FMCU Joint Save

[noikeee]

And we win in Mexico too. We're in the Champions League final!

We play another Mexican side, Tigres.

As you can see the MLS form has been okay but not super brilliant, anyway my main goals for this season are the CONCACAF Champions League and obviously FIFA World Cup with Mexico so I'm not too bothered with that. We're currently 2nd in the Western Conference, 6 points behind Houston but with a game in hand, and 5th in the Supporter's Shield, whatever the hell that is.

[Lelandhumpling]

On 17/05/2020 at 17:02, ranks39 said:

Yes, even as an MLS fan some of the mechanisms are quite strange.  There is Targeted Allocation Money(commonly referred to as TAM) - equal amounts given to each club - this money is only to be used for essentially buying down contracts that are over the DP threshold.  This allows you to reduce their contract under the DP level in order to open up space for another DP to come in - i.e. infusing more talent into the league.

General allocation money is allotted to clubs based on certain criteria but is essentially additional money to the salary cap via buying down contracts.  Just think of this one as excess funds to the salary cap.

Essentially the reason behind all of this was due to the history of American "soccer" - many leagues have founded and folded due to lack of financial restriction.  So, when MLS was founded, the way to preserve the financial viability and longevity of the league was to make measured investment and cap the spending, thus reducing risk and essentially guaranteeing that the league wouldn't fold.  As the league has grown, they've introduced mechanisms to increase the spending of teams(TAM/GAM/DP's/etc.) which allows a talent infusion but still lessens the risk of financial disaster.  Also, since the buy-in fee to the league is so high, the league, itself, takes on the financial risk by regulating salary cap and distributing allocation monies, rather than leaving it to the owners to invest their own money in the sides(obviously, the more money and owner has, the more they can invest into the team but the league makes sure that at least every team is on somewhat level ground, financially) and this also creates parity in the league.  

If anyone has specific questions about any of the mechanisms, I should be able to shed some light.  Anyways, good luck in the playoffs, @Rikulec!

Do you know how to actually use TAM in the game? I'm trying to buy down a DP contract but can't see how!

[noikeee]

We win the 1st leg in Mexico! So close to becoming North American champions now!

[noikeee]

That's 3 continents crossed off the bucket list guys. Remember who crossed off Oceania too, all the way back then.  

This was a tougher match than it looks, they had lots of chances at the beginning of the match. Nevertheless, a 6-1 aggregate win is pretty expressive.

 

Michael Galvan has been amazing with 8 goals just in the CONCACAF Champions League alone, great signing you've left me @Rikulec !

 

Now whilst I speed-play the rest of the MLS season, attention turns to FIFA World Cup with Mexico. I need to study the team a bit, quite honestly I haven't been paying much attention and auto-picking the team up until here, although we did beat England 2-0 away in a friendly.  

Edited May 21, 2020 by noikeee

[Rikulec]

23 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Michael Galvan has been amazing with 8 goals just in the CONCACAF Champions League alone, great signing you've left me @Rikulec !

I'm happy you're happy!

Top work in the Champions League.

[noikeee]

We have a World Cup squad! And I've called up a Nashville player.

It's too late now but maybe tomorrow I'll post a full pre-tournament squad review.

[Jimbokav1971]

On 09/05/2020 at 18:44, noikeee said:

Noooooo why do you guys always take over clubs on leagues with batshit insane rules just before me. 

Just make sure you pull your finger out and leave so that we are well and truly done by the time my next turn comes round. I would have to have to leave USA before we have won anythning. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 19/05/2020 at 23:41, noikeee said:

Ok which of you guys has been fining players 6 months of wages and telling them to run 30 miles at night as punishment for missed passes in training?

Brilliant. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, noikeee said:

Brilliant stuff @noikeee

Now @Mandy42just needs to get the hell out of Dodge, (I mean Nashville) and move to...... well I would have said South America, but we are the Mexico manager so..... is that loaded? 

[andychar]

Fantastic work! @noikeee

9 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Brilliant stuff @noikeee

Now @Mandy42just needs to get the hell out of Dodge, (I mean Nashville) and move to...... well I would have said South America, but we are the Mexico manager so..... is that loaded? 

I loaded all South American leagues and South Africa. Don't know if they are still there though?

[Mandy42]

choices choices!

 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

choices choices!

 

Anywhere in South America will do me nicely. How do people feel about working our way up from the bottom in South America rather than taking over at one of the big boys? 

What are you thinking @Mandy42? Do you have a Country in mind or are you just seeing how it goes? 

[andychar]

I've heard starting in Brazilian Serie D is very easy and rewarding.

[noikeee]

19 minutes ago, andychar said:

I've heard starting in Brazilian Serie D is very easy and rewarding.

Hey @Timetxu come and see this. 

[noikeee]

17 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Brilliant stuff @noikeee

Now @Mandy42just needs to get the hell out of Dodge, (I mean Nashville) and move to...... well I would have said South America, but we are the Mexico manager so..... is that loaded? 

 

8 hours ago, andychar said:

Fantastic work! @noikeee

I loaded all South American leagues and South Africa. Don't know if they are still there though?

 

Regarding the leagues... this is what we have on right now. So yes to both of you.

[noikeee]

Mexico World Cup squad (1)

The World Cup returns to South Africa 28 years later and Mexico has ambitions in it - being currently 2nd place in FIFA World Rankings!

Tactics

  

We are going to use the Champagne tactics I'm using currently in my Bologna save. For Nashville I've eventually mirrored them sideways to focus on left winger Luis Dante Marquez and allow him to play on his preferred flank, since the first tactic uses only one winger, and the 2nd tactic uses the same classic winger but with an inverted winger on the other flank. For Mexico I am not going to mirror it - this fits better the team as not only we have 2 decent classic right wingers, we also have one good attacking leftback (and no good attacking rightback) therefore we'd misuse him in the mirrored version.

For Bologna (and Nashville) the 4-4-2 is used for the easier matches at home, everything else I start with the other tactic then swap to the 4-4-2 if matches are going badly and I need a goal. In this World Cup I do not expect easy matches neither do we have any matches at home, so I suspect I won't start any match on the 4-4-2.

If everything fails @Rikulec 's 4-2-3-1, which uses two classic wingers AML and AMR either side of a AMC behind a AF, is still loaded and is an alternate option.

Goalkeepers

 

An area in which we're pretty strong, Carlos Adrian Nambo is a world class keeper who's spent the last decade playing for Man Utd, but if there's any problem with him, the 2 backups are more than adequate.

 

Defenders

 

Centerbacks are also not a problem, we have an excellent experienced duo in Patlan and the quicker Serrano who fits the covering role. Rodriguez is also quite good and can play cover, and teenager Verduzco is not quite the finished package yet but getting there and close to the standard of the other players.

Both fullback positions are however quite possibly the weakest ones in the squad. Like I said earlier we do have 1 attacking fullback which fits what I want, which is LB/WBL Barragán. 11/12 for crossing/dribbling is hardly extraordinary but for some reason these attributes are very hard to come by in FM20 in newgens so 11/12 is already actually pretty damn rare and above average. Now, I don't have a great backup for the LB position, I called up Tapia as the most obvious alternate but he's no good going forward; the other alternative is my Nashville player LD Marquez which you'll see in the wingers section.

RB is covered by the decent-but-not-great Juan Ramon Leal, bear in mind I use the IWB role which isn't a brilliant fit but he does have 13 for passing. I did not call a backup RB, I intend to use centerbacks Patlan or Rodriguez if it comes to that.

 

 

I'll continue this in a moment with the rest of the squad, gotta go get dinner now.

Edited May 22, 2020 by noikeee

[Mandy42]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Anywhere in South America will do me nicely. How do people feel about working our way up from the bottom in South America rather than taking over at one of the big boys? 

What are you thinking @Mandy42? Do you have a Country in mind or are you just seeing how it goes? 

seeing what is loaded I like the look of Chile, as it's a South American country I have actually visited 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Mandy42

[noikeee]

Mexico World Cup squad (2)

 

Midfielders

 

Another fairly strong area of this side. Luis Manuel Nuño is undisputably the leading choice for DLP, albeit youngster Ricardo Marquez is also another solid choice. Ahead of them on the pitch it's not quite as clear cut. Victor Adrian Marquez is an excellent passer but might lack a tiny bit in physicals and defensive abilities, Jorge Sanchez as the more well rounded player can perhaps start ahead of him as mezzala, even though he's a natural striker and could very well end up playing there a bit too, specially dangerous in the air.

The experienced Pacheco might be a more traditional fit for mezzala but lacks finishing abilities, whilst Raul Chan is an odd player. A superb dribbler, quick, and excellent passer, I'd have liked better defensive abilities to play deeper as MC mezzala so might end up as the AMC - he is also a great fit should we switch to the 4-4-2 as he would slot in great as the inverted winger on the left.

Wingers

  

There's quite a fight for the RW slot between two good but not amazing players - the experienced, pacey Fernando Sanchez and teenager Roberto Acuña. I'm leaning towards Acuña but have not fully decided.

The odd man on this entire squad is Nashville left-winger Luis Dante Marquez. We don't use a classic left winger in neither of the Champagne tactics, so he's a misfit, however he's here in case we need to up the risk throughout a match and he could slot in as a very attacking leftback or LWB, if out of position.

Strikers

  

Picking 4 strikers was the toughest choice I had to make, as I had 7 truly excellent options with very little separating them and I had to leave 3 of them out somehow. I'm not fully convinced I've made the correct options, but now will have to go with these guys.

Alexis Tadeo is world class and the squad's finest player and should start as AF. Next to him I'm betting on the versatile Mungaray as DLF, who can also cover for a multitude of other positions. This is an experienced duo who shouldn't be fazed by the pressures of a World Cup. As backups I've called up Jose Manuel Calderon, a clever player with good movement; and Osvaldo Collazo, a aerial nuisance who probably should've already moved out of Mexico to a higher standard of league in Europe. There's also a handful of other players in this squad who could play as STs too, notably Jorge Sanchez who I named as a midfielder.

 

Goals for the competition

I'm bullish about our chances, this is quite the squad and I trust us to navigate out of a group with the Czech Republic and Chile. However, this new World Cup format is as knife-edge as it gets, any single bad match and we're out. Best performance in recent World Cups is a quarter-final in 2026, I'd like to match that or even improve on that, but it'll depend on getting good draws on the knockout stage.

Before the tournament, we have friendlies with Argentina and Nicaragua.

Edited May 22, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

And there's a chance we might face some of our Nashville players eventually.

Edited May 22, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Pre-World Cup preparation went as well as expected, almost too well, I'm mostly concerned of complacency.

[Timetxu]

14 hours ago, noikeee said:

Hey @Timetxu come and see this. 

Dear sweet baby Jesus and for everything you love no. 

[noikeee]

World Cup - group stage

A great way to kick off the World Cup as we smash the Czechs pretty easily, with our star forward Alexis Tadeo in great form scoring twice - however we concede our first goal of the calendar year as we relaxed later in the match.

Against Chile we were nowhere near as convincing as their deep 4-4-2 with 2 DMs successfully frustrated our recurring attacks. I could've switched to the 4-4-2 tactic to go search for a goal, but decided not to as the draw was enough for us to top the group.

In the 2nd round we have been pretty unlucky as we've been drawn against the Netherlands. A much tougher opponent than I would've liked for this stage of the competition, let's see what can we do.

[noikeee]

Whilst the World Cup is going on and everything looks fine with Mexico, and we did win the CONCACAF Champions League earlier this year, things actually aren't going that great for Nashville other than that with some pretty dodgy MLS results, and our manager is now "insecure".

[noikeee]

Ah, nice Sunday at the World Cup with lots of even matches with drama till the end as to who will win.

[noikeee]

World Cup - round of 32

I'm sorry guys. I had huge expectations for this World Cup but it went all wrong in the 2nd half of this match and we're knocked out early. Very disappointing.  

[noikeee]

@Mandy42 start warming up, I'm gonna speed-play the rest of the MLS season and that's if I don't get sacked first. I'm probably handing you the save tomorrow.

[Mandy42]

7 hours ago, noikeee said:

@Mandy42 start warming up, I'm gonna speed-play the rest of the MLS season and that's if I don't get sacked first. I'm probably handing you the save tomorrow.

*begins lunging periodically making noises like a Williams sister playing tennis*

Although I am on nights Monday and Tuesday so the start might not be the quickest

[noikeee]

Oh, great.

I ended up not playing much today anyway, definitely not finishing the season tonight.

[noikeee]

I'm shocked. We only dropped at the last 32, with a world class team that honestly had the quality to maybe even win the tournament had we been fortunate.

[noikeee]

In more interesting news...

Cray Ray Romano's hat-trick wins the World Cup for Italy! Didn't even get sent off or anything!

[noikeee]

Right, this is where we're at right now, I'll play the rest tomorrow. Maybe we can still fight for the MLS title at the end of the season to end this on a better note and make it a bit more interesting. Been a very strange season for me on the joint save here, winning a continental title (which was way too quick, we only had to play a handful of matches), but then royally stuffing up the World Cup and having near-sackable form with Nashville as well.

[Jimbokav1971]

46 minutes ago, noikeee said:

 

I get what MLS is, but what's the league on the right? 

[noikeee]

6 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I get what MLS is, but what's the league on the right? 

I don't know. 

I think it's aggregate points Western and Eastern conference. Despite the fact teams don't play each other (well, not until the finals, that is). 

[ManUtd1]

7 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I get what MLS is, but what's the league on the right? 

The supporter's shield is whomever gets the most points, across both the Eastern and Western Conferences.  Because REASONS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supporters'_Shield

 

[andychar]

Im glad everybody has enjoyed and fully understood USA. I have no regrets in going. Personally I think @Mandy42 should stay and we become living Nashville legends 

[Mandy42]

4 hours ago, andychar said:

Im glad everybody has enjoyed and fully understood USA. I have no regrets in going. Personally I think @Mandy42 should stay and we become living Nashville legends 

While at the same time taking the vacant San Marino national job? 

[ranks39]

12 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

The supporter's shield is whomever gets the most points, across both the Eastern and Western Conferences.  Because REASONS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supporters'_Shield

 

Exactly!  Also because we, as Americans, must always change something to make it our own or to appeal to football fans of the rest of the world.  "See, we have a trophy for whoever comes top of the entire table!!!!!!!!!!!"  

[Jimbokav1971]

On the subject of ridiculous trophies, there is actually a brilliantly ridiculous trophy in New Zealand rugby called the Ranfurly Shield. 

The basic premise of the trophy is that it is played on a challenge basis whenever the holder, (currently Canterbury), plays at home in domestic competition and if they lose, then the winner becomes the holder and they defend the trophy in their home matches. Would love to see something like this introduced elsewhere. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Mandy42]

14 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

On the subject of ridiculous trophies, there is actually a brilliantly ridiculous trophy in New Zealand rugby called the Ranfurly Shield. 

The basic premise of the trophy is that it is played on a challenge basis whenever the holder, (currently Canterbury), plays at home in domestic competition and if they lose, then the winner becomes the holder and they defend the trophy in their home matches. Would love to see something like this introduced elsewhere. 

I love the fact it actually looks like it could be used as a shield, for no other reason do I approve of this

[noikeee]

This is late in the season and we're probably moving out of the US soon, but I can't help but sign new players for the future...

[noikeee]

Campeones Cup

So, before the end of the MLS season, there's this little cup I had never heard of. It's a match between the reigning MLS champions and the reigning Mexican champions, so we get to face América again, like we did in the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals. The match is at home in Nashville.

We dominated the first half and took the lead through an all-Mexican goal, DLP Christopher Lopez assisting winger Luis Dante Marquez. However they would eventually tie the match with their only shot on target in 120 minutes. In extra time our CB David Rodriguez saw the 2nd yellow, and we scrambled to penalty kicks with 10 men.

And on the penalty shootout... Aaron Lamb and Cristopher Lopez both squandered their kicks. So that's another trophy I've stuffed it up this season. Just can't catch any break after the Champions League success, it seems. At least we've now recently qualified for the MLS playoffs.

[noikeee]

Great so now the salary cap thing in the squad registration screen bugged out and even if I remove every single player it tells me I'm above salary cap. Auto select button doesn't work. I'm holidaying past matches now (magically the assistant manager does pick the players even though everyone's unregistered now).

[Mandy42]

2 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Great so now the salary cap thing in the squad registration screen bugged out and even if I remove every single player it tells me I'm above salary cap. Auto select button doesn't work. I'm holidaying past matches now (magically the assistant manager does pick the players even though everyone's unregistered now).

MERICA! F*CK YEAH!

[noikeee]

I spoke too soon. We appear to now only be able to field grey players, even under assistant manager control on holiday, as the MLS playoffs approach.

 

 

 

 

 

Riiiight.. I feel like abandoning the season but there's like 3 matches to play. Let's see what can the grey players do.  

[Jimbokav1971]

I blame Trump. 

[noikeee]

No prizes for guessing when did the grey players come in.

 

Galvan was unquestionably the star of the season with all those goals.

 

The season was okay, not brilliant but we got to the playoffs, apparently the board wanted us to be 1st in both of these tables so they were already annoyed.

 

So I'm gonna leave things for @Mandy42 on this very nice message:

Feel free to try to salvage the job if you're a masochist.  Here is the savegame: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wQPn-F4jylSFrWy-LV0g1fxdrTBckbUp

Honestly, I'm very glad the season is over, I wasn't huge on the MLS from the beginning due to having little room with the wage bills unless I got rid of players, but the CL run was very nice and I was all hyped up for the World Cup. But after the World Cup went to hell, the rest of the season was a drag and this bug at the end was the cherry on top, I was looking forward to at least playing in the MLS playoffs but couldn't even enjoy that.  

[Mandy42]

that is the best place you could have left it for me!

now I have the choice of either simply not attending the meeting which would be hilarious

or even more hilarious, attend the meeting, beg and plead for me job and agree to whatever they want in order to keep me, then leave for South America anyway!

decisions decisions

[Mandy42]

Unfortunately those decisions will have to wait until tomorrow as I've slept like the dead today, one more night shift before I can up sticks and move to South America 

[Mandy42]

Right then! I woke up today, attended a job meeting, in which I told them to shove their 13 points from the next 5 games where the sun didn't shine, and moonwalked straight out of the door.

Where am I moonwalking too you may ask? Well not very far, as moonwalking is definitely not an appropriate mode of transport for long distance travel.

There is only one job available in the Chilean First Division and I immediately gravitate towards that. However I storm out of the Nashville meeting in mid October, the Chilean season finishes in late December and it takes them until the 17th of December to offer me the job, indicating that they would be discussing expectations, budgets etc in the coming season. No thank you, wherever I go, I want my eyes open walking in.

Luckily, in the time between applying for the job in Chile, the South African season has started and managers are dropping like flies.

By the time December rolls round, they almost halfway through the season. 

Free State Stars are bottom of the league, they were predicted to finish 6th by the media, they have pittance in wages and transfer budget, but they are the first team to come in for me, and I am a sucker for attention. Plus, the only way is up, unless we get relegated and then I get sacked and the next manager along can chose where we go!

 

The good news, it's only 2 points to safety

The bad news, we haven't won a in 11

[Jimbokav1971]

South Africa?