[FM18] There's Light at the End of the Tunnel - The Miners Come to Reclaim their Silver

[Timetxu]

If there's one region I always come back to when my interest in FM is waning, it's South America. The ridiculously filled game calendars, the vast amount of tournaments, the plethora of talent and two great international tournaments to qualify relatively easily for. 

This time we're going to country that's been waiting for its share of world fame for quite some time. With only three World Cup appearances (1930, 1950 and 1994), it's not a country that people think of when they think of South American superpowers. However, due to the ridiculous altitude of some of its cities, it always manages to spring up a surprise or two in the CONMEBOL qualifying section. You guessed it baby, we're going to Bolivia.

Our aim for this save is to bring Bolivia to respectable heights they've never even faced. If you look at the altitudes some of the earth rises to in Bolivia, and the amount of silver that's been won by the Spaniards in its soil, this should only feel logical, right?

To reach our goal of winning silverware, we're headed to the city that provided virtually all of the Spanish Empire's silver: Potosí. The aim is easy: we're going youth only in Bolivia with the aim of national dominance and eventually winning the Libertadores. In time I'll try and see if I can take over the national team and solidify the name of the Plurinational State of Bolivia in the footballing world.

 

[Timetxu]

Nacional Potosí is one of Bolivia's oldest football clubs, it was founded on April 8, 1942. The team has mainly played in the second tier of Bolivian football. In 2009 Nacional made its debut in the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano but the club couldn't survive its first season and was relegated. In 2010, Wilfredo Condori took over as chairman and the side won both the Copa Simon Bolívar and won promotion back to the first division. Celebrating its diamond anniversary in 2017, the side are playing in the first division and are in the Copa Sudamericana for just the second time in their history.

We're playing at an altitude of 4.000 meters on the Bolivian altiplano!

The facilities are balls, so that's going to be the main focus here.

 

 

[Timetxu]

2017 PRE-SEASON

Two decent wins against second tier Bolivian teams. We should and could've scored more, but I'm satisfied.

We're expected to finish in the top half of the league. If you look at the first 5 and their odds, it truly looks like we should be the best of the rest. It's cool to see I've inherited a Copa Sudamericana qualifying spot, so we can try and show ourselves on the international stage right away.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bolivian football, I downloaded @claassen's file, which mimics the shift from 12 to 14 teams in real life. This means I will be playing a 22 game Apertura and 22 game Clausura. From 2018 onward, two extra teams will joing the league to have 14 teams and a 52 game season. The four best teams qualify for the Copa Libertadores and the second best four go to the Sudamericana. Lots of international tickets up for grabs!

[ToMexico!!]

Following. I think the South American leagues don't get a lot of love in FM because of the long seasons and numerous cups. Good to see another league added in which many people have never managed before. 

[Timetxu]

12 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Following. I think the South American leagues don't get a lot of love in FM because of the long seasons and numerous cups. Good to see another league added in which many people have never managed before. 

Thanks! I agree. It can be quite a wear sometimes, but it's really rewarding if you do a youth oriented save because development can go extremely fast with the amount of playing time they're getting.

[Timetxu]

JANUARY 2017

The one game where we took a late, though undeserved winner. Not complaining, though, as the Strongest are the reigning champions!

In the meantime, the draw for the Copa Sudamericana first round has been made and we're facing some tough opposition:

Off to Campinas we go. Ponte Preta reached the 2013 Copa Sudamericana final.

[BoxToBox]

Excellent! This should be bags of fun, best of luck!

[ManUtd1]

52 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Excellent! This should be bags of fun, best of luck!

Seconded! 

[MarcxD]

Good luck, Bolivia definitely seems like an interesting place. I can't even imagine what it would be like to play football on that altitude. 

 

[Timetxu]

3 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Excellent! This should be bags of fun, best of luck!

 

2 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Seconded! 

Thanks! Great to have you guys along!

2 hours ago, MarcxD said:

Good luck, Bolivia definitely seems like an interesting place. I can't even imagine what it would be like to play football on that altitude. 

 

It truly is a breathtaking experience! (pun intended) 

[Timetxu]

FEBRUARY 2017

We're absolutely kicking it so far, albeit lucky with two late goals. Harold Reina is a God for us by scoring 9 out of our 13 goals. Unfortunately he's Colombian, so he won't be in our long term plans. We'll make sure to enjoy his company for the time being!

Nothing to complain so far. If we manage to stay on top for the first 22 games, we'll already be guaranteed a Copa Libertadores spot for next year!

Lol @ Real Potosi. It's obvious that it's way more fun on our part of the island.

[Minuy600]

Will be following, never saw a Bolivian career before and we Dutchies have to support each other anyway.

[Timetxu]

10 minutes ago, Minuy600 said:

Will be following, never saw a Bolivian career before and we Dutchies have to support each other anyway.

Glad to have you following! Unfortunately us Dutch trainers aren't a very valuable breed in today's football market anymore, so luckily we can still show off digitally

[ManUtd1]

6 hours ago, Timetxu said:

Unfortunately us Dutch trainers aren't a very valuable breed in today's football market anymore

[Sheriff7]

Very clever choice mate. Bolivia always sacks in International level and you can bring some glory to them. Good luck.. 

[Timetxu]

39 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Very clever choice mate. Bolivia always sacks in International level and you can bring some glory to them. Good luck.. 

With so many World Cup qualifying spots up for grabs in South America, this should be doable, right? Maybe a little Copa América surprise in the short run...

[Timetxu]

Hugely undeserved draw, but we'll take it. Reina managed to score another late goal while playing with a hamstring injury. He's injured for 2-3 weeks now, but we're not playing the return with Ponte Preta until May.

[Timetxu]

MARCH 2017

Very tough month with quite the amount of away games. We've been riddled with a huge amount of injuries (to Reina among others), so we shouldn't be too unhappy with these results. We seem to be able to only score one goal every game, so picking up 10 out of 18 isn't too bad I guess. On the downside, of course we had to lose our first game against archrivals Real Potosí who were in last place at the time...

Bolívar have completely caught up with us, but we have a good lead over the rest and we'll be facing Bolívar at home in April.

Also:

[Timetxu]

20 hours ago, MarcxD said:

I can't even imagine what it would be like to play football on that altitude. 

 

I'm starting to get a faint idea.

[Timetxu]

APRIL 2017

The games against Sport Boys and Bolívar were the first ones in which we didn't manage to score this season. Obviously we lost to the team in last place again. The big game against Bolívar was a poor one from both sides. It deserved to end 0-0, but they managed to head one in from a corner kick.

Look at that comeback from The Strongest! They were in 6th position at the end of March with a 12 points deficit behind Bolívar. They've won nine straight.

 

[Timetxu]

This is one thing I'm worrying about. The finances aren't looking very stable. Our match day expenses are out of the roof, which isn't all too weird given that we're playing in a stadium way too big for our status.

 

We are actually saving 11K a month on wages. I don't really know what do differently other than sell players.

[Timetxu]

I know right? Fourth place in the league. Horrible.

[Benjoe]

23 hours ago, Timetxu said:

I'm starting to get a faint idea.

Keep up this high altitude of humor and I'm definitely following this. 

[Mascarpone]

I've been in love with Bolivia ever since they produced a Ballon d'Or winning striker for me in a different game. Always wanted to see them succeed on the international stage somehow, I'll be following this career update very closely !  

[Timetxu]

2 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Keep up this high altitude of humor and I'm definitely following this. 

The pressure is real... I'd almost say that's an insurmountable task.

 

1 hour ago, Mascarpone said:

I've been in love with Bolivia ever since they produced a Ballon d'Or winning striker for me in a different game. Always wanted to see them succeed on the international stage somehow, I'll be following this career update very closely !  

Cheers! I'll do my best!

[Timetxu]

Speaking of a tremendous result! I kicked myself when we missed a penalty kick after 17 minutes and Ponte Preta came ahead, but we managed to keep playing very organized. The two goals were scored after some beautiful passing work with Escalantes assist for the 2-1 as the cherry on the cake! We even managed to miss a second penalty but it didn't come to haunt us.

Lovin' it.

In the next round, the 22 winners of the first round will be joined by 10 teams who have dropped out the Copa Libertadores, so I'm holding my breath...

 

[Timetxu]

Looks like we're going to Colombia. Cali defeated Sol de América in the First Round, so we're not facing a former Copa Libertadores team.

[Timetxu]

MAY 2017

A great final month to the Apertura ruined by another derby loss. Have no explanation as to why this happened again.

We finish the Apertura in 4th position with a decent lead on the rest of the league to give us a 7 point head start for Libertadores qualification next season. The league will now take a two month break.

That The Strongest season, though. Speaking of an all or nothing affair. Win the league by going 15 straight with only 5 goals against 'em in that streak!

[Timetxu]

Speaking of a break. Couldn't come at a better moment. My sweet Lord, I can't remember having had less than 4 players on the injured list all season.

[Timetxu]

We couldn't reach a higher level this game (@Benjoe), but unfortunately Sambueza did. That guy can ball.

[Timetxu]

The injury curse has taken its first casualty:

His contract was a pretty hefty one and was coming to a close at the end of the season anyway, so as he would've been injured anyway we're saving half a year of salary on him. Can't complain in that sense. You do feel for the guy, though.

[Benjoe]

2 hours ago, Timetxu said:

We finish the Apertura in 4th position with a decent lead on the rest of the league to give us a 7 point head start for Libertadores qualification next season. The league will now take a two month break.

That The Strongest season, though. Speaking of an all or nothing affair. Win the league by going 15 straight with only 5 goals against 'em in that streak!

There's a reason they're called the strongest, eh.

1 hour ago, Timetxu said:

We couldn't reach a higher level this game (@Benjoe), but unfortunately Sambueza did. That guy can ball.

[Timetxu]

Cali proved too big of a mountain to climb, so that's the end of the Copa Sudamericana for us.

[Timetxu]

JULY 2017

A very hard month after a long break without football. Cali was too big of a challenge and starting off with a game against the Strongest is as hard as it sounds. Luckily we finished it off with a win against low flying Yacuiba.

[Benjoe]

You'll bounce back, man!

[Timetxu]

1 hour ago, Benjoe said:

You'll bounce back, man!

Your high hopes will be rewarded

[Benjoe]

25 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Your high hopes will be rewarded

I like rewards! What is it? Tell me man. I'm impatient.

[Timetxu]

As a wise woman once said...

Ie, I'll tell you in a couple hours time.

[Timetxu]

AUGUST 2017

Unbeaten stretch going on for nine games now. The last one really bites me, though. Real Potosí have become some kind of a cursed opponent because we can't seem to beat them even though they're way poorer than us. They equalised with their first shot on goal after 65 minutes...

Oh and we drew against Sport Boys. Obviously they're in last place with one draw, nine losses and a -19 goal difference.

A Clausura championship looks pretty distant now, but we're catching up with Guabirá in the overall table. I really hope for a third spot in the league, because it puts us in the second Libertadores qualifying round instead of the first.

 

In the meantime:

May I remember the board that we finished fourth in the Apertura and are now third in the Clausura? Anyway, I really hate this glitch, I almost got fired because of it in another save. For some reason FM doesn't understand league goals and the actual spot you're in.

[deltablue]

Yep, board confidence is a bit messed up with multi stage leagues. 

[Timetxu]

5 hours ago, deltablue said:

Yep, board confidence is a bit messed up with multi stage leagues. 

Ah, didn't know that, hopefully it won't come back to bite me somewhere in this save. 

[Timetxu]

2017 YOUTH INTAKE DAY

This..... is worrying. The only good thing is that there's a decent spread among positions I guess. I'll be offering all of them a contract, just for width's sake as we'll be playing 52 game domestic league seasons next year onward.

These are the four 'best' :

 

[ToMexico!!]

That's a hideous intake...how do your competitions intakes compare?

[Timetxu]

SEPTEMBER 2017

Two really good wins against struggling teams. The Strongest are really good and the Oriente Petrolero game.... well, it could've gone either way to be honest. Really disappointing to walk away with no points

We're four points behind Guabirá again, which feels really undeserved. We were actually 3rd somewhere this month on goal difference and I feel we didn't play bad at all. Universitario Sucre has clawed back one point, but with eight games to go, I feel qualification for the Copa Libertadores is pretty close.

---

As for other things, once again messages of a disappointed board kept circling. This time even more vile than last time out. After the Oriente Petrolero loss, the board was actually very disappointed with my functioning with "the terrible performance in the league" as most disturbing item. It really annoys me that apparently this isn't really worked out well in FM, because if I'm able to understand the news items in my feed well, I might've actually been fired if I had lost to Petrolero... However, after the win the board is satisfied with my performance again. These guys are indecisive as ****. Or passionate. Or both

[Timetxu]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

That's a hideous intake...how do your competitions intakes compare?

To be honest, they're all pretty rubbish too. This is The Strongest best young guy:

And Bolívar's

 

Funny thing is, right after having signed these guys, the ratings already changed for a couple of guys, changing to this:

Not a huge difference, but suddenly Mamani could turn into something useful. 

Also:

They seem quite a lot better than my current youngsters.

[ToMexico!!]

At least they're on par then. I'm 16 seasons into my save and still churning out in comparison poor intakes despite Excellent Junior Coaching and a Well Established Youth Recruitment. 

[Benjoe]

Gonzalo Mesa is a name for someone destined to become the GOAT

[Timetxu]

33 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Gonzalo Mesa is a name for someone destined to become the GOAT

The Bolivian love child of Higuaín and a feminine Messi.

[Benjoe]

3 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

The Bolivian love child of Higuaín and a feminine Messi.

And the potential of a three day old turd.

 

At least a "Spirited" three day old turd. Guess that's something.

[Timetxu]

May I still remind you that we're 5th in the Clausura and 4th overall?