iLandslaget - Swedish team

[PeterMeter]

Season 5 - Concise Cup Update

Much like last year iLandslaget were seeded into a pretty tough draw in the Cup. The small squad did wonderously inspite of a failure on the manager and board's part to get some new signings in for the start of the season. Carrying as little as 15 players into the first draw of the Cup meant there was little room for error when the team travelled to Italy for the first tie.

Without a right wingback we were forced to shuffle the formation slightly to accomodate for the changes. This meant we played a narrow back 3, with Laba sitting in front while also supporting Sogaard and new signing Amougou in central midfield. Bouzgarrou and Kuchar played out wide in an advanced position putting pressure on their back 4. Gerailton and Clancy started up front.


It was an eventful game that saw iLandslaget take an early lead in the 29th minute through Alex dos Santos. By the 42nd minute Sogaard had received his marching orders through a 2nd yellow card. In the 66th minute Jorgensen, who had just minutes earlier replaced Laba added a 2nd goal for iLandslaget.
Then followed a chaotic 5 minutes that could have spelled disaster for the Swedish team. In the 70th minute Cordero opened the scoring for the home team in front of the maximum capacity crowd, 31,000 strong.
Just 3 minutes later Hovdevik levelled the game for the hosts, finishing a beautiful team move. Umberto FC continued piling on the pressure on the 10-man iLandslaget and it seemed they would eventually grab the winner.
Against the run of play, in the 77th minute, new striker Gamarra scored and put his team in front again. Just 5 minutes later Amougou added to the lead, to put iLandslaget 4-2 up with just 8 minutes of regular time left to go.
The Swedes then saw out the game and grabbed a deserved, and much needed, 2 goal margin for the replay.

-------
For the replay Umberto FC made some changes to their starting line-up, and a few of their star players who had been rested for the first game were re-introduced to the first eleven.
Joakim Sogaard would serve his 1-game suspension following the sending off in the previous game.

The game started off at a brisk pace, and frayed nerves saw the iLandslaget' manager running the line of the technical area for most of the first half, shouting encouragement and orders to his team.

It was a generally slow first half that saw the teams line up in much the same way as in the first game. Two yellow cards were dealt, Iaboni and Motamedaria both from Umberto FC on the receiving end. At the start of the second half, in the 48th minute, Dähne opened the scoring for the visitors and they were quick to build on the momentum.

iLandslaget tried to break up the pressure by making a substitution in the 58th minute when Gamarra replaced Clancy.
In the 70th minute the substitution had an effect, but likely not in the way either manager had expected. A new foul by Iaboni on Gamarra meant Iaboni received his 2nd yellow card and he was duly sent off.
iLandslaget were quick to seize on their numeric advantage and in the 71st minute Laba scored the equalizer assisted by Gerailton.
Shortly after Gerailton, in the 77th, was taken off in favor of another defensive midfielder and Jorgensen was allowed to enter the pitch. In the 85th minute Amougou added to the scoring, putting iLandslaget in front with just minutes to go.

Desperation saw Umberto FC make a last substitution in the 88th minute to at least try and get an equalizer, and in the final minute of the game Eyimofe salvaged some of the Italian team's honor by levelling the game at 2-2.

In the end iLandslaget progressed to the next round, at the expense of lvl7 team Umberto FC, much to the joy of their fans.

[PeterMeter]

The proper start of Season 5, Level 5 post:

There were worries for Season 5 as the European financial climate finally caught up with iLandslaget. It was made clear after the high expenditure of last year that the owners would not invest further funds into the team until such time as they could see a let up in the general economic climate. iLandslaget and their manager were left to fend for themselves, and to manage resources as best they could to get the most out of an already small squad for this year.

CUP
It's been a hard first few days of the season for the team, even if they've managed quite well on the pitch. They managed to knock italian Umberto FC, a lvl7 team, out of the Cup in the Preliminary Round and won the first tie in the Qualification Round against czech team Albanie FC (also lvl7) 3-0 at home in front of a capacity crowd of 8,500 ecstatic supporters.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
iLandslaget were seeded into Group H of the Champions League this year. In the same group are chinese team Khanh FC (26*), fc juventus 2013 from Italy (30,2*) and then an old acquaintance from last year's CL playoffs; the croatian team Dalibor FC (28,6*). The Swedes managed to see off Khanh FC in a 2-0 victory under the watchful eyes of a filled stadium, in spite of many visiting supporters. They are top of the group and play their 2nd game in the tournament later tonight, away to Dalibor FC who won their first game against fc juventus 2013 with a 1-0 margin away.

LEAGUE


We are now two games into the fifth season of iLandslaget, and things are still looking up inspite of the lack of investment and small squad. We've had two games, one at home to Regenerados which was won 3-0 with Bouzgarrou, Gerailton and Sogaard scoring one each, and Gerailton nabbing the only assist. Nils Liljehook received a yellow card when 2-0, something that was never really going to affect the game. With the game already at 3-0, Bambara of Regenerados received his 2nd yellow of the game and was sent marching.

The second game was played yesterday, away to a thai team (thailetteringFC) and sister club to iLandslaget since last season. In front of a near enough empty stadium iLandslaget triumphed in a 4-0 victory that saw Gerailton score a brace in the 2nd half, while also managing to assist Gamarra for his goal and Kuchar for his. This put him on 3 goals and a shared 2nd place in the Golden Shoe for season 5, in 1st place for the Assist League on 3 assists and also in 1st place for the running of Players' Player of the Season Awards with an average of 9.00. An injury to Sogaard looked to upset the team for a few games, but first scans showed it to be less of bruising on his neck and back and he should be fit for the next game.

This afternoon sees the team travel to France, for their game against Adel FC who have lost their first two games and are firmly lodged in 12th place. iLandslaget does this without steadfast central defender Alex dos Santos who will be out with a calf strain after a hard exercise in training.

I'll give a further introduction of the teams in the league as we reach the halfway point when I know more about them, and can make out which one seem to still be active.