Season 6, Start of Season Update!
THE OFFICIAL START OF SEASON 6 UPDATE
iLandslaget were seeded into a real hornet's nest of a League this year around, sharing their trophy-hunting grounds with several familiar faces of very varying quality.
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Longtime fans of the team will recognize many of the opponents as sister-clubs to the Swedish team and the league promises to be a lot more interesting this year around. Internazionale will be a familiar sight as the teams met in last year's Champions League play-offs and they will surely be eager to get one back on iLandslaget. Romain FC, while weakened since then, pipped iLandslaget to the League Title in Season 3 and finished in 3rd behind iLandslaget and JustLEET FC in Season 4.
The others are acquaintances made along the way during a few seasons of Champions League, but there have been no documented games between the teams and it'll surely be interesting viewing for the neutral observers.
NOW WITH UPDATED TEAM NEWS!
Although the elaborate plan from the board to invest funds through WilliamHill fell through, it would seem the board managed to lose further funds instead of gaining investment, the manager has worked hard to ensure he has a stronger and more versatile squad to choose from as this season promises to be one of the most competetive ones yet.
There were reasonable funds available from the start of the season, iLandslaget's manager starting with an estimated cache of somewhere in the region of 29m. Added to this were the funds from transfers of striker sharpshooter Gary Clancy, sold for 4.61m while valued at 3.27m, as well as ageing once-scouted defender Federico Rodriguez who was sold for 2.73m after seeing his value plummeting to 2.58m as he turned 28 this year.
Earlier today the greatly hyped wonderkid Cem von der Gathen was sold as well, after failing to live up to the extreme expectations his young age and hefty fee had created when he was bought last season for 5.70m (1T). After tough negotiations he was let go for a fee of 7.14m (6T) which at least meant the manager managed to make a profit on his sale.
4 players have been brought in so far, hopefully all of them to feature in the squad as soon as possible. It's been a busy day and so far 3 of the new acquisitions have made their debuts in front of the team's fanatic fans, iFirman.
The players will be presented in the order they were brought in:
Aaron Reilly - bought for 10.04m / 6T, valued at 9.9m
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Bernhard Helfer - bought for 9.05m / 10T, valued at 8m
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Hugo Roda - bought for 10.14m / 6T, valued at 9.9m
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Valentin Laskov - bought for 9.27m / 6T, valued at 8.7m
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There have been several contacts from other clubs regarding iLandslaget players so only time will tell how the squad will take shape through the season. A change of scenery for back-up goalkeeper JC has been on the cards but so far none of the offers have matched the manager's valuation of the talented youngster.
The Season 6 Halfway Report-o-rama!
And so we've finally reached day 16 of this season, and the 13th round of the League season, meaning we've reached the halfway point of yet another thrilling iLandslaget-season. Although the team has seen minimal investment, the manager wonder-worker has managed to turn the squad around a bit. Some deadweights have been moved on, and a few of the loyal have had to be released for the team to be able to kick on.
The exit from the Cup was a major setback in the team's plans for this season, with all of the teams still remaining in it definitely looking beatable for the Swedes. This has meant that the manager and his coaching staff have been able to work hard on the development on the players.
The squad on this day looks as follows (with the exception of Joakim Sogaard having been sold for 4.21m and 1T):
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The League has been a great joy for fans allover the world to follow. iLandslaget ended up in the same league as no less than 10 of their sister-teams and we've been treated to some great games so far this season with hard battles being fought to gain one of the elusive Champions League-places. Only 6 pts separate 8th placed TSV Bärnau, who managed to draw their game against iLandslaget, and 2nd placed Fontainhas FC so none of the teams can really even be sure of advancing to the next tier at the end of the season.
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The strikeforce has been added to, with scouted Austrian Bernhard Helfer to put some pressure on Gerailton de Souza Rodrigues. The 21-year old has been getting a few chances to impress so far and has done it well. The team has lacked the prolific goalscorer this season though, meaning we find Gerailton down in 4th place in the Golden Shoe competition.
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Bechir Bouzgarrou has been iLandslaget's most frequent supplier of assists so far, but he is joint 2nd with 7 assists and trailing the leader by 1.
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Some lacklustre performances saw the form of the entire team drop for a bit, so the Form Leaderboard is without iLandslaget interference so far, something that has not happened in all of the manager's previous seasons.
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The Swedish team is still in it to win the Champions League trophy, but last year's League contenders JustLeet FC proved a harder nut to crack than some had expected with the first tie ending in an away draw 1-1.
The competition still does look very winnable though, if the team can get their heads down and put in a hard shift.
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As an aside the team played their 14th game of the season earlier today, and ended it in high-scoring fashion, managing to beat the old record for highest scoring game with some margin. Uruguayan team carbonero was embarassed at iLandslaget's home ground 13-0.
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