[FM23+] Carnaval

[Reiver]

Welcome to fantastic world of Brazilian football! No, not the exciting national leagues, with 10 different winners since the turn of the millennium, but the other end, we're diving deep into the state only leagues here. See, if you don't know about it already, the football pyramid of Brazil is a bit of a weird one. There are 3 national level leagues (Serie A, B and C), and each State has their own league system, but they're not directly linked - see, the teams that play in the national teams also play in the State leagues, even if most teams in the state leagues don't play in the national leagues. How do you get into the national leagues then? Well, I wasn't exactly right when I said there were 3 national level leagues: there's a 4th one - each year Serie D is played, with the teams that got relegated from Serie C in the previous year, and the best teams from each State league that do not already play in Serie A, B or C (depending on the state 1 to 4 teams qualify). If you manage to be one of the best 4 teams in that year's Serie D, and you got yourself a spot in the national leagues. This is what we intend to do, either on our original team or hopping around until we get into a team good enough to go to the national leagues via Serie D. Wish me luck.

 

 

Resende is a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the 26th biggest city in the state, home to some 133 244 people. It's around 150 km away from the state's namesake capital and around 50 km from Ben's Volta Redonda. Resende is home to Resende Futebol Clube, founded in 1909, that has played in the State's Top Division, the Cariocão 16 times,  and 3 times in Serie D, and an official partner with Olympique Lyonnais in Brazil. I am not in that club. It's also where Academia de Futebol Pérolas Negras, the team started in Brazil to help first Haitian and then after also Syrian refugees in Brazil that has become a relatively popular team to have saves with inn recent years. I am not managing that one either.

I am starting in Esporte Clube Resende, founded in 2003 - though after signing up for the lowest tier of Rio de Janeiro football in 2004, they ended up participating. They also did not participate the following year. They do participate in 2006, then stopped again for 10 years, and has been competing again since 2017. We are still in the lowest tier of the Rio de Janeiro state, the Carioca Série C. While this might make you think that we are 2 promotions away from having a fighting chance at the national Serie D, haha, think again. It's not just the structures in Brazil that are bonkers, the naming conventions are just as bad. Let's see, you have the Campeonato Carioca ( or Cariocão, as mentioned before), then it's the Campeonato Carioca Serie A2, then Campeonato Carioca Série B1, then Campeonato Carioca Série B2, then finally Campeonato Carioca Série C.  So we're basically at the National League level of the Rio de Janeiro state leagues. Five promotions to go, how fun!

The Campeonato Carioca Série C then, it's composed of 13 teams (11 of those from Rio de Janeiro or it's metropolitan area), with teams playing each other just once, from May to July. Oh, that's the other thing about the state leagues and Brazilian football that is a bit silly (but fun), 1) most states try to have the different tiers not play at the same time of the year, and 2) the top levels of state football have to happen before the national leagues, so you have really short state leagues. We might blitz through these.

The one thing we have in common with the other teams I mentioned earlier is that we all share the Estádio do Trabalhador, a 4600 people stadium, and we pay the city council 5% of all gate receipts. Facilities are what you expect at this level; Poor training facilities, Below average youth facilities, Average academy coaching and Fairly basic youth recruitment. Now let's try to put up a decent team from December to May when the league starts.

 

Note: I am playing with a file of my own making that cannibalises ideas from files I've found for much older versions of FM; I've tried to make it so that teams don't drown in debt because they have year round contracts with their players (since in real life, many of these teams have contracts only for the few months they play in the league). There is still the chance that at the end of the season or a few seasons down the line this might all go off the rails, but if it does, hey at least I had fun along the way.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Reiver

[_Ben_]

Oh yes! I will be following this with great intent, as always.

[Reiver]

 

While I won't bore you with detailed descriptions of all my players, as most of them while undoubtedly much better than me on the field are definitely not made to play at any decent footballing level. Still, what I believe to be a decent team for this level was built, first by sieving free players through the fine mesh strainer of accepting trials, and then through the second fine mesh strainer of asking for wages I was willing to accept; this was then topped with a handful of loans when I lost my full backs to teams in better divisions and no longer had the budget to get any new players. We do have a few half decent players, such as Pedro Henrique, a regen that started at the club that I do not expect to keep to the end of the season, as Sergipe, a team with 36 State Leagues in the state of... Sergipe, and with a few years spent in Serie B and C in the early 2000s is after him, and Ítalo, who came in after being released on a free at Warta Zawierce, in what I believe to be the 5th level of Polish football. It's all downhill from these 2. If anyone else stands out, we'll look at them when we look back at the league as a whole. I expect that bar any financial issues, the first couple of seasons will not be very hard, but we will at some point hit a very hard wall to climb over.

 

 

 

 

• 07.05.2022 vs Bela Vista at home.

The first game where we tried our gegenpress/hoof the ball forward tactical mix, with the idea that at this level all players will miss passes and interceptions and make mistakes, so we want to ensure that the ball is as forward as possible as fast as possible, so that we minimise the errors close to our goal and maximise the ones close to their goal, and take advantage of any missed interception. This showed very quickly as we scored the first time we took a shot, winger crosses the ball, the goalkeeper went for the ball but the defender cleared the ball before the keeper could get there, which meant that when the other winger got the ball, the keeper was very very off his positioning, easy goal. The second goal was a much nice footballing play, with the play maker making a long pass to the winger to first touched it to the box where our striker won the position against the defender and tapped it in. Things weren't all rosy though. After a first half where we dominated play, in the second half a goal came very much against the grain - a goal very similar to our second one, except the cross was a high one, and our keeper was very badly beaten, as the ball was one he should easily have reached. Then came the penalty dance: neither of them were necessary, specially the one we gave away; the ball would be going out or controlled next to the line, it would be a position easy to defend. Instead the ball went and he blocked the player completely. I also don't get how my defender did not get his second yellow card. The win was deserved, the result not so much - 2-0 would have been a much better reflection of the game. Still, we take the 3 points.

• 11.05.2022 vs Magé Brescia away.

A much closer game than the previous one, though with 2 completely different halves - in the first half we dominated the game and score two goals, both from some quick counter attacking movements; in the second half it was a different story, where Magé Brescia (who used to have a partnership with Brescia, and decided not to change their name when it ended), started getting more on top of the game the more the game went on, and ended up levelling the game, first with a corner and then after really piling on us i nthe last minutes, in stoppage time.  It hurts, but likely the fairest result.

• 15.05.2022 vs Juventus (not that one) at home.

Unlike the previous team, this one has never been affiliated with Juventus, they just named themselves after them. This one was not a good game. None of our players stood out, and my rotation options were very bad choices. Just when I thought that even though we had a subpar game we would be able to come out with some points, we left a highway opened in our defense in their goal, and they punished us.

• 18.05.2022 vs Independente Macaé away.

The final result here does not reflect the game - well the first time does, it was very drab on both  ends, withe their goal the only real highlight. Then in the second half we won the substitutes war: Pedro Henrique and Antônio Carlos both entered on the 46th minute to change our midfield triangle from one with a DM to one with an AM. 6 minutes later the first had scored two goals, and by the end of the game the other one had scored two more. The 3-2 result we had at the time seemed like a fair result, maybe even a bit harsh on them as we were close to equal in all stats, then in the last 20 minutes they collapsed. I can't complain!

 

Well, turns out this won't be as easy as I thought it might be from previous experience playing at this low a level - which is good! Everything is currently open, even if it is mostly cause 4 spots for promotion with just 12 games, means any good or bad result can rock the table a lot.

[Reiver]

 

 

• 21.05.2022 vs Itaboraí at home.

I was expecting an easy game against a team that after 4 games already had a goal difference of -11 and sat at the bottom of the league. What I did not expect was the Washington show. Utterly dominated the  game, even got the +5 xG achievement out of it.

• 25.05.2022 vs Barcelona away.

Continuing the theme of playing against European teams from Wish, time to play against Barcelona (esporte clube) . They actually scored first, against the run of play, but would only hold on to their advantage for 5 minutes, Gilvan, a striker than came from the bench with one assist, and one free kick goal was instrumental to our win.

• 29.05.2022 vs Atlético Carioca at home.

 Second 3-1 win in a row, but a much closer game than the previous one - was it not for our penalty and the two team's xG's would have been pratically level, but when one team's wasteful the other takes it, and I'm happy this time I'm the one that took it. At this point I have to give most of the credit to the previously mentioned Pedro Henrique, which I finally managed to get to accept a new 2 year deal (and even that hasn't made teams be less interested in him, just secured that I might actually get some money out of him) - he's currently on an average rating of 7.9, with 4 assists and 6 goals.

• 05.06.2022 vs Império Serrano away.

Other than the game against Juventus, this was probably the hardest game we had. Very level game which could have gone either way really.

 

This leaves us in a decent third place with 4 games to go and right before our bye round. Bad news is our 4 remaining games include playing against 1st, 2nd and 4th, so everything is completely up for grabs!

 

 

[_Ben_]

Strong start Reiver! Three promotions to the top state league and then a bash at Serie D - am I right there? How you think the step up between the levels will be? As always with Brazil, I’m astounded by the quality of players you have at those low levels. 

[Reiver]

1 minute ago, _Ben_ said:

Strong start Reiver! Three promotions to the top state league and then a bash at Serie D - am I right there? How you think the step up between the levels will be? As always with Brazil, I’m astounded by the quality of players you have at those low levels. 

Read my first post - " Let's see, you have the Campeonato Carioca ( or Cariocão, as mentioned before), then it's the Campeonato Carioca Serie A2, then Campeonato Carioca Série B1, then Campeonato Carioca Série B2, then finally Campeonato Carioca Série C.  So we're basically at the National League level of the Rio de Janeiro state leagues. Five promotions to go, how fun!"

I have done a similar save in Portugal earlier this year, starting in the lowest league. and the first promotion was a piece of cake, and the second one was easy too, then I hit a brickwall and it took moving to another higher reputation team in the same league to manage to progress further; looking at the teams in these leagues I think it'll start getting harder two levels from where I am, mainly because I am in the Rio de Janeiro leagues, the third tier has the Red Bull Bragantino B team, and a couple of teams I recognise the name. It's like this in the states with the bigger cities - in São Paulo you have teams in the national leagues that have since gone down in the state leagues, so they're in Serie B and C in the national leagues, but then also in the second division of the state league, it's crazy. Then you have some of the smaller states where even the best teams that win the State leagues really struggle in the national Serie D.

It's likely I'll treat this as a career save, and if there's a move that shows up and it sounds realistic (or cool), I might move around a bit.

[_Ben_]

Got you! I’ve only ever ventured as low as Serie C, and, given that I wasn’t using any add-ons, the top tier of the State Champs so it’s interesting to see how deep these go. Clearly a sign of the strength in a country like Brazil but seems like a real mix of teams at each level, which will keep you entertained!

[Reiver]

 

Before we look at the final third of the league, we got the news of how our next youth intake will be. Looks like nothing spectacular, to be honest, but knowing how FM is, I'll wait for the actual players to come, you never know.

 

I'm not going to bother going through the results one by one, and focus on the trend here. As you can see, both from the results we've had, and the final table, there are two teams clearly above the rest in the league; and while at points against ISQL Brasileirinho we looked like at a few points in the game like we were playing level with them, those points probably account for 30 to 40 minutes of the whole game; and against CAAC, they really showed they are a few levels above us. Which makes this next part all the more difficult - some of you might have already noticed a distinctive lack of "P" on that board and some "Q" instead; that's because State leagues in Brazil have a tendency to have crazy formats, and the one here is one of the most normal ones; there is not direct promotion decided from the league season - hell, not even a champion being crowned, this is all just to see who goes to play the playoffs. We now have two legged semi-finals, 1st against 4th and 2nd against 3rd. The winners get promoted and go on to play the final for the title and the cup. This means 2 more games against Brasileirinho. If this was a one legged affair, I would probably change my tactic, go more reactive, channel my inner Mourinho and try to steal promotion, even if it meant going to penalties, but I?m not sure my team has wehat it takes to not give away any game costing mistakes over two whole games. It'll be hard, and I am not even sure yet how to approach it. Let's see.

Oh, in other news we've managed to get a senior affiliate, a local one at that: Volta Redonda!

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Reiver

[Reiver]

I believe the expression is "close, but no cigar"... Two bumper crowds went to watch us have much better results against Brasileirinho. In the first game we tried to change from a 4-3-3 with 1 DM and two MCs to 2 DMs and one MCs, to see if I would get more defensive stability. It did, they only had 8 shots on target from their 21 shots, but it also severely limited our options going forward; we only had 5 shots altogether, and in the end it was our star Pedro Henrique (which somehow we managed to keep the whole season!) to manage to get a one-on-one against the keeper to save us at the very end of the game. For the second game, I went back to my usual fomation, but with a different approach, going for a more counter attacking formation. The game was still as one sided as the previous one (17 shots to 5, 0.99 xG to 0.06), but no goals were scored. In the end they go through as the higher seeded team, and admittedly, they go through deservedly, and we're up for another season at this level. In the end, we can at least say that we lost to the division winners, as they went on to beat CAAC 2-0 in the final.

I've highlighted our top performers in the above picture. Pedro Henrique and Ítalo were pinpointed at the beginning of the season, and did not disappoint - Henrique ended up being the team's player of the season with 75% of the votes. Washington almost deserved to be here solely on the back of his 5 goals in one game. He ended up being a bit inconsistent, but when he was on a good day, he always had a hell of a good day - I guess it his dislike of big matches, but at this level, I take a player of his skill even with that; at least until I manage to find better. Then we had Kim, the old school Brazilian winger: all he had was pace,technique and flair, but that made him outshine his apparent skill level. Here's a snapshot of the players I mentioned but have not shown yet:

 

 

 

 

[Reiver]

2022 Final Results

• National Leagues:

Brasileirão: Palmeiras, 11th win, previous win in 2018. Relegated: Corinthians(!), América Mineiro, Avaí and Juventude.

Serie B: Grêmio, 2nd win, previous win in 2005. Promoted: Grêmio, Bahia, Grêmio Novorizontino and Sport. Relegated: Guarani, Criciúma, Sampaio Corrêa and Tombense,

Serie C: Paysandu. 1st win. Promoted: Mirassol, Vitória, Paysandu and ABC. Relegated: Ferroviário, Campinense, Botafogo (PB) and Atlético Cearense.

Serie D: Pouso Alegre, 1st win. Promoted: Pouso Alegre, São Raimundo, Portuguesa (RJ) and Sergipe. 

Copa do Brasil:  Flamengo

Copa do Nordeste: Ceará

Supercopa do Brasil: Atlético Mineiro

• State Leagues:

Acre: Vasco (AC), 4th win overall, previous win in 2001. Vasco and Humaitá qualify for Serie D.

Alagoas: CSA, 41st win, second in a row. Coruripe and CSE qualify for Serie D.

Amapá: Santos (AP), 8th win, previous win in  2019. Santos (AP) qualify for Serie D.

Amazonas: Manaus, 5th win, second in a row. Amazonas and Fast Clube qualify for Serie D.

Bahia: Bahia, 50th win, previous win in 2020. Juazeirense,  Jacuipense and Bahia de Feira qualify for Serie D.

Brasilia: Brasiliense, 11th win, second in a row. Brasiliense and Gama qualify for Serie D.

Ceará: Fortaleza, 45th win, fourth in a row. Barbalha, Guarani de Juazeiro and Caucaia qualify for Serie D.

Espírito Santo: Real Noroeste, 2nd win, second in a row. Real Noroeste and Atlético Itapemirim qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Sul: Novo Hamburgo, second win, previous one in 2017 (ahead of Grêmio and Internacional, quite an upset). Novo Hamburgo, Aimoré and Caxias qualify for Serie D.

Goiás: Goiás, 29th win, previous one in 2018. CRAC, Goiânia and Anápolis qualify for Serie D.

Maranhão: Sampaio Corrêa, 36th win, third in a row. Moto Club and Pinheiro qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso do Sul: Costa Rica, 2nd win, second in a row. Costa Rica qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso: Cuiabá, 11th win, second in a row. Luverdense and Operário Várzea-Grandense qualify for Serie D.

Minas Gerais:  América Mineiro, 17th win, previous one in 2016. Villa Nova, Atlético Patrocinense and Ipatinga qualify for Serie D.

Pará: Remo, 47th win, previous win in 2019. Tuna Luso and Independente Tucuruí qualify for Serie D.

Paraíba: Campinense, 23th win, second one in a row. Treze and São Paulo Crystal qualify for Serie D.

Paraná: Londrina, 6th win, second in a row. Azuriz, Cascavel and Cianorte qualify for Serie D.

Pernambuco: Santa Cruz, 30th win, previous one in 2016. Santa Cruz and Retrô qualify for Serie D.

Piauí: River, 32nd win, previous one in 2019. Fluminense (PI) and River qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Norte: ABC, 57th win, previous one in 2020. América do Natal and Potiguar qualify for Serie D.

Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo, 38th win, fourth in a row. Madureira, Nova Iguaçu and Bangu qualify for Serie D.

Rondonia: Porto Velho, 3rd win, third in a row. Porto Velho qualify for Serie D.

Roraíma: Nautico, 3rd win, previous one in 2015. Nautico and Atlético Roraima qualify for Serie D.

Santa Catarina: Avaí, 19th win, second one in a row. Joinville, Concórdia and Hercílio Luz qualify for Serie D.

São Paulo: Santos, 23rd win, previous win in 2016. Portuguesa, Água Santa, Ferroviária and São Bento qualify for Serie D.

Sergipe: Confiança, 22nd win, previous win in 2020. Lagarto and Freipaulistano qualify for Serie D.

Tocantins: Tocantinópolis, 5th win, second one in a row. Tocantinópolis qualify for Serie D.

 

 

[Reiver]

 

As the say, second verse, the same as the first. We're once again getting ready for a Carioca Série C season, with many changes to our squad. Washington, Bragato Silva and Ítalo were too greedy in their contract renewal talks, and we couldn't reach an agreement. Anderson retired. Wernesson and Beto as I believed we could get better players for their positions and it freed much needed wage budget. 7 players joined us (5 on a free, 2 on loan), and one player returned from a loan that was already arranged when I joined the team. It leaves our team like this:

 

Pedro Henrique is still the star of the team, but now we have more players at a good level; Wesley, Leo Tavares, Lucas Emanuel, Gilmar and Volta Redonda's Filipe look like they might make the difference for us. The media surely believes this too, as we were made 1-10 favourites to win the whole thing. I was expecting the teams going down to our league to be our main competitors, but at least for the bookies that's not the case: Heliópolis is predicted to finish 4th and Queimados dead last. It's Atlético Carioca and Bela Vista we ahve to worry about, and if that's the case, based on how we fared against them this year, I do agree with the bookies, and I think this is the year we go up.

 

[Reiver]

 

God, the first third of the season was too weird. Filled with extreme highs and lows! Against Independente Macaé we played a lot better than them, and as you can see, at some point we were winning 3-0, and the game seemed more than controlled. Independente seemed to have woken up in the last 25 minutes, and actually made us shaky and hoping the game would just end before their momentum would rise even higher - luckily it did. The game against Magé Brescia felt similar to the first 60 minutes of the game against Independente, except the momentum change never happened, and we were more prolific while on top of the game . That's possibly why the momentum did not change, as we'll see next. Against Bela Vista, the game was surprisingly not as lopsided as it seems at first - when the game was 3-0, we had similar shots on goal, possession and even xG, but when you keep leaking goals, morale goes down and from minute 60 to 90, we just did not exist as a team. This game actually made me change the first choice keeper for the team. We got our revenge though, against Império Serrano, that felt like the game against Bela Vista, just in reverse - both teams ended on 20 shots, 10 shots on target, and within 4% of possession, we were just a lot more clinical - and this surely helped with morale.

 

[Reiver]

 

Now that's more like it! 4 wins in a row is in a league where we need to be in the top 4 at the end of 12 games is crucial, and now nothing but a total collapse means we should be going through to the playoffs. Versus Heliópolis the result does not paint a proper picture of the game: we had the game completely controlled throughout the game, and they ended up scoring from a keeper mistake and a needless penalty. Itaboraí was actually a much closer game than the previous one, despite of the result; and then we completed this third of the game with 2 4-2 results were we could have won by 2 or 3 more goals. The situation now before the end of the season is similar to last season though, as we still need to play 2nd and 3rd on the table in the last 4 games!

[Reiver]

 

I did mention that we still had what now looked like our most difficult games to go, and i was not wrong. Both games were very close; in the first one we were unlucky they were the only ones to score in a game of equals, and the second one felt like FM making fun of me: we hit the woodwork, we missed a penalty, we had higher xG, more shots, more shots on goal - bu if you can't score, you risk losing the game. First and second place and it's higher seed on the playoffs were now pretty much out of reach, and even finishing 3rd would depend on other team's results, though 4th was almost secured. We did have easier games and should easily get 6 points out of them - and we did. Pedro Henrique was on fire scoring two hat tricks in a row, and is even attracting some minor interest from Série C and D teams.

We had a bit of help from Bela Vista who collapsed in their last 3 games, getting only 1 point from Atlético Carioca, Uni Souza and União Central, which cemented our 3rd place- Heliópolis was not threatening us as we had a positive record against them. So, second third place in a row, and second trip to the playoffs in a row too! Two games against Uni Souza were we must win are what separates us from promotion. To ensure we are as prepared as we can, we raided Volta Redonda for as many free loans as possible to pad out the team and have extra options, so joining Filipe, on a 1 month loan spell, came Marcos, William and Sérgio.

 

 

[Reiver]

 

Second time in the playoffs, and this time against a team that I believe we actually have a good chance against. I was banking on winning the game at home and then be able to ride that advantage in the away game. As you can see in those results, that's not what happened. At the home, once again, it was a very close game. They had more shots, but we had higher xG (though we, once again, missed a penalty - we have a horrible conversion rate on them) we spent most of the game in the lead, and when I was already expecting the game to end in our favour, when an acrobatic kick shattered our chances. The result was fair, but hurt, and left us having to win the second game.

The second game had a different script from the previous two against Uni Souza this season though. We started the game at a higher tempo and mentality than usual, trying to nab an early goal. That didn't happen, but it made us be on top of the game, keeping pressure on them, and finally we scored, first late in the first half, then right at the beginning of the second. We slowed down a bit, and moved into a more cautious approach, defending the lead and looking for the counter., and managed to grab a third goal. They scored once, but it was too little, too late - so we're going to the final, and we're going up! Last hurdle before lifting the trophy? Atlético Carioca.

 

[Reiver]

Final game of the season and the cup is on the line! The game decided that a neutral venue meant playing the final at Maracanã this season, and over 5.500 people showed up (out of 78000 capacity) to watch us play against Atlético Carioca.

On our side, one big setback, as star player Pedro Henrique was out after getting 5 yellows, and one of my first choice midfielders, Sandro, has been out for the last month with a sprained ankle. In the absence of our star attacker, my decision to raid Volta Redonda for extra options paid off - 5 minutes into the game, our keeper chucked the ball as far forward as possible, Marcos, who I mentioned in the previous post- and was playing for the team for its first and only time!) won the high ball, and with only the keeper to beat managed to get the ball right in the corner of the goal. Just 10 minutes later Our right winger run to the goalline, passed back, the left back changed flank, and Kim found himself with space on the other side and shot for our second goal. With a 2 goal lead 16 minutes into the game, we could slow down, settle, and just play to secure this result, and we managed to keep the game under control - really, the rest of the game was very uneventful, other than our full back getting injured in the 56th minute. At the end of the 90 minutes, we took the trophy home!

[Reiver]

 

Once again, Pedro Henrique, this year playing front up as a striker, instead of an inside forward from the right like he did last year, was the star of the team - finishing as the leagues highest scorer 17 goals out of 13 played games! His "Minor interest from clubs" line on his profile has been all season been filled with 1-3 different Serie C and D teams, but no offers so far; I have him under contract for one more year, as he just renewed, but I am under the belief it's the last one, the negotiations for this renewal were already very tough. Kim keeps defying the odds, and outperforming my team's evaluation of him, his speed and flair can sometimes wreck havoc from the wing - and that's literally all he know what to do, but hey, as long as his trick works! This time we also had much better performances from our defense: Guilherme Lima, Wesley and Dedé were a great pair at the back too. Once again, I expect a few of these not to be here next year just because of how much they'll ask for when it's time to renew contracts (as I can only offer 1 or 2 year contracts for most players). 

I forgot to mention - this year's youth intake will supposedly be better, with As for Goalkeeper and Striker. Last year we ended up not signing any of the prospects, as the only ones with decent stats were asking for Full Time contracts for way too much money, and would not accept Youth Contracts, so off they went. Let's see if the same happens this year and if there's any player worth giving a Full Time contract straight away.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Reiver

[LazgoNNO2000]

15 minutes ago, Reiver said:

 

Once again, Pedro Henrique, this year playing front up as a striker, instead of an inside forward from the right like he did last year, was the star of the team - finishing as the leagues highest scorer 17 goals out of 13 played games! His "Minor interest from clubs" line on his profile has been all season been filled with 1-3 different Serie C and D teams, but no offers so far; I have him under contract for one more year, as he just renewed, but I am under the belief it's the last one, the negotiations for this renewal were already very tough. Kim keeps defying the odds, and outperforming my team's evaluation of him, his speed and flair can sometimes wreck havoc from the wing - and that's literally all he know what to do, but hey, as long as his trick works! This time we also had much better performances from our defense: Willian and Dedé were a great pair at the back too. Once again, I expect a few of these not to be here next year just because of how much they'll ask for when it's time to renew contracts (as I can only offer 1 or 2 year contracts for most players). 

I forgot to mention - this year's youth intake will supposedly be better, with As for Goalkeeper and Striker. Last year we ended up not signing any of the prospects, as the only ones with decent stats were asking for Full Time contracts for way too much money, and would not accept Youth Contracts, so off they went. Let's see if the same happens this year and if there's any player worth giving a Full Time contract straight away.

hey dude anyways is this non league to legend challenge

[Reiver]

 

2022 Final Results

• National Leagues:

Brasileirão: Palmeiras, 12th win, second in a row. Relegated: Grêmio Novorizontino, Fortaleza, Bahia, Sport

Serie B: Corinthians, 2nd win, previous win in 2008. Promoted: Corinthians, Ponte Preta, Cruzeiro, América Mineiro. Relegated: Paysandu, Chapecoense, Brusque, CRB

Serie C: Botafogo (SP). 1st win. Promoted: Sampaio Corrêa, Tombense, Botafogo (SP), Confiança. Relegated: Figueirense, Portuguesa (RJ), Ypiranga, Brasil de Pelotas

Serie D: Botafogo (PB), 2nd win, previous win in 2015. Promoted: Botafogo (PB), Tuna Luso, Costa Rica and Atlético Cearense. 

Copa do Brasil:  Goiás (first win)

Copa do Nordeste: Bahia

Copa Verde: Goiás

Supercopa do Brasil: Palmeiras

• State Leagues:

Acre: Humaitá, 2nd win overall, previous win in 2021. Vasco and Humaitá qualify for Serie D.

Alagoas: CRB, 32nd win, previous win in 2020. Moruripe and CSE qualify for Serie D.

Amapá: Trem, 7th win, previous win in 2021. Trem qualify for Serie D.

Amazonas: Manaus, 6th win,third in a row. Nacional (AM) and Fast Clube qualify for Serie D.

Bahia: Vitória, 30th win, previous win in 2017. Juazeirense,  Jacuipense and Atlético de Alagoinhas qualify for Serie D.

Brasilia: Brasiliense, 12th win, third in a row. Brasiliense and Gama qualify for Serie D.

Ceará: Fortaleza, 46th win, fifth in a row. Ferroviário (CE), Guarani de Juazeiro and Guarany de Sobral qualify for Serie D.

Espírito Santo: Real Noroeste, 3rd win, trhird in a row. Real Noroeste and Desportiva qualify for Serie D.

Goiás: Atlético Goianiense, 16th win, previous one in 2020. Aparecida, Goiânia and Anápolis qualify for Serie D.

Maranhão: Sampaio Corrêa, 37th win, fourth in a row. Chapadinha and São José (MA) qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso do Sul: Costa Rica, 3rd win, third in a row. Novo qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso: Cuiabá, 12th win, third in a row. Luverdense and Operário Várzea-Grandense qualify for Serie D.

Minas Gerais:  Cruzeiro, 40th win, previous one in 2019. Villa Nova, Atlético Patrocinense and Democrata de Governador Valadares qualify for Serie D.

Pará: Paysandu, 50th win, previous win in 2021. Castanhal and Itupiranga qualify for Serie D.

Paraíba: Campinense, 24th win, third one in a row. Campinense and São Paulo Crystal qualify for Serie D.

Paraná: Londrina, 7th win, third in a row. Azuriz, Cascavel and Cianorte qualify for Serie D.

Pernambuco: Sport, 43rd win, previous one in 2019. Santa Cruz and Maguary qualify for Serie D.

Piauí: Altos, 4th win, previous one in 2021. Fluminense (PI) and 4 de Julho qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Norte: América do Natal, 33rd win, previous one in 2019. América do Natal and Globo qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Sul: Juventude, second win, previous one in 1998. Novo Hamburgo, Aimoré and Caxias qualify for Serie D.

Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo, 39th win, fifth in a row. Madureira, Nova Iguaçu and Macaé qualify for Serie D.

Rondonia: Rondoniense, 2nd win, previous one in 2016. Rondoniense qualify for Serie D.

Roraíma: Nautico, 4th win, second in a row. Nautico and São Raimundo qualify for Serie D.

Santa Catarina: Avaí, 20th win, third one in a row. Joinville, Concórdia and Marcílio Dias qualify for Serie D.

São Paulo: Palmeiras, 24th win, previous win in 2020. Portuguesa, Água Santa, Ferroviária and São Bernardo qualify for Serie D.

Sergipe: Sergipe, 37th win, previous win in 2021. Lagarto and Itabaiana qualify for Serie D.

Tocantins: Tocantinópolis, 6th win, third one in a row. Tocantinópolis qualify for Serie D.

[Reiver]

2 hours ago, LazgoNNO2000 said:

hey dude anyways is this non league to legend challenge

I pretend to go up the leagues - if I move clubs or not in the way, it'll depend on how the save goes. The idea is to play as a realistic managerial career, just starting from as low as possible in Brazil.

[LazgoNNO2000]

6 hours ago, Reiver said:

I pretend to go up the leagues - if I move clubs or not in the way, it'll depend on how the save goes. The idea is to play as a realistic managerial career, just starting from as low as possible in Brazil.

well i try doing some non league to legend challenge 

so anyways what is the rules

[Reiver]

19 hours ago, LazgoNNO2000 said:

well i try doing some non league to legend challenge 

so anyways what is the rules

I don't understand your question, the rule is that I have fun and share the story.

[Reiver]

 

New year, new division, new team. The first one is self explanatory, so let's go through the other two.

 

I know I haven't talked about team building - that's mostly because of the level that I am playing in; at this low a level, I'm not looking for any particular set of skills throughout the whole team, I don't have any philosophy in mind beyond playing towards players limitations at this level, and most of my decisions are base on 1) are the most important skills for their job any decent for this level (and at this level if they're good at a majority of those skills are good, that's likely to be good enough), and 2) are they asking for wages I am willing to pay - loans, specially from our parent club are great, even if it's just for backup players, simply because while the season is only 12 games, it is also set in just 2 months, so the schedule will be packed tight. That being said, this time I'll take a bit more of time to present our team for this season. Sorry Ben, gonna steal how you present your squad a bit.

• Goalkeepers

This is an example that at lower levels, you can't trust the star ratings: Tom, the older player, has had a career that would suggest much better stats (14 games over 3 seasons for Portuguesa, from 2013 to 2015, when the team was a second and third tier team; 22 games for Real Massamá in Portugal's second tier in 2017/18, and spending the last two years as the main keeper of a Maltese second division team), but he's still the better choice, so long as you don't play in such a way where you need your keeper to be more of a fast sweeper keeper. Still, Marcello is a really good backup, on very low wages, and while not as good on pure goalkeeping stats, he is braver and faster than Tom.

• Left Backs

Our first option here should be Lucas Emanuel. Good Tackling and First Touch, decent Crossing and Passing, very good Decisions, and other than Antecipation, all needed values are at least acceptable - plus the trait of trying long range passes actually fits our lower league hoof it forwards style of play. That's not to say that Diogo Freitas, isn't good either, and this is a position where I'll be likely to rotate quite a bit - other than Determination, he actually has better mentals than Emanuel.

• Right Backs

As you can see by looking at Laureano, and comparing it with our left-back options, you can immediately see which of our fullbacks has more of a defensive function - a player with 15 tackling at this low a level, I'll always say yes to, but he still has half decent values for the rest of the relevant stats. He comes on loan from Genus, one of the best teams from the small state of Roraíma, always a candidate to win their State League and a regular presence in Série D. I've added Tavares here, as he's my only back up DR option, but he can also play as a midfielder, so he's more of a jack of all trades back up option here.

• Central Defenders

While I wish I had one more player at Centerback, I have 3 players I believe are at similar levels and will rotate throughout the season. Wesley is not as good as the others at heading, but compensates by being the faster option, with Lima and Dedé  being better static options, so whenever possible I'll try to couple the fast one with one of the others.

• Defensive Midfielders

Here Samuel is the clear first choice. Yeah, I'd love for him to be stronger and braver, but at this level, until a better option comes up, I won't say no to a player with both Tacklling, Marking and Passing all above 10. Clério and Tavares from the left back list are back ups, Clério still being on the team cause I can keep him on a youth contract, paying him peanuts while being emergency option.

• Central Midfielders

Like in defense, the idea is to rotate the two central midfield positions between these 3 players, and as emergency, use one of the defensive midfielders here too. Sapata is the standout here, decent at everything we'd need a midfielder to be, though Gregório, on loan from Volta Redonda, and Gilmar are more than capable of going up against any team at this level. I am not mentioning Tiago, cause the poor sod broke his leg and is out for 7 to 10 months.

• Left Wingers

Kim is our speedy technique and flair merchant - and despite what the stats look, he's been delivering for us, with av. ratings of 7.29 and then 7.46 in previous years. Then to back him up we have Erivélton and Adilso on loan, from Volta Redonda and Sampaio Correa respectively, teams from the national leagues.  They also have the speed, and I'm banking on that to be enough to beat the defenders enough times that one time they get something right.

• Right Wingers

Pedro Henrique is our king. He has pro level speed, and very good stats for this level - there's been interest from Serie C and D teams, but no one bit, and I am thankful. It is likely this will be his last season with us, as if he keeps asking for more money we won't be able to keep him anymore. His back up would have been Tiago, the same one mentioned before who broke his leg.

• Strikers

Marcos had to come back after giving us the title last year. Initially Volta Redonda did not want to send him back to us, but close to the end of the transfer season they relented. Arlonso is a decent second option. and Gilvan is a last option low wage option.

Somehow we are considered 1-2 favourites to win? I somehow doubt it, but considering that the two teams that went up two seasons ago, got back to back promotions last year, maybe?

 

[LazgoNNO2000]

On 19/08/2023 at 12:28, Reiver said:

 

New year, new division, new team. The first one is self explanatory, so let's go through the other two.

 

I know I haven't talked about team building - that's mostly because of the level that I am playing in; at this low a level, I'm not looking for any particular set of skills throughout the whole team, I don't have any philosophy in mind beyond playing towards players limitations at this level, and most of my decisions are base on 1) are the most important skills for their job any decent for this level (and at this level if they're good at a majority of those skills are good, that's likely to be good enough), and 2) are they asking for wages I am willing to pay - loans, specially from our parent club are great, even if it's just for backup players, simply because while the season is only 12 games, it is also set in just 2 months, so the schedule will be packed tight. That being said, this time I'll take a bit more of time to present our team for this season. Sorry Ben, gonna steal how you present your squad a bit.

• Goalkeepers

This is an example that at lower levels, you can't trust the star ratings: Tom, the older player, has had a career that would suggest much better stats (14 games over 3 seasons for Portuguesa, from 2013 to 2015, when the team was a second and third tier team; 22 games for Real Massamá in Portugal's second tier in 2017/18, and spending the last two years as the main keeper of a Maltese second division team), but he's still the better choice, so long as you don't play in such a way where you need your keeper to be more of a fast sweeper keeper. Still, Marcello is a really good backup, on very low wages, and while not as good on pure goalkeeping stats, he is braver and faster than Tom.

• Left Backs

Our first option here should be Lucas Emanuel. Good Tackling and First Touch, decent Crossing and Passing, very good Decisions, and other than Antecipation, all needed values are at least acceptable - plus the trait of trying long range passes actually fits our lower league hoof it forwards style of play. That's not to say that Diogo Freitas, isn't good either, and this is a position where I'll be likely to rotate quite a bit - other than Determination, he actually has better mentals than Emanuel.

• Right Backs

As you can see by looking at Laureano, and comparing it with our left-back options, you can immediately see which of our fullbacks has more of a defensive function - a player with 15 tackling at this low a level, I'll always say yes to, but he still has half decent values for the rest of the relevant stats. He comes on loan from Genus, one of the best teams from the small state of Roraíma, always a candidate to win their State League and a regular presence in Série D. I've added Tavares here, as he's my only back up DR option, but he can also play as a midfielder, so he's more of a jack of all trades back up option here.

• Central Defenders

While I wish I had one more player at Centerback, I have 3 players I believe are at similar levels and will rotate throughout the season. Wesley is not as good as the others at heading, but compensates by being the faster option, with Lima and Dedé  being better static options, so whenever possible I'll try to couple the fast one with one of the others.

• Defensive Midfielders

Here Samuel is the clear first choice. Yeah, I'd love for him to be stronger and braver, but at this level, until a better option comes up, I won't say no to a player with both Tacklling, Marking and Passing all above 10. Clério and Tavares from the left back list are back ups, Clério still being on the team cause I can keep him on a youth contract, paying him peanuts while being emergency option.

• Central Midfielders

Like in defense, the idea is to rotate the two central midfield positions between these 3 players, and as emergency, use one of the defensive midfielders here too. Sapata is the standout here, decent at everything we'd need a midfielder to be, though Gregório, on loan from Volta Redonda, and Gilmar are more than capable of going up against any team at this level. I am not mentioning Tiago, cause the poor sod broke his leg and is out for 7 to 10 months.

• Left Wingers

Kim is our speedy technique and flair merchant - and despite what the stats look, he's been delivering for us, with av. ratings of 7.29 and then 7.46 in previous years. Then to back him up we have Erivélton and Adilso on loan, from Volta Redonda and Sampaio Correa respectively, teams from the national leagues.  They also have the speed, and I'm banking on that to be enough to beat the defenders enough times that one time they get something right.

• Right Wingers

Pedro Henrique is our king. He has pro level speed, and very good stats for this level - there's been interest from Serie C and D teams, but no one bit, and I am thankful. It is likely this will be his last season with us, as if he keeps asking for more money we won't be able to keep him anymore. His back up would have been Tiago, the same one mentioned before who broke his leg.

• Strikers

Marcos had to come back after giving us the title last year. Initially Volta Redonda did not want to send him back to us, but close to the end of the transfer season they relented. Arlonso is a decent second option. and Gilvan is a last option low wage option.

Somehow we are considered 1-2 favourites to win? I somehow doubt it, but considering that the two teams that went up two seasons ago, got back to back promotions last year, maybe?

 

so what is your chances for you get promotion

[Reiver]

 

Yeah, we're clearly not the favourites, and the season has been quite the rollercoaster - when we win we dominate the game (even in the 3-2 win against Serra Macaense, where our goalkeeper had a horrible performance), but on the games we drew or lost, the results were fair too, the league feels a lot more level than the previous one. I dare to say that we have a chance to qualify for the playoffs because on the second half of the season we only play against one team currently above us in the league at the moment.

In other news, the club's finances have finally come to start biting us - after two seasons where we manage to stay roughly afloat, we are currently in the red, and over budget since the board decided to cut some of our wage budget midseason. If we don't keep climbing up and/or the board is able to get a loan (or we're extremely lucky and we spawn the new Pelé), this might bring in some problems; while attendances are in the one and 200s we won't go far when it comes to making money...

 

 

[Reiver]

I was right in my assumption that the second half of the season would be a lot easier. We started with the hardest game, against Campos that were in second at the time. They got more shots on goal, but we got better opportunities, our attack was just on an off day, and in the end I think a draw is a good reflection of the game.Then we turned our steam-roller on and score 12 goals in 4 games, when the games against the lower half teams arrived. Marcos is on fire, and the fans want us to permanently sign him - so do I, but unless Volta Redonda release him, we just can't. Keeping an eye though, and I'll definitely try to get him on loan again next year. As expected, this qualify us to the Playoffs, where we'll once again play against Campos.

 

[Reiver]

Campos taught us a lesson in football in the first game - we had 1 shot on goal the whole game, and scored from that single shot - which was the first shot of the whole game. Other than Kim, our winger that assisted the goal, every single one of my players ended on 6.4 or lower. Truly a game to forget. It also meant that I had to approach the second game completely differently, we had to win, so I decided to put on the pressure from the start - I chose my fastest players, moved my lines forwards, most pressure, and attacking from the get go. And the game was so different from the first one - this time it was Campos that struggled with creating chances, ending the game with 0.38 xG, against my 1.56 xG. We scored in the first half, and I kept it up because I knew I needed one extra goal to go through, but no matter how many times we tried, the second goal just wouldn't appear. I was actually waiting for my changes into what would essentially have become a 4-2-1-3 with 1 AM and 3 Strikers when the second goal went in, and suddenly I swapped into a much more defensive formation to close down the game - and now we're once again promoted and have a chance at more silverware!

[Reiver]

Second time at the Maracanã, now in two legs, and second time we lift up the trophy at the end! The first game was a nerve wrecking affair; We scored early, a tap in from our midfielder from a low cross, after he arrived unmarked in the area. And thank god it happened, as we spent over half of the game playing to keep the narrow advantage after being reduced to 10 men, bringing the lines down, and turning the midfield int a much deeper one with two DMs. It worked, because while we stopped creating many offensive chances, we closed them down almost completely, and they were unable to create clear scoring chances, and we took the advantage with us for the second leg... where we had a different problem. Between injuries, the red card, and accumulation of yellows, we had 6 players unavailable to play the game, including EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. OUR. WINGERS. We ended up lining up in a very narrow 4-1-2-2-1, with MCs, and AMCs; I didn't have to worry so much though, cause we had Marcos, who was a goalscoring machine this season, like I haven't seen yet in this save. This second game was a much more open affair, and we're going up again!

 

[Reiver]

This year's hero is, obviously, Marcos. 22 goals from 14 games? 1 goal every 57 minutes? Average rating of 7.87? I mean, I don't think I need to say anything else, this is close to the perfect season, followed by eternal top player and now club icon Pedro Henrique. Tom also had a great season in goal. What I don't believe will happen is that many of this squad will still be here in a couple of months: After we won promotion and next year's wage budget was announced we finally managed to renew with Pedro Henrique for one more year; I am still amazed he's still with us. Every year the little green "Wnt" box is next to his name, but then no one actually bids; he spends half the year asking for wages I cannot afford to pay until next years wage budget comes up, and then we can barely negotiate a new one. New contracts were also offered to Dedé, Arlonso, Diogo Freitas, Wesley, Lucas Emanuel, Gilherme Lima, Leo Tavares and Tom. Sapata refuses to sign a new contract, and the rest are likely to be let go, as what they are asking for to renew, even if they are values we can afford, are values I don't want to pay when compared to how they are as players, or are simply players who did not convince me. Lastly, we are trying to renew Marcos' loan, but Volta Redonda are saying they want to wait til closer to the actual end of the loan period at the end of the season to decide on it. Fingers crossed!

The next question: is next year, in Carioca's Serie B1, the year we actually hit the wall in terms of difficulty? Considering that the two teams that went up from Serie C the first season, both went up from Serie B2 last year, and in Serie B1 this year one managed to get promoted again, and the other managed to end up not getting relegated, I don't think so. I think it's likely that will only happen when we reach serie A2.

[Reiver]

 

2024 Final Results

• National Leagues:

Brasileirão: Flamengo, 8th win, previous win in 2020. Relegated: Botafogo, Cuiabá, Ponte Preta, Corinthians

Serie B: Ituano, 1st win. Promoted: Corinthians, Sampaio Correa, Avaí, Operário Ferroviário Relegated: Juventude, Sport, ABC, Mirassol

Serie C: Brusque, 1st win. Promoted: Chapecoense, Paysandu, Altos Relegated: Manaus, Tuna Luso, São José, São Raimundo

Serie D: Azuriz, 1st win. Promoted: Joinville, America de Natal, Jacuipense

Copa do Brasil:  Palmeiras

Copa do Nordeste: Ceará

Copa Verde: Cuiabá

Supercopa do Brasil: Goiás

• State Leagues:

Acre: Humaitá, 3rd win overall, second in a row. Vasco and Humaitá qualify for Serie D.

Alagoas: CSA, 42nd win, previous win in 2022. ASA and Murici qualify for Serie D.

Amapá: Trem, 8th win, second in a row. Trem qualify for Serie D.

Amazonas: Manaus, 7th win, fourth in a row. Nacional (AM) and Amazonas qualify for Serie D.

Bahia: Bahia, 51th win, previous win in 2022. Vitória de Conquista, Bahia de Feira and Atlético de Alagoinhas qualify for Serie D.

Brasilia: Gama, 14th win, previous win in 2020. Gama and Capital qualify for Serie D.

Ceará: Ceará, 46th win, previous win in 2018. Ferroviário (CE), Horizonte and Guarany de Sobral qualify for Serie D.

Espírito Santo: Real Noroeste, 4th win, fourth in a row. Real Noroeste and Desportiva qualify for Serie D.

Goiás: Goiás, 30th win, previous one in 2022. Trindade, Grêmio Anápolis and Anapolina qualify for Serie D.

Maranhão: Sampaio Corrêa, 38th win, fifth in a row. Juventude Samas and Moto Club qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso do Sul: Costa Rica, 4th win, fourth in a row. Operário (MS) qualify for Serie D.

Mato Grosso: Cuiabá, 13th win, fourth in a row. Araguaia and Operário Várzea-Grandense qualify for Serie D.

Minas Gerais:  Atlético Mineiro, 47th win, previous one in 2021. Villa Nova, Atlético Patrocinense and Ipatinga qualify for Serie D.

Pará: Remo, 48th win, previous win in 2022. Castanhal and Parauapebas qualify for Serie D.

Paraíba: Campinense, 25th win, fourth one in a row. Campinense and São Paulo Crystal qualify for Serie D.

Paraná: Athlético Paranaense, 27th win, previous win in 2020. Paraná, Cascavel and Cianorte qualify for Serie D.

Pernambuco: Sport, 44th win, second in a row. Salgueiro and Flamengo de Arcoverde qualify for Serie D.

Piauí: Altos, 5th win, second in a row. Fluminense (PI) and 4 de Julho qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Norte: ABC, 58th win, previous one in 2022 Potiguar and Globo qualify for Serie D.

Rio Grande do Sul: Grêmio, 41st win, previous one in 2021. Novo Hamburgo, Aimoré and São Luiz qualify for Serie D.

Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo, 40th win, sixth in a row. Madureira, Nova Iguaçu and Portuguesa (RJ) qualify for Serie D.

Rondonia: Porto Velho, 4th win, previous one in 2022. Porto Velho qualify for Serie D.

Roraíma: São Raimundo, 13th win, previous one in 2021. Nautico and São Raimundo qualify for Serie D.

Santa Catarina: Chapecoense, 8th win, previous one in 2020. Hercilio Luz, Concórdia and Marcílio Dias qualify for Serie D.

São Paulo: Palmeiras, 25th win, second in a row. Audax, Água Santa, Ferroviária and São Bernardo qualify for Serie D.

Sergipe: Sergipe, 38th win, second in a row. Lagarto and Itabaiana qualify for Serie D.

Tocantins: Palmas, 9th win, previous one in 2020. Palmas qualify for Serie D.

[Reiver]

EC Resende are now in the third tier of Rio de Janeiro football, Série B1. After re-building the team for this level we are once again favourites to go up, with bookies giving us 5-4 odds. For the first time, I actually felt a change in our reputation, with us now being able to attract a lot more players and many more players asking for decent wages when we talk to them; also while in between seasons I got the first interview offers at higher reputation clubs, meaning that my reputation is also getting higher. I was actually interested in one of the teams, but they went with another manager in the end. Like I mentioned before - the first time I think that we'll find teams that will seriously be able to outplay us will be in the second division, with teams that got relegated from the top league.

The fact that we were able to attract a slightly higher standard of player meant I have changed the way we play too - we are going from a hoof it forward to limit the errors near our goal and to capitalise on our opponents errors, into a 4-3-3 that plays high up on the field, aiming to control the game a lot more. The best thing is that we managed to improve the standard of players while keeping the wage budget much the same as last year.

• Goalkeepers

Tom goes from being the first choice keeper to our back up, as Carlos is straight up better in most of the most important skills for a keeper; better at shot stopping, distribution, in the air. He also comes with something incredibly rare at this level: experience at top level having played 2 games for America Mineiro at the top level of state football of Minas Gerais and then 4 more in the Pernambuco top league.  I just wish his first touch and acceleration were higher, so I could fully use him as a sweeper keeper.

• Right Backs

Kaká comes after one year at Inter de Limoeira on loan from Ponte Preta. In his previous club he only played 3 games entering as a sub - so it'll be his first season as a proper first team player. He has almost all I ask from a right back at this level: fast, good at tacking and at crossing; Alexsander is the back up option, on loan from ABC. Physically stronger and faster, he is a much more defensive option, as he does not have any skills in creating football, only in destructive football, a proper defensive player.

• Left Backs

 

At left back, no changes from last year - the one difference is that Emanuel ended the season in a bit of a slump in form, it's likely Freitas will be first choice at the beginning of the season.

• Central Defenders

As you can probably see, our defense has remained mostly the same as last year - we kept 3 DCs from last year, and complemented it with Gustavo Martins, on loan from Grêmio, who just happened to now be our best defender. While last year on average defense was likely to be my strongest area, this year, because I kept the same players and reinforced elsewhere, it's likely the weakest. It should still be good enough to see us through.

• Defensive Midfielders

Caio signs for us after being released on a free by Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Football Club, though based on the amount of games played, he was an emergency backup/future prospect. Well, he'll be much more than that for us, as for this level he is great at both being the first defensive player, and also the first defensive player capable of passing and creating; not that Grêmio alumni Adeilson isn't a good player either - he's just as good as a Ball Winning Midfielder; he just nowhere near as good at seeing where to pass the ball once he gets it.

• Central Midfielders

Unlike our defense, we have a almost completely new midfield. Enzo Perroni was released on a free by São Paulo, and has great stats for a more attacking midfield option, that finishing for when he arrives late in the box... Hyan comes from the youth team of Santos, likely to be first option for the more defensive side of my midfield setup. Paulo Afonso is our boy! The first youth player that is any good and actually wanted a youth contract we could afford, will see some minutes of football this season for sure, even if he's only 17. Last but not least, Leo who was already here and is ou back up for MC and DM.

• Left Wingers

Wesley and Abner  are very good contenders for this position - the first one here permanently and the second on loan from Ponte Preta. Abner is a bit faster and better at crossing, Wesley at cutting inside. Dairo, also from Ponte Preta, is our back up option.

• Right Wingers

Pedro Henrique is by now a club icon, as well as being the team's captain, and the numbers speak for themselves: 40 appearances, 25 goals, 21 assists, av. rating of 7.62. If he's fit, he's in the squad, full stop. When he isn't fit or he ends up playing as a striker, Higor steps in. Loaned in from Corinthians, he's also very good for this level.

• Strikers

Leonardo should be our first choice here; good finishing and composure, great bravery, and attempts overhead kicks? Just that last one in Brazil puts you ahead of all the others! Arlonso keeps his back up status from last year, and Luan Silva, on loan from America de Natal, despite being at the end of his career can still provide good competition, and Santos is a speedy back up position that can play in the front or either wing.

 

(each image links to the players stats, by the way)
 

[Reiver]

 

We were up to a tough start against Cabofriense, one of the other favourites to go up. Things were made easier when they got a player sent off 11 minutes into the game, for a two footed slide from the back. We capitalised on it and scored, only for one of our own players to be dumb and get sent off, literally 21 seconds after the second half started, and they scored close to the end of the game - all in all, a draw is a decent result here. Then against easier teams, we took off, with 2 games we completely dominated, including one against Paduano who play in the most hilarious football pitch I've ever seen. They played in a square pitch!

Against the delusions of grandeur named Rio de Janeiro, trhey scored out of ridiculous plays, and a game that finished 0.79 - 2.10 in xG finished 3-3... It was just a hiccup though, as we went back into high gears and scored 7 goals in the last two games. Suddenly, half the season is gone, and we're getting great results.

 

[Reiver]

Before any more proper updates, I've just noticed something crazy: Botafogo won the Copa Libertadores in the same season that they got relegated from the top tier,and managed to get out of the group stage while in the second tier...

[Reiver]

There was always a chance that this would happen, because I'm impatient, and started playing at the same time as i was doing the final test of the editor file - and there's a bug in the schedules of one of the state leagues; It's not the end of the save, I'll be fixing the bug (making a few more cosmetic changes to the league) and I'll be back.