[FM22] A Dream at the End of the Earth

[FiftyBeforeThirty]

Mongolian Dream

 

Khan's "Legacy"

Neatly nestled in the midst of central Asia lies a country known for almost a singular reason. Genghis (Chinggis) Khan.  Hailing from the Khentii mountains of northern Mongolia, stretching from their Russian border all the way to the capital of Ulaanbaatar, Khan's name is now buried deep within the culture of Mongolia.  The very mountains he was born within, now are referred to as "Khan Khentii".  Around 100 kilometers east of the capital is a town called Chinggis, even the country's largest airport is named after him.

It is said now, nearly 800 years after his death in the Xingqing prefecture of imperial China, that 1 in 200 people worldwide share a remarkably similar Y-chromosome to that of the leader.  In fact, that figure increases to 8% within the region of the former Mongol empire - showing just how powerful, and barbaric, the warlord was.  There is a reason, after all, that "Genghis Khan" is thought to be a title, rather than his name.  Believed to stem from the pre-existing surname of "Khan" - a clan chief of Mongolia, and "Genghis", believed to be from the Turkish word "tengiz" meaning sea. "Oceanic Ruler" merely a painted metaphor for the absolute dominance of Khan throughout the 12th and 13th centuries.

As mentioned - Khan, despite the tyrant he was - is perhaps the biggest reminder that the country of Mongolia actually exists.

 

Modern Modesty

In a more modern sense and less tweed-riddled-professor-of-history perspective, Mongolia is known as "The End of the Earth".  It's stunning vast emptiness and the pure natural beauty of rolling landscape after landscape has adorned it as a far more peaceful and protected land than it once was thought to be.  It is evident from the fact that 1.3 million people live in the capital; 45% of the entire population of the country, that despite the size of the country, the harsh conditions; namely the Gobi Desert, make it one of the least hospitable places on the planet. 

 

Footballing Failure

Being such a sparsely populated nation, Mongolia has never sought much fame in footballing history.  In 2011, they reached their highest ever FIFA World Ranking at just 160th. 

In their first international game, way back in the midst of World War 2, the national team was humiliated by Japan - 12-0.  In 1998 they suffered an even larger loss, Uzbekistan handing out a 15-0 thumping in Thailand.

There have been brighter days more recently, they recorded their largest margin of victory in 2018 winning 9-0, albeit against the much smaller island nation of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Their highest capped international ever currently has 37...his debut was in 2007.  Part of this is likely down to the fact that they were not an official FIFA member until 1998, with their first competitive matches played that year. The first time they played for a place in the Asian Cup was in 2000, when they failed to qualify, the same case as in 2002 for the first Asian-based World Cup.

At youth level they've faired no better, never having even won a game in the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifying.

 

But that (could) be all about to change.

 

Dare to Dream

My plan is to take charge of 4th tier Mongolian Dream, in an attempt to turn the End of the Earth into a rich and prosperous footballing nation. With ethical, thoughtful and culturally recognisable tactics in all departments, I hope to bring glory, unseen since days long gone, but with a lot less brutality, and a lot more dreaming.

Edited March 23, 2023 by FiftyBeforeThirty

[FiftyBeforeThirty]

Living "The Dream"

Starting out with a set of databases comprised of the good Mr @Timo@ hard work, as well as some default leagues, we started out with:

• China
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Mongolia
• Russia
• Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan
• Uzbekistan

all loaded to the lowest league provided. I have loaded all Asian players and players in Asia, and the the same for Eastern Europe; providing a 121,000 approximate player count.  The reason being I want to massively improve the region and thus the quality of players that we can produce. 

The league rules for a 4th tier are minimal but nonetheless interesting.  We can register up to 99 players, but only 1 of them can be foreign.  I don't plan on chasing any particular players, I'd rather we work on bringing some home-grown successes to the club through the youth system.  It may well sound like fantasy being presented as child's play, but I have a belief that we can make this happen if we play our cards right.

 

The Dream Team - V1

This is the part where people mainly show off their squad, going through names, through stats and through who they think will work.

Now you've got to understand that I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and that the Mongolian commentators deserve money that they couldn't dream of.  I have literally had to change the size of the squad screen's "Name" column, so I'm going to highlight a couple of good players after I have shown you a few names that have more syllables than most of my sentences throughout this thread will have.

 

Ochirbat Bayarjargal-Janchivrenchin  - The main reason for the adjustment, this attacking midfielder has probably the worst time when filling in forms where even my 10-letter first name/surname combination struggle fitting in the gap.

Nyambayar Otgonjargal-Gantulga - I just feel sorry for this guy and his teachers.  Don't get me started on calling roll or register in 30-kid classes with this lot, you'd have to set aside an entire lesson for each half!

Tsetsenbileg Tsiyan-Adyabazar - One of the worst parts here, is that we already have a player with the first name "Tsetsenbileg" so it's not even as though I can be explicit as to which player I mean.  A decent striker for this level though, I feel.                    

 

I'll move away from the bonanza of favourite names now, half for fear of RSI and half out of concern this may breach the character limit for a post.

Having promoted all Under-21 players to the first team immediately, so that I can get a decent grasp for a first team (without having any staff of course), these are whom I believe to be "key" players, however we all know that Football Manager loves to make the unexpected miracle makers look to be mediocre on the stats screen.

 

Goalkeeper: Tomorbaatar Tomor-Ochir

I feel as though Tomor-Ochir (TomTom will be his name from herein) is probably the best of our 'keepers.  He's got some OK stats, decent concentration and decisions for a youngster, and a reasonably long frame.  I think it speaks somewhat to our lack of options in net that he's potentially our stand-out, at the age of 15.

 

Defender: Zorigtbaatar Dorjsuren

Our 24 year-old right/centre back option is probably the highlight of what is a pretty horrific defence.  With a couple of decent mentals though and good tackling (despite the high aggression), I feel like he's likely to be the player that sticks a place in the side - even if it is only due to his ability to play two defensive positions.

 

Midfielder: Batzorig Sharavdorj

Another youngster who looks like the best player we have.  Although we have a players with higher attributes, I feel that Batzorig (Batman?) has by far the best fitting stats for his position.  His pace and acceleration are good, he's small and paperweight so he'll definitely look to beat defenders.  The downside to this of course being the fact that he'll be unable to play in anything more than 5km/h winds with just 1 strength.

 

Striker: Munkhbaatar Tumurtogotoh

In terms of best overall attributes for a striker, I feel that Munkhbaatar is our best option.  Again, he's young - perhaps my perception of young players improving (despite having single-digit determination and awful personalities) gets the better of me, but I feel like he has a couple of goals in him. 

 

Of course, this could/can and probably will all change throughout the season as my hair loss reaches maximum capacity, it's pretty close without this save, but for right now these are my predictions.  We certainly don't look like anything very special, but when you're in the 4th tier of the 189th best national team's league system, I suppose you can only eat from the hand you are given.

 

The League System

A 10-team league with one automatic promotion spot, and 2nd place qualifying for a Promotion Playoff.  Bottom placed teams do not face the threat of dropping further, but our board are hoping that we are more of a mid-table team than relegation candidates in the first season. Each team plays each other at home and away, meaning only 18 games this season.  We have the MFF Cup as the only other form of competition, which starts in November and finishes in May.  The league starts in January, and concludes in July, with 2 1-match months in there so friendlies will be vital, and perhaps give us a slight competitive advantage against other clubs if they fail to incorporate this into their season.

 

Club Culture

The side currently has a treasure trove of...40$ (AUD) to their name, and a scouting budget almost 200 times that for whatever reason.

As mentioned, certainly for the first few years of this save I will be looking to develop both youth players and facilities in order to allow the team and their finances to (hopefully) prosper.

Our tactics will be relatively simple for now, most likely an attacking formation that's just going to use players in their best positions.  It could well be we invent something crazy - we have no players natural in the central midfield (CM) position, with a singular Defensive Midfielder and 6 players who are adept in the Attacking Midfield Central position. 

With a few wing backs on the scene, I've come up with something like this.

I'd personally label it more of a 4-3-2 but a 5-1-4 sounds much more Khan-ian ballistics.  We'll develop some instructions and what-not later on, but for now I'm going to have to decide if this is a good way to go down, or not.

We definitely need to incorporate some staff into the club, and have them help me sort this out.  We'll be playing friendlies at least 3 times per fortnight throughout the season I feel, limited training for the team means we have to make the most of our time and get the players match fit.

[Carambau]

Sounds like an interesting choice! Good luck