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The NT saga continues as we go into the season 70!

As usually, even BB seasons are related to the consolation tournaments for smaller NT teams - such as us. While big boys play at the World cup, the rest of us battle for the home court advantage at the following area championships. The best team from a given area which did not get any trophies in the past 6 seasons, gets the main reward. European teams are in front of a particularly difficult task, since it is usually necessary to get at least to the finals of the tournament to get the reward. This is three or four steps higher than what we can realistically hope for, but, besides rating, it is the only thing to play for, so we must be ambitious.

As mentioned before, our quality is increasing at the moment, so I hope we will do better than the last time at consolation tournament. Getting to playoffs (final 32) is a realistic goal, while any further step will be a major achievement. Unfortunately, the draw was a bit unlucky with us, since "easy" games are scarce and we will need to do some real work in order to qualify to top 32. The schedule is:

Venezuela (A) - a difficult away match against a very decent south american team. Fortunately, by the time I opened a "Season 70" thread, we have already won this one, which was an important step towards the playoffs.

Iceland (H) - Iceland is a team on the rise (seems to be common with all nordic countries at the moment). Three seasons ago they were very close to 90th position at the world ratings (only true micronations are above that), while now they settled in positions 50-60, which is very similar to us. Since their team is still weaker than ours, and we play at home, this is a must-win game, but it will not be trivial.

Ghana (A) - probably the weakest opponent we will face. They have no players with >200k salary, and only 6 players with >100k salary, so another "must-win" game. Since we will play away, we will still need to be careful though.

Mexico (H) - Mexico won the home court advantage for the last america's championships in season 69, but didn't materialize the advantage. Getting a bronze at AC in S67, they surely hoped for more in S69, but they ended at 5th-6th place, without medal and without world cup qualification. Their team is strong, stronger than ours, but with HCA they are far from invincible. This will be another important match for us.

Bosnia and Hercegovina (A) - We played against Bosnia in the last consolation tournament. Also an away game, and we played CT against their TIE. We also won the tactical matchup, but were very far from success. So it is highly unlikely we can win this one. Surely we won't bomb them with CT this time...

Argentina (H) - Another, thrird, opponent from America. While Argentina seems a bit stronger than Venezuela, it is a bit weaker than Mexico, and this is the game, which we will likely need to win. Far from impossible, but also far from guaranteed.

Iran (A) - We also played against Iran, also away, in the last consolation tournament. We lost, but we are definitely not without hope this time. By this point, we will likely know how we stand, and what is needed to be done in order to get good result in this season. So we have some additional maneuvering space for this game.

Ireland (H) - Similarly to Iceland, the Ireland NT is not bad, but we will definitely be a favourite here. On the other hand, they may very well play CT against us, since it will be probably their last competitive game of the season, or this will be the game which could still get them into the playoffs.

As you can see, most games will be close and difficult. Some are 60-40 or 70-30, while others may be 30-70 or 40-60, but almost none is already decided. This is interesting for a neutral observer, while it is a bit annoying for the NT manager Still, I look forward for the challenge and to asses our progress

The game against Iceland went well, we have won convincingly and made another necessary step towards the playoffs (82067).

Game shapes of our outside players were excellent, however game shapes of our big men were very poor (also my fault, since I played Ahler with until then optimal minutes also for Thursday's cup match - the game started already at 7 am, which caught me off guard). I expected Iceland to be a bit aggressive with game day predictions, and since we could play inside tactics very well with available players, I didn't hesitate. The sum of tactical-, home court- and quality advantages then led to a quick lead, which finally materialized in the second quarter, when we were leading by 26 points. Although our guests managed to get back to 13 points difference in Q3, our win was never in question, and the final result 127-102 is within the range of the expected outcome.

Four of the five starters - Josefsson, Forsbratt, Häggin and Håkansson were almost equally efficient, scoring 20 to 23 points, while the fifth starter, Herman Hansson was offensively a bit less prominent, probably due to playing on a PG position. However, his +/- is the best among all players (+22), so obviously he was a huge asset for us.

I must say that I am really sad about the fate of Mats Josefsson, whom I just recently described as one of the most promising swedish players of all generations. But he was sold in the meantime. Although his new owner takes good care of his minutes, he cannot train him further, which is a real loss for us. Josefsson will still be a team member, but his role will be limited, while he could become a team leader within a season or two. Another such player is also Patrik Skogstedt (23), who was also the best player among many generations. He will be trained with a new chinese owner, and we'll see how it goes. It is very difficult if not impossible to give any directions to chinese managers. Although they can in some cases obviously train very good and very dedicated, they sometimes produce a bit chaotic players, who do not fit well in just any team, but are built for the specific purpose of their club. Actually now our two best 23 year olds are trained in China, I really hope they will give it their best.

So long story short, try to have a long-term vision with your trainees and NT players. Usually a player is best trained if he is with one manager from age 18 (or 19) until 30+. Especially for swedish teams, I strongly recommend not selling your trainees at any point. With Utopia it is a bit different, since most of us have Utopia teams in 4th division (and soon it will be 5th division), where finances cannot support NT caliber players above the age of 25 or so. Still, try to plan in advance and try to find a domestic buyer from swedish leagues if you can.