Life with the U20s - Week 3

Join OrangeStar for a look behind the scenes at the U20 Oceania Managerial position. Find out about what it takes to be a National Team manager, about the ups and downs, highs and lows, and get engaged and involved with the conversations about the future of our great nations. This is a weekly series about the challenges, thoughts and feelings that come with being the manager.

#fearthebear
#allin

Happy new year, everyone! I took a couple of days away from Hattrick this week to enjoy some time with my family over the New Year period, and I hope that all of you had the same opportunity to do something positive with people who you appreciate.

Upon my return, I got down to sifting through the multitude of HT-Mails I had received, and continued trying to find the best possible candidates for the U20 Oceania squad.

Of course, everything really kicked off on Friday, with the first round of the U20 World Cup Qualifiers, and the Drop Bears hosting Uganda. Immediately it struck me how difficult this match would be to prepare for, considering all the 'smoke and mirrors' that goes into the start of any Qualification campaign. With every single team in our group having an empty squad, it was going to be tough to predict anything that Uganda (or anyone else, for that matter) would do.

It was fantastic to see a huge group of managers get together on our offsite channel to discuss player/squad selections, tactics and everything in between over the course of 4 hours or so on Friday night. Thanks to Stanski, Lemsip, Cyntech, Nat, Jaidyn, Drauen, leeny and nobby for touching base and providing me with their thoughts ahead of the crucial pre-match deadline.

I'll admit, the thought of picking a squad and setting a line up with no idea of what we would be likely to come up against was a daunting task, and probably one of my more nerve-wracking experiences on HT. And let's just say that the HT-Live Match Viewer gives a lot more detail (and creates more suspense) than reading the Match Report post game.

Thankfully, we managed to start the campaign on a positive note, getting a 2-0 win at home in the rain against Uganda (620249232). Brett Emerton and Konstantinos Fillias both made their debuts for the Drop Bears in this match, and although Emerton got sent off in the 70th minute, both players performed as expected. It was our two Powerful Wingbacks who showed everyone what they were made of this morning, with Barry Peita opening the scoring in the 28th minute. Paulaui Talau sealed the win in the 86th minute with an unstoppable free kick. Both Peita and Talau put in strong shifts at the back, working well with Joel Harvey to break up opposition attacks and giving Gautam Patil his first clean sheet of the Qualifiers.

Foroyar needed a 79th minute goal from Hans Christiansen to get across the line against Benin (620249234), while Malaysia and Brunei both surprised with 2-0 wins over their opposition Al Maghrib (620249235) and Israel (620249233). As it stands, here is the current table for the group.

[thcolspan=8 align=center]U20 World Cup Qualifiers - Group 5[/th][thalign=center]1[/th][thalign=center]1[/th][thalign=center]1[/th][thalign=center]0[/th][thalign=center]0[/th][thalign=center]+2[/th][thalign=center]3[/th][thalign=center]2[/th][thalign=center]1[/th][thalign=center]1[/th][thalign=center]0[/th][thalign=center]0[/th][thalign=center]+2[/th][thalign=center]3[/th][tdcolspan=8]

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Pos.	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
Oceania
Brunei
Malaysia
Foroyar
Benin
Israel
Uganda
Al Maghrib

It was an incredibly close round in all matches, with just 26 HatStats separating the highest rated team (269 - Israel) from the lowest rated team (243 - Al Maghrib). Oceania ranked fourth in the group, with 265 HatStats.

Next week, the Drop Bears will jet off for their first away match of the campaign, the West African nation of Benin (620249236). Israel will be looking to find some form against Foroyar (620249237) and Uganda will be looking to make amends for this week as they meet Malaysia who were on song in Week 1 (620249238). The final match of the round has Al Maghrib hosting Brunei, in a match the visiting Wasps would be expecting to win (620249239).

See everything you need to know about the Drop Bears' group here: (https://www92.hattrick.org/World/WorldCup/?cupId=149&cupSeriesUnitId=1409) and join the conversation/planning/tipping competition here: (17156047.1).

Thanks for being a part of this journey with the Oceania U20 Drop Bears!

"We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." - Cora L.V. Hatch

Link directly to this article (HT-ML, for the forum): [ArticleID=20465]