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Life in Red & White - A Tribute to One of the Pioneers of Moneyball in Football: Croatia


shaunvamos
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July 2031

 

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A great start to the league, and it's just Lanus and us that are yet to concede.

 

 

 

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We dispose of the Venezuelans pretty comfortably, and now we face fellow Argentinians Talleres, who we've gone 1-1-1 with in terms of past meetings. 

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November 2031

 

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We've won the Sudamericana, which guarantees a spot in the Libertadores for next season! We also finally become solvent after winning it, meaning we have some money to play with. Lucky we won it, because despite our strong form this month we might not even qualify for continental football through the league.  

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2031 End of Season Review

 

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A pretty terrible end to the season, and if it wasn't for the Sudamericana win we wouldn't be playing continental football next season.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Alexis Enrique Pajaro  -  Magno Silva  -  Bautista Rámirez

 

 

 

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Award Winners

 

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Progress

 

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Time for something a little different, and a little more familiar...

 

 

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I've done this for a few reasons.

Argentina was wearing me down, you can't make money unless you qualify for the Libertadores/Sudamericana, and it's almost impossible to buy Argentinian players as they all have ridiculous release clauses to entice the Europeans.

There's also no real dynamic progression in terms of club/continental rankings in South America, so it doesn't really feel like building a nation because Brazil/Argentina are always going to have the largest representation in the competitions no matter how strong I get Bolivia for example.

Africa and Asia have nation coefficients that affect continental representation, as does CONCACAF to an extent. They might be an idea later on, or even for a later save, but it's time to go back where I know best, and the clearest opportunity for nation building in the game: Europe.

 

I know where I'll be managing next, and I've just started holidaying to when the league becomes playable. They're currently ranked 12th in the world in-game, and funnily enough have the colours of red and white as a national team? That narrows it down, but only slightly... 

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Croatia: 2018 World Cup runners up and 2022 World Cup 3rd place playoff winners in real life, but how have they been faring in game?

 

Domestic League

 

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Not much seems to have changed here, with Dinamo Zagreb still the dominant side in Croatia, winning all but two of the titles since the save started. Croatian minor powers Rijeka and Hajduk Split won the other two, and Osijek look like they've established themselves as the 4th best team.

 

 

 

Continental Performances

 

Dinamo Zagreb: 3 CL GS, 1 EL QF, 4 EL KO Playoff Round, 1ECL QF.  

Hajduk: 1 EL GS, 1 ECL KO Playoff Round.

Osijek: 1 ECL R16.

Slaven Belupo: 1 ECL GS.

 

Dinamo have clearly been the most successful Croatian side in Europe so far, but I'd say they'd be quite disappointed with their performances in continental play.

 

 

 

National Team

 

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Croatia actually won my rendition of the 2022 World Cup, but they haven't been able to match that effort in any international tournament since, and actually been quite disappointing.

 

But enough about that, who will I be managing?

 

 

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It's a club with almost no history in Croatia, having last been in the 2nd division 8 seasons ago. There's a solid base there to generate strong academy products thanks to that junior coaching which feeds right into my aims to build things up.

 

 

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Predicted 9th which is good because only last gets automatically relegated.

 

 

 

Ideal XI

 

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It's actually quite an old squad by my standards, and there's plenty of room for improvement there. 

 

 

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We have ample budget room to upgrade the side as well, and given that we're only recruiting in July we can buy players based in Europe, a huge start.

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  • shaunvamos changed the title to Life in Red & White - A Tribute to One of the Pioneers of Moneyball in Football: Croatia

2032 Preseason

 

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We made good use of the budget we were given, and still have plenty left over which will be saved for next year. 10 immediate upgrades to the first team, including a few Croatians. Pokorni especially is a great get, he's been tearing it up in non-league Hungary.

 

 

 

Sweeper Keeper

 

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Ball Playing Defender

 

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Central Defender

 

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Full-Back

 

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Wing-Back

 

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Segundo Volante

 

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Winger

 

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Wide Playmaker

 

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False Nine

 

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Advanced Forward

 

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We lose our only home friendly, but against an Italian side so I'm not too concerned. We comfortably won the rest of our games against Croatian Third and Fourth division sides.

 

 

 

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Our signings have seen the bookmakers move us up their predicted season finishing positions.

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Promoted in the first season :D The result against Cibalia was worrying heading into the promotion playoff, but our win away at Istra was promising. For the second leg, five of our players were away on international duty, and the game was obviously trying to screw me. But we held on (just) and we're off to be competing with the likes of Dinamo, Hajduk and Rijeka next season!

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Hamdi Qamili  -  Mirko Živković  -  Luka Marković

 

 

 

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Record Breakers

 

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Award Winners

 

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Progress

 

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2033 Preseason

 

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As expected, we once again revamped the entire first team, as all but one are replaced for our debut in the Croatian Premier League. Our scouting budget allowed us to find players outside Europe, of which we're allowed 6 in the match squad provided we could also provide 6 Croatian trained players as well. We found a couple of Africans with European 2nd nationality which means they didn't count as foreigners, as well as 3 Colombians who do count.

 

 

 

Sweeper Keeper

 

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Ball Playing Defender

 

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Central Defender

 

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Full-Back

 

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Wing-Back

 

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Defensive Midfielder

 

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Winger

 

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Wide Playmaker

 

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False Nine

 

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Advanced Forward

 

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Just the one friendly, and despite our many additions we're still predicted to finish last by a long shot. Our opener is against Rudes who won promotion easily last season, so it'll be a good test as to how much we've improved.

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March 2034

 

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I forgot to mention that we sold our keeper from last year for a profit of 1.5m, an excellent piece of business.

 

 

 

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We had 5 players out against Osijek due to suspension, but we really shouldn't have lost by that much, that's just embarrassing. At least we beat Varazdin, still giving us a chance to escape relegation.

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On 25/12/2022 at 07:47, Punch said:

1-11…ouch

Yeah, that's the second time in this FM I've had 10+ put on me, it's a nice change but hopefully it doesn't happen too often :lol: 

 

 

21 hours ago, Herr Müller said:

Still good news about the goal you scored against Osijek.

 

All we need now is Osijek to score 11 less and it'll be even better news :lol: 

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We survive by the skin of our teeth, as Lokomotiva also lose their games and we beat Iskra despite playing both legs without 3 players who are off to the World Cup.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Luka Marković  -  Moïse Nyeck  -  Jakov Pfeifer

 

 

 

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Record Breakers

 

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Award Winners

 

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Progress

 

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2034 Preseason

 

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A pretty quiet transfer window this season, but we make some fine additions. Chrenko joins us again on loan, and we also add an Argentinian (who played for me when I was in Argentina), Belgian and a promising Serb.

 

 

 

Sweeper Keeper

 

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Wing-Back

 

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Defensive Midfielder

 

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False Nine

 

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Once again just the one friendly, and still expected to finish last. I'm just hoping that our defence is a little tighter, we can't be conceding 11 goals again.

 

 

 2034 World Cup

 

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Japan hosts their second World Cup 32 years after they co-hosted with South Korea, and the two nations had opposite fates this time around, with Japan topping their group while South Korea finish last in theirs, arguably a group of death. Elsewhere, Venezuela finished above Senegal, Ivory Coast over Italy, Romania over Uruguay and even Syria qualified for the knockouts!

 

 

 

Second Round

 

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There were a whole host of thrashings in this round, including Germany beating Mali 8-0, Ivory Coast over Syria 6-0, and Romania making their presence felt with a 6-2 drubbing of Cameroon. The hosts were knocked out by Norway in a soul crushing penalty shootout, Mexico lose to Paraguay, Nigeria upset Colombia, Belgium are eliminated by England in an early clash of heavyweights. The heavyweight clashes didn't end there, with Italy knocking out 2030 champions Holland on penalties and Uruguay defeating Spain 2-0.

 

 

 

Third Round

 

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Nothing super exciting happened in this round, with everyone winning who were probably expected to win. Germany are looking imperious, scoring 11 goals and conceding 0 in the knockout stages so far. France are also looking strong after smashing Uruguay. Croatia exit after a close loss to Portugal.

 

 

 

Quarter Finals

 

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It's hard to look past a Germany win, as they smash the US, and are joined by Portugal, France and Brazil after they needed extra time to prevent it from coming home once more.

 

 

 

Semi Finals

 

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Germany have their toughest match of the tournament so far, but navigate through where they'll face Portugal in the final. It's the 2026 Champions in Germany against the 2022 runners up, Portugal.

 

 

 

Final

 

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Germany win their 6th World Cup! For some reason it's not reflected in the records, Brazil still seem to be the record holders with 5. Maybe because they won one as West Germany, I'm not sure. Brazil finished 3rd after a comfortable 3-1 win over France.

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August 2034

 

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Gijon hits Nyeck's release clause, so he's off to La Liga. He's now worth 22-31m, so I think we had found ourselves a gem. Replacing him is Estonian Jarmo Tomson, who isn't as good but still has plenty of room to grow during his time here.

 

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I'm not panicking yet, obviously Hajduk and Osijek are a bridge too far at this stage.

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January 2035

 

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Lugano buy our young and Croatian starting right winger, but we are able to get him back on loan for the rest of the season.

 

 

 

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We don't get off to a good start following the winter break, but we're still in with a shot at European places.

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February 2035

 

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We bounce back well in February, with a win over Rijeka and an away draw against Rudes while keeping it close with Dinamo. It's still anyone's game for a European spot from 4th to 8th, with just 4 points separating everyone.

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April 2035

 

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A tough month, but an away win against Osijek gives us a small gap to Rijeka and the chasing pack. We also don't have to play Dinamo or Hajduk again this season, which puts our odds of qualification slightly higher.

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We benefited from an easyish run home, and we're in Europe next season! It really is a two horse race at this point though.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Luka Marković  -  Raúl Muñoz  -  Jarmo Tomson

 

 

 

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Record Breakers

 

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Award Winners

 

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Progress

 

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