Subject: NT Season 22: Mini World cup season

Ísland's schedule:

Week Opponent

02: Shqipëria U25 + two 26 yo
03: MWC 1st leg
04: MWC 2nd leg
05: MWC 3rd leg
06: MWC 1/8 or Lëtzebuerg
07: MWC 1/4 or Paraquay
08: MWC 1/2 or Malaysia U25
09: MWC final or Venezuela
10: Canada
11: Norge
12: Sverige
13: Guatemala U25
14: Latvija U25
15: Russia
00: Turkey (Turkey plays U24 and Ísland U26)
01: Cameroun


Little easier schedule than last season, but again interesting matches coming.

It's Mini World Cup season! I write more about MWC when I know our group and opponents.

Friendly: Shqipëria - Ísland

It's time for our first game of the new season!

Both teams are playing with U25 (+two 26 yo player). 26 yo players are defenders Þorsteinnsson and Frostason (bench).

I have to use all three sub early because our players stamina is quite low.

Next week MWC starts.

1. Thomas Bjartmannsson
2. Gunnleifur Haraldsson
3. Gísli Bjarnarsson
4. Unnsteinn Elísson
5. Knútur Fannason
6. Valtýr Þorsteinnsson
7. Björn Friðbjörnsson
8. Elvar Örn Arnbergsson
9. Ólafur Jónmundarson
10. Henrik Eysteinnsson
11. Gauti Randversson

12. Knútur Þorbergsson
13. Steingrímur Frostason
14. Jóhann Sólbjartsson
15. Eiður Róbertsson
16. Kolbeinn Baldursson

52' Jóhann Sólbjartsson replaces 4
57' Kolbeinn Baldursson replaces 10
64' Eiður Róbertsson replaces 9

Cup rules.

Mini World Cup groups was drawn yesterday evening by Sharoni. We have tough, but also very interesting group. Ísland is smallest country if you calculate users, but rankings looks quite close.

Group A

1. Bulgaria (ranking 28, users 460)
2. Ísland (ranking 50, users 19)
3. Hellas (ranking 42, users 612)
4. Indonesia (ranking 52, users 311)

Mini World cup forum

Group winners (9 groups) and 7 best from second position go to the 1/8 cup round. 16 teams.

good luck! playing top 2 would be a very nice achievement :)

Thanks, of cource I will try to win all games! ;=)

Schedule:

Week 3
Ísland - Hellas

Week 4
Ísland - Indonesia

Week 5
Bulgaria - Ísland

Result: Shqipëria - Ísland 1:0

We played full 120 minutes because of cup rules. In overtime we had couple breaktroughs and then opponent got contra attack and scored winning goal.

Randversson got injured and that is a big loss for us. I am glad that it was only ten days injury.

Next week MWC starts and we will play our first team!

Bjarkason +1 PM

Ísland - Hellas

Group A first leg in Mini World cup. Hellas ranking and avg.marks are little bit better than ours.

Our tactic is going to be new (+top secret), but I am not going to change our playing too much.

We have good situation in defense line, because old buddies Saemundsson and Sveinbjörnsson are back with better form. In midfield we have old stars with low form and coming stars with excellent form... so midfield is going to be very difficult to decide.

I hope and believe that we can beat Hellas! :=)

Lineup is secret... and not fully decided yet! If your players have popped or dropped their skills - please let me know! Thanks!

Result: Ísland - Hellas 1-3 (0-0)

This game we should have won. We had 7 shots and opponent had only 4 shots (3 goals).

Yngvarsson's injury was bad, because he can create goal opportunities himself and I think he would score couple without injury. Martinsson scored once, but he needs more support from midfield than Yngwie.

Now we have to win clearly Bulgaria and Indonesia or we are out from cup rounds. :=/

Ísland - Indonesia

Our second MWC match is against Indonesia (ranking 52). Indonesia lost 2-1 against Bulgaria.

We miss few very important players: Björn Þór Edvínsson, Gustav Sveinbjörnsson and Sigurvin Yngvarsson. So our best midfielder and best striker are out.

Tactic will be different and I hope we can end our losing streak now.

Comments? (lineup and tactic => secret)

Result: Ísland - Indonesia 1-3

Shots 10-10 but result was bad. We had too short distance with our midfielders and their playmaking wasn't enough to handle that. Opponent had few dangerous breakthroughs and better scoring.

Bulgaria - Ísland

Final game in MWC this season. We have lost our chances to qualify to the cup rounds.

Bulgaria is best national team in our group if you look at average marks. Their ranking is 28.

We still miss our best striker and best midfielder, but I hope that our team can put great performance. If we can score and defend better than last game - then we have chance.

Result: Bulgaria - Ísland 3-2 (0-1)

Before the match I would be pleased with this result. But we were leading 0-2 and opponent took red card... somehow we managed to loose this one. Not happy at all - of course opponent had better marks and brilliant strikers, but still.... :/

Frostason's and Bergmansson's slight injuries mentioned something. After Frostason's injury he fouled inside penalty box and opponent started their chase.

Saemundsson and Friðbjörnsson played nice game in defence line. Also our midfield played well, but sub-players quality wasn't enough. Randversson scored twice and he had few great oppotunities after those goals.

Results:

Ísland - Hellas 1-3 (0-0)
Ísland - Indonesia 1-3 (1-2)
Bulgaria - Ísland 3-2 (0-1)

Group A league table:

1. Hellas - 8:5 - 7
2. Bulgaria - 8:6 - 7
3. Indonesia - 5:5 - 3
4. Ísland - 4:9 - 0