KibworthBull

September 2077 A quick working holiday to Samoa for the friendlies before it's back to some league and Copa Sudamerica action. Papa's Got a Brand New Guinea up first. It was a second half showing with Pualele Talia doing the bits to cause crazy scenes. Farani Tokuma got his first at international level. A see-saw game in Tahiti was settled in the dying embers - Vaisigano Mataafa with the decisive flick of the boot. Goals and Greens. Perfect We move back to 139th in the world. Back in Peru, Diego Márquez lays on assists to see us past Cantolao. Fully rotated for Cusco. It's SAN time. The Boys from Brazil are over. And it's all to do in the 2nd leg - at one stage we were 4 down, so only trailing by 2 feels positive. The reserves beat Bolognesi Before we board that plane to Brazil. We needed 2 - we got 1. We are out, but we are richer. So kinda win-win

August 2077 Luis Chavez is proving to be a useful 3rd striker for the club this season. Goals No. 10 and 11 helped see us past Cienciano. Cesar Guzman is under pressure to still be the 2nd striker, 2 goals against Alianza Universidad helped us go top and did his chances no harm. He's on 70 for the club. Players were rested for UTC. With some bigger Brazilian fish forthcoming. Alexander Luna has told me he is considering his options - he's got nearly 18 months before he can walk away - and then he bagged two against CTB - they halved the deficit in the dying embers of the game which could be a crucial goal. Full rotation for Alianza Atletico - the reserves do the business. All aboard for Peruvian Airways to Brazil. We only needed Luna. A hat-trick. What luck! His 3rd was No.50 for the club. We are £500k richer. And there are only Brazilian opponents left. At Cesar Vallejo, the unbeaten season ended in the 93rd minute. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. We've got a Samoan squad to prepare for next month's friendlies. Very familiar squad. At the end of the month, William Medina gets 4 assists as we beat Universidad San Martin. Our North Korean scores as well.

July 2077 As we've already qualified for the end-of-season play-off we've only got 2 targets for the Closing Stage. Tick off North Korea Copa Sudamerica Progress Victory over Alianza ensures we come out of the Opening Stage unbeaten. 2-0 and we mucked it up against Universitario BUT Ibrahim Balde snuck a header in in stoppage time and we win best out of 5. M.C.Torque could be a nightclub DJ, but they are actually a side from Uruguay. A 4-2 win should have been better but we will take a 2 goal lead to their place. Alexander Luna gets the goals. The late show against Melgar, Giancarlo Arboleda getting a late winner. In Uruguay, only 249(!) people attend and see us go 2 down, before Luis Chavez gets the key goal. It's £430k into the bank account. All 4 Brazilian sides avoid the others Our winner gets Libertad or SAN 2 routine league wins end the month

June 2077 June in Peru is a bit daft. We play 1 game, then stop for a few weeks, and then play another 1, and then 1 game in July ends the Opening Stage. Surely it would be simpler to have the 3 games and then a break before starting the Closing Stage? I assume it's the database and in real life, it's more logical. What's logical, and expected, is an Alexander Luna treble. Sport Huancayo have no response. The transfer window has opened and it's 2 in, and a few out. Ro Jin-Hyok is an exciting young prospect from NORTH KOREA!!!! He's a striker and it's a nation on my list. Also on board is William Medina, another Right Winger/Striker option. He's Colombian but has Peruvian nationality so no registration concerns with him. Nothing incredible leaving - Cotrina needs games, and Ruiz is an expensive, old, back-up. Both the newcomers made their debuts against Ayachucho but it was Seb Leyva who took the plaudits with 2 assists. We've achieved a new ranking high for Samoa... without playing. We actually have to play two games this month, it's an unchanged squad We matched the Solomon Islands in every stat but the important one (#cliche) as they score 50% more than us. Steve Pupi is off the mark. An injury to Vaisigano Mataafa means Faleniu Knight gets his first call up for Vietnam. And then Vietnam is a rinse and repeat. We move back to 141st in the world.

May 2077 Brayan Avilés continues to impress. Every start has equalled a goal. This one a winner and we beat lowly Cantolao. All or nothing, well not quite, in Olimpia. Liberatordos or Supamerica - neither spelt right (probably) but one or the other for us. We can't get our win, so it's Copa Sudamerica. We still get financial rewards, they just aren't as sweet. Maxime Obekop will soon become a Cameroonian/German/Peruvian Triple National, and he celebrated by scoring twice to beat Cusco. Not bad for a Centre Half. We "pasta" the mustard against Bolognesi.... Alexander Luna coming back to full fitness with a goal. Cesar Guzman still knows where the net is. Municipal are beaten. We need 1 point from the remaining 4 matches to seal the Opening Stage. A Uruguayan team in the Copa Sud. £400k for losing. Daniel Salinas comes back from the U20 World Cup and grabs two goals as we win the Opening Stage. He was one of 5 players who went to that competition. We are unbeaten

April 2077 We start a big continental month with a league game at home to UTC, with 6 goals scored without Guzman or Luna. Luis Chavez is off the mark. Off to Argentina, and if we want to progress in the Copa Lib this year, this is a must-win. A semi-fit Alexander Luna lasted 11 minutes and we conceded 4. Realistically now we only have 3rd place to play for - that would give us Copa Sudamerica though. 16-year-old Brayan Avilés makes a surprise debut at Alianza and gets the MoTM award with a fine right wing performance. We get results in the league. It's just the cups we are struggling on right now. Injuries are really biting right now, but we snuck through a tough game against Cesar Vallejo. A must-win game with no fit strikers? Christian Ramos steps up and scores a late penalty for his first senior goal. Magic. It means IF we beat Olimpia away next month AND Catolica lose to Velez, we sneak into 2nd, otherwise its Copa Sudamerica. Either way our journey continues. We leave it fairly late to beat San Martin. In all comps, things are progressing well.

March 2077 6 more days of the transfer window. Can we must up something? Christian Conrado comes in as a Star goalkeeper. The 26 yr old Ecuadorian has cost me £130k - he can't feature in the continental stuff. We've also signed Peruvian striker Luis Chavez on a free transfer. He's 22 and will be an additional squad player. A trip to Chile sees us come undone in the Copa Lib opener - we led but faded badly. An Alexander Luna double sees us bounce back in the league. Cristal are cracked. We could do with a win at home to Club Olimpia in the Copa, Sebastian Leyva's match last 9 minutes, but thankfully Luna scores with 10 men on the field, just as well as he does when we have 11. Giancarlo Arboleda came through the last intake and looks to be a very good talent - he scores his first senior goal to beat Sport Boys. I'm hoping his is a name that gets mentioned a lot over the next few years. Argentina's Velez are the next to come to town. A massively tough game. For our progression chances, a hammer blow. But we still have a chance, but it does mean we have to get a result in Chile and possibly Argentina. We probably didn't need Ciancieno at the end of the month. Hell, still unbeaten in the league though. It's also our first mention of Samoa for 2077. 2 friendlies, Barbados and Vanuatu. New blood, Stanley Granger on the left winger, and Semi Vitale in defence. Joe Sefo with Samoan goal number 31 as we sneak past Barbados - both Vitale and Granger make debuts. Another sneak, but this time past Vanauta and we make it a March double 1-0. We jump to 141st in the world - level with the Cook Islands.

Happy 1st birthday to this save. February 2077 The transfer window has been quite good for us so far. 4 new faces. Cesar Ruiz - an experienced DM from Cusco Sebastien Leyva - a DM or LW from Alianza Carlos Ampuero - a Centre Back who turned me down last year to sign for Cienciano Wilson Morales - a LW whose been on the fringes of the Melgar first team for the past 4 years. All are Peruvians and the first 3 certainly improve our best 11. Moving on are £375k's worth of talent. Cliver Phiri is the biggest loss - the oil money tempted him. We have a 25% sell on clause and he is valued at £11m now so it could be a good earner for us. I've also released our Japense player - 91 games with ticking of the MoTM award. He was never going to either. I have a space for an additional foreign player - I'm trying to bring in a missing Asian nation but no luck so far. On the pitch, Alexander Luna gets off the mark and it's 3 points to start things off. Between the 1st and 2nd games of the season, the £185k release clause for Ndumba Mubili was met and we've now lost both our Zambians. This means we have 2 spaces available. Melgar are beaten. Which is pleasing. Daniel Salinas steps into the Zambian whole and scores and generally plays well. Salinas has an even better game as we hit 5 in the third and final game of the month. We are unbeaten, 3 from 3.

November 2076 2nd vs 1st. Ndumba Mubili choosing the right moments to be superb. A hat-trick gives us a massive three points. It means we have won both the Opening and Closing Stages. We end the regular campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win against Alianza. It was our first-ever sell-out. 12,000 people packed into our ground. Samoa are away to Tahiti for the last game of 2076 Usual faces. A nine-goal thriller. We've not beaten these boys in 4 matches, since 2074. Back in Peru, we head straight to a FINAL, and have 2 legs against Universitario. A 1-1 draw turned into a 4-1 win thanks to a dominant last 15 minutes. A good day. Alexander Luna getting 2. The 2nd leg is a formality. We are the Champions my friends.

October 2076 I've gone very easy for Samoa this month. Micronesia and Tuvalu are not in the rankings. We are at full strength. Although typically we get an injury the day after announcing the squad, so Ae Felise comes out and is replaced by Farani Tokuma - a winger on either flank. Our record against these minnows isn't great - it's also why we are not playing Kiribati. I don't know if Amateur sides can put in a professional performance, but we did against Micronesia. AJ Elisaia returns from injury and scores and we never look back. Tuvalu proved a tougher nut to crack, but we managed plenty of goals, Joe Sefo getting a double and we make it back to back wins. It's the last international involvement for veteran Centre Back Peni Tupou as he is to retire in early November. In Peru, first up, we host Bolognesi. We don't allow them a shot. A stuffing and Universitario dropped points too. Christian Maguiña is inspired as we beat Melgar to go top of the Closing Stage, but most importantly 5 clear overall - both chasing teams have games in hand. Zambia beat Sport Huancayo, Clive Phiri with two assists for Ndumba Mubili goals. Just the two games left. I'm fairly certain we will finish 1st, but will that be a title? Its decided by a Championship.

September 2076 Which Samoa will turn up? The friendly side or the competitive side? Tahiti first up, last year we had 2 draws against them, but we never get going and taste the bitter taste of defeat. Dylan Carr made his debut. New Caledonia next, and it's AE Felise's turn to debut, we lose Joe Sefo to injury early on and battle to a draw. Not how I wanted these games to go. Back in Peru, we had 3 domestic games. Business as Usual against San Martin - Clive Phiri the main man. When Cezar Guzman is in the mood, no one is safe, especially not the side rooted to the bottom of the table. He gets 3, we get 6. Then, sadly, 2 points dropped at Cienciano. With 5 games left we are joint top. It's not an easy last 5 - the last 2 in particular.

August 2076 We start off as we left it last time. Plenty of goals. 6 of them against Alianza Universidad. Not as smooth at Cusco but we get the job done, Maxime Obekop with the key moment. At every club, in every squad there are players who through no fault of their own, are second choice, and sometimes they have moments in the sun, today was Fernando Córdova moment as he started at Left Wing and scored the only goal against UTC. Eduardo Cotrina is slowly but surely forcing his way into my team in the DM slot, he continues to improve and struck the winner at Binacional - we've recently given him a new contract and he's showing us why it was a smart decision right now. We get back on the horse with Samoa next month, so have named our squad for the 2 friendlies. Just one new name, Ae Felise in for AJ Elisaia - injuries man... It's game no.2000 for me as a manager as we host Cesar Vallejo. A draw, a game we could have lost. Francesco Baioni scored his first goal in 20 matches. We are 2nd in the overall table, but remember, we have qualified already for the Play-Off

July 2076 Further signings before the window closed - Ibrahim Baldé - a 21yr old Guinean who is just a tad better than my existing worst foreign Centre Back in most of the important areas. Younger and cheaper too. I've been trying to sell Manuel Avila all window but he wants to stay - he won't play again. He finally accepts this fact and moves back to Ecuador later in the month. Also on board is Christian Maguiña, a Right Back who has a lot of potential. He'll add good depth. Closing off the opening stage, we lose to Alianza. We win it, it's not a trophy, it's a qualification. Sport Boys is the location for the opening of the closing stage, and it's an 8 goal thriller. Balde with a debut goal. Freddy Medina has responded brilliantly to the fact I've signed his long term replacement at Right Back - a MoTM as we hammer Juan Aurich. The good vibes can't continue forever, and so it proves as we lose the next match. In a way this half of the season is meaningless. We've already secured our place at the end of season shin dig. Cesar Guzman has been more of a sub than starter of late, but still knows where the goal is when he does start - 2 against Municipal gets us back on the winning line. Clive Phirri loves a penalty - he gets 2 at Cristal, and one in open play, we seem to be scoring for fun.

June 2076 It's break time. June is the mid-season break in Peru, which means we have 2 games. And Samoa have a couple too. Sport Huancayo at the start, before the transfer window opens, and before the internationals. Eder Morales bangs two, but it's Francisco Romero's performance that gets everyone excited - 2 assists and plenty of key passes. A result that means we are involved in the end of season Championship play-off. The window opens and it's goodbye to Cesar Bravo and disaster Rashed Al-Fadhli - quite possibly the worst signing of the save. Both have dropped down to the 2nd tier. In comes U20 international Enzo Ramírez from Cristal - a central defender, and Colombia's Diego Márquez who is a DM. Clive Phirri returns from injury to get a hat-trick of assists in the 2nd game of the month. One of them setting up a debut Marquez goal. A Samoan squad with no surprises First up, Guyana. We put in the type of performance that was missing in the Nations Cup - Joe Sefo gets a treble and we score 6, and we follow it up with 5 against the Dominican Republic. Perhaps I need to move the Islands.

May 2076 A massive 8 matches to be played this month. Buckle up tight it's gonna be a long one. San Martin were dispatched by 4 goals in the opener before a trip to Brazil for our biggest Copa Sudamerica game to date, FOR - whoever they may be. Probably Fortaleza. What a defensive display. Maxime Obekop gets the plaudits but every defender was superb. The wins keep coming, but so do the injuries, Cesar Guzman out for 3 weeks now. Goals are hard to come by against Bolivar—our 2nd goalless draw in 2 months. Eder Morales gets his 4th goal of the campaign against Cienciano, not bad considering it's his first start of the campaign. We only get a point in Chile, whilst FOR win, so we will need to beat them by 2 clear goals to top the group. Rules aren't clear whether 2nd place will be enough. We heavily rotated for the trip to Bolgonesi - our Kuwati villain scored a penalty but it's 2 dropped points. It'll be worth it if we beat FOR. We don't. They do to us, what we did to them in Brazil. Once again we've hit the point where our threadbare squad is exhausted. Home to Meigar at the end of the month, 1st v 4th, 4 goals in the last 10 minutes, and we edge it. César Bravo MoTM in what should be his last game. 3 games left in the opening stage.