Season 40

[herdo]

2-1 win and second place drawing puts me 5 points ahead of 2nd (6 ahead of third and 7 ahead of fourth) starting to pull away already. Dont fancy my chances for another double though, far to many token teams in my champs league

Think im gonna befriend a few teams now and tank the next season, become some what the feeder club

Or the feedee club, you know what i mean lol!

[Ljepoje]

Balkan Boyz - Matchday 10 (Sz.5 - lvl5)



HEADLINE: Two goal hero Ivica Olić puts on a show as the Balkan Boyz secure a final-eight spot!

CUP: NB99 (Q45,6) Formation: 4-3-3 >> 0 - 2 (AGG:0-2) << Balkan Boyz (Q46,6) Formation: 4-2N-2W-2/3N-3N-2W-2
SCORERS: I. Olić (79 & 86min.ass:E.Džeko)
SUBS: D.Srna < > A.Halilović
MOTM: Ognjen Vranješ (rate:8)


Balkan Boyz secured a final-eight spot this evening after they beat the Danish "NB99" at "NB Arena" in front of 19,000 spectators. The man behind the victory was the shadowstriker Ivica Olić who managed to get the Balkan Boyz two goals in the last quarter and therefore give his team a ticket to the T11 CUP final-eight! Since the first leg was extremely tight and ended in a tie, the second leg became more open and free-scoring, something that both teams seemed to take advantage of. The Danish decided to line up with a 4-3-3 formation, the same as in the 1th leg and Balkan Boyz started with their traditionally 4-2N-2W-2 as well. But a tactical move by Manager -Ljepoje- to a far more offensive 3N-3N-2W-2 formation was made the last twenty minutes. This tactical switch seemed to give "bean" and Balkan Boyz with Ivica Olić looking threatening in front of the goal managed to score twice and therefore secure furture advancement in the T11 CUP.

Manager -Ljepoje- didn't hide his happiness and satisfaction that his team reached the T11 CUP final-eight for the second time in a row. The manager seemed quite pleased and satisfied with his young team's victory over the Danish and with the overall performance of his team as well. In a short post-game interview he said, "We all knew that this would be a tough return and that it could be our last game in the T11 CUP tournament as well. The Danish team "NB99" aren't just a team, they are former CUP participants as well. They got knocked out by the away goal rule last season in the final-eight against Madrid FC, the same Madrid FC beat the Swedish Hyapool FC in the quarter-finals the same season. So as you can see, we have already beaten the last season final-eight and quarterfinalist, and this is something that we should be proud of! We had as you all know a couple of setbacks in the 1th leg, first the suspension of our best midfielder and playermaker Safet Sušić, and then the 0-0 draw which wasn't that pleasant at all. But we managed to pull it of. But to get such a result, we had to work together and play as a team, and part from that, we knew we had Lorik Cana as a great and neat substitution and the strikers Edin Džeko and Stevan Jovetić which could score at any given time. Overall, I think we showed that we can play against teams at the same level or better".

Manager -Ljepoje- couldn't hide his gratitude towards the "two-goal-hero" and hailed the importance of the shadowstriker, Ivica Olić after his two late goals earned victory at "NB99 Arena", "If you look at Olić's career for the Balkan Boyz and the goals he has scored, he has got a lot of heavy goals, goals that are very important and in crucial times. This is the kind of player that every manager could wish to have.” In addition, he added “You know, we are all eager to win, and we have probably one of the best players at this level. With a little bit luck we hope to do our best in the final-eight, despite the opposition. We are better and stronger than we were before, and hopefully we could reach to semi-finals as last season. Or why not the finals, who knows?!".


In other news, Balkan Boyz managed to beat the Italian team "Benevento" with 8 - 0 after goals by Hasan Salihamidžić (x2), Luka Modrić (x2), Stevan Jovetić (x2), Mario Mandžukić (x1), Mateo Kovačić (x1) and Ognjen Vranješ (x1). A game in which Stevan Jovetić was declared as MoM (rate:9). The win means that Balkan Boyz holds onto first place with 24 points and are 3points clear in front of the Israeli team "Iztik Yan". Balkan Boyz will play the Vietnamese team "Tay Ninh FC" tomorrow away at 21:47CET. Later on that evening, Balkan Boyz are set to play the 5th group round in the Champions League tournament against the Swiss team "FCO", with a kick-off time at 23:33CET.


Over&Out!

[Ljepoje]

In addition: We have finalized the Powertraining session for this season and our newly bought youngsters: Džeko (ST), Lulić (DL/SC) ,Begović (GK) and Cana (MC) are all 8*! This means that we will have x6 youngsters, including Jovetić (ST) and Vranješ (DR/DC) at 8*. The rest of the team are 7* (my first 11) and the others are 6* or 5* (bench players).

I will post some before and after screens of the PT-results by tomorrow!

[July Fourth]

CUP: NB99 (Q45,6) Formation: 4-3-3 >> 0 - 2 (AGG:0-2) << Balkan Boyz (Q46,6) Formation: 4-2N-2W-2/3N-3N-2W-2
SCORERS: I. Olić (79 & 86min.ass:E.Džeko)
SUBS: D.Srna < > A.Halilović
MOTM: Ognjen Vranješ (rate:8)

Get in... thats exactly what we wanted to hear this evening, A great result for you in the end to get into the last 16 of the competition and once again get on the draw sheet tomorrow morning, will be interesting to see how it turns out and what chances of progression you may have.

[July Fourth]

Breaking News

Miku reaches 9*126 and becomes July Fourth's highest rated player in history in terms of relativity!

[Ljepoje]

Results Just In...

Takis 2-1 Rocio
Chelsea 2-1 Mehmet

If we beat Mehmet tomorrow then there is a chance that the 3 top teams in the league will all draw level.

Mehmet 7-0-1 +13 21
July Fourth 5-3-0 +16 18
Takis 6-0-2 +11 18

Title Odds: July Fourth 1/2 Takis 4/1 Mehmet 5/1 Others 20/1

Tomorrow in the early kick-offs: Mehmet vs July Fourth, erster vs Takis. Everything can swing around again here.

You will "re-claim" the 1th place sooner or later, believe me. Just don't give up the faith. Remember my last season when I was 7p behind the 1th and 2nd team after the first 5 rounds? I thought it was over, but then - paff! I came back stronger than ever and won, won, won and won every game... ended up at a 2nd place - 3 points behind the leader.

And sometimes this could be a indicator that you should change your current formation/tactics, since you are becoming too predictable? I remember that I started to win and almost became unbeaten when I abandoned the 4-4-2 (n/w diamond), a formation which I used since lvl 1 to lvl 4.. Now look where the 4-2N-2W-2 + 3N-3N-2W-2 formation has taken me (unbeaten since I applied it from the last season)

Sometimes it's just "meant" to be or just bad "tactics/formations".

[July Fourth]

You will "re-claim" the 1th place sooner or later, believe me. Just don't give up the faith. Remember my last season when I was 7p behind the 1th and 2nd team after the first 5 rounds? I thought it was over, but then - paff! I came back stronger than ever and won, won, won and won every game... ended up at a 2nd place - 3 points behind the leader.

And sometimes this could be a indicator that you should change your current formation/tactics, since you are becoming too predictable? I remember that I started to win and almost became unbeaten when I abandoned the 4-4-2 (n/w diamond), a formation which I used since lvl 1 to lvl 4.. Now look where the 4-2N-2W-2 + 3N-3N-2W-2 formation has taken me (unbeaten since I applied it from the last season)

Sometimes it's just "meant" to be or just bad "tactics/formations".

If I win tomorrow I will be league leaders by Goal Difference since we play away at Mehmet tomorrow.

[Ljepoje]

Get in... thats exactly what we wanted to hear this evening, A great result for you in the end to get into the last 16 of the competition and once again get on the draw sheet tomorrow morning, will be interesting to see how it turns out and what chances of progression you may have.

Thanks!

Yeah, I was quite "nervous" before the game (but in a good way). It was like "all or nothing", then having my best MC suspended didn't make it easier. But I managed to pull it off with a 5* Cana and Lulić at the end (didn't apply any SKP since they needed another 5SKP to reach 8*). Then the tactical substition (DR our - MC in) proved to be the right one - at the right time. His 4-3-3 became useless since I was playing a 3-5-2 formation (but with AML+AMR).

Let's see who or whom we will face in the final-eight. I would be glad to avoid D.SWAG, Orchard Utd, Nbm and Fenerbahce... all others are more then okey... but every team that made it through are more or less 6* or better. It will be tough, despite the opposition

[Ljepoje]

If I win tomorrow I will be league leaders by Goal Difference since we play away at Mehmet tomorrow.

Let''s hope for the best! I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck!

[July Fourth]

Let''s hope for the best! I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck!

LEAGUE ROUND 9

Mehmet FC 1-3 July Fourth

Mehmet FC 104.7 4-4-2 Classic - July Fourth 111.7 4-1-2-1-2 ND

We all know knew that July Fourth were capable of better and so did all the players and we came up trumps when we really needed it, But it was a nervy start from us, Mehmet had the best of the early chances and made it count on 19 minutes when a Gogut pass met Cetin running onto the ball from outside the area to give 'then' the league leaders the lead. July Fourth soon came back into it and eventually were level just before half-time when Michu made a run past the defence and chipped it over the keeper to equalise, We were happy to go in level at the break. Early in the second half we suffered YET ANOTHER INJURY, this time it was Papaleo after a dreadful foul and Hardy messed up the free-kick, soon we got a corner that went out for another corner and Michu's cross found Hardy to give us the lead in the top of the table clash... Eventually after a couple of missed chances from Michu we found a way to settle this game in our favour with Miku beating the defence this time and taking it round the keeper to make it 3-1, Mehmet tried to get back in the game and Adams and Novotny stood firm and Norris could of made it 4-1 right at the end.

Goals: Cetin (19) Michu (40) Hardy (62) Miku (74) MOTM: Novotny.

Injury Report: Papaleo out for 4 days, Goodbye to more reds.

Other important result from this morning: erster 0-0 Takis... erster had the better chances to win this game but Takis defence stood firm, but none the less its a good result for us and Mehmet.

Title Odds: July Fourth 1/4 Mehmet 6/1 Takis 6/1 Others 20/1

Table:
July Fourth 6-3-0 +20 21
Mehmet 7-0-2 +11 21
Takis 6-1-2 +11 19