[FM17] Having a bite to eat at the CONCACAFé and the food tastes like CONMEBOLlocks!

[Makoto Nakamura]

October 2025

End of month odds - 5th - 30-1

A great October sees us climb to 12th with up to 5 games in hand now! As well as beating River in the Copa Argentina Semi-Final to set us up against second tier Independiente Rivadavia in the Final and we're also through to the Final of the Copa Libertadores after beating Mexican side Toluca 6-5 on aggregate, and who do we face in the Final? Vasco, who we faced way back in the grroup stage.

[Makoto Nakamura]

November 2025

End of month odds - 4th - 5-1

Scenes!! An amazing display over both legs sees us run out as the champions of South America 11-8 on aggregate and Rodolfo Walczuk getting a perfect rating of 10! To top this off we also won the Copa Argentina! The ironic thing is that before the 2nd leg of the Copa Libertadores I had a host of players complaining that we were underachieving in the league (even with 5/6 games in hand), thankfully that notion was dropped after the final.

[Makoto Nakamura]

December 2025

End of month odds - 4th - 5-1

An absolutely dire first half off the month with no wins in 4 and then bam, 8 goals against Tigres, a narrow loss against Bayern and another 8 goals against Newell's! I'm dabbling with some tactics found online which will explain the erratic results and despite us doing so well I only have 6 months left on my contract and a job has just come up in Columbia with a club that has better facilities so I've handed in my application since the club in question is one of the top clubs and the only top club to not have the same manager since the start of the game (and this is only because the current manager retired).

[Jason the Yank]

What a bonkers Libertadores final.

 

[davehibb]

To say the Libertadores final was epic would actually be an understatement.

Really enjoying the career mate.

Racing are a team I'm considering for a save in FM17.

[Tullem]

Yeah that final is mad  

[Makoto Nakamura]

8 hours ago, Jason the Yank said:

What a bonkers Libertadores final.

 

 

6 hours ago, davehibb said:

To say the Libertadores final was epic would actually be an understatement.

Really enjoying the career mate.

Racing are a team I'm considering for a save in FM17.

 

4 hours ago, Tullem said:

Yeah that final is mad  

Probably one of the most thrilling continental finals ever  

[Makoto Nakamura]

January 2026

End of month odds - 3rd - 9-2

An almost perfect month with us getting 13 points from a possible 18 and it sees us up into 3rd although it's looking really unlikely that we're going to catch River who are 10 points ahead of us and have a game in hand. Also, I wasn't offered the job that I applied for, it was with Atletico Nacional, the manager they chose, Alexis Mendoza, is 64 years old and resigned from Ecuadorian side Emelec.

[Makoto Nakamura]

February 2026

 

End of month odds - 3rd - 9-2

An unbeaten month and we break the record for our biggest win by destroying non-league Rivadavia (Lincoln) 9-0 in the cup! We also rise to 2nd in the league but we're still 10 points behind River.

[Makoto Nakamura]

March 2026

End of month odds - 3rd - 9-2

Another great month as we actually beat River! They've still won the league but it was good to show that they weren't unbeatable. With us winning last season's Copa Libertadores we were 1st seeds in the draw this year, that meant we missed all of the Brazilian sides and end up with a very nice looking group draw. I have also applied for another job, this time it's Tigres in Mexico although I'm yet to be offered an interview, their facilities and finances are a lot better than what I have here!

[Makoto Nakamura]

I didn't even make the shortlist.

[Makoto Nakamura]

April 2026

End of month odds - 3rd - 9-2

A perfect month! Amazingly River still hasn't won the league so if they lose both of their games and we win both of ours then we win, easy peasy. We're also very easily through to the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores with an 8 point lead over Universidad de Chile and Emelec which I think is the highest gap possible after 4 games.

[Makoto Nakamura]

My 200th game as Racing Club manager, no contract offer still and a mixed reception with the fans. Still undecided as to whether to stay in Argentina if offered a contract as I'm fancying a change in scenery.

[Makoto Nakamura]

End of Season 2025/26

And we finish the season winning 9 games in a row and finishing 4 times behind River. I've been offered a contract by Racing but I've declined it, I have been offered a contract with 2 clubs with over double my current wage, both of which are playing in the MLS so I've got a tough choice to make between the 2.

Key Players:

Sebastián Aguilar - Miguel Ángel González - Rodolfo Walczuk

Youth Product Watch:

Julián Guiñazú (YP6a) - Lucas Alaniz (YP6b) - Julián Civelli (YP6c)

Lucas Vega (YP7a) - Fabrizio Andrada (YP7b) - Rodolfo Baglivo (YP7c) - Marcos Lovisa (YP7d) - Osvaldo Aimar (YP7e)

Gonzalo Villalba (YP8a) - David Alonso (YP8b) - Ignacio Franco (YP8c) 

Gonzalo Bastia (YP9a) - Gonzalo Romea (YP9b) - Ivan Wagner (YP9c) - David Peralta (YP9d)

[Makoto Nakamura]

So here's the 2 offers. Both will give me the same wages, LA Galaxy have a much higher wage and transfer budget and are higher up the table being in 5th compared to Vancouver's 16th. 

Vancouver would be a much safer job with lower expectations since they've had 4 managers and only 2 of them were sacked whereas LA Galaxy have had 10 managers, all of which have been sacked.

I think I'm going to go north, eh.

[Tullem]

Gotta be LA surely  

[Makoto Nakamura]

4 minutes ago, Tullem said:

Gotta be LA surely  

I have no clue, LA are predicted to win and Vancouver are predicted 7th, what I have planned would work better with Vancouver, but LA is LA and would be more "firey" if that makes sense, Vancouver feels safer. So do I go for the safe option or do I go for the risk option?

[W I L M]

Risk it!!!

[oriole01]

I nearly moved to Vancouver and really liked the city, so I've got a soft spot for them. Your decision though, and if you're looking for a risk then go with LA.

[Jason the Yank]

Yeah, I imagine you'd have a longer leash in Vancouver.

[Makoto Nakamura]

10 hours ago, Jason the Yank said:

Yeah, I imagine you'd have a longer leash in Vancouver.

 

18 hours ago, oriole01 said:

I nearly moved to Vancouver and really liked the city, so I've got a soft spot for them. Your decision though, and if you're looking for a risk then go with LA.

 

18 hours ago, W I L M said:

Risk it!!!

I've made my decision.

[Makoto Nakamura]

The LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference of the league. The club began play in 1996 as a charter team in the league. The franchise is one of the league's most-decorated clubs, having won the MLS Cup five times—more than any other club—the Supporters' Shield four times, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup twice, and the old CONCACAF Champions' Cup, making them one of just two MLS teams, along with D.C. United, to win a CONCACAF tournament.

In their early years, the Galaxy played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, but since 2003 they have played at the StubHub Centerin Carson, California. The club's current head coach is former US national team coach Bruce Arena. The team holds a fierce rivalry with the San Jose Earthquakes in the California Clásico, and used to play the SuperClasico against city rivals Chivas USA before they folded in 2014. More recently, a new rivalry has begun with Seattle Sounders FC.

In January 2007, the club made international headlines by signing English superstar David Beckham from Real Madrid, which was the highest-profile signing in the history of MLS. Other significant signings include Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, who currently captains the club, Steven Gerrard and Giovani dos Santos, as well as Ashley Cole.

I'm risking it.

So here's what I'm dealing with, a club expected to win it all that had fallen on hard time a few years back, they look to have improved a lot, but still not improved enough and now I have to take them to that next step.

Tomas Andrade - Victor Hugo Chan - Ivan Halgado

I'm going to be honest with you, I have no idea if it's possible to do a Youth Only challenge in the MLS so what I'm going to do is set the transfers to the DoF and personally, I'm only going to sign players from LA II and the LA Academy which are all separate clubs.

[Makoto Nakamura]

June 2026

End of month odds - 1st - 7-2

First off, scrap what I said about transfers, we can only have a certain amount of players on each type of contract which makes my idea useless so for now I won't make the MLS rules any harder on myself. A perfect start to life in LA where I'm using the same tactic that resulted in high-scoring games with Racing Club, we've hit the top of our conference but are still miles behind Orlando City and in the cup we've qualified for the Quarter Final where we face either San Jose Earthquakes or LA Galaxy II...can you tell who I want to face?

I brought in one promising striker from the academy.

He scored 36 goals in 50 appearances for the academy and with 5* potential and a professional personality I thought he could make the step up, and he scored on his debut

I've also completed all the coaching qualifications!

[Makoto Nakamura]

July 2026

And we're out of the US Cup, it was disappointing as we scored in the 1st minute but San Jose were just better on the day. Our league form has been good though with youngster Francisco Cano definitely impressing.

Transfers Out:

We lose our starting goalkeeper Ivan Holgado for apparently a club record £1.9m!

Transfers In:

Martin Alderton is a new first choice DL for no money whatsoever and Colin Keane is taking Ivan's place for the rest of the season and the start of next season.

[Makoto Nakamura]

August 2026

This MLS malarkey is easy  another great month but we still don't look to be catching Orlando City and we have a 6 point gap back to Minnesota so all I can hope for is that we keep getting these results. One thing, should I keep posting both tables or is there a particular one of these tables I should post? eg. post the group tables instead of the supporters shield table and vice versa.

[Makoto Nakamura]

September 2026

Just the 2 away games this month and we've now qualified for the MLS Playoffs and I'm glad I took the risk of managing LA Galaxy! 

[Makoto Nakamura]

October 2026

Well the main season is now over, if we'd of won the last 2 games we would have won the title on goal difference but 2 poor performances bar the effort of Ryan Humphrey meant we stay in 2nd. Now we move on to the MLS Playoffs.

[Jason the Yank]

12 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

 

I'm going to be honest with you, I have no idea if it's possible to do a Youth Only challenge in the MLS so what I'm going to do is set the transfers to the DoF and personally, I'm only going to sign players from LA II and the LA Academy which are all separate clubs.

 

In theory, you should be able to (IIRC, there's no limit to how many homegrown players an MLS club can sign IRL. Dallas have gotten a fair bit of attention for how they're relying on their academy: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/19/fc-dallas-mls-homegrown-players-academy )

But I dunno how well FM has it programmed (see the 31-game season nonsense)

 

[deltablue]

Cano looks good already.

[Makoto Nakamura]

End of Season 2026

2 away losses in the conference playoffs but 2 massive wins at home saw us face Toronto in the MLS Cup, where we also finished the game off before half time!

Key Players:

Polaco - Ryan Humphrey - Francisco Cano - Tomas Andrade 

 

 

Yep, the full version of FM17 is now out and with that so is the extended database needed for my actual long-term FM career so I'm retiring this save and should have my new journey up by the end of the week, so thank you everyone for following and hopefully you'll continue to follow my new save

[oriole01]

Wow, great way to start your FM17 career. If you win a Libertadores and two league titles in your "warm-up", then I think we should all be very excited for whatever your next venture will be. Cheers!

[Jason the Yank]

Not a bad way to go out.