Return I Will To Old Brazil...

[braceletwinner]

... with dreams of winning the Club World Cup.

My first (and main) save was managing Clube Atlético Paranaense in FM13, then a 2nd Division side in Brazil. At the time, I really didn’t know what I was looking for, except that I knew I wanted a relatively easy game with a team that could get promoted with some nurturing. What I got was a cakewalk. I easily finished in the promotion places (2nd), even though I really had no idea what I was doing in any aspect of the game. The team were ridiculously good for that division, and knowing what I know now, I probably could have won the league by double digits.

Anyway, I got better. I stumbled onto quite a few things myself, and learned a great deal more by visiting this site and a few others. I eventually won the treble (league, domestic cup, Copa Libertadores), and lost on penalties to Arsenal in the Club World Cup. There’s not much more to do at that club, except that I strangely want the CWC trophy having been so agonizingly close, and there are a few young players I’d like to develop into superstars.

Having said all that, I figured I’d start my first FM14 save based in Brazil and the goal will be to take over a 3rd division side initially, and try to win the CWC trophy with a Brazilian team. That’s pretty much the rule: I don’t have to win the CWC with the team that I initially manage, and I don’t have to only manage Brazilian teams, but I must win the CWC with a Brazilian team. I have no idea how this save will go, as I haven’t even picked a team yet. So, assuming any of you are interested in following this, I’ll take suggestions on 3rd division Brazilian teams to manage. I won’t pick any team pegged for relegation (I don’t want to make it too hard on myself to stay employed), but all other suggestions are welcome.

I’ll set my manager as being Brazilian, with Argentina as a second nationality. I’ll activate the top three leagues in each of those countries, and the top two in each of England, Scotland, Spain, Germany, and Italy and use a medium database. I may expand the number of nations/leagues later. I’m mainly enabling the European countries for managing opportunities to help with building my reputation, and not for good players, as most from those countries won’t consider signing for a South American club (at least in my limited experience).

Since my goal is to win a certain trophy, I won’t be concentrating on long-term development of players, and that will be a big change for me. While managing CAP, I spent most of my time developing players. I also spent a great deal of time getting rid of players, and after a couple of seasons, I had the youngest team in the league. At one point, I didn’t have a single player over 26. During this save, I’ll concentrate on getting my rep high enough to manage a club like Corinthians or Santos and attempt to buy my way to the trophy. It still won’t be easy as my tactics will still have to work (ha!) and who knows what state these clubs will be in when I take them over. Then I actually have to win the Copa and then the CWC against the best team in Europe. Good luck to me.

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I've decided to take over Sampaio Corrêa. They're predicted to finish mid-table, have stable finances and a reasonable sized stadium.

The training facilities are better than expected.

Finances look pretty good:

This is my best player (stats seem decent for this level):

Most players have reached their potential already:

No serious weaknesses in the squad, but we're light on wide midfielders/attackers, which is common in Brazil.

This is discouraging, but expected:

Could use some staff. In fact, most of the staff are awful. I'll probably sack the lot.

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I'd link the staff, but they aren't worth the bandwidth. They are seriously awful. So I will be replacing all of them. My first few "Approach to Sign"s have been met with no interest, so it may be a long road to assembling a decent staff.

It seems like the squad is at least good enough to stay up. There are a few players available on frees that are worth signing, but after approaching some potential staff, I'm not confident they'll want to sign. I think my best bet for making the team better will be through loans. I won't have to do much right away as Brazil has quite a long transfer window.

Next I'll set up tactics to see what I'm really working with.

[braceletwinner]

I got rid of all staff except the fitness and GK coaches. Neither are great, but they're average for the level of the club. I placed adverts for virtually every other position after finding a suitable AM and Coach. The loan market looks slim on the first day of the window, but I think there are some players out there available on frees. I'd like a better DC and maybe a wide midfielder.

For now, I've set up a single 4-1-2-1-2 tactic:

My DR is reasonably fast, and my midfield is quick as well, so I went with a Counter mentality. Some individual player instructions, but not too many, I hope. My DM and DLP both have the Gets Forward Whenever Possible PPM, so it might get interesting on defense.

My first friendly. I think I'm a slight favorite:

I really wasn't happy with the result, but it was my very first match, so I told the team I was happy:

I set up my training. Two stars across the board is about what I expected, and that was spot on.

I have zero scouts at the moment, so hopefully the advert will work it's magic and I'll be able to get some players in. The transfer window in Brazil is quite long, so there's no danger of not being able to improve, but I may miss out on some young talent if I can't get a scout in a week or so. Most staff have refused to even talk to me so far, and about half of the ones that will talk want more money that the board is willing to spend on them. Should be an interesting season.

[braceletwinner]

We played eight friendlies (one was in December, so it counted for last season) and won six, drew two. Most were against inferior opposition, and we didn't beat any of them by as much as I would have liked, but no losses is fine for a team just learning a new tactic. We played the first State competition game and had a pretty solid outing, winning 2-0. Overall I'm content with the beginning of my career here.

On the staff front, I got a surprise applicant for my Under 20s manager. I have all greys, so I wasn't really looking for quality, but this guy showed up:

Yes, that guy:

So I still need a veteran DC, but I've brought in a few young players: two midfielders, a right back, and a DC with good potential to see which of them pans out. The best two:

and

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Notice in the post above that Eduardo is not match fit. I couldn't get him in a match as I signed him towards the end of the friendly schedule. I tried to schedule friendlies for my reserve squad with other reserve squads, but no team I asked would agree. I tried teams near and far, well-known and never-heard-of, to no avail. So I can't get my backup players match fit until the Reserve season starts (I also have several injured players that will need some matches before they return). I'm not sure if it's a bug or not, but I've upped the Detail Level in Brazil in hopes that friendlies will be easier to arrange.

[braceletwinner]

Also, while watching the games, I noticed that the quality of finishing in general was better than in FM13. I don't know if the animations make them look better, but I've seen some amazing goals from non-league players. Here is a volley worthy of van Persie:

[video=youtube;Cx9KiLwz_uo]

And this is just ridiculous:

[video=youtube;cq9zRJTN2vE]