mcleera Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 2029 San Marino National Team: World Cup 2030 Qualification Campaign World Cup Qualification: 3rd out of 5 (14 points) We were drawn into a group with Spain, Denmark, Hungary and Kosovo. Given the draw, I expect to exceed the previous SMNT records for wins (1) and points (5) in a WC qualification campaign. I am targeting a 3rd place finish right now. Luckily, we will know early on whether we have a legitimate chance to push for the top 2, since we get Denmark on the 3rd and 4th matchday. I’m not expecting anything out of it, but you never know. In any case, I should be better than Hungary and Kosovo. I also hope that this campaign will keep us on the march toward a top 100 ranking. The first two matchdays saw us get Hungary and Spain. The match away to Hungary saw us trade goals in the opening 20 minutes. Despite us really dominating the game in terms of possession, shots, and quality of chances, we were deadlocked for the next 70 minutes. Fortunately, we eventually got reward for our dominance, as Giacomo Bonifazi scored a winner deep into stoppage time with a thunderbolt from just outside the box. A 2-1 win to get a deserved 3 points. For the second match, we welcomed the Spaniards to San Marino. Our defenses we breached in the 35th and 36th minute and we went on to lose 4-0. No surprises sprung here. The second pair of matches brought us a home and away with the Danes. In the home fixture, we took a 1-0 lead through Stefanelli in the first half, only to be pegged back by Denmark early in the second half. The match ultimately finished 1-1, which was a fair result on the night and a fantastic result for our squad. It also had me daring to dream that we could sneak to second in the group if we had another strong showing in the reverse. Unfortunately, my optimism was soon dashed. We were only 1-0 down at the half, but 3 more goals in the first 6 minutes of the second killed this one off, as we lost 5-0. A limp and listless performance, to say the least. At least 3rd looks achievable. Matchdays 5 and 6 in qualifying saw us get Kosovo and have an open date. About a month before the matches, we got a friendly offer from Germany to fill matchday 6. A good opportunity to test ourselves against top opposition. The match away to Kosovo got off to a poor start, as we conceded in 3rd minute via a free header from a free kick. However, we immediately responded with an Alex Ugolini tap in, as Filippo Berardi whipped free kick in to the far post, where Alberto Righi looped a header over the keeper, allowing Ugolini to pounce first on the easy opportunity. Parity only lasted 8 minutes, however, as Balducci gave the ball away cheaply, allowing Kosovo to counter and re-establish their lead. Despite our superiority over the first 45, we remained 2-1 down going into the break. This status was short-lived, however, with Alex Ugolini sweeping home a Gualandi cross to finish a brilliant attacking move. From here, we increasingly dominated possession, continuing to pin Kosovo back in their own half. Then, in the 82nd minute, disaster struck. Alberto Righi slid in on Kosovar forward Berisha in the box. It looked like he won the ball cleanly, but the penalty was given. Berisha stepped up, looking to be the match winner. He decided to go right down the middle, but Thomas Berti was ready for it. Penalty saved! From this point on, we continued to dominate, with Bonifazi narrowly missing off a free kick, and Gualandi forcing an acrobatic save late on. In the 93rd minute, we FINALLY broke through to take a well-deserved lead. The Kosovar keeper Vula came to try to claim the corner, but fumbled away the ball. San Marino veteran Righi was on hand to take the strike on the half-volley into the open net to give us a 3-2 lead deep into stoppage time. The drama was not over, though. Kosovo came down the other end and won a corner, from which they won a header in the box that rattled the crossbar. Bugli cleared and the match was over. Fortunate, and very happy, not to concede the equalizer. A big result, as 2 wins and 7 points sets a record for a San Marino qualifying campaign, despite playing in a smaller group, and I have 2 winnable matches (home to both Hungary and Kosovo) in the last 3 matches. The friendly with Germany was a straightforward affair, with us suffering a reasonable 3-0 defeat, conceding the 3rd late on. Happy with the performance overall. Matchdays 7 and 8 give us Hungary at home, followed by a trip to Spain. Against Hungary, we went 1-0 down from a free kick in the7th minute. Another early goal, something new and exciting. A well-worked set piece allowed us to equalize in the 26th minute through Stefano Righi. In the late stages of the first half, we then took the lead, as Balducci hit an inch-perfect cross for Francesco Gualandi to head home, giving us a 2-1 lead at the break. We doubled our advantage shortly after the break, with Montagnani heading in from 6 yards. The Hungarians pulled one back, but we saw out the 3-2 result. We then played Spain. The game started fantastically, and we went 1-0 up from a Stefanelli strike. The advantage lasted a surprising twenty minutes, but a brace late in the half put Spain 2-1 up. They added another in the 72nd minute to secure the victory. The last two match days give us Kosovo and an open date, which is filled by a friendly with 15th ranked DR Congo. The match against Kosovo was straightforward, as we were pretty dominant, ultimately running out 2-0 winners after a couple early second half goals. We then got our best ever win against the Congolese side, winning the match 2-1. Fantastic result, even in a friendly. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the SMNT. We failed to qualify for WC, but had a strong campaign, finishing third in the group. Along the way, we amassed 13 points, sweeping Hungary and Kosovo, and getting a very fair point against Denmark. By far the best showing in SMNT history. The coming year sees us enviously spectate the WC before another round of International League. Excited for this one, since I figure we will be among the strongest teams in Division C, and this is the year for potential Euro qualification. Bits and Bobs -Berti has quickly progressed to SMNT first choice, limiting Benedettini to 123 caps. I may get him to 125, but he is a clear second-choice at this point. The lack of obvious choices on the wing mean that Fillipo Berardi, newest member of the century of caps club (106 caps) will probably be in the fold awhile longer, especially since he can play on either flank. He will likely become the all-time caps leader for San Marino. The next three most capped players are Bacciocchi (84), Conti (81), and Righi (76). -Career Goals leaders: Berardi (28), Conti (25), and Gualandi (22). It looks increasingly likely that Berardi may not even reach retirement as the leading career scorer for the national team, with the younger strikers scoring at an impressive rate of roughly 1 goal per 3 games. -I am beginning to inject investment payments into the San Marino league, which I hope can bring benefits to the SMNT over time by supplying decent squad players. In January of 2029, I sent $290K in transfer fees to La Fiorita. I followed this up in the summer of 2029 with $1M payments to La Fiorita, Folgore, Cosmos, Domagnano and Juvenes Dogana. Given that I have $80M in transfer budget for the club and I probably will not spend much, if any, of it in January, I think as much as $20-$30M more may be funneled into the league, especially with us dominating Serie A through the first half of the season. I am also getting interest in a lot of high value players and have rejected huge offers for some of them (e.g. a rejected offer of $80M for wonderkid Stiven Lasso), which will fill my coffers and allow for further investment. This may also be helpful for a possible future job in the San Marino League, if the board decides to fire me for wasting all their money like that. XD -I also made a change at Calcio with my Head of Youth Development being replaced by someone that I hope can recruit me players from a lot of different positions, particularly wingers and defensive mids. World Ranking: 107 (+14) Here are the best players for the SMNT as of May 2030: And here are the best dual nationals who have yet to commit to us (Vagnetti is in Italy's World Cup squad, so he is as good as gone): 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 @mcleera The FM19 OP didn't log on here for a long time, so I decided to get the FM20 thread up early and commit to it for the life cycle of the game (and beyond) - only to switch back to my FM19 save! I have to say I'm enjoying the ME miles more in FM19 - I miss a couple of FM20 features, but on balance I'm glad I switched back! Nice progress so far. Good luck with those dual nationals - I've lost 3 so far - and one now can't get into the Italian squad, which makes it worse! I got lucky with my latest youth intake as we qualified for the World Cup and they wanted to play in that, so that got me 2 young strikers - 1 of which is developing very nicely, the other not so much, plus a keeper who was on the fence at 19 years of age. I'm not sure I'll have as much luck with the next intake, but we are 72nd in the world at the moment, so maybe that will help. I had quite a few weak intakes - last year was my best in quite some time, so I'm hoping for at least 1 or 2 National Team players per year and maybe I can have a dart at getting deeper at the next World Cup. Anyway - keep going and keep us updated - we've got some people making excellent progress and I'd like to think we can get multiple World Cup winners! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David South Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 (edited) Hi all, I've been a big fan of the SM challenge for a few years now. I got a bit bored recently and purchased FM20 to see about doing this again. THanks for your instructions at the start on how to start the challenge now that IRL they have moved. Feels like this might be the last year for this challenge for me as it maybe too artifical. Previously I got to the WC semis but didn't manage to win so I'm hoping to get that close again. I'm interested in managing a team in the San Marino league as well. I think improving that league will definately help the chances of completion even if it feels abit 'cheesy'. However, for an extra level of challenge I'm going to try and start the save attempting the 'youth academy' challenge as well with CCSM but I'm not sure this will last if I spent to long in the lower leagues. Both starting managers on lowest experiance and no coaching badges. I'll take on the National Team in due time. Achievements so far @duesouth Managing a San Marino League Club (Juvenes Dogana). Qualify for group 1 With either Group A or B Qualify for the Champions playoff Win group 1 Win the San Marino Super Cup Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler CCSM achievements Win promotion from Serie D (there was no playoffs in my game it was just auto on winning a league) Win the Serie D Girone F Title (It was group D but that counts right?) Spoiler First season in Seria C and we arn't going to get relegated. Juvenes will move to semi-pro at the end of the season and CCSM will go to professional so that's looking up Edited June 23, 2020 by David South extra screenshot 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 2038/2039 Season (FM19) - Part 1 National Team This was our second go at Nations League Division C and we got a much nicer draw - Poland the hardest game plus Iceland and an easy one in Estonia. We won our first 2 games and we were already 4 points ahead of Poland after 2 games as they drew both of their games. I figured away to Poland a draw would be good enough, so I used my new-ish tactic and we were comfortably keeping it 0-0 - when with a minute to go a long punt upfield saw Andrea Bugli get in behind the Polish back 4 and slot home the winner to put us into a very strong position. We brushed aside Estonia with a rotated team easily 3-0, with all goals coming in the first half - and that meant we were promoted! Not bad with 2 games to play in a 6 game league! We're now ranked 72nd in the world. The European Championship draw has seen us drawn against Holland, Serbia, Moldova, Georgia and Gibraltar. We will have to win all 6 games against the 3 lesser teams and try to take something against either Holland or Serbia. Our first game is away to Holland in March 2039 and that will be a very good test for us. Tactics A quick word on tactics. I have to say I am not a possession system fan in FM - but with Calcio and San Giovanni I get used to teams shutting up shop and playing a slow possession system. There are games we should win that we either draw or lose. As the National Team isn't at that level yet, I've been developing a cautious/defensive short passing tactic - still with a 4-1-3-2 shape (which I've used for many years now and both club sides are built on it) with the occasional 4-1-4-1 against the top sides like when we played Italy. There's no question it has played a big part in our recent success. Dual National Update I have no outstanding dual nationals. I've lost 3 to Italy - striker Muccioli has 11 caps and 9 goals - but left back Mancini only has 6 caps and hasn't been called up in a while. Short central defender Capicchioni also has 11 caps. Squad Development Former dual national keeper Bronzetti has played 14 games for Calcio this season and is developing like a runaway train! Now 20, his club coach report says he's at Serie A level already and could improve a lot in the future. He could be a star! Young striker Fabbri (17) is also developing really nicely - he's only played 4 times for the first team (4 goals!) and is at Serie B level already - but I've kept him in the U18 squad so that our excellent training helps his development. He's going to play in the first team next season as one Italian striker is out of contract and I've already set him for release! The other striker that came in last year's youth intake, Valentini, hasn't developed at all - and is now viewed as a 3* PA guy - he's unambitious, which probably explains it - I'm trying to mentor him, but haven't had much luck with that in the past. Calcio have a lot of 1.5* CA/Serie C talent players who I rather hide and they do well enough. They are 3 or 4* for the NT. I'm not sure if it's the best way to develop them. Our latest attempt with an affiliate club, Santarcangelo, has given better results. They were promoted in the Serie C playoffs and have 3 of our players on loan, all doing pretty well, and they also signed 3 of our players who were out of contract. Left back Vannucci has been the best thing - he was on loan last season, I saw they were interested in him at end of contract, so released him and he signed for them permanently. He's got a 7.22 average rating in Serie B and is developing well - which is excellent as it's a position of need for the NT. This is my 4th attempt with an affiliate club and has been the only one to work really, really well. They have no money and so are more likely to play our loanees, and all who have gone there have played regularly, which didn't happen with 2 of the teams I tried before (the other is now in Serie D, so is only any good for players lower than 1* CA who aren't likely to get a NT call up). San Marino Calcio We're top - and 6 points clear of Napoli - but haven't been playing that well. Indeed, we weren't top for quite a while. But already it looks like Napoli are falling away, which would repeat the last few years in that no one seems to want to challenge us. We again won the Club World Cup - winning the semi with a part U20/part U18 team (4 debuts) and the final with 9 Sammarinese players. San Giovanni It was probably just as well we weren't in the CL - as Faetano drew CSKA Sofia and then Celtic - both of whom we have played far too often - it doesn't help keep the save interesting! Faetano won their first 2 games and then lost to Celtic. The other 2 teams fell at the first hurdle, which was annoying. As for San Gio - well we quite easily got through the first 3 qual legs of the Europa League and then got a tougher test in Rangers. We won the first leg 2-1 - I was a bit worried about the away goal, but we scored twice in the first half and drew the second leg 2-2 to get through to the group stage. There we drew Liverpool, Nice and FC Utrecht. I wasn't expecting anything against Nice away in the first game - but we scored on 4 minutes and then "FM'd" them with the tactic above on defensive and hold shape rather than counter. We beat Utrecht in both games and needed a point against Nice at home to qualify. We were 2-0 up at half time, but were hanging on in the last 10 minutes as they came back well, but we managed to get the point we needed. Our reward? PSG. No chance. Domestically, Faetano beat us in the San Marino Super Cup, so they are becoming an annoyance - but potentially good for the rep of the league if they grow - but otherwise it's been pretty easy. I plan to let 2 further Italians go at the end of the season, as they are in decline and the young Sammarinese talent is at their level. I might have to sign a foreign DM as I have only 3 very poor options at the position. I might try to loan a Calcio U20 DM, but I don't know if the player will be interested. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 2038/2039 Season (FM19) - Part 2 National Team We've played 4 games so far and have kept 4 clean sheets! Keeper Bronzetti clearly has helped! The away 0-0 bore draws to Holland and Serbia were with a 4-1-4-1 sssslllooowww/boring possession game. I might need to tweak to make us slightly more of an attacking threat, but I don't want the game to open up at any point as we don't have the top pace at the back to deal with counters. We'll have to see if Holland or Serbia slip up to the other 3 teams - but they aren't good, so I suspect not. It might be a close one if we can do OK at home to Serbia and Holland and not slip up in the other games. San Marino Calcio We ran away with the league, despite not playing that well. We got knocked out of the CL in the 1st knockout stage - the games came at a time where we had some injuries, and with the backups being fairly average Sammarinese youngsters, we struggled. Youth Intake And back to being complete garbage... San Giovanni We lost to PSG as expected, but we were in the game in the second leg as it was still 0-0 after losing the first leg at home 1-0. However, going for it in the final few minutes we shipped on the break. Still, it was a solid performance in both legs. We got revenge on Faetano in the Champions Playoff final, winning easily 3-0 - and then struggled more in the Cup - taking penalties to beat Pennarossa. San Marino legend, striker Matteo Montanari, has now retired with 37 international goals from 118 caps and 74 league goals for San Giovanni - plus some crucial European goals when we first qualified for the CL group stages. 2 foreign players are being let go, but we are bringing in an Italian DM as we are poor at the position - he'll be the only foreign player outside of an Italian in the youth squad. Youth Intake Another solid group - but oddly the best 2 prospects are both named Michele Stefanelli!! There's only one... oh wait! Let's hope I don't get mixed up and play the striker in goal or something!!! The striker will replace Montanari next season, so he's a nicely timed gift. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 2029-30 San Marino Calcio League: Champions! Italian Cup: Quarterfinal (l. to Juventus) Champions League: First Knockout Round (l. to Spurs) Summer Transfers In: Christopher Menella ($28M), Arraial ($18.5), Eric Martinez ($18M), Hector Andreu ($5.5M), Matija Krovinovic ($1.1M) Out: Victor Villamizar ($58M), Milos Djokic ($17.5M), Daniel Slobozeanu ($12.5M), Josh Dyche ($9.5M) Arraial was a great signing for us, especially as I let Berti develop. I expect him to be a quality keeper for us, with me getting a huge profit (3x or more) off the investment when I sell him in 3-4 years. Krovinovic is a similar acquisition, with the 17 year-old Croatian midfielder (a young 17, at that) looking like he could be a world class player in the future. Seems like I will make big money off him. True to my word, I kept my commitment to sell Victor Villamizar at the end of the season, with Chelsea coming in with a reasonable bid for the player, which also includes a 20% sell-on on profit. This money was then invested into Menella and Martinez as defensive midfielders. Menella is 21, and has some room for development. He is the better of the two and would also be expected to be a profitable acquisition from Juve. Meanwhile, Martinez is 24 and represents a good rotation option at DM from Atletico Madrid. I am also just glad to have two players that can plug into that position and do a job, since previous years it was Villamizar as first-choice and a bunch of half-capable players when he wasn’t available. Slobozeanu and Dyche were both just cleared out to make room for Sammarinese (or potential Sammarinese) players. Slobozeanu is a quality striker, but I need to get Arzilli and Gualandi in the fold. Meanwhile, I was more than happy to move along the mediocre Dyche to get Steffanelli some matches, especially since Steffanelli is going to be wonderkid and has a perfectionist personality. First Half Summary The first half of the season went incredibly well in the league. We tied the record for first half points in a Serie A season since taking over at Calcio, taking 47 from 19 matches. This allowed us to go into the new year 8 points clear of Juventus and 17 clear of 5th placed Entella. We also had 48 goals and a +31 differential. The next best team was Napoli, with 37 and +17, respectively. Given the large lead we have over Juve at this point, it would be a disappointment to not see this one out. In Champions League, we drew Man City, Sevilla and Galatasaray. Definitely a tougher group than I would have liked. I expected City and Sevilla to be the strongest competition, and I was unsure I would make it through. However, we dominated both matches against Galatasaray and City, taking all 12 points against them and outscoring the opposition 11-0 over these 4 matches. Sevilla was a different story, as I lost 2-1 in a match that was fairly even, then lost 3-0 in the reverse, which was a fair result. Through to the knockouts with a game to spare, and I finished on 12 points. Decent enough. Winter Transfers: In: Albert De Haas ($18.5M), Luis Castillo ($13.25M), David Mariscal ($21M) Out: Cristian Milan ($50M), Nikola Dodic ($30M), Nikola Radisic ($4.6M) De Haas was brought in from Ajax to replace Milan as the AMR. While slightly worse, de Haas saved us a lot of money, and the transfers gave a clear space for Lasso in the XI. Dodic was sold to Milan for a really nice fee. The young Serbian is a good player, and I loved his versatility, but I just couldn’t turn down an offer of that size for a player that was very much on the periphery of my squad. Radisic was the last player out, with the third choice RB moving for a modest fee. The two other incomings are young players. Luis Castillo is a young Ecuadorian CB who looks like he will be immense. The lack of a non-EU slot means he won’t play for us until next season. David Mariscal is an 18 year-old Spanish CM who looks like he could be a world-class player. I was able to get him from Villareal on the cheap because of a release clause, and I expect to turn a massive profit on him. I also sent $22.5 million to the San Marino League at the end of the window. I look forward to seeing if this helps the league in European competition this summer. Second Half Summary: The second half of the season got off to another disappointing start. We started by throwing away a lead against Juventus in the Italian Cup to again fall at the quarterfinal stage. My failures in this competition are nothing short of shocking, as I STILL have not gone past this stage during my time at Calcio. I followed this up by beating Entella (more on them later) and losing again to Juventus in the league, closing our lead to 5 points. Juventus kept their form through early March, but we had similar results over this period. By mid-March, Juve began dropping points unexpectedly, allowing us to re-establish our stranglehold on the title race. Unfortunately, we lost to Spurs in CL 5-3 on aggregate. This is especially gutting because 3 of Spurs’ 5 goals came through two pens and an OG. After getting knocked out of CL, we took 27 out of 33 points over the next 11 matches, which clinched the league for us going away. We ultimately finished on 90, 14 clear of runner-up Juventus. Key Players Nicolo Giuliani (ST)- He slowed down on his goalscoring in the latter part of the year, but has 120 goals for us in Serie A for his career. Stiven Lasso (AMR)- A young Colombian winger, he has generated interest from several large clubs across Europe. Bought for only $1M, he has been an absolute bargain. David Mariscal (CM)- The Spanish CM was still only 18 at the end of the campaign. I paid $21M for him, but he seems like he could well end up being one of the very best CMs in the world. Ilir Sulaj (CM)- This guy may well be my favorite signing because of the backstory. Born in Albania, the youngster is a dual Albanian/Italian international. He came through the Fidelis Andria academy, a Serie D side, helping them to promotion as a 16 year-old. I brought him in for $350K after he spent a season on the bench in Serie C, and he has worked his way into the first team and the Italian national team. I love getting these lower league gems. Nenem (LB) Arraial (GK) Youth Watch Marco Cenci is the best player in the intake. Unfortunately, he is yet another dual national striker. Meanwhile Massimo Montanari has indicated that he may accept a SMNT call in the future, although being loaded at CM has made this less of a hit to the national team program. Allessandro Gualandi (ST)- Consistently improving, the 21 year old dual national got a run of games in the second half of the season when Giuliani went through a barren spell. The youngster rewarded me with 6 goals in 11 matches, with improving play in the latter stages of the season. Federico Balducci (CM)- Didn’t really kick on, playing to a 6.8 rating in 27 league appearances. Safe to say he is a graduate at this point, but he has not recaptured the form that got him into the Serie B Team of the Year two seasons ago. One problem I have is that I play with a mezzala and BBM in midfield, whereas Balducci’s best role is DLP. I may alter the BBM role to DLP for him specifically to see if I can get the best out of him next year. Nicola Arzilli (ST)- Meh. Arzilli got first crack as Giuliani’s understudy, but didn’t do much with the opportunity, only netting once in 14 appearances (granted 13 were as a substitute). I’m having a hard time gauging which of the two dual national strikers will be better. I was hoping one would take a clear advantage and freeze the other out. Now I’m worried that I might lose both of them, with the lesser of the two only getting a handful of appearances for Italy. Giacomo Bonifazi (CM)- A poor personality has stalled development, and the mentoring group has helped much more slowly than expected. Listed him for loan, but had no takers. Yet again he did not make a first team appearance and absolutely dominated U20. I need to move him along, either on loan or permanently, since development is just not happening. Roberto Stefanelli (CM)- Steffanelli’s place in the Calcio team as compared to Bonifazi can almost wholly be chalked up to personality. While Bonifazi is casual, Steffanelli is a perfectionist. The two players, born 3 months apart, were basically at the same place developmentally when they came in. Now 3 years on, Steffanelli looks like he could be top Serie A player. He made 14 appearances, including 4 starts, scoring 3 goals and averaging a 7.0 rating. I’ll keep getting him matches, especially if I can get a big fee for one of the players ahead of him in the CM pecking order. Michele Rattini (CB)- He was here for half the season, making no first team appearances. I then loaned him out in January to Serie A rivals Torino to serve as a rotation piece. He made 6 appearances, winning a couple U19 player of the week awards and averaging a 7.2 rating. He has all the physical attributes I look for in a CB. We shall see if I can get him in the first team. Turning 19 at the end of June, he is on U20s duty with Italy. The wait continues for the SMNT, but I am getting more optimistic. Thomas Berti (GK)- Development is going well so far. Played to an average rating of 7.0 for club and country. Still third choice, I may loan him out to a Serie B side for some first team matches. I think he is going to be awesome. Marco Cenci (ST)- Yet another forward with dual nationality, the youngster has developed nicely since his intake in March, thanks to a professional personality. Surely one of these strikers will sign on for us, right? Other stuff -Newly promoted Entella had one of the strangest seasons I have ever seen. They got 30 points through the first half of the season to finish fifth. They then only got 2 in the second half of the season, getting relegated on 32 points. I’ve never seen such a dramatic change within a season. -The San Marino League’s ranking is up to 106th, up from 119th last season and 128th from two seasons ago. Rapidly moving in the right direction. -Despite my investments in the San Marino League, I still finished the season with $150M in the bank. -The Netherlands finally broke through to win the 2030 World Cup. -Neymar was hired as Brazil’s manager after the WC. Hilarious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 2030 San Marino National Team European International League: 1st of 3 (8 points) After a strong, but ultimately unsuccessful, World Cup qualifying campaign, we returned to action in March with a pair of friendlies against Albania and Liechtenstein. Albania is quality opposition, ranked 53rd. Liechtenstein, on the other hand, is the second worst national team in the rankings, checking in at 210th. So one match is a test and the other is a feel-good match for us. The highlight of the Albania match was the most aesthetically unpleasing hat trick I have ever seen, courtesy of Francesco Gualandi. The first goal occurred when the Albanian keeper came off his line and headed just outside the box, landing at Gualandi’s feet. From here, he eased the ball over the keeper from 35 yards out to get his first. The second came off a long ball, from which Gualandi rounded the keeper and cooly finished. The last goal occurred when the keeper was charged down by the forward, with his attempted clearance deflecting off Gualandi into the net. In any case, we went 4-1 up and saw out a 4-3 victory. Meanwhile, the Liechtenstein match was every bit the demolition job I thought it would be, with us dealing a 6-0 beatdown. Gualandi added 2 more goals to his international total, taking him above Conti and within 2 of Berardi. At the rate he is going, the 25 year-old forward could well end up with 50+ international goals. Coincidentally, we happened to draw Albania in International League, along with Northern Ireland. I felt good about the draw, considering that I won a friendly against Albania earlier this year and had beaten Northern Ireland last time we played, in the European Championships Playoff final in 2028. I won the first two matches, which set us up nicely. A draw with Albania in the third match put us through with a game to spare. Unfortunately, we only managed to draw with Northern Ireland at home to finish the group, despite dominating the game. Annoying, but “getting FM’ed” has been a recurring thing for club and country since August, so just one of those patches. In any case, a little draw luck has helped us to get promoted to Division B ahead of when I thought we might get there by at least 2 years. In the midst of this, we also lost to Serbia and destroyed Australia in a pair of friendlies. The other group winners are Slovenia, Sweden and Cyprus. All of us failed to qualify through the traditional route, so this will be the foursome for the playoff. I would make the Swedes huge favorites, but the straight knockout format means everybody has a chance. I would love to draw Cyprus. They dominated us in my first International League, so getting one over on them would feel like some tangible progress. In any case, a couple new SMNT achievements, @duesouth! Bits and Bobs -We achieved a high ranking of 99 in November after beating Australia. -Francesco Gualandi lit it up for the SMNT this year, scoring 12 in 8 matches for a rating of 8.6. He and Berardi are now tied on 34 goals for the all time lead. I would guess Gualandi will get to 50 goals, barring commitments from two of the dual national strikers in the immediate future. -Conti has 89 caps and Righi has 84. Barring injuries, I would expect Conti and Righi to reach 100 caps within two years. The caveat here is that the addition of only one of the dual international forwards would push Conti to the bench, whereas Righi is in a much more secure squad position. World Ranking: 100 (+7) Newly Completed Goals: Get Promoted From Nations League C, Get San Marino into the top 100 of the rankings. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkin90 Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 The San Marino Challenge for the 2027/8 season is here! Can we improve on our 11th placed finish from last season? And what the hell have San Marino U19's been eating for breakfast? Read on to find out! https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/a-serene-rebirth-16-lambs-to-the-slaughter/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David South Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 My SM challenge - brief update. I was attempting a youth challenge challenge (if that makes sense) - it didn't go well. First season in serie C I finished 16 and only progressed through the playoffs due to higher position after finishing 1-1 on aggregate. Second season ended in relegation and at this point I deciede to abandon the youth challenge has my youth prospects were dire and I couldn't keep hold of my better players. One season in serie D and I'm back up to Serie C. Mostly bad news but a couple of average dual nationals have decieded on playing for the National Team and some reasonable development of young players- I'll probably look to take it over if I ever get to Serie B. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 2039/2040 Season (FM19) - Part 1 National Team We kicked off the final 6 games of Euro 2040 qualifying, with the visit of Holland. To show our progress, I came away gutted at drawing 1-1. We had the better chances and should have beaten them. However, stuffing Moldova 6-0 three days later cheered me up! After navigating two away games to Gibraltar and Georgia, that left us with our final big challenge in Serbia at home. Again, we were the better team, but this time we claimed a big scalp, winning 1-0 in a fairly cagey game. Away to Moldova ended the group and we were 3-0 up at half time and walked it. We finished second and qualified for our second European Championship finals! I have to admit, I don't give the U21 and U19 teams much love - but to underline our growth as a nation, they are doing really well also. The U21's beat Sweden 1-0 and 6 games into a 10 game Euro U21 qual group are 2nd, level on points with Sweden. They've beaten Iceland, Rep Ireland, Georgia and N Ireland. The U19's were even more impressive - they managed to beat Germany 2-1 to actually qualify from the first qual group ahead of them in 2nd place! Overall Save Progress In winning Serie A for the first time with San Marino Calcio, I did it with mostly non-Sammarinese players. The prize money upgraded facilities and the club's reputation. Now, those 10 outfield players are mostly still with me - and are split into 2 separate teams, which I rotate each game. The other 5 are Sammarinese players - some better than others. I've worked out, probably due to tactics, I can "carry" 5 players who my coaches rate as Serie B or C talents. When I get injuries, results can be less certain. By that token, I figure I need 5 or 6 top talents in the San Marino national team and I can "carry" the rest. I have the keeper I wanted in Bronzelli (who my coaches say is now at Serie A level and should still improve - more on him below) and a backup 5* PA in Belotti who is developing nicely (and will go on loan next season) - so we're set in goal. Outfield wise, I have 3 top talents - midfielder Broccoli and strikers Bugli and young Fabbri - so I figure I'm 2 or 3 players away from having a stab at something special. I'll need just one very good, or better, intake - but after last year, I'm not holding my breath!! I have noticed 2 of my Serie C level players are now Serie B talents (which has taken a long time to happen - I'm assuming our improvement as a nation has helped in the background of the game somewhere) and a couple at my affiliate club are also developing nicely (including a left back, which I badly needed) - so we're a pretty good team, but I don't know if we could beat an England/Germany/Spain/Italy level team - with my boring slow possession tactic, perhaps 0-0 and penalties! San Marino Calcio Already running away with Serie A - and still in the Italian Cup. In Europe, Spurs stuffed us 7-1 (4 goals in the last 5 minutes as we threw in the towel), but we did qualify, so I'm not expecting much against Real Madrid in the first knockout stage. I might think about using my slow/possession tactic and see what happens... Our Italian keeper De Luca was getting grumpy about not playing enough as Bronzetti was starting every other game. I tried to keep him happy, but failed - so ended up putting him on the transfer list and selling him for £17.75 million. Ever since, Bronzetti has started every league and CL game - with 17 year old Sammarinese keeper Belotti starting in the Italian Cup. Young striker Fabbri is coming along well also - he has 11 goals this season and already has 9 international goals in his 14 appearances - and he's only just turned 18! The other big name from that class, striker Valentini, isn't coming on as well - but after promoting him to the senior squad and mentoring him with Bugli and Slovenian centre half Pucko, finally his development has moved in the right direction. I've instant resulted less games as I tend to bring him on for the last 20-30 minutes. He's in the San Marino U21 squad right now - and has 4 goals in 3 games this season. San Giovanni I was desparate to get back into the CL group stage, to help grow the league still further - but we lost at the final hurdle to Ajax, who were too good for us. That meant we were in the Europa League group stages - drawn against Real San Sebastian, Spartak Moscow and Stabaek. We were outstanding - qualifying for the knockout stages with 2 games left to spare - and pushing Real San Sebastian in both games. After PSG last year in the first knockout round, I was hoping for a nice draw, but we got... Arsenal. No chance - again. For the first time, I got an offer from a foreign club for one of our home grown players - right back Matteo Fiorini, who is first choice for the national team. The offer was low (£10.75k) and the club was Al-Ra'ed (Saudi Arabia) - but I let him go after a bit of thought and hopefully he grows a bit more than he would in our league. If not, I'll buy him back. Easy in the league, but we did get knocked out of the cup, after a 45 minute shocker where we shipped 3 goals to lose. All our eggs will be in the league basket this year. Edited July 4, 2020 by duesouth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 2030-31 San Marino Calcio League: Champions Coppa Italia: Winners! Champions League: Winners! Italian Super Cup: Winners! Transfers Season Summary Serie A: Another Serie A triumph takes us to 4 titles in 5 years. The season started slowly, as we only took 16 points from our opening 10 matches. This was made even more frustrating by the fact that we generally bossed the matches, only for us to drop points. Fortunately, we turned things around after an early November loss to surprise package Atalanta, winning our remaining 8 matches to close the year. At the halfway point, Atalanta led the way with 46 points, somehow winning 15 and losing only 3 despite a goal difference of only +12. I assumed this was not sustainable, and so it proved. We played fairly well in the second half of the season, totaling another 39 points over the next 17 matches to clinch the title with 2 games to spare. I played youngsters in these final matches to focus more on other competitions, putting another point on the board. This season is a testament to how strong the squad has become, as we won the league quite easily, even while failing to cash in on our dominance in a bunch of matches throughout the season. Coppa Italia: It finally happened! Those that have followed along here and on the FM19 challenge board may know of my struggles in the Coppa Italia, having NEVER advanced past the quarterfinal of this competition during my tenure, often owing to really tough draws. This time around, we got another tough draw in Napoli, but managed to sneak a 1-0 win to advance. Fortunately, the draw really opened up for us at this point, with Inter, Torino and Empoli making the semis. We got Torino and were unlucky to only draw the match. We corrected this quickly, scoring 3 first half goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the tie. At this point, I shut up shop and eased to a 4-1 victory after a Torino sending off early in the second half. Our luck continued as Empoli surprised Inter with a 1-0 aggregate victory. We took full advantage of the opportunity, coming from a goal down to beat Empoli in the final. It was made all the sweeter by academy product and long-serving center back Vagnetti smashing home the winning goal in the 69th minute. My man is now a legend in Calcio lore. Champions League: The group stage was much like the first half of the Serie A season: a failure to make our advantage count as much as it should despite an objectively successful campaign. In any case, we won the group and were rewarded with PSG. PSG had won CL 4 times and finished as runner-up once in the preceding 6 seasons. I thought we would fall at the first hurdle, but we came through relatively easily, 5-4 on aggregate. A pair of straightforward 1-0 victories against Dortmund followed, and we found ourselves in the semifinal against Sevilla, while the other semi was a Barca-Real Madrid matchup. Lucky draw for us. We took the first match of the series in dominant fashion 3-0. I figured job done, especially when I added a fourth in the 20th minute of the second leg, giving us the critical away goal advantage. Sevilla responded in short order with 2 goals, but then had a man sent off late in the first half. A 4-2 advantage with an extra man is job done, right? Nope, as the shorthanded club put two more on the board to level at 4-4 in the 79th minute. We withstood the barrage over the final 10 minutes, ultimately having a man sent off in stoppage time but coming through on away goals. Disaster averted. The final saw us take on Real Madrid at the Bernebeu, and I am truly just happy to have come this far and fully expected to leave as the runner up. Jean Ruiz had different plans, heading us into the lead 65 seconds into the match. He then added a second to finish a counterattack. We were 2-0 up in 12 minutes. From here, I decided to try holding on to what I had, playing on the counter the rest of the way. Madrid got one back in the 32nd minute, but didn’t fashion any other significant chances the remainder of the match. In fact, we had the better of the action late on, and could have added 1 or 2 more. A shocking victory for us, even more shocking because we went toe to toe with Madrid and thoroughly deserved the victory. Italian Super Cup: I don’t count this as a “real” cup victory, but the $2.5M prize is well worth winning. Smashed Juve 4-0 to win it for the 3rd time. Youth Intake Finally got a good forward who is not a dual national. Some decent players otherwise who could make an impact on the SMNT at some point, as well. Club Infrastructure/Finances Financially, the club is in an increasingly strong position. This is largely owing to my transfer dealings over the last three seasons, where I have made a net profit of $90M. I also made $127M in prize money this season. In addition to this, we had another stadium expansion approved, which will be completed in October of 2031. This will bring our capacity upward of 40,000. We also invested in our training facilities again to bring them back up to state of the art. As of July 1, we have $253M in the bank. Here is a list of squad values and the transfer fees I paid, just to give an idea of the profit margins: What Next?: I have pretty much accomplished everything I can realistically do at San Marino Calcio at this point. In order to win anything with only Sammarinese players, I will need a MUCH larger pool of talent producers than just the Calcio academy. Consequently, the main thing to do this summer is invest heavily in the San Marino League with the $160M budget I have been handed. I will probably stay for the foreseeable future because the health of the San Marino League is dependent on repeated injections of cash from my Serie A squad. I think I will send $10M to the Europe-qualified sides in San Marino, and $5M to all others. Now that San Marino is 41st in the coefficient rankings, this mean 1 CL spot and 3 EC spots. This means an outlay of $85M, which still gives me about $80M to bring new players in, if needed (assuming no outgoings). Bits and Bobs -The CL final was also my 600th match as a manager, so that was a great way to mark the occasion. -Filippo Berardi attempted to retire after leaving Adelaide United. However, I convinced him to stick around and will be bringing him to Calcio as a result. This should keep him in the frame for Euro 2032 as well. On the other hand, Elia Benedettini retired at the end of the season as San Marino’s most capped plater, with 123 appearances. -The San Marino League is up to 93rd from 106th in the European competition rankings. For context, this is between Serie C (72nd) and Serie D (123rd). -We are up to 20th in the European club rankings. -Christian Pulisic has 197 caps for the US!!! (I'm an American, so the idea of Pulisic getting nearly 200 caps fills me with untold joy). Newly Completed Goals: Win the Coppa Italia, Win the Champions League. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkin90 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 San Marino attempt to Qualify for Euro 2028 while our U19 side are drawn against England, Spain and Germany.....they could end up scarred for life! https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2020/07/05/serene-rebirth-17-youth-on-our-side/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkin90 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 1 hour ago, mcleera said: 2030-31 San Marino Calcio League: Champions Coppa Italia: Winners! Champions League: Winners! Italian Super Cup: Winners! Transfers Season Summary Serie A: Another Serie A triumph takes us to 4 titles in 5 years. The season started slowly, as we only took 16 points from our opening 10 matches. This was made even more frustrating by the fact that we generally bossed the matches, only for us to drop points. Fortunately, we turned things around after an early November loss to surprise package Atalanta, winning our remaining 8 matches to close the year. At the halfway point, Atalanta led the way with 46 points, somehow winning 15 and losing only 3 despite a goal difference of only +12. I assumed this was not sustainable, and so it proved. We played fairly well in the second half of the season, totaling another 39 points over the next 17 matches to clinch the title with 2 games to spare. I played youngsters in these final matches to focus more on other competitions, putting another point on the board. This season is a testament to how strong the squad has become, as we won the league quite easily, even while failing to cash in on our dominance in a bunch of matches throughout the season. Coppa Italia: It finally happened! Those that have followed along here and on the FM19 challenge board may know of my struggles in the Coppa Italia, having NEVER advanced past the quarterfinal of this competition during my tenure, often owing to really tough draws. This time around, we got another tough draw in Napoli, but managed to sneak a 1-0 win to advance. Fortunately, the draw really opened up for us at this point, with Inter, Torino and Empoli making the semis. We got Torino and were unlucky to only draw the match. We corrected this quickly, scoring 3 first half goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the tie. At this point, I shut up shop and eased to a 4-1 victory after a Torino sending off early in the second half. Our luck continued as Empoli surprised Inter with a 1-0 aggregate victory. We took full advantage of the opportunity, coming from a goal down to beat Empoli in the final. It was made all the sweeter by academy product and long-serving center back Vagnetti smashing home the winning goal in the 69th minute. My man is now a legend in Calcio lore. Champions League: The group stage was much like the first half of the Serie A season: a failure to make our advantage count as much as it should despite an objectively successful campaign. In any case, we won the group and were rewarded with PSG. PSG had won CL 4 times and finished as runner-up once in the preceding 6 seasons. I thought we would fall at the first hurdle, but we came through relatively easily, 5-4 on aggregate. A pair of straightforward 1-0 victories against Dortmund followed, and we found ourselves in the semifinal against Sevilla, while the other semi was a Barca-Real Madrid matchup. Lucky draw for us. We took the first match of the series in dominant fashion 3-0. I figured job done, especially when I added a fourth in the 20th minute of the second leg, giving us the critical away goal advantage. Sevilla responded in short order with 2 goals, but then had a man sent off late in the first half. A 4-2 advantage with an extra man is job done, right? Nope, as the shorthanded club put two more on the board to level at 4-4 in the 79th minute. We withstood the barrage over the final 10 minutes, ultimately having a man sent off in stoppage time but coming through on away goals. Disaster averted. The final saw us take on Real Madrid at the Bernebeu, and I am truly just happy to have come this far and fully expected to leave as the runner up. Jean Ruiz had different plans, heading us into the lead 65 seconds into the match. He then added a second to finish a counterattack. We were 2-0 up in 12 minutes. From here, I decided to try holding on to what I had, playing on the counter the rest of the way. Madrid got one back in the 32nd minute, but didn’t fashion any other significant chances the remainder of the match. In fact, we had the better of the action late on, and could have added 1 or 2 more. A shocking victory for us, even more shocking because we went toe to toe with Madrid and thoroughly deserved the victory. Italian Super Cup: I don’t count this as a “real” cup victory, but the $2.5M prize is well worth winning. Smashed Juve 4-0 to win it for the 3rd time. Youth Intake Finally got a good forward who is not a dual national. Some decent players otherwise who could make an impact on the SMNT at some point, as well. Club Infrastructure/Finances Financially, the club is in an increasingly strong position. This is largely owing to my transfer dealings over the last three seasons, where I have made a net profit of $90M. I also made $127M in prize money this season. In addition to this, we had another stadium expansion approved, which will be completed in October of 2031. This will bring our capacity upward of 40,000. We also invested in our training facilities again to bring them back up to state of the art. As of July 1, we have $253M in the bank. Here is a list of squad values and the transfer fees I paid, just to give an idea of the profit margins: What Next?: I have pretty much accomplished everything I can realistically do at San Marino Calcio at this point. In order to win anything with only Sammarinese players, I will need a MUCH larger pool of talent producers than just the Calcio academy. Consequently, the main thing to do this summer is invest heavily in the San Marino League with the $160M budget I have been handed. I will probably stay for the foreseeable future because the health of the San Marino League is dependent on repeated injections of cash from my Serie A squad. I think I will send $10M to the Europe-qualified sides in San Marino, and $5M to all others. Now that San Marino is 41st in the coefficient rankings, this mean 1 CL spot and 3 EC spots. This means an outlay of $85M, which still gives me about $80M to bring new players in, if needed (assuming no outgoings). Bits and Bobs -The CL final was also my 600th match as a manager, so that was a great way to mark the occasion. -Filippo Berardi attempted to retire after leaving Adelaide United. However, I convinced him to stick around and will be bringing him to Calcio as a result. This should keep him in the frame for Euro 2032 as well. On the other hand, Elia Benedettini retired at the end of the season as San Marino’s most capped plater, with 123 appearances. -The San Marino League is up to 93rd from 106th in the European competition rankings. For context, this is between Serie C (72nd) and Serie D (123rd). -We are up to 20th in the European club rankings. -Christian Pulisic has 197 caps for the US!!! (I'm an American, so the idea of Pulisic getting nearly 200 caps fills me with untold joy). Newly Completed Goals: Win the Coppa Italia, Win the Champions League. Good to see Juve struggling! Hopefully the forward does the business for you 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 I've just started this one for the first time, having previously done the Pentagon and Tetradecagon Challenges amongst others. The international element gives this one a real difficulty spike. I'll let you know how it goes. I've signed a bunch of Amateur players, tried to get as many decent Sammarinese players on, the club were devastated by my transfer signings, but stopped caring as the results came in for the first 5 games. I'm through to the 3rd round of the Serie D Cup which has blown expectations out of the water, looking forward to the new recruits in the spring. The San Marino national team are dismal, but the coaches job is stable. How long did it take people to get offered the reigns? Or did others start as national manager too? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 On 06/07/2020 at 16:29, Surd said: The San Marino national team are dismal, but the coaches job is stable. How long did it take people to get offered the reigns? Or did others start as national manager too? It can take a little time sometimes as there's no pressure to win a game, let alone qualify for a major tournament, so no sackings. In my FM19 save, I started out as manager, then left just before FM20, but then came back to FM19 and Mirko Palazzi had the job for 7 years. If the job isn't open when you want to start, do feel free to create a temp manager - take the national job and then retire the manager right away, thus opening up the job. Or you can wait. Good luck! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 2039/2040 Season (FM19) - Part 2 National Team Last time in the Euros, we had a tough group - Portugal and Germany. This time we got an easier one - Poland, Bosnia & Herz and the #1 team in the world, Spain. We started out with a tight 1-0 win against Poland, the goal a scrappy yet beautiful effort from 2 yards after a corner caused chaos. Knowing Spain would likely beat Poland (which they did 3-0), I knew a win against Bosnia would see us through, so I went with an attacking formation and was rewarded with a very comfortable 2-0 win. The 2nd round saw us get Switzerland - I went cautious, but kept 2 up front and we were pretty comfortable at 2-0 up - they did get one in injury time, but we saw out the game nicely. I thought Italy in the quarter final would be the end of the tournament for us. We went with a defensive/short/slow passing 4-1-4-1 and managed to go 1-0 up on 35 minutes, when a corner was only half cleared and right winger Cimmino fired in a shot from the edge of the area, which former Calcio keeper De Luca probably should have saved. It was all looking good until the 86th minute, when dual national Calcio striker Muccioli equalised. Extra time was fairly uneventful and so we went to penalties. Both teams scored their first - but then keeper Bronzetti made an excellent save, guessing correctly and tipping the ball around the post! We were able to hold our nerve, score all our pens and get a massive win! England in the semi was the end of the road. They scored early - and as I've found being the favourite with Calcio or San Giovanni, that generally means you go on and win big, or in this case as the underdog, lose. We did get a goal, but got stuffed 5-1. Overall though, a superb showing. We're now 56th in the world, but I feel we should be in the top 20 or 30... San Marino Calcio Serie A was easy - we won with 5 games left and it was never in doubt. The Champions League was miles better this year, which was a surprise. We tended to be at home in first legs come knockout stage and went for it at home - and then cautious in the second - which seemed to work perfectly. I did go with my strongest team in the final, but that was still 4 Sammarinese players in the starting lineup - it went to extra time, but we managed to get the goal to win it. Youth Intake 1 4.5* PA player... but he's Italian. The rest were, once again, garbage. State of the art facilities etc. clearly count for nothing. San Giovanni We did manage to score against Arsenal in the Europa League - but lost 2-1 at home and then 2-0 away. We didn't get stuffed - but never looked like winning. That left us with just the league, and we won 2-0 in the final against Domagnano. Youth Intake After a couple of bad years, a change in HOYD has seen much better intakes, and this was another good one. Our U19 team didn't win their league 2 years ago, but we've won easily the last 2 years, so I'll keep this HOYD. Riccardo Gatti A quick word on Gatti. He was in my first ever intake for San Marino Calcio when we were in Serie D - and went straight into the team and the National Team. He grew with us and finished his career with 135 international caps. He's staying with me as he was a player/coach and I've signed him up as a straight U19 coach. He didn't play much this season, indeed once he announced his retirement he just played a couple of times. However, I put him on the bench in the final and gave him 5 minutes at the end. Fittingly, he had the last touch of the game, so he finished his career on the ball in a Champions Playoff winning game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 (edited) Couldn't have had a better start to a save if I tried. I'm borrowing mcleera's format as I don't really know what I'm doing and it looked good! 2019-20 San Marino Calcio League: Champions! (And invincibles!) Italian Serie D Cup: Winners! Summer Transfers (basically forming the squad see my above post) Incredible season, where not only did San Marino Calcio go undefeated, with a lot of draws, but so did the U20's and the U18's. San Marino Academy also went undefeated, winning the league and cup, a trend I expect will continue in the minnows of the San Marino domestic league. It was quite incredible! And the SMA U18's?? Wellllll, lest said about them the better. The team started well, burnt out slightly towards the end, drawing 4 games on the bounce, but returned to form, ending the season with a 7-1 dismantling of Tolentino. About that late season surge.... Key Players The player of the season was Andrea Zimbardi, as you can tell by the end of season awards. Honestly the guy was a phenom in the bowels of Serie D. Picked him up for free form Ascoli, well worth the punt if you're considering starting this challenge. Youth watch: The youth intake yielded some good squad players, but one worldie. Introducing Simone Macina: This kid came straight into the first team and the national squad and began immediately scoring for fun. Scored 6 in 6 at the back end of the season and scored 3 on his international debut, thus being nearly half way to Andy Selva's record! I had a feeling I'd be fending off the big clubs, but immediately Inter and Roma came in hard, problematically they won't go higher than 400k, and this guy is worth a fortune anywhere else. Roles reversed they'd want €100m. This guy is on a 2 year contract, so I doubt I'll make it to Serie A with him, but my new mission is to keep hold of this guy, he could be the next Ronaldo. Even in 6 games all of his stats have jumped by at least 1 point. The rest of the youth pales into comparison, but I got a half decent GK called Molinari and a solid defender called Bologna, both of whom I expect to be in the international squad before long. International The San Marino national side clung to 211 for most of the season, after the debut of Macina, I didn't want Varrella getting a job for life so I took duesouth's advice and subbed myself in there. We are now at the heady heights of 209. The journey continues. At least if I lose Macina from one squad, he'll be in the other one for the rest of his days! Edited July 11, 2020 by Surd 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Random question, I noticed despite winning the San Marino League, the team in second place, rather than the Academy qualified for the Champions League. Is this a bug or is it because of the team location/affiliation? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkin90 Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 It's the 2028/9 season in San Marino and we've got European football, World Cup qualifying and even a Cup run for your enjoyment! Oh, and some great goalscorers! @duesouth I got a Sammarinese striker who scored over 20 goals in Serie A! https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/serene-rebirth-18-wow/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 2031 San Marino National Team: European Championship Qualifying Euro Qualification: 3rd (11 points) I have had no new commitments from dual nationals. I hope to qualify for the next WC and get them into the fold. Big shouts to @duesouth for that helpful hint. The qualification campaign was undermined by injuries, as I lost Conti, F. Gualandi, Steffanelli and Balducci for multiple matches each. Losing the four best players in the pool is always going to hurt. Despite this, we managed to take 9 points from our first five matches, which set us up with a chance in our final 3 matches to perhaps sneak a place. Then I got to deal with heaps of frustration. Against FYR Macedonia I dominated, only to throw away a 2-0 lead, complete with a 94th minute penalty for them to equalize. In the final international break, I lost Gualandi, the SMNT all-time goals leader. Ugh. However, the Italy match saw 16 year-old forward Manuel Angelini seize on an early mistake, pouncing on a poor first touch from an Italian CB and rifling past the keeper in the 12th minute. I decided no to be as naïve as previous matches against top sides. I decided we were going to set up not to concede, hoping to frustrate the European Champions/World Cup runner-up. More critically, we would keep our qualification hopes alive with a win. The minutes ticked by and I started to believe. The Italians couldn’t fashion much, but in the 90th minute, they found an equalizer off a wide free kick. The match finished 1-1 and our qualification dreams were dashed. Gutting. The cherry on top of all this was the Norway match, where we created the better of the chances and just couldn’t finish. Just one of those stretches, and for the first time as NT manager, I feel we have stagnated a bit. Based on the way we bossed Norway in both matches and the FYR Macedonia match that we ultimately drew, it is not unfair to say that in another campaign we could have had 16-18 points and gone through. I am obviously pleased to have gotten a draw against the best national team in the world, but conceding late on and having pretty frustrating results otherwise has dampened my enthusiasm a little bit. Fortunately, our International League performance has given us another crack at it. Bits and Bobs -Francesco Gualandi is on 40 goals now. I would be surprised if he doesn’t reach 50. -Despite his declining skills and impending retirement, Filippo Berardi is on 123 caps and still appearing regularly. I presume he will at least play through the playoff, and I hope I can get him to 125 before he rides off into the sunset. -I’m going to continue pouring huge sums of money into the San Marino League. We need improvement in Sammarinese youth in advance of WC 2034. -Here is Angelini. He has PA higher than both A. Gualandi and Arzilli. He already has 4 goals in 7 appearances (5 starts). I have every reason to believe he will spearhead the attack alongside Gualandi in the near future. World Ranking: 93 (+7) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Quick update. First match in charge of San Marino in the European League Division D and it went..... well. A 5-0 thrashing of the Faroe Islands thanks to my youth academy prospect Simone Macina, he's scored 7 goals in 2 games now. So I THINK he'll break the record. It also provided my first win with the NT. I had to fight tooth and nail to keep hold of him until the window closed. Had to get a little underhanded. Sorry if everyone knows this trick, but I discovered it by accident while experimenting. The board accepted a bid on my behalf for a paltry amount of £400k, I managed to fend this off until Inter came in at £850k at which point I had to issue a risky ultimatum, the sale or my notice, which stopped it. When Everton came in for £3.4m I knew there was no winning. So I tried a Hail Mary plan. I offered him to clubs for sale, but with a 40% profit on next sale in red padlock, which all future bids came with. That got me to thinking. So I changed the offer to 40% future sale, loan back for 2 seasons and some other clauses, again with the padlock. This stopped all the bids. Nothing else came in for 2 weeks, and for at least another transfer window, I've held onto him. I figure he'll go at some point, but the longer I fend off, the higher the sale price, and the easier climbing the leagues will be! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 San Marino Calcio 2031-32 League: Champions Italian Cup: Champions Champions League: Runner-up (l. to Tottenham) Club World Cup: Champions European Super Cup: Winner Italian Super Cup: Winner Season Summary Serie A: We clinched the league with a game to spare, but we did our very best to bottle it, taking only 8 points in our final 6 league matches. Fortunately, we had a sizable cushion and games in hand to eventually crawl over the finish line for our 3rd consecutive title and 5th in 6 years. Having done the double over Juve eased the stress considerably. Coppa Italia: A pretty straightforward run through the cup, our only challenge was Atalanta in the quarterfinal, where we required an 80th minute winner from Lasso after they scored a 76th minute equalizer. We never trailed in the cup, led every match at the half, and won all but the Atalanta match by multiple goals. Easy enough. Italian Super Cup: We played Empoli (apparently, the Super Cup spot goes to the Coppa runner up, not the league runner up, if one team does the double). An easy 6-0 victory, with Arzilli and de Haas both registering a hat trick. However, the highlight of the match was Jean Ruiz contributing 5(!) assists. European Super Cup: We went 1-0 down to Inter in the 4th minute, then dominated the match, eventually running out 3-1 winners. Club World Cup: We beat a Pachuca team that had bunkered in for the semifinal 3-0. We then beat River 5-1 in the final. In both cases, the scorelines were an accurate reflection of our dominance. Happy to take home another trophy. Champions League: We were drawn in a group with PSV, OM, and Liverpool and got through on 12 points, sweeping PSV and OM, and losing to Liverpool twice by a combined scoreline of 8-1. In the first knockout round we drew Real Madrid, setting up a rematch of the previous year’s final. We won the first leg at home 2-0 and grabbed an early away goal in the second leg, eventually seeing out a 4-2 aggregate win. We then squeezed out a 2-1 win over Bayern in the quarterfinal that should probably have been 4 or 5 to 1 if the finishing were better. The semifinal draw gave us Liverpool again. The first leg was a tale of two halves. The first half saw the Reds dominate, eventually going into the half 2-0 up. I laid into the team at half time and got the desired response immediately: Ilir Sulaj got us on the board within 20 seconds, which was followed up by a quickfire brace from Giuliani. We took a 3-2 lead within 2 minutes and 30 seconds! In fairness to us, although the goals came quickly, we continued to dominate the second half and the overall match statistics suggest that we were the slightly better team over the 90. The three away goals set us up nicely. In the second leg, Liverpool scored early to level things on aggregate, which was then canceled out by a Lasso strike in the 45th minute. No more goals, and we go through 4-3 on aggregate. The final gave us a matchup against Spurs, who had knocked out PSG on away goals in the semifinal. Incidentally, Spurs had won the 2030 edition of CL, creating an enticing matchup between the last two winners of the competition. The match was about as exciting as a 0-0 match can be, with both sides making an attempt to push forward and both keepers made to work to keep a clean sheet, especially Tottenham’s keeper Guillon. The critical moment for us was a chance for Nicolo Giuliani in the 90th minute, when he was played through on goal but just couldn’t finish, with Guillon making another fantastic save. In extra time, they finally found the breakthrough in the 117th minute to take a 1-0 lead. However we immediately responded through a de Haas tap in on 118 minutes to level it and hopefully go to penalties. It was not to be, though, as Spurs scored what would prove to be the winning goal on 119 minutes thanks to a deflection that found its way to the feet of world class Dutch forward Ayoub Mazlum, who made no mistakes in applying the finish. I am obviously very disappointed to lose in this manner, especially given that I had 3 clear cut chances to their 0. In fairness, though, they seemed to have the better of the “good” chances from my perspective, and they were the stronger side in the extra period. Penalties would have been a fair result, but I can’t have too many complaints. The season was another successful one. Another Serie A triumph and another Coppa Italia victory (and to think, two seasons ago I was just hoping to get to a Coppa Italia semifinal). We also won the two “super cups,” which come with a bit of cash, so that’s nice. The Club World Cup is worth winning, I think, but it is also fair to say that I should be winning it, considering that 10 of the previous 11 winners of the competition were European champions. I am, however, most proud that we backed up our CL win last year with another run to the final, proving that the previous year wasn’t a fluke. I was pretty gutted to lose it, but we had gone on a run of more than 2 years without being eliminated from a competition (coincidentally, the last elimination we suffered was in February 2030, in the first knockout round of CL to Spurs). During that span, we had a fair share of riding our luck and smash-and-grab victories, so at some point the good fortune must expire. We go again next year. Transfers I didn’t have much in the way of outgoings. Martinez was unsettled and Amick wasn’t likely to get a game. On these two players, I made a profit of $21M. I also made about $5M in loan fees, which is nice little boost to cash flow. Lastly, I sold high potential Sammarinese youngster Bonifazi. I have tried everything I can to try developing him and nothing works: mentoring, training with the first team, loans for first team football. This is just a Hail Mary at this point and I hope Man City can get something out of him. The incomings are sort of messed up because of the San Marino League transfers. Diego is the “big money” signing of this season, but the pacy young Brazilian CB seems like he will be a quality player for what I am trying to do. Molina is just a total profit buy. He is young and has decent enough potential. I figure I can loan him and/or use him as a rotation piece over the next couple seasons and potentially sell him for a huge profit on the $3.2M outlay. I bought the 16 year-old Bazzucchi as a potential replacement to Ardura as my reserve LB. Already an Italian U-20 international, he represents good value for money and could potentially be sold on at a large profit. The best value, however, is German CB Sebastian Fleig. He left Stuttgart on a free and served as a rotation piece for us, also deputizing as a reserve DM when Menella was injured, earning his full international debut in November. His versatility is an asset, so he can either be sold for around $50M, or he can hang around the squad and get some appearances. Youth Watch Nobody outstanding in this year’s intake. I have been absurdly lucky with youth intakes during my tenure, so I can’t complain if I have a few so-so classes. In any case, Valentini may develop into a rotation CM, but it is doubtful he will be better than Balducci and Stefanelli, falling more in the Albani category of quality. A few of these wingers and full backs may be in the SMNT because of a lack of options. Club Finances/Infrastructure We increased the size of the stadium, maxing out the expansion for the current ground with over 40000 spectators now. We have massively increased sponsorship revenue as previous deals expired, allowing our balance to stay basically the same at $244M. Not bad, considering we were pretty light on outgoings, having spent over $100M more than I took in. Future Plans/Miscellanea -I think it is time to put Berti between the sticks. He played as well as Arraial in his ten club matches and he played well for the SMNT as well. Should develop, and I would be happy to get a fee around the $65M valuation on the Brazilian shot-stopper. -I am letting Alberto Righi go on a free. He came up with us from Serie C, making 217 league appearances for the club. He had been a rotation piece for several years, but found himself more on the fringes of late, despite consistently playing to a 7.2 rating. He has a special place for me in this challenge because he was the first player I brought through the academy that was clearly Serie A quality, sticking with us in the lower Italian leagues despite interest from European giants, most notably Manchester United. I’m pleased we repaid that loyalty with 11 winner’s medals, turning the Sammarinese youngster into a European champion. -Ilir Sulaj is getting interest from all the European big boys. I am willing to sell him (like anybody else), but the number is huge. I’m thinking around $130M just to get me considering it. Mariscal is getting less interest, but a similar number would be required. -Nicolo Giuliani now has the record for most league appearances with 301. He also has 154 Serie A goals for his career. Having just turned 27, he is another one I would consider selling, but probably only if a bid north of $100M came in. -I dumped $135M into the San Marino League this term, bringing the total investment in the league to $165M. I expect to keep pumping $100M+ into the league annually, and perhaps even more if my “buy low, sell high” keeps giving me the current results and I keep winning significant prize money. I presume that getting $500M in the league will yield real results down the road. As it stands, San Marino is 40th in the nation coefficient table, and the league moved up from 93rd to 90th in reputation. Significantly, I invested $10M each in La Fiorita, Domagnano, Tre Penne and Folgore early in the winter window. Ultimately, these were the four clubs that took the European slots, with La Fiorita securing CL. I presume this additional investment will give them a bit of a war chest with which to navigate at least the early rounds of European competition. Finally, a question for the community How are you all going about this challenge to achieve the long-term goals of winning CL with a Sammarinese squad and, ultimately, to win a World Cup/European Championship? I had, rather naively, believed I could win all of this with just the Calcio academy, only coming to the realization within the last one or two seasons that this would take a whole lot of luck, because you need to both consistently get quality players (which I have been fortunate to do) AND they need to play a variety of positions (where I have been somewhat unlucky, having a glut of CMs and STs, but few wingers and defenders). As such, I have taken the approach of investing huge sums of money into the SM League, using Calcio as a patron of sorts. I know a few people have taken control of both Calcio and an SM League squad. I am just curious to know how others are trying to accomplish this challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 8 hours ago, mcleera said: How are you all going about this challenge to achieve the long-term goals of winning CL with a Sammarinese squad and, ultimately, to win a World Cup/European Championship? I had, rather naively, believed I could win all of this with just the Calcio academy, only coming to the realization within the last one or two seasons that this would take a whole lot of luck, because you need to both consistently get quality players (which I have been fortunate to do) AND they need to play a variety of positions (where I have been somewhat unlucky, having a glut of CMs and STs, but few wingers and defenders). As such, I have taken the approach of investing huge sums of money into the SM League, using Calcio as a patron of sorts. I know a few people have taken control of both Calcio and an SM League squad. I am just curious to know how others are trying to accomplish this challenge. I'm in control of San Marino Calcio and San Giovanni in the SM league. With Calcio, I was pretty aggressive with recruitment to get money in and facilities upgraded - but really outside of 1 year, I've had very poor youth intakes. I think the San Marino league reputation growing will be something that helps the Sammarinese youth players that Calcio get. I suspect there's something behind the curtain that means despite outstanding facilities, most of my Calcio intake are Serie C level players. I'm actually in a bit of a rut with the game at present. With so many young players coming through that are poor, do I keep them and basically hide them in my Calcio team, or let them go elsewhere and maybe they'll latch on somewhere else and develop better? But even then I need 4 or 5 Serie A level players with a couple of world class players if I'm going to have a real go at the World Cup, and I'm not sure where they're coming from atm... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 I'm in charge of both the NT and the San Marino Calcio team, but the San Marino Academy is a separate entity. I notice a few people saying "gave money to the San Marino league", how are you doing this? Overpriced transfers? Or is there a mechanic for transfering money to clubs? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 2 hours ago, Surd said: I'm in charge of both the NT and the San Marino Calcio team, but the San Marino Academy is a separate entity. I notice a few people saying "gave money to the San Marino league", how are you doing this? Overpriced transfers? Or is there a mechanic for transfering money to clubs? Overpriced transfers. I find a player in the SM League team's youth squad and pay millions for them. If anybody does this, make sure to go after youth players, because the difference in wage demands is significant (~$50k vs. $300k or more). Over the course of 10 or 15 transfers per season, this will make a difference of millions in wage budget/transfer budget. 5 hours ago, duesouth said: I'm in control of San Marino Calcio and San Giovanni in the SM league. With Calcio, I was pretty aggressive with recruitment to get money in and facilities upgraded - but really outside of 1 year, I've had very poor youth intakes. I think the San Marino league reputation growing will be something that helps the Sammarinese youth players that Calcio get. I suspect there's something behind the curtain that means despite outstanding facilities, most of my Calcio intake are Serie C level players. I'm actually in a bit of a rut with the game at present. With so many young players coming through that are poor, do I keep them and basically hide them in my Calcio team, or let them go elsewhere and maybe they'll latch on somewhere else and develop better? But even then I need 4 or 5 Serie A level players with a couple of world class players if I'm going to have a real go at the World Cup, and I'm not sure where they're coming from atm... That is pretty frustrating to dump all the money into recruitment and not get any benefit. I have been really lucky on the youth intake front throughout this challenge. I hadn't really thought about how reputation boosts for the San Marino League might lead to better intakes at Calcio. I will need to keep an eye on that moving forward. The problem of what to with mediocre Sammarinese youth seems to be a central problem in this challenge. For myself, I feel like I have a good, young core for the NT, with a keeper, CM and ST that have a chance to be elite quality players, all 21 or younger (although I am terrible at assessing the quality of young players into the future). On top of this, I have a CM and CB who are first-team Serie A types, and another CM and two ST who are kind of "Serie B+" quality (bouncing between top Serie B sides and relegation threatened Serie A sides). However, the mediocre youth players at FB, CB and on the wings seem to really kill our chances of pushing onward with this challenge. This all to say that it seems like you are doing quite well despite the poor intakes. I have 5 legitimate Serie A players and 3 who are just short of that, and I can barely scrape a point at the European Championships, so it feels like WC qualification or Euro SF is a long way off for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 2032 San Marino National Team: First Half European Championship Playoff: Qualified Euro 2032: 4th in group (1 point) Well, the qualification went pretty well. We were strong against Cyprus, putting the game away late. The Sweden match was a goal bonanza, with us going a goal down early, scoring three on the bounce, then conceding two late in the first half to go in at 3-3. It was eventually settled by a penalty from 35 year-old Filippo Berardi early in the second half. Given that he had attempted to retire after last season, it was a big moment for arguably the best player in SMNT history, and an amazing way to mark him tying Elia Benedettini’s 123 cap record. This got us to a second consecutive European Championship, and we got rewarded with a horror draw: 6th ranked England, 7th ranked Netherlands, and Czech Republic. I saw some big scores against me and maybe a point against the Czechs. The opening match against the Netherlands was one-way traffic, with them scoring early in the second half, then adding to more in the first 30 minutes of the second half. We did het a consolation goal through Gualandi. England rolled through us even more convincingly in the second match, winning 4-0, with minimal fuss. We barely even threatened, to be honest. We went into the final match needing a victory to have an outside shot at qualifying for the knockout rounds. The match against the Czechs saw us again concede first. However, Berardi netted a spectacular free kick to level on 29 minutes. He then doubled his tally in the 66th minute from the spot, giving us a 2-1 lead. I decided to maintain the attacking style after going up, since we had really dominated the opening 20 minutes of the second half. The next ten minutes saw our intensity fizzle a bit, and by the 75th minute, I attempted to hunker down and defend the lead. Bad plan. A mere 90 second later, the Czechs equalize. Knowing I need all three points, I decide to open it up again. The Czechs then hit us on the counter in the 83rd minute to take a 3-2 lead. Despite this, there was another twist to the tale. In the 91st minute, Gualandi latched onto a long ball over the top and cooly slotted past the keeper to level things at 3-3. We attempted to push for a winner, but just had too little time. In any case, history repeats itself, with Gualandi netting a stoppage time equalizer in the final group match to get us a point, just as he had done at Euro 2028 against Wales. As it turns out, the Czechs went through on 2 points to the knockout rounds. That means that we would have gone through had we held on. We were 15 minutes from the knockout stages. Ouch… In any case, a brutal draw made it pretty difficult to exceed our total of one point from Euro 2028, and I think we did well to come as close as we did to getting a win and advancing. Despite conceding 10 goals, Berti played to a 7.2 rating, making a ton of saves throughout the tournament. Additionally, Berardi and Gualandi both scored two goals, and Berardi got an assist. Safe to say these were the three standout performers for us at Euro 2032. In the case of Berardi, I am tempted to retire him from the SMNT. While he is still the most dangerous player in the pool from set pieces, his legs are completely shot. Additionally, I think the Euro campaign was about as close to a fairytale ending as he is likely to get: scoring the winning goal to send us to Euro 2032, then assisting a goal in the first match, and scoring a brace in potentially his final match. Assuming he doesn’t play again, he will finish his San Marino career with 128 caps and 37 goals. Bits and Bobs -As you can see from the schedule, we get another brutal draw, with Sweden and Germany as our group mates in Nations League Division B. -Federico Conti is the first Sammarinese newgen to make it to 100 caps, now on 102 after the Euros. -Francesco Gualandi now has 43 goals. I think he will reach 50 at some point, but the youngster Angelini is coming on strong, with 17 year-old forward already pushing to usurp Gualandi’s spot in the XI. As it stands, the youngster already has 5 goals in 13 appearances, and one would expect that goals-to-games ratio to get stronger as he improves. Fortunately, the lack of wingers means that Gualandi is the best AML in the pool, so I should be able to easily get both in the side, even if I only play with one CF. -The Dutch won Euro 2032, backing up their WC triumph in 2030. The Italians were knocked out in the SF on penalties by Portugal. -Somewhat surprisingly, Francesco Gualandi played to a 7.67 average rating, good enough for third best of the tournament. Unfortunately, he was not named in the team of the tournament. World Ranking: 85 (+8) New Achievements: Have a newgen reach 100 caps Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 After my 2138 Dreams F.C./China save has gone a bit stale, I have decided to give this challenge a go. I have already completed the first season. I have been in charge of San Giovanni and the San Marino national team from the start. With San Giovanni, we came 3rd in our 1st stage group, won our San Marino league group and got knocked out of the cup, in the quarter final, losing 3-1 to Pannarossa. In the final stage, we got as far as the 3rd placed playoff where we lost to Pannarossa on penalties. With San Marino, we finished 5th, out of 6 teams, in our Euro Championship Qualifying group. The games we avoided defeat in were a 3-1 win against Kazakhstan and a 2-2 draw with Cyprus. So far, we are unbeaten in friendlies with us drawing 3-3 with Armenia and beating both Liechtenstein and Estonia. We currently sit in 190th place in the World Rankings. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duesouth Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 2040/2041 Season (FM19) - Part 1 National Team A few game days after the Euros, the National Team took a big hit. Our best player, striker Andrea Bugli, elected to retire from international football at the age of 30 (111 caps, 61 goals). That's one of those annoying ones - particularly as I'm a big rotater with both club and country, so it's not like I work him into the ground. So that takes the team down to 3 top players - and was one of the lower points in the save. Nations League Div B gave us a decent draw - Croatia and Wales. I went 4-1-4-1 for the first 2 games and we drew both 0-0. After a rotated team lost 2-3 to Scotland in a friendly (I gave keeper Bronzetti a rest - and the difference was obvious shipping 3 goals, although the Scotland winner was a highly dubious penalty), we drew away to Croatia, which I was very happy with. After another friendly loss where we gave a few players a look, came home to Wales. Every game in the group had been a draw - so I knew a win would be enough for promotion. So, I went attacking and was rewarded with an easy 3-0 win. I suspect we might come straight back down, but we're in Division A. We're ranked 55th in the world. Our World Cup qual group is Spain, Ukraine, Belarus and Kosovo - so we'll have to try to finish 2nd as Spain will walk the group. San Marino Calcio We're 2nd - but with a game in hand. All fairly easy - although we do seem to struggle more against lesser sides than top sides - as we beat AC Milan 4-0! Keeper Michael Bronzetti won World Goalkeeper of the Year at the age of 22 and is rated as a leading Serie A player. Striker Fabbri is now a wonderkid - now 19, his development is looking excellent. The other striker who came through with him, Valentini, is finally developing - I've got 2 of my senior guys mentoring him - his determination is up to 10, although he's still "unambitious" - but he has lots of green arrows, which is more encouraging. I've not used him with the National Team in the last year or two, he's been scoring regularly for the U21's- 9 goals in 8 appearances, including 2 against Spain U21's. I'm not sure how long I'll keep playing - given I've put so much into the save, I want to win the World Cup - but the poor youth intakes are really annoying me and the game is so easy with both club teams, so we'll see. I didn't play that much after Bugli retired, but I've played a little more the last few days. San Giovanni This year, we managed to avoid the big boys in CL quals - getting Dundalk in the final playoff, who we brushed aside comfortably. Our reward in the CL group stage? PSG, Real Madrid and AC Milan. 6 games, 6 losses. Domestically - just one loss - otherwise pretty easy stuff. Elsewhere in Europe - for the first time in the save a team other than us qualified for the Group Stage of the Europa League. Pennarossa finished bottom on their group, but it's progress. Faetano and Domagnano both got through the first 2 qual rounds and then lost. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 End of 2020 San Marino update: In our European League group, we drew both Latvia and Andorra. Where we won the Division D group 2, only losing one game, and getting promoted to the Division C. Although going by the stats, in that 2-0 Andorra loss, we should be disappointed with ourselves as it was a match we should have won. We were drawn against Lithuania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovakia and Spain in our World Cup qualifying stage. If you go by how we have done against teams of similar stature, I would expect us to finish above Lithuania. Anything else is a bonus. We are now ranked as the 185th best team in the World. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 2021 San Giovanni youth update: With our Under 19 team winning their league for the 2nd year in a row, the future looks bright for the club. In this year's youth intake, we got a couple of hot prospects. They are both Federico Stefanelli, a central defender and Marco Guerra a striker who is good enough for the first team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 End of 2020/21 season with San Giovanni: This season, we came 4th in the 1st stage group A and 2nd in the league group A. In the final stage, we made it all the way to the final where we beat Folgore 4-1 to qualify for the Champions League. We also made it to the Cup semi final stage, but unfortunately we lost 5-3 on aggregate to Tre Penne who went on to win it. In the Champions League, we drew F.C. Prishtina, from Kosovo and will play them in the 1st Preliminary round. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 European football with San Giovanni in 2021: We managed to win our first ever European game, on our first try, when we beat Prishtina 3-1 in the Champions League 1st preliminary round. However, we went out in the next round against Havnar Boltfelag from Faroe Islands. We actually took the lead in this game, but lost on penalties after the tie ended 1-1. In the next two games, we played Saburtalo from Georgia in the European Conference League 2nd qualifying round. Despite winning the away leg 1-0, we lost the home tie and went out of Europe with a 2-1 aggregate loss. After our European exit, we manged to make just over £600 thousand from it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 End of 2021 San Marino update: Filippo Berardi beat Andy Selva to become San Marino's all time top goalscorer. He even scored a hat trick against Bosnia & Herzegovina. His current tally stands at 14 goals from 31 caps. In our World Cup qualifying group, we finished 5th, above Lithuania, with 8 points from 10 games. The games where we won our points were, our 5-0 and 2-0 wins against Lithuania and our 2-2 draws with both Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro. Some of our more respectable losses were some of our away defeats. Where we lost 3-1 to Montenegro, 6-4 to Bosnia & Herzegovina and 1-0 to Slovakia. We took the lead in that Montenegro game and would have drawn with Slovakia, if not for a last minute winner from them. At the moment, we sit in 180th place in the World rankings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 2022 youth intake This year we got two first team ready youngsters. They are a 16 years old striker, called Marcello Bernardi and the 17 years old midfielder Matteo Maiani. In the winter transfer window, we snatched this young goalkeeper, from Tre Penne, to hopefully improve or defence a little bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 End of 2021/22 season with San Giovanni: We did not do too well in the domestic cups this season. We lost the Super Cup to Tre Penne 3-1 and got knocked out of the Cup by Juvenes Dogana losing 2-1, on aggregate, despite winning the first leg. In the league, we started well going unbeaten in the 1st stage where we came 2nd in group A. Our league unbeaten streak, this season, went after 10 games where we lost to Faetano 1-0. In the 2nd stage, we started okay, but a 5 game losing streak meant we finished 5th and lost in the quarter final to Folgore 4-2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 (edited) End of 2022 with San Marino: This year was our first ever time playing in the UEFA Nations League C Division and the FA wanted us to fight bravely against relegation. We did one better and got a mid-table finish. Our only win, which was a 4-1 home win against Armenia, meant we finished above Armenia based on our head to head record. Our only other win, this year, was a 2-0 friendly win against Azerbaijan. We also gained a credible 1-1 draw away to Norther Ireland. But a 0-0 draw against Gibraltar is not good enough. Our European Championship qualifying campaign, will have us locking horns with the likes of Austria, Azerbaijan, Israel, Portugal and Slovenia. Our World ranking is still 180th. Edited July 21, 2020 by north_london_fan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 2023 youth update: This year, although we did not get any first team ready youth players from the get go, the best we got were forward Massimo Simoncini, winger Nicola Toccaceli and and defender Alex Mina. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 End of 2022/23 season with San Giovanni: This season we won the San Marino Cup, for the first time, beating Libertas 4-2 in the final. In the league, we came 3rd in both the 1st and 2nd stages. In the final stage, we got all the way to the final where we beat Fiorentino 1-0 thus completed a league and cup double for the season. Next season, we will start our European campaign in the Champions League 1st qualifying round. In other news, the board has decided to turn us into a Semi-professional club going forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Pre-season of 2023 update: In the Champions League we drew Rosenborg, but unfortunately we lost 6-0 on aggregate. We then went into the Euro Conference 2nd qualifying round where we played Kukesi from Albania and despite winning the 1st leg 2-1 we lost 4-3 overall. We won the San Marino Super Cup, for the first time, beating Libertas 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 End of 2023 with San Marino: After our European Cup qualifying campaign, we managed to finish 4th, with 10 points, finishing above both Israel and Azerbaijan. The games we won our points tally in were against the teams we finished above. We beat Azerbaijan twice including a 7-0 home win, our national team record for biggest victory. We also drew with Israel at home, and beat them by 2 goals to 1 at their ground. Our World ranking has shot up to 166th place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 2024 San Giovanni youth intake: This year we got a very good player from the intake by the name of Marco Stolfi and at aged 16 is our best central defender at the club. This striker and goalkeeper were the best of the rest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 End of 2023/24 season with San Giovanni: In terms of domestic games this season went amazing, as we only lost one game that was in February. However, when it came towards the end of the season we fell apart and lost the final three games. Unfortunately, two of these losses were against Cailungo in the final stage quarter final, where we lost on penalties and a 3-0 defeat to Folgore in the cup final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 End of 2024 with San Marino: Apart from our 3-2 win against Georgia, we have mainly been disappointing in our second Nations League Division C campaign. We finished in last place and will have a playoff, next year against Latvia, to decide if we go back to the D Division or not. We did okay in Friendlies, beating both Georgia and North Macedonia 1-0. Our World ranking sees us in 164th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 San Giovanni 2025 youth intake: This youth intake, we got a few good youngsters especially Giacomo Fiorini, a defender, who looks to be a very good player already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcleera Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 2032 San Marino National Team: Second Half European Nations League Division B: 3rd of 3 (4 points, relegated) The Nations League draw was a tough one, where we get Germany and Sweden. In the first match, I tried to attack the Swedes and was rewarded with a 3-0 deficit early in the second half. Balducci pulled us one back, but we still went down to a deserved defeat. The second match was against Germany away, where I decided to play on the counter. The strategy was fairly successful, and we managed a 2-2 draw. The unfortunate part was that we threw the lead away twice, including the equalizing goal in the 90th minute. The statistical profile of this one was odd. Even though I adopted a defensive mentality, we still saw nearly half the possession. On top of that, we manage 4 shots to there 17, but we had three CCC among the four and none of their 17 were particularly dngerous. A draw is a decent result, but if we had won, it would have been a fair reflection of our chances. The reverse against Sweden saw us grind out a 1-0 win, courtesy of a Steffanelli strike in the 76th minute. This kept us alive heading into the final match of group 4 against Germany. At this point, Sweden was in the clubhouse on 6 points, while Germany was sat on 4 points, ahead of us on goal difference. So a draw would put Sweden through, while a winner put the victorious team through. I also knew anything short of victory would see us relegated (It’s a bit odd to me that the only outcomes for us were promotion as group winner and relegation). The match got off to a poor start, with the Germans taking a lead off a corner in the 9th minute. From there, we grew into the match and created a bit going forward, but couldn’t fashion anything clear cut. We pinned them back for much of the match, but the German defenses held for the remainder of the game, seeing out a 1-0 victory. Despite our relegation, I do take a few positives. Firstly, we get to play in Division C in the Euro qualification year, which dramatically increases the likelihood we get to Euro 2036. Secondly, I found out that playing on the counter can be pretty successful against top opposition, managing a win over Sweden, as well as a draw and a narrow loss to Germany. This will be very important in the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign. I also had two friendlies in there. We have no business losing to New Zealand, so that was disappointing. We were level at 1-1 with Russia on 60 minutes until they blitzed us for four goals. I had heavily rotated, not wanting to risk injury with the final Nations League matches only a month later, so I’m not too bothered TBH. Forthcoming Changes I think I have really come to the point where the talent increase is exponential in terms of results. As the manager of the SMNT, I have adopted a direct, open, attacking style. This has generally worked throughout my tenure. I think the reason for this is pretty obvious: the difference between a 200th ranked side and a 100th ranked side is the addition of about 3 Serie A players and about 3 Serie B players. The difference between a 100th ranked side and a top 10 side is going from about 3 Serie A players to 11-ish Serie A players, with one or two of those being truly elite talents. In other words, just getting a couple good players and a few halfway decent players really tipped scales, in terms of raw talent, against the Belaruses and Georgias of UEFA. Consequently, I will be playing more defensively, since counter-attacking seems to be somewhat effective. Dual nationals -The 21 year-old CB Rattini is starting to have the conversation about switching to San Marino each time we have call-ups. At this point, it looks like his ceiling is a middle of the road Serie A player. In other words, the sweet spot where he would be a big upgrade for us but probably will not play for Italy. -Based on what I am seeing, Arzilli (23 y/o), Gualandi (23 y/o) and Cenci (18 y/o) are nowhere near ready to play for Italy. Arzilli has 3.5* PA and Gualandi has 4* PA. Considering Nicolo Giuliani, who has won every accolade from European Golden Shoe to Serie A POTY to Serie A top goalscorer, can barely even get a call-up (6 caps, 1 goal), I doubt that they will. Cenci is a slightly different case because of his youth and potential. I hope I can qualify for the WC and poach him before he has a chance to play for Italy. -Lastly, there is RM/AMR Francesco Michelotti, who just turned 20. He is a regular for the Italy U23s, scoring 7 in 13 appearances, and has been dominant in an even time split with Lasso. Given my lack of wing options, I am desperate to get him into our setup. This one will be a race against the clock: will he be capped by Italy in the next 18 months, or will I be able to qualify for the WC and poach him. Considering that he looks to be a player with world class potential, whether or not I get him could mean the difference of as much as a decade in terms on the NT progression. Other stuff -Francesco Gualandi is on 44 goals now, but he is being primarily deployed as an AML now. I think the drop down to Division C will give him lots of opportunities to pad that total in two year’s time, even if he isn’t deployed as a striker all the time. I would expect him to reach 50 this upcoming year in World Cup qualifying. -Gualandi is getting heavy interest from A-League sides. Both Berardi and Conti played for nearly a decade in Australia, so I guess we have a bit of a Sammarinese-to-Australia pipeline? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 End of 2024/25 with San Giovanni: In the Cup this season, we got knocked out, in the quarter final stage, losing both legs to Fiorentino. In the league, we came 3nd in the 1st stage, 2rd in the 2nd stage and then made it all the way to the Champions Playoff Final. In the final we played Tre Penne and beat them 3-2, after extra time, which now means we will have Champions League football next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 End of 2025 update: The San Marino under 19 team did well to qualify for the Euro under 19's Championship group stage. They advanced to the Semi final stage, after getting out of the group, where they nearly made a 3-0 comeback against Germany. In Europe, with San Giovanni, we got knocked out of the Champions League, in the first round we entered, going down 7-0 on aggregate against Sheriff Tiraspol. In the Euro Conference, we just missed out on making the group stage losing narrowly, over the two legs, to FC Honka 3-1 having getting through the previous two qualifying rounds. With San Marino, we lost the relegation playoff to Latvia, on away goals, after 4-4 aggregate tie and will now be back in the Nations League Division D next time around. In our World Cup qualifiers, we failed to get any points in a difficult group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 2026 San Giovanni youth intake: We had quite a poor youth intake this year. Goalkeeper Giacomo Zavoli is the best of a sorry bunch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
north_london_fan Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 End of 2025/26 season: In the domestic cups this season, we lost in the Super Cup 2-0 against Tre Penne and got knocked out of the San Marino Cup, at the quarter final stage, losing 3-1 on aggregate to Folgore. In the 1st stage of the league, we came 1st winning every game. We qualified for the final stage, by getting into the playoff places in the 2nd stage. However, we came in 6th position, the final playoff spot, which was poor and we will have to do better in the future. We fell short at the 1st hurdle and lost to Cailungo 1-0 in the quarter final of the last stage. With San Marino, in the Nations League D Division, we were drawn against Andorra, Liechtenstein and Malta. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surd Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 (edited) Ok, so after much delay and attempts at some other challenges, I've finally finished season 20/21. And what a great season.Serie C: Champions Serie C Cup: Winners Italian C Supercup: Winners I wasn't sure about some of the achievements at the start of the start of this thread, so I'm covering a few bases, I came top of the first stage, then rode the wave all the way to victory on all fronts. San Marino Academy went on a tear, winning all competitions with a bit of a blip towards the end of the season. Made it over the line. I think this season was helped by sending my cast offs down to the San Marino leagues. The extra man-power was a big boost to the tiny team. We won the Group B for a second consecutive year, then won the championship as well as the cup.Key players and contract struggles I thought Macina would walk this, and on many fronts he did. He is now the record goalscorer on 10 caps and 13 goals currently. He finished up the season 42 appearances and 32 goals. More importantly, Macina was hounded by the big clubs. I again used my sneaky tactics to help stick him to the club. I, counterintuitively, waited until he got further from wanting a contract. He was demanding a super low buyout fee. So I waited until he was so dubious it wanted the assistant manager to suggest terms. At this point I put in a release fee, then immediately removed it and excluded it from the talks, before even suggesting the terms. At this point, he was mine (for now). This takes him up to Serie A if I get a promotion a season. Even so I'm still fending off the big boys, with Man City putting in a bid a month later. How good is this kid? Well, I saw something new even for me! I've never seen a non-top league player get put forward for a top-tier award before. Absolute madness! Top player of the season, despite this, went to Mattia Muroni the player who set up all of Macina's goals, with the man himself coming 3rd. Youth intake A good intake, two very good players incoming, with Marco Gualandi a Right Midfielder who I've retrained to a AMR to fit my tactics, as soon as this was in place he slotted straight into the national team. Andrew Dingwall is a mystery Scotsman in San Marino, who has similar outlook, but lousy stats. Don't feel as hopeful as my scouting team. National Team The National team have snuck to 185th in the world after draws with Croatia and the Czech Republic where San Marino basically held on for dear life! More to follow on that after the year end in the Euro group where I am yet to play Azerbaijan, where I fancy us to pick up some points! Edited July 24, 2020 by Surd 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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