fat Lion1 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I don’t see many stories on international football on here so I’ve decided to do my own with minnows ‘The Bahamas’. Country Gaining independence in July 1973, The Bahamas is only one of two countries with ‘the’ in their name. The country has a population of 315k, the capital is Nassau and they are based in the Caribbean. Footballing Pedigree The Bahamas Football Association joined Fifa in 1968 and has never made a notable impact on football even in the Caribbean. They have a history of withdrawals and non-qualification for the Caribbean Cup, Gold Cup and most importantly the Fifa World Cup. They are ranked joint 200th in the Fifa Rankings as of May 2015. Manager Bahamian Raymond Matterson was born in December 1979 and took position of manager of The Bahamas Football Team in May 2015. He has no coaching badges and only Sunday League experience. Leagues Loaded All down to lowest league: England, Scotland, Wales, NI, Mexico, USA, South Africa. I also downloaded The Bahamas Senior League to aid me in this save. Aims My aims will only ever be short term and I have to be realistic. My aims will take the form of the four year cycle leading up to World Cup Qualification. I’ll never win the World Cup with this country, might not even qualify. However as long as we keep heading in a decent direction then I’ll be satisfied with that. 2015 – 2019 Aim My aim for the first cycle is to establish a team ready for World Cup Qualification and get high enough in the rankings so that I’m seeded in the First Round draw of qualification that should give me a team who I can beat to get into the Second Round. Anything else after that is a bonus for this cycle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan BHTFC Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Looking forward to seeing how this pans out, I was thinking of doing a similar story not long ago Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Looking forward to seeing how this pans out, I was thinking of doing a similar story not long ago As long as you have the patience Dan and don’t go in with any unrealistic expectations then I would say go for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilhoskins77 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Looks interesting. I'm quite keen on an International story myself, and have just started one up to go on the forums at a later date, so will be following to see how you get on. Best of luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan BHTFC Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 As long as you have the patience Dan and don’t go in with any unrealistic expectations then I would say go for it. Was looking for something different before FM17 comes out but wanted to do something with a minnow nation no one has been yet on the forum Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 2015 As expected The Bahamas team was nothing special, the best player Lesley St Fleur is worth 7k and plays for Montego Bay Utd in the Jamaican Premier League. The best of the rest include Cameron Happle and Happy Hall who both play for The Bahamas top team Lyford Cay. With no competitive games for a while I have arranged a number of friendlies to take me up the rankings this year. The June section is against French Guiana and British Virgin Islands both away from home. These were already pre-selected and in future I will be avoiding the small French owned Islands as none are part of Fifa and I won’t get any ranking points. September sees a real test in the shape of an away game to St Kitts & Nevis ranked 122nd in the world and home to a number of players who ply their trade in the English Football League. Then October and November sees home games against lowest ranked team Anguilla and the not too rubbish Cayman Islands, finishing with an away game to Montserrat Results French Guiana 1 – 0 The Bahamas - Friendly, 10/6/2015 British Virgin Islands 0 – 2 The Bahamas - Friendly, 12/6/2015 St Kitts & Nevis 2 – 0 The Bahamas - Friendly, 4/9/2015 The Bahamas 4 – 1 Anguilla - Friendly, 13/10/2015 The Bahamas 2 – 1 Cayman Islands - Friendly, 11/11/2015 Montserrat 0 – 1 The Bahamas - Friendly, 17/11/2015 Rankings May 2015: 200 June 2015: 200 July 2015: 198 August 2015: 199 September 2015: 201 October 2015: 198 November 2015: 189 December 2015: 188 Yearly Verdict Can’t complain about how my first year as manager has been. I feared we would not be able to compete against even the smallest fish in this Caribbean sea, but thankfully we took care of them all. Never had much hope against St Kitts, I was just happy to keep the score down. What was even more worrying was conceding against Anguilla in the 3rd min! Losing to the bottom ranked team would’ve damaged my ranking big time. However ending the year as 188th in the world is a very good start. Star Player Dean Jacobs the striker links up well and knows where the back of the net is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Looks interesting. I'm quite keen on an International story myself, and have just started one up to go on the forums at a later date, so will be following to see how you get on. Best of luck. Thank you, I wish you well with your International save. I was surprised looking across a number of FM forums at the lack of international stories, so hopefully we will see an uptake in them now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 2016 After a decent 2015 it was time now to kick further on in the Fifa Rankings and I arranged more winnable friendlies to help me do this. Surprisingly the US Virgin Islands were ranked in the 170s so I arranged a friendly with them as I feel they have an overinflated ranking. I also arranged two home friendlies against minnows British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands respectively. The biggest tests in the friendlies however would come in the shape of Dominica away and Guyana at home. Also this year is the Caribbean Championship that will make for some good competitive football. Hopefully I can secure a victory or two there also. Results US Virgin Islands 0 – 1 The Bahamas - Friendly, 25/3/2016 US Virgin Islands 0 – 2 The Bahamas – Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group B, 17/8/2016 The Bahamas 0 – 3 Bermuda - Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group B, 19/8/2016 The Bahamas 3 – 1 Montserrat - Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group B, 21/8/2016 The Bahamas 3 – 1 British Virgin Islands – Friendly, 31/8/2016 Dominica 2 – 1 The Bahamas – Friendly, 6/9/2016 Cayman Islands 1 – 1 The Bahamas - Caribbean Championship 2nd Round Group B, 5/10/2016 The Bahamas 0 – 4 Trinidad & Tobago - Caribbean Championship 2nd Round Group B, 7/10/2016 Curacao 2 – 1 The Bahamas - Caribbean Championship 2nd Round Group B, 9/10/2016 The Bahamas 0 – 2 Guyana – Friendly, 9/11/2016 The Bahamas 2 – 1 Cayman Islands – Friendly, 15/11/2016 Rankings January 2016: 188 February 2016: 187 March 2016: 186 April 2016: 183 May 2016: 178 June 2016: 175 July 2016: 175 August 2016: 168 September 2016: 168 October 2016: 169 November 2016: 173 December 2016: 174 Yearly Verdict Well the most obvious success of the year is the Caribbean Championship progression. Having been drawn in a group consisting of Montserrat, US Virgin Islands and Bermuda I always knew if I could beat the former two then I would have a chance of progressing as second best runner-up and that I did. Shame about the loss to Bermuda, but Nahki Wells was just too good. The Second Round draw wasn’t so nice. The Cayman Islands, Curacao and Trinidad and Tobago were my opponents this time. Since the top two progressed, the only sliver of hope I had was beating Cayman Islands and somehow getting a draw against the 93rd ranked team in the world Curacao. No chance would I beat Trinidad. Unfortunately the Cayman’s earned a solid draw against us meaning progression was already over. Curacao played well enough to beat us, despite our late penalty and Trinidad didn’t need to get out of second gear with Kenwyne Jones helping himself to a brace. Despite finishing third in the Group and being eliminated, I really enjoyed the Caribbean Championship and look forward to contesting it again in 2018. It was a decent enough set of results in the friendlies, disappointed to not have got a result against Dominica who scored in the last minute and Guyana just proved too good for us. Solid results in friendlies and the first round of the Caribbean Championship saw us reach a high of 168 in the Fifa Rankings before finishing on 174 at the end of the year. This was a year that set a good foundation for the future. Star Player Erik Carroll, a goalkeeper who made a number of excellent saves this year and at 20 years old, has secured the position for years to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 4, 2016 Author Share Posted July 4, 2016 2017 With no competitive games to be played this year it was a case of arranging more friendlies and climbing further up those rankings all with Fifa World Cup Qualification in mind and only two years away now till the first cycle is complete. March will see us play Anguilla away who are still ranked the worst team in the world. August to October would see three home games against Turks & Caicos Islands, Dominica and Saint Lucia respectively, then Montserrat away. Then the last friendly in November will see us take on Grenada at home. Really hoping I can get a result against Dominica, Saint Lucia or Grenada. Results Anguilla 0 – 3 The Bahamas – Friendly, 24/3/2017 The Bahamas 3 – 0 Turks & Caicos Islands – Friendly, 30/8/2017 The Bahamas 0 – 0 Dominica – Friendly, 5/9/2017 The Bahamas 2 – 3 Saint Lucia – Friendly, 4/10/2017 Montserrat 1 – 2 The Bahamas – Friendly, 10/10/2017 The Bahamas 4 – 3 Grenada – Friendly, 14/11/2017 Rankings January 2017: 171 February 2017: 171 March 2017: 170 April 2017: 168 May 2017: 164 June 2017: 163 July 2017: 163 August 2017: 157 September 2017: 166 October 2017: 159 November 2017: 155 December 2017: 155 Yearly Verdict Well the biggest success of the year was the win against Grenada, it is one thing beating nations like Anguilla and the Turks & Caicos Islands, but to finally get a result against one of the teams in the next tier was brilliant and gives me confidence that we can compete with them. I was disappointed not to beat Dominica and even more so Saint Lucia who had Jay Emmanuel-Thomas to thank for their victory, we dominated them. Another major positive is of course the rankings, we are now ranked 155 and well on our way to being seeded for the World Cup Qualification Draw, one more steady year and I will have achieved that aim. A big negative was three of my best defenders all retiring this year. Lesley St. Fleur, Dylan Pritchard and Duane Beneby all retired with the latter two being 23 and 24 respectively. However this does happen when managing a minnow and I just have to get used to it. Star Player Travis Curry, the pint-sized striker who tormented the Saint Lucia and Grenada defences Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilDave Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Making good progress here, do you know what ranking you will need for a seeding? Shame about those three defenders going but, as you say, it happens so often at this level of football. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with these guys, keep it up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 Making good progress here, do you know what ranking you will need for a seeding? Shame about those three defenders going but, as you say, it happens so often at this level of football. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with these guys, keep it up! Thanks Dave! The latest update will be done today, however basically the bottom 14 ranked teams in CONCACAF enter Round One with the top 7 seeded and the bottom 7 unseeded. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayR2003 Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 I am liking this and, as a fan in the US, I love a good CONCACAF story! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 2018 With the World Cup Qualification draw just a year away it was important to make sure that this year would not see too many poor results as we could still be unseeded when it comes to the all-important draw. However with that mind it is Caribbean Cup year and I’m not expecting to reach the Second Round again, a win or two at that tournament would be fine. I could’ve played it safe and arranged friendlies against the low-tier minnows, but instead I decided to mix it up and throw some of the better teams into the mix too. Home games included: US Virgin Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Anguilla. Away from home were British Virgin Islands and Grenada. Results Aruba 1 – 0 The Bahamas – Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group A, 22/8/2018 The Bahamas 1 – 3 Guyana - Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group A, 24/8/2018 The Bahamas 2 – 1 Surinam - Caribbean Championship 1st Round Group A, 26/8/2018 The Bahamas 2 – 0 US Virgin Islands – Friendly, 5/9/2018 The Bahamas 1 – 5 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Friendly, 11/9/2018 British Virgin Islands 3 – 1 The Bahamas – Friendly, 10/10/2018 Grenada 4 – 1 The Bahamas – Friendly, 16/10/2018 The Bahamas 1 – 1 Belize – Friendly, 14/11/2018 The Bahamas 2 – 0 Anguilla – Friendly, 20/11/2018 Rankings January 2018: 148 February 2018: 148 March 2018: 148 April 2018: 146 May 2018: 146 June 2018: 146 July 2018: 146 August 2018: 151 September 2018: 150 October 2018: 153 November 2015: 155 December 2015: 151 Yearly Verdict Well mission accomplished in terms of seeding for the World Cup Qualifying draw. Despite some shocking results we have held firm and I shall be doing a special post for the draw next time. Nevertheless it has been a pretty poor year overall, fair enough the Caribbean Cup threw us a difficult Group with Aruba, Guyana and Surinam. Aruba are an inspiration to all Caribbean minnows as they have improved immensely, though it does help that they have a number of talented Dutch players to choose from who didn’t quite make it in their homeland. Guyana are a horrible team to play against when Cameron Jerome is on form which he was. Surinam surprisingly are on the decline and were ranked 196th when we played them, so it wasn’t really the great victory it should’ve been. I wasn’t expecting to get to the Second Round again so no travesty really. As for the friendlies it is one thing getting battered by reasonably good Caribbean teams, but to lose to the British Virgin Islands is nothing short of embarrassing. They were better than us on the day and deserved the victory, they also beat Barbados who were ranked 143rd in the world. Are the British Virgin Islands on the rise? Who cares? So with no notable results this year, we still reached an all-time high ranking of 146 which was nice to look at, had it stayed that way we would’ve received a bye to the Second Round of World Cup Qualifying. Alas I will settle for 153 after a tame year. Star Player Cameron Hepple, a quality attacking left-midfielder who was an asset to the team, I say was because he retired at the end of this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 I am liking this and, as a fan in the US, I love a good CONCACAF story! Thank you Jay! I've followed CONCACAF for years now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 World Cup 2022 Qualification Round One Draw Well here we go! Since I’ve always mentioned the importance of the World Cup Qualification stage in previous posts, it will get its very own post for each step of the journey. The draw sees the 14 lowest ranked teams in CONCACAF paired against each other in a two-legged home and away tie with the winner progressing to Round Two. The top 7 ranked teams in the draw are seeded. The dream draw would be Anguilla, Turks & Caicos Islands or the British Virgin Islands. The latter being purely for revenge purposes. The nightmare would be Surinam or Dominica, they are better than their rankings suggest. Seeded teams (rank in brackets) Aruba (150), The Bahamas (151), Antigua and Barbuda (152), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (156), Belize (159), Puerto Rico (160), Cayman Islands (167) Unseeded Teams Montserrat (168), Dominica (169), British Virgin Islands (170), Surinam (175), US Virgin Islands (194), Turks & Caicos Islands (205), Anguilla (206) World Cup 2022 Qualification Round One Draw Aruba v Anguilla The Bahamas v US Virgin Islands Belize v Montserrat British Virgin Islands v Puerto Rico Dominica v Cayman Islands Surinam v Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Turks and Caicos Islands v Antigua and Barbuda Well I can’t complain at that! We’ve played the US Virgin Islands three times and won the lot. I’ll be weary of them, but very confident I can build up a good lead and finish the job at their ground. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenthreeleader Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Just catching up to you here. Great idea, and you are quite right, international stories not done by Mr. Wilson are fairly rare around here. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 The Bahamas 2 – 1 US Virgin Islands – World Cup Qualification (NAM) First Round, First Leg - 27/3/2019 My team talk didn’t go quite as I would’ve liked for it to go, but the lads came firing out of the blocks and on the 9th min we were 1 – 0 up when a Travis Curry got on to the end of a diagonal cross. We kept up that intensity for a little while longer then the game started to settle down with the US Virgin Islands looking capable of getting a goal. The second half team talk did not go very well either and then things got even worse when the US Virgin Islands scored. Junior George firing an accurate shot into the bottom corner from just outside the 18 yard box. It was now team to throw everything at them as a first leg lead was important. Both teams had chances to win the game but thankfully a great strike from Johnathon Rolle that went in off the post put us 2 – 1 ahead on the 73rd minute. I didn’t feel that was enough and went for an ever bigger lead, unfortunately it was not to be and the tie was very much still alive going into the away game US Virgin Islands 1 (2) – (4) 2 The Bahamas - World Cup Qualification (NAM) First Round, Second Leg - 30/3/2019 The team talk went much better this time and the lads came out and controlled the game instantly. We were missing chances and that was worrying when you’re defending such a slender lead, however salvation came in the form of Wilson Joseph with a nicely taken finish inside the 18 yard box. This was made into a quick double salvo when veteran striker Dean Jacobs scored on what will likely be his last match for us before he retires. A nice strike from a free-kick that was headed away from the danger area and into his grasp. The US Virgin Islands did threaten more after this, but we contained them well for the rest of the half. More of the same was asked from the team and the second half did continue in the same vain as the first. We pretty wasteful and was punished when Dusty Augustus smashed one into the top corner on the 63rd minute. However they still needed four more goals and we looked like we would at least get another anyway. No further goals were scored and The Bahamas secured their passage to the Second Round! Other Results Dominica (0) 0 – (0) 0 Cayman Islands, Dominica won on penalties Aruba (7) 3 – 0 (1) Anguilla British Virgin Islands (0) 0 – 1 (3) Puerto Rico Belize (5) 4 – 2 (4) Montserrat Surinam (4) 2 – 2 (4) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam won on penalties Turks and Caicos Islands (3) 1 – 4 (6) Antigua and Barbuda Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 World Cup 2022 Qualification Round Two Draw After the ultimately comfortable win against the US Virgin Islands, I have reached my target of the Second Round and a tougher test now will now await The Bahamas. 13 more teams along with the winners of the last round will now contest each other in a two legged home and away tie for a place in the Third Round. This time we are unseeded and could face some real heavyweights. The nightmare draw would be Canada or Panama. I wouldn’t mind the Dominican Republic or Grenada though, quite beatable. Seeded Teams (rank in brackets) Guatemala (96), Panama (97), Canada (107), Saint Kitts and Nevis (118), Guyana (122), Bermuda (125), Cuba (127), Dominican Republic (133), Curacao (133), Grenada (143) Unseeded Teams Barbados (144), Aruba (146), Saint Lucia (146), The Bahamas (147), Antigua and Barbuda (150), Nicaragua (155), Puerto Rico (158) Belize (162), Dominica (171), Surinam (173) World Cup 2022 Qualification Round Two Draw Canada v Belize Antigua & Barbuda v Bermuda Aruba v Cuba Dominica v Panama Nicaragua v Dominican Republic Guatemala v Surinam Barbados v Grenada Saint Lucia v Curacao Saint Kitts and Nevis v Puerto Rico The Bahamas v Guyana So our old friends Guyana. Not had much joy against these, but with the right tactics and a huge amount of luck we could progress from this tie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 The Bahamas 1 – 3 Guyana – World Cup Qualification (NAM) Second Round, First Leg – 7/9/2019 My preparations for this match were damaged when three of main defenders all withdrew from injury which was really unfortunate. The game started evenly and we looked up for it, though unfortunately Cameron Jerome got on the end of a well whipped in free-kick which he initially hit the post with but fortunately for him it fell straight back at him to tuck away. Two minutes later and we were back level. Some great spirit was shown by the team when Ian Winder got on the end of a great cross. After those eventful first 10 minutes the game settled down and I was happy enough with 1 – 1 at half-time. A passionate team-talk gave me hope that the players would go out and finish the job, but hope were dashed quickly when he awarded a penalty for a questionable foul against a Guyana player. To add insult to injury Dylan De Costa received a second yellow card for saying something to the ref in the aftermath. Cameron Jerome put away the penalty and we were down to 10 men. He completed his hat-trick on the 53rd minute with a consummate finish We huffed and puffed after those demotivating minutes, but in truth we didn’t have many chances to salvage something and it would be very difficult now to progress from this tie Guyana 1 – 0 The Bahamas - World Cup Qualification (NAM) Second Round, Second Leg – 18/9/2019 A not so inspiring team talk got mission impossible underway and the game started much like the last one, but a bit more drab. A clever diagonal cross was finished by Kadell Daniel on the 13th minute and Guyana were comfortable with just keeping the ball. We were threatening, but not overly so. The second-half carried on in the same vain with Guyana having the better chances, but being uable to put them away. However as the final whistle went it was them who were going through to the Third Round and The Bahamas short World Cup qualification journey was over. Like I said previously, it required some good tactics and a lot of luck to beat Guyana. I feel both of those went wrong. The first 45 minutes in that first leg we were motivated and I feel the tactics were spot on, however I think in the second leg I was way too cautious and should’ve perhaps let the players have a go at them. As for luck it could not have been more rotten. Having three of my best defenders pull out and then that card-happy ref give them a dodgy penalty and send my player off was frustrating, but fair play to Guyana. I do feel the only difference between us and the likes of Guyana and Bermuda is that one top quality player. They have Cameron Jerome and Nahki Wells, we don’t have anybody at that level…yet. Other Results Canada (5) 1 – 0 (0) Belize Antigua and Barbuda (2) 2 – 5 (5) Bermuda Aruba (2) 1 – 3 (4) Cuba Dominica (0) 0 – 2 (9) Panama Nicaragua (1) 0 – 1 (2) Dominican Republic Gutemala (3) 1 – 0 (0) Surinam Barbados (3) 3 – 2 (4) Grenada Saint Lucia (1) 0 – 1 (6) Curacao Saint Kitts and Nevis (1) 1 – 1 (1) Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico won on penalties Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat Lion1 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 2019 - 2023 Aim So the first cycle is over, where do we go from here? Well its time to take the Caribbean Championship more serious and with two of them to come in this cycle, I want to get to the Second Round in at least one of them whilst getting a result against one of the bigger teams. I have noticed we have some decent players coming through in the defence and midfield area so hopefully I can intergrate them into the squad. Finally I want to reach the Third Round of World Cup Qualification. I think my ranking by the end of this cycle will give me a bye into the Second Round, but then I want to get seeded so I can have an easier draw and a better chance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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