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Türkiye vs Schweiz 107-87 (67112)

As expected, Schweiz played 'Crunch Time', but we still managed to beat them fairly easy, since we had better enthusiasm before the match.

In the other games, Italy managed to beat Macedonia (67110), and more importantly, England managed to beat Germany (67109).

Group standings after the 6th round:

1) Deutschland	5:1  +179
2) Italia	5:1  +155
3) England	5:1  +130
4) Türkiye	4:2  +106
5) Makedonija	2:4  -18
6) Luxembourg	2:4  -138
7) Schweiz	1:5  -98
8) Ísland	0:6  -316

Matches next monday:

Türkiye vs Luxembourg
Deutschland vs Makedonija
Italia vs England
Schweiz vs Ísland

It would have been much better for us if England saved their enthusiasm for the last game against Italy, but they decided to give it their all to win against Germany. The game between Italy and England in the last round doesn't concern us at this point, cause we will probably have better point difference against the loser of that match.

Now, the only way we can end up on the 2nd place is if Germany loses to Macedonia in the last round, while we would need to win against Luxembourg with a huge margin. Chances of Macedonia winning against Germany are very low (maybe 5%), since they've already played 'Crunch Time' against England, and they've lost that match (67106). But, let's wait and see if miracles can happen in bb.

Final round of the 1st phase, we're playing against Luxembourg. England won against them +46 (67098), Italy won against them +50 (67101), and Germany won against them +59 (67089).

Realistically, we should win by 45-60 point difference. But in order to be 2nd in our group, we will need Macedonia to win against Germany, which is unrealistic, but not impossible. Point difference between Germany and us is +73 in their favor. So even if they lose, we will probably need to win with 60+ point difference against Luxembourg.

It's unlikely that we will pass through the 1st phase, but I won't lose hope until tomorrow's game end. So let's wait for tomorrow, and see what happens.

21:05 Türkiye vs Luxembourg

Türkiye vs Luxembourg 121-51 (67115)

We've done our part and won +70 against Luxembourg, but Germany beat Macedonia easily (67113), so Germany and Italy are going to the 2nd phase.

Final standings:

1) Deutschland	6:1  +200
2) Italia	6:1  +171
3) Türkiye	5:2  +176
4) England	5:2  +114
5) Makedonija	2:5  -39
7) Schweiz	2:5  -63
6) Luxembourg	2:5  208
8) Ísland	0:7  -351

It's disappointing that we didn't pass the group

The main reason is of course my own poor choice of tactics against Germany. I'll talk more about it in the upcoming days, and the plans for the remaining of this season. We won't play any more official matches this season, but for me, the preparations for the consolation tournament are starting today.

Lastly, I'd like to thank all the Turkish managers for keeping good game shape for our players this season.

Mesrur Titiz'i (47576525) satışa çıkardım. Mesrur'un prime döneminde rekabetçi olmayı ve onu emekli etmeyi planlıyordum ama oyunla ilgilenemez olduğumdan satmaya niyetim var. Offline kaldığım bir buçuk ayda antrenmana devam etti. Son olarak iç defansı yükseldi. Artık kondisyon vermeye başlıyorum. İlgilenen olursa yazabilir.

During the past few weeks we have been playing scrimmages against Serbia. Considering that Serbia was the strongest NT that didn't qualify for the second phase of the European Tournament, it was a good opportunity for both teams to test our strength, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming Consolation Tournament.

We've played 7 matches against Serbia, we've won 5, and lost 2. Serbia has a very strong squad, and is probably among 10 strongest NTs in the world regardless of their current rank, so winning 5/7 games against them is promising. Though, the result wasn't really the main focus of those games, cause we both wanted to check how some of our offenses work against certain zones, and vice-versa. I'm hoping that the information that I've gotten from those scrimmages will turn out to be beneficial for the upcoming NT season.

That being said, it's time to talk about the Consolation Tournament.
First of all, this is gonna be the first season of the Consolation Tournament with the new rules. The 2 new rules are:

1. Fairer draw
From this season, 82 NTs are playing in the Consolation Tournament (instead of 86), and all NTs will play:
- 1 home game against a NT that's ranked 1-20 & 1 away game against a NT that's ranked 1-20.
- 1 home game against a NT that's ranked 21-40 & 1 away game against a NT that's ranked 21-40.
- 1 home game against a NT that's ranked 41-60 & 1 away game against a NT that's ranked 41-60.
- 1 home game against a NT that's ranked 61-82 & 1 away game against a NT that's ranked 61-82.

This will reduce the factor of luck in the Consolation Tournament by a bit, but I expect luck to still play a huge factor in the draw.

2. Home Court Advantage Restrictions
National teams who have won a trophy (1-4 places) in the past 6 seasons can't host the Continental Tournament even if they win the Consolation Tournament. That means that even if France, Suomi, Belgium, or Lietuva, win the Consolation Tournament, someone else will host the European Tournament next season.

Taking into account these new changes, I've set up 2 goals for this season:

1. Our primary goal is of course to host the next European Tournament, which means we either win the Consolation Tournament, or lose in the finals to France/Suomi/Belgium/Lietuva.

2. Rise up in the world rankings so we can be among 12 best European NTs, in order to be 2nd seeded in the next European Tournament and have an easier group. Currently, we're 15th in Europe.

The draws for the Consolation Tournament should come in the next few days, so let's hope for a good draw.

25 Türkiye	23 Portugal
96 Puerto Rico	25 Türkiye
25 Türkiye	84 Azərbaycan
55 Singapore	25 Türkiye
25 Türkiye	43 Magyarország
74 India	25 Türkiye
25 Türkiye	68 Costa Rica
20 Belgium	25 Türkiye

Our first game in the Consolation Tournament will be against Portugal, in Lisabon. Rumors say that Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the stands. Even though it's the 1st game, this is gonna be our toughest match in the round-robin phase, and the only match in which we won't be the favorites. Our last official game against Portugal was in season 54, which was also played in the Consolation Tournament (61074).

Portugal's coach is GM-Deluxe (94389). He's one of their most famous managers, and this will be his 16th season as their NT coach.

As for the remainder of the draw... We've got 4 easy matches (Puerto Rico, Azərbaycan, India & Costa Rica), Singapore has a solid NT, but with home court advantage we will be huge favorites in the match. We're playing away against Magyarország, which is gonna be a difficult match, and lastly against Belgium, who is probably similar in strength as us, but we'll have home court advantage in that match.

Overall, not a great draw, but not terrible either. In short, we've got 5 games which we should be able to win without much problem, 2 tough games in which we're still a favorite, and 1 game in which we're the underdog.

As for our roster, there won't be many changes from the last year. Our core team will remain the same, with the addition of 3-4 younger players that developed well last season.

- Vefa Apak 26yo, 1 games for NT
- Erol Ergül 32yo, 80 games for NT
- Eray Hemengül 31yo, 63 games for NT
- Tunç Akalin 29yo, 28 games for NT
- Kayahan Miran 31yo, 56 games for NT
- Isik Gül 28yo, 8 games for NT
- Mesrur Titiz 30yo, 37 games for NT
- Ahmet Billur 28yo, 3 games for NT
- Muzaffer Murat Bingün 33yo, 63 games for NT
- Ali Arif Soral 33yo, 58 games for NT
- Sefer Mansiz 28yo, 20 games for NT

These 11 players are already in the NT, and the remaining 7 spots will probably be decided between these 9 players:

- Kürsat Rikkat 35yo, 81 games for NT
- Cem Ötügen 33yo, 3 games for NT
- Mithat Koçyigit 27yo, 1 games for NT
- Renan Faruk 28yo, 9 games for NT
- Burak Mecdi 32yo, 12 games for NT
- Mert Kezer 35yo, 121 games for NT
- Semih Oluk 30yo, 53 games for NT
- Serkan Tanridag 33yo, 43 games for NT
- Emre Can Ortak 25yo, 4 games for NT

I'd like to point out that if anyone's got any questions about the games, or why certain players are called, and why some others aren't called, etc. feel free to send me a bb-mail. There are some things that I can't discuss openly on the forum, in case foreign managers are reading. But I will gladly answer any questions regarding tactics in a bb-mail.

22:30 Türkiye vs Portugal

Türkiye vs Portugal 119-117 (68643)

We're bringing a big victory from Lisabon! It was a very close match from beginning till the end, we were up by 5 points just 20 seconds to go, but Portugal managed to bring the game into the overtime with two 3-pointers. In the overtime, our players were a bit fresher, and managed to secure a narrow victory.

Portugal is probably one the strongest European nations in the Consolation Tournament. Two seasons ago, they took the 1st place, but were eliminated by Poland later on. As I already said, Portugal was the toughest game in our draw, so I'm really happy we managed to start with a win.

There were some interesting results in the 1st round, most notably, Slovenia managed to beat Lithuania (68631), and Russia managed to win against Serbia (68622).

Next Monday, we're playing against Puerto Rico, one of the weakest nations in BB. So we'll be looking to win by 60+ points, as point difference will matter a lot in the final standings.

congrats nice win

Congrats coach

Last Monday, we've won against Puerto Rico, one of the weakest nations in BB. Only Malta and Bahamas have fewer victories than them in BB history.

Puerto Rico vs Türkiye vs 48-144 (68674)

With a +96 points victory, we've managed to get to the 1st place after the second round. Next is Azerbaijan, which will be another easy victory where the goal will be to win by 60+ points.

So far, the biggest disappointments in the Consolation Tournament are Serbia, Portugal, and Czech Republic, who lost both of their starting matches, and are playing 0-2 after the first 2 rounds.

On the other hand, Slovenia, Russia, Bosna and Bulgaria have started 2-0 with some impressive victories, and have a decent draw to potentially play 8-0.

The Consolation Tournament is a little messy to follow since there are 82 nations, so after the 3rd round, I'll start posting a table with 10-15 European nations that interest us, so it would be a bit easier to follow.

17:00 Türkiye vs Azərbaycan