Crazy Canuck on Global Managerial Tour - This is the Big (FM12) One!!!

[ManUTactician247]

Yes, yes, yes! Finally, someone on here managing my favourite team Galatasaray! Best of luck to you, hope you get used to the foreigner rules!

[deltablue]

Great move to Europe

[rancer890]

Great win in teh CONCACAF Champions League! And interesting move to Turkey....I like it though. I think DC have had their time with you and now its time to move on. How's the Turkish league look?

The big 3 Istanbul clubs are at the top like real life...the points are cut in half after a number of games (similar to Belgium) but we have to finish top 4 so I guess those games there determine whether we make it into Champions League or Europa League.

Yes, yes, yes! Finally, someone on here managing my favourite team Galatasaray! Best of luck to you, hope you get used to the foreigner rules!

Mostly every league I've managed have strict foreigner rules. This one is not different than like managing in Brazil or MLS. Or in Asia and Russia in previous saves.

Happy to see it's your favourite club. No one really manages in Turkey around these parts, the only exception being DodgeeD with Gundo's challenge. But I haven't seen anyone manage Galatasaray/Fenerbahce/Besiktas. It'll be fun managing in the Istanbul derbies.

Great move to Europe

Cheers deltablue. Hopefully all goes well.

[City2000]

Can't blame you for taking that job, a club i've always wanted to manage aswell.

Good luck!

[B.W.G]

Good luck at Galatasaray,hope you find success with them

[offen94]

Good luck at Galatasaray, I followed your thread last year and really enjoyed it, this one is just as good.

[Raware]

At last...I can finally comment on your thread now I understand how the league you're playing in works! Sorry rancer but I tried hard to understand the Brazilian league and MLS but to no avail!

A good club to move to with lots of potential, European potential I mean . Do you think it might be too easy in Turkey for you though now that you're at one of the biggest clubs in Turkey?

[AK22]

Good decision in my eyes, good luck with Galatasaray. Another interesting league, some very heated derby matches out there

[rancer890]

Cheers City2000, B.W.G, offen94, and Raware!

I joined Galatasaray purely because of their European potential. This will definitely be harder than say during my time with Shakhtar in FM11. I never had competition with other clubs like Dynamo Kiev and Metalist.

If I could get Shakhtar into back-to-back Champions League Finals I think it's possible with Galatasaray too.

[rancer890]

2016 UEFA European Championship



Hosts: France

Group Stages

                 Group A                                             Group B                 
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st France      3  2  0  1  6  5   6                  1st Italy        3  2  1  0  8  2   7
2nd Slovakia    3  2  0  1  8  5   6                  2nd Romania      3  2  0  1  3  3   6
3rd Norway      3  1  0  2  8  9   3                  3rd Russia       3  1  0  2  2  6   3
4th Poland      3  1  0  2  3  6   3                  4th Bulgaria     3  0  1  2  3  5   1

                  Group C                                             Group D
                P  W  D  L  F  A  PTS                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st Netherlands 3  2  0  1  6  4   9                  1st England      3  2  0  1  7  4   6
2nd Belgium     3  1  2  0  5  3   5                  2nd Sweden       3  2  0  1  6  5   6
3rd Greece      3  0  2  1  2  3   2                  3rd Wales        3  2  0  1  6  6   6
4th Denmark     3  0  2  1  3  6   2                  4th Portugal     3  0  0  3  3  7   0

                  Group E                                             Group F
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st Spain       3  2  1  0  5  1   7                  1st Bosnia & H.  3  2  0  1  5  5   6
2nd Montenegro  3  1  1  1  6  4   4                  2nd Germany      3  2  0  1  6  2   6
3rd Switzerland 3  0  3  0  3  3   3                  3rd Ukraine      3  1  1  1  3  2   4
4th Turkey      3  0  1  2  2  8   1                  4th Albania      3  0  1  2  1  6   1

Knockout Stage



Once again, another fantastic performance by the Belgians, defeating Slovakia 3-1 in the Final. Belgium has now won the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 UEFA European Championships.

CoachFlu! Did you bugger up my save somehow? Belgium is winning everything!

Awards

Best Player - Miroslav Stoch (Slovakia), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Marouane Fellaini (Belgium)
Golden Boot - Stevan Jovetic (Montenegro), Jelle Vossen (Belgium), Edin Dzeko (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Dream Team

[CoachFlu]

Heck, in my save England was winning everything! That's even more unrealistic!

[deltablue]

They won the 2020 euros in my save, admitedly at home, but it's been pointed out before in these parts how with the talent they have at the moment its not surprising they're going strong, though it is that they are that strong admitedly.

[jackripper]

wow Belgium on a roll

[City2000]

They won the 2020 euros in my save, admitedly at home, but it's been pointed out before in these parts how with the talent they have at the moment its not surprising they're going strong, though it is that they are that strong admitedly.

They were also pretty dominant for a while on my FM11 save, I agree they do have some real talent coming through but maybe not enough to win tournaments but then again if Greece can win a Euros why not Belgium in the future.

I was more taken aback by Slovakia taking out the Dutch and Italy on the way to the final.

[AK22]

Who'd have thought it?! Belgium becoming the 'New Spain'!

[rancer890]

2016-2017 Offseason Transfers - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Armed with just under US$18 million in transfer funds, I set out to figure out how to improve this squad. And we made some good acquisitions while also trying to stay within the foreigner limits.

First order of business? Sign some staff members! I Americanized the Turkish club with 3 staff members coming with me from DC United in Assistant Manager Jeff Cassar, Coach Marco Ferruzzi, and Fitness Coach Danny Russell. Belgian and World Class Physio Lieven Maesschalck also joined the staff.

Now..onto the players!

Transfers

Steven Zuber - I did not sign him but I think he's a good addition to the squad.

Lilian Bochet - I didn't sign him either, but this signing makes no sense to me. I would love to offload this player off sometime...

Sultan Demir - My first signing is this young Turkish AMC. I'm retraining him to be a striker because there's absolutely no Turkish talent up front.

Serdar Aziz - A very talented centreback who's on the Turkish national team who I got on a free. He spent his entire career at Bursaspor before becoming a free agent.

Sinan Erdogdu - A price tag of $2.1 million is a lot, but we can afford it and he'll a good depth player at left back and he'll get his share of games.

Nikola Loncar - he was one of my primary targets to acquire and I'm very happy that he's on the team on a relatively small price tag and wages.

Timothy Chandler - I was pretty much standing pat for the rest of the transfer window till I thought about pestering Nurnberg once more about Chandler. We agreed on a $6 million price tag, and Chandler's wages are one of the highest at the club, but in exchange I wanted to double the minimum fee release clause to $15 million.

The players leaving the squad were fringe Turkish players and foreigners who I wanted no part of at the club.

--------------

UEFA Europa League

We finished 3rd last season, which meant we start in the Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round, and we're up against Bosnia & Herzegovina club Slavija. Here were the results:

1st Leg: Slavija 0-3 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 3-0 Slavija

So we easily win 6-0 on aggregate and move onto the 4th Qualifying Round, where we're up against 1990-91 European Cup Winners and now Serbian club Red Star Belgrade. Here were the results:

1st Leg: Red Star 1-4 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 3-3 Red Star

The 2nd Leg was an entertaining game to say the least, but we did the job in the 1st leg, surprising winning 4-1. Now, onto the Group Stage draw...

UEFA Europa League Group Stage

Our group isn't bad, and we avoided the big clubs. The games against Spartak Moscow will determine whether who wins the group (at least on paper), although we have to play well against Sheriff and Dijon.

And a little bonus in the Super Lig is that every win nets the club $430k and every draw means an extra $215k. I think that's good enough incentive to win as many games as we can.

[rancer890]

2016-2017 Squad - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Here's the team report with the depth chart at each position:



The following 5, in no particular order, are the key players on my team:

GK - Fernando Muslera - my highest paid player on the team is actually the goalkeeper, but he's a really good one. Of course, if anyone wants him we could talk...since as much as I like him, he still earns a lot of money at the club.

DC - Kemal Tokak - the centreback is one of the best players at the club, and the best as his position. His presence at the back will be important in my goal of winning the league title.

DL - Emilio Izaguirre - the left back will be useful at the club for probably another 2-3 years before I consider finding a replacement. He's a solid player though.

MC/MR - Rodney Strasser - on the wage that he's on, I think he's a fantastic player. He's already contributed with 3 assists in 6 games.

ST - Bogdan Stancu - I'm counting on Stancu to score goals. Striker was one area that I wanted to improve but we're doing fine with the current group. Stancu wants to move to a bigger club and we'll let him move once I find a striker that I want and fits within my budget.

The board wants a top 3 finish but I want a league title. I set my expectations to the lowest (to finish top 3 with the other 2 Istanbul clubs) but I think with the talent and the reinforcements I've made over the summer I think we're really close to winning the league title.

[ArsenalMetro]

I'm far more shocked about Slovakia making it to the final. Belgium is beastly in every save it seems.

[rancer890]

Slovakia are shocking everyone. They beat Spain recently in 2018 WCQ...

Top 10 World Rankings
1. Argentina
2. Belgium
3. England
4. Brazil
5. Uruguay
6. Germany
7. Italy
8. Ivory Coast
9. Slovakia
10. Mali

Other Notables:
11. France
13. Spain
14. Netherlands
15. Ireland
22. Mexico
27. Sierra Leone
30. Japan
34. Portugal
36. Turkey
37. Wales
38. Australia
46. South Korea
49. Scotland
51. USA
65. China
78. Canada
85. Northern Ireland
136. Hong Kong
208. Djibouti

[cerud]

Slovakia in the top ten?? Wow...

[Raware]

Slovakia reached the World Cup final in my save too, only narrowly losing 1-0 to Brazil.

[jackripper]

Nevermind slovakia what about Mali :s

[ManUTactician247]

Wow, the GS team has changed from real life, I think you'd be interested to know that IRL Stancu was shipped off on loan to newly promoted Orduspor but here, he is your star striker. Serdar Aziz is known to have a bright future, Muslera needs no introduction and it appears that GS didn't take their option to buy Felipe Melo, which is a same. Selcuk Inan is a very creative central midfield who can improvise when he's in trouble. Ceyhun Gulselam is nowhere near the first-team in real life (although people argue that he should). Sabri Sarioglu is one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen, he's got speed and ability but no brain which leads to him messing up all the time. The GS fans don't like Kazim-Richards (or Kazim Kazim as he is known in Turkey) for his lazy attitude to the game (similar to Berbatov). Ufuk Ceylan, your second choice is prone to errors, although this isn't reflected in the game I'd still be a bit worried with him in goal. May I ask what happened to these players, Emre Colak, Berkin Arslan, Ismail Berk Unsal and I'm wondering if there is a guy in the game with the first name Mertan?

[viiralx]

Good luck at Galatasaray, nice work in Brazil m8. keep it up.

[rancer890]

Wow, the GS team has changed from real life, I think you'd be interested to know that IRL Stancu was shipped off on loan to newly promoted Orduspor but here, he is your star striker. Serdar Aziz is known to have a bright future, Muslera needs no introduction and it appears that GS didn't take their option to buy Felipe Melo, which is a same. Selcuk Inan is a very creative central midfield who can improvise when he's in trouble. Ceyhun Gulselam is nowhere near the first-team in real life (although people argue that he should). Sabri Sarioglu is one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen, he's got speed and ability but no brain which leads to him messing up all the time. The GS fans don't like Kazim-Richards (or Kazim Kazim as he is known in Turkey) for his lazy attitude to the game (similar to Berbatov). Ufuk Ceylan, your second choice is prone to errors, although this isn't reflected in the game I'd still be a bit worried with him in goal. May I ask what happened to these players, Emre Colak, Berkin Arslan, Ismail Berk Unsal and I'm wondering if there is a guy in the game with the first name Mertan?

Thanks for all that! Now for the individual players you've mentioned...

Stancu - I've managed him before in previous FMs but in FM12, I frankly don't like his production. He only has 5 goals and 2 assists in 13 games so far and he has had some good games for us but some bad ones too. His striker partner, Sercan Yildirim, has 6 goals and 3 assists in the same amount of games, and from the games I've managed he's a lot better even though he's only 2.5 star (1 star less than Stancu). If I can find someone who has goal scoring potential I will acquire him in a heartbeat and with Stancu wanting to leave, I'll let him leave.

Muslera - previously I said I'll let him go at the right price, mainly because there's a goalkeeper I was keeping an eye on, and I fancied bringing my GK from DC United Ashley Palmer over. But the goalkeeper signed with another club and Muslera has been fantastic for us with 7 clean sheets in 15 games. One thing I don't understand though is even though Muslera has Argentine citizenship he still needs to stay in Turkey for 10 years before getting citizenship.

Selcuk Inan - he's been a revelation at the club. He has the highest team rating so far and has 3 goals and 11(!!) assists in only 13 games. He's one player I definitely want to keep.

Ceyhun Gulselam - he's only appeared in 1 game so far but I think I will keep him for now because he is a Turkish player and he's versatile and should do well in a pinch in case of injuries to other players.

Sabri Sarioglu - he's done well in the 9 games he played so far (all starts). I don't really recall anything dumb he's done but as a team we've been doing great. He's the starting right back for now till I can find a right midfielder (preferably Turkish) and I can slide Chandler (who's the current starting right mid) to right back.

Kazim Kazim - he's played 4 games (all substitute appearances) and scored 1 goal and added 1 assist. I definitely want to get rid of him, but he earns $4.3 million a season until June 2019...once I get a Turkish striker he's gone. I don't even care if it's on a free because I just won't use this player unless I have to. A couple players I'm looking at are Mevlut Erdinc and Samed Yesil.

Ufuk Ceylan - he hasn't played a game yet this season and he probably won't get a lot of appearances. His contract expires after this season and I have no plans to renew it.

As for the other players you asked:

Emre Colak - he's rotting in the reserves squad and he has only 2 star CA/PA so I don't really plan on playing him.

Berkin Arslan - he's with 2.Lig club Bozuyukspor and has done alright. He's stayed there for 3 years after leaving GS

Ismail Berk Unsal - he's still contracted to GS but on loan to Super Lig side Gaziantepspor and if they offer $100k they can make it permanent because I don't think he can crack the 1st team squad.

Mertan - I got no results of anyone with the name Mertan.

[rancer890]

Mali are probably so high up because they haven't lost since the African Cup of Nations. After that they have been unbeaten in 9 games and have won 8 straight games over African opposition. Slovakia have also done really well, compiling a 9-1-3 record in 2016.

[ManUTactician247]

Hmm... interesting rancer, it's a shame because that's whats happening to Emre Colak in real life, he's rotting away because we're not giving him a chance. As for the 10 year citizenship for Muslera, this is because he has already played for his national team I think. If they don't play internationally, it's 5 years I believe.

[rancer890]

Hmm... interesting rancer, it's a shame because that's whats happening to Emre Colak in real life, he's rotting away because we're not giving him a chance. As for the 10 year citizenship for Muslera, this is because he has already played for his national team I think. If they don't play internationally, it's 5 years I believe.

I would also like to know which countries only take 5 years to get Turkish citizenship??? I know there's Argentina and Brazil. And I think Nigeria as well...

[abulezz]

Galatasaray seems like an interesting career move - I agree with the above, Mali in the Top Ten! I actually went there a year and a half back, interesting place

[ManUTactician247]

I would also like to know which countries only take 5 years to get Turkish citizenship??? I know there's Argentina and Brazil. And I think Nigeria as well...

I'm not too sure there is a rule about certain countries, I'm pretty sure that it was just 10 years if you had represented another national team and 5 years if you haven't.

[rancer890]

Cheers abulezz.

I'm not too sure there is a rule about certain countries, I'm pretty sure that it was just 10 years if you had represented another national team and 5 years if you haven't.

Interesting....so if the player in question has youth caps (not senior caps) do they need 5 years or 10 years to gain Turkish citizenship?

[ManUTactician247]

Cheers abulezz.



Interesting....so if the player in question has youth caps (not senior caps) do they need 5 years or 10 years to gain Turkish citizenship?

Again, I'm not entirely sure about the rules but on FM10 on my save (with Galatasaray ^_^) I signed Ravel Morrison and on his personal page it said "declared for national team" and he needed 10 years to get citizenship (despite not being capped). My other yuong players had 5 years including a French Under-21 international.

[HotChocolate]

It amazes me that I've read this from the start of it but yet never commented! Maybe I just don't like Brazil and America much?

Very interesting move to Galatasary, I have never managed in Turkey and in turn never seen someone manage in Turkey! Your squad looks really strong so it will be interesting to see how well you can do!

[rancer890]

It was just not meant to be.

We tried hard in the whole tournament. We did really well in the Final too. We just ran into a brick wall called Rene Alder when the trophy was on the line. He stopped 3 penalties. We didn't miss the net, he just saved 3 of the 4 and the other did the job. Nothing on Muslera though, he was fantastic all season. He got an 8.0 average this game so it certainly wasn't his fault.

Being gutted would be an understatement. It's devastating considering how hard the whole squad worked to get to this point..so close..

Anyways, full update of everything coming tomorrow.

[snootyjim]

Unlucky, should've won that with the CCCs you had. Very impressed with your success so far, although that might just be because I'm scarred by iacovone's FM11 career.

[HotChocolate]

Someone's got to lose, unlucky though. Losing on penalties is incredibly hard to take

[DSYoungEsq]

Well, I see some things don't change. I am sorry to see, however, that it was penalties you went out on. I hate losing in a shootout. Always a gutting experience.

Next season, perhaps you can exact some revenge.

[deltablue]

Still, you're definitely good enough.

[AK22]

Bad luck, but still a commendable performance considering Leverkusen had home advantage

[roganp]

Unlucky, but a great achievement to get to a European final in your first season

[offen94]

Unlucky mate, so close... Better luck next time!

And with regards to Belgium, they're the team I always use on FIFA 12 online play, they actually have a strong side, Mignolet is a good young keeper, Vermaelen, Kompany and Vertonghen are all top center-backs, Defour and Witsel are promising in midfield, and everyone knows all about Lukaku and Hazard. They have a pretty young team too, they always seem to do well in my FM saves.

[rancer890]

2016-2017 Season Review - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

League Standings | Championship Group Standings | Fixtures 1 Fixtures 2 | Past Positions - We had a fantastic season overall, winning the league and losing only 2 league/championship group games all season.

UEFA Europa League - The qualifying rounds of the competition weren't too much of a challenge, defeating Slavija (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Red Star (Serbia) to enter the group stages. We narrowly won the Group Stages, and advanced to the Knockout Stages of the competition:

First Knockout Round - vs Schalke:

1st Leg: Schalke 1-4 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 1-1 Schalke

A shockingly fantastic 1st leg meant that all we had to do was make sure Schalke didn't score 4 away goals, and we managed to do that, so we're onto the 2nd Knockout Round!

Second Knockout Round - vs Ajax:

1st Leg: Ajax 0-0 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 2-1 Ajax

I thought our terrific run so far was going to end...but it didn't after we score the go ahead goal after the 80th minute to secure a spot in the Quarter-Finals and avoid losing on away goals.

Quarter-Finals - vs Metalist:

1st Leg: Metalist 0-2 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 1-0 Metalist

After such a nailbiter against Ajax, we face Ukrainian side Metalist. They're a tough team, but we manage to break through and win 3-0 on aggregate.

Semi-Finals - vs Norwich:

1st Leg: Norwich 0-2 Galatasaray
2nd Leg: Galatasaray 0-1 Norwich

Another couple close games, but we just hung on in the 2nd leg to advance to the final.

Final - vs Leverkusen - Lost 1-2

Lucky for our opponents that they're playing at home and we're underdogs for this one! But it doesn't really matter for me, because I've been underdogs for most of the knockout round, so this is nothing new. We managed to get it to penalties, but in the end, we lost. It is what it is, but the good side we managed to increase our coefficient and we'll be a lot better off in future competitions.

Turkiye Kupasi - It wasn't a hard competition, and in the end we won 2-0.

Transfers -

Here were the key players:

Steven Zuber - he really impressed me from the start and he had a great season overall

Serdar Aziz - the centreback had a solid season offensively and contributed a lot defensively as well.

Nikola Loncar - A solid 8 goals and 7 assists despite not playing every league game because of the foreigner restrictions.

Timothy Chandler - A very versatile player and despite a slow start he quickly got used to his surroundings and started to really contribute.

Guillermo Alberto Ramirez - Signed from my old club DC United, he made a good contribution to the team and is someone I want to keep long term.

Daniel Raboczki - acquired on loan, he's made a solid contribution in only half a season and I'm willing to pay $4 million to make the deal permanent.

Squad - The strength of this team was depth (although we lacked depth at left back...). 7 players scored at least 10 goals.

Team MVP - Fernando Muslera - he never had a bad game all season.

Overview | Facilities | Finances | Affiliations

Goals:
- Win the league again
- Get to the Knockout Stages of the Champions League (since Fenerbahce did it this season. I think we can do it too)

Other:
- We need a right back or a right midfielder, and preferably Turkish, although any uncapped player will do...
- We need another left back, preferably a young Turkish one
- We also need to really cut down wages. The finances aren't where I want them to be, although it'll get better because of Champions League revenue.

I like it here in Galatasaray. I think I want to try to win a Champions League here before I move to another club.

Summary

Year        Team                 Country       League           Position          Notes and Info    Attendance    
2011        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série C               1st               Promotion         2,599
2012        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série B               3rd               Promotion         3,228
2013        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A              15th                     N/A         5,437
2014        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A               N/A                     N/A         -----
2014        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        17,930
2015        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        20,342
2016        DC United            USA           MLS                   N/A     CONCACAF CL Winners        ------
2016-2017   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st   Double + EL Finalists        45,556

[rancer890]

And for the record and whose don't wanna count, I finished my first season with Galatasaray with a 48-11-5 W-D-L record, with a 75% winning percentage.

I also found a fantastic newgen at Chivas USA..but they're not selling him.

[roganp]

Well done on the title win and for winning it so emphatically

[rancer890]

Well done on the title win and for winning it so emphatically

Cheers mate. Didn't expect it to be this easy, but the hardest part about winning a league title, is winning it again the next season!

[rancer890]

2017-2018 Season Preview - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Media Prediction: 2nd
Spor Toto Super Lig Expectations: Title Challenge
Turkiye Kupasi Expectations: Be competitive
UEFA Champions League Expectations: Reach Group Stage
TV Revenue: $16.59 million
Transfer Budget: $13.53 million
Wage Budget: $94 million (currently spending $66,674,983)

[cerud]

Dominant win in the title! Looks like a repeat is definitely possible

[Raware]

Another title to add to the rancer trophy cabinet...and emphatically added too .

Sounds like you're really impressed with the newgen at Chivas. Any decent Canadian newgens on your radar yet?

[B.W.G]

Congrats on the brilliant title win but unlucky with the loss in the Europa League Final!Now let's see if your able to repeat that title win in the new season

[deltablue]

Well done beating Norwich.

[rancer890]

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Group Stages

                 Group A                                             Group B                 
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st USA         3  3  0  0  8  0   9                  1st Mexico       3  3  0  0  8  1   9
2nd Honduras    3  1  1  1  5  4   4                  2nd Canada       3  2  0  1  8  5   6
3rd Curacao     3  1  0  2  3  8   3                  3rd El Salvador  3  1  0  2  4  8   3
4th Guatemala   3  0  1  2  3  7   1                  4th Haiti        3  0  0  3  2  8   0

                  Group C            
                P  W  D  L  F  A  PTS
1st Costa Rica  3  2  0  1  6  2   6
2nd Bermuda     3  1  1  1  3  3   4
3rd Jamaica     3  1  1  1  3  4   4
4th Panama      3  0  2  1  1  4   2

Knockout Stage

Quarter-Final

Mexico 3-0 Bermuda
Canada 5-0 Costa Rica
El Salvador 1-3 (e) USA
Jamaica (p) 3-3 Honduras

Semi-Final

Mexico 2-1 Canada
USA 1-0 Jamaica

Final (at San Jose Earthquakes Stadium)

Mexico 0-3 USA

----

After the Gold Cup, two head coaches have resigned. One of the job openings is at Guatemala. The other opening is Canada...

[Raware]

The other opening is Canada...

...do I need to ask?

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017

World Ranking: 69th
Facilities: BMO Field in Toronto (ON), home of MLS club Toronto FC

So, I've accepted a new job and am now the new head coach of the Canadian national soccer team! And here are our star players:

Adam McIntosh

Bart Dijks

Junior Hoilett

Mike Giezen

The squad seems to be pretty good (well better than what I had to work with in FM11..), and this was the squad that took Canada to the Semi-Finals of the Gold Cup:

(Name, Age, Club)

Goalkeepers: Stefan Frei - 31 (Toronto FC, Canada), Milan Borjan - 29 (Sivasspor, Turkey), Mike Giezen - 23 (Zurich, Switzerland)

Defenders: Dejan Jakovic - 32 (Al-Ahli, UAE), Andre Hainault - 31 (FC Groningen, Netherlands), Nana Attakora - 28 (FC Nordsjaelland, Denmark), Adam Straith - 26 (Cottbus, Germany), Wesley Gonsalves - 28 (Red Star, Serbia), Bryce Alderson - 23 (Laval, France), Bart Dijks - 23 (Catania, Italy)

Midfielders: Jonathon Bourgault - 28 (Leeds, England), Jaime Wheeldon - 24 (Winterthur, Switzerland), Guillaume Vitulano -23 (Mjallby AIF, Sweden), Abel Lopez Perez - 24 (Daegu, South Korea), Junior Hoilett - 27 (Napoli, Italy), Nick Olazabal - 24 (Djurgarden, Sweden), Russell Telbert - 24 (Boluspor, Turkey), Will Johnson - 30 (Motherwell, Scotland)

Forwards: Carlo Clark - 28 (Creteil, France), Simeon Jackson - 30 (Padova, Italy), Bojan Kajgo - 28 (AA Gent, Belgium)

----

I've only briefly looked at the entire national pool but there's some really good young players so we'll give them opportunities to succeed. We're in the Hex in World Cup Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia so the main goal now is to qualify.

[rancer890]

...do I need to ask?

No need to.

[AK22]

I wondered how long it would take... good luck with Canada

[deltablue]

Ah yes, probably have a big job on your hands.

[ArsenalMetro]

O Canada, our home and native land...

Good luck! Except against the United States.

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, took you long enough to get the Canada job, rancer.

What does "in the Hex" mean? Is that the spot which would put you in the playoff?

[rancer890]

Cheers guys!

ArsenalMetro, you might have to start cheering against me early, because our first game is against...the USA at Salt Lake City (or Sandy, Utah).

It was only open for the second time in this save, Coach. I didn't fancy international management yet when Hart got sacked! Better late than never though.

The 'Hex' is the 4th and final stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. There's 6 teams in the final stage so it's called a Hex (like a 6 sided figure is a hexagon).

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017 World Cup Qualifying

AUGUST 6, 2017

Final Phase

Pos    Team          P   W   D   L    F    A    PTS     GD
1st    Mexico        5   3   1   1   11    7     10    + 4
2nd    USA           5   3   1   1   10    9     10    + 1
3rd    Canada        5   2   2   1    8    6      8    + 2
----------------------------------------------------------
4th    Jamaica       5   2   1   2    7    8      7    + 1
----------------------------------------------------------
5th    Guatemala     5   1   1   3    4    6      4    - 2
6th    Honduras      5   1   0   4    7   11      3    - 4

Results so far:

February 8th: Canada 1-1 USA
March 18th: Jamaica 1-1 Canada
March 22th: Canada 3-2 Honduras
May 31st: Mexico 2-1 Canada
June 3rd: Canada 2-0 Guatemala

Canada's Remaining Fixtures:

August 16th: USA vs Canada
September 9th: Canada vs Jamaica
September 13th: Honduras vs Canada
October 14th: Canada vs Mexico
October 18th: Guatemala vs Canada

For those of you who don't follow CONCACAF WCQ, top 3 automatically qualify for the World Cup, and the 4th place team goes to a playoff. Our goal is to finish top 3 and automatically qualify for the World Cup, so the next 2 matches are going to be crucial.

[cerud]

Canada!!! Bring it on, world! The national team is doing much bettrer in your career than mine. I think in mine, Canada has a FIFA ranking of about 108.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017 World Cup Qualifying

AUGUST 16, 2017



We really played really well in my opinion, although deep down, the Americans were the better team and they would have won in the end. We didn't lose because of a lack of chances, because their goalkeeper was the Man of the Match. It was a good first game and we'll try and build onto this performance, and score some goals.

Final Phase

Pos    Team          P   W   D   L    F    A    PTS     GD
1st    USA           6   4   1   1   12    9     13    + 3
2nd    Mexico        6   3   2   1   11    7     11    + 4
3rd    Canada        6   2   2   2    8    8      8      0
----------------------------------------------------------
4th    Jamaica       6   2   2   2    7    8      8    - 1
----------------------------------------------------------
5th    Honduras      6   2   0   4   14   11      6    + 3
6th    Guatemala     6   1   1   4    4   13      4    - 9

Other results:

Honduras 7-0 Guatemala
Jamaica 0-0 Mexico

Next match:

September 9th: Canada vs Jamaica

This is a must win game against Jamaica if we want auto qualification.

[rancer890]

Canada!!! Bring it on, world! The national team is doing much bettrer in your career than mine. I think in mine, Canada has a FIFA ranking of about 108.

Cheers cerud. I will try my best with Canada. Although the first game didn't really go to plan...

[HotChocolate]

Great season with Galatasary and good luck with North America in North America

[deltablue]

Jamaica will indeed be key.

[DodgeeD]

A fine decision to move to Galatasaray

And a great start too - irl, long gone are the days when GS could compete for the title and on the continetal stage as well.

Best of lcuk v. Jamaica!

[Deisler26]

Cracking first season with Galatasaray!

[City2000]

Great season!

That game with Jamaica certainly is massive, good luck!

[ManUTactician247]

A fine decision to move to Galatasaray

And a great start too - irl, long gone are the days when GS could compete for the title and on the continetal stage as well.

I think they're coming back soon, 3-1 win against Fenerbahce sends us top!

[Raware]

BIG game up next against Jamaica. How big would you rate it out of all of your matches in FM (any FM)?

[rancer890]

2017-2018 Offseason Transfers - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Transfers

We didn't spend a lot this offseason as other teams didn't meet my price tag on some foreigners and I couldn't acquire some players that I really wanted.

Daniel Raboczki - he joins us on a permanent transfer and I'm looking to see if he can maintain his form from last season

Thomas Hilstrup - this young player didn't have a professional contract and there wasn't any compensation for signing him so we made the deal.

Murat Sahin - I'm really excited about this signing because he's a young German/Turkish 'keeper with lots of potential and he has been compared with Manuel Neuer!

I am happy to dump some players including Pacheco (although I'm still paying him $775k for another season). I couldn't get rid of Colin Kazim Richards' contract ($4.3 million a season to June 2019...ugh) who didn't even want to accept mutual termination and there's no way I'm releasing him outright so we will just let him rot in the reserves for another couple seasons if we have to.

--------------

UEFA Champions League

Group Stages

It's a tough group with Man Utd and Valencia, but all I want to get to a Knockout Round, whether it's Champions League or Europa League. Champions league offers more money while the Europa League is a good opportunity to get a very good coefficient for the future. Shocked to see a Macedonian club has made the group stages too!

[HotChocolate]

Tough group? Have you not been watching ITV? or seen the Man Utd score?

[rancer890]

BIG game up next against Jamaica. How big would you rate it out of all of your matches in FM (any FM)?

I wouldn't say it's the biggest match in FM for me. Certainly in FM11 I can name a few matches, like the Club World Cup Final with Henan, the Gold Cup QF match against Mexico that we won, the back to back Champions League appearances with Shakhtar. It would be one of the bigger matches as an international manager just because I rarely manage international teams.

A couple good results against Jamaica and Honduras would be really helpful....

[rancer890]

Tough group? Have you not been watching ITV? or seen the Man Utd score?

My ass man arranged some harder games this preseason against the likes of Arsenal and Malaga and we didn't have the best results...of course stranger things have happened.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017 World Cup Qualifying

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017






This isn't working....I guess we can plan for the next Gold Cup now. If we lose by 2-3 goals to the likes of Jamaica and Honduras, imagine Mexico....

Final Phase

Pos    Team          P   W   D   L    F    A    PTS     GD
1st    USA (Q)       8   6   1   1   15   10     19    + 5
2nd    Mexico (Q)    8   4   3   1   19    9     15    +10
3rd    Jamaica       8   3   2   3   10    9     11    + 1
----------------------------------------------------------
4th    Honduras      8   3   1   4   18   13      9    + 5
----------------------------------------------------------
5th    Canada        8   2   2   4    8   13      8    - 5
6th    Guatemala     8   1   1   6    5   21      4    -16

Other results:

Guatemala 1-2 USA
Mexico 2-2 Honduras
----
Jamaica 0-1 USA
Mexico 6-0 Guatemala

Next match:

Oct. 14 - vs Mexico
Oct. 18 - @ Guatemala

If I can't even beat freaking Guatemala, then I might just resign after the qualifying rounds are complete. I'm already Insecure with the CSA so it might be a quick venture into international management with Canada....

[CoachFlu]

Ouch, some tough results there. Looks like either Jamaica or Honduras will be going to the World Cup.

Well, it's not over yet, of course. You might get lucky against Mexico.

I've had the "inexplicably poor first couple of matches" thing with the USA as well. Might get better soon once they're used to the new way of playing. Hopefully not too late by then.

[rancer890]

Ouch, some tough results there. Looks like either Jamaica or Honduras will be going to the World Cup.

Well, it's not over yet, of course. You might get lucky against Mexico.

I've had the "inexplicably poor first couple of matches" thing with the USA as well. Might get better soon once they're used to the new way of playing. Hopefully not too late by then.

I've tried some of the similar tactics where I've had success with at Santo Andre and DC United but the Canadian team really couldn't cope with my style of play in the Jamaica game so I just went back to default tactics against Honduras and our performance wasn't really that much better...

I would be happy to get a goal first regardless. This team looks lost out there on the pitch. There's no chemistry.

[Raware]

Oh dear . Mathmatically, you still have a chance.

[deltablue]

Could sneak a playoff place.

[dkpark51]

Congratulations on the Galatasaray job. Must be exciting playing in the UEFA games.

Congratulations with the Canada job! You still have a chance!

[HotChocolate]

Tough break on the results but it aint over till the fat lady sings my friend and she isn't singing yet!

[DSYoungEsq]

You haven't said who Honduras have left. If they have, say, the US and Jamaica, they might well fail to get two points from that, and you will go by them when you smash down Guatemala.

[rancer890]

You haven't said who Honduras have left. If they have, say, the US and Jamaica, they might well fail to get two points from that, and you will go by them when you smash down Guatemala.

Yeah, those two (USA and Jamaica) are the remaining two fixtures for Honduras. Jamaica have Honduras and Guatemala (I assume 3pts there for them) so Jamaica are probably going to automatically qualify. I need Honduras to get 1 point against USA and Jamaica and if we beat Guatemala we're in the playoffs. I absolutely cannot have Honduras get 2 points from those matches or else I will have to beat Guatemala by a large scoreline, and judging by the offensive firepower in my first 3 matches, scoring 1 goal is already a hard enough task.

[noikeee]

Ouch, looks like you're making an habit now of having really good runs only to fall at the final hurdles (Gala in the Europa League, Canada in the WC qualifying), that is tough to take. Congrats on the turkish double tho, hopefully you'll still turn around the Canada situation but it's looking difficult.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017 World Cup Qualifying

OCTOBER 22, 2017



Honduras shocking beat USA after this game, so we're eliminated from even getting a playoff spot before we even face Guatemala.



I'm just relieved I got my first goals and win with Canada...my job status was Very Insecure before this match, which was deserved because we started 3rd and now we're 5th and out of WCQ.

Final Phase

Pos    Team          P   W   D   L    F    A    PTS     GD
1st    Mexico (Q)   10   6   3   1   23    9     21    +14
2nd    USA (Q)      10   6   1   3   16   15     19    + 1
3rd    Honduras (Q) 10   5   1   4   25   16     16    + 9
----------------------------------------------------------
4th    Jamaica      10   4   2   4   14   13     14    + 1
----------------------------------------------------------
5th    Canada       10   3   2   5   11   15     11    - 4
6th    Guatemala    10   1   1   8    5   26      4    -21

Other results:

Guatemala 0-2 Jamaica
USA 1-3 Honduras
----
Honduras 4-2 Jamaica
Mexico 2-0 USA

Next match:

Nov. 18: @ Cuba
Nov. 22: @ British Virgin Islands

I sacked my Ass Man with Canada, Colin Miller after the final game.

[rancer890]

Ouch, looks like you're making an habit now of having really good runs only to fall at the final hurdles (Gala in the Europa League, Canada in the WC qualifying), that is tough to take. Congrats on the turkish double tho, hopefully you'll still turn around the Canada situation but it's looking difficult.

Yeah I seem to choke when the game is on the line. I have a lot of success in FM in general (like I win a lot of games) but have a bad habit of losing the important games (like Champions League Final and Europa League Final...)

[HotChocolate]

You were unlucky in the qualifications, it is a tough ask.

[deltablue]

Darn Honduras.

[AK22]

Blimey, second bottom, didn't see that coming!

If you keep your job, you can drag out the old 'we're on a four year plan, and right on track to qualify for World Cup 2022' chestnut!

[abulezz]

Man, thats a tough one. Sometimes the results just wont come - that seemed to have happened here.

[Raware]

You took over and you were sitting pretty in 3rd...4 games later and you're second from bottom of the group! You should get the boot . You know I'm only kidding rancer. That was tough to take, especially as a Canadian yourself I imagine. I agree with AK in that you should use the 'we're on a four year plan, and right on track to qualify for World Cup 2022' excuse .

[DSYoungEsq]

I find it amazing that Honduras managed not only to win against the US, but followed up with a win over Jamaica to pass them and take 3rd in the Hex. Some radically different results in the last few matches for everyone.

Well, there's always next time around. And plenty of Gold Cup action in the meantime.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2017 Friendlies

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

Cuba 0-2 Canada

British Virgin Islands 0-3 Canada

A couple of easy friendlies to end the international season. Joe Turner scored the most goals and I'm pretty pleased with his efforts even if it was against the likes of Cuba and the British Virgin Islands. Hopefully it'll give him some confidence back at his club team, AGF in Denmark.

I end the season with a 7 game record of 3 wins and 4 losses.

[rancer890]

And cheers for the comments again guys. It's a bit disheartening but looking at the other squads like Jamaica and Honduras I think they're better than us overall. I even have a Honduran at GS. It's disappointing but we'll get better after some experimentation in the friendlies.

Certainly wasn't expecting Honduras to shock USA and Jamaica but we should have taken care of our own games and it's my fault we couldn't. It was a bit crazy in the last 5 games considering the fact we went from 3rd to 5th and Honduras went from 5th to 3rd, and this was the team that actually lost to Guatemala earlier in WCQ!

It's all a learning experience and hopefully we'll have a better season in 2018.

[B.W.G]

Tough break with Canada but as others have mentioned,there is always the four year plan

[cerud]

Rough beats with Canada, but stick it out This was only the first competition with you at the helm. More and better is to come.

[rancer890]

I haven't updated in a while (4-5 days is a long time to me! ), but have been busy with exams and have lately been dealing with a lot of random crashes, sometimes after a game, sometimes after a team meeting, and sometimes during a match. A few times I had to play a game over again 5+ times (holidayed some games in the end out of pure frustration) and hoped the new patch would help but to avail, so probably gonna get it looked at in the Bugs Forum tomorrow after my 2nd of 3 exams...

[Raware]

Thought the lack of activity in here would be due to your Uni work. Understandable. Although having a life outside of FM isn't acceptable to all FM'ers

Doesn't sound too good about the crashes, hopefully the Bugs Forum can sort it out.

[rancer890]

Thought the lack of activity in here would be due to your Uni work. Understandable. Although having a life outside of FM isn't acceptable to all FM'ers

Doesn't sound too good about the crashes, hopefully the Bugs Forum can sort it out.

It seems fine now Raware. Should be able to get an end of season update in tonight (my time)!

[rancer890]

2017-2018 Season Review - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

League Standings | Championship Standings | Fixtures 1 Fixtures 2 | Past Positions - I'm ecstatic that we managed to win the league at the very end of the season! If not for the Championship Group, we would not have won the league title and I really couldn't be happier in the end. It is games like these that give excitement and we worked hard for this title.

UEFA Champions League - Overall I would say it's a very good campaign. Facing a very strong Group with Valencia, Frankfurt, and Man Utd, we managed to finish 1st in our group, and the big highlight is a win at home against Man Utd. We did pretty well in the Knockout Stages too, like defeating Dnipro 6-2. However, we couldn't beat the big Ukrainian club Shakhtar, losing 2-0 in the 2nd leg.

Super Kupa - It wasn't a hard considering it was the previous season's cup final, and a game we won without much problem.

Turkiye Kupasi - It was a disappointing performance but we were struggling at the time.

Transfers - We made some moves to improve the squad in the middle of the season and it paid off for us. Here are the key transfers.

Daniel Raboczki - he was scoring a lot of goals till he got injured and it more or less ruined his season, but he still managed to lead the team in goals.

Murat Sahin - I wanted to play him in about 15 games this season and we were 1 game off that target. He did play the final 2 games of the Championship Group because he helped us get back into the match form we were capable of.

Alin Voicu - A young Romanian with very good potential once he learns the mental part of the game.

Vasile Gavrila - Another Romanian and another member of our young and talented group of players I want to develop in the future, he was pressed into action and did a fine job while averaging a goal every other game. A full preseason with the club will really help him in his first full season at Galatasaray.

Squad 1 Squad 2 - A decent squad which will get better next season. There will be some turnover.

Starting XI (excluding the Super Lig foreigner restrictions):

GK - Fernando Muslera
DR - Timothy Chandler
DC - Serdar Aziz
DC - Kemal Tokak
DL - Emilio Izaguirre
MR - Jiloan Hamad
MC - Guillermo Alberto Ramirez
MC - Nikola Loncar
ML - Steven Zuber
ST - Bogdan Stancu
ST - Daniel Raboczki

Young guns and youth intake:

ST - Sultan Demir
ST - Huseyin Yagmur - 2017 Youth Intake
DM/MC - Ramazan Gultekin - 2018 Youth Intake

These 3 homegrown youngsters (Demir was acquired from another club but will gain HG status after next season) have a lot of potential to become an integral part of the team.

Team MVP - Steven Zuber. I think he narrowly edges out Muslera because he really improved this production from the previous season, and I lost a bit of confidence in Muslera in the last couple games in favour of starting Sahin.

Overview | Facilities | Finances | Affiliations

Goals:
- Repeat as Champions
- Can we go even farther in the Champions League??
- Revamp this squad while keeping the main core intact, and continuing my emphasis of acquiring young talent.
- Improve the club and nation coefficients. The 6th best European league gets 3 Champions League slots so that's the short term aim

Summary

Year        Team                 Country       League           Position          Notes and Info    Attendance    
2011        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série C               1st               Promotion         2,599
2012        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série B               3rd               Promotion         3,228
2013        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A              15th                     N/A         5,437
2014        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A               N/A                     N/A         -----
2014        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        17,930
2015        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        20,342
2016        DC United            USA           MLS                   N/A     CONCACAF CL Winners        ------
2016-2017   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st   Double + EL Finalists        45,556
2017-2018   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st          Domestic Title        47,602