SIMPLY THE BREST

[crossmankj]

Building Belarus - Introduction and current point

Hello all, first time blogger here with my main save, 'Building Belarus'. Starting at Dynamo Brest, I plan on building the nation of Belarus to the point of World Champions, fully utilising the new dynamic youth feature recently added into the game. I've never had the urge to blog a save before, but after connecting with some very creative and active minds on here, I decided to give it ago! I plan on updating this thread every two in game months from this point onward. Currently, I'm near the end of season two (2022). This first post will be an introduction to Dynamo and an update up to the current point. Hope you enjoy following the journey through Belarus and Europe with me  

 

Dynamo Brest - A background

When all other world football was suspended due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, I, like many others, turned to Belarus for that football fix. I quickly adopted Dynamo Brest as my team (partially because the name included Brest) and here we are. Founded in 1960, Dynamo have a few domestic honours to brag about. The most recent of which was the 2019 Vysejsaja Liga (the top division of Belarussian football). On top of this, they also have 3 Kubak Bielarusi (Belarusian Cup) trophies and 3 Supierkubak Bielarus (Belarus Super Cup). The stadium, pictured below, is a fairly modest one, holding in the region of 10k.

OSK Brestsky stadium, Brest, Belarus

Dynamo have a fierce rivalry with local neighbours Rukh Brest - a club that stole Dynamo chairman and players in the 2019-2020 offseason. They're also constantly at odds with Neman Grodno.

 

Season 1

As you can see below, my playing squad was, to be kind, old. Compounded by the '5 foreigners on the pitch at any one time rule' that Belarus has (4 for season 2), any signing options were limited to being Belarusian, or having lived in Belarus for 3 years. Right back Yudchits was the player of the season, commanding some very impressive performances down that side of the pitch. Striker Bilen'kyi weighed in with some important goals before deciding he wanted to be greedy and go to Zilina on a pre contract.

Despite having the 2nd smallest budget in the Vysejsaja Liga, we managed to finish 3rd, behind Belarusian giants BATE Borisov and Shakhtyor Soligorsk. We were within a shot of the title before a disappointing 3-2 loss vs Dinamo Minsk and a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Shakhtyor meant that any title aspirations were put onto the backburner for the time being. 

Dynamo start the save in the European Conference League (ECL), entering in the 2nd qualifying round. Immediately dismissing Welsh side TNS 11-2 on aggregate set up an intriguing tie with Latvia's RFS. Again, the Belarusians earned a hard fought victory, this time a 2-1 AET win on aggregate. The final qualifying round beckoned and it was the turn of Viktoria Plzen to travel to Brest. A 1-1 draw at OSK Brestsky left us with a glimmer of hope before heading to Plzen for the second leg. We were duly dispatched 4-1 away from home and our European journey had ended before even truly beginning.

The Kubak Bielarusi is played over a 'traditional season' i.e Aug - May, a stark contrast to the March - October league season. In our only two games, we managed victories over Partizan Soligorsk and Isloch to reach the latter stages of the competion.

Due to the building a nation aspect of the save, I'm also the manager of Belarus. We picked up two wins in our WCQ group - both against minnows Estonia. Two draws against Wales and Czechia respectively meant that we finished 4th, largely where expected.

 

Season 2 - to current point

So here's the current squad. I placed a lot of emphasis on signing younger players. Stanic and Beneite came in for nominal fees at an age where they'll be able to gain Belarusian citizenship by the time they're important first team players. As you can see, Yudchits is still head and shoulders above the rest, and that we're carrying a lot of dead weight according to our average ratings.

Our first trophy of the save came in the form of the Kubak Belarusi after wins over fierce rivals Neman Grodno and intercity team Rukh. League champions Shakhtyor awaited in the final. Despite losing a 2-0 lead, we managed to prevail on penalties to lift some silverware. We also managed to reach the 2022/23 quarter finals following wins v Isloch (again) and Rukh (hahahahah).

Unfortunately, despite domestic success, we were knocked out of the ECL at the hands of Lokomotiv Moscow in the 3rd qualifying round. A huge win in Brann ensured we had enough to win in the 2nd Q round but the might of the Russians in the form of Loko was too much.

Last but not least in this update. The main attraction, the league. A promising start saw us shoot up to the top of the table before some faltering form allowed us to be caught by BATE and Shakhtyor. As you can see below, anyone from 1st to 7th could finish in any of the upper positions. With 9 games left, the pressure is on us to bring European Football to Dynamo once again.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read the initial blog. The next update will follow at the conclusion of the Vysejsaja Liga season....

Edited November 19, 2021 by crossmankj
Name change

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Delighted to have inspired you to get on these forums.  Great OP, mate. 

[abulezz]

Welcome! Great intro post! 

[crossmankj]

9 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Delighted to have inspired you to get on these forums.  Great OP, mate. 

Thanks mate!

 

9 hours ago, abulezz said:

Welcome! Great intro post! 

Cheers buddy.