Hi everyone!
So first of a huge apology for not being around for a while but I really havent been that well. You may remember me saying that I had an ear infection however it seems it was a little more serious than that.
I had a big infection behind my eye and it actually spread to my ear, the way I can explain it is, if you look at the sun by accident then you get those sort of purple dots I had those all the time. It made me feel really sick and dizzy and I struggled to even see and write.
I went to the doctor who then sent me to the hospital, I spent a few nights there but eventually they diagnosed me and gave me some pretty horrible tasting medicine to take along with some pills. The pills made me drowsy so for a few days I felt terrible.
However it worked and now I feel back to my old self again!! I must say I’m very relived as I hate having anything wrong with me and I hate taking medicine so for the past few days I have been frantically playing to try and get an update up!
I have to thank my boyfriend as well for helping me out in playing a few games/hours for me and for getting my pics also!
He has been a real star also, looking after me as its the worse I have ever felt in my life.
But enough of all that and on to my feeling better update!
So last time which seems so long ago I left my job at the New York Red Bulls having claimed my second champions league title. I was also sacked from the USA side which were knocked out in the first group stage of the world cup with a far easier group than I had last time!
As the title suggests its off to Korea! A place I like but hate at the same time, I like the league and how it works but its playoff’s to decide the winner and I hate them.
Seoul was a team I manged to the Asian champions league last year so I really like the team, I could have managed some other Korean teams but I have a real like for Seoul. :)
Managerial C.V
— Black Aces (June 2011 – June 2018)
African Premier League : 2016
Super 8′s Winner : 2015, 2016
First Division : 2012
South African Knockout Cup : 2016
The African Champions League : 2017
— New York Red Bulls (January 2019 –December 2021)
U.S. Cup : 2019
MLS : 2020, 2021
North American Champions League : 2020
International Career
— U.S.A (May 2017 – July 2021)
Nothing. :(
————————————-
So first up was my contract and its pretty good. Budgets are really good with over £4 million to spend and a decent wage budget, the rules are quite simple in Korea you are allowed three foreign players and anyone outside of Korea are classed as foreign.
It takes around 8-9 years for citizenship so it will be young players I do bring in from abroad along with as many promising South Koreans I can find.
So Seoul are hugely successful and as you can see are four time Champions league winners and are the current holders having won it last year. :)
So financially and everything looks really good, with £7.5 million in the bank we have a bit of money to play around with.
So we are predicted first but our biggest threat is that of Ulsan who have won the K-league three of the last four years. Jeonbuk one of our rivals actually offered me that job just before I accepted Seoul so I was practically Jeonbuk manager until a late approach by my new club! :)
Wow! Massive investment by my board in the wake of £5.5 million, but that should push our facilities to five star standard.
Seoul’s Best Player — Edwin Cardona
So in my opinion my best player Cardona, he is a wide player who can score goals he is 29 but has only been at the club for two years so along way to get that Korean passport, will take one of our three foreign places.
Transfers In and Out — First Window
So a massive clear out! In all honesty my team was very old with loads of plus 30+ players I guess I felt that team has had its day time for a brand new look.
I sold all of my non eligible foreign players, who were on quite high wages also and replaced with some talented South Korean players.
Edison West!! (My favourite player on this game so far! :))
Kim Jae-Hyung
Malam Mane
Bae Yong-Jin
So signing of the season is defiantly Edison West! He was a real star at my New York side and it seems his contract ran out so I picked him up for free! He may be my new captain also. ;)
Mane will be my final foreign star so with West and Cardona that’s my allocation of foreign talent. Kim Jae is pretty promising forward and Bae Yong is a good defensive minded midfielder.
K-League Results 15 Games Gone
So an almost perfect start! Only two draws as we have hit the ground running destroying teams with our beautiful attacking football!
Our defense is obviously amazing thanks to Edison West! :)
Top six qualify for the playoff’s for the K-league title so we should at least achieve that!
Transfers In and Out — Second Window
So my boyfriend took over for this part! He went and sold Cardona! But he did get a good price but when I said try and sell of all our foreign players I should have guessed he wouldn’t understand! :)
He also sold Yoon Bit, our best defensive midfielder but he was 33 so I felt he did really well to get that price for him. He spent big money on Toure but he did well in bringing in a couple of free Korean players.
Hon Chul
Amadou Toure
So Toure will replace Cardona on the left of our attack and Hon Chul is a pretty good signing to be honest, we had a central defender playing left back so to find someone so good for free he did pretty well! :)
National Service…..
So this is something that can be very annoying when in South Korea, national service seems to be compulsory to young people and if called up you can lose them for up to two years!
They do pay half of his wages I think but any player can be called.
The K-League Results Final Games of the Season
Yay unbeaten!! :)
The first time I have ever achieved that I think but its hard to argue as we scored freely and defended brilliantly.
The points gap between us an Ulsan is staggering!
Now onto to my favourite thing the playoff’s…..
K-League Playoff Final First Leg vs Ulsan
Wow, your kidding right!! :)
Cant explain it really it was like watching a different team, we couldn’t pass couldn’t defend and couldn’t score I guess my playoff curse got to my players!
We have a massive uphill task to over haul this scoreline.
But never say never right??
K-League Playoff Final Second Leg vs Ulsan
OMG!!!
Playoff’s hate me its official.
We were outstanding easily our best performance of the season as we took apart a very good Ulsan side. West scored in the 90th minute to give me hope that I may turn this around only for us to fail in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
Amazing we lost the K-league after winning it by 16 points the part of Korea I really hate. :)
Cup Competitions
The Asian Champions League
So our group was quite tricky as we failed to beat Chinese champions Guangzou and finished second behind Japanese side Rosa but that put us into the knockout stages.
The Final
:(
What can I see, we were fantastic. We created lots of chances infact it was all Seoul as we had chance after chance but we couldnt score and their keeper walked off with a 9.7 rating which should easily have been a ten!
I think we had 9 clear cut chances so bad finishing or an inspired keeper? With over 30 shots and over 68% of the ball I guess its the latter just unlucky I guess. :)
Korean FA Cup
The Final
So a win! We won the FA cup with a fairly routine victory two goals inside of twenty minutes was enough for my first trophy at Seoul.
Korean League Cup
The Final
Eugh…
Hate games like this, three chances three goals and we had all the play. Frustrating to say the least but if we dont take our chances we wont win any games that simple I guess. :)
Final Player Ratings of the Season
I couldnt be more happier with my team, how we came through the season only winning the FA cup I will never know but I guess thats life, sometimes you just dont get what you deserve!
The players in red are my three foreign players Toure got injured practically when we got him so he missed most of the season. West was amazing and Kim-Jae was also very impressive and just to clear that Warren Donald is on a Korean passport having completed his desired amount of years so is classed as a South Korean.
Star Man of the Season — Edison West
End of Season Finances and Save Game Status
So we lost a lot of money due to the upgrade to our training facilities but all in all in still looks pretty good. We did make a bit in transfer money so am not sure where all that money went!
Hopefully our chairman is putting it back into the club. :)
End of Season Round-Up
Phew we are finally here!
I know there is lots of pics and lots to read but to be honest its just nice to be able to read and write without having that dam eye infection! I dont feel dizzy or sick anymore. :)
I must admit I was a bit frustrated losing two finals and losing the K-league title on those playoffs!
We could have won everything but just not meant to be I guess, we will have to re-group and go again next season with hopefully a little bit more luck on our side.
I feel this could be a few seasons of mass frustration, as you can see I cant shake my playoff curse no matter what I try. But wining the FA cup put us back into the group stage so be thankful for small mercies I guess. :)
A massive thanks for reading this post, I know its absolutely crammed but with four cup competitions and the league and playoffs its always going to be tricky to bring it to you! I do like Korea just hate playoff’s which is the main reason I stayed clear of Mexico this time around so thats that as they say!
I am feeling so much better and I promise I will read everyone’s story when I get time, will try and get my next season done as quickly as I can and again thanks so much for reading.
Bye bye! xx :)
denson
27 января, 2012 at 23:25
Great Season Ana, i can’t believe how unlucky you were in all those finals but i still think the season is a success!
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:25
Thanks Denson. :)
I do agree, I mean at least we were there to compete in the finals just a case of some really bad luck.
Its just annoying when you play so well, create so many chances and lose!
Kevin
28 января, 2012 at 00:02
Hola Ana!
I’m so happy to see that you have recovered from what was a very nasty health situation. Also glad to see that you have lost none of your managing skils….but those darn play offs!!
For me it’s the EPL as a whole but at least you get to dominate the regular season! Congrats on winning the FA Cup and Edison West is phenominal. Thanks for bringing us a rather superb update.
Gracias amiga!
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:29
Hola! :)
Thank you, am feeling so much better now it was the worst I have ever felt.
Playoffs are just there to annoy me I think! We were so good in our regular season then we fell apart in one game and it cost us.
I agree on Edison West! He was close to signing at the Black Aces also until he was denied a work permit I just feel so confident when he is around! :)
TheZiggy
28 января, 2012 at 01:39
I’m glad you’re better now, after what sounds a very horrible thing to have happen. I actually started to feel dizzy just reading about it.
An amazing but incredibly unlucky season. How you only won the FA Cup is astounding, as you were easily the best team in all competitions. I don’t really any experience of play-offs, but I do have a horror of penalty shoot-outs, of which I finally managed to win one but, it was probably just a fluke which I won’t repeat anytime soon.
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:34
Thanks Ziggy!
Yeah it was really horrible, just the thought of it now makes me feel sick again. Am just so happy its all cleared up and I can finally go back to being me again. :)
In all honesty I also had a nightmare time with penalty shoot-outs until last year’s game where I won almost every one. At the moment am having a mixed time but I feel I am losing more than I am winning.
Plus with my terrible run in playoff’s its just not going for me at the moment! Hopefully I can start winning a few very soon. :)
CsAtlantis
28 января, 2012 at 03:31
Wow Ana glad to hear you are feeling better, your boyfriend did not do too badly from what i see, Hong Chul is a really experienced international left back and traore has around 2-3 years to develop
Getting in Edison on a free was just awesome, amazing defender
You were unlucky in some of the finals especially in the Champions League, I wonder how much Al Saad gave to their keeper as a cleanie bonus
Oh, just noticed that Seoul were runners-up in the Club World Championship in 2021, that’s a nice achievement for an Asian team
Hopefully you can cure the playoff curse next season Ana, and win the Asian Champions League!
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:41
Thank you! :)
He did do ok, its always hard to sort of come into a game especially after a few seasons where a lot of players have already retired but Chul was a pretty good buy.
Agreed! He wouldn’t accept a new contract when I was at New York but when I saw he was available I got a bit excited! (Sad I know!!) so was even happier when he agreed terms and while I’m here he wont be going anywhere! :)
LoL! A lot I think! But we wasted so many chances which was surprising as my forwards were clinical all season, just an off day I guess.
Yeah, and I think it was a Brazilian team they beat in the final which was surprising also.
Thanks, me too! :)
vaibhavc
28 января, 2012 at 06:13
I am glad to see that you are feeling better. Edison West on a free transfer was a fantastic signing, he did so well for you. You came so close to winning the Champions League, if it wasn’t for that goalie, you would have won it. And the playoffs again…
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:43
Thanks! :)
Agreed I knew he would be a great signing as he was so consistent at New York as well. To be in the final was nice and I was fairly confident also of winning but just not meant to be!
Playoffs…… :(
Tom Barnes
28 января, 2012 at 09:06
Glad you’re better now Ana!
You’re a real inspiration in doing the pentagon challenge; I’ve just started mine after a lot of thinking!
Some fantastic signings there. Just a real shame the way the Korean league worked :(
But there’s always next season, time to «regroup» and possibly sign some good players you’ve seen from you’re travels!
Good luck for next season :)
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:49
Thank you Tom. :)
Its a great challenge that makes it more fun when you fail in a way, as you have to re-think and you cant rely on signing players you know as you have no chance of getting them!
I agree I dont like the idea of playoffs to decide the winner, I mean why have a league in the first place? Surely who ever finishes top is the best team and who ever finishes bottom was the worst, so why have playoffs!?
I have been looking! But with only being allowed three foreign players I will probably just keep the ones I have now and just keep scouting South Korea for younger players.
Thanks for the luck and I wish you good luck on your pentagon challenge also. :)
Johnny Karp
28 января, 2012 at 10:48
Hey Ana, I’m very happy to hear you have fully recovered from what certainly was a very difficult health problem. The medicine didn’t cure your play-off syndrome though :) Just kidding, you had a great first season in Korea but you lacked a bit of luck when it mattered the most. But those trophies will surely come next season, no doubt about that!
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:51
Thanks Johnny. :)
Yeah am fully recovered now, and can finally go back to work now! :)
Afraid it didnt! Maybe I should ask and see if they do have anything for terrible playoff luck!
I hope so, I have never been that lucky so just fingers crossed I guess!
Laxeyman
28 января, 2012 at 10:55
Good to see you feeling better Ana, and a good season too, albeit a frustrating one! You dominated the league, and the playoff system in frankly ridiculous, the team who wins the league should win the league, simple. Unlucky in the CL too, but with a bit more luck next season you could bag all the trophies going :)
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:54
Thanks Laxeyman. :)
I totally agree! Why have a league in the first place!?
You are right just bad luck so hopefully next season will be a little better.
Martin - F.M.J.S
28 января, 2012 at 11:46
Hi Ana
Good to hear you are feeling better and writing again. A really good first season in Korea. Unlucky with some of the trophies but I’m sure next season you will be able to dominate everything. Look forward to the next season Good Luck :).
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 18:56
Thanks Martin!
I agree, just had some really bad luck so hopefully next season my luck can improve as it cant really get any worse. :)
Darren Smith
28 января, 2012 at 12:17
Well before we talk FM, thank god you are well again and back to normal. Sounds like a bad experience and I’m sure those few days in which you were waiting to be diagnosed were hell. I’m just happy you’re OK.
Anyway, back to the game and what can I say, two words would sum it all up, ‘screwed over!’ You seem to have the worst luck in play-offs and finals, despite dominating you are always on the end of an upset. But all in all that was a good first season and I think you can do much better next season with a few more signings.
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 19:00
Thank you Darren. :)
It was, its that waiting and in your mind all kinds of scary things pass through it of what may be wrong. So to find out it was just an infection and it can be cleared up was a massive relief.
I agree, I cant see what I am doing wrong maybe I just have the worst luck ever!
The squad does need a few new signings but all in all am fairly happy with my team.
Woody
28 января, 2012 at 14:40
A great season unlucky in some of the finalsi think it’s just the game being annoying why you lost some of the fInals because you dominated most of them anyway well done and good luck
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 19:01
Thanks Woody. :)
They were annoying but we also failed to score some pretty simple chances so a mixture maybe!!
john herries
28 января, 2012 at 23:05
Hi ana another great season for you. What a strange way to run a league lol. Have you ever managed in china or india? Quite fancy trying one of them after my tonbridge angels save. Good luck for the next season petal.
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 19:06
Thanks John. :)
It is quite weird and also very annoying!
I have managed in Hong Kong which was pretty good if not a bit easy and I do have the main China selected but never got offered any jobs there. I managed in Malaysia as part of a test I did but havent managed in India so far.
You should give it a try I mean I never thought about managing in South Africa and now its my favourite league! :)
Sears
29 января, 2012 at 15:45
Good to see that your OK again Ana!!
Aw good, these play offs really do get under your skin don’t they? How annoying to lose the league title like that …. And such a shame you lost the Asian CL too :( Best of luck next season!!
Ana Garcia
29 января, 2012 at 19:07
Thanks Sears. :)
They do at times! But am used to losing in them now so in way I expect it. :)