Asunto: U20 Australia NT Discussion

It looks like you have a tough but realistic campaign! Playing Indonesia at home is good news, as they seem pretty evenly matched. However, I wouldn't count on Portugal's loss! If they elect a new manager, they won't be able to touch the new team and add players until after week 2. (You can because you were already added in the middle of the season!)

There will be a new general manager in Portugal! They are voting now. There is one candidate from their 1st league. So they will have team.

They already have the new captain from tomorrow. He will have time to call players on next week.

The U20s were thumped 3-0 by Russia last night.

On a brighter note, I have tried out all but one member of the squad now and have a pretty good idea of who my top team is and who will fit best into each position in case of injury or suspensions.

And for those who were following the discussion about Portugal previously, they have begun this season with three wins and have a better team than us so they add another dimension to our qualification problems. I still think it's possible

It's important to gain experience with the squad. I've also sacrificed some friendlies with the U17s to get a better feel for how the players fare in each position.

Re Portugal: it's too much to expect them to be managerless for two seasons in a row! However, they still need to win three matches more than whatever we manage this season, so we still have a good chance!

The U20s finally recorded their first win of the season with a 3-1 victory over Ireland. It wasn't easy. We were down 1-0 at half-time and didn't get our first goal till the 71st minute. But I'm hoping the win will give the boys some confidence in themselves.

Next week will be the last friendly (against Austria) before the real games start.

Great result!

Despite having two first team members out injured, we recorded a 1-0 win over Indonesia tonight:
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Fantastic!!

Gr8 result!

We've backed up with another win, this time away to India:
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It's a game we were expected to win but it's easy to slip up along the way. The two best teams in our group, France and Germany, both lost unexpectedly overnight. Unfortunately, next week we come up against Germany whoare unlikely to slip up twice in a row but, here's hoping

Congrats on the win!

away win is always tough, and we still have chance to advance

Coming into last night's qualifier against Taiwan, our World Cup qualification hopes were slim. They are now extinguished after losing 3-0, leaving us 8 points behind 4th with two games to go.
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I am hopeful, given the great job Malikas is doing with the U17 team, we might pick up some good youngsters next season. I'm now going to start concentrating on what next season's squad should be.

If anyone is keen to take over the U20s next season, I would be happy to make them assistant for the rest of this season, so they can get a feel for the team. I have nominated as manager for next season and will do it if no one else wants to, but I don't mind handing over the reins. You don't need a huge amount of PPM experience. As long as you understand how the different skills contribute to performance and have a bit of time to scout different players, you should be fine.

We lost 1-0 overnight to Portugal:
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Since we couldn't qualify, I decided to give next year's team some experience and chemistry.