[FM10] Continental Dominance - First New Zealand Then The World

[rancer890]

*cough, cough* I think you are getting your threads mixed up.

AcidBurn - forgot to mention that Argentina is much more straightforward than Mexico. Relegation is a bit complicated with vergae points and play-offs but if you stay clear of the wrong end of the table, it's just a straight race to the finish, winner takes all.

Doh! That's what happens when you're reading 3 different career threads at 1am in the morning.

AcidBurn, just win and everything else will sort themselves out. There's no playoffs at least.

[AcidBurn]

At least you made me lol. Reading forums that early is bad for you.

No play-offs and no sub groups, should be fun. It is amazing how easy you can sell players 3 players out all for over £6 million each and a crap GK out for £2 million, brilliant although it has cost me £12 million for a 21 year old Argentinian CM.

[rancer890]

At least you made me lol. Reading forums that early is bad for you.

No play-offs and no sub groups, should be fun. It is amazing how easy you can sell players 3 players out all for over £6 million each and a crap GK out for £2 million, brilliant although it has cost me £12 million for a 21 year old Argentinian CM.

Was out most of the day yesterday. Felt real tired but also was in the mood for a long long FM session. More late than early tbh.

Looks like you're liking Argentina (well I would if I can sell players that easily ), good luck with Velez.

Pity you've quit Madrid though, you got me back to my own save.

[AcidBurn]

I quit Madrid but I did keep hold of a save of my game just before I resigned so I can go back to it if I manage to win all the Continental titles. Maybe do some alternate reality thread in the future.

[AcidBurn]

2019 The Closing Stage, A Losing Battle?

In the opening stage the team performed disappointingly and finishing 9th which was bad for them but good for me as it is what got me the job. In truth it also hurt my title challenge I took over 1 games into the Closing stage and as you can see had some great results all the way through the season picking up some great wins. This led us to finishing level on points with Lanus so we had to go into a play-off, we went in and lost by a single goal meaning that Lanus took the Closing Stage Title from our grasp.

After the great closing stage performance we had managed to climb up to 4th in the league table overall. I think that will place us into the Libertadores but I am not sure as I have had a news item saying we are into the Sudamericana. So does the team get into both competitions?

[AcidBurn]

Player Stats and Transfers

The team was in cracking form for the last half of the season Cristaldo was great in front of goal playing mostly on his own backed up by Mancini and Alvaro Fernandez. The defence surprised me as I thought that the team was lacking that area but it was very solid, it is still an area I will look to improve.

Transfers

Hugo Goes to Young Boys for £2 million

Juan Ayovi Goes to Queretaro for £3 million

Moralez Is off to Estudiantes for £1 million

Villafanez Is going to Banfield for £6 million

Matias Canteros is off to Lech for £7 million

Vaca went to Catalica for £6.5 million

Fernando Hurtado went to Sagan for £2 million

With the cash I decided to bring in the following

Damian Escudero on a free transfer

Claudio Fernandez from Central for £2.8 million

Ali Kanu also on a free transfer

Wisner legendary at least to me for £1.5 million

Pablo Lopez for a huge £12 million mostly in monthly instalments

Luis Guilherme for a surprisingly low 650k, he has Argentinian as a second nationality.

I am very happy with all of the signings and I still have a fair bit of cash left to spend. I did try to bring in James Brown of Wellington and Club America fame but he rejected the contract. I am wondering if I can bring any older star players back here in a few years. Carlos Tevez's contract is running out at Man City and he is 35, despite that it would be great to bring him back to Argentina.

[rancer890]

Nice work AcidBurn and something to build on for next season.

And is it just my eyes or is Wisner earning 2 GB pounds a week at Real? You can't even get a hamburger with that. Hope you gave him a better wage at Velez.

[AcidBurn]

Never noticed that, not sure what is going on just checked back and Wisner is on 20k a week which is the wage he was on when I signed him, weird.

[Gurk]

Great stuff Acidburn, i really enjoy reading about your career. Is it possible for you to show your manager profil?

[DodgeeD]

Unlucky in the league there mate! But what happened to Boca?

You should be good for the Libertadores on that showing - Argentinian teams can get entered into both compeititons in the same season

[AcidBurn]

Great stuff Acidburn, i really enjoy reading about your career. Is it possible for you to show your manager profil?

Cheers dude. There you go, it's a bit weird leaving a 220k a week job to come to one when I am on 3.4k a week.

Unlucky in the league there mate! But what happened to Boca?

You should be good for the Libertadores on that showing - Argentinian teams can get entered into both compeititons in the same season

I read on wikipedia that Argentinian teams can enter both, the league rules show the top 4 go into it just got a bit worried with no news item. Boca have a decent team but Independiente have a the best by far player value wise.

[AcidBurn]

Forgot to add, Rancer will be happy Canada just beat Mexico 1-0 in the Gold Cup final. Also Toronto are the 28th richest/highest valued club on the game.

[RichG]

lol a 300m loss on transfers. Thats some nice shopping mate

[acidmonkey]

thats shopping i only dream of dude. but good luck with Velez

[rancer890]

Forgot to add, Rancer will be happy Canada just beat Mexico 1-0 in the Gold Cup final. Also Toronto are the 28th richest/highest valued club on the game.

Canada beat Mexico! We won the Gold Cup!

Not surprised about the latter though. Our owners are actually pretty rich.

They're just stupid at finding the right personnel to win games lol.

[sambos]

Good look, i signed Neymar in my career save as Internacional manager in Brazil. His stats are excellent for that level but still only realising his potential at the moment. What sort of beast has he turned into in your save (screenie please).

Also do you think that if you were to move to Africa and attempt success there, that your crazy salary now will mean that African teams will have no interest in having you as their manager due to your wages being out of there budget.

[AcidBurn]

Good look, i signed Neymar in my career save as Internacional manager in Brazil. His stats are excellent for that level but still only realising his potential at the moment. What sort of beast has he turned into in your save (screenie please).

Also do you think that if you were to move to Africa and attempt success there, that your crazy salary now will mean that African teams will have no interest in having you as their manager due to your wages being out of there budget.

African teams will not be put off, I earned 220k a week at Real Madrid and to join Velez I took a pay cut that put my weekly wage to 3.4k. Should be easy to make my way to Africa although I think it is going to be very hard to win the Libertadores, if a job at a top Brazilian side came up I would consider leaving Velez but for now I will take them into Libertadores and see what I can do.

Neymar is very good he has a career average of 7.26 and 143 goals in 246 appearances. If you can keep hold of him in Brazil he will destroy that league.

[AcidBurn]

Beyond the World Cup

We finished top of our group as expected really with only Poland taking any points from us. The defence was brilliant and the goal we conceded against Belarus was the first goal past our keeper for 15 games. I was slightly disappointed that we let in two in the final game as i wanted to have a strong defence.

My England side also has two very non-English players that constantly perform so far Engin Bekdemir and newly called up Gianmarco Zigoni who is a member of a very solid Burnley side who have never been relegated since the start of the game. Zigoni has constantly scored goals and will probably partner Harry Kane in Euro 2020 which is taking place in his country of birth.

Thought I would post the best 11 from 2018/19 season. Overall I have high hopes for the European Championships it would be great to have Rooney collect a national award as captain, I think I will be getting rid of him after the Euro's and trying to bring in some new players.

Two of the main regens in the team are Ian Bean the CB who along with Ryan Shawcross and Joe Hart helped the team to all them clean sheets. In the midfield is the pacey and creative Brendan O'Connor although he seems rather injury prone which has seen him miss out on the squad a few times.

If anyone wants any screenshots to do with the England team then let me know.

[acidmonkey]

we drew against Poland its not on! Acidburn OUT!

[AcidBurn]

we drew against Poland its not on! Acidburn OUT!

lol, I almost resigned in shame.

[acidmonkey]

i wouldnt do that you would be branded the new Kevin Keegan

[sambos]

African teams will not be put off, I earned 220k a week at Real Madrid and to join Velez I took a pay cut that put my weekly wage to 3.4k. Should be easy to make my way to Africa although I think it is going to be very hard to win the Libertadores, if a job at a top Brazilian side came up I would consider leaving Velez but for now I will take them into Libertadores and see what I can do.

Neymar is very good he has a career average of 7.26 and 143 goals in 246 appearances. If you can keep hold of him in Brazil he will destroy that league.

Thanks for that AB, I managed to win the Copa Lib. twice with Internacional so if you can build a decent team its not that hard. Getting to the semi's is usually easy if your a good brazilian or argentinian side.

[AcidBurn]

i wouldnt do that you would be branded the new Kevin Keegan

That would be my worst nightmare lol.

Thanks for that AB, I managed to win the Copa Lib. twice with Internacional so if you can build a decent team its not that hard. Getting to the semi's is usually easy if your a good brazilian or argentinian side.

I think it will take a few seasons to build up a team to be good enough to win the Argentinian league let alone the Libertadores. This is my biggest project in terms of building a side winning on the other continents was easier than I expected apart from OFC Champions League that was as easy as I thought it would be.

[AcidBurn]

The groups have been drawn for the European Championships 2020, we have quite a hard group really. Scotland won a group containing Spain, Ukraine are also a decent side and it was Holland that put Spain out in a play-off. I was ready to quit as England manager after this competition no matter what the result. Now the news has been announced that the next World Cup will take place in England. If I can get through the European Championships without being sacked then I will stay on as England manager through the next World Cup.

[psychonaut]

Scotland to win their group. Holland second

[jackripper]

i see wales got an easy group...should top that no problem.

[AcidBurn]

Scotland to win their group. Holland second

I hope not or that's me sacked lol.

i see wales got an easy group...should top that no problem.

England Vs Wales final would be great.

[crouchaldinho]

That group is like Euro '96 for England except replace the Swiss with Ukraine!

A good omen, I think!

[AcidBurn]

I hope so, I really want to get my closing stage done with Velez to get on with the Euro Championships. Lets hope I don't get sacked so I can win the World Cup in England.

[AcidBurn]

2019 The Opening Stage, Goals Everywhere

A great start to the league saw us clinch the Opening Stage Title. Now we have to defend that and hope we won by enough points to secure the proper end of season league title. Had some great results but for me there was too many goals let in this was off set by our great attack led by my favourite player Wisner who netted 3 hat tricks in the 15 games he started. He has formed a good striker partnership with the veteran striker Jonathan Cristaldo. Kanu has played brilliantly in the hole behind the strikers after the youngster Mancini picked up a 3 month injury. There was great entertainment from any people that watch our games with 92 goals in 19 games meaning there is an average of 4.8 goals in games featuring our team.

I have a healthy bank balance of £16 million and a budget of £20 million obviously I will not spend hardly any but its goo to have there incase any bargains come about ready for next season. The best results were the 4-1 win over Boca away from home and the 6-4 victory over Independiente who were only a couple of points behind us at the time.

As you can see it was a really great match with both teams hitting the woodwork twice each. We went 4-3 down in the second half but managed to get back into the game. I think it is easily one of the best matches I have ever played on FM although if I had lost I doubt I would think that.

[AcidBurn]

The Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana

After winning the opening stage of the league I got a news item saying that we had qualified for the Copa Libertadores, I am not sure if that means we are in next seasons of that this put us into this years competition. The group is one that we should get through Newell's are in our group which is strange as in the European Champions League two teams from the same nation cannot be in the same group. The other teams should not really pose too many problems.

The Copa Sudamericana was awful for us as we crashed out to Racing Club in the prelim round. We drew the first leg 0-0 at our ground and lost 1-0 away, the only plus side was that Racing went on to win the tournament so at least we went out to the eventual winners.

Onto the Closing Stage and the European Championships with England now. I will update at the end of the Argentinian season and then may do a game by game update for the Euro Championships.

[acidmonkey]

good luck in the euros and hanging onto the title in the closing stage

[AcidBurn]

Cheers dude, I can see us losing to France again at some point they are pretty good.

[DodgeeD]

I think you can have two Brazilian or Argetinian teams in the same group if one is seeded directly to that stage and the other has qualified from the prelim round.

The other teams should be a walkover though, especially Caracas - good chance to give some youth players a run out

And congrats on the opening stage win. Looking good for the overall title too

[psychonaut]

Great update. I remember Zigoni from FM09, had him in my Arsenal squad and he was a hotshot.

[jackripper]

Acidburn did you find it hard to leave Real Madrid, Specially with the kind of cash they throw around.

[AcidBurn]

I didn't really want to leave to be honest and at first it was very hard to adapt to not having all that cash. I couldn't get into the game at first but it is easy to shift players for a bit of cash in Argentina. Now I have started to really like some of the players I have at Velez, having 4 teenagers in the first team is also a great thing to have, the side is young and developing the players will be fun. One of the youngsters who is 17 is actually wanted by Real Madrid but they have only offered £6 million, I would only sell him for treble that.

I did make a save just before I left Madrid that I will go back and play once I complete my challenge of winning every continents Champions League.

[jackripper]

im having that problem as i want to move onto another country but i am enjoying making superstars out of my youth players at the moment so torn. Maybe il see out the 3 year contract out and then leave.

[AcidBurn]

I try to leave on a high with Madrid winning everything including a 7-0 victory over Barcelona seemed to be the perfect season. Thing is as much as I like the youth at Velez I will move on as soon as I win the Copa Libertadores.

[acidmonkey]

you need to get ya arse down to africa and specifically Al-Ahly in Egypt

[AcidBurn]

lol, don't worry they are next once I win the Copa Libertadores. The job did become available the season after I had joined Velez. Trouble is by then Wisner will be too old to buy would have been great to have a player win on 5 continents.

[jackripper]

acidburn why dont you put your career in a code table itl look impressive to see.

[AcidBurn]

Strange you should say that I was thinking of putting something like that into the opening table, not really sure how to set it out to be honest. I take it you just put code in the brackets?

[jackripper]

yeh its quite simple really. [ code ] [/code ] with out spaces mate.

[AcidBurn]

2020 The Closing Stage, I love my Strikers

We managed to win the league although we finished 1 point behind Banfield in the Closing stage our performance in the opening stage was enough to win the league overall. Obviously the thing that stands out is scoring 125 goals which is wicked but the defence was not strong enough in my opinion. There was a point when I thought we would lose the league Banfield and River were playing brilliantly, it was only with 4 games left that we were onto win it.

As you can see Wisner, Cristaldo and Kanu were brilliant upfront with Ramirez backing them up also getting in on the scoring.

Wisner was once again the main man with an incredible 48 goals, the tactic I use really suits him as all play is directed through the middle and with the amount of chances created he is bound to grab a few a goal a game. Put along side him an AMC who can get 31 goals and strike partners who get 35 between them there is always goals flying in from everywhere, anyone that knows me knows that I love to score goals and a clean sheet is just a bonus.

Youth is the Key

In my team I usually like to have a couple of youngster and some experienced players but on the whole normally I will sign anyone under 32 who I think can do a good job for my team. At Velez the situation is pretty good there are 5 players still in there teens 4 of whom feature regularly and are are key part of my starting 11 when all are fit.

Luis Guilherme - At 17 this guy is already one of the best players at the club signed for a mere 400k he is strong at CB, DMC or MC. Has attracted interest from several European clubs who tried to sign him due to him being on a youth contract I would have got a poor £2.4 million but the lad accepted my contract offer and stayed at the club. I expect to lose him eventually as I feel he will turn into a world class defender.

Cristian Riquelme - Also just 17 and a product of the Velez youth system, made his way into the first team this season and looks like he could keep goal for as long as we can hold onto him. Has been consistent between the sticks this year and next year will be even better.

Claudio Fernandez - Cost £2.8 million but only made 8 appearances last season due to the great form of the other MC's at the club. Lacks a few mental attributes but I feel he can be moulded into a very good squad player.

Gabriel Aragon - 18 years old and a genius, 38 assists in 40 games last season he was brilliant. Seems to have the knack of playing a diagonal through ball for Wisner to score, last season I would guess at least 30 of his assists were setting up the front two with great passes. Real Madrid are interested in this guy but I am determined to keep hold of him until I leave if that ever happens. I would want a huge amount of money to let him go.

Claudio Ginobili - Doesn't look that brilliant physically he is slow but he seems to outplays his stats and partnered with Luis Guilherme in the middle of the defence he has progressed well. Seems to have trouble dealing with the spot light, hopefully he can develop into a great player.

Jonathan Cristaldo

Got to give a special mention to Cristaldo recently scored his 200th goal for the club as you can see from his history he is a one club guy and a great goal scorer. I nearly sold him in my first season as interest from Europe would have meant a £10 million price tag. I am glad I hung onto him as he is great in the strike force and if I am here long enough I hope to have him stay on and become at least a coach maybe an assistant depending on what path he chooses to take.

[AcidBurn]

Copa Libertadores

The group stage was easy as can be only Newell's away made us work hard and although I expected to lose we came away with a draw. Scoring loads and not letting many in along with our great league form I had a good feeling about this competition.

In the first knockout round we cruised past Merida 11-0 over both legs but they are a far weaker team than us this booked a place against Brazilians Ceara who in all honesty were probably the weakest Brazilian team in the competition. We smashed them 7-1 in two very easy games to book a place against fellow Argentinians River. I though that River would be hard and could knock us out but at their ground the tie was effectively won with a good 2-0 win, the second leg at our ground was a different story and they came out quicker and better than the first leg but in the end we came out on top to go into the final against Gremio.

First leg was lost 1-0 in Brazil and surprisingly the second leg counts as the first game of the next season. Inbetween all this I was also playing the European Championships. We should have drawn the first leg but the reliable Cristaldo missed the first penalty I had ever seen him miss but still only 1-0 down I thought we could take the second leg and I could bag another continents top prize. The second leg was a disaster we had twice as many shots with 15 but only 3 on target, we went 1-0 up and I thought we could easily bag a second goal but it was not to be and they scored on the break.

This was heartbreaking for me at one point for just a few seconds my mind was on what job the take next. I wish this forum allowed more than 4 screenshots per post. This loss has made me even more determined to get going again and get my hands on that trophy, I know that I can do it maybe not next season but soon, I guess the good part is I get to develop the youngsters I posted earlier for at the very least one more year. It's the only thing that I miss by moving clubs so often.

Bit of a long update that one. Best of all you still have my Euro 2020 update to look forward to lol.

[AcidBurn]

Italia 2020 - European Championship Glory?

England 4 Holland 0

Our first game was against Holland and I expected it to be a hard one but it was easy, Harry Kane used his pace and finishing ability to destroy Holland with an opening day treble. Gianmarco Zigoni the most English player in the squad came off the bench to grab a goal and complete the easy win.

Else Where

Scotland 2 Ukraine 1

England 5 Ukraine 1

Another easy win Danny Welbeck was just too fast for them to cope with. He has developed into the best scoring English striker at club level and still has a few years left in him yet. Rooney came off the bench to score a great 25 yard screamer into the top corner and Ryan Brown grabbed a goal on his debut. Brendan O'Conner not injured for once completed the scoring.

Else Where

Scotland 0 Holland 1

England 2 Scotland 0

My favourite game as England manager so far, Scotland despite the loss to Holland were still in a position to qualify. If they beat us then we would both go through, Wayne Rooney at 34 had other ideas as he destroyed their defence with 2 great goals to send Scotland crashing out at the group stage.

We looked the strongest really although Croatia didn't let in a single goal in the group. I felt sorry for Wales not scoring and crashing out with 10 goals put pat them. France we not in great form getting through with 2 draws, even the hosts Italy were unimpressive finishing second to 2014 World Cup Winners Croatia.

Quarter Final Draw

England Vs Switzerland

Portugal Vs Holland

Denmark Vs Croatia

France Vs Italy

Not a bad draw for us but the Swiss are greatly improved on my save and are ranked as the 6th best team in the world. The way the draw works means if we win we will play France or Italy, it would be great to either beat the hosts or beat the team that won the World Cup against us on penalties 2 years earlier.

[AcidBurn]

Quarter Finals

England 2 Switzerland 1

We had twice as many shots but only created one clear cut chance against a very good side. Adopted Englishman Engin Bekdenmir scored two great goals to send us through and although it was a reasonably tough game to win once we went 2-0 up I had confidence in our back line to hold strong and see us through.

Other Results

Portugal 1 Holland 1 - Portugal go through on penalties

France 1 Italy 0

Croatia 2 Denmark 0

Semi-Final

Croatia 2 Portugal 1

England 1 France 0

Revenge for the final loss of the World Cup, in a dull game Engin Bekdemir scored another England goal and is now surely taken on by the fans as a true Englishman. I loved this match despite it being pretty poor, Wayne Rooney was beginning to show his age as he put in a pretty poor performance of 5.8. Onwards to the final now.

European Cup Final

The lineups for the final saw me pick a front three of Rooney despite his poor performance in the semi's alongside Harry Kane with Bekdemir playing behind them due to his great form in the last few games. I thought our formation was made to beat theirs, to be honest I never change formation to counter the opposition at all. I just felt our fullbacks can handle their wingbacks and our 3 man midfield was stronger than theirs. leaving the front three to play against their three CB's.

England 1 Croatia 0

Substitute Danny Welbeck kept his nerve to give us the win and crown England champions of Europe an achievement that the team had already had in 2012.

I was extremely disappointed with the performance of Wayne Rooney and I think it may be time to move on and leave him out of competitive fixtures. Jack Rodwell was outstanding as you can see and the defence was solid as usual, Ian Bean and Ryan Shawcross have formed a great partnership in the middle of defence and will surely stay in that partnership for the World Cup in our country.

Aftermath

Wayne Rooney will be left out for the World Cup as he will be 36 and to be fair to him he has not played well during this tournament at all. He has dropped himself as captain so the honour will now go to Jack Rodwell as he is consistently brilliant in the midfield and deserves it. Harry Kane will carry on but his opening match hat trick were his only goals which is not good enough for a player of his quality.

Now it will be 2 years of only friendly matches until the World Cup comes to England, the Brazil squad is packed with quality and to be fair they must be favourites to win the tournament but I think we can give a good showing.

[AcidBurn]

Season	Team			League 			League Position 	Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10		Auckland City		New Zealand Prem	1st		Play-off Winners, Champions League Winners
2010/11         Auckland City		New Zealand Prem	3rd		Play-of Final Losers
2011/12		Wellington Phoenix	A-League		2nd		Series Finale Winners	
2012/13		Wellington Phoenix	A-League		1st		Series Finale Winners, Asian Champions League Winners
2013/14		Wellingont Phoenix	A-League		1st		Series Final Losers
2014/15		Club America		Mexican 1st Division	3rd and 1st	Champions Leauge Semi-finalists
2015/16		Club America		Mexican 1st Division	1st and 1st	Closing play-off Champions and Champions League Winners
2016/17		Real Madrid		La Liga			1st		Europa League Winner and Spanish Cup Winner	
2017/18		Real Madrid		La Liga			1st		Champions League Winners, Spanish Cup Winners
									SuperCup Winners and a 7-0 win over Barcelona
2018/19		Velez Sarsfield		Argentine Prem		4th		2nd in Closing Stage
2019/20		Velez Sarsfield		Argentine Prem		1st		Copa Libertadores Finalists


2014-16		U.S.A								North American gold Cup Winngers
2016-current	England								2018 World Cup finalists and 2020 European Cup Winners

Decided to post this in each post after the updates and it will be in spoiler tags in the opening post. Looks better in a new post so it doesn't make the whole update post too wide.

[ToMexico!!]

Congratulations with England and the recent success with Velez. Moving on soon? The pull of Africa getting any stronger?