I am currently running a holiday save with 36 leagues loaded from 22 nations. I'm into the 2030s and am still seeing a long-time issue where top nations are too slow to call up players who are performing at a high level, particularly those who are at a young age.
EXAMPLE 1: DANIEL PITCHFORD
Daniel Pitchford scored 17 Premier League goals in his first season at Aston VIlla, in 2029/2030. He was the top English goalscorer in the competition, but despite his promising scoring record, he was consistently overlooked for the England squad.
Instead, the England manager Antonio Conte persisted with a 32-year-old Tammy Abraham who scored just two goals in 15 Serie A matches and is now predominantly used as a substitute by Juventus. Conte also decided to give a 36-year-old Harry Kane a few more caps before retirement, even though Kane's form in the last two seasons certainly didn't deserve it. (I'm also surprised that Harry Kane stuck around instead of retiring from international football after Euro 2028, but that's a different issue.)
Pitchford continued his rise to prominence in 2030/2031, scoring 19 goals and improving his form as Villa finished 6th. He finally earned an England call-up in March 2031 - but he didn't play against either Bosnia & Herzegovina or Serbia. Instead, the new England manager Scott Parker decided to play Phil Foden up front. Foden is a natural striker, but Man City mainly used him on the left wing, where Parker instead decided to start with Man Utd's Marcus Rashford.
I have uploaded three saves for this example - from March 2030, June 2030 and March 2031.
EXAMPLE 2: JACK SARAHS
It's now 2036. England's new star striker is Jack Sarahs, who has scored an incredible 92 league goals in just three seasons at Newcastle. A Haaland-esque player in such hot form would surely be undroppable, but as you can see from his international record, that hasn't always been the case.
In his first season at Newcastle (2033/2034), he played five games for England (starting two). In the 2034/2035 season, he was capped only three times, starting once. Even in the 2035/2036 season, he has only started in four of England's seven games leading up to the European Championship.
England are now managed by Erik ten Hag, who has preferred two other options up front. The first is Phil Foden, who's still hanging around at 36 years old (standard). The other is Richard Gill, whose attributes and statistics are... good, not great.
I have uploaded five saves for this issue - from September 2033, March 2034, March 2035, June 2035 and September 2035.
EXAMPLE 3: IBRAHIM STEPHEN
Ibrahim Stephen is 26 years old and has scored 81 La Liga goals in the last four seasons. Incredibly, he has not even been considered for a call-up to the Spanish national team.
Granted, Spain do have a couple of elite strikers, so breaking into the squad is not easy, even with the Spanish head coach fielding a 4-4-2. That said, I believe there might be an issue where this striker is getting called up ahead of Stephen.
I could understand Arambarri getting called up when he was banging in the goals for Athletic Bilbao and in the early days of his Liverpool career. But his 2035/2036 form has not been that impressive (he's only a rotation option for Liverpool), so surely the Spanish coach would prefer to call up a striker who is playing and scoring regularly?
It's also worth noting that Stephen is eligible for Nigeria. Considering he's now in his mid-20s and is seemingly never getting called up by Spain (no matter how many goals he scores), perhaps Stephen would have at least considered switching his international allegiance to Nigeria by now?
I have uploaded five saves for this issue - from March 2035, June 2035, September 2035, March 2036 and June 2036.
EXAMPLE 4: JOSÉ LUIS HERNÁNDEZ
I mentioned earlier that Spain's head coach uses a 4-4-2 formation. That is a huge problem for José Luis Hernández - who, despite being in excellent form for Arsenal and being one of the world's best attacking players, is still awaiting his international debut at the age of 2037.
Hernández is only a natural at AM C and AM R - neither position is used in a flat 4-4-2. However, he is accomplished as both a right midfielder and as a striker, so surely the coach should be able to fit him into the team? Are AI managers perhaps too rigid when it comes to only selecting players in their natural positions?
Please refer to the same save files as Example 3.
That's 10 save files in total I have uploaded to the OwnCloud. I hope you will investigate these, because it's clear to me that there are still major issues with in-form players - and especially in-form youngsters - not getting called up by top national teams. Not to mention older players still getting call-ups when their performances suggest they should have either retired or been dropped.
I will continue my investigations over the coming days, and I will post more examples and data when I can.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now