Liberté, Egalité and.. Football - A French Adventure

Magiboy

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Allright, me and my mate vkoppel has decided to start a sort of “joint story” but in a different format of the typical joint stories on this site. We have started a netgame where we manage to equals from the same division, Caen and Le Havre respectively. We’ve had a lot of succes in the past with these 1v1 netgames and we thought that it was time to give a story a bash. The reason we have chosen French football, particularly Ligue 2 is because we probably had the most fun ever on an FM-game playing a Ligue 2 netgame on ’07. As mentioned we are going to do a story on this game , and the format will look something like this; pre-season, mid-season and end-season updates.

The game will run on patch 10.3 and we have loaded the following nations and leagues on a large database: France - Down to Nationale and South Africa - Premier League.



Magiboy....................................................vkoppel
Currently Managing: Caen............................Currently Managing: Le Havre​


Stade Malherbe Caen

Club Overview:
Stade Malherbe Caen better known as Caen is a French football club based in Caen, Normandy. The traditional club has taken its name after Francois de Malherbe, a French poet who was native to Caen. 1985 was the year when Caen adopted professional status and started to prove themselves in the French football hierarchy. In 1993, the club moved to the modern stadium by the name of stade Michel d’Ornano, but was unfortunately relegated two years later despite they’re ambitions in the French topflight. The late 2000’s saw Caen achieve some succes allowing them to play several seasons in the topflight and reaching the Coupe de la Ligue final in 2005. In the 2008-2009 season the sophisticated and tradition-rich club was relegated to Ligue 2 after a 1-0 loss to the Bordeaux at home.

The club also has a strong tradition for developing potential worldbeaters. Ever since the famous Stade Malherbe Caen academy opened in 1989, the club has produced many players who would go on to play topflight football all over the world. The most notable players to graduate from the Caen academy has been; William Gallas, Jerome Rothen, Ronald Zubar, Mathieu Bodmer and Yoan Gouffran.


Pre-season update:
After my appointment as manager of Stade Malherbe Caen I started to review the players I had for my disposal and comparing my strengths and weaknesses with my rivals for promotion, particularly Strasbourg and Nantes. It was obvious to me that we need to strengthen our squad quite a lot if we were going to push for promotion. Even though we had some potential stars and quite gifted players for our disposal; such as Sambou Yatabaré, Jeremy Sorbon and Pablo Anthony Derion it was obvious that we needed to strengthen our squad all-over. I decided to bring in some speed for the attack in Taison who joined us on a season loan from Internacional and Kabamba Musasa, a former hero from my Ligue2 file on ‘07. I believe that the brazilian wonderkid Taison has the potential to rip up the league with his speed and flair.

I also decided to bring in the experienced playmaker Hamed Kavianpour from Steel Azin to provide some heavily needed creativity to our midfield. I believe this experienced midfielder will be the offensive fulcrum of the team and I hope he will be able to pull our team to new highs. I also brought in the South Africain left back Peter Masilela from Maccabi Haifa, a player who is showing potential not only in fm but also in real life being an important part of the Bafana Bafana. In addition to this I signed Isaac Vorsah on a season loan from Hoffenheim to provide some raw strength to our defence.


These are the four signings i expect to be leading starts of our team:

Taison – Internacional - £0k (Season Loan)
The young brazilian wonderkid was brought in to literary rape the league with his raw pace. His also very creative minded with good passing ability therefore he fits the trequartista or the poacher role. I was very pleased to catch this young man on a season loan, and I think hi fits the team perfectly.
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Hamed Kavianpour – Steel Azin - £110k
The experienced Iranian playmaker was signed to provide some creativity to our disciplined midfield. Kavianpour is also set-pieces specialist, and I hope he can chip in with some goals from freekicks and assist from corners. Together with Deroin, Kavianpour is going to be the playmaker on the team, and hopefully he will fit this role.
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Tinashe Nengomasha – Kaiser Chiefs - £1.2m
The Zimbabwean workhorse is suppose to be my holding midfielder allowing Kavianpour or Deroin to focuse on the attacking part of our game. He possesses great mental, technical and physical attributes and statswise he’s very impressive. I expect him to maintain a high passing and tackling rate through the entire season.
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Isaac Vorsah – Hoffenheim - £0k (Season Loan)
It was obvious that I needed to strengthen my defence, and Isaac was the perfect man for this job. He is very strong, and possesses great tackling ability which will allow him to boss our defence securing that we concede as less goals as possible.
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Other notable signings were;
Collins John, Rui Almeida Monteiro, Michael Bradley, Imad Al-Hoseni, Peter Masilela, Kabamba Musasa and Jamaique Vandamme

Here’s a screenshots of my in’s and out’s. I’m quite satisfied with the players I’ve managed to bring to the club and the profit I’ve gained on selling some of the mediocre players for quite profitable fees.
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Pre-season went smoothly without any horrific injuries or something of that kind. Our 7 friendly’s went fine with us recording 4 wins and 3 draws including a 7-1 smashing of the unknowns entity Vitkovice. Even though we displayed some fine play it didn’t take long a realise where and how we needed to strengthen the team, and as you can see above we succeeded in bringing in a lot of talented players which we will surely benefit from.


Financially the club seems secure, and if I can maintain this the financial backing will help me achieve what I’m hoping to do. With a balance of £15.000.000, a rising profit each month and a relatively large stadium. This will most likely strengthen my chances of making Caen one of the biggest clubs in France.
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Tactics-wise I’ve tried to mount our strengths into a formation and tactic that will suit us the best. We seem to possess great speed in the attacking part of the pitch and therefore I’ve decided to play more direct. Because of the players who stands for our disposal and the clubs relatively large reputation in a league with a lot of minnows I have no intention of packing down and letting the opposition take control of the the games and therefore I’ve decided to control the games more even though playing a more direct form a football. An Arsenal’esque kind of style could I be tempted to say. In addition to this I like to use Aggressive tackles and high pressure to press and intimidate the opponent when they’re on the ball. The team’s fulcrum or playmaker if you like will be the MC with an Advanced Playmaker Role set to Attack, and the player who will fill this role will either be Deroin or Kavianpour, depending on the last-mentioneds settling, form and most importantly performances. I’ve decided to play a simple and typical 4-4-2 with a flat midfield in order to make our players feel at most comfortable on the pitch. Our philosophy is rigid, in order to secure some decent results while our relatively large amount of newcomers are gelling into the team.

Here’s a screenie of my squad, formation and tactics used in the first 5 games of the season.
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So far I’ve played 7 competitive matches, including to Coupe de la Ligue victory’s our ESTAC and Tours FC. The form has looked promising in the league with us recording 3 wins, 1 draw and a shaky 2-3 loss versus highflying Dijon. Our best results so far was a convincing 2-0 win against Ajaccio on the opening day of the season, Taison secured us the lead after 32minutes after a real poachers effort before Michael Bradley slotted home the final goal to secure Caen an 2-0 victory on the opening day.

Here is the league table and fixtures.
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vkoppel’s preseason update should reach the forum today or tomorrow

Comments, criticism etc. are very welcome and muchly appreciated ;)
 
I guess you will be failed very badly ******.
 
Good luck with the story, I'll try and follow. The layout is looking nice :)
 
I guess you will be failed very badly ******.

Thank you very much (K) :wub:

Thanks a lot guys for the support, vkoppel will be posting his pre-season in a bit.
 
Pre-season update.

Le Havre AC



Club Overview:
Le Havre AC or Les ciel et marine as its referred to by its rather large fan base is as you have might caught so far a French football club. The club is located in the city of Le Havre, no surprises there. The club was founded in 1874 by a group of English residents who actually founded the club as a traditional rugby club. The clubs is actually the oldest association football club in France and is thereby bound by many traditions and ambitions that I hope to fur fill in my tenure here at Le Havre. The club was also the first club who was located outside the capital of Paris to be champions, when they raised the trophy in 1899.


If there is one thing that the club is respected and well-known for that will be there youth academy who develops and nurtures young and almost only local talents. The main intention of this academy is to develop young players who will go on to be Le Havre regulars later on. In modern day they have succeeded to produce French internationals such as Vikash Dhooraso, Ibrahim Ba, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Lass Diarra.


The club was also involved in some high-profile illegal transfer cases involving, by which Charles N’Zogbia, Mathias Lepiller and Paul Pogba were signed by other clubs, allegedly without the correct compensation being paid. Le Havre play their home games at Stade Jules Deschaseaux that has an approximate capacity of 16454.
 
Pre-season update:
On the 30.6.2009 I took charge over Le Havre, a club I have managed on every single manager game I have ever owned. A club I follow, and a club I adore. So this is going to be quite a task, and I hope that I can live up to my own and supporters ambitions and hopes for this sleeping giant. Only time will tell.


When I first took a look at my squad I was looking for my absolute hero from my ’07 file, a certain Hassane Alla, only to find him in my reserves out with an injury for 14-15 to months, quite downfall at the beginning. But there was still hope for light blue boys with several potential and current (not so famous) stars in my squad. Mamadou Diallo and Stephane Nero seemed to fit the bill for the kind of football I intent to play. I was also glad to see that two of the most promising French defenders were among my players; Loic Nestor and Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik are the names of the upcoming heroes.
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Even though I actually appreciated many of the players I had for my disposal I knew that I needed to strengthen my squad heavily if I was going to get anywhere near promotion. Even though I started out with 6 first team strikers in my squad only one of them had something to provide the team, Mamadou Diallo is the name. Therefore I knew that I needed to bring in at least 2 and hopefully 3 good strikers and offload the others. I decided to sign Yannis Tafer on a season long loan. The strong target man Wilfred Nflore was brought in from Litex for a small fee in the area of £40k. I also brought in another legend from a former Ligue 2 game, being the tall South African tank forward Manqoba Ngwenya. I also brought Vuyo Mere from Sundowns for £400k.
 

The four most notable and in my opinion promising signings were;


Wilfred Nflore - Latex - £40k
The experienced target man was brought into to be one of the stars on the rebuilded Le Havre team. His composure and aerial ability was the main reason why I brought in this target man. I have high hopes of him making a deadly strike force together with one of my poachers, Yannis Tafer or Mamadou Diallo respectively.
View attachment 61080

Leandro Dominguez - Unattached - £0k
The brazilian playmaker was signed to be the offensive fulcrum and playmaker of my French side. I hope that his creativity and technique will allow him to flourish and create most of my offensive play. Hes my main man and advanced playmaker. I snapper him up in front of Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais.
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Igor Zofcak - Sparta Prag - £170k
The technical and creative winger was brought into provide some deadly crosses to feed my target man. His attributes of 18 passing and 18 dribbling makes him one I have high hopes for. Even though his quite poor psychically I think his other significant and impressive attributes will make up for that.
View attachment 61077

Vuyo Mere - Sundowns - £400k
I needed to strengthen my right back area and this South African player fitted the bill perfectly. Statswise he looks to be a very impressive player and with his internatioanl experience making 6 caps for South Africa I hope he the perfect man for my team, not only this season but in the future also.
 View attachment 61079


Other notable signings were; Badjan, Khalilou Fadiga, Bever Fransman, Ikechukwu Kalu, Igor Zofcak, Lammouri Djediat, Abdou Traore, Manqoba Ngwenya and Lamine Traore.

Here’s a screenshots of all the transfer activity that took place in Le Havre this summer. Personally I can conclude that we have succeeded in strengthening our squad in almost every position and we still made a profit out of selling some fringes from the reserves.
View attachment 61085 
 
I’ve decided to adapt the typical short passing/control which I’ve used ever since I first played this game. it’s a typical flat 4-4-2 with Fourback chain which duties are all set to defend to secure a relatively strong defence. In addition to this the tactics works after the typical “pairing theory.” This is shown particularly in the midfield were the Ballwinning midfielder will support the defence and create room allowing the Advanced Playmaker, in this case, Domingues to flourish.


The attack is a typical Poacher/Targetman pair with Tafer or Diallo being the poacher and Ngwenya or Nflore being the tall target man. The tactic is based on the thought of controlling possession and slowly breaking down the other team. The typical thought of this is that if we have the ball 65% of the time the opposition will only have a 35% chance of scoring, roughly..
Our philosophy is rigid and mentality is control allowing the newcomers to gel with the rest of the team even though controlling most of the games. I use a lot of touchline shouts to back up my tactics, I usually start every game with the shouts “Keep possession” and “Pass to feet” on. Another part of the tactic is playing with aggressive tackles and man marking. In time we will see if this tactic will suit my team and the league ;)
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So far I’ve played 6 official games starting with a 3-2 loss in the cup to Metz, but even though we lost this game we started out promising in the league recording 3 victories in the first 3 matches. This streak ended when we faced Bastia at home losing 1-0 in a poor performance. And this results was followed by a 3-2 loss to Guingamp in a game we’re we came back from being 2-0 down only to be beaten in stoppage time, sadly. So far its looks descent in general, but we need to work on strengthening our defence, because we are conceding some foolish goals. After these 5 games we lie 6th in the table 6 points behind Strasbourg who so far looks unstoppable, but lets just hope they can’t continue this run of form.
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This is probably everything relevant I could write up for a pre-season update. I hope you guys are reading and enjoying it.. And it shouldn’t be too long before the midseason is released.


Victor
 
wow very comprehensive, kutgw.
i luv french football : - )

Thanks :)
French football can be great, but anyhow it's great trying new leagues and nations when you get fed up with the prem, league 2 and liga bbva ;)
 
Good luck Victor And Magiboy ;) Not that you'll need it :p
 
Best of luck guys.

You've inspired me to do a new game with Guingamp (picked them because I have a holiday home there)

I'll follow ;)
 
good luck guys. I'm subscribed. I often play as PSG so im a fan of the french leagues also. looking forward to following this :)
 
Thanks a lot Paul, i hope you're doing well on whatever file you are playing :)

And jswigan, Guingamp looks to be great challenge. They seemed to be in for promotion but has recently dipped in form on our game, thanks for the support mate, its much appreciated :)

Fuelledbypassion, if me and magiboy'a story can be half as good as yours i'll be proud of myself, thanks for the support mate! (H)
 
looking forward to your next update guys. you've both bought well. Taison and Tafer should tear up that league and Domingues is a great signing too
 
Midseason - Stade de Caen

smcaen.png



Taison awakes promotion hopes at Caen


- Mid season update -
2009-2010​

After being in charge of Caen in 7 months I can conclude that it has been a surprisingly good season so far. After being stuck in the higher midtable the part of first of the season, my team finally found the form and after a few weeks I reached the top of the table. The great form was highly helped be the fast poacher Taison, who so far has been an outstanding investment for the team, scoring incredible 17 goals in 23 appearances for the Normandy based club. The great form, and an extremely highscoring player resulted in a pleasing win against Le Havre and my rival vkoppel. The 3-0 win home, was a confirmation of our ambitions to reach the top and gain promotion.

As a result of my consistent form I managed to grab a few wins in injury time securing my place in the top. It was nice to tip the games my way in the last seconds, but it was still a bit disturbing that my team couldn’t win convincing against the teams from the bottom of the table. As a result of this I tweaked my tactics a bit when I played against low reputated teams trying to keep possession and mount a pressure on them instead of playing the direct football. This worked well and especially at home we were unstoppable until the last couple of games were we suffered a dip in form.

View attachment 61858

In pre-season I was convinced that my direct style of football would suit this league perfectly, but as mentioned it resulted in difficulties against teams that would park the bus so to speak. Despite this, the tactic worked wonders against the “bigger” teams of the league securing us some important wins against teams such as Strasbourg, Havre and Guingamp.

View attachment 61855 View attachment 61856 View attachment 61857

As you’ve hopefully read in the pre-season report I brought in a lot of talent to try and raise the bar at Caen. Many of the signings have impressed so far, and especially Taison, Nengomasha, Vorsah, Masilela and Kavianpour has created a new dimension for the team. As mentioned Taison has bagged an incredible amount of goals, and hopefully sign him on a permanent deal this summer. His great form resulted in him winning Player of the year in Ligue 2.

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The experienced Zimbabwean international Tinashe Nengomasha has so far blended in to the squad perfectly and on the pitch he has been a rock in the midfield allowing Kavianpour to concentrate on the attacking part of the play. Despite these positives, Nengomasha has had some difficulties in settling in Caen. But I expect him to settle in when the season is over. Masilela and Vorsah has contributed to the fact that we are one of the teams in the league to concede the least goals. My goalee Alexis Thebaux has been incredible in every single fixture, and his great form and clean sheets has resulted in a couple of victories that we definitely couldn’t have achieved without the Frenchman.

The experienced Anthony Deroin who I expected to blossom under my tactics as a playmaker has had a bit different role than I had presumed, playing the right wing most of the season. None the less he has been fantastic providing 10 assists in 23 appearances and an average rating of 7.15

In the summer I also signed to forward reserves; being Imad al-Hoseni and Collins John, but neither of them has impressed and I’ve therefore chosen to let them go for a benefitting profit in this January window.

View attachment 61865

A couple of hours ago the January transferwindow slammed shut and I’ve managed to bring in a couple of players who will help us maintain our form and secure promotion, or maybe even push for the title. The biggest signings was the young Argentinian wing Brian Sarmiento who’m I payed £1.8m for. I have high hopes for this young man who I see great potential in. I've also signed the experienced tower and former Monaco player Jan Koller for a substancial fee of £220k. He was signed on a half-year long contract, and the reason I’ve chosen to bring him to the club is to add another dimension to our attack.

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Other notable signings were the Gambian poaching forward Ousman Jallow, brought in from the Danish club Brøndby IF. I was a little unsure if he was worth the money I intended to spend on him, but after analyzing him for a while I decided he was the perfect supersub and later replacement for Taison if I’m not capable of permanently signing him. I also managed to snap up the brazilian wonderregen Martins who’m I expect to be a leading star in a couple of years.

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We currently sit 3rd in the league, after stumbling in the last couple of games. It was pretty disappointing to throw a comfortable lead, but we still sit in a very promising position. If we catch up on the earlier form we will stand a chance on promotion.

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Oh and I forgot to mention that I was awarded the Manager of the Year award.


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Midseason - Le Havre

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Away Inconsistency places Havre close to Midtable​
- Mid season update -
2009-2010​


I write this on the 1st of February after being in the hotseat at Havre for 7 months. It has been quite a disappointing season so far, and especially our difficulties on the road is concerning. When playing at home at the Stade Jules Deschaseux we (at times) looked convincing but every time we went away from home we seem to loose. And that away loss I typically followed by a draw/ or lose at home. As it sais in the pre-season report we started out good, and I thought we were going to push for promotion, at least. But after we suffered a poor 2-0 loss away to Arles Avignon everything started to go bad.

And the crisis were intensified when I met Magiboy’s Caen away from home and suffered a 3-0 battering. Even though there has been glimpse of good play and goals galore including a 4-1 trashing of the title aspirants Strasbourg and a 7-2 win over Laval, most of our play has disappointed me quite a lot.
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I’ve tested a couple of other tactics in the hope of findind the right “medicine” for my Havre boys, but without any luck so far. After seeing that my 4-4-2 control leaved us vulnerable to counters and the fact that the pace of the strikers in this league is surreal made me try out something else. The first tactic I tried on my team was a 4-3-1-2 emulation of a direct football tactic that won me the league three times in a row with OGC Nice on ’07, but after suffering a poor run of form I decided to go back to drawing board and tweak my 4-4-2 control, it has potential I thought.

Many of my summer signings have failed including the likes of Fadiga, Badjan and Uche who was showed absolutely nothing, except the latter showing glimpse of potential away vs. Istres in one of our only away victories so far, a scrappy 1-0.

But as these players seemed to fail others have stepped up and showed that they were to count on. Wilfred Niflore has been unstoppable so far scoring 14 goals in the league and averaging 7,25. Another one of my players that has surprised me is the young winger Alexandre Bonnet who has contributed with 10 assists in 14 appearances, and he has really been able to feed Niflore with luscious crosses to his forehead. The Slovenian winger and playmaker Igor Zofcak have impressed me quite a bit whenever he was in form to play, but he’s proneness to injuries and horrible stamina has only allowed him to appear 9 times in my starting eleven.
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Mamadou Diallo, Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik and my shotstopper Placide has also been on form, but the fact that Mamadou Diallo seems to lack in the goals department leaves me wondering if I should bring in another poacher this summer, the former French international Jimmy Briand’s contract is set to expire and with some praising I should be able to sign him up. Kana-Biyik has definitely lived up to his wonderkid tag so far and has displayed fine form and seems to be fearless in the defence, unfortunately his inexperience has resulted in some fails that has resulted in us loosing games and valuable points, but again he is only 21. The Brazilian playmaker Leandro Domingues has been a star whenever he was fit to play, and that had led to16 appearances and an average rating of 7,13.
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The likes of Vuyo Mere, Manqoba Ngwenya, Lammouri Djedjiat and Lamine Traore has failed to impressive but Mere is someone I’m counting one for the future, he got bags of potential with those stats. Lammouri has been a force whenever I was able to play him but injuries and inconsistency has pushed him out of the starting eleven in favour to Jamal Ait Ben Idir - one who has really impressed me with his raw tackles and passing completion on the midfield.
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The transfer window had just closed and I was able to bring in 3 players who will help the team in the fight to improve our position in the league. Here’s the three signings.

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The Ivorian defender Steve Gohouri was brought in to provide some depth to the defence. He has impressive attributes all over and is both strong and quite fast for a centerback. He will have an important role in the future. The other two signings was the Nigerian forward Victor Anichebe who’m I have managed to sign on a season long loan from Everton. The last signing is the technical wing Ntokozo Sikhakhane for a fee in the area of £240k. He was caught with the intention to provide some depth and another dimension to my flanks; technique, creativity and flair.
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Other interesting transfer news is that we’ve managed to sign Nelson Rivas from Inter and the Badou Kere from Charleroi, both will join us this summer. I especially have high hopes for Rivas who seems to be pure class. Here’s a screens of all our ins and outs.
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We currently lie 5th in the table, but don’t let this conceive you. We are seven points behind promotion and the other candidates being Caen, Dijon, Guingamp and Strasbourg seems to be running away from us, unfortunately. But I will maintain hope for the rest of the season, and if we can sort out our away consistency and pull some perfomances together we might be able to catch up with them, it is gonna be difficult though.
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criticism and comments welcome(H)(H)
 
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