Nick1905 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Has Belgium's golden generation passed? After going out 1-0 to France in the World Cup, many were left wondering: have Belgium truly missed their chance? A golden generation of players that could easily have led them to World Cup glory had just fallen short of the mark. Eden Hazard. Kevin De Bruyne. Vincent Kompany. Thibaut Courtois. The list of talented Belgian players can go on forever. My aim for this game is to spark a new Golden Era within Belgium in club football. The truth is simple: Belgian clubs haven't done well in Europe. A total of 0 Champions League or European Cup titles have been won by a Belgian team, with Club Brugge being the only team to make a final, losing to Liverpool in 1978. This will be a one-club save, in which my goal is to build the best team ever to play in Belgium and hopefully raise the standard of Pro League football as a whole. I won't restrict myself to only signing Belgian players or anything, but I do hope to build a team with quite a few homegrown players and create a true Golden Era for Belgian football. The Club RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège are based in the city of Liège, Belgium. They are one of the oldest football teams in Belgium and were actually the first ever league champions in the 1895-96 season. They've had a fairly illustrious history in Belgium, winning 5 Pro League titles and competing at a reasonably high level. However, over the last few decades, the club has found themselves falling on hard times. Financial issues led to them becoming a yo-yo team bouncing around the divisions and they currently find themselves in the Third Division of Belgium operating at a semi-professional status. I'm really excited to manage them. There is tons to improve, but the club has a rich history and a big rivalry with Standard Liège which should spice things up. The other big reason I chose them is their facilities, which are fantastic for the level they play at. I will get onto that later though. Basic Information Founded - 1895 Status - Semi-Professional League - Belgian Third Division Fierce Rivals - Standard Liège Facilities Stadium - Rocourt (3,000 capacity) Year Built - 2014 Training Facilities - Good Data Analysis Facilities - None Youth Facilities - Good Junior Coaching - Good Youth Recruitment - Above average Our facilities are excellent for a club of our stature and I really hope we'll be able to bring in some good young players. The stadium is nothing special but should hold enough people for at least the first few seasons. I have't been able to find a kitpack yet, so let me know if you have a good one! I do like the blue and red colors though, hopefully we'll become the Belgian Barca Objectives Listed in order of difficulty - Revive RFC Liège, get them back into the Belgian Pro League, and stabilize their finances - Establish ourselves as the best team in Liège by finishing above Standard in the table - Qualify for European competition and compete for the Pro League title - Win the Pro League and establish dominance in Belgium - Have an unbeaten season in the league - Become the first Belgian team to win the UEFA Champions League - Bring through a talented generation of youth players that can be remembered in similar light to the Class of 92 or La Masia from 2008-2012 - Raise the standard of Belgian football to make the Pro League one of the top 5 leagues in Europe My ambitions for this save are lofty and I don't expect to complete all of them. However, it is worth a shot though and will keep the game interesting for a long time (hopefully). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 And so it begins! 30 year-old Belgian manager Arthur Simons takes over RFC Liège. Here is my manager profile. I've given myself a Continental C License and professional experience at the local level. Here are the playable leagues. I've essentially made the top 5 European leagues active as well as Belgium down to the 4th tier. As I'm using a dowloaded database to play with Liège, I've had the game add players to playable teams in order to fulfill the squad requirements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 RFC Liège - Preseason 2018/19 First preseason update! One thing I didn't know when I took over is that our finances are not looking good. Our balance is positive but we have £338,000 of debt to pay off, so I expect us to be in the red very soon. This meant that I've been very conservative with transfers this window in an attempt to save money and because I actually think our squad is decent already. Board Expectations Third Division | Finish Mid-table Belgian Cup | Reach the 5th Round My Expectations Third Division | Challenge for Promotion Belgian Cup | Don't Care With the players we have, I hope we will be able to challenge for a promotion spot (top 4). I wouldn't be too disappointed if we didn't go up this season but at the very least we should have a good go at it. Transfers (IN) Only two signings come in, both on non-contracts. Really hope no one snaps them away from us this season. Ilias Benamar - Will be our starting left-midfielder this season. Not the best player, but his pace should be an asset for us. Yentyl Meyssen - Well rounded and overall fantastic player. Will start as a CM but can also play striker for us when needed. Transfers (OUT) No one left the club this summer. Key Players Here are the best players on our team at the moment. Damien Mouchamps - Really excited to have him, he looks like a brilliant striker. Quick and technically gifted, he should be able to tear up the league. Jonathan D'Ostillo - Well rounded left back with no real weaknesses. He will be a key part of our defense. Paul Niankou - The heart of our midfield along with Meyssen. He scored a stunning free kick in preseason as well. Curtis Kabeya - Solid striker who I'm hoping will form a good partnership with Mouchamps this season. Benjamin van der Ackerveken - Really solid CB and our captain this season. He has excellent mental attributes and just like D'Ostillo, no real weaknesses. Friendlies Not a bad preseason considering the strength of our opposition. We gave both Basel and Heerenveen close games and the only disappointment was losing 3-1 to Den Bosch, a side in the 2nd tier of Holland. The last game was against an amateur side to get our confidence and morale up for the season. Belgian Cup Two games in the Belgian Cup during August and we've won both easily against weak opposition. Benamar was insane in these games, getting 3 goals and 2 assists total. We've already met the board's expectations of reaching the 5th round, so I'm going to put most of our focus on the league this season. Thanks for reading Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - September 2018 Third Division All things considered, I'm very happy with how we've started the season. We only conceded one league goal from open play this month, and that came at the win against Rupel Boom. The Oosterzonen loss was frustrating as we dominated the game but they won through a penalty, but other than that we've been brilliant. Mouchamps has been scoring freely and we seem to be defending way more effectively than I thought we would. We are going to have a tougher run of fixtures coming in October, so that will show if we are really title contenders. Happy to see us sitting comfortably in the top 4. Chatelet look like the team to beat this season, but we could definitely mount a title challenge if we keep it up. Belgian Cup We've gone out of the Belgian Cup, but I'm pleased with our performances overall. Mouchamps, Kabaya, and Niankou all notched goals in an easy win over 4th tier side Wallonia Walhain. In the 5th round we faced Pro League side Kortrijk and put up a great fight. Niankou gave us an equalizer on 83 minutes, only for them to score 3 minutes later to win the game. We matched them in possession and shots though, so these performances are really encouraging to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - October 2018 Third Division Only one win from four, but we're keeping pace with the rest of the pack. We started off October with a disappointing draw against Thes Sport, who were bottom of the table. They went 2-0 up in the first half and we staged a late comeback with an own goal and then an equalizer from Curtis Kabeya in the 94th minute to salvage a point. The opposite nearly happened against Geel, where we went 3-0 and they scored 2 late goals to panic us at the end. After a boring stalemate with Oudenaarde we mounted another 2 goal comeback to draw against KMSK Deinze. We've been starting games terribly which is an issue, it seems we need to be a goal down to start playing. Despite only winning one game this month, we find ourselves in 2nd place. We have a big game away at Aalst next month which is an opportunity to go top of the league. All in all, I'm satisfied with our start to the season, but we can definitely do more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - November 2018 Third Division Two wins and two draws, placing us firmly in the title race. The away win against Aalst was a brilliant way to start off the month. An early goal from club captain Benjamin van der Ackerveken clinched us the 3 points. We followed that up with 2 draws, meaning we have now tied 5 of our last 8 games. The RWDM game was a snooxefest and a late penalty from Paul Niankou helped us salvage a point against Seraing. We closed off November with a comeback win against Knokke with Mouchamps and van Der Ackerveken getting on the scoresheet. We still sit 2nd, although this time we are chasing KMSK Deinze. There is a lot of pressure behind us as well, with Excelsior Virton, Seraing, and Aalst all hot on our heels. The board are loving our performance in the league so far though and have already given me a contract extension, so it feels good to have some job security. Hopefully we can keep it up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - December 2018 Third Division A near perfect month and we are now unbeaten in 15 league games. There was tons of drama against Chatelet, as Kebaya scored a brace and Mouchamps bagged one to get us a hard earned 3 points. The Dessel Sport game was a bit more dry, but Mouchamps scored another goal to make the difference. We hosted Oosterzonen and absolutely dominated them, we should have scored at least 4. A 0-0 draw away at Heist made us unable to complete a perfect month, but with this unbeaten stretch, I have nothing to complain about. KMSK Deinze are simply not dropping any points, they're on an insane winning streak. It seems like a battle between the top 2 has formed, I just hope they will slip up eventually so we can capitalize. 13 games to go and I'm very happy with out current league position, but wouldn't mind bagging the title . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - January 2019 Sorry for the overload of updates but I'm really enjoying this save right now . Lets get into it. Third Division Three wins and two clean sheets, a great way to start off the year. We went down against Excelsior Virton but stormed back into it to get a victory, left back Jonathan D'Ostillo scored an absolute belter in this one. We then beat Rupel Boom 2-0 in a pretty straightforward game with Senakuku grabbing a brace. We closed off the month with an away victory at FCV Denver, the goals coming from Mouchamps and Senakuku. Top of the league at last! KMSK Deinze finally hit a rough patch and we've taken full advantage. With 10 games left, this is going to be a very tense finish to the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1905 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 RFC Liège - February 2019 Third Division Three wins from four, but we've lost our most important match of the season. We suffered from an early sending off against Geel, but a goal from Mouchamps in the 2nd half gave us the win. We then beat bottom of the table Thes Sport with goals from Mouchamps and Niankou. Next was the big game against 2nd place KMSK Deinze: and we lost it. They dominated throughout and deserved their victory, which ended our 20 match unbeaten run in the league and lost us our top spot. We did bounce back in wonderful fashion against Oudenaarde, winning 4-1 (and scoring all four goals in the course of six minutes). We've lost top spot with 6 games to go. Hopefully we can get it back! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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