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Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

December 2018 - Two Finals and I'm Out

Kator were clearly the better side initially, with Sadam Opera having the ball in the back of the net, but it was disallowed correctly for offside. We improved towards the middle of the first half, and Tombe Anyang had two efforts excellently saved. Then came our biggest chance, with Atem Yai sending over a teasing cross from the left on 35 minutes, all Wanni Mamur had to do was place it into the empty net from 2 yards, but he managed to scuff it into the keeper. Even more tragically Kator then broke with pace, and Opera headed home whilst onside this time to put Kator 1-0 up. We had chances to equalise, but they had arguably more, with us unable to cope with MOTM Opera. He scored a second midway through the second half to seal victory, as we couldn't finish any chances we created and missed Leilano badly. With him there we'd have been in the game, but Kator felt like the stronger team throughout and deservedly took the title.

Before the Nile Eagle game, confirmation of my National A coaching licence came through.




My final game in charge of Al-Salaam, come what may, started excellently, with us on the ascendancy as expected, but lacking the cutting edge, as a combination of brave defensive blocks, and Aguer Amum, promoted from MC to STC, hitting the upright in the 18th minute kept the sides deadlocked at the break. However it appeared like it was not meant to be a good send-off, as Lino Yaak's 30 yard free kick bent into the corner of the net to give Nile Eagle the lead with only their 3rd shot of the game. As we pushed forward desperately for the equaliser, Ruei Mabil and Ayik Yai scored tap-ins on the counter-attack as we were outnumbered at the back. No trophies, and this game couldn't have been made easier. Why the hell were Leilano and Yai called up for international duty during the climax of the season? Possibly the worst scheduling ever. I think that the most telling statistic is that without Leilano, we failed to score in either final despite having clear-cut chances in both.

I'll hand in my resignation after the end of year summary, but to summarise my time here, I think this is an apt thing to say. I truly miss a lot of my players from ASC Abeilles, Dikoumana, Bertrand, Delanys, Kidane, Baptiste Otieno, and maybe most of all Birhanu Pastor. I think the only people I will miss from this club are Bul Mamer and Khamis Leilano, maybe Gadet Emor. The whole system of South Sudanese football is one that is almost impossible to overcome, you have to be the best of the 30 top flight teams to win it, and that is an almost impossible task when your players have no faith in your ability, despite winning over half of your fixtures as manager, and the national side depriving you of your best players for your most important games of the season. So long South Sudan, I will NOT be coming back (probably).


As I have decided that South Sudan is not for me, the only possible option to allow me to progress to the next tier of the pyramid is Djibouti, so here I come!








Unsurprisingly Leilano was voted as player of the season, considering he scored 26 goals and finished as top scorer in both the league and the cup. Atem Yai's first few months were incredible, with 9 assists before the summer break, but he spent too much time complaining about me and not enough playing football, as he only provided one after the break and didn't even finish with the most assists in the league. The main issue we had all season was our quality in depth, particularly in defence, with all of my first XI getting decent average ratings, but no-one else really did. So when injuries/suspensions struck, we were left with sub-par quality players.


I won't be getting into management quite as quickly as when I resigned from my previous job, as I now have to wait for a vacancy at one of the 10 sides in the Djibouti Premier League.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

November 2018 - The Final (Stage) Countdown

We start the Final Stage with the same fixture that we started the First Stage with, a home tie against Citizen Sports Club, although this time we hope to go one better and claim all three points. I started this one with the same defence as I did in the Al-Malakia game, hoping for the same result, and two of the defenders combined for our opening goal, with Marial Deng floating in a free-kick which was glanced into the corner by Akol Yol. We controlled the first half, but allowed our poor marking to be exploited again, with Arok Madit scoring from a corner to equalise with their first shot on target. We continued to dominate as Tombe Anyang hit the post, before Leilano restored our advantage with an excellent solo effort which was capped off with a placed finish into the top corner. We were the only ones who looked likely to score another, with Makeer Kon coming the closest as his low 25 yard drive came back off the post. But we did eventually add a third as Atem Yai, fresh off the bench, converted Amum's cross with 10 minutes to play. We even managed to add more gloss to the scoreline as we countered, with Leilano expertly controlling the ball and rifling home his second and Yai smashing home through a crowd for our fifth to boost our goal difference.

The only negative was right-back Atem Riek's broken collarbone putting him out for the rest of the season, which will affect our new solid back four combination.



Black Star beat Kuch FC in their first game, so this was really a battle to see if either side could go two wins from two and put themselves in an incredibly strong position with only two games to play. Black Star threatened early, but we took the lead through Leilano's 20th of the season after a well constructed team move just 7 minutes in. Both sides came forward well and Gatwech Malual equalised on the stroke of half-time, but fortunately the goal was disallowed for offside. The FM gods were on our side somewhat in the second period as Arok Mabil's own goal was a classic, where the defenders clearance rebounded off his own man and past the keeper. Both sides had small chances, but we were largely in control, and Leilano grabbed his second in back to back games in the dying seconds on the counter as he slotted home to give us a massive 3-0 victory.

A start I could only have dreamed of, with two huge victories. Now as Kuch FC lost both of their first two games, they cannot (realistically) finish top, so provided I don't lose to Al-Ghazal I have an excellent chance of qualifying, but they have beaten me 4-0 and 5-0 at various stages with my only victory a narrow 3-2 one. I'm not worried about Citizen SC or Black Star topping the group as positions are sorted via head to head records initially, so I hope they can defeat/hold up Al-Ghazal!



The worst news going into this match is that in addition to having lost first-team players Riek and Emor to injury, AMC Tombe Anyang and MC Makeer Kon would both also be absent for this fixture through suspension. But it was one of the enforced changes that made an impact, as Nyawelo Bulabek ,on his full debut, played in Khamis Leilano who grabbed league goal number 16 for the season, taking him temporarily to the overall top scorer spot. That was the first shot of the game of any kind, and the second shot of the game almost went in as well, but Bul Mamer tipped it round the post on 20 minutes to keep us ahead. Leilano added to our lead just before the break from the penalty spot after Akol Yol was pushed in the back at a free-kick. Al-Ghazal had plenty of shots, but hadn't managed another on target since the 20th minute until Ng'or Lobong controlled a long ball and finished with devastating effect. We thought everything was done there, with both sides seemingly done, but another long ball and atrocious marking allowed Zamoi Ng'or to equalise with a placed shot into the bottom corner. Akol Yol was sent off in injury time for being "the last man" for the second time this season, and yet again it was so far from a red card it's unreal. It could've been much worse as Mamer pulled off an excellent save from the resulting free-kick, but if we hadn't conceded the late equaliser then we'd have been through to the Grand Final!

Just a couple of quick updates before my final league game.
Firstly my U20's just about scraped to a league win, despite picking up 4 of their 5 losses in the last 5 games of the season!


Secondly, this is the current situation in the Final Stage group going into the tie with Kuch FC

We know that winning our final game will all but guarantee us qualifying for the Grand Final, provided that Al-Ghazal don't win their final two games by a total of 7 or more goals. We could still win the group without a win here, but wouldd need Al-Ghazal and Citizen SC to drop points in their final two games, although they are due to play each other, and a draw in that game makes a draw in our game enough.



We had the ball in the back of the net through Wanni Mamur after just 18 seconds, but he was sadly offside. Anyang Aguer in the Kuch FC goal made an incredible save, diverting a point blank header onto the woodwork whilst he was travelling the opposite way across goal after 30 minutes. Bul Mamer produced a ridiculous save of his own to deny Jacob. Mahmoud Altahir put Kuch FC 1-0 up as he headed home from a corner via the defender on the line, but when Wanni Mamur was fouled in the box, Leilano blasted the resulting penalty through Aguer to equalise. Abujohn Makol put Kuch back ahead just before half-time though, as our makeshift defence continued to be breached. And it got worse as Jacob made it 3-1 to Kuch at half-time when Marial Deng gave away a needless penalty. Khamis Leilano pulled one back 16 minutes from time as we pushed forward desperately looking to snatch a point, but Abujohn Makol had the final word, as his shot on the turn hit the post and went in. Leilano got his hat-trick, but it was disallowed for offside. However with 6 minutes to play, he curled one in from 25 yards to earn his hat-trick proper and give us a chance to equalise in the dying moments. We threw everyone forward, playing a 2-1-4-3 with 4 AM's and 3 strikers for the last few minutes, and it almost paid off, but when we lost the ball Kuch FC broke 4 on 2, and Thomas Jacob wrapped up the 3 points for Kuch.

All of this meant that as Citizen SC and Al-Ghazal drew, Al-Ghazal just needed to beat Black Star and they would be in the final.

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Incredible scenes as Black Star defeat Al-Ghazal 4-0, which means WE QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND FINAL. An excellent month, and like I said before the start of it, if we could win our first two "easier" games, then who knows what would happen. I think the fact that all 5 sides finished so close to each other in the standings just shows how similar they all are and how any of the top sides can beat each other in this league. I'm gobsmacked and actually lost for words.

Now December will be my last month in charge of Al-Salaam Wau, either because I will have won the league and can therefore move on, or because I failed to win the league, and have had enough of this country and in particular my players, who are a bunch of tw*ts. December sees the final two fixtures of my tenure, both of which are finals, and both take place at the national Juba Stadium, in the country's capital.
My first tie sees me take on free-scoring Kator, who have racked up 45 league goals in 18 games, whilst only conceding 22 (compared to Al-Salaam scoring 39 and conceding 30 over the same period). Whilst it is supposed to be played at a neutral stadium, as Kator are a Juba-based team, this is their home stadium, so we are basically playing an away game. I give us probably about a 5% chance of winning this one, as we are missing first team RB Atem Riek and AMR Gadet Emor to injury, first team CB Locapio Yai and replacement RB/CB Lokine Ajak to suspension, and most crucially, Khamis Leilano is on F*CKING INTERNATIONAL DUTY - excellent timing, it really is. I mean he's only scored 20 in 16 starts in the league, easily replaceable -.-

Our second game - the cup final vs Nile Eagle (n) is actually on neutral ground, but I will still be missing Emor, Leilano andYai , but may have Riek and Ajak back. I think we should win this one when it comes down to it, but we could easily finish this season, and my final month, with no silverware.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

October 2018 - Can we match the biggest boys?

October sees us take on the current league leaders in both groups as we face Al-Ghazal in our group in the league, before finishing the month against Al-Malakia in the semi-final of the cup - the Group A league leaders.



Both keepers made excellent fingertip saves around the post as both sides showed their attacking intent inside the first 10 minutes, but it was Ng'or Lobong who broke the deadlock as we let a long ball become our undoing once more. League top scorer Lobong shortly grabbed his second as our gameplan became undone, tapping in from a corner. We improved in the second half as I subbed off three of our back 4 during the break, and Leilano hit the bar with an attempted lob around the hour mark which could've got us back into the game. But after Obure Agot smashed home from another corner, Lobong had the final word from the spot to complete his hat-trick and end our wretched defensive display and finish the tie at 4-0, and if it wasn't for the heroics of keeper Bul Mamer, it could've been more.

As tradition dictates, we lose a game and the players decide that I'm no longer good enough at my job.


Hopefully a good final league game and a cup final will turn the atmosphere around.



A very even first half hour with perhaps Tiger Club edging it was ended when Aguer Amum tapped in Anyang's excellent cross to give us a 1-0 lead. Aguto Ajang equalised just after the break with a shot from outside the area - how many of these do we concede? Leilano scuffed a one on one wide of goal shortly after, before Emor headed us ahead from Yol's cross. As luck would have it Emor then went off injured, leaving us with 10 men for 30 minutes as I'd used all my substitutes. And we couldn't hold on, with Aguto Mach volleying home to equalise 15 minutes from time, but Mamer should've done better and Kabashi Yual condemning us to back to back losses with Mamer hopelessly out of position not once but twice.

A disgusting way to end the league season as we whimper over the line with two defeats, conceding 8 in the process having conceded only 14 in our previous 12. No defender managed a rating over 6.4 in either game, whilst Mamer kept the scores semi reasonable. A great way to go into the cup semi-final and the final stages of the league as we now have one win in our past 5 since the summer break.

Even better news as my only in-form player is now out for the rest of the season.




Going into this game, things could only get better for both sides as we both came into this one with only one win from our last 5. You could clearly tell this was a game between two sides struggling for form, with Al-Malakia only managing 3 shots in the first 80 minutes, whilst we could only get one of our many shots on target. A dull affair until Khamis Leilano ended his October drought, finishing from the bench after Tombe Anyang had played him in behind the defence. He was the difference between the sides and hit the bar shortly after he scored, but did finally grab his second in injury time following debutante and fellow substitute Nyawelo Bulabek's cross. Good to see an academy player come good. We are through to the final!

In the cup final we will face Nile Eagle, a Group A side who only managed four wins and two draws from their 14 league games to finish 12th of 15. You'd think we should be big favourites for some silverware now, surely that has to cheer the side up and earn me some respect?

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An incredibly disappointing pair of league results which are a bad omen of things to come in the final stage, which we managed to qualify for in 4th due to our strong form in the middle of the first group stage. Sadly this made October 2018 my first losing month as a manager, as hopefully my last for a while yet! We seem defensively inept regardless of the combination of players I use and Atem Yai has provided no assists in his previous 6, despite getting at least one in each game in his previous 9 before this run. Everything is suggesting that we have no chance of finishing top of our Final Stage group and reaching the grand final, yet whilst we are still in it we have a minute chance. The semi-final is the only silver lining from October and I'd now expect to end my reign as Al-Salaam manager with some silverware at least.

The four sides with us in the Final Stage are as follows:

November sees us face each of them once, before the side that goes through to the Grand Final is decided. If we look at how we fared against these sides in the first phase, we beat Black Star 3-1, drew with Citizen FC 2-2 and lost to both Al-Ghazal (4-0) and Kuch FC (3-1), so if we do the same again it will match our record last season at this stage when I wasn't in charge. Interestingly only ourselves and Al-Ghazal actually reached the Final Stage in both this season and last season.
In terms of scheduling we play 3 games in 6 days against Citizen SC (h), Black Star (a) and Al-Ghazal (h), and I feel if we can start with two victories against the two weaker sides then perhaps psychologically we might have a chance against Al-Ghazal and then in our final game a few weeks later against Kuch FC (a). Our cup final isn't scheduled until December.

Thanks @bigmattb28, apparently I'm just not a high-profile enough of a name for them, my 70% win percentage has nothing to do with it! Hopefully the new formation can see us challenging for honours (the cup is looking more likely than the league) which should hopefully win them around.

Just doing what I can @Dan , need to churn out results and get away from this leg of my journey ASAP.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

August/September 2018 - Can we match the big boys?

During the summer break (June/July), not a lot happened, we played and won some friendlies, including against Al-Ghazal, which was a massive improvement from our 5-0 pre-season loss to them. I largely put this down to the formation. Anyang netting 4 in 6 and Leilano averaging one per game are both positives going into our Autumn fixtures.


We manage to negotiate our way through the friendlies without any major injuries, the only loss to our playing team is Gatluak Agot, who has been called up to the South Sudan U20's for the East Africa U20 Cup, so we won't have him for the whole of August.


The only other news is that the approval for me to obtain my National A Licence has finally gone through!




Minnows Young Stars put up little resistance to start as Atem Yai played in Leilano just 3 minutes in and he picked up from where he left off before the summer break, before doubling his tally with an accurate shot into the bottom corner from a tight angle. Locapio Mayom pulled one back in the final minute of added time, but we fully deserved the victory and combinations of woodwork and saves prevented us from winning by a more convincing margin.

Even better news is that some of the weaker remaining sides won their ties so the competition really is up for grabs for us. In the semi-finals we will play the most difficult remaining side in Group A leaders Malakia away from home. The other semi-final contains two far weaker teams, so this is almost the real final on paper, with the winners of our match expected to lift the trophy. We will play the game in late October.



Amarat came into this one off the back of 5 straight losses, and when they conceded a penalty 24 minutes in, Leilano grabbed his 10th in 4 competitive games to help them on their way to defeat number 6. However they came out a different side after the break, and Bul Mamer saved well twice for us before Lotiman Ariik equalised 10 minutes after the break. The second half then became an end-to-end battle, but left-back Marial Deng's delightful swung over cross was emphatically finished at the back post by Gadet Emor twenty minutes from time gave us the lead. However as we went defensive and invited pressure, substitute Zamoi Yai found time and space to head home an equaliser. In truth we were lucky to hold on and draw the game as Amarat United created far more chances than us in the second half, but we will take a point!



In the first of two games against other top 5 sides we started excellently, with Anyang, Emor, Atem Yai, Leilano and one of their own defenders hitting the Zalan post all inside the first 5 minutes, yet none of them went in. Leilano then had the chance to convert from the spot after he was fouled just two minutes later, but he saw his effort saved! Unbelievably we were still level, but our task was made harder after 30 minutes, as AMC Tombe Anyang's needless two-footed challenge in the Zalan box saw us reduced to 10 men for the remaining hour. Sebit Aloisio made the numerical advantage pay with a low driven shot from the edge of the box with their first shot on target to put them 1-0 up just before the break, but our keeper should've done better. The second half was pretty dull, with Zalan attacking but failing to get a single shot on target, they mainly looked happy to take the 1-0 win against 10 men. But the 10 men fought back, with Aguer Amum countering swiftly and centering the ball for Gadet Emor who scored in back to back games after he swivelled and finished from 10 yards to deservedly equalise with 5 minutes to go. After the goal went in we were in the ascendency and looked like the side with 11 men as Bol Riek and Leilano both missed chances which would've given us all 3 points, perhaps deservedly if Zalan could only manage one shot on target in 60 minutes against 10 men.



The big rivalry was our only game in September, and the good news was that Gatluak Agot was back from international duty to stabilise our defensive performance. Khamis Leilano got us off to a flyer in this Top 5 six pointer by lashing home an emphatic volley after just 8 minutes. Majak Mading in the Merikh goal made a few excellent saves in the first half to deny Leilano and an incredible fingertip save to divert the ball around the post to deny Amum and keep the score at 1-0 at half-time. At the start of the second half Bul Mamer pulled off the heroics himself, making an excellent double save to stop a direct free-kick and then the rebound which was a cert to be a goal. The game was largely even with chances for both sides and both keepers performing excellently, but it was Mamer who pulled off arguably the best save, backpedalling to single handedly claw the ball away from the top corner in added time to give us a priceless victory.

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Another excellent month sees us unbeaten, although we were lucky to draw with Amarat United and had to play with ten men against Zalan for only the second time in my career. Generally very pleased with the results against the big sides in particular, as this is how we will advance through the next stage, which we are now almost assured to qualify for.

We go into October knowing that a single point from our remaining two games will be enough to ensure that we qualify for the final stage given our head to head record. We currently sit second on goal difference having played a game less than Al-Ghazal, our first October opponents at home, and we know that we can top the First Stage standings with victory over them and Tiger Club (a), who are outsiders for a top five place and should be out of it by the time we face them. Arguably our most important game of the month is our final one, the South Sudan National Cup semi-final away to Group A high-flyers Malakia (a), as a cup win would really help me with this squad.

I know @Dan and @bigmattb28, it seems ridiculous to me, but like I said, these are the absolute best players on my team, so I really do just sort of have to try to ride it out. If I had other options I'd just demote them to the reserves but it's 7 of my 21 man squad, and that includes 16 year olds. I think I'm just going to have to try to win what I can/be as successful as possible and then jump ship as soon as a decent opportunity comes along.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

May 2018 - New formation, new style, new attitude?

Gatwech Deng scored for Yambio with a dipping shot from outside the box (their first on target), which was a shame as we'd started as the better side. We proved that we deserved more from the game just moments later, when debutant AMC Tombe Anyang played in Gadet Emor who, despite hating me, finished with aplomb. We started the second half as we finished, this time with Emor the provider for Atem Yai who tapped in at the far post to complete the turnaround. Emor hit the post and Locapio Yai hit the bar before Atem Yai added to the total from the spot after Kon was fouled in the box. Substitute Aguer Amum added gloss to the scoreline from the edge of the box with 10 minutes to go, just to prove that maybe this new formation idea (my classic one) wasn't such a bad idea.



Mabil Kiir put Aweli Star in front from the spot after we gave away a silly penalty. But Khamis Leilano was having none of it, first of all equalising following a defensive mix-up, and the putting us ahead with a speculative left-footed effort. Just before the break, Locapio Yai managed to concede another penalty, but this time Bul Mamer was the hero, beating away Kiir's second spot-kick and keeping the score at 2-1. Just before the hour mark Leilano sealed his hat-trick, squeezing home a shot from a tight angle. But he wasn't done, grabbing his fourth of the afternoon after holding off two defenders and rolling the ball into the corner as we swiftly countered and then a fifth via his head to give him all the goals needed for a perfect hat-trick (and two extras). Atak Biar and Chan Madit pulled goals back as Aweil Star pushed for goals, but this truly was the Leilano show.

With the May transfer window having come and gone (only two weeks long), we didn't need to do any business, but lost squad DL/DC Marial Kuol, but he had only made 5 substitute appearances to date.
We also got drawn away to Tahrir in the Last 16/Eighth Final of the South Sudan National Cup after receiving a bye through the First Round.



Leilano, off the back of scoring 5 in the previous game, picked up where he left off, sweeping home just inside 20 minutes. He doubled our advantage against the non-existent threat of Tahrir shortly after half-time as he decisively finished Tombe Anyang's through-ball again. Mawien Lobong did pull one back however after we inexplicably managed to allow a long ball to go straight to the only player in our half of the pitch and let him score without a challenge. Things were made more difficult for us as Akol Yol managed to get sent off for being the last man (by about an inch), yet their player wouldn't have received the ball? But we went defensive, but again our marking let us down as a simple ball into the box was converted by a free Nyong Malual 10 minutes from time. Atem Yai gave us an unexpected winner on a rare venture forward, as he finished via the keeper in the last minute of normal time to send the 10 men through to the next round!

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A much better month, I think my preferred 4-2-3-1 is going to be my default now instead of trying to match to the players, seeing how well that went! Leilano in particular has shone in the system, netting 7 in 3 games this month. We are through to the cup quarters where we will face Young Stars at home, a side with only 8 points from 8 games in the other group - so an excellent opportunity to reach the semis, and we sit comfortably in 3rd in the league, at least 4 points clear of 6th with only 5 to play. Yet somehow this is still a thing.



So the players work well together, are happy with their football, can have no complaints about how things are going (as well as 1 defeat in 10 with 7 wins in our last 8), but they have completely no faith in me. I don't know if any manager has been hated so much, might as well change my name to Mourinho.

We now have the summer break, so will not be in league or cup action again until August, where we will face Young Stars (h) in the cup quarters, before finishing off the league First Stage with ties against lowly Amarat United (a) and Final Stage contenders Zalan (h). I am also going to complete September's sole game in my next update as it seems pointless to have an update dedicated to just one match, although it is a big one - main rivals Merikh FC (a) who have an identical league record and defeated us in the cup final last year.

@bigmattb28 Cheers Matt, I'm pretty confident that we should qualify, I don't know what it is, but there's just something off about this club/team.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

April 2018 - Time to start playing

Our task against a side in a similar position in the league to us got easier after 21 minutes when left-back Mamer Tombe picked up his second booking to reduce Black Star to 10 men. We had the better of the first half, but couldn't get past the goalkeeper on multiple occasions. It took something special to break the deadlock, as DM Gatluak Agot sent his 25 yard effort crashing into the top right corner, leaving the keeper with no chance as the second half started. Makol Tala in the Black Star goal continued to make some extraordinary stops, tipping a point-blank header onto the bar, and diving and catching an effort that was heading straight for the top corner with players ready to follow up. Somehow Garang Ruei managed to equalise with only their second shot, collecting a long ball before walking through our entire defence alone and finishing. Fortunately we did get a second as Locapio Yai grabbed his second of the season from a crossed free-kick, and Khamis Leilano finished the tie off, as he flicked home Atem Yai's deep cross - his third assist of the game. 13 shots on target and 3 goals scored - finally an emphatic performance!



Khamis Leilano got us off to a great start, converting after he was played in by Atem Yai. They combined again after the break, with the same lethal outcome, despite us not being in the same form that we were in in our previous game. Kuajok United had a decent number of shots, but failed to get any on target.



An incredibly boring first half saw us get one shot on target but that was it. The second started in typical fashion, with Gasim Ladu flicking home from a corner for Kuch FC with their first shot on target. Serious pattern emerging here. We pushed for an equaliser and went attacking, and when Atem Yai's free-kick from the byline got squared to the edge of the box, Makeer Kon thumped the ball home into the top corner giving us a deserved point. It was Ladu who had the final word though, being given far too much time and space to finish, before adding a third emphatically on the volley as we once again pushed for an equaliser. A first defeat, yet the stats showed an even game.

A nice bit of news before the month ends.....

Clearly you are not allowed to lose here under any circumstances. 56% board support, but my reputation with the players has somehow gone down despite sitting 4th and having won 4 in a row prior to our loss? A strange squad indeed. Fortunately I managed to placate their concerns through passion for the meantime, but I can't help feeling that somehow my days are still numbered.

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I just don't think this job is going to work out somehow, especially with the players random hatred of me. The disappointing thing is normally I would go all dictatorial and put all of them in the reserves until they apologise, but these are my best, first team players, let by Atem Yai who has 8 assists in 7 games. I think I might change tactics to my usual control 4-2-3-1, and hope that the slightly nicer brand of football will win them over. I do have to keep reminding myself that I have just won two of three and currently sit 4th!

May takes us up until the summer break, with league action involving games against Yambio FC (a) and Aweil Star FC (h). Aweil Star FC is a must-win as they are a way off the pace, but the Yambio game is going to be even more crucial, as they could overtake us and potentially take us out of the top 5 if they beat us, whilst we could widen the gap between us and 6th place to a minimum of 3 points. The month ends with us playing our first part in the South Sudan National Cup in the last 16 against unknown opposition.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

March 2018 - Round 2 begins

Despite being the stronger side, as we play on counter we were second best in terms of chances in the first half, but Citizen SC didn't create anything concrete. We took the lead after 26 minutes, when right winger Gadet Emor crossed for left winger and club captain Atem Yai, who volleyed home to give me my first Al-Salaam goal. Arok Aguer equalised with an emphatic finish in the second half following a swift counter-attack. Yai had a shot cleared off the line for us shortly after, but it was Citizen who took the lead, when more slack defending allowed Ayik Gatkuoth to crash home with help from the bar with just over 10 minutes to play. However we had enough fight in us to claim our first point of the season, as after substitute Wanni Mamur's shot got tipped onto the post, he had the awareness to square the rebound across goal for Gadet Emor to tap into an open goal from 2 yards. Neither side deserved the win, but I'd hope to be more defensively sound when we get suspended DC Locapio Yai and injured DM Agot back.

Even better news, as MOTM Gadet Emor is out for a week so will miss the next game against the best side we will play this month!



Wanni Mamur started well for us, hitting the post and then almost lobbing the keeper from 30 yards inside the first 20 minutes. We were the better side in the first half, and played much better than the previous game, but saves from Garang Locapio in the Tahrir goal kept things even. Amum Mamur did manage to deservedly break the deadlock for us, finishing on the turn from the edge of the box. However as time marched on, Zamoi Lul's volley from the edge of the box tied things up which they didn't deserve, but the strike was incredible. Another draw, but at least this time against a good side, but we still should've won.



Khamis Leilano put us 1-0 up on the counter-attack, notching his first of the season. We absolutely dominated the first half, and should've been far better off, as saves from the Al Nil keeper, poor finishing and bad luck all prevented us from extending our lead at half-time. They did have the ball in the back of the net in the second half, but it was rightfully disallowed for offside. We continued to press, having a total of 25 shots, although only 7 were on target, highlighting a massive problem area, but at least we kept creating chances. We restricted them to 0 shots on target, until the 90th minute, but Mamer was on hand to save. Our first victory, but against a side who had already been beaten 3-0 and 4-0, not the positive result we were hoping for.



Another poor quality game where we had more chances was decided when Atem Yai's free-kick was headed home by namesake Locapio Yai just 10 minutes from time. Another victory, but Super Eagles (SSD) were dispatched 7-1 by our side last season. We were the only side in the game, but still felt fortunate to score.

P4 W2 D2 L0 GF5 GA3 PTS8

Despite starting the season unbeaten, I can't help but feel disappointed. The promise of attacking football was one of the reasons I took the job, yet my counter-attacking plans aren't yielding the results I'd have liked. However I think I am going to stick with them, as I think it will work better against the top sides at the business end of the season. We appear to have started well, but have faced the sides currently sitting 10th,12th, 13th and 14th, having given Citizen and surprisingly Tahrir their only points of the campaign.

April sees us starting in the top 5, but with three games to play to take us to halfway through this stage, it will be interesting to see if we can remain there. We face the side below us, Black Star (h) first, before facing pointless Kuajok United (a). We finish the month with our biggest test to date as we take on currently 100% winning side Kuch FC (h).



@bigmattb28 I'd be incredibly disappointed to not qualify from the first stage still, after that, who knows? Sadly I don't think this start has done anything for the players' faith in me though, although ultimately they're the ones that need to put the performances in on the pitch.

Some excellent signings there - Mathias Ross in particular looks like an absolute beast, and only 18 as well. Alongside Amankwah (how did you get him by the way?!?!) that is an immense defensive partnership. Arsenal clearly were lacking a 5th choice keeper, I mean come on, the deal makes total sense............

I take back my previous comment though, with signings like that and a great start against a strong Viborg side away from home, you could be talking playoffs - fingers crossed anyway.

Congratulations Tongey, excellent achievement at the first time of asking, Cordoba should be good enough to bag goals in the Bundesliga based on those performances.

Quick point, you've uploaded March's table again instead of April's - we've all done it, thought I'd let you know!

I completely agree @bigmattb28, it's the interesting and different league structures that keep it fresh for me, don't think I could do 20 seasons+ with the same format each time.

I know right @Suffolk Seasider, think they must've played a solid 5-0-5, can't imagine the number of "You're getting overrun in midfield" notifications the assistant would have given out each game, probably why he left!

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

February 2018 - Pre-season Madness

With the transfer window finally closed, attention now turns to preparing for the season, as I need to decide on my best XI and formation, as well as getting my squad up to match fitness through a sequences of friendlies.

Very few sides would accept friendlies against us due to the distance apart, and the fact that clubs operate on a shoestring budget. Even the clubs we could play refused to play us more than once, so we had to pad it out with a few games against our U20's. Here are the results:


The most disappointing thing to come from all of this was obviously the 5-0 thrashing we were given by Al-Ghazal, but that fixture wasn't helped by losing 3 players to injury early, with this being the key one.

Fortunately this means he should be back by the end of March and should only miss 3 league games, but he is the cornerstone of this team, and the only one that can play in his position effectively, so we may resort back to a 4-2-3-1 until he is back.
The games against our reserves weren't exactly great either, but I put a lot of first team players in that squad to maximise playing time.
Even better news followed our final friendly game against our reserves (a week before our first match)

I have decided to make him play through the matches with light protective equipment, so we still have our first choice LB, but I'll have to monitor him and he may make it worse, but it's a gamble! Only two of our key players out now.

Following a good transfer window the predictions for the league are as follows:

We come in at third, behind Atlabara - looking to make it their fourth consecutive title, and Kator, who would've reached the final if it wasn't for Atlabara. Fortunately neither of these sides are in our half of the league, so we go into the opening stage as narrow favourites in our group, ahead of Zalan, Kuch FC and Al-Gazal, who just destroyed us 5-0 (although I wasn't managing). Although in theory if I lose to these three sides and beat everyone else, I can only finish 4th at worst and qualify for the next stage anyway.

At least there's one thing, the players have my back and a lot of respect for me for winning the league and cup double in my only season of management.

Oh no, wait, they hate me as well! Don't really know how much worse a pre-season could go really, but I've probably now jinxed it and will lose my striker for 12 months. I feel this one will be an uphill struggle.

March will be the first time a side I have managed will play a competitive game in 4 months, and we open the season with one of our busier months on the calendar, with 4 fixtures (all when my players are injured, excellent). The first game against Citizen SC (h) is crucial, as it will hopefully start winning my players round, and also has been marked as a fan day with free tickets being given away (compared to their usual price of £0), so will be big for fan support as well. Fortunately they appear to be a mid-table side. I then play Tahrir (a), Al Nil (h) and Super Eagles (SSD) (a) to finish my first month in charge. Tahrir will be the tough game, with them finishing in the top 5 last season, and I have to travel to them which puts me at a disadvantage. The final two sides both finished towards the bottom of the table, so at least I should hopefully get off to a decent start overall. Last season 22 points from 14 was good enough to finish in the top 5, so we need to be winning a minimum of 8 games at this stage to be secure.

Incredible scenes there mate! Done an excellent job keeping them up, and sending Fremad Amager down in the process at the same time, can't ask for better than that!

Hopefully with some control over signings and backroom staff you can push on next season and consolidate in mid-table (or survive with a little more breathing room at least!)

@Crpls, I think you may have misunderstood my point. I'm asking if either:

a) someone at sortitoutsi could either merge the database with claassens once a year, so that people could input data onto their website, ignoring any changes to data that already exists on the official database and only accepting the new data. Or if someone from sortitoutsi could quickly add the leagues with imprecise names, as no-one on the sortitoutsi forum would be bothered if it is purely for the sake of inputting their careers.

or

b) if someone at sortitoutsi could give me advice on how I could add the seasons of my career without needing to input a league, as it is currently not possible to do so. Or even enable seasons to be added without the need for league input in certain countries.

Absolutely nowhere have I asked for Sports Interactive to do anything, and I am fully aware that they will not add the leagues to the database, and certainly not with the wrong names as this would be ludicrous.

I completely agree that it is something that Sortitoutsi could potentially look at doing, but equally it may be too difficult, hence why I have asked a question. If I wanted SI to do anything about it I would be on their website instead of Sortitoutsi's, and I'm not naive enough to think that it would make a difference anyway.

Thank you for literally saying exactly what I have said already, I think you may need to read posts a little more clearly before commenting in the future, just some friendly advice.

Thanks @r96Skinner, I'm quite looking forward to the format, although we really will have to be the best team in the league to win it, you can't rely on others messing up here!

@Suffolk Seasider Yeah I can agree with that, the oldest player in my squad is 29, and half of them are 17 or younger so. It's crazy how football actually means so much to these people with everything else going on around them, so I'll try to do it justice!
Well spotted, I have indeed completed my National B, but as it was completed between clubs I didn't get a notification so forgot to mention.

Thank you ever so much @ErRaptorz, that is lovely to read, glad you enjoy it, I'll be sure to update as regularly as possible.

Thanks @Dan, I never do anything by halves that's for sure. As soon as I'm a few seasons in I know I'll have the motivation to see it through, so long as I have no issues with the save file.

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

December/January 2017/18 - Getting up to standard

The Squad

Just going to take a look at my current squad, and any strengths and weaknesses from the season just gone.





Very good reading if you're looking at my current attacking options, with Khamis Leilano leading the way, he will clearly be my go-to striker after picking up 10 in the previous campaign. Wingers Gader Emor and Atem Yai are good enough, whilst despite being only ranked as two stars, Makeer Kon's 11 assists in the previous campaign (best in league), will see him hold down a MC spot. Defensively, we don't look too bad either, with fullbacks Marial Deng and Atem Riek more than up to the job (Riek getting the third best overall rating in the league in 2017), whilst Locapio Yai and Bul Mamer hold down DC and GK positions respectively.

The strengths of my squad: workrate, goals, dribbling and tackling, as well as our positional strengths, lead me towards my favoured formation of 4-2-3-1, or maybe 4-1-2-3 with a DM and wingers, both on the counter attack. For this, or any formation, to work I am going to need to recruit 1 or 2 good ball-winning DM/MC's, another strong DC and maybe a couple of alternate options throughout the front four, as this is where depth is the weakest. Again, we are a semi-pro club, dealing with players on non-contracts, so our best players may be poached away. We have £100 of wage budget to play with (out of £178), but will not need to bring about anywhere near as drastic a change as I had to with ASC Abeilles.

Transfer Window Summary

Bizarrely, the transfer window closes on December 31st, and doesn't re-open until May, despite the players all being on holiday until the end of January, with play not starting until February, so I had to gamble on some players based on last season's form, without having seen them play personally (or even scouts seen them play).
Out
No-one! Managed to keep all of my best players despite interest from elsewhere. The only downside is that my assistant manager and chief of scouting both decided that they didn't want to re-negotiate contracts.

In

Only four players in, but they all cover for my areas of concern as stated above. I'm very happy with my squad now and will play a 4-1-2-3 DM wide on counter.


Very happy here, as my Head of Youth Development sourced this transfer. A poor last season, but in the right set-up he looks like he will do a great job as the most defensive of my midfield three.



Performed excellently (6.85 avg) at a slightly better club last year. A real coup as Zalan finished top of our first stage last time round. Immediate slots in as a first choice centre-back.



On paper this looks a strange one, but without time to scout him, this one was done on judgement. Yes he is only one star, but he played every game last season for a side that reached the grand final at an average rating of 6.78 with 5 assists. I'm going to give him a chance as our third MC initially and hope he can replicate his performances from last season.



This is my depth. Fully capable of playing anywhere across the AM slots, and signed from a club of similar stature to ours, Mamur will initially start out as a replacement, but could very easily see himself in the starting XI with good performances, or if we switch to a 4-2-3-1 where he is our first choice AMC.

League fixtures have been announced, and the sides in our league are identical to the previous season. But with the announcement of fixtures, come our expectations for the season:

They don't expect much then! I can now see why the previous manager was sacked based on poor performance! There were no expectations set when I took the job as it was the end of the season, but looking at them now I think we will have our work cut out reaching the final of the cup, and finishing at the top end of the league. Now if they want us to finish at the top end of the first stage, that is fair, but if they want the top end of the final stage then this will be a real challenge.

Next update: Rest of pre-season including friendlies and predictions for our finish.

Is this not something that someone at sortitoutsi could quickly rectify?

It surely wouldn't take long to update their database with "Mayotte First Division", "Mauritania First Division", "__________ First Division", for the missing countries so that seasons could be added? It wouldn't require any research as people wouldn't be too bothered by precise names, just a physical league there, so there is a way of inputting careers? Alternatively, couldn't Claassen's update just be merged with the sortitoutsi database?

There may be another way round it I haven't thought of.

Appreciate the feedback

Thank you @Suffolk Seasider and @bigmattb28 . Good advice Matt, you shall see where I have gone next now.

Glad you enjoy it @ErRaptorz, continuing now, as and when I have time, but updates should be reasonably regular!

The Ultimate Journeyman Challenge - Second Leg - Africa

After applying for the FC Dikhil job in Djibouti, some really nice opportunities became available in South Sudan, ones which would give me a chance of making good progress more rapdily.

The two jobs that stuck out were at Aweli Star FC, a mid-table club with big ambitions, and Al-Salaam FC, a bigger side who massively under-performed this past season. I applied for both and waited to see what would happen. I was pretty sure I'd get the Aweli Star FC job, as it was at a similar level to where I was before, but the Al-Salaam FC job would be a step up, so I didn't know whether it would go to someone more qualified.




I thought about taking the Aweli Star FC job immediately, but decided it best to gamble and ask for a delay, and hold out for the better job, as the interview went well. Fortunately it paid off!

Al-Salaam FC - South Sudan Football Championship - Season 2018

December 2017 - A new chapter

South Sudan, the newest country in the world, only coming into existence in 2011 following its separation from Sudan is the next stop on my footballing journey, and it's safe to say I haven't been here before! A widely different prospect to Mayotte, South Sudan is landlocked, has a population of 12 million people and is similar in size to both Ukraine and France, although it is bigger than both. The amazing thing about South Sudan, is that over half of the population is under 18, mainly due to the civil war that has been in place since 2013, making it statistically one of the worst places to live on Earth. Finally, unlike most of its neighbours, the people of South Sudan are largely Christian and speak English as a main language.

The city of Wau contains roughly 230,000 people, and the most famous son of Wau is basketball legend Luol Deng. One interesting fact is that the city has a long dry season, with temperatures averaging around 36C, from November-March, before the rainy season from April- August, where most of our matches are played, in temperatures around 32C. We will play home games at the Wau Stadium, a 5,000 seater in the heart of the city.



The South Sudan National Championship (called Sud Soudan Premier League on FM) has an incredibly strange league format. First the 30 teams in the league are split into two groups, A and B, where they play each of the other 14 teams in their group ONCE only (home or away not both). After these games are done (around September/October), the top 5 sides from each group qualify for the next round. In the next round, the ten sides are split into 2 groups of 5 teams. This time each side plays each of the other 4 teams in their group once, and the top team from each final stage group qualifies for the final, where the two group champions play a single leg final. This means that you are going to have to beat the best teams to be crowned champion, which seems fair, just annoying it's done from single fixtures.

The league champions qualify for the Kagame Interclub Cup, contested between select East-African nations, and someone qualifies for the African Champions League, but I'm not certain on who yet as it wasn't the previous year's champion on the current game. It may well be the side that finishes on the most points at the end of the first phase. There is no relegation, and only 3 foreign players are allowed in the playing XI. 3 of 7 substitutes can be used.
There is only one cup competition, the South Sudan National Cup, which follows a basic knockout format. The winners qualify for the African Confederation Cup (Europa League equivalent).

Al-Salaam FC

Al-Salaam FC, otherwise known as Al-Salam, Al-Salam Wau and Wau Salaam, were founded in 1968, making them one of South Sudan's oldest domestic sides. The have the nickname "White Dove", and are one of the most successful clubs in South Sudan. They won the inaugural league title in 2012, but the following three editions, including last season, were won by Atlabara, who are clearly our biggest threat for the title. (some seasons weren't played). Last season the side scraped through the first stage, finishing 4th, before ending up 4th again in the final stage, and going out of the competition here with only one victory.
.
They did end up as cup runners-up however, beating Atlabara in the semi-finals on the way, the only domestic side to do so all season.

Next update I will evaluate personnel, recruit a backroom team and look at a suitable formation to use and start looking at transfers to fit in with my system.

The leagues aren't there (or I can't find them), through that search.

I am using Claassen's updates so maybe he's put them in himself - I can't find them on editor.

Odd that they aren't there though, since the database contains teams from those nations, just not the actual competitions?

Do you know of any way around this (i.e. a bypass for not putting in a league?), or am I just going to have to not add seasons to this career?

Thanks for your time

I'm trying to add a season to my career, and I get the following problem.



My basic issue is that I cannot add my season to my career as there are no options for the leagues, and if I try to add it without a league, it tells me I can't.

There are leagues available for the majority of nations, even the obscure Oceanian ones that I have managed in previously, but there do not seem to be any options for many of the African countries (looked at Mayotte, Djibouti,Mauritius and Mauritania to see if just one or two were missing).

Is there any way that this could be rectified, and if not, any way that I could still add my season without the league being present?

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

November 2017 - Cup Number Two?

Only three shots on target over the whole match, one for them and two for us, but they made theirs count from the penalty spot. A very disappointing and meek way to exit the Mayotte Cup, compared with an excellent and exciting season.

End Of Season Summary

Player Stats

No real surprises as to who the fans thought our best player was, with Aman Kidane carrying the side in terms of goals scored, with a decent contribution from Pastor and Dikoumana,
A lack of injuries in key positions, mainly MC and DC were key to our success, with Otieno, Pastor, Bertrand and Delanys all performing considerably better than their replacements (Abadie, Blanc and Montorsi).

Sadly, as I hadn't loaded up the French league, winning the Mayotte French Cup was for nothing, as the Coupe de France fixtures weren't scheduled which is a shame, but overall a massively successful first season with both league and cup won!

Decision Time

Should I stay or should I go? Whilst I'd love another season with a club I've become attached to, and feel like I could win the league and maybe multiple cups again, as well as having the Indian Ocean Champions Cup to look forward to, the purpose of this save is not to linger.

My options if I choose to leave now, are either in South Sudan or Djibouti. Now the South Sudan season is coming to a climax, with jobs only available at lesser sides who are already out, and if I am to leave now, I'd want it to be to a place with immediate football, else I might as well stay put until an opportunity arises.
So in Djibouti, there are 3 current jobs available, at the sides predicted to finish 7th, 8th and 10th (of 10)

FC Dikhil - Predicted finish: 8th. Currently: 6th (W1, L1). Expectations: Mid-table

Arta/SIHD - Predicted finish: 7th. Currently: 9th (L2). Expectations: Clear of Relegation

Arhiba - Predicted finish: 10th. Currently: 4th (W1, D1). Expectations: Clear of Relegation.

I am unsure what to do at the moment with these options, as I could either take one of these clubs on for a bit to build my reputation in Djiboutienne football, as realistically I'm not going to win the league with any of these sides next season, but could do well then take a better job (Djibouti Telecom have won each of the previous 5 titles) if it came about. Or I could sit with ASC Abeilles for a little longer and see if something better comes up either here or in South Sudan, but I'd then be risking losing time in the save until another job even comes up since I've already conquered Mayotte.

Wow, I'd be furious after conceding that many late goals. Promising signs though since you were within moments of taking 4 points off two of the top five! I have a slightly vested interest in your success as a previous manager of Nykobing FC, so I hope you draw with them and beat everyone else . Nothing would make me happier to see you relegate the cursed Fremad Amager in particular. Will be following closely, keep up the good work!

Thank you @r96Skinner! If only every job I get could go this smoothly!

Thanks for the support @bigmattb28, I'd definitely like to add at least one more piece of silverware to the cabinet!

Cheers @Suffolk Seasider, hopefully at least one and then maybe a run in the Coupe de France if I've set the database up alright!

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

October 2017 - A double header against the twins

Funny how our pair of matches are against the side meaning "twins", was clearly always meant to be!

Now the Mayotte French Cup takes place whilst the Mayotte National Team are also playing, meaning that the grand final, played in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 at the Stade de Cavani, will be missing SIX of the league's best players (conveniently 5 from my side).

So they are missing their strongest player in Gabriel Nyangweso, whilst we are missing first teamers Esayas (GK), Delanys and Bertrand (both CB), assist king Moulin (AMR), and club captain Dikoumana (AMC/L). So missing the defensive core and attacking flair of my team, with Kidane only just back, but recommended not to play, I'm going to have to roll the dice and start him. Replacing the 5 players who have made 130 out of a possible 140 appearances between them, are Ibrahim Montorsi and Pierre Bucumi (CBs), Valentin Otieno (GK) and recent youth academy gradates Tuuryare Zinabu (AMC) and Behaile-haile Lecaze (STC/AMR).who have 3 starts and 20 total appearances between them (with Montorsi having 14 of them).

This is the least confident I have felt going into a game, let alone a cup final.



Zinabu got us off to a flying start on his full debut. arrowing a shot into the bottom corner after just 2 minutes. However Jumeaux came back into the game, and Gabin Berahino turned it on its head either side of the break, his second an excellent long range bobbling shot into the bottom right corner. Pastor blazed over from close range when 1 on 1, and Kidane hit the post, but we did finally get our equaliser when Kidane converted from the spot after Montorsi was fouled. Neither side could break the deadlock, so the game went to overtime, and when Solomon was held in the box at a set play, it was left to 16 year old Behaile-haile Lecaze to keep his cool and send the bees fans into raptures! Jumeaux never threatened after we went ahead, so we held on for a first cup win since 2011!!!



Business as usual for the Semi-Final, with all players back from international commitments.



We had the better of the first half, but 12 shots only yielded one on target, the same amount as Jumeaux managed from their one shot. Mulugeta Bigirimana broke the deadlock after an hour with only Jumeaux's second effort on target as they countered. However as time marched on we wouldn't just accept our fate, that man Pastor levelling from 25 yards with just 5 minutes to play. But it wasn't to be, with Michael Getu sealing victory for Jumeaux as added time was almost up. We probably deserved more, but wasteful finishing our downfall once again. It would've been harsh for Jumeaux to have come away with nothing from either game, so good luck to them!

P2 W1 D0 L1 GF4 GA4 PTS n/a

One cup competition won, and now only one to go. We face FC Majicavo Koropa (a) in the Quarter Final of the Mayotte Cup, as well as the two potential following rounds. It will be interesting to see whether we will take part in the Coupe de France, as this should be drawn in early November to mirror real life. Regardless of our results from now, one cup won and the league is a highly successful season by anyone's standards!

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

September 2017 - To Bee, or not to Bee?

With a place in our first final on the line, we started strongly, with the in-form Baptiste Otieno blasting home another scorcher from 22 yards to give us the advantage. Rosador were up for the fight, with Alex Perrier equalising on the counter following some slack defending. Aman Kidane's towering header was enough to give us our first victory over AS Rosador, and see us into the final, but he added a third in the dying seconds on the counter as Rosador were desperately pushing for an equaliser.

We will face AS Jumeaux in the final of the Mayotte French Cup in October at the 5,000 seater Stade Cavani after they won their semi-final 7-0!

Huge news from the AS Rosador vs Foudre 2000 game, Rosador won 3-2! This means that going into our game in hand, we are already 1 point ahead of Foudre, and 2 ahead of Jumeaux and Rosador, so could open up a 5 point gap at the top with victory (or even a 2 point gap with a loss).



With first choice centre-back Delanys suspended, we had to give a debut to untested CB Pierre Bucumi, who became the 20th player I have used this season. We were largely dominated throughout the match, and I began to see how this was the side tipped to finish second, but their wasteful finishing explained how they had so badly under-performed this season. This was highlighted further when Cedric Bernard swept home from a corner following up on a saved shot 10 minutes from time. We finished strongly, making the stats more palatable, but got the 4 points in a game we had no right to.



Birhanu Pastor, the go-to guy for big goals, picked up the opener against our bogey team. They continued to frustrate us and offered us up an even contest, but we held them off well. That was until the 92nd minute, when Bryan Geza headed home after a two man counter-attack to split the points. I suppose it had to come at some point after 9 wins in a row in all competitions, but with Foudre, Rosador and Jumeaux all winning, our margin for error has shrunk.



The Mayotte Cup was an unwelcome distraction to the title run-in, but if we could inflict defeat on Foudre, perhaps it would impact them psychologically. And it was that man Pastor who got the opener again following a slick team move. Shortly after he turned provider, sending through Ludovic Charmake on goal, and he kept his cool to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes. Goma Alebachew pulled one back as Owoko kept the ball for too long in defence, but Moulin increased the lead back to two goals just before the break, actually using his strong foot to score for the first time this season! We dominated the second half, but good defending and saves kept the score to 3-1.

Our quarter final opponents are FC Majicavo Koropa (h) in November - useful.
Going into our game against ASJ Handrema, we know that 6 points will guarantee us the title, but 5 points will be enough because of our superior goal difference. Since you get 1 point for a loss, a win here should seal the title. Foudre 2000 also play against AS Jumeaux, and if Foudre fail to win, we can even afford to lose this game.



ASJ Handrema typically keep games tight and never lose by much, so we would have to be at our best here if we wanted a victory. Aman Kidane going off on a stretcher after 3 minutes was a bad start to the match, but Mr.Clutch, Birhanu Pastor was on hand to give us the lead after Moulin had hit the post. It turned out to be the only goal of the game despite our constant pressure, with poor finishing to blame once again. It seems fitting that the player who scored the first goal of my managerial career, is also the first player to score what is essentially a title winning goal. Even though Foudre 2000 beat Jumeaux, they can only equal our points total if we lose and they win, and there is an 11 goal swing. Kidane is out for 3-4 weeks.

The other interesting point is the small matter of who will get relegated. AS Neige are already down, and it is now between AS Sada, and Etincelles, with Sada two points ahead currently. Sada play Jumeaux at home, whilst Etincelles host already relegated Neige. I would personally like to see Etincelles survive, as I think they are a stronger side, but they need to win, and hope that Sada don't. If they win by more than one and Sada draw, then they stay up.



The place where it all started, funny how our first league opponents, are also our last. When Charmake got tripped from behind in the box, captain Dikoumana stepped up to roll in his 8th goal of the season. Mohamed Aniley (yes, seriously, don't say it out loud) drilled home a free kick which took a massive deflection to equalise and ruin the party atmosphere. Those were the only two shots on target in a poor first 45 minutes from both sides. My "passionate" team-talk clearly worked, as Dikoumara came out firing in the second half, bagging his second in just under 5 minutes. We were slightly fortunate afterwards, as Majicavo Koropa saw two fine effort hit the woodwork, including one that then rolled along the line before it was hacked clear. But 8 minutes from time, Julien Diebold ensured that we split the points. Matteo Moulin (who I have just noticed is ginger, and therefore is Moulin Rouge) almost stole it at the end, but we will take the two points that see us crowned as champions!

Sadly Etincelles lost to Neige so will be relegated alongside them.

ASC Abeilles - 2017 Mayotte Division Honneur Champions - COME ON YOU BEES

P6 W4 D2 L0 GF11 GA5 PTS12

Well we just about managed to scrape over the line in the end, with Foudre 2000 and AS Rosador hot on our heels. A couple of huge results, and massive performances, particularly from Pastor from MC when our strikers goals dried up (I'm looking at you Kidane). One particular fact I'd like to highlight from the league is the success of Moulin as a goal provider, which can go unnoticed at times.

Yet the madness of this nation is nowhere near over, with October seeing us face AS Jumeaux in the Mayotte French Cup final (N) and then three days later in the Mayotte League Cup Semi Final (h). I'm going to stay on here until the competitive season finishes and then evaluate my position.

@Suffolk Seasider Buses used to be the bane of my existence, so any chance to ridicule them!
Potentially three further rounds (QF, SF, F) as well as the SF and F of the Mayotte League Cup and potentially the final of the Mayotte French Cup, and then the potential games in the Coupe de France earned by winning the Mayotte French cup.

Quick update

I have an inconsiderate partner who tries to clean up after me, and has inadvertently shut down my game before I had chance to save. Fortunately I auto-save once every two weeks, but have lost the AS Sada and Etincelles league games, as well as the ASC Kaweni League Cup Quarter Final.

I have replayed those games, ensuring that the same results happened for each side in the top 4 in the league, (the rest is slightly irrelevant) so each side has the same number of points after 18 games that they did before, and most have the same goal difference (myself and Foudre 2000). Obviously I didn't feel like replaying until all the results were the same and I beat AS Sada 6-4, so the result was 3-1 to me, and the Etincelles result ended up 3-1 again anyway. The only way it has slightly affected the league is the top scorer battle, as on the old file, Kidane was on 17, with the top scorer on 18, and now he is on 15, with the top scorer on 20, so it's unlikely he'll win that now.

I replayed the League Cup fixture and won 1-0, but as the draw is random every time, I will now play AS Jumeaux at home, with the other semi-final being between FC Labbatoir (who knocked out Foudre) and AS Neige. So I am still playing a top side, and will potentially play a weaker team in the final.

Hopefully this doesn't irritate anyone too much as I have tried to replicate it as similarly as is possible.
New table and results below.

@r96Skinner and @bigmattb28 After doing a little bit of research it should all link up, with the winners of the cup going into round 7 of the coupe de france, and I am using claassen's database.
I have two slight concerns, one of which is that I haven't loaded the french leagues as playable, so don't know whether that will affect the scheduling for the competition (as in whether it will actually run as it should), but I am playing with all of claassen's adjustments. If it doesn't work then it's poor planning on my part, as I would've liked to have seen how far I could get! My second concern, is that when looking at the rules for the final, it doesn't say that you qualify for anything else, and when compared to the real life version, the dates don't match up (its all about two months too early on FM), but we will have to see!

@Suffolk Seasider I'm glad you're enjoying it, you should see plenty of obscure countries with this save!

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

August 2017 - The Battle of the Bees, Twins and Lightning

Kidane got our crucial month off to the best of starts as he rounded the keeper to score after just 72 seconds against his old club. Matteo Moulin doubled our advantage twenty minutes later with a cute placed finish to give us some breathing room. It was Kidane however who had the final word, as the two goalscorers combined to complete a dominant display which saw Jumeaux only manage one shot in total (which was off target).



Foudre had only conceded 12 in their first 15 games, including the 5 in one game against me, and we had only conceded 15 in 15, including the 7 in our 7-7 draw, so this was likely to be a tight, low scoring affair. Neither side could afford to lose, whilst a draw would let AS Rosador back in to the title race if they won their match. It was Boniface Dikoumana who kept his nerve to drill home a low 30 yard free-kick to give us an early advantage. However we then lost both Dikoumana and Solomon to injury as we had to make two early substitutions, before Elie Egueh Yacin headed home a free-kick on the stroke of half time with Foudre's first effort of note to equalise. Aman Kidane decided that one direct free-kick was not enough for one day, as his blasted shot from the edge of the D twenty minutes from time was enough to seal the victory thanks to the heroics of Esayas in our goal, making his only save of the game to deflect the ball onto the bar in the dying seconds.
We are now top of the league for the first time since mid-May
Fortunately we now have a break in our league fixtures for a few weeks to calm down from the euphoria. The only downside being Dikoumana's injury has taken him out until September.



The major disappointment going into the fixture, was that their best player Cedric Akinakimana was out injured, as was their other first team striker, so it ended up being a one-way affair. Matteo Moulin got us underway in the league cup, firing home from Charmake's cross. Then in the second half, Swedi Timonah scored a classic FM own goal, as his backpass missed his goalkeeper and trickled in. Birhanu Pastor finished off the rout as he headed home from a corner late on. It shows how much one player can affect a side, as the team that put 7 past us, failed to have a shot without Akinakimana.

Our opponents in the quarters of the League Cup are ASC Kaweni (a), which will be played at the end of the month and will be a chance for revenge as they beat us previously.
We also found out our opponents in the First Round of our final cup competition - the Mayotte Cup - Foudre 2000 away! As if we could've had a worse draw, but you have to beat the best at some point!



Moulin opened the scoring with his 3rd of the season - all left-footed, which is bizarre since that's his weak foot. The 4 points were all but sealed after just 4 minutes when Baptiste Otieno floated a shot into the top right corner and then immediately doubled his personal tally to make it 3-0. Kidane's 19th in all competitions made it 4-0 after just 8 minutes before Sylvain Njoroge pulled back a consolation goal that we were disappointed to needlessly concede. More poor defending from both centre-backs allowed Peter Ali to make it 4-2 just before the break. We increased our advantage after the break, when a Sada defender's clearance off the line rebounded in off the back of keeper Arthur Foucher, but Peter Ali made it 5-3 with their third shot of the match, and 5-4 with their fourth, Ali collecting his hat-trick. A final goal did go in, but fortunately for us, as Moulin collected his second of the day to make it 6-4, again with his left foot! Another truly crazy game.

Going into the final five leagues game of the season, the title run-in was analysed, and the results make good reading for us, as each of Foudre 2000, AS Rosador and AS Jumeaux, still have to play each other, so are more likely to drop points. The only thing going against us is that we are still in four different competitions so will have major fixture congestion.




After drawing 0-0 with them last time, we really couldn't afford to slip up against Etincelles again, but they continued to frustrate us. Charmake, on from the bench, had the ball in the net after 65 minutes, but it was disallowed for a push. Going into the final 15 minutes, I rolled the dice, sacrificing one of our centre-backs for a second striker in the form of Danny Simon, and it paid off, with Simon netting for the first time since April the 8th! He then acted like a British bus by scoring 10 minutes later and Kidane netted his 20th of the season in added time to put gloss on an important victory.




No surprises for guessing who scored our first - Kidane following some poor defensive play and he then doubled his tally after 15 minutes with a rasping shot from the edge of the box. Jackson Rey pulled one back from the spot after Solomon gave away a penalty. Jacques Charlet's looping header deservedly tied things up in the second half, so the game went to penalties. Each side scored their first, then Otieno saw his penalty saved for us, leaving Kaweni 2-1 up. However Cyprien Tesfaye smashed the very next penalty against the bar, and we scored, leaving it 2-2 after 3 penalties each. The next two players for each side scored, leaving it 4-4 and in sudden death. Goalscorer Charlet stepped up for Kaweni, but blazed his penalty over, leaving Pastor to place his penalty into the corner off the post to give us a 5-4 win on penalties after 6 spot kicks each!
Jumeaux also beat Rosador, which is excellent news as Jumeaux are probably too far away to challenge, but Rosador were on the charge with 6 victories in a row.

Now for some good news, and some bad news. Bad - we have been drawn away to Foudre 2000 in the semi finals, but if we win, we will face second tier opposition in the final, as both sides in the other semi are from the lower division - good.

The transfer window finally closed, and we retained all of our key players (somehow, I think I must've renegotiated deals for everyone in my first team). We lost some squad players, but I've never particularly mentioned them, so won't post an image as we haven't signed anyone and this is already a large post.

P6 W6 D0 L0 GF19 GA8 PTS16

August very well may be the month that helps us clinch the title, as 4 back to back league wins has helped us reach the top of the table, clear of Foudre 2000 by 2 points. This means that if we can win our final 4 games, or realistically win 3 and draw 1 given our far superior goal difference, no-one can stop us from taking the title. If we better Foudre's results and pick up at least 2 wins of our 4 games, we will be league champions at the first time of asking!
September sees another congested month, with the big Mayotte French Cup semi-final against AS Rosador (a), the only side I haven't beaten so far, followed by huge league fixtures against FC Mtsapere (h) and bogey side ASC Kaweni (a). If I can get through those still top of the table, I feel we should win the league. We then face Foudre 2000 (a) in the first round of the Mayotte Cup (a tie I need to win in order to meet expectations), before finishing with our final two league fixtures, ASJ Handrema (h) and Majicavo Koropa (h). I'd be annoyed to not win the league from this position.

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

June/July 2017 - A first taste of the cup

The first exciting news, is that three of our players have been rewarded for their fine form and have been called up internationally by Mayotte to make their debuts in June! They include top-scorer Aman Kidane, who turned 17 just 3 days ago.


Our opponents for the first round of the Mayotte French Cup will be ASJ Handrema at home, a favourable draw. In terms of transfers, we have already had to hold off the advances of Foudre 2000 for Moulin and Owoko, AS Kaweni for Baptiste Otieno , AS Neige for Israel Issa and Mtsapere for teenage sensation Charmake, all first team players. I have also let Adissu Diarra go on a free as he was kicking up a fuss and won't ever get in the team over Dikoumana and Charmake.


Not a good set of fixtures against our U19's, but at least fitness has been maintained, and Moulin has been performing well following his injury layoff.



We needed to win this game to meet competition expectations, and beat them 2-0 last time we faced them. Last time it was Kidane who put us 1-0 up in the first half, and he did so again, this time from the spot, as Cedric Betrand was fouled from a set play. Kidane himself got brought down in the box at the start of the second half, but tried blasting it down the middle again, this time only finding the keeper. Fortunately we did get those penalties, because if we hadn't I feel that both sides would still even now be looking for a goal. When only two players to score more than a 6.7 (RB Owoko 7.0 and GK Esayas 6.9), you know it is a game to forget, but we still did the job!

The footballing gods have been kind to us, and given us second tier FC Labbatoir at home in the Quarter Finals in a weeks time! Come on you bees!



The only thing that slightly worried me before the match was seeing Duncan Debebe lining up for Labbatoir after he inflicted my only defeat so far whilst playing for Kaweni. Tariku Solomon put us in control early with a bobbling shot from the edge of the box, and Aman Kidane once again doubled our advantage, before combining with Solomon to grab our third. Gier Gatkuoth pulled one back from the spot before the break, but we march on to the semis in September.

Shortly after the match I found out that I passed my National C coaching licence, and have been approved to get my National B licence!



I also found out our opponents in the Mayotte French Cup Semis....... - AS Rosador at home - what a tie that'll be! Talking of AS Rosador at home, here's a taster of what that Semi-Final might look like.



It wasn't a good start, as league top scorer Jean-Yves Ahmed Djama picked up his 16th of the campaign, and only got worse as Alexandre Delanys' penalty was saved following Kidane being brought down from behind by the last man. The rest of the game went by reasonably uneventfully, with Kidane hitting the bar from 3 yards out our only other clear cut chance. The only saving grace to our second defeat is that Foudre 2000 were held to a draw.



This one got off to a better start however, with Aman Kidane heading home his 12th league goal after just 3 minutes. Youth academy product Cedric Bertrand grabbed his first career goal to double our advantage, before Dikoumana added a third before the break to put the game out of the snowmen's reach. Even better news as Foudre were held once again, this time by Mtsapere.

P4 W3 D0 L1 GF7 GA2 PTS5

Very fortunate that Foudre 2000 have slipped up as badly as we have, so despite only our second league loss, we are now only a point off the top, meaning our destiny is still in our own hands. The general quality of our play has slipped over the last month, so that needs to be addressed with some squad rotation, I have only used 18 players so far.
Although positive results in August won't win us the league, negative ones could lose us it, so the 4 league games we will play are going to be crucial with some real 8 pointers in there. The two biggest game are our first ones, with AS Jumeaux (h), who have just won back to back games 4-0 and 5-0 respectively and can overtake us with a victory, and then leaders Foudre 2000 (a) who I beat 5-1 in the reverse fixture, but I can't see it being that easy again with top spot on the line and them unbeaten in the 8 matches since we last played them. Then comes the league cup 1st round against the Black Devils (a) , which is always a fun fixture, before we finish the month off to AS Sada (h) and Etincelles (a) who I cannot afford to drop points to this time around.

Wow, surely that's got to be a bug? Don't think I've ever seen someone get sacked after winning a game before (even if it was on penalties). Would be fun to see you take over another club in the Chinese Super League to exact some much deserved revenge over that Guangzhou board!

@r96Skinner I honestly can't remember ever having such a high scoring draw in my 13 seasons of playing Football Manager. Sadly I think there is very little room for errors at the top in this league and the odd goal here or there will decide it in the end, but that's half the fun! Big game against Rosador in my next update.

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

May 2017 - Bees vs Black Devils II - Another Goalfest?

Aman Kidane's 7th of the season took less than a minute following a swift counter attack, and his 8th followed just after the half hour mark. Sadly Matteo Moulin was stretchered off for the second game running before the break, but that didn't stop Kidane, who collected the match ball just after an hour had been played. Kidane still wasn't done however, as his lofted free-kick got finished off by substitute Manaye Abadie to make it 4-0.

The even better news is that AS Rosador lost 2-1 to Foudre 2000, leaving us top of the table and as the only undefeated side. Negatively Moulin is out until the July fixtures.



Jacques Charlet shocked the home crowd by drilling home a free kick to put Kaweni 1-0 up inside the first 15 minutes, and when Duncan Debebe doubled their advantage following a slick team move, you'd have thought that they were the ones at the top of the league. Our first loss of the season, to one of the minnows, and it couldn't be more deserved! Fortunately other results have been favourable, so we have only slipped to second.



Kidane got business back to usual with his 10th of the season, following up on Dikoumana's saved free-kick. It was a largely frustrating game, with Handrema's keeper making multiple excellent stops, but Dikoumana doubled the lead himself in the second half with a cool placed finish.

AS Rosador lost to lowly Etincelles, and Foudre 2000 almost drew with AS Jumeaux, but sneaked in a 90th minute winner, which is a shame as we stay second.
Even better news, the day before we are due to play, this happens!

Even though we are only just over halfway through the season, it creates a bit of a cushion between Foudre 2000 and ourselves and the rest of the league.



I fully expect to draw this 0-0 with no chances for either side, just because logic. I thought I was going to immediately be proved wrong when Cedric Bertrand was bundled over in the box after just three minutes, but Dikoumana slammed his spot kick into the crossbar. However it wasn't long before the deadlock was broken, Baptiste Otieno smashed home from 25 yards to give us an early lead. Alexandre Delanys doubled our lead just before the break, as he headed home Charmake's free-kick. A slightly different half-time to the 5-4 in the reverse fixture! We added a third after the break as Maxime Adan's excellent squared ball gave Kidane an easy tap-in for his 11th of the season. Cedric Akanakimana, fresh from scoring 5 past me last time, was kept largely quiet, but scored with the Black Devils' first shot on target after 74 minutes to set up a tense finale. 3-1, hardly another 7-7 is it? How disappointing, but the bees will take the 4 points!

P4 W3 D0 L1 GF9 GA3 PTS13

Another good month, other than the odd slip-up against AS Kaweni, although they then did go and beat AS Rosador straight after. Just over halfway through the season and our fate lies in our own hands, so I can't complain, although I'd like to play Foudre 2000 again soon and end their 6 match winning run. I know three teams are just 6 points behind us both, but I think that's a big enough gap at this stage that no-one should catch us unless they get close to maximum points from here onwards.
Now we won't have any more fixtures for about 6 weeks, and when we do it will be against currently unknown opponents in the Mayotte French Cup 1st Round. We will also have two league fixtures to play at the end of the month, and they are highly significant, as we face AS Rosador (h), who will need a win in order to stay in contention for the title, and AS Neige (a), which should be easier as they have lost 5 on the spin. Before any of these fixtures get played however, the transfer window re-opens on the 9th of June, and runs all the way until August 31st, meaning any number of my top players could get poached! I won't be taking on any new players unless I lose some first, as otherwise I think it'd be unfair, and I believe that the squad I have can win the league. Finally, I will set up regular friendlies against my reserves during the off-season to keep players fit, and will post the results in my next update.

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

April 2017 - Fixture congestion

As Dikoumana only just returned from fitness, I thought it'd be silly risking him against lowly opposition, so he only started on the bench. It was his replacement, Ludovic Charmake, who had been impressing for the U19's, who sent Danny Simon through on goal to collect his second in as many games. The two combined again shortly later, this time with Simon getting bundled over in the box, but he then saw his penalty saved by Yoann Otieno in the AS Neige (meaning snow in English) goal. This spurred the snowmen on, as Jean-Patrick Robin shortly equalised. We pummelled the goal until the break, with Moulin, Charmake and Simon x2 each hitting the woodwork. Otieno in the Neige goal pulled off world class saves to deny Simon, Collins and his namesake Baptiste Otieno in the second half, but it was Tariku Solomon who finally clinched it for us with just under 10 minutes to play.



This saw us take on the surprise early leaders, although they were only a point ahead of us at kickoff. My decision to rest Boniface Dikoumana in the previous game proved to be a good one, as he slotted home Matteo Moulin's cross after just 27 seconds! Gabriel Nyangweso equalised for Jumeaux (twins in English) after a swift counter-attack, but it was Aman Kidane who put us ahead going into the break following Dikoumane's assist. This turned out to be the deciding goal following a dull second half, but a win that sees us go 3rd!

The bad news from the game is that we have lost both top-scorer Aman Kidane, and regular MC/AMC Tariku Solomon for the rest of the month, however Kidane is only lost to a facial laceration, so can play if needed whilst wearing protective gear. Now we face an also unbeaten Foudre 2000 side who are only ahead of us on goal difference currently.



Foudre - meaning Lightning, certainly behaved how their name might suggest, striking down both Romain Owoko and Boniface Dikoumara inside 20 minutes forcing me into two early substitutions. However when Ludovic Charmake was hacked down illegally in the box, centre-back Alexandre Delanys made them pay for their physicality from the spot. When Danny Simon volleyed home Matteo Moulin's superb free kick against his old club, and Baptiste Otieno added a third before the break, the game was almost put out of reach of Foudre 2000. Maxime Adan completed the rout, following Moulin's third assist against his former employers. Ovella Jaffar pulled a consolation goal back as we looked to conserve energy in the second half, but it was Simon and Moulin who combined again for a second time to give a thoroughly comprehensive victory over one of the divisions best, which puts us momentarily top!

Fortunately both injuries shouldn't affect future games as both players were only out for 2-3 days.



You could tell this game was the 4th in the space of ten days for both sides, as the quality, especially of finishing was low throughout. Alexandre Delanys' header against the bar was the only action of the first half, and it took until Ludovic Charmake thundered in after an hour for the deadlock to be broken. Aman Kidane's 6th of the season put further gloss on the scoreline against the poorest side we have faced so far. They finished with 10 men after Jean Claude Bordas fouled Kidane when he was through on goal, and finally managed their first and only shot of the match after 84 minutes (off target).




Top played bottom in the final fixture of the month, but it was difficult to tell who was who in the first half, as our 13 shots only produced one on target due to some excellent blocking, and "Sparks" also had one shot on target. Matteo Moulin getting injured didn't help proceedings, but ultimately it was poor finishing and inspired defending, particularly from Honore Manishimwe that kept it goalless.

P5 W4 D1 L0 GF11 GA3 PTS18

An excellent month all told, with victories over the big sides in the league, yet not a month of total wins as then bottom side Etincelles halt us in our tracks. That result saw us slip down to second on goal difference, despite being unbeaten.
May sees us reach the halfway point in the season, the summer break, and another transfer window. Before those things though, we need to face under performing FC Mtsapere (a), who were tipped to come second, then two easier games in ASC Kaweni (h) and ASJ Handrema (a), although Handrema just put 5 past AS Neige. May finishes with a rematch against Diables Noirs (a), our fourth fixture in 10 days, against the side we previously drew against 7-7! Can't see that one being goalless.

Thanks @bigmattb28! That's what I love about these types of saves though, for me its not even about the big leagues (for the first 60 years). I just really enjoy seeing how the structure works in each country, and seeing how easy/difficult the progression is from one country to the next. I think the amazing part is going to some of the war-torn countries that struggle with poverty and everything else, and seeing that football is still such a big part of their culture, as well as it being a fun challenge for me of course!

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

March 2017 - Can you trust the media?

Birhanu Pastor had the honour of getting my career underway towards the end of the first half, slotting home after a scrappy corner on his debut. Danny Simon was impotent in the first half, spurning multiple big chances, so was replaced at the break by Aman Kidane, who repaid my faith by curling in a free kick 20 minutes from time. Boniface Dikoumana sealed a dominant victory from the spot after Matteo Moulin got bundled over. Majicavo didn't even have a shot on target compared to our 9! I guess the media do know what they're talking about!



As Diables Noirs - "The Black Devils" in English, also won their opening fixture, this was a battle to see who could maintain a 100% start. We got off to a flyer in front of a crowd of 19 as both centre-backs combined, with Alexandre Delanys flicking a corner to the far post where Manaye Abadie smashed home the opener after just 2 and a half minutes. The Black Devils hit the bar shortly after, but it was Aman Kidane who doubled our advantage, repaying my faith for starting him. Boniface Dikoumana made it three after 20 minutes from a tight angle, before Sylvain Rousseau pulled one back from a corner moments later. The rapid start wasn't over however, as Birhanu Pastor's deflected shot from the edge of the box immediately restored our 3 goal cushion. Cedric Akanakimana and an Elliot Alemu screamer from 25 yards made it 4-3 just before the break. Then Akanakimana tied things up with another 30 yard blockbuster and completed his hat-trick following us giving away possession in a silly area yet again. Akanakimana wasn't done, and despite making defensive changes he immediately picked up from where he left off after the break, making it 6-4. He still wasn't finished, seemingly putting the game to bed with his 5th at 7-4. Boniface Dikoumana pulled a consolation goal back with 15 to play and Kidane's second made it a nervy final 5 minutes. And the Black Devils couldn't hold out! Kidane completed his hat-trick with only two minutes to play to tie the game up at 7-7! What a game, with football the true winner (and certainly not defending)!

Just before my final group game of the month, the board approve my request to take my National C Coaching License, which should come through in about July




We went into the break 1-0 down (a big change from the previous game), despite dominating. But it was Jean-Yves Ahmad Djama who broke the deadlock as the whistle sounded. The quality of this game was much lower, with both sides clearly affected by this being their third game in a week, but we deservedly equalised through substitute Danny Simon following good defensive work from Baptiste Otieno. We probably should've won had our finishing been clinical, but the major blow was losing Boniface Dikoumana to injury in the final minute of added time.

Dikoumana is out for 3 weeks, which is fortunately about the amount of time until our next fixture!

P3 W1 D2 L0 GF11 GA8 PTS 8

Two very good results in March, with a truly bizarre game in-between has seen us get off to a good start. April sees the crazy league scheduling continue, with 5 fixtures in the opening two weeks, and then another two weeks off. Next month we will play AS Neige (h), AS Jumeaux (a), before taking on current champions Foudre 2000 (h) and finishing the month against AS Sada (a) and Etincelles (h). A much easier month on paper, with Neige, Sada and Etincelles all predicted to finish towards the bottom, and most of them living up to that title. Jumeaux are also predicted to do poorly, but have started well, so that will be an interesting fixture.

Thanks @r96Skinner! I'm going to give it another go now that I have a laptop that can actually function! Hopefully this will mean I can complete this leg, even if it is going to take a long time!! Hope you enjoy

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

February 2017 - The Bees prepare to swarm

With the transfer window finally closed (to be summarised momentarily), attention now turns to preparing for the season, as I need to decide on my best XI and formation, as well as getting my squad up to match fitness through a sequences of friendlies.

Transfer Window Summary

Out

As almost all players in the league are on non-contracts, inevitably some of the top players from each side are poached, as was the case here, with top GK Alex Houhou and first XI RB Franck Nahayo both leaving before I took charge, but the most upsetting part was fighting hard for and losing Hamza Monteiro on deadline day to the champions, despite managing to persuade him to stay twice. Could've been worse.

In

I know - 16 players in on deadline day, I promise I wasn't panicking.......... fine maybe I was.
Too long to go through them all, and they might not all play, but the key names are Danny Simon STC, Maxime Adan and Tariku Solomon, both AMC/MC, Abay Getahun Esayas GK and Alexandre Delanys CB, all of whom join Moulin, Dikoumana and Owoko as surefire starters. This leaves LB, one CB and one CM slot as my weak areas, but with plenty of players who can now play there, hopefully some competition will inspire excellent performances to nail down the last slots.

Since the league, and teams within it, have no money, no-one would accept a friendly against us, meaning we had to train against our U19's repeatedly for fitness and chemistry to build. Here are the results:

A decent enough set of results, just highlighting defensive frailty, which I was aware of. Expect a lot of goalfests this season!

With the season almost upon us, it is time to review our expectations for the upcoming season

So we are expected to come in the top-half, and reach the quarters of all three cups, with a wage budget of £110pw? Sounds fun - bearing in mind I earn exactly the same amount!

However, following our highly successful transfer window, the predictions for the league are as follows:

Which sees us become narrow favourites for the title, which is my ambition with this club this season anyway, so it should be a close-run thing!

March sees us start playing competitive football in the league, with three quickfire fixtures against FC Majicavo Koropa (a), Diables Noirs (h) and AS Rosador (a). I then get three weeks to rest players until April. A reasonably challenging start should see how realistic our title credentials really are, as both of our away games are against teams predicted to be challenging with me (4th and 3rd predicted respectively).

The Ultimate Journeyman Challenge - Second Leg - Africa

As I start my second stage, once again completely unqualified and at the bottom of the pyramid, I have three choices of places to begin my journey:
Tier 19
55) Djibouti
56) South Sudan
57) Mayotte



Looking at the leagues, as both the Mayotte and South Sudan leagues run from February/March - September and the Djibouti league runs from October - May, it would make sense to start in one of the first two, in order to try and complete Tier 19 by the end of 2017! Because of this, I have started my career in January 2017.
After a quick glance, I applied for a couple of jobs and waited to see who would get back to me first.

ASC Abeilles - Mayotte Division Honneur - Season 2017

January 2017 - The sequel begins

The answer is ASC Abeilles, from M'tsamboro on the tropical island of Mayotte. Mayotte itself is a overseas region of France, so the majority of the 250,000 population speak at least some French. The country is largely split over two densely populated islands, Maore - main island, and Pamzani - small island, but there are other populated islands on the archipelago.

The region of M'tsamboro contains roughly 8,000 people, and is mainly known for a booming fishing trade and the production of oranges, in addition to the coral reef tourism. Our home games will be played at the Stade n'guizi ya gnochi, a 2,200 seater, so a pretty large stadium at this early stage if a quarter of the region could all attend at once. However with only 62 season ticket holders, even at a price of £0!, I can't imagine that we will ever get close to being full.

The pitch isn't bad for this standard of league, but is incredibly dry and cracked.


The Mayotte Division Honneur format is an incredibly simple one, with each of the twelve teams in the league playing each other both home and away once each until 22 games have been played. After 22 games have passed, the top side wins the league and qualifies for the following seasons Indian Ocean Champions Cup. The bottom two sides get relegated. There are no player restrictions and 3 of 5 substitutes are used in each game. The only slightly odd thing is that it's 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, and 1 for a loss!
There are also three cup competitions, the Mayotte French Cup , the Mayotte Cupand the Mayotte League Cup

ASC Abeilles

ASC Abeilles - literally translating as ASC Bees, or ASC Honey Bees, were founded in 1981, making them one of the oldest clubs on Mayotte. This is further proven by the fact that the league wasn't even formed until 1990. In terms of club history, they have had one golden spell in 2011, where their solitary league and Mayotte French Cup titles. The league, since its formation, has been dominated by AS Rosador and FC Mtsapere, who have won 11 and 8 of the 27 editions respectively, with no-one else winning more than 3. Having said that, Foudre 2000 won last seasons title, so will be a threat also.

Finally, in terms of personnel, the star players in my possession are Matteo Moulin AMR, Boniface Dikoumana AML, Hamza Monteiro DL/C and Romain Owoko DR who have all got 5 star quality, so I need to play a wide 4-2-3-1 to maximise the effectiveness of these players. I currently am in need of a GK, two CB's, two DM/MC's and at least one STC, and only have five days until the end of the window - wish me luck!!