[FM 20] Turtle Race Journeyman (COMPLETE)

[TerminalPortugal]

Sweden National Team vs Ukraine (National League B Group 3)

Our first game in charge of our country and we dominated the Ukraine in the Nations League, although the result was not showing us as dominant, we eventually came through to beat them 2-1 and I get my first win in international management.

We sit in 2nd spot after Austria won 3-1 against Armenia.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Armenia (Nations League B Group 3)

We go away to Armenia and get a comfortable 3-1 win over there. Isak getting two goals for us as we continue our winning ways in the UEFA Nations League.

We move top as Ukraine beat Austria in the group, to give us a 3 point lead in the race for promotion to League A.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Austria (Nations League B Group 3)

Our best performance in the national shirt under my tenure as we smash Austria 5-1 at home to continue our perfect start to the campaign.

Ukraine did what was expected of them and beat Armenia to keep up the pressure on us.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Ukraine (Nations League B Group 3)

A great performance in the Ukraine gives us a narrow 2-1 win which all but secures our promotion League A.

Austria beat Armenia, but with two games remaining it is pretty much done at this stage, it will be a miracle if either the Ukraine or Austria catch us now.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (September, October & November 2024)

We had a pretty indifferent end to the season. In the end I was a little disappointed although I shouldn't be, we are declared relegation fodder every season and we defy expectations, but considering our start I thought we were going to something special, but alas it just ended up being another pretty solid season to finish the 6th season in Sweden. We will continue with our transfer policy next season, removing some of the deadwood and getting in a key signing or two and also I was impressed with loanee Magnusson this season so will definately look to see what the loan market has to offer, as a low cost approach to improving our team.

We finish in 7th spot, a few points better off but essentially the same as last season. We seem to be in a little bubble of our own, 5 points away from 6th and 5 points away from 8th. In other news Malmo secured another title, they seem to be pretty untouchable. Brommapojkarna and Mjallby are down, Orebro will have a reprieve if they win the playoff game.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Armenia (Nations League B Group 3)

After a bit of a scare early on when Armenia got level, we then progressed to take the game easily 4-1, a sending off for Armenia helping us along the way. This win booked our place in League A for the next iteration of the Nations League.

Confirmation that we are promoted and Armenia are relegated.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Austria (Nations League B Group 3)

The final game of the Nations League and we rescued a draw in Vienna to save our undefeated start as Sweden manager. The game itself was a dead rubber with us already having secured promotion for next time around.

The final classification is above

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team - World Cup Qualifying Draw

The World Cup will be taking place in 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico and our draw sees us get Croatia, Ireland, Gibraltar, Moldova and North Macedonia. Croatia will be a real test and Ireland can throw up a surprise or two I am sure. It's not the easiest group but it could have been a lot worse.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Denmark (Friendly)

A rather strange friendly where we could only pick players playing in Scandanavia, means that we have to drop the majority of our starters, but we got the win over the old enemy Denmark by 1-0. The game being played in Kuwait.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (Pre-Season 2025)

Not the best pre-season, we were knocked out of the cup in the group stage so no improvement there and we weren't particularly good in the friendly games in general. So a little bit of a cause for concern to be honest. We will see what season 7 in  Sweden has in store for us.

We have definately improved as a manager, we are now a 4 star manager and are already working on our Continental Pro Licence, which will see us fully qualified.

The transfer window was hectic, we decided to go down the route of getting in a lot of loans from key clubs identified for producing quality players that we had a chance of bringing in. So Portugal and Serbia were fruitful as we brought in many new players in the hope to improve the first team squad.

The new expected best line for the coming season.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Moldova (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

World Cup qualifying kicked off and we faced Moldova away first, and it was a pretty easy affair for us as we came through 5-1 in Chisinau. There will be much tougher tests to come but we looked good.

Elsewhere Croatia predictably tonked Gibraltar and North Macedonia pulled off a nice upset over the Republic of Ireland.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Croatia (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

Next up was the toughest foe we would face in qualifying and we passed the test with flying colours. We trailed early on but came back superbly to take all three points and give us a great position in the group after two games played.

We top the group and North Macedonia also boast a perfect record after two games played.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (April & May 2025)

It has been a very good start to the season, my biggest worry has been juggling the squad to meet the registration criteria amongst other things, but generally speaking we have been great this early part of the season. I just hope we don't have the dip we had last season, which really curbed my ambitions.

We sit in 3rd place, which is amazing. I don't expect to stay there, but we have pretty much put any suspicion of relegation to the wayside already.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Gibraltar (World Cup Qualfying Group 5)

An expected 9-0 destruction of Gibraltar was the conclusion in Sweden.

We continue to sit top, but North Macedonia are matching our every step so far as these also reach 9 point from 3 games.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs North Macedonia (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

The meeting of the top two and we showed ourselves to be much the superior with a 4-0 win, to really take control of the group.

Croatia move 2nd in the group, we remain top of the group. Both Moldova and Gibraltar have yet to pick up a point as yet.

[TerminalPortugal]

Norweigan side Molde, invite us for an interview but we must decline.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (June, July & August 2025)

Unlike last year where the mid season form completely killed our good start, it has not happened this time around and in the mid season we are still red hot. Two losses at the end of July hurt a bit, and they were pretty unlucky, but we look like we are carrying a serious campaign this year for the top spots and I am delighted with that.

We sit in 3rd place in the league, and we are not very far off top spot at this stage, Norrkoping have played a game more and Malmo a game less, so the gap could be as much as 5 points, but still that is impressive from a club like ours. We will see whether this can continue until the end of the season or whether it is destined to die out soon.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Republic of Ireland (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

We go to Ireland, looking to continue our perfect record in qualifying and we manage to find it as we come through 4-2. In the end we dominated a pretty poor Irish side on the night and were well in control 4-0 before Ireland pulled a couple back to make the score a little more respectable.

Croatia dropped points in their game against North Macedonia, which means that we have a lot of latitude now in the group to let a result go and still qualify in 1st.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Moldova (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

We pulled off a demolition job on Moldova winning 8-0 as we completely controlled the game from start to finish and Moldovan's had no answer for us.

We look very much on course to qualify in 1st place now, with 4 games remaining in the qualifying.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Croatia (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

In a very tight affair away in Croatia, we were handed our first defeat as Sweden manager, as Croatia managed to get one over on us. We were probably the better side truth told but they did enough to get their win. It is far from a disaster for us as we should still be very much in control of our own destiny.

We still top the group but the gap is now cut to 2 points from Croatia. North Macedonia may still have a shot at Croatia's second place but it would need something strange to happen you would think.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Gibraltar (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

Predictably the encounter against Gibraltar was not close and we bagged another 8 goals winning 8-0.

Croatia fluffed their lines against Ireland, and with our win they are now sitting 5 points behind us with 2 game to go, that means one point from our final two games should be enough for us to secure top spot.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (September & October 2025)

The end of the season did not go as well as what came before it, but we were still pretty good despite a lot of injuries at the end of the season. This season has been an absolute marvel, the loanees that came in improved the side no end, we just need to work out a way to make it work again next season.

Norrkoping finally managed to stop Malmo continually winning the league. We managed to qualify for the Europa Conference League with our 3rd place finish. In the end we were fantastic for the better part of the season and to reach European football with a club like this is really a great achievement for us. We will have more games to play so we will need to make sure we have enough bodies on the ground, but I also need to overhaul the squad. We need quality players whether that be loanees or permenant signings but this season was a problem because of the rules pertaining the number of homegrown players required in the match day squad so we need to invest in a few of these players that qualify for homegrown status.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs North Macedonia (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

A point would have been enough to qualify for the World Cup but we had this one finished inside the first 10 minutes, which allowed the nerves to rest a little. In the end we came through 3-1 winners.

We have secured the group and Croatia have made sure of 2nd place in the group, as there is very little to play for in Group 5.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Republic of Ireland (World Cup Qualifying Group 5)

We finish the group in the way we would have wanted to with a nice 3-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.

We finish the group top, Croatia finish 2nd and a resurgent Republic of Ireland finish 3rd.

[TerminalPortugal]

Danish outfit Nordsjaelland come calling and we have to pass on their interview offer.

[TerminalPortugal]

The next day we have to pass on Midtjylland.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team - World Cup 2026 Draw

We have been handed a group of Colombia and Egypt for the World Cup next year.

[TerminalPortugal]

We sign a new deal with the club that will keep us here until 2028.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Bosnia & Herzegovina (Friendly)

We were away in Sarajevo for a friendly against Bosnia and we did a very professional job winning 3-0 on the night.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Latvia (Friendly)

A few days later we were in Riga for another friendly this time against Latvia. We were not at our best and certainly we were really wasteful in front of goal but we got the win nonetheless winning 2-1 on the night.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (Pre-Season 2026)

We entered our 8th season in charge of Hudiksvalls in Sweden, looking to see if we could get any better in the league and whether we could do anything in Europe in our maiden adventure. Our first test was the pre-season friendlies and the Svenska Cupen, which generally we have not really had much joy in. This time around we did very well getting as far as the semi finals, where Malmo narrowly beat us. But much better from us in the cup and a nice little adventure to enjoy. The Malmo game in fact would be our only loss of pre-season as we swept every other fixture aside.

We finally after all this time got our final badge, the Continental Pro Licence. So that is the studying out of the way, we are now a really top tier manager, and very well respected, especially in Sweden. Although there is still a long way for us to go to prove ourselves at the top table of football.

We really went out there this transfer window and really looked for loan deals as a priority. Scouting the major clubs in Europe worked last time around and again this time we found some gems to bring in. We tried to cover our tracks and bring in some Swedish talent as well but this was far more difficult for us, although we did manage to bring a few new faces which should help with the home-grown quota situation although it definitely will not be perfect on that front. Appiah should be the standout out of the group. He really is very close to being the best player in the division so I hope to make good use of him.

The new expected best 11 is above.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team - UEFA Nations League A Draw

We have been handed a pretty tough group for the Nations League A, but we will see if we can match the likes of Italy and Holland.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (April & May 2026)

We have started the new season on fire, no one seems to be able to touch at the moment. It has been built on a mean defence letting up few goals to the opposition. So far we have won all but one game; which we drew. A remarkable start for us and one I hope we can continue in to the remainder of the season.

We have already opened up a 4 point lead over Norrkoping at the top of the table and it's already six points to Malmo in 3rd. How long can this form continue, that is a question I do not know the answer to as yet.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Mexico (Friendly - World Cup Preparation)

We have a preparatory game against one of the hosts for the World Cup at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee in the USA. It was a tough affair but we came through it well winning the game 2-1.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Iran (Friendly - World Cup Preparation)

We completed the preparations for the World Cup with a game in Goteborg against Iran, who we matched to group side Egypt's style of play. We came through that test very nicely winning 4-1. We look at least in decent form going into the opener with Colombia in the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Colombia (World Cup Group J)

It's a superb start to our campaign as we come through against much fancied Colombia 1-0. It was a cagey affair, we denied the Colombians the ball and you could call us the better side but we only got ahead late, and made sure we held on. With the revised World Cup format, a win in the group stages is pretty much enough for qualification more than likely so I am happy we got it. Egypt have yet to play so there is no group to show.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Egypt (World Cup 2026 Group J)

We were high in the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado for the 2nd game of the group stage against Egypt and the height seemed to not affect us much as we battered Egypt 6-0 on the night to send them packing after they had lost earlier in the week to Colombia. 

The final group sees us take top spot and Colombia in 2nd place. Egypt are eliminated without scoring a goal.

The second round draw has been made and we will face African side Mali in the next round.

The full draw is above, Germany are still awaiting their opponent which will be one of Jamaica or Ghana.

Edited July 26, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Mali (World Cup 2026 Second Round)

We were in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for our Second Round game and we were not in any kind of charitable mood to the underdog Malian's as we swept them aside 6-1, to book our place in the Third Round of the World Cup and send the African side home.

We have the tricky prospect of Turkey in the next round.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Turkey (World Cup 2026 Third Round)

We will absolutely kick ourselves, and think of what might have been after really playing much better than Turkey for the majority of the match we contrived to let them score twice and were wasteful in front of goal, as we lose in Houston, Texas 2-1 on the night. The FA were looking for us to get to this stage of the competition so I guess they will be satisfied, but I am however not particularly satisfied with our World Cup adventure all said and done. Dissappointing.

[TerminalPortugal]

England lifted the World Cup for the 2nd time in their history in New Jersey, in a mouthwatering tie against Brazil winning out 2-0.

[TerminalPortugal]

Holland and Spain want us as their national team managers. But we will not walk out on our own country, we will leave the Sweden job when the time is right but I think there is a still an unfinished project here. So we reject both offers.

[TerminalPortugal]

We draw Ukrainian powerhouse Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League Third Qualifying Phase. I expect it to be a tough tie.

[TerminalPortugal]

Think that is the 2nd time we have now rejected Aalborg.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hudiksvalls FF (July & August 2026)

We had a pretty trash July, but we improved in August. In the Europa League we got past Dynamo Kyiv with surprising ease, but fell in the next round to Brondby on away goals after extra time of the 2nd Leg. Injuries and suspensions have been draining us, as we really don''t have much depth, at least not of any remote quality to replace the key players in the side. The loss to Hacken was particularly annoying for us, as we had been on a good little run in the league up to that point.

We sit top, but the teams behind have games in hand and Malmo could go beyond us by winning the games they have over us. But for now we remain top of the league.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Bosnia & Herzegovina (Nations League A Group 1)

The Nations League was back and it was a repeat of a friendly from not too long ago against Bosnia, and once again we managed to get the win in Sarajevo, although by a tighter margin, this time around 2-1.

Italy took the points against Holland, to put them in first place in the group.

[TerminalPortugal]

Swedish National Team vs Holland (Nations League A Group 1)

In by far the best performance we have overseen as Sweden manager, we took Holland apart in front of our own fans by 6-0. That has to be one of the worst results the Dutch have ever suffered, but I am ecstatic with the performance and the result.

Italy did the expected and beat Bosnia to also make it 6 points from 2 games.

[Motlhen]

Incredible result against the Dutch!

[TerminalPortugal]

Just now, Motlhen said:

Incredible result against the Dutch!

Yeah, thanks. I was expecting to get pretty well tanked but it just didn't happen. I think Italy may be a sterner test, plus we still need to go to Holland, so they may well get their revenge on us.

[Motlhen]

1 minute ago, TerminalPortugal said:

Yeah, thanks. I was expecting to get pretty well tanked but it just didn't happen. I think Italy may be a sterner test, plus we still need to go to Holland, so they may well get their revenge on us.

Good luck with continuing your project with the Swedish NT. Props for not jumping to one of the bigger nations you were offered to join. Are you aiming for a specific stage of the Nations League or Euro's? I think just qualifying from that group would be a huge success!

Domestically, you seem to be storming to a title too- unbelievable progress from the 4th tier. 

[TerminalPortugal]

1 minute ago, Motlhen said:

Good luck with continuing your project with the Swedish NT. Props for not jumping to one of the bigger nations you were offered to join. Are you aiming for a specific stage of the Nations League or Euro's? I think just qualifying from that group would be a huge success!

Domestically, you seem to be storming to a title too- unbelievable progress from the 4th tier. 

I think it will be one of those things, when I will know that it is time to leave the Sweden job. After the Euros should we qualify may be a natural point, or possibly the next World Cup.

We have been good in the Allsvenskan, but it's tough with Malmo seemingly dropping points every blue moon, plus we are the kind of team that can go unbeaten for 3 months and then not win for the next 2.