Community » Hattrick Press

Asia and Oceania Cup group stage second half!

Written by Gebhard_Oberle

It is over. The first official National Team tournament for Gebhard_Oberle and his team is done and the outcome is the qualification for the upcoming World Cup!

Kick off to the second half of the Asia and Oceania Cup group stage!
And what a way to start. First game was gainst Việt Nam. We were able to beat them at the beginning of the Cup and we wanted to beat them again.

Saudi Arabia - Việt Nam (26747703) = 3:0
Strong midfield, decent defending and the hope to score at least one goal with our average attack. 21 minutes were played and this glorious team scored 3 times for a lead of 3:0. The engine was definitely on our side and there was no way we would or could lose this game today. And that is how it ended, 3:0. Great start in the second half! So far so good though we played this game "normal" which was ok because we wanted to dominate the midfield. What we didn't expected was that Việt Nam played counter attack. We could have played "pic" which would have been an advantage for the upcoming game against Guam though you never know ahead of a game. Pitty we weren't able to gain those extra team spirit points.

Guam - Saudi Arabia (26747726) = 2:2
You can only lose playing against Guam. Everyone thinks you gonna win this game though you are the only one knowing what ratings you can line up. And due to the "play it normal" against Việt Nam we weren't able to send off a good midfield. At least we weren't as we needed another "pic" to avoid giving up our midfield in the upcoming games. Counter attack was the way to play this game. And it started so well... first goal scored through us and it looked like therer was no chance for Guam, based on the ratings, to turn that around. However, 74. minutes played they are in front 2:1... What a shame. The engine was playing us dirty. A coin flip game which we already had on our side turned to a loss... Lucky us we had some changes lined up and were able to score the 2:2. Though this was still a set back for the rest of the tournament.

Saudi Arabia - China (26747744) = 0:1
A win in this game and we would have been qualified for the world cup and would have been able to reach the quater finals in this Cup. China... one of the favorites in this group if not in the whol cup. Better individual players, better stamina and especially better form levels. Talking about form levels. I don't know if we used up all our luck in the first half of the group stage but those forms were dropping each week like crazy. For 3 weeks straight we had 6 form downs. Anyhow we managed to set up a strong midfield against China and a strong defense as we expected them trying to win the midfield. We also played pressing as we just needed one point to secure the qualification. Expecting a strong midfield of them we wanted to avoid to many chances for them. And... obviously it came the other way. Again counter attack, similar to Việt Nam. We knew this can end bad for us and it did. The pitty thing about it was that China scored through a free kick resulting out of a counter attack. A free kick.... So random as our goali has 20+ set piece skill and our defence set piece rating is also not too bad. However, we lost. And i have to admit i was sad after... sad and actually disappointed.

Sakartvelo - Saudi Arabia (26747766) = 3:0
From beginning on we knew that this will be the thoughest match of the group stage. Sakartvelo had an awesome run and a great momentum. Our only hope was to get a point out of this game. Though the engine wasn't on our side and our defensive line which was actually not that bad couldn't avoid 3 goals. Good thing was that the win of China against Việt Nam was enough for us to secure the third place of the group and qualify for the World Cup!

Saudi Arabia - Hong Kong (26747786) = 0:1
Last game of the group stage. Nothing to win, nothing to lose. Focus was to get those players some ecperience which haven't played so far and to sub in some new ones which will build up the future of the national team. Unlucky us we weren't able to get a point or a win out of this game but we already achieved our goal - to qualify for the upcoming World Cup!

At the end this tournament was like a rollercoaster. We flew high from beginning on till half of the cup and then fell down rock bottom hard. My feelings went from being the happiest national coach of all to being just angry and disappointed how all turned around. Though at the end and after a week of the last game i feel happy what we have achieved. This was the first tournament for me and my staff (special thank you to my assistant coach Herthaner (651484) and i guess we were able to spice up the managers and forum of Saudi Arabia.

A highlight was definitely that Jamal Bin Nasser Al-Hachem (424910640) played his 100. game for the Saudi Arabia (22 for U21 and 80 for Natioanl Team in total 102 at the end of the qualification)! Great player and thanks to all the managers who took care of him over the years!

Thanks to all of our supporters during this journey and hopefully to an even better outcome for the World Cup!

Cheers my friends!