaching start in Korea under probably the best American head coach to have ever graced the earth.

Upcoming Fixtures

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Planning on playing through the Champions League group before doing another update. That's going to be my priority, I'm just hoping it doesn't turn out like Jomo Cosmos when I won the Champions League but failed to win the South African Premiership because of my focus on that competition (to be fair it could have been won had I stayed for the final matches instead of heading to Jeonbuk, but wasn't looking likely).
​

 

[flez85]

korean clubs seem to hate you with a passion... sure it all looks nice and pretty now, wonder how long before Chunnam start mobbing you as well though...

on the other hand you've done great in africa, honestly you should consider heading back there you belong with Africa!

Toto - Africa - YouTube

Haha, love the video! That song could become my theme song. Unfortunately I've removed the South African leagues which in turn removed the majority of my Jomo Cosmos youth players (some promising ones there too!). Don't you worry, Asia will have something great in store for me, I can feel it (if not, it's a good thing I'm obsessed with Asian food).

 

[flez85]

February-April 2021

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Rough start to life at Chunnam in the league. Think I might have a tactical problem, hoping the team just need more time to gel and the results will look like the last three rather than the first three. Part of the problem probably is that I keep making tweaks here and there and haven't given them time to get used to a particular style, I'm going to force myself to keep my hands off the tactics until they're fully fluid.

Champions League Results

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Better than the league, still feel like we didn't perform as well as we should have in this weak group.

Final Group Standings
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Topped the group and I expected no less.

Squad

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I thought my transfer business was decent but Muso has been the only new signing that has performed well and even he has dropped off recently. Hernandez is class, technicals good enough for some of the bigger clubs in the world, just lacking a bit in other areas.

League Table

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If this keeps up I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself leaving my third South Korean club and I don't think I have it in me to have a go with a fourth. Good news is Busan are finding life without me extremely difficult, even more than Chunnam are with me, in these early days.

Upcoming Fixtures

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Drawn against Suwon in the first knockout round of the Champions League. We lost to them in the league already so not optimistic about our chances at this point, though if we do manage to advance there aren't any clubs left that I wouldn't be confident of beating (with the exception of possibly Busan).

Confederations Cup Draw

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Forgot all about this competition and now I'm really looking forward to it. It gives me a chance to preview the World Cup assuming we make it. Tough competition in Mexico (though they have won only one and lost two so far in CONCACAF qualifying- lost to El Salvador and Costa Rica :0 ), and Denmark. Since taking over to see Nigeria fall to a record low world ranking I've taken them up to 23rd currently though it's going to be hard setting a record with them as they were 5th in April of '94.​

 

[flez85]

May 2021

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We've recovered well from our poor start, biggest disappointment is the loss at the end of the month to fierce rivals Jeonbuk though we probably would have done much better if we hadn't had a player sent off in the first half.

League Table

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I'm finding it frustrating that I was able to win the league with what I felt was a mid table, at best, squad at Busan last year, where we only went and won the league, yet here I am with much better players to work with and we're sitting mid table. At least our form has improved drastically since losing the first three matches, maybe I shouldn't be too worried about it, though I have been getting a lot of news items about the board losing patience with me.

Champions League

Second Round First Leg
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Poor finishing by both teams but at least we got one to win it. I'd rather have a high scoring match away from home.

Second Round Second Leg
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And I got my wish. It's like both teams were making up for the missed chances in the previous game by scoring goals they had no business scoring, luckily we came out on top to advance. Busan lost to a Japanese team so I'm now optimistic we can make something happen.

Upcoming Fixtures

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Not sure when the next round of the Champions League is played but if it's before the end of July I'll do an update earlier.​

 

[flez85]

June 2021

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Lost to Suwon but otherwise a good month. We'll need to find a way to get points from the big matches if we're to move up the table to a position worthy of the squad (1st).

After the Suwon result my heart skipped a beat when I saw this:
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It wasn't too long ago I was at Busan, for a moment I thought I was fired! Ironically the man fired from Busan was the same one who replaced me at Jeonbuk.

League Table

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Most important is to be in the top 6 before the league splits without dropping too far off from the top spots. I think we can do it but the top 3 are going to be hard to catch. Busan manage to pull away from the relegation zone for now.

Upcoming Fixtures

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I think we should be able to make up some ground and hopefully move up to challenge the top three. We were drawn against UAE side Al-Ain in the Champions League quarter final to be played in September. They won it once, back in 2003.

Confederations Cup

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2 wins from three including a lucky one to start against Denmark. Disappointed to have lost to Mexico, but were our two wins enough to advance from the group?

Final Group Standings
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Yes it was! Mexico missed their chance by drawing against Qatar.

Semi Final vs Chile
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Not what I was looking for but it shows we still have some work to do to compete with the top teams in the world (Chile was ranked 2nd). They went on to win the competition.

Third Place Playoff vs Denmark
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What an exciting match! A little lucky to win, would have been unluckier if we had lost, we held a 3-0 lead at half time. I switched to countering tactics which proved to be the wrong move as they stormed back and tied it at 3-3 before I switched back to attacking and got the winner in the final minutes.​

 

[flez85]

July 2021

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Our good form with a loss thrown in continues. Most satisfying result is paying Jeonbuk back in a fashionable 3-0 win at home.

Squad

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When Muso is at the top of his game there's nothing the other team can do to stop us. If he can be a little more consistent then we should make a charge up the table.

League Table

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We've separated ourselves from the bottom half and clinched 5th heading into the league split though despite beating Pohang this month we haven't closed the gap between us. At this point I'd be happy with a top 3 or 4 finish.

Upcoming Fixtures

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We kick off the month with a quarter final clash against Seoul as I try to win the FA Cup for the second year running (albeit with different teams). Ulsan are the toughest opposition we face in the final three games of the first stage, if we can manage a win there it would set us up nicely to try and make an impact in the final stage.​

 

[flez85]

August 2021

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Finally a perfect month! Things really came together in the 7-1 win over Seoul in the FA Cup to advance to the semi final where we'll meet Sangju.

Squad

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The two foreign players already at the club in Hernandez and Gonzalez (now with South Korean dual nationality) have been doing extremely well. Unfortunately I've been getting numerous bids from some big name European clubs trying to pry them away so not sure how long I'll be able to hold onto them. Would like to keep them both at least until the end of the season.

League Table

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We moved above Ulsan with our win over them but are still 8 points behind Pohang. Hopefully with the top 6 playing each other twice from here on out they'll struggle a bit and give us a chance to catch them./

Upcoming Fixtures

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Big month for cup games with the semi final FA Cup clash against Sangju and then Champions League quarter final against Al-Ain. Those are the matches I'll really be focussing on though hopefully it won't doom us in the league.

???

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I've always felt like FM chooses one or two clubs at random to put a hex on at the beginning of the game but this is probably the most extreme case I've seen yet. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back (That's a lot of backs) relegations and Leicester find themselves wallowing in the depths of the Skrill North. They actually approached me for an interview back when they were relegated from the Championship and I've kept my eye on them since then as they've periodically fired their coach midway through the season and are still relegated. Depending on how things work out with Chunnam, my thoughts are, "English Hero Challenge?" I'm sure their current coach isn't going to last much longer as 4 games in he's sitting in 12th in the Skrill North, maybe he'll be fired around the time the Asian Champions League finishes? A lot of things will have to play out a specific way but it sure would be intriguing.​

 

[flez85]

September 2021

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Disappointed with the 1-1 draw against Jeonbuk but that's how rivalry games can go. Good news is we're through to the final of the FA Cup and also beat Ulsan, our immediate contender for the final Champions League spot, in an exciting match that ended 5-3.

Champions League QF Leg 1

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Pleased with the result but not the way we played. We were very lucky to draw 2-2 without creating any clear chances while they created 5 and only scored on 2. Oh well, should give us confidence for a dominating home performance on the return leg, right...right?

Leg 2
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Well, we made it through. Not sure how or that we deserved it but we made it. Not at all what I was looking for at home and it concerns me about our chances in the next games.

Squad

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Jun-Tae has put in some surprising performances in his limited time with the first team, he's one that I rated as third or fourth choice up top when I came in but he's proven to me that he deserves all the playing time he can get. Hee-Chan and Kyo-Won will still get their chances there too.

League Table

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Managed to shorten the gap between us and Pohang by 1 point so it's now 7 though we do have a game in hand. We're playing them next in the league so that game should decide whether we have a real chance of making a challenge for the top spot. Our win over Ulsan was crucial in that it moved us back ahead of them for the final CL qualifying spot.

Upcoming Fixtures

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The most important month of the season, hands down. FA Cup final against Ulsan, games in the league that will probably decide our fate, and the all-important semi final Champions League clash against Chinese side Jiangsu. While Jiangsu have never won the competition I have a feeling we'll need to play much better than we did against Al-Ain to move on.

World Cup Qualifying

Final Group Standings
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Easy enough with the only slight hiccup an away draw against Zambia. We're well on our way to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, or are we?

Final Draw
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If you would have asked me to choose one nation NOT to play in the final, guess who it would have been?​

 

[kandersson]

nah english leagues are boring

just beat cameroon to keep your african legend status intact!

 

[flez85]

nah english leagues are boring

just beat cameroon to keep your african legend status intact!

Leicester's coach has brought them back up to sitting 1st anyway so that's probably a no go. With the way things have been going recently in South Korea I think just about anywhere would be better!

Beating Cameroon will be tough, they're ranked 8th currently and have been Africa's hottest team apart from us.

 

[flez85]

October 2021

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WTF!

FA Cup Final
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WTF!

Champions League SF Leg 1
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I switched from a 4-1-4-1 to a flat 4-4-2 since I had more than a couple strikers playing well, which is probably why we haven't been doing well though I'm trying like **** to place the blame elsewhere. They had one shot all game and it went in, it was tied 1-1 until the dying minutes when we finally broke the deadlock.

Leg 2
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That's more like it, though we still didn't really dominate until we scored back to back goals in the 80th and 81st minutes to put the match away.

League Table

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It's official, no domestic trophies for Chunnam this year. With 15 points left for us to play for even if we won out and Pohang lost out we'd finish 2nd at best. I really thought that our squad was good enough to be in Pohang's position this year but that shows how much I know.

Awards & Records

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At least there's a few positives I can draw on from my time here. Let's hope I can add one more (positive) by winning the Champions League.

Upcoming Fixtures

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We'll play Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad in the final. They hoisted the Champions Cup twice in their history in back-to-back years of 2004 & 2005.

WCQ Final Leg 1

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Should have won. Now we're up against it as we'll need to score 2+ in a draw or win to advance. It's not encouraging that in a friendly match directly after this won we lost 1-4 to South Korea (though that was arranged and managed by the assistant).

Leg 2 will be played on the 12th of November.

​