All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit

[Juventino]

(though the singer is wearing an Ajax shirt)

Recently I've been having great fun playing with Dukla Prague in the Czech Republic. I'm going to use this thread for updates, screenshots and memorable goals of the journey of becoming Prague's prominent club. Who knows, a little European success may be possible. Note beforehand: I play with a sugar daddy, otherwise I'd get too frustrated and quit.

First season I started of in the second division, and won that with quite some ease.

I kicked off the second season with a set of new jerseys recalling Dukla's great era (thanks to a guy at sortitoutsi).

I also made some investments... Here's a picture of the squad presentation held in a local bar.

(from left to right: Martin Sus, Jan Navratil, Tomas Pekhart, Tomas Horava)

The season kicked off AWAY at Sparta Prague. Couldn't get off to a better start in the top division. 18 year old talent Stranik, youth product of Slovacko, and signed the year before, with a last minute match winner for Dukla Praha.

Stranik's winning goal:

(It's all a bit slow paced in the Czech Republic as you can see)

This thread is also a document for later to see how much time I once had on my hands.

 

[Filipower]

CHEATEEER!!!

Nah man good for you, looking forward to see you in Europe though.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I had started at Dinamo Zagreb, but gave up because of the money issue. Maybe I'll just edit in a sugar daddy. I remembered Dinamo being rich in a previous version, but now that I think about it that could have just been the money from the Modric sale.

Good luck and I'll be following.

 

[Xifio]

you chose to start a new game with them coz of a song? that's f*cking awesome!

Good luck and I'll be following.

ditto

 

[Juventino]

Thanks! I'm also looking forward to Europe, but the first challenge remains to own the Czech Republic. Sparta Prague is currently by far the richest and strongest club and they're also investing great amounts on new players. Hopefully I can challenge them next year.

So far I'm doing mediocre in the First Division. Many of my young talents can handle the division, but it's inconsistent. It's just... average.

This was the result vs. Slavia Prague, the other rival:

Bosancic' goal after a great dribble and cross by Navratil:


You may also notice how empty my stadium is. Dukla Prague has 220 season ticket holders and the average price for a ticket is 2 euros. The pitch is also HORRIBLE but I can't ask the board to relay the pitch. Curious. Maybe I'll have to wait until the summer.

So far it amounts to an OK 8th spot after 15 of the 30 games. After a FOUR month winter stop I'm going for the Top 4 as that would give me a spot for the Qualifiers for the Europa League. Another way is to win the Cup, and I'm currently in the Quarter Final.

I was able to make new important January investments, and they should help my goal of gaining a Top 4 spot and a succesful Cup run.

The blonde Brazilian Flavinho from Gremio.

Alan Patrick from Santos. For a 20 year old he's quite far in his development already. I was surpised to see him filtered out by my assistant as a realistic target. Maybe he's the one that will pull fans away from Sparta and Slavia to the Juliska, Dukla's stadium.

And finally a young Croatian talent who was let go by Hajduk Split. Looks like he has decent potential, even though it remains curious he didn't have a club in 2010-2011. We'll see.

The second half of the season will kick off at home vs. Sparta Prague.

This is how I will play after the winter break:

I used to play in a straight 4-4-2, but I thought I'd spice it up a little with Alan Patrick.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Might be a dangerous tactic if most of your opponents play with an AMC. I've noticed that in a 4-2-3-1 like that with CMs even defensive oriented ball winning midfielders don't actually keep an eye on the space between defense and midfield.

 

[Zlatan]

Yeah I agree, I tried it with At. Madrid a while but it didn't quite work. Went back to the old-fashioned 4-1-3-2 (with DM and 2 wide wingers) pretty soon. But that was also because I noticed Aguero doing a lot more damage playing in the SC position than as AMC.

 

[Juventino]

I quickly came to the same conclusion as you guys. Especially in away games and in games against a strong opponent I was easily exploited. After a couple of games I changed to a 4-3-3 with a DM and two wingers, and stuck with that for the remainder of the season. Thankfully it fitted my players.

I went on a decent run and ended up 5th. I fought for the places below Sparta Prague for the last couple of games, and won an important game away at Slavia Prague that saw me climb up to 3rd place with only a few games left.

I wasn't able to hold on. I lost a crucial game vs. Teplice and then screwed up in the final game at Bohemians 1905. I was however named Manager of the Year, as only a 9th place finish was predicted by the media.

My league position sadly wouldn't warrant a spot in the Europa League, but then...


The legend of Dukla's Cup Hero Tomas Pekhart

In the Quarter Final of the Czech FA Cup I faced Jablonec. I lost 0-1 at home, and in the away game I quickly lost my strongest player Alan Patrick to an injury. All seemed lost when Jablonec scored the 3-1 in the second half. I'd have to score 3 more goals to advance... And that's what I did in an epic of epic epicness.

I then beat 2010-2011 Champions Banik Ostrava in the semi-finals. Once again Tomas Pekhart played an important part.

In the final Sparta Prague would be waiting. I beat them once before in the season, so why not again?

For a long time the match was a physical, ugly 0-0 heading for penalties. But then, in the 80th minute, a controversial penalty was called for a foul on Tomas Pekhart, the Cup legend! Jaromir Simr, one of my veterans, stayed cool and gave us the win! Whoop dee do.

Sparta Prague was highly suspicious and furious after the game. Sparta's officials may have seen the ref's new Maserati in the parking lot. I insisted he'd wait to drive it until some time after the final...
Nonetheless, the trophy is mine.

E U R O P A!

Masopust Park was also announced, due for the 2014-2015 season. ''Park'' doesn't really fit a Czech team, so that's quite lame, but nonetheless a fun surprise.

Pretty good. Preeettttyyyyy prrreeettyyyy pretty good.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Masopust should have a stadium named after him though.

 

[Juventino]

Absolutely. There were other ''Legends'' on the game for Dukla that the game could've picked for the stadium. One was a simple defensive midfielder that played for me in the Second Division. If the game would've picked him it would've ruined the freakin' game for me. Phew..

Anyway, in the summer I couldn't really attract players to the club that would add a great deal. I have to rely on the development of my young players, but I'm afraid they won't be able to challenge Sparta on a consistent basis for the title until Masopust Park.

I was able to add two more talents: Ensar Baykan from Bielefeld and Akif Kara from Ankaragucu. Akif Kara is 196cm tall and 91kg heavy and has great technique. Hopefully he'll be able to develop into a Zlatan type player, though too bad about his 5 for finishing and he'll need to develop his strength. Then he could really be a great weapon.

S U P E R D U K L A

E U R O P A ! ! !

As you can see I won the 3rd Qualifying round on a total fluke own goal by a Dinamo defender IN THE 94TH MINUTE.

I will face FC Koln in the 4th round.

 

[Juventino]

It was close, but in the end FC Koln proved to be too strong. At least Dukla gave them a battle.

(The yellow card bug struck again)


Tomas Pekhart also got a call-up to the Czech Republic out of his goals. He's having a break-out year so far.

 

[Juventino]

I went on an incredible streak with a lot of talents having break-out years.

Herbstmeister.

Pretty good.

 

[Zlatan]

What are you doing playing in the FA Cup?

 

[Mandieta6]

Incredible streak! Steaking! Nakedness! Steak! Filet Mignon! Chateux Brione! Anal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111111

 

[Juventino]

The year has ended, and what a year it was. I won another FA Cup fairly easy this time:

THE FINAL MATCHDAY

What I truly wanted was the title. I was in first place for most of the season, but after a loss vs. Bohemians 1905 I was caught by Sparta Prague on goal difference (head-to-head was a draw). Sparta Prague won 8 games straight at the time the 30th matchday arrived:

I could only win the Championship if Sparta Prague would drop points at home vs. 3rd placed team Viktoria, and I would win away at Jablonec. I did my part.

But so did Sparta Prague.

THE HORRORRRRRR!!!

Though I was happy the way my team performed. Pekhart finished as topscorer and Alan Patrick had most assists and was named Player of the year. Young right winger Antonin Fantis won Young Player of the Year, and quite some players were in the Team of the Year.

Hopefully next year my best players will stick around, though every player is wanted by at least 10 decent top division clubs from France, Germany and England. Same case last year, but no club actually made an offer.

Another shot at the title, another shot to reach the group stages of the Europa League. Though I may look around for job openings...

 

[Juventino]

2013/2014 End of Season Review

I started the season by winning my second Super Cup vs. Sparta Prague.

Unfortunately my second Europa League adventure would end very quickly. After two 0-0 draws Rio Ave beat me on penalties.

I then had an unbeaten season (except for the loss on penalties vs. Rio Ave) and won my third FA Cup in a row vs. a Cinderella team from the lower divisions: 7-0. Thanks for playing, though.

Akif Kara especially had a break-out season with 17 goals and 12 assists in the league, and a further 6 goals and 5 assists in the FA Cup. Beast.

He especially improved on his strength, which makes him unstoppable for Czech defenses. He regularly just walks the ball into the goal after dribbling past 5 men. Think of Zlatan vs. NAC. Epic.

League champions for the first time, and how! Also, in 2014/2015, the first year in Masopust Park...

Champions League on the horizon for Dukla.


2014/2015

I was able to hold on to all of my major talents, and added one more noteworthy talent:

I won my third Super Cup in a row vs. Sparta Prague (this is getting easy).

In the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Champions League I beat the Northern Irish club Linfield. Basel was next in the 3rd round.

I will face Norwegian club Molde in the final Playoffs before the Group Stages. I'm optimistic.

 

[fender]

A striker with 6 for Finishing.

 

[Juventino]

I know, I bought him on his sheer power and height, and that's how he scores his goals. My second striker Tomas Pekhart does have great finishing skills, but lacks Kara's physical strength. Unfortunately Dukla Prague's not going to get a striker with perfect fininishing, technique, positioning, off-the-ball skills, dribbling, strength AND height. I'm fishing in a small pond here, hehe.


Akif made another RED HOT start to the year. It's the end of August and he already has 13 goals.

Molde, meanwhile, was beaten easily 4-1 on agg to advance to the Group Stages. 7M euros can be transfered to Dukla's bank account.

Then the draw...

Not sure what to think of these games. It's nice to play them, but damn.

 

[Juventino]

I'm just going ahead with these updates...

The Champions League adventure was cruel, but I feel I could've drawn some of the games I lost and won the away games at Arsenal and Roma. On both occassions I was in the lead but lost the games by dumb personal mistakes. Winning either of these games would've been massive. Oh well.

The most memorable goal of the season came from the feet of Jozef Hrcka at the Emirates. He cooly avoided the reckless challenge of Martin Caceres... AND GET IN.



Akif Kara kept developing and became Gambrinus' Liga most feared player and a Turkish International.

He could not be stopped and 2014/2015 was his year.

His performances did not go unnoticed in Europe...

Meanwhile, I won my second Czech First Division title. Absolute domination.

The year's starting 11. Tesar, Flavinho, Hejda, Patrick and Kara made it to the Team of the Year. Pablo Sarabia, on loan form Lazio, Fantis, Navratil and Heidenreich made it to the subs. All performed exceptionally well, and most of them are at Dukla from the very first year in the First Division. Great development and some have more developing to do, though I'm not sure this can be achieved at Dukla.

The first year in Masopust Park was a good one.

(This random artist rendering of a new French stadium matches my fantasy of the new stadium. From a far one of the teams jerseys look like Dukla too! ... yeah, I got nothing going on)

It's now the year 2015 and so far I've won 2 First Division titles, 3 FA Cups and 3 Czech Super Cups. Is all conquered? Or is there more to gain at this club?

 

[Mandieta6]

I would love to see you try to take Dukla and the Czech league to the top of the European pyramid of power, since it is theoritcally possible in this game. Journeyman games, especially ones in which you don't start as an actual journeyman, aren't as interesting as that.