[FM19] Winning Every State League

[wesl]

2023 Série D

We started off great, humiliating Santos in Vila Belmiro. It was reminiscent of our Grêmio game last year, where we won most 50/50 balls, countered quickly and converted our chances. It could've been a bigger win, but Danilo Boza missed his penalty. Grêmio brought us back down to earth, but we got another good win against Chapecoense.  We were really lucky against Sport, but very unlucky against Fluminense and Avaí. Corinthians completely outplayed us (they looked like one of the best teams we've faced in any year) but they only scored once and we hit the woodwork twice in the handful of shots we got off. Overall, we've been competitive in every game and I'm really happy with how we've looked so far, even though we've lost half of our games.

Another good thing is that dressing room atmosphere didn't change much when we went 4 games without a win. So it seems the squad is mentally stronger than when we were in Série C. If we go on a losing streak, maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Our stats vouch for us being good enough to stay up, we are 2nd in headers won ratio, 7th in cross completion ratio, and 6th in tackles won ratio. All of these stats represent things I've tried to focus on since the game started. But we are also 6th in average possession (to be fair, only 52%), which would seem unthinkable at the start of this season. 

On the other hand, we are 16th in chances created, which is somewhat offset by having players who can score from long distance/being a good set piece team, but something to work on. Vitor Gabriel scored twice in four games and has been a complete non-factor ever since, I switched to the old reliable Xavier/Santos pairing against Fluminense and it seems like we're doing better offensively since.

We have definitely been good enough to be a mid-table team. The target to stay up is 40 points, so we needed 10-11 points from the first 10 games. It's good we are a bit ahead of schedule, we just need to keep doing well.

[LUFCspeni]

Loving this save, long may it continue 

[wesl]

On 14/01/2020 at 04:00, andychar said:

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

Thanks, I sure hope so! I've been stuck in this cycle since the second season where it all seems very futile during the state league and then we play the national league and everything is great.

On 14/01/2020 at 07:24, zethani said:

That sure was a fine debut in the Brasilerao!

It was so unexpected. I couldn't believe we scored first, I don't even know how the game went after the second goal went in. One of my favorite matches I've played in FM. 

11 minutes ago, LUFCspeni said:

Loving this save, long may it continue 

Thank you. I'll stick with it for a while, I think. It's been a lot of fun.

[wesl]

Atlanta United came in with a good bid for star goalkeeper Jori. He wanted to leave so I accepted it after negotiating for a bit more money and time to find a replacement. It was really hard to get out of our July 2021 slump, so I don't want to risk several unhappy players and we already have two young midfielders in Roberto Carlos and Gérson complaining about playing time. I reckon the players could still revolt as soon as Jori leaves, seeing how he's our best player by star ratings, but I didn't remember that happened until right now.

The 16th game of the Série A season against Bahia will be Jori's last for us. The fee of R$ 1.3M is too low for how good he is and how important he is to us, but it is 7 times what we got him for.

We had to scramble and ended up signing young Argentinian Manuel Roffo on a free. He was recently released by Boca after a season on loan at Olimpo, where he conceded 1.5 goals per 90 minutes. That's a fairly bad rate, but they were a terrible team. On the plus-side, he already teamed with Salvador Sánchez for 7 months, which might have a positive effect. I still don't have a full grasp on this game's social aspect, if you couldn't tell. It's great that he's coming on a free, as we're at least making a profit from this. He was the best goalie we could find who wasn't worth over 3 million reais.

Roffo is a remarkable passer for a keeper, which is something I looked for as best as I could. We could've conceded a lot of goals if Jori wasn't comfortable with the ball at his feet, and it seems like Roffo will be better in that regard. Everywhere else, this is a clear stepdown. Roffo's jumping reach and some of his mental attributes are quite concerning, but he's young and if all goes well he could develop into being as good as (or better than?) Jori. It must be said that Jori developed a lot in his year and half here, so hopefully Roffo replicates that.

[wesl]

2023 Série A

A great start to this stretch of games with a major humiliation of another big 12 team. A 5-0 win at Morumbi, with four goals from captain Bruno Xavier. Santos also played great during this game, taking part in three of Xavier's goals and scoring the other one. We've taken some key wins, as Vasco, Vila Nova, and Paranaense are all sides battling relegation. After Jori left, Roffo got injured so Josviaki had to start against Vasco and Mineiro, and he did very well. Roffo finally made his debut against Cruzeiro, and he conceded twice within ten minutes. Neither goal was his mistake, but they were shots that Jori might have kept out. Roffo was fine for the rest of the game, but I might consider starting Josviaki.

The four straight losses at home are upsetting, but all of the teams we played at our new stadium play wide, which always gives us some trouble, and they are top half teams. Us being goalless in the last three of those of games is more concerning than the result itself. Our stats have held up, and we've created chances at a higher rate than before but we have horrible trouble scoring most of the time, as we did back in Série D.

We should be safe from relegation now. The target is 40 points, based on seasons prior, and we only have 11 to go to reach that. Vila Nova and Paranaense might not reach 28 in the entire seasons. Ahead of them are five teams within a point of each other, any of them could go down. Three of these five teams are part of Brazil's big 12. Also, the three teams we got promoted with are in the relegation zone.

Perhaps we could even end up qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana. Looking at previous seasons in this save, it seems like 50 points should be enough for 13th/14th place. We would need 22 points to reach that. It might be hard to do without Jori, but it's feasible.

At the top of the league, it looks like a four-team race between Inter, Fluminense, Corinthians and Cruzeiro. However, the league is so even that another team could join them if they go on a winning streak.

[wesl]

Midfield conundrums

New signing Rodrigo Melo has been great. He's basically the only midfielder who must start every game for us.

This is Gérson, he's developed A LOT recently. He became a natural at central midfield earlier this year and has improved several attributes every single month. I've needed to find minutes for him, since he's also become quite reliable on the pitch. Of course, his main strengths are mental and physical attributes. As a result, I'll try to retrain him as a right wing-back and see what happens. I should've done this in previous seasons to raise his crossing and dribbling, but I never expected him to become a starting XI caliber player for us at 18. For now, he's gotta keep playing in one of the central midfielder slots.

This has taken minutes away from Souza, Bruno, and Antoninho. Gérson has now lapped Antoninho in terms of development. I still see the latter as a huge part of the team's future, even if his development has been slower since he broke into the first team.

This is how Antoninho looks like at the moment. Him and Gérson complement each other quite well, and Antoninho's high workrate means he fits perfectly in our system. But Antoninho's offensive skills are somewhat wasted on our team. He should play as a 10 with his passing, vision and flair. The closest role we have to that would be our DLF, but I've never considered training him as a striker because of his poor finishing. He's been a constant starter for us since he turned 16 but he's likely going to be relegated to a back-up for the second half of the season. Hopefully it won't impact his development too badly.

This is Jerri Fernandes, he's another one of our academy products. He broke into the first team during my first season here and we sold him to Bahia last season for R$ 575K, but he's failed to break through there. Nevertheless, he's developed fairly well, and would still be a rotation player for us. This season, he requested a transfer and I told myself I'd try to buy him if his price dropped to 50% of what we bought him for. As of now, it's at R$275K. He would only be fit to play the mezzala role in our current tactic, but he has good physicals and the possibility to keep improving. The chance to have three academy products ready to start in our midfield, as well as the cheap asking price makes buying him very enticing.

Since handling the minutes has been hard enough already, if I reacquire Fernandes I would need to sell either Bruno or Jordan Souza. Bruno has been outstanding this season and keeps improving, as his 4.5* PA rating when we bought him promised. On the other hand, Souza has been good but he has only finished two Série A games due to low stamina.

After selling Jori, selling another one of my five best rated players would seem crazy but he has hardly been a key player in terms of performance this year, and each of these three players might be better than him in a couple of years. I think it makes sense to sell him now. This would leave us with Melo/Bruno at BWM, Fernandes/Bruno/Antoninho as options for the mezzala role, and Antoninho/Gérson/Bruno as the carrilero. We also have some interesting midfielders in the U-20s (Ferreira, Barbosa, Nicao) who could fill in the gaps.

This will all happen during the off-season, if at all, but I needed to think it through.

Edited January 16, 2020 by wesl

[Bitner]

Great season so far. Hope you manage to avoid relegation!

Cheers,
Bitner 

[wesl]

I expected no call-ups of any kind for any Caxias players but we got this for one of our regens.

Uruguay's playing U-23, U-20 and U-19 matches against USA on 9/11. That's kind of bizarre, but I'm excited one of our players is getting capped.

This is Ferreira. Another young midfielder who we'll need to find playing time for soon, a great problem to have all things considered. His training has focused on defense, and he's becoming quite well-rounded. I remember he had something like 4 years and a half in the country when he showed up in our intake. He has acquired double nationality since. We also have a Bolivian striker in our U-20s, but I don't think he'll make it to our first team, whereas Ferreira should.

Ferriera has seven league (Série B+Série A+state league) appearances in the last two seasons, all of which were decent.

The experience is what counts... 

Edited January 18, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2023 Série A

A good run of games. We started off beating Santos comprehensively again. Grêmio bested us though, we got Melo and Bruno sent off and were lucky to get a goal from Vitor Gabriel to make the score look less embarrassing. Against Chapecoense, we put on a great defensive display, which led to a boring game with only five shots on target. Against Palmeiras we parked the bus and were lucky not to concede. We were much better than Sport overall, but Reinier (formerly of Flamengo) almost saved the game for them, scoring a really dumb long shot and setting up their second goal with a great through ball. América went up against us by two goals but we had a heroic comeback, with two goals from our left wing-back Mascarenhas. Corinthians were much better than us again, but we almost got a point thanks to two goals from Bruno on indirect free-kicks. The credit for that goes to Melo, who leads the league on assists (9 in 25 games) thanks to his free kick taking. We then took another scalp from a big club, beating Flu 4-0 in what I would describe as a transparent match-fixing attempt. They scored two own goals, and the two remaining goals were goalkeeper mistakes. It was great.

Vitor Gabriel has scored 5 goals in these 10 games, taking back the starting spot next to Xavier. He's had some luck taking advantage of opposition mistakes, but he's been very effective with the chances he gets.

The midfielders (Melo, Bruno, Antoninho, Souza, Gérson) have been rotated heavily, especially with suspensions and injuries. Basically everyone in that cohort has had a few very good games.

Our new keeper, Roffo, isn't someone I trust entirely yet but he's earned more time as our #1 with good performances against Palmeiras and Corinthians (despite the three goals conceded in the latter). Jori's sale has definitely affected us. He conceded 0.77 goals per 90 minutes this season, and we're up to 1.3 with Roffo.

We've reached the mystical number of 40 points and we're almost surely safe from relegation.

Brazil sends the 7 best teams in the league to the Libertadores, as well as the cup winner (this year it's Bahia). The next 5 best teams in the league go to the Copa Sudamericana. We might challenge for Libertadores, but we would need a great run of form to keep up with Grêmio and Palmeiras. But, qualification to Sudamericana looks very attainable. As far as I know, Caxias has taken part in continental football exactly zero times, so this would be great. We would need to finish 12th or higher to be certain. That likely means finishing above at least one out of Atlético Mineiro, América and Vasco. But, it's hard to predict where these teams are ending up since Vasco just put together something like 7 straight wins to climb out of relegation contention.

Speaking of which, Vila Nova and Avaí look set to go down. Two of Paranaense, Sport, Botafogo and SPFC will be teams joining them in Série B next year. Botafogo and São Paulo have a small lead, but they're in precarious positions for big clubs.

On the other end, it looks like it's finally Corinthians' year after four straight second place finishes.

Edited January 19, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2023 Série A

Our defense looked great, and we only scored six goals but we managed to get 12 points out of the last nine games. We had boring games against São Paulo, Vila Nova, Bahia and Mineiro and got a decent point return from those. Inter ran us over once again, which means I didn't accomplish my preseason objectives of beating them at least once. They actually beat us pretty easily every time. The game against Vasco was a thriller against all odds and we got the win thanks to a late header from Vitor Gabriel. He also saved a point for us against Mineiro with an 84th minute goal. Flamengo beat us with an early goal, which killed any chance at qualifying for the Libertadores. With nothing to play for, the game against Cruzeiro was a write-off and I played a team of youngsters. They did quite well, only conceding once to one of the best teams in the country. 

We end up 9th, which is once again way beyond what I thought this team was capable of. Our improved defense in the final stretch means we also end up tied with Corinthians and Inter for least goals allowed in the league (34). It's been the main priority when building this team up since the first season, so it's great to have that outcome. And we are playing in the Copa Sudamericana next season! We used to be a very hard team to beat in two leg ties when we were in Série D. Our defense finally seems to be as solid as it was back then, so there might be a good continental football run in this team.

This was a great team. There are no glaring weaknesses, and we ended up in the top half with half the budget of most teams in the league.

Gabriel and Xavier got 9 Série A goals each, which can be improved. But Santos who was our third option only got 3 goals in 18 starts + 6 sub appearances. Antoninho started 21 games and had 9 sub appearances. Souza and Bruno started more games. Gérson appeared in 26 games, with 13 starts. Bruno was better than the rest of them, scoring 7 goals in Série A, but there wasn't a lot of difference between the other three. The five defenders started all year, and they were all very good, especially the two ball-playing defenders.

There isn't any weak position that must be improved. I'm gonna look for a right wing-back since Boza wasn't creative enough offensively. He only had 0.81 dribbles per game, compared to 1.39 from Franca last year. We also could use another striker or centre-back, but I'm only making these transfers if we find the right player.

Our most important player in Série A to me was BWM Rodrigo Melo. He plays in a thankless role and only has a 6.91 average rating, but he was the team's rock with 3.57 tackles per game in midfield. The defensive improvement over last season was very noticeable, partly due to an improved tactic but also because Melo was able to win the ball back very effectively. He also created 9 assists, almost exclusively from free kicks.

Finally, here are two screenshots that represent why this team exceeds expectations every year:

We are the most Uruguayan team in Brazilian football.

Edited January 20, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2023 season

Série A

Corinthians dominated the league in the second half, and win for the first time after four consecutive second places. Avaí and Vila Nova go straight back down, along with Parananese and Vila Nova.

Série B

Coritiba, CSA, Vitória, and Ceará are going up. CSA have spent the most time out of these lot in Série B, being relegated in 2019. Bragantino, Juventude, São Bento and Criciúma were relegated.

Série C

Goiás were champions, and are promoted after two straight relegations. São Caetano reached the final, and are the fourth team to get promoted back-to-back to Série B in this save. Other promoted teams are Boa and Paysandu

Série D

Ipatinga were champions. Luverdense, Remo, and Mirassol are also promoted.

Copa do Brasil

Bahia win the cup for the first time. Goiás from the third tier reached the quarter-final, and could've gone even further but lost in penalties to Grêmio.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Rio Branco (AC) (32nd title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CSA (41st title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Ypiranga (AP) (12th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: Manaus (7th title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Vitória (31st title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Ceará (44th title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (15th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Desportiva (22nd title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Goiás (32nd title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Corrêa (38th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: União Rondonopolis (4th title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Operário (MS) (14th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: América (MG) (17th title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (52nd title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (34th title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Atlético Paranaense (26th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Sport (45th title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (7th title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Flamengo (38th title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: America (RN) (33rd title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Grêmio (39th title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (5th title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: Baré (12th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Chapecoense (9th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: Palmeiras (25th title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Confianca (SE) (24th title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (4th title)

Copa Libertadores

Corinthians did the unthinkable to do the double, beating River by three goals in their own stadium in a single leg final. This is the type of thing where FM comes short as a simulation, because that result would lead to riots.

Copa Sudamericana

Talleres Córdoba win by far their biggest trophy ever, beating Argentinos Jrs. in the final.

[wesl]

2024 preseason

We accomplished one of the two goals I set for myself last year, since we never came close to beating Inter. The only goal going forward is winning the state league, and whatever else we might sneak into.

We are rich now. This figure was R$ 21M last season. Our total income was just 40 million. This is either a bug or enough money to keep this team afloat for a decade. Our wage budget is still barely above R$12 M. It does make sense that the major clubs would make as much as this, but I didn't expect anything close to it for us.

I convinced the board to upgrade junior coaching and training facilities, which is great.

We still need to expand this stadium, just one year after it was built. We're likely missing out on a ton of money here. I'll make the request towards the end of this year.

Campeonato Gaúcho

No major changes. We gotta make it past the semifinals some time, right?

Copa do Brasil

We drew poor EC Flamengo from Piauí in the first round again. We beat them 3-0 away last year, we should at least win that game. After that we would get the winner of Goiás (Série B) and Remo (Série C). The pool of teams we can face if we make it to round 3 are Coritiba (just promoted to Série A), Atlético Goianiense (Série B), Mirassol (Série C), and Esportivo (Série D). It's a tricky path to the fourth round, but we can make it. We faced Coritiba two years ago in this cup and they handed us one of our worst losses, but back then we were in Série B and they were in Série A. This year, we should be more even.

Copa Sudamericana

Our first foray into continental football might be a short one. We entered in the preliminary round, which has 40 completely unseeded teams. Of course, we drew a ****ing Argentinian club in Colón. They're 13th in their league. We could win this, but I don't know what to expect.

Série A

The board and media see us as one of the worst teams in the league, same as 12 months ago, but I expect us to be a mid-table team like last season.

Outgoing transfers

Denner was key for my first season and a half in Caxias. After that he was injured all the time, and I loaned him out with no intention to bring him back last year. He did bounce back with Campinense in Série D (7.16 average rating in 9 games), so hopefully he finds a good team in Série C or Série D.

Roberto Carlos was a young midfielder unhappy with his playing time. He has great physical attributes, but not much else so I preferred other options. It hurts letting him go on a free when we could've sold him for something like R$100K, but I don't think he's gonna come back to make us regret th-

... 

All loanees are going to Série C/Série D teams, which "should" be good for their development. That said, none of the loans we've made have panned out. Vitória, Luiz Fernando, Gauchinho and Felipe Henrique are on the cusp of breaking into the first team but they need to develop or have great performances somewhere. Henrique was loaned out last year to Série C team Cianorte but he was atrocious and didn't develop much either. Now he's going to a Série D team, so he might be going backwards?

Bernard was our top scorer in Série B but I never trusted him entirely, and last year he scored zero goals on twelve appearances. He leaves for a Série D team from Espirito Santo. Also transfer listed are Laércio (centre-back, longest tenured squad member), Jéfferson (back up keeper), Luciano and Dionisio Canavesi (20/21 year olds who seem to have developed into good Série D players). But we haven't been able to sell them yet. Having them in the reserves as injury insurance with their wages isn't bad either.

Incoming transfers

A quiet transfer window. I tried to find the ideal RWB for us, but he doesn't exist. At the wages I'm willing to pay, at least.

I doubt Johar Mejía is gonna be the goalscorer we have been looking for, since he's bettered on several key skills by Vitor Gabriel.  He played for Sampaio Corrêa on Série B last year, and scored 12 goals, which is actually less than Bernard two years ago. But he gives us depth and his physical attributes should make him more able to play in Série A. He's here on a five-month loan. If things go well, we pick him up at the end of his contract. If things go great and another team comes in for him, we activate the R$ 1.5M buying fee on him. There's no risk here for someone who's a high quality player.

Léo Ortiz is this year's marquee signing. We're gonna need to rotate heavily to keep all our central defenders happy but I couldn't pass on Ortiz still being transfer listed by Vitória. He requested a transfer when they got relegated two years ago and his asking price had dropped to R$ 4.5 M, despite Vitória coming straight back to the first division. Since this was much bigger than our previous most expensive transfer, I still wanted some sort of safeguard so with a ton of clauses the price was brought down to 2M. We're basically gonna pay an extra R$ 3M if we stay up this year. Ortiz should excel as a ball-playing defender. He is also very well-rounded, which can't be said for any of our defenders as great as they've all been.

Another great thing about Ortiz: he can shoot penalties! We missed more penalties than we scored last year. With Ortiz, we might be unstoppable.

Edited January 21, 2020 by wesl

[diogos]

I read all of your messages. great topic! I am currently playing with Santos, and I realized that in their game they dominate the league a lot. Now I was really eager to train some team from Santa Catarina, maybe put Chapecoense back in Serie A.

[wesl]

5 hours ago, diogos said:

I read all of your messages. great topic! I am currently playing with Santos, and I realized that in their game they dominate the league a lot. Now I was really eager to train some team from Santa Catarina, maybe put Chapecoense back in Serie A.

Thanks a lot!

Santos' three leagues in a row were quite surprising. Now, it seems like Corinthians can go on a similar run. They just bought Austregésilo from Cruzeiro, who is probably the best player in Brazil in my save after several players left for Europe/China last year.

Santa Catarina was really interesting in the first couple years of this save because there were four teams that were really even, and even Joinville won the Catarinense league once. But now, it seems like Chapecoense will dominate for a while.

[andychar]

Good luck this season. Fingers crossed you finally break that final!

[diogos]

13 hours ago, wesl said:

Muito obrigado!

As três ligas de Santos seguidas foram bastante surpreendentes. Agora, parece que o Corinthians pode correr de maneira semelhante. Eles acabaram de comprar o Austregésilo do Cruzeiro, que provavelmente é o melhor jogador do Brasil em minha defesa, depois que vários jogadores foram para a Europa / China no ano passado.

Santa Catarina foi realmente interessante nos primeiros dois anos dessa defesa, porque havia quatro equipes realmente empatadas, e até Joinville venceu a liga Catarinense uma vez. Mas agora, parece que o Chapecoense vai dominar por um tempo.

Austregésilo...
maybe it's the funniest name i ever saw in the game haha really is an awesome player

good luck on your journey

[wesl]

We're making over R$10M in profit per month. I've convinced the board to upgrade youth facilities and youth recruitment, since we now have more money than we could ever spend now.

2024 Campeonato Gaúcho

Our first unbeaten season through the league stage! Not as impressive as it sounds, considering it's only 11 games against mostly third and fourth-tier teams, but I'm proud of it. The cup and Sudamericana forced us to play twice a week for 8 straight weeks. We needed lots of rotation, but it worked out just fine. Once again, youth players stepped in when needed and impressed. 18 year old striker Callegari scored on his debut after two years on loan, and 17 year old defensive midfielder Érico looks like he might force his way into the first team sooner rather than later.

 We drew three games, against Juventude, Inter and Grêmio. Our three most important games and the only ones where I fielded a full-strength team, coincidentally. We should've beat Juventude but we had bad luck and needed a penalty from Ortiz to draw the game, and we almost lost after Romércio got sent off. The Inter and Grêmio games were even and boring (expect for the last 15 minutes against Inter, where they carved us open), which is what we want in those games.

My little joke about Ortiz's penalties in the last recap was refuted by the game immediately, since he missed a pen against Pelotas  in his second game. He only played half of the games in this stage because I want to avoid paying some clauses until next season, but he looked great in the other competitions and in the few games he played here. Johar Mejía has also looked good. His finishing has been so-so but he's made a couple of fantastic passes. I've agreed to sign him on a free once his Racing contract expires in July. Our mix of strikers (Santos, Xavier, Gabriel, and Mejía) seems to be working. There have been 29 goals between the four of them on all competitions, which is great compared to previous years. We have decent rotation options in every position, except for left wing-back and goalkeeper. I've settled into a fixed XI during the national league in past seasons, but so far going with the players in best form has worked out great.

We got third, since Inter and Grêmio didn't drop points against anyone but us. The league used to be more even, which can be seen in Grenal's monstrous goal differences. Juventude's relegation will likely make this worse in coming years, Grêmio beat them 7-1 in Caxias do Sul.

We'll face Avenida in the quarter-finals and, if we advance, the winner of Grêmio-Ypiranga in the semi-finals.

Avenida was coming off a home win over Fluminense in the cup, so I suffered over the first match more than I should've. Avenida used to be impossible to break down under their old manager Daniel Paulista, but he was sacked nearly two years ago. Allan Aal is their current manager and his version of Avenida tries to attack so they're weaker defensively, but in the first leg they Caxias'd us. There were 11 total shots in that game. At home, we had a much easier time and as soon as Santos scored the first goal, we were through. They had only three shots, none of them on goal.

We got Grêmio, of course. The other semifinal was Inter-Juventude.

The first game looked like most times we've faced Grêmio. Lots of fouls from us, short possessions, and Grêmio occasionally creating chances. They opened up the scoring with a goal from a corner, when Roffo mistakenly came out to punch the ball away. But we kept going, and Vitor Gabriel managed to put in two great headers, one from a cross by Danilo Boza, and another one from a corner to put us ahead.

Grêmio had a Libertadores game 3 days before the second leg. Renato Gaúcho went with a narrow 4-1-2-2-2 formation, which is what they go to when they want to be more attacking, but it doesn't work well against us because it's too narrow. We sealed our pass to the final with goals from Gabriel and a shot from Johar Mejía which bounced off Marcelo Grohe's back. We conceded twice and got a man sent off, which meant Grêmio could've tied it but we held on, and we came through the semifinals for the first time!

Ours wasn't the only upset though...

Juventude won in Beira-Rio thanks to a goal from Lua Lucio.

This is the fourth time Juventude reach the final since the save started. For those of you keeping track at home, that's more than Inter or Grêmio (3 finals each). We've had a much harder time getting here, so we need to make it count.

First leg was a horrible game. Melo got sent off due to a double booking, which made us very weak defensively. Juventude hit the crossbar once and we couldn't get anything going forward. Until, Bruno went on a forward run and created a great through ball for Gustavo Santos to put as ahead. At home, we had Vitor Gabriel put us ahead with another timely header. Caprini got a goal back for them, with a shot that went into the bottom right corner. Our captain Xavier started this game after mainly coming in as a sub for the past month, and he was the one who secured the title with a beautiful long shot. Juventude had another chance to score, on a corner which had a series of rebounds, but everyone in our team threw themselves in front of those shots. So that means it's done. We finally won this thing!

Copa Sudamericana

Colón was tough and we had to equalize them twice, with Xavier and Gabriel once again scoring in important games. We went to a shootout, where Roffo was immense, saving two out of their three penalties.

First round games will be played until early May for some reason, and there's 10 Libertadores teams joining the competition in the second round. I have no idea who we are facing. As long as we don't get a huge team (Palmeiras, Vélez, etc.), we should be fine.

Copa do Brasil

We took out EC Flamengo with the same score in their building for the second year in a row. After the third goal, nothing happened. I tried to push for more goals once a couple youngsters were subeed in but the team was checked out, which was a bit frustrating. The Goiás game was easier than I anticipated, they got a goal in the end but we were never threatened and Gabriel took his chances.

We got our rematch against Coritiba, and got revenge for the 4-0 humiliation from two years ago. Gérson's goal in the first leg was fantastic, a shot from the edge of the area into the top corner, after a great pass from Gabriel on a counter-attack. But Santos' goal was even better, an overhead kick from a long throw from a difficult angle. The second leg was boring, but it was good seeing young centre-back Turra score.

In the fourth round we drew... Avenida! They surprisingly beat Fluminense 1-0 home and away in the third round. Having beat Avenida quite easily in the state league, there's no excuse to not to win this.

The difference in class too noticeable, and the sending offs didn't help them. This is the first time we make it to the fifth round, which is when teams playing Libertadores join the competition. We could get a fourth division side in Ypiranga (AP), or we could get Corinthians.

We went unbeaten in these 26 games and it was thanks to rotation. The players in the image had the most appearances but there were several players who could be there. Centre-backs Romércio and Andrews Luiz Turra, RWB Franca, midfielders Antoninho and Souza, and forwards Mejía and Xavier all had their moments.

Gérson is wanted by Italian Inter. That probably means he has the highest PA amongst our players. When their youth intake came in, I thought he was a lesser prospect than Antoninho but now I wonder just how good he could become. He has a R$ 9.5 M release clause, which would be a decent price to sell him for if a big club decides to bid.

Seattle wants Vitor Gabriel. He's currently valued at R$6.25 M, which would be our biggest sale, but we don't need the money and he's been too important. They've set their offers to non-negotiable which means that unless they bid twice his value or something like that, I'm probably not selling.

Speaking of Vitor Gabriel, he was clearly our best player.  He got 13 goals in 19 games. He was a huge threat aerially, as well as a smart passer on counter-attacks. I didn't plan to feature him so heavily after a disappointing first season but he was in great form in these four months. He was a huge reason why won the state league!

[wesl]

Since we went up to Série C, we've always had quite a small first-team squad (18-20 players) and we filled in the gaps with youth players. This year because of our cup run and continental competitions, we've been playing twice per week most of the time. We'll play 27 games from May to July. We've been lucky not to get major injuries, but minor injuries forced me to start some U-20 players who are just not ready. So we made another signing.

Felipinho comes in from Chapecoense for R$1.4M + 1.4M in add-ons. He's a Bahia product, but he never fully broke into the first team. He spent 2020 and 2021 on loan at Santa Cruz and Coritiba in Série B before leaving for Oeste, where he was their lead scorer from AMC the year they got relegated. Last year, he signed for Chapecoense and was transfer listed despite appearing in a respectable 27 games. He's not gonna be a starter for us, but the versatility he has is a big asset. He could easily play as the mezzala or the DLF in our tactic, but the aim is converting him into a LWB option, as an attacking sub or as a starter against weaker teams. The scouts believe he could still improve, and if I can get his marking and positioning up, he could challenge Mascarenhas for the starting spot.

Edited January 25, 2020 by wesl

[Bitner]

Great to see a Caxias derby on the Gauchão final! hahaha. Congratz on the title... and waiting to see where you go next.

Cheers,
Bitner

[wesl]

I'm staying for another year if we qualify for Libertadores. Otherwise... it's probably gonna be a northern team but I'll get into that when it's time.

Also yeah, we were incredible lucky we didn't have to face Inter in the final!

Edited January 25, 2020 by wesl

[bdearaujo]

I am really enjoying this story. As an Atletico Mineiro fan, I love reading Brazilian saves. Really makes me want to write my own.

[shimera]

Great job with Caxias! Love when people play in Brazilian leagues, it's an unique experience

[wesl]

2024 Série A

A great start with a thrashing of Coritiba, followed by lucky games against Vasco and América, but then Grêmio once again brought us back down to Earth. June has been a difficult month, playing so many games is definitely getting to us. Mejía's loan expired after the Bahia game, which leaves us with one less squad member until he comes back on July 1st. He hadn't been great, but he was another option. After being so prolific in the first part of the season, our strikers have reverted back to their usual form. Gabriel scored in the first two games and has since been so poor I've dropped him. The defense is looking decent, and Roffo has been immense, but this run of form is very mediocre after going unbeaten for our first 31 games of the season.

Our three wins have been over newly-promoted teams, which is very concerning. Our first ever loss to SPFC was a sign that I was being too ambitious with my expectations, and should worry more about relegation.

This is lower than where we were most of last season, but we're getting points at around the same rate. We have already a healthy lead on Sport and the teams competing against relegation. The aim will be getting points against those six teams, and trying to upset the bigger clubs like we've done a few times in the past.

Vitória's form has been incredible, they just got promoted and are third.

Copa do Brasil

We got a big win over the worst version of Atlético Mineiro in years. It was a fairly tight matchup for the most part, Melo scored at home with a free kick, and we were lucky to get a goal from a penalty and a corner in the first half of leg 2. They went all out attacking in the second half and we picked them apart with counter-attacks, but only got one more goal. 

We'll be facing the other big Belo Horizonte team in the quarter-final. Cruzeiro are also in a bit of disarray after selling a few important players. They spent big on replacements, but they lost the Minas Gerais league to América for the second year in a row and they find themselves 16th in Série A, despite winning the league and the cup just two years ago. That said, we've never beat them before. We are facing them in the league three weeks soon, that's gonna be a good test for how to approach this tie.

Copa Sudamericana

We ended up facing Blooming from Santa Cruz, Bolivia in the second round of our continental adventure. We were surprisingly much better than them. We shouldn't have conceded in Bolivia and maybe could've scored more, but the three goals were enough to make it through. A goal from our captain at Tite Park was the coup de grace.

We will be facing Uruguay's Nacional in the third round. I don't know what to expect, Nacional are a huge club with tons of history, but they play in a weaker league.

[wesl]

3 hours ago, bdearaujo said:

I am really enjoying this story. As an Atletico Mineiro fan, I love reading Brazilian saves. Really makes me want to write my own.

I would read it!

1 hour ago, shimera said:

Great job with Caxias! Love when people play in Brazilian leagues, it's an unique experience

Thanks for reading! It's the most fun I've had with FM in years.

[wesl]

This is Diego Pessanha. He's probably the best prospect from last year's intake. Good physicals, passing and vision fit perfectly with what I've looked for in our BWM.

We've had a minor injury crisis with midfielders. They keep getting minor injuries during matches. This means they might be out for 2-3 games since we've played twice a week for 3 months straight. Melo and Souza have also been out for longer, with Melo picking up five separate injuries since June, two of them making him miss a whole month. He's gonna be out for approximately 70% of time from June through August. Souza has been out for nearly two months as well. Every other midfielder we have (expect for Bruno and including several U-20 players) have missed time. I thought about getting an emergency loanee, but it's probably not worth it since we're almost surely only playing once per week for the rest of the season.

This has forced me to play Pessanha as a sub in some important games. He hasn't been good, but he didn't make huge mistakes, which I'm perfectly happy with at this point.

This is the result. I don't know if Pessanha will amount to something in his career, but those are records that will be hard to top in this save, with the minimum age to play in Brazil being 16 years.

We also have the youngest Série C player record, since we played Antoninho there at 16 years and 6 days. Our club record belongs to Antoninho, who debuted at 16 years and 2 days in a Copa FGF game.

After 8 years at the helm of Grêmio, Renato Gaúcho has left to manage Brazil. Gaúcho has been my main nemesis in this save and one of the only good reasons to do press conferences has been thrashing him before and after Grêmio games. He will be missed. As a silver lining, now that he's left I'm the most tenured manager in Série A.

[wesl]

2024 Série A

This was a real slog. During the state league, we were rotating a handful of players in and out, now we've had to keep throwing out U20 players who are clearly not ready and it's worked out as well as you would expect. 11 points from 9 games isn't so bad, but we've played really poorly. The Cruzeiro game was disappointing, we got destroyed by De Arrascaeta. Another lousy game was the loss against Palmeiras, where we were playing really well and they scored after Danilo Boza got sent off... unfairly, since they've revoked the ban after an appeal. I've had at least 5 bans revoked during this save, and I thought refereeing in real life was lousy.

The sole shining light is the win against Corinithians, where Antoninho put in an absolute masterclass (8 tackles won, 45/53 passes completed with 3 key passes) and capped it all off with a goal in the 86th minute to give us the win. Of course, he picked up a knock during that game and was out for two weeks.

Our forwards have been atrocious, Mejía is the only one who has scored in this time.

Our lead over Sport has grown to 9 points, which is the only the thing that matters. We need six wins to reach the magical 40 points.

2024 Copa do Brasil

De Arrascaeta once again wrecked us in this tie. It was funny, he got subbed off at Tite Park and we immediately scored twice. At Mineirao, he played the whole game and it showed in the final score.

2024 Copa Sudamericana

This was a tough result to take. We couldn't create anything, we had three shots on goal on both games. In the end, both of their goals came from set pieces, we just continue to have that weakness. I knew we weren't winning early on in leg 2, when they got something like 5 corners in a row and won every header.

It sucks to go out of both cups but on the other hand, we only have 19 games left to play over the next four months. Right now, there's only one mid-week game scheduled, which hopefully means we get back to being a respectable team soon.

Edited January 26, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2022 Série A

Well, it's been ten more games of this. We've played a bit better since September started, but our defense collapsed against Grêmio and SPFC. Leo Ortiz has much better attributes than our three starting centre-backs last year, but he's just not a good fit with what we try to do. He's too slow and timid to throw himself in front of shots and passes like Romércio and Sánchez. He also rarely tries risky passes so he never makes a difference offensively, which was the reason we brought him in. I'll bench him and start an academy product for the rest of the season.

Vitor Gabriel is scoring again though! He started with the unlikeliest goal we could come up with, against Grêmio assisted by a cross from Romércio, the only player in my starting XI who I don't expect to do anything offensively. He's up to 5 goals since.

Our lead over 17th place grows to 11 points. We should only need two or three more wins more to stay safe. CSA and Ceará are basically relegated. Atlético Minero are overdue a positive run (they're Sudamericana finalists!), but América seem to be in free fall and we might catch up to Fluminense.

Bahia are this season's biggest surprise. They are managed by Hemerson Maria, who took over in 2020 in the midst of a 13-game winless streak. He couldn't keep them in Série A but got promoted straight back in 2021. In 2023, they won the Copa and now it seems like they're gonna take the 2024 Série A, possibly without losing a single game!

Edited January 28, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2024 Série A

We just got worse as the season went on, and this is how we've closed things out. To be fair, hours before the Chapecoense game we finally were sure we were staying up, so the remaining three games were played by a starting XI that featured only 2 players older than 19 years old. We fully parked the bus every game game between Flamengo and Corinthians, and the 5 points were enough.

The loss at Beira-Rio was one last dissapointment, as I could never beat Inter in 5 years. Our record against them is 3 draws and 8 losses.

I would've liked to say goodbye to Caxias with something other than a 5-game losing streak, but it's good to be done with this brutal Série A season.

We finish 15th, with 16 points less and 6 points below last year but there's no complaints from me. Mineiro saved themselves by the skin of their teeth, with their neighbors América going down instead. Funny enough, we qualified for the Sudamericana since the cup winner had already qualified for the Libertadores through the league and a Brazilian team won the Libertadores this year. That means there were two extra spots, and the next manager will also have to juggle four competitions.

The real story here is Bahia, who went unbeaten until matchday 35, when they finally lost to.... city rivals Vitória! They are still the national champions for the first time since 1988, but Vitória will never forget that. The lore in this save is great.

Same formation as always, here were my mistakes this season: I stuck with Ortiz and Melo for too long when they were out of form, and I should've sat less deep and packed the midfield more. The last two were things we've never tweaked since I took over and I didn't feel comfortable experimenting as long as we were not safe from relegation. We ended the Série A season with only 33 goals from 38 games but .

The only player who was always on point for us was Manuel Roffo. Some heroic performances in losing efforts, and also helped us grind out enough points to stay up. I was really lucky to have three great keepers during my Caxias sting (Josviaki, Jori, and Roffo). It seems like the coming manager will sell him to Bahia, which doesn't bode well.

Edited January 29, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2020-2024 Caxias overview (aka me getting sentimental over a fake video game team)

No matter how lousy the last part of this stint was, I had a blast playing with Caxias. Three promotions and a state league in five years are a better haul than I ever expected.

At our best, we could wreck teams as big underdogs (3-0 at Arena Grêmio, 5-1 at Morumbi, 4-1 at Vila Belmiro) by playing great defense and counter-attacking quickly with smart, precise passes. At our worst, we were a plodding team who could barely advance the ball and needed set-pieces or an artless long ball over the top to create chances. I think we were the former more often, and that version of us has been one of my favorite teams to watch in FM ever, but we've been very dull since we won the state league. 

This is Gustavo Santos, our longest tenured squad member. Caxias has a strong team for Série D at the start of the game, but it got even better when they signed Santos days after the save started. When the next manager takes over, he will be the only player who has been in the first team since before 2021. He was our second best striker over two seasons in the top tier, after he was signed on a free by the AI of a fourth-tier team. Santos was far from a clinical goalscorer, but watching the games he did everything else right: always tried to go for the best passes, helped the team in defense restlessly, and occassionally made horrible two-footed challenges which just made me love him more.

I've also never had as many great youth intakes as I did with Caxias. We've had at least three players rated with Série A potential come through every year. In the end, only five academy players fully broke into the first team as we rose through the ranks, but there's a lot of talent out on loan and in the U20s. The players who broke through were Jerri Fernandes (sold to Bahia), Antoninho, Gérson, Andrews Luiz Turra (sold to Naútico), and Carlos César. Additionally, we had our DoF Diego Ziegg signing youth players fairly constantly. The two from those signings to break into the first team were Bernard (sold to Doze) and Érico.

Like always, I have no idea what to expect from Caxias next year. It was really hard finding players who would be major improvements on our squad, even though we have one of the weakest rosters in the league. The next manager will have more money to spend than I ever did but it's gonna take a lot to stay up. And with this season being as rough as it was, that's the main reason why I want to leave. I've thought about turning this into a Caxias youth-only save, but I'm going with the original challenge. Força Grená!

Edited January 29, 2020 by wesl

[shimera]

You did your best! Time to bring another teams into the limelight 

[wesl]

2024 season

Série A

Bahia's amazing season culminates with their third title. Ceará and CSA go straight back down. Sport and América are also relegated.

Série B

Botafogo, Avaí and Atlético Paranaense get promoted after one season. Oeste joins them after only two seasons in Série B. Naútico has come close three years in a row.

Tombense, Londrina, CRB, and Paysandu are relegated.

Série C

Figueirense, Criciúma, Mirassol and Salgueiro (PE) will play in Série B next year. Mirassol join the club of teams to achieve back-to-back promotions.

Série D

Brasiliense, Campinense, Ypiranga (AP) and Desportiva are promoted! All teams from underrepresented states in Série C and above.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Atlético Acreano (13th title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CSA (42nd title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Santos (AP) (9th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: São Raimundo (AM) (8th title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Vitória (32nd title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Fortaleza (43rd title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (16th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Doze (1st title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Vila Nova (GO) (17th title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Corrêa (39th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: Cuiabá (10th title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Operário (MS) (15th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: América (MG) (18th title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Paysandu (53rd title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Botafogo (PB) (35th title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Atlético Paranaense (27th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Naútico (24th title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (8th title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Vasco (25th title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: Potiguar (3rd title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Caxias (2nd title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (6th title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: Baré (13th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Chapecoense (10th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: São Paulo (23rd title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Sergipe (37th title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (5th title)

Copa do Brasil

Inter take the cup, beating SPFC in the final.

Copa Libertadores

Corinthians win their second Libertadores in a row, this time in Montevideo against Boca, and then they went on to win the Club World Cup against Juventus. They're the first non-European team to do so since 2012, when they won it again. South American teams have failed to make the final since 2019.

Copa Sudamericana

Estudiantes beat Mineiro in the final in extra-time.

Copa América

The third consecutive Argentina-Brazil final, this time won by Argentina. Messi retired last year.

[wesl]

This is a chart of how many seasons teams from each state have played in each of the top 3 Brazilian divisions from the first season of this save, 2019, until next season, 2026. As you can see, there's six (Amazonas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Piaui, Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins) states with zero promotions from Série D. The plan was going to a team in one of those.

5 of the 6 targeted states are in Brazil's northern region. The two other northern states (Acre and Amapa) have a meagre total of three Série C seasons to their name. Brazil's north is the least developed region, if I understand correctly, and also the one with least footballing tradition. So this is just like real life. Winning a state league there should be easy with a team like Rondoniense or Manaus, who have almost been promoted to Série C in the past. The problem is those jobs are only available when their manager gets poached, since they always do well in their state league and Série D promotion is a longshot for any team anyway. The gap between them and others in their state seems quite big too. This save has had most non-league teams (those that don't qualify to Série D) go amateur. Coaching an amateur team was awful in my previous FM experiences, but it was so easy finding good players in lower divisions that it doesn't seem so daunting in Brazil. I would rather coach an amateur team than sit unemployed for a year, so I'm just going for the first available job.

There was a vacancy in Grêmio Atlético Sampaio, also known as GAS. A great acronym and a professional club in Roraima, I was more than happy to take this job. But I also decided I would apply to three specific teams (two from Série B and one from Série A) who are in very interesting positions, if those jobs became availabe. One of those managers retired and so....

I took over Sport Club Corinthians Paulista in January 5, 2025. My predecessor was Reinaldo Rueda, who took over in 2021. He came close to being fired often last season, since the team never looked like winning the league. Rueda took them from being a perennial second place to winning Série A, two consecutive Libertadores and a Club World Cup. If they thought about firing him, the expectations here are probably a bit higher than in Caxias.

Corinthians haven't won the Campeonato Paulista since 2018, but reclaiming it shouldn't be that hard. Regardless of how this goes, I don't plan to be here after my contract expires in 2026.

This team has an incredible squad (which I will go into detail in the next post), but the main reason to take this job is Austregésilo.

He's the best player in Brazil! The "plays no through balls" trait is something we have to get rid of, but they sky's the limit here.

Edited January 29, 2020 by wesl

[zethani]

Great job at Caixas, but it was definitely time to leave for greener pastures. And what a change! Maybe you have developed from silverware taste after the last Gaucho... Corinthians seems the right place to pursue this rightful passion. Cheers.

[Bitner]

VAI CORINTHIANS.

Cheers,
Bitner 

[LUFCspeni]

Really good move, that player looks outrageous! 

[wesl]

Transfers

A clear-out of sorts, but none of the players who left were among our best.

Alaf was practically sold before I got here, quite a good right-back but we are completely set in that regard, as I'll go into later. I sold Guruceaga, a back-up keeper who took up a foreigner spot. Pedrinho was a good attacking midfielder and has been with the club for a decade, but we have a few better options there so he went off to Saudi Arabia. Vitinho was bought from Flamengo for R$55M two years ago, but I was surprised by his weak mental attributes, so he was listed and left for Switzerland for a sizeable loss (but one that doesn't matter since this team makes money hand over fist). Robert Rojas is a centre-back who we could've used, but the offer from Saudi Arabia was too good. Also leaving definitely are Canário and Marcelo, two decent players in the early 20s who weren't gonna break into the first team in the near-future. Those were the types of player who we always bought at Caxias!

Williamis and Tabosa are DoF youth signings. Batata is a young LWB who was a bit of a panic buy, as one of out left-backs got injured and there's no good prospects in that position. The big signing is Arrieta, a young Argentinian midfielder who looks to be among our best players. I looked into bringing in players like Casemiro and Marquinhos, who are on an expiring contract or listed in Europe, but the price was obviously too steep. The goal here is doing some galacticos ****, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for any marquee signings.

I also scouted every Caxias player under 21. My scouts loved Alisson, a central midfielder who came through in last year's intake. I was gonna sign him for R$6M, but the DoF couldn't agree on a contract.

Corinthians squad overview

Goalkeepers

Faríñez won the league and was declared the best Série A GK award in his first Corinthians season (Roffo won last year, and he's now in Bahia, which is bad for me and for Caxias). More importantly, he  won the Lev Yashin award in the 2022 WC as he led Venezuela to the semifinals, winning two shoutouts along the way. Faríñez is an immense shot-stopper, his "weakness" is aerial play, which he actually shares with Roffo. Perhaps it's just a less important attribute in this league.

With Guruceaga's sale, our back-up keeper will be Diego Eli, a 20 year old academy graduate. He doesn't have a high PA rating from the staff, but he should be good enough already to give Fariñez a rest here and there.

Centre-backs

Lauro Kunrath comes from Grêmio via Flamengo. He only spent a year in Grêmio's first team squad, but in that time he scored against Caxias in a semifinal. I'll try not to have any hard feeling against him, as he's one of our players described as wonderkids. He's extremely well rounded, with his strongest attributes being the most important ones

Paulo Marcelo is a Corinthians academy graduate. He spent the last two years on loan at Goiás and Inter, where he won a promotion and the cup. So he's quite experience despite this being his first year. His great physical attributes and positioning also make him a strong fit, as we'll play a high defensive line.

We have a solid veteran central defender in Léo Pereira, who could fulfill a BPD role if needed. Other players who will get a look are Ismael Belao, 17, Índio, 18, Yuri, 19, and Eduardo, 21. All of them from the Corinthians academy.

Full-backs

Ribeiro is our captain. He's one of the best players in the league, winning the best RB award last two years, a few best player awards and being named to every Best XI he could. He's already a club icon after two years in Corinthians. His crossing and dribbling don't look that amazing, but he's got 19 assists in the Paulistao and Série A in the last two years, and he looks set to get even more this year. He looks amazing defensively.

Our main back-up at right back will be Tevez, only 17 and probably one of out best prospects. He's great at crossing and already has a few assists to his name this season. Behind him is Wellington Thiago, 18, a more solid defensive option, and possibly someone who'll be retrained as a centre-back since he's 187 cm tall.

Ayrton Lucas has been the starter at LB for four years. He's a bit weak defensively but very well rounded overall, and has amazing speed. He's sadly missing the first few months of the season.

Panda was poached from Chapecoense in 2020 and has slowly made his way to the first team. Great physical and mental attributes should compensate for weak technicals, and he will unseat Lucas as the starter if he keeps playing like he has recently.

Some of the centre-backs can play here but the only other natural option we have is new signing Batata, 18, who isn't quite ready so I hope we can avoid any more injuries. This a weak position compared to the rest of our squad, but I haven't found the right transfer yet.

Midfielders

I think it's plain to see why I went for Arrieta. He's just so well-rounded and should hold Corinthians' midfield together as long as he's here.

Orbelín Pineda looks really creative going forward, he's coming off a serious injury but I expect him to be quite good. As a midfield pairing, these two may lack brawn, but we should never struggle to create chances with these + our attacking midfielders and forwards.

Jaílson could be a more defensive option, he came from Fenerbahce in 2021 and has been a starter constantly. He was transfer listed when I got here, but he could still very useful. Marcos Vinicius, 20, is also quite an interesting player with his great passing/vision.

As players who could appear from the reserves/subs we have Terra, 17, Natanael Camba, 17, and Thiago, 18. Not as many as I would like since Camba is more suited to playing as an enganche and Thiago wants to leave.

This must be the fourth screenshot I post of this guy, but here he is again. We're gonna play him as a number 10 of sorts and tweak whatever's needed to fully unleash his potential. By far, our best player on paper. This is his second year in Corinthians and he's surely leaving for Europe at some point, but I hope we don't get offers for another full season at least. If not, his contract runs out after I leave so if I selfishly turn down every offer, I wouldn't have to deal with the fallout!

As back-up to him I will use Marcos Guilherme, formerly of SPFC and Al-Wehda, who has been here since 2020. At 29, his physicality is already declining but he's good everywhere else. We also have César, 18, and Ricardo Cascardo, 19, who have done very well when they've played so far. Both of them are quite pacy but they need to develop technically. Most of our forwards could also fill in at AMC.

Forwards

Everton Felipe is another ex-Grêmio player who was a pain in the ass for me in Caxias. He came here last year for R$60M. They were worth it, his attributes aren't as awe-inspiring as some of our other players but he's shown an incredibly eye for goal in the games we've played so far.

We also have Ángel Romero from Paraguay. He has been at Corinthians since 2014, which makes him the longest tenured squad member and he's become a club legend. He's also shown to be a very good scorer so far, and his work rate should set the tone for what I want to be a high pressing team.

Nogueira is a homegrown player who's become the clear first choice at striker. The dribbling, finishing and off the ball proeficiency, as well his aerial game, are great to have, but I want him to improve in crossing, passing, and work rate, which would be key roles for what I want my striker to do here.

Osni Bernardo is our third player labeled as a wonderkid by the game. I want him to improve in the same areas as Nogueira, but he's quite a different player. His speed is obviously great to have but we have obviously found teams sitting back in most games. Perhaps Bernardo could be a better option in important games?

Also in the club is Gabriel Barbosa (Gabigol!). In this game, he's never been anywhere near the phenom he was with Flamengo, but still a useful player as an IF or as the striker. We're trying to sell Uruguayan Jonathan Rodríguez (e: he's leaving for Betis for R$11M in July) to make way for the many youngsters who play across the front three. The two most notable are Danilo, 16, and Ismael Martins, 19. Although, there's at least four more who could appear as subs or emergency starters.

Edited January 30, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

22 hours ago, zethani said:

Great job at Caixas, but it was definitely time to leave for greener pastures. And what a change! Maybe you have developed from silverware taste after the last Gaucho... Corinthians seems the right place to pursue this rightful passion. Cheers.

The more I look at this squad, the more it feels like it would be a failure not to win everything. No pressure though.

13 hours ago, Bitner said:

VAI CORINTHIANS.

Cheers,
Bitner 

I knew you would like this 

6 hours ago, LUFCspeni said:

Really good move, that player looks outrageous! 

Outrageous is exactly the word I'd been looking for.

[Bitner]

Austregésilo is a beast, Goodness me. I wish we had a player of this calibre.

Cheers,
Bitner 

[wesl]

Our early season form has led to three call-ups for our Brazilian players!

Austregésilo debuted for Brazil nearly two years ago but hasn't been capped since. Kunrath and Ribeiro would be debuting. With three call-ups, Corinthians is tied with PSG for most players in the Brazilian squad. Sadly, Kunrath and Ribeiro didn't get to debut, but Austregésilo started both games.

It seems like we don't get any international breaks in Brazil (something I never had to worry about with Caxias), so we have to play some games without many of our best players but I'd love to have a squad full of internationals.

Looking towards 2026, two of our established internationals won't be going to the World Cup. Romero's Paraguay will fall short, and Fariñez also won't get to repeat his 2022 heroics with Venezuela. We're also selling Uruguay's Rodríguez. Orbelín Pineda could get called up for Mexico, but he's only made sporadic appearances for them. Arrieta is good enough to be an international, but he has yet to debut and Argentina is always loaded. We have a handful of players who could make the Brazil squad, if they're in good form.

We've also just closed a deal for a highly decorated international......

The highest paid player in Brazil is Austregésilo, making R$ 15.2 M per year, followed by Everton Felipe and Palmeiras right-back Ramiro, also just above 15M. If I were to make a list of highest paid players in Série A, I think I would have something like 14 of the top 25. Casemiro will be making 11M more than Austregésilo, with his agreed initial wage translating to just above 100K euro per week. This puts him way ahead of everyone else in this league. My total wage bill for Caxias last year equaled half of what he'll make after 30 league games!

This is a vanity signing, but he's still gonna be very good for us. Casemiro is quite a veteran, but his physicals are strong enough for him to play in our pace-and-space system. Him + Arrieta in the midfield of a 4-2-3-1 should be the best version of this team.

We can outspend everyone, and since I'm only here for a short time, we're gonna outspend everyone. It's an 18-month deal so it shouldn't be too bad for this club in the long term. Galacticos ****.

Edited January 31, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

The state league final got postponed into the beginning of the Série A season, which led to us playing 7 games in 15 days and me combining the first two updates of the season into one abominable long post.

Campeonato Paulista

We hit the ground running in the Paulistao group stage. We dominated most games and piled up a lot of goals against Série D and non-league teams. We had over 40 shots in a couple of these games. Santos gave us a tough match and went up 1-0 thanks to a beautiful counter-attack but Arrieta found the ball on the edge of the are with 8 minutes left and buried it to equalise. Santos was a real problem for us, despite us being on the front-foot most of the match, they carved us open with quick counters a number of times. We should've beat Guarani, but they hit us on the counter twice late in the game to equalise. The Palmeiras match was the definitive test on whether the approach we'd been working with could work against top teams, and we limited them to 4 shots and won fairly easily. We did similar against SPFC. It was a great start to the season.

Rather than facing the teams in our group, we faced all the other teams once. I quite like this format, every team has the same strength of schedule. The top two from each group play each other in the quarter-finals. This meant meeting Série B's Sao Caetano next.

It wasn't a commanding win, but we never looked like losing. That is quite a crowd away! We got drawn with Santos in the semi-final.

First game was a great match filled with chances from both teams, Santos carved us open on the counter a number of times and we played our usual quick offensive game. A draw at Vila Belmiro is a decent result but I knew I had to change something. We went out with a more attacking mentality in Arena Corinthians, and went up 2-0. At half-time, I subbed our striker for a half-back and played the rest of the game with 4-1-2-3-0 formation. This eliminated our problems with their counter-attacks and we secured the win.

We got a very good win away, with the same result as our game in the group stage. Despite dominating the game at home (they only had 4 shots!), we were 2-2 after Luciano scored off through ball just after the game started. I was thinking of changing to the 4-1-2-3-0 to protect our one-goal lead, but they got a player sent off and keeping our original shape led to 3 more goals and the state title.

Corinthians are Paulistao champions for the first time since 2018! This was the opposite of my 5-year calvary at Caxias, and means we only have 25 states left to go.

Recopa

Rueda led Corinthians to the Libertadores title last year so we got to play this, and we managed a great victory away at Estudiantes. Two trophies in 5 months!

Copa Libertadores

We got a very easy group but I liked our performance. I got a minor revenge over Nacional, who knocked Caxias out of Copa Sudamericana last season, and the team always did great even with heavy rotation. The last two games featured many U20/reserves players but they did great and we won six of six games in the end. The three goals conceded were late consolation strikes, something we need to avoid somehow.

We were of two teams to win all group games, the other was Estudiantes who also got a +22 goal difference!

We will play Venezuela's Caracas in the second round, and we should advance easily to face the winner of Bahia/River.

Série A

Our great form continues in the national league. We finished the state league unbeaten, which should've been enough to convince me the tactic and squad were solid, but we did the same in Caxias last season and we still collapsed during Série A. So I micromanaged a lot of stuff in the early games. Our win over CAM was huge, and convinced me we're more than good enough to keep this form going. We've conceded a lot of late consolation goals, which is something we need to stamp out.

I was ready to play another classic match against Santos, but Jailson got sent off twenty minutes in. I switched to a 4-4-1-0 formation with Austregésilo as the most forward player and the game produced zero highlights through the remainder of the match. A perfectly decent result.

Already have a healthy 5-point lead over Flamengo, and we look like frontrunners for the national title after just 10 games. We have yet to face most of the top teams, but our goal difference makes me think we can keep this up.

Caxias haven't been a complete disaster like I feared, but I don't think they're staying up. Silas, the new manager, has brought in 13 permanent signings and 5 loanees. It's already a barely recognizable squad, but they didn't get that much better. Silas has three promotions to his name (Santa Cruz and CRB from Série C, Oeste from Série B), so at least he might be bring them back if they do get relegated.

Copa do Brasil

Playing Libertadores gives us a bye to the 5th round. We got the easiest possible draw against Copa Verde champions Uniao Rondonopolis. First game came right after our 7-games-in-15-days stretch, so I played 9 U20/reserves players as starters. We still dominated but could only score once and Pineda missed a penalty. Kauhan has since gone on loan to Caxias. In the second leg I mixed in more players from the first team and we got our biggest win so far, with 2 goals and 2 assists from 19-year-old César.

We will be playing Bahia in the quarter-final. They won this two years ago, Corinthians hasn't won since 2009.

All this success has been brought to Corinthians by what's basically a default tactic. I experimented with 4-3-3 and narrow formations during the state league, and also played around with team instructions, but the standard gegenpress settings work great with our squad. I change the mentality depending on our opponent and that's basically it.

The only important tweaks have been getting the front six roles right. Austregésilo wasn't playing as well as I expected as an advanced playmaker, I changed his role and those around him to create more space to run into or find passing lanes, and it's worked.

Our main creators have been the wing-backs and Austregésilo. The two central midfielders have to move the ball quickly out wide or to Austregésilo (or the scarier option, to Austregésilo out wide), and the inside forwards and striker basically just have to score, which they've done a lot. We've been working like clockwork on offense, creating chances from all sorts of plays. We're vulnerable on defense with a high d-line and no defensive midfielders, but it's a trade-off worth making since we can seemingly outscore anyone, and Fariñez can save us from some horrible defensive mistakes.

There has been a healthy amount of rotation. Everyone but Austregésilo and Fariñez have been out of the preferred starting XI if others are in better form. LB Ayrton Lucas, CM Orbelín Pineda, and forwards Osni Bernardo and Gabigol played less than those in the picture, but they have all been great.

The 4-1-2-3-0 formation, switching the DLF for a half-back and the CM(D) for an advanced playmaker, is our ace in the hole when we have to protect a lead. We create chances at a lesser rate while playing in that shape, but we've shut Santos and Bahia down with it.

Austregésilo has 17 goals and 12 assists over 25 starts and 3 sub appearances in all competitions. He's clearly our best player. He didn't get going until March but once I figured out the correct roles, he's lived up to my very high expectations. He can score from open play and free kicks from seemingly anywhere in the pitch, as well as consistently creating chances for others with his dribbling, passing and crossing.

We are unbeaten after five months, and with two new items in the Corinthians trophy cabinet.

Edited February 3, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

We made another first-team signing, our third (and last, I think) for the year. Edwin Rodríguez is coming here for R$16.75 M.

Like the Casemiro deal, he wasn't someone we needed but there were too many reasons to go for him. At first, he will be a 1:1 replacement of Uruguay's Jonathan Rodríguez (leaving for Betis on July 1st) in terms of how often we use him, but he could be a better perfomer and become our starter at AML. He gives us a natural option there, which we didn't have. He already has most of the right attributes and would make a fine starter. But at 20 years old his potential is very highly rated by our scouts, so maybe he will develop into something special. And most importantly, he's likely gonna have considerable resale value since PSG were already interested in him when we first found him.

[Bitner]

VAI CORINTHIANS! You're doing great.

Cheers,
Bitner 

 

[wesl]

2025 Série A

Nine more good games in the league. Being unbeaten in the league and having won every game at home, I can't complain, even though a draw at Oeste should have been avoided.

Met Caxias for the first time 7 months after leaving and beat them 3-0. Only two players I coached suited up for Caxias in that match, Vitor Gabriel and Johar Franco. Casemiro debuted in that match, and he shot a penalty 85 minutes in to close out the scoring. He's been good but Edwin Rodríguez has been great with 6 goals in 7 games in all competitions.

}

It looks like it's our league to lose, 12 points up on Palmeiras halfway through. We are probably not reaching Cruzeiro's 100 point tally from 2003, but that was achieved in 46 games. We could be the highest point tally since the league has been played over 38 games. Santos got 84 in 2019 and Bahia got 84 last year.

Caxias is doomed. 

Copa do Brasil

The first game was very even, very close. But we're lucky to have Austregésilo on our side. He scored two improbable goals to put us ahead. Their defensive midfielder Bruno César got one goal back on an indirect free kick. Pineda seems to have a habit to show up and score a goal when we need it the most, and he did so early on against Bahia. We picked them apart after that, and ended up winning comfortably.

We'll be facing Inter in the semi-final, a team I have yet to beat in 5 and a half seasons.

Copa Libertadores

This was too easy. We had the tie won after the first game with a great performance from Rodríguez. I played a very young team in the second leg, with the oldest starter being Nico Arrieta, 22. We had a comfortable win thanks to Austregésilo and Rodríguez, and we could have won by an even bigger margin if Austregésilo hadn't missed a penalty in the second half.

Our continental run has been very easy so far but we're facing River (who just beat Bahia) in the quarter-final. Last time Corinthians faced River was in the 2023 Libertadores final, with Corinthinians claiming the title with a humiliating 3-0 win at Monumental. It would be great to do something like that again!

[wesl]

2025 Série A

Another good stretch of games, despite the disappointing loss to Palmeiras. They matched us in number of shots and chances created and we faded towards the end, which they capitalisted on with a 90th minute goal from Ángel Romero. After that, it was mostly smooth sailing until the Santos game. Our defense was looking very solid and while our finishing has taken a plunge we still scored enough goals to win most games. Santos just fired previous manager Eduardo Coudet (Hemerson Maria, who made Bahia champions, is his replacement), and at first it looked like they were going to be a much easier matchup for us. We went up 3-0 with a hat-trick from Austregésilo. They eventually started playing to their counter-attacking strengths again, and the last 20 minutes were hell for us. They created three one-on-ones against our helpless defenders and defensive midfielders. Fariñez saved the three points for us.

I didn't think Palmeiras could keep pace with us after they beat us, but they've been very good and have opened up a huge gap between themselves and third place. We still have a 10-point lead with 9 games left, so not winning the league would be a failure. But form can go away in this league at any point.

Caxias have given themselves a chance to stay up, but it still looks unlikely.

Copa do Brasil

We did enough to win this at Beira-Rio (my first win against Inter in 6 years!). Erick scored early at our stadium. We should've scored after that, but Osni Bernardo and Edwin Rodríguez missed some sitters. After Austregésilo got sent off we got a scare when they hit the woodwork twice on a corner but we got lucky.

We played Flamengo in the final. Corinthians hasn't won this cup since 2009.

... and we came up short. We did great in the first leg, Pineda has scored a lot of important goals for us and Gabigol doubled our lead. But they tied it up in Maracana, and we lost in penalties. We could've lost in 90 minutes, Flamengo just thoroughly outplayed us in their stadium. We played a weakened, inexperienced team and it was a tough game away, but we should've kept the lead.

Copa Libertadores

We played a great game in Monumental, but River were clinical on set pieces. It was one of our best offensive performances, but we just couldn't defend against them. The  three away goals were still a good result and a goal from Argentinian Nico Arrieta was enough in the return leg to secure it.

We play Flamengo in the semifinals! If we win this, Corinthians will be the first team to get three straight Libertadores since Independiente in the 70s.

[wesl]

We now have five Brazilian internationals! Austregésilo and Casemiro are the only ones who get playing time for Renato Gaúcho's Seleção, but it's good to see Kunrath, Ribeiro and Nogueira get called-up. Nogueira hasn't scored since July but he has great attributes, he just doesn't fit in entirely with what we're doing. Pineda also got called up in October. The September call-ups missed both legs of the cup final and a league game, which was very unfortunate and we might've won the trophy if they'd been here. The October call-ups will only miss two league games, but it's half of our first team squad!

This is a list of our permanent outgoing transfers out since my preseason post. We sold three players who were depth for our our front four, Rodríguez and Guilherme weren't getting playing time. Martins was young and I would've liked to keep him but he was unhappy. He's scored 5 Série A goals for Flamengo in 1 start and 7 sub appearances, but they don't play him more!

Cristiano was a lowly rated youngster, with an Italian passport which made Série B teams interested in him. Jáder was a youth keeper, also lowly-rated and not worth a million reais. We played him twice when Diego Eli got injured, and he kept two clean sheets which may have made his value skyrocket.

Edited February 7, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2025 Série A

Overall, we are from the unstoppable juggernaut we were at the start of this season. We were still the better team in most matches, but not great enough offensively to have every game won within 30 minutes. Seems like most teams will slow down towards the end of the long Brazilian season. The win against Fluminense secured the title for us, and the rest of the games were played by teams with many youngsters mixed in. The game against Vasco is one of the best we've played this whole season, with a squad of mostly U-20 players that managed to get 3 points away after falling behind.

Lauro Kunrath finally debuted for Brazil during November.

It was a great season! We doubled our lead over Palmeiras in the last 9 games.

Caxias ended up going down, but they could be back soon. Fluminense are third big 12 team to be relegated in this save.

Copa Libertadores

Two draws in matches where we doubled them in shots and shots on target, but we ended up going ahead on away goals. Santos and Flamengo are horrible matchups for us, no matter what formation/mentality we face them with. Osni Bernardo's goal saved us and the rest of the game was fairly uneventful.

We met Boca in Barranquilla, Colombia's Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez stadium. This was a repeat of last year's final.

Corinthians are champions of South America for the third time in a row! It was an easier game. We went ahead early with Nogueira scoring from a poor clearance by Boca's Loucas Boumerá (a great player who I might try to acquire soon) and Austregésilo doubled the lead with a great run and finish down the right. Despite slowing down, Boca only scored once from a series of rebounds in our area. I subbed in Casemiro as a DM at half-time and he was magnificent as we secured the win. He doesn't fare as well in our 4-2-3-1 but he's amazing in his natural position.

Club World Cup

We went right to Canada to defend our Club World Cup title. I dont know anything about most of these teams. PSG is obviously blessed with a great squad (Neymar, Mbappe, de Ligt, Lucas Paquetá). Atlanta has my former Caxias 'keeper Jori, Guangzhou has Victor Bobsin and other players who would be stars in Série A.

We played a great game against Guangzhou, but they came really closing to "FMing" us. 19 shots on target vs 3 and it still took until the 75th minute for us to break through, and then Simone Zaza equalised for them. My subs came through on extra time, with Lineker, Arrieta and Felipe creating two goals and avoiding the embarrassment of not making the final.

PSG had no problem beating the locals, Toronto FC, to make the final.

We got off to a shaky start. Neymar crashed a free kick into the wall, but he found the ball afterwards and crossed to de Ligt, who was completely alone. For a while, it looked like we were gonna get embarrassed, but with enough adjustments we ended up being the better team for most of the match (10 shots on target for Corinthians vs 6 for PSG). Austregésilo and Nogueira missed chances which they would've scored most times. Our hero was Everton Felipe, once again coming on as a sub to save the game for us. I decided to focus on nulifying PSG on extra time at the expense of our offense. It worked but it wasn't the best choice as we lost on penalties. Disappointing to come so close and fall short, but quite a great performance against the European giants.

The players who got the most appearances are here. This was a great team. Pineda is someone who was unexpectedly one of our best players, with 12 goals and 8 assists after being injured for the first third of the season. Ribeiro was fantastic as well, with 20 assists, and he's now a club icon.

Austregésilo was obviously our best player, with 31 goals and 17 assists in all competitions. He's capable of picking the ball up anywhere in the pitch and creating a goal from nowhere. I've seen him pick up the ball 40 metres from goal, start running towards a corner flag and end up scoring somehow.

He won the Kopa Trophy, Best Player in South America, Best Player in Série A, etc. It looks like he's leaving during this January. He has a release clause set at R$85M, which is quite close to his transfer value right now.

I'm staying in Corinthians until my contract expires at the end of 2026, and then it's off to the rainforest. Already won the state league but this is such a good team!

Edited February 8, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2026 season

Série A

Corinthians win the league in style, with a huge lead over Palmeiras . Last year's champions Bahia, regressed to 9th place.

Avaí and Atlético Paranaense are relegated after just one season in the top division. Caxias also go down, after three seasons in Série A. Fluminense's last season outside Série A was all the way back in 1999!

Série B

Figueirense are back in Série A with back-to-back promotions. Ponte Preta's promotion means 6 of 20 Série A teams come from Sao Paulo state. Two clubs from Recife, Sport and Naútico, also got promoted. Santa Cruz is left behind and will spend its 7th consecutive season in the second tier.

Boa, Salgueiro, Criciúma, and Sao Caetano were relegated.

Série C

CRB claim the title for the second time in 4 years. Paysandu, Ferroviario (CE), and Tombense are promoted. Brasiliense, Ypiranga (AP), Bragantino and Bahia de Feira are relegated.

Série D

Macaé are the fourth division champions. Jacobina, Fluminense de Feira, and CSP also have been promoted.

Copa do Brasil

Flamengo win the cup on penalties. It's their fourth cup title.

State leagues

1. Campeonato Acriano: Atlético Acreano (14th title)
2. Campeonato Alagoano: CSA (43rd title)
3. Campeonato Amapaense: Ypiranga (AP) (13th title)
4. Campeonato Amazonense: São Raimundo (AM) (9th title)
5. Campeonato Bahiano: Bahia (52nd title)
6. Campeonato Cearense: Ceará (45th title)
7. Campeonato Brasiliense: Brasiliense (17th title)
8. Campeonato Capixaba: Doze (2nd title)
9. Campeonato Goiano: Goiás (33rd title)
10. Campeonato Maranhense: Sampaio Corrêa (40th title)
11. Campeonato Mato-Grossense: Uniao Rondonopolis (5th title)
12. Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense: Operário (MS) (16th title)
13. Campeonato Mineiro: Cruzeiro (43rd title)
14. Campeonato Paraense: Remo (46th title)
15. Campeonato Paraibano: Atlético de Cajazeiras (2nd title)
16. Campeonato Paranaense: Atlético Paranaense (28th title)
17. Campeonato Pernambucano: Sport (46th title)
18. Campeonato Piauiense: Altos (PI) (9th title)
19. Campeonato Carioca: Fluminense (33rd title)
20. Campeonato Potiguar: América (RN) (34th title)
21. Campeonato Gaucho: Grêmio (40th title)
22. Campeonato Rondoniense: Rondoniense (7th title)
23. Campeonato Roraimense: Sao Raimundo (RR) (12th title)
24. Campeonato Catarinense: Chapecoense (11th title)
25. Campeonato Paulista: Corinthians (30th title)
26. Campeonato Sergipano: Sergipe (38th title)
27. Campeonato Tocantinense: Tocantins de Miracema (6th title)

Copa Libertadores

A repeat of last year's final, with Corinthians once again claiming the title over Boca.

Copa Sudamericana

Santos add another trophy to their cabinet, this time beating the surprising Union Santa Fe at Maracana.

World Cup draw

First time qualifiers are Curaçao, Guinea and Benin. Nations returning after a long absence include Peru, UAE, China, Wales, and Iraq. Not a huge fan of the format, but quite a good mix of teams. Notable sides who didn't make it are Russia, Ghana and 2022 semifinalists Venezuela.

[Bitner]

Boo!!! The first manager to ever lose a Club WC for Corinthians :P

But great, great year, and foking psg dude

Cheers,
Bitner

[wesl]

3 hours ago, Bitner said:

Boo!!! The first manager to ever lose a Club WC for Corinthians :P

Hey now, Rueda lost in the semifinals to a Chinese team in 2024! 

[wesl]

We are playing the same tournaments as last year, and there have been no first team signings made so far. I'll just jump into the first season update.

No offers for Austregésilo during the January window, but I don't think he'll make it through August.

Campeonato Paulista

A very unpleasant run of games! I've been trying to prepare for life without Austregésilo but the experiments didn't work out all the time. A draw at home against Portuguesa and failing to win any games against our major rivals is just disappointing. The game against Portuguesa was a team of youngsters that was too weak, but at least we got two goals from 16-year old advanced playmaker Ademar, just poached from Falmengo. We played Austregésilo and most of our best players in the derbies and still performed fairly poorly. We closed out strong against Guarani, with a team also made up of youngsters.

We dropped enough points to end below the surprising Mirassol, who beat Série A sides Oeste and Ponte Preta and drew away at Palmeiras. We'll play them next.

More unpleasant games for Corinthians. We failed to create good enough chances at home and could only score from a corner headed in by massive (195 cm!) centre-back Belao. The second leg saw Ribeiro and Gabigol injured within 30 minutes but we limited counter-attacks and got a goal from 20-year old attacking midfielder Cascardo. It was enough to go through to the semifinals and avoid tragedy.

Santos have a new building, which they've named Coutinho Park!

We were still without our national team call-ups for the first leg, and Galeno took advantage of three horrible defensive mistakes from Belao and Eduardo. Thankfully, 16-year old defensive midfielder Adriano scored a freak goal and we only ended up behind by one goal. We needed to win at home by 2 goals to reach the final. We conceded to a Galeno-led counterattack in the first half at Arena Corinthians, but came back in a huge way with our backs against the wall. Six goals in the second half! All came from different plays, which is very satisfying to say. Tevez blasted in a long shot, Felipe and Bernardo scored from crosses, Nogueira scored curving a shot past a centre-back, Austregésilo placed the ball into the corner in a breakaway. Marcos Vinicius put the cherry on top with a great free-kick goal. It all wasn't the result of a brilliant tactical adjustment, I just yelled at the players in half-time .

A repeat of last year's final, and we found ourselves up 3-0 quickly at home. We stepped off the gas after that, and Casemiro got sent off at Morumbi but the result was never in doubt. Second state league in a row for Corinthians!

Recopa Sudmericana

We had to face another Sao Paulo team in the Recopa. Santos gave us a tough first game, but we were much better at home and put three past their keeper Matheus. Another trophy for Timão!

After a rough patch we ended up looking quite good in decisive moments and have two trophies to show for it. We're gonna need more consistency during Série A but I can't complain so far. The players in the image have the most appearances, fringe players like Lineker, César and Marcos Vinicius have broken into the first team thanks to heavy rotation and player sales (which I'll have to detail in a future post). They've performed well! Lineker and César are newly labeled wonderkids, both quite promising.

With Austregésilo being benched while I messed around with tactics and missing time due to a call-up, Ribeiro has been our best player and one of our main creators. Him and his young back-up Tevez have 8 assists a piece, but I think Ribeiro has been more solid defensively so he gets the nod here.