Red Dawn: The Rise of Australian Football

Flavours of the World: Travels of an International Manager

Hello, and welcome to my career thread! I hope to chronicle my journey from the international wilderness to continental and World Cup glory by managing only national teams, starting at the bottom and working my way to the top! I intend for this career to be a lengthy journey into the footballing future of the world, managing as many senior national teams as I desire along the way. I chose to play this save on FM11, as I prefer to play games unpatched, which I cannot do on FM12 due to the automatic Steam update system. This means, unfortunately, that my previous saves (Chester FC and Adelaide United FC) have been indefinitely abandoned, for which I apologise. However, I hope that this will be an adequate replacement!

In previous threads I have chosen a pre-season, mid-season and post-season style of updating. This is an inefficient method for international management, however, and so I will instead be updating on each individual match (considering they are few and far between) in great detail, first by writing a detailed match report and then by adding my comments and reactions afterwards. I will be posting squad selections and profiles of individual players from both teams in each match. I hope that this will result in an interesting and entertaining thread following the trials and tribulations of a manager limited by the talent pool of his current nation of employment.

I chose to emphasise the idea of being only a national manager and not a club manager in this career since I wish to emphasise the challenges faced by a real-life national manager. If for instance, I were managing both a nation and a club from that nation, I could build my chosen club to an extent to which the club's facilities in terms of youth production were of a significant benefit to the national team, which would be especially evident in a smaller nation. Although I am partial to that sort of career, I decided instead for this save to challenge myself by utilising only the national pool available to me at each nation without the influence that would be gained by managing both a nation and a club.

To that end, I will be beginning my career at the lowest FIFA-ranked nation available to manage in my save: the mighty Papua New Guinea . I intend to use this job as a platform to build my international reputation and to hopefully move on to bigger and better things. I have several main goals for this career, which are as follows:

• Manage the Socceroos past the group stages of a World Cup
  
• Manage a low-ranked team to a major tournament
  
• Manage a team from every continent
  
• Manage the team ranked first in the world
  
• Win every major international trophy
  

Of course, the greatest goal is simply to have fun and enjoy the save, and I hope you enjoy reading about it! Thanks for reading!

This save is started with FM11 unpatched edition on the 11.0 database. No editing or scouting programs have or will be used. The "real players" box is unticked, meaning the game will generate newgen players to populate the game world. The database is selected as "large", with the custom additions of "all players of Australian nationality" (something I always add, as an Australian) and "players from top clubs" in each continent. All leagues and divisions are available as "view-only"; only the Hyundai A-League is playable, though only because at least one league must be active to begin a save.

                                                         [b]STCL[/b]                    [b]STCR[/b]                              
                                                         TBD                      TBD                            
                                                         0.00                    0.00                        


                                 [b]LM[/b]                      [b]LCM[/b]                      [b]RCM[/b]                      [b]RM[/b]      
                                 TBD                     TBD                      TBD                     TBD                
                                0.00                     0.00                    0.00                     0.00


                                 [b]LB[/b]                      [b]LCB[/b]                      [b]RCB[/b]                      [b]RB[/b]         
                                 TBD                     TBD                      TBD                     TBD
                                0.00                     0.00                    0.00                     0.00


                                                                      [b]GK[/b]
                                                                      TBD
                                                                     0.00

Tactical Discussion

Here I will discuss the tactic that I intend to use throughout my career. I intend to use one main tactic, a 4-5-1 with a DM and wingers which I will detail below.

This is the main tactical setup I will be using and I doubt that I'll change it at any point, it is the same tactic I have used in previous FMs with some success, so I intend to take it with me to each international job and get the players playing the way I want them to. If anyone wants to ask any questions about my tactical setup, please feel free. I don't pretend to be any sort of tactical mastermind, this is just my interpretation of effective short passing, possession-based football within FM.

My tactic is founded on principles of attacking football, and the system I use is very much a combination between Spanish passing football and Dutch fluidity and combination play. I like my teams to play a short passing game, but I couple this with a quick tempo as opposed to a more traditional slow tempo since I prefer my players to be in an attacking mindset with plenty of quick movement off the ball. I find that this doesn't tend to impact on my possession statistics; indeed, this tactic is still very much possession-based. The possession advantage lost by choosing to move the ball along quickly instead of passing it around the back four is offset by the high-pressing game my teams play in both the defensive and attacking phases and by the fact that the opposition are forced to keep up with the quick tempo also, resulting in more cheap turnovers and hasty decisions. The pressing game itself is more advantageous in my three-man midfield triangle, since the presence of a third man allows for easier doubling in this zone, resulting most often in either a turnover or in the opposition playing the ball out wider, where it is easier and more efficient to run a pressing game.

It is difficult to break down my tactic into a description of each section, since I rely on players contributing to each phase of play in a fluid manner. In broad terms, though, the defensive unit can be described as a primarily traditional back four with the central defenders used as the initial creative outlet for the team and the side-backs given a defensive mentality. Central defenders are both set to "central defender (defend)" since I feel this is the option which works best with a short passing tactic; the description of the ball-playing defender in FM speaks more in terms of launching long balls to more creative players upfield, whereas I prefer central defenders to maintain possession and then give a short pass to a midfielder in a better position. Naturally, these centre-backs are less creative than their midfield counterparts, but it is essential that the central defender possesses the ability to play the ball accurately over a short distance either wide to the full-backs or forward to the defensive midfielder. The full backs themselves are set to "full-back (support)", since I prefer each member of the back four to remember that their first priority is defending, and only once possession is secure to move into a more advantageous position in the attacking phase. I feel that the support duty allows the best compromise between defensive and attacking duties; since the team mentality is set as "attacking" to start a game, the full-back's individual mentality with a support duty is actually more defensive-minded than the rest of the team on the whole. The goalkeeper is set to "sweeper keeper (defend)" in the hope that he will mop up any through balls that make it through the back four, but still maintain a defensive mentality and not attempt any Higuita-esque heroics. The attacking phase for the defensive unit consists of the full-backs pushing up to support the midfielders and overlap with the wingers as necessary, with the centre-backs and goalkeeper pushing up towards the halfway line as play moves further upfield.

The midfield is the most important part of this tactic, and at least one good creative central midfielder is essential to the tactic's success. To start with, the defensive midfielder is set as an "anchor man (defend)", sitting in the lines between midfield and defence with the intent to break up plays either through interceptions or tackles, then laying off passes to the central or wide players. He too is an important part of the system, since it is his duty to win back the ball if it gets past the central midfielders and to operate as a second man press when pressing in midfield. The right central midfielder is a "deep-lying playmaker (support)" and is the key creative fulcrum of the team. It is his job to distribute passes wide or forward to players with better attacking capabilities and in better attacking positions, and also to contribute to the defensive phase of the team by breaking up plays in midfield. As the screenshot below shows, he sits slightly deeper than the left central midfielder, who has a more attacking mentality, providing a compromise between defence and attack but given a duty to roam around his general area and provide passes. The left central midfielder is a "central midfielder (attack)", who is more of a traditional attacking midfielder but again in a deeper role. I see this position as being more of a "Tim Cahill" role in that the player is not necessarily creative, but is good at making attacking off the ball runs and has good general technical ability. Both wingers are simply set to "winger (attack)". I toyed with the idea of giving the wing players an inside forward duty, but that essentially makes it more like playing three strikers in an attacking phase and I prefer wider options who can beat their man down the right or cut back inside as necessary.

The lone forward in my system is a "complete forward (attack)", and perhaps has the most onerous duty of the team. He is not expected to contribute much defensively, but he is expected to create, cross and score. He should be an all-round style of frontman, pace is preferred but not absolutely essential, and he should be competent both in the air and at holding up play for the attacking midfielder and wingers to take up better positions. However, his primary role is to be the man who puts the ball in the back of the net, or at least plays in someone who will.

In terms of the general team philosophy, an attacking mentality is coupled with fluid player movement; the team is encouraged to move about and create space for themselves while contributing to several zones of play. Additionally, the players are given the creative freedom to express themselves on the park. Zonal marking is a given for this style of football, and the team plays neither narrow nor wide, since I don't wish for the team to develop a specific preference to either play wide or play through the middle when going forward, I'd rather that both options are available and trust the players to make the right choice as the play develops. A high defensive line requires fast centre-backs but has the added benefit of making the team more compact, a great boon for a short passing style. The screenshot above shows this compact setup in action, notice how the distance between the lines from both a vertical and horizontal standpoint is greatly reduced.

Naturally I am very picky about the type and personality of players that I require for this system, attributes such as decisions (for the quick tempo) and stamina (for the high pressing) are key and I am highly reluctant to utilise any player, no matter how good, with a detrimental personality. I prefer players with ambition, determination and professionalism, and any player who is lacking in any of these elements will find it hard to make it into any of my teams, particularly at club level. At an international level, I am of course limited by the national pool of players available to me, but I still rarely choose any player with a negative personality.

As I say, I don't pretend to be an expert on tactics but I am a keen reader of football books such as Inverting the Pyramid and some of Massimo Lucchesi's works and the tactic I outlined above is simply my interpretation of a good attacking-based short passing style of football within FM.

Before this game I sorted out the staff at PNG, who are mainly used in international management to provide match reports and ratings on players who play for a club side. There is only one Papua New Guinean staff member in the database, and that is my assistant manager, so I filled in the gaps by hiring obscure Australian coaches who were more than happy to take on the roles required. Some of the elder statesmen in the national pool are looking to become staff members when they retire, so I'll pick them up for the NT setup if they do.

Our first match was to be a pre-arranged match against fellow Oceanians Fiji, who have much more quality around the park, as reflected by their much higher world ranking. The squad had already been confirmed prior to me taking over, and so I had to make do with the players selected and hope that they could pull a good result out of the bag.

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Fiji (127) vs Papua New Guinea (206)

Friendly

5/6/2010, 15:00

National Sports Stadium, Suva

Dry, 24 degrees Celsius

Lineups

Fiji: M. Rokotakala; M. Lal, M. Tesoro, P. Wise, M. Nakulanisa; J. Nair, A. Iliesa, W. Tuqusi, J. Biri; M. Zaim, T. Prasad

Papua New Guinea: P. Hans; S. Songan, R. Bayung, G. Malus, T. Weber; C. Yarawi, A. Guti, G. Lohai, M. Gewebing, S. Mune; T. Nengabo

Formations

Fiji: 4-4-2

Papua New Guinea: 4-5-1

These two sides met in Fiji for a battle between Oceanian rivals. Today's match would be Papua New Guinea's first under new national team manager Alexander Welburn, and it was sure to be an exciting contest. Fiji went into the match as clear favourites, a relative Oceanian powerhouse when compared to their 206th-ranked opponents. And, indeed, the match began in that vein, with Fiji controlling the early tempo and possession, resulting in the first goal of the game after just 12 minutes. Defender Michael Lal's short pass found Estudiantes (LP)'s veteran central midfielder Akuila Iliesa on the edge of the area, who did well to turn and shoot from distance, finding the far top corner in the process. PNG manager Welburn will not be happy with the manner in which his team allowed 34-year-old Iliesa the time to get his powerful shot away.

Worse was to follow for the minnows when the home side doubled their advantage on the 20-minute mark through Red Star's exciting young midfielder William Tuqusi. It was Tuqusi's attempted chip which won the corner for Fiji, and it was Tuqusi who controlled the cross at the near post, turning and slotting the ball home past the outstretched gloves of PNG keeper Percy Hans to the disappointment of the travelling Papuan fans. Fiji were 2-0 up and were showing little sign of relinquishing their grip on the match; PNG were in serious danger of coming off very badly from this one.

Chances were few and far between in the following sequences of play up until the 43rd minute when Fiji attempted to launch a counter-attack through Beijing attacking midfielder Josefa Nair. PNG debutant Thorsten Weber had other ideas, committing himself to a fabulous block tackle on the pacey forward which gave his side a chance to launch an attack of their own. Some quick short passing led to the ball arriving at the feet of Kossa FC striker Tapas Nengabo, whose through ball was weighted perfectly for PNG vice-captain George Lohai to slide the ball into the back of the net, giving the Papuan team fresh hope through a goal their enterprise deserved.

The minnows almost equalised in the second minute of added time in the first half when Nengabo, who provided the assist for the first goal, skinned Fijian defender Pita Wise on the edge of the area, but blasted his one-on-one chance into the crossbar, to the relief of the home supporters. Both sides went in at the break with the belief that they could win the match and with plenty of food for thought.

HT Fiji 2 - 1 Papua New Guinea

Both sides made two substitutions at the interval, looking to freshen up their sides for the second period of play. Fiji created the first chance of the half after fifty-one minutes through a cleared corner which fell to the feet of striker Viliame Naicker, who dribbled forward before blasting his shot from distance, but only to see it sail high and wide of the Papua New Guinean goal. Shortly afterwards, Fijian goalscorer William Tuqusi was substituted after suffering an unfortunate injury. Fiji began to again control the game with continued waves of attack, the nearest to a goal being Naicker's 62nd minute chance whereby the tricky striker jinked past PNG central defender Paulo Gewebing before blasting wide.

Fiji had a further chance to extend their lead on 76 minutes when Brisbane City defender Mitchell Tesoro outjumped his marker from a well-flighted corner kick, but sent his header wide of the mark. The last chance of the game was, however, to fall to the visitors. Defensive midfielder Charlie Yarawi won his challenge in the opposition half, his sliding tackle falling kindly for left-winger Sewera Mune, who dribbled down the line before playing a 20-yard ball infield for 33-year-old George Lohai in an attacking position. Lohai gambled on a long range effort which looked destined to nestle in the top-corner, but unfortunately for the Papuans the ball sailed just over the crossbar.

The referee blew full time on an entertaining match after three minutes of stoppage time in which no clear chances were created for either side. Papua New Guinea showed real spirit against their more talented opponents, and were perhaps unlucky to only have the solitary goal for their efforts, but the truth was that the standout performance of Fiji's midfielder Akuila Iliesa was too much for them to handle. There were some promising signs though for PNG, and they will surely hope to build on this enterprising, if ultimately fruitless, performance.

FT Fiji 2 - 1 Papua New Guinea

Goalscorers: A. Iliesa '12 (FIJ), W. Tuqusi 20' (FIJ), G. Lohai '43 (PNG)

Man of the Match: A. Iliesa 8.2 (FIJ)

Attendance: 15,036

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In the end, we couldn't quite cause an upset, but a 2-1 loss was by no means a bad result against a team of Fiji's calibre (). I thought that the team put in a good shift but we just found it very difficult to deal with some of their key midfielders. Still, we move on, and I get the chance to review the national pool and select a squad of my own choosing for the next matchday. I think we can do better than the keeper who played today, and there's a handy looking centre-back at a Singaporean team who had been left out of this squad altogether.

Oddly, after this match I was offered the Ghana job, which I declined. My starting reputation was "automatic", so I don't know why Ghana would offer the managerial position to an inexperienced manager who had played one match in his career, a 2-1 loss to Fiji!

btw fail posing too many!

also GL. I have always meant to manage Brisbane but never gotten around to it for whatever reason

I went into the second match in a slightly more optomistic mood; East Timor aren't exactly a tough proposition, even to the worst-ranked team in the world, and I had carefully reviewed all 77 players eligible to play for PNG and selected what I believed to be a well-rounded squad based on ability and form. A problem that the national team has at the moment is that the majority of players in the national pool are uncontracted, and although some clubs, mostly based in PNG, are showing interest, very few are being signed and it leaves me with players who aren't match fit. Players without a club for an extended period of time may even retire completely, regardless of their role in the national team setup. Fortunately, most of the better players are contracted to one club or another, so I'm hoping it doesn't really affect the performances too much.

A big benefit for this match was that Valencia's Ludwig Minan accepted my call-up despite originally wanting to play for his second nation Algeria, and he will slot straight into the starting lineup. I've also got my eye on an Australian with PNG citizenship who would be my first choice right-back, but at 22 he still wants to play for Australia, though I'm hoping he'll see sense soon and choose to play for us.

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Papua New Guinea (206) vs East Timor (199)

Friendly

11/8/2010, 19:30

Port Moresby Rugby League Stadium, Port Moresby

Breezy, 13 degrees Celsius

Lineups

Papua New Guinea: L. Mataio; P. Clive, L. Carrol, H. Furigi, T. Weber; C. Yarawi, A. Guti, G. Lohai, L. Minan, K. Wangu; T. Nengabo

East Timor: E. Lopes; C. Paulo, S. Lam, D. Correia de Alimeida Barbosa, S. Guterres; J. Correia Pereira, B. Alfaia, P. Harris, N. de Jesus Carvalho Vong; J. Amaral de Araujo, K. Hugo

Formations

Papua New Guinea: 4-5-1

East Timor: 4-4-2

The big news in today's game was the inclusion in the Papuan lineup of Valencia youngster Ludwig Minan, who finally accepted his manager's call-up after holding out in the hopes of playing for his second nation, Algeria. The promising winger started on the right for the team in red and was set to be a key outlet in their runout against their higher-ranked Asian opponents. The first action of the match came through PNG left-winger Kema Wangu, whose ball infield found striker Tapas Nengabo, but his speculative effort sailed over the Timorese crossbar. In the 12th minute, East Timor launched an attack of their own when a cross found striker Nelson de Jesus Carvalho Vong unmarked, but he couldn't make his header count.

The match descended into a fairly dour battle in the centre of the park, with neither team able to fashion a concrete chance until late in the half when a George Lohai interception and through ball saw PNG striker Nengabo clean through on goal, but the frontman wasted his gilt-edged chance by blasting it high and wide; perhaps accuracy rather than power was called for here. The final chance of the half came in the 43rd minute, when some neat passes between the East Timorese midfielders saw the ball played to Timorese striker Paul Harris, who possesses Australian second nationality and plys his trade with Marconi Stallions in the NSW Premier League. Like Nengabo earlier, Harris blasted a shot wide of the mark, although to be fair to the striker, his chance was from both a far greater distance and angle than Nengabo's one-on-one effort.

Neither team would have been pleased nor particularly displeased with the result at half-time, though it was clear that the fans were disappointed with the technical quality of football on show; Barcelona this was not.

HT Papua New Guinea 0 - 0 East Timor

Both teams were content with a single half-time change and the PNG home crowd were hoping for a better display from both sides. It was East Timor with the early chances as a Claudino Paulo cross found left midfielder Bartolo Alfaia in the area just after the resumption of play, but the player would have been disappointed to see his headed effort fly wide. Right-winger Joao Correia Pereira also saw his effort from range sail over the bar. Papuan striker Tapas Nengabo was again in the thick of the action soon afterwards, doing well to take possession on the edge of the area before beating two defenders to again find himself one-on-one with the Timorese keeper. He was doing his selection chances with the new manager no favours, however, again hitting the ball with power and this time rattling the woodwork. A second wasted chance for the same player, this time in the 56th minute.

Shortly after the Nengabo miss, Paul Harris took possession down the other end of the park and attempted to curl one into the far corner, but it didn't quite bend far enough to trouble Ludwig Mataio in the PNG goal. Seventy-one minutes in, Al-Wahda (KSA)'s central midfielder Abraham Guti intercepted a sloppy East Timorese pass in the attacking half and laid off a fine ball for that man Nengabo, who again shot wide and high from distance. Five minutes later, Michael Gewebing passed inside, again to Nengabo, and again with the same result. Nengabo's effort this time perhaps better suited to a rugby pitch than a football arena, sailing high over the crossbar to the dismay of the Papua New Guinean fans.

Nengabo's attempt proved to be the last meaningful effort of the match, with the referee blowing full-time on a disappointing match after four minutes of additional time. It was a poor day at the office for both teams and particularly for Kossa FC striker Tapas Nengabo, who will rue his golden missed chances for the Papuan side. Both sides left with a clearer picture of their progress and work still to do ahead of their respective World Cup qualification paths in several years' time.

FT Papua New Guinea 0 - 0 East Timor

Goalscorers: None

Man of the Match: S. Lam 7.7 (TLS)

Attendance: 9,001

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A decent result, given that the teams are fairly closely matched. The game itself was quite dull and neither side really threatened the other too much, though Nengabo really should have put the game to bed early on. I've been trying out a few different goalkeepers in the national team squad, and I'm not sure Mataio is our best choice, he has handling of 1 and dropped the ball from simple crosses twice in this match. It's quite difficult to pick the best lineup of players in all positions really, since the assistant manager doesn't provide automatic ratings of the players like he would at a club side, and though I've got NT coaches giving me match reports on some of the players, this only occurs for the players who have clubs. Even more exasperating is the fact that every coach comes back telling me the player they watched is worth 5 stars! I can understand that rating for the very best players, but a particularly poor player in the U19 side was given 5 stars too, so the coach reports don't help me narrow down the choices much!

At the moment I'm having to judge players by my own eye, but the positions I'm reasonably happy with are the two centre-backs (Carrol and Furigi), the left-back (Weber) and the defensive midfielder (Yarawi). The two key midfielders Minan and Guti are certainties to play, but I'm trying to decide whether they are best when both together as central midfielders or with one in the centre and one at right winger. Nengabo was pretty unconvincing as the lone striker, but he seems to be the most talented frontman we have.

10 pages in. good read

Good luck in Australia Adelaidean. I always like a good Asian save and usually have a save there myself. I had to laugh at the Dwayne Doyle-Dwayne Dibley comparison...who doesn't like Red Dwarf!?!?!

Good luck with the new save - Yates looks absolute class!

Good luck with your local club