[FM23] Gibraltar and the FIFA Nations League

[DaneBramage]

I've been on a break from FM for a few weeks, lost interest in my ongoing games and couldn't get started on any others. The amount of times I l began a new save then quit without even playing a game was ridiculous.

But a bit of time in the Skinning forum to find a layout I like, and the Editors forum to look for some outside the box ideas have lit the spark again.

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Tiny nation careers are pretty common here, and for good reason. But I don't think I've ever done one before, so it's time to give it a go. I'm using @DaveTheEditor's Gibraltar database from the Around The Globe Megapack.

And for a bit of a twist, I'm using @krlenjushka's FIFA Nations League. This replaces all other international competitions.

Spoiler

 

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Gibraltar start in Group C of the inaugural FIFA League 4 (the seventh, and lowest, tier). The FA expect us to earn promotion, and with the top three going up, I'd like to think I should be able to manage this. 

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The FIFA Nations League runs from January to November, whereas the Gibraltan Premier Division doesn't start until October. So for now I'm just managing the national team, but will be looking out for a club side as well in future.

In addition to the Gibraltan leagues I also have the English and Spanish leagues playable, plus the top tier from France, Germany, and Italy.

I'd like to have more countries turned on (Brazil, USA, Australia, South Africa), but game speed took priority for now. More might be added later.

The Chinese league was just activated for the earlier start date, and is now being switched off. 

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[DaneBramage]

February 2022 - Gibraltar

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The initial squad was made up nearly entirely of domestic based players, with all but two of the squad coming from College Europa, Lincoln Red Imps, Magpies, and St. Joseph's.

The two exceptions were Tjay De Barr (Wycombe, ST, 21 y.o.) and Louie Annesley (Blackburn, DC, 21 y.o.) who ply their trade in England. They're both 21 and already have plenty of caps, so I have to think they'll be around the team for years to come.

Speaking of having plenty of caps, the highest rated player in the squad is Liam Walker (Lincoln Red Imps, MC, 33 y.o.). He holds the record for both most caps and most goals, so while he may not have many years left, I'm sure he'll be important in the short-term.

Spoiler

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FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: We survived an early scare against Mongolia, but then thrashed them with both of the strike pairing grabbing a brace. After a long journey back home, we repeated the scoreline four days later with just as easy a win over St Pierre & Miquelon. After two games we're top of the table, and we're already the only side with a 100% win record.

Team Milestones: First win, first clean sheet.

Player Milestones: Tjay De Barr is now on 6 goals, and has become the all-time leading scorer. Kelvin Morgan (St. Joseph's, ST, 24 y.o.) and Bernardo Lopes (Lincoln Red Imps, DC, 28 y.o.) both scored their first goals. Kevagn Ronco (Magpies, MRC, 23 y.o.) made his debut.

Spoiler

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Edited February 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

March 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: What an absolutely awful month. I thought we were flying after February but this was dreadful. We were terrible against Bangladesh, the only consolation was that they were just as bad. Even so we should have won it late on, but substitute Jamie Coombes (Magpies, AMR/ST, 25 y.o.) put a sitter wide. I made a number of changes for the visit of St Martin, and we looked bright early on. But when they scored against the run of play all momentum was lost, and we never looked like getting back into it. We've fallen to 4th in the table.

Team Milestones: First loss, two games without a win.

Player Milestones: Lee Coombes (Magpies, DLC, 25 y.o.) and Jaron Vinet (College Europa, MLC, 24 y.o.) made their debuts.

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[DaneBramage]

March 2022 - Gibraltar

A bit of cup action to hopefully distract from our league woes.

196 teams enter in the first round, with 30 more to come in the second round. So the real big boys aren't in play yet, but there are still some heavy hitters that could do real damage a possibility.

Luckily, the draw has been kind to us with a home tie against fellow League 4 side, Fiji.

 

FIFA Cup of Nations, First Round: If I was the Fiji manager I'd be very annoyed with this. As it is, I'm pleased we got away with it, but not happy about the performance. We stole the only goal of the game, but Fiji should have been out of sight by then. A late offside flag also came to our rescue, as we somehow scraped through to the second round.

Our reward is a trip to Slovakia.

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Edited February 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

April 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C:  After the poor league displays in March we needed a big improvement here, and facing Northern Mariana Islands after they'd lost five in a row suited us perfectly. We smashed them in an easy victory. When we reached half-time against Sint Maarten and the game was still goalless it looked like we'd used up all our goals in the earlier match, but Kelvin Morgan was on a one-man mission and grabbed a hat-trick to make the difference.

Team Milestones: Largest victory, three wins in a row.

Player Milestones: Following his brilliant month, Kelvin Morgan is our new all-time top scorer, with nine goals in just eight games.

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[DaneBramage]

April 2022 - Gibraltar

Slovakia beat Hong Kong to reach this round, but they've been struggling in the FIFA Nations League 1 (the fourth tier, three levels above us). With five losses from six games they sit 9th in the table (out of 10).

Even with their dodgy form though they'll still be much too strong for us.

FIFA Cup of Nations: Well, we weren't embarrassed. We lost as expected, but kept it respectable. Even managed to score, a great half-volley from Kelvin Morgan after a long ball from our goalie.

Player Milestones: A bittersweet occasion for Jayce Olivero (College Europa, DL/ML, 23 y.o.) and Jack Sergeant (Lincoln Red Imps, DR, 27 y.o.) as they both won their 50th caps.

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[DaneBramage]

May + June 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C:  Sao Tome & Principe were top of the table, so beating them was about as big a scalp as we could pick up at this stage. They had much more of the ball than us, 68%, but couldn't make it count and we punished them on the break in the final ten minutes. Mauritius had even more possession, 77%, but had next to no ambition. They just camped in their own half all game and we couldn't break them down. They somehow managed to take the lead and I was expecting a second loss, but luckily Liam Walker bailed us out with a nice free-kick. The Anguilla match was very even, but Kelvin Morgan was on form and took both of his chances

Player Milestones: Brad Power (College Europa, DC, 29 y.o.) made his debut. Jamie Coombes (Magpies, AMR/ST, 26 y.o.) scored his first international goal.

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It's very close at the halfway stage, but we sit in pole position at the moment. Sao Tome & Principe lie just behind us on goal difference - they've scored six more than us, but our superior defensive record (only three conceded so far) keeps us ahead.

St Martin are the only side we've lost to, so gaining revenge in the return fixture is a priority.

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[DaneBramage]

June 2022 - Gibraltar

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: Dominant. It took a little while to get the first goal, but the result never looked in doubt. If anything it should have been more. Tjay De Barr took the plaudits for his brace, but Kyle Casciaro (Magpies, AML, 34 y.o.) also deserves a lot of credit for a goal and an assist. We stay top of the table.

Team Milestones: 4 games unbeaten.

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[DaneBramage]

July 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: After sitting out the last game due to suspension (accumulated yellows), Kelvin Morgan had something to prove against St Pierre & Miquelon. And he did just that with his second hat-trick of the campaign, while also managing an assist. There wasn't too much to shout about against Bangladesh, it was a bit of a tepid affair, but the two sides were split by a couple of moments of quality from Liam Walker. Just before the break he scored with a cracking curling effort, then in the dying seconds of the game he planted a corner perfectly on the head of Reece Styche (Stourbridge, ST, 33 y.o.) to double the lead. We stay top of the group, now with a three point lead.

Team Milestones: Six games unbeaten, four wins in a row, four clean sheets in a row. Equalled our record win.

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[DaneBramage]

August 2022 - Gibraltar

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: Truly pathetic. We dominated the first half-hour without scoring, then decided to part like the Red Sea for their midfielder to waltz through our defence and chip the keeper, without anyone even trying to stop him. From that point it was pretty much game over, a gutless performance which was capped off by our keeper dropping a run-of-the-mill cross, allowing them to score the easiest second goal possible. Jamie Robba (St. Joseph's, GK, 30 y.o.) will not be playing for me again. We've dropped to 2nd, behind St Martin on head-to-head record.

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[DaneBramage]

September 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: After the St Martin shambles I rotated the entire starting XI for the Northern Mariana Islands game. Reece Styche took his chance to be the main man in style, grabbing himself a hat-trick and also providing an assist. The defence let themselves down though, conceding twice in the final ten minutes. Reece Styche continued to stake his claim for a more regular starting spot with another goal against Sint Maarten, a match we should have won by a much larger margin. We've regained top spot, now with a two point lead over Sao Tome & Principe.

Player Milestones: Louie Annesley scored his first goal for his country.

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Edited February 8, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

October 2022 - Gibraltar

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: Amateur hour. Nobody was even trying to do anything. If you ignore the goal, which is pretty pointless when you're already 4-0 down, I don't think we touched the ball outside of kick-offs. Not happy at all. That's allowed them to overhaul us, we now sit one point behind in 2nd.

Team Milestones: Largest loss in my time here (overall record loss is 0-9 v Belgium).

[DaneBramage]

November 2022 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 4, Group C: This run-in has been absolutely miserable. Just two points from the final three games, a really poor time to forget how to play football. We were making the opposition look like prime era Barcelona. We gave Mauritius 71% of the possession, and they completed 695 passes compared to our 222. With a change of tactic we were a bit better against Anguilla, but still had to rely on a late equaliser. Had we screwed it up badly enough to miss out on promotion?

Team Milestones: Three games without a win.

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Luckily, we had enough points already in the bank that we remained in the top three. Promotion was sealed, though only as runners-up.

It was probably unrealistic to expect to win every game, but dropping points on seven occasions was too much. Losing to St Martin twice was obviously the biggest disappointment, but drawing twice with Mauritius was up there too.

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[DaneBramage]

2022 Squad - Gibraltar

This was the final squad of the campaign, and there's no one major missing from it. 

Kelvin Morgan was obviously the main man, with 18 goals from 19 games, while Tjay De Barr and Reece Styche also offered decent contributions up front.

Louis Annesley ended up with the highest average rating, and a few other defenders also scored highly in this regard, perhaps unsurprisingly as we had the best defensive record in the division.

The midfield looks to be the problem area, with only Liam Walker posting any good numbers.

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[DaneBramage]

2022 Nations League Round-Up - Part One

Gold League

Three nations went into the final day with a chance of bringing home the first ever FIFA Gold League trophy. All of them nearly bottled it, with none of the three winning. But while England lost to Spain and France lost to Italy, a draw against Argentina was enough for Portugal to stumble over the line.

At the other end of the table Morocco were routed to the bottom almost all year, so relegation was no surprise. The other spot went down to a battle between the neighbours of Belgium and the Netherlands, and the Dutch downed their opponents 3-0 on aggregate in the play-offs.

Karim Benzema top scored with 13 goals.

Spoiler

Silver League

Peru were the surprise winners of the second tier, clinching top spot on the final day with a win over Poland. Uruguay would have been disappointed to miss out on going up as champions, but winning the play-offs was the next best option. Germany underperformed and will be hoping for better next year.

Iran started strong but lost momentum as the season went on, hitting last place for the first time after gameweek 21 and they couldn't recover. Denmark had been in this spot for most of the year, and while they pulled away a bit, it wasn't enough as they still found themselves in the play-offs, and were dispatched by the USA.

Robert Lewandowski top scored with 19 goals.

Spoiler

Bronze League

Cameroon ran them close, but Serbia ran out champions of the third tier. Despite finishing seven point behind Cameroon, Austria took advantage of the play-offs to steal the second promotion spot.

Chile's form saw them divebomb in the second half of the season, and they were joined by Australia in waving goodbye to the big leagues.

Heung Min-Son top scored with 14 goals.

Spoiler

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

2022 - Nations League Round-Up - Part Two

League 1

Ivory Coast and Norway won promotion, but Ivory Coast were crowned champions due to their superior points tally.

Burkino Faso were heavily out of their depth, and the Republic of Ireland were a big letdown.

Alexander Sorloth (Norway) top scored with 15 goals.

Spoiler

  

League 2

North Macedonia were crowned champions of the fifth tier, earning more points than fellow league winners Georgia, Israel, and Ghana.

Of the eight teams relegated seven were from Asia, China in particular a surprising casualty. Kyrgyzstan were the worst of the bunch, not winning a single game, though Cape Verde will be wondering how they made such a mess of the play-offs to get relegated from 7th place.

Michail Antonio was top scorer with 18 goals.

Spoiler

  

  

League 3

The Gambia were champions of the sixth tier, ahead of Congo, Thailand, the undefeated Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Angola, and New Zealand.

Four teams didn't manage a single win, but Chinese Taipei surpassed that by not even picking up a point.

M'Bala Nzola (Angola) was top scorer with 22 goals.

Spoiler

  

  

  

  

League 4

The mighty Liechtenstein won the seventh (and final) tier, ahead of Chad, Guadeloupe, Sao Tome & Principe, and French Guiana.

A few teams didn't manage a single win, but Wallis & Futuna were the whipping points with just one point on the board.

Ibrahim Ahmada (Zanzibar) was the top scorer with 32 goals.

Spoiler

  

  

 

[DaneBramage]

2022 Nations League Round-Up - Part Three

If my geography is correct (and my counting), Africa and North America made good progress this year.

Both had a six team swing towards teams in higher divisions, after Africa managed 12 promotions (and 6 relegations), and North America had 8 promotions (and 2 relegations).

Europe (9 promotions and 4 relegations) and South America (3 promotions and 2 relegations) also had positive swings, though obviously both were skewed higher in the first place. And Europe won overall courtesy of Portugal winning the Gold League.

Oceania slipped a bit (1 promotion and 3 relegations), while Asia had an absolute 'mare (18 relegations and just 1 promotion).

[DaneBramage]

2022 Cup of Nations Round-Up

Double success for one, double despair for the other.

The final saw Uruguay take on England. And Uruguay made it a very successful year, adding cup gold to their play-off promotion triumph. Meanwhile England saw themselves finish as runner-up for a second time his season.

Spare a though for Kiribati who lost 15-0 to Azerbaijan in the first round.

Erling Haaland top scored with 10 goals.

Spoiler

 

[DaneBramage]

November + December 2022 - Europa Point

I'd been keeping an eye out for jobs becoming available, and after just eight games of the season it happened. Europa Point had started the season with six consecutive losses, and though they'd drawn the last two, it was enough for the manager to be given the boot.

The squad is a mess. Who knows what the previous incumbent did, but somehow there were only seven players registered to play in the league. There's only two more games until the winter break, so luckily we'll be able to sort that out soon.

In the meantime, we muddled by with just the few players we had available. We had the U23 squad as well for the first game, but they were on holiday for the second so it was a bit of a struggle.

We emerged with one point from these ties, but it really should have been more. We led St Joseph's twice, but the grey goalie let shots go straight through him in the 86th, 91st, and 94th minutes to throw away the points.

We've finished bottom of the first stage, and the league now splits. The top six are playing for European qualification, whereas I don't think there's any target for the bottom five. As far as I can tell there's no relegation, so just not finishing last is my only aim.

Edited February 10, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

February 2023 - Gibraltar

The groups have been drawn for 2023, and we're by far the lowest ranked team. We're going to lose a lot this year.

The team that finishes bottom is automatically relegated, 6th to 9th go into a play-off.

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FIFA Nations League, Group B: The Ethiopia game was a lot closer than it looks. If our strikers had their shooting boots with them we could easily have snatched a draw. Instead, we were goalless and Ethiopia were much better in that regard. We dominated the possession and passing stats against Lesotho, but did nothing with it. Lesotho didn't outplay us, but they fashioned more chances, and scored twice from three efforts on target. We've already hit the foot of the table.

Team Milestones: Consecutive losses for the first time, five games without a win.

Player Milestones: Julian Del Rio (Magpies, ST, 20 y.o.) made his debut. Louie Annesley has hit a half-century of caps at the age of 22.

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[DaneBramage]

February 2023 - Europa Point

We now have more players registered, so that makes life a lot easier. There are still issues with not having many homegrown players while needing five on the pitch at all times, but we're getting by. Albeit with limited options when we can make substitutions.

The first full month of fixtures has gone by perfectly. There was a rocky start against Hound Dogs when they scored the opener, but a strong second-half turned the tie around. Mons Calpe didn't back down easily but a goal in the 84th minute killed the game off, and we coasted past Glacis United and Gibraltar Lions. Couldn't really ask for a better month.

Our strike partnership has been deadly with Keegan Cauli and Diego Diaz grabbing nine goals between them.

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I said in my last post that I hoped we could avoid finishing last, but after those last few games I'm now looking higher. With only a few points separating us I don't think it's unreasonable to think we could come top of this group.

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[DaneBramage]

March 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: We did well to get a point from St Kitts & Nevis. We were trailing at half-time, but the team-talk sorted things out and we were pretty good after the break, the equaliser was well deserved. We couldn't do anything against Azerbaijan though, they were just much, much, much better than us. We briefly rose to 9th, but now we're bottom of the table again.

Team Milestones: Seven games without a win, largest loss of my reign.

Player Milestones: A debut for Jaylan Hankins (Magpies, GK, 22 y.o.)

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[DaneBramage]

March 2023 - Europa Point

Lovely stuff. Three wins, three clean sheets, everybody's happy. Apart from Manchester 6 who we beat twice in a row. The first win over them ensured progression to the semi-final of the Rock Cup.

Diego Diaz had a great month, he now has 9 goals in just 7 games. 

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Three games left, and we're a point behind Glacis United with a game in hand. It's in sight. I think all it gives us is marginally more prize money, but it would still be good to top this group.

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[DaneBramage]

April 2023 - Gibraltar

FIFA Cup of Nations: Montserrat have been having a similarly poor league campaign as us, also residing in League 3 (although a different group). So I was thinking we could possibly get a result here. And indeed, we should have. We had more possession, more shots, more xG. But crucially, fewer goals. Out at the first hurdle.

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FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: I just want to band my head against a well. Repeatedly. We raced into a two goal lead against Hong Kong, then failed to create anything of substance over the next 67 minutes. Despite going down to ten men, Hong Kong kept coming and equalised in stoppage-time. Cape Verde tore us apart with ease, and it could have been many more. Still bottom of the group obviously.

Player Milestones: Tjay De Barr reached 50 caps, Jayce Olivero scored his first international goal.

Team Milestones: Ten games without a win. The demand more, berate, and throw water bottle buttons are getting a lot of use right now.

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[DaneBramage]

April 2023 - Europa Point

It was always going to be a tough task beating College Europa in the Rock Cup, as they already had the Premier Division sewn up at this point and were aiming for the double. And when my idiot right-back got himself sent off in the 10th minute the chance was reduced from minimal to none.

On the final day we dropped our only points of the play-off stage. We already had top place in the bag, but it was pretty aggravating to throw away the 100% record, especially from a 2-1 lead. We just couldn't keep hold of the ball and kept giving it back to them, and were punished accordingly.

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Other than the final day we had a perfect run through our group, and ended up best of the rest.

  

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I have no idea what next season's squad will look like. Nearly everyone is out of contract this summer, and most of them don't want to re-sign.

Top scorer Diego Diaz has been offered a new deal, but there'll be a lot of turnover. Bringing in more homegrown players will be the recruitment priority.

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[DaneBramage]

May 2023 - Gibraltar

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: We were looking good to grab a well deserved point, but threw it away with a defensive mistake late on. Still bottom of the table.

Team Milestones: 11 games without a win.

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[DaneBramage]

 

June 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: We won a game!

I thought we were going to get hammered by Chad, but it was a really close game and a loss was harsh. But we carried the performance over to our next tie, and finally got the result we deserved. A Louie Annesley header from a Liam Walker corner was the only goal of the game.

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At the halfway point we predictably lie bottom of the table, but the win has made the situation a little healthier. We're not cut adrift, if we build on this we could maybe pull ourselves into the play-offs.

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[Mr Jabay]

Hi! Great read so far, enjoying your save a lot!

[phnompenhandy]

Enjoying this. It's much more interesting with the FIFA Nations League structure you're using.

[DaneBramage]

@Mr Jabay @phnompenhandy Appreciate it, thanks. Being able to play teams at a similar level in year one was fun, year two not so much...

Could be a case of bouncing between Leagues 3 and 4 for a while, getting into Europe with Europa Point (or any other Gibraltarian team, I'm not ruling out the possibility of moving on at some point) is obviously what's needed for money, upgrades, and progress.

[DaneBramage]

July 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B:  A pair of beatings. Can't argue with the Ethiopia result, but the loss to Lesotho rankles. On another day it could have been a win for us, but yet again, we couldn't score while they took their chances. The teams above us have picked up results this month, we're now 5 points adrift.

Player Milestones:  Jamie Coombes , Anthony Hernandez, and Kyle Casciaro all reached 50 caps. 

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Edited February 15, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

August 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B:  Wahey! A second win of the campaign! A 94th minute winner too, you love to see it. It was a very close game against St Kitts & Nevis and could have swung either way, but luck was on our side as we scored with our only shots on target. The two we scored in Azerbaijan slightly flattered us, in reality it was very much a one-sided game. Still bottom of the group, but it's tight again. We have 8 points, the three sides ahead are all on 10.

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Edited February 15, 2023 by DaneBramage

[phnompenhandy]

This is a tough one - which makes following it all the more gripping!

[Helginho]

Very interesting read!

[DaneBramage]

@phnompenhandy @Helginho Thanks, it certainly is tough. I'm hoping we can scrape a play-off spot to give us another chance to survive, but I wouldn't put money on it.

And this break between domestic league seasons is really long, itching to start that up again.

[DaneBramage]

September 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: Another win, happy days. After zero wins from our first eight games this season we've managed three from the last seven, so a definite improvement. We bossed Hong Kong and it would have been a travesty if we hadn't got a result. It looked like it was heading for a bore draw but Julian Valarino got on the end of a long ball to bag all three points in the dying minutes of the game. Cape Verde were just much too strong for us, we barely made them sweat.

Player Milestones: Julian Valarino (Lincoln Red Imps, AMR/ST, 23 y.o., 24 caps) scored his first international goal. Johnny Rush (Burton Albion, DL, 17 y.o.) made his debut, and in doing so became the youngest ever player to represent Gibraltar.

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We had made it as high as 7th after the win, but with three games left we sit in 8th place. We've given ourselves a fighting chance at least.

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[DaneBramage]

October 2023 - Gibraltar

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: A fourth win of the campaign, we're really finding our footing in this division now. We passed the Solomon Islands to death in this one, not letting them have much of the ball and when they did, generally keeping them out of dangerous positions. They still had a couple of big chances and a draw wouldn't have been unfair, but Kelvin Morgan scored his 20th international goal (in 30 games) to give us the points. We're now up to 7th, and a play-off place is looking likely.

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Edited February 16, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Pre-Season - Europa Point

There was a lot of turnover during the summer, as 17 players left and we brought in 11. One of these was Spanish, but the rest was all Gibraltarian to give our home-grown ranks a much needed boost. Should make picking squads on matchdays a lot easier.

We're predicted to finish 7th this year, reflecting that we came top of the bottom group after the league split last season. Given our form in that time I'd like to think we can make the top group.

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I'm not much of a tactician, so I'm using a tried and tested 4-4-2 that tended to do me well in FM20 (though hasn't quite seemed to click with FM23 yet).

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[DaneBramage]

October 2023 - Europa Point

Three games, three big wins. Diego Diaz has been deadly with 6 goals already, and new signing Jaron Vinet has also announced himself in style.

But there is a problem. It's too easy. I've had a look, and I don't think the other teams are registering players properly. So we're just battering a bunch of greys and U23s. 

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Top of the table, large goal difference already.

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[DaneBramage]

Just now, DaneBramage said:

But there is a problem. It's too easy. I've had a look, and I don't think the other teams are registering players properly. So we're just battering a bunch of greys and U23s. 

The aim of this save is to get Gibraltar as high as possible in the FIFA Nations League. Club football is a stepping stone to making that happen - European football, prize money, improve facilities, better players.

So I don't think the league being knackered is necessarily a save-breaker, it just means the European football is likely going to come earlier than expected. At that point trying to achieve something there, while also improving the national team is the real challenge.

The next registration window is in January. So I'm thinking I might add additional managers to the other teams at that point, just to register players, then resign and retire each of them. It will mean disruption to the managers there, but at least the new hires will be able to field proper teams.

 

[Mr Jabay]

If I wouldn't have rage-deleted my FM21, I'd actually redo your challenge. It looks like a lot of 😊

[DaneBramage]

November 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: No complaints about the beating from Chad, we were never likely to get anything from this tie and the result was an accurate reflection of how the game went. Chuffed by the win against Eswatini though, that means we completed the double over them. They piled on the pressure after going one-down, but we withstood it and grabbed another to solidify the result.

Player Milestones: Joshua Prescott (Badalona, DRL, 18 y.o.) made his debut.

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I'm very happy with this. I expected to finish last and suffer instant relegation, so making it into the play-offs is quite the achievement. 

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And our opponents will be Eswatini again. The draw's been kind to us there, I'm glad we avoided Lesotho.

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[DaneBramage]

2 hours ago, Mr Jabay said:

If I wouldn't have rage-deleted my FM21, I'd actually redo your challenge. It looks like a lot of 😊

Absolutely. Start a normal save as one of these smaller nations and you'll get pummelled for years in the European or World Cup qualifiers. But playing against other low-ranked countries and winning a few games is much more fun.

Though I dare say it would still be considerably harder with some of the Oceaniac island teams.

[DaneBramage]

December 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B: Ah, nuts. The confidence in last month's update was misplaced. Liam Walker immediately redeemed himself after missing a penalty, and we held on to that one goal lead for nearly 90 minutes. But a lapse in concentration in stoppage-time punished us. A loose ball in the box was pounced on by the Eswatini striker, and when he was pulled back the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. We had home advantage in the second leg but couldn't make it count. It was a game of low quality and not many chances, but they managed to score from both of their only efforts on target.

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So we go again. A second chance to survive. In the group stage we won four points from St Kitts & Nevis, but as the previous games have just shown, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

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[DaneBramage]

December 2023 - Gibraltar

  

FIFA Nations League 3, Group B:  We bottled it completely. The final 15 minute turnaround in the first leg killed us. We still could have salvaged it in the home second leg, but nobody was up for the fight and we tamely surrendered.

Player Milestones: Legend Liam Walker became the first Gibraltarian to hit a century of caps.

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Although relegation was expected, this does still sting a bit. We did so well to finish 7th, but the play-off set-up punished us. We had two chances to stay and we wasted both of them. Extra salt in the wound was that the two rounds were both against sides we took results from during the league stage, we could have put up more of a struggle.

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Louie Annesley being out of contract is interesting. I've tried convincing him to come and play in Gibraltar, but he's not having it.

Had more luck with Jamie Coombes though, he'll be linking up with us at Europa Point in January.

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[DaneBramage]

2023 Nations League Round-Up - Part One

Gold League

Spoiler

Silver League

Spoiler

Bronze League

Spoiler

League 1

Spoiler

  

League 2

Spoiler

  

  

League 3

Spoiler

  

  

  

  

League 4

Spoiler

  

  

  

 

  

[DaneBramage]

2023 Nations League Round-Up - Part Two

Congratulations to France for winning the Gold League. That's now two European winners from the first two competitions.

European nations indeed did very well this year, winning all five of the top leagues.

Shout-out to Scandinavia, with both Sweden and Norway seeing success. This was Norway's second consecutive promotion, but of course they're going to see success with Erling Haaland scoring 30 goals (including three hat-tricks). Ivory Coast finished runners-up to Norway, so also managed back-to-back promotions. 

Going the opposite way were Chile and Australia, both suffering a second relegation in a row.

But nobody suffered as badly as Micronesia or St Pierre & Miquelon, as neither side won either a single point.

 

[DaneBramage]

2023 - Nations League Round-Up - Part Three

Much smaller swings this year. Europe did well with an increase of four sides higher up the leagues, while South America will be disappointed with two sides going the wrong way and no promotions.

[DaneBramage]

2023 Cup of Nations Round-Up

Uruguay are proving themselves to be a cup team as they reached the final for a second year in a row. They couldn't make it back-to-back victories though, instead there was a surprise underdog victory.

Fifth tier Ireland could only finish 3rd in League 2 this season, but they punched well above their weight in the cup. They knocked out four Silver League teams before holding Uruguay to a goalless draw in the final, then coming out on top of the penalty shootout.

Top scorers were Luis Miquissone (Mozambique) and Boulaye Dia (Senegal), both with six.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

December 2023 - Europa Point

We made it nine wins in a row with ease, smashing goals past everyone we played.

Then we went to Lincoln Red Imps. Their U23 side properly turned us over, they were scoring seemingly at will. Jaron Vinet had a flurry just after the hour mark to make the scoreline look more respectable, but it was too little too late. Five players lost a week's wages for their poor performances. 

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So our 100% record came to an end in the final game of the initial stage. Lincoln Red Imps retained theirs and took control at the the top of the table.

We now go into the split against the rest of the top six, two more games against each of them. Winner goes into Champions League qualifying, runner-up goes into Conference League qualifying, third place might depending on who wins the Rock Cup. We're in the mix at least, but that loss has put some doubt in my mind.

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