[FM22] State Hunter - Gotta Catch 'Em All (Save ended due to technical issues)

[corinthiano]

Welcome to something I have always wanted to do, but never managed to have the courage to embark on - winning every State Championship in Brazil.

The Premise

Brazil is made up of 26 States and one Federal District, where the capital Brasilia is (much like the US). Due to the vast size of Brazil football was played at a state level until the 50s, when a national cup format competition was introduced. Only in 1971 a formal national championship was established.  State Federations still have strong political power within Brazil, so despite the reduced calendar time from 6 months to 3-4 months that happened around 20 years ago, the State Championships still carry importance, especially in states where there aren't teams competing for national glory. This is where traditional rivalries are played out every year, and fans still value getting the local crown.

The quality in football between each State varies greatly, from almost amateur Amapá to competitive São Paulo, where there is a concentration of wealthier and more structured clubs. Not only that, but every State Championship has a different, and usually very creative, format. I have always wanted to play in obscure State Championships and thought what better way of doing that then trying to win them all?

The Objective

Quite simple, win all 27 State Championships. As a Bonus I will also try to win the two existing Regional Cups - Copa Verde and Copa Nordeste. I would also like to win Serie A and the Copa do Brasil along the way.

Just to make it harder for myself I will also try to only pick teams that have not won the State Championship before. This will mean I spend more time at each club and have to build them up a bit, especially in those states where you have 2-3 big teams and a big gap in quality after that. I do say try, because the smaller states only have very few playable teams that have not won the State Championship before. So if I see that I become stuck because of this rule I will alter it.

The Rules

I would like to follow a pattern from smallest to biggest State, so will adhere to the following rules to ensure that.

1. I can only manage clubs that have not won their respective State Championship before.
2. I have to win the State Championships in reverse order of the 2022 CBF Ranking of each Federation (as per picture below), i.e. start with Amapá and finish in São Paulo.
3. Once I win a State Championship I have to resign and remain unemployed until I find a job at a club in the State next on the list.
4. I can move jobs between clubs in the same State as long as I have not won the Championship yet.
5. Exception to rule No. 2 applies only to the highest ranked State that qualifies for one of the regional competitions, which are Goiás (Copa Verde) and Ceará (Copa do Nordeste).

The Setup

Only the top 3 divisions in Brazil are playable out of the box, which would make this save impossible to play as some states only have teams playing Série D football in the 4th tier. The league system in Brazil is also very difficult to replicate in FM. At Série D level teams actually qualify through their performance in the State Championship, or other qualification methods established by each Federation. There are 68 teams in the league and the number of spots per State is decided by their ranking.

There is a database created by fmanager.com.br (https://www.fmanager.com.br/topic/135643-brasil-update-fm22/) that doesn't replicate that exactly, but creates something that actually makes this save a lot easier to play. Essentially a 5th tier is created, regionalized per State, out of which 1-2 clubs get promoted to Serie D. In Serie D there are 8 groups of 8, out of which 4 qualify to knockouts in each group and 4 get relegated into the regional 5th tier. This means that I will have plenty of clubs to choose from with a full year calendar regardless of the level they play in.

The Manager

I have created my alter ego and nicknamed him State Hunter. He will have no badges and a Sunday League Experience.

I'll be providing monthly updates, as well as brief insights into every state and how the competitions work there. This is definitely a very long term save for me especially with my limited playing time, but something I can see myself sticking with for a long time.

I have loaded up the save and applied for the eligible Amapá based jobs, will post shortly to let you know where the journey begins

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Chapter 1 - Amapá

Amapá is the northernmost state along the Brazilian coast and is largely surrounded by Amazon forest, which makes up 90% of its area (with 70% being unexplored forest). With a populations of just over 800k it represents only 0.4% of the total national population. It is also the only State in Brazil that does not have any road connections to another state, with ferries and planes out of the capital Macapá being the only way in and out of the state.

The small size and remoteness means that football was never going to be very strong, and whilst there has been a State Championship running since the 1940s it is almost an amateur league, with most clubs based out of the capital and sharing one of the only stadiums - Zerão. Macapá are the team with the most titles at 17, although the last one came in  1991. Recently Ypiranga and the local version of Santos have been the most successful teams in the state.

In FM22 the league is short and simple - 7 teams play each other once, top 4 qualify for the Semi-Finals and play knockouts to decide the winner. Last place is relegated to the second tier, which in FM is only two teams - who play each other twice to determine who gets promoted. One of them is the team that the State Hunter will start with...

[corinthiano]

Tapajós Amapá Clube

I wanted to start small and I don't think it could have been smaller than this. Tapajós are a very new club, founded in 2021 as a sister club to Tapajós in the neighboring state of Pará. They are one of the few clubs based out of Macapá, playing their games in Mazagão. They are certainly not ambitious and happy for me to finish bottom of the Amapa 2nd tier and the Serie D Seletiva for Amapa. Seeing as we are in the second tier it does mean at least 2 seasons with the club, so I look forward to building something with the club.

They have a senior squad of 7 players, so I will need to get some signings on board quickly as the head-to head for a place in the Amapa top league is in two months time. Other then those games we will only have another 14 games in the Serie D Seletiva for the Amapa State, so the squad wont need to be big and with R$135k monthly wage budget left out of R$170k I feel confident we will be able to get enough players in. Expect the first update after the first two games!

Edited December 24, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

January 2022

I know I said that I would only update after playing the State Championship matches, but I thought I'd share my best signings and current players at the club first. I essentially signed whoever was interested and decent enough, making sure I had two players per position. I still have wage budget left, but with such a short season it feels unnecessary to sign more players - unless someone really good shows up.

Badé - at the club already, our best AMC I will be playing him as my Playmaker.

Probably my best signing - will be playing in the DLP role in front of the centre backs.

Best defender I was able to sign, should hopefully be solid at the back.

Also, this is the formation I will be using for the save, had decent results with it during my first FM saves and goes with the style of football I like to play.

Results

I schedules friendlies against the teams in the first tier of the Amapaense and results so far are encouraging.

[corinthiano]

I think we may be slight favorites now after making our signings, 

 

[corinthiano]

February/March 2022

Two games, 6 goals scored, none conceded and the first title of the save, although the Amapa 2nd Division isnt exactly a stellar competition

With access to the Amapa State Championship secured we now focus on the Serie D Seletiva (5th Tier), which is played from May until July. It is an 8-team league where everyone plays each other home and away, with the winner getting access to Serie D. We'll face essentially the same teams that we will play in the State Championship next season, so it will be a good test to see where we are.

[albertluque]

This looks interesting. 

[_Ben_]

This is going to be some journey. I’ve a soft spot for the Brazilian state leagues so will be watching!

[rmcf2017]

This is so interesting. Never knew Brazil had such a deep state league system

[corinthiano]

10 hours ago, albertluque said:

This looks interesting. 

Thanks! I am looking forward to exploring the different State leagues and set-ups

6 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

This is going to be some journey. I’ve a soft spot for the Brazilian state leagues so will be watching!

Great to have you onboard! Yes, this is going to take a long time, especially if I do keep the rule of only managing teams that haven't won a State Championship before!

1 hour ago, rmcf2017 said:

This is so interesting. Never knew Brazil had such a deep state league system

Thanks! Yes, in some states you have quite a few tiers too, in Sao Paulo for example there are 90 clubs competing across four divisions and there are some decent quality clubs there that develop players that go on to play for the big clubs in the State.

[corinthiano]

May 2022

Talk about poor scheduling, no games from March until Mid-May and then two games a week in a competition that is going to finish at the end of July - 5 months before the new season begins...

We started off strongly against Santos, but faded and realized we are not quite at the level of the top clubs in the State yet. Two good wins followed and a really good draw away at favorites Ypiranga have us sitting in 4th. I feel like we are significantly stronger than the teams below us, so shouldn't settle for less than 4th and can hopefully keep pace with the top teams until the end.

That would be a great result especially considering that our best player, best striker and starting CB all decided to leave in the last couple of months and I simply cannot find any decent replacements.

[corinthiano]

June 2022

A couple of easy wins over Santana and Oratorio were followed up with a solid away win against a stronger Macapa side. Santos were unfortunately too strong for us again and look on course to be promoted to Serie D. What is encouraging however is that we played a heavily rotated side against them and went down to ten men on the 26th minute, so actually did will to hold on until the 70th minute when they scored their first goal.

We bounced back with an easy win against Independente and look set to finish between 2nd and 4th. We do have home games against Ypiranga and Macapa next month so hopefully we can do enough to finish second, although there is a heavy goal difference to make up against Ypiranga.

The Seletiva will wrap up at the end of July and we'll go five months without football after that. The plan is to finish the season strongly and then plan a squad for next season already. I managed to sign a couple of loan players to fill the gaps left by the first teamers leaving, with Gustavo being especially prolific up front. It would be great to be able to sign him on a permanent basis.

[corinthiano]

July 2022

Seletiva Série D - Amapá

A clean sweep in July to end our campaign in style. The 7-1 against Sao Paulo and the win over Ypiranga were strong performances that more or less guaranteed us 2nd place. After that complacency kicked in and we somewhat scraped the last three wins. Overall very happy with the performance, other than Santos no one beat us, we may not be favorites for the Amapa State Championship next year but we'll be in with a shout.

We now have to wait until January 2023 to play competitive football again. I have started selling fringe players with the aim of having only 22 players at the beginning of the season. The State Championship is very short and the financial situation at the club is dire (not helped by an average attendance of 100...), so I need to save where I can.

Next up will be a 2022 season review and preview for 2023 before we take our first shot at completing leg 1 of the journey!

[corinthiano]

2022 Season Review

Squad by Appearance (before I started selling off the fringe players)

With just 16 games in the season I was never going to use that many players. However with us playing twice a weak in the Seletiva I did sign more than the 22 players I had in mind, even loaning a few players towards the end of the season. The entire squad was pretty much new to the team and the list of transfer is huge so I won't be showing that. I will highlight the top 3 players though.

André Luis

One of the few good ones that were already at the club, our best player this season. His stats are ordinary but he excelled in the Target Man role and couldn't stop scoring.

Gustavo

Brought in on loan halfway through the season when Bade left, was pretty sharp in front of goal and miles better than anything else we had. Have managed to sign him on a free for next season which is a massive boost.

Jefeson

Good young Playmaker, got better as the season went on - is young and developing well so expect even more from him next year.

Finances

Terrible. With a calendar half empty and an average attendance of around a 100 this is no surprise. What is a surprise is that the board have upped the wage budget from R$170k p/m to R$245k p/m for the new season, which means they are sleeping well despite the accumulation of debt happening at their club

I haven't done a season review since FM14 so if there is anything anyone would like to see please let me know. On to 2023 now!

[Punch]

Decent start to your journey! Good luck!

[corinthiano]

2 hours ago, Punch said:

Decent start to your journey! Good luck!

Thank you!

[corinthiano]

2023 Season Preview

The board now have more of an expectation in the Seletiva for us, although with Santos promoted and the only Série D side Trem avoiding relegation we are now in theory the strongest side in the Seletiva. If I dont win the State Championship getting promoted will be key to close the gap to the two top sides.

Amapá State Championship

Unfortunately there are not any Season Previews for the State Championships, but the bookies have me below Ypiranga and Macapa in the Seletiva, which means they probably rank me as 5th favorites here. I think we are good enough to qualify for the Semi-Finals and if luck goes our way progress further.

The format is pretty short and simple. All 7 teams play each other once, with the top 4 qualifying to the Semi-Finals and bottom team being relegated. In the knockouts the team with the best record in the league phase progress if the tie is level, so starting well will be important. That being said, we start with Ypiranga away and Trem home, so not really the easiest of starts...

Edited December 23, 2021 by corinthiano

[The Malazan Empire]

Sounds like a great idea for a long save. I'll be following along as I love reading about saves in Brazil. Good luck.

[corinthiano]

7 hours ago, The Malazan Empire said:

Sounds like a great idea for a long save. I'll be following along as I love reading about saves in Brazil. Good luck.

Great to have you along! It will certainly be a loooong save

 

[corinthiano]

February 2023

As expected a tough start. We were in the game against Ypiranga, but two free kicks sealed the win for them. It was deserved, I tried out a Fluid Counter-Attack approach seeing as we were not favorites, but we just weren't effective going forward. The fans didn't like it so we went back to our Vertical Tiki-Taka and got a very good win against the defending champions, with André Luis scoring as usual. It was encouraging to see that we can beat the best on our day.

Due to the unexpected increase in wage budget and a bit of an injury crisis at the back we did make some signings.

Vitor Machado

Igor Lopes

With Igor Ramos and Andinho out injured for a good chunk of the State Championship I desperately needed a couple of centre backs. Vitor Machado might even keep his place when the injured CBs are back.

Marcos Vinicius

Left back was a bit of a weak spot for us last season, so I jumped at the chance to sign this guy on a free as his contract was expiring. He is a significant upgrade to what we have.

Thales

I might regret this one. With competition for signing Gustavo and a lack of available and interested strikers in the market I signed this guy. His wages are way higher than the rest of the squad and he has been disappointing in his first couple of games, even missing a penalty against Trem. Will probably put Gustavo ahead of him going forward.

Next Month

We wrap up the league phase of the State Championship in March. I'd like to win 3 out of the 4 games and hopefully sneak a draw against Santos, which would be enough for a 2nd-3rd place. League seeding will be a tie breaker in the semi-finals so every position counts.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Amapá State Championship - League Stage

What a month. We started with a convincing win against Santana before getting lucky against Macapá. The game was 1-1 until a deflected shot fell into the feet of André Luis, who proves vital once again.

Then the big game and biggest lesson for me so far. After the tame display against Ypiranga I decided I wouldn't get intimated by the bigger teams anymore. We played our usual game and were excellent against Santos, despite being 1-0 down at half time. This is definitely encouraging going into the Semi FInals.

On the last day we trashed São Paulo with a somewhat rotated team and relegated them, which is always a nice feeling regardless of it being the Amapá version of my least favorite team

Interestingly the two Serie D team finished 3rd and 4th and it will be home advantage againstfor us against Trem in the semi finals. We'll go through with two draws but I'll stay on the front foot and keep playing the Vertical Tiki-Taka that has been successful so far.

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Semi-Final First Leg

Good result in an even game, puts us in a really good place to qualify for the final in a weeks time.

[corinthiano]

Semi Final Second Leg

And we almost threw it all away...Trem scored early off a corner and we just didn't get into the game. That all changed when they had their right back sent off halfway through the second half. With Andre Luis being uncharacteristically quiet I gambled by throwing Thales on and he delivered with a close range header in the final minutes!

In the other Semi-Final Santos beat Ypiranga 3-1 on aggregate and quite honestly I think that works better for us as we struggled against Ypiranga in the league stage.

[corinthiano]

Final - First Leg

A big result and we now just need a draw to seal the title. We dominated the first half before Santos pushed strongly for an equalizer. Once they equalized it was all about us though and we could have scored 3-4 easily, we even hit the post in stoppage time...

Unlike the Semi Final, there is no seeding advantage here, so if aggregate score is level after the second leg (no away goals) then it goes to penalties. It makes this win even more important, just have to avoid defeat one more time now...

[corinthiano]

Final - Second Leg

And we did it!!! We controlled most of the game despite going down to 10 men in the second half and fully deserve the title!

1 State down, 26 to go!

[corinthiano]

As stipulated in the rules, resigned straight away.

Amapá done, next up Rondônia.

[corinthiano]

Chapter 2: Rondônia

Rondônia is a State in the Northern Region of Brazil, bordering Bolivia to the West. It is approximately the size of Romania and has a population of 1.8M. Like Amapá it is largely made up of Amazon rainforest, however deforestation has been a big concern since the 80s, driven largely by the exploration of minerals and farming. The capital of the state is Porto Velho, which is also the biggest city with around 500k population.

Football does not have a rich history in Rondônia, with none of its teams making any impression in national football. The State Championship being Amateur until the early 90s, the competitions biggest winner, Ferroviário, with 17 titles during that time period does not exist anymore. Ji-Paraná are the biggest winners in the professional era with 9 titles, although the last one came in 2012 and there has not been a dominant force in the State since then, with the title changing hands quite often.

There are a total of 12 teams from Rondônia in FM22. The are two tiers of State Leagues, with 6 teams each. 2 teams are currently playing in Série D and the remaining 10 are in the Seletiva. Only 3 teams have never won the State title before, which could have made me getting a job complicated, however I was lucky that one of them sacked their manager 10 games into the Seletiva...

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by corinthiano

[rmcf2017]

Congrats on knocking down hurdle no 1. 

[corinthiano]

Clube Atlético Pimentense

 

Pimentense are a club founded in 1987 from the small city of Pimenta Bueno in the south of Rondônia. They have achieved very little in their 4o years of existence, with a second place in the State Championship in 2013 being their best ever campaign. They finished 5th out of 6 in the 2nd tier of the State Championship and are dead last in the Seletiva, so we will need a bit of a rebuild here. Not easy when there is no wage budget left and the club is R$2.6M in debt...

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

15 minutes ago, rmcf2017 said:

Congrats on knocking down hurdle no 1. 

Thank you!

[argento]

Great concept and really enjoying it so far, good luck with the new club 

[corinthiano]

On 24/12/2021 at 11:14, argento said:

Great concept and really enjoying it so far, good luck with the new club 

Glad you are enjoying it! Things have started relatively well at Pimentense, but it's too early to tell how much of a task it will be to turn the club around.

[corinthiano]

August/September 2023

2 wins in the first 3 games have seen us double the amount of points we had and move off the bottom of the table into 8th. That being said the two wins were against the 9th and 10th placed teams. The defeat to Real Ariquemes was not too bad though, we scored two early goals, but collapsed in the second half. It was a demonstration of where the team is, decent going forward but awful at the back.

With only two games to go in the season I'll wait until then to show our most promising players.

One funny thing I did find whilst looking more into Pimentense was a classic Brazilian lower league story. It seems they won the Second Tier of the Rondonia State Championship IRL a couple of months. The tournament consisted of a single game against Genus, which they won 3-2. Fast forward a couple of months and both teams were actually promoted to the first tier due to a lack of clubs able to play...deeming the match pointless

On the pitch the game featured a 43 year old defender and a 15 year old goalkeeper for Pimentense, talk about an age gap in the squad. News article on the game is on this link, for those who want to google translate it: https://ge.globo.com/ro/futebol/times/pimentense/noticia/aos-43-anos-nem-comemora-titulo-do-pimentense-e-avisa-conseguimos-mostrar-a-qualidade-que-temos.ghtml

 

[corinthiano]

October 2023

Finished 2023 with a mixed month, the defeat against Ji-Parana was a little frustrating as we played better than them but were poor defensively, against Guapore we should have really won more comfortably but I am just happy to have been able to get a win to close out the year.

Squad by Appearances

It is a young team with little depth in the squad and a poor defence, highlighted by having a 16 year old loanee as first choice keeper. There are 4 players that stand out from the rest

Rony

Decent striker who has scored a few since I joined.

Hélio Junior

Decent young CM, playing in the Mezzalla role

Patrick Felgueiras

One of the few experienced heads, I made it a priority to extend his contract

André

Another you midfielder I hope will further improve next year

Next Season

I think how well we will do next year will depend a lot on the funds I get from the board, I do need a bit more wage budget to be able to strengthen the defence and add more depth to the squad. If I dont get budget I will try out the loan market, although that has been a bit hit and miss for me so far. What support I get from the baord remains to be seen, seeing as the current president is on the way out...

[corinthiano]

Not looking good, board actually decided to up the wage budget slightly for next season from R$113k p/m to R$120k p/m but this is obviously at risk now. I have decided not to renew a bunch of players contracts which would put our wages down to around R$85k p/m, hopefully they will let me use the savings as I wanted to make a few signings to bolster our defence.

[corinthiano]

2023 Brazil Review

Série A: Palmeiras come from nowhere to go past Gremio and Flamengo in the last two games of the season to claim a record 11th title. Bahia, Vasco, Botafogo and Nautico go down, with Sport, Atletico Goianiense, Mirassol and CRB taking their place. This will be Mirassol's debut season in Serie A

State Championships (in Ranking order)

1. São Paulo: RB Bragantino win back-to-back titles to make it 3 in total and are now a force to be reckoned with. Corinthians are still record holders at 30.

2. Rio de Janeiro: Fluminense win their first title since 2012 to go to 32, five behind Flamengo's record of 37.

3. Rio Grande do Sul: Grêmio beat Internacional in the Gre-Nal Derby to claim title 42, now just three short of Internacional's 45.

4. Minas Gerais: Atlético Mineiro make it 4 in a row to extend their record to 48 titles. Traditional side Cruzeiro are still struggling financially in Serie B and have not makde the final in those 4 years.

5. Paraná: Atlético Paranaense beat rivals Coritiba to claim their 27th title, but are still 11 behind their rivals at 38.

6. Santa Catarina: Joinville surprisingly won their first title in 22 years to make it 13, but are still behind record holders Figueirense who have 19.

7. Ceará: Fortaleza beat Ceará in the final to win their 45th title and go within one of their rivals record of 46.

8. Goiás: Goiás beat Atlético Goianiense to extend their lead to 12 with title number 28.

9. Bahia: Vitória beat archrivals Bahia on penalties in the Final to claim their 30th title, but are still way short of their nemesis 51 titles.

10. Pernambuco: Sport beat rivals Náutico in the final for the second year in a row to consolidate their record at 44 titles.

11. Alagoas: CRB beat ASA to win title no. 32, narrowing the gap to 9 from record holders CSA with 41. 

12. Mato Grosso: Cuiabá won their 12th title confirming their recent dominance in the State by winning 10 in 13 years, but still way behind Mixto (MT) with 24.

13. Pará: Remo beat surprise side Izabelense to claim title no. 48 and move within one of record holder Paysandu with 49.

14. Maranhão: Imperatriz won title no. 4 against Moto Club who finished runner-up 5 times in a row now. Sampaio Correa are still record holders with 36.

15. Rio Grande do Norte: América (RN) claim their 33rd title are still way behind ABC's massive 57 titles, a record for State Championships.

16. Paraíba: Surprisingly Sousa win their 3rd title by beating record holder Botafogo (PB) in the final, who remain at 31.

17. Sergipe: Confiança (SE) beat rivals Sergipe to claim their 23rd title, but are still way behind the runners-up record of 36.

18. Amazonas: Amazonas FC win their first title, making them ineligible for the challenge. Nacional (AM)'s record of 44 titles looks pretty safe at the moment.

19. Piauí: Altos (PI) have claimed their 4th title in 7 years, but runners-up River (PI) are still by far record holders with 31.

20. Acre: Atlético Acreano beat Rio Branco (AC) in the final to claim their 10th title, Rio Branco are still comfortably the biggest winners with 32.

21. Distrito Federal: Unfancied Ceilândia beat Brasiliense to claim their 3rd title, Gama still record holders with 13.

22. Espírito Santo: Desportiva beat Estrela do Norte to claim title 19, but still way short of Rio Branco (ES) with 37.

23. Roraima: São Raimundo (RR) beat Atlético Roraima to claim their 13th title and close the gap to 6 to their rivals who have the most titles at 19.

24. Tocantins: Palmas beat Interporto to claim their 9th title and extend their record in Brazil's youngest State.

25. Mato Grosso do Sul: Operário (MS) won their 13th title to consolidate their position as biggest winner.

26. Rondônia: União Cacoalense beat Porto Velho to claim their 3rd title, with Ferroviário (RO) the record holders at 17 despite not existing anymore.

27. Amapá: Our very own Tapajós (AP) win the clubs first title by beating Santos (AP) in the final, Macapá are still record holders with 17

Former Club Watch

Tapajós (AP): Had a disappoiting Seletiva after winning the title, finishing in third way behind Ypiranga (AP). Have dismantled a lot of their squad so don't expect them to keep up with the recent success.

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2024 Season Pimentense Season Preview

Rondônia State Championship 2nd Division

The format is simple here, each team plays each other twice and the team with most points after 10 games is promoted. The board don't have any expectations here, I would love to get promoted but it might be a challenge to beat Real Ariquemes (RAEC), who finished 3rd in the Seletiva last year and beat us 3-2 at home in my first game in charge. I would expect we should beat all other teams, but let's see.

Seletiva Série D - Rondônia

With both Genus and Porto Velho relegated from Série D and only Rondoniense promoted we have an extra team in the league this year. Media have us as 9th favorites, board is just happy to avoid last place, I would like to aim for top half.

Signings

With the little bit of wage budget I had left after releasing 18 players + transfer budget I moved over I was able to sign the defensive reinforcements I needed. The squad is still very thin and I will actively look for loans to solve that problem. Players I signed permanently were:

Pedro Henrique

Signed on a free from Coritiba where he didnt make the grade. Not great but the best I could find.

Vinícius

Will fight for a starting spot with Gustavo Silva who is only 18 and wont play every game.

Alarcon

Right-back is were we were at our weakest and although Alarcon isnt great, he is a lot better than what we had.

Mauro César

Will start at the back for us. Can play at LB which is handy too.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Okay, this came out of the blue...Our wage budget has also been bumped to R$210k. Feels a bit weird but I am not going to complain, time to look at new signings!

[corinthiano]

Erm...okay...you're welcome?

[corinthiano]

February 2024

It has been an entertaining start to the campaign to say the least! We conceded first in every game this month, but managed to pull it back in all games bar against Real Ariquemes, who we battered in the second half but conceded a stoppage time equalizer to lose. In the game against Guaporé we were even two goals behind with 30 minutes to go but Rony scored a perfect hattrick to turn it around for us.

I am starting games with a Balanced mentality which seems to be too much on the fence, we definitely are playing the better football so I think I will start with a Positive mentality to see if we can be more proactive vs. reactive.

I did make a few signings with the additional funds, all free transfers. I am not going to go crazy with the money as I know it will drain out pretty soon, so only signed where we could add to the first XI. Here were the players we got:

Celso

Kinda regret this one already. He is only marginally better than what we have and we have plenty of cover in the position

Nikimba

The Target Man role was one of the weaker areas of the team and Nikimba is a decent upgrade to what we have.

Valmor

Signed to play as a Ball Playing Defender alongside Celso. We now have a lot of cover in defence.

Patrick Felipe

Signed in as DLP, the player we have in the position isnt bad, but still too fresh to start every game.

I don't see me making too many more signings as I don't want to risk upsetting the squad too much, potentially a GK if I find someone better than Pedro Henrique or more cover for our midfielders.

[corinthiano]

March/April 2024

A frustrating end to the campaign. I knew it would be tough to beat Real Ariquemes to the title but it was gutting to lose it after seemingly doing the hard bit. 3 straightforward wins were followed by what I thought was the title decider. We went behind against Real Ariquemes, but played really well to get back in the game and hold on to a draw, leaving us 2 points ahead of them. What followed was a lacklustre display against Guaporé - we just didnt create enough for a win. The last game was a solid win against Vilhena away, but there was no way Real Ariquemes were going to drop points against Guarajá at home, meaning they secured the title and promotion.

Looks like I will be at Pimentense for a while now, I will look to build and solidify a decent squad during the Seletiva, which comes up in a month, so that we can be ready for promotion this time next season.

 

[rmcf2017]

Ah so close man

[corinthiano]

May/June 2024

It has been a solid start in the Seletiva, the two home wins against Real Ariquemes and Ji-Paraná were pleasing because it was against better opposition, although we didnt play very well in both games. Genus and União Cacoalense showed that we are not near the level of the top teams in the state yet. The Vilhenense result was disappointing all round, we didnt create enough against a side that has been awful, and when we scored what seemed the winner we let our guard down and let in an equalizer straight away. We rounded off June with a good win against Guajará in what was probably our best performance in the Seletiva so far.

I am happy with 5th place, if we can hold on to that until the end of the season I will be pleased as it will show that we are fit to gain promotion to the top tier in Rondonia.

I did make some more signings to strengthen the squad, the problem with thewre being pretty much no transfer window in Brazil is that there is always the temptation to improve

Luizinho

Picked up on a free as a better left back option.

Vinicius Pereira

Signed initially as Rony was injured for the final stretch of the State Championship, turns out he is better and younger than him. Already has 4 goals in 6 games which is encouraging.

Édson Gomes

Really good addition in midfield, either as Mezzalla or playing as our AP.

Diego

Initially signed as my DLP, am playing him at the back instead - has not been convincing so far.

Ricardo Silva

Just signed this guy, not sure if he fits into our system so might try a few things out against the stronger sides.

 

Lastly, I took advantage of the additional money at the club to also get my first coaching license and have started on the National B now too. These will probably be important when I am looking for jobs again.

[corinthiano]

1 hour ago, rmcf2017 said:

Ah so close man

Yes it was gutting, I am laying the blame on the decision I made to make our pitch narrow. In theory it should favor us as we play through the middle, but it just jumbles things up and makes it difficult to break down teams that are weaker than us and just sit back. That's why I think we lost against Guaporé and subsequently drew with Vilhenense in the Seletiva. I will definitely change the pitch size next season back to standard.

[erikeagles]

This looks interesting, I will definitely follow this 

Good luck you will need it 

[corinthiano]

July 2024

A mixed month for us, drawing at home against Vilhena was frustrating as we struggled to create chances. Guaporé away was a comfortable win, followed by a pleasing win by underperforming State champs Porto Velho, who didnt register single shot on target against us. The month ended on a downer as we lost against Barcelona (RO), it was upsetting for two reasons, first because we played better than them, and second because they have been relegated from the top State tier and will be our main rivals for promotion next season, so I want to be doing well against them.

At the half way stage of the Seletiva I have to be pleased with 4th though. The title is going to be decided between União Cacoalense and Genus, but 3rd is within our reach if Porto Velho continue to underwhelm. I will still be pleased with top half though.

[corinthiano]

6 hours ago, erikeagles said:

This looks interesting, I will definitely follow this 

Good luck you will need it 

Thanks, great to have you following!

[corinthiano]

August 2024

Worst month of this save so far. The draw against Real Ariquemes looks decent on paper, but when you consider thjey were playing for 10 men with 60 minutes we really should have beaten them. União Cacoalense then showed us again we are nowhere near their level yet before we got absolutely trashed by Ji-Paraná. We were already struggling to hold on, but when we had Terra sent off in the 20th minute we just imploded - it could have been more than six easily.

It leaves us in 6th, which is still OK, and we would even move up into 4th if we win our game in hand. In September we play against Genus then 4 games against sides below us, so hopefully we can start winning regularly again.

[corinthiano]

September 2024

A tough start to the month as we played well against Genus but didnt have enough to compete with them, followed by a lacklustre performance away against Vilhenense, who have been our bogey team in the Seletiva. After that we turned around our performances and beat Guajará, Vilhena and Guaporé convincingly.

We sit 4th, but face Porto Velho away and Barcelona (RO) at home in our last fixtures and both games could go either way meaning we could still drop down to 6th.

When we lost against Vilhenense I got quite frustrated and decided to sign a couple more midfielders, considering this was the time to upset the existing starters vs next year when we start the State Championship.

Éder Wilson

Significant improvement at DLP, his technical stats are great for this level.

Whallyson

Can play as Mezzala or AP, I managed to shuffle my midfield around to accommodate him and he had a great couple of first games already.

[corinthiano]

October 2024

I am pleased with how the season ended. October saw the last two games, the first a hard fought loss against Porto Velho. Despite the defeat we ran them close which I was happy with. Then we ended the season with a win over what will be our rivals in the 2nd tier of the State Championship next year. We absolutely dominated Barcelona (RO), with 75% of possession, but only managed to score one goal. I really think the narrow pitch I chose this season was an awful decision, the pitch is just crowded and we struggle to create clear cut chances despite dominating the game.

We end the season in 4th place which I have to be happy with, União Cacoalense, Genus and Porto Velho are much better than us, plus we have Rondoniense in Série D, but we were the best outside these four which means we deserve to be in the top State tier in my opinion. Next season we just have to get that promotion.