Yep, we did it :)
Austria is back in the business.

Now we need to win the title! With your support everything is possible.
If you send me money and/or cake, everything will be possibler ;)

for each game of the World Cup you get a donut and for the world cup title you get yourself a baked pie from me :)

Changes in the National Team:

I decided to drop Koch, he didn't play any real games anyway and I kept him as backup for Kielgass. I don't even plan to use Kielgass every game so a midfielder with higher passing is needed. Schahin got the spot with Sacher being a close second. The reason Schahin won is because he got more passing due to Playmaker, while Sacher only got Winger.

In our defense Beckmann had to step down and make room for Bessel. Not much to say in our defense, we are still lacking good options after Blenker, Loy and Fritzsche.

Our strikers did not change yet, but Osterloh is getting close to get kicked out. He has penalty specialist which makes him still a valuable member of the team but players like Steinhoffel and Metzler are slowly overtaking him. For now he stays on the team though. Also Klinger is getting older. He still has Sharpshooter which makes him an awesome substitute, but he is not getting stronger and our youngster are eager to push into the NT :)

Goalkeepers also didn't change. But we really really need a replacement for Beast soon. He is still good but he turned 30 and we have not a single good keeper besides him on the shortlist :(

Not much did change in our line up for the World Cup. I do think we have an OK chance to succeed in the group stage, but it is a tough tournament and everything is possible.

Marek Klinger had to leave the team to make room for his club team mate Steinhofffel. It was a close decision between Klinger and Osterloh, one had to go. Even though I think Klinger is a tad bit stronger than Osterloh, both are just back ups and I think Penalty Specialist (Osterloh) is way stronger than Sharpshooter (Klinger) for a backup Player. I don't expect both to score many goals, but Penalty Specialist might lead to a goal while I don't think Sharpshooter will have any impact. Klinger's Scoring is way too low for that.

I once a again looked at Bernhard Sachbauer who might replace Theo Engelhard but he fell a little short. He knocks and knocks on the NT door but can't seem to make it. I am a bit sad for Sachbauer :(

A very difficult decision for the World Cup will be if we trust Auwers enough to lead us to victory - he is the strongest passer in our team. But he has only 1.5 tactics. Blume has lower passing but has a ton of tactic. Friedek will replace Eulenberg in our lineup, that is already decided. We are still missing good defenders but with Lenz and Seligmann we have a very good offense :)

Yeah group stage looks really good to succeed. it could be much more worse.
i think auwers could be a good sub.

my sold David Trier should be in NT in a couple of seasons if the owner train him well. And then you have a good defender :)

Oh, Trier. I remember bidding millions on him, but no, he went the austrian way and went abroad. Such a shame :(

There are good players in our league - it is just that the NT Shortlist System is pretty fucked up. It favors age over skill, which is sad.

Currently I'd even take your Jörg Niederstatter with the NT :) Or SC Columbia's Ettingshausen, SK Sturm Jenbach's Schulten, FC Alt Erlaa's Wolfke and even SV Kumberg's Hoetker stands a chance.

But the NT does constantly improve, that is very good. I was a bit scared that after Schilgen and Eulenberg are gone we would lack top class players, but the NT is currently very strong and still getting better.

First game, first Fail.
0:0 versus Montenegro is not the best start into the World Cup :(


at least we won against Czech in the friendly :p

yeah but still all possible :)
and just for info i healed Baudendistel so maybe he is not missing all the WC. seems he not want to play :D

Damn :/
We need a win tomorrow against Macau, then we are still in.

I really miss Baudendistel, but he pulled a Neymar I guess and didnt want to be part of the humiliation I am gonna put our NT through :p

Oh no oh no oh no oh no :'(
all is lost

No problem schorny :) the next world cup will come!
and then we win the world cup :)

Since no one else wants to do it, it seems it is all on me to lead austria to glory.

So gimme gimme gimme moar good players :)

We still really lack any options in our defense. Some players are on and off again, I don't really keep track, sorry. Our only top defenders are: Blenker, Loy, Fritzsche with some good ones. Claessens, Bessel, Sinner and Baudendistel. So at least 6 players that I can field in important matches, but the other really suck :(

Our strikers are looking awesome - Lukas Metzler replaces Osterloh for now, but I expect players like Foch or other upcoming youngsters to knock Metzler back out again.

Steinhoffel is the surprise for me, he looks like he will start a few games, he really challanges the spots of Loy and Seligman.

Our Midfield stays the same. Eulenberg is slowly losing his place, but since he is one of 2 set piece specialists we have, I will keep him for some time. He is not in the starting squad though. We start to have a real luxury problem: Blume, Friedek and Auwers are all awesome players but not all can play AM all the time. So we will see.

One thing that concerns me is we don't really have good DM options. Kielgass is awesome if we play with 2 DM but as a solo DM i am not convinced he is the best option. But we lack alternatives. Blume, Eulenberg and Gerhard have some dueling but not really much and besides that we have none. So that is a real weak spot in our team.

4:0 against Greece in Euro-Quali.
Nice start, our Midfield was really dominant!

gratz

RAGE!!! The Shortlist removed Steinhoffel. So now Osterloh is back in, which stinks (no offense to Osterloh, but I'd rather give some XP to the youngster Steinhoffel, as he will be a top tier forward very soon).

But we also have David Trier finally in our shortlist, so Hans Beckmann is out and Trier in. Yeah!

PS:
David Trier is the super duper muli talent from Richi, who refused to join FC Korndackeln and rather went to FC Wageningen, one of the stronger sites in the Netherlands.

He is not yet the best defender, but soon will replace Blenker as the one and only defender that a team needs :)