Season 8 - Tiburones Rojos 2011 Apertura
First, a major typo, the previous season was the Clausura (clausura ~ closing [of the year]).
Ok, this season was very strange - it reminds me of the threads on Swede leagues. A lot of ups and downs in chaotic fashion - where losing many games can still make you lift the trophy...
On that note, the season sucked. I think even with (aprox.) 25 good players, we were stretched by the number of tournaments we had to play. My players were dropping like flies with month-long injuries.
Mexican League? We were third-to-last for a large part of the season, and a run of three wins in six matches became a positive run - as it saw us gain a spot in the qualifing playoff (the four best teams outside the first and second placed in the groups table). We were that fourth team.... enter suspense... I will let you know how we did in the playoffs in the next posting...
Finished the league in 9th, with 7 games won and 7lost (and three draws) - really mediocre season.
Copa Libertadores? A really tough group (we classified automatically to the group stage): Cruzerio (BRA), Boca Juniors (ARG), and Barcelona (ECU) [yes, Barcelona can win both the Champions and the Libertadores

].
Lost to Cruzeiro at home in the first game, and I think that sealed our doom... We won two, tied two, and lost two games. On the last day we needed Boca to lose and we needed to win the away game against Cruzeiro - yeah right. Both Boca and us tied in our respective matches and so we were out. The Board was very displeased...
North American Champions Cup? Yes, yet another surprise cup. Not sure how teams go into this cup, but it involves all the countries in North America and the Caribbean. Two Mexican teams enter in the quarter finals, (this time, Pachuca and your beloved
Tiburones). Took down Saprisa (CRC), then Salt Lake (USA) and finally Pachuca in the final... Who won? duh, us of course... What does this mean? We get a ticket to the world club cub finals in Japan.
I think that is it in terms of tournaments... I was really frustrated with my attackers and my defenders, the midfield were fine... I have a really good youth base - of South American foreigners, and a 20yr old Colombian AMC is a revelation - he is great, but I was able to play him in the Cups, not the league tournament given the restrictions on foreign players.
Oh right, and my amazing, backstabbing Brazilian DR... he is gone to Benfica. F*** him.
I guess I will be releasing my old guard and decide whether my amazingly erratic quality GK is worth keeping (he is only 22).
Or maybe I will just quit this team. All this inconsistency this season was really frustrating...