Units manager on scouting mission to New Zealand!!

Before I head off, some last minute business to attend to:
Congratulations to the Green Loraxes for their magnificent triumph against league leaders Mighty Power on Sunday, adding to the clubs impressive list of scalps. Happy birthday too!
To the management of More Fire!: Thanks for the tiramisu- the container is still located in the Units official kitchen.
In official nuclear cup business, Darkness12 had not accepted The Units' challenge for this weeks match by 12.15pm today, so management decided to hastily arrange a friendly with another team so as not to lose training etc. The Units leave all decisions relating to the match score etc to the learned nuclear cup council, and the Units will abide with any decision- the dude abides!
Happy new year to all, and good luck with upcoming fixtures.

Units wary of Oliveri

The sight of a fit Giancarlo Oliveri has sent shivers down the spine of the Units camp. Especially with veteran Units midfielder Laurent Rougier injured for 3 weeks. Rougier, 29, was in great form before he suffered a groin injury (pictured) one week ago.
Will the Units have to draft in a first team player for the big clash on Wednesday?

Oliveri called up for top-of-the-table clash with the Units

The young Lorax superstar, Giancarlo Oliveri, 19, was seen training at the Mornington Peninsula this week in anticipation of the Pool 2 top-of-the-table clash with The Units on Wednesday.  Whilst the Lorax line-up is yet to be confirmed, it is strongly rumored selectors will pick the superstar forward for his first Nuclear Cup appearance in order to bolster the forward line which is expected to undergo its toughest challenge against an anticipated formidable (or passable) Units defense.

HE'S BACK!!!

He’s back!!! After god knows how many weeks of being injured- the mighty Captain (Nasili Solomon) of Mababies is back!!! Hopefully we will see more victories in the upcoming league matches…but I think we will still get the wooden spoon in the Nuclear Cup:(

New Coach for the Units

After selling out their newly upgraded stadium today, the Units had enough cash to hire a new coach- 43 year old Englishman Clifford Scullion.
Scullion is a solid trainer and noted ladies' man.

Nuclear Cup first round completed!

The Nuclear Cup first was completed today with two exciting matches. Interestingly all home teams won their matches this week. The first round results were as follows:

BRAP2 2 More Fire! 1
Bluthenthal da 3 7 Gaeta 0
darkness12 6 Mababies 2
Green Loraxes 5 The Units 4

Check the Standings and Results by clicking on the links at the side of the page.

Feel free to post comments regarding your teams performance etc., and any other comments.

Great start to the Nuclear Cup!

New Player for Bluthenthal!!!!!!

A new player is now dressing the white and red bluthenthal uniform!
The little

Heinz-Hubert Uhlik-Kliemstein

is landed today in the Federico Fellini airport of Rimini ready to take its position in the Bluthenthal's midfield. The most expensive player so far bought by Bluthenthal said to the reporters: "Whatta hell!?!...I thought I was landing in Munchen for the Oktoberfest!"

Victrory comes at a cost....

After having the honour to be the first to win in the 1st Nuclear Cup, I had to fire a veteran of my team Mou Wing chun who was last seen at a shopping mall with his family. His glory days are clearly over. He got a four week injury that would render him unplayable for the rest of the season and his skills were rapidly depleting. I will always remember him as my wispy beard winger that gave so much depth to my squad.

The Nuclear Cup commences with spectacular win by BRAP2

The wait is over. The Nuclear Cup has begun. And boy, what a way to start!

Two titans of the game, BRAP2 and More Fire! faced off in an extraordinary match in front of a massive 256 fans. Dominated by BRAP2 in the first half, who took an early 2-0 lead, More Fire! showed a lot of guts to bring the score back to 2-1, providing a nail-biting finish, in which BRAP2 dug deep to hold off the More Fire! onslaught and take out the first victory in Nuclear Cup history. If this is a sign of what's to come in the Nuclear Cup, then we are all in for a thrill!

In other news, due to scheduling problems, it has been decided that the Nuclear Cup first round will be spread over two weeks. This allows Bluthenthal da 3 and Gaeta to face-off instead of forfeiting the first round and The Units, who were very unlucky in their Cup match yesterday, to face the Green Loraxes in the first round. Therefore 3 Nuclear Cup matches will take place next week.

Nuclear Cup commences next week!

The excitement regarding the Nuclear Cup has hit unprecedented levels (see poll) as it is now less than one week till kick-off of Round 1. To ensure everything goes smoothly, it is therefore timely for the Nuclear Cup council to remind participants that it is the responsibility of the HOME team to challenge their opponent to a "Home" game with "Normal" rules. We will be using "Cup Rules" during the finals. If the away team hasn't received a challenge by their opponent by the Monday of the match that week, then let them know, and you can challenge them to a match "Away" if necessary, otherwise contact the Nuclear Cup council, and appropriate action will be taken.

Good luck everyone,

Nuclear Cup Council

More Fire! has Burning New team!

Lookout all ya Nuclear Cup contenders, because More Fire! has just recruited a fantastic new team full of fresh young stallions, at least I'm excited...even if you're not! Of honorable mention is the two new goalies which were recruited after hours of painful bidding on Sat morning to make the team "near complete"...the Spaniard Alberto Eguiguren (he's so-ooo hot right now) and the fiery Portugese Artur Martins dos Santos.
Good luck to all...only 9 days to go! :)

National Cup Rd 1

The new Hattrick season is now officially underway!! Four of the Nuclear Cup sides participated in the first round of the National Cup, here is a round-up of the action:

Green Loraxes and The Units inflicted crushing defeats on their miserable opposition (both bot teams), and advance to Rd. 2. Green Loraxes won 8-0, The Units 7-0.
Mababies were up against really tough opposition in "local h bandits", and performed pretty well losing 3-0, thereby being eliminated from the cup. Could have been worse as Mababies had less than 2% possession. Mababies can now turn their attention to the Nuclear Cup.
But the best performance of the round was a sensational win by Bluthenthal da 3 over much stronger opposition. Bluthenthal employed Counter Attack to perfection, defeating S.S.C. Napoli 1926 by 2-0.

Results:

Queensland Kings 0-8 Green Loraxes
Western Australian Kings 0-7 The Units
mababies 0-3 local h bandits
Bluthenthal da 3 2-0 S.S.C. Napoli 1926



Good luck to all Nuclear Cup teams in round one of the League this weekend, and especially good luck to me for the upcoming poker night.

Sitemeter added

Whilst we (The Nuclear Cup council) have known for quite some time that The Nuclear Cup is one of the biggest events in the world to date (and thus one of the most popular websites on the net), some skeptics have questioned this assertion. We have therefore decided to count the number of visitors to our website in order prove these fools wrong. In addition, it is hoped that by documenting the shear number of visitors to our site we may provide further basis for our quest for the Nuclear Cup to be classified as a religion.

Click on the link at the bottom of the page that says 'Sitemeter' and it will link to a page showing the statistics. Note that the meter struggles to handle the number of visitors to our site, therefore you should multiply the number of visitors listed by 100,000 to get a more accurate number.

Very EFFICENT!!!!

After the incredible Melbourne Cup winning...Bluthenthal's president have consulted his mate Efficent deciding that the next prize his gonna win will be...the WOODEN SPOON for the nuclearcup!
NOBODY CAN STOP ME!!!

Official Nuclear Cup mascot announced!

New Season

Today is the official start of the new Hattrick season. This season will clearly be the most awesome so far, due to the first ever staging of the mighty Nuclear Cup.
The Nuclear Cup kicks of in just over 2 weeks. Good luck to all Nuclear Cup teams for the start of the season, and especially for those teams featuring in their national cup 1st round this week.

BRAP2 strengthens team

After a bidding war I managed to buy a midfeild/winger for my beloved BRAP2. The new addition is a polish player named Lukasz Woszczyna and it is hoped in pasable form he will get 3 stars in either winger or inner midfeild position. Future additions are planned and in season 22 it is hoped BRAP2 can finish top 3 in VI.174

Insanity contagious!

Spending big is the current trend for nuclear cup contestants. The manager of The Units consulted prophet de Iaco concerning the purchase of 24 year old Riku Saksi, an 3.5 star passable form winger with decent secondary skills and experience, and also magnificent set pieces ability.
The prophet spoke thus: "This player is worth $900,000, do not pay more."
The Units placed the winning bid, the price? $900,000 exactly.
The Units now expect to rest on their laurels until the Nuclear Cup.

Lorax Victory followed by claims of insanity

Big news this week for the Green Loraxes. In the final league game of the season, the Loraxes are step closer to avoiding relegation with a gutsy 5-2 victory over the Assassins, allowing them to finish 6th in V.200. Now they must win a qualification game next Sunday against The Millers to maintain their place in the 5th division. Players and fans however are confident that this home game qualification will bring joy to the Loraxes and establish themselves as truly belonging in the 5th division.

However, some commentators are a bit concerned this over-confidence is shared by the Loraxes manager, who has displayed some rather erratic and risky behavior recently. This is largely based on the decision to buy two of the most expensive players in Lorax history. The first was midfielder, Sergio Travesedo, a 26 year old solid almost excellent playmaker, and passable passing for $288,000; and Martin Anaut, 26, a solid keeper with weak experience, 3.5 star passable form, for $284,000. These purchases have caused the Loraxes fall into major debt of $134,000. The Loraxes manager though was unapologetic saying "the addition of these two brilliant players to the Loraxes will show the Hattrick world and also the Nuclear Cup that we are a force to be reckoned with! This tiny debt is insignificant when put in context with our plans for world domination!!" We will have to wait and see whether the Lorax manager will be regarded as a visionary or a lunatic.

Final Round

The Units have decided to abandon Counter Attacking for the clash against Iraq FC. After much deliberation and gnashing of teeth - and consulting of HO - it has been decided that CA will give the Units next to no chance of victory. However, by concentrating on increasing midfield and using MOTS, it seems the Units can reach the giddy heights of "inadequate" in midfield, thereby almost equalling the midfield of Iraq FC. Admittedly, this seriously affects the rest of the team, and the chances of victory are still low, but I think it is the best option.
The Units humbly request all readers of religious persuasion to pray fervently to their relevant deity for a miraculous Units triumph!

The Units newest player

The Units have purchased a new defender, Armirtharaj Jayashree, 24 years old for $400,000, after raising money by selling two players. He should get 3.5 stars in passable form. This new signing will boost the defense of the units considerably, but will it be enough to help win the last match, and avoid relegation??
As the previous post alluded to, playing counter attack is a viable theory against Iraq FC, as they have a very strong midfield. The addition of Jayashree will help CA due to the extra defensive abilities (and he is in good form), although a higher passing ability would be nice.

In other Units news, I am happy to announce the sale of the universally detested dud of a defender Zelkjo Validzic. Although still technically part of the Units' squad, he is for sale (deadline tonight) and someone has already place a bid of $225,000, thereby guaranteeing the sale. Good riddance- he is unpredictable, with lame secondary skills. The funds raised from the sale of this hopeless fuckwit will go towards a 3.5 star forward with good set pieces.

Counter-attacking - what to consider?

The Units face an uphill battle this Sunday against IraqFC who possess a very strong midfield. It is clear that The Units will need some very clever tactics to get the better of IraqFC and avoid the much publicised relegation to the VIth division. The most obvious tactic usually considered in such a situation is Counter-Attack (CA). But what is the most effective way to play CA? What should you consider when choosing such a tactic?

I stumbled across this Hattrick blog entry (http://bobymoore.blogsome.com/2006/11/18/effective-counter-attacking/) which discusses some of the considerations when playing CA. It suggests you need:

1. Good levels of defence (to reduce the opponents goals, because you won't get many chances).
2. Very good CA level
3. Keep possession fairly high (~45% is ideal, but at least between 30-40%).
4. Need attack level high - to have the best chance of the few chances you may have.
5. Optimise your team for Special events.

Some of these points seem quite open to debate, especially whether having such a high midfield is necessary, as many people have played without much midfield at all.

What are peoples thoughts on the CA strategy? Is it the best tactic when you are guaranteed to lose the midfield, or is it overrated?

New Nuclear Cup Fixture released!

Since the preliminary Nuclear Cup fixture was released we have gained two exciting late entries into the Cup - Gaeta and blackness12. This has prompted the Nuclear Cup council to re-convene and come up with a new and even better schedule than before!

The competition is now composed of two pools - Pool 1 (BRAP2, Bluthenthal da 3, More Fire! and Gaeta), and Pool 2 (The Units, darkness12, Green Loraxes and Mababies). Each team will play each other team in their pool at home and away. Then the top two teams in each Pool will play a Semi-Final and winner of these will be in the Nuclear Cup final. We will also include further playoffs of the other teams to determine a ranking for each team in the Nuclear Cup.

If anyone has any issues with the fixture, let us know.

Good-luck!

Preliminary Fixture for Inaugural Nuclear Cup Released

It has finally arrived! - the Secret Nuclear Cup Council has convened, and a fixture for the much anticipated inaugural Nuclear Cup has been delivered. See the links on the top left of the website to access the fixture/results and the current standings in the Nuclear Cup (not much to see yet).

The Cup is composed of five preliminary rounds in which each of the six competing teams will face off against each other once. The highest ranked team at the conclusion of the 'regular season' will play the winner of a Semi-Final between the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the Nuclear Cup Final.

Due to there being limited time for the cup to be run, we cannot fit in a home and away match between each side, and therefore was determined by a 'lucky dip' draw which was strictly monitored by the officials Dr. Kylie Wagstaff and Ms. Kim Gia Lieu.

Any comments are welcome...

What the hell!!!??

The president of Bluthenthal da 3 is sending a message to all the participants of The Nuclear Cup:
"What the hell!! I'm gonna pave everybody this season!!!"

Nasty Injury

Bad luck for The Units this week as star defender Carlos Rognoli, 19, was injured for 7 weeks. He joins forward Bryan Nicholas and midfielder Braith Kent on the sidelines for the Units.
However, the club doctors are not too pessimistic: "with the healing powers of younger players, Carlos should be back in action early next season" said one doc.

Relegation?

Will inaugural Nuclear Cup entrants the Units be relegated to Division VI next season? Find out this sunday 12.00pm, when the mighty Units take on Iraq FC at home- anything less than a win will mean humiliating demotion....

Here I am.....

After a bad week of footy I will be out for revenge. Watch out for me in the Nuclear Cup!

Nuclear Cup - The Beginning!!

The Nuclear Cup was founded today. Details will be posted shortly...