[FM19] Winning Every State League

[wesl]

After years of playing (even?) older versions, I've finally started playing FM19 this month. It took me a while to settle on something but after fiddling about with MRT90's great Brazil file, I've decided to do my first real Brazil FM save.

I'm setting a challenge for myself of winning every single state league in the country. For those that don't know, every team in Brazil takes part in a league with other teams in their state before the start of the national leagues. The quality in the leagues varies from those that feature multiple Copa Libertadores winners (Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio, Rio Grande do Sul) to those that have no teams in the first three Brazilian tiers (Roraima, Amazonas, Tocantins). There are 27 state leagues. It's likely gonna take forever to win them all, and I'm not sure if it can even be done, but I'll try.

I started with only the brazilian leagues loaded, but added the Argentinian league in 2022.

Edited July 20, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2019 season

I simmed the first season, so that manager vacancies were occupied. These are the results.

Brasileirao

Santos become national champions for the 9th time. Corinthians and Gremio round out the top 3. On the other end, Avai and Chapecoense from Santa Catarina are relegated, leaving that state with no first division teams. Fortaleza and CSA are also relegated.

Serie B

 

Vitoria dominated the second division, winning by 13 points. Other promoted teams are America FC, Sport Recife, and Coritiba. Botafogo (SP), Cuiaba, Bragantino, and Operario (PR) are relegated to Serie C.

Serie C

Remo, Ferroviario (CE), Santa Cruz, and Sampaio Correa were promoted, with Sampaio Correa beating Santa Cruz in the final to win the title. On the other end, Treze, Imperatriz, Ypiranga (RS), and Atletico Acreano are relegated to Serie D.

Serie D

Fluminense de Feira, Cianorte, Tupi and Salgueiro (PE) are promoted to the third tier, with Tupi claiming the title.

Copa do Brasil

Brasileirao 5th place Cruzeiro win the cup, beating Gremio in the final. League champions Santos lost to Serie B side America in the fourth round.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Atletico Acreano (9th title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CRB (31st title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Santos (AP) (7th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: Manaus (3rd title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Vitoria (30th title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Ceara (41st title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (11th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Espirito Santo (1st title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Goias (29th title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Correa (34th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: Cuiaba (9th title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Operario (MS) (12th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: Cruzeiro (39th title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (48th title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (30th title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Parana (8th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Nautico (23rd title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (3rd title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Flamengo (35th title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: Santa Cruz de Natal (RN) (2nd title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Juventude (2nd title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (2nd title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: Bare (10th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Avai (17th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: Palmeiras (23rd title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Confianca (21st title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Interporto (5th title)

Copa Libertadores

Boca win the Libertadores with a Dario Benedetto goal. Gremio had a good year but lost two finals and came in 3rd in the league.

Copa Sudamericana

Another Argentinian team win the Sudamericana in extra-time, Racing beating Brasileirao champions Santos in the final.

Copa America

Argentina win their first trophy in a long time, beating arch-rivals Brazil in their own turf in the final. Messi got injured against Uruguay, but the Albiceleste still managed to win the last two games on penalties. Thiago Silva missed the deciding penalty for Brazil.

[wesl]

On November 20th, 2019 I got hired by SER Caxias do Sul, from Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. They play in the Campeonato Gaucho (also known as Gauchao), which has been historically dominated by two huge teams from Porto Alegre, Inter and Gremio. The Gauchao consists of one league stage, where the 12 teams play each other once, followed by a knockout stage. In 2019, Inter and Gremio were respectively knocked out in the semifinals by Serie C side Juventude and Serie D side Avenida. This gives me hope that we can win the Gauchao. Juventude crowned themselves champions, they play in Caxias do Sul and are our biggest rivals. Caxias came in 4th in the league stage but were knocked out in the quarter finals by Juventude. We'll try to avenge this in 2020.

Caxias, also played in the 68-team Serie D during 2019. Serie D consists of a group phase, followed by a 32-team knockout phase. Caxias were knocked out on the first phase, coming in 3rd with 7 points in their group. However, they qualified to the 2020 Serie D, so we can challenge for promotion to Serie C.

Additionally, we play in the Copa do Brasil, and the Copa FGF, a cup for lower league Rio Grande do Sul teams. Neither are priorities.

At the moment I took over the wage bill was R$4.15M per year, way over the R$3.47M budget. The club is in the red but there's not much I can do about that other than reduce the wage bill. Luckily, Caxias has a talented squad for a Serie D team.

Campeonato Gaucho winners

1. Internacional: 45 titles
2. Gremio: 37 titles
3. Guarany de Bage: 2 titles
4. Juventude: 2 titles
5. Brasil de Pelotas: 1 title
6. Bage: 1 title
7. Cruzeiro (RS): 1 title
8. Pelotas: 1 title
9. Sao Paulo (RS): 1 title
10. Rio Grande: 1 title
11. Caxias: 1 title
12. Novo Hamburgo: 1 title

Edited December 28, 2019 by wesl

[wesl]

2020 Gauchao

The league stage went by really quickly, we are really hard to score against thanks to a strong 5-man line and our best signing, giant goalkeeper Rodrigo Josviaki, who made it to the Best XI for this competition. On the other hand, we have trouble scoring, we created chances fairly well but weren't able to finish consistently. Our forwards all missed at least one clear one-on-one during the league stage.

We got a draw in Juventude's building which means we are not able to avenge last year's losses. We also almost took a point from Inter at home, but Paolo Guerrero scored a (dubious, if you ask me) penalty. We also play Gremio at home, and manage to keep a clean sheet and take a point from them. After four consecutive wins, we drop a draw to EC Cruzeiro from Porto Alegre, which I wasn't happy about but it didn't matter in the end. With our position all but locked in, I rest several players against Avenida, and surprisingly a bunch of our youngsters take a point from last year's Gauchao runner-ups.

We get a second place, which is a great achievement considering the gap between us and Gremio. Our league position means we play Ypiranga in the quarter-finals but would still have to play Gremio in the semi-finals if they get past Brasil de Pelotas.

Midfield playmaker Rafael Gava scored a great long shot 45 seconds into the match and Ypiranga never came close to closing the gap, forward Gustavo Santos doubled the lead at their building. Right wingback Yan finished it off with a powerful shot after great run at home. This meant we had to face Gremio in the semi-finals.

We weren't prepared to play Gremio in their building, they put us under huge pressure, and Gava got himself sent off. Koomson scored off a corner rebound. Josviaki put on a great performance which meant we had a chance to reverse it home. The second leg was much closer, and we saw our highest attendance so far, but we weren't able to create decent chances and Gremio went through.

Juventude upset Inter again in the semi-final but they lost to Gremio, who won their 38th Gauchao title.

Copa do Brasil

We drew Serie B side Nautico in the Copa do Brasil. This was before we hit our best form, and so they dominated us early on and scored on a long shot, we had two decent chances in the second half but couldn't tie it up.

I had three strong centre-backs and several good wing-backs so I wanted to play a line of 5. I took one of the default tactics and after tweaking it through January, this is what I arrived at. It's not too complex but it worked really well. If we could get a striker who can finish one-on-ones, we would be set, but the targets I've identified so far are too pricey. Guto (who played himself into the starting 11 during our February winning streak) and Denner were stand outs and took part in most of our goals, but the starting centre-backs, Jean, Learcio and Thiago Sales, formed a great partnership and were by far the best outfield players in our team.

Our best player was clearly the keeper, Rodrigo Josviaki. He stands at 195 cm tall, which was key as he kept 9 clean sheets in 13 games in the state league. He arrived on a free after getting released from his Lithuanian team and is paid less than average for our team, but he kept us in games against bigger teams and helped shut out the smaller ones.

Next up, we'll play the Serie D, I think we can challenge for promotion, based on how well we did on the state league.

Edited December 27, 2019 by wesl

[wesl]

2020 Serie D - Group Stage

Serie D having a regionalized draw means we faced two teams from the Gauchao. Since we were much better than them, I was expecting to run through the group. But we got even worse offensively. Every single draw had good enough chances to be a win. At least our defense was solid enough to shore us up. We could only score on Aimore, who may be the worst team we've faced all season.

The game against Tubarao at home was the most frustrated I've been by FM in a while. There was a wrongly disallowed offside goal (previous FMs didn't have any blatantly wrong calls in my experience, but this seemed like one) which would've put us up 2-0, and that was followed by an off-the-ball penalty at 90+2 which made them equalise. A win would've secured qualifying to the knockout stage as first in out group, but with the draw we needed a win against Avenida to be entirely sure. There is 17 groups and so, the worst two 2nd placed teams don't qualify, so getting first was important. But our offensive woes continued and we were unable to score on Avenida yet again, and Tubarao won their last game to finish with 11 points. Nevertheless, we did better than a handful of other teams who finished 2nd in their group, and got to move on to the knockout stage.

We got Joinville from Santa Catarina in the first round. They impressively made it to the Copa do Brasil 5th round this season, but were also beaten by Ypiranga at home in the last Serie D group game. Since we outclassed Ypiranga every time we faced them, I am confident we can beat Joinville, or at least drag it out to penalties.

Edited December 28, 2019 by wesl

[Colorado]

A really original challenge and playing the Brazilian leagues are a lot of fun! 

Good luck in Caxias, beating Inter and Gremio will be very tough.

[wesl]

2020 Serie D - Knockout stage

Joinville were a tough challenge. Rafael Gava put us ahead with a long shot but we conceded a goal after a series of rebounds in a corner. We needed to be at our best to beat them in their stadium. Then, 3 days before the second leg our centre-backThiago Sales injured Josviaki, I thought it was over for us. But Joinville comitted too many fouls and one of their defenders got sent off. Gava scored another long shot minutes later to put us through.

Next, we had to play another team from Santa Catarina, Hercilio Luz. They destroyed their crosstown rival Atletico Tubarao 4-0. Since Atletico was so hard to play for us, I also expected the worst.

Gustavo Santos put us ahead six minutes in after a long ball went through their defense. Our centreback Laercio conceded a penalty 87 minutes in, but Josviaki saved it! They equalised quickly in their building though. We went all the way to penalties. Oliveira (a player I'd subbed in because of his high penalty rating) missed early on, and once again, I thought we were done for, but Josviaki came through and saved the last two penalties for us.

The winners of the quarterfinals get promoted, so we needed to get through the next round to achieve the dream. The draw is no longer regionalised, so we finally get to play a team from a state other than Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. We drew Central from Caruaru, Pernambuco.

We played great at home. Gava opened the scoring with a great finish inside the box just 30 seconds into the match, following a pass by Santos. He returned the favor by picking the ball up in the edge of our are and running all the way to deliver a cross to Santos, who headed it in. Santos scored one more from a pass by our other starting forward, Gabriel Rodrigues. They got a goal back from a set piece, but this was our best game of the season. It was great that one of our strikers finally showed up when we needed him the most. We played a solid game away, and sealed our promotion.

We played for a spot in the league final against Goiania. Gava scored again with a signature long shot, and Sales doubled the lead from a corner. We conceded from a free kick, but getting another win at home was key. Left wingback Denner scored a free kick in Goiania. Laercio whiffed on a clearance, which allowed their striker to score another goal, but at 82 minutes it was too late.

The final was between us and Atletico Acreano. This has to be one of the longest distances you can get between two teams in Brazil, which is saying a lot. The only Serie D clubs that would've been longer trips for us were some teams from Manaus and Roraima (at least according to Google Maps).

Denner put in a fantastic cross for Santos to finish, we once again won at home. Our holding midfielder Regis put in a great lob ball which forward Rodrigues beat their keeper to and headed in. I signed Rodrigues to be our lead forward, but he'd missed time and failed to score. He'd been great building up play but couldn't finish chances, this was his first goal of the season and a great moment as well. Barros scored for Acreano on an indirect free kick. The last few minutes were tense but we were the better team and closed out the game. And so, we won the league!

Same tactic. Mostly played the same players, but we experimented with which midfielder to play along Gava and Regis. The best of the lot was Jaildo, even though he missed time after the group stage. Our defense was key again, we didn't lose a single game thanks to how solid they were. We also turned our stadium into a fortress, winning almost every game there during the knockout stage.

Our best player during Serie D was by far Rafael Gava. He was able to play in either the carrilero slot or as the mezzala in our tactic. In either role, he took part in almost every chance our offense created, with a long pass to one of our wingbacks to start off the possession, a through ball to a forward, or with one of the long shots he scored. And I tried to sell him before the season started to cut down our wage bill!

Speaking of which, our wage budget tripled as soon as we got promoted. The squad we have isn't good enough for Serie C, and the margins were very narrow for each of our wins, but we've been competitive with Serie C sides every time we've played them. And we're still in the red by a couple million reais. Since winning the Gauchao (my main objective) could take a few years and I don't want us to go bankrupt, I won't make too many signings.

I'm still halfway through the Copa FGF, so there's another update remaining this season.

Edited December 30, 2019 by wesl

[wesl]

12 hours ago, Colorado said:

A really original challenge and playing the Brazilian leagues are a lot of fun! 

Good luck in Caxias, beating Inter and Gremio will be very tough.

Thanks, hopefully promotion makes it easier! Serie D was a lot of fun, but also very stressful.

[wesl]

2020 Copa FGF

Still not sure what to think about this tournament. To put into context the level of team involved, we (a 4th tier side) looked clearly better than most teams in the Gauchao, and most of these teams are too poor for the Gauchao. Avenida, who I'd called the worst team we faced all season, dominated their group, getting 31 points from 14 games. The main problem with this is the length. The lower divisions in Brazil have a long offseason,  and we would've had 4 months off without this tournament, but 14 games against these teams is too much. I cared about two matches in this tournament, the ones against Juventude. They just won Serie C (half the Brazilian champions in 2020 are from Caxias!), so they are clearly a very good team. But we just can't beat them. They beat us in their stadium with a penalty but at least we got a point at home.

We did get to play a lot of youngsters and a couple of them seem to have developed well. We ran through Bagé in the first knockout round. I was hoping to get Juventude again in the playoffs, but was surprised we drew them as early as the quarterfinals.

More of the same. They were the better team but their goal was still a ridiculous curling long shot into the upper corner. These games are the biggest derby for both clubs but they've been just dull, neither team can really create chances against the other. They have more individual quality, which seems to be the difference. I need to beat this team somehow, but it seems harder to get chances against them than against Gremio or Inter. I hope their manager (Doriva, of Boro fame) gets hired by a bigger club or something, and they bring in someone we can swindle like we have other Serie C/Serie B teams.

This is how we fared against Juventude this year. Five games, one goal scored and two red cards. All dreadful affairs. I believe they won't play in the Copa FGF since they got promoted, but we still could face them up to five times next season between the Gauchao and the Copa do Brasil.

Juventude went on to win Copa FGF, beating Sao Jose in the final.

That's our season. Juventude aside, we did extremely well. We'll play Serie C next year, I would be happy with staying up but it seems like the board want more than that. I'm delighted with how hard to beat we are in two leg ties. I think with the right signings we could win the Gauchao within a couple of years, but we are going to need some luck.

Edited December 29, 2019 by wesl

[wesl]

2020 season

Brasileirao

Santos defended their title, Corinthians had a 7 point lead at one point but they bottled it. The top four this season are all from Sao Paulo, by far the strongest state at every level, but it's shocking to see the top teams from Rio and Porto Alegre doing so poorly in comparison. America (MG), Bahia, Ceara, and Coritiba all go down.

Serie B

Vila Nova claimed the title, they'll play in the top tier for the first time since the 80s. Oeste, Chapecoense, and Fortaleza also get promoted. Oeste's promotion means 25% of Serie A is from Sao Paulo. On the other end, Figueirense, CRB, Remo and Ferroviaria are relegated.

Serie C

Juventude won the league. Cianorte, Boa, and Tombense (all southern teams) get promoted along with them. Volta Redonda, ABC, Fluminense de Feira, and Tupi were relegated.

Serie D

Caxias won the league! Goiania, Atletico Acreano, and Imperatriz also get promoted. The latter two bounced right back from relegation.

The two teams from Caxias do Sul winning Serie C and Serie D is the type of coincidence that I love about FM.

Copa do Brasil

Gremio finally win something at a national level. Santos went out in the fifth round this time.

State leagues

• Campeonato Acriano: Atletico Acreano (10th title)
• Campeonato Alagoano: CSA (39th title)
• Campeonato Amapaense: Santos (AP) (8th title)
• Campeonato Amazonense: Manaus (4th title)
• Campeonato Bahiano: Bahia (49th title)
• Campeonato Cearense: Fortaleza (42nd title)
• Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (12th title)
• Campeonato Capixaba: Desportiva (19th title)
• Campeonato Goiano: Goias (30th title)
• Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Correa (35th title)
• Campeonato Mato-Grossense: Luverdense (4th title)
• Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Comercial (MS) (10th title)
• Campeonato Mineiro: Cruzeiro (40th title)
• Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (49th title)
• Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (31st title)
• Campeonato Paranaense: Parana (9th title)
• Campeonato Pernambucano: Sport (42nd title)
• Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (4th title)
• Campeonato Carioca: Flamengo (36th title)
• Campeonato Potiguar: Globo (1st title)
• Campeonato Gaucho: Gremio (38th title)
• Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (3rd title)
• Campeonato Roraimense: Bare (11th title)
• Campeonato Catarinense: Chapecoense (7th title)
• Campeonato Paulista: Santos (23rd title)
• Campeonato Sergipano: Confianca (22nd title)
• Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (1st title)

Copa Libertadores

Another trophy for Santos, this is a golden age of sorts for them. I don't know how Belgrano qualified but I'm all for lower division sides making it to the Libertadores semifinals.

Copa Sudamericana

Flamengo win it after humiliating Fluminense in the quarterfinal. The deciding goal was scored by former Avai player Luanzinho.

Copa America

A rematch of last year's finals, but Brazil win this time. Lucas Moura scored the winning goal at 105+1.

Olympic Games

A second consecutive gold medal for Brazil.

[Bitner]

Good Luck buddy.

And remember: Tite did it with Caxias, so you can too!

Cheers,
Bitner 

[wesl]

2021 Preseason

I'm setting myself two goals for this season.

1. Beat Juventude
2. Avoid relegation from Serie C

Of course, the main objective is winning the Campeonato Gaucho, but it's a long shot at this point. Wanting to beat Juventude is partly out of vanity, but we're probably going to need to defeat them to win the Gaucho playoffs. Staying in Serie C will allow us to keep the bigger budget we're working with now, and improve our squad to a point where we can beat one of the Porto Alegre clubs head to head.

Gauchao

This is how betting looks for the state league. It makes sense, Juventude and Brasil de Pelotas are Serie B sides, and Sao Jose has been a Serie C side for a few years now. But we've beaten Brasil and Sao Jose last year, in games that were not close. The rest of the teams shouldn't be a problem for us, although we haven't beaten Avenida since I took over.

Serie C

Serie C consists of 20 teams divided in two regionalised groups. The bottom two of each group go to Serie D. We were drawn into the southern group. We faced and beat Sao Jose and Goiania last year, and the bookies think we're better than Confianca. That's three teams that we could be better than, so we can stay up, but we'll see. Figueirense is an intimidating name but they've had to sell several players after relegation.

Transfers

I did spend some money but I didn't go for a huge squad overhaul. We got our budget tripled from what we were working with last year, but I don't wanna plunge this team into bankruptcy, since I might be here for a while. Two rotation players left on frees (Rayllan and Luiz Souza), and we sold Guto, who started last season for us, but his playing time will go to (hopefully) some of our youth players and one of our reinforcements.

Romercio comes in from Coritiba. He didn't break into the first team, and played only 5 senior games there. Jean,Thiago Sales and Laercio were great centrebacks last season but he's supposed to be better and for R$ 90K, this guy is a steal. I'm hoping he becomes the heart of our defense as soon as posible.

Bruno Xavier was wasting away in the Paulistao second tier with Nacional (SP). He led them to promotion last year but is supposed to be good enough for Serie C. The problem is he's untested at this level. He isn't the clinical striker we needed last year, but he's more well rounded than Rodrigues and Gustavo Santos, our two leading forwards. I'm hoping he can score consistently, but I already regret spending so much money on this deal.

Rafael Franca is another big club reject, coming from Vasco. He's the worst of our signings, and will split playing time with Yan as a right wingback. I want him to become our first-choice with time.

Jordan Souza is our last signing, from the Corinthians academy. He can play on any of our 3 midfield slots. The high long shots attribute is a plus, since long shots from worse players won us several games last season. He expects us to get promoted to Serie B by 2023, which I don't think is happening, but two years of this guy on the team should be productive.

This is how our budget looks after I'm done with transfers. We're still two million reais in the red (as always), and the club is thinking about building a new stadium for some reason, but they gave me 9M to spend and I'm only spending 5M (+500k for transfers), so I can't do much more for them.

Other stuff

My archnemesis Doriva has gone to Parana. His replacement in Juventude is Kleiton Lima, formerly manager of Atletico Acreano. We beat him last year! Juventude is stronger than Acreano, but that first goal seems more likely now.

I'd forgot about this. After Gava got sent off in our last game of the season, I criticized the referee and got this ban. The fact that it's over a Copa FGF match makes me feel very stupid.

Edited December 30, 2019 by wesl

[psimoestr]

Fantastic thread! Looking forward for the next chapters. Just a suggestion. If you're really going for the "every" state you should do like a stair, reserving the hardest ones like the Paulistão, Carioca and Mineiro for last. Cheers!

[wesl]

1 hour ago, psimoestr said:

Fantastic thread! Looking forward for the next chapters. Just a suggestion. If you're really going for the "every" state you should do like a stair, reserving the hardest ones like the Paulistão, Carioca and Mineiro for last. Cheers!

Thanks! The plan is doing every state, but it wasn't even a thought in my mind until I started playing games, otherwise the Gauchao would've been one of the last. I just realized that something like a stair will be the way to go after getting linked to some Serie B clubs in December. I will be trying to go to Amapa (smallest league, no relegation, no Serie C or above teams) after my time in Caxias is done.

[wesl]

2021 Campeonato Gaucho

We're really good! I couldn't coach the game against Brasil de Pelotas but my assistant manager, Cacau (not the German one) absolutely mugged them. We got dominated for 78 minutes before centre-back Jean hoofed a long pass to Xavier, who put in a perfect cross for Rodrigues to tap in. We went 7 games without conceding to start off the Gauchao, and while the scorelines were close, I'm really proud of that run. We have become a great shithouse team, low and compact defending, fast counter-attacking and lots of goals off of set-pieces and crosses. And to cap it all off WE BEAT JUVENTUDE. It was another horrible game that was won on a penalty, but we actually created a couple half chances and looked like the better team. It would've been sweeter if Doriva had stayed, but I don't think we would've beat them if he had.

Then, came Inter. Last year under Fabio Carrile they were a really horrible team, high pressure and direct passing. We got something like 70% possession in last season's game against them. This year they are coached by Roberto Cavalo and are averaging 55% possession, and are a quick passing team. And yet we somehow managed to keep the ball against them for long stretches. We were losing the ball to no avail early on so I tweaked the passing setting for some players, and we actually scored first. Left wingback Denner created an amazing through ball which Bruno Xavier finished! It took them 20 seconds to equalise and we lost the game to a 90 minute goal, but scoring on Inter is a win for me at this moment. We were still the same horrible team afterward though, the win over Lajeadense featured two free kick goals, and a goal from a long throw rebound.

We didn't have any moments of inspiration against Gremio but we didn't get overwhelmed at their stadium and escaped with a point, which is also great. Closing with a win over Serie C rivals Sao Jose is great. A season where we take points off one of the big two and beat every other team is perfect. Now I need to figure out how to win this thing.

A place below last year, but with six points more and a better goal difference. Juventude has been hit hard by Doriva's departure, and we have to face them in the quarterfinals. I wasn't thrilled about it.

The first leg replaces last year's win over Central as my favourite game from this save. We went down but Rafael Gava equalised with a long shot and then scored again with a header following a free kick. Rodrigues pounced on a rebound and then, as the game was about to end Romercio headed in a corner. It was great. This means we're really the third best team in Rio Grande do Sul. Now we just have to topple the big two. This Papagaio individual scoring twice on us will bother me for a while, but he's on loan from Palmeiras so hopefully we won't see him again.

Our U-20s also beat Caxias' archrivals in March. Dallazen isn't good enough to ever make the team but this is a nice result. My staff has high ratings for many of our youngsters, I kind of want to bring more of them into the team but the challenge I've set for myself has turned me into Sam Allardyce.

The first leg went well. We couldn't keep the ball even with the short passing tweaks I did against Inter, so I focused on frustrating Gremio. They lost their right-back Ramiro about 70 minutes in and we made their keeper work with a couple long shots, but mostly the draw was a decent result. The return leg was a good game, we had more shots on target, and we scored a goal on Gremio for the first time (thank you Gava!), but Claudio, who replaced Ramiro, pulled off a Pavard-esque volley from out of nowhere. Both of their scorers are newgens, which makes this even worse. It means they get a bunch of players who can score against me every 12 months, while I needed two years to have my best player score a miraculous long shot against them.

We keep having competitive games against big teams, and then getting beaten by insane goals. It's probably easier to cope with getting washed every game by the big clubs. At this point, I don't even have a clear plan on how to get better, I only have one position which I want to upgrade at this point. I have no idea how I'm winning this competition. We need great games to beat them, but we've played great games against them two years in a row and it just hasn't happened.

Inter made it through the semifinals unscathed for the first time in the save booking the first Grenal final since 2015. It was thrilling, a 2-2 at Gremio with a last minute equaliser from Gremio's Leonardo Castro. This was followed by a 3-3 at Beira Rio, this time with Luan scoring an injury time equaliser for Gremio. Inter finally pulled through on penalties, scoring four while Gremio missed two.

Copa do Brasil

We drew Tupi! A beatable team! We beat them! Tupi got relegated from Serie C last year, and now we know we are better than them.

Of course, after that we drew Vasco. Tessio scored a free kick and for a moment I thought we could get to penalties but then our star centre-back Romercio shat the bed and got stripped by Dodi very high up. Dodi basically walked it in past Josviaki. The attendance was disappointing, but we did get appearance money. We are still two million reais in the red.

Stuck with the same tactic, they're executing everything really well at this point. Romercio, Souza and Xavier established themselves as starters. Romercio had a horrible mistake which may have cost us advancing in the cup, and Xavier got booked four times in 14 games. But other than that, our signings were succesful. Laercio beat our 2020 player of the year Thiago Sales to the last centreback spot, Sales is still good enough to play in most games, but he's clearly on the decline and both Inter goals were scored by the man he was marking. I will probably let him go at the end of this season.

Yan was much better than Franca at RWB, Franca was good but Yan featured in all our best wins. We haven't hit our best with Franca on the field yet. Yan is an awkward player, he's left footed as a right back and likes to shoot from anywhere, but he creates chances semi-regularly and his defending is surprisingly flawless for his attributes. He's our most athletic player, so he performs really well with the style we play.

As our DLF, Rodrigues has been in great form, with four goals from seven starts. Xavier got 5 from 13, despite disappearing after the Lajeadense game. They're the best pairing I've had up front. Gustavo Santos is a team leader and a fan favorite but he absolutely ***** himself on every one-on-one. He does other things well but I don't know what to do with him, we need strikers to finish long balls over the top of the defense.

Our best player is still Rafael Gava. He scored 5, three of them against Gremio and Juventude. His long shots attribute is poor, but he keeps pulling off insane goals. The rest of his stats reveal that he (along with Regis) recovers the ball more than anyone else on our team, and he's also our most accurate passer.

Up next is the Serie C. I think we'll stay up. If we don't I'll consider moving somewhere else and coming back to Rio Grande do Sul later.

[wesl]

Cacau (not the German) wants us to sign Diego Maradona (not the Argentinian?).

[wesl]

Happy new year to all.

2021 Serie C - first half

Our first 9 games went better than I ever could have thought. We started against Figueirense, and outplayed them, and RWB Yan scored by pouncing on a rebound. We just kept rolling from there on both ends, we have conceded few shots on target and have become a good counter-attacking side. We also keep scoring from set pieces, we've had two goals from penalties, one from a direct free kick and another one from corners. Yan and forward Bruno Xavier have been our best outfield players. Yan does great getting to the opponents' area and has scored twice as a result. His defensive positioning isn't what I would like it to be, but we've gotten by, and he wins a lot of tackles. Xavier has only gotten three goals, which is less than I hoped when I signed him, but he's our most creative player and is great at making the right decision on counter-attacks.

The loss against Botafogo was a shame, we were outplayed and couldn't steal the game like we've done before. They pounced on two rebounds from Josviaki to take the lead, and that was the difference. I'll remember to play them more defensively next time.

We are top of the table halfway through. We should be safe from relegation now, 20 points has been more than enough the last two seasons, and I don't think any of Operario, Sao Jose or Goiania are reaching 22 this year. I think making the playoffs should be reasonable at this point. Botafogo have gone on a great run since getting 5 points from the first four games. Luckily, we don't have to stay ahead of them, since the first four qualify to get a chance at promotion. In the past two seasons, fourth place got 27 and 26 points, which means we should really make it as long as we avoid catastrophe.

Jerri Fernandes is our best young player, he's rated by Cacau as having a 4 star+ PA and has been a rotation player since last year. Coritiba wanted to sign him and I negotiated  with them to avoid upsetting him. 350K and 40% of next sale was a good offer, but I offered him a contract and he chose to stay, which is great news. At 17 years, Fernandes has just become our go-to impact sub. He scored on the game after signing his new contract, against Cuiaba and added another against Goiania!

Another of our best prospects is also an attacking midfielder. Antoninho (renamed by me since we had another Jose Antonio) is too young to play for us until July, but he's also rated at 2 star CA and 4 star+ PA. I was going to promote him if Fernandes left, but now he'll have to wait until next season. Judging from the averages, he seems to have a higher CA than Fernandes already but I like Fernandes' technical attributes more. Antoninho's mental attributes are great for a 15 year old from a third tier team, if only his determination was higher.

For good measure, here's Felipe Henrique, our last high-end prospect. He has the same ratings as Fernandes and Antoninho but as a striker. He's also getting promoted next season, but finding playing time for a fourth striker is hard, and I've had to loan out a young player and I'm trying to sell another one because I couldn't find enough minutes for them. Henrique is rated high enough that it would hurt to lose him, so I'll just have to start him against the weaker Gauchao teams or something.

We have to finish the Serie C league stage next and the Copa FGF is also starting in two weeks. I'll basically have two separate XIs for each competition, I'm not thrilled about playing Copa FGF again but it will allow me to start these three.

[bigmattb28]

Love managing in Brazil, keep it up.

[wesl]

9 hours ago, bigmattb28 said:

Love managing in Brazil, keep it up.

I hadn't really tried it but it's been great so far. The wealth of talent is incredible and I loved playing Serie D. Every game was life-or-death, which I'd never experienced to that level in FM. Can't recommend it enough

[wesl]

2021 Serie C - second half

It doesn't look that severe looking back but July was a horrible month. We faced long-term injuries to starters Rodrigo Josviaki, Denner, and Laercio. And before that, Tessio broke his foot, which left us without a single left wing-back. Forward Gabriel Rodrigues is also out. I had to go for two emergency transfers, loaning Goias keeper Matheus Aurelio and Coritiba left wingback Helder. Sadly, neither of them were great and Helder can't dribble without giving the ball away at all, which is something we need our wing-backs to do. We started Helder over youth wingback Gabriel, but I benched Matheus Aurelio in favour of our backup keeper Jefferson.

On top of the six winless games in Serie C going back to our loss against Botafogo, we failed to win our first three Copa FGF games. The squad nearly revolted due to poor form. We went from having "excellent" dressing room atmosphere, to whatever the opposite end is (we are now back at "excellent"). I fielded a full-strength team in the Copa FGF against Farroupilha because we needed a win. We beat them 3-1. We had a series of defensive mistakes, but our offense worked great and that seemingly resurrected our team. We beat Operario afterwards, but the 8 goals conceded in the stretch between Cuiaba and Sao Jose are still terrible. We should've beaten Sao Jose, we conceded once to an own goal and twice to leaving wingers unmarked in the box. Josviaki and Laercio returned against Goiania and we are finally looking like ourselves again, we've closed the league stage with two clean sheets and only allowing three shots on target. Nevertheless, Yan pulled his knee ligaments against Goiania, and will probably miss a few weeks.

Despite our mid-season struggles, this is a great result for us. We beat every team in the league except for Luverdense and qualified for the playoffs with two games in hand. We also managed to not lose a single game at home. It's sad to see fellow Rio Grande do Sul team Sao Jose go down, but we beat Goainia and Operario twice and dropped that horrible draw to them in our stadium, couldn't do much more to help them.

We've qualified for the knockout stage, where we will be competing for the league title but most importantly, promotion to Serie B. This would be huge, since Serie B has prize money. Our finances aren't looking great. We rely on board investments since the gate revenue isn't nearly enough to pay our wage bill, even though we are way under the budget given to me. This year, the board has made zero investments, so it's looking dire. Getting second place means we face the third place from the northern group in the quarterfinals, and the winner gets promoted to Serie B, our rivals are...

CRB. They are a huge club compared to us. Each of these four are. We've done great in knockout stages in the past, but our recent defensive struggles make it impossible to be confident this time.

I got linked to jobs in Fluminense (10th in Serie A) and Tombense (13th in Serie B). Fluminense could win the Paulistao, but they share their league with the three best teams in Brazil. Tombense are in the same situation as Caxias, since they have to face Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro in their state league. I don't think there's a single job in Brazil I would take over Caxias until we win the Gauchao.

Archnemesis Doriva got sacked by Atletico Paranaense since they're fighting relegation in Serie A. Juventude also sacked Kleiton Lima, they hired former Cremonese player Claiton. It seems like they're coming back down to Serie C.

Edited January 2, 2020 by wesl

[Bitner]

Fluminense would win the Carioca, not the Paulistão =)

Apart from that, GL bud.

Cheers,
Bitner 

[wesl]

10 hours ago, Bitner said:

Fluminense would win the Carioca, not the Paulistão =)

Apart from that, GL bud.

Cheers,
Bitner 

Of course. I get states and league mixed up all the time, but that's an easy one.

[wesl]

2021 Serie C - knockout stage

Two things about CRB I didn't mention in the previous update: I'd forgot we actually faced them in the 2020 Copa, we lost 1-0 but it was one of the first games which showed we could compete against bigger clubs. They also sacked their previous manager with two games left in the league stage, despite being comfortably in the playoff spots most of the season. Their new manager, Silas was promoted to Serie B with Santa Cruz in 2019, but he only has coached CRB for one game.

I received offers from Paranaense and America MG for Jerri Fernandes during the week of our games against CRB. He was happy to stay so I rejected both. He's getting interest from clubs fighting against relegation in Serie A, and Serie B promotion contenders. If he doesn't leave, he should become a starter for us for many years. Also got several offers from Serie B and mid-table Serie A sides for Gerson, another youth player. Got the offers up to R$ 325K, but he chose to sign our contract offer. Seeing how these players and our other prospects are valued under R$ 50K, it doesn't make sense to be a selling club.  Unless we manage to sell someone for upward of a million reais, it wouldn't make a difference in our finances.

We got promoted, it's a big achievement. The way in which we got promoted was insane. I will just try to recap what happened in the games but I haven't fully recovered from how ridiculous this was. Their left-back Mascarenhas got at the end of a cross to open the scoring. Minutes later, Xavier headed in a cross from Rafael Franca to equalise. First leg was a tight game, and it seemed like we would get a draw. And yet, forward Gustavo Santos deflected a cross from the left wing, and that ended up in our net. We needed to win by one goal to go to penalties, since there is no away goal rule or extra time. 

After a quiet first half in Caxias, Regis got taken down in a corner by defensive midfielder Marcio. Régis stepped up to take the penalty himself. He's our best penalty taker but he also missed three penalties this season. Thankfully, he scored this one. But then, Regis conceded a penalty to their centreback Matheus Salustiano 69 minutes in. Willians Santana took it and our hero Rodrigo Josviaki somehow deflected it. After that, CRB parked the bus and we were more attacking, we created some shots but it never seemed like we would score. We got 4 minutes of added time, and I waited until 93:15 to make my three penalty subs. There was a moment where I wondered if the referee would end the game before they checked in, but Bruno Xavier got fouled in the edge of the area right before 94 minutes. Our three subs check in, and I'm just praying for the game to end. And then, Xavier scores the free kick. Somehow.

I agree, it was fabulous.

Tite is proud.

This is the first time Caxias will play in Serie B since 2005.

Xavier scored a long shot from the same spot he fired in the free kick last game. Getting a lead was good, but we also got Gava, Souza, and Xavier himself suspended for leg 2. We got an early goal in Belem but they overwhelmed us after I tried to park the bus. I also got team selection wrong for this one, but it doesn't matter. We got promoted!

2021 Copa FGF

We conceded a lot of goals in this competition, even once we started mixing in more starters. I'm not happy about that, and also the fact that we lost two games at home. The first three games contributed enormously to our mid-season crisis. But we got to the final on talent alone.

Avenida has been hard to break down. They press a lot and we haven't been able to punish them for it with long balls over the top of the defense. Jean scored a corner. Since they're terrible offensively, that should've been enough. However, Laercio did a backpass under pressure and Josviaki fell asleep and the ball ended in our goal. So we had to go to penalties. Regis missed for the fourth time this year, but Josviaki saved two to redeem himself. And we won a trophy. I hope to never play this cup again.

Seeing our defense struggle even against Copa FGF team means we need to change something. I could try and build a new tactic from the ground up, but I don't want to do a squad overhaul for Serie B while figuring that out. Instead, I'll just try to adjust some details during the Gauchao league stage.

Denner and Yan were out for a long time, so we had to play loanee Helder and Rafael Franca in their spots for a couple of months. Franca ended up becomin our first choice, but Yan played more games overall.

Several suspensions to our midfielders meant Jerri Fernandes had to step in constantly. He was fantastic, scoring 4 Serie C goals in 12 games (5 starts) and 5 Copa FGF goals. The constant booking to the three midfielders might be a symptom of our defensive struggles. I also need to look into that.

Bruno Xavier was our best player since Serie C started. He scored the goal that sends us to Serie B, but he was also great overall. His tally was nine goals from 20 games in Serie C (second most in the league), and 19 from 48 appearances in total. He isn't the clinical goalscorer I hoped for, but he fits in with our build-up play and scored when we needed him the most. Definitely worth the R$220K we paid for him.

Edited January 3, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2021 season

Brasileirao

Corinthians had a 7 point lead halfway through the season, and they've bottled it once again. This gave Santos their third title in a row, and their 11th overall. They have now won the Brazilian championship more than anyone. Palmeiras came in third, but Sao Paulo collapsed from 4th to 17th, and they are the first Big 12 club to be relegated in our save. Vila Nova and Fortaleza go down after year in Serie A, and Goias is the other team relegated.

Serie B

Bahia, Coritiba and America are promoted after a year in Serie B. Ponte Petra goes up for the first time since 2017. Londrina, Boa, Sao Bento, and Brasil de Pelotas are relegated.

Juventude saved themselves, so we'll have the Ca-Ju derby in Serie B next season.

Serie C

Bragantino beat Paysandu in the final to claim the title. Caxias and Nautico are the other two teams promoted. Sao Jose and Operario are relegated from the southern group, while Imperatriz and Atletico Acreano are relegated after being promoted last year.

Serie D

Central (PE) win the title after falling short of promotion to us last year. America (RN), Santa Rita (AL), and Gremio Anapolis are also promoted.

Copa do Brasil

Ceara, currently in Serie B, made it to the final by beating four Serie A teams, including champions Santos. But they fell to Palmeiras in the final.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Atletico Acreano (11th title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CSA (40th title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Ypiranga (AP) (10th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: Manaus (5th title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Bahia (50th title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Ceara (42nd title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (13th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Desportiva (20th title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Goias (31st title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Correa (36th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: Uniao Rondonopolis (2nd title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Operario (MS) (13th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: Cruzeiro (41st title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (50th title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (32nd title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Atletico Paranaense (25th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Sport (43rd title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (5th title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Flamengo (37th title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: Santa Cruz de Natal (RN) (3rd title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Internacional (46th title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Genus (2nd title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: Sao Raimundo (RR) (10th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Joinville (13th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: Palmeiras (24th title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Confianca (23rd title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (2nd title)

Copa Libertadores

Palmeiras almost got the double, but they lost the final to Independiente in Maracana.

Copa Sudamericana

Estudiantes win an all-Argentinian final.

Confederations Cup

Brazil won, beating France 4-1 in the final. Senegal B made it out of the group stage. Their A team only made it to the quarterfinals of the Cup of Nations.

World Cup draw

This looks like a great World Cup. Mali, Qatar, Gabon, and Venezuela are all debuting. And there's also teams that don't make it often like Austria, Senegal, Jamaica, Canada, and so on.

Major teams missing out include the US, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and many big African teams.

[Bitner]

Congrats on promotion. Winning the Gaúchão still a hard task, so good Luck.

Gutted to see Corinthians throw away a lead

Cheers,
Bitner 

[wesl]

Two years in a row they've done this. They signed Gabigol on a free in July, but still couldn't hold on to the lead.

[wesl]

2022 preseason

We find ourselves in the Serie B after back to back promotions. didn't plan for this and I would've been perfectly fine still playing in Serie D and trying to scrap a win from the Grenal clubs. City rivals Juventude are also in this division, and we'll face them from three to seven times this year. I have yet to face Claiton's version of Juventude, so who knows how good they really are, but he won 42 points from 21 games last year in Serie B, even after debuting with three straight losses. They look formidable. ILong term we are trying to win the Gauchao, but we aren't yet at a point where I would be disappointed if we didn't. With these two things in mind, these are my objectives for this season.

1. Win our "series" against Juventude

2. Win a game against one of Grenal

Normally, one of these would have to do with relegation, but while we have a chance to stay up, I don't actually know if we'll do it and we wouldn't be in trouble if we don't. According to the math I've done in my head, this season should put us in green numbers, even if we get relegated. So whatever happens is fine by me, as long as the players don't revolt like they almost did last season.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I could be here for ten years without winning the state league, so I'm gonna start playing the game like I'm gonna be here for the long term.

Tite Park

I don't agree with this move. This would be one of the smallest stadiums in the Gauchao, let alone Serie B/Serie C. Our average attendance is about 10K, but we get much bigger numbers for derby games and important games in the league. The loan alone could ruin us financially. I can't do anything about it, though.

Gauchao

We are either the 3rd or 4th best team, depending on how good Juventude is this year. I'm hoping to avoid last season's defensive struggles against Gremio or Inter but I still haven't fully figured out what caused them. I think we have the same chances of winning this as we've had the last two years. It's all a question of getting lucky in the right games.

Serie B

Serie B is the first "normal" league we'll play in. 20 teams, 38 games. Four teams get relegated. At least we aren't the lowest rated team, and we've outperformed our expectations twice in a row. It'll be an uphill struggle, and I wouldn't be surprised if we went through worse stretches than July 2021 but we could pull it off.

Oh, and Sao Paulo is gonna destroy us all. The dream eleven is Ceara's goalkeeper and 10 SPFC players.

Copa do Brasil

We got a favourable draw. We'll be facing Amapa champions Ypiranga in the first round. If we beat them, we'll play Atletico Acreano or Bahia de Feira in the second round. All of these teams play Serie D. The pool of teams we could face in the third round are Sport (Serie A), Tombense (Serie B), Boavista (RJ) and Genus (both Serie D). We should make it to the third round, and possibly further.

Outgoing transfers

Most of these players were part of our first team for at least a few weeks. Oliveira is one I would've liked to keep, since he could play in seven different slots in my tactic and rarely made mistakes that costed us, but he was unhappy about playing time and chose to retire. Marcos Gabriel was a youth player who always outperformed his attributes as a ball-winning midfielder, but his CA/PA was low according to our staff. He might've been useful, but it wasn't worth all the trouble. Centre-back Thiago Sales was the fans' player of the year in 2020, but he declined a lot, both in attributes and performance. At least he landed on his feet, signing a contract with Serie C side Globo.

I decided to sell two more first team players to make room for young prospects and new signings, forward Gabriel Rodrigues and midfielder Rafael Gava. Rodrigues was injured all of last year, he was important in 2020 but even then he wasn't a stand-out performer. No one wants to buy him but Luverdense loaned him, paying his full wages, which is good enough. Gava has always been one of our best and was the key player to our Serie D run, but we have at least five good midfielder prospects and two of them (Fernandes and Antoninho) are ready for the first team. He's also been unhappy in the past, and dislikes me. He was unhappy at being transfer listed but we got a good offer from Nautico.

Well, no one else is interested and Gava now outright hates me. Did I mention he is a team leader?

While this was happening, several teams came in with offers for three of the aforementioned midfield prospects: Antoninho, Fernandes, and Gerson. I managed to negotiate offers for Fernandes up to R$ 575K. And at that point, I had to let him go. Fernandes was either our fourth or fifth best midfielder, and he'd been lapped by Antoninho in all but a handful of attributes. We're keeping Gava and hoping to avoid conflict.

Roberto is a prospect who spent the last 18 months on loan. He didn't develop like I would've wanted. 27K is decent profit for him, but only Fernandes' fee makes a difference in our finances.

Incoming transfers

Once again I didn't go for a full squad overhaul, but I think it was a good transfer window for us.

Josviaki had many heroic moments, but he also costed a few goals last season with poor positioning, so I decided to go for a new keeper after we got promoted. Jori is our new starter. He's also now our highest rated player by Cacau (4.5* CA). He comes from newly promoted to Serie A America (MG). He only played one game last season but in 2020 he started 11 games in Serie A, keeping 3 clean sheets and conceding 14, which is decent. I believe he's our only player with significant Serie A experience. The rushing out stat is his sole weakness, since we play a SK, but he should be a monstrous shot stopper for us.

I tried to get players who would be ready for Serie B immediately, but Bruno is a project. He played 10 Serie D games for Red Bull Brasil on loan last year, and got four assists. My scouts have been begging me to buy him for 18 months because of his PA (4.5* at the moment). While he's more suited to a playmaking role, I'll try to make him into our ball winning midfielder since Regis is both declining and not good enough for Serie B. I've been scouting for this role for about a year and couldn't find any great fit. Our other midfielder spots are taken up by Jordan Souza, Antoninho and/or Gava, all of whom are better suited to more attacking roles. Bruno lacks strength, aggression, and marking to be a midfield anchor, but his playmaking could give us another edge. I've been thinking about switching his role to a defensive DLP, which could maximize his passing and vision, but he still needs to develop defensively. There's a lot of upside here, but if he doesn't improve I'd consider this a failure.

Guilherme comes from FC Rio de Janeiro, which is a non-league team (they aren't even in the lower Carioca leagues). We only found him because I purchased the Brazil scouting package for a month. There's no great upside here, but he should compete with Denner for the LWB spot. Could be a great bargain and there's no downside. If he doesn't perform, we'll just play him as a back-up.

Cacá comes in to improve our defense from Cruzeiro. Good attributes for a centre-back all around, and his mental attributes are amazing for this level. His passing makes me hope we could play him as a BPD if his technicals develop a bit more. He's definitely a starter, despite having only six career appearances before joining us.

Edited January 4, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

I've started experimenting with Bruno's role as a playmaker. He has been alright as our BWM in defend duty but we weren't getting anything from him offensively. We're facing Brasil de Pelotas next. They are currently in Serie C, and we've beaten them twice in previous seasons but only by a goal each time. I switched Bruno to a DLP in defend duty, with instructions to press more and get stuck in. I thought this would emulate his BWM role out of possession while giving him more freedom with the ball. Clearly it didn't work and we conceded several chances in the first 15 minutes, one of which lead to a corner which ended in our goal. We lost shape a lot, and we weren't recovering the ball as a result. After the goal, I figured I might as well keep trying new things and switched him to a BWM in support duty, with the instruction to take more risks. This has stabilised our defense so far and led to this play.

34 minutes in, Bruno recovered the ball in our box. In this situation, our BWM would normally pass to Jean, who would then either hoof the ball to #10 Felipe Henrique) or wait for a shorter pass to become available (or score a 30 yard own goal, if pressed in the 87th minute of a final). Instead, Bruno passes to #2 RWB Yan. This is a higher difficulty pass but Yan is much more open than Felipe Henrique or even Jean. The pass is completed and launches a counter-attack which four passes later ends in Felipe Henrique scoring a equaliser. I still have to finish playing this game and our defense is looking very shaky, but this is exactly what I want out of him.

Edited January 5, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2022 Campeonato Gaúcho

We started off great. Five wins in a row, including our first win over Grêmio, in their stadium!

First half was a tense affair, and we spent most of it defending at the edge of our are, like we always do against Serie A teams. Souza grabbed a goal from a long shot which rebounded off Rafael Thyere. I must've pressed the right button with the team talk because without making adjustments, we came out and just ran them off the field for 25 minutes in the second half. It was a great counter-attacking display, Grêmio had the most of possession but they didn't create any chances and as soon as we recovered the ball, we were running the other way. Antoninho, Denner, Rafael França and Gustavo Santos were great at making the right passes. The tactic is the same as it's been since 2020 but this is the result of acquiring better offensive players. It's a great thing to watch. Xavier scored twice from França crosses, and Grêmio never recovered. This is not only our first win over Grêmio, it's our first win over a Série A side.

The game against Inter was tight, and Xavier equalised at the 85th minute. This was our first draw against Inter. After that, it seemed like we were set for 2nd/3rd place, so I started rotating and experimenting with our midfielder's roles. The result was two losses. Since all the adjustments I talked about previously screwed us over defensively, I ended up settling on increasing Bruno's passing setting and started training traits for him to try more offensive passes. At the moment, he's attempting longer passes, and his completion rate has actually increased, but not enough of them are forward passes. The aim of this is having as many players who can start a counter-attack with the right pass as soon as they recover the ball. Our carrilero and mezzala do well in this regard, but I'd like to get the same from our wing-backs and the ball-winning midfielder.

We fell all the way to 4th due to the two losses we took. We could've gone first if we'd won those two games, which would've lead to an Inter-Grêmio semifinal. Should've stuck with the same tactic. We played Ypiranga in the quarter-final.

First game came immediately after our league stage loss to them. We had no trouble beating with them, a full strength squad and without experimenting with tactics. Second game saw some rotation due to fitness and suspensions, but we never looked in danger of conceding. We also never had any good scoring chances, but we didn't need them. Next up, Inter.

We got two leads, and couldn't hold on to them. We were lucky to avoid conceding more goals. The second match was the opposite of fun for me. First, they put a man on the edge of our area on corners. He was getting off shots easily. And there was no way to mark him. I put a man on the edge of the area, and another one closing down the corner, but both of them didn't do anything at all. That eventually resulted in their first goal. It felt like I was being faced with an unsolvable problem, I don't know how I could've stopped that goal from being scored sooner or later. Second goal came after I tried to park the bus, from a penalty conceded in the edge of the area. The main reason I'm taking this loss so poorly is because we scored a goal 82 minutes in on an indirect free kick, and it was disallowed.... wrongly.

I do not like this feature. It's more realistic but, it's the second time it happens this save and both have just made me want to stop playing. That this one happened in one of the few important games we play all season makes it hurt a little bit more.

So, our Gauchão campaign ends the same way for the third time in a row. And to make matters even worse, Juventude have made the final again, beating Grêmio on penalties. They've made the final 3 out of 4 seasons this save, every time beating one of Grenal in the semis. And we're stuck on the semifinals, getting the same results as in my first season, even after two promotions.

At least, Inter beat them to win their 47th title, and second in a row.

Copa do Brasil

As I said, we had a favourable draw. We didn't have much trouble dispatching Ypiranga (AC) or Atletico Acreano. This set up a tie against Sport Recife.

This is our second win over a Série A side! We actually did great against them, didn't concede many shots on target at home or away and a goal was enough to win it. Next up, we have Coritiba, at the moment they're also a Série A side. But they're a yo-yo team, so we have a chance to beat them and go even further.  The prize money and gate revenue is gonna be great for the team financially.

Guilherme did amazing in all his starts at left wing-back, but he missed time with injuries. Denner started most games there. França established himself as our RWB starter over Yan. He got 5 assists in the Gauchão and was hugely important offensively. New signings Jori and Cacá were among our best players. On the other hand, Bruno was just fine, but I still have high hopes for him.

Bruno Xavier was our best player again. He got 8 goals in 14 games in the state league, which is huge for us.

Next up is Série B, where hopefully none of the games are like playing Inter.

Edited January 6, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

Copa do Brasil

I expected Coritiba to be easier than Sport based on their league performance in recent years, but Coritiba were the tougher matchup. In the first game, we were lucky to not concede more as they hit the woodwork twice and failed to score off two rebounds from blocked/parried shots. They didn't dominate the game but came really close to scoring.  When we were in possession (most of the game), they held their form rather than press which meant we had a hard time moving the ball forward in long possessions and their deep defensive line meant we rarely had chances to break them down with counter-attacks. In Coritiba, we did get dominated. We conceded to two free-kicks and as I tried to chase the game, we conceded two more goals. It's an embarrassing result, but we were only expected to make the second round.

2022 Série B

After ten games, it looks like we are good enough to stay up. We've had lucky moments and unlucky moments. Our defense isn't good enough, but Jori has been incredible. Offensively, we've done great against Goiás and Tombense but there were too many games where we didn't create much from open play.

Young players have contributed a lot. 21-year old back-up striker Bernard has become our leading scorer with five goals. He became a starter since Gustavo Santos has been out injured for most of this stretch and outperformed all expectations. 17-year old retrained striker Luiz Fernando gave us the win in the first game of the season after coming on as a sub. 18-year old attacking midfielder Roberto Carlos also contributed with a fantastic assist to Bruno Xavier to seal the win against Goiás. Our best youngster Antoninho (only 16-years old) hasn't developed much since this season started, but he's become one of our most solid starters. I think he's underrated by his average rating (6.79), but his passing rate (82%) and workrate (2.8 tackles per game) are very good for us. He's already a better passer than Rafael Gava, and scored his first league goal in injury time to give us the win against Santa Cruz.

We find ourselves close to the promotion spots, but I don't think we'll stay there for long. We're on pace for 60 points, which we will most likely not reach. 45 points should put us clear of relegation. At that rate, we needed about 12 points from the first 10 games, so this has been more than good enough. A cause for concern is the fact that we've already faced every team in the bottom six. But we've also faced three out of the top four, with only São Paulo left.

SPFC started out the season in great form, but they've dropped two out of the last three, losing at Morumbi to Criciúma and Paraná. They should go up no matter what.

Cianorte looks set to go down, so there are only three relegation spots left for the rest of us. They got back-to-back promotions, like us, and barely managed to stay up in Série B in 2021, but they've been miserable this year.

Edited January 8, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2022 Série B

Somehow we've continued our form from the first ten games. Our defense has been quite poor, but against São Paulo and Juventude we performed to our old standard and shut down two good teams. Jori continues to be an amazing goalkeeper for us but he's having to make over five saves per game against good teams. It's an issue of motivation, but there's probably some tweaks to be made so that we don't need to be firing on all cylinders to get a clean sheet.

For the second year in a row, we had to sign a LWB after Denner got injured for a long stretch. He's missed 19 weeks in the last two seasons. At least this year, Guilherme has earned the starting spot. He's become one of our most important offensive players and has 7 assists in 17 Série B starts. Our new back-up is Victor Lindenberg, who was playing in an amateur contract for Macaé. I'll probably let him go at the end of the season, and hope Denner can play more time next year. A big problem for us is we have no youngsters coming up who can play in the wingback spots naturally, and my retraining efforts haven't been succesful so far.

We drew the derby with Juventude. Juventude is also moving to a new stadium this year, so these two derbies will be the last played at our old stadiums. Their new building only fits 10K, so we'll still have the larger building in Caxias .

In an unlikely turn of events, our backup striker Bernard is Série B's top scorer at the halfway point. He doesn't do much other than score, so I'm not sure if we're better playing him or Santos next to Xavier, but he's been a huge part of us being almost safe from relegation right now.

We're playing like a midtable team, but halfway through the season we're only two points away from the promotion spots. I should try and go all out with signings to push for promotion but I haven't found many transfer targets who would be huge improvements on our team, so I won't be making any moves. We only need a handful of wins in the second half of the season to secure staying in this division. The bottom six seem much weaker than the rest of the division, so it hopefully won't take much.

Edited January 8, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

Our president got re-elected. The board has given very generous budgets, but so far they've refused to upgrade youth recruitment/junior coaching. Hopefully that changes once this year's prize money kicks in.

For reference, this is where our wage bill stands compared with the rest of Série B. São Paulo dwarfs us all at R$ 56 M. Second place is Goiás with 24 M. Last year, we were 12th (of 20) in Série C. The year before we were in the top 20 (of 68) in Série D. We would be 12th in our division this year if we maxed out our wage budget. The gap in how much teams spend between divisions is less clear in Brazil than in Europe. There are three Série C and four Série D teams spending more than us. Right now, São Caetano are spending R$ 16M in Série D! At least they just achieved promotion.

Since I took over the wage bill has only risen around R$ 2M, even with consecutive promotions. So far it's been easy to find new players who are cheap and improve our squad, but we're obviously gonna have to pay more next year and going forward.

[Colorado]

Great to see you progressing in Serie B, realistically you're going to need to be a Serie A team if compete with Inter and Gremio.

Looks like a really good save!

[wesl]

2022 Série B

We went on a great run followed by someWe played really well against Cianorte and Santa Cruz, but needed a lot of luck to beat Paysandu and Goiás. The game against Criciúma sums up our season, we were only slightly better but still managed to score three goals, and then almost threw it all away. We needed Jori to make a spectacular save in injury time to avoid a comeback in that game. Regardless, we found ourselves in third place after 26 games, with a 5 point lead on 5th place, and I finally convinced myself we could get promoted. I knew the next two games would be tough but didn't expect it to be so bad.

Avaí beat us predictably, they've been in great form recently. Then, our game against Goianiense was a disaster. Guilherme got sent off early, they scored and then Rafael Gava also got sent off. I haven't played Gava much because of this, he gets booked in half of his starts and has gotten sent off more than anyone else in my stretch here. I need my players to get stuck in since we don't really press at all, but we had actually limited our bookings a lot during our unbeaten run. Before Gava got sent off, it looked like we might salvage a draw, but afterwards Goianiense kept scoring, twice to penalties we conceded. It really was the worst version of our team possible. These were our first two losses at home this season. We could've taken a loss but this also obliterated our goal difference. We really needed a win against Tombense for promotion purposes and to improve morale, but couldn't pull it off. We need a win as soon as possible, otherwise our team is gonna collapse like they did in July last season.

Promotion is looking unlikely, we have the worst goal difference among the top half of the table and we've lost the small lead we had put together. São Paulo and Avaí both look unreachable, so there's two spots left and a lot of teams in contention. Nevertheless, this season is a huge success even if we don't win another game (more likely than you think).

I'm gonna have to rebuild the squad and finally sell/release some of the players that were with us in Série D. I wanted to hold onto them as long as possible but since we're so close to promotion, it doesn't make sense to not go all out for it next year. Gava and Jean are both unhappy (Gava due to my attempts to sell him, and Jean because he feels he's accomplished everything at Caxias ), and they've had as many good games as mediocre/bad ones. Denner can't play due to injuries. Yan and Régis do next to nothing offensively at this level. Of those that were starters during our Série D run, only Laércio, Santos and Josviaki will stay as back-ups.

Edited January 9, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2022 Série B

Played another stretch of games. It was intense, and the remaining four matches are gonna be even more. The squad was down after the Tombense game, but thankfully they sealed the game early against CSA. We looked great against them. Our very own Antoninho scored a long shot within a minute, and Santos closed the scoring 12 minutes in. We also looked great in a very important game against Naútico, with twenty goals within two minutes and then a good defensive performance to protect the lead. The game against Bragantino was the opposite, we should've scored more and an error by Cacá in the 87th minute costed us two points. And then the game against Paraná was the luckiest we've ever been, we should have lost but we didn't. They hit the woodwork four times and Jori saved a penalty. Three straight wins at home are vital after the losses to Goianiense and Avaí.

We are back in the promotion places and we have four points on 5th place, which is a great lead. Naútico got promoted along with us, and Vila Nova were just relegated. Other sides have achieved back-to-back promotions since the save started (Cianorte in 2020, América-RN this year), but we would be the only one with three consecutive promotions.

This is what's left for each team. All schedules are tough. Vila Nova has the worst one. They have three six-pointers left, as well as a local derby. Naútico has two six-pointers, and then two "easier" matches. Goianiense and Santa Cruz have to play São Paulo away. Goianiense collapsed recently (serves them right for beating us 5-0) but if they win their next two they're back in the race. Criciuma and Santa Cruz are further behind but whichever wins their match could have a shot at promotionin the final matchday.

We have the derby, where anything could hapen. Our game against Sampaio Corrêa is must-win because then we have São Paulo, which even as a home game could be an ugly loss if we don't play like we did in Morumbi. I'm dreading the Vila Nova game at their stadium. With some luck, that game won't matter.

Edited January 10, 2020 by wesl

[Bitner]

Nice to see you're en-route to Série A...

But the gauchão still elude you

Cheers,
Bitner

[wesl]

2022 Série D

As always, we had to make it as dramatic as possible. We played a great game against Juventude, for the fans. It was an all-out action game, we had 12 shots on target and they had 14. Santos and Xavier put us ahead in the first half, finishing good counter-attacks. The second half was back-and-forth but they scored two in a row, and equalised in the 78th minute. Our 17-year old wonder Antoningo then stepped up to put Caxias ahead once again, delivering a great indirect free kick to Cacá who just had to push it in. Obviously, then we conceded a penalty in the 87th minute and Jori had to be the hero again but he saved it somehow. Antoninho sealed the game with a direct free kick goal in injury time.

The game against Sampaio Corrêa was also insane, they were in a winning streak but early on it looked like they wouldn't be much trouble. We went to halftime up 2-1, and scored two more within 15 minutes in the second half. They pegged one goal back immediately and then, in the 76th minute we conceded another penalty. Against all odds, Jori saved a pen for the third consecutive game. They scored another goal though, and Jori had to make a couple miraculous saves to keep our lead.

We needed a boring draw against São Paulo, and we managed to do just that. We limited them to zero shots on target, while Juventude and Sampaio Corrêa got more than ten. I rotated a lot against Vila Nova, since they also got promoted in the penultimate matchday. We conceded to a penalty and a far post cross, our biggest weaknesses this season. But it doesn't matter, we are a first division team!

Goiás and Fortaleza got relegated two years in a row.

Caxias played in Série A for four years between 1976 and 1979, when it was a competition with over 50 teams. They finished 15th in 1976 and 1978. I would love to finish 15th in 2023.

This was our best XI, very similar to what it looked like during the state league but with Bernard starting most games instead of Santos. He scored 14 goals, good enough for third best in the league. His main asset was his height, although his heading is quite poor. We'll be looking for a target man who can also fulfill the pressing forward attributes. Xavier contributed with 13 goals during Série B, which is also a great tally. Santos didn't do poorly, he actually scored a handful of important goals, but he isn't a goalscoring threat in most games.

Our midfield trio turned out to be very solid once we phased out Gava. Bruno had some very good defensive performances, and he developed his attributes a fair amount, but I won't risk continuing to develop him next season as our main BWM. He'll be our first option of the bench, and since he can't play all three midfield roles. Régis was a solid back-up BWM, but I'll move him to give a chance to U-20 players. We have three youngsters who can fill each role well in Gérson (BWM), Roberto Carlos (mezzala) and uruguayan Emilio Ferreira (carrilero). Souza was good all season and Antoninho really found his groove down the stretch, I think they can take the step-up and they'll remain as starters. 

Franca and Guilherme were great offensively. 16 assists between the two of them, mostly from crosses, and they created a few more goals which didn't get counted in their tally because of rebounds and such. But defensively they just aren't good enough. I'll try to sign two starters and keep them on as back-ups, otherwise we'll get eaten alive in Série A.

Our central defenders were confusing, they were impenetrable against SPFC and then they'd collapse against Paysandu or Paraná. I noted Caca's passing attribute when I signed him and he created three goals despite having weak technicals overall. I'd like to find a proper BPD. Our veteran Jean will leave since he's unhappy. Romércio and Laércio are staying on as well. We also have interesting prospects at centre-back in Renato Vitória, Andrew Luiz Turra, and Luciano. But they're older and less further along. Carlos César is 16 and rated at 4+ stars in PA, so we'll focus on giving him minutes over the former players.

This is an overview of our squad for next season. Question marks are my transfer targets. I'm only looking for players who can be starters immediately.

Highlighted in light blue are players who arrived at the team during my first season. Highlighted in darker blue are players who were here before I took over. We haven't had a huge transfew window, but our squad is completely different now. The rest of our bench will be filled by U-20/reserve players, which is a risk worth taking since the staff rates so many of them so highly.

This is what our youth intakes + a few DoF signings have yielded. Asst. manager Cacau has 12 in judging potential ability, so I know those star ratings are somewhat unrealiable but not completely wrong. Most of them are probably destined to be Série C players but it's still an incredible youth squad.

Last but not least, Jori was our player of the season to me. I can't believe he stopped three penalties in three consecutive games in the last month of the season, as we were fighting for promotion. It's such a ridiculous turn of events. I think we might've been relegated if we didn't have him. And to think he played 1 game in 2021 for America (MG).

This might be the best save I've ever played.

Edited January 10, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

6 hours ago, Bitner said:

Nice to see you're en-route to Série A...

But the gauchão still elude you

Cheers,
Bitner

That hurts.... 

[bpecanha]

I was reading the forums and got surprised to see someone playing with Caxias, I'm managing them too in FM20.

Funny that you're using Laercio as your starter CB, he's my fourth option now (I'm in the second season, lost the Serie D finals to São Caetano).

I'll keep reading this thread, good luck!

 

[wesl]

2022 season

World Cup

This is what Brazil's squad for Qatar looks like. No players from Série A despite some of them appearing for the national team through the year.

Morocco qualified over Colombia, and debutants Venezuela qualified to the second round thanks to a whooping of Costa Rica. Uruguay missed out on goal difference despite beating Denmark on the final day.

Safe to say Venezuela was the surprise of the Cup! They beat Germany and Netherlands to reach the semi-finals. France handed Brazil a humiliating defeat and went on to win the title against Argentina.

Venezuela's win against Germany. Chapecoense's Luis Gonzáles scored the final penalty.

This is what Venezuela's squad looks like. Very few elite players but a talented team.

The World Cup final. Argentina made it a game at the end, but they fell short again.

Série A

It was a tight race between Cruzeiro, Corinthians and Grêmio all year but Cruzeiro claimed the title in the end, breaking three years of Santos dominance. Vitória, Coritiba, Ponte Preta and Oeste went down.

Série B

São Paulo, Avaí, Vila Nova and Caxias go up. Goiás and Fortaleza get relegated for the second year in a row. Also going down ar ePaysandu and Cianorte.

Série C

CRB, America (RN), São Bento, and Londrina got promoted. America were last year's Série D runner-ups. Remo, Globo, Luverdense and Goiânia were relegated.

Série D

São Caetano were champions. Ferroviária (SP), Vitória de Conquista and Bahia de Feira are the other promoted teams. Two teams from São Paulo and two from Bahia.

Copa do Brasil

Cruzeiro do this save's first local double. They're the winningest team in the cup.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Atlético Acreano (12th title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CRB (32nd title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Ypiranga (AP) (11th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: Manaus (6th title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Bahia (51st title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Ceará (43rd title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (14th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Desportiva (21st title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Vila Nova (16th title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Corrêa (37th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: União Rondonopolis (3rd title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Comercial (MS) (11th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: Cruzeiro (42nd title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (51st title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (33rd title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Coritiba (39th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Sport (44th title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (6th title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Fluminense (32nd title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: America (RN) (32nd title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Internacional (47th title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (4th title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: São Raimundo (RR) (11th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Chapecoense (8th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: Santos (24th title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Sergipe (36th title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (3rd title)

Copa Libertadores

Santos' new golden age keeps going as they win the Libertadores for the second time in three years.

Copa Sudamericana

Vélez beat Inter to win the Sudamericana.

[wesl]

15 hours ago, bpecanha said:

I was reading the forums and got surprised to see someone playing with Caxias, I'm managing them too in FM20.

Funny that you're using Laercio as your starter CB, he's my fourth option now (I'm in the second season, lost the Serie D finals to São Caetano).

I'll keep reading this thread, good luck!

Thanks! Let me know how Serie C goes.

Laercio was the youngest of our three starting centre-backs when I took over and he's been decent, so he's just stuck around. There was also stretch of four or so games last year where he scored three goals, which was great.

[wesl]

2023 preseason

Once again, I will set two goals for myself for this season.

1. Beat Inter
2. Stay up

We have no business playing Série A but this squad has shocked me twice in a row, so who knows.

Tite Park

Our new stadium is complete. It's the smallest stadium in Série A, but only by 3K seats thanks to Chapecoense. I have no idea why we need undersoil heating.

This is good financially, but imagine if we had a 30K stadium.

Finally, the board does something for our facilities. I also tried to get the board to improve our training facilities but it was too expensive. That and expanding the stadium will be priorities going forward.

Gauchão

Same as always. Disappointed that the bookies put us under lowly Série B side Juventude!

Copa do Brasil

We are facing EC Flamengo from Piauí, a Série D team, in the first round. We should win that and face Botafogo (PB) or Naútico in the third round. Naútico would be a tough game but we can beat them. On the third round, we could face Tombense, União Rondonopolis, Joinville, or Rondoniense. The latter three are Série D sides and Tombense plays in Série B. We should make the fourth round again, with Naútico being the hardest obstacle.

Série A

We have the same odds as Avaí and Vila Nova, but those two are better teams than us. Don't know what to expect, but the board expects nothing so I shouldn't lose my job.

Outgoing transfers

Gava went without much fuss in the end, but he still despises me. Rodrigues scored 7 goals from Luverdense on loan as they got relegated, so there was no reason to bring him back. Yan and Lindenberg already signed for amateur side Novo Hamburgo, which now features four ex-Caxias players. Rayllan and Jaildo are the other two. Rafael and Israel looked like good prospects when we were in Série D but they didn't improve much as we've gone up.

Arthur was signed in 2020 as a back-up centreback, and should've been sold last year but I kept him in case we had an injury crisis or something like that. He played 10 league games in three years for us, but landed as a starter in a Série D team. Régis went to Macaé from Rio, also playing in Série D this year. Jean will play for São Raimundo from Amazonas. They are non-league at the moment, but have contended for the state title almost every year. Overall, the fees we got for these players were very good considering their age and the level of team they ended up in. Denner still has to be sold, but no teams have made an offer despite me lowering the asking price to 70% of his value.

A great thing regarding the many loanees is how few of them landed at non-league sides. This means they'll play many more games. Once the state leagues are done, many teams don't play again for seven-eight months. Felipe Henrique will play Série C. Jéfferson, Vitória, Canavesí, Jose Antônio, and Luciano will play Série D.

Canavesi won the Rondônia league with Rondoniense last year, becoming the first player under contract with us to win a state league. He might win another one in Tocantins this year. At this pace he's completing the challenge before I do.

Incoming transfers

These are by far the most expensive signings of my tenure. Only ones that come close are Jori (R$ 175K) and Bruno Xavier (R$ 220K). I don't know if this group will be enough to keep us up but I scouted as much as I could for three game months, and these where the best players available.

Danilo Boza will start at RWB. He's very solid defensively, and he's good aerial attributes should help us a lot. Crossing and dribbling are quite low, and there's no training focus which covers those. On the other hand, he's among our best penalty takers. He's gonna be the first or second choice, which says more about our squad than anything else. We've won the only penalty shootout we ever took part in, but everyone we have right now is rated under 10. Boza played for Guarani in Série B last year, and before that he played Série D football at Mirassol. He didn't excel in either division despite being rated by our staff as a high-level Série B player.

We played against Matheus Mascarenha in the last two seasons, and he was a headache every time. In 2021 he was on loan at CRB, and we played the promotion playoff against them. Last year, he was acquired on a free by Sampaio Corrêa, and created a goal for them in that horrible 4-3 game in the final month of the season. He doesn't have Série A experience but his average rating was over 7.0 for the last two seasons. He's very well rounded and the high crossing attribute will hopefully lead to him being a force in the last third of the pitch.

The transfer fee for our first foreign signing, Rodrigo Melo, is 5x bigger than any other in my tenure. But he's just a perfect player for us, and as a natural BWM he fills a spot that I've been looking to upgrade every season since I got here. His mental attributes are great and an 18 in free kick taking (!!!!) could help us enormously since we rely on set pieces so heavily. He comes from Ferro, in the Argentinian second tier. He must've been added to the game when I added the Argentinian league, because there's no info for him in career stats between 2018 and 2022.

Salvador Sánchez, another Argentinian, will start next Romércio and Cacá. He's not a great ball-playing defender, which is what I looked for, but like Cacá, he has a good passing rating. The lack of acceleration could be a problem, but he has good mental attributes and the very high positioning should cover for that somewhat. Sánchez comes from Olimpo in the Argentinian first division, but he also has no stats between 2018 and 2022 (I thought I had added all south american first division players to this save?).

Last but not least, Vitor Gabriel is our new lead striker. He was released by Flamengo in December and has only played 8 league games (on loan at Ituano) in this save. He is the lowest rated new signing in terms of CA (3*), but like Bruno he has a 4.5* PA. More importantly, he is already at least decent in all key attributes for a pressing forward, as well as having height and good aerial attributes. Should be a better version of Bernard, who was our highest goalscorer in Série B.

Our wage bill comes out to just under R$ 9M, which should make us last in Série A by about R$ 10M.

[Bitner]

Good Luck. Serie A will be tough, but with some tactical prowess, you can stay up!

Cheers,
Bitner

[wesl]

2023 Campeonato Gaúcho

This was a fairly mediocre stretch of games for us. There was lots of rotation (28 players used in these 11 games) and tactical experimentation but we had some embarrassing games. We lost to Novo Hamburgo and São José, the former of which is fairly inexcusable since they're amateur. The São José loss was a fluke, as a cross to no one bounced off Danilo Boza's head into our net. He redeemed himself next game, scoting a penalty to Ypiranga, in what was the first goal at our new building. We also drew to Cruzeiro, in a really poor offensive game. The loss to Novo Hamburgo was also a horrible offensive game for us, and they scored on a corner in injury time to take the win. We've become unable to defend set pieces (more on that in a moment). We failed to beat Inter who continue to be unplayable for us, but drew at Arena Grêmio. We also didn't sell out a single one of these home games, despite our new tiny stadium.

For a moment, it looked like might face Inter or Grêmio in the quarterfinal, but we closed the season strongly. The sole shining light in this Gauchao season was the Avenida game. We had awful games against Avenida in the past, but they fired their ultra-defensive manager last season, so this was different. Since our spot as 4th or 5th was secure by this moment, I played several youth players and backups. They had a great showing, scoring five goals.  Attacking midfielder Roberto Carlos scored twice and was player of the match.

Our path to the final was Ypiranga and the winner of Grêmio-Novo Hamburgo.

São José had a great season, beating us and Inter, but they couldn't make it past Juventude in the quarterfinal.

A fairly easy tie for us. We've beaten Ypiranga 10 times out of 12 since I took over, despite them being a decent side.

Another year, a new stadium, and the same result as always. We are eliminated by Grêmio, this time to away goals. Both of their goals were scored in corners, because we've really forgot how to defend corners entirely and I don't know why. We outplayed them in their building but after Bruno's goal we didn't create any chances and because of that, we go out in the semi-finals for the fourth year in a row.

Tshabalala is one of Grêmio's two wonderkids, along with Luan Zilio, who's scored on us in the past. He's South African and was signed by Grêmio after the 2022 African Nations Championship. Grêmio also had a Colombian wonderkid striker named Andrés Hurtado. He was the best player in Série A last year, but he was just sold to Boca for R$ 63M. Sadly, I don't think Grêmio is declining any time soon.

The final was Gre-nal, and the champions are Grêmio.

2022 Copa do Brasil

An easy win in Brazil's north. This was Vitor Gabriel's first goal for us, may there be many more.

We didn't make it past Naútico, they scored on a set piece and we couldn't take the lead back. Our terribly low penalty taking attributes came into play as we missed half of the penalties we took in the shootout. Jori saved two from Naútico to keep us alive, but it was just a poor showing.

A lot of tactical tweaking during these months have amounted to the following changes: we now defend wider, and some players have been instructed to pass more directly. It'd be cool to have something more innovating to share, but the other stuff I tried didn't work. There's not much else I can do other than tweak the mentality setting. I might need to build a new main tactic next season, this feels like it's run its course. But, we have stopped conceding far post crosses to trailing fullbacks and haven't conceded many penalties so far, both of which were huge weaknesses last season. We also improved our possession up to 55-57%, which is down to having good passers almost everywhere in our side and giving them more freedom. I really like the way our offense has looked since late February. If the set piece mistakes are just luck and not something that we'll concede to every game, we should have a chance to stay up.

Laercio keeps sticking around, he started more games than Cacá, since the latter was injured for all of January and part of February. Bruno started more games than Antoninho, after the later got injured against Novo Hambrugo. The new signings have settled in quite well. Vitor Gabriel didn't play much between his late arrival and an injury, but he looked like he'll fit in perfectly with what I want him to do. He was a non-factor during the state league playoffs, but he looked great before that (4 goals in 8 games total). Melo, Sánchez and Mascarenhas also had some outstanding games. Boza had trouble going forward, and we still haven't recaptured our defensive form, so he might not be the answer at RWB.

Our best player during this part of the season has surprisingly been Bruno. Antoninho was in great form before he got injured, but Bruno surpassed him. He did great without having to be the most defensive-minded midfielder. He scored five times, and showed a lot flair dribbling and trying complicated passes while playing as either the mezzala or the carrilero.

We'll see how Série A goes next.

Edited January 13, 2020 by wesl

[deltablue]

Good luck for the Serie A season.

[Bitner]

Sad to see that the Gaúchão still eludes you. Gre-Nal are too strong, that's why Tite is a legend at Caxias hahaha.

Cheers,
Bitner

[wesl]

13 hours ago, deltablue said:

Good luck for the Serie A season.

Thanks!

6 hours ago, Bitner said:

Sad to see that the Gaúchão still eludes you. Gre-Nal are too strong, that's why Tite is a legend at Caxias hahaha.

The amount of incredible regens that Grêmio have signed/produced since the save started is incredible.

This is Hurtado, the best one they've had. But there's also Tshabalala, Zilio, a midfielder named João Pedro who has already started over 100 league games for them, two teenage defenders who they just sold to Flamengo for R$40M.... 

[wesl]

Finally playing my first Série A game and uh......

[andychar]

Loving this save. That final alludes you but it will be so sweet when you finally do it! And you will.

[zethani]

That sure was a fine debut in the Brasilerao!