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After the first two games we are on the 12th rank. Both wins were good ones and the star was the team. We won both games thanks to a wide range of stats from all of the players.

Our next opponents are strong, but there is no real powerhouse like Spain. This doesn't mean that it will be a easy run.

@ Romania; 1-1
vs. Macedonia; 1-1
vs. Slovensko; 2-0; right behind us
@ Israel; 2-0; right in front of us
vs. DomRe; 0-2
@ Peru; 0-2; worldchampionship relegated

Unfortunately we play DomRe at home. I would trade it against Peru or Isreal immediatly ;) But that's not possible and we have to deal with it.

A lot will depend on our GS and progress/degress of skills. The aim is to reach the KO round.

After three games we are ranked 9th with a nice 3:0. The win against Romania was an ugly game... We had a lot of unused opportunities inside the paint. Mazzo had a monster game with a 10-11 FG. Martinsson and Birgersson were strong too. In the end we won thanks to our defense. To be honest I was surprised that we won with +25 at Romania.

The next two games are back at home. So let's see what we can do there...

Let's go! We've got this!

Let's go! We've got this!

If my plan had worked like it should, we would be already qualified.
I knew that Macedonia would play for a win and gambled with the GDP. We had to play TIE to maintain a small chance for victories during the next two games.
Against Slovensko we won with only two points, but still it was a victory. Until here the plan worked.
Israel was than a really bad game. Our best shooter and defender was demolished like no other player. Even today, I cannot understand why. The GDP had some negative influence, but still it was to harsh.
The game against DomRe was a clear must-win and we had no problems in the end.

And now it comes down to the last game against Peru. And unfortunately they have nothing to win or lose -.- And we can only move forward to the next round if we win. So for us it is a do or die game. Looking back it's the fourth game of this kind since season 33...

Last night we played against Peru and we won. In the end it was a clear win. The only aftertaste is that we could win with less effort. But like I wrote last week, Peru had nothing to lose and I expacted an all out game.

Our next opponent is Belarus. We will play at their homeground and it will be a really hard game. They are the favourites and we will need a really, really good run to steal this game. Let's see what the update brings on Friday.

So close... 5,5 minutes... in the last 5,5 minutes Beralus outscored us 20:5. Until than we were on the same level.
Before the game, it was clear that Belarus will play TIE, thanks to their home court advantage and their high enthusiasm. So I had to use CT to have at least a small chance.
A normal line up wouldn't help and thanks to our unique Widerström I could play a mixed up RnG. Säfen was our PF. I wanted him as the main scorer and he needed an effective missmatch. So PF was the only solution. Birgersson showed at the end of last season that he can play a RnG (U25 match against Germany). He moved to C and created a missmatch there. 7 out of 9 3ptrs speak for themselves.
I hoped that Mazzolini or Martinsson would score as the third force. And it was martinsson who showed a great performance. With Säfen at PF, I needed someone who could play as a SG and as a big. And that's where Widerström enterd the stage. He was our best passer today and defended as a C.
Bottom line is that the starting five outperformed Belarus. All five have a positive +/- rating!
Unfortunately you need more than five players and during the time when our bench was on the field, Belarus could close the gap. And during the last 5,5 minutes they showed a monstrous performance by outscoring us with 20:5.

Sorry that it wasn't enough again. There is always this feeling, that we need only one last step to hold our ground. Most of the losses were because of a meltdown of a couple of minutes.

During the next weeks I will play some scrimmages. We have a lot 32+ guys at the team and I will test how the team can run with a starting five which is 25-31 y/o.