FM10 Official International Management Thread

Welcome to the home of international management for FM10.

The aim of this forum is to give people a chance to discuss their national team saves and advise people of saves that they could potentially enjoy.

The main aim of every international team is naturally to win the World Cup, but first of all, some important points about international management:

*When you first take the job, getting in staff can be quite important. There is no training but coaches which good scouting ability may be useful for scouting your players. However the lesser known the country the less likely world class staff will be interested.

*Always use the player search to make sure (especially with lesser known nations) that you arent missing any key players who havent been added to the team.

*Friendlies are the best place to try new things or perhaps against extremely lesser opposition. There are a lot less matches so the wrong tactic or wrong team picking can cost points and possibly a place in that competition.

There are many challenges at international level, many of which differ incredibly. I tend to enjoy more of the lower teams, like the Faroe Islands, for the challenge of bringing through enough good players to make even a qualifying win is quite hard. Lets not forget the challenge of taking a newly-formed country like Montenegro to World Cup and international glory or perhaps actually making England follow through on their promise..Your choice, your idea.

This is my first attempt at an international management thread, so bear with me if it goes wrong.

90% of the credit for this post goes to tcoleman1

Grr, Firefox crashed in the middle of a long post

Sorry about the crash mate, but 'least you got the post fixed up!

As for me, I'm choosing my mother country, the People's Republic of China, currently 104th in the world and working on some issues with corruptions within the country's FA and players gambling on matches. However, some decent players and possible wonderkids throughout the system are on notice.

The People's Republic of China has always been considered "underachievers" due to their massive population and inability to put together a team of 11 players to kick around a ball. However, on every FM game so far I've managed them to success and eventually a World Cup. The computer often chooses China to host the World Cup in 2022 or so.... pretty interesting.

Key players:

Shao Jiayi (AM LC)

Sun Jihai (D/WB/M R)

Sun Xiang (D/WB/M L)

Han Peng (FC)

Feng Xiaoting (SW, DC)

Ji Mingyi (DC)

Huang Bowen (DM, AM C)

Du Zhenyu (AM L)

The PRC is often considered a top 10 team in Asia behind the likes of South and North Korea, Japan, UAE, Australia, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi, and even the likes of Iraq and Uzbekistan, but they have massive fan support and I suppose their speciality is in the technical department, and the players' main weakness is their physical attributes.

Fixed the title.

Cheers dude. :o

I'll post up about my Finland career so far in a minute.

Look quite similar to the one I did last year . Still looks like a great thread though mate. Will be starting some international saves soon.

Look quite similar to the one I did last year . Still looks like a great thread though mate. Will be starting some international saves soon.

Heh, I forgot who you were so couldn't credit you :o Fixed.

Heh, I forgot who you were so couldn't credit you :o Fixed.

90 % :O credited me a lot.

Haven't actually played any international management yet but there are already a few teams I have my eye on which others might find interesting.

Bosnia:

Rose out of nowhere following World Cup qualifications. They have a good squad of players with the obvious quality in Dzeko, Misimovic and Ibisevic. Can you get them to the World Cup they deserve?

Ivory Coast:

Very good team who some see as a dark horse for the World Cup. Lack quality in terms of goalkeepers but have a decent defence and midfield. With Drogba up front you have a fantastic striker.

Slovakia:

Already top of the group when you start, unless maybe if you select the Belarussian league (Feb 2009) and go back a few games. Again have a good little squad with players like Stoch and Weiss coming through. Can you provide a World Cup shock?

I took over the Finland job in 2010 after Stuart Baxter was sacked after a run of 3 defeats in a row during Euro 2012 qualifying. This included a 5-1 defeat to Greece and a 4-0 defeat to Montenegro.

Friendlies

My first match was a friendly against Malta in February of 2011. It was a disjointed performance, mainly through adapting to my 4-4-2 formation and not playing together as a team. We won, thanks to a Petri Pasenen penalty in the 89th minute.

Qualifying

The team was in a bad state when I took over. 5th out of 7 and looking out, our next game was against Azerbaijan where a solid perfomance and goals by Alexei Eremenko and Shefki Kuqi gave us a 2-0 win. Kuqi seemed enlivened by my new formation.

In June, came a double-header with Albania and Montenegro. Albania were dispatched 3-0 with goals in the last 15 minutes from Kuqi, Lauri Dalla Valle and Mika Vayrynen. Next up, we gained a measure of revenge against the team that hastened the departure of the previous incumbent, Montenegro, by winning 3-1. Captain Jari Litmanen scoring twice to add to Roni Porokara's first half strike. Those two goals meant Litmanen broke his own scoring and appearances record as well as the oldest player to appear record.

Then came a single match against Greece in August. With confidence high, we went out and won 2-0 easily with goals from Shefki Kuqi and Mikael Forssell. Again, getting revenge for the 5-1 thrashing from last year.

Then came the big games. A Septemeber double-header against Portugal and Belgium, the two teams now above me in the table. I came to Portugal with a tactical plan and for 75 mins, worked as first Antti Okkonen, then Mikael Forssell put us 2-0 up in the 50th minute. Portugal got one back through a free-kick in the 63rd minute and that winker, Cristiano Ronaldo hit the equaliser in the 85th minute to salvage a 2-2 draw. Up next was Belgium, who proved little opposition as we swept past them 3-0, with two goals in a minute from Mikael Forssell penalty and Mika Vayrynen to put us 2-0 up and Forssell again popped up to seal it in the 85th minute.

We're in a three-way fight to qualify, with us, Belgium and Portugal all on 20 points. However, Belgium have a game in hand, so I am hoping for second place on goal difference.

I took over England in my Man City save in 2011, but for some reason, alot of nations at that time, all the managers stepped down/got sacked.

Even though England at the time hadn't lost a game, got to final of World Cup and was one win away from Euro's Qualification.

Either way I took the job, and in the final Qualifying games, gave my Man City youngsters their first caps (Wilshere, Mattock & Delph)

But I completely forgot I put £6m after 1 International cap in their clause's Dammit!

Finland 2-0 Australia

Dalla Valle 45+1, 64

8th October 2011

Friendly

Olympiastadion, Finland

27,812 crowd

GK Jussi Jaaskelainen

DR Jukka Raitala

DL Niklas Moisander

DC Petri Pasenen

DC Markus Heikkinen

MR Mikkel Jakkola

ML Antti Okkonen

MC Daniel Sjolund

MC Jari Litmanen

ST Shefki Kuqi

ST Lauri Dalla Valle

A friendly was greeted by all as a welcome respite from the pressures of trying to qualify for Euro 2012. Finland lined up much as they had done for the previous few games with captain and record caps holder, Jari Litmanen, in the starting line-up at the expense of flu-victim Mika Vayrynen as well as Liverpool's Lauri Dalla Valle in for the injured Mikael Forssell.

The game itself was a relatively benign affair with no cards issued and not much in the way of action. Shefki Kuqi made himself busy as the Finnish target man and a total of 12 headers won during the game speaks volumes for his work-rate.

The scoring was opened on the stroke of half time, when an outswinging corner from the right-hand side by Antti Okkonen was powerfully headed in from the penalty spot by Lauri Dalla Valle. The Australian defence claimed handball, but replays showed it was a clean header.

After half-time, the game became a midfield battle until the 62nd minute when a wonderful 21-pass move, reminiscent of the much-lauded Argentine team goal at the 2006 World Cup, saw Litmanen slip a tackle and play it back to centre-back Markus Heikkinen whose ball to the far edge of the box found Dalla Valle. Dalla Valle cut inside and unleased a venomous strike that Mark Schwarzer in the Socceroo's goal could only palm onto the inside of the post on it's way into the net. It was delightful stuff from Finland, and something that the manager has worked hard on impressing on his team.

The game then settled into an exhibition match, with only Australian substitute Bruce Dijite injecting any life into the proceedings as he was booked for a number of fouls in the last few minutes.

Report by Jari Kurri, Finland Football Times

Finland 2-0 Azerbaijan

Kuqi 3, Forssell 10

12th October 2011

European Championship Qualifying, Group D

Tofik Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan

29,611 crowd

Team

GK Jussi Jaaskelainen

DR Jukka Raitala

DL Niklas Moisander

DC Petri Pasenen

DC Markus Heikkinen

MR Mikkel Jakkola

ML Antti Okkonen

MC Daniel Sjolund (Olli Puhakka, 67)

MC Jari Litmanen (Alexei Eremenko, 67)

ST Shefki Kuqi

ST Mikael Forssell

Scant minutes after the final whistle, 11 players dropped to their knees in shock as another 20 people flooded from the touchline to engulf them. Finland had qualified for the finals of a major tournament for the first time ever and the scenes of joy were such as had not been seen since the birth of independence in this nation.

Finland had come close before to qualification, with qualification missed by a point for Euro '80 and were denied by an own goal from qualifying for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Rewind 2 hours before and the teams were being led out onto the pitch. Finland had one change from the side that beat Australia a few days before, with Mikael Forssell taking the place of the injured two-goal hero Lauri Dalla Valle. Dalla Valle was hounded by the local press on arrival, due to the rumours of a transfer from Liverpool to Empoli in order to join his team-mate, Mika Vayrynen, who has just signed a 3 year deal with the club to join them for £900k from sc Heerenveen in January but he kept admirably quiet. Azerbaijan were looking to build on the 1-0 win they'd achieved against Belgium recently.

The start was fast and frantic and in the third minute, Finland went ahead. Mikkel Jakkola received a long ball on the right, chested it down and ran at the opposing defender. On reaching the corner of the box, he squared it to Shefki Kuqi, who slipped it to Mikael Forssell, then ran on to collect the return pass and put it high into the net, beyond the goalkeeper's dive. It was a goal of real quality and put them firmly in the driving seat.

Barely a few moments later and Finland were on the attack. Talismanic captain Jari Litmanen picked the ball up deep and fed Daniel Sjolund. Sjolund looked up and fired a ball straight to Kuqi. Kuqi, with his back to goal about 35 yards out fed Mikkel Jakkola. Jakkola turned on the afterburners and hared towards the byline. A low cross was perfectly placed between two defenders and Mikael Forssell was on hand to fire home, low across the Azerbaijani keeper to put Finland up 2-0 inside 11 minutes.

Azerbaijan then had a succession of corners as they struggled in vain to beat Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Finnish goal, but some great save and last-ditch defending, limited them to taking shots from 30 yards, none of which tested the Finnish keeper.

The second half was more of a procession as Finland, buoyed by the news that Belgium were losing to Albania at half-time, shut the game down and played keep ball, frustrating the Azerbaijani players. Jari Litmanen nearly added a third, but his long range strike was a few inches too high. That proved to be his last contribution as he was replaced by Alexei Eremenko and Daniel Sjolund aslo made way for 17 year old debutant, Olli Puhakka. Puhakka proved to be a solid replacement for the rest of the game, ably slotting into the defensive role.

Azerbaijan had a wonderful chance to pull a goal back in the 65th minute, but Husanov's 25 yard strike was denied by Jaaskelainen. At the other end, Eremenko had a shot from the edge of the area deflected just wide by the massed defence. Finally, the whistle blew and the celebrations began for Finland.

Report by Jari Kurri, Finland Football Times

Got England, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia and Luxembourg in my World Cup Qualifying Group. No idea where I'll finish, although battling for 3rd would be nice.

I'm manager of Ivory Coast aswell as Newcastle, not a clue what players I should be playing really lol, Drogba, S. Kalou, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Romaric, A. Boka, are the only definate starters off the top of my head, anyone else know who I should be picking?

YES!

YES!

Great result dude!!!

I recently applied for the Brazil job, managed to get the job offer but when i click "ACCEPT" nothing happens. Is this a patch issue? I'm still on the original I think.

cheers

I recently applied for the Brazil job, managed to get the job offer but when i click "ACCEPT" nothing happens. Is this a patch issue? I'm still on the original I think.

cheers

Yes, it was flagged and was patched up. You'll need to start a new gane, sorry!

Off to South Africa with the mighty Ireland but it was never straight forward(just what we Irish like...make it hard for ourselves)

Friendly v Austrailia 0-0

World Cup Qualifer v Cyprus won 2-0(Keane 2)

Friendly v South Africa won 3-0 (Gibson, McGeady, Doyle)

World Cup Qualifer v Italy lost 2-1 (Doyle)

World Cup Qualifer v Montenegro won 3-1 (Keane 2 Andy Reid)

World Cup Playoff 1st leg v Scotland lost 2-0

World Cup Playoff 2nd leg v Scotland won 4-1 (Keane 3 McGeady)

The draw for the World Cup just made and i should get through,Ireland, Holland, Costa Rica and Algeria.

Robbie Keane and Darron Gibson have been immense for me,Gibson signed for sunderland and has played 16 games average rating of 7.62 and has 7 goals....Keane has 6 goals in 10 games for spurs average rating of 7.37......Com On IRELAND

That's some good stats! Good luck in WC2010 dude.

Just an update to my Ireland career and how i got on in the World Cup:

Group Stage Match 1 V Holland lost 3-1 (Dunne)

Group Stage Match 2 V Costa Rica won 3-0 (Keane Gibson Whelan)

Group Stage Match 3 V Algeria won 3-0 ( Keane 2 Keogh)

Second Round V Croatia lost 3-1(Doyle) After Extra Time

Italy went all the way to win it beaten suprise finalists Switzerland in the finals on pens

The Irish FA were delighted we made it through to the second round and delighted with my performance so roll on the qualifying for the Euro Championships where we were drawn against Italy Sweden Belarus Israel Andorra Luxembourg and Hungary

So, applied for, and was offered the Ghanian(Have Anthony Annan in my Blackburn Rovers save, reckon he might want to stay longer if i'm his International manager) position after the African Cup of Nations.

Going to play a solid 4-1-3-2 with narrow, strong, physical middies(Muntari and Essien).

Slightly worried about the lack of decent strikers and GK's but hoping some decent regens go through.

Won my first friendly against Angola 2-0, played really well, created loadsa chances but couldnt finish them.

Ive got South Korea, Holland and Ukraine in the World Cup group stages to come in the off season, I'm expected to get to the 2nd round.

Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Going to play a solid 4-1-3-2 with narrow, strong, physical middies(Muntari and Essien).

Fourth spot should go to Kwadwo Asamoah of Udinese. These four guys together will dominate the centre against pretty much anyone.

The woeful options upfront and at left back will probably hinder your progression quite severely though. Maybe one of the future updates will improve Asamoah Gyan a notch or two after his bright season so far, or rate Adiyiah higher after he won pretty much everything at the World Youth Cup and has been signed by Milan. Unfortunately neither would help you in your save of course.

Yes, it was flagged and was patched up. You'll need to start a new gane, sorry!

damn, oh well thanks for the quick reply anyway.

Finland 2-2 Ukraine

Tarvajarvi 45+1....Seleznyov 5

Porokara 53.........Milevskyi 90+3

9th June 2012

European Championship 2012, Group B

NSC Olympiyski, Kiev

63,467 crowd

With a bang, a flash and the smell of cordite lingering in the air, the opening ceremony of Euro 2012 was ended and the teams strode out onto the pitch. The opening game of Euro 2012 saw Finland take on co-hosts Ukraine at the NSC Olympiyski stadium in Kiev. Finland arrived in bad shape, carrying a few irreplaceable injuries in the squad. They'd been further hamstrung by two retirements before the tournament of Jussi Jaaskalanien and Shekfi Kuqi, two important parts of their run to this tournament and two long-term injuries to vital defenders, which meant the squad had an unfamiliar look to it.

The game itself burst into life as early as the fifth minute, when Gai's exquisite through ball split the defence and Eugene Seleznyovoutpaced a patched up Finland defence to slot the ball home past Maenpaa in the Finnish goal. The match was cut and thrust from then on, until first half injury time when Finnish right back, Ville Jalasto arrowed a delightful 30 yard ball over the top of the defence for Niklas Tarvajarvi to slam into the roof of the net.

After half-time, Finland started in the ascendancy and their dominance was rewarded when another defence-splitting ball, this time by Mika Vayrynen, was put through to winger Roni Porokara who rounded the keeper and slotted home to put Finland 2-1 up in the 53rd minute.

Finland were controlling the game and bought on 41 year old Jari Litmanen to take the record of oldest player to appear in the European Championships. Litmanen himself had a great chance to score in the 67th minute, but his shot was well smothered by the Ukrainian keeper. Finland then seemed to determined to close the game down and ride out the win

The fourth official put up his board for 3 extra minutes and in the third minute, a long raking ball from the back found Artem Milevskyi around 30 yards out with 4 defenders in front of him, he took one step and fired home the equaliser past the desparing lunges of defender and goalkeeper.

It was horrifically bad luck on Finland who had worked so hard with a patched up squad and you have to wonder about the rest of their tournament, if they're subjected to luck like that.

Andrea Managerino, the Finland manager, seemed despondant at the post-match press conference, claiming that his team were shell-shocked and did not deserve such rough justice.

So, first major competition for my Ghana team, the 2010 World Cup.

I had 2 friendlies before the competition, against Angola and Greece, winning them both.

Group Stages

South Korea 0 - 5 Ghana

Ghana 2 - 0 Ukraine

Ghana 1 - 2 Holland

So, qualified in 2nd place, really pleased with the loss to Holland. Outplayed them for long periods of the game. My midfield of Annan sitting behind Muntari, Essien and Kwadwo Asamoah destroys any midfield it comes up against.

Got drawn Spain in the second round. Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Torres, Villa etc.

Scary stuff.

However.....

Spain 1-2 Ghana (aet)

Managed to get to full time at 0-0. Took the lead with Matthew Amoah scoring just after being brought on as a sub only for a penalty to drag it back to 1-1. But then with 2 minutes to go before half time in extra time Amoah scores a clean, crisp finish from just inside the box to give me the lead.

Managed to hang on for a famous upset.

Was then drawn against Brazil in the Quarter Finals.

Well, they absolutley destroyed me. They shouldve scored a bucket full but they ended up scraping it with a Kaka goal late in the 2nd half in a 1-0 win.

All in all I, and the Ghanian nation, are proud of their teams performance. I didnt expect to get past Spain so to get one stage further is great.

In my Reading save i've had 2 attempts in international management.The first was with Bosnia (finished 3rd in qualifying for 2012) and now with Denmark. In group with England,Scotland, Macedonia,San Marino and Bosnia. Initially hopeful of a 2nd place finish.

England were up first. Unfortunately, my first and second choice Keepers were out injured. Went 3 down before staging a great comeback to level at 3-3 with goals from Vingaard,Bendtner and L Jacobsen. However, Rooney struck in injury time to take all the points.

Next up was San Marino and recorded an easy 4-0 win with goals from Vingaard,Bendtner and Zimling x 2. Last game of 2012 was away to Macedonia and recorded a good 3-1 victory. It was made easier by them being reduced to 10 men when I was 1-0 up. Added 2 more before then got alate goal. Goals from Vingaard, Zimling and Agger.

Despite the 6 points out of 9 I'm somehow only 4th due to results between teams. Bosnia are on 9 with 3 way split between Scotland, England and Denmark.

Ive just taken over Honduras during my Journeyman career. Will post any updates in this thread

I have tried being ireland and northen ireland both qualfied for world cup but found it hard to get past group stage with both ireland show so much promise in qualfing i managed to beat italy 2-0 but u get to south africa and they just dont turn up , northen ireland good team but tht is it they have a starting 11 and it goes downhill but good youth syestem so future is bright looking for a new challange now :):)

hi i have just started an ireland team could anyone tell me if im missing any key players

squad:

GK : S.Given,A.Lonergan,J.Murphy

RB : J O'Shea,S.Kelly,

LB : K.Kilbane,M.Kennedy

CB : R.Dunne,Sean.St Ledger,A.O'Brien

RM : L.Lawrence,J.McCarthy

LM : D.Duff,S.Hunt,D.Murphy

CM : G.Whelan,K.Andrews,R.Delap,A.Reid

ST : R.Keane ©,K.Doyle,A.Keogh,

Aiden McGeady from Celtic

Dont have Daryl Murphy in the squad, he is woeful, im a Sunderland fan ha

beat Croatia 10-0 with England. that is all

Racey 2k9 . Rory Delap out Steven Reid in reid worked for me well as a sub .

Just been appointed USA manager.

Got appointed to the Brazil job in my save. The FA sacked the manager cos they were knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup .

BTW: Rafa appointed as Spain's manager and Arsene appointed as France's manager as well.

Had to choose between England and spain... chose spain...

I won my first 3 mathces but the defence is leaking a bit...

just a quick post from me on this. in my first season as manager of Celtic i applied for the Ivory Coast job and took it. it was basically just a summer job for me because they had already qualified for the World Cup and i only had 1 friendly before the World Cup. I beat Australia 2-0 in the friendly to set me up for the Summer. In my group i had Germany, England and North Korea (not 100% sure if it was North Korea but it was something similar ). I drew 0-0 with North Korea which was very disappointing. Next game was England. I went for a 451 formation and hit them on the counter attack and won 3-0. Easily my best result in football manager. The England team was full strength, with Almunia in goals. Last game of the group was Germany. If i win i qualify. Early on i went 1-0 down and i feared the worst but i managed to get a 2-2 draw and qualified I got Italy in the next round, was 1-1 after 90 minutes so it went to extra time. I tried to play for penalties but i just couldnt and they scored 2 in extra time and put me out I then resigned to focus on club management and since then i have made a new save game so if i get any international job i will post in here

hi,

while i am working for ManCity i accepted the job offer from ghana nat. team to gain world cup experience,

then i offered jobs to other coaches to work for ghana young teams (21-20-19 ages) but noone accepted it, why?

how can i handle this?

I took Nigeria to the World Cup 2010 final where I lost to England. No joke.

hi,

while i am working for ManCity i accepted the job offer from ghana nat. team to gain world cup experience,

then i offered jobs to other coaches to work for ghana young teams (21-20-19 ages) but noone accepted it, why?

how can i handle this?

You can place an advert if you go to the jobs tab, and all the people that apply will be interested.

thanks reilllyg

I managed England for 2 years while in my West Ham save. In which i saw Rooney become England's all time top scorer. Manage to bring a team with aging stars to the 2014 World Cup finals in which i lost 1-0 to Italy.

For me i believe the best thing about managing a international team while being a club manager is that you get free scouting and more than a dozen players will now list you as one of their favored personnel, makes it so much easier for me to sign Fabian Delph after giving him his international debut.

And San Marino just offered me a job. Think i would say no this time.

I'm playing as England Under 21s, winning all the rest of the games for the U21 European Championships, and also beat Spain 3-2 in a friendly.

________________Smithies

Naughton__Mancienne___Tomkins____Mattock

Walcott___Addison______Rodwell____Gibbs

_________Carroll_______Sturridge

Subs:

Amos

K.Walker

Cork

Wilshere

Muamba

Welbeck

Delph

Delfouneso

Cork

How long before you think my reputation earns me a decent domestic job??

Took over at Cameroon, 1st season, won all my WC qualifiers so im in the WC with Brazil:(, Serbia and the Aussies. Also i won the ACON with a 1-0 over Nigeria in the final

I am haviing problems signing any staff. I am mid way through my first season and applied for the national team post, they accepted and I became manager. My problem is no staff wish to join!

With only 2 staff in the database whose second nationality is Ghana I am struggling to find anyone who is happy to join! My staff won't even join me.

So please suggest how I might go about this.

Jake

You can't do anything

I assume you are only in 1st/early 2nd season

Just wait till the end of 2nd season and then your own staff will join you

1/2 way through first yeh.

I just placed adverts.

1/2 way through first yeh.

I just placed adverts.

yh not much else you can do

Keep looking in 2nd season for newgen ghana coaches, they might join

Some just apeared after I created an advert! Grrreat!!

how can u advert stothy?