Part 142: Chapter the Ninth: I can see the finish line.
Chapter the Ninth: I can see the finish line.March 1, 2023-April 1, 2023
There's only four club matches and one international friendly this month, but we've also got our incoming academy players to sort through. It's unlikely that I go on the type of spree I did last March, our youth squad is well stocked for the time being. I'll also be spending a bunch of time on the USA U20 squad, they've got the North American youth championships coming up in early April. Our league games are again pretty easy, with lowly Sheffield United and midtable Aston Villa, while we have lower league Wigan in the FA Cup. The real challenge will be to hold onto our 2 goal advantage when we make a trip to Turin for our second match against Juventus.
For once I won't complain about losing the Manager of the Month award to an opponent, Pattison played a game more than I did and won every single one of them.
Liverpool are 8 points from safety with 9 games to play. Even if they were to complete the sale tomorrow I don't think new ownership is going to turn things around that quickly.
At Wigan Athletic, March 5, 2023
FA Cup, Sixth Round
I have three words for you, team. Don't blow it. Wait, do contractions count as one word or two? Nevermind, just get out there and come back with a trip to Wembley.
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: El Sayed, Reed, Hammatt, Feruga, Suslov, Mair, Bailey (c), Collett, Shirra, Taborda, Stringel.
Subs: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Laux, Dixon, Julio, Petts, Aarts.
In the fourth minute El Compadrito catches the Wigan defensive midfielder faffing about with the ball in the six yard box, and makes him pay for that laziness by firing a shot from his feet into the net. Things go as you'd expect in a match between a good but not great Championship side and one of the five best clubs in the Premier League, but Wigan score against the run of play late in the first half to equalize. It's of no concern, we retake the lead on an own goal around the hour mark, then Shirra runs the lead out to two just minutes later. That's the final statement in a solid victory, and we're back into the FA Cup semis for the third straight year.
Man of the Match: Scott Shirra
Wigan 1-3 Wrexham
It's not like there was an easy draw in the pot. This makes it likely that we'll have to go through both Manchesters to win our second FA Cup, though. At least we'll be playing at Wembley instead of in Manchester.
Your client has been injured for most of the season and only recently started playing up to his potential. He's earning over 2.5 million quid a year already. Go fly a kite.
At Sheffield United, March 11, 2023
Premier League
IrfanView wanted to remind me that it was feeling a bit gray because I don't appreciate it enough, so it set the preview to grayscale and saved it before I could revert. Anyways, 17th placed Sheffield United might survive to fight another season, they're 6 points up on Southampton. We've got Juventus in the midweek game, if we run up a multiple goal lead I'm going to pull some of our starters to rest them.
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Laux, Todd, Suslov, Bailey, Petts, Collett, Shirra, Mujkic (c), Bastable.
Subs: El Sayed, Reed, Hammatt, Mair, Julio, Taborda, Aarts.
Early efforts by Shirra and Mujkic both miss, so it's once again Collett who scores for us in the opening 10 minutes. He now has goals in 12 of his last 18 appearances. Bastable misses a chance late in the first half, but pads the lead when play resumes. Petts makes it three-nil minutes later, and Sheffield United are coming unglued. That allows me to pull Bastable and Collett to keep them fresh for our trip to Turin. I later do the same for Mujkic. Complacency results in a consolation goal for Sheffield in stoppage time, and we're once again denied a clean sheet.
Man of the Match: Matty Collett
Sheffield United 1-3 Wrexham
I'll probably have to do something about this come the summer transfer window, El Sayed has been moping since 2022. It's a shame, he's gotten into 13 matches for us this season and has 8 shutouts. He's a perfect second keeper.
Having good physios means that your players return from injury more quickly, even if the physios can't do a whole lot about them getting hurt during matches. Argenti was given a prognosis of 3-5 weeks, and returned after exactly three weeks out.
Parr will still take a full month to get back into shape, which means he'll only be available at the very end of the season. Still, better to have him healthy than not.
Not a single prospect in the bunch. I'll be replacing our director of youth development this summer, he hasn't been good enough to earn a contract extension, and I've learned more about the staff role since hiring him.
Manchester City can be beaten! We're now five points back, and they have yet to play Chelsea and Man United. We've still got Arsenal and Man U on our schedule as well, though, so we're hardly out of the woods. And that's ignoring the fact that Man U is tied with us on points and has a slight goal differential advantage.
I'll be interested to see how the kids do. The USA has players with intriguing potential, with my Wrexham staff saying that eight or so of them have the potential to become good enough to play at the squad level in the Champions League. The best of the bunch are defenders Isaac Parsons and Chris Ramirez, and midfielders Jesus Melendez, Paul Barrett, Michael Enriquez and Xavier Hughes. If they all come along like Chris Todd and Scott Shirra have, we'll have a very good, young team at the 2026 World Cup.
At Juventus, March 15, 2023
Champions League, Knockout Round
We'll advance even with a 3-1 loss. We just need that away goal. Why am I worried that we won't get it?
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Counter
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Laux, Todd, Suslov, Bailey, Petts, Collett, Shirra, Mujkic (c), Bastable.
Subs: El Sayed, Reed, Hammatt, Mair, Julio, Taborda, Aarts.
Well, the journos were talking about the effect of an early goal, and they were right about how it can affect the game. Collett commits a handball during a set piece and Juventus score on the penalty kick. Our lead is down to one after just 15 minutes. Things don't get better, and by the 34th minute we've surrendered our two goal. It's a blessing that we make it into halftime without going behind.
I rage at the players for their pathetic display, and we come out with significantly more gumption. Even so, it seems like we're doomed after the third occasion that a Wrexham shot bounces off the woodwork. Finally Scott Shirra gives us the vital away goal in the 60th minute, and once again Juventus has to score twice. They pull one back with fifteen minutes to play and the final minutes are agony as I scream at the ref to blow the whistle in the fifth minute of a four minute stoppage time, but they can't manage a second. We escape Italy by the barest of margins, and with the scalp of the reigning European champions.
Juventus (3)3-1(3) a Wrexham
This will keep him out of the Aston Villa match, but Taborda is healthy and capable of filling in for him.
Our smash and grab nets us some serious dosh.
Real Madrid stormed back over Wolfsburg, I can sympathize with them so very much, while Celtic survives to make the quarterfinals. You can guess which of them I'd rather face. Of the eight teams in the quarters five hail from the UK, no mean feat.
Napoli won the Scudetto last season, but are only in fourth this time around. It's the best draw we could have hoped for if we couldn't land Celtic.
I think I'm going to send them on vacation instead. Nyah nyah.
vs. Aston Villa, March 18, 2023
Premier League
Our next four club matches are against Arsenal, Manchester City, and the CL quarterfinal ties with Napoli. We need to not look past Aston Villa, who are quietly putting together a top half season. Our task isn't made easier by the absence of many players who are off on international duty, youth players Enrique and Ellis Rickard are on the bench due to absences. I'm surprised the FA didn't ask me if I wanted to postpone this match.
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Feruga (c), Todd, Suslov, Mair, Bailey, Collett, Julio, Taborda, Bastable.
Subs: El Sayed, Enrique, Rickard, Petts, Shirra, Parr, Aarts.
Bastable has a goal called back in the twelfth minute, and it's the only time all game that we put the ball in the back of the net. We can't get through Aston Villa's defense, with Bastable choking away the winner in the 82nd minute. It's likely the end of our title dreams unless both Manchesters drop points, and it comes in a match where we absolutely dominated every aspect of the match but the scoreline. At least Shahed Parr finally got to make his debut, nearly 10 months after we first signed him.
Man of the Match: Oleg Suslov.
Wrexham 0-0 Aston Villa
It would be great to see Man City reduced to a club that was merely one of the most strongly supported and wealthiest in the world. I mean, it wouldn't change much, but at least it raises the possibility that they'll pull a Liverpool.
Hurrah for optimism. I've taken direct control of the youth squad, I'll be managing their friendlies and their matches in the U20 tournament and later this summer in France. I want them to develop a good relationship with me. I won't be giving rundowns of our matches, though, because they're still just an U20 side. We have friendlies against Canada and Scotland's U20 teams coming up before the tournament, it'll give me a chance to break in the squad and improve some of their fitness. We should win the Canada match, but Scotland will be trickier.
Meanwhile, I've put Ass Man Paul Williams in charge of the B team, he'll schedule friendlies and bring in players to that team, hopefully turning up ones that I've overlooked. Also, our U23 team has been invited to the Copa America. We're in a group with Brazil, Venezuela, and Chile, so escaping to the knockout rounds will be a major accomplishment. I'm not sure why our U23 team is scheduled this way, it's a major tournament and the equivalent of the Euro Championships, but it might be because we also have the Gold Cup scheduled a month earlier. The Gold Cup will run from June 11th through early July, and the Copa America begins July 13.
Suffice to say, we're going to have a busy, busy summer when it comes to the US setup. I'll cover the Gold Cup and Copa America in depth, while giving updates on the Tournoi Espoirs de Toulon in early June.
Six times! It's the first injury to Suslov in the regular season this year, and it means James Loseille is going to have to grow up real quick.
vs. Scotland, March 28, 2023
International Friendly
Let's see how we do against the likes of Stuart Mair and a number of other excellent players like top EPL goal scorer John Baxter. Scotland is on the upswing, they're not a great team but they've done well enough to reach 27th in the FIFA rankings and look likely to qualify for the Euro Championship next year. For some reason Scott Shirra was not called up for this friendly, nor are Scott Scott or John McGoon Jr. on the squad.
Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter.
Starting 11: Toninho, Robles, Latham, Brown, Bruno, Padilla, Woods (c), Spence, Baker, Lenz, Carroll.
Subs: Gaspar, Hernandez, Velasco, Needham, Hyndman, Munk, Ramos, Gordon, Duncan, Saavedra, Mancini.
Our striker Florian Lenz is pulling a Jozy Altidore. He's been awful for his club, Stuttgart, and has only managed three goals all season. Yet he puts us ahead with an assertive finish after five minutes have passed. We play a scrappy defensive game, and when the dust settles we've beaten Scotland. It's a decent win for us, being the first time that we've beaten a club with a higher FIFA ranking under my guidance, and augurs well for the Gold Cup. Left back Bruno picks up Man of the Match honors, he set up Lenz's goal and was relentless on that flank.
Man of the Match: Bruno
USMNT 1-0 Scotland
Confidence building is the name of the game. We looked dangerous on the counter, hopefully we'll be able to take Mexico down a peg this summer. I'm unconcerned about getting out of the group, we wildly outclass El Salvador and Curacao and are better than Honduras. The whole of CONCACAF outside of World Cup champs Mexico is looking terrible, actually. Due to a lack of friendlies and middling results to start my tenure we've slipped back to 32nd in the rankings. That's still far better than 55th ranked Costa Rica and 69th ranked Jamaica. Compare with real life where the USA, Costa Rica and Mexico are ranked 15th, 16th, and 18th, and both Panama (33rd) and Honduras (40th) are in the top 40.
USMNT
The USMNT is rapidly approaching our first international tournaments with me at the helm. The CONCACAF U20 championships, Toulon Tournament, Gold Cup, and the Copa America will indicate exactly how much needs to be done if we're to make any noise at the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the good ol' US of A. Our goal is to win the CONCACAF trophies, and make the knockout rounds in France and Ecuador.
Wrexham
Meanwhile, on the club side of things we're right back where we were last year. We've got a shot at the double, but we could just as easily come away with nothing. We're going to need Manchester City to fall apart if we want to dream of winning the title, though, even if we're just four points behind them that's still asking them to lose two of the next seven games while we win out. At least we don't have to worry about making the Champions League since Chelsea has lost four and only won one of their past six league matches. They went from tied with us on points to start February to 12 points back of fourth place with 7 matches to play.
