[FM22] San Marino build a nation (Folgore/Falciano)

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club World Cup Group Stage 1st match: Cruz Azul

Of course the draw made it so that we didn't start a few days ago. Cruz Azul has already played a match, and we have one again 72 hours after this one. We switched to a tiki taka style very defensive to make sure the intensity of the tactics affects as little as possible.

The club world cup is also in the middle of an international break as there is U21 European Championships. So we'll be needing William Hamilton in goal, Connor Murphy at Left Back and Jesper Müller at right wing. Did I forget about that and register them for this tournament? Of course I did!

Edited October 8, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club World Cup Group Stage 2nd Match: Fluminense

Bad performance from tired players, but we managed to pull it through and we're on to the next round.

And not even 48 hours later we now have this:

At least they have also just finished playing their last match of the group stage.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club World Cup Quarter Final: PSG

We won! I have been resting the players right away after the last match of the group stage, and our focus on a tactic with low intensity really paid off! It was a boring match, and PSG only realy came close in the first half when they still had some energy. After that they didn't run anymore, and we slowly killed the match.

A big expanation to our succes can be seen in the energy levels of the players at the start of the second half.

All our players still had lots of energy while PSG already were done for.

A massive result!

It's actually a little shame that we don't have to play the next match within the next 48 hours. If we ran the same strategy again it would have given us the upper hand.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club World Cup Semi Final: Bayern Munich

They got exhausted for the second half but none of our players stepped up. Bad performance from everyone. We had openings in the end, but our finishing was just terrible and it seems like the players didn't want to win. We've had width in our squad for a long time, but this tournament shows that we don't have enough central midfielders. We will soon do something about that, as Abel Basto fill finally be integrated into the first team squad after many seasons away on loan.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Never been this far in the tournament before. Didn't know there was a match for third place. We're gonna go for it.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club World Cup Bronze Match: Inter

We got third place, and once again the opposition scored at the start of the match. Our defence really isn't performing, and I believe our full backs should be much better at defending. For now we don't have the options available to strenghten that department, but we do have Allingham coming back from loan at Manchester United where he has really evolved as a player and he's probably the best in our whole squad now. He can play both in central defence or as a right back. We need both though and Kumbulla is getting old, so he might start in central and move to right back once we get a great central defender.

He's really improved while being out on loan:

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We have our first five star talent!

Or... We don't have him yet, as he's still with Victor San Marino, but he'll be here in 2,5 years time and then we're gonna have to do some serious mentoring to up his determination and personality. He's already 1,5 stars at 15 years and can become a very good player in the future. Maybe even one we won't send away at the age of 22. That's the dream! Don't mind his price. We offered about 20M for him because we want to provide Victor San Marino with some cash.

This is really exciting!

[TheNapalmNerd]

Final report on Rosti

We're hoping that the devoted funds that is mentioned in the report will give us a player or two more within the next seasons. If we can get another player like this into our squad it will be much easier making the cut for the league and european football in the future.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Qualification Playoff: Hammarby (H)

Due to the nations coefficient reaching as high as 13th a season ago we've now entered qualification at the playoff. If we wanted to have another San marinese team in europe we should have lost the national championship in the last match. Then the national champions of San Marino would be guaranteed at least Europa League and we would still most likely get Champions League from the league path qualification. but we're not gonna give the national championship away under any circumstances.

Not much to say. We're up against the swedish champions, and we're several levels above them at this point. We gave debut to our new right back Allingham, and reserve goalkeeper and new keeping talent Juanpa. We want an extra homegrown goalkeeper in our squad, and Juanpa will be given some time over the season to progress. I'm still wondering whether it would make sense to give Hamilton a season away from the club, just to try and see if he can get some extra experience and reach the next level.

Edited October 9, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Qualification Playoff: Hammarby (A)

Another match and a few more debuts have been given. Kevin Astruc doesn't want to leave the club on loan this summer, even though we've had several offers, he's rejected them all. He's a good player, and could be an okay replacement for Sandry who will then leave permanently. Abel Basto also came onto the pitch along with Danilo Escobar.

Escobar probably comes short between these players. He's an okay reserve to have, but will not be given much playing time this season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage Draw

7

We were unlucky with an english squad from the fourth seeders, but we should be able to get second place in this group.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Summer transfer window done!

On deadline day we're welcoming two new players who will go into our starting 11. The first one is we're welcoming is a familiar face: experienced midfielder Filip Rønningen Jørgensen

Jørgensen has played for Folgore Falciano before. He was bought at the start of our fifth season in 2025 but was sold to Club Brugge in 2027 because we bought several players who outfased Jørgensen in our squad. Since then he has really developed during those six seasons at Club Brugge and his experience and current level of ability makes him an upgrade to Matthew Taylor and Abel Basto in our current midfield:

We didn't really need a new midfielder until Kevin Astruc finally decided to go out on loan for another season, and then we decided to pay the release clause of 27M right away to make sure we have enough quality midfielders for this season.

Another big signing for the club comes with Mason Greenwood

I won't be diving into any real life stuff about the guy. This is an RNG game and as such he is still a very good player even though he'll soon turn 32. He's fast composed and has great finishing with both legs, which makes him the perfect advanced forward and companion to Sesko. We'll be fielding an experienced striking partnership this season with those two..

He can also play on both flanks giving us lots of versatility during matches. Look at his international caps/goals ratio. He's a real goalgetter and one who could provide us with lots of goals for a season or two.

Other than that we have invested in some talents who have been sent away on loan for the next seasons. We've also injected Victor San Marino with 100M Euro this season, for them to hopefully make a quick return to the Serie B and establish themselves at that level. They will also have money for better facilities and hopefully that will provide San Marino with further talents like Riccardo Rosti in the future. Furthermore Tre Penne and FC Domagnano has also been given a little amount of money to invest a bit in their squad.

 

 

On the outs we've said goodbye to a few players permanently, but haven't had a big cleanup this season. We're saving that for next season, where we will probably go on a huge spending spree.

Of these players only Karel Hoogma, Marash Kumbulla and Sandry have been in around the starting 11 but the last seasons they've mostly just been fringe players in the squad.

With these sales we have a few holes in our squad where we will be investing in the future. We could use a new Left Back and Centre Back, and will be hopefully be able to focus on these positions in the next transfer window.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League title odds

We've gone from 6.001 to 151 to 51 over the years. I think within the next two seasons we can finally be considered among the favorites.

Edited October 10, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 1st match: Benfica (H)

Good start to the group stage. We've taken Issam Azzouzi into the first team squad as our new left back after he didn't want to go out on loan and we had loan offer for our normal start Connor Murphy. Azzouzi is not a natural left back, but will be trained to that position as he is left footed and normally plays as an inverted right back.

He's got what it takes to become a good left back in the future. We will just have to wait and see if it is for this club, but for now he is fine.

 

I'm very glad we beat Benfica, especially as they have several former Folgore players in their squad:

Along with loanee:

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 2nd match: Southampton (A)

Not our proudest moment. Azzouzi is still not familiar with his position and gave the ball to a southampton player in front of his own goal and then they equalised.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 3rd match: Real Madrid (A)

An okay result. I'm actually a bit dissappointed as we have squads that are similar in levels. Both Aso and Urko torres are former players of ours, who were in their starting 11.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 4th match: Real Madrid (H)

Two even teams once again. I really would have liked us to dominate them more at home, but it wasn't to be.

All of a sudden things are looking a lot different than expected. We have Southampton at home in the next match. A win is crucial.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Goal 50

Two players in it this season. Sesko moved up five spots since last year.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 5th match: Southampton (H)

Finally another victory in the group, and a very important one as we're the first team to go through to the first knockout round! Southampton has a team that is under our level and it finally showed. Their goalscorer is a player they have loaned from... you guessed it: Folgore/Falciano. I had never imagined we'd meet him when he was loaned to them.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino National Squad end of year 2033:

A prolific season for the San Marinese national Squad as they managed to get some results in their world cup qualifying group:

This means they actually ended up not being bottom of their group:

And another year with progress also means they once again go up in the world ranking:

Edited October 10, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 6th match: Benfica (A)

Another victory and we've secured our first place in the group stage

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our first not half star youth intake preview!

Fingers crossed!

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League First knockout round draw:

This is an ideal draw for us. We have a better squad and have a good shot at making the quartter finals.

 

 

Oh! and by the way I totally forgot to show you that we actually had another squad in european group stages this season:

Due to third place last season SS Cosmos we're qualified for the Europa League playoffs, where they lost both matches and then they accomplished a draw in the group stages of the conference league.

It ain't much but it is something.

[TheNapalmNerd]

January Transfer Window:

The Transfer window is over and we've seen a few changes in our squad. First of all we bought a player I have been chasing for a few seasons, and finally he was both interested and didn't renew his contract with FC København instead, our new right back Jakob Nielsen:

Milanovic hasn't been performing on the back, and Allingham (presumably our best defender) hasn't been performing, so now we've taken in Nielsen whose offensive skills will be very valuable in the danish teamup we now have on our right flank with Jesper Müller as our winger.

For the next transfers, I bought some players we didn't really need, but we got the chance, and with our aging attackers I went out and bought another aging striker: Fabio Silva

It doesn't really make sense probably, but Greenwood is out for a few months with damaged Achilles Tendons, and we could really use Fabio Silvas class in the Champions League, so we went out and bought him. Then another striker became available:

Pacey with crazy mentals and a good finishing. He's also a tad younger than other options, and will be at the club for the next seasons. This also means we're no longer heavily reliant on Benjamin Sesko, who has been our top striker for the past six seasons. Soon it might be time for Sesko to finally leave after wanting it for years.

The big signings we made had another impact:

We finally crossed 3,5 star reputation. This will be valuable in the future. This winter we have been able to attract more and better players than ever, and it will be perfect for our setup next season.

On the outs we said goodbye to a few players as well:

Mostly loans, but we finally said goodbye  ton Radovan Jevremovic who has been a sub at our club for the past seasons. We also said goodbye to Azzouzi whom I had high hopes for at left back, but an offer of 59M made it easy to say goodbye to him, as he wasn't really performing, and I think we can find a better back in the future. Finally we bough Jacob Berg last winter, but he never wanted to go out on loan, even though I didn't register him and promised to send him out on loan he still rejected every offer, and we decided to let him go. He's only got 3,5 star potential anyways, so he wasn't that special anyways:

When looking at our loan farm, we have some real gems out on loan this season and that made it real easy to let any central midfielder go:

We had Jamie Ross out on loan to Manchester United last season and Liverpool this year, and he's shown explosive development and is probably the best player we have in our squad now:

Pablo Cruz has also developed nicely, but will be given another season out on loan. I usually decide on them when they turn 22.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League First Knockout Round: Lyon (A)

Not a great match but we won in the end. We have lots of offensive skill in this team, and that saves the day. Our whole defense didn't perform. But a great result away from home and we stand with one foot in the quarter finals.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League First Knockout Round: Lyon (H)

 

And we're through to the next round. We need to be more clinical in the future though, but we have several injuries that harms the team right now.

Edited October 10, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

And it was a poor intake once again:

I do fancy the two good talents though. they could still do well in the national side.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League draw:

We have Liverpool in the Quarter Final and Arsenal or Barcelona in the Semi Final. We're pretty much out of this competition already.

[TheNapalmNerd]

NxGn 2034:

For the first time ever we have the NxGn no. 1!

This time we actually have several players in the list, along with a few incoming:

The future is looking good. It would have been nice if it didn't take 25 years for a player to become a San Marino national. Then we could have really moved the national squad.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Quarter Final 1st match: Liverpool (H)

It might seem from the statistics that Liverpool dominated us, but the only two highlight of their attacks were their goals. They have Ballon d'or winner Hugo Sousa up front, and he's a guy that can settle a match himself. We weren't good in this one...

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Quarter Final 2nd match: Liverpool (A)

Defensively there's just something terribly wrong with this squad, and it showed once again. It will be something we'll be focussing on in the future. Of course it is one of the best teams we met, but our defense really isn't up to speed in these matches, and it showed once again. If we are to win the Champions League in the future, it would have to be with a whole new back four. Allingham is supposed to be one of our best players, but hasn't been producing anything in the biggest matches. and the others haven't been good either. Right now the best players in our loan farm are midfielders. The defenders still need a few seasons away on loan. We could do with some better options available and some heavy investment. I think in two seasons we should be able to compete for the Champions League. Quarter Finals is okay, but we are looking at that next big step we have to make, and it's still a huge one for the club.

And with that our season is over.

[TheNapalmNerd]

End of season. Another domestic treble and a large increase in shirts sold.

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe

The San Marinese League has entered the top 40, and we'll soon be in the top 30. Things are really moving forward. Now we're ahead of League one.

We're still highly rated in the european coefficient rankings:

In the nations coefficients, we'll probably go out of the top 15 soon, but it has been some good years in the top 15 where we've had anoth san marinese team in european group stages.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club reputation update

We've seen some progress again this season and I believe we'll soon have our first two star reputation opponent in the league.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Qualification third round first match: Rangers (A)

Due to our nations coefficient we're in the third round of qualifying this season.

I had actually thought about just going through the qualification without mentioning anything in here as we shouldd be safe and sound every season in securing the champions league groups stages, and then we start off like this. Our first half was miserable. I had confidence all the way through, but they fought really well, and we were probably as unlucky as we could be in getting Rangers from the unseeded teams. Our defence is still a bit of a disaster. I bought in a new right back in Charles Raphael, who defensively should be a huge upgrade on Jakob Nielsen who is then a reserve for both RB and AMR. Ross in midfield is also a new name, and one we'll see for many seasons. He is probably our best player having served on loan for many seasons and progressed really well on his two last stints with Manchester United and Liverpool. World beater. But it will still take some time to get him used to our ways.

Not the best start, but we pulled through the first match and have already secured some important coefficient points. Now we only need to win at home as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Qualification third round second match: Rangers (H)

This is what I had expected in the first match.

A much safer performance and our champions league group stages seem to be safe oncce againg. We're through to the playoffs where we'll meet Kasakhstani champions Astana:

99.99 out of a 100 times we'd win this with a big margin.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Playoffs: Astana (A)

An okay performance away from home. We're still in the preseason process where everyone bids for all of our players, and as a result morale is low, so we'll take every victory we can get.

Edited October 19, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Reserve investment fund...

So basically I had just sold out a lot of players an really made everything ready for heavy investing in January, and then the board does this...

Our finances are still looking very good but damn... We might end up running this season in red. We did last season and I don't mind doing it again when they do this. Either way we should be able to make it without the money. It's just very annoying as I am saving up everything the transfer market throws at us in january.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Playoffs: Astana (H)

Son and done! we're into the champions League. Everyone has been performing in these last few matches, on a cheap note though. I do however see an increasing performance curve from allingham in central defence, and that is promising.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Draw:

Not the worst and not the best. We drew Real Madrid once again, and we should be able to compete against them. Especially with our newest additions to the squad. RB Leipzig should take third place in the group but will be a pain for us. We should beat them, but they can easily cause an upset. Celtic doesn't stand a chance on paper at least.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League odds:

So this is the first time we're rated amongst the favorites. We're even higher than Real Madrid from our group. Things are looking good.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 1st match: Celtic (H)

A match we should be winning and a match where we pulled the longest straw. I was shocked at their start, but we have quality in almost every spot, so we should be able to cope, and we certainly did. Our new Left Winger Pablo Cruz destroyed them. Overall it was a fantastic performance. And we're off to a great start with a big shock in the other match:

1st seeded Real Madrid lost against Leipzig. I haven't decided whether or not this is good for us yet. We'll have to wait and see.

Edited October 19, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Summer 2034 done

With the summer transfer window of 2034 done we can finally look forward, and have a little time where most players who are unhappy because I rejected bids for them in the summer will come to their senses and be happy again. This summer was another big story as the league reputation and club reputation has finally caught up and our players are now valued higher than ever before and the bids we're rejecting are reaching numbers where I'm actually considering some of the bids that come in.

But first of all. How did we do in the transfer market?

On the ins, the transfer that stands out the most is of course Charles Raphael who at 82M is our biggest signing this summer, and the only new signing going into the starting 11:

He doesn't like big matches, but seeing the way our other right backs have played so far, it seems none of them don't like big matches either. Raphael is a great addition to the squad and one of our best players so far. He had some promises he wanted fulfilled if he wanted to join and I promised to strengthen our goalkeeping position. So I bought in Facundo Cajun:

The best player available to us, and probably around the same level as William Hamilton, and Raphael is now unhappy I didn't do enough to strenghten our goal... So now we have Cajon as pour backup goalkeeper this season. Other than that we signed a few talents with the most expensive being jose Fonseca, who we immediately lent out, and are hoping will make huge steps while at Atletico Madrid.

Other than that. Not much to say. We'll have to wait and see how the others develop.

On the outs we said goodbye to a lot of players:

The standout player of course being Alan Skinner, Steve Kilgallon and especially Matthew Taylor. Taylor has been club captain this past season, but I didn't really feel like we we're moving forward with him, and seeing that we had some great central midfielders coming up from our loan farm it was time to let Matthew Taylor go. I had expected him to become a better player than he was, even though he was still a very good player. He was sent to Porto who offered the biggest package, but I actually still think it is a bit of a steal for a player this quality.

Skinner and Kilgallon had been out on loan these past seasons, and having reached 22 we finally had to make a decision on them and I couldn't really see them on our wings nwither in attack and they were let go:

We also said goodbye to central defender Roberto Pereira who just lacked that last quality to really pull through in our squad.

The rest of the players we said goodbye to we're mostly just players who were never going to make it in our squad. We lent out about 50 players again this season, so we still have lots of players in our loan farm, and we're keeping up with their development. We also sold two San Marinese players this summer and Legia Warszawa took both in as they were in need of new defenders, and that's good for the future as they are guaranteed playing time in poland:

Both are regular starters in the national team, and important players in the future of the national squad.

 

In our first team squad we had a few players coming through from our loan farm: Jamie Ross, Pablo Cruz and Kevin Astruc

He was 4,5 stars when he joined, but has performed well in recent matches and is by far our best player. During the summer I've had automatic rejecion on every bid that came in for him and we reached about 100M during that time. Of course I was never going to accept any bids for this guy as he is now the future of this club and our best player. He has developed tremendously over the last seasons and I didn't really expect anything like this to happen, bu we now have a real gem on our hands:

I was certain he had also been at Manchester United, as I had said in an earlier post, but that was Napoli. Don't know how I couldn't see the difference. The next one is Pablo Cruz, who we actually wanted to lend out for one more season to assist his development, but no one wanted him on loan for free, so that was their loss and he has already taken over our left wing:

He could do with some better technical attributes, but his performances have surely made up for it so far, and we're happy with him on our wing. He'll be hard to push out of the squad in the future. The last player we took in is Kevin Astruc:

His star rating doesn't suggest very much, but I compared him to Matthew Taylor and actually liked Astruc more:

Offensively he seems more capable and at a young age he has a few seasons in him to prove his presence in the squad. All of these updates of course were made with the best interests of the starting 11, and having a squad that is capable of competing for the Champions League. I don't think we're necessarily there yet, but we're closing in with a quality squad:

Leaving us with this tactic and starting 11:

These are the ones we'll be going with for the present season. We have lots of strikers, wingers and central midfielders all capable of making a difference if asked for. In defence we're looking better, but ultimately Rusyn, Alarcon, Allingham and Hamilton would be subs in a Champions League Winning side. I'm hoping we can soon strengthen those positions and have a few names in mind, but we're not desirable for those players yet. But we've come very far, and we now have our very first 5 star player in the squad. The first of many.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our presence in San Marinese Football has been good for the national squad so far. But we're actually seeing a tendency that three or four of the 1,5 star players from the national Squad (which is good for their standards) have been produced from other squads in San Marino. That's actually very nice, as it is only making everything a lot smoother for everyone.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 2nd match: RB Leizig (A)

A great performance, and we did what was expected. Leipzig has a dangerous squad (and even a loanee from Folgore up front), so they could easily have done more damage than they did, but we came out on top. So for now we are already on solely on top of our group, and the next two matches will prove to be very interesting as something spectacular happened in Scotland:

We're already five points ahead of Real Madrid before going into two very important matches against them.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 3rd match: Real Madrid (A)

What a match! Terrible defensive performance, but great comeback from all the players, and in the end we actually had a show on the post, and a goal that was rightly dissallowed for offside in the dying seconds. This match had it all, and we really did well to come back.

Still on top!

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 4th match: Real Madrid (H)

Before the match we got this report from the analyst department, saying we're better than Real Madrid. The odds before the season said the same and it really shows how far we've come.

And on to the match:

We absolutely destroyed them! Not much more to say than that. In the week before this match, we've had severeal players saying they want to join a bigger club. I'm really hoping we can grow this season.

We just sent Real Madrid out of the Champions League. Now all we have to do is secure first place!

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Goal 50:

Once again we have players in the list, and it is Higinio, Greenwood and Sesko. I actually don't believe this is the full picture. Jamie Ross is a much better player, and has had a much better season than Sesko at least. Jesper Müller is also one who is much better, along with Pablo Cruz. It will be fun to see the list next year. We might have said goodbye to a few names by then as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 5th match: RB Leipzig (H)

Obviously a match we should have won on paper, but things really didn't turn out the way we wanted. Elias Constantino in their goal played a very good match, and Hamilton saved us a few times as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Group Stage 5th match: RB Leipzig (H)

Huge letdown. Looking at the numbers we really should have won this match, instead we gave everything away and ended up putting 1st place at risk. We're lucky Leipzig played against Real Madrid.

We're through in first place, but we should really be much more consistent.