Not sure if I should smile or cry. For despite my best cup run to-date, losing to a vulnerable Redevil weakened by injury and suspension, the game turned out to be an upset… in his favour! A monster team no doubt, ReDevil UniteD combined a strong defence with a formidable midfield and decent attack ratings. Having nurtured my TS, I knew home advantage would give me an edge in possession while my form was good leading into the game. Although I managed to whip up a decent defence, my choice of a single wing and central attack did not pay off the way I had hoped. Well, that’s what cup competition is all about… I can almost hear the ESPN announcer mouthing that useless phrase!

You know, staging a strong cup run may come at the expense of your series ranking, and some players are more than happy to remain in the bottom 4 if only to prolong their cup run. Is it worth it? Depends on your motivation I guess…

After the high of beating Kota Damansara (guess I had my fair share of luck!), it all seems like an anti-climax. All that’s left now is the league, and with 3 monster teams ahead of me, perhaps it’s time to dust off my West Wing DVDs and hunker down for what’s left of the season…

One one fine day, Kota Damansara face tomo fc. Its an away game. The former Liga Champion and also supposed to ‘Cup Champion’ is not as strong at it use to be, but its still a tough game to crack. (tomo supposed to win the ‘Cup’ some seasons ago, but some disaster in Hattrick, caused the database need to be repaired and the match replayed, and tomo lost).

A log in and straight to the match and what I saw was:

Highlights

2 – 2, well, Kota Damansara is not a strong team afterall, but wait,

	Dinesa Koppuravuri	(26)
	Samsul bin Shariff	(38)

	Dinesa Koppuravuri	(26)
	Samsul bin Shariff
	Samsul bin Shariff	(38)
	Song Binh-Thanh

Two of my midfield were injured so 1 was replaced by… a central defender. Ok….

Next,

It was 2 – 2 at the break. The forty-five minutes were dominated by tamo, with an impressive 51 percent possession of the ball.

So I guess Kota Damansara would have to rely on their defence since their midfield would surely lost in the second half. Well, better find something else to do then, like sleep?

Ah just check the result and..

Last round
tamo fc – Kota Damansara 2 – 7

Hic? Where did that come from. Well just check matchid 197234301 to find out.

The two midfielders were injured +7 and +5, the longest combined injuries Kota Damansara had ever faced…. oh well, its just another One Fine (Sun)Day.

Today is Cup Match Day 3. It was inevitable that after two rounds against virtual teams, round three invariably throws me something to chew on. In this case, a Perakian opponent from division four with a peculiar moniker – Pengkalan Jumping Beans. Pengkalan, if you must know, is located in the outskirts of Ipoh. While PJB would probably call that home, the term “jumping beans” leapfrogs my sensibilities and I can only speculate that he is a taugey farmer living next to a railway track.

But I digress. PJB is a monster defensive trainer with ratings that reach world class. Having played the game since 2004, PJB easily clinched his series title last season. The chink in PJB’s armor is a weak offence and a moderate midfield. I need to make possession count.

A check on the weather shows it is overcast. Good for my powerful players. My concern is speedy Konstantin Arps if it rains. I have chosen my best SP defenders for this game, which really isn’t much. Better to beware of the indirect free kick lest I get kicked in the teeth.

Omigosh! I forgot to set my penalty takers. A quick check shows that I have an hour to go. Best not to take chances from this stage on – that’s if I get beyond round 3. Losing would take away a lot of joy in the game and everyone wants to do as well as Accidental Mel last season. Better yet, if we can match the exploits of Jeffrey Piranha and climax with Piala in hand! What a guy – bet he knows this Pengkalan Jumping Beans… all these Ipoh folks… sigh…

First of all I would like to thanks all the dedicated trainers and supporters, we have qualified to the round 2 of the World Cup. Round 2 will be a really tough one to crack and since there are some times before it start I have started a more active scouting initiative to search for new talents. I have found that the Global NT/U20 Tracker to be extremely easy to use and a great time saver so I urged all trainers to update their players in the site. Its CHPP approved so you would not have to worry much. You just need your username and security code (not password!!) to update your players.

The Current NT squad still have few spots to be taken so be fast or else your player might miss the flight to Colombia!