[FM24] Walking in the steps of Rudi Gutendorf - National Team Journeyman

[TonyPulisRegen]

Walking in the steps of Rudi Gutendorf

 

 

In a game where everything is about money, prestige, and glory, it is rare to come across managers or players who find fulfillment from entirely other aspects of the game.

This FM-save will revolve around Maximilian Schmidt. A former professional footballer who never left Germany as a player, but always dreamt of seeing the world. He's affluent in several languages, and has done a few coaching badges to get started on his journey.

Schmidt was inspired when he read a book about international journeyman Rudi Gutendorf. Gutendorf wasn’t the most successful manager in terms of results, he is known for having managed more national teams than anyone else in history. He has been anywhere from the Australian outback, to the steps of Zimbabwe, to the mountains of Nepal, and the lengthy shores in Chile, just to name a few.

International management is a unknown aspect to many FM players. There are far fewer matches, but EVERY MATCH MATTERS! You lose one league game with a club and you have the whole rest of the season to make up for it. In international tournaments, you get one unlucky result and it's all over and the next competition is two years away.
You have to make due with what you got, and you can't catch up with bigger teams by buying cheap wonderkids. Tactically you can't make a very specific system, as you never now if what key players will be available for the next game, which might be four months from now.

The goal of this save is simple, to take Gutendorfs place in Guinness world record for most managed national teams, and to manage in every continent. If Schmidt manages to take a country to new heights then that’s great, however, what really matters are the friends and experiences we make along the way. The world of football is as rich and wonderful as the world itself.

The complete list of all national teams managed by Gutendorf (he also managed some clubs in-between):

1968 Bermuda

1972–1973 Chile
1974 Bolivia

1974 Venezuela
1976 Trinidad & Tobago

1976 Grenada
1976 Antigua & Barbuda

1976 Botswana
1979–1981 Australia

1981 New Caledonia
1981 Nepal

1981 Tonga
1981 Tanzania
1983 Fiji
1984 São Tomé & Príncipe

1985–1986 Ghana
1986 Nepal

1987 Fiji
1988 China

1991–1992 China
1993 Mauritius
1995–1996 Zimbabwe
1997 Mauritius

1999 Rwanda
2003 Samoa

 

Complete list of national teams managed by Maximilian Schmidt (updated during the save):
 

2023-???? Ethiopia

 

Edited February 25 by TonyPulisRegen

[TonyPulisRegen]

Chapter 1 - Ethiopia

Schmidt got two job offers after about a month or so of unemployment. American Samoa and Ethiopia came calling and Schmidt decided for the stronger side in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is known for coffee export and most of you have likely seen their picturesque nature on lonely planet. In terms of football it's been a long time since they've had any major success. They won AFCON in 1962, a time when AFCON was a lot less competitive than it is now.

We won't be strong contenders to qualify for any major tournaments such as AFCON, or even less the world cup.

Still, Schmidt is looking forward to get to known the proud players of Ethiopia.

The Captain:

Star Player

 

Full squad as of now:

 

Schmidt quickly got looking for players with dual nationalities and found Kaiserslautern forward Kenny Prince Redondo (what a name). After telling him that he is getting old and will never play for Germany anyway, he gladly decided to join up with us!

Team Analysis:

The first thing that strikes Schmidt when overlooking the squad, is a general lack of height and aerial prowess. Even the central defenders are lacking in this department. 
This overall quality is poor, with speed over several positions being our one redeeming quality (13-15 pace/acceleration).
Our strength is on the wings with players that can actually make a difference if they get some space.
We have almost no central defenders with real quality, with this guy being our best CB currently:
 

 

World Qualification Group:

On paper we look like the second worst team in the group, only above Djibouti. Sierra Leone aren't miles ahead but they have some pro players in the championship and below (Steven Caulker, Alex Bangura etc)

First Match - 17.11.23

Guinea-Bissau were big favorites before the match and had us pushed back into our own half for most of the match. Our young GK had more than enough to do.
It started with an early pen and Schmidt expected it to become ugly as they went  up 1-0 after 2min.
Luckily we got a pen of our own and restricted them to mostly long shots after that.

The fans and players had high spirits after the match and Redondo thanked Schmidt for the opportunity to represent Ethiopia.

Edited February 24 by TonyPulisRegen

[TonyPulisRegen]

Chapter 1 - Ethiopia

After an uplifting draw to Guinea-Bissau morale is high before meeting Djibouti at our home stadium Adey Abeba Stadium in Addis Ababa. The stadium is apparently still under construction in real life and has had several delays, but in FM it's up an running with a capacity of 60K. I tried checking what stadium they have used lately in real life, at they played twice "at home" in Morocco against Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. Before that they played a friendly against Guyana in Virginia USA. The last time they played in Ethiopia was in 2022 in Adama Stadium, which is apparently also supposed to be expanded in the future. Seems like things are happening in Ethiopia, just not at the expected rate.

(Adama Stadium)

Our opponent for the next match, in comparison Ethiopia is ranked at 139th

Djibouti's manager, rumor has it he struggles to motivate the players.

Their star player, he plays in the local league and would only be an outsider for the Ethiopia squad.

Schmidt set up the team in a more positive style than last match and in the same 4231 shape. Djibouti had very little to offer going forward and sat low in a traditional 442. This game was of course a must win and the only win we can expect in our group. Djibouti could not handle our overlapping wing backs who delivered cut backs after running up the flanks.
Right wingback Suleman Hamid stole the show with a 9.2 rating and scored a goal after a terrific solo raid.

MOTM Suleman Hamid

Group 1 after the first two rounds

 

[steff91]

nice read there love a international from time to time myself

 

[TonyPulisRegen]

10 hours ago, steff91 said:

nice read there love a international from time to time myself

It's a different experience from normal FM, unfortunately it's not very fleshed out and you need a lot of editor files to get some of the smaller international tournaments.

[TonyPulisRegen]

Chapter 1 - Ethiopia

March 2024

Before another round of the World cup qualifiers we traveled south to Malawi for a friendly.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

June 2024

In the upcoming qualifiers we meet Sierra Leone at home and Burkina Faso away. One could hope that the home advantage would give us the edge against Sierra Leone, against Burkina Faso the hope is much lower and we would need more than a miracle. Chances are slim that our forwards can get past players like Bayer 04 defender Tapsoba, or hold back their star striker Lassina Traore.

Great game from our boys, we held possession and created lots of chances. Our star Abubeker Nasir scored two goals and was a deserved MOTM. We suffered from our defenders being by standers the few times Sierra Leone came forward. Not a bad result in isolation but not a great results if we want to qualify.

(Kallon went trough our defense with ease)

We tried to keep the ball a bit and ultimately just looked to not get humiliated. The difference in player quality was stark, but Schmidt told the boys that they did a good job given the circumstances. Our young GK Alazar Markos had the highest rating with 6.8.

(Markos had more than enough to do vs Burkina Faso)

October 2024

Time for the first matches in the AFCON qualifiers. Ethiopia drew in group H together with Algeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Algeria and Ghana have two of the best squads in Africa and are expected to kick our ass.

We finished what we started against Sierra Leone and battered them this time. First goal for Ethiopian/Norwegian Horenus Tadesse who we called up for the first time to Ethiopia. He will be happy as he flies back to Norway to play (on the bench) for Sandnes Ulf in the Norwegian second tier.

Our first match vs Ghana was just ugly. Inaki Williams and Sulemana used our defenders as training cones and we barely created anything.

November 2024 - The Miracle Against Algeria!

Bennacer didn't fancy playing that day and got sent off 5 minutes into the match after a two footed lung from behind against one of our DMs. Schmidt figured that this really was our chance decided to go for it by sending players forward and upping the tempo and pressing. Tadesse probably had the day of his life scoring two goals against Algeria and getting a 8.6 rating. Tadesses first goal was a long shot that went off the crossbar from just outside the box, impossible to save. The second goal was also a longshot after a intricate set piece routine.

The press and fans were obviously ecstatic and celebrated a highly unlikely victory.

(Tadesse giving it a go)

Aaaaaaand back to reality......

Qualifying to AFCON doesn't look likely even with the amazing result against Algeria. Our two remaining matches are away against Sierra Leone and Algeria, so we won't have the support of the almost 6 million people living in Addis Ababa.

It is even less likely that we will qualify for the world cup, and as Schmidt wants to experience the world, we will be on the move if we don't qualify for anything.