In the MLS for some Rapid success

[AcidBurn]

Leagues Loaded - South Africa, Mexico, USA, South Korea, New Zealand, Argentina, Scotland, England, Australia and Ukraine

The Aim - Like all my games the aim is to win every continents Champions League trophy and become the greatest manager of all times. I have no aims on what order to do this in but I will not be starting unemployed as I want to check out a certain league for the first few seasons.

So I decided to go for a team in the MLS as it is a league I have only had one short stint in on one of my older Continental Dominance threads at Seattle. I checked every team in the MLS to find one that appealed, I did not fancy going with New York or LA Galaxy as I consider them to be too rich. I decided on Colorado who are 2010 Champions, I picked them because they had the most to work with, no designated player slots were taken which is a very important part of managing in the MLS. Unlike LA and New York they did not have that many foreign players meaning there are plenty of international slots to work with and being well under the league salary cap gives me room to change the squad as I see fit.

[AcidBurn]

So first things first I needed to bring in a few players but also give chances to the stars of the side already there, the strike force of Omar Cummings and Caleb Folan who English football followers might remember from playing for Leeds, Chesterfield, Wigan and Hull looks like it could be a good pairing. I decided to use my designated player slots and used one on Guti, he has poor physical attributes and is clearly on the way down but for one season should be able to run things from midfield, he signs a deal worth £31,000 a week. Zezinho who in past FM's had a load of potential especially FM09 signs on a deal worth only £6,500 a week which is a couple of grand more than you can pay a non-designated player, he can play anywhere in midfield and up front.

Ramalho a free transfer is a more defensive minded midfielder who will hopefully compliment Guti well, he can also cover on the right wing. Jeremiah White is a young American player who I signed as cover for both wings and upfront he offers little more than pace with decent dribbling skills.

Casey is listed as an icon at the club but for me he is simply not good enough 50k is not that much but we got a first round super draft pick, along with Chris Tierney an American leftback which was a position I was hoping to strengthen and another international slot for 3 years. This deal also allows Casey to go and live his more Cosmopolitan life style, so everyone is happy apart from the fans.

Although most friendlies were against very easy teams it still serves a purpose to get the players morale high and be on a bit of a roll before starting the real season.

[Mike7077]

Does this mean your other save is over with?

[AcidBurn]

Yeah the save corrupted and would not load.

[Mike7077]

Best of luck with your fresh start, then.

[AcidBurn]

Cheers, expect me to do some cheap plugging on twitter like I did with the last one, not sure if it works though lol.

[Cleon]

Cheers, expect me to do some cheap plugging on twitter like I did with the last one, not sure if it works though lol.

Got me to look

Don't think I've ever managed in the MLS

[AcidBurn]

Got me to look

Don't think I've ever managed in the MLS

Good at least it worked once.

MLS is a bit strange I had to sent a few PM's to rancer and one of the guys at SI with a few questions. I really love the transfer market traded draft picks, international player slots and allocated funds as well as exchanging players, great fun but a bit strange at first.

[Toronto Blizzard]

I think it's hilarious that Connor Casey believes that Columbus provides a "more cosmopolitan lifestyle" than Denver...

[AcidBurn]

I think it's hilarious that Connor Casey believes that Columbus provides a "more cosmopolitan lifestyle" than Denver...

I thought it was a strange reason to leave, fans were not happy I let him go but so far he has done poor but at least he has a more cosmopolitan life style.

[rancer890]

Good luck with the Rapids. Not bad signings and worst case scenario you avoid the sack and get a nice draft pick position.

What are your expectations this season? (MLS owners are quite sack happy in FM12)

[acidmonkey]

the twitter thing works i regularly get 4-6 guests viewing my thread, good luck in the MLS

[Flamers]

If you ever manage to understand the league system, please do try to tell me. In 140 characters or less

[cerud]

Hey AcidBurn, welcome to the MLS! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help as well.

Seeing that Casey wanted to move from Denver to Columbus for "a more cosmopolitan" lifestyle was hilarious! Made my day!

[AcidBurn]

Good luck with the Rapids. Not bad signings and worst case scenario you avoid the sack and get a nice draft pick position.

What are your expectations this season? (MLS owners are quite sack happy in FM12)

I am quietly confident I will not be sacked. Board only want a safe mid-table finish.

the twitter thing works i regularly get 4-6 guests viewing my thread, good luck in the MLS

Cheers, I noticed quite a lot of guests just after posting on twitter.

If you ever manage to understand the league system, please do try to tell me. In 140 characters or less

Haha, no chance.

Hey AcidBurn, welcome to the MLS! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help as well.

Seeing that Casey wanted to move from Denver to Columbus for "a more cosmopolitan" lifestyle was hilarious! Made my day!

Thanks dude, I have been pestering rancer and one of the blokes from SI with questions about the MLS but good to know I have someone else to bother if I need it lol.

[AcidBurn]

Not a bad start to my career disappointing to lose against FC Dallas as this loss is responsible for them being ahead of us for now. The loss to Houston has seen us go out of the US Cup already so I will have to wait until next season to have another crack at it. Omar Cummings as you can see is on fire scoring in every game he started apart from the cup match, he has average attributes but for some reason continually hits the back of the net. Caleb Folan has just sprung to life in the last few matches, helping us to an impressive win over Seattle, I think Dallas will fade a bit and it will be between us Galaxy and Seattle for the league title. I just hope to bag a place in the play-off's which means a third place finish minimum.

[AcidBurn]

Us LA and Seattle are really starting to pull away from the other teams and I expect this season to be a battle between us three for first place. Pretty pleased we are top because we have been on a poor run lately not winning for four games after spanking New England 5-1, Omar Cummings has really gone off the boil and has not scored for awhile just hope he can get his shooting boots back before the end of the season. Not much else to say Guti scored his first goal for the club and we snapped out of not winning with two straight home wins that can hopefully set us on our way for a run at top place.

[Cleon]

Looking a good 3 way race so far

[deltablue]

More than that when you think of the teams below the top 3 having enough games in hand to overtake 1 or 2.

[rancer890]

Those head to head games with the LAG are going to be crucial for you.

[ManUTactician247]

Those head to head games with the LAG are going to be crucial for you.

This made me laugh.

[rancer890]

This made me laugh.

Didn't notice that.

[Mike7077]

I just noticed that all those teams you played in that last run of games aren't in your league. How does it work? Do you play teams from another conference but get the points in your league or something?

[cerud]

I just noticed that all those teams you played in that last run of games aren't in your league. How does it work? Do you play teams from another conference but get the points in your league or something?

They are in the league. MLS is split into two difference conferences: West and East. This separates teams for when playoff contenders are chosen.

[SRL88]

Going along nicely so far .

[Mike7077]

They are in the league. MLS is split into two difference conferences: West and East. This separates teams for when playoff contenders are chosen.

I understand that there are different conferences. What I don't get is why he played a bunch of games against teams that don't appear to be in his conference. I've no knowledge of how the MLS works, other than that there are different conferences. I just wondered how games against those teams affected the conference table that his team is in.

[AcidBurn]

Every team plays the sides in the other conference but the points and goals just go onto my total within my conference.

I will be posting an update for this tomorrow been slightly distracted with another save.

[Mike7077]

Ahh, makes sense now. I think the MLS looks like fun. I might see if I can end up there at some point in my career.

Looking forward to your update as always.

[cerud]

Ahh, makes sense now. I think the MLS looks like fun. I might see if I can end up there at some point in my career.

Looking forward to your update as always.

Yeah, different conferences doesn't equate different leagues. The split is for playoff decisions as well as to reduce travel times so that you play team in your own conference more. Especially since the league spans a lot of time zones.

[AcidBurn]

Good job we did so well at the start of the season as the rest of it was full of ups and downs but mainly draws and losses. Since my last update we started with a win but then failed to win in four matches. Omar Cummings had not score for awhile and suddenly went mad scoring left, right and centre making him our main goal threat. I traded a player for another international slot and signed a back up striker called Moyano who has played reasonably well when called up on. Our poor form towards the end of the season makes me lack confidence in us making an impact in the play-off's where we will face Seattle in the Western Conference semi-finals.

North American Champions League

We were already in the North American Champions League as Colorado Rapids are the reigning champions. Our group was very easy as it should have been and we finished top as expected the only team giving us any trouble was Mexican side Santos Laguna, I think only the Mexican sides will put up a decent challenge in this competition. The other American teams in it are Dallas, Seattle, LA Galaxy and Canadian side Toronto.

Sorry for the length between the updates I got distracted by my Sunderland save but am now getting back into this save.

[Mike7077]

Glad to see you back and doing well.

[AcidBurn]

Cheers, just couldn't stop playing the Sunderland save but now putting time into both especially as I finished my first Sunderland season.

[Mike7077]

Have you been keeping an eye on my save? I hope so!

[AcidBurn]

Sure have, just posted in there.

[Mike7077]

I could kiss you.

[rancer890]

At least you got a decent result against Santos Laguna in Mexico. Same couldn't be said with TFC IRL...

[AcidBurn]

I continued this save for another season and added a bunch of league only for it to add thousands of players to my game. It now goes way too slow for my liking and keeps crashing, so I will not be continuing this save. I am having no luck with FM12 when it comes to long term saves.

[Mike7077]

Will you be starting a new one? Your globetrotting saves are always fun to follow.

[AcidBurn]

Cheers, I think so just playing in New Zealand at the moment taking the screenshots I need going to play a few seasons and make sure the save is okay.

[cerud]

Too bad that this save isn't continuing but I can understand why. Crashes are pretty debilitating.

[AcidBurn]

Cheers it is a pity because I was enjoying the MLS but it's not worth continuing with it crashing at random times and the player search is unusable.

[cswalk08]

I saw the real Rapids play live in March! They beat my beloved Union