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| XCL-report (it's over) |
It's over!!
Muss IK was knocked out by Partizan last night and SvBa still a little bit dissapointed by the result. It was so close to success!
I've decided to give you our Journey through the XCL-cup.
First of all you need to know what amount of money you need to compete at this level and this is my opinion about it. For every game in the group stage you need at least 300,000 econ and for the knockout stage even a little more. For the season's update you need every player that participates in the cup to train and it will cost you a LOT of money ( 2 millon econ )
In the middle of the league season I got to know my opponents in the XCL group stage, and my research told me I was ranked third place of these. So I had to do so thing extra just get through the group stage.
First team to meet was The Beards away. I did understand that this was a key game and I could not lose, I had to get at least one point. I decided to play 54-1 defensive with 300,000 wb and I almost got three points. I was lucky that they had a season update right before this game making it a little easier for us.
Second game was against the weakest team, Cruzeiro, at home. Nothing but a win was good enough here. I played 4-5-1 normal with 250,000 wb. 9-3 in chances and I only got 1-0. That is the danger when playing teams at this level, they can easily steal a point with defensive tactics.
So far everything had gone my way. Now I was looking for two points against the strongest team, The Hashashins. A team used to playing in the XCL.
Before this game we played Bratislava at home in the league and got 1-1 by luck, then lost in the cup on penalties very unfortunately to Superben after having 5-0 in chances in the game. Our form dropped and it was going to be worse.
We played The Hashashins away with 4-5-1 defensive and 300,000 wb. 2-1 in chances became 0-1 goals in the 90th minute. Another form crasher for us. The next league match against Bens was lost before we started. Money floated out of our club as we tried to keep form up. Many players needed two or three training sessions under this period.
At home in the return we just wanted one point but we saw the danger in Beards starting to take points, they had Cruzeiro away and if we lose and they win the group stage ends right there and then.
We lost at home 1-0 after being counter-attacked effectively by Hashashins but at the same time Cruzeiro stole a point from Beards so it's not over yet.
Fifth game and we must win away against Cruzeiro. Two strikers a must for us but away its very dangerous to open up to much. 3-5-2, cautious and 300,000 wb. We did an early goal in 2nd minute not making us nervous, but they won the chances by 4-2 and we were soooo lucky. Beards lost and Hashashins were ready for KO stage. We had 7 points and Beards 6 points. YES!!
We play at home and all we had to do was not lose the last game. We played 4-5-1 cautious with a 300,000 wb. 1-1 was the result after winning the chances 2-1. We made it to the ko stage!!!
In the group stage we got 29 out of 30 manager stars and became the manager of the round 4/6 times. That was one reason we stole the 2nd place from Beards I guess.
Into the knock out with no fear.
We were drawn against Duke team with the now number1 manager in the world as manager. Their team was quite like mine. I understand we have to be on our toes for this game. Starting at home with 5-4-1, normal and 350,000 wb we won by 2-1, scoring at every chance we got.
Nice result but 1-0 in second leg and we are gone! I also had a season update right here, but thanks to well timed training sessions and a good friendly against Karl-Zorro we had pretty good form under circumstanses. But was it enough?
The return away also 5-4-1 but defensive this time, 350,000 wb. Wanted to eliminate chances for them but they had three and my heart stopped every time. Final score 0-0 and we are through to quaterfinals!
GOD-SMACK!! A much better team than ours. How the hell are we going to do this? First I realized that we must surprise them somehow. Starting away felt like a little advantage for us. My problem was money at the moment. The Hashashins-SuperBen affair cost us millions of econ and an update on that. Now we were almost out of it. Thank god it's Tuesday, right!
G-S away we decided to play 3-5-2 very defensive because I have seen that tactic deliver a LOT of chances over years but we draw after neither of us created chances. 0-0 was good for us.
At home we did not want to play 4 defenders because they then could score on counter attacks so I played 5 defenders in a 5-3-2, normal with 300,000 wb and won the game 1-0. I got 9/10 stars against G-S and that helped me.
Semi finals then!! Who could have believed that when we started.
Partizan Belgetna had defeated Hashashins in their 1/4 finals so I understod what I was up against. 18-19 skilled players at most positions like some bloody Kurupted team.
Wanted to get another draw away to take the chance at home in the second leg. Started 5-4-1, normal and 450,000 wb just to maybe get a so important away goal. Just could not get that. 0-0 but still a good result for us.
What happend that finally, as I see it, got us out of the cup was two red arrows on our strikers that got even worse playing against the angels on that Friday. They were down to 7-8 both of the strikers. Training lifted them but both had two yellow cards as well. Should I play them Tuesday or not?
I decided to play Naseem because he was lowest in form hoping that he not get a yellow card. He didn't but he didn't raise form either. Thats when 5-4-1 was the only formation left against such a strong team like Partizan. I would have prefered 5-3-2 because their midfield is so strong that I just couldnt compete at that level. 5-4-1, normal and 650,000 wb. I got 5 stars but it didn't help! 1-1 and it was all over.
Now its all league and cup for us, and that is so much easier to handle my friends!
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