An old face in a familiar place

# l3nnart : are you finnaly considered a ledgend now ?

I just checked, and yes I am!

Nothing like giving up a goal in the 4th minute to make a game interesting! It never ceases to amaze me at just how different the team plays when Caca isn't on the pitch. As good as Hasselbaink is, he doesn't draw the attention or cause as much pressure on defenses and keepers like Caca.



My money was on an all-England final with Man City and Valencia matched up in the other semifinal. Valencia scraped by with a 2-1 aggregate win, however. So much like this year's real-life CL Final, it's Premier League vs La Liga for the Champions Cup.

End of Domestic Season Awards - 2026

Gearing up for the finals of cup competitions after the domestic season is complete presents a unique problem. On the one hand, our players are celebrating another successful Premier League campaign. We get a week off to recharge, and then we're off to Wembley for the FA Cup final vs Liverpool. This game shouldn't be too hard in terms of motivation because a week of rest after having games every three or four days is a welcome relief. We usually don't have issues of having the players gear up when it's game time. Liverpool will be led by Jose Pablo, Aaron Denton, and Emmanuel Caballero.





The real problem sets in, imo, for the Champions Cup final. That's two weeks out and the only game we will play between now and then is the FA Cup final. Two games in two weeks is a long stretch of inactivity and you'd be surprised at how sluggish the players can be, given the gravity of the game at hand.

All I can say is that it's better to be lucky than good. No questions asked - we were getting our asses kicked by Liverpool for 89 minutes. Yaya Sanogo puts Liverpool ahead in the 30th minute. We luck out and get a penalty shout that James Jones converts in the 33rd minute. Jose Pablo takes the lead back for Liverpool in the 62nd minute, then gets sent off on his second yellow 5 minutes later. Then even with a one man advantage and added attacking pressure, we couldn't break through.

Of course it had to be Caca to step up. One the verge of a loss, Caca slots home a goal in the 95th minute of a 96 minute regulation game. The first half of extra time had plenty of dramatics but no goals. Then we finally broke things open in the final 15 minutes of the game with two unanswered goals.

The last game of the season will be upon us in one week's time - the Champions Cup Finals.

So here we are again, on the edge of greatness. For the sixth year in a row we are in the Champions Cup finals. We have won the trophy twice, but have been bridesmaids four times. And for all that we may accomplish to this point, for all the trophies we may win, there isn't a more painful sting you can feel other than losing in the Champions Cup final. Fernando Torres will lead his boys to battle and Valencia is led by Djordje Popovic, Ryan Brown, and Kepha Odhiambo.

Remember what I said about being lucky instead of good? We won the Champions Cup on penalties!

Champions Cup Awards - 2026

Competitions

Summary

Remember all that talk about me stepping aside if I ever completed a season where we won everything under the sun? We did that this season. We won the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Community Shield, and the Champions Cup. There literally isn't any way I could win more in any given season.

Remember when the incoming chairman was talking about replacing me with my assistant manager? Quite possibly the biggest slap in the face that I could ever experience in the game. Would anyone in their right mind fire me for all that we've accomplished and for all the loyalty I've shown?

Add those two factors together and I may just stun the world and step down from Newport.

The oddsmakers have given us 15-2 odds of winning the World Cup. It's no surprise that Spain is the favorite at 6-4, although you could argue that Mexico and Brazil both have some serious talent and can mount a challenge at 2-1 odds. I'll be honest in my assesment - we will need some breaks to go our way. We looked dominant against the teams we outclassed during the World Cup Qualifiers, but we also looked pedestrian against Russia and in friendlies vs Holland and Italy.

Here is our starting eleven:

Our World Cup dreams begin with a game against Greece, who's leading players are the Vasilis boys - Tselios, Parasidis, and Papatheodorou.

How did Greece got such good players?

By the way I really enjoy your story.

Congratulations on winning all competitions! Good luck with the world cup, the England team looks capable but I'd be worried about that short ass centre back

You've yet to win everything in one season. Don't forget the Euro Super Cup and Club World Championship! As minor as they are they're still trophies.
Also how's you hall of fame ranking?

# macdab55 : How did Greece got such good players?

By the way I really enjoy your story.

I know, right? I figured Stam would get a kick out of seeing his boys. Too bad they're going to get their asses kicked by England.