iseemonsters' FM08 Small club to big club South American challenge

[minisav]

Originally posted by corinthiano:

Well the friendly defeats dont matter as long as you re still winning in the league

Amazing your win over Juv. Antoniana!! You must be surely heading for promotion! How many games have you got to go?

Well they were bottom. And I have 13 games left with a 20 point lead. I will have to lose my 21 game unbeaten run sometime. Hopefully later rather than soon.

[minisav]

Yay! A 2nd page! thup

[iseemonsters]

Originally posted by corinthiano:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by cr4z3d:

Interesting challenge, I have never managed in South America before.

It is good fun!! (Obviously I m biased, but thats not the point!)

It is definately something different as each country has some kind of crazy league rules, it ll never be boring! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll second this!

Corinthiano - congrats on the 7th place finish. It's funny how a side can just click sometimes, isn't it? And even better that you've strengthened for next season. Here's hoping for a surprise promotion push next time around.

minisav - not wishing to jinx you - but it looks like you're blitzing that Argentine league. Hopefully you've got promotion wrapped up - here's to making it a mathematical certainty soon!

And wow - a second page. I'm so proud.

As for my own game, I've kind of lost touch with my Zacatepec game too much to get back into it now, I think. Not to mention the fact that I feel like a bit of a wimp now I've seen what Zacatepec's reputation is compared to everyone else!

So, I'm thinking about starting up somewhere else... Peru is tempting except for the fact that you go straight into the top division, so I may opt for Colombia (even though looking at it, I have no clue how the league works) or maybe Uruguay. I'll let you know!

[corinthiano]

I know what you mean with loosing touch with your game. Even if I hadnt lost my Interporto game, I dont think I would have been able to carry it on.

I have some experience in Peru and Colombia and can definately recommend both leagues. Its true you go straight into the First Division in Peru, but you get some really weak sides coming up. It is also very difficult winning the Libertadores as Peru is the weakest playable league. One thing I struggled with in previous versions was breaking into the top 3 in the league. Alianza, Universitario and Sporting Cristal are just a lot better than the rest. I dont know if this has changed in FM08 as it has changed IRL (USMP and Coronel Bolognesi qualified for this years LIbertadores).

The advantage with Colombia is the more interesting league system. In Peru its just playing each team 4 times (There are Opening and closing stages I think but in the history page of the league there is only one champion per year). In Colombia there is an opening and closing stage. Each team plays each other once and the top 8 get through to the next round. They are divided into 2 groups of 4 where each team plays each other twice. The two group winners then play a two legged final. This structure applies to both tiers with there being a Promotion Playoff between the winners of the Opening and Closing stage in the Second Division.

Have fun choosing your club and good luck!

[minisav]

Still 1st! Lost 10 Points In 5 Matches Though.

Results:

Moron V Platense: 3-1

Scorers: Grana(20) Capeletti(52) Bravo(53)

They had 2 players sent off after I was 3-0 up.

Quilmes V Moron: 3-3

Scorers: Bravo(13,44) Grana(60) Castro sent off(45)

They equalised in the 82nd minute.

Moron V Union: 0-3

Nueva Chicago V Moron: 2-0

Moron V Def. y Justicia: 0-1

The run had to end some time. I just didn't think we'd play so badly after it.

Ach well. Still on course for a league win.

[corinthiano]

Yeah you had to have a bit of a bad run at some point in this season! But like we say in Brazil, you accumulated some fat that you can burn off at the end of the season.

Have you started trying to figure out how many points you need to win I always do that if I m leading by a way at the end of a season. Mind you the last time I did that was at FM06, I was atrocious in FM07!!

[corinthiano]

you need to win

...the league! D'oh!

[McTavish]

Brazil looks like it would be a lot of fun, would like to try managing there sometime. If I understand right there's 32 odd semi professional leagues and the winner from, each gets promoted to the (64 team?) 3rd division each season which must make for an interesting league structure! Imagine finishing 33rd out of 64 and getting relegated ;o

Must make for an interesting selection of teams anyway, and from the looks of things the 3rd division league reputation is 8 which is only slightly higher than the others. I guess it would make the challenge harder for the first few seasons but maybe easier in the long run.

Good going Minisav, impressive first season. Keep it up! How are you finding things financially by the way - I'm really struggling to stay afloat despite keeping my wage budget low. I guess you're pulling in some decent attendances with that sort of form

Congratulations with staying up Corinthiano 7th place is pretty decent considering the rep difference between you and the other teams in the league. Budget wise, don't know about you but I'm not getting anywhere near enough income to cover expenditure - I worked out that even if I were spending $0 on wages I'd still be losing money ;/ Something that seems to work nice is bloating your squad with low wage players and letting them play for your reserves. After a season or so, if some other clubs show an interest then you can usually "offer them to clubs" for an exorbitant fee and they'll come back with a bid between $20-50k, even if the player was valued at $0.

I'll be back with an update soonish, just finished my first season (I stayed up yay!) and about to get started on the second.

[corinthiano]

Well done on staying up McTavish, an amazing effort!! I ve tried to sell off my players who were in the reserves last season but no one wants them... but I have still got £17k in the bank so am not too worried.

The Brazilian Third Division is really complicated and it is different IRL as it is in FM. IRL teams qualify for it through the State Championships (they are professional leagues though). I think it is 2-3 teams per state + the teams that got relegated from the second division. They play in 16 groups of 4 (divided regionally). The top two qualify for another round of groups of 4, and it goes on like that until 8 teams are left. These 8 temas play each other home and away and the top 4 go up. It works like that IRL becuase Brazil is too big a country and small clubs wouldnt be abe to afford to travel so much. That is why you have State Championships, which are worth a lot for smaller clubs. The State Championships are also more traditional and there are still a lot of people that consider them important.

I dont think you could code a league like that in FM, but they have come up with a really good strucutre that the CBF should actually look at and apply!! The groups of 8 are still divided regionally so would not cost too much for small clubs and a club can aim to avoid relegation instead of having to qualify each year.

[minisav]

Well for some reason Moron are quite rich. I had a 16k wage budget when I came to the club along with 70k to spend on transfers. Although I killed that with getting in staff.

This kinda proves how well I'm doing finacially.

Forgot to add these screenshots:

Doing too well?

Good to see I'm liked =)

[McTavish]

haha never seen that match confidence report before, quality. And omg $1.2m to spend!

Well, time for an update.

Club Oriental de Futbol - Uruguayan Second Professional Division - 08/09

End of Season Update

Final league Table

A pleasing if unspectacular first season in the professional leagues saw us finish 13th with 31 points, well clear of both relegation and promotion.

Transfers

I brought in a lot of players (all on frees) at the start because the quality of the few youth team players I started with plus the greyed out players was some way short of good enough to stay up. I'd expected my 5 loan signings to hold the team together but in the end they were all a bit disappointing, with only Andre Llofriu and wing back Horacio Salaverry holding down first team places.

Best XI

Most of the team performed pretty averagely over the course of the season, but a couple of players performed particularly well.

Experienced midfielder Carlos Macchi captained the side in his first season and the club and was instrumental at keeping the team motivated. At 35 he'll be too old to feature on a regular basis next season though so the captaincy will be passed to 26 year old former Uruguayan international Damian Paz. Lanky striker Christian Yaguno was a regular fixture in the team, appearing in all 30 league games and netting an impressive 11 goals.

Finances

Despite staying well within the wage budget, team finances are in a sorry state as we lost £228k last season. I worked out that I'd have to have kept wage budget below £14.5k per YEAR to break even, that's £280pm which is about the wage one mediocre player. Next season I'm going to have to work out how to generate more income somehow.

[McTavish]

Bah wrong link. Finances

[minisav]

Oh the finances aren't so good.

Keep on trying though McTavish!

Oh, and it's 1.2 million Pounds and not dollars

Well. Onto Moron. We won!

Table

Board

Overview

Profile

Squad

Wages

Finances

Transfers

Played quite well in the final stretch. Until we got promoted and they got lazy. Typical. Smashed Ferro 8-0 at home on the last game of the season.

Obviously I'll have to build on the side but I think I'll stay up at the least.

Copa Libertadores

After reigning champions River went out to Boca in the quarters it was blasted wide open. Boca were then beaten by fellow Agrentinean side Independiente in the semis. Sadly Independiente lost in the final to Brazilian outfit Figueirense 3-2 in aggregate.

[iseemonsters]

I've got to say, it's really cool to have quite a few active players on the thread. KUTGW everyone!

corinthiano - thanks for the advice about choosing a league. I think we're going to appoint you the challenge's resident South American expert! However, in the end, I decided to go with Uruguay - mainly because I noticed I still had a saved game where I'd already done the holidaying, so I could get into the game sooner. I took over at Parque del Plata - a nice resort town east of Montevideo. Here's my profile.

McTavish - hope I'm not stealing your thunder starting up in Uruguay! Congrats on surviving in the Second Division - hopefully I can emulate you!

minisav - good job on the promotion. Good to hear that you're confident about staying up in the top division. With a bit of cash to spend on improving your squad - bring on the big leagues!

[minisav]

Thanks for the support!

I'm off to play some other challenges but hopefull I'll be back before the Sunday night.

[corinthiano]

McTavish: Good season you got going with Oriental, well done!! What are your aims for next season? Do you think you ll still one of the relgation candidates?

minisav: Well that title wasnt expected Well done!! It is quite difficult staying up in Argentina after getting promoted due to the Average points rule, but if you keep your side at middle lower table you ll be alright for the season. And how the hell did Figueirense win the LIbertadores. I mean they are a well organized club, but winning the LIbertadores is just a hell of a achievement for a club like that!

issemonsters: Good Luck in Uruguay!! Nice to see that you also went from a team outisde the capital, am looking forward to see how you progress!!

[iseemonsters]

Four points clear at the top of the league with three games to go... Our financial status is pretty disastrous, despite me sticking rigidly to the wage budget, which means gaining a promotion may be even more vital.

I'm just hoping we can cling on...

[iseemonsters]

We were trounced 4-0 by Basanez but 2nd place Huracan Buceo were beaten in a 4-3 thriller away to Sud America so we're still four points clear with 2 games to go...

[iseemonsters]

Bottom of the league and already relegated Villa Teresa made us sweat, especially with my first choice goalkeeper out injured for the rest of the season and a less than able back up in his place, but we scraped a 2-1 win to ensure that we win the league - and promotion - with a game to spare.

Delighted with this season - full report to follow tomorrow.

[corinthiano]

Well done!

Lets hope that the Primera Division brings you some money!

[McTavish]

Crikey, well done, that's quite some achievement getting promoted first season. Thought I'd done well just avoiding relegation. Oh well ;D

Just completed my second season, don't feel motivated to write a detailed update but I finished 12th. The league table was deceptively even though and I was only 5 points short of a playoff spot in the end.

Despite selling off a few of my better players to try and avoid bankruptcy I think I have a squad capable of challenging for promotion in season 3.

I put together a logo for Parque del Plata in case you like that sorta thing, you can find it here along with all the other Uruguayan logos and kits (credit to Redgray). For usage just extract, pop the "graphics" folder into your "c:\my documents\sports interactive" folder and untick "use skin cache" in FM preferences.(you can retick afterwards)

Good luck with your second season, just try not to show me up tooo much ;D

[iseemonsters]

Parque del Plata - Uruguayan Segunda Division - 2008/2009 (Season 1)

Overview

A fantastic achievement as we managed to secure first place and promotion to the Primera Division in our first season in the league. I think I benefitted greatly from a combination of McTavish's experience in Uruguay and my own experience of playing "small club to big club" style challenges. Thanks to McTavish, I knew I had to be extremely on the ball with assembling a squad as quickly as possible. I also knew from playing Dafuge and Gundo's challenges that the best way to get your scouts to find some good players for you is to go to the player search screen, and highlight a load of players who are available on free transfers, then tell your scout to bring you a report card on each of those players. You'll find a lot more players that way then you would if you, for instance, just assigned your scouts to search Uruguay.

But more than any of this, my success was largely down to one man - in fact, I've never had a team that was so reliant on one player for success. That player was striker Braulio Colina, who returned an incredible 45 goals in 30 league games. Without those goals - many of them crucial winners - we would have been mid-table at best. He was simply too good for this division, and hopefully we'll hang on to him as I think he'll hold his own in the Primera Division too.

Transfers

With just three senior players in the squad when I took over, obviously the task was to bring in a whole new squad - a total of 25 players were signed, all of them on free transfers.

Season Report

We got out of the blocks slowly, and it clearly took the team some time to gel - and to realise that having a player sent off every match for the first four matches wasn't going to do much for our form. After about five games though, we seemed to find our feet - and more importantly, Colina found his shooting boots. While we hit inconsistent spells throughout the season, none of the teams around us were able to effectively pull away, so we were always in with a shout, and ended up winning the league on the penultimate weekend of the season with a 2-1 defeat of bottom of the league Villa Teresa (the two goals, naturally, came from Colina).

Star Players

Braulio Colina - I've talked about him enough, but he was simply a class apart.

Sebastian Pucheta - Pulling the strings in central midfield was this classy DM, who ended the season with a highly impressive 18 assists - he obviously knows how to play a killer ball, and at only 23 probably hasn't yet reached his footballing peak.

Johnny Melgarejo - My other midfield dangerman was this exciting AMC, who was also the club's vice-captain. He always wanted the ball and performed admirably since I often played him out of position wide on the left.

Here's my best XI for 08/09 - about right, except for the fact that FC Gerardo Souza has somehow ended up in the DM position. Oh well.

Other Competitions

No Uruguayan cup for me to be involved in, but for interests' sake I'll tell you that Nacional won the Opening Stage of the season in the Primera Division, and Penarol won the closing stage, with Nacional winning the Champions Playoff on away goals to become the overall champion. In the Copa Libertadores, Nacional continued their good season by becoming the only non-Brazilian team to reach the semi-finals. However, they were knocked out convincingly by Cruzeiro, who then went on to lose the all-Brazilian final to Palmeiras.

Next season...

Given that the defence conceded goals like it was going out of fashion even in the Segunda Division, strengthening that area is a high priority if we want to have any chance in the big leagues. It's especially important since my board have set expectations of a safe mid-table finish - pretty ambitious I would have thought with the squad I have, but with the board willing to back up that ambition with a £325k transfer kitty and an increase in wage budget from 4.6k p/w to 24k p/w, I'm willing to give it a shot. The club's financial situation continues to be a worry, so I will feel a bit guilty spending that money - but if I don't, we won't have a hope of staying up. Given that the board expects to sell about 700 season tickets - which is roughly equal to our average attendance overall last season - it may be that increased attendance revenue can help keep the club afloat despite having to spend more on players at this level. We shall see.

[minisav]

Good stuff!

Akerman is better than Colina

He was that good he got 2nd top scorer for Moron and he only played just less than half a season.

If he'd stayed he would have been a legend for this thread. Seeing as Gundo's now has two it would have been good to get one.

[corinthiano]

Well done on promotion again iseemonsters

1.5 goals per game is an amazing ratio! It really seems like you depend on hom as he has scored over half your goals! I hope he keeps playing well and stays away from injuries next season!

Nacional did very well, it is difficult for teams outside Mexico, Brazil and Argentina to reach the semis. Since FM06 I havent seen a Libertadores winner outside of these countries. Will make the challenge more interesting for us

How the hell did you get so much of a transfer budget?! Is that bad South American financial planing from the board or is this normal?

Good luck in the first division!

[corinthiano]

San Antonio Unido's First Phase Update 2009

I ve surprised a lot of people including myself by managing to finish in second place after the First Phase. I was predicted to finish 9th in the League and have been performing above expectations. If I keep this consistency I ll be able to challenge for a Top Four spot.

On the best strikers note minisav, I thing Colina just edges it Although Akerman has his second place guaranteed for now

My strikers havent been anything special, my top goalscorer so far is Francisco Arce who has scored 6 goals from 9 games, as a midfielder!!

[iseemonsters]

Thanks folks! I think Colina just edges the best striker contest too but then - I am pretty biased! I guess it's difficult to tell really since you were forced to sell Ackerman so soon.

Colina played in every game we had last season and has yet to suffer an injury, so I'm pretty confident that his injury proneness is relatively low (cue Colina breaking his leg in the first game of the season or something!).

As for the transfer budget - they originally offered me £31k p/w wage budget and no money for transfers, but with even the relatively good players I was trying to sign on free transfers only wanting in the region of £500 p/w, I thought I could afford to give up part of my wage budget in order to just have a little bit of cash to play with in the transfer market. To my surprise, when I went to the board to adjust my budget, they offered the £325k transfer budget and £24k p/w wage budget combo - and who am I to question their financial planning?

The transfer window is over in my game now, and I managed to limit myself to only spending £105k - given that my wage bill is still less than £10k p/w, I think I've been relatively financially responsible. It all depends how many fans we can pack in on match days - hopefully the chance to see the big sides will bring in the locals.

Congrats on the second place, corinthiano! Still quite a long way to go, but looks like you could well be in with a chance! How does the promotion system work in Chile? Is it all based on the final league table? And is there some sort of playoff system?

[corinthiano]

Cant wait for the day when I m able to pay for players...

I have made a profit of £30k so far this season so I m pretty hopeful it can happen soon. At the moment I have pretty much no wage budget and no transfer budget at all!

I think I was getting carried away with my form, lost 2 on the trot now and dropped to 7th, still only a point away from 4th though. The promotion is based on the League Table, but it being South America, there has to be a something different! The top two qualify automatically while the 3rd and 4th play a relegation group with the 3rd and 4th bottom from the First Division. The top two in that group stay up/ get promoted to the first division.

Will look to download some graphics for Chile now and tomorrow get some good playing time going!

[iseemonsters]

McTavish - sorry, forgot to say thanks very much for the Parque del Plata logo! I'm putting it in my game as we speak! Have you managed to work out the continental competition qualification rules in Uruguay yet? I can see that the top six teams in the league play in the Liguilla, and the top three from that seem to get into the Copa Libertadores. But any idea about how one goes about qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana? I think Nacional seem to be qualified for both competitions on my game...

corinthiano - there's always some fun to be had with the South American rules! I'm still not clear on the promotion rules for the Uruguayan Segunda Division - I guess I'm lucky that I topped the overall league table so I didn't have to worry about it!

Pretty impressive to be turning a profit - good luck with getting into that all important 4th place!

As for Parque del Plata - the good news is that 2862 people turned up to watch our debut in the Primera Division (stadium capacity is 3000). The bad news is it was a disappointing 3-0 defeat and they started to leave with 15 minutes to go. We followed that up with a 2-1 defeat away to River Plate (URU). Next up - champions Nacional...

[corinthiano]

In some countries the same teams qualify for the Sudamericana as the LIbertadores. At least this is the case in Chile. The Winners of the Opening and Closing Stage qualify for both and the best team after the champions in the overall league gets the Qualification spot in the Libertadores.

I hope your luck turns in the next few matches, I m sure your boys will raise their game against Nacional

[corinthiano]

I decided to do soe reseearch about San Antonio Unido and after typing in the club name in google I found this brilliant video in YouTube:

It shows the high standard of the club

The best picture I found was on wikipedia

I found out that the club spent 22 years in the second division when it was founded, but has been in the Third division for 17 years!

The city has 90,000 habitants and is a port in the Pacific coast. Thats all the interesting info I found, the video was the priceless thing!

[McTavish]

Originally posted by iseemonsters:

McTavish - sorry, forgot to say thanks very much for the Parque del Plata logo! I'm putting it in my game as we speak! Have you managed to work out the continental competition qualification rules in Uruguay yet? I can see that the top six teams in the league play in the Liguilla, and the top three from that seem to get into the Copa Libertadores. But any idea about how one goes about qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana? I think Nacional seem to be qualified for both competitions on my game...

You're welcome, was no trouble.

It looks like the top two teams from the final first division league table qualify for next seasons Copa Sudamerica - not the winner/loser of the championship playoff which is what I'd expected.

Congrats again on your success first season, Colina looks like quite some player... he sucks on my game ;D I picked up on that scouting tactic you mentioned in my second season and you're right, you get a much better choice of players - even if your scouts are crap. It's just a bit tricky first season cos contracts expire on the day you take charge so there's not really much time to scout players before the best ones are all snapped up :/

How are your gate receipts in the first division? I've noticed that ion division 2 it doesn't make much difference how many people attend the matches as the ticket prices are so low.

Corinthiano, haha that video is quality. Such a high profile club surely deserve their own logo, you can find it here or bundled with the other gfx for your league (cred to Redgray (logos), z33tr0n (kits)) here. Good luck with promotion!

As for Club Oriental, we're sitting pretty at 2nd in the league after the open stage season 3 but with Rampla juniors pulling away at the top having only dropped 7 points the whole season, I'm not too hopeful of automatic promotion. Hopefully we'll be able to secure a playoff place at least.

[minisav]

I miss this challenge.

Once I have done my 1st season with Montrose I'm straight back to being a Moron!

Everybody seems to be doing well.

KUTGW!

[iseemonsters]

Originally posted by McTavish:

It looks like the top two teams from the final first division league table qualify for next seasons Copa Sudamerica - not the winner/loser of the championship playoff which is what I'd expected.

Congrats again on your success first season, Colina looks like quite some player... he sucks on my game ;D I picked up on that scouting tactic you mentioned in my second season and you're right, you get a much better choice of players - even if your scouts are crap. It's just a bit tricky first season cos contracts expire on the day you take charge so there's not really much time to scout players before the best ones are all snapped up :/

How are your gate receipts in the first division? I've noticed that ion division 2 it doesn't make much difference how many people attend the matches as the ticket prices are so low.

Ah, that makes sense as far as Copa Sudamericana qualification goes. So, you actually have to finish higher in the league to qualify for the Copa Sudamericana than you do to have a chance of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores! Interesting.

First season, you're right, a lot of the best players get snapped up quickly even if you use my scouting method. I think I got lucky with a couple of my players - plus of course I had the benefit of your experience in knowing I had to get in there quickly. Quite a few of the good players are already gone by the time you can even sign scouts in the first season though!

Gate receipts are pretty disappointing to be honest. I was hoping with increased crowds we could fend off our financial trouble, but it doesn't look like it. A capacity crowd of 3000 nets us a measly £4.5k - meaning that each person is paying about £1.50 to get in! And of course, with the club sliding deeper into the red, we can't afford to improve the stadium in order to get more fans through the door! A bit of a vicious circle.

Rampla Juniors actually suffered successive relegations in my game - relegated from the Primera Division in 07/08 and then relegated from the Segunda Division in 08/09 - so they're currently a non-league club! They seem to have kept pretty much their entire squad, so they'll probably be back in the league soon. I'm still a bit confused by the promotion rules for the Segunda Division, but according to this guide you should get two bites at the promotional play-off cherry if you stay in 2nd place. Best of luck!

corinthiano - great video! I particularly liked the old guy half-heartedly banging a drum you see at one point. You know you've got a lot to live up to now - how could you bear to disappoint that crowd?

Parque del Plata update - well, our luck did turn - we beat Nacional 1-0 at home thanks to a screamer from Sebastian Pucheta, and that debut defeat remains our only loss at home all season. Our away record, however, is pretty poor - we've lost 6 of 9, and only won one. However, we finished the Opening Stage of the season in 7th place out of 16 - if we can finish in that position overall I'll be delighted. Colina has scored 7 in 16 - a perfectly reasonable return, but all of my backroom staff are now telling me that my new signing, an 18 year old FC from Argentina called Franco Calero is a better forward, so I'm considering - shock horror! - rotating the two of them. As we speak, Calero has just hammered in a winner against River Plate (URU) so it might be worth a go...

[McTavish]

Heh Calero, was one of my first signings but so far hasn't broken into the first team squad. His performances in the reserves show he clearly has an eye for goal though.

[corinthiano]

San Antonio Unido 2009 Update - Chilean First Division B

Final League Table

I dont think I have ever had such an exciting season in FM. The league was very tight and only towards the end three clubs started fighting for the two automatic promotion spots. I was in pole position before I lost the 3rd and 2nd last game. With those two defeats San Luis caugt up with me, but I was ahead as the most wins was the first criteria on equal points. This meant that I needed to equal their result in the last game to ensure promotion. I was playing against Municipal Iquique, to whom I had never lost before. However they scored a goal right at the start to make me fear the worst. On 60 min. I managed to score an equalizer and then turn the game around in my favour while San Luis were still drawing. On the 80th min. Municiapal Iquique equalized, but as San Luis were still drawing I felt confident of promotion. 3 min. into extra time Municipal Iquuique get a free kick and score. And just like that went my automatic promotion. So it was off to the Promotion/Relegation Stage...

Promotion Stage

The 3rd and 4th side in the First Diviion B play in a group against the 4th and 3rd bottom in the First Division. Now from that table it looks like it was an easy ride...it wasnt at all. My team was clearly shaken from the last day defeat and we lost against Temuco away and only managed home draws against Ferndandez Vial and Meilipilla. At that point I figured we had no chance. But then, even playing absolutely rubbish we managed to get a 1-0 win over Temuco. The we somehow managed to hold a dra against Fernandez Vial even though they should have scored 5 or 6 goals. This left us with the following situation in the last game: a draw away at Melipilla would be enough providing that Fernandez Vial didnt beat Temuco. A win would send us through and a loss would keep us down. Melipilla scored on 20 mins and I was already planning the next season..., but then we played our best ever 45 min. and managed to put 4 past them to go up!!

The two main players were Francisco Arce and Braulio Braez. Francisco Arce bagged 13 goals from midfield while Braez was the tird Top scorer of the league. Both these players where on loan from my parent club. The problem is that they have cancelled the link and now I have about 12 players in my squad. My wage budget has increased from £2k pw to £15k pw but it is still going to be difficult to find players as good as those I got from the UNiversidad Catolica reserves.

My financial situation is doomed now as my board have deicided to do build a new stadium.

The expansion from just over 2000 to just under 7000 is ridicilous at the price we are paying and now I hav to pay £7k back a month, needless to say, I am in the red now.

On a brighter note, I manged to get Second Best Manager of the Year. Was pretty pleased that I finished before the San Luis boss as they already got the title of Overachievers.

Well now I will go in a big scouting mission, at least I have 1 month and a half to prepare for the leauge, so I should have a full squad by the time the league starts. My aim is just to survive, I ll be happy with anything above 4th bottom!!

Other Competitions

I ll do one of these too

On the National Front, Colo Colo have won the Opening and Closing Stage. hey really are the dominant force in Chile. I remember watching a Libertadores match of them and the commentator said that 70% of the population supports them, quite impressive!!! They have also won 6 of the last titles (Opening and Closing).

On the international front we also had a double. Boca Juniors beat Chivas 3-1 on agg. in the LIbertadores and Flamengo 2-1 on agg in the Sudamericana.

The 2008 chapions were:

Libertadores: Santos

Sudamerican: Chivas

P.S. Thanks for the logo link McTavish, I had already got it from those sites you had recommended earlier. Downloaded all CONCACAF and CONMEBOL logos and kits!!

[corinthiano]

Originally posted by McTavish:

Heh Calero, was one of my first signings but so far hasn't broken into the first team squad. His performances in the reserves show he clearly has an eye for goal though.

Are you looking to give him some first team chances?

I also had a player banging them in the Reserves last season, but when he played for the First Team he was hopeless!!

[iseemonsters]

Wow! Congratulations! That must have been a pretty tense end to the campaign - especially after the automatic promotion was snatched away at the last minute. A true rollercoaster ride - with the right ending.

Bit of a shame that your parent club relationship was cancelled - though hardly a surprise as you're now in the top division. How many of the permanent players you already have do you think can cut it in the big leagues?

Lets hope that increased attendances in the top division in your bigger stadium will help you to pay the bills okay. Well done again, and best of luck!

[corinthiano]

Well none of them were at my first game in the First Division. I did go shopping and put a decnt squad together. I did the same as you with the budget adjustment and got a £150k budget, of which I ve spent £50k. I think it is worth investing in players in the first season in the top flight as you would be finacially worse off if you get relegated. I was very happy with two signings in particular. Both came from Colo Colo, one on loan and one on a Bosman:

Enzo Vargas

Nicolas Millan

Enzo Vargas looks very good and I think he can become a club captain in future. As for Nicolas Millan, what can I say, I am delighted I managed to get him on loan. My scout spotted him and I offered a loan proposal with not much optimism as he s already played for the first team. When itcam through I coudnt believe it. I am paying his whole wages though, a staggering £25pw

On another note I was amazed at my season ticket sale. I had only managed to attract more than 1,500 once in the previous two seasons (in the promotion stage) In the First Division B I hadnt got a single attendance over 750, so the new stadium will be wrth it

[iseemonsters]

Wow - Nicolas Millan - that's a great signing. And those season ticket sales bode very well for the stadium upgrade paying off in the long run.

I've just come to the end of the regular season with Parque del Plata and managed to snatch 6th place in the league - way beyond my wildest dreams at the start of the season. We hit form at just the right time, winning six and losing just one of our last nine games. After my brief flirtation with not making him my unquestioned first choice striker, Colina set out to prove me wrong and finished the regular season with 17 goals from 28 starts - still a pretty convincing return, and enough to make him the joint top scorer in the league.

Anyway - the upshot of all this is that we get to compete in this season's Liguilla Pre-Libertadores - the little mini-league competition between the top six teams in the overall league table to determine which teams get to represent Uruguay in the Copa Libertadores next season.

To offset all this good news - we've made a loss of nearly £350k this season, meaning we are now almost £550k in debt. Does anyone know if we get any prize money for competing in the Liguilla?

[iseemonsters]

I know everyone's asleep right now - but hey, you might enjoy reading about my Liguilla exploits in the morning!

Parque del Plata vs Fenix

If we're to get anywhere in the Liguilla this season (the board is expecting a "safe mid-table finish" - I'm not sure exactly what this equates to in a six team league competition with no relegation and in which being anywhere in the top half effectively carries the same prize), it's games like this one and the match against River Plate (URU) that we have to get something out of. If we get results against previous champions Nacional, newly crowned champions Defensor Sporting, or 3rd place finishers Penarol, they'll be bonuses.

After 74 minutes, things weren't looking too great for us. Fenix took the lead on 20 minutes, and doubled it just after the hour mark. We had more chances than them, but never really looked like putting the ball in the net. Then, with 15 minutes to go, my captain Johnny Melgarejo was felled in the area, and who else but Braulio Colina stepped up to coolly slot home the resultant penalty. Instantly, it was like watching a different team, and just four minutes later, Melgarejo embarked on a mazy dribble through the Fenix defence and slipped a neat little pass into the area for the mighty Colina to latch onto and fire into the roof of the net for the equaliser. We almost had a chance to win it too, with attacking midfielder Laureano Perez's shot sliding agonisingly wide in injury time after newly crowned Uruguayan Player of the Year Sebastian Pucheta had played a lovely through ball into his feet. But in the end, we could be satisfied with a comeback from two down to get us our first ever Liguilla point.

Final score: Parque del Plata 2 - 2 Fenix

[iseemonsters]

Nacional vs Parque del Plata (Liguilla - 8th June 2010)

Despite losing out to Defensor Sporting in this season's Champions Playoff, and despite the fact that we managed to beat them 1-0 at home at the start of this season, Nacional have been the dominant force in the Uruguayan league for the past couple of seasons, and ended this campaign top of the overall league table. They made it to the Libertadores semi-final last season, and the quarter-finals this season, and are clearly a force to be reckoned with.

And so it proved. In near freezing conditions in Montevideo, a valiant rearguard effort from Parque del Plata and a man of the match performance from goalkeeper Sebastian Sosa couldn't disguise the difference in class between the two teams. Goals at either end of the game from Fornarolli and Lodeiro were enough to bury the underdogs and ensure there was no upset.

Final score: Nacional 2 - 0 Parque del Plata

[iseemonsters]

Penarol vs Parque del Plata (Liguilla - 10th June 2010)

With only one day to recover between our defeat to Nacional and our match against 3rd place finishers in the regular season Penarol, we returned to Montevideo with the odds stacked against us. Penarol had won both of their games so far in the Liguilla, and with our away form poor even in the regular season, facing two of the best teams in the league away from home in quick succession was a daunting task.

At half time, with some very tired legs on the field, it all looked over for Parque del Plata, as Sergio Perez had given Penarol a comfortable two goal lead. But when centre-back David Diaz pulled one back for us from a corner after 56 minutes, the comeback looked on again. The team, spurred into life by the goal, got their second wind, and substitute Franco Calero's pace exposed the suddenly vulnerable Penarol defense for Laureano Perez to get a shot off at goal. The ball caught a deflection off Penarol's Mario Alvarez and flew into the back of the net for Parque del Plata to have snatched an unlikely 89th minute equaliser.

But just when we thought we'd managed to salvage a highly creditable draw, Rodrigo Cubilla popped up in the Parque del Plata box in the third minute of injury time to restore Penarol's advantage. My players complained, but in all honesty there was nothing wrong with the goal. Penarol deserved their win, but we could be pleased with coming so close to leaving Montevideo with a point.

Final score: Penarol 3 - 2 Parque del Plata

[iseemonsters]

Parque del Plata vs Defensor Sporting (Liguilla - 13th June 2010)

Now sitting bottom of the Liguilla table with just one point, and still to get our first win in the competition, we really needed to get something out of our return home to face Defensor Sporting. It wasn't going to be easy though - they had been crowned champions of Uruguay just a few weeks earlier having defeated Nacional in the Champions Playoff.

We gave it our all in a thriller of a game. Laureano Perez scored another deflected drive from outside of the area to put us in front after just 12 minutes, and Braulio Colina popped up in first half injury time to add a second and send us in at half-time in pole position. But first Pablo Pintos and then Danilo Peinado scored for Defensor Sporting to put us on the wrong end of a two goal comeback for once. But, on 66 minutes, Braulio Colina scored a superb solo goal to put us back into the lead, only for Peinado to get his second of the game and level things up once again on 73. Just when I was formulating platitudes about a creditable draw against the league champions, that man again Colina latched on to a cross into the six yard box and volleyed it into the back of the net to send the home crowd into injury time raptures. Incredibly though, with just seconds left on the clock, Hugo Costela connected with a header, and Defensor Sporting were level again.

We can certainly be proud of the effort we've put into this competition, but I think it was a bridge too far this time around. The Liguilla table remains tight, but barring a good win over River Plate (URU), and results elsewhere going our way, we're unlikely to get anything other than great experience out of it.

Final score: Parque del Plata 4 - 4 Defensor Sporting

Hope you haven't been too bored by these match reports - I'm off to bed now, will play the final Liguilla match and write up my season report tomorrow.

[corinthiano]

I find it crazy how qualification for the Libertadores is decided by a little League wher you practically play a game every two days. Having a big squad probably makes a big difference. It definately was an amazing debut season for you though and I hope the Liguilla did actually bring in some cash!!

In terms of finances I guess I was a lot luckier than you as my board decided to expand the stadium. Although the costs of the stadium will probably have an effect short term.

What are your hopes for next season? I always fera the second season syndrome and am as careful as possible. In FM07 it always got to me and I d have an atrocious second season, in FM08 things have changed

[iseemonsters]

Parque del Plata vs River Plate (URU) (Liguilla - 16th June 2010)

A great learning experience it had been, but we really wanted to get our first win in the Liguilla competition in our last game to show the big boys that we've got some potential. River Plate (URU) had gone on a run of seven wins at the end of the regular season to qualify for the Liguilla, and in the previous round of Liguilla games beat Nacional 2-0, so they were nothing to be sniffed at.

Well, if this competition has shown us anything, it's how vulnerable two goal leads can be - but when we raced not two but four goals ahead by half time (centre back David Diaz with another header from a corner, Laureano Perez with a simple tap in, and of course, Braulio Colina scoring two), we felt like we had at least succeeded in getting that first win under our belts. River Plate (URU) made it as hard as possible though, and really showed up the defensive frailties that need to be sured up before next season - first Diaz scored an own goal to make it 4-1, then Gonzalo Gutierrez scored to cut the deficit in half, and in the 85th minute Alvaro Lopez scored to reduce our advantage to just one goal. To make the finish even more nervy for us, right back Ayrton was sent off for violent conduct to reduce us to ten men for the four minutes of injury time. But we clung on to our advantage to record our first Liguilla win.

Final score: Parque del Plata 4 - 3 River Plate (URU)

The amazing news is that somehow, presumably through our Liguilla exertions, we seem to have qualified for the Copa Sudamericana!! I didn't even know you could qualify for it through the Liguilla! Even better - surely that's got to bring in a bit of money?!?

[corinthiano]

Did you finish 5ht in the LIguilla. If that is the case it would make sense!!

I dont know whether the Sudamericana brings a lot of money, but it will certainly be an intertng challenge!! Well done!

[McTavish]

Stirling performance iseemonsters 5th in the Liguilla in your first season in the top flight is something to be proud of. Not too sure about how much cash you'll earn by playing in the CSA next season, under rules it just says the loser prize money is £75k per game, so it's safe to assume it'll be ~£250k for a win. Be sure to let me know when you find out!

I'm still thoroughly confused about Copa Libertadores/Sudamerica qualification though. At first I thought CL qualification was decided by the top 3 teams in the Liguilla but that theory was scuppered when I looked over the stats for the last 5 seasons. Instead it seems that the 2 teams which compete in the Champions playoff qualify automatically plus the best placed team in the Liguilla. Sounds unlikely I know, but after trawling the interweb the only info I came up with was from [urlhttp://www.rsssf.com/tablesu/urulighist.html]this webpage[/url].

As for CSA qualification I really haven't the foggiest. I thought it was the top 2 teams from the league but that can't be right if you finished 6th. I still reckon the league champions qualify automatically but really no idea how the other team is chosen... maybe average points?

Congratulations on promotion Corinthiano, looks like things got pretty exciting towards the end. And Millan next season eh, should help you stay in the top flight and hopefully fill out that new stadium. Keep up the good work!

Club Oriental made some pretty good progress by securing automatic promotion in the 2010/11 season. It went to the very last game though - Rampla Juniors were sitting one point ahead of me in the table and only needed to better my result. At half time I led Rocha 2-0 but was expecting the worst as Rampla led Bella Vista 3-0. But miracles can happen in football, and I was understandably delighted as Diego Souza netted 4 second half goals to give Bella Vista an unlikely victory and send me into the first division. Will be back with an update later anyways.

[corinthiano]

Well done on pormotion Mctavish

Wow, am surprisedto see Bella Vista in the Second Division, I remember them playing in the Libertadores a few years ago.

[corinthiano]

San Antonio Unido 2010 Update - Chilean First Division

Opening Stage

Closing Stage

League Table

Overall a pretty good season. I was delighted with our form in the Opening Stage, but we started the Closing Stage really badly andwere only 3 points of a relegation Group spot at one point. We started winnig again at the end of the season which lifted us to a nice midle table position.

We had a surpirse champion in Audax Italiano in the Opening Stage. They ruined almighty Colo Colo's season by knocking them out twice in the quarter finals. The qualification stage for the Quarter Finals is pretty complicated so I will explain it better when I am in it, maybe next season

Nicolas Millan was amzing this season and his partnership with Patricio Gonzalez was deadly. It was a very good big-small attacking combination. I was delighted to see that Patricio Gonzalez was the Signing of the Season, he was definately worth the investment. I thought I wouldnt be able to get Millan on loan again for next season, mainly as he won the Young Player of the Year Award. This is why I signed Argentinian striker Carlos Sciucatti on a free transfer. However I managed to get Millan on loan again. This means there will be a good battle for the two starting places.

I can scout South America now, which allowed me to sign this peach half way through the season: Ramon

If there is one thing in common in all FMs, its that you can get quality DMs and STs from small Brazilian sides for no or little money.

On another note, my Stadium is completed, so I shoulf be able to get some more cash in from games. This will be very much needed as I am £400k in debt. This was the price I paid for getting a squad together that was able to stay away from relegation. I have to admit that I signed to many players as well, a few of them I havent even used. A few of them have been released and my wage bill is looking a bit healthier.

South American Update

This was a Mexican year as America (MEX) and Chivas won the LIbertadores and Sudamericana respectively. They both beat Argentinian opposition in the final in Boca Juniros and Velez Sarsfield.

Hopes for next season

I do believe my squad is too strong for relegation and I am aiming for a mid-tabel position. If we get play very well I could see us getting into the Quarter Finals in one of the Stages.

[andaos]

i will probably join you guys. i will start with a team from colombia. ok now i am off to start setting up game.