[FM22] Let's Play Monopoly In The Most Balanced League In The World? Learning The Major League Soccer - Chapter III - Minnesota United FC [Finished]

[Cheez3y]

Here we go.

I need a break for the European football, so lets do a complete u-turn and play some American soccer. 

 

I had a lovely time at Vancouver in FM21, so I already now the basics.

Lets turn those basics into hopefully complete knowledge of the MLS.

 

I watched a lot of MLS games over the past years and read a lot of stuff.

 

There are two common phrases:

- the MLS is the most balanced league in the world

- the MLS is like playing Monopoly, where you play with your assests and the bank

With the right plan, you can take the worst team to a league winning side in short time.

 

As my alter ego Im taking Bristol City legend Leonel Araujo.

And we are starting umemployed.

 

 

There are no special rules, challenges or players I want to sign.

 

Only one rule.

Similiar to the Runner-Up save I only allowed to take a club, which not won the MLS Cup.

The MLS Cup is the deciding game between the winner of the Eastern and Western Conference final.

 

13 teams already won the MLS Cup, 15 teams not won the MLS Cup.

So we can take over new teams like Nashville or Charlotte or take fouding members of the MLS like Dallas or New England.

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

Day One of the save there are now jobs avaiable.

 

I forgot to mention the game setup.

I loaded up the top nations in Europe and I added a big selection of CONCACAF nations.

Also I use the USA extension to extend the pool of Americans

[Cheez3y]

 

First sacking of the season.

Sporting Kasas is 13th which means last in the Western Conference.

But Kasas is not avaiable for us.

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Stam got the Kasas job.

I mean...he had the Kasas Job.

 

 

Sacked after 31 days.

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Former DC United manager Ben Olsen got the job.

I mean...he had the job. 

 

 

35 days.

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Bilic is now the 3rd coach this season for Kansas.

 

 

The time has come.

Montreal scacked their coach.

 

 

Here we go!

 

[Cheez3y]

It looks like October/November is firing season in the MLS.

[Cheez3y]

 

We declined the Sevilla job.

But my desired job opens...Dallas finally sacked their coach.

 

 

We are even the leading candidate now.

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

Almost one month later we finally got the interview.

tbh its pretty good timing.

The season is over and I can fully evaluate the squad.

[karanhsingh]

Interesting idea, i know next to nothing about MLS. Good luck!

[Cheez3y]

One day later Montreal offers us an interview.

[Cheez3y]

3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Interesting idea, i know next to nothing about MLS. Good luck!

Ty, I hopefully can explain all the things at some point.

There will be a lot of fun with all kinds of regulations, drafts, trades and obstacles. 

[Cheez3y]

Three days after the interview Dallas is approaching us.

Perfect, Dallas was the team I wanted the most at the start.

[Cheez3y]

 

Here we go!

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Dallas finished the season last place in the Western Conference.

Even in the Supporter Shield they finished last.

 

 

 

 

Revolution won the Eastern Conference and Seattle won the Western Conference.

 

In the end Seattle won the MLS Cup for the 3rd time.

 

[Cheez3y]

Knocked out in the quarter final in the US Open Cup.

 

In the League Cup/Campeones Cup Dallas was knocked out after the 1st round by America.

[Cheez3y]

Quick look around shows me that the squad arent that bad.

Sadly two of our best prospect are out on loan and probably will never return.

 

Our key players are on my eyes Arriola and Quignon.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

 

I went through the squad and here is the result.

 

In the MLS you can have a maximum squad of 30 players....We only got 21 players.

We got only 2 keepers, 2 CBs, 1 LB, 3 midfielder...basicly a lot of work.

9 international players, 9 international spots. So if we want to sign foreign players, we need to trade for an intern. spot or get rid of players. 

 

In the MLS the squad of 30 players are deviding into 2 squads.

The Senior squad, player 1-20, will count towards the Salary Cap.

The Off-Budget Squad, player 21-30, will not count towards the Salary Cap.

 

Contract types for the Senior Squad are:

- DP/YDP = Designated Player/Young Designated Player

- SC = Senior Contract

- SMS = Senior Minimum Contract, if you dont have enough DP/YDP/SC in player spot 1-20

 

Contract types for the Off-Budget Squad are:

- SMS = Senior Minimum Contract

- RES= Reserve Contract

- GA = Generation Addidas, its special status for a drafted player, its selected by the MLS

 

With those informations this screen doenst look to complicated.

 

One more thing to the Off-Budget Players.

- max 10 players with contract types of SMS/RES/GA

- max 6 Reserve Contracts, but you need atleast 2 HGN players in those 6 contracts

Edited July 22, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

In preparation for the Super Draft we made some trades.

We got rid of a lot of player rights, which are almost always pretty useless.

We got some excellent 1st Round picks in exchange.

 

What are "player rights"?

Once a players leaves the MLS the club still got the rights to this player.

So if another MLS club wants to sign this player in the future, they need to get the player rights for him.

 

For e.g.:

Messi left La Liga and went to PSG.

Now suddently Real Madrid wants to sign Messi and bring him back to La Liga.

Real Madrid needs to acquire the player rights for Messi, which are still owned by Barcelona.

Not with real money, but with assets like Draft Picks, Player Trades, GAM (I will explain this one later) etc.

 

 

For the upcoming Super Draft we got 6 first round picks with two top 6 picks already.

And since we got a lot of room in the squad, we can really use those prospects.

[Cheez3y]

I just took a look at our academy. UFF

We can sign those players at anytime, but remember you only have a 30 man squad.

 

I think you can sign them all and sent them to your B team, if you got one.

 

For now we only sign one player. Ofcause its the Chinese one. 

Zongyun looks like a good prospect.

Decent physicals, decent mentals, almost the holy trinity at age 16.

And he is 191 cm and you cant teach that!

 

He will get a one year deal on a reserve contract.

[Cheez3y]

Huge trade!

 

We got rid of Mr. "I stick the finger in somebodys a**" Franco Jara.

Yes, he would be our starting striker, but he is already 33 years and occupying a DP spot.

 

Spoiler

 

Bill Hamid was transfer listed by DC United and this is the best opportunity to trade a player.

In exchange we got probably the best American keeper you can get.

Now we need to agree on a new deal and this position is fixed for the next 4-5 years.

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Punch]

I like MLS saves, but haven’t had time to really get into one yet.

Good luck

[karanhsingh]

I must say I'm already a bit confused 

Think this is a league you probably don't figure out till you play it yourself...

[Cheez3y]

6 hours ago, Punch said:

I like MLS saves, but haven’t had time to really get into one yet.

Good luck

Ty. 

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I must say I'm already a bit confused 

Think this is a league you probably don't figure out till you play it yourself...

Thats probably the right answer, you just need to go for it at some point.

 

I watched Uncle Sams MLS Guide series probably 2-3 times over the past 2 years.

This helped immense.

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Here we go...the Super Draft is coming up.

Now my scouts will scout all 201 players and then you need take some time and look at them.

 

4 players got selected by the MLS for an GA contract.

Those players shoud be the best, but this is not always the case.

 

[Cheez3y]

Next player trade.

 

We traded one of our 5 left wingers for a backup keeper.

Shinyashiki had also only a contract until the end of the season.

Spoiler

 

Wills looks like a decent backup and he got a contract until 2023.

This means I can cancel the loan of Paes or I can just sent him to the B team.

This frees up an international spot.

 

 

[Cheez3y]

Couple more trades.

 

We got another draft pick for this years draft in exchange for Pomykal...one of our million LW.

Spoiler

 

Another trade with Atlanta, a draft pick for some GAM.

 

And another huge trade in my eyes.

We traded our best CB Martinez + 2 picks for Steven Birnbaum.

 

Almost the same contract, but Birnbaum is a little bit better in my eyes and we got another international spot free.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

 

The media sees us as midtable team.

 

General Allocation Money is the main "Monopoly money."

It gets used to buy down contract and as asset to trade.

 

The other "Monopoly money" is the Targeted Allocation Money.

The first sentence explain it perfectly. You can use it to buy down contract too.

[Cheez3y]

I went through the incoming Draft and there are only a few players I really want.

So I took the opportunity and cashed up some of our 2022 picks for some GAM.

We need more GAM to buy contracts down.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

 

 

We managed to pick up 2 GA players with our 2nd and 6th picked.

Mehmeti is in my eyes the best player you could drafted.

 

Palencia looks like a solid RB.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

  

 

And to fill the squad we picked another 3 players.

Lake and Leone will be some solid rotation players.

Valdez I dont know yet.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

Like I said Im not really sold on Valdez, so he goes into the B team.

 

He gets swapped with Rooney, which I signed from our academy and sent to our B team first.

He gives us more options.

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

 

We needed another CB and Ba is a solid, cheap option.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Then we made another huge trade in my eyes.

Yes, I said Arriola would be one of our key players, but sometimes you need to grab an opportunity if you see one.

 

Spoiler

 

Former Frankfurt player Joveljic will now be our starting striker.

And Alvarez is damn good prospect and with only 19, he can grow a lot.

 

[Cheez3y]

Since Im planning to play 442, we needed another striker.

And with a DP spot open, why the hell not. I liked Rondon back when he played for CSKA.

 

Spoiler

 

 

United came in with a 6 mio offer and Velasco was made about rejecting it.

We talked and agreed on 9,75 mio.

We still got him until the end of the season, this also means, we got a DP spot open.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Last two transfers of this window.

We needed a starting LB and a backup B2B.

And with only one foreign spot, we needed atleast one American.

 

Two times another MLS team hijacked a trade for an LB, so we needed to get creative.

Cruz was transfer listed and he looks like a pretty decent LB.

Abu comes from the USL Championship side San Antonio.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

 

Decent preseason. The team is loving the 442,,

 

We start the season with 2 games against Nashville. 

 

[Cheez3y]

Transfer Overview - Winter 2022

OUT

Not many outs, only the sell of Velasco.

 

IN

We filled up the squad pretty nicely.

Almost happy.

 

We got now a full 30 man squad.

All draft picks besides Valdez will be part of the squad..

 

We got 3 DPs and 13 players on a Senior Contract, so 4 players with a SMS contract will count for the Salery Cap.

 

 

I must say that Im pretty proud.

This is the first offseason and squad registration in the MLS without any f*** ups.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Cheez3y]

Squad Overview 2022 - Part 1

 

Goalkeeper

Hamid agreed on a new deal, so we should be set here for the next years.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Wingbacks

Cruz and Manu will be our starting duo.

But Palencia will also get a lot of game time.

 

Spoiler

 

Centerbacks

Birnbaum and Ba will be our main duo here.

But we got a nice academy prospect in Li Zongyun, he will get a lot of rotation game time.

 

Spoiler

 

Midfielder

Quignon and Alcivar will be our main duo in the midfield.

Hernandez and Abu will backup.

With Rooney idk yet, I just noticed that he is 193cm, so I will retrain him as CB. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

Squad Overview 2022 - Part 2

 

Winger

Alvarez will be our main star on the right wing.

Velasco would be on the left, but he will be gone at the end of the season, so Obrian will get a lotof game time too.

 

Spoiler

 

Striker

Really happy with our striking selection.

We got the veteran in Rondon and two hungry prospect in Ferreira and Joveljic.

And Leone isnt that bad also.

 

Spoiler

 

[karanhsingh]

Didn't realise you had Velasco, he was top class for me on one of my 21 saves. 

[Cheez3y]

26 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Didn't realise you had Velasco, he was top class for me on one of my 21 saves. 

He joined Dallas in February 2022 IRL.

He looks  like a potential star, so this is nice and sad to hear.

 

[Cheez3y]

I lied! We made one more transfer.

I forgot the Waiver Draft.

 

What is the Waiver Draft?

Once the registration is done, every player who is not registered gets on the Waiver List.

You can pick every player you want and take over their contract.

 

So its not always good to go with a full 30 man squad into the season.

 

Well...Austin FC decided to wavie DeAndre Yedlin.

We found our starting RB and I can let Manu go on the end of the season.

 

The means Munjoma got waived by us.

He was our 4th choice RB and only on a Reserve contract until the end of the season.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cheez3y]

March 2022 - MLS - Western Conference

Pretty good start to the season.

Against Seattle we got one man sent off pretty early, so you cant really judge this loss.

 

 

Coming Up

A lot of games in April.

 

---

 

 

NYRB is looking strong in the East.

[Hootieleece]

Great work with FC Dallas! I wish you were doing it with NE Revolution, but this has been revelatory for me since I often play in the MLS. (Mostly NE Revs) I am intrigued by how many deals you made around the draft and how you were able to win the Yedlin Sweepstakes.

[Cheez3y]

36 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Great work with FC Dallas! I wish you were doing it with NE Revolution, but this has been revelatory for me since I often play in the MLS. (Mostly NE Revs) I am intrigued by how many deals you made around the draft and how you were able to win the Yedlin Sweepstakes.

Ty. 

Its nice to hear that someone else is also playing in the MLS.

Its feels like an Add-On for FM with all the extra stuff and challenges you got to build a squad.

Maybe NE Revolution will be next. 

 

I was also surprised by the trades we made before the Draft.

Im planning to "ignore" the 2023 Draft and work for the 2024 Draft.

 

The Yedlin capture was pretty insane.

I think they couldnt get him under the Salery Cap, because they payed pretty much for him in December.

This doenst look like a cheap trade to me.

[Cheez3y]

April 2022 - MLS - Western Conference

Uff...this were a lot of fames.

The loss against Real Salt Lake was pretty unnecessary.

The other loss is fine since NYRB is leading the Eastern Conference.

 

It looks like, we will get a playoff push this season.

 

 

Joveljic is doin wonders. Also Rondon is gettin used to the DLF spot.

 

Coming Up

Three home game in May. Hopefully we can take this advantage.

Also our first game in the US Open.

 

---

 

 

NYRB is still glin strong in the East.

 

 

[Cheez3y]

We waived a backup CB in Chase Niece.

 

This gave us the oportunity to trade away the player rights.

We got another 1st round pick for the 2024 Draft.

 

Like I said I work for the 2024 Draft.

We got three 1st round pick despite not even having our own pick.

 

For 2023 its looking not so good.

Idk yet, if I get rid of all picks or just keep the 2nd round picks.

[Hootieleece]

Keep the 2nd Round Picks. You might be able to pick up a Backup player to fill out the roster.

3rd and fourth round Picks are rarely worth it.

[Cheez3y]

11 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Keep the 2nd Round Picks. You might be able to pick up a Backup player to fill out the roster.

3rd and fourth round Picks are rarely worth it.

This is in the end exactly what i did.

 

Traded away the 3rd rounder for a 1st rounder in 2024.

[karanhsingh]

Looks like you're going to hoover up all the best players in 2024.

Are the draft picks basically all the best new-gens?