[FM 17] If You’re Not First, You’re Last Redux – Redemption For The “Nearly Men” Of Europe

[Keano16]

Are any African nations already eligible? 

[Benjoe]

5 minutes ago, Keano16 said:

Are any African nations already eligible? 

Uh, that would be amazing!

[ManUtd1]

6 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

Those stats are candy to  my human eyes but anathema to the match engine.

7 hours ago, BathCity said:

Thanks, still looks quality at 32

Yep, I'd love to have him in my squad, even if those wages are terrifying.

4 hours ago, Benjoe said:

A little part of me cheered when the Ivory Coast won. 

I really couldn't begrudge them the win. Great match.

4 hours ago, Keano16 said:

Are any African nations already eligible? 

4 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Uh, that would be amazing!

I would love it if one would become available.  Cote d'Ivoire came close years ago.

[kidthekid]

11 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

JBurg will never be the same.

9 months later, there are going to be some Greek/South African and Ivory Coast/South African regens.

Edited April 22, 2017 by kidthekid

[Adonalsium]

Think about it though, appointing Hakan as chief of the national team is basically the best thing that could happen to you. Imagine if you could appoint the entire Barcelona youth academy to train all of the hottest prospects of a nation of your choice - that's basically Hakan, except without all of the resources, the facilities and the... rest. But the talent for youth cultivation is all there.

(Do Finland next!)

[ManUtd1]

2 hours ago, kidthekid said:

9 months later, there are going to be some Greek/South African and Ivory Coast/South African regens.

Costas Sizwe. Great name for an attacking midfielder.

7 minutes ago, Adonalsium said:

Think about it though, appointing Hakan as chief of the national team is basically the best thing that could happen to you. Imagine if you could appoint the entire Barcelona youth academy to train all of the hottest prospects of a nation of your choice - that's basically Hakan, except without all of the resources, the facilities and the... rest. But the talent for youth cultivation is all there.

(Do Finland next!)

I'd love Finland, but the likelihood of them becoming eligible is quite slim 

[Benjoe]

How about Denmark? 

Who have been close but haven't managed to get there, who you'd like to manage? 

[Adonalsium]

Hmm... well, it's not like this save is going to end any time soon. When you want a certain country as eligible, you can try to manually get some hot prospects from the same country and cultivate them in order to give them better chances.

[ManUtd1]

Now I've got that feeling once again, I can't explain you would not understand

          

Eintracht Frankfurt / Greece

Frankfurt Squad Review, July 2045

A summer of change.  Some players have moved on -- three-time leading goalscorer Traore among them.  Frankly, he's off to Madrid for a ton of money...and he was likely going to lose his spot in the XI anyways.  Same thing re Kuhn.  Great defender, academy product...but he's not going to be in the XI.  And I have some Greek products to build up.

So, lots of movement in the market, almost 100% out the door...leaving us with a healthy profit.  The side is back down to a manageable size, and I'm quite pleased with it.

It feels like this is the side that will bring us European glory.  Not this year, or next.  But this is the core that will take us to the promised land.  A number of players key to Greek fortunes at next summer's World Cup are also in the squad, for further development.

Without further ado, let's take a closer look.

 

Goalkeepers

 

Gantenbein is the undisputed starter in goal.  Klokidis is my third-choice for Greece and, if I'm being frank, this is likely his last year with us.  I need him to get more playing time to continue developing, and I'd like to sign a top-class prospect to eventually replace Gantenbein.  The Swiss is solid, but he seems to have stalled a bit in his development...but that might just be me thinking that.

Liberos

 

Diallo is just about perfect for this role.  Camaj will be.  I love having players like this in my side.  Both are converted defensive midfielders.

Inverted Wingbacks

   

Kone and Ziogas are the clear starters...and both are disgruntled at the moment.  Karlsen has buckets of room to grow, but can't force his way into the side at right back.  Mulumba is a converted defensive midfielder who, if he continues developing, could be a long-term member of the squad.

Central Defenders

    

Buselic and Djordjevic are my centerback pairing, with the latter having spent a few years as a backup.  I moved Kuhn on specifically to get Djordjevic into the XI.

Kotitsas is a future starter for Greece, and my first-choice backup.  Veloudios and Athanasiou have some development to do.  You can clearly see the attempt to develop Greek youth here, though -- without that focus, I'd likely have more promising prospects in my 2nd XI.

Central Midfielders

     

Yilmaz has been a mainstay in my midfield since arriving in Frankfurt, but he's made way for Stoilas -- a player whom I believe will be the engine for Greece for the next decade.  Next to him in the midfield is Kozlik, the Polish lad who has been playing in the defensive role in midfield.  Potocianu and Tsilosani are extremely competent/promising backups.  Vekopoulos and Chortsas are Greek prospects that I'm trying to develop.

Enganches

 

Fleischer and Bamba...I'm torn.  The German is a solid, solid performer game in, game out.  But the young Ivorian is a legend in the making.

Shadow Strikers

    

With Toure moving on, Tsarkidis and Friedeck are my starters here.  Sfakianakis has not developed as much as I'd expected, and is falling down the pecking order.  He will likely move on after this year, to get more consistent playing time.  Spillotis has come on in the past year -- developing nicely in my U19s, to the point that I've brought him into the Greek squad.  Arce is a truly exciting player, a massive/speedy beast who could be world-class if he develops.  This will be his first season with the first team.

[ManUtd1]

1 hour ago, Benjoe said:

How about Denmark? 

Who have been close but haven't managed to get there, who you'd like to manage? 

Denmark have only qualified for one World Cup (2038), and were eliminated in the Group Stage.

Potentially eligible teams that have reached the quarterfinals, in-game:

     Serbia (2042)

     Switzerland (2042)

     Colombia (2038, 2042)

     Algeria (2042)

     Ivory Coast (2022, 2026, 2038)

     Croatia (2038)

     Poland (2034)

     Turkey (2022, 2030, 2034)

     Tunisia (2030)

     Mexico (2022)

     Greece (2042)

Of these sides, only Mexico, Turkey and Greece have become eligible (Portugal won it all in 2042).  I'd love for Ivory Coast or Croatia to become eligible.  I need to take another shot at Mexico, and Turkey is a job I've been eyeing for ages.

Honestly, I'd love it if any sub-Saharan African nation became available.  The US would be an interesting challenge that I'd relish.  Other fun ones would include, off the top of my head...the Aussies, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark or Norway.  

34 minutes ago, Adonalsium said:

Hmm... well, it's not like this save is going to end any time soon. When you want a certain country as eligible, you can try to manually get some hot prospects from the same country and cultivate them in order to give them better chances.

True.  I haven't made that effort yet...something to consider.

[Benjoe]

6 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Denmark have only qualified for one World Cup (2038), and were eliminated in the Group Stage.

"Glem det" - "Forget about it" 

We Danes can just celebrate this girl instead:

8 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Potentially eligible teams that have reached the quarterfinals, in-game:

     Colombia (2038, 2042)

     Algeria (2042)

     Ivory Coast (2022, 2026, 2038)

     Croatia (2038)

     Turkey (2022, 2030, 2034)

     Mexico (2022)

Those would be really cool imo. As I wrote about in my thread, Algeria had that one year where they got screwed and potentially could have gone far, so I'd love to see some retribution for them too. Any African nation would interest me. Egyptian football is also very underestimated I find, but they seem to be far off. Ivory Coast really deserve to get there soon as well. 

[BoxToBox]

56 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

We Danes can just celebrate this girl instead:

She's the real hero!

[ManUtd1]

1 hour ago, Benjoe said:

We Danes can just celebrate this girl instead:

 And thus began Hakan's quest to bring glory to Denmark. For his Freja.

[Benjoe]

Just now, ManUtd1 said:

 And thus began Hakan's quest to bring glory to Denmark. For his Freja.

 

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

She's the real hero!

We got prettier ladies than her. I'm not even joking.

 

[BoxToBox]

8 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

 

We got prettier ladies than her. I'm not even joking.

 

I'm of the *ahem* firm belief that Scandinavian sides should have automatic qualification to international tournaments.

[ManUtd1]

15 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

We got prettier ladies than her. I'm not even joking.

5 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

I'm of the *ahem* firm belief that Scandinavian sides should have automatic qualification to international tournaments.

I wholeheartedly endorse these posts, but sadly am out of reputation to grant today.

[aderow]

3 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

I'm of the *ahem* firm belief that Scandinavian sides should have automatic qualification to international tournaments.

I, for one, have always been a fan of Swedish football. Well at least a fan of a certain part of their fanbase

[ManUtd1]

Brutal CL draw -- Stade de Reims, Leeds and Dinamo.

 

 

I'd really like us to get through to the CL knockout rounds, but that's a big ask.  Europa League is very doable.

[BoxToBox]

17 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Brutal CL draw -- Stade de Reims, Leeds and Dinamo.

 

 

I'd really like us to get through to the CL knockout rounds, but that's a big ask.  Europa League is very doable.

Not even an away trip to Scandinavia to ease your.... heart, nightmare stuff.

[ManUtd1]

Now I've got that feeling once again, I can't explain you would not understand

          

Eintracht Frankfurt / Greece

September 2045 Mini-Update

That's what I'm talking about.  Could we be more clinical?  Sure.  But, three wins from 3 (including a friendly in Albania), and the Greeks are on the verge of qualifying for South Africa.

Domestically, we started off a little flat in the first match of the Bundesliga, but Attila is ready to soar now.  Even the Champions League draw seems stacked against us, but that's the beauty of our tactics -- we will be tough to beat, and if we can snatch some points we have a shot at advancing.  The challenge will be overcoming Stade de Reims and Leeds, both of whom will prove extremely tough.

Both teams are coming together.  I can feel it.  This could be a big year.

  

  

[ManUtd1]

I meant to say -- defending World Cup champions (and Euro finalist) Portugal are struggling mightily, sitting 4th behind Romania, Norway and Bosnia.  The Dutch are also 4th out of 5, with 1 win over the Faroes.  Brutal.

[Benjoe]

5 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

 And thus began Hakan's quest to bring glory to Denmark. For his Freja.

 

6 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

She's the real hero!

 

5 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

I'm of the *ahem* firm belief that Scandinavian sides should have automatic qualification to international tournaments.

 

5 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

I wholeheartedly endorse these posts, but sadly am out of reputation to grant today.

 

1 hour ago, aderow said:

I, for one, have always been a fan of Swedish football. Well at least a fan of a certain part of their fanbase

I truly believe that Scandinavia have got some of the most beautiful women in the world. 

Why do you think we Danes have been named the happiest people on earth?

[ManUtd1]

14 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

I truly believe that Scandinavia have got some of the most beautiful women in the world. 

Why do you think we Danes have been named the happiest people on earth?

Throwing blondes at Hakan Telleus was not unlike throwing lettuce at sharks.

I'm not disagreeing with you, per se.  Just that I'm more of a brunette kind of guy.  

Edited April 23, 2017 by ManUtd1

[Benjoe]

6 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Throwing blondes at Hakan Telleus was not unlike throwing lettuce at sharks.

I'm not disagreeing with you, per se.  Just that I'm more of a brunette kind of guy.  

Whenever people assume Danish women are only blondes I die a little. Blond hair, brown hair, red hair, who cares, they're all pretty. You'd be surprised how many pretty brunettes are here! 

[ManUtd1]

Variety is the spice of life 

[Benjoe]

Just now, ManUtd1 said:

Variety is the spice of life 

And we Danes got a lot of variety... just look at our alphabet, we got æ, ø and å. Can't be all bad then, can it? Also I like spices.

Okay, I'm off to bed, this is too much

[ManUtd1]

Hahaha -- night, man!

[aderow]

50 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

I truly believe that Scandinavia have got some of the most beautiful women in the world. 

From personal experience, I can agree to that statement.

28 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Whenever people assume Danish women are only blondes I die a little. Blond hair, brown hair, red hair, who cares, they're all pretty.

You said red hair? I think I might be looking ticket prices tonight....

[BoxToBox]

Lets not be wasteful here, I'll happily take the blondes.

[Adonalsium]

Bow to your viking overlords, thralls. Our women are the most beautiful and our men the strongest. Just look at Gylfi.

[BoxToBox]

This is what confuses me about when the vikings came to Ireland, why did they stay for the women?

[Keano16]

3 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

This is what confuses me about when the vikings came to Ireland, why did they stay for the women?

They stayed for the drink!

[BoxToBox]

Can't argue with that.

[ManUtd1]

Now I've got that feeling once again, I can't explain you would not understand

          

Eintracht Frankfurt / Greece

October 2045 Mini-Update

We've remained solid in the Bundesliga -- 3 wins and 2 draws, 1 point off Leipzig at the top.  A handful of injuries to our attacking midfield corps hasn't slowed us down.

In Europe, though, that's where we're starting to make an impression.  We completely controlled against Dinamo, never in danger of losing.  We then traveled to Elland Road to face a powerful Leeds side...and held them, 0-0.  They outplayed us.  No question.  But we earned our point.  4 points from our first two matches is a tremendous start to this Group.  Back-to-back matches against Stade de Reims will test us.

With the Greeks, a home match against Sweden followed a 3-0 friendly win over Algeria.  We took a strong Sweden side apart for most of the match, but couldn't finish them off.  They scored a late equalizer to share the points.  It's only the 2nd goal we've given up in qualifying.  It's a shame because a win would have booked our passage to South Africa.  As it is, we're still on track to win the Group with ease, 3 points clear with only matches against Kosovo and Moldova to play. 

 

 

  

Right now, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Ireland are all looking good value for qualification.  The Netherlands are basically done, but Portugal has a chance.  Germany suffered back-to-back losses in October to Ireland and the Czechs, putting them in a precarious position -- the Czechs play Lithuania in their final match, Ireland plays Finland.

[ManUtd1]

@Adonalsium, @BoxToBox and @Keano16 you guys are cracking me up.  Great debate to start the morning here. 

[Keano16]

1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said:

@Adonalsium, @BoxToBox and @Keano16 you guys are cracking me up.  Great debate to start the morning here. 

Some people have coffee to start the day. We have a good old debate!

We Irish will see you Greeks at the Wolf Cup!

[BoxToBox]

12 minutes ago, Keano16 said:

Some people have coffee to start the day. We have a good old debate!

We Irish will see you Greeks at the Wolf Cup!

I really hope the Wolf Cup is a real competition.

[ManUtd1]

16 minutes ago, Keano16 said:

Some people have coffee to start the day. We have a good old debate!

We Irish will see you Greeks at the Wolf Cup!

I hope so!  To be fair, I've also had enough coffee this morning to incapacitate a small horse.

2 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

I really hope the Wolf Cup is a real competition.

Me, too -- I am ready for the balance of power to shift at the club level, too.  See some new sides come up -- the same ol', same ol' in the Champions League is frustrating.

[ManUtd1]

I really wish Grigoris was a better player.  His name is phenomenal.

 

[Benjoe]

3 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

I hope so!  To be fair, I've also had enough coffee this morning to incapacitate a small horse.

Me, too -- I am ready for the balance of power to shift at the club level, too.  See some new sides come up -- the same ol', same ol' in the Champions League is frustrating.

You seem to do that often. I like it!

Wolf Cup sounds great. I'll bring the ladies!

[ManUtd1]

Suffice to say that my return to Stade de Reims was epic.  Apples and Emma were even there, with the twins.  A standing ovation upon emerging from the tunnel, H is for Hakan sung throughout the match...until we threatened to win it, at least.  No one had left at the final whistle, and all stayed to applaud the majestic display of both sides.  

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by ManUtd1

[BoxToBox]

Mad game!

[Benjoe]

Emotional match on so many levels. Even despite the equaliser in the extra time I think everybody had a good experience there.

[ManUtd1]

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

Mad game!

51 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Emotional match on so many levels. Even despite the equaliser in the extra time I think everybody had a good experience there.

Definitely a great match -- even though I thought we'd nicked it!

[Adonalsium]

Debate? Thrall, there is no debate. There is only you, and your admiration of our superiority.

I wonder if Gylfi became a manager after he retired.

[ManUtd1]

3 minutes ago, Adonalsium said:

Debate? Thrall, there is no debate. There is only you, and your admiration of our superiority.

I wonder if Gylfi became a manager after he retired.

Poor Gylfi isn't in the system anymore.  Retired without a trace, like footprints in the sand after a high tide. 

[Benjoe]

Who's the thrall now!?

#GylfiIsAThrall #MeetYourMaker #IcelandShallBowForDenmark

[Rikulec]

Oh no, I shall defend Gylfi!

#NelsonJrHasGreyHair

[Benjoe]

It's Nelson MANDELA Jr. If you're gonna hate me for my hair at least get my name right

 

[ManUtd1]

Now I've got that feeling once again, I can't explain you would not understand

          

Eintracht Frankfurt / Greece

November 2045 Mini-Update

We're most definitely on a roll.  Two incredible matches against Stade de Reims.  The first match is a textbook example of how to lie with statistics -- a nil-nil draw, that we appear to have dominated.  In reality, all of our chances were on the counter -- they controlled the match, but couldn't break through our resolute defense.  And we nearly stole the match.  The return leg was epic in every possible way, with Jorge hitting a first-time volley from distance to draw Reims level in injury time.  What a match.  A magical night.  We sit third...the Europa League all but assured.  If we can get a result against Leeds, we may be through to the CL knockout rounds.

Domestically, we were nearly perfect -- beating title rivals Bayern and Leipzig, with our 2nd XI drawing against Braunschweig.  We're in 2nd, 1 point off Dortmund and ahead of Leipzig on goal difference.

We left for Moldova knowing that any result would virtually guarantee qualification.  We utterly dominated them, hitting the woodwork 4 times and not giving up a single shot.  The 1-0 scoreline didn't reflect anything on the pitch.  Sweden drew at home to Austria, meaning that we're through before we head to Kosovo for our final match, a 4-1 clinic.  We're going to South Africa, lads!

 

 

  

Germany survive by the skin of their teeth, but England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all go through.  The likes of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Norway...Russia...all fail to qualify.  

Other qualifying nations include...