[FM16] From Bottom to Glory: An Unemployed Career in Africa

Just like I said, apart from Dynamo and Caps UTD, other clubs are just dross. Good thing that we didn't slip up against any of them. But we should have scored more against Buffalo.


While we scored first due to an own goal against Caps UTD,they slowly took control over the whole match. Not like we didn't create a lot of chances, but our finishing was atrocious. Their striker Rodrigo Mutuma was on fire, something our strikers failed to do that day.


The defense has been a worry, we are conceding a lot of goals, although I think it's more to do with our attacking approach.




Finally, another under 23 post. Let's see what I can do this time.




Ibrahim Kone, an Ivorian international left back who was signed on loan till 2 June, left the club. He was one of the best players of the team. He played 8 matches, scored 2 goals & 5 assists. I tried to offer him a contract, but he wanted a wage which we could not afford. Sewe suddenly removed him from transfer list & offered him a new contract. They also did not want to extend our loan deal. We now have to find a new first choice left back in place of him.

Thankfully we did not slip up against any weak team, something Dynamo Harare & Caps UTD did. We have to maintain our consistency though, otherwise those two will catch up.




On the other hand, my old club El-Kanemi is in trouble. Their manager got sacked, and they are lying in 18th position of the table, in relegation zone. I hope somehow they will survive.




They also sold their best player, albeit for a big transfer fee. I was keen to bring him to Highlanders, but didn't have the financial resources to afford him.

Nice to see you are going from strength to strength mate!

Thanks Beanyunited.

Olympic Squad

A decent squad, not anything exceptional though. Ahmed Musa is the main man, alongside John Obi Mikel. I could have chosen another overage player instead of goalkeeper Austin Ejide, but there was no good under 23 goalkeepers available and I badly needed someone decent in front of the posts.


Friendlies:




An exceptional result against Colombia Under 23. I was cursing the Nigerian FA for arranging a friendly against such a strong team, but our boys proved all wrong. Scoring three goals against a defense that boasts the likes of Santiago Arias, Jeison Murillo & Eder Alvarez Balanta is no bad feat!





Another good result against a decent outfit. I am just hoping the players can carry this momentum into the Olympics.

Group Stage:

Nigeria 3 - 1 Mexico

Nigeria 1 - 1 Germany

Nigeria 5 - 1 Iran

We became group champion, in a group that has the defending Olympic Champion & the World Cup winner! I admit we were lucky against Germany, but if not for a late goal, we could have won that match!






Quarter Final:

So who did we draw in the Quarter Final?



And it has got to be my former team huh.





It was an even battle till 74 minute, when Man City’s Chideibere Nwakali was sent off for earning a second yellow. We had to go all defensive and somehow could endure the attacks of Ivory Coast, taking the match to a penalty shootout.

Mikel stepped out to take the first penalty kick, and it was saved by Mande Sayouba, the keeper who was pivotal in winning my first trophy. However, Austin Ejide, the keeper who I was not sure about keeping in the team, saved Ivory Coast’s fourth & fifth penalty taken by Guillaume Daho & Wilfried Bony respectively. Ahmed Musa on the other hand scored our last penalty to send us to the Semi-Final!


We will be meeting USA in the Semi- Final.


Rest of the results

Before the Semi-Final,




It was actually a blessing in disguise. as Anderson would have missed the Semi Final due to suspension.


So what happened in the Semi Final?



Semi-Final:





A test of our own medicine by USA. Julian Green who was exceptional throughout the match, was sent off in 79th minute. We pushed on, but our finishing wasn’t up to the mark. USA survived our onslaught, and took the match to penalty.

Despite missing the penalty against Ivory Coast, I again gave Mikel the chance for redemption. And again he missed, letting us down again. Despite Ejide saving three penalty shots, on the other side three more players of us missed their penalty, including Ahmed Musa, thereby throwing us out of the tournament.


Third Place Playoff:



Nothing to do when you intended to park the bus against a team possessing Cristiano Ronaldo, Rui Patricio, Andre Gomes & Bernando Silva. And to do matters worst, we just had to concede an own goal in the very first minute of the match.


The team, who finished behind me in group stage, ended up winning the whole tournament.




Mallorca's Cedric Omoigui wasn't even my first choice striker, I preferred Man City's Kelechi Iheanacho over him. Kelechi had a disappointing tournament, failing to score a single goal, while this guy ceased the chance and got into the contention of the golden boot.





Final Words:

Overall,I am sad that we were out by penalty against a team who played a significant amount of time with 10 men. But overall I would consider the tournament as a success. We exceeded expectations, when we were expected to go out of the first round.

Sad way to end the tournament but huge well done as to how you performed throughout

Yeah, losing to penalty shoot out is always sad.

Transfers:

Both of my main midfielders Eric Mudzingwa & Nqobizitha Musuku got injured for 2 months, so I decided to stretch the wage structure to sign these 2 guys.

Wisdom Mutasa
Abdul Wahab Abu Al-Hail

I had interest in Wisdom Mutasa for some time, it's just Karim Benounes was playing so good that I opted not to buy him. Abdul has terrific mental & technical attributes. Also just look at the amount of international caps he earned! And he is not even wanting that much of a wage.

As Ibrahim Kone left, I needed to buy a new left back. Asahi Nhongo wasn't as good, but he is a Zimbabwean international with decent attributes for this level. He was playing for the main XI in Caps Utd, so I was wondering why did they sell him to us so easily.



2016 Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League:




With only five matches left, we needed to win all our remaining matches or pray that our adversaries slipped up. Instead, we drew against Hardbody which shifted us to the third. So our next match against Dynamo Harare became a do or die match.

And we somehow beat them for the first time this season, taking us to 2nd place. Caps Utd however won their match, and destroyed Triangle 5-0 in the next match. Their next match was against against FC Platinum (easy!), that too in home. Title was basically waving its hand towards them.

So after the 5-3 goal feast against Flame Lily, imagine my joy when I returned to the home page & saw that FC Platinum forced them into a draw.

Now we are in top, after 18 gameweeks! We just needed to beat ZRP FC in our last match to clinch the title.


Kader Mohamed, the young manager from the puny Djibouti, has won his first club championship title.



Cup of Zimbabwe:

Embarrassingly, we crashed out of the cup in the first round, losing 2-0 to Buffaloes.




Youth Candidates:

Horrible should be an understatement. Only Tonderei Chibwiro gets a contract, as 2 of our center defenders are retiring, and we needed some new players in this position.

My previous club El Kanemi Warriors suffered relegation, after winning just 1 match in the whole season.

I was not really sure about staying.

I mean I kind of lost the interest after winning the league, and it will take me a while to make the club powerful enough to compete in Africa.

When I was thinking about this, a board message appeared in my inbox.



Plus this



Not only did they decrease the scouting range, they also decreased the staff I can hire. It was a big problem, as I didn't renew the contracts with the existing staff yet because I was thinking I could get better staffs at the end of the season.

Most of the players are on full time contract for at least 2018, so I can survive this season. I already made the transfers for the next season too. However, what happens after that? I don't think most of my players will stick around for a part time contract, plus it makes foreign transfer tougher, as they won't leave their country for a part time job. Can I survive the title battle with Dynamo Harare & Caps Utd?


The total coach number board will allow has been decreased to one only, so no youth development possible.

I plead with the board to retain our full time status, their answer was quite infuriating.



So, unfortunately, this is an end.

After attending a few interviews to get rid of my jobless life soon, I noticed that Cameroon National Team manager just resigned. I don't think I would suddenly get a big job, but no harm in applying for it right?


To my surprise, the media already made the little me a big candidate for the job.


And it seems the Cameroon Board is interested too!!



After some nervous time, they finally approached me.


And how can I say no to this?



However, one thing I just noticed from this version of Football Manager that, clubs tend to overlook the managers who are already working for an international team.

I was having talks with some clubs, an as soon as I became the manager of Cameroon, they withdrew their offers.