Asunto: Israel U20

I was in the hospital last week so let me comment both games right now So Paraguay... They are 20 points weaker in team strength rating.

PARAGUAY 0:1 ISRAEL
I don't remember why I set 2CF (I should write it immediately after the game next time ), because their side defenders are placed to the center and more to the midfield. We started 3-5-2 with some small position changes in the first half (in CM sector). There was a 3-4-3 switch at the half time (in case of not leading) with 1 LF. This made finally the difference. We overshooted our opponent 14-3 in total. That was remarkable considering playing away. And notice 60% ball possesion as well! Amazing! We also produced more shots on the goal than wide. I was a bit worried of using 5 midfielders (because we didn't profit from this playing style last season). It's better this season, we didn't score only because of my small mistake, that I didn't use wing forwards.

ISRAEL 3:0 PARAGUAY
Their manager cannot speak English (or I just hope so ) so I can write my plans here. I wanted to leave our strategy, squad,... everything without changes because I wanted to see if their manager is flexible enough to change HIS strategy And he is NOT So the comment is the same, the final blow came with the LF in the second half. One interesting fact, Reuven Shevet was in both matches without any work. Paraguay didn't shot on goal There is only one black spot on our brilliant report - we had many many shots wide. But because we scored three times from 5 shots on goal, I cannot be more satisfied

Next week we are traveling to Italy. They are world's #4, so beating "squadra azzura" would grant a huge ammount of points. Here we go!

ITALY 0:0 ISRAEL
soccer.powerplaymanager.c...
Just a short review It was set very defensively (4-5-1). Italians used to play 2 different squad & tactics - from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2. I expected 3-5-2 because of playing home (but they used finally 4-4-2). They had 6 subtitutions at the half time (so they were a bit weaker in the 2nd half). We didn't advantage from better ball possesion (but that was mainly because of 4-5-1 and I haven't balls to change it ). Draw is acceptable (but nothing extra considering energy loss). I'm going to think about upcoming game against Romania.

PS. Actually we have more points in this season than the Czech republic U20. Hurray!

ROMANIA 0:1 ISRAEL
I used 4-4-2 deeply focused at the centre. I estimated 4-4-2 focused on wings with ofensive wing midfielders and defenders as well. They surprised me (but only mildly) with 4-4-2 and defenders focused at the centre. So we played 0:0 in the first half, but with 4-4-2 -> 4-3-3 switch comes attacking change M -> LM as well. In 53' we scored from the LF sector (Hannoh Rozenshtein).

To sum up our preparation - we loss no more than 2 energy (which equals about 20 OR) and earn 1604 points to the world's ranking table! Only 7 teams in the world have better preparation and earn more points We are now #47, but it is not the end, we have to add some points to put us in a better position for the next qualifying cycle.

I am gonna publish the qualifiers preview during this week (hope I will have enough time for it).

great work....good score ranking!!!

Thanks
It was a mistake to focus on the qualifying last season, we had weaker team than now, we should rather focus on hunting points and qualify at the PPM Challenge Cup. All I can do this season is to correct it... Because passing the qualifying group is 99% gone. But according to my calculations, if we win all 7 matches we will have 3*7+2=23 and that is enough to qualify

The Qualifying PREVIEW (part 1/2)

ISRAEL
avg OR: 1074
top 11*: 1210
team strength**: 136
record: 6-1-0
score: 9-1
energy: 98

* - the average OR of 11 best players
** - the highest number from all matches this season

====================================

1. PARAGUAY, 27.6., home
avg OR: 1025 (-49)***
top 11: 1153 (-57)
team strength: 120 (-16)
record: 1-1-5
score: 5-19
energy: 98-99

*** - comparison with our team

Last season:
Paraguay 0:0 Israel

This season friendly:
Paraguay 0:1 Israel
Israel 3:0 Paraguay

Estimated chance of winning: 65%

-----------------------------------

2. TURKEY, 4.7., away
avg OR: 1316 (+242)
top 11: 1432 (+222)
team strength: 141 (+5)
record: 4-0-2
score: 12-8
energy: 100

Last season:
Israel 2:3 Turkey

Estimated chance of winning: 40%

-----------------------------------

3. MOLDOVA, 11.7., away
avg OR: 1095 (+21)
top 11: 1224 (+222)
team strength: 120 (-16)
record: 3-1-3
score: 11-17
energy: 99

Last season:
Israel 1:2 Moldova

Estimated chance of winning: 50%

====================================

That's all for now. I will be satisfied with 7 points from theese 3 matches.

Damn Paraguay! It should have been at least 5-0! We had bigger team strength (137-122), playing home and they used only low importance level! But in the first half (considering 63% ball possesion) we shot only 2 times on the goal! I am satisfied with the result but fed up with the play. But only the result counts and we started well. Let's confirm that against Turkey!

Turkey 1:2 Israel!
They used to play with LD focused at the centre, so we used right wing and long passes into this sector. It brought us success, we scored twice before their 55' substitution switching from 4-4-2 to a very offensive 3-4-3 (with RAM and LAM). Our defense worked well, they only corrected the score to 1:2 and we stole 3 points there! That was nice away match, although not having a ball possesion advantage, we were because of our strategy more efficient. Very nice!

I forgot to write review here, so...
Moldova 4:0 Israel
Hard to analyse... I don't think it was set too bad, defense should be focused at the centre we lost our CD sector, but we had huge advantage in LM where I wanted to play forwards. But have a look at the shooting statistics - 0:10 on goal, 3:17 in total.

Austria will be probably playing on normal importance, that would provide us two levels advantage + playing home + their defensive 4-5-1 setup. We left Moldova, we are focusing on our next match.

Israel 1:1 Austria
Everything went according to my plan except the result - Austria played 4-5-1 on 3/5 importance level. Their RM has rating only 12, so it was obvious to play on this side of field. I choosed long passes but I think normal style would have done the job as well. Notice the crucial difference in ball possesion in or LM sector - 13.81:7.81. During the first half our opponent didn't shoot on goal and we scored one from 5 attempts. The second half was weaker from us, they scored once as well and although our all-in risk in the end of the game, we ended with 1:1 draw.

We are now #46 with 2802 points won this season. But have a look here prntscr.com/7vzkdr . This table shows the current ranking table but after this season. We would be #48 with 340 points ahead of Scotland.

And I am going to candidate for the next season. My candidacy speech is here: soccer.powerplaymanager.c...

I would also like you to vote for k33 (his candidacy will appear in several hours) in U17 elections. He's the current assistant of jonnty is from Czech republic as well so we can easily cooperate between the U20 and U17 team.

Israel 0:1 Ukraine
We used the same tactic as against Austria but with RF instead of LF. Quite surprisingly they used 4/5 importance level, what's more in the 2nd half they played 5/5! But it was 0:0 at the half time, the game was balanced. After importance raising they became better and scored once. But nice game considering that Ukraine is 40 points better in the team strenght, unfortunately they didn't save energy with us (a bit illogical I think).

Player k33, current assistant of U17 manager jonnty, is candidating for the U17 manager for the next season. Please read his speech here:
http://soccer.powerplaymanager.com/cs/volby.html?data=isr-18-1-u17-10175

Thanks for reading!

Hello friends!
UEFA Champions League draw and Europa League draw bring us two confrontations between Czech and Israeli football teams.

Tonight, 28th July:
UEFA Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round
Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. - FC Viktoria Plzeň

On Thursday, 30th July:
UEFA Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round
FC Slovan Liberec - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C.

Is anyone going to watch at least one of these matches? Is there a fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv or Kiryat Shmona?

Kiryat Shmona has already faced a Czech team, it was in 2012 in the Group stage of UEFA Europa League against AC Sparta Prague. Sparta won 3:1 at home, and in Israel it was 1:1 draw.

I am not fan of Sparta Prague (big czech rivalry between two Prague teams - Sparta vs. Slavia and I am at the Slavia side), but I really like both Plzeň and Liberec. I hope, they will won their matches!

We've just traveled to Belgium for tonight's qualifying match. Atmosphere in the team is great, but it'll be really tough. Our opponent is still fighting for the 4th place so there is almost no chance to expect 1/5 importance level today. The game review will be published next Saturday, because I am attending an orienteering training camp.