Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) Edited July 8, 2021 by Carambau 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Cuban Football? If so I'm intrigued. I had my students study Cuba as a case study in how globalization has been around for a longtime. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 8 hours ago, Hootieleece said: Cuban Football? If so I'm intrigued. I had my students study Cuba as a case study in how globalization has been around for a longtime. Oh? Now thats interesting! Hope you enjoy this ride even more then 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) Socialist Football, Maybe This time South African manager Joe Baxter finds himself in Havana, having just been appointed national team manager of Cuba. A new adventure in completely unknown waters. The long term aim is to make it to the World Cup and present ourselves on the world stage. This is going to be a tough task of course but I will try nevertheless. History teaches us, that we have won the Carribean Cup once in 2012 and the CAC Games 5 times. In the world rankings, we are at least better than Liechtenstein. I looked around for Cuban players abroad and came across Onel Hernandez who plays for Norwich City. We asked him if he would like to represent his country and he agreed one day later. This makes him our best player, by far. Apart from that we brought in a lot of new staff, signing 20 new coaches, scouts and physios. We can start from here. Edited July 2, 2021 by Carambau 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Socialist football? Maybe you should try to emulate the Russian/Soviet teams of the 1950's and 1960's I think. I read that they were innovative and introduced Zonal Marking to Outfield play. I will find the book and find the relevant names for you to google. It is this book: Wilson, Jonathan, Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Soccer Tactics, Nation Books, 2013, New York , 86-97. Disregard the page numbers those are for 1950's Hungary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: Socialist football? Maybe you should try to emulate the Russian/Soviet teams of the 1950's and 1960's I think. I read that they were innovative and introduced Zonal Marking to Outfield play. I will find the book and find the relevant names for you to google. It is this book: Wilson, Jonathan, Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Soccer Tactics, Nation Books, 2013, New York , 86-97. Disregard the page numbers those are for 1950's Hungary. Well, I was just using the odd cliché terminology when i comes to Cuba But this maybe sounds like an idea to try out (if this is even possible in FM), I often heard about the book, but never read it. Yet Edited July 2, 2021 by Carambau Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) Experiments THE TEAM You can easily spot the best player of course: Onel Hernandez. A pity promising keeper Joel does not want to play for us anymore (see below)... What also annoys me is that our best central defender is a 38 year old! Hopefully youngsters Nodarse and Mendez can develop quickly as I can see Clavelo will decline very soon. Left back Corrales is our best player in defense and right back Piedra isnt too bad either. Apart from Hernandez our midfield does not look very promising but maybe Ibarra can improve some more. In attack, we got our 2 striker Lopez & Lahera who seem capable enough to score the odd goal. RESULTS We played 2 friendlies and managed to win them quite convincingly. The next games will all be friendlies, as the World Cup qualification starts in March 2021. Frank Lopez is one of our most important players. He plays for Oklahoma City in the US lower leagues. (He is quite good at taking penalties as well) St. Vincent and the Grenadines were no real match, so I could play the bench players and winger Paradela showed what he has to offer. TACTICS We play a customized 4-4-2 which can turn into a flat 4-4-2. NEWS What is this?!? He is one of our best players!! Never had that before in any FM... Definitely a good keeper and way better than our other goalies. We were not able to reverse his decision. As if he will be good enough to play for France...! Pff..Good riddance! One day he will come crawling back begging to be called up. Edited July 2, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 On The Search To Find Our First Team RESULTS We draw at home against a strong T&T team and make short work of poor French Guiana. We were not really in control of this game. But we have Onel Hernandez who scored a nice tap in after a deflected shot. The equalizer came after some hard pressure and was no real surprise. The final result though, was. A good game from us. French Guiana were forced to shoot from long range and those shots mostly ended up near the corner flag. We controlled the game and scored when we had to. The team is taking shape slowly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Carambau said: Well, I was just using the odd cliché terminology when i comes to Cuba But this maybe sounds like an idea to try out (if this is even possible in FM), I often heard about the book, but never read it. Yet I think that if you use Opposition Instructions to Mark certain players and NOT give specific instructions to a player gives a similar effect. I use this type of marking most of the time. Only every once in a while do I give specific marking Instructions. And then usually to makes sure opposing WB's are marked by my wide players on top of the Zonal Marking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) We Win Again (Not) RESULTS The first defeat. And it was a lousy performance from us. Great showing as the team seems to gel finally. Lahera outshined Lopez this time. And we could have scored even more. I got the tactics all wrong for this game. I thought this would be an easy going after we went ahead and decided to play an attacking game which fell back on us right after that. But you gotta say they have the Bacuna brothers in their team who play for Cardiff respectively Huddersfield. And Bradley Kuwas who finished us off. NEWS Our 38 year old central defender retired. Ok then. The chance for the young ones to take his place. Now it is time to take a break until March 2021 when the World Cup qualifiers start. Our group features the heavyweights El Salvador. Edited July 3, 2021 by Carambau 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: I think that if you use Opposition Instructions to Mark certain players and NOT give specific instructions to a player gives a similar effect. I use this type of marking most of the time. Only every once in a while do I give specific marking Instructions. And then usually to makes sure opposing WB's are marked by my wide players on top of the Zonal Marking. I always go like that. I´m not that into giving specific player instructions apart from "Roam from Position" for our best player Onel Hernandez in this save specifically. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 I sometimes give PI's mostly to get players to be more aggressive in passing and crossing...but that is to balance the fact I tend to use Balanced Mentality. When Chasing a game I will up it depending how desperate I am to Positive or at times Very Attacking. I almost never drop the mentality to Defensive or Very Defensive except when I want to lose.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 Lovely idea! Did some research into Onel, as, every time I’ve seen him play, they’d mentioned he was the first Cuban in the Prem and I presumed he’d played for the national team, too. You’re lucky it’s post 2018 so you actually have the option to play non Cuban born players! Best of luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 1 hour ago, _Ben_ said: Lovely idea! Did some research into Onel, as, every time I’ve seen him play, they’d mentioned he was the first Cuban in the Prem and I presumed he’d played for the national team, too. You’re lucky it’s post 2018 so you actually have the option to play non Cuban born players! Best of luck! Oh - interesting! I didnt know that! I´m really glad then Thanks mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 4 minutes ago, Carambau said: Oh - interesting! I didnt know that! I´m really glad then Thanks mate Bit more on it here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/29/onel-hernandez-cuba-carrow-road-norwich-city-championship Stems from Fidel Castro outlawing professional sports contracts and anyone outside of Cuba representing them! Definitely a save that gives you a chance to delve into some extra reading. I’ll always be grateful to FM for that… 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 Interesting career with Cuba Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 2 hours ago, john1 said: Interesting career with Cuba Cheers 3 hours ago, _Ben_ said: Bit more on it here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/29/onel-hernandez-cuba-carrow-road-norwich-city-championship Stems from Fidel Castro outlawing professional sports contracts and anyone outside of Cuba representing them! Definitely a save that gives you a chance to delve into some extra reading. I’ll always be grateful to FM for that… I agree Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 (edited) Getting Serious RESULTS It is March 2021 and the real tests for our team have begun. A lucky win in Guyana was followed by a controlled victory against Aruba. We then travelled to Nicaragua and lost. Terell Ondaan, who plays for Grenoble in Europe, gave us a tough time in that game: He initiated every attack and took every set piece of Guyana. But most of the shots came from outside the box and went wide. Then shortly before the break we broke away with a rare counter and Lopez was fouled before he could finish. He took the penalty himself and we were 1-0 up. Liam Gordon equalized on the hour mark but by then we were getting better into the game. Onel Hernandez was orchestrating our attacks from the right wing and four minutes later it was him who made a run on the right, dribbled past 2 defenders, crossed from the byline and found Geobel Perez who couldn´t miss that header. After that we set back some more and were able to defend our lead until the end. This game was more like what I want to see of this team. The scoreline does not reflect how much we dominated our opponent. We nullified their midfield from the beginning and went ahead finally after half an hour, central midfielder Rivaldo Ibarra with a nice volley shot after a cross from Hernandez. After that we controlled the game. In stoppage time we countered their last attempt of an attack and made it 2-0. That should have boosted our morale. A good game from us, despite the disappointing result. It was an even game for 90 minutes, the difference being Jaime Moreno. The striker took his chances and put them away. Up there with the big boys, but they got 1 game in hand also. I say we did a good job in those first 3 games. Edited July 4, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 (edited) Don´t Dream It´s Over RESULTS June 2021 and it was already do or die. And it was die for us. El Salvador were the favorites and they showed it. They dominated us. A victory for us was never on the cards so we can be proud of the tight result - not the performance. I would have liked to see more fighting from us. And that was it. It was only four games and we managed to finish 3rd. El Salvador go on to the next round and we have to hope for next time. The next event for us is the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The first round will be played in July against Barbados. Edited July 4, 2021 by Carambau 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 Consider yourself lucky that FM doesn't take into account travel Visas! https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210703-cuba-s-gold-cup-hopes-dashed-by-covid-visa-travel-woes Cuba have been kicked out of the Gold Cup because, I think, USA won't grant them Visa's to play a qualifier there! Madness! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 8 minutes ago, _Ben_ said: Consider yourself lucky that FM doesn't take into account travel Visas! https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210703-cuba-s-gold-cup-hopes-dashed-by-covid-visa-travel-woes Cuba have been kicked out of the Gold Cup because, I think, USA won't grant them Visa's to play a qualifier there! Madness! Yeah, I just read that Glad this isnt reflected in FM - I blame the USA for wanting to oust Cuba - what a coincidence with my save though as we are playing that Gold Cup tournament right now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 You gave it a real good go 6 points is pretty decent. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 19 minutes ago, john1 said: You gave it a real good go 6 points is pretty decent. Thanks Yes, it went better than expected! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 (edited) Go For Gold This tournament requires 2 qualifying rounds before entering a group stage consisting of four teams. The top 2 qualify for the quarter final. FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND A tough game for us. Barbados took the lead and were looking comfortable. But in the second half we turned more offensive and were able to score 2 goals in 9 minutes. Then we switched back to defending and saw out the match. SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND Much easier game than the previous one. We were playing patiently and timed our attacks well. We led by 2 goals at the hour mark and added a third in stoppage time before conceding right after that but it didn´t matter anymore. We were through to the group stage! GROUP STAGE The group is looking tough. I want a good performance and let´s see where we end up. Third place would be a success already. Edited July 5, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) Surpassing Expectations GROUP STAGE An early goal and then we put men behind the ball and got stuck in even more. It worked. We drew with the favorites in our group. A big success for a small team like us! Another draw, against another favorite in the group! And we even could have won this had it not been for the red card and the damn stoppage time equalizer. Still, I am proud! I was already packing my stuff from the bench and was about to make my way to the dressing room to congratulate the lads on another well-earned draw when Frank Lopez scored. And all hell broke lose when the ref blew the final whistle! We are in the quarter finals of the Gold Cup! TABLE Behold this. We are through to the next round, where we will meet the other surprise package of the tournament and the supposedly weakest of the remaining teams, Guadeloupe. Edited July 5, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUFCspeni Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Weird, I've been toying with the idea of my final save this year being a Cuban club and country save with a database to mirror the upcoming CONCACAF Champions League format. Do you have the league loaded? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Good progress so far! If you beat Guadeloupe you can really get the cigars out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 1 hour ago, LUFCspeni said: Weird, I've been toying with the idea of my final save this year being a Cuban club and country save with a database to mirror the upcoming CONCACAF Champions League format. Do you have the league loaded? Yes 1 hour ago, karanhsingh said: Good progress so far! If you beat Guadeloupe you can really get the cigars out We certainly hope so Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff7 Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Amazing results in your last 3 games! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) The Dream Goes On QUARTER FINAL And what a game it was! They took the lead, we equalized, we took the lead, they equalized and then they again took the lead but this time we equalized AND scored the winner one minute from time! Thats how you win those games! Thats real team spirit! Bring on Jamaica in the semi finals! Edited July 8, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said: Amazing results in your last 3 games! Thank you And in the last game too! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Semi-finals is amazing, well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 On 07/07/2021 at 08:22, karanhsingh said: Semi-finals is amazing, well done! Thank You Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 (edited) The Dream Is Over SEMI FINAL Our dream has come to an end. We gave it all one more time but it just was not enough against a strong and quick Jamaica team. Our goal gave us a bit of consolation which was not really necessary as we have played a fantastic tournament. No one before would have imagined us playing in a semi final in the Gold Cup. We leave the tournament with our heads held up high, having boosted the reputation of Cuba in the football world. And Jamaica go on and beat Mexico in the final. Strange to find that Jamaica were the biggest overachievers, but I guess its because they won the whole thing. Edited July 11, 2021 by Carambau 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 So unlucky to get defeated in the semi-finals, after the result against Guadeloupe I was hoping to scroll down to see you had made the final! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 9 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said: So unlucky to get defeated in the semi-finals, after the result against Guadeloupe I was hoping to scroll down to see you had made the final! Sure, but to be realistic, we were never to reach the semi final if you look at the quality of our team and most of the other teams. We were lucky in the group stage and we had the lucky draw against fellow minnow Guadeloupe in the quarter finals afterwards. The difference in quality was obvious in the match against Jamaica who steamrolled us. Nevertheless of course its a great achievement for a small team like us and I hope to build on it and progress Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 No shame in losing to Jamaica! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, john1 said: No shame in losing to Jamaica! You´re right! Thank you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 58 minutes ago, Carambau said: Sure, but to be realistic, we were never to reach the semi final if you look at the quality of our team and most of the other teams. We were lucky in the group stage and we had the lucky draw against fellow minnow Guadeloupe in the quarter finals afterwards. The difference in quality was obvious in the match against Jamaica who steamrolled us. Nevertheless of course its a great achievement for a small team like us and I hope to build on it and progress No doubt they had the better quality in terms of players. Was just saying that I was routing for you, no better story than when the underdog is victorious right?! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 3 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said: No doubt they had the better quality in terms of players. Was just saying that I was routing for you, no better story than when the underdog is victorious right?! Absolutely, mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Friendly Friendlies RESULTS We finish this year with quite a few friendlies to get the lads to gel. We mostly win and only lose once. Edited July 11, 2021 by Carambau Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Reality Check RESULTS The year 2022 already started with a bad result as we lost 2-3 to St- Lucia , a minnow. Then we participated in the North American Nations League. We were even seeded in the top tier there, Division A! But we had no chance and finished last in our group behind Canada and Costa Rica. The consequence was our relegation to Division B. We deserved it. Goodbye Division A, Hello Division B. In between, we trashed poor St. Pierre & Miquelon 7-1 in a friendly. It was our only occasion to celebrate a bit this year. Next year we take part in the Gold Cup again. WORLD CUP 2022 A surprising winner in Portugal. We too want to be take part in this tournament soon. We believe in miracles. Edited July 11, 2021 by Carambau Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Tournament Tension RESULTS We start the year with a credible draw, followed by a convincing win just before the Gold Cup tournament. A tough group. We should not have the slightest chance to survive this. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 You certainly have been dealt a tough draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Gutted. Sadly, I have to report my game keeps crashing at a certain date and I can´t get around it, even holidaying doesnt work... might have to do with the custom league file I am using... Sorry to disappoint you guys, but this save is now officially over. Might try again without any custom files in the future... Edited July 11, 2021 by Carambau 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 On 11/07/2021 at 09:59, Carambau said: WORLD CUP 2022 A surprising winner in Portugal. We too want to be take part in this tournament soon. We believe in miracles. Well Mexico got past the 2nd round of the World Cup, that's a miracle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 14, 2021 Author Share Posted July 14, 2021 32 minutes ago, deltablue said: Well Mexico got past the 2nd round of the World Cup, that's a miracle They are not that bad, come on... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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