Subject: U17 national team

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the state of things this season with the U17s. It's certainly been a tough season! The lower sponsorships for Aussie teams really hurt us, as many teams had to get rid of their youngsters to save cash. Several of our top players got sold to low facility or starting teams and are effectively lost as NT players. Also, we had a small selection to start with, so each loss really hurt us.

The good news, though, is that FC Kangaroo and Tylko Legia are stepping up to fill some of the gaps. In a couple of seasons, they should have really strong facilities for the future National Teams!

In the end, this is my worst performance as a manager so far. Each match now is a battle to keep us in the PPM Challenge Cup. (We are still qualifying, but barely!)

Anyway, I'm busy organising the roster for next season. I've chosen replacements for the "lost" players, and while not as good, they should tide us over.

The only position I can't fill is the Goalie position. If anyone knows of a 16yr old goalie, please let me know! (At this stage, I am filling it with a 15yr old--16 next season--for lack of options!)

For the first time in years my team is now 100% Australian players - I did have to cull a few older/expensive players... (local players cost less) but still have to clear more next season, but going to wait for my youngsters to get a bit better before selling a few more.

Pretty much income = expenses this year but will improve - staff costs on the way down after contracts run out... had to do something - lucky I had $50m in the bank to cope with bad weeks.

Yeah, I can't blame any of the high facility Aussie managers, who have still been keeping youngsters for the national teams, even with the crunch in sponsorships.

I am *very* grateful to you and Crico and Trueblue for almost single-handedly holding up the NT players, particularly at the U17 level!

There's not a whole lot that can be done by individual teams (especially when sponsorships drop that much!). I was trying to share the state of things with the U17s, not complain about managers like yourself who are doing an amazing job!

It'll be tough for the U20s as well, I imagine, when this cohort grow older. But then it should get better with extra depth from teams raising their facilities!

yeah, that's basically what I have realized while ago when I have seen u following crico... buying great players might be a little bit cheaper for economy of my team however with small base of local teams it kills the national ones

And...we got smashed, 4-0 by a much stronger Croatia. This was our final World Cup qualifying match. There is still one more friendly before the PPM Challenge Cup, and hopefully we will manage to stay in the top 48 to qualify!

Match report:
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Phew! We made it, just barely, into the PPM Challenge Cup! Yay! We are in group A:

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Hopefully, we can gain a few points and finish with a more respectable season!

Let's go!

Yay! We beat Canada 1-0!

Hopefully, we can extend this success to the PPM Challenge Cup! (nevermind that it was a 90th minute penalty kick... )

Match report:
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Congratulations

Good job! Hopefully we can last as long as possible!

Woo-hoo! We just won 1-0 away against Turkey!

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Congratulations! Nice win!

And... we continue the PPM Challenge Cup with a scoreless draw against Ireland. Here is the match report:

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It was unlucky match. Higher team strength, higher ball possession but zero shots on target... Interesting...

A 1-1 draw is enough to see us through to the quarterfinals! Yay!!

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