[FM09] The (mainly South) American Dream

Hello everyone,

After two enjoyable but failed attempts at small to big club challenges I decided to play a type of save that I haven't got to play since I started getting into the so said small to big club challenges. The basic idea is to load up all South and North American leagues, start off unemployed and try to achieve some success. The ultimate goal is to win the Copa Libertadores with Corinthians, which of course I never achieve . So let me introduce you to the set up and the type of updates I will be giving.

The Set-Up

Version: FM 09

Database: 9.3.0 unaltered

Databiase size: Large

Leagues loaded: All divisions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, USA and Uruguay

The Updates

The updates will change according to the nation and division that I will be playing in as the leagues and transfer windows are different in every country. However, you can expect updates like:

-Club Introduction when joining a new club

-Season Preview

-Competition Preview

-Stage update if competition has several stages

-Competition Summary

-Transfer window summary

-Season summary

-Update of champions of all competitions every 6 months

If there is anything else that you may want to see or any other suggestion please let me know, any feedback is appreciated.

And so it begins...

I started off as an unemployed Brazilian/German ex-Sunday League Footballer, who loves Corinthians, and applied for every job available. There was however one job that I really wanted. Coming from the State of São Paulo I wanted to start my career at a smaller club in the state, just how a lot of young managers do IRL, so when Esporte Clube Noroeste from the city of Bauru came calling I accepted the offer straight away. Next up will be a club introduction and season preview!

Good luck corinthiano. It will be good to see you get some success in South America.

Thanks DodgeeD, I think being able to jump ship when I have taken the club as far as I can will hopefully mean a little bit more success than at Razer's challenge!

Esporte Clube Noroeste - An Introduction

Background

Club Information

They are the only professional club in the city of Bauru, in the North East of the São Paulo State. They are a club that has never won a major championship, the only trophies are the three State second tier titles they won. The most famous player to have played for Noroeste is 1970 World Cup winner Jairzinho, who passed by the club towards the end of his career, scoring 2 goals in 10 appearances. Their main rivals are Marília, XV de Jaú and XV de Piracicaba; who are also smaller clubs from the region.

Stadium and Facilities

They have a quite good stadium, the Alfredo de Castilho, who can hold 18.200 people. Here is a picture, it looks pretty decent!

Noroeste have Average Training and Youth Facilities and a Youth Academy, which again, is very good and helpful!

Stadium and Facilities

Current Squad and Key Players

The squad is already very strong and IMO good enough already to challenge for promotion out of Série C. It is even a bit too big and as I am £500p/w over the wage budget already I will have to offload a few players before even thinking about bringing new players in. Here are a few players that I already quite like in the team:

Anderson Marques: Good solid defender.

Júlio: Will be my holding midfielder.

Luciano Bebê: A Corinthians youth product, so I though he would be worth a mention

Marinho: Best striker in the squad!

Raulen: Will be used as a wing-back, who are key in my tactic.

And lastly my Profile when starting the job.

Next up will be a Campeonato Paulista preview

Try and manage TFC mate, good luck in this career.

I like this because there so many comps to win within the two continents.

Thanks MeLikeFM, we'll see about TFC, have never managed in the MLS so would definately be interesting, need to make sure I get out of lower league abscurity first though!

2009 Campeonato Paulista Preview

Background and Format

Everytime I play a competition for the first time I will give a brief background information and competition format explananation.

The Campeonato Paulista is one of the oldest competitions in Brazil, where teams from the São Paulo State compete. The current holder is Palmeiras, who beat Ponte Preta in the 2008 final. Corinthians are the record title holder with 25 wins.

The Campeonato Paulista is composed by 20 clubs who play once against each other in a league format. The top 4 go on to qualify for two legged Semi-Finals and the Final, whilst the bottom 4 are relegated to the second tier.

Preview

Media Prediction: N/A (there is no Media Predicition for State Championships)

Board Expectation: Enjoy participating in the competition

My Prediction: 13th

This is going to be a very tough competition, as 11 of the 20 teams play in the Série B or above. I think we could quite easily avoid relegation and will be looking to finish in a lower mid-table position. A win against the top 4 in the state (Corinthians, São Paulo, Palmeiras and Santos) would be a bonus, but the priority has to be winning the easier games and staying well away from the relegation places.

Good luck corinthiano. And what MeLikeFM said. You must try out managing at TFC.

Thanks rancer, will keep TFC in mind for later, would certainly be the team I'd most like to manage in the MLS.

2009 Campeonato Paulista Summary

League Phase

League Table

Position Graph

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2

Best Result: A very convincing win against a strong Série B side and the traditional 5th power in the State.

Worst Result: We were absolutely awful against non-league opposition, unlucky to concede a goal into stoppage time in the second half, but deserved the defeat.

My prediction of 13th almost came off as we occupied that spot for most of the competition. In the last game we only drew against Marília whilst Mirassol managed to win, meaning they overtook me and Ponte Preta. I was satisfied with the overall performance, we never looked like going down and managed some good wins against Série B opposition. I was dissappointed with some results against lesser teams, it seems we never played too well whenever we were favourites. This is worrying as we will be favourites for most of our matches in Série C.

Semi Final and Final

Semi Final

Final

Corinthians managed to take away São Paulo's invicibility to reach the final and even won the first leg against Santos. But Santos proved too strong at Vila Belmiro and trashed Corinthians in the Final.

Stats and Awards

We won an award! It was the Fair Play Award, but at least it is something . No participation in anything else, although I was pleased our average attendance was amongst the best in the Championship. The game against São Paulo brought over 14,000 spectators and £100,000 revenue!

Team Stats

Player Stats

Best Player

Fair Play Award

Team of the Year

Top Goalscorer

Young Player of the Year

Next up!

The transfer window in Brazil runs from 1st January until 11th September and I keep signing new players in that period. Therefore I will be posting my Transfer Summary just before Série C starts and then do a Série C Preview.

A decent start corinthiano. How long do you have to wait before starting the Serie C campaign?

My last game was at the start of April and Série C only starts on 20th June, so it is quite a wait! I have filled May with a few easy friendlies to keep everyone busy and morale high.

Btw, I have just beaten Estudiantes Santander to a decent signing

You wouldn't have done that with me in charge.

Before you make your way to TFC, you should take on the challenge at Estudiantes Santander in Mexico.

I am having my career path plotted by everyone else

The Mexican re-set date should be in a couple of months though, will let you know whether Estudiantes make it up and how they do

2009 Noroeste Mid-Season Transfer Update

Transfers

I know I said I thought the squad was strong enough to challenge for promotion, but I couldn't resist making big changes, in part due to the need to cash in on some players and also because I found some very good veterans I felt would make the difference at this level.

I brought in a lot of 16 year olds with good potential, these are: Pedro, Elymar, Caio, Edson, George Lucas and Luan. They all have at least a potential to be a leading star in Série C.

Below are the new additions that will be in my first 11 for the Série C campaign.

Azul: My first signing and a very good goalkeeper for this level.

Fábio Recife: Will be part of my midfield trio.

Gabriel Cedrés: Very old, but due to my team playing at quite a slow tempo I think he will do fine.

Luís Mário: Have not been too happy with him so far, he is a lot better than my third best striker, but I would happily sign someone else to take his place. Just need my scouts to find something.

Vado: Another oldie, but he has been doing well down the left for me.

Danilo: Decent centre back to complement Anderson Marques and Alemão.

I have turned Noroeste into a retirement home, but these are the only good players I have found and they are a lot better than what I had before. I might make more signings dependong on what my scouts find, I still have 3 months left for signings!

I will post a Série C Preview shortly!

2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C Preview

Background and Format

The third tier is relatively new in Brazil, it was only established in 1981 as a one-off before it was a regular occurance from 1987 onwards. There have been some big clubs down there in the past, most notably former national champions Fluminense and Bahia. No team has ever won the competition more than once and Bragantino are the current champions.

The competition format differsin FM from RL, but both have many stages!! In FM the first stage has 16 groups of 8, where each team plays home and away within the group. The top two teams progress to the Second Stage, whilst the bottom two teams are relegated. In the second stage there are 8 groups of 4, with teams playing home and away within their group again and the top two sides making it to the Third Stage. The format is exactly the same in the Third Stage, only now there are 4 groups of 4 remaining. In the Final Stage there is one group of 8, where all teams play against each other home and away and the top 4 are promoted to Série B.

Preview

The Group

The groups are usually regionalized, but there are random clubs in some groups. I am one of these, as I am the only club in this groups that is not from the south. Even though the groups isn't easy it is better for me, as the groups with São Paulo and Rio sides are a lot tougher.

Media Prediction: 1st (in First Stage)

Board Expectations: Reach the Final Stage

My Prediction: 5th in Final Stage

It is difficult to predict where I will come as you never know what groups you will come along during the way. I think this first group could be a toughie but am confident of progressing. I have reached the Final Stage with a much weaker side before, but don't fancy promotion this season yet, there are still a few better clubs than us in the league who would prve too strong if they reach the Final Stage.

I will be updating my progress in the competition as/if I progress through the stages

2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C Summary

First Stage

League Table

Position Graph

Fixtures

Best Result: A very convincing win against a strong Série B side and the traditional 5th power in the State.

Worst Result: We were absolutely awful against non-league opposition, unlucky to concede a goal into stoppage time in the second half, but deserved the defeat.

It just went all wrong for us, after a couple of unspectacular but convincing wins we went 7 games without a win and even flirted with relegation. A very good end run was not enough as Brasil de Pelotas and São José (RS) pipped us to go to the next round. The late run had me convinced we could do a lot better next year, but I lost the squad support, my job was very insecure and I had to sell a lot of players as the clubs finances were getting worse and worse. Therefore, when a job that interested me came up I resigned and applied for that job. Luckily I got it! The club will be revealed shortly, but it is not a spectacular club I am afraid!

Club Atlético San Martín de San Juan - An Introduction

So when I got this offer a couple of days after esigning from Noroeste I couldn't turn it down. A very nice transfer budget, but I will probably sacrifice some of that for a better wage budget.

Background

Club Information

San Martín (SJ) is the only club in San Juan, a small city in the west of Argentina, some distance from the metropole of Buenos Aires. The club is currently in the second tier in Argentina and has only ever played one season in the top flight, back in 1970 they finished bottom and were relegated. The club has no real history of note and like FM says, a cabinet of trophies waiting to be filled. I probably won't be the man to that though, jusging by my career so far .

Stadium, Facilities and Finances

They have a large stadium which holds 19,000 people, here is a picture of it.

San Martín (SJ) have Fairly Basic Training Facilties and Average Youth Facilities. Not as good as Noroeste, but it will do!

Stadium and Facilities

The Finances are looking a lot better at this club, I hope I manage to keep them that way too!

Finances

Current Squad and Key Players

The squad is very large and there seems to be a lot of rubbish players in the reserves. Offloading them will be a top priority. My new assistant claims we are weakest in attack, but I will have to wait until December to address that, when the transfer window opens again. I am only able to make 4 transfers as well, so I will have to be careful over who I sign.

My assistant pointed out these 3 players as the best in the club:

Félix Décima

Luciano Precone

Mario Pacheco

And lastly my Profile when I took over.

Next up will be the current standings of the Argentinian Primera B and my hopes for the remainder of the season.

2009/10 Primera B Nacional Preview

Background and Format

The Primera B Nacional is also a very recent competition, havig been in existence since 1986. The biggest club to have won the competiton is Argentinos Juniors, the club where Maradona started playing football. No team has won the competition more than on two occasions, Huracán, Banfield, Olimpo and Instituto having done so.

The league has twenty teams, which play against each other home and away. The top two sides are promoted to the first tier, whilst the sides who finish 3rd and 4th play of promotion play-off against the sides who finish 17th and 18th in the first tier. Relegation is a little bit more comlicated. There is an Average Points table, in which the average of points per game over the past three seasons is displayed. The bottom two sides by average pints are relegated. Additionally the worst team outside of Buenos Aires and the worst team from Buenos Aires play a relegation play-off against third tier sides.

Current Standings and Predictions

League Table

Average Points

Current Standings: 14th

Media Prediction: 6th

Board Expectations: Respectable position

My Prediction: 10th

Even though I am all the way down in 14th, the league is tight and we are only 4 points off a playoff spot. I do think that it will be asking too much from the squad to challenge for promotion this season, so I would be happy with a mid-table finish.

I am going to sleep now and see if I can do better at this club tomorrow

2009/10 Primera Nacional B Mid-Season Report

League Table

Position Graph

Average Points

Fixtures First game in charge against Olimpo

Best Result: A battling performance against underachieveing Almagro. After taking the lead for a second time Herrera stupidly got himself sent off and Almagro equalized from the following free kick. But with a man down we still dominated the game, stealing it after Roberval converted a penalty he had earned himself.

Worst Result: A day where our defence simply didn't show up. Platense were struggling at the lowe mid-table and we had just reached the heights of 7th place, so it this defeat was very dissappointing.

A very solid start as manager of San Martín (SJ) with a 5-2-3 record in my first 10 games. I thought the squad was very large, but that was because all youth players were strangely in the reserve squad. And I found out the squad was very thin and lacking in quality. I managed to bring in a few players on frees to help up front and at the back, but I have made 4 signings in the summer break and think the squad will be strong enough to maintain its position or even challenge higher up the table.

Next up will be the 2009 champions and after that a transfer update when the Argentinian window closes.

2009 Champions

() = denotes how many times the club has won the competition

* = denotes that the club is the record title holder for the competition

Worldwide

Club World Cup: Man Utd (2)*

Pan-Pacific Championship: Houston (1)

North America

CONCACAF Champions League: Cruz Azul (1)*

Canadian Championship: Toronto FC (1)*

Mexico

Primera Mexicana: Clausura: América (MEX) (15)*, Apertura: América (MEX) (16)*

USA

MLS: San Jose (3)

Open Cup: Charleston (1)

South America

Copa Libertadores: Universidad Católica (1)

Copa Sudamericana: River (1)

Recopa Sudamericana: Boca (5)*

Argentina

Primera A: Clausura: Boca (24), Apertura: River (33)*

Brazil

Brasileirão: Flamengo (6)*

Copa do Brasil: Flamengo (3)

Chile

BancoEstado Primera: Apertura: Universidad de Chile (13), Clausura: Colo Colo (29)*

Colombia

Copa Mustang: Apertura: América de Cali (13)*, Clausura: Deportivo Cali (9)

Copa Postobón: Junior (1)

Peru

Copa Cable Magico: Universidad San Martín (2)

Uruguay

Torneos Locales: Peñarol (37)*

Liguilla: Defensor Sporting (9)

Former Club Watch

Noroeste: Haven't played a game since I resigned from the post. The new boss has experience at the lower level but does not look like anything special. There are still a lot of unhappy players around and a mass exodus is expected.

Other Clubs

Estudiantes Santander: They were promoted to the Primera A in August and had an unspectacular Apertura campaign, finishing 6th in their group and 20th overall.

Toronto FC: Had a poor season, finishing 6th in the Eastern Conference and bottom of their CONCACAF Champions League Group. They did win the Canadian Championship though.

A solid start in the Primera B corinthiano. Looks like it was a good idea to get out of the Brazilian league for now - it seems that the way its structured makes it extra tough as one bad patch of form can bring your season to a premature end!

Thanks for the Estudiantes update. I expect they will hover around the lower end of the Primera A for a while, at least until a better manager comes along

Doing well corinthiano.

And thanks for TFC update. Figures, they're not much better than IRL...

Doing well corinthiano.

And thanks for TFC update. Figures, they're not much better than IRL...

Have faith for the play-offs :o

Have faith for the play-offs :o

Don't think JDG will have a big enough impact this year. He's an upgrade over Robinson but they need a lot of things going their way to get in. First off, start scoring. Yeah, talking to you Mr. Vitti and Mr. Barrett.

I kind of regret waiving Dichio everytime now that he's retired...he was just too slow though for my team.

Don't think JDG will have a big enough impact this year. He's an upgrade over Robinson but they need a lot of things going their way to get in. First off, start scoring. Yeah, talking to you Mr. Vitti and Mr. Barrett.

I kind of regret waiving Dichio everytime now that he's retired...he was just too slow though for my team.

He is still a coach though

I wonder was he forced into retirement so JDG could come in.

JDG and Guevara

A solid start in the Primera B corinthiano. Looks like it was a good idea to get out of the Brazilian league for now - it seems that the way its structured makes it extra tough as one bad patch of form can bring your season to a premature end!

Thanks for the Estudiantes update. I expect they will hover around the lower end of the Primera A for a while, at least until a better manager comes along

Yes, the Brazilian league was a bit frustrating, mainly as I have performed a lot better in it with a much worse team in my Mazagao save. The player turnover was too big I think, probably should have trusted the players that were at the club already. I have brought in a few players with San Martin (SJ), but due to having a very small squad I don't think it will be a problem.

2009/10 San Martín (SJ) Mid-Season Transfer Update

Transfers

My assistant said we were weakest up front, but I had to disagree with him. Whilst we didn't have many decent strikers we were a lot worse off in defence. We only had 5 central defenders in the team, not very much if you use 3 at the back. Only one of them was decent as well, so I brought in 3 new defenders who should be able to do the job at this level. Marcelo Goux is the best of them all, although he probably only has 1 or 2 seasons left in him.

Something which surprised me a bit was that the wages I could offer were a lot lower than at Noroeste. I can offer key players a max of £425p/w, whilst I could offer £1,500p/w at my former club. This meant that we initially missed out on Diego Scotti, who wanted over £700p/w. A couple of months later I saw that he still didn't have a club so made another cheeky offer and luckily he accepted!

In the left wing-back position we only had one player and he was rubbish, so I splashed out £35k on Uruguayan Diego Fernández from Peñarol. I did strenghten up front with Pablo Russo and Diego Córdoba, but the Brazilian striker Roberval who was already at the club has been the best striker by far.

I wasn't really looking for a goalkeeper, but when I spotted Jorge de Olivera I just had to sign him. Now I just have to hope these signings will help us move up the table!