[FM22] - Club and Country Inca-hoots

[Shrewnaldo]

#12 - Off to Qatar - Perú

I had a bit of an enforced delay to the FM save after falling foul of Storm Arwen - knocking out our power for 3 days amid -5C temperatures and blizzards. Lots of fun. First port of call when the power came back was a shower. FM wasn't far behind.

Despite the delay, I didn't have long to wait for the playoffs themselves. The domestic season in Perú is rather short and I had only the 8 games of the Apertura before returning to national duty. I plan to do an update on the club side soon but, suffice to say, the travails of playing away games at altitude has introduced some challenge to the club game...

First, though, the playoffs against Jamaica. Conscious that Jamaica's strengths are very much in the offensive area, I faced a bit of a squad conundrum. Did I stack the side with defensive players to offset the power and pace of Michail Antonio, Leon Bailey and Demarai Gray - or did I try to exploit their very obvious defensive weakness. Being quite a conservative manager, I went with the former.

Araujo came back into the defence whilst Melgar's Alexis Arias, a solid defensive option, got his first call up to any of my squads - anticipating the use of a more conservative double pivot in the middle to protect the defence. Further forward, Arias' former team-mate at Melgar, Kevin Quevedo similarly got his first call-up having got a big money move to Italian side Empoli. With Celi out injured again, Percy Liza, who has attracted interest from Milan, comes in as a potential future striker. With André Carrillo having consistently failed to impress on the left flank, Liza or Quevedo could well be viable options in the 3-4-3; or the former could come into a front two in a move to 3-5-2.

With the home leg coming first, I decided to stick with the 3-4-3 that had served us well in qualifying and look to take a lead to Jamaica.

And that'll do very nicely. In truth, it was a very even game with the Jamaicans missing a few, very presentable chances - the xG ending 1.63 to 1.47 in our favour. But where Antonio and Gray missed for the Caribbean side, Gerald Távara buried both his header - arriving from deep to nod in Advincula's right-wing cross - and his penalty. Again, though, our forward players flatter to deceive and we need the midfield to chip in with the goals. Other than Lapadula, who is consistently decent and occasionally excellent, we struggle for creativity and output, particularly from the flanks.  In the second half here, I switched from the wider 3-4-3 to a front two with a ten. This certainly helped retain more possession without any noticeable increase in threat.

The immediate issue, though, was how to defend a 2-0 lead in Kingston.

Like that will do very nicely indeed.

Given the attacking issues noted above and with a lead to defend, I dropped one of the attacking players and pushed an extra player into midfield - going with a midfield diamond behind a lone striker and the usual 5 man defence. In particular, I wanted to protect the space in front of the defence where Antonio had been dropping into throughout the first leg - looking to play in the wide men. Almost from kick off, though, the West Ham striker was going the other way - clean through behind our defence and one-on-one with Gallese. Thankfully, he missed but it immediately prompted a dropping of the defensive line and line of engagement, plus slowing the game down. Whilst we conceded a few more chances, nothing else was overly troubling and we saw the game out in rather boring fashion with ~60% possession.

But who cares, right? Because that puts us on the plane to Qatar and Perú's second consecutive World Cup. Which you would think the FA might be more pleased about...

Let's hope they don't have inflated expectations for when we actually get to the tournament.

 

 

[keeper#1]

No power for three days?!?!?!  This is why I have a whole home generator.

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Sorry to hear that you fell foul to the storm. Hope all is well. A nice welcome back to the save!

[Shrewnaldo]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Sorry to hear that you fell foul to the storm. Hope all is well. A nice welcome back to the save!

Thanks. Was nice to come back to a winning re-start

1 hour ago, keeper#1 said:

No power for three days?!?!?!  This is why I have a whole home generator.

Very few people do that round here but will likely get more common if these sorts of events become more regular.

[keeper#1]

7 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Very few people do that round here but will likely get more common if these sorts of events become more regular.

It's not cheap.  Cost me around $10,000 for the generator and installation.  But I've lost power for 24+ hours twice in the last three years.  It's well worth the cost.

[Shrewnaldo]

Before I finally get round to doing a club update... the World Cup draw has not been kind to us

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Ah.  To be the best, you have to beat the best, I guess!

[Shrewnaldo]

#13 - Well I wanted some challenge... - Cantolao

There are only 25 leagues games a season in Perú - 8 in the Apertura, 17 in the Clausura with a maximum of 5 matches in between if you make it to the mid-season Copa Bicentenario cup final. This means you can absolutely rattle through seasons and, for someone like me who plays on Comprehensive and gets very in-depth to match analysis and tactics, really keeps the momentum going for the national side.

As such, I've already reached the end of the 2022 season, capping 18 months in charge of Cantolao. In the last update, I bemoaned the lack of domestic challenge when, taking over the side for only the Clausura, we waltzed to a ridiculously easy Liga 1 title - La Delfin's first ever. Well, suffice to say that season 2 has been satisfactorily harder.

It was also a season of huge change at the club - seeing the departure of 32 players, both sold and released, and the arrival of 13 replacements. The disruption may explain some of the poor performances but the squad is much, much stronger than it was in season 1 whilst the club is now far, far richer.  The major contributor to the transfer profit was, unsurprisingly, Yuriel Celi. In pre-season, a number of bids started arriving from European clubs with Genk making the first, derisory offer of just £16k.

I'd successfully managed to negotiate us into a position where Red Bull Salzburg's bid of £800k and 40% of his next sale was accepted. Sadly, at the last minute, two clubs came in with £1m bids which we were forced to accept due to Celi's minimum fee release clause. The biggest downside to this being that we were unable to include a next sale clause and will miss out when he inevitably moves for bigger money. Nevertheless, Celi accepted Sporting's offer and off he went - only for the Portuguese to immediately offer him back on a free loan for the season.

Celi's fee and the £2.1m we received for playing in the Copa Libertadores groups were sensibly invested in improving the youth recruitment, junior coaching and, most importantly, the training facilities which are now "adequate". With the bank balance still healthy and more potential sales in the pipelines, improving those facilities is going to be a massive priority.

We also invested significantly in strengthening both the first team and youth squads - albeit erring on the frugal side. The squad is now 100% Peruvian and, with an average age of 23, is by far the youngest in the league. Carranza was a key signing in the middle of the park, providing leadership and experience to the young squad, whilst the loan signing of Miguel Cornejo was pure 'club and country' - a promising player that desperately needed game time to kickstart his development towards a potential future in the national side.

Despite this strengthening on paper, however, we have regressed from last season's spectacular title win.

That's 11 points fewer than last season - conceding the exact same amount whilst scoring 19 fewer. 19 goals over 25 games. So it's not exactly difficult to see where our problems lay.

Yet we created plenty of chances and dominated most games. We were third in the xG table and top of the xPts table come the end of the season but just couldn't finish for toffee. Looking through the stats in an effort to understand why initially led to confusion. We were hitting the target 45% of the time, 4th in the division, and had the most shots of anyone per game (17.08) but this makes for nasty viewing:

The second worst conversion rate in the league, better only than the quite hopelessly relegated Llacuabama and less than half the best side in the division. I tried to look through the stats to get a better understanding of why, because I can't believe that our players are not good enough for this league. Extracting some of the available stats, I looked at the total xG per team, removed the outliers of penalties and then divided this by the number of shots taken by each team to provide this bit of insight.

What that tells me is that our xG per shot, excluding penalties, is the third lowest in the league - bettering only Mannucci and Juan Aurich who both narrowly avoided automatic relegation. So whilst we're taking lots of shots and therefore accumulating lots of xG, we're creating only poor quality chances. And poor quality chances are harder for players at the level of the Peruvian league to convert. So next season we'll have to look at how we create better quality chances, even if that means fewer total shots.

We'll have to do that without both loanees Cornejo and Celi, who will return to their parent clubs. I could try to keep Celi for another season but, thinking about the national side, that would be a mistake. We need him training at better facilities and playing at a higher level so that his progression continues. Hopefully he'll get that at Sporting, if not another loan in a better league.

That may also give me a chance to bring in a couple of the newgens who arrived in the save's first intake. A couple of which are looking very tasty indeed:

Peña, Torres and Valverde are already in the first team squad - primarily so I can make sure they train at the best facilities we have and, in a couple of cases, mentor their personalities into something more useful for development. Torres is horribly 'unambitious' but otherwise looks like a real prospect but my favourite is Valverde - two-footed, natural finisher... This lad could be really special.

 

[Shrewnaldo]

3 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Ah.  To be the best, you have to beat the best, I guess!

We should comfortably beat New Zealand but... a point against one of the other two? Hope the other team takes 9 points and we beat New Zealand by more than the side we draw against... unlikely but we can dream.

[Shrewnaldo]

On 03/12/2021 at 17:42, Shrewnaldo said:

Before I finally get round to doing a club update... the World Cup draw has not been kind to us

 

It did not go well

#14 - World Cup 2022 - Perú

Unsurprisingly, our trip to Qatar was short-lived.

We had some injury issues going into the tournament, particularly at wingback with Sporting Cristal's Jhilmar Lora on the right and Migual Trauco of Olympiacos on the left both missing out. I was also sorely tempted to leave André Carillo and Raúl Ruidiaz out - both older players who have failed to impress during qualification - but, without strong young replacements, I decided to give them one last hurrah. 

Warm up for the tournament was a mixed bag with a sobering defeat to Turkey giving me real reservations about continuing with the 3-4-3. Using the other two friendlies to experiment with a midfield diamond, still utilising the back 5, we beat Iraq 2-1 going on 10-1 and then comfortably dispatched with a Qatari club side. The key take-away from these friendlies was that the midfield diamond, or at least the use of a creative DM behind two midfield runners, is a real prospect going forward... something which I have carried back into the club side for further investigation following our issues with creativity last season.

Into the tournament itself, we'd start with what should be the simplest match - New Zealand.

I stuck with a 3-4-3 system for this game but using two 10s behind Lapadula as the focal point striker and we ran into exactly the same issues as the club side. 20 shots creating 1.42xG at 0.07xG per shot is pretty poor. Even the goal came from a poor quality chance - Rojas giving the ball away following a high press, Cueva intercepting and smashing in a beauty from 25 yards.  Celi and Cueva, playing as the two 10s, had solid games whilst Mora and Loyola, the replacement wingbacks, were both excellent and will come into the squad going forward.

Our striker issues, a recurring theme for many years for me in Football Manager, continue though. Against a poor opponent, Lapadula had two poor quality chances and then missed one absolute sitter - a unmarked header from 12 yards with only the 'keeper to beat. At 33 and 32 respectively, we may not see Lapadula or Ruidiaz in my squads again.

Whilst 3 points were welcome, the lack of goals had effectively consigned us to an early exit. My hope had been to put 3 or 4 past New Zealand, hope one of Italy or Belgium would win all 3 of their games whilst I snuck a draw against the other and hope to go through on 4 points and goal difference. Just scoring one against the Kiwis meant we were under real pressure to beat one of the big boys...

Something we came frustratingly close to against Italy. Dropping into a 5-4-1 diamond, with Cueva playing behind pacy striker Percy Liza, we were aiming to frustrate the Italians and then play on the break. It almost came off too, with Liza missing a great chance early chance from a near post cross before the Italians scored with two individual pieces of pure quality. Nevertheless, a heartening game as we weren't outplayed by any stretch and the midfield diamond - with América's Pedro Aquino at the base of the diamond, Malmö's Sergio Peña and Jeonbuk's Gerald Távara providing the legs in the middle and either Al-Fateh's Christian Cueva or, going forward, Sporting's Yuriel Celi as the creative ten - proving to be an effective system making the best use of our strongest midfielders.

Regardless, that meant we needed a win in the last game. Not to worry, it was only Belgium.

The midfield diamond again, but with Lapadula coming in as an experienced striker... perhaps I should have gone with more pace against Belgium's backline of Denayer, Alderweireld and Struijk. But conceding a goal after 2 minutes is difficult to recover from and forced us to attack a bit more than I'd expected. Again we created some decent chances and, if we had more quality, would have got 1 or 2 before we had to chase the game. Eventually ending up going all out with a 4-2-4, Belgium picked us off with 2 late goals to make the result look much worse than I think we deserved. But 1-0 or 4-0, we were out.

Both Belgium and Italy would go on to be knocked out in the quarters by the eventual finalists - with Belgium's conquerors England losing out to France thanks to a single Dayot Upemecano strike.

For our part, the Peruvian FA were content enough with just making it to the tournament and picking up the single win against New Zealand. We continue to evolve the national side's tactics and are starting to align on the core of a decent side, if a bit workmanlike. We definitely need to find a quality 'keeper, and soon, but the defence Aldair Fuentes (Fuenlabrada), Renato Tapia (Celta Vigo) and Luis Abram (Granada) is solid enough and ably backed up by the likes of Arón Sánchez (formerly Cantolao, now Hertha Berlin), Gianfranco Chévez (formerly Sporting Cristal, now Watford) and Miguel Araujo (Montpellier).

The aforementioned midfield options and wingback options are definitely good enough to carry us towards World Cup 26, held in the US, Canada and Mexico. But up front, I have some real headaches. Percy Liza, previously of Sporting Cristal but now at Cruz Azul, could be a decent, if one-dimensional, striker but has yet to hit the net at international level. Universitario's Alex Valera and Alianza Universidad's Jair Córdova are ok but are never going to excel at the top level. My best bet seems to be pairing a ten, the obvious choice being Celi, with a pacy striker, likely Liza, and just going with a Keep It Stupid, Simple approach.

Qualifiers for World Cup CaMeRiXa start in October 2023, so we'll have plenty of time to hone it... should we get there. The first aim is Copa America 2024.

 

 

 

[roas1875]

Just to let you know I have been following this, great work.

A very harsh draw for the world cup group stage there. Plenty time to build for the next one where hopefully the next generation will shine through.

It’s never nice seeing promising players leave but hopefully the experience in Europe will elevate them and this will benefit the national team.

I see Cristian Benavente didn’t make your squad, he showed promise years ago and signed for Nantes if I recall but he is off the radar a bit IRL too.

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by roas1875

[Shrewnaldo]

12 minutes ago, roas1875 said:

Just to let you know I have been following this, great work.

A very harsh draw for the world cup group stage there. Plenty time to build for the next one where hopefully the next generation will shine through.

It’s never nice seeing promising players leave but hopefully the experience in Europe will elevate them and this will benefit the national team.

I see Cristian Benavente didn’t make your squad, he showed promise years ago and signed for Nantes if I recall but he is off the radar a bit IRL too.

 

Thanks, really appreciate the feedback.

I did have a quick look at Benavente and I think he might have got a call-up to a squad but not made the team. He's playing in Egypt with Pyramids (really) and looks good but not brilliant. If he were 5 or 6 years younger then he'd probably be in but, at 29 now, he's well down the queue in favour of younger options like Celi, Távara and Vilca.

[Tikka Mezzala]

Excellent read. Might end up in Peru at some point in my own save. 

Would be cool to see you really compete with the Eastern part of South America at club and international level. 

[Shrewnaldo]

1 hour ago, Tikka Mezzala said:

Excellent read. Might end up in Peru at some point in my own save. 

Would be cool to see you really compete with the Eastern part of South America at club and international level. 

Thanks! A LONG way to go before we can compete, I'm afraid. At the moment, we're still struggling against the better Chilean and Colombian sides in the Libertadores or Sudamericana... but hopefully over time.

[DefinitelyTaylor]

It was always bound to be tough. Never mind. Lessons to be taken from the tournament and hopefully you can return stronger at the next edition. 

[Shrewnaldo]

#15 - Overdue an update - Perú and Cantolao

It occurs to me that I haven't updated this thread in a while and, with the short seasons in Perú and how much I'm enjoying the save, I've absolutely battered through the months and am now up to June 2024, about to head into the Copa America. So before I do, let's run through a quick update on matters with the club and the country.

First of all, the national side where, since World Cup 22 and the last update, we've played a series of friendlies and 6 qualifiers for World Cup 2026. The friendlies were a mixed bag a couple of gimmes against El Salvador and Panama, a brilliant victory over arch-rivals Chile and an ominous 1-0 defeat against a very strong USA side.

The qualifiers have also gone reasonably well with a respectable 10 points from the opening 6 games.

We started with a repeat of my very first international game - home to Uruguay. Unlike the first time round, we turned out a dominant defensive performance and won 1-0 thanks to a Yuriel Celi pen. That gave me quite the optimism for the rest of the qualifying phase - optimism which almost evapourated completely in the next game as we limped to a 1-0 win over what I thought was a weak Venezuelan side. We probably should have lost the game and, with La Vinotinto going on to beat Uruguay and Paraguay, they may prove to be something of a surprise package.

Less surprising were our next two games - getting absolutely outclassed by Argentina and then a really tough 1-0 away loss in Colombia. The latter, particularly, was a very even game in which we created decent chances but lost out thanks to weak defending at the back post from right back Jhilmar Lora, who hasn't been seen in the Perú squad since.

Nevertheless, we recovered our momentum in the next double header - going 4-0 up on Paraguay before switching off and letting them back into the game with 20 shots and 2 goals, giving the game a respectable veneer. And finally, we struggled to a 2-2 draw in the Bolivian altitude. We again dominated the ball, made good chances and took two of them through Celi and Cueva, only for our players to wilt in the thin mountain air and concede late.

We're in a decent position, though, and could put ourselves in a very strong position with the next double header - two home games against Brazil and Chile. Considering the extension of the World Cup and 6 teams now automatically qualifying from this table, and a 7th heading to the playoff, we'd have to completely screw it up not to get through.

On the club side, we have recovered from a poor second season to completely dominate domestically in the third. We won the Apertura at a canter, including a beautifully bugged playoff final which became a three-legged affair, before losing only once in the Clausura, topping the Overall Table and taking the Liga 1 title without the ignominy of any sort of Champions Playoff. The only blot domestically was a second round defeat in the Copa Bincentenario, unsurprisingly at altitude as Sport Huancayo defeated a team already exhausted from playing three legs of a two-legged Apertura final...

More interestingly for the purposes of the save, though, was the youth intake where, for the second season on the bounce, we had a "golden generation" - this one exceeding even the expectations of that moniker. Five elite talents including a much-needed goalkeeper, along with four top talents and a couple listed in the "good" section who also look very handy.

Lobatón, the 'keeper, is just delicious though. Already 6'4", with a decent personality and attributes that would make him a first-team player for most Peruvian Liga 1 sides - I've been sorely tempted to throw him in to the mix already but am playing the slow game so far. He's absolutely excelled in the reserves, conceding just 3 goals in 11 games and is likely to become first choice within the next two seasons.

Other academy graduates such as Jesús Rossi and Pier Gonzáles (real players), and newgens Claudio Peña and Carlos Valverde from the class of '22 are already in the first team squad. But sadly their development is being stunted by the board's continuing refusal to improve our training facilities beyond "adequate". Despite another round of Copa Libertadores money and a bank balance consistently over £2m, they simply state that the club cannot afford to invest in further improvements. I think this may have something to do with the now £1.3m sitting in the transfer budget which, though I never touch it, may be considered by the game as "dispensed income"?

Instead of splashing the cash, we're almost at the point where it will be youth academy only but, for now, we're still rescuing the odd discarded prospect. Centre back Holsen Cubas was brought in from Universitario for free when they weren't giving him games but perhaps the best example is Alexander Sean Pablo Robertson. With a former-Australian international father, a Peruvian mother, born in Dundee and raised in Manchester he could conceivably play for any of England, Perú or Australia in game, and Scotland in real life. Having come through Man United's academy before moving to Man City, he's currently on loan at Ross County in real life. We picked him up on a free when his contract at City expired in June 2024.

Listed as an AM in FM, we've re-trained him to become a Regista in our re-vamped 3-5-2 and he's been great. At the rate he's developing, and if he can develop further at a club with better facilities, then he won't be far off the national side by the time World Cup 2026 comes around.

For now, though, it's time to concentrate on Copa America 2024. Drawn into the tougher group, the FA expect us to qualify past Brazil, Colombia, USA, Ecuador and Venezuela. We need to finish 4th to make that happen. Whilst Ecuador would usually be a simple task, they're hosts here. Venezuela, per above, are stronger than I thought whilst USA were really good in the friendly we played against them last year. And then there's Colombia and Brazil. A tough task ahead.

 

 

 

[Shrewnaldo]

16 - Copa América 2024 - Perú

Strap yourselves in...

The 48th Copa América was hosted in our neighbouring country - Ecuador. With Perú having won the tournament only twice, and last in 1975, there was little expectations from the FA that we would do anything spectacular. However, the minimum stipulation of making it to the quarters looked a lot more daunting once the groups were drawn. With the USA and Costa Rica the two guest invitee countries for this tournament, we really did draw the short straw:

• Group A - Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, United States, Venezuela
• Group B - Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay

Undoubtedly in the harder group, finishing in the top 4 was going to be a difficult task and we got off to stuttering start.

I expected Venezuela to be the weakest team in the group, although our earlier World Cup qualifier had given me a heads-up that they're not all that bad. We really dominated the game but couldn't put away our chances and went behind to a neat Soteldo finish. We continued to toil away until left wingback Trauco first assisted main striker Liza and then scored himself late in the game to give us a deserved win.

If we left it late against Venezuela then I don't know what to say about the next game...

I don't even know.

It was a very entertaining game to watch, to be fair, with the game swinging all over the place. 1-0 down, 1-1, 2-1 down, 2-2, 3-2 down and then two goals in injury time. The winner was also an absolute beaut.

Percy Liza was now the tournament's top scorer, with 4 in the opening 2 games but would never regain full fitness - it was at this point that the altitude and fixture congestion started to affect the squad. The next game was in the mountains at Ambato, an interminably dull affair that guests the USA won thanks to a weak parry from goalkeeper Alvarez falling straight to Daryl Dike.

And with Brazil giving our exhausted team an absolute cuffing in the next game, we were on a sticky wicket.

Alvarez had another shocker and was summarily dropped, whilst Aldair Rodriguez - who was deputising for the flagging Liza in a game I expected to lose anyway - was quite possibly the worst striker I've ever called up to the Perú squad.

All this left us in a rather precarious position. We'd go into the final game in 4th - a qualification spot. But we'd play Ecuador, the hosts, who were just a point behind and would leapfrog us with a win. We were *still* knackered and were absolutely awful for an hour, going behind to a Michael Estrada goal and relying heavily on replacement 'keeper Alejandro Duarte and some fine defending from back 3 Sánchez, Chávez and Tapia. 

Then, in a rate foray forward, the Ecuadorian 'keeper got caught underneath a back post cross and that man Liza was on hand to head it in. Parity and we'd scrape through. As Ecuador piled forward in search of winner, we scored 3 unlikely goals - a first for back-up striker Matías Succar, a long-range daisy cutter from Aldair Fuentes and a penalty from Aquino (I suggest remembering about Aquino and penalties for later...)

It's impossible to articulate just how much 4-1 flattered us. Up to the 59th minute, not only were we losing and going out of the tournament - but I would most likely have been sacked and the game over. Indeed, it's taken 3 goals after the 90th minute and this ridiculous turnaround to get us through the group and save my job. But we're through and you'll have to wait for next time to find out what happened in the knockouts...

[keeper#1]

Christ out of all the crappy US forwards, you let Dike score the only goal.  

Edited December 17, 2021 by keeper#1

[Shrewnaldo]

6 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Christ out of all the crappy US forwards, you let Dike score the only goal.  

Oh don't worry, there's more to come on that...

[Sheriff7]

5  games in 12 days?? South Americans are crazy .

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Phew. Close! Perhaps one of your most important victories to date.

[Shrewnaldo]

17 - Copa América 2024 - Perú (Part 2)

So after what can only be described as scraping our way through the groups with a mixture of uninspiring performances and downright incompetence, we were through to the quarter finals where we'd face Uruguay.

We'd defeated La Celeste in a home World Cup qualifier towards the back end of 2023 so I wasn't as concerned about being turned over as I might have been. With Gus Poyet in charge, the Uruguayans weren't exactly tearing up any trees in the qualifying group and had come through the undoubtedly weaker group having lost to Argentina, understandably, and Chile. Nevertheless, I could only dream of a front two such as Maxi Gómez and Darwin Núñez so caution was recommended.

Uruguay turned in an incredibly impotent performance and it was no surprise to see Poyet resign after the tournament. The early lead definitely helped us, with Muslera having an absolute shocker - coming out to meet Man City right-back Aguilar's cross and getting nowhere near it, leaving Celi with a simple nod in. But Uruguay then equalised with an irritatingly simple goal - a ball inside to Maxi Gómez who completely overpowered Renato Tapia and finished easily from the edge of the box.

We were just about edging a pretty even game when two injuries - first to midfield runner Távara and then to centre back Renato Tapia looked to have screwed us over. Having made our third substitution to take off Távara, we were down to ten for the final 13 minutes or so and looking like extra time too. But then, with 5 to go, Liza was bundled over in the box by José Giménez and Aquino cooly slotted in the resulting penalty to take us into the semis... against Argentina.

With the quarter having been in Quito and the semi in Ambato, we were struggling for fitness again - despite the week's break since the group stage. And now we'd face an Argentina side that had battered us the previous November and, under Scaloni, had waltzed serenely into the semis - five 1-0 wins following the opening 3-1 defeat of Bolivia. Távara and Tapia, two of our strongest players, were also out injured so what to do... I decided to go with what has become my standard approach at altitude - go hard early, try to grab an early goal, then defend and hope for the best.

It didn't quite work out like that. We did create some great chances early but Percy Liza, still the tournament's top scorer, missed two absolute sitters inside the opening 87 seconds. And then Tagliafico got sent off, Argentina packed the middle and we went down the flanks time after time - Liza missing another sitter when clean through. And then a penalty... Aquino, who had scored in the preceding two games, hit it straight at Emi Martinez who kicked away... and his penalty drama wasn't done there...

...it felt like it was winding up as one of those games where the team with ten eventually hit you with a sucker punch only for Liza, who had missed at least 3 sitters, scored a cracker from the edge of the box with just a few minutes to go and we were off to the final where, improbably, we'd face the USA.

The final would played at Portoviejo, almost at sea-level, but both sides were still knackered from semis in the mountains. The final turned out to be an absolute cracker of a game, with five goals and the USA coming from behind twice before the game went into Extra Time and a winning goal that was awarded the best of the tournament. Sadly, for us, it didn't go our way.

Close, but no cigar. Particularly frustrating on two notes - first that Aquino missed another penalty, this one going miles wide, and secondly that we were once against forced to play with ten men due to an injury after making three subs. This one, however, was more annoying because, despite being granted an extra sub once the game went into Extra Time, I couldn't then take off the injured player and get back to the full quota of 11. And then McKennie battered a rocket from 25 yards into the bottom corner and we just couldn't get back into the game.

Regardless, runners up in the Copa América at this early stage in the game is a good result - so much that, in conjunction with some club results, it feels a little too easy, or a little unearned perhaps. We weren't very good in the group stage and certainly played better in the knockouts but I can't help but feel that this team shouldn't be anywhere near a major final. 

But at least we managed to keep our job - and then some. There may be a risk that this raises expectations for the next tournament, although the FA so far only requires us to "be competitive" in the World Cup qualifiers. We've carried our knockout form into the qualifiers, including a 3-1 home defeat of Brazil, and should cruise into the tournament proper in 18 months without any necessity for too much personnel turnover. So perhaps we're benefitting from consistency of selection? There are still a couple of areas of weakness and the first newgens are maybe 2 or 3 seasons away from being capped... hopefully the challenge returns and we get that far.

 

 

 

 

[Shrewnaldo]

On 18/12/2021 at 12:26, Sheriff7 said:

5  games in 12 days?? South Americans are crazy .

It's the altitude which is the real killer. I don't think Liza or Celi started a game with full fitness after the opening game

 

1 hour ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Phew. Close! Perhaps one of your most important victories to date.

It's an odd one. We just weren't very good so that 4-1 is just nuts. But you're definitely right because this would have been game over if we'd gone out in the groups

[keeper#1]

WESTON!  

USA! USA! USA!

[Sheriff7]

9 yellows and 1 red card. The S.American football we love.

[Shrewnaldo]

On 19/12/2021 at 15:15, keeper#1 said:

WESTON!  

USA! USA! USA!

Is it possible to ban someone from a forum thread?

On 20/12/2021 at 14:42, Sheriff7 said:

 

9 yellows and 1 red card. The S.American football we love.

And in my defence, most of those were the Argentinians who, despite being technically far, far superior to us, decided to play murderball

[Shrewnaldo]

18 - A star is born? Planning - Cantolao and Perú

I haven't been updating much on the club side so far - this is deliberate as the focus is very much on the national team with Cantolao being, as their real life twitter hashtag will confirm, #LaCanteraDelPerú. But yesterday, we had a potential superstar come through the academy and I need to work through some stuff - hence I will use this post to arrange my thoughts.

So this is the young man in question, what an absolute babe.

Mayta does, however, come with one problem - I don't use wingers. For the four and a half seasons to date, both with club and country, I have used some version of 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, deliberately so as I wanted to push myself out of my 4-1-X-X comfort zone. Whilst other newgens have come through with natural positions that aren't perfect for these systems, none of them have had the potential of Mayta and so a rethink is in the offing.

It's currently 2025 and, thinking realistically, I want to plan a system and a national squad that will be able to use Mayta at his peak. World Cup 2026 is too soon but he'll turn 22 during the 2030 tournament so this seems like a reasonable target and, practically speaking, is quite possibly a good target at which to end the save regardless. So if we're planning for the peak of a 'cycle' at 2030, the prep work starts now. In the intervening four and a half years, I need to:

1. Prepare a tactical system that makes the most of Mayta and his supporting cast
2. Identify that supporting cast

Conversely, I'm going to take question 2 first. I could just find Mayta's best position and then build around him, but I'd like to look a little more holistically and find a system which both maximises his strengths but within a framework that also utilises the best of the rest. So what else have we got in the pipeline for 2030? Well the current national team has only a handful of suitably aged players that are anything other squad filler. There's a couple of right backs in Jhilmar Lora and Kluiverth Aguilar, but both have failed to develop as much as I'd hoped - decent but no better than that. In midfield Gerald Távara should still be good enough, whilst I managed to rescue Alex Robertson from stagnation early enough and he should shortly move onto a bigger league and, hopefully, even better development.

Since the start of the save, Yuriel Celi has been the great Peruvian hope but even he is suffering from a lack of first-team game time at Sporting. He gets more games for the national side and has typically been used up front, as a false nine, although this is probably a greater reflection on the relative strengths of the other midfielders and strikers than playing to get the most from Celi. At 23, though, he'll definitely still be around come World Cup 2030 and should play a key role.

We also have two centre backs, both Cantolao alumni, that should be first choice for years to come - Arón Sánchez is probably most at risk due to stagnation in Europe and Holsen Cubas has recently made the move to Cagliari. And finally we have the first of the newgens, Cantolao Class of '22 graduate Carlos Valverde who I fear may have made the move to Europe too early but certainly has the potential to develop well.

Beyond that, there's very little in way of established internationals who I can confidently say will still be around in five years and good enough to hold down a spot. So it's all a bit meh. Time to look at the next generation and whilst Mayta is clearly top of that list, there are a few other standouts. The first, and likely one of the most important, is 'keeper Jean Lobatón - another Cantolao academy product, this time from the class of '23.

6'4" and, at 18, already with solid attributes in all the places I prioritise, he's got the potential to be the national side's number 1 for years to come. I've already been drip-feeding him into the Cantolao senior side but perhaps it's time to speed up that transition.

Lobatón is also just about the only 'keeper of note across the entire save, whilst there is something of a glut in other positions. Alongside Sánchez and Cubas for centre back, Municipal's Gerson Olivares and Ayacucho's Martín Blanco are genuine centre-back prospects, whilst Jonathan Gustafsson, half-swedish and once of Universitario, is one of a number of options in defensive midfield. Indeed midfield seems to be an area of strength - both in terms of the current players and developing players - with the likes of León de Huáncayo's Kevin Gutiérrez and two of my own, Jair Ferrari and, personal favourite, 6'5" Ignacio Acuña.

Acuña in particular has already been making waves in domestic football, scoring 7 goals as a midfield runner.

And in advanced positions we also have a couple of options - Joe Angus and Jack Méndez at Allianza, Gianmarco Olascuaga at Municipal and our own César Correa could come good out wide; whilst up top the aforementioned Valverde leads a series of Cantolao academy graduates such as Víctor Salinas and Manuel Guadalupe who are good, might be very good but don't have any single stand-out set of attributes to exploit.

So where does this list of prospects leave us? Well for one thing, there are glaring omissions at fullback. Neither flank has a single player to get me excited - the likes of Municipal's Flavio Castillo and Sporting Cristal's Johan Barreto may end up being functional but unspectacular options. So what do I do about it?

I guess there are a number of options:

1. use a system without fullbacks - maybe a 3-4-1-2 or 3-1-4-2 using out and out wingers
2. retrain wingers to become wingbacks
3. retrain centre back to become fullbacks
4. retrain defensive midfielders to become fullbacks or inverted wingbacks

Looking through the other players that we have coming through, it's apparent that we'll have to play a 3-man midfield, if not 4. We simply have too many good midfielders not to exploit our strengths in this area. Távara, Robertson and Celi in the current squad are all excellent ball players, Gustafsson and Gutiérrez have the work rate and Acuña could be a really good goal-scoring midfielder. But with the quality in numbers, and particularly that lad Mayta, we have to supplement this with attacking width. 

Many of those options are 'wrong-footed' and Mayta himself already has the "cuts inside from both wings" trait, so utilising out and out wingers seems like a non-starter, or at least very difficult to implement. This would therefore push us very strongly towards two players on each flank and overlapping fullbacks, or at least fullbacks who stay wide. Ignoring the roles, then, that's already pushing us into something like this and some form of 3-man midfield, whether that be 1-2 or 2-1 depending on the personnel available and opposition faced.

So then it comes down to a question of style. Perhaps because of my personal preference, but most of the players I've picked out as existing squad members to keep or prospects to focus on are technically adept. In particular a midfield of Robertson, Távara and Celi is physically average but excellent in possession. There's a general lack of searing pace, even in the youth ranks, and so an out and out counter-attacking system doesn't make much sense either. All of which is pushing me into a possession focused system, potentially with a double-pivot holding possession deep and then looking to play through the lines via the flanks where our genuine talent - see Mayta - can cause the damage.

Maybe.

Apologies for the mind dump but I find these sorts of posts to be incredibly helpful, borderline cathartic, in working out the long-term direction of saves like this. Now to put it into practice.

[Shrewnaldo]

19 - World Cup 2026 and club success - Perú and Cantolao

Since the above and thanks in no small part to the time afforded over Christmas break, I have continued to absolutely rattle through the months in the save. We're now up to March 2027, having completed both our 6th domestic season and second World Cup - so it's probably time for a bit of an update.

First with the national side where 2025 had been a very poor year for us. The 5-3-2 system seemed to be running out of steam as we took just 4 points from our final 6 World Cup qualifiers and limped into the tournament in the final qualification spot. Friendlies against Tunisia and Jamaica were also a struggle and, per the above and the spawning of Freddy Mayta, a seed change to a 4-3-3 was in the offing. In an effort to both experiment with the system and bolster some much-needed morale, I arranged a couple of soft friendlies against Guyana and Canada. Our South American neighbours were summarily dispatched 5-0 with Freddy Mayta scoring with his first touch in senior football - a back post header for the national side. Lovely.

Canada proved more troublesome and we could only bore out a 0-0 draw. Prescient for what was to come.

Into 2026 and prepping for the summer's World Cup in Mexico, USA and Canada, I continued with the strategy of easier games. By now the 4-3-3 was quite well established with a midfield three of a regista, typically Alex Robertson; a midfield runner, usually Andy Polar or Rodrigo Vilca; and a utility midfielder, usually the excellent Gerald Távara. The major problem we were now encountering was that our main players just weren't getting game time in Europe. Here's Yuriel Celi's season by season history.

That's just a huge problem. Celi, Arón Sánchez, Holsen Cubas, Sergio Peña, Carlos Valverde... they'd all moved to bigger European clubs and done the sum total of bugger all. Robbing the national side of its best talents, this is just hugely frustrating for a club-and-country player - particularly in a smaller nation like Perú where I have neither the funds nor reputation to bring them all back for game time. I'd identified this as a problem in one of the very first posts and wanted to pick "gateway" clubs to ensure playing time - but the likes of Sporting, Cagliari and Hertha Berlin have been big failures.

That meant going into the World Cup with a front three of 16 year-old Freddy Mayta, Percy Liza on the left with just 12 starts in the preceding season and Yuriel Celi as a false 9 having come off a year in the reserves. As you can imagine, it was a bit of a struggle. Nevertheless, we put in a good fist of it.

Drawing against a giant of world football like Germany was a phenomenal effort, indeed Mayta could have won it right at the death but fluffed a 1-on-1 opportunity. It was then a case of putting as many past as we could past minnows Lebanon and hoping to out-goal-difference the Germans for top spot. We put 7 past them, whilst Kimmich and co could muster only 4. Which meant going through top of the group and facing what should have been the easier task of Canada, rather than Denmark. FM had other ideas.

Giving up two soft goals to Cyle Larin, we dominated possession but just couldn't create meaningful chances - with the lack of a goalscoring midfielder at national level being the biggest obvious problem here. We went out on penalties and Canada would go on to beat Turkey via the same route, making the quarters whilst fellow hosts Mexico and the USA would go out in the semis. And in an improbable final, Ireland would defeat Russia 3-0 to win World Cup 2026.

So not a great tournament for us but not disastrous. We met the FA's expectations and blooded a few youngsters at tournament level. But there are clear issues - not least that of our star players struggling for regular game time. Since the World Cup, we've been through a series of friendlies and have experimented heavily with alternative personnel - particularly for the problematic roles of wide left and midfield runner. The next, and likely last, target will be World Cup 2030 in Spain.

If anyone knows of somewhere with better 2d Perúvian league kits then please let me know, I hate these 'standard' ones.

At club level, it's been stupidly successful. Not only have we won the league every year except 2022, we have occasionally done so with such domination that there's been no requirement for a Champions Playoff. This happens where the same team wins the Apertura, Clausura and Overall Table - which we have done on two occasions. Perhaps more importantly for the purposes of this save, we have successfully improved the club's facilities to the point where the both the training facilities and youth facilities are "great", with "exceptional" academy coaching and youth recruitment. This has led to every single youth intake being listed as a "golden generation" and two even deserving that moniker.

Every season, we are promoting at least two youth players into the senior squad and seven of our first team are listed as "trained at club". But how can we afford these improvements, aren't finances in Perú absolutely awful? Well yes. But we've raised funds through two primary sources.

Our transfer history, with sales shown in yellow and purchases in blue, clearly indicates a major source of income. With the exception of 2024, we've had at least one major sale every year:

• 2022
  • Yuriel Celi, £1m, Sporting Club de Portugal
• 2023
  • Arón Sánchez, £400k, Hertha Berlin
  • Ricardo Lagos, £325k, Mazatlán
• 2025
  • Carlos Valverde, £950k, Familicão
  • Holsen Cubas, £1m, Cagliari
• 2026
  • Alex Robertson, £850k, Derby
• 2027
  • Victor Salinas, £400k, Cruz Azul
  • Renato Solis, £375k, Brighton
  • Jorge Del Castillo, £850k, Cruz Azul
  • Alessandro Burlamaqui, £350k, Ceará

Significant as these sums were, they have been dwarfed by one specific source of income - Copa Libertadores prize money.

In 2024 we made an improbable final only to be defeated by Flamengo. In 2025, we made the Second Round only to be defeated by Flamengo. In 2026, we faced Flamengo in the semi-finals and still couldn't beat them. But two draws would see us go through on away goals and then defeat Ceará comfortably in the final. Copa Libertadores 2026 winners and a shedload of cash. Thank you very much. Not only has this seen the Perúvian Liga 1 improve to become the 5th most reputable division on the continent, it's also provided the bulk of our financial might and afforded us the opportunity to improve the facilities.

With our total wage bill standing at just £37,500 a week and comparatively little in transfer expenses, it's pretty obvious where most of our cash is going - the youth system and ground maintenance (i.e. improvements). We spend more than double per season on the youth system as we do on player wages. At £4m a year, this probably isn't sustainable just through those player sales unless the increasing reputation of the league also bumps transfer values. We've made a record £2.2m in sales this term and I see that as a reasonable expectation going forward. So the rest of the cash is going to have to come from continental success.

Thankfully this doesn't seem to be much of a problem. Only the Brazilian and Argentine clubs ever present us much of a problem and, even then, it's only really Flamengo who are significantly better than us. If we can consistently get to the semis then this should bring enough prize money to continue that talent factory and propel the national side towards that 2030 World Cup.

 

 

[Tilling]

Loving this as a read - really inspiring me to pick up the new FM and do a club + country save of my own, although I think I'm probably too vanilla to step out of Europe. Definitely keen if you have any suggestions for interesting challenges on that front. Unlucky on the World Cup, but it seems like you've got a good bit of talent - that Ireland win is bizarre, who made the 2026 squad for them to get anywhere near winning the thing?! 

[Shrewnaldo]

14 hours ago, Tilling said:

Loving this as a read - really inspiring me to pick up the new FM and do a club + country save of my own, although I think I'm probably too vanilla to step out of Europe. Definitely keen if you have any suggestions for interesting challenges on that front. Unlucky on the World Cup, but it seems like you've got a good bit of talent - that Ireland win is bizarre, who made the 2026 squad for them to get anywhere near winning the thing?! 

Hey, thanks for the feedback 👍

In terms of suggestions, a long time ago I wrote this guide to Club and Country saves. Not sure how relevant it still is but worth a check https://footballmanagerveteran.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/shrews-club-and-country-guide/

I'd stress that domestic challenge is a really important part of the game. I'm currently absolutely dominant domestically despite starting as one of the weakest sides and it's boring now. Maintaining some level of interest in the club game is important to the save's longevity.

Before settling on Peru, I was contemplating Poland and Cracovia, that could be a shout. Or Czechia and Banik Ostrava? It's definitely worth prioritising the club's youth system and checking the editor for their Youth Importance level as this will have a long term impact on newgen creation 

[Tilling]

That's a great little guide, thanks so much for sending it. Funnily enough those are two countries I was thinking of too, Dukla Prague and Gornik Zabrze for each! I really like the nationality rules with Poland too. The Youth Importance stuff I find really irritating, I'd love to try and do Hungary but it only being Important (bizarre, did no-one at SI see the coverage at the Euros?!) is a real sticking point for me. Greece also another one I've thought about, try and crack the big three perhaps - thanks for the reply!

[Shrewnaldo]

2 minutes ago, Tilling said:

That's a great little guide, thanks so much for sending it. Funnily enough those are two countries I was thinking of too, Dukla Prague and Gornik Zabrze for each! I really like the nationality rules with Poland too. The Youth Importance stuff I find really irritating, I'd love to try and do Hungary but it only being Important (bizarre, did no-one at SI see the coverage at the Euros?!) is a real sticking point for me. Greece also another one I've thought about, try and crack the big three perhaps - thanks for the reply!

If you're thinking of Hungary, there's a bit of a left-field option. Csikszereda Miercurea play in the second tier in Romania, but in an area that has ethnic links to Hungarian diaspora. So much so that the Hungarian government partially funds the club, who now have excellent facilities. I *think* they'll generate Hungarian newgens but might be worth an experiment to check if it's something you'd like to go with.

[Tilling]

1 hour ago, Shrewnaldo said:

If you're thinking of Hungary, there's a bit of a left-field option. Csikszereda Miercurea play in the second tier in Romania, but in an area that has ethnic links to Hungarian diaspora. So much so that the Hungarian government partially funds the club, who now have excellent facilities. I *think* they'll generate Hungarian newgens but might be worth an experiment to check if it's something you'd like to go with.

That's wild - I'd never heard of that at all! I don't think I could resist Budapest Honved unfortunately - big Half Man Half Biscuit fan and them being Puskas' club is too poetic; but I think the game importance being lower for them probably puts that one to bed sadly. Cool team though.

[Shrewnaldo]

20 - Resignation - Cantolao

I might have to rename the thread as this will no longer be a club and country save. Instead, having grown a little bored of absolutely dominating domestic football with Cantolao, I have decided to resign and concentrate solely on the national side.

I'd already decided that the save will be paused, if not ceased completely, after the 2030 World Cup in Spain and I've been getting a little bit of a new save itch. Having won the league in every season bar one, including another term of total domination this year, it just wasn't that interesting playing with the club any more. I had tried to increase the difficulty level by constantly selling our best players and playing more and more youth players or weak players that needed some development. But the AI just isn't very good in my opinion and even instant resulting games gave us a league and couple double within an invincible season - at times playing an entire team of under-20 players. So not much fun.

And having won the Libertadores in 2026, there isn't any competitive target yet to be achieved with the club side. Yes we could have held on for the World Club Cup in 2029 but it's now changed into some behemoth group stage thing and what little chance we might have of lucking out a single result against a European side just isn't feasible across this format.

But the real point of the club side has always been to develop players for the national side and, with 2030 the big target, it's probably not worth bringing through anyone who won't be ready for senior international football by then.

So not fun, no competitive target and no benefit to the national side. It's farewell to Cantolao, leaving the club in an exponentially better position than when I arrived. The facilities have been improved from basic to Excellent training facilities, the bank balance is in the multiples of millions and a previously empty trophy cabinet now has 6 Ligas 1, 2 Copas Bicentenario and a Copa Libertadores.

Not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[ifinnem]

Always love your threads and blogs Shrew. Hopefully the WC in 2030 is epic!
It is sad how FM is too easy now, should be harder to win leagues and continental competitions to keep the longevity but I guess for SI that isn’t important in terms of the masses.

[_Ben_]

I've always enjoyed following your saves Shrew as well as the Twitter posts that come between; you've a real knack for storytelling and, an area I want to develop, progression planning. It's a shame to see you leave Cantalao but I agree - there are some leagues (and I presume those that are researched less well) that are just easy to dominate. It's almost that the AI cannot deal with you and any shape changes in game and then they also cannot build a decent squad.

You've produced and developed some lovely talents in your time - so you can't be disappointed at that side of the game! All the best for the run up to WC2030.

Out of interest - where are you thinking next? Not a move back to Rapid?!

[Shrewnaldo]

8 hours ago, ifinnem said:

Always love your threads and blogs Shrew. Hopefully the WC in 2030 is epic!
It is sad how FM is too easy now, should be harder to win leagues and continental competitions to keep the longevity but I guess for SI that isn’t important in terms of the masses.

 

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

I've always enjoyed following your saves Shrew as well as the Twitter posts that come between; you've a real knack for storytelling and, an area I want to develop, progression planning. It's a shame to see you leave Cantalao but I agree - there are some leagues (and I presume those that are researched less well) that are just easy to dominate. It's almost that the AI cannot deal with you and any shape changes in game and then they also cannot build a decent squad.

You've produced and developed some lovely talents in your time - so you can't be disappointed at that side of the game! All the best for the run up to WC2030.

Out of interest - where are you thinking next? Not a move back to Rapid?!

Thanks both. It's funny how we all need to impose our own challenges and restrictions these days to give the game some challenge. But that's probably natural given some of us have been playing for 30 years

As for what's next, I haven't decided on a club yet but it'll definitely be something totally different. So no youth development at all, almost doing a Brentford really and generating a smarter recruitment strategy for a senior squad only game. I've got some time to think about it whilst holidaying between the international games... 

[rich ruzzian]

Seems interesting a Brenfort type of gameplan. Will you still be a Peru manager after the WC 2030?  

[Shrewnaldo]

26 minutes ago, rich ruzzian said:

Seems interesting a Brenfort type of gameplan. Will you still be a Peru manager after the WC 2030?  

No, if I make it to WC 2030 (and the group at the Copa looks a little daunting), then that'll be where I pause. I'll start up a fresh game world for the next save I think 

[Shrewnaldo]

21 - Copa América 2028 - Problems - Perú

We'd made an improbable final at Copa América 2024 losing, even more improbably, to invitees USA on penalties. Thankfully, this hadn't led to any unrealistic expectations from the FA and they again wanted us simply to make it to the quarter finals, i.e. get out of the groups. With yet another tough draw this, however, was unlikely to be a simple task. We would need to qualify from a group containing Argentina, Brazil and Colombia but, with the top four going through, we'd clearly been targetting the games against the two weaker sides - Ecuador and Costa Rica.

We opened with a tough game against Colombia, took an early lead and dominated the ball but, as was to become a theme, struggled to create meaningful chances against a talented side.

Nevertheless, I think it was a harsh loss and a draw would have been a more equitable result. Even chasing the game, we couldn't really create chances through the middle and mostly relied set pieces and crosses. That impotency continued into the next game - what was supposed to have been a relatively simple affair against Ecuador. Our neighbours and rivals are, however, a team that I regularly struggle against and this proved to be the case until an Arón Sánchez header from a corner opened up the game.

With wonderkid Ignacio Acuña the scoring a hat-trick, we could even afford a couple of defensive lapses to seal a 4-2 victory.

Acuña was unfortunately amongst a number of players I had to rest for the next game against giants Brazil. With the vital Costa Rica game being the next up, I decided to go very conservative, try to eek out a draw whilst resting the key attacking players for the must-win game. It so nearly paid off as we provided very little attacking threat ourselves but held the Seleção at bay for 88 minutes - Gabriel Jesus with the sucker punch. So that's both Colombia and Brazil where we very nearly came away with creditable points, instead being left with just the 3 and badly needing a win to secure qualification and save my job.

This went very similarly to the Ecuador game. We really struggled to create chances early in the game and could, perhaps should, have gone behind when Costa Rican winger Elian Quesada-Thorn went clean through but put his effort wide. We then lucked out with a penalty that was summarily dispatched by Gerald Távara and, from there on, absolutely dominated. But that first 40 minutes is becoming a worrying trend. Against weaker teams, we struggle to break them down, against better sides we simply don't create anything. The middle of a tournament isn't the time to fix this but fix it we must.

With tired players but qualification almost certain, I decided to rotate but go a little more adventurous against Argentina. Not that you could tell - we were again impotent although pleasingly restricted the bugger team to very few chances. They took one of them down to pure individual quality and we did not.

Which left the group thus - 

The bare minimum required to qualify, satisfy the FA and no more. We were actually joint top scorers in the group with 9 goals but 8 of those came against the weaker sides, whilst we didn't keep a single clean sheet which isn't like my teams at all. It meant we'd face the top team from the other, much weaker, group. I do wonder how we'd have got on had we been drawn alongside Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela and Bolivia instead. Regardless, Uruguay we'd face in the quarters and it wouldn't be pretty.

We got absolutely battered. The 4-0 is slightly misleading as, with 20 minutes to go, we'd managed to keep Uruguay to relatively low quality chances even if there were a lot of them. But then we had to chase the game and it really opened it up for Núñez and Satriano who are quality, particularly the former. With 3 goals in 10 minutes, we were taught an absolute lesson but the most concerning thing once more has to be our complete inability to create anything resembling a consistent threat. We were awful and deserved to go out no question.

Colombia would go on to win the tournament, on penalties from Brazil, as the tournament returned to some form of normality.

And so we head towards the Olympics suitably chastened. Given the qualification tournament, I have a lot more faith in our under-23 team than I do in the seniors. We'll face a group of France, USA and New Zealand, and I'm relatively confident that we can qualify from that, hopefully go on to make a real impact at the tournament. If we want to do similar at the World Cup in two years, then it'll need a MASSIVE improvement from what we've just turned out in Argentina.

The 4-3-3ish systems that I've been using simply haven't worked consistently enough and a complete rethink might be in the offing.

 

 

[Shrewnaldo]

The Olympics went reasonably well as we ended with a silver medal, turning in some good performances until the final - which was truly awful.

 

[Shrewnaldo]

Having qualified for World Cup 2030, we've had what might be considered a rather generous draw (Netherlands are the final nation to be drawn in Group P):

We avoided any of the really big nations but DR Congo are ranked 10th in the world and won the last African Cup of Nations rather comfortably, defeating Morocco, Egypt, Ghana and Ivory Coast along the way. They did not, however, make it to World Cup 2026. In 2022, they qualified and made it out of their group, including a 3-1 victory over Colombia, but went out in the second round to Portugal. They have a handful of dangerous players but certainly look an easier prospect than the likes of France, England or Brazil.

Romania are currently ranked 45th in the world and are the groups third seeds. Their best players are all in their 30s but they finished top of their qualifying group that included reigning World Champions Ireland (no, really) and Scotland. They've been roundly cuffed in the European Nations League, conceding 18 whilst being relegated from the A tier, and this is the first tournament they've qualified for in the save.

In a weird way, I think this might be a slightly more difficult group that we had in 2026 with Germany and Lebanon. With two going through, we were always going to spank Lebanon and finish at least second. Here the top tier side is definitely weaker but Romania are dangerous and could send us home early.

 

 

[Shrewnaldo]

22 - Planning for World Cup 2030 - Perú

Ok, so we qualified. And in 4th place from the CONMEBOL qualifying group which would, at face value, seem like a good thing. We lost only 3 games - away in Chile, Argentina and Brazil but managed to draw 7 including gentlish fixtures like Ecuador and Chile at home, and Paraguay away. Coupled with our stuttering performance at the Copa América in 2028, we need to improve if we're to do anything significant at the save's final hurrah. 

During the latter qualifiers, I had mixed it up tactically to play a lot more conservatively against the bigger teams and play a direct counter-attacking game, whilst pushing an extra player forward into a 4-2-3-1 against the weaker sides. This met with mixed success - a 1-1 draw against Uruguay and 1-0 win in Colombia being obvious high-points. But we're just not good enough at balancing attack and defence. In June, I arranged a couple of friendlies against what I'd consider to be sides of equal stature and ability - Ghana and Austria. We played on the counter against Ghana and more adventurously against Austria.

We lost both games 1-0.

So a rethink. With the tournament 183 days away and only a few friendlies in between to experiment, it can't be revolutionary. We just need to pick out our strengths and try to exploit them. On that basis, the obvious answer is to identify our best players. And that's a pretty simple task.

Those 5 are the clear standout players available to us and, helpfully, can be moulded into a unit without too much compromise. Whilst Mayta and Olascuaga are both more natural on the right, Mayta can certainly do a job on the left. And this means pushing Celi into the 10 role and bringing Acuña back into central midfield. Maybe something like this:

There are downsides here. It's perhaps a bit overadventurous for my tastes and doesn't have a proper physical holding midfielder, Távara very much being a technical ball-player. It also means that Alex Robertson misses out, a player who I've liked to use in the creative role but just isn't quite as good as Távara. But this looks to get the absolute best out of our most talented players. It then leaves me with a very clear steer to use a back 4. Yes, I could go strikerless but I'm not really a fan - I still think the ME struggles with this too much to make it realistic - so a back 4 of some sort and a striker.

First up front. The obvious option is Rapid Wien's Matías Succar, once of Cantolao, and he's a pretty decent all-rounder. My other option is to take Pedro Rondán, a 2025 alumnus of Cantolao who has since moved to Sporting Cristal and is the top scorer domestically. Rondán is more of a nippy poacher in and around the box and, looking at the general lack of finishing in the 5 behind him, I think this might be something we need to prioritise.

And that leaves the back 4. Defence is undoubtedly our weakest area. Even just judging by the assistant manager's star ratings, our defence doesn't break 3*. There could be two solutions to this - play conservatively and defend in numbers, or screw it and go for "we'll score more than you". I've tried the former and it didn't work. With the exception of a trip to Colombia in March 2029, where our 'keeper was man of the match, we haven't kept a meaningful clean sheet against a good side since World Cup '26. So let's try the other way.

However, I'm going to couple it with a Martin O'Neil approach of essentially playing 4 centre backs and not letting the fullbacks go too far forward. Our right back, Kluiverth Aguilar, has 3 assists in his last 20 internationals and 2 of those came against weaker sides when I could play more attacking anyway. Our left back hasn't assisted in about 40 years. So let's keep them deep, get it forward to the good players quickly and then keep our shape at the back. Further, noting that our midfield choices means that only Távara is holding position whilst we're attacking, it would be worth using the fullbacks to help protect against counter-attacks. An inverted wingback or two will side in the defensive midfield area whilst we are attacking and hopefully prevent the opposition playing straight out through the middle of the park, with enough pace to get back into the wide positions should they counter outside.

So that leaves us with something like this.

Time for one last roll of the dice.

 

[Shrewnaldo]

23 - A disappointing end - Perú

It did not go well. At all.

In a couple of warm-up friendlies, the tactical changes seemed to be having a positive effect. We drew 0-0 in Hungary but it helped us to tweak a few of the instructions and take that into a 3-0 win over a strong Denmark side. A couple of morale boosting thumpings of Spanish club sides and we were all set for our opening game against DR Congo.

Ok, not a disaster but Congo were by far the better side and we once again struggled for both possession and attacking threat. Lobatón, the newgen 'keeper from Cantolao, was outstanding and took the man of the match award. Outside of that, we were poor. But a draw against the top seeds in the group is a creditable result and, with DR Congo beating Romania 1-0 in the group's opening game, we were well set to qualify so long as we avoided defeat against the Europeans.

And that was a much closer run thing that it should have been.

We started really well and took the lead through another Cantolao newgen, star midfielder Acuña is now a regular starter at Saudi funded Newcastle having made a £12m move from Internacional (40% of which will have gone back to Cantolao). Perhaps that early goal forced the Romanians into a more attacking mode but they were then the better side and we needed a late, scrappy equaliser from Municipal newgen and now Mochengladback winger Olascuaga to avoid defeat. That left us in second place in the group and scraping into the second round to face The Netherlands.

And that was the worst of the lot. We were truly awful and the Dutch, clearly with some incredibly talented players, absolutely battered us.

Going out in the Second Round in consecutive World Cups, and the third tournament in a row if you include the 2028 Copa América, is a very underwhelming way in which to end the save. We did make two finals with the national side - 2028 Olympics and the 2024 Copa América - but lost in both. In truth, it feels like the national team has regressed badly since its zenith of that Copa final. Some talent was definitely coming through the ranks but we were never able to utilise it so its full effect. Acuña, Mayta and Olascuaga in particular are excellent players. If we could marry that up with some sort of defensive solidity then maybe something could happen in 5 or 6 years.

As it is, I'll be taking a break from this save - if not ceasing it completely. I fancy trying something completely different but we may well return one day to see if we can build on the foundations set by Cantolao's phenomenal performances.

 

 

[rich ruzzian]

The Demark result gave hope  

[Shrewnaldo]

25 minutes ago, rich ruzzian said:

The Demark result gave hope  

Absolutely. We'd given away quite a few chances in that game but the attacking efficiency was really pleasing. Sadly, a total outlier

[ifinnem]

As you say a sad end to the save but also maybe something positive for FM that you couldn’t easily dominate international football with inferior players - silver lining??
looking forward to your next adventure!

[Reiver]

All I ask for the next game is a better pun.

[Shrewnaldo]

13 hours ago, Reiver said:

All I ask for the next game is a better pun.

How about "Robin around the Christmas tree"? That do anything for you? 

[Reiver]

1 hour ago, Shrewnaldo said:

How about "Robin around the Christmas tree"? That do anything for you? 

As long as you don't play with a team nicknamed the Seagulls...