corinthiano Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 (edited) The Premise Football in Oceania has always been far from something professional or overly structured. The OFC Champions League is a good example of that. First played in 1987, it would only resurface in 1999 and in 2005 it finally became a yearly tournament (with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19). Initially it was dominated by Australian teams, but when Australia moved to the AFC in 2006 the domination moved over to New Zealand. And from New Zealand it came from Auckland City, who have won 11 out of the 20 editions in the history of the competition. The only other winners outside of Australia are Waitakere United, who won it twice but have since then folded, Hekari United from Papua New Guinea in 2010 and Hienghene Sport from New Caledonia in 2019. The aim of the save will be to win the OFC Champions League with a team from all 11 countries that qualify for the tournament, with the condition that they must not be the three teams that have won it before or any others that may win it during the save. We will start the journey in the most reputable nation, New Zealand and move our way down, where American Samoa currently have the lowest ranked league. The manager in this save will be Manu Tuiasosopo, who was the first Samoan American football player to play in a Super Bowl. He is of American Samoan decent and I like the name and his look Country 1 - New Zealand New Zealand is the 6th largest island country and the last large habitable land to be settled by humans when Polynesians arrived in the island between 1280 and 1350, developing a distinct Maori culture. In 1840 it was declared a British territory, which sparked a number of conflicts and resulted in alienation and confiscation of large amounts of Maori land. The island gained full independence in 1947 but the majority of the population is of European decent, with the Maori's being the largest minority. It is considered a developed country and was the first to introduce a minimum wage and introduce women's voting rights. The capital of the country is Wellington, which has close to 300k inhabitants. The largest city however is Auckland with 1.5M out of the total 5.25M population. The country is known for its amazing scenery, with some of its national parks being included the World Heritage Site List. Lord of the Rings is one of the famous films recorded there due to the scenery. Football in New Zealand Football is the third most popular sport in New Zealand after Rugby and Cricket. The National team has little success on the World Stage, with two World Cup qualifications, but has dominated Oceania since Australia left for AFC, winning two out of the 3 OFC Nation Cups held since then, and are the most successful country with 5 titles. Wellington Phoenix is the biggest club in the country but plays within the Australian structure. The New Zealand league system is primarily amateur with the exception of Auckland City. It is organized into three Regional Leagues since 2021, from which the best clubs qualify for a National Championship. Auckland City are the most successful side in the country, with most clubs that have had success in the past not being around today. There are only two two-star clubs in the country and Manu will take over one of them seeing as the challenge of the save will be in the latter countries, which meant I decided to start at the top in New Zealand as opposed to having to go up through the leagues. Next up we'll introduce Wellington Olympic Edited January 14 by corinthiano 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Wellington Olympic AFC Wellington Olympic Association Football Club, or Wellington Olympic, are an amateur team from New Zealand's capital Wellington. They were founded by Greek immigrants in New Zealand and were originally known as Apollon AFC. The Greek community is still heavily involved in the club and historically a lot of players have been from Greek decent. They don't have a lot of success historically but seem to be a team on the rise, being runners-up of the New Zealand National League in the last two years. They have won the Central League which feeds into it twice, as well as the Chatham Cup, New Zealand's main cup competition, once. They play at the Wakefield Park, which is not much a stadium, more like a field in a park The Squad The First Team Squad is small, but the club has a B and C team full of players. They dont look great so we'll probably recruit instead of promote. Also a couple of the better players dont fit the 4-1-2-1-2 I will use in the save so will probably be released. The players that fit in best for us are: Seems to be a decent Goalkeeper Also not bad and I love the fact he is from the Cook Islands. Experienced and versatile defender. Finances Looks like an OK amount of money for an amateur club, and we don't have any wage or transfer budgets naturally. Initial Fixtures We have about a month before the Central League starts, which is a very simple 10 teams division, where after 18 games the 3 top teams go to the National Soccer League and the bottom two are relegated. We are favorites behind Wellington Phoenix's reserve team so will be expected to qualify. The board also want us to finish above our rivals Miramar Rangers. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KibworthBull Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 This is a save i can get behind. New Zealand should be straight forward.. then the challenge ramps up.. Following Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 5 hours ago, KibworthBull said: This is a save i can get behind. New Zealand should be straight forward.. then the challenge ramps up.. Following Thanks, great to have you on this one! Should last longer than my last save Yes that’s my thinking too, could even get Nez Zealand done in a season with a bit of luck depending on how strong Auckland City will be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 March 2023 A sluggish start at North Wellington as the team is still gelling, we almost nicked it with a goal late on only to have North Wellington equalize straight from the kick-off. We then hit our stride in a comfortable win over Waterside Karori. Transfers In Out As you can see we have been busy. Our transfer strategy seems to be to put together the best international retirement home in New Zealand, but they are a lot better than the players that we have at disposal so hopefully the signings will have enough legs to perform for us. On the outgoing front the only big departure is starting centre back Ben Mata to big boys Auckland City. Here are the players who currently made it to our First XI. Huge coup despite him being almost 40 years old. Probably our youngest signing, should do a decent job at left back. Another veteran in our defence. Our centre back pairing has a combined age of 69... Another oldie, this time from Spain. Ewan is young by comparison, but not as strong as some of the older guys. Michael completes our Jamaican midfield pairing. A Brazilian playmaker sounds exciting, but this is the weakest area of the team. Decent striker, has already bagged a couple. Craig makes it 3 Jamaicans in our starting XI to give us a Caribbean feel. Next Fixtures Things pick up in the league and we enter the Chatham Cup in the Second round and will play a second tier side away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 April 2023 We are still not playing fluid football but it is getting better, with some nice wins in the League and a convincing performance in the Chatham Cup. The game against Napier City Rovers was frustrating as we should have won easily but went down to 10 men 16 seconds into the game, which made it a lot harder for ourselves. We still managed to go ahead a couple of times but were denied by a 87th minute equalizer...there is a big gap to Petone now, but we still look good to qualify for the National League. Transfers In Probably part of the reason we are not fluid yet is that I keep adding players to the squad, but these all improve the first XI so it had to be done. An exciting signing even though he is a shadow of what he used to be and physically he is declining a lot. Comes in to be our AP. Versatile player, can play at LB or in centre mid for us. Is an improvement at RB but was sent off 16 seconds into his debut so I immediately mistrust him. Another ageing star, had a very decent debut with a goal and an assist. We have gone from a Jamaican to a Senegalese centre mid pairing with Diandy and Sankhare. Next Fixtures A crucial game against Petone this month and in the Chatham Cup we get the hardest draw we could get. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KibworthBull Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 16 seconds!! Did he claim his appearance fee? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 He is on an amateur contract so there wasn’t much to claim. He was also OK with us fining him half his $0 weekly wage 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 May/June 2023 We have really hit our stride in the Central League and whilst the fight with Petrone is still a good one, I think qualification to the National League is pretty close. In the Chatham Cup a very encouraging result in a crazy match against Auckland City. We scored two quick goals early, but less than 10 minutes later Auckland City were level at 2-2. In the second half Auckland City went before we turned it around quickly again. They didnt take long to equalize and we in turn did not take long to get ahead again with a penalty in the 65th minute. After that the game went a strange 25 minutes without a goal and we went through having knocked out the favorites! Transfers In Out We have started slowing down on the incoming transfers but good players still pop up, and three out of the 4 we signed are first team players. On the outgoing front we release two unhappy strikers and a B team player heads back to his homeland in England. Great name, decent player and a current international, the only one in the club. Really solid player. Ben Arfa was not happy about him joining and got the rest of the squad to back him up, Luke could end up being trouble. Definitely getting on, but I think he can do a job for us at DLP. Next Fixtures Some tricky games in the Central League and in the Catham Cup we play a side struggling in the Northern League so hopefully we can make a good impression. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakama2619 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Good luck with this one, looking forward to another great read from you! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 4 hours ago, Vakama2619 said: Good luck with this one, looking forward to another great read from you! Thanks! Glad to have you along on this one too! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 July 2023 Good performances in the Central League and Chatham Cup before complacency set in on the brink of qualification to the National League. We were terrible against Western Suburbs, letting in three goals before half time and despite improving in the second half we left ourselves with too much to do. Hopefully this is just a blip and with qualification ensured it would be nice to finish of with a Central League title. Transfers None, finally Next Fixtures We play a second tier side in the Chatham Cup Last 16 and can hopefully progress further. In the Central League we finish the season at Petone, so hopefully we can seal the title before then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 August/September 2023 We end the Central League season in style, winning all three last games and clinching the title. Amazingly Petone collapse, losing the last 3 games and missing out on qualification to the Regional Series altogether. In the Chatham Cup we progress comfortably as predicted. Transfers In Only one transfer as we bring in a new central defender for our first XI Next Fixtures We are now into the Regional Premier Champions Playoff, where the three best teams from the Northern, Central and Southern League play once against each other for a total of 8 games. The scheduling is terrible, with some fixtures only two days apart, so its a good thing we have decent squad depth. Top two qualify for the O-League, so this has to be the aim. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 September 2023 We have done well to win 5 out of 6 games in a hectic schedule, but the loss to Auckland City could ultimately cost us the title. The scheduling was unfortunate as we had a game two days before and they were fresh, and in the end we were never in the game. We are looking good for a top two finish and O-League qualification though. Transfers Out A couple of outgoings as a B team player leaves for another top club in New Zealand and Michael Binns leaves after being unhappy down the pecking order. Next Fixtures Just two more league games with a Chatham Cup Quarter Final squeezed in the middle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 October 2023 A very good performance against Auckland United before we collapsed against a second tier side in the Quarter Finals of the Chatham Cup. To make it worse Luke Freeman dislocated his shoulder and will be out for 4 months, which might put him out of the first few games in the O-League. On to the last game where to my surpise we were 2 pointds ahead as Auckland City lost at home to Western Suburbs. We faced the same Western Suburbs in our last game and a win would guarantee the title, and a draw would be enough if Auckland did not win by more than 5 goals. When Auckland raced to a 3-0 lead and we were still at 1-1 I got a little concerned, but Auckland City conceded twice and we scored a late winner to seal the title! The title automatically puts us at 18th in the Oceania Hall of Fame, but we still have a long way to catch up to the top who is a former Auckland City Manager with 294 points and 7 OFC Champions Leagues. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KibworthBull Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Great start. I think in Oceania with Ba (Fiji) i won 3 Cl's and 12 other trophies and was still miles behind the Auckland City guy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 2 hours ago, KibworthBull said: Great start. I think in Oceania with Ba (Fiji) i won 3 Cl's and 12 other trophies and was still miles behind the Auckland City guy. Thanks! Yeah I'll imagine that if I get to the end of the saver with the 11 CL's needed I should pass him, but I'd also think the leagues in the other countries are probably worth a lot less than the NZ league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KibworthBull Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 35 minutes ago, corinthiano said: Thanks! Yeah I'll imagine that if I get to the end of the saver with the 11 CL's needed I should pass him, but I'd also think the leagues in the other countries are probably worth a lot less than the NZ league. Yeah, i think the leagues in most countries will be minimal points. Can't quite remember what Fiji was but it wasn't brilliant. The best thing about Fiji was 3 cup competitions every year against the same 10 teams Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 5 hours ago, KibworthBull said: Yeah, i think the leagues in most countries will be minimal points. Can't quite remember what Fiji was but it wasn't brilliant. The best thing about Fiji was 3 cup competitions every year against the same 10 teams I hadn't noticed that, looked at it now and feels repetitive haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 2023 Season Review I wanted O-League qualification this year and happy we got it, winning the title was a bonus, although beating Auckland City next season will be tough. Shame we exited so unceremoniously in the cup to lower league sides as most strong teams were out, but in a busy last week of the season we had to prioritize. Squad by Appearances We have a lot of appearance makers as we kept signing players throughout the season and the average age of the squad is ridiculously high. Be interesting to see how many retire in the off-season. Top Performers Didnt play a lot for us as he arrived late in the season and got injured a couple of times, but when he was on he was fierce down the left despite his age. Worried he might not recover from another injury, but we have good back-up down the left. This is what I mean by good cover down the left, Achraf has also been solid and is one of our younger players. Came in halfway through the season to controversially replace Hatem Ben Arfa. Worth the hassle though as he was a game changer for us. Finances Would have been positive if I didnt put my assistant in charge of friendlies, he invited Adelaide Utd over and we paid a cool $50k for that... Progress Great first season, now lets see if we can win the O-League at the first time of asking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now