From Madeira With Love (FM2014 Dynasty) Finished!!! Check out stats and final stuff!!

[Abe Sargent]

Madeira, OH.

Got it, thanks!



EDIT - Sorry about that Lathum! But I think it's hilarious that a club on an island that is actually a part, geographically, of Africa, is disrupting European football. From Madeira with Love! Raise a glass of Poncha in the warm waters to celebrate!


http://www.madeira-shopping.com/english/images/product/1167598210_BZxiJ_500x500.jpg

[Abe Sargent]

Today we host Leverkusen. The vital away goal off a set piece is crucial to today. Win and we are in. Tie, and we are in. They have not been doing so well in the domestic league and are not rocking a high morale right now. We are. We have Franco at DL and all of the starters in their expected places. The first win doesn’t mean anything, go out there and take control of this match!!! We almost had a score in the 8th by Rocker. They score early in the 11th. But Rodrigues is fired up and all of the pitch. He assists Stepinski in the 25th. I edge to control late in the half. 1-1 at the half. Room for improvement folks! Franco collects a booking. Lansbury finds Costa for a score off a corner in the 56th. I pull the carded Franco for Pflugler and then swap him with Komorski. Back to Standard. Then counter as they move forward. Next sub is Holenda. Then Rui P late. And that’s it. We win 2-1, MOM is Costa, and we made it to the next Knock-Out round. God bye Leverkusen


We won 3.5 mill

We are in the Quarter Finals of Champions Play again. This is as far as we’ve made it before.

[Abe Sargent]

No changes to my roster for the away game at Maritimo, which we’ll begin countering. They score fast and we keep them out of the net for the rest of the half 1-0. I chastise them at the half. Off an IFK, Driussi hits Komorski for a score. Komorski to Rocker who smashes it to Driussi with the score in the 63rd. I sub in Maxi P for Franco and swap him and Rodrigues on the field Rocker hits the goal in the 73rd off a Stepinski pass. Retain possession, slow down. Carlos and Pfluger are also subbed in for today’s 3-1 victory on the road but right here in Funchal Madeira against our rival. MOM is Driussi. Did brilliantly to come back!!

Our new intake of youth players arrive. Any studly studs? Any new Costas or Rodrigueses? (I ask that question every year…)

Not really. We just have one guy with any value at all it seems – MR and AMR 15 year old Jose Paiva, with a 3 star rating. No one else has more than a 2 star rating, and just two folks have that. Ah well we can’t always get a nice hit.

Ruiz and Driussi in Team of Week


Porto has advanced.

I sign the suggested youthers.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Cup Quarter Finals:


Man Utd vs FC Bayern
Paris St-Germain vs Porto
Barcelona vs Real Madrid
Clube Desportivo Nacional vs Olympique Lyonnais

So we have two battles of France vs Portugal.

From my youth squad, AMC MC Antonia Alves has really come on for us. He just turned 17, I offered him a normal hot prospect deal, and this guy is looking nice.


I call up 24 year old uncapped DC Thabo Moloi to replace a badly injured Anele – out for 5 months. I also pull Manuel Santos for 28 year old uncapped ST Bhongolwethu Jayiya.

9 of our players are called up to the U21 Portugal Squad.


The Vit Gui match is here. They are 5th right now in the league. Win, and we win the league in March. I respect them enough to counter. Lansbury to Stepinski for a goal. Rocker in the 56th from Lansbury pass. They rifle in a late long shot in the 88th. We win 2-1. Not a great match for us. But we won the division. Bit of a let off. MOM is Lansbury.

[Abe Sargent]

We host the first leg of the Semi Finals for the Taca da Portugal against Benfica. They get two bookings in the first 9 minutes, but then they score first off a corner in the 12th. Then another in the 24th. Dang. We’re down 0-2 just like that. I pull back to counter. Rodrigues collects a booking late. They score off a corner in the 46th. Half 3-0 down, at home, against Benfica. Zang guys! Your pride is at stake today! Hassle, mark tighter, Rocker scores in the 73rd after Stepinski tackles the ball from their defender in the box and Rocker stepped on it. And we stunningly lose, 3-1 at home. No excuse for that!!!



Friendly vs South Korea. I start Moloi in Anele’s spot. Rantie nails two goals early, S. Korea shouts one back, all in the first 15. Vilakazi nails a DFK in the 21st. They crawl one back in the 84th. We win 3-2. Mom was Rantie.

[Abe Sargent]

April


6th Home vs Aves
9th – Home vs O. Lyonnais, Champions
12th – Home vs Portimonense
17th – Away vs O. L., Champions
20th – Home vs Braga
24th – Away vs Benfica, Taca da Portugal Semi Final 2nd Leg
27th, Final, Taca da Liga, vs Portimonense


South Africa:

2nd, Friendly at Poland


Ruiz, Sousa and Rocker all impressed in training with no duds.

I win Manager of the Month

I resign Luis Carlos to a new two year deal. I’m not finished with him yet and no one was calling on him.



We arrive at Poland. I begin countering. Motloung goal called off side in the 16th. Theirs in the 24th is not. Thulani Serero with an amazing ball on sides behind the defense to Rantie and we tie it back up in the 28th. Then they head back up again in the 34th. Half. We can still win! They score a corner in the 55th. Then another score in the 58th. We lose 4-1. I’m not happy!!!


On Croatian duty, Marin Komorski injured himself and will be out for a week. I will start Pflugler for him.

[Abe Sargent]

Pfluger to Agra for a score in the 8th against Aves. Stepinski follows. Lansbury to Agra in the 44th. 3-0 at the half. Keep it up. Imbula gives away a Pk and they sink it in the 63rd. They foul Luis Carlos in the 89th in the box. Agra sinks it for his hat trick. We win 4-1. MOM was Agra



If we want to go further into the European Competition, we have to win today against Olympique Lyonnais in our house. Rocker scores in the 4th minute after they tackle Driussi but the ball was lingering tantalizingly. Driussi finds Rocker’s back to the goal, and he flips it on to Stepinski without turning and Stepinski scores in the 12th minute. They foul Driussi as he drives into the box. Stepinski puts us up 3-0 at the 24th. That’s right – WELCOME TO PORTUGAL! Frustrated, they collect a pair of bookings. I love Rodrigues. For example, he was just knocked down and tackled and the ball fell to the other team, but before the other guy could pounce on it, Rodrigues was up and to the ball, because he is that fast. Half. Keep it going counter style! Teikeu in for Imbula, and I slide it to a normal DMC role. Lansbury finds Stepinski for a hat trick in the 67th. Tired, Pflugler heads to the bench for Luis Carlos. Then Holenda arrives. Ruiz bends over backwards to stop a counter attack from hitting home in the 86th. I thought he would break his back he bent so much. You could hear him shout that he was going to blank Lyonnais no matter what! MOM is Stepinski and we win 4-0. I’m very pleased!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Porto win on the road 1-0 as well, so Portugal went 2-0 against France

3 of the Top Ten candidates for Portuguese Best National Player of the Year are from my team – Costa, Rui P, and Rodrigues.


Komorski is back from injury and will start for the Portimonononenenense match. Steppinwolf nails the Rock for a score in the 22nd. Then Steppinwolf scores in the 61st. Sousa to Steppinwolf, shot, turned aside, Komorski finishes. We win 3-0. MOM was Komorski. Good win.


Porto won at home too and defeated Paris Saint-Germain 5-2 on aggregate. Can we also win and make it a shut out, 4-0 for Portugal against France?

Man U also took out FC Bayern

[Abe Sargent]

I move Komorski to DL and start Pfluger. I begin countering, Quiet first 30. Action finally begins to pick up but still not a lt. Half. We can still win this thang!!! OHHH. They just barely stopped a goal by Rocker. Rocker steals the ball, shoots, scores in the 62nd minute. Does it all baby! Retain possession. Teikeu heads in for Costa. They launh a desperate long shot that finds goal from so far away it was over the horizon. I sub in Mzizi and Rui P. We hold on for the 1-1 tie. MOM is Rocker.


We have made it to the Semi-Finals baby on a 5-1 aggregate.

Now the dream ends.

The only chance we have is getting matched up against Porto. Of course we don’t


Nacional vs Man Utd
Porto vs Real Madrid


Sure, we have two chances for Portugal to make the Finals, but I doubt it’s going to happen either way. But if we did...I could win that one. Could you imagine what that would do to the reputation of Portuguese Football if two teams made it to the Champion Final? Hey, we had two teams in the Cup and both are in the Semis, that should already mean a lot.

[Abe Sargent]

Franco’s loan is done and he heads home


South Africa rose to 10th place, the first time we’ve ever been in a Top 10 ranking.


We’ll be starting Marques for today’s home match against Braga. Keep up the run! I choose not to slide to controlling. I respect Braga too much. Braga score in the 1st half and its 1-0. Blast it Braga. You always have our freakin number! I explode, yadda yadda. Late in the game, in the 80th minute, Luis Carlos, subbing in for an injured Komorski, nails an absolute beauty of a long shot. I push to attacking, super mega high temp. And then it happens. In penalty time, Stepinski finds the net. But its waved off. And that’s the game. Braga tie us 1-1. YOU WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TONIGHT. Dang. Carlos was MOM though. Luckily Komorski is fine post-match.


Arouca and Olhanense have been promoted back up. With 80 goals thus far, Arouca have set a new Second Division record!

[Abe Sargent]

If we want to make it past Benfica, we’ll have to have a downright magical game today in their place. Let’s see what happens Steppy starts out nicely with a goal in the 14th. 5 minutes later Benfica rallies for a score. Then they score again in the 22nd. Half. Avenge yourselves!!! Rockers ties it up in the 45th just 44 seconds into the second half. Alright. That’s good stuff. Driussi is knocked tired twice and Rui P heads in for him. Carlos and Mzizi also head in for tired folk. We can’t get any more goals. We tie here 2-2, and lose 5-3 aggregate. We are out of the Taca da Portugal. Unlucky!

[Abe Sargent]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AR_22eOwWTg/US922_NvhlI/AAAAAAAACL0/-LHRkKPD8IA/s1600/Tacadaliga.jpg


We are “sure-fire dead-cert favorites to overwhelm debt-ridden Portimonense in what should be a comfortable encounter”


The final of the Taca da Liga has arrived!!!


Bruno Marques is starting in the DL spot for me. I begin controlling. Komorski scores in the 18th minute after Rocker slid back an Imbula pass to the outside. A tighter half than we had hoped for. Make sure our hands are on the trophy at the end of the match!!! Steppinwolf hits Driussi for a score right after half time. We have a lot offense for about 8 minutes, but no goals to show. Then they beat Ruiz to the ball in the 59th on a counter. Rocker runs at the defense for a while, finds Lansbury on a strafing run and hits him for goal. I send in Rui P for a tired Lansbury and Agra for Rocker. Driussi hits Komorski on an IFK. Sousa heads in. We win 4-1. It was close for most of the game and we broke it out in the 80s. MOM is Komorski. Enjoy your success!!!


We won another Taca!!!


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Rocker got 2nd place Taca da Liga Goal of the Tournament.


Porto defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in their place. Now they have to really work hard to hold serve away.

[Abe Sargent]

May


1st – Away vs Manchester United, Champion Semis, 1st Leg
4th – Away vs Gil Vicente
7th – Home vs Manchester United, Champion Semis, 2nd Leg
12th – Away vs Porto


Rodrigies, Carlos, Mzizi good training, Stepinski and Pfluger not.

Luis Carlos was 2nd in Goal of the Month



Now, we have beaten Man Utd, back a few years ago. Can we do it again today? We clocked Tottenham 5-2 in their place this season. Can we do that again? We’ll start hassling and marking heavily and defensive. Pflugler on the ML hits Stepinski for a score in the 6th minute. They return the favor in the 16th. Lansbury with a booking and the Rodrigues with another. They grab another score in the 39th. Rodrigues crosses to Rocker who puts it away in the 43rd. 2-2 half. We can still win tonight! Steppy with a yellow. They hit bullseye again in the 53rd. Lansbury interception begins a counter that ends with a Rocker shot pushed wide but we can’t convert the corners. Driussi with a knock – in heads Rui Pereira. Next is Teikeu for Costa. We have some great pressure late, but nothing yet. I sub in Mzizi and swap him with Tekieu. Nothing else, that is game. Close. Losing 3-2 on the road against Man Utd is very respectable. There is a chance for a later win in our place. Good effort!

[Abe Sargent]

Gil Vicente are the giant slayers. We lost a match against them late last season, so we’ll start out countering. Quiet half. I head back to standard. Rocker hits the hey in the 48th. Rodrigues hits Lansbury in the 61st Then a few minutes later, Gil climbs back with a goal. Agra and Rui P head out. Then they knock down a DFK in the 88th and its 2-2 tied game. Dammit Gil Vicente!


Academica were related


As always, I hand out rests to prepare my team for the Man Utd match on the 7th.

[Abe Sargent]

It’s time. Can we knock out Man Utd? We have a lot of away goals. I start countering. They score off a corner in the 4th. Then Rocker pounces on a tackle of Driussi on a counter attack and put sit away in the 20th. Komorski heads it in in the 30th when the ball bounces around the box post-corner kick. Marques picks up a yellow. I forgot to pull him. Ah well. Despite the booking he’s playing fine at a 6.7, They get a goal waved off due to fouling us on the shot. Half. Keep it up! If we hold on and win 2-1, we win on aggregate due to away goals. But we really need that 3rd goal. Costa collects a card. They have four yellows. They score in the 67th. I have to score again to send this to extra time. I pull Imbula, slide to control, up our tempo and move to hassling ahd marking more. Agra heads out. Then Pflugler. Butt we tie 2-2 and lose 5-4 on aggregate. We had a shot but couldn’t deliver.


Can Porto pull off the miracle and win, or tie, or lose by one goal something like 1-2 or 2-3?


They lose…..









3-2. Porto win 3-3 on away goals and Real Madrid is out. Setting up a Porto vs Man Utd Final. Ah. If ONLY. Ah well. Good luck Porto! The nation hopes.

I sign Alex Paul, 16 year old unsigned Aruba player who my scouts found and liked. Plays ML, AML

Totladze learned a lot from Ruiz and they got on really well too.

[Abe Sargent]

Maxi P will start in the away match vs Porto in order to give him his last hurrah before he retires. Stepinski hits goal in the 15th. Then again 10 minutes later. Maxi P grabs a card. They score back in the 27th. Rocker intercepts the ball, charges the defense for most of the pitch, slide sit to Lansbury on the right and attacks goal and Lansbury hits him for a strike. Half. Not bad gents! Maxi P collects another booking and gets a red card. Idiot. That’s an idiot. I slide Rodrigues back to DR, move Komorski to DL, Driussi to ML, and leave Stepinski and Rocker alone at the time. Shorter passing, retain possession, etc. I make some subs. Pfluger hits goal off a throw in by Teikeu that was a literal assist. Rui P heads in. We win 4-1. And Maxi Pereira is a dumb player. MOM is Stepinski.

[Abe Sargent]

Stefan Strandberg wins Personality of the Year


I have HUGE news. Joining Academica is Maritimo, relegated to the 2nd Division next year. Wow!


Sebastian Driussi won Player of the Year. Yay! 21 assists in 27 league games. Good job buddy!

Lansbury came in 2nd.

He also got the Award for Most Assists. And again, Lansbury collected 2nd.

Stepinski, with 21 league goals, was first in the league. Rocker was tied for 2nd.

Marin Komorski was named the League Premier League Young Player of the Year

Rui Pereira’s goal vs Academica was the 2nd best in the League this season

Ruiz came in as the Best GK in the League

Stepinski was voted Forward of the Year

Ruiz, Strandberg, Rodrigues, Driussi, Rocker, Stepinski and Lansbury were named in Team of the year – 7 of my starters.



We won the fair play award

Strandberg came in 1st for DC of the Year, Costa came in 2nd

Rodrigues came in 3rd for Fullback of Year

Good training – Rocker, Komorski, Totladze, Rui P and Bruno Marques; Bad – just Holenda and Maxi P

Board have announced construction work on youth facilities

I have my team meeting. We’ll win this thang again!

I win Manager of the Year

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s begin with the league Table:

1. Clube Desportivo, 84, +73
2. Benfica, 66, +31
3. Porto, 56, +29
4. Braga, 54, +19
5. Vit. G. 46, +6
6. Gil Vicente, 43, -4
7. Vit. Setubal, 42, -1
8. Rio Ave, 41. -6
9. Aves, 37, -13
10. Sporting, 36, 0
11. P. Ferreira, 32, -7
12. Tondela, 31, -28
13. Portimonense, 29, -26
14. Belenenses, 27, -19
15. Maritimo, 26, -21
16. Academica, 22, -33




Benfica had a great season. They finished with more than enough points to normally win, and more than we’ve had in winning campaigns. But they ran into us this time.

Great year for Aves, Gil Vicente, and Vit G. Sporting in double digits is just shocking.

We have risen to 139m in value. Sporting are down to 34m

Now what we did is not unheard of in Portugal. Twice Porto went undefeated in 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons. Benfica has done it too. In fact, Benfica once had a streak of 56 games without a loss in the Liga. Porto have gotten a quadruple twice, with all four cups including the Supertaca, which we have never done yet. They won the division five times in a row in the 90s, so our 4 times is not a record even there.

So what we have done is not unparalled. Not even recently. Porto has had two undefeated seasons in the last ten years, and one five in a row in the 90s. But it is major.

Plus, I am now the top Manager in Portuguese history, of all time. Great managers tend to get poached by other teams in their run of form. So I’ve stayed, and that gives me the Top Dog Award.

[bbgunn]

That +73 goal differential is sublime!

[Abe Sargent]

Yeah it's nasty good



Stats:

Goals - Stepinski 1st with 21; Rocker 20th ted for 2nd
Assists – Druissi 1st with 21; Lansbury 2nd with 20, Stepinski tied for 3rd with 12.

Mom – Just 4th with Lansbury and Driussi have 5 a piece

Dribbles/game – Driussi, 5th with 3.28; Lansbury 8th with 3.01

Clean Sheets – Ruiz led with 13

Key Passes – Driussi led with 36

Key Head – Strandberg 3rd with 83

Picks – Strandberg 5th, 268 – Costs 6th with 267.

Rating, in order 1-10 in the league:

Driussi
Lansbury
Strandberg
Quintero (Porto)
Rodrigues
Sandro (Porto)
Rocker
Stepinski
Komorski
Rios (Gil Vicente)


We dominated the league. We score 92 goals – the most by 30 over Porto. We allowed just 19, 6 lower than Benfica. For example, we scored 12 goals from corners and conceded just 2. 3rd highest salary, Just 7 yellows and one red. (Stupid Maxi)

The only people leaving our team of note are Sean Johnson, Henri Lansbury and Nelio Fidalgo.

[Abe Sargent]

SIX YEAR RETROSPECTIVE:


Where are some of our players now?


The players we brought in 2013 and 2014 year included youthers like Joaquim Sousa, Douglas Jardel, Jose Goncalves, Jose Pedro Cardoso, and to play for us, Adriano the ST.


ST Adriano – 31 years old, loaned to Oeste by Goias, Not a lot of great seasons since.

ST Douglas Jardel – 22, retired, at the age of 22, No one singed him after he left us, and he eventually just left football. That was a miss on other managers, because he was a strong player.

ST Joaquim Sousa – Sold for a mill to Olympiakos, has 5 caps for the senior squad of Portugal, 22, transfer listed and contract is up soon, never really caught on there.

GK Jose Moreira, Backup youth guy for Leverkusen, sold for 5 mill to them a few years ago. Should prove to be the GK of the future for Portugal, 2 caps already

D LC JP Cardoso – Now with Braga, played 23 times for them in the league with a 7.06 rating at the age of 20.

M LC, AMC Jose Goncalves – Left on a free to AEL in Cyprus. Has a great 7.62 first season as a starter there with 17 goals and 10 assists in 34 games, and then dropped to 6.97 with 12 and 8 in the same.


In 2014/15 season we brought in Andrei Marc, Javi Espinosa, Matias Defederico, Luis Martins, and Sebastian Peratta as starters. Youthers that came in like Moussa Diallo have now retired.



GK Eduardo Gottardi, started for us for a season and then sold to Braga for 210k, and then we signed Peratta as a replacement. Rotation for Braga for four years, left for free, and now starts in the 3rd Division of Brazil.


D LR Luis Martins – Sold to Basel for 2.2 mill, played 24, 22 and 18 games for them in the last three years with average stats in the mid 6.0s., Capped 2 times. 26 years old now.

AMC Matias Defederico, 30, sold for 2 mill to Corinthians where he stated for two years, was dropped to sub for a final year, then sold to All Boys over in Argentina where he starts.

DMC Andrei Marc, 26, sold to OM for 5.75 mill, and started first year, subbed in second.

AMC Javi Espinosa, 26, left on free to West Ham, where he subbed for two years, and is now worth 10.5 mill.

GK Peratta – Started for two years and then retired and left the game at 39.



Season 2015/2016 saw us sign Lucas and Franny Castro, Luis Carlos, Fabian Ruiz, Paulo Franco, Strandberg, Sergio Laranjeira and Vitor Barreto, including many youth folks. Barreto, Ruiz and Carlos are still with us and Franco is just now leaving.


ST Francisco Castro – 28, Started for Celta last year in Spain – but didn’t have a good season

AMC MRL Lucas Castro – 30, Strong season for Wolfsburg last year

ST Sergio Larenjeira, Sold for 2.2 mull to Gladbach, where he’s been loaned a lot. One loan to Sporting in Spain where he started last year. 19 years old. 1 cap for the senior squad already


ST Djaniny, 28 -sold for 2 mill to Chievo. Started two years for them.

DR/MR Joao Aurelio – Sold for 7.5 to Galatasaray. Started 2 years for them, good numbers at 30.

DC Freire – Playing with OGC Nice in Ligue 1 as a starter for 2 years straight, Not great seasons though.

DC Mexer – 30, playing for SV Mattersburg in the Austrian Premier Division. Started 3 years and looks pretty good there too.

ML Dejan Skolnik

AML Danny Candeais, 31, is now starting and finished his 3rd season with Besiktas, and he left at the end of this season.


ST Mario Rondon is 33 and started for Sport for two years, helped it win promotion, and then relegated to rotation this past year.

In the 2016/2017 campaign we brought in Lansbury, Hojbjerg.


DMC/AMC Hojbjerg, sold to Barcelona for a king’s ransom, started, 23 years old, led the team in assists with a lot.


2017/2018 We brought in Canela, Maxi P, Rocker, Pflugler, Stpinski, Mzizi, Totladze, Komorski DC Kurdadze Rui Pereira and Rolf Martin Washington. It was a huge injection of talent last year.

The biggest was Pereira who broke the bank, but we’ve been developing him nicely. Of these players, all are still with us save for Canela.


DL Canela – Sold for 34 mill to Paris Saint-Germain. 11 apps for them and a 6.76 rating. 1 cap for Brazil senior squad.


2018/2019 we brought in: GK Sean Johnson, DC Teikeu, DMC Imbula, GK Castellon, AMC Driussi, DL Bruno Marques, ST Jan Holenda, ST Junior Barrios.

Johnson is the only one slated to leave other than four youthers that are past the team’s sell by date.

[Abe Sargent]

Whew!


Benfica upends Porto 2-1 to win the Taca da Portugal


June first has arrived and with it the Champion’s Final between Man U and Porto. Let’s goooo!!!!!!!!


WHOA!!!!! Porto won on penalties 2-2 against Man Utd!

Good job!

Now, they’ve done it before in 2004 and 1987, but that was 15 years ago. Doing it again is nice on ice. They also have the Euro twice as well. Benfica won two Champion’s Cups back to back in the 1960s, and has reached 10 European Finals. Sporting has even won the European Champions Competition once.

Hojbjerg came in 2nd for Player of the Year in Spanish League, which Messi won.

We are hit with a hefty tax bill off our massive profits last year. Selling Canela and Hojbjerg were major financial windfalls.


We have six new sponsorship deals in place:

4 years with stadium – 3.1m year (increase of 3x over old deal)
Main kit 2.1m/year – (2x old deal)
Continental Competition – 1.37m same as last
Another Con Com – 1.1 m, drop from 1.2 last year
4 year sponsorship 250k/annually ( up from 128k)
One year sponsorship at 275k (from 260k)

Great strides my friends!

[Abe Sargent]

Our initial budget is set for next year:

775k/week
42.64 mill


The board agrees to increase my scouting staff. I resign my own expiring scout.

I make offers to these unemployed scouts:

Cameroon - Jean-Paul Yontcha
Iran – Masoud
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Zvjezdan Misimovic
Denmark/Montenegro – Rajko Lekic

All four were capped internationally, although the first and last just one each while the other two were heavily played in the senior squad.

I swap out some folks for the RSA squad for a pair of friendlies we have coming up. I am bringing on a few major younger players, like 20 year old Striker potential star Nazeer Arendse and a solid GK guy who’s 23. So older players like 32 year old ST Majoro or 30 year old Manyesi are out for 21 year old MC Lucas Khoza and such – the next generation.

Everybody is on board with my three new young callups – GK Jethren Barr, ST Nazeer Arendse and MC/AMC Lucas Khoza.

I didn’t even notice Nazeer before, but he’s got quite a lot of potential. I did a quick scout report. My scouts like him, so I toss him on my short list. I stumbled across Mzizi this way. Khosa is worth 5.5 million and is playing for OM. Barr is worth than GK Henry Castellon, so I’m not interested in those, but Nazeer…

[Abe Sargent]

Alberto Cerri, of Parma, is Europe’s Top Scorer and won the Golden Shoe

Did you know that Ruiz now just starts for the USA? No more Howard or Guzman

There is a studly Portuguese that just came through the youth ranks in Feirense last year. I made an inquiry and they want 400k. That’s easily paid. 5 clubs want him – us, Celta, Atalanta, Norwich and Benfica. The problem is that I have two younger GKs – Castellon and Totladze on my youth sections.

But, Castellon has grown a lot last year. Once Johnson goes, I don’t even need to sign someone else. 19 year old Castellon is better than most guys I would sign at a backup or rotation level. I don’t need a Johnson or anything. Plus, even though he’s just 19, he’s been capped 26 times for Honduras, so it’s not like he’s not used to playing at a high level. And youth GK Joaquim Pereria, a younger guy we developed over time is leaving us, and he was an emergency emergency guy I could call back from loans.

So I make the 400k offer. The transfer story got out though. <Many others made offers, so I jack up the contract and hope to bring in the 17 year old that way.

[Abe Sargent]

Merchandise Sales from last Year:

We made 1.15 mill – lots more. Portuguese sales are massively up, and now account for roughly 75% of our sales. I guess we are becoming a Top Three in reality too.

Top Jersey Sales

1. Stepinski
2. Lansbury
3. Rocker
4. Driussi
5. Imbula


I would have expected local Funchal fans Rodrigues or Costa.


Agra got on really well with Stepinski and gained a lot from it, but Pflugler didn’t get much from Imbula.

I offer Mzizi for a 3 month loan deal, just to get him some 1st team football.

GK Helder Almeira agrees to join us. He just turned 17 a week and a half ago. He’ll arrive on July 1.

[Abe Sargent]

South Africa have two friendlies against Namibia and Ivory Coast.

I will start ST Nazeer Arendse across from Rantie for the first match. Arendse hits Rantie for a score after being set up himself by Jali. Then Motloung hits Arendse again to set him up for an assist to Rantie half. Then Rantie retruns the favor and finds Arendse for a score on a break. We win 3-0. Rantie is MOM. Yay!

Tchoutou was injured for a week and will miss the next game


Next is the Ivory Coast match. I keep out Arendse. Motloung to Rantie in the 15th. They score back in injury time. 1-1 at the half. I throw out Khosa in the 47th minute for Jali. Let’s see what he can do for us. Rantie swings the ball over George Lebese on the edge who scores in the 79th. I slide back to counter. They score in injury time, again and it’s a 2-2 tie.

Rantie doesn’t show up big in the major matches. Just one goal in six starts in the African Cup. Now, it was a win in the knock portion of a 1-0 victory. But you get the idea. Not a lot in the World Cup either.

[Abe Sargent]

Portugal remained 7th in Competition Rankings. But we moved back up to 6th in the Coefficients and regained the lost Champions place. Hey, Porto, the winner of last year’s Trophy won’t even be in next year’s competition as the 3rd best team, so that should have happened.

We moved up to 16th position. Porto moved to 15th. Benfica are 20th.

All of my scouts are in. We are now scouting all 20 regions of the globe.


I loan out Mzizi for a few months to Palmeiras in Brazil.

I inquire about a new feeder team and the board agree to let me choose it.

I get the board ot agree to improve our youth recruiting network.

[Abe Sargent]

June 30

MR Henri Lansbury was voted Player of the Year by the fans

Anybody on a free that would help my team? Probably not, I have two players coming in for my two open spots at MR and DL. But you never know.

37 loans return.

Jose Moreira and Joaquim Sousa were released – no team offered them jobs. (I keep my major players on my shortlist so I am kept abreast of what is happened with them).

Many youth folks are promoted to our senior squad due to age. We’ll look at them later, but I expect we’ll be using many as our depth and such. Player we signed or had in our youth squad for a few years are ripening.


We are expected to win.

We grabbed 2.17 M for TV rights

Fabian Ruiz blanked Mexico in the Gold Cup Final, which the USA have won 1-0. Congrats buddy! I wish there was a congrats for winning a major international tournament option!

Did you know that? Joao Luis Rodrigues and Cristiano Ronaldo both list each other as favoured personnel from international play?

Ruiz agrees to tutor Castellon

We set a new high average attendance 9,003 this year.

I cancel our link with Santana

[Abe Sargent]

Welcome to July

Our new players have arrived- GK Helder Almeida, MR Michael Schaap and DC/DL Omar Montesi.


Daniel Candeais has moved to Trabzonspor; Luis Martins to Numancia; Lansbury to Werder Bremen

Nelio Fidalgoto Viktoria Plzen

Goodbye Jan Holenda and Maxi P.



Value of our players right now:

19Mill – Stepinski
16.75Mill - Driussi
16.75M Rocker
13.75M Rodrigues
13.5 Strandberg
11.25 Imbula
9.75 Costa
8.75 Komorski
7.25 Schaap
6.25 Pflugler
5.75 Ruiz
5.5 Montesi
3.4 Rui Pereira
2.1 Mzizi
1.6 Agra
1.5 Junior Barrios
1.4 Marcio Sousa

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s look at the new flesh.

We’ll begin with the best one, maybe.


D C/L Omar Montesi, Italy, 20 yers old, 5.5 Mill, 22.5k/week, through 2023, 4.5 star rating, described in media as wonderkid, capped by Italian squad in World Cup run and one of many strong youth folks that got them deep. Also Argentinian. Speaks Spanish and some Italian. Signed from Dinamo for free.

More of a natural DC who was taught DL. I will start him at DL until either Bruno Marques is good permanently, someone else comes across our path, or we let go of Strandberg, and he’ll slide next to Costa very nicely.


Physical – 12, 11, 15, 18, 16, 14, 18, 19 – Includes 18 jump, stam, 19 strength.

Mental – 7, 15, 17, 12, 12, 9, 13, 19, 7, 11, 9, 17, 12, 15

Technical – 7, 9, 12, 9, 13, 7, 18, 13, 7, 17, 15, 5, 17, 13 – Includes 18 heading, 17 mark, 17 tack, 15 pass but just 9 cross, 12 dribb, and such. Also just has 12/14 speed, which is better in a DC than a DL. (Costa is just 14/14 and Strandberg just 13/11)


Welcome to the islands my Italian stud!

[Abe Sargent]

Next up is…

MR, AMR Michael Schaap, the new Candeais/Lansbury. 22, Dutch, Speaks Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Driven, 34k weekly, through 2023, 7.25 mill, signed from Barcelona where he was raised for 4 years – 4.5 star rating.

He will run the MR spot for us. He could break the bank on assists – more than Lansbury or Candeais did. Hold on.

Physical – 14, 14, 13, 12, 12, 15, 16, 12 – Solid stamina, and I want more speed. But 14/15 is almost as fast as Lansbury at 15/15.

Mental – 14, 12, 12, 16, 11, 12, 13, 20, 19, 5, 13, 11, 15, 16 – Oh yes, that’s a 20 determination, 19 flair, 16 work rate and composure. Good stuff. Sure, we need to raise that Decision and OTB from 13 each, but he’s strong. Now get ready.

Technical - 14, 18, 17, 12, 18, 15, 16, 13, 9, 12, 12, 12, 6, 17 -0Wow. Low passing at just 12, but 18 cross, 17 dribb, 18 first touch, 17 technique, 12 finishing, 13 long shots, and even an odd 16 heading. That’s quite strong.

Now, he needs to grow, and he has plenty of room to do so. Our scouts have him at 3 stars now, 4.5 future. So this guy can become something wonderful. He was hidden on Barcelona’s youth team. Time to unfurl him on the world.


Welcome buddy!

[Abe Sargent]

GK Helder Almeida, 17, Portuguese, signed from Feirense for 400k, 4 star scout rating, 2.1k/week, worth 195k, signed for just a year.

Phys – 8, 12, 15, 13, 16, 7, 10, 9
Mental – 10, 9, 11, 10, 11, 5, 10, 15, 1, 7, 2, 13, 14, 15
GK – 6, 10, 14, 7, 6, 9, 12, 10, 9, 1, 13, 12, 7, 10

So, lots of potential, and hopefully the work rate/determination (15/15) to get there.

[Abe Sargent]

What about my youth folks?


From 2018, Rodrigues

Physical – 19, 15, 17, 12, 19, 18, 16, 14
Mental – 11, 13, 11, 12, 12, 14, 14, 13, 13, 12, 12, 15, 11, 15
Technical – 6, 12, 16, 8, 14, 4, 13, 12, 15, 13, 12, 10, 16, 14


Rodrigues today, July 2019

Phys – 19, 17, 18, 12, 19, 18, 16, 15
Mental – 11, 14, 11, 14, 13, 15, 16, 13, 14, 12, 13, 16, 12, 15
Tech – 6, 14, 17, 9, 16, 4, 14, 13, 16, 13, 14, 10, 17, 14

We worked on passing/cross this year heavily and got him better in both areas.

Next I’d like to get his mark up. But our scouts have him at 4.5 currently and 4.5 future. Not sure how much more the 20 year old has to grow.

Costa back in July 2018

Phys – 13, 16, 13, 15, 10, 14, 16, 16
Mental – 3, 14, 10, 13, 14, 12, 14, 18, 7, 11, 10, 16, 15, 16
Tech – 8, 7, 11, 7, 13, 7, 14, 8, 6, 18, 12, 9, 14, 9


Costa, today, July 2019

Phys – 14, 17, 13, 15, 11, 14, 16, 16
Mental – 3, 15, 14, 15, 12, 14, 18, 8, 11, 10, 17, 15, 17
Tech – 8, 7, 11, 7, 14, 7, 8, 7, 19, 13, 9, 15, 10

Worked on passing a bit with him too. Results with both. Again, not sure how much more growing the 21 year old has.


Pflguer in 2018:

Phys – 13, 14, 14, 7, 14, 16, 14, 14
Mental – 14, 13, 10, 14, 13, 14, 13, 12, 13, 13, 13, 9, 17, 16
Technical – 11, 10, 14, 12, 15, 10, 10, 15, 10, 11, 14, 11, 10, 15


AMC/ML Sebastian Pflugler in 2019 July

Phys – 13, 14, 14, 7, 14, 17, 14, 14
Mental – 14, 14, 10, 14, 13, 14, 13, 12, 13, 13, 13, 10, 17, 16
Tech – 11, 10, 14, 12, 15, 10, 10, 15, 9, 11, 15, 11, 10, 15

Not as advancing as much as I wanted. Last year he only scored one goal in 16 league appearances. The previous year he had 16 appearances too and got 6 goals. I brought him in to be my future stud at AMC but it looks like Rui P will be that. Pflugler may never be more than a Javi Espinosa. My scouts say that he’s got more room to grow. Let’s hope so.


ST Rocker, July, 2018

Phys – 15, 15, 13, 13, 10, 16, 17, 16
Mental – 9, 16, 9, 17, 13, 12, 13, 18, 11, 13, 18, 12, 11, 14
Tech – 13, 12, 16, 19, 14, 11, 14, 13, 7, 9, 15, 12, 9, 14


ST Rocker, today, July 2019

Phys – 16, 16, 14, 13, 11, 16, 17, 17
Menta l- 9, 17, 9, 18, 14, 12, 14, 18, 12, 14, 19, 13, 12, 14
Tech – 13, 13, 16, 19, 14, 11, 15, 13, 6, 9, 16, 11, 9, 14

Did you know that 19 year old Rocker is the German captain? It’s true!

We did some work mentally with positioning and it’s nice to see some payoff there.

[Abe Sargent]

AMC Rui Pereira, today, July 2019


Phys – 16, 15, 14, 10, 14, 14, 15, 13
Mental – 15, 11, 17, 13, 8, 11, 12, 18, 15, 9, 14, 10, 16, 17
Techn – 11, 8, 12, 12, 17, 10, 6, 13, 4, 10, 15, 11, 8, 16

Again, he grew a lot. Expect more and more. Like I said, in terms of play skill, the next Ronaldo. (although not Ronaldo in position.).


ST Jorge Agra, today, July 2019

Phsy – 14, 16, 12, 14, 9, 14, 15, 15
Mental – 6, 13, 9, 14, 15, 11, 13, 11, 14, 14, 14, 7, 15, 16
Tech – 13, 9, 14, 14, 16, 6, 14, 14, 5, 6, 12, 12, 6, 13

Not bad, but it was hard to give him as much play time as I would have liked with Holenda getting some play and Rocker/Stepinski being amazing.


Don’t forget I now have:

ST Junior Barrios, 19, Peru, Today,in July 2019

Phys – 16, 15, 8, 8, 14, 14, 12, 15
Ment -= 10, 9, 9, 6, 12, 5, 10, 13, 12, 12, 14, 8, 18, 14
Tech – 11, 13, 14, 17, 13, 11, 6, 13, 3, 10, 16, 11, 13, 11

More and more he looks like an interesting defensive forward who tackles the ball in the backfield. But with a finishing of 17, he can just score too. He’s a small guy -= low jump and head. He’s currently with Peru in their Copa America game s and won’t be here for a few weeks. Remember we signed him and let him remain with his Mexican club for a year. Now he has arrived to push for the ST spot here.



What about Bruno Marques, after a semester of playing. Including accidentally leaving him in against Man Utd and he was fine.

DL Bruno Marques, 16, Today in 2019

Phys – 14, 11, 12, 10, 11, 14, 14, 8
Mental – 11, 11, 14, 13, 13, 10, 9, 17, 2, 3, 7, 11, 14, 17
Technical – 8, 8, 6, 5, 10, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10, 8, 13, 12

We think he could be about as good as Costa at the DL if we tutor him and bring him along. But right now, he’s not there.



Remember when Marcio Sousa came into our youth ranks? Nows he 17 –

Marcio in 2019 July

Phsy – 17, 15, 15, 4, 10, 17, 15, 9
Mental – 9, 11, 15, 11, 10, 9, 10, 14, 15, 9, 15, 13, 11, 14
Tech – 11, 13, 10, 7, 16, 10, 3, 7, 2, 7, 11, 9, 9, 12

Still need to get up passing, dribb and such. But he’s not bad at all. He’s defiantly progressed well thus far.


GK Merab Totladze, July 2019

Phys – 6, 14, 14, 13, 9, 8, 10, 14
Ment – 8, 10, 8, 13, 13, 5, 13, 17, 2, 10, 2, 12, 14, 13
GK – 11, 13, 12, 8, 4, 10, 14, 13, 10, 2, 14, 11, 9, 9

It’s slow, but he’s definitely improving. He’s the starting GK for Georgia and has 10 caps.

We have players like Leandro Casal, Vitor Graca, and Davit Kurdadze that are staking claims on our starting roster.

Just as an example ,here is Casal

18 years old, July 2019

Phys – 15, 11, 13, 1, 13, 14, 14, 9
Mental – 10, 10., 9, 12, 11, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 10, 13, 13, 15
Tech – 10, 11, 11, 9, 16, 8, 5, 14, 3, 10, 13, 10, 11, 13

Not bad. I’m training him to be a DMC too.

DC Davit Kurdadze in July 2019, at the age of 19:

Phys – 11, 11, 12, 13, 16, 13, 16, 14
Ment – 8, 12, 15, 10, 13, 8, 10, 8, 5, 11, 5, 13, 13, 17
Tech – 7, 5, 3, 5, 10, 6, 14, 8, 3, 14, 11, 4, 15, 10

That’s not bad as an emergency 5th DC who’s still growing.

Here is AMC/MC Vitor Barreto, 20, July 2019

Phys – 14, 14, 14, 14, 17, 16, 14, 16
Mental – 7, 14, 1, 13, 10, 10, 12, 10, 12, 8, 13, 13, 10, 19
Tech – 8, 8, 14, 12, 16, 6, 6, 15, 4, 6, 15, 13, 9, 15


Remember when I signed him and Sergio Leranjeira together? Well I sold Sergio long ago, but Barreto has done quite well for himself.

So with all of these great younger players, I don’t expect to bring in any backup type squad players like I would normally do – like a Sean Johnson, Adolphe Teikeu, Jan Holenda, Maxi P and so forth.

[Abe Sargent]

Whose contract is up in a year?

GK Fabian Ruiz
AMC Vitor Barreto
GK Henry Castellon
ST Rocker
ST Agra
DC Kurdadze
ST/AML Filipe Oliveira
AMC/MC Vitor Graca
MR Jorge Silva
ST Jose Rodrigues
MR Rolf Martin Worthington
AMC Rui Pereira
AMC Leandro Casal
GK Helder Almeida

That’s a ton of peops.

I make a new offer to Rocker. I’m not letting him go without a huge offer from some club.

I also offer Vitor Barreto and Jorge Agra a deal too. I made them, I want to keep them.

I agree to the 9.5 offer for 34 year old Cristiano Renaldo from Real Madrid. Now, will he sign with us.

[Abe Sargent]

Mariusz has a minimum release fee of 20 m, so I offer him a new deal to knock that up to 90 M. His value has risen so quickly I had forgotten that. I need to get that away.

Damn it! Roma beat us to the punch! They made an offer to Stepinski for 20 m. Probably heard what we were doing. We are forced to accept. Which contract will he take? The one with us or the one with Roma?

Valencia have made a joking offer for Rocker – 6 M now and 21.5 over 2 years. I have him at 75 mill asking price, dude is worth 17m basically. Nope!

I get them to back off.

Ah well. I was hoping Ronaldo would want to return to his old club and retire in his hometown of Funchal. Not to be. That would have been something.

Berreto re-ups

I accept offers to loan out Totladze. He heads out to AC Milan. Good mathc – they have great training facilities and a severe need for GK.

Uh oh.

I got an offer from Villarreal for Jorge Agra. Hmmmm

They offer 2.6 mill now and 6.75 over the next 18 months. I decide not to make an immediate counter. I don’t need the cash. Let’s hold off until he signs his next deal, and see what happens with Stepinski.

That’s right Stepinski. Sign with me! 60k a week, through 2023, and now has a 90 mill release clause.

Rocker re-ups too. 56k through 23.

[Abe Sargent]

have great AMCs and I want a tactic to use them.

Barcelona made a 55 mill offer for Rodrigues. I backed them off by suggesting 100M. You can’t get all of my players! Man City and Monaco follow. I back them off too. Hojbjerg was just a guy I signed from Bayern Munchen and from Norway. But this is MY GUY. The best wunderkind I have ever had come through my ranks in FM history. No!

Now, what do I do with the Agra offer for around 9.25 mill from Villarreal. I could make the play. He came through my youth ranks, and I like him. He’s fun. He’s a strong 3rd option behind Stepinski and Rocker. Benfica is interested. I’d rather sell to them for the same amount, keep him in the league. He’s not worth that much right now. This is a solid offer.

But nope. I have an affectation for Agra. We’ll keep him. I was going to move him up beside Rocker if Stepinski left. Let’s keep him. I reject the offer.


Friendly vs Camacha – Rui to Rocker, Schaap to Rui, Schaap to Rocker, Teikeu to Kurdadze. 4-0. MOM is Schaap


Friendly vs Freamunde – Started Henry Castellon, instead of Ruiz. Scores by Rocker, Schaap, Oliveira, and Agra, MOM is Rocker. 4-0 again

Agra reups. 18.5k through 2023.

I offer high bonuses for leagues and Cups

I back Roma off Costa.

[Abe Sargent]

Man Utd disappointed me. They made an offer for Rodrigues for just 38 mill. Are you kidding me? That’s chump change! How about 90? Nope? Ah well. Then I send back a 49 mill offer by AS Monaco. Eventually someone is going to bite and I’ll wind up with a 70 mill problem.

Alright, there’s one need on my team. A future DMC I can tutor and step into Imbula’s role. That’s it.



Let’s scout out a nice young DMC. These targets I begin scouting

There’s 20 year old DMC Hiroki Osa from Wolfburg, a Japanese international
Unsigned 18 year old DMC from the Honduras senior squad Oscar Cardona
17 year old Felipe Deiaos, Brazil, would require me to wait until 18 to come over, plays for Corinthians
18 year old Paul Welsh, England, for Man Utd
19 year old French/Qatari Abdulla Al-Dahri for Paris St-G
17 year old Dutch Jasper van der Ley, Feyenoord
17 year old Mexican Erick Trevino, America MEX


That’s a good start. Many of those either have been scouted, or show up in the search and have a high value and such. For example the French guy is worth 8 mill already.


Friendly away at Feirense – part of the deal for our recent signing from them . Rui to Schaap; Rui intercepted their pass and scored on an empty net; Schaap to Pfluger; Komorski to Pflugler; Marcio Sousa to Pflugler; de Sousa Ines OG; We win 5-1. MOM is Pflugler.

[Abe Sargent]

Scout reports –

DMC Cardona – I offer him a trial. He looks pretty solid.
DMC Osa – No intention of joining club – 4 star rating currently and future. Not a lot of development left.
DMC Deiao – Should be regarded as a definite purchase – 4.5 star. No intention of joining us.
DMC Walsh – No intention, definite purchase
DMC Al-Dahri – definite purchase, would be willing, but Paris not likely to sell
DMC Van der Lay – No intention, just 4 star rating too
DMC Trevino – No intention, 4 star scout potential – current is just 1 – ouch

So, I could try to bring in Deiao or Walsh or Al-Dahri, and see if I can convince whoever needs convincing.

Man Utd took a page out of our book and jumped the offer up to 85 mill. I get an agreement for Deiao to 11.75 and they accept.

[Abe Sargent]

Estoril - Another away match for a team that we purchased someone from (Bruno Marques) and gave a gave in order to be nice. Montesi to Rocker, Rui on free ball; Komorski to Strandberg; Rui to Stepinski; 4-0 victoire. MOM is Strandberg


A team just spent more than 15m for Motloung, our RSA young guy

DMC Oscar Cardona arrives on a trial.


Uh oh. I get an offer for Imbula. Actually never mind. Its by Fiorentina, and they added some 25 year old bum I don’t want and who isn’t on my List. Then they only offer around 5 mill in cash.

DMC Deiao won’t even enter into agreements. Sometimes they’ll come back with a “Blow me away” sort of style.

Now Imbula was just a merc for me to come in and full in my serious need post-Hojbjerg. He’s not my future. I could be persuaded to let him go. Hey Fiorentina, you are a club worth twice as much as me. Pay some real money! They do. I accept an offer of 18.5 mill for Imbula.

Alright, now, who’s my replacement, knowing they won’t sit back for a while? That’s a different sort of DMC!

[Abe Sargent]

There’s a merc-ish younger guy out there unsigned – Italian 22 year old Andrea Marangon. He was loaned to Sporting last year, so we know him from playing in the Liga. I send out a full scout battalion.

Sporting over in Spain have a strong guy. Called a Hojbjerg prototype, and a bit older and ready to come in. David Rosano. But he’s worth 12.5 mill – it might take a lot to grab him. That’s a long shot.

Who else? What about the guy I wanted to sign, but then he reupped with his club? 21 year old Argentian Martin Valentini. Already on my short list. I make an Enquiry – worth 8 mill, so that’d be a big thing.

While waiting. I make an offer to Oscar Cardona. He can be a prospect sub guy.

Want Rosano? Need to spend between 21 and 31 M. So here’s the thing. Either make a play for Italian unsigned Marangon or sign Rosano, right now.

Hmm…


Here’s the question. How strongly do I feel that David Rosano is the next Hojbjerg for me?

Quite a bit actually. I make an offer and we agree to 25.5 for him. Or about 7 mill more than Imbula will make. Not bad for this upgrade. We agree to deal. Will he come in?


Imbula agreed to the 18.75 deal. Thanks for playing for us for a year, and then making us a ton of money which we used to mostly sign the guy you replaced!

18 year old Oscar Cardona will stay with us. Any chance I can to sign a youth guy with a 20 determin and 18 work rate makes me happy.

We have signed Sporting’s 21 year old David Rosano.

[Abe Sargent]

Why is Rosano the next Hojbjerg?



DC, DL, DMC David Rosano, 75k/week, 13.25 Mill, signed through 2024, paid 26 m plus some fees that put it closer to 28. 21 years old. Spanish, speaks Spanish, has a ton of youth caps and some goals.

He’s a natural DC that I’ll be running at DMC.


Physical – 14, 13, 13, 15, 14, 15, 18, 15 – Solid stuff you can rely on early while he still grows into the role.

Mental – 10, 13, 12, 14, 13, 14, 14, 12, 3, 9, 12, 14, 13, 16 – Again, strong stuff to build on. No major weaknesses here, and his only sub 12 skills are aggression, flair and leadership.

Technical – 10, 10, 9, 9, 14, 7, 17, 12, 11, 15, 15, 8, 15, 13 – 15 pass? 14 first touch, 15 tack and mark, 13 technique and that 17 head with a 15 jump. You can tell he’s a DC, but he has really interesting Deep Lying Playmaker skills.



The balanced guy heads here. I tell him to work on OTB. We are paying a ton of money to bring him in and pay him. But if he’s Hojbjerg, he is worth it. Hojbjerg was the best player on my team by far.

[Abe Sargent]

MC, DMC Oscar Cardona, 18, Honduras, 11 caps and a goal for the senior squad. 8.75k/week through 2023. I work him on OTB too. Driven.

Physical – 11, 12, 14, 10, 10, 12, 16, 13
Mental – 11,14, 2, 8, 13, 14, 14, 20, 8, 16, 9, 10, 15, 18
Technical – 10, 9, 4, 11, 14, 10, 11, 10, 3, 9, 14, 7, 15, 16

I wish he had higher skills in some areas, but he has potential. And he was free.

[Abe Sargent]

Argentina won back to back Copa Americas. Winners of individual awards included Messi, Canela, and Messi. Driussi started for them in the AMC role for their victory. He was selected in the Copa America Dream Team.


Brazil’s manager is again sacked. I apply again. Maybe this time?

Chile is also open.

I have South Africa (11th) at a higher ranking than Brazil (14th)

They hire someone else the next day. I consider applying for Chile. Sure why not.


And then Chile hire another Brazilian manager. Doesn;t even speak Spanish. Like me!


Our last friendly arrives, away vs Schalke here in Germany. Sousa hits Rocker on a break away in the 89th. We win 1-0. MOM is Strandberg

[Abe Sargent]

August

10th – Supertaca vs Benfica
18 – Home vs Portimonense
25th – Away vs Arouca



Good train – V Barreto, M Sousa, and L Casal. Ruiz and Kurdadze disappointed.


I take a look at my youth squad. I am lacking a good backup ST prospect in case of injury to multiple guys up top. I have Driussi for depth, but I would like a 16-17year old project. Now, my scouts don’t know of a lot of young targets out there. There may be some studly Paraguayan guy or Croatian master. I don’t know. But I do know Portugal. So let’s look. None jump out. What about the rest of the Hispanic world where we have great scouting.

I send out a few scouts.


Now, I do find a nice 16 year old Striker for Argentina, and we agree to a deal, Victor Megias, and he’ll arrive in August 2020 of next year. Cost us 3.2 mill to sign him and payoff his agent.

Now, in the meantime, there is a 16 year old Striker that came through Porto’s youth ranks – I made an offer that was accepted of 1.3 and now I’m just waiting for a reply. Unlike a lot of people, he’s not a fan of Porto or anything, although he’s from the metro area. Nevertheless he declines and won’t accept an offer to swing by right now. Ah well, sorry Carlos Rodrigues

I scouted about 8 guys that we know about – none came back that they wanted to play. Looks like a dead end.

I could loan someone though I suppose, if it became necessary.

[Abe Sargent]

Actually, I sent out another dispatch of scouts and there is a 15 year old ST from the USA playing in France. He came back with a huge rating and he’s willing to come over. Auxerre doesn’t want to sell though. I make an enquiry. Hunter Torres. He’s worth 850k.

They dismissed my enquiry. I make an offer first at 2 mill. They begin negotiations.

Frankfurt signed GK Jose Moreira. I was hoping he’d linger available, in case someone made a play for Ruiz – that would have been an epic storyline.

I make an offer to Ruiz now that Moreira is off the market. Let’s keep him here.

I begin to look at mentoring and such

Teikeu with DMC Oscar Cardona is the only match up I have right now.

[Abe Sargent]

You can tell my scouting internationally has worked. When I joined, we had all players from Brazil, Portugal, and 3 from Mozambique and 1 Cape Verde, 1 Venezuela and 1 Croatia. Today I have , just in my senior squad, 2 from Georgia, 2 from Honduras, 1 from Aruba, 1 Argentina, Cameroon, Croatia, 2 from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Mozambique, Norway, Peru, Poland, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, USA and still 14 from Portugal.

I think we’ll have two from the USA soon, but I’ll move him to the youth squad for a while.

I loan out some of my senior squad to reduce the traffic. Some need more 1st team time with me, like Worthington, so I pulled him off the loan list. But folks like Jose Rodrigues, Filipe Oliveira that were barely making it have been moved already and I’m getting offers for de Sousa Ines, Jorge Silva and Vitor Graca and such.

Leandro Casal has agreed to extend his deal as a hot prospect.

[Abe Sargent]

Our starting 11 for today’s Supertaca is different than the expected one later. I will be starting Bruno Marques in the DL spot, Ruiz, Costa, Rodrigues, and Strandberg in the defense, Stepinski and Rocker in offense, Driussi, Komorski, the newly signed David Rosano and Rui Pererira in the MR spot instead of Schaap. I want to work some of these folks in.


We are playing against Benfica. Let’s begin. Get vengeance on Benfica! I begin countering. It’s the first real match of the season, no reason to trip over yourself and let in an early goal. Lots of offense early. Both teams with shots on target in the first two minutes. Benfica score first though in the 16th. Then Rodrigues, pissed, drives hard, jukes past two defenders, crosses to Rocker and gets a score in the 19th. 1-1 half. I move to tackling and marking more. Rui picks up a knock and I sub in Schaap. On an IFK, Driussi finds Marques, who’s header is on target but pushed aside by the Gk and the ball bounces around and Strandberg puts it away in the 62nd. Then Benfica take a shot the loops over Ruiz and into the goal in the 69th. They grab a pair of bookings in the 70s. Pflugler heads in to sub for a very disappointing Drisssi (5.7). Game, extra time with a 2-2 score. Get that one more goal! Schaap crosses to Rocker for a goal in the 92nd minute. Now it’s 3-2! Half. I sub in Agra for a tired and not playing very well Stepinski (6.4) to give us some zest in the attack for the final 15 minutes. Pflugler finds Rocker for his hat trick in the 105:25 mark. Rocker intercepts a goal kick, rushes at the GK but its marked too tightly, lifts it to Agra above everyone and Agra finishes for a goal in the 111 made by Rocker. The Rock is a gift from the football gods. He just took over the match in extra time. MOM is Rocker, we win 5-2. Enjoy these moments!



http://www.atelevisao.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Superta%C3%A7a-C%C3%A2ndido-de-Oliveira.jpg

[Abe Sargent]

Rui P will be out for a week with a gashed leg.

Juventus have made the first real offer for Costa I’ve ever gotten – 25 mill right now, not 5 now and 20 over 4 years or anything like that. I just head to 60 m to start a negotiation, but they pull out. If I ended up with a 40m offer dead all cash now and not trickling in, I’d have to pause.



Welcome 15 year old Hunter Torres! We signed him for 8 mill from AJ Auxerre, where he came from the youth program. Porto had just signed a major USA acquisition at the DL on the SUSA youth squad, so I looked it over, and there was this young 15 year old. Obviously I had to take a look to see. He comes in worth 4.1M. He’s a nice long-term project. Plus I already have an American here too.


ST, AMC/L – Hunter Torres, 15, signed through 2014, American, can speak English, basic French, Resolute,

Phys – 13, 14, 12, 7, 8, 14, 11, 8
Mental – 6, 6, 5, 7, 8, 11, 11, 15, 14, 9, 13, 8, 18, 16
Tech – 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 8, 7, 7, 5, 10, 9, 8, 7, 15

Not a bad project. Comes with a 4.5 scout rating. Everybody was impressed.


Wow, there’s an option for when your captain is from the same country to introduce the new guy – nice! Welcome the lad Ruiz! I work on his Passing.

[Abe Sargent]

Kurdadze reups with us.

Ruiz signs his new deal too. 27k/week through 2023.

I keep my existing captains of Ruiz and Strandberg.


South Africa have pulled back to 10th


I get to now make cocky answers to press conferences like “the bookies made us favorites for a reason” Its nice.



We’ll start Montesi for the DL for the first game of the season. Schaap too and Rosano obviously. I begin controlling since we are at home vs Portimonense. Rosano finds Komorski for a score in the 6th. Schaap’s strike is lethal in the 10th, pushed aside though, rebound falls to Komorski who scores again. Montesi grabs a booking early. Odd. I need to watch that. I hope he’s not a card-aholic. Rocker finds the goal in the 28th, after shots by Stepinksi and Driussi were turned aside. Schaap intercepts the ball to begin a counter that ends with his hitting Stepinski for a score. Half time. Keep it up! Rocker finds Driussi for a score in the 47th. Then he gets a yellow. Rosano with a lethal ball almost on the touchline for Scahpp to run onto, finds, and cross backward to find a driving Rocker for a score. I pull Montesi for Marques and Rocker for Agra. That way the cards are out. Pflugler is my final sub. Komorski is MOM.


That game was Rodrigues’s 100th for the club!

[Abe Sargent]

We begin in front of the league because of the huge GD in the first game.

10 of our players were in the Team of the week. Rosano was the only starter not in it.

We sold out all of our season tickets


The Arouca match arrives. Driussi to Stepinski in the 5th. Komorski to Driussi in the 7th. Rodrigues to Rocker in the 26th. Rodrigues cross to Rocker turns into a PK for Mariusz who sinks it in the 28th. Rosano injured 0 in heads Teikeu. Anotehr lethal Teikeu throw in leads to a Montesi goal. Driussi Corner finds Strandberg after a few bounces in the 50th. 2nd sub is Rui for Driussi. I slide to counter and retain possession. JI send out Worthington for Schaap. He ends up with a pair of shots on target pushed away in the late 80s. ThenThe Rock hits Steppinwolf for a late goal in the 89th. We win 7-0. MOM is Stepinski and his hattrick.

Rosano will be out for a week to 10 days with a twisted ankle. I’ll start Oscar Cardona until he returns.

We have 7 players in the Team of the Week this time

[Abe Sargent]

We made 8.5 mill for Group Stage cash


We’ve been seeded 2nd for the Group Stage. I guess Porto was given a free route since they won last year, since they didn’t qualify via the league. All of us were seeded 2nd after Benfica fought their way into the Group Stage. Here are all of the Champion Groups for ya:


2019 Champions Group Stage

Group A

Real Madrid
Napoli
Ajax
Basel


Group B

Paris St-G
CSKA Moscow
Metalist
Sparta Prague


Group C

Liverpool
Clube Desportivo Nacional
Stuttgart
Club Brugge


Group D

Manchester United
Dortmund
AC Milan
Fenerbahce


Group E

FC Bayern Munchen
Benfica
Olympiakos
Elfsborg


Group F

Tottenham
Atletico
Inter
Zenit

Group G

Juventus
Manchester City
OM
Dinamo

Group H

Barcelona
Porto
AS St-Etienne
H. Tel-Aviv


So all three Portuguese clubs have a chance to get out. Sure, Benfica has Bayern, but they have the easiest 3 and 4 clubs. Porto has Barcelona, but also Hapeol and French club that is not Paris. We have Liverpool, sure, but Club Brugge and Stuttgart make it more difficult that the other Portuguese clubs, but we usually win against German clubs not named Bayern.

The only time we lost to Stuttgart was way back in 2014/2015 when we were knocked out of the 2nd Knockout Round of the EURO Cup to them. We lost to them away 1-3 and beat them at home 3-2 and lost on aggregate by a goal. So we didn’t even get swept from them back in 2015, and now we are a much better team. The next year we were swept by Bayern in the Group Stage. Then we made it to the quarterfinal of the Champions Cup the following year and tied Dortmund twice and lost on away goals. The following year we came in 4th in our Group and never met a German. Then last year we had Dortmund in our Group and went one tie and one loss to them. The we hammered Leverkusen in the Knockout with two wins.

So overall, our matches against Germany, including FC Bayern are:

4 losses
3 ties
3 win

Not including Bayern, that is a 3 wins, 3 ties 2 losses, for a slight winning record against them. Now we have Stuttgart, which was an overachiever last year and got 2nd in the league, but was predicted 6th and Club Brugge, who didn’t even win in Belgium.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 30 – Bruno Marques turned professional today as he turns 17 and signed a deal with it.


I sign a new deal with my club for more money.


29 of my players are called up for international duty


I have signed another African youth player, 17 year old Mozambique player Manuel Vulande, just to develop him for the national side. Nothing else. He plays MR, AMR or ST and is just another youth guy.. I just paid 20k for him, and he’ll arrive in January after he turns 18.

By the end of August, I have 30 loans done, 5 of which are injured right now.

[Abe Sargent]

September

1st – Home vs Gil Vicente
14th – Away vs Rio Ave
17th – Away vs Stuttgart, Group Stage, Champions
22nd – Home vs Braga
28th – Away vs Porto

South Africa:

Friendly, Home vs Ecuador, 6th
Friendly, Home vs Scotland, 10th

Costa, Junior Barrios, Driussi – good training; Rosana bad


Stepinski won Player of the Month; Rocker and Driussi were 2nd and 3rd

Komorski has 2nd Place Goal of the Month

I won Manager of the Month

I force Man Utd off Rocker when they come in with a 38M offer.



Oscar Cardona starts at DMC today against Gil Vicente. Pick up where you left off! Komorski in the 12th from Montesi. WHOA! Rodrigues intercepted the ball on the edge, dribbled it in and scored himself. Nicely done! Driussi to Komorski for another goal in the 44th. Half. Sub 1 – Pflugler for Komorski. 2 is Vitor Barreto for Driussi. Rui P in for Schaap. They get a goal late in the match in the 88th minute. We win 3-1. MOM is Komorski. Cardona had a pretty solid debut too – 7.2 on the day.

[Abe Sargent]

The game ends and I get four offers for my players:

49M for Andreas Rocker from Paris St-G
25M for Costa, from Juventus
38.5M for Rodrigues, from Man Utd
21M for Driussi, from AS Monaco


I could just accept them all and double or triple our value overnight. Is Driussi a luxury with Rui Pereira and Pfluger?

We have a long term issue later. When Rui P is all developed and likely better than Driussi, what do I do? I could just move him now, clear up that space, and make Rui P my starter.

I’m leaning to no.

[Abe Sargent]

Ecuador scores first in the first half, and its 0-1 at thehalf. I get upset and ST Nazeer Arendse gets me two goals in the 50s. I make some subs, put in a new uncapped guy I called up at DC Tchoutou grabs a goal later 78th after spelling Rantie. More subs ensue. Khune stops an amazing shot in the 88th. I’m shocked he did, I barely saw it it was flying so quickly. We win 3-1 and Nazeer Arendse, with two goals and an assist is MOM. Brilliantly to come back!

Arendse is growing swiftly on me. I know its early days, but still, the 20 year old is not playing himself off the team. Now let’s see what he can do against the better competition of Scotland, ranked 24th. MR Thulani Serero was injured in training, so I move Bhongolwethu Jayiya to it. That’s the only change for today’s game.

I begin countering here against Scotland, just to get a feel. Even playing defensively, they score in the 11th minute. But that’s alright, we aren’t in a big match, so Rantie will probably explode on them. Nevermind, it was waved offsides. Then Arendse gets a pass from Jayiya and scores in the 16th. Then they score off a corner in the 39th. 1-1 at the half. Vilakazi jumpstarts a counter attack that Rantie falls on and drives up the length of the field into the box deep and passes to Parker for the score. Let’s muscle Scotland around a bit. I sub out an enyellowed DC for another. Then I have to begin pulling tired but playing well folks. More subs follows. We injure two Scottish folks late. Lower Tempo! Retain Possession! We win 2-1. MOM is again Arendse. I’ll take that win.

Once again, Nazeer man. 4 caps and 4 goals starting across from Rantie.

[Abe Sargent]

David Rosano is back at DMC for the Rio Ave match. Stepinskia to Strandberg on a Corner by Driussi that hit Steppy. Rocker to Stepinski – 51st. Driussi in the 65th. In heads Davit Kurdadze for Costa. They strike one back in the 77th. Luis Carlos for Komorski. Rui P to Rocker in the 87th. We win 4-1. Rocker is MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

I hand out rests to prepare for the away game in Germany. This game will make a statement about how we’ll do in the Group Stage this year . Honestly, we could get clocked twice by Liverpool, lose here today away, and not even survive the group stage. We begin defensively. They foul Rodrigues in the box. PK by Stepinski is….good in the 2nd minute. Huge flowing move to get Rocker a score in the 3rd. Ruiz handed it to Costa, to Rodrigues to Rosano to Driussi to Stepinski to Rocker in just a few seconds and Rocker scored. 2-0 in the first 3 minutes. Driussi hits Rocker for a goal in the 6:13 mark. Set up by Schaap. Komorski is injured and we have to pull him in the 21st. I send in Pflugler. Half. Keep it up! Sub 2 – Driussi was tired with a few hits, so I send out Rui Pereira. Final sub – Teikeu in for Costa. We win 3-0. MOM is the Rock. That was really special!!!

Blast. Komorski tore his hamstring and is out for two-three months.

For now, Pfluger will start there. Maybe this’ll jumpstart him a bit.


Porto and Benfica also won their opening matches and Portugal begins 3-0 in Champion Group Stage play.

[Abe Sargent]

South Africa rose to 9th in World Rankings

Now we host Braga. Always a big game. Stepinski misses another PK in the 2ndminute but then hits hay in the 23rd. 1-0 half. Keep it up! Braga hit a corner kick early, but then We do to and Strandberg equalizes. I send out Junior Barrios to get some experience. We win 2-1. MOM is Schaap. Bit of a let off!!!



Next up is the away game at Porto. Both of us are undefeated, so this is an important match. And Schaap gives away a PK in the 8th they hit and then they score in the 35th. We are down 0-2 at the half. SHOW ME SOMETHING ELSE!!! I move to tackling, faster tempo, everything I can think of. After shot shots on goal are deflcted, the thirs is scored by Schaap so he scores in the 65th. I pull an underperforming David Rosano for Teikeu. That’s a chance back in I suppose. Then in the 71st, Rodrigues, passed, crosses viciously to Pfluger across the field and Sebastian puts it in. We have tied them at the 70:49 mark. Now its’ a game again! Rodrigues grabs a booking Sub #2 is Agra for Stepinski to give my attack some fresh legs. Then Porto fouls Driussi with a two legged tackle and gets a red card at the 80:27 mark. Can we pull this one out? I put in Rui P for Driussi. He was a bit dinged up in the tackle. I make my red card changes. Rocker almost broke away in the 83:33 spot. Then they fire a long shot off a break in the 84th and sink it and now they are up 3-2. Move to attacking. And that’s game. We lose 3-2. We were just unlucky!

That ends our winning streak.

We won’t go undefeated this season.

[Abe Sargent]

October

2nd - Home vs Liverpool, Champions Group stage
7th – Home vs Aves
20th 0 Home vs Feirense, Taca da Portugal
23rd – Away vs Club Brugge, Champions Group Stage
27th – Away vs Belenenses

South Africa:

Friendly at Cyprus, 11th
Friendly at Romania, 15


Agra, Pfluger, Totladze with good training, Ruiz and Hunter Torres with bas ones..




Can we survive Liverpool today, here in Madeira? I’ll begin countering. They score in the 12th minute off a DFK, but we hold on and its 0-1 at the half. Not a surprise, Unlucky so far! That seems to relax them. I start making adjustments to try and get a goal to tie things up in the late 50s and early 60s. Soon enough they have an increased temp and such. Then Ruiz drops a goal kick right into Rocker, who has broken their Trap and scores in the 74th. Nice! I do not use this as a chance to sit back and grab a tie. I attack. I move to control, very high tempo, sub in Rui P and Teikeu, Rodrigues already was pulled for a yellow card for Bruno Marques. We push more and more, and began to steal control of the game form Liverpool. Then, at the 89:07 mark, Rui is given a deep ball by Schaap. He passes back in front of goal to an attacking DMC David Rosano, who heads it away deep in the right side. Now it’s 2-1. Now I pull back to protect the goal. Defensive, lower tempo. Stepinski missed a great chance in penalty time. We hold to some pressure in the last minute and win 2-1. MOM is David Rosano.


Nicely done.

[Abe Sargent]

For the Aves match I’m starting Luis Carlos, Bruno Marques and Jorge Agra. Driussi, Driussi, Rocker with goals in the first 15 minutes. Luis Carlos with a header goal. Agra picks up a knock and I sub in Junior Barrios. Half. Keep it up. Teikeu in for Rosano, who’s tired. Worthington for Schaap. Game, we win 4-0. MOM is Driussi.



Inter’s manager job is open, and they have offered me an interview. I head out to talk with them.

[Abe Sargent]

Portugal is having difficulties in their Euro Qualifying Group. Today, Poland defeated Lithuania an Portugal Azerbaijan. Here’s the Group with one game remaining for everyone but Poland


1st – Poland, 8 games, 17 points, +15 GD
2nd – Czech, 7 games, 16 points, +5 GD
3rd - Portugal , 7 games, 16 points, +15 GD
4th – Lithuania, 7, 1, and -17
5th – Azerbaijan, 7, 1, and -20

Okay, here’s the problem. The final game is between Portugal and the Czech Republic. Portugal already lost to the Czech team earlier. So in four days, if the Czech team sweeps them or ties, then Portugal is out and has to get in via the 3rd Place Teams table.



Friendly vs Cyprus – 0-0 draw. MOM was DC Eric Mathoho – odd.


David Rosano just got his first cap for Spain! Congrats!

Inter hires someone else.


Tchoutou gets a Thulani Serero cross for a score as the Romanian match opens. They score back in the 37th minute. We can still win tonight folks. They score again in the 70s and we can’t match, so we lose. 2-1.

After our loss in Romania, Portugal were thumped by Czech 3-0. Ironically, they how have to fight against Romania in November to make it in.

We dropped to 14th in Rankings.

[Abe Sargent]

We have mostly subs and young folks for today’s Taca match. We begin controlling. Barrios to Agra. They score back. Agra to Teikeu, Corner. Barrios tackled the ball and scored. Half. They score again. Rui P finds Agra in 78th Marcio Sousa hits Teikeu on IFK. We win 5-2. MOM is Agra. Good win!


Sporting was taken out in the 3rd round. I’m done with Kurdadze. That was three goals he’s not fought against on crosses right by his guy in two games he’s played for me. I offer him for a loan.

[Abe Sargent]

With Portugal a full 6-0-0 in the Group Stage, we have some tough matches matches today, including Porto vs Barcelona and Benfica vs FC Bayern. Benfica just lose on the road 3-2 but Porto hammer Barcelona 5-0 at home. Dang!

Now, can we win away at here in Belgium? Our youth beat theirs 7-3 this afternoon. Ill start defensive, just to get a feel for stuff. After a Schaap cross to Stepinski hits the GK and rebounds, Pflugler is there to pt it away at the 0:56 mark. I’ll stay with defense them. Rodrigues crosses into the box and it’s a penalty on Schaap. Stepinski hits the PK at the 34th minute. Half. Keep it up! Omar Montesi collects a booking in the 56th. I sub in Marques for him 10 minutes later. I put in Worthington for a bruised Schaap. Agra in for Rocker. We hold on and win 2-0. MOM is Pflugler.

And now Portugal is 8 wins and 1 loss in the first half of the Group Stage.

[Abe Sargent]

After getting thumped 4-0 by Gil Vicente, Sporting sacked their manager, who had only been with them 11 months.


Porto defeated Benfica in the league match 3-0 in their place. That gives us an opening to move into 2nd with the Belenenses game today. Pfluger to Driussi, score. Pflugler to Montesi on corner kick. Half. Pflugler gets a booking. I send in Luis Carlos. Rocker to Stepinski, goal in the 68th. We win 3-0. MOM is Montesi.


Teikeu get a virus and I send him home.

[Abe Sargent]

November

2nd – Home vs Benfica
5th – Home vs Club Brugge, Champions Group Stage
9th – Away vs Vizela, Taca da Portugal
23rd – Away at Olhanense
27th – Home vs Stuttgart


South Africa:

Friendly vs Honduras, 19th

Train? GK Helder Almieda, DMC Oscar Cardona, ST Hunter Torres.



We need to win today’s match vs Benfica. Rosano to Pfluger last in the first half and it’s a1-0 at the half. Quiet. I decide to sit back since both teams are playing strong. I slide to counter, retain, etc. Lots of pressure both ways in the first 10 minutes of the next half too, but neither team breaks. Driussi gets a booking so I toss in Rui P for him. Schaap is playing very poorly so I pull him for Worthington. Costa gets a yellow late so I sub in Marques for him. And we protect that lead and win 1-0 against Benfica. That’s good stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Did you know that some of the best of the young invasion of great American talent is playing in Portugal right now? It’s true!

GK Fabian Ruiz, hasn’t allowed a goal in 405 minutes, just collected his 10th appearance, Nacional

DC Eric Shorey, 22, starts for Benfica, just got the MOM against us for great defensive work, 14 caps, just a bit worse than Hernani Costa, worth 7.25 Mill

DL Nigel Weale, 22,16 caps, just signed for 7.5 mill by Porto (and that was a steal) he’s worth 15.5 already. They have already begun calling him the American Rodrigues in Portugal because of how similar him and Nigel are in ability and play style. Just brought in over the summer and (would have been a great Canela replacement for us I wish I would have known he could have been gotten that cheaply).



Any idea that American players don’t get respect is over and done. Here is where the hot American players are playing right now”

20 year old DC Jimmy Gregory, with 6 caps, plays in Austria with Salzburg

19 year old GK, which a scout report says could be at Ruiz levels later on is in Mexico with America.

22 year olf Marc Phillips with 42 caps and 2 goals and studly styles, plays for Olympique Lyonnais.

20 year old ST Jon Tarr, with a cap, plays for Houston – the only great Senior-squaded youth in the USA.

DMC/MC Luis Felipe, 23, starts for 4th place Ponte Preta in Brazil’s First.

24 year old ST Colin Wheeler, 13 caps and a goal, plays for Pumas in Mexico, which is 3rd in their league this year and 2nd last year.

Sub 24 year old Julian Green with 34 caps and 5 goals, AML, ML, AMRC, STC, MR, starts for FC Bayern.

The other clubs for the USA senior squad are Ajax, Atalanta, America again, Chivas, Frankfurt, Monterrey, QPR, Toronto FC, Valencia, Vasco, and Xolos Tijuana.

Just in case you were wondering.


Others not on the senior squad but really strong include:

8.75 mill Bobby Almageur, 23, 38 apps, 7 goal., plays for AS Monaco
22 year old, 1.15 mill, ML AML Kevin Rosas, Chivas.
ST Joel Robles, Chivas USA, 17
DC Sean Carrillo, 22, 3 mill, 1 cap, LA
ST Andrea Vailati, Fiorentina
ST Hunter Torres, Nacional da Madeira
ST Jake Constable, Philadelphia

[Abe Sargent]

Can we continue our winning streak against Club Brugge today here in Funchal? Our goal in the 4th is waved offside. Rocker gets a booking early. Then he finds Steppinwolf for a goal in the 18th. Another similar attack by them a few minutes later is just pushed away by the GK. Alright that’s it. That’s like the 3rd or 4th time since he’s started that Pfluglers passes were lazy, resulting in a interception that had led to a goal. I pull him out for Luis Carlos in the 28th with the score 1-1. Schaap intercepts the balls and scores in the 29th. Rocker with a score in the 33rd. Ruiz hit him on a GK that broke the Trap. Then a Driussi corner to Costa who heads to Strandberg who scores in the 43rd. Half time – 4-1. They score in the 63rd. Then I sub in Agra and Barrios for tired strikers. Driussi hits Steppy just before he leaves for a score. And we win 5-2. MOM is Stepinski.

We have qualified from the Group with 2 games to go.




Today, Porto was away in Barcelona and Benfica hosted FC Bayern. Result? Benfica defeated Bayern 1-0 and Porto lost 4-0 on the road. They were down 1-0 late, then had a red card send off and Barcelona got 3 scores after wards.

So right now Portugal is 10 wins and 2 losses in Group Play.

[Abe Sargent]

Our last match before the international fun begins is the Taca match up. Worthington is injured early on and I sub in Marcio Sousa. Rui P hits goal twice, twice off Carlos assist. Worthington nailed an assist on an OG and its 3-0 at the half. Agra nails goal with a Rui P assist. Rui P hs picked up a knock, so I send in Vitor Barreto. I sub in Hunter Torres last. We win 4-0. MOM is Rui Pereira.



Worthington was injured late and will be out for 2 weeks. But Rui P was not. I rest him for a couple of days before he heads off to the Senior Squad, where he has not been capped yet, but been called up to.

Teikeu comes back from his virus

We get Maritimo in the 5th round

[Abe Sargent]

Romania hosted Portugal on the 15th and edged them in a late victory 2-1. Come on Portugal!


I call and congratulate Hernani Costa for notching his first international goal.


Joao Luis Rodrigues comes to me asking for a new deal. I agree. I offer him one immediately.




We have a lot of chances, but we have not been able to score on Castellon early until the 43rd minute when Lebese gets us that first goal. Nazeer Arendse scores in the 73rd. MOM is Arendse and we win 2-0. We had 20 shots and 12 on target, and Henry Castellon stopped 10. Nothing to be embarrassed about.


Did you know that? Cyril Mzizi has been my starter for RSA ever since Anele’s huge injury, and I’ve never gone back? I don’t even call up Anele any more – he’s 33 and the injury slowed him down.


Romania blew up Portugal 3-1 away and Portugal is out of the competition. Sweden made it in.

[Abe Sargent]

Our World Cup Qualifier Group:


Group 9:

Benin
Comoros
South Africa
Zimbabwe


I can sleep walk and win that Group

There are some tough groups. Take this one:


Group 7:

Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Morocco

Now, Kenya is a thumper team, but that’s not easy.

Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Senegal seem like the only teams to have a group that they should have no problems with. The others are more difficult:

Group 5:

Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Sierra Leone
Tunisia

No powerhouses in there. Could be anyones!


Group 4:

Angola
Congo
Zambia
Equatorial Guinea

Angola and Zambia are likely favorites, but not heavies, and that’s not an obvious Group either.

And Cameroon?

Group 2:

Cameroon
DR Congo
Guinea-Bissau
Mali

Mali is not an automatic win, and DRC is a very good team. It would be even better if ST Lukalu would not have played for Belgium, giving them both the best Gk and one of the best ST in the game.

[Abe Sargent]

Stepinski scores in the 6th minute against Olhanense. Rodrigues sets up a lovely Schaap score from range in the 9th. Then Driussi hits Schaap for another score at the 10:01 mark. Luis Carlos crosses from his side to Schaap overlooking the defense and as they move, Schaap finds a newly opened up Driussi and hits him for a score in the 29th. Omar Montesi intercepts the ball and begins a counter than ends with Rosano finding Schaap for his hat-trick in the 30th minute. I sub in Rui Pereira for him. Rodrigues finds Driussi for a score off a nice cross in the 45th. 6-0 half. Keep it going!! Driussi grabs a booking. They score in the 47th. Stepinski finds Luis Carlos for a score in the 62nd Agra heads in for Steps. I also sub in Marcio Sousa for Driussi since he’s yellowed, and swap him and Rui on the pitch. Rosano hits Luis again for a score in the 86th. We win 8-1. MOM is Schaap.



I was considering something major, and this match solidified it for me. I’m moving Pfluger. It was an attempt to bring in someone to develop a as a future star and current Javi Espinosa like player. That has never worked. Rui P has developed underneath him, and he has never had the results on the pitch that I would expect. So Pfluger is not the player I was hoping he would be. I place him on the transfer list, and offer him for 15 million.

[Abe Sargent]

Rodrigues has signed his new deal. 41.5k/week through 2023.


Porto beats Tel-Aviv, and Benfica tie Olympiakos this week. Benfica have qualified with 10 points in 5 games, and are in front by 2 over Olympiakos and 3 over Bayern. Porto and Barcelona each have 12 points and +7 GD and have qualified. Who is in what space will wait.

In our group, both us and Liverpool already qualified. So now we are just playing for the 1 million kitty each time we win game. Today is Stuttgart here in Funchal, Madeira. Rodrigues tries to cross, hits the back of the GK and bounces into the goal. Technically counts as an OG. They score back in the 39th. Half. They score in the 57th. I move my folks ahead, tackling, marking, higher tempo, made some subs, control, etc. Finally, Luis Carlos on the left side drives down the line and crosses to Stepinski who scores in the 78th. It’s back to 2-2. I keep on the pedal, but that was it. We tie 2-2. Unlucky!

Liverpool also tied Club Brugge. Ties all around – no wins, no losses, just peace in our time!




We have sold Pflugler to Man City for 15 million, and that’ll go through on January 1st.

[Abe Sargent]

December

1st – Away vs Vit. Guimaraes.
4th – Away vs Sporting
7th – Home vs P. Fereira
10th – Away vs Liverpool
15th – Home vs Vit. Setubal.
21st – Away at Tondela
29th – Unknown at Taca da Liga


Barreto, Sousa, and Castellon were good at training!

Omar Montesi was 2nd place Player of the Mont

Non-domestic shirt sales this year so far are more than half of our sales!


Worthington is back from his injury.

Today I start Teikeu for Costa, Barrios for Rocker, and that should give me a chance to rest some folks prior to a very cluttered December schedule. They score first in the 8th. Then Carlos hits Steppinwolf for a score in the 11th. Omar Montesi scores from a corner that was intercepted from hitting Teikeu and instead fell to Montesi. I slide to counter, they are playing pretty well. On another corner, they push aside Strandberg to get to the ball, and foul him, but the ball is pushed into their own goal and they score for us. So I guess the refs didn’t call a PK since the play got us a score anyway? I sub in Cardona in the 60th. Then Rui P for Luis Carlos. They grab a goal in the 72nd. Driussi gets a yellow. Since when did he become a yellow card magnet? Then these idiots score again, two minutes later. Its 3-3. Alright. We’re done with this crap. Attacking, higher high tempo. Then Junior Barrios intercepts a pass for a defender, and scores 1:1 Against the GK. That guy has potential. Slide back to counter, yadda yadda. I pull the booked Driussi for Sousa. We hold them off and win 4-3. That was a relief. That was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance!

[Abe Sargent]

Marin Komorski is back from injury. Now my goal is not to rush him back. I will ease him in some backup roles, and hope to target him as a starter again for the Liverpool match.

The Euro Group Stages are drawn. The one Romania is in would have been rough for Portugal – Romania, Spain, Holland, Czech. Since Czech just swept them in qualifiers, and Spain and Holland are heavies, that would not have been easy.



Teikeu will start for Strandberg in today’s match at Sporting. And he scores in the 5th minute! Schaaps header on a corner was deflected and Teikeu finished it. Then he gets a yellow card. Driussi puts the ball dangerous for Rocker, before he can get there in the box, he is tripped by a defender, both fall to the ground, but no penalty is called. Luis Carlos hits the ball in for goal in the 17th minute. Stepinski finds Rocker for a score in the 34th. I pull Teikeu for Bruno Marques and switch him with Omar Montesi. Half. Keep it going! Rocker to Stepinski for a score. Agra heads in for Steppinwolf. Costa collects a card. I sub in Komorski for him, swap him with Marques, and then swap with Rodrigues. We win 4-0. MOM is Luis Carlos.

[Abe Sargent]

Carlos, despite not being as good as Pfluger in skillset, just outplays him on the pitch. That was always the case Remember a few years ago I made that remark about Carlos playing better than he seemed? Well, he’s done well here, no question.


I’ll bench Driussi today for Rui P, and Rodrigues for Marques. They score first in the 16th minute. Then late, Schaap hits David Rosano for a corner kick score and its half. Show me something else! I sub in Komorski just as the second half begins. Then Stepinski crosses out left to Komorski in the 55th and he scores, showing that Komorski is officially back baby! Schaap is banged around a bit so I sub in Worthington. My final sub is Teikeu for Costa. I slide ot counter as PF are just coming at us hard in the last 10 minutes. And we survive a much more difficult PF match than expected 2-1. MOM was Schaap. Bit of a let off!

[Abe Sargent]

I move Komorski back to start. Go punch Liverpool in the face!Our defensive strategy has kept a relatively quiet half until Komorski crosses to Stepinksi for a goal in the 43rd. Half. Keep it up! Liverpool answers in the 49th. Rodrigues and Komorski both are booked. I sub in Teikeu. I need to get someone on my front 11 with long throws like this guy has. They are great- lots of fun to watch. They score a long shot in the 82nd. I send in Luis Carlos and Agra. I move to Control and very high tempo. Agra gets free but his shot is just pushed aside for a corner. Two more corners ensue, but no goals follow. We lose 2-1. Ah well. Just unlucky there!


We still won the group, although tied with Liverpool on points, with a +2 GD. Nope that’s second, sorry, we won because we had the better result with Liverpool.

Benfica defeaed Elfsborg 3-0, Porto over St-Etienne 3-1, and Olympaikos over Bayern 1-0. So Bayern is out. And Portugal won all three Group Stages. Which we think is pretty nifty keen cool.

[Abe Sargent]

Vit Setubal match – Goals by Rocker, Stepinski, Costa, OG forced by Komorski, Stepinski, Strandberg, backup and subbed in Oscar Cardona, and we win 7-0. MOM is Stepinski.

I had subbed in Vitor Barreto, and he was injured for a few weeks.



Ten players in Team of Week.


Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round:

Liverpool vs Porto
CSKA Moscow vs Man Utd
Dortmund vs Tottenham
Olympiakos vs Juventus
Man City vs Benfica
Inter vs Real Madrid
Napoli vs Nacional
Barcelona vs Paris S-G

So, there are a few opportunities here to pare down some quality, like Barcelona-Paris, Inter vs Real Madrid and Moscow-Man Utd. I can still remember when CSKA Moscow just eviscerated us in these knockout rounds earlier, I’d be happy to see them out. Napoli is not a bad draw. There could have been a lot worse, but there were some better level 2 matchups.

Despite winning their Groups, Porto and Benfica didn’t exactly come out singing. Benfica has the very rough Man City matchup and Porto has Liverpool. Sure, we handled them and came out with 4 points in our two matches against them, but can Porto?


I guess we’ll see!

[Abe Sargent]

I start Marques for the Tondela match. Goals by Driussi; Driussi; Stepinski; Rocker: Them; We win 4-.1. MOM is Driussi.

Costa is injured for a week to 10 days.

Mzizi returnas from his loan.

Taca da Liga Group D:

Gil Vecente
Us
Arouca
Tondela


Not everyone has played all 15 games, Porto had two games with Arouca and Portimonense moved into 2020. So currently we are in the lead wth 42 points from 15 games, and just a loss there to Porto. However, Porto has not dropped any points, and is currently a perfect 13 for 13. Assuming they win the two games in hand, they are still 3 in front.




Castellon learned a lot from Ruiz’s mentorship.

[Abe Sargent]

Our first Taca game is today away at Gil Vicente. I begin countering because Gil Vicente are the giant slayers. Just one of three teams to tie us last year. Steppinwolf hits them in the 0:42 mark. Then the Rock hits Driussi for a score in the 13th. I go ahead and move to retain possession this early in the game. Rosano is injured and I send in Mzizi and swap him with Strandberg as per usual. Steppinwolf nails Driiussi’s attack run as he snakes between some defenders for a score in the 39th. Half. Keep it going! Sub 2 – Agra for Stepinski. Sub 3 – Barrios in for Rocker. Barrios takes a shot, rifles back off the crossbar to Agra behind the GK who puts it away. Agra and Barrios play 1 2 back and forth on a break until Agra finishes in injury time. We win 5-0. MOM is Driussi

Rosano will be out for 2 weeks.

[Abe Sargent]

I begin to look over other players that have expiring contracts in 6 months time. I don’t know that my squad has any holes – We have DMC, AMC, MR, ML, DC, DC, DL, DR, ST, ST and GK all covered well. Is this the first year I may not push and add more talent?

But at the same time, adding high quality free talent is how I’ve pushed myself to this level. I have won this dynasty on December 29-30-31. Players I’ve scouted and signed for free include Lucas Castro, Stepinski, Rocker, Komorski, Lansbury, Schaap, Hojbjerg, and many more. I have actively signed some folks for free later, like Fabian Ruiz, and I have purchased players like David Rosano and gotten guys like Agra, Rodrigues and Costa via youth recruiting.

Now, the only place where there is a “hole” is DL/DC. Strandberg leaves us at the end of 2021, next year. At that point, Montesi moves over . Will Bruno Marques be good enough to step in permanently? Marques has not been developing as I’d like. He’s growing in other areas, but he’s not growing in things like crossing or passing like I need him too. I’m not sure that he’s going to be my Canela like I’d hoped. At most, he might be Aurelio on the left side. That’d be nice, but it seems like he’s more a Paulo Franco than a Canela.

And at this level, I need a Canela.

So I could sign one for next year, and then move Montesi over a year early, or let the person split time or whatever.

Nah – nothing at DL. Oh, wait a second, let me check DR too. Hold on. Not really either. Hmm.


Aaaahhhhhh. A German GK who on my shortlist because he was in the same class that FC Bayern Munchen had with Rocker/Pflugler,20 years old, is open. He’s going to be better than Ruiz by a lot. I might have had the opportunity to chase GK Tobias Schlosser if I hadn’t re-upped Ruiz. Ah well, I can’t look too harshly at that. I might not have signed him at all.

I send out scouts for fullbacks that are young, just to see if I can unearth someone that we can transfer in.

[Abe Sargent]

I offer new deals to Worthington, Rui P, and GK Helder Almeida and Castellon.

My first choice is a 16 year old DL for Sweden. I agree to 750k for him.

Pair ST-Germain basically wants my team. They just made an offer for Rocker and Rodrigues and Driussi.

Through the first half of the season, Driussi leads the league with a 8.11 rating, 10 goals and 9 assists in 14 games.

Rodrigues – 49 Mill
Driussi -30 Mill
Rocker – 49 mill

I could accept and then swim in cash.

Luckily our club are now in a place that they don’t need to automatically accept these huge offers.

Here is a picture of my pride and joy.


(Why won’t printscreen work with FM2014 and Windows 8? Odd. NM)


Do you sell him? Even if he’s “just a fullback?” I never run fullbacks, I’m much comfortable with a 3-something set up. I ran them this time because I started with solid talent there. And then Rodrigues fell into my lap. I’ll think about it. But I doubt it.


The End of 2019

[Abe Sargent]

January, 2020

5th – Home vs Maritimo, Taca de Portugal
12th – Home vs Arouca
15th – Home vs Tondela, Taca da Liga
19th – Away vs Portimonense
25th – Home vs Arouca, Taca da Liga


Training Report – Good – Rodrigues, Oscar Cardona, Hunter Torres. Bad? Just Marcio Sousa.



Awards for the year include, and get ready, because one of mine is about to be named to something:


Messi won World Golden Ball Winner
Neymar grabbed World Player of the Year
Allan Nyom won African Football of the Year
Man Citys Tariq Saeed won the European Golden Boy
Neymar Named Best Europe Based Brazilian Player
Neymar Name Brazilian Footballer of the Year

Ready?


Sebastian Driussi named the Argentinian World Player of the Year

Now that’s something! Hey, it’s not super amazing award, sure. But note who did not win. Fellow Argentine Messi. Now that’s something.

I congratulate him and he said, “I appreciate the support, but next year needs to be better!”

That’s my guy.


http://www.d24ar.com/uploads/editorial/2013/04/17/imagenes/46163_Driussi-D24COM.jpg


That right, Wave to the fans!

Of all of the people on my roster right now, Driussi is probably the one best suited to win Best XI at a World Cup.

[Abe Sargent]

I won Manager of the Month

For Africa, these folks won awards:

2nd Player African Midflieder of the Year – Andile Jali
1st Place Striker of the Year – Tokelo Rantie

According to GK.com, GK Khune, of South Africa, is the 13th best GK in the world. Just as an FYI. Ruiz is 19th. Germany has 4 in the Top 20. Courtois is still #1.

On the Up and Coming list they have, (Tobias Schlosser from Bayern) is #2. Jack Thorniley of Man Utd is #1. None of our players are on the top Ten, but on the ones to watch, GK Almeida and Totladze make the list.


GK Almeida reups his deal with us


Welcome fellow Mozambique player ST AMR, MR Manuel Vulande. He’s not anything other than a youth guy. I offer him for a loan. I just want to develop him here with our good programs and such for the benefit of my home nation.

Good bye Pfluger! I made 15 mill, double your value in the sale to Man City. Maybe they can figure you out.


Well, I wanted Mzizi to get first team experience. In the 6 months he was in Brazil, he started or subbed in for 26 games for Palmeiras. I’ll take it.

[Abe Sargent]

We have completed the signing of Joacim Petersson, from Sweden.

Alex Paul, the Aruban we signed before, has turned 17 and signed his first professional contract.


Rui Pereira’s new dealis for 28k/week and through 2024. Worthington reups with us too.


DL Joacim Petersson – 16, signed through 2023, Swedish, Speaks English, Swedish, basic Danish,basic Norweigan, Balanced, bought for 650k.

Physical – 15, 13, 14, 11, 16, 14, 13, 9
Mental – 11, 9, 9, 9, 7, 8, 11, 16, 12, 8, 6, 9, 11, 14
Tech – 5, 9, 6, 4, 11, 3, 10, 5, 9, 9, 13, 3, 11, 13

Not a bad place to begin with the lad. We hope he’ll be better than Marques in all of the areas that matter, and arrives with a 4 star scout rating. Hopefully my Swedish contacts were right about the kid.

[Abe Sargent]

So this is the stadium up on the hill that oversees Funchal, so you can see it from a distance:

http://www.bischofshol.de/fremde/stadionfunchal.jpg



Here's the stadium from the far side, with the ,mountain in the background that overlooks Funchal

http://www.cdnacional.pt/imgs/fotosareas/noimg.jpg

[Abe Sargent]

David Rosano’s injury keeps him from today’s match against Maritimo. Cardona will start instead. We injure a Maritimo player in the first few minutes and force him off. Goals by Strandberg and Stepinski aid us in the half time. I send in Teikeu when Costa picks up a knock. Strandberg picks up another goal. Theye give an OG too. I send in Barrios and Pereira. Game, we win 4-0. Strandberg MOM.


Costa is out for 3 to 4 weeks with a pulled hammy. Teikeu/Mzizi will start for him

Henry Castellon re-signs for us too.



Luis Carlos has approached me to get first team play on a loan. I agree.

David Rosano should be back from his injury for the Arouca match.


In the Taca Quarter Finals we drew Rio Ave.

Driussi is disappointed that I didn’t let him talk to Paris. I got a second offer for 40 and countered for 60 mill but they withdrew. That’s not unreasonable for the guy.

I decide to accept some loan offers to Worthington for 1st team play.

I offer to loan out Bruno Marques and move Petersson to the squad to dress for the Arouca game. Goals by Driussi, Driussi, Rocker, Driussi, Rocker, Rodrigues, Rocker. We win 7-0. MOM was Driussi. Petersson, subbing in the 63rd, got an assist.

[Abe Sargent]

I think it’s time to admit that it looks like Driussi has found another plateau. He has leveled up to a Level 9 Goalmaker. I make him a new offer.

About 22 teams have made offers for Marques on a loan. I try to find the good ones.

Ten players in Team of Week

Worthington heads to OM


For the Tondela match in the Taca da Liga, I started Teikeu, Mzizi, Petersson, Cardona. Agra, Barrios, Rui P, Castellon, Sousa, and Vitor Barreto. Goals by Barreto and Pereira. We win 2-0. MOM is Vitor Barreto.



Marques heads to Siena for the loan

Agra benefited from the link up with Stepinski

[Abe Sargent]

The Portimonense game was more difficult than expected. They scored early. Then Stepinski hit goal in the 63rd. Again in the 85th off a PK, and then Rocker finished it in the 89th. But it was tied almost until the end. We won 3-1. MOM was Stepinski.


Sebastian Driussi has reupped with us. 52k/week, through 2024. The 23 year old is in.

They say he has piqued. He’s at the right place to do it. Him, Rocker and Stepinski are a Triangle of Terror offensively.



Arouca scores in the 4th, but then both Schaap and Agra get back momentum by the half 2-1. Mzizi scores off a Schaap corner. Sousa grabs a goal late. They give a PK in the 88th and then Mzizi hits again on a corner in injury time. We win 5-2, and Mzizi is MOM. We have qualified.



Hernani Costa has resumed training post-injury and can play for me starting in February.

Porto have Braga and we get Benfica in the Semis of the Taca da Liga

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 31st has arrived and I have my real, official first offer for a person. 78 mill, right now, all cash, for Rocker.

That’s a lot of cash. I’m need to think about this. I can probably dicker them up. Who knows ,maybe 85 or 90 mill?

I think the best way to consider what to do with Rocker is simple. How much money would I sell him for? If a team offered me 500Million Euros, right now for Rocker, would I do it? Probably. Is 80 million enough? My transfer kitty was more than 40 this year. So, yay I suppose? Finding a replacement for Rocker who could play at his level while not costing that much money would be difficult – especially if they didn’t really want to come play here.

So I have my scouts do a little digging.

The top ten strikers, not based on value, not future, but right now, playing in Europe.

1. Neymar, Brazil/Spain
2. Messi, Argentina/Spain
3. Federico Urso Russo, a 21 year old Italian stud
4. Andreas Rocker, Germany
5. Mario Gotze, Germany
6. Domenico Berardi, Italy
7. Sergio Aguero, Argentina/Spain
8. Jese, Spain
9. Luis Suarez, Uruguay, England
10. Osiris Maurer, 20 year old stud, Mexico


Now, what are the ten most expensive Strikers in Europe right now, based on value:

1. Neymar
2. Alvaro, 22 year old Spain
3. Domenico Berardi
4. Osiris Maurer
5. Stephan El Shaarawy
6. Mario Gotze
7. David Gallagher
8. Fred
9. Gabriel Barbosa
10. Lucas Moura

So I take a look at the cheapest of the lot, Moura.

He’s worth 36.5 mill, 27 years old, plays for Paris St.-Germain.

A good comparison is Federico Urso Russo

21 years old, so just one year older, worth 31m, plays for Man Utd, started this year, has 7.25 rating off 24 apps, was purchased from Basel for 8.75 mill – that’s it. Basel picked him up from AC Milan for 3.4 mill. He’s another of the powerful Italian youth movement.

Rocker right now is 20, worth 25Mill, and is a nasty bit of work. Like Stepinski, Driussi, and others, he has basically hit his zenith and has little room left for growth. He’s a stud.

Why would I let go the 4th best Striker currently playing in Europe? For anyone? For any amount of money?

Now, super secretly, I could be tempted by Stepinski. He plays well on the pitch surrounded by Rocker and Schaap and Driussi and Komorski, and before them Lansbury. But Stepinski is replaceable, trust me. Now maybe I can build his replacement via Barrios or Torres. Perhaps I can sign him. But I could sell Steppinwolf for the right amount of money.

But not Rocker.

Next is Rodrigues. Again, rejected. I move to automatically reject all offers for Rodrigues and Rocker. I’ll look over others. They are not for sale. Not even for 500 million.

[Abe Sargent]

February

2nd – Away vs Gil Vicente
5th – Away vs Rio Ave, Taca da Portugal
9th – Home vs Rio Ave
12th – Away vs Benfica, Taca da Liga
16th – Away vs Braga
21st – Home vs Porto
25th – Away vs Napoli, Knockout Leg 1


Stepinski, Driussi, Hunter Torres looked good in training.


Sebastian Driussi won Player of the Month. Stepinski and Rocker came in 2nd and 3rd.

I won Manager of the Month




Since it’s away at Gil Vicente, I begin countering, and I take the full crew. No trap game! For example, one of Benfica's 2 losses is to Gil Vicente. They score against us off a DFK and that’s it – 1-0 at the half. Oh no you don’t!!! We Driussi hit Costa for a score in the 54th off a corner. I sub in Mzizi for a battered Costa and Rui P for an underperforming Schaap. Then in the 77th, Driussi hits Mzizi on a corner. We hold on an win 2-1. That was a bit of a trap, we had to score two set piece to win. MOM is Driussi for his double assists off corners.



For the Taca da Portugal match, we get goals by Komorski, Stepinski, half. I sub in Oscar Cardona, Petersson, goal by Rocker, Barrios heads in, MOM is Stepinski, we win 3-0.

In penalties, Tondela took down Benfica.

[Abe Sargent]

Now we have Rio Ave again, this time in our place . Driussi hits Omar Montesi on a corner for goal in the 17th. Then Komorski finds Driussi for a score in the 20th. We have injured a Rio Ave defender. Costa picks up a knock and I sub in Teikeu. Rocker sores in the 37th from a Stepinski pass. Then again from a Driussi pass. Half. Keep it going! I sub in Petersson for Rodrigues and swap him and Omar Montesi. Driussi gets a Komorski assist. I sub in Barrios for Rocker. Stepinski scores from a Driussi pass. They grab a goal late that is supposedly offsides but was not called. Even the commentators are joining my players in their frustration. Driussi smashes a goal from a crazy angle on the wings late. I don’t even know how he sunk that thing. We win 7-1. MOM is Driussi, with 3 goals and 3 assists.


I hand out some rests in preparation for today’s Benfica Semi Final of the Taca da Liga in their place.

We get Vit G in the Taca de Portugal Semis. Porto on the other side has Tondela.



South Africa have dropped to 26th.

[Brian Swartz]

Next is Rodrigues. Again, rejected. I move to automatically reject all offers for Rodrigues and Rocker. I’ll look over others. They are not for sale. Not even for 500 million.

Really good stuff here, espescially this post about how you evaluated the transfer offer.

Personally, for a high enough bid I'd probably take it anyway, since you could buy a replacement and have enough left over to improve the squad in other places. But that'd be closer to 500 than 78 :).

[Abe Sargent]

I begin defensively at Benfica in the Semi Final match. Schaap crosses to Stepinski and he scores in the 13th. Fabian Ruiz found Komorski with a great goal kick deep but he couldn’t sink it. On an IFK, Driussi lifts it to Schaap who scores in the 30th. We have a great attack turned aside late in the half, but then Driussi find Rocker on a corner from the turned away attack and hits paydirt. Schaap is fouled and Stepinski misses the PK. Half. Keep it going! I sub in Agra for Steppy, Rocker then picks up a knock, and I sub in Barrios for him. Benfica have several strong attacks that ensue. I put in Oscar Cardona for a tired David Rosano. Finally, in the 86th, Benfica’s strong attacks puncture our defense. We win 3-1 here. MOM is Driussi. Congrats to making it to the final!!!


Braga defeats Porto on penalty kicks and we will face them in the final.


Manager Jorge Jesus, who has managed Benfica for more than 10 years, has announced his retirement at the end of the season. He and I are friends now, after being in the league so long together, and are always complementary to each other in the media.

[Abe Sargent]

Really good stuff here, espescially this post about how you evaluated the transfer offer.

Personally, for a high enough bid I'd probably take it anyway, since you could buy a replacement and have enough left over to improve the squad in other places. But that'd be closer to 500 than 78 :).

True true. But still. He's my guy too, offically!

[Abe Sargent]

We begin countering against Braga. They score in the 6th. I move to hassling and marking more. Then Rocker hits back in the 19th. I ebb to defensive after I see some more great Braga moves in the 20s. Schaap gets a yellow. Half. Get that one goal! Rui P heads in for Schaap. Rui finds Rocker for a goal in the 73rd. Teikeu heads in for Strandberg, who’s not playing well (6.2). Their counter attack goal in the 77th is called offsides. We win 2-1. MOM is The Rock.


Both of the Champions League Portuguese teams are away against their English foes to begin their Knockout Round. Porto defeated Liverpool 3-2, and Benfica tied Man City 0-0.

Other games – Moscow hosts and defeats Man Utd 1-0. Inter does the same with Real Madrid by the same score.

[Abe Sargent]

Today is the single most important league game of the year. We have Porto here. They have not lost or tied. In 19 games, they have all 57 points. In 20 games, we also have 57 points, because we lost to Porto and that’s it. We lost to Porto there, but it required a lot. We scored 2 to their 3, but they had a PK and an OG to give them the game. Now we host them. We are the team in the best position to break them. They lost to Tondela, in the Cup Semis, they can lose to us.


So let’s get this game started. I begin countering. Yes I know, it’s in our place, but I want to begin slow. Costa hits the ball deep to Rocker who grabs a goal on a break at the 3:22 mark. They score in the 13th but its called off because they fouled Strandberg to do it. Then they hit the hay in the 18th without a foul and its 1-1. Let’s start muscling them around and see what happens. See if we can’t knock them off their game. A few minutes later, Rodrigues get a foul, but a few minutes more one of their stars Niel Weale is taken off the pitch with an injury and forced to be subbed out. That injury was delivered by, of all people, Schaap. He often seems a bit delicate. Komorski jumpstarts a breakaway down the edge after being fed the ball by Ruiz, he drives past a defender to the left and hits Driussi for a score in the 44th minute. Half, and we are up 2-1. Suitably fine. They are turning away attack after attack of outs. I sub in Rui P and Agra after their targets get battered around. They just keep answering crosses or dangerous passes into the box. Then Rui Pereira sets up Stepinski for a goal in the 69th. Oscar Cardona heads in. And we hold them off and win 3-1. MOM is Stepinski but Costa was really it with great defense.


We broke Nigel Weale’s ribs and he’ll be out for a month.

[Abe Sargent]

Here’s why that win was really good.

Here are the teams we still have to play in the Liga, in order:

Aves
Belenenses
Benfica
Olhanense
Vit. G
P Ferreira
Vit Setubal
Sporting
Tondela



The only match left against one of the threatening teams in away at Benfica. But teams we struggle with – Gil Vicente, Braga, Porto, Benfica are basically all gone save for one. And we just defeated Benfica in Benfica 3-1 in a Taca match.

Porto and us are tied on points, and we have a much better GD. Here is Porto’s remaining schedule:

Aves
Olhanense
Benfica
P Ferreira
Vit G
Sporting
Vit S
Portimonense
Tondela
Arouca


Both of us have Benfica away.


Lots of times my lesser folks get injuries and I don’t mentin it – loanees, youth players, etc. For example, H8unter Torres was just injured in training for 2 weeks,

But we’ve been bit a lot by the bug this year. Lots of longer injuries. Four sports hernias, yadda yadda.

Rocker comes to me concerned about wanting to move to a bigger club. I have the same sort of talk I had with Rodrigues – I want to win the Champions Cup and that’s our ambition. He said we have different concepts, and I assert that I am in charge, and he agrees to back off.

In the Liga right now, the top scorers are Driussi with 17 goals, Stepinski with 17 goals, and Rocker with 17 goals. That’s just so funny to me!

I get a couple of random offers to loan out Cardona for a few months, and after consideration, I accept. He heads out for 1st team ball.

I now have 46 players on loan.

[Abe Sargent]

Today we head out to Napoli. All of the three teams were away. Porto won, Benfica tied, and both set themselves up for potential home games that can win on aggregate. Can we do the same today in Napoli? Let’s find out!!! I begin defensively. We’ve gone out and smacked people around in Europe a bunch in the European competition. I hope we can continue today. Rocker is injured early and I sub in Agra. They foul Schaap in the box in the 43rd and Stepinski sinks the PK. Agra finds Driussi on an attacking run and he sinks It a minute later, and boom, just like that 2-0 us at the half. Keep it up! In the next half let’s look to retain possession and such. Rosano picks up a yellow and I sub in Teikeu and swap him with Strandberg. Komorski to Agra is a goal, but waved offisdes in the 65th, Montesi gets a booking in the 69th. Schaap picks up a knock. Who should I sub Schaap or Montesi? Then Driussi picks up a booking too. Hmm. I pull Schaap for Rui. I pull back and we hold off a Napoli counter assault late to win 2-0. MOM is Omar Montesi. Nicely done in Italy!

Unfortunately, Dortmund lost to Tottenham despite hosting them. Paris tied Barcelona on the raod 1-1 and Juventus beat Olympiakos on the road 2-1.

[Abe Sargent]

March

2nd – Away at Aves
8th – Home vs Belenenses
15th – Away at Braga
18th – Home vs Napoli, Champions
21st – Home vs Olhanense
24th – Home vs Vit G, Taca de Portugal


South Africa:

27th – Friendly vs Macedonia


Rui P, Castellon and Montesi brought back good scouting reports, but Ruiz, Driussi and Petersson disappointed.

Rocker got 3rd for Player of the Month

I won Manager of the Month




I start Petersson today at Aves. Goals – Rocker, Strandberg, Driussi, Schaap, Costa (OG), Stepinski. We win 5-1. MOM is Driussi.


Wolfsburg offered me a job interview. I take it.


The Porto vs Benfica match is about to begin….Porto wins 2-0 on the road.

The board approaches me and I agree to stay on.

I didn’t really want Wolfsburg anyway. Yuck.

Why would I leave here and head to somewhere that I couldn’t immediately hire Rodrigues, Rocker and some of the others at?

[Abe Sargent]

Belenenses match time has arrived. Montesi is back in the starting lineup. If we win today, we will qualify for Champions next season already, once again, do so really early. Last time we did it early. Rosano smashes Driussi for a score in the 4th. Then we start missing a lot, and hitting the woodwork, and then missing some more. Finally, Komorski crosses to Steppinwolf for a score in the 44th minute. Half 2-0 us. Schaap to Komorski, 50th. Subs include Barrios and Mzizi early on. When I have a blowout I like to make as many youth subs early on in order to get good devo time, and then leave the last sub until later in case of injuries or such. Driussi finds Rocker. Final sub is Vitor Barreto for Driussi. We win 4-0. MOM is Driussi.

We have qualified for Champions next year with 7 games to go.

Once again, all of my Triad of Terror guys are leading the league, and each have 19 goals.


Champions Knockout News -

The second half of several rounds has commenced and we have some news

CSKA Moscow traveled to Manchester and Inter arrived at Madrid. Both won hosting 1-0 over the major foes. Do they have the class to finish out? I hope so! Taking out Real Madrid and Man Utd would remove two major threats from the Knockout Stages. Plus, the final is played in Old Trafford . We need to take them down now.

Inter is doing really well right now and overperforming in Serie A. Meanwhile Real Madrid is knocked down to 3rd and in a tough scrum. Can the confidence of Inter emerge victorious?

Yes, Inter can win. They have a strong team, and they tie 1-1 in extra time, and win in aggregate. So Inter have knocked off Real Madrid and are through to the Quarter Finals. Great job!

Now Moscow. Really, what can you expect? Manchester United are winning the EPL right now. They are flying high. They don’t lose this early ever. They re stoked about playing in the Final locally. They want to win this year!

How can Moscow go, on the road, and protect their one goal lead?

So they arrive, they play. And of course, like everyone expect, Moscow lose. So that’s the end of that.


Well….


Except that they lose 1-2. That means the aggregate is tied 2-2, and there’s this away goal rule.

So CSKA Moscow head into England, lose, and win. Congrats!

Whew!

I could not have planned that better myself. With FC Bayern out in the Group Stage, that’s a huge weight lifted off everyone’s shoulders.

[Abe Sargent]

Next up are the two Porto/Benfica matches, here in Portugal, against Liverpool and Man City. Now one tied and the other one away. Hopefully, Portugal will show the better class and smash both.

Plus I’d rather play against Porto or Benfica in a quarter final than anyone else out there.

So Porto wins 2-1. Liverpool is out. Porto is class, they won the Champions last year, that’s no surprise. 5-3 aggregate - won both legs by a goal.

Now, Benfica is odd.

Benfica went into Manchster and just turtled up. No one break their defense, and they never really tested Man City’s either. The idea was to get some goals here in Portugal. So Man City used the same strategy. They also turtled up. And both game ended 0-0. No goals at all. Extra time, nothing. So penalty kicks!

And Benfica wins.

And Portugal gets at least two teams into the Quarters. Plus England lost three out of four teams. If Dortmund were to surprise Tottenham, then no English club even makes it to the 2019/2020 Quarter Finals. That’d be awesome!




I decline an interview with Schalke.

Man City offer me one. They fired their coach after the Benfica loss. That I accept. They want attacking football and big name signings. Sure! I could sign Rocker or Driussi or Rodrigues or someone.


Now we head to fight Benfica. Wow we only just stop a goal in the 3rd from Benfica by it hitting the post, it was shot so nicely. Driussi mines the goal for a score in the 11th. That’s the way to start nany! And then Strandberg gets a goal in the 15th. Last in the half, Benfica get a red card for a double footed tackle on Montesi . I pull out Stepinski after he gets a booking. Go get them Barrios! They turtle, and I let them. We win 2-0. Ineed ot keep my squad in shape for the Napoli game in three days. MOM is Driussi.


Now both Porto and us have made it through the Benfica grinder 2-0 on the road.

[Abe Sargent]

Come get your rests! Now we face Napoli. We beat them 2-0 on the road. We just have to be professional and finish the job.


Hello, my name is Dario Veron, the Assistant Manager for the high flying Clube Desportivo Nacional in Funchal Madeira. Today’s I’d like to bring to you the reports of the youth that have arrived in our youth intake system. As we have essentially replaced Sporting as a Big Three in Portugal, recruiting is at an all time high! We have a lot of people to choose from!

Last year was one of our more disappointing years in the 7 years that Manager James Essex has been here. We have really tried to increase and improve our scouting! Now, the good news is that this year’s intake is better than last year’s, which really only had one major player of note. This year, we have a handful of talent that our scouts and coaches feel are quality enough to do something with:

ST Richard Mota, 16, from Funchal, - adequate. Could eventually be a good starter in the Second Division.
GK Miguel Viveiros, 16, from Funchal. We think he is the best potential in the intake class. 3.5 star scout rating. We think, with the right supervision, tools, and such, he could start for a first Division club. However, we think Totladze, Castellon, and Almeida are all better.
GK Rui Ressureicao, 16, from Funchal, huge fan of the club, 3 star rating, 2nd best player in the intake, could also be a starter in the Liga at some point if we got him all of the way.
ST Joao Camacho, 2 star rating, `15, from Ponta do Sol, If fully developed, could be a starter for First Division clubs.
ST, AMC, MC, Felipe Freitas, 16, 3 star report, from Moreira de Conegos, huge fan of the club, should be a starter in the First Division. In fact, he could be the next Joao Moutinho, who is 33 and had 114 starts for the Senior Squad.
DC Leonardo Mendonca, 16, from Funchal, also a 3 star rating and could, someday, be a solid starter for the Liga.
DC Valter Fidalgo, 16, from Funchal, huge fan of the club, 2 star rating, could be a solid Second Division Starter someday.


And those are the candidates of quality that we like. None match the quality of the prides of our youth system, such as Rodrigues, Costa, or Agra. But we have quite a number of solid contenders for spots on most teams. But for where we are going, and intend to be by the time they have developed? We don’t have any bodies of note.


Are there other Portuguese players of note that came in through other systems? Scouts and other staff tend to brag about players they got. No one is a secret in Portugal for long. It’s believed that the best one is probably AML Pedro Quaresma at Sporting. But these are just scouting reports of potential. Who will and won’t reach them is another matter entirely.

[Abe Sargent]

Man City have offered me their Manager spot. Hmm…

My issue with Man City – they already spent their transfer kitty for the year.

16.5M for Ryan Gauld from Arsenal
43.5 Mill for 23 year old middle Simone Farella from Juventus
30 Mill lfor Jack Grealish from Stoke
15 M for Sebastian Pflugler from Me


Now, with that money, I could have signed Rocker and Rodrigues or Rocker and Driussi. Maybe all three from a new Manager. (They still have 15 mill left). That’s like 140 Mill. I could bring in my best players wholesale. I think the success of my guys, taken at a higher level league, would put them on the short list of some major awards.

But I want to finish out this year too. Can I hold onto 1st place when Porto and us are tied for points?

I reject the offer.

[Abe Sargent]

Having lost at home 2-1, Olympiakos hopes for a miracle today in Italy against Juventus.

Meanwhile, having tied Paris at home, Barcelona heads to France to try to win either with a tie bigger than 1-1 so they can win on away goals, or with a victory.

The odds favor Juventus and Paris, both of the home clubs today.

But as we saw last time, the odds don’t matter when you get this high. Anyone can beat anyone. After all, even Olympiakos went on the road and defeated Bayern to knock them out of the Group Stage.



As expected, Paris is able to hold off any sort of Barcelonan surge. They throttle Barcelona 3-1 and dominate the aggregate.


Now, Olympiakos has already shown it can win in the road this year against Bayern, and with all due respect to Italy, Juventus is no Bayern Munchen. Can they do it twice?

No. Juventus edge them 1-0 at home and Greece has fallen.


And now Napoli is here. The Dortmund-Tottenham match is played at the same time, and smart money is on Tottenham to win. Alons-y! Not much early, and then Napoli just outrun our defense and score on a break in the 33rd. I slide back to counter to counter their speed. We had a few chances go begging with misses. Then Schaap hits Stepinski in the 45th minute. Half time 1-1 score. Keep it up! They are just flying all over this pitch and getting to my attack before it can get started and hitting me quickly in the back. So I just move to defensive, retain possession, etc. I sub in Teikeu and move the DMC role to just defensive middie, defending. I send in Barrios to do some tackling. Rui heads in too. Then late, Ruiz’s goal kick heads deep and finds Rocker attacking, shot on target, deflected, falls to Rui P who puts it away in the 86th. And we turtle and win 2-1. MOM is Driussi. Good win!

[Abe Sargent]

Tottenham are through as well.

That leaves an interesting set of teams left.

Agra is again unhappy at lack of 1st team ball. I back him off. I won’t be able to keep doin gtha tforever though.


I turn down a Spanish job interview.



The Champions Cup/League/Thing Quarter Finals:


CSKA Moscow vs Paris
Benfica vs Tottenham
Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira vs Inter
Juventus vs Porto

So we have a chance to put 0, 1, 2 or 3 teams in the Semis.


Note the lack of true heavies. There is no Man City, no Man Utd no Bayern Munchen, no Barcelona and no Real Madrid. Now, Juventus, Inter, Tottenham – these are real teams. Porto won last year, Tottenham two years ago, We have the last two winners in this group. But none before that. The last 15 winners of the Cup:

Porto
Tottenham
Real Madrid
Bayern
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Bayern
Chelsea
Barcelona
Inter
Barcelona
Man Utd
AC Milan
Barcelona
Liverpool


So, as you can see, you have to go back 10 years to find the last time the Moscow/Paris/Juventus/Inter quartet won.

And who did they beat? The last 10 runners up are:

Man Utd
Paris Saint-Germain
Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Man Utd
Dortmund
Bayern
Man Utd
Chelsea

England have been the great whipping boys of Europe.

[Abe Sargent]

RSA have this up and coming ML who was playing for Buraspor in Turkey, 20 year old guy named Morena Masegela. Good value – such as 16/14 cross/pass 16/17 speed, and 13 dribb, 14 technique, etc. I call him up to replace some injuries and some of the folks I called were refused by local Managers. I need a better winger ot begin developing and he’s not a bad choice. I’ll give him some international experience, and develop him like I did Motloung, Mzizi, currently with Nazeer Arendse and such.


I decline an Italian interview.


For today’s match, I’ll be resting Rodrigues and Strandberg for Mzizi and Petersson. Driussi to Mzizi for goal in the 7th. Stepinski’s shot is blocked, Rocker finishes in the 13th. Whoa! Petersson just had a bullet of a long shot strike from behind a lot of folks. It was nasty on target and no one was expecting it, and not the GK either and it was all he could do it get to it in time to push it aside for a corner. I don’t know if I should encourage such behavior in the lad since he was on target and it was almost a thing, or if I should disencourge that since he’s just a fullback and not really gifted in those skills. Schaap to Rocker in the 26th. Then they score in the 28th on a corner. Rocker to Driussi in the 33rd. Half – keep it going! They score early in the 2nd half too. I sub in Rui P and Barrios. Rocker to Schaap, 63rd. Stepinski in the 66th, from Schaap. I send out Marcio Sousa. Stepinski gets a Driussi assist in the 81st. We win 7-2. MOM is Stepinski.

[Abe Sargent]

With 30 assists, Driussi now has more in a season for our club that Lansbury did with 29 in 2017, and leads the table.

With 5 games to go, all three of the Triad of Terror lead the league with 21 goals apiece

The first leg of the Taca Semi has arrived. They give us a penalty early and Steppin to the Oldies again misses. I gotta find me someone else. Goals by Rocker, Driussi, them, them, og. We win 3-2 in an ugly slugfest. Yuck.

Tondela arrived at Porto and tied them 1-1.



Friendly vs Macedonia

Motloung finds Arendse for a score 6th minute
They hit a corner in the 44th
Half. Disappointing
Mzizi knocked, subbed out
Nothing else happens
1-1 tie
MOM is Nazeer Arendse

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, the Inter home game has arrived. I begin defensively in the hope of giving them some time to acclimate to Inter’s style of play. Quiet early on, so I head to countering in the 30s. Rocker hits Schaap in the 33rd foal a goal on a break away. Then four minutes later, on an IFK, Schaap hits the ball short to Driussi who crosses to Montesi, who heads the ball in. Their GK launches a vicious Goal Kick right to their striker, and he is free and it takes perfect teamwork by Ruiz, Costa and Strandberg to triangle him from all three sides and tackle the ball. We are up at the break! Keep it up! I slide back to defensive and make some the expected changes like retaining possession. Driussi grabs a card. I sub him out for Rui Pereira. They miss a tackle on Stepinski at the halfway mark and he drives at goal and snakes it in just as a fullback is closing on him from just outside the box. Great play in the 67th. Ruiz is having a barnstormer of a game, stopping everything. And there are a lot of things. In the 73rd, they have 14 shots and 7 on target. We have 12 and 6. Our GK has stopped theirs, theirs has not stopped ours. As expected, they finally break the cocoon in the 79th. I send out Barreto and Teikeu. And we win 3-1. MOM is Schaap. Good win!


Porto was on the road and lost 2-1 at Juventus. So Portugal and Italy were 1-1 today.

[britrock88]

You have been trucking this weekend! Looking forward to the WC qualifiers.

[Abe Sargent]

You have been trucking this weekend! Looking forward to the WC qualifiers.

Yeah, I was on duty, and that banished me to campus. So I got in about 20-25 hours or so!

[Abe Sargent]

April


5th – Home vs Vit. G.
8th – Away vs Inter, QF Knockout Leg #2
11th – Away vs P Fereirra
14th – Away vs Vit G, Taca de Portugal, Semis
19th - Away vs Vit S
25 – Taca da Liga Final vs Braga


Good train – Ruiz, Rocker, Komorski, bad Mzizi Sousa

Sebastian Driussi is Player of Month with Rocker and Strandberg just behind

Stepinski got 2nd Goal of Month, Driussi 2rd



The last two games of the 1st QF Knockout in the Champions Competition are at Benfica and Moscow.


No surprise, both home teams win:

Moscow over Paris 3-1
Benfica over Tottenham 2-1

Can they keep that momentum through the 2nd half of the leg though?


Academica won promotion back to the Liga. Maritimo are comfortably in 2nd and will likely join them.


Today we host Vit G, who are currently 5th in the league and the only major threat left on our schedule. Komorski finds Driussi for a score in the 5th. Another goal in the 9th. Driussi to Rocker for a score in the 15th. Vit G hit us back in the 23rd. And then again buts its called off for offsides. Half. Early in the 2nd they collect a pari of bookings, and at the 63:13 mark, one gets another foul and is red carded. I move forward, make my normal changes, and even sub in some folks. One of my subs, Junior Barrios, will have a lights out 30 minutes with a pair of assists and a goal. He assists Stepinski get MOM. We win 6-1.


And so falls the #5 team in the Liga before our onslaught.

[Abe Sargent]

Of the shortlist of Liga Young Player of the Year it includes Komorski, Montesi, Rocker, Rodrigues and Schaap.


I hand out rests in preparation for our trip to Italy.


We have Paris and Tottenham now both hosting in preparation for the match today.



CSKA Moscow are considered the weakest of the teams playing today, and they are on the road against Paris. But they have a comfortable 2 goal lead. If they win, tie, lose by one, or lose by two with the away GD, then they make it out. But most pundits agree that they are not the same caliber of team.

But that’s okay. Moscow arrives, does a brilliant impression of a Turtle ,and a 0-0 tie results.

You have to admire how well Moscow have tactically played these last two Knock Out legs. And they make it to the Semis. Good job Moscow!


Now, Benfica are the better away team, but Tottenham is the better home team, and Benfica jus has a 2-1 lead, with a crucial away goal to Tottenham. They just can’t lose 1-0 or anything.

They score early in the match in the 13th minute . Then they also set down a few road blocks and traps. Tottenham scores late in the 80s, but that’s it. 1-1 tie on the road, means Benfica are through 3-2 aggregate. Again, very nice tactical maneuvering.


Porto hosts Juventus, but lost to them 2-1 on the road. Meanwhile, we head in with a 2 goal lead on the road, in the identical position as Moscow. Let’s find out if we get the same result! And if we do, will Porto get in too? Let’s go play some defensive football! We all have superb morale, and they have diminishing morale. Rodrigues grabs a booking early. This means he’ll miss the next game due to a red. Inter sore in the 33rd. half. Keep focused! Costa is muscling off a lot of folks. I pull a not playing well Rosano for Teikeu and order him to run a defensive DMC. Then Jonathan Silva gets a double booking and is sent off! Yeha! Oh no! In the 71st they hit a corenr kick it and the score is 2-0!!! I make some subs and pull ahead, controlling, attacking, very high tempo, push forward, everything. And then, in extra time, Rocker hits Stepinski for a score! PULL BACKK!!! What a come back!! We win 4-3 on aggregate!!!



And Porto won 1-2 against Juventus and won on the away goal rule!

[Abe Sargent]

Benfica
Porto
CSKA Moscow
Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira

Crazy!

Which means we are guaranteed two have one Portuguese club in the Finals, and a 50/50 chance of it being two!


Your Semi Final Match-up:


Us vs Moscow
Benfica vs Porto


Grrr…. I’d rather have gotten a familiar opponent, like….Benfica! Shoot, I’d rather have Porto flying high than Moscow.. Remember how they clocked us a couple of years ago?



Komorski to Stepinski opens up the scoring in the away match vs P Ferreira. Then Stepinski hits again, this time a PK. Half. Rocker from Driussi. Driussi was actually crosses for Stepinski’s foot, Rocker didn’t see it, and headed it in. Rosano to Rui P. We win 4-0. MOM is Stepinski


The 24 league assists by Driussi breaks Lansbury’s 23.
The 39 goals this season by Stepinski breaks Rondon’s 37 record

[Abe Sargent]

We hit up the Semi 2nd leg with Vit G for the Taca Final. We just had a 3-2 score in our place, so we head out. We each score once in the first half. Knock this off! Then late in the early 80s Driussi slides the ball silkily smooth to Rocker. That’s important because if they had scored one more goal and defeated us 201 here, we would have lost on away goals. I was already in counter for the match, so now I pull back to defensive. I subbed in some new defenders too to give me some better speed and fresh legs. We win 2-1 here. MOM is Ruiz. Congrats!


Porto defeated Tondela and will be our foe in the Taca da Portugal


3 games left in the year. Porto and Us both have just 1 loss, and no ties or anything else. We have the tiebreaker. Will anyone blink first? Or will we win?

[Abe Sargent]

Next up is Vit Setubal. We are away. Rodrigues hits Stepinski for a score. Komorski to Schaap. Schaap to Rocker. Driussi to Costa. Half. Schaap to Rocker. We win 5-0. MOM is Schaap.

That was Rodrigues’s 125 game



The first leg of the European Competition has arrived. Benfica hosts Porto and is not fussed and wins 3-1.


Now we host Moscow. Rodrigues is out with enough yellows to ban him for a match. Luckily, we are at home first, so we may not need him as much. Petersson starts. Pick up where you left off!!! Stepinski falls on a shot by Schaap that rebounds right to him and puts it away in the 14th. Then a few minutes later they cross and score back. 1-1. Rosano – Driussi – Rocker, score in the 41st. 2-1 at the half. Hey, we can do even better! A few attacks of ours are pushed away. Then they score off a corner. Rocker intercepts the ball, finds Stepinski who scores in the 56th. Teikeu heads in for Costa. Strandberg to Rocker in the 72nd on a corner of our own. I pull back the throttle a notch. Driussi sinks a DFK in the 84th I send out Rui P and Marcio Sousa. Rui Pereira intercepts the ball on the right side, and begins to drive, and Driussi begins to drive with him about 7 yards to the left. Rui Pereira is tackled hard and the balls rolls to Driussi who scoops It up and shoots a long shot a and sinks it in injury time. We win 6-2 here. MOM is Rocker.


The Triad of Terror each scored 2 goals.

[bbgunn]

This is it! I can feel it! This is the year for Clube Desportivo Nacional!

[Abe Sargent]

I certainly hope so!

[Abe Sargent]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3pOGtjSLcko/T4bj7618_7I/AAAAAAAABJY/GRxrv5Hd5us/s1600/ta%C3%A7a+da+liga+2012.jpg


The final has arrived


Today we play Taca da Liga Final against Braga. AKA Madeira Kryptonite. Other than the fact that Rodrigues starts, no changes to my roster. Win this for the fans! Stepinski slides the ball to Driussi who slides the ball into goal in the 7th minute. I tell my team to be more expressive. Schaap to Rocker for a score at the 19:55 spot. We have given one of their lads a knock. Ruiz just barely turns aside a very fast strike aimed at the top corner ,but we had the angel. Half time – keep it up! Again, we almost allow a goal. They almost hit us a 3 on 2 break but Strandberg sells out for a sliding tackle that works. I order subs in Rui P for Komorski, and then Agra for Stepinski. Before heading out, Stepinski hits Driussi for a goal in the 72nd. Vitor Barreto hits the pitch. We win 3-0. MOM is Driussi. Congrats on your victory!!!


We have won the Taca da Liga

Maritimo won 2nd place and is coming back to the Liga.

[Abe Sargent]

Welcome to the second leg of the Semi Final for the Champions - here in Moscow!


We hope to secure the victory, even if we lose. I start my full roster though, just in case, because I don't want to get over confident. This is a team that's in the semis with us to, right?



Each of my players are given two days of rest for today’s away game here in Moscow. We begin defensive. Don’t get complacent! A very quiet opening stanza passes. That’s fine with me! The quieter the better! They score off a break away in the 38th. It’s not quiet anymore. Then they score again. And its 2-0 half, 4-6 aggregate. That’s an annoying 8 minutes of football. I tell them aggressively that I am far from pleased and to a man they are energized and motivated. Then they score again in the 47th and now I’m staring at a huge problem. If these idiots score again? And then, five minutes later they score on a driving long afhter their striker drove in, and then kicked the ball out to a middie to score after the defense closed on him. And suddenly its 4-0 on the scoreboard and 6-6 aggregate. And guess what? If that score holds, we lose. We will lose after have a 6-2 score in our own place. Are we going to be one for the the storybooks? About one of the ALL TIME EPIC COLLAPSES in the history of football? NO! I push forward, I move to very high tempo in the 52th minute, because we will not go down. NOT TODAY.

So what happens?

[Abe Sargent]

So what happens?



It’s quiet at first. Then we have a major offensive attack deflected. In the 67th Driussi gets a nice Rosando ball and slides it to his right for Stepinski to score. Our foes have 5 bookings Tackle harder. Maybe we can push one into hacking at us or something. That is exactly what happens in the 77th when they foul Komorski. I make some subs. I send out two new defenders. And we lose 4-1, and make it 7-6 on aggregate.








THAT WAS TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT.





But, we are in the Finals!!!


Who will be joining us in this all Portugal match?

Porto wins in their place, 2-1. So Benfica wins 403 on aggregate.


Benfica baby!


This sets up an unusual situation. Porto won last year, another Portuguese team is guaranteed to win this year.



http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/attachments/football-manager-2013-manager-stories/296256d1357054130-ultimate-champions-league-challenge-champions-league-logo.gif

[Abe Sargent]

May

1st – Home vs Sporting
9th – Home vs Tondela – Season ends
17th – Taca da Portugal Final vsPorto


23rd – Final, Champions Cup, in Old Trafford, vs Benfica



Good training? Rosano, Torres, Petersson. Bad? Rui P and Rodrigues


Stepinski won Player of the Month. Driussi and Schaap came in 2nd and 3rd.


Rocker won Goal of the Month and Driussi grabbed 2nd.

[Abe Sargent]

Will there be a team that blinks first in the run out between us and Porto? Let’s find out! I begin controlling and expressive. Stepinski scores off a Driussi pass in the 11th. Rosano intercepts the ball, lobs it to Rocker, and The Rock finishes with a goal and puts the score at 2-0. Rocker-Stepinski-Driussi for a score. Sporting forces through a goal after they shot, Ruiz knocked it away, and they hit the round. Half. Room for improvement!!! I send out Petersson after a quiet 15 minutes. Some strong Sporting pressures hits. We survive. Rodrigues to Schaap in the 67th also yields a goal. I sub in Teikeu for Rosano and swap him with Strandberg. We hold on and win 4-1. Professional job! MOM is Driussi.



We threw the gauntlet down. Okay Porto, your turn.

[Abe Sargent]

The 13 MOMs he has in a season is a new team record for Driussi. Rondon had 12 in 2016.

Porto wins against Tondela 2-0.

One game left. Porto. Madeira. Who will win it?

Right now, we will likely finish with more points .

With one game left, and an Arouca win, two teams have been relegated. I have MAJOR news for football fans and Portugal fans.


Portuguese Football has been a very stable thing for a long time. Three clubs that created the Liga, the top league in Portugal, have never been relegated. Sporting, Benfica, Porto. They have never been relegated. They are the Big Three. They have trifurcated Portugal fandom for decades. No other teams can claim that they have never been relegated. Belenenses, Boavista, Maritimo, Rio Ave, Vit Guimaraes, and many others – all have fallen. But not the Big Three. They are here forever.

But no longer. Today, along with Olhanense, Sporting has been relegated from the Liga. Sporting has left the elite. It is official. Sporting is no longer a Big Three team anymore.


Sporting have fallen


On the same day, Mario Rondon announced his retirement. No club has signed him since July. He is now a coach. He agrees to join us as a coach. He should not be anywhere else. He’s not that great, but he’s cheap, and I have tons of open spaces on the team.


Sporting Manager has announced he will leave at the end of the season. The Gil Vicente manager will retire then too.

[Abe Sargent]

The final game of the season has arrived. We host Tondela. Porto hosts Arouca. One is 11th the other 14th.

I make no changes to my starting 11.


Controlling, Expressive. Pick up where you left off!!! Rodrigues tackles the ball from someone just by running and taking it, not even tackling them, then passes to Schaap, who crosses to Stepinski who heads it and keeps the momentum going to Rocker, who finishes it in the 13th. Ruiz gets a break away started by finding Schaap deep, who hits an on sides and attacking Stepinski who scores in the 36th. Huge pressure by us ensues. Nothing doing. Half. We had 15 shots in the 1st half. Rui Pereira heads in for Schaap. Teikeu for Rosano. Rocker intercepts the ball deep but his shot is not on target. Come on in Petersson. On a throw in by Teikeu, they foul Petersson. Stepinski hits the PK in injury time. Thanks for the extra goal! We win 3-0. Steppinwolf is MOM. Good win!

Porto also won.

We won the division with 87 points out of 90. Porto came in second with the same total.

Whew – that was close!!!


Rondon signs with us.

[Abe Sargent]

The final table, the Liga, 2019-2020 Season

1. Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira, 87, +103 GD
2. Porto, 87, +59
3. Benfica, 72, +52
4. Braga, 60, +27
5. Vit. Guimaraes, 45, +1
6. Gil Vicente, 44, +2
7. Vit Setubal, 42, -10
8. Belenenses, 38, -9
9. Rio Ave, 35, -27
10. Portimonenses, 32, -16
11. Aves, 30, -28
12. Tondala, 29, -18
13. P. Ferreira, 26, -26
14. Arouca, 26, -41
15. Sporting, 22, -17
16. Olhanense, 18, -52


Porto and Madeira have both set a record for most points ever scored in the Liga.

The 125 goals in a season by us beats a record once held by Sporting, long ago.

Stepinski’s 29 league goals set some records held by himself.

Sebastian Driussi’s 8.30 average rating demolishes Lansbury’s previous 7.80 high.


Winners?

Joao Aurelio got Portuguese Best Foreign Based Player of the Year Third Place.

Renaldo did not win or place…

Rui Pereira gained some stuff from Strandberg.

[Abe Sargent]

Stats:


Goals – Stepinski 29, Rocker – 27, Somebody else 226, Driussi – 23

Assists – Driussi – 26; Schaap – 21, 2 players tied for 3rd at 14 (one is Rocker). Rosano had 11.

Driussi – 9 MOM; Stepinski tied for 2nd with 8.

Dribbles/Game? Schaap was 5th with 3.97. Driussi was 6th with 3.41.

Schaap led the league is most distance covered/.

GK Ruiz and Rui Patricio tied for 13 clean sheets each

Driussi led in key passes – 39 – 9 more than 2nd. Rocker rocked 23 in 7th place.

Strandberg was 7th is key headers – 79

Average Rating?


Driussi – 8.30
Rocker – 8.08
Stepinski – 8.04
Schaap – 7.90
Komorski – 7.82
Rodrigues – 7.81
Someone Else
Strandberg – 7.75
Montesi – 7.73



Team?

125 goals scored 22 allowed – both led the Liga

We had the 2nd most salary (Porto leads) and spent the most on transfer (net is 15.79mill spent)

We had 15 goals from corners – 7 more than 2nd place Rio Ave. We just allowed 3.

[Abe Sargent]

We have two games left.

Sporting B were relegated too, from the Second League.


Awards!

Sebastian Driussi won Player of the Year for the League! I congratulate him. Rocker and Schaap came in 2nd and 3rd.

Driussi wins Most Assists Award, Most MOM Awards.

Stepinski wins Top Goalscorer award.

We did not win Young Player of the Year. It had gone to us 2 years in a row.

Andreas Rocker’s April 11th goal against P Ferreira was 2nd player Goal of the Year

Ruiz won best Gk

Rocker won Forward of the Year. I congratulate my peoples

Team of the Year includes:

Ruiz
Stepinski
Rocker
Komorski
Schaap
Driussi
Costa
Montesi
Rodrigues
Strandberg

We won Fair Play Award!

Strandberg and Costa come in 1 and 2 in Central Defender Awards. Rodrigues won Full Back and Montesi notched 3rd.

I think its quite appropriate that I’ll finish this season with major games against Porto and Benfica.

Sporting is already beginning to have a financial crises, and players are hitting the media and moaning and wanting out.

One of my biggest Manager mistakes is pissing at Sporting. Amreico Ferreria. A youth player I didn’t develop and let go without reupping turned into an expensive and nice starter for Sporting who signed him for free – MC. Came through our youth in the 2016-2017 year and is now 20. He is a really good middie. And I missed him.

[Abe Sargent]

http://football.mywapblog.com/files/taca-da-liga.png


Ready for the Taca da Portugal Final?


I make no changes to the squad for today’s Taca da Portugal final with Porto. After a fast start by both teams, things slow down quickly with no goals to show. Then Rocker intercepts a poor pass ot a fullback buts he’s way of line of the goal, so he hits Stepinski for a score in the 28th. A beautiful Porto offense is stopped by the upper cross bar, another by Ruiz. Let’s start hassling/marking more, we need to knock Porto off their rhythem before they score. I have sent those orders, and just waiting for them to make the change when Porto score in the 39th before I sent them in. I was feeling it. 1-1. Rosano grabs a knock just before the half. Then in injury time, Driussi lifts an IFK to Strandberg, where the ball is nicked, falls back to Montesi, who finishes it. 2-1 us at the half. Make sure our hands are on the trophy!!! Early in the 2nd I decide to sub out Rosano for Teikeu. We’ve had several shots close range go begging, too many defenders or great goaltending. Remember we have the best two GKs on the pitch today – both had 13 out of 30 clean sheets - they allowed 24 goals us 22. Finally we seal a kick from the side as Komorski finds Driussi in the center, but this time the close range shot hits the bulleyes. We score in the 73rd minute. I dispatch Rui P to replace him. Late, I send in Agra. Portro put together a lovely flowing move and score at the 91:47 mark. We hold on and win 3-2. Mom is Driussi. CONGRATS!!!


That is our quadruple. We have gotten all three Cups and the Liga. One of my last goals is complete.


David Rosano will be out for a few weeks with a twisted knee. He will miss the Champions League Final.


I win Manager of the Year



I accept a job interview from FC Bayern Munchen


I decline the talks that my board propose to prevent me from leaving.



http://img0.rtp.pt/icm//thumb/phpThumb.php?src=/noticias/images/cc/cc3f220327c4d6aee6e6b822475a560b&w=620&sx=193&sy=212&sw=625&sh=343&q=75&w=620

[Abe Sargent]

The 2020 Champions Final Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira Roster:

4-4-2 Diamond

GK – Fabian Ruiz
DR – Joao Luis Rodrigues
DL – Omar Montesi
DC – Hermani Costa
DC – Stefen Strandberg
DMC – Adolphe Teikeu
MR – Michael Schaap
ML – Marin Komorski
AMC – Sebastian Driussi
ST – Mariusz Stepinski
ST – Andreas Rocker

Subs:

GK Henry Castellon
DM/DMC Cyril Mzizi
MRC/AMC/ST Rui Perreira
ST Jorge Agra
ST Junior Barrios
DR Joacim Petersson
MRLC/AMC Marcio Sousa




Benfica:



GK Matheus Pato
DC Abdelhakim Hammouche
DC Eric Shorey
DR Elinho
DL Phillipe Henry
MC Pedro Rodrigues
MC Adrien
AMC Adryan
AML Giulio Perrino
AMR Ricardo Pestana
ST Nelson Oliveiera – Captain

Subs

GK Filipe Fonseca
MC Morislav Nezirovic
AMC/MC/AML Renato Sanches
AMR, MR, AMC David Gevers
DC Ezequiel Garay
AM C/R Pizzi
MCL/ST/AMLC Nicolaj Thomsen



This is just the second time that two Portuguese teams have met in the finals of a European competition. That was the Final of the Euro in 2011 between Porto and Braga.




In the 20 times that James Essex has faced Benfica, his team is 9 wins, 4 ties, 7 losses.

[Abe Sargent]

I will begin attacking. It’s not expected. It’s raining today. We get a huge push in the first two minutes, but no goal. At the 10 mark I ease to control. Be more expressive. Then after nothing I send the controls bak to standard. A bit of fluff and noice, but its not until Schapp gets a pass from Rodrigues down the flank that opens up a lane for Stepinski that someone scores. And its us! Elinho is the first player to get booked. I pull off being expressive at the half. We are up 1-0. You’e got one hand in my pocket….err/….cup - so make sure you finish the job lads!!! Schaap does when he nails a DFK in the 47th minute. They had fouled Driussi just outside of the box, by like a yard. Retain possession, They barely missed on a nasty counter attack that rebounded off our post. In the 57th, We have an IFK situation and the ball is knocked around a bunch before Starandberg comes down with the score. I slide to counter. I sub in Rui P for Schaap and Mzizi for Strandberg. Another scrum in the 72nd from a corner kick but they eventually try to clear it out before someone scores from our folks,but they foul Driussi while doing so. Stepinski sinks the PK. My final sub is Petersson in for Monstesi. I cancel that change. Because in the 79th minute, Teikeu goes rough double footed tackle on Adrien, forces them off the pitch, and gets a red card. Neither of us have 11 players, they used all of their subs, so we both have 10 men on the pitch, but still. I pullback to defensive. Hmmmm. What to do. I have a 4 goal lead, that’s unlikely to alter in 10 minutes plus injury time. I put in Petersson for Driussi. I pull the AMC down to the down to make a 3rd DC. Then I swap with Montesi. That gives me 5 defenders. Montesi grabbed a yellow. Idiot. Stepinski gets a goal kick from Ruiz that’s pretty good and a shot from distance is on target an dpushed aside for a corner. Rocker takes the corner, here in injury time mund you, finds Mzizi and that’s the 5th goal we scored. We hold on and defeat Benfica 5-0. MOM is Strandberg. Enjoy these moments!!!



We got a quintuple – Champions, league, three cups.



http://www.riotgames.com/sites/default/files/uploads/ChampionsCup1.jpg

[Abe Sargent]

We made a lot of money too.

Stepinski has the most goals in the Cup this year.

His 15 goals is one more than Jose Joao Altafini had in 1962 when he registerd 14. Stepinski sets a new record!!!

He wins the Golden Boot for the Champions Cup and Best Player Award for it too!

In the match vs Benfica, Schaaps long shot from 26 metres ends up being 2nd place Goal of the Cup.

Champions Cup Dream Team includes:

Rocker
Stepinski
Montesi
Rodrigues
Strandberg
Driussi
Schaap

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, it's time for me to end this dynasty. Before I do, I want to sub forward, and get a bunch of closing information for you Here we go:


Komorski comes to me and wants an improved contract. I make an offer to him immediately.

Training summary for the year:

Good Sousa, Rosano, Schaap, Petersson, Torres

No Bad!

I hold my end of the season meeting!


We are now worth 299 Mill as a franchise

Porto 193 M
Benfica 201 M

[Abe Sargent]

Komorski signs his new 5 year deal for us. 48k/week, through 2025.

We accept a friendly cup invitation from Newcastle.



Our value increased to 314M

Our Rep Rating increased a half star to 4.5 stars and we have a World Wide Rep

The Portuguese Liga moved up a ranking in the European Competition Rankings.

Nacional moved up to 11th club in Europe


1. Manchester United
2. Tottenham
3. Real Madrid
4. Paris Saint-Germain
5. FC Bayern Munchen
6. Juventus
7. Liverpool
8. Chelsea
9. Man City
10. Barcelona
11. Nacional
12. Schalke
13. Porto
14. Dortmund
15. Atletico
16. CSKA Moscow
17. AS Monaco FC
18. Benfica
19. Arsenal
20. Inter

[Abe Sargent]

Did you know that? 8 of the senior squad of Sporting are transfer listed per request, and another already sold and just waiting on July 1 to actually move?

Did you know that? 13 players on the Sporting squad were loaned to them in the year by much of Italy (Juventus is their daddy, and sent down a lot of loaners). After those transfer listed, and those loaned. The number of people left on their senior squad is 3. They have to rebuild an entire team.


The new value of our players:

Rocker – 33.5 Mill
Rodrigues – 29.5 Mill
Driussi – 28.5 Mill
Stepinski – 25.5 Mill
Costa – 25 Mill
Komorski – 23.5 Mill
Rosano – 23.5 Mill
Montesi – 19.25 Mill
Schaap – 19 Mill
Ruiz – 18 Mill
Strandberg – 10 Mill
Rui Pereria – 5.5 Mill
Henry Castellon – 5.25 Mill
Hunter Torres – 3 Mill
Adolphe Teikeu – 2.6 Mill
Mzizi – 2 Mill
Barrios – 2 Mill
Agra – 2 Mill
Worthington – 1.4 Mill

[Abe Sargent]

Our merchandise sales have rocketed.

Sales of shirts this year?

1. Sebastian Driussi
2. Mariusz Stepinski
3. Andreas Rocker
4. Marin Komorski
5. Michael Schaap

The Triad of Terror Strikes!


We need a nickname for Driussi beside The Rock and Steppinwolf


Dortmund cancels the link with us.

In an era where managers are fired at a whim, and few are given the support they need to carry one, Manager Jorge Jesus has retired from football at the age of 65 from Benfica. He joined it in 2009, and has manged the club for 11 seasons,


We are the 20th richest club in the world.

[Abe Sargent]

For a final, I download FM Genie Scout, and load it up to take a look at my players and others in the game. Where do they stand and such. Obviously, the dynasty is over and such, so this is a fun experiment.


By current ability, thse are the best ten players in the world, in the database. Obviously, not everyone is in the database, but we have more than 55k. Ready?

1. Joao Luis Rodrigues, 192
2. Neymar, 186
3. Thibaut Courtois, 185
4. Eden Hazard, 185
5. Nigel Weale (Young USA Star with Porto now I mentioned earlier,) 185
6. Federico Urso Russla (Young star striker for Italy and Man Utd) 184
7. DavidDe Gea, 182
8. Andres Rocker, 182
9. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, 180
10. 4 players tied at 179 – Lionel Messi, Adnan Januzaj, Lucas Romero and Manuel Neuer.


So there you are! Like I said, Rodrigues was something special, something different. There was some bad holding on to these players. We signed Rocker and Hojbjrg on frees, as did AC Monaco for Courtois, and such.


19 year old Rui Pereira, the future stud had risen to 157/199 – like I said, he looked like a future stud for Portugal.


GK Fabian Ruiz? 163/163 – the 24th best one in the game.

DC Hernani Costa, 173/181. Very strong gu, fully developed for a yer now, 22 years old.
DC Omar Montesi, playing at DL is 176/180
DC Stefan Strandberg, 149/149

MR Schaap – 164/188
ML Komorski – 158/179

DMC David Rosano, 154/186

ST Mariusz Komorski – 157/162

AMC Sebastian Driussi – 177/177


So our starters were 177, 157, 182, 154, 192, 163, 164, 158, 149, 176 and 173. That’s a very strong squad. We weren’t exactly punching above our weight. For example, here is, say, the best 11 current players for Man Utd, (not looking at position)

184
182
179
175
174
169
165
164
164
163
161

So that’s farily close to our own, except we have a few players in the upper 50 and Strandberg at 149. And Strandberg could lliely get pulled for Montesi at DC and then Our young DL brought in.

I was surpised to see that DL Bruno marques is taed highly, when he was not growing well. He’s at 127/170, which is pretty solid stuff. Now, Petersson is 95/176, so there you are too.

ST Hunter Torres, 119/185
ST Jorge Agra is 157/168
ST Junior Barrios, 137/179

GK Henry Casellon 155/159
GK Merab Totadze, 128/174
MR Rolf Martin Worthington, 142/178
AM RC, MLRC Marcio Sousa, 146/160

DC Cyril Mzizi, 143/148

DC Adolphe Teikeu, 121/125

So lots of potential stars on the roster. But especially Rui P.

[bbgunn]

Impressive dynasty there, Abe. I really enjoyed it.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks!


Here's my final contribution, and expansion of Essex's bio in the past, present,and future.





Chapter 1

And now back to the story already continuing. We are interview reporter Otto Slasvig, who has done more research on popular football Manager James Essex than anyone else. Otto, you were the first one to write a book about him, is that right?

Correct Sally! I went to do research for a detailed piece on him. I figured someone that popular and well known a guy who broke a lot of new ground and is known by many people outside of football, that a guy like him would have a biography. For example, do you realize just how many biographical books there are of guys like David Beckham or Alex Ferguson? It's incredibe, and then you find on Essex, who is also half English on his father's side. So I began doing research, and then published in my native Swedish and it was translated into Portuguese and published in that world a few weeks later.



Sure, I'll talk more about his past and being half English. His father, Gilles Essex was a member of the Anglican church in a small suburb of Bolton. He grew up a huge fan of football and a support of the Wanders in particular. At the age of 27, he felt the call into ministry as a missionary. Three yeras later, after having been trained and prepared, he left for Mozambique and arrived in the southern city of Xai Xai, back before the nation had gotten its Independence from Portugal.

He was aiding local relief efforts of the church to people who had little food, medicine, shelter, or clean water. Two and a quarter years after arriving, he met the woman who would be his wife, Xiluva. She was 5 yeas younger, highly athletic, and worked at a nearby Catholic aid shelter for abused and neglected women and children. Xiluva was one of the most intelligent women in the area, and had lovely dark skin, almost so dark it hurt when you looked at her for long, but whether it was the color of her skin or the soft majesty of her countenance was unknown.

Soon there after they began dating an within a year they had married. 15 months later, they had their only child, James Essex. Growing up in Xai Xai in the last 70s and 80s, he was born less than a year after the nation;s independance. Seeing a need for local ministry, Gilles stayed with his family for years, and James played football on the poor streets of Xai Xai and quickly developed a reputation for defeated boys a few years older.

When Essex was 11, the church ordered Gilles back home for additional training before sending him somewhere after the Xai Xai was a qualified success. It was working well, but the AIDs epidemic was tearing apart the nation, and additional assistance was needed. After arriving back home outside of Bolton, before the 6 months schedule was up, priorities altered, and Gilles stayed in that central area and raised James with his wife.

A fan of Bolton, James played with the English kids, and like in Xai Xai, he tended to be better than almost any in his middle class area. But there were some that were better than him.

He applied to but was rejected from, the Bolton youth club.

At the young age of 16, his dark skintone standing out from his peers, James Essex was spotting by Osters IF in the Swedish premier division. Looking to tap into the talent pipeline of England, the team had sent scouts to check out the area. He was signed, and for 7 years he was trained by Osters IF and then moved to two other clubs in Sweden. At 23, he was both Swedish and Mozambiquean.

Meanwhile, at the tender age of 20, his senior manager tapped him to play for the Mozambique senior squad in a friendly against Tanzania. He was part of an attempt to find new talent. He developed into a solid backup center back for the squad. He was just capped 26 times, with a goal in a friendly against Swaziland. He was never a starter and just was subbed in when needed for most of hes international career.

At 24, England called and he went to play for a clubs in the 1st Division (which is really the first). He did well, and then moved to another Championshop team for two years. After 4 years, he was let go by his manager and no other jobs were calling at the age of 28. Se he wound back in Sweden again.

Two weeks to the day after his 31st birthday, in a cold blustery December game that was brutally cold, his back brutally snapped in a gigantic tackle. He was immediately wheelchair bound for the next two years. The injury was filmed as it happend as part of the broadcast. The image was playing over and over again, and to this day, it is one of the most seen YouTube videos from Scandinavia on sports.

Finding himself literally trapped., he refused to give in or yield. He pushed his body back to full health over almost two years. Meanwhile, he was still getting paid. Swedish law forbids an employer for firing an employee who is injured on the job. So his contract was basically guaranteed, but Essex refused to linger.

He spent those two years at the club working with his fellow players and coaches. He helped to train, he helped to practice, he worked on tactics, and more, with the staff and payers. He learned a new part of the game.

A few days after his 33rd birthday and a few days before his 2 year anniversary of the injury - him and his team held a press conference. There, live before everyone, he stood again in public for the first time. He spoke for a few minutes to the plaudits of everyone. It was a truly inspiring story. It was made more so when he surprised the manager and team board with his resignation papers and application for Assistant Manager, which was newly opened.

The public leaned heavily in favor of Essex signing with them, and then did exactly that. For three years, he helped that club overachieve It was always a few spots (or more) above the prediction and expectations on the table.

Everyone as expecting him to move to one of the two Manager positions that opened in the league in 2013. But none came his way. At the age of 36, no one was calling his name. What should he do?

[Abe Sargent]

Chapter 2

After talking with some people, it seemed that his story as the guy who got out of the wheelchair was dominating how clubs saw him in football. He didn't even get a courtesy interview with either open position. Despite his record as a successful player and assistant manager, he was not getting the open doors that he expected.

So he began to commiserate with various contacts he had outside of Sweden. His unique synergy of Africa, England and Scandinavia had created many contacts throughout soccer.

Portugal owes a real debt to Paulo Fonseca. This fellow Mozambique was Manager of Porto and one of Essex's contacts in football. Going all the way back to Eusebio, Mozambique has exported talent to Porgual to play on the pitch. Fonseca suggested that perhaps that pipeline could benefit his managerial search. And, there was a position rumored to open up in a few days that would be perfect for him.

Clube Desportivo Nacional da Madeira were looking for a spark, something new. The highest they had ever gotten in the Liga was 4th, and that was just a few years ago, but since then, they had dropped to 5th, and then 6th and were expected to probably hit around 8th the following year. They had peaked.

Tired of the endless cycle of managerial musical chairs, they sought something else. You know how it is, one manager is fired from a position in the league. Another leaves a spot from one club in the league to move to the vacated one. Perhaps another moves to the newly opened spot, and then the last club standing picks up a recently fired manager, perhaps even the one just let go! The reasons are obvious - they know the league, the players, the managers and so forth. But that leads to a lot of managerial inbreeding. Nacional felt that they needed more,

I interviewed Chairman Rui Alves extensively about that interview process. He admitted that they were expecting to bring in the top five candidates for interviews and select from there. They had gotten a very detailed CV and resume from Essex from Sweden, and with endorsements from people in Portugal, Mozambique, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and England. He had never even heard of Essex!

So they did some research, found out about the wheelchair injuries, reviewed tapes, found both the presser and the initial backrending injury and more. And they were suitably impressed, still, even after their initial screening of candidates, he came in 9th.

After discussing it, they agreed to bring in their top 5, as expected, but also Essex. And James Essex was injformed that he would be interviewing for his first managerial position on the island of Madeira. I had to push Rui on why they brought in Essex, and ultimately he admitted that it was, in part, because he was a dark-skinned African from Mozambique. it looked good, it was a nice opportunity to extend to a people they had treated poorly, and a bit of colonial guilt. But also, they just wanted to meet him. He had a great story.

So Essex came in, and he blew the doors of the interview. He did more research on the team than any other candidate by far. Since he didn't know the league or the players, he felt he had to do more to put himself on their level. he came in with a plan for everything from tactics to training, marketing and youth management and development. He had a 5 point plan that he felt was needed to abort Madeira's fall. In addition, he was intoxicating. He was pleasant, and a force of nature, and a whirling dervish of information, research but welded to a tirelessly gregarious gentleman.

And in the end, the board decided that he was their guy. And we was. And as you already know, Portugal, Football, and Africa, and even Germany and Brazil, would never be the same again.

[Abe Sargent]

Chapter 3

There are a lot of reasons the hire of Essex made sense on paper for Madeira. Three senior members of the Mozambique national squad were on Madeira, and all three had played with Essex before his injury on the squad. They knew and respected him quite well. Secondly, Essex had an established history of getting teams to punch above their weight in Sweden, as an assistant manager. Well, they needed someone who could do that with them. Someone who would not shy away from swinging at Sporting, Benfica or Porto. And if you need someone to get the most of out of your squad, having someone who understand them is key. Essex knew people. He had a way of just understanding them. He had three Mozambique internationals, plus other African players too, like Djaniny.

Essex came in with tactics already in place to suit the players on the squad, but yet also modern football. He didn't keep the established tactic, and instead moved to a 4-4-2 Diamond, to give the team an additional forward to score with. As he said in an early interview, "There are two places on the pitch where you are never allowed to have fewer than two players. Central Defenders, and Strikers." It's was an out-of-favor gameplan because it really opens up the middle, and in era of a lot of midfielder movement, that is a huge weakness.

However, Essex was quick to point out its numerous strengths. Most importantly, is that you are attacking from 5 different angles, and that's impossible to defend. Your right and left wings are turned into nasty attacking players that flood the wings with crosses or attack runs. You have a striker on the left and right flank of the box coming in, and you have an attacking middie that can bring it right up the gut. That's a lot of attacks. If you run a deep lying playmaker to distribute the ball to the right place, you have a real problem keeping the opponent from scoring in buckets.

In act as a result of his success, more than 20 clubs in Europe moved to the 4-4-2 Diamond for at least a year, to try it out. A variant of the offense, labeled the Ruby, came into vogue in Italy and now a lot of clubs are using it.

So tactically, Essex came in with a plan and never deviated. And it worked. Now the Nacional club were not so sold on Essex that they didn't plan well. Concerned about his lack of experience with either Portuguese Football or management, they gave him just a one year deal. Imagine going to a new country with a massively demanding new job, and then a 12 month expiration date if you don't do well enough at the highest levels of the profession! Would you even go?

But he did. And he finished 4th, equaling the highest ranking the club had ever had before. And they resigned him. For one more year. His ideas about the team were more right than wrong. Sure, he missed on naming DMC Rafa his captain and such, but he got a minor Venezuelan striker named Mario Rondon to explode in the league and just rain goals everywhere. Prior to his arrival, he had started two seasons for Nacional and in 57 games, he had gathed a grand total of 14 goals. Then he got 24. And he won the Golden Boot for Europe for getting the most goals in league play. That was Essex's crowning achievement, getting Rondon to explode like that.

He would start for Essex for 4 years, and although he never again equaled that tally or prize, he had the best years of his career.

Meanwhile, other players saw their roles and stats enhanced, players like Joao Aurelio, Daniel Candeias and Dejan Skolnik. Of course, he often let others go, and was not above moving Mozambique players either. Gone were Zainadine Junior or Rafa. He constantly pushed his squad to get better and better, and one position at a time. That was one of his five points - never be satisfied. Always push. He would have been fine keeping most the team together and sitting in the 6-5-4 area and getting Euro invitations. But he pushed. He brought in Lucas Castro and Fabian Ruiz and Henri Lansbury and Stefan Strandberg. He pushed. He brought in Canela and Andreas Rocker and Marin Komorski and Sebastian Driussi and Mariusz Stepinski. He pushed. He brought in Omar Montesi and Michael Schaap and David Rosano and Joacim Petersson. Always keep pushing.

And he got his squad to 2nd. And then to 1st. And then he held 1st for five years, equaling the great Porto. And he became the greatest manager in Portuguese Football, of all time. In just seven years.

But we all know that.

[Abe Sargent]

Chapter 4


And we know his international story too. Not just content with his playpen in Madeira, he wanted more. He sought international recognition. Still a younger manager, he sought instant acknowledgement of his skills, but it was not coming. So he pushed himself, and took over the Brazilian U23 Olympics squad in 2016. Few managers of worth applied for these roles, so he got it easily on the strength of his skills and probably because he could actually speak Portuguese. As we know, he went in and won the Gold, on Brazilian soil, and won a prize that they had never won before. Despite all of the accolades of Brazilian football down through the ages, they had never gotten gold at an Olympics, and Essex changed that.


Fresh off his second victory of the Liga, you might think that the combination of an Olympics victory and club success would encourage other national boards to look his way. But that was not the case, so he applied and got the South African national side after a disastrous African Cup of Nation campaign where they lost all of their group stage games. Perhaps the fact he spoke English and was an African international helped.

He went through qualification to the World Cup with Bafana Bafana. He to them into World Cup 2018. And then the stages were announced, and they were paired with France, Czech and Australia Not an easy group, but there was a chance. After testing the generic 4-4-2 tactic for almost a year, he famously jettisoned the tactic as not suited to the national players he had available and moved to a 3-5-2 that emphasized their central defense and powerful goalkeeper. And it was a resounding success. He won strong defensive battles against Australia and the Czech Republic, as did France. By the time they met in the last game, both had gotten out, so he famously rested his players and played the backups against France. He chose to take the loss with the bigger picture of winning in mind.

No African side outside of West Africa has ever gotten past the Round of 16. (Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal are the only ones to do it). He wanted to be the first. Just qualifying was amazing. South Africa had never gotten out of the group stages of a World Cup before. No other African side did that tournament - just Bafana Bafana. And to have been in a position to rest players in the final game? That was certainly a new perspective for African football, which usually had to claw and fight its way out of the Group Stages. But he did. And then the new Italian Renaissance. And they played hard against them, and almost won. Almost no one played Italy that hard. But they lost, heads held high, not because they were tired, but simply becuase Italy was a little better on that day. And then Italy won the World Cup.

In order to demonstrate their newfound vigor, Essex went out and dominated the African Cup of Nations in 2019 early on, and then switched to more defensive play in the knockout rounds until he won the prize - just the second time South Africa had ever won the two year tournament. South Africa would be ranked as high as 9th in the world after his reign.

But of course, change was soon on the horizon.

[Abe Sargent]

Chapter 5


I don't think many people realized just how much Essex changed Portuguese football until after he had left and folks had time to reflect on it. As you know, a month after winning the Champions Cup, no one else had offered Essex a job that he wanted. FC Bayern Munchen, who had interviewed him before, was leaning towards hiring the French manger who got 2nd place in the World Cup from 2014 and then won the Euro two years later. Then they uncovered that found out that the reason he had been unusually fired form the position was because the board had uncovered that he had bribed some officials. After feeding the story to local media so Germans could break it, local journalists exposed it and Bayern Munchen moved on to the 2nd choice and called up Essex. In three hours, Essex was flying to Germany, and he never returned, not even for his things. (They were just shipped over.)

With Essex gone, the force behind keeping the team together for that season was also gone, and four of the top players were soon sold to greedy money flushed clubs across Europe - Costa, Montesi, Rocker and Rodrigues. One such club was Bayern Munchen, who purchased Andreas Rocker. We'll talk about that later.

Meanwhile, Portugal had gone through a lot of changes since Essex arrived. His presence, and powerful teams forced the Big Three to change. Portugal had lost a lot of the lustre it had previously. Gone were the glory days of Benfica winning the Champions Cup in back to back years and the high hopes and dreams of Europe resting there. It kept falling. No Portugal, sorry, but France is playing better football, and of course Spain, and Italy, and Germany, and England, and Russia, and Netherlands, are too. And it kept on falling. And the Big Three were content to be big fish in little ponds.

And then Essex arrived and broke the pond. Suddenly a fourth fish arrived, and it was bigger than any of the others. At first, his win was seen as a new Boavista. A flash in the pan that would fade. But it didn't. And soon the Big Three had to make a choice - fade or fight. Benfica and Porto chose to fight. They brought in new talent, new players, new blood to the shores of Portugal. They pushed themselves. Fired by the crucible of football in Madeira, they strengthened. And some other teams, like Braga, also pushed to keep up. Gil Vicente copied much of what Essex was doing whole cloth to some success as well. But Sporting faded. They didn't make these changes. And then suddenly, they found themselves low on the charts. In two years they hired four different managers, trying to find that spark. None did. And after falling deep on the charts, the following year the unspeakable happened. A Big Three team was relegated from the division.

That had never happened before. But, Benfica and Porto were back. Benfica has a deep Champions run. Then Porto the next year makes it to the final and wins. Then the final year, Benfica and Naiconal both make the final, and Madeira thumps Benfica 5-0 in one of the most singlehanded match ups in European Final history.

But they are back! They have to be to catch up with Nacional! Is it any wonder that Porto had their best club season in their long history, reaching a new height with points from the season, because they were level with Madeira the whole season? Yes, they lost, still tied, but Essex pushed them. Essex got Porto their Champions Cup with and Benfica to their title game - and then trounced them to push them again to a new level. And Portuguese Football entered a new era of ascendancy, one they are still in.

Sure after he left, and many pieces with him, Nacional did not win the title for a 6th time. They got third. But new manager Mario Rondon knew how to play Essex's game. They kept pushing the team. And two years later, they

would win. Clube Desportivo Nacional from Funchal Madeira was the new member of the Big Three, officially.

And Portugal has risen today, 8 years later, and stands near the top!



As you know, the attack was not hurt much. Manager Rondon was able to keep Driussi and Stepinski, as well as Rosano, Schaap and Komorski. Instead of picking up a new forward to star, he did what Essex did. He massaged the roster to fit his personnel. Rui Pereira was moved to starting AMC beside Driussi and they ran two AMCs and just one forward - Stepinski. Their offense continued to click, with backups like Vitor Barreto and Marcio Sousa that were quite good too. What was more difficult was losing Montesi, Costa and Rodrigues all at once and building a new defense. Mzizi and Strandberg started at DC, and two new fullbacks were brought in, and Rondon used that as an opportunity to bring in some veterans that were more experienced, to help the youth. Younger players like Rosano, Schaap, Pereira and Komorski continued to grow and learn and improve.

[Abe Sargent]

Chapter 6



Of course, this is not the end of the Essex story, and not even the half way mark.

He brought his talents to FC Bayern Munchen and was just as good there. He knew how to spot talent. It was never about what people had done, but about what they could do. He had a way with players and bringing them in. And he always had a plan When his first choice to replace Mario Rondon ended up rejecting him and singing elsewhere, he just grabbed Stepinski, his second choice. All Stepinski did was win numerous awards, including Player of the Cup and Golden Boot of the Cup in Champions play the year they won it all. He didn't always get his top choices, but he often did.

The story of how he got Andreas Rocker, the player today most identified with him, is very compelling. Andreas Rocker, and fellow midfielder Sebastian Pflugler, were young players together on the FC Bayern Munchen team that struggled a bit. Neither of the young lads saw much play. The current manager certainly thought well of them, but left them exposed contractually.

Then Essex reviewed the scout reports on them, as well as some other,s he had stored form scouting the team in Champions Group play. Bayern had abunch fo talented folks in that class, and after sending out some scouts to verify the earlier reports., these were two class gentlemen. But Essex had a ringer. Pierre-Emile Hjobjerg, from Norway. he had signed with Essex and left Bayern as another hot youth prospect and loved it. Essex swiftly became a favorite of Hojbjerg. And he had just been playing with Rocker and Pfluger for a few years.

So Hojbjerg and Essex talked about the pair. And the very minute the clock struck, and their contracts would end up expiring 6 months later, Essex called each of their agents in turn and offered them huge financial deals as key players on his squad. These young lads, not even 20, were understandably upset that the current manager had let them get to this point. So they seriously considered going together and joining Essex. Their manager found out and made the a counter offer. Two days later. For much less money. And just to remain prospects. Go play, together with Hojbjerg for a team winning its division each year for a ton of money and key players? Or stay for less money, and wait to see the field?

They left. And the rest is history. And Essex made what he said was the best signing of his life. Is was so good, he made it twice!

It was the perfect way to end the old Bayern Munchen and enter the new era. To close the cover on the previous managers. Essex brought back the player who should never have left. And with one of the single best strikers in Europe back on the team that he should be playing for, domination began. Rocker is still on that team today, blasting through defenses. He's just 28. He has a lot more to go!

Meanwhile Essex would spend six years at Munchen restoring their glory. He won the Champions Cup with them twice, and lost a third time in one of the most ironic matchups of all time to Paris Saint-Germain, who had signed both Joao Luis-Rodrigues, and Hernani Costa from Madeira, and they knew Rocker well enough to shut him down in the game.

On the international stage, he retired from South Africa in order to concentrate on FC Bayern Munchen full time. he ws finding it increasingly difficult to manage the time demands of Madeira with that of international football. But he did take up the Brazilian U23 squad again for old times sake and won silver in 2024. As we know, the Brazilian National Team was in its darkest era. From 2016 through 2026, no Brazilian senior squad had made it past the quarter finals of any international competition - not the Copa, not the World Cup, nothing. That was an embarrassment for the nation.

As Essex left, and resigned from South Africa, you may recall that Portugal, who had just been embarrassed by not qualified for the Euro, lost their first two World Cup Qualifier group games. Scared, they fired a guy who they had hired just 13 months before. They offered the post to Essex, who had famously applied for it before, and was not chosen.

He gave a famous, epic press conference. He extolled the virtues of Portuguese football, talked about all of the things he had learned here. All of the players he had developed, and all of the impact he had made. He was proud of the seven years he had spent in Portugal, and was considered the Top Manager in the Hall of Fame they opened in Lisbon. (With Sporting's relegation, Lisbon football fans had to find something to do with their time).


And he pointed out that last year, the top football manager in Portugal applied for the senior squad manager, and was turned down for someone who wasn't. And that person had no international experience either. Essex knew the squad better, raised many players, and was more successfully, both internationally and domestically. I love that part where Essex looks at the camera for the first time and just says plainly, "If you had hired me, you would still be in the Euro. But you didn't. And now my chapter in Portugal had ended. And I will not be accepting this great honor today."


And he just walked off to Germany.

Now, we all know that Brazil has made many managerial changes. And through it all, Essex kept applying to it. But just to Brazil, no one else. He would joke with the media about it in press conferences. And he said, again and again, I will be the first manager of Brazil who is not from the country.

And the longer Brazil's Long Dark Night lasted, the more people remembered his successes. He was the last manager to win a championship with the club, even if it was the Olympics of 2016.

So, in 2026, after a disastrous World Cup campaign saw them get knocked out in a Group by USA and Italy, they finally offered him the job. And he asked them to wait for a month while he finished up the Bayern campaign. They did, and FC Bayern Munchen finished 1st again, for the 5th time in his 6 years as manager there. And he resigned from Bayern to focus on bringing Brazil back. That would also be a full time job. He left the Bayern as one of the more successful managers they had, but not the most by any stretch.


Two years ago, he took over that Brazilian squad. and at first he tried to what he did with South Africa. He tried to fit the top talent of Brazil into an attacking strategy. But as he pointing out later, it seemed like all of the strikers, and attacking midfielders must have migrated across the border to other nations. He had the best deep lying playmaker in Europe for Man Utd, and he rocked some of the best fullbacks and defensive players in the world.

His team was not the Brazil of before. Perhaps only a non-Brazilian could have seen that and made the changes to a 5-4-1, which better suited their talent level. Often accused jokingly of Germaning the Brazilian squad, nevertheless he unleashed them in a variety of friendlies and qualifiers.

But then last year all jokes were pushed aside as Essex's highly defensive team won the Copa America again, 2-0 over Mexico, bringing it back to Brazil for the first time in two decades. Now Essex's team is ranked highly again, and winning changes all things.

And like Essex did in Madeira, and then in South Africa and other place,s he brought in tactics that suited the players. And he's learned. Because apparntly, you can have a tactic worth without two strikers.

Brazil is quickly becoming a darling of international football again, and not just an exporter of talent to European football leagues.


And those are just some of the many untold stories of James Essex. There are many others. I focused more on researching his first 7 years in Portugal and international play.

How come he never requested a new stadium in Funchal?
What are his biggest regrets at Madeira?
Who was his favorite player he ever managed there?
What play from South Africa stands out?
Why were local league managers so upset at him despite how successful he was with the national squad?
What did he say to Brazil at half time to inspire them to win at the Olympics?
What one player galvanized the South African team behind the scenes at the African Cup, 2019?
What board request did he always wish would have happened?
Why did he focus on bringing in so many staff, couches, and even scouts who had been capped?
What training regimen is hugely overrated?
Who was the favorite team in Portugal, other than Madeira?
Who was his favorite player who never played for him?
Why did he go against the advice of every coach and name Rafa the captain?
How did he find Merab Totladze, a GK who is now so good he starts in Serie A for AC Milan?
How was he the only one that knew Rui Pereira would be the next Renaldo?
Did he intentionally bring in Marin Komorski, a Croatian, a year early to learn nuder Skolnik, another Croatian? Or was that just happenstance that they were both from the same nation?
What is is favorite moment interacting with he fans? What is one thing about fandom he just doesn't get?
Does he have a player who was just robbed of an award?

[Abe Sargent]

I have to be honest, part of me thinks it would be really interesting to create a new dynasty after this one ends and try to take the denuded and relegated Sporting back to the Liga and return it to its glory.

[mrtourette]

A great final season, congratulations! If you get the urge to play again then trying to rebuild Sporting sounds like a good challenge.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks!!