FM2014: The Americas

[sabotai]

A new PC (Intel i5, 8GB Ram = lots of playable leagues!) calls for a new FM dynasty.

Name: Miguel Del Toro
Nationality: Mexican
Languages: Spanish, English
Age: 37
Status: International Player

All leagues and all of their levels from the North and South American countries are playable. All of the rest of the leagues are active, but as "View Only".

I started unemployed. I interview for a few open jobs and land one.

Team: Instituto ACC (Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba)
League: Argentina - Second Division
Transfer Budget: $200K
Payroll Budget: $55.87k p/w
Available Budget: $140....so we have no budget left. I have to make due with what I have.

[sabotai]

Let's look at Instituto's Staff

Chief Scout: Héctor Gazzaniga
Judge Ability: 6, Judge Potential: 6 (ouch)

Physio: Rubén Sumbaino
Physiotherapy: 9

Head Physio: Enrique Ambrossini
Physiotherapy: 11

Under 20s Coach: Gonzalo Enamorado
Working with Youngsters: 20, 5-7 in most of the Coaching attributes, 7-13 in the Mental (Adapt: 13, Motivate: 10)

Under 20s Coach: Sergio Cuquejo
Working with Youngsters: 19, 7-8 in Coaching, 7-13 in Mental (Determination: 13, Adapt: 12, Discipline 9)

Under 20s Coach: Fancisco Buteler
Working with Youngsters: 15, 7-8 in Coach - Man Manage: 11, 8-15 in Mental (Discipline 15, Determination 11, Adapt 10)

Under 20s Coach: Pablo Álvarez
Working with Youngsters: 20, 7-9 in Coaching, 8-11 in Mental

Head of Youth Development: Rubén Raimundo
Scouting Knowledge: Agentina 100%
Judge Potential 10, Judge Ability 11

Assistant Coach: Claudio Sarrîa
Attacking: 15, Man Management 12, 7-8 in most others, Discipline 15, Adapt 12, Motivation 10, Determination 9

Under 20s Head Coach: Carlos Martîn
Working with Youngsters: 15, Man Management 13, Determination 14, Adapt 11, Discipline 10

Everyone's contract ends on June 30th, 2014 except for Raimundo and Gazzaniga. Yeah, most of them ain't coming back.

[sabotai]

And now for the roster (and I switched to yearly salary numbers)

Goalkeepers
Julio César Chiarini - 31yo ARG - 3.5 / 3.5 - $160,000 p/a - 2015
Rodrigo Barucco - 29yo ARG - 2 / 2 - $67,000 - 2014
Gustavo Moyano - 21yo ARG - 1.5 / 2.5 - $36,000 - 2016
Brian Olivera - 19yo ARG - 1 / 4 - $400 - 2015

Chiarini is the stand in until Olivera progresses. Both signed until June 2015.

Central Defenders
Pablo Frontini - 30yo ARG - 3 / 3 - $100,000 p/a - 2014
Pablo De Miranda - 27yo ARG - 3 / 3 - $98,000 - 2014
Abel Masuero - 25yo ARG - 3 / 3 $97,000 - 2014
Diego Di Pietro - 18yo ARG - 1.5 / 4 - $400 - 2016
Nicolás Gastaldi - 20yo ARG - 1.5 / 4 - $400 - 2014 - on loan to Las Palmas
Santiago Molina - 17yo ARG - 1 / 4 - $20,500 - 2017
Damián Schmidt - 20yo ARG - 1 / 2.5 - $400 - 2014

I have 3 solid DCs (for this level, hopefully) and a few decent prospects.

Left Defender
Martín Guarino - 22yo ARG - 2 / 3.5 - $72,000 - 2014
Lucas Bazám - 18yo ARG - 1.5 / 3.5 - $37,500 - 2014
Matías Olivera - 22yo ARG - 1.5 / 3 - $12,000 - 2015
Bruno Noto - 19yo ARG - 5s / 1.5 - $400 - 2015
Franco Mainero - 21yo ARG - 4.5s / 1.5 - $44,000 - 2014

Not looking too good here. The DL position, forever my problem position.

Right Defender
Emiliano Tellechea - 25yo URU - 4 / 4 - $170,000 - 2014 on loan from San Lorenzo
Raúl Damiani - 34yo ARG - 3.5 / 3.5 - $155,000 - 2014
Walter Ferrero - 21yo ARG - 2 / 3 - $67,000 - 2014
Alian Parrino - 24yo ARG - 2 / 2.5 - $55,000 - 2014
Jonathan Gallardo - 23yo ARG - 2 / 3.5 - $54,000 - 2015 on loan to Barracas Central

I'd love to just buy Tellechea, but his value is $1.2 million, and my transfer budget is $200k. He's an MC, but can play up and down the sideline. I'll be using my good ol' 4-2-3-1, and he's better at DC than at AMR.

[sabotai]

Defensive Midfielder
Federico Vismara - 30yo ARG - 3 / 3 - $110,000 - 2014
Mauro Ballone - 22yo ARG - 2.5 / 4 - $145,000 - 2014 - on loan from Colón
Facundo Agustinoy - 23yo ARG - 2 / 4 - $38,500 - 2014
Martin Langinos - 21yo ARG - 1.5 / 2.5 - $44,000 - 2014
Cristian Bordón - 21yo ARG - 1.5 / 2 - $51,000 - 2014
Valeriano Buteler - 19yo ARG - 1 / 2.5 - $400 - 2015

Attacking Midfielders
Lucas Favalli - 27yo ARG - 4 / 4 - $125,000 - 2014
Lucas Godoy - 25yo ARG - 2.5 / 2.5 - $77,000 - 2015
Federico Beltran - 20yo ARG - 2 / 3.5 - $400 - 2014
Cristian Bernardi - 23yo ARG - 2 / 2.5 - $72,000 - 2015
Mateo Garcia - 16yo ARG - 1.5 / 4.5 - $400 - 2018
Alex Jara - 18yo ARG - 1.5 / 4 - $12,000 - 2015

Favalli looks to be a stud (for the 2nd level) and we have 2 prospects in the pipeline to take over for him. Garcia and Jara might be splitting time next year if Favalli refuses to resign with us.

Left Wingers
Tobías Ballari - 18yo ARG - 2 / 4 - $400 - 2016
Emiliano Endrizzi - 19yo ARG - 2 / 3.5 - $400 - 2015
José Marino - 21yo ARG - 2 / 3.5 - $73,000 - 2014 out on loan
Kevin Ochonga - 16yo ARG - 1 / 4.5 - $400 - 2018

Right Wingers
Nicolás López Macri - 23yo ARG - 3.5 / 4 - $85,000 - 2015
Gonzalo Piermerteri - 18yo ARG - 2 / 4.5 - $400 - 2016
Martín Duartes - 22yo ARG - 1.5 / 2.5 - $12,000 - 2015
Juan Saharrea - 20yo ARG - 1 / 2 - $400 - 2014

Strikers
Javier Velázquez - 29yo ARG - 4 / 4 - $120,000 - 2014
Juan Martín - 31yo ARG - 4 / 4 - $110,000 - 2014
Javier Correa - 20yo ARG - 3.5 / 4.5 - $85,000 - 2014 out on loan
Pablo Burzio - 20yo ARG - 2.5 / 4 - $12,000 - 2015
Jesús Acevedo - 18yo ARG - 2 / 4 - $400 - 2016
Pablo Soda - 18yo ARG - 2 / 4.5 - $400 - 2016
Gustavo Gotti - 19yo ARG - 2 / 4 - $12,500 - 2015 out on loan
Juan Ignacio Mare - 18yo ARG - 1.5 / 4 - $46,500 - 2015
Facundo Ponzio - 17yo ARG - 1.5 / 4.5 - $400 - 2017
César Lamba - 20yo ARG - 1.5 / 3 - $45,500 - 2014
Maximiliano Morales - 21yo ARG - 1.5 / 3 - $12,000 - 2014

Holy crap are we overloaded with talent at striker. Hopefully I can make some bank selling several of these guys.

[sabotai]

Tactics

Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep

I'm not doing anything involved with the formation yet. All of the player roles will be general roles. The only Team Instruction I have set is Much Deeper Defensive Line. Mentality set to Counter, Fluidity set to Rigid.

GK: Goalkeeper - Defend
DL: Fullback - Defend
DC: Central Defender - Defend
DC: Central Defender - Defend
DR: Fullback - Defend
DM: Defensive Midfielder - Support
DM: Defensive Midfielder - Defend
AML: Winger - Support
AMC: Attacking Midfielder - Attack
AMR: Winger - Support
ST: Advanced Forward - Attack

[sabotai]

I ended the loan of one of the players we had (didn't bother listing him above, I knew I was cutting him off) and now we have $88,000 of budget open.

I also go and hire several more staff members.

Fitness Coach: Alejandro Frega
Fitness 13

Goalkeepers Coach: Sergio Garcia
Goalkeepers: 20

Coach: Gustavo Bucchieri
Working with Youngsters: 20, Mental: 13, Technical: 12, Tactical: 11

Coach: Horacio Insaurralde
Working with Youngsters: 20, Mental 11, Technical 10

Coach: Gabriel Rodríguez
Attacking 11, Discipline 16, Determination 16

Coach: Héctor Martínez
Defending 14

None of these guys are all that great, but I only had 1 coach training the senior squad so I had to hire a bunch to spread the work around.

[sabotai]

I set the bonuses for winning competitions to Low so that I got a big bonus to my transfer budget. I then boosted my payroll more so that I can sign some older free agents to fill out my roster.

New Players

DL Hugo Iriarte - 31yo ARG - 4 / 4 - $68,000 - 2014
DM Zé Rodolpho - 29yo BRA - 4 / 4 - $155,000 - 2015
DM Facundo Pérez Castro - 31yo ARG - 3 / 3 - $130,000 - 2014
AML - Hugo Ibáñez - 30yo ARG - 3 / 3 - $37,500 - 2015

I'm not putting a lot of stock in the star ratings, though. Castro and Rodolpho are pretty similar. Rodolpho is faster, but Castro has better Mentral attributes all around. Both are pretty much even on the important Technicals.

[sabotai]

And Zé Rodolpho is already injured and will miss 3-4 weeks.

[sabotai]

Instituto Pre-Season

20/7/2013 - Friendly (A) vs. Ben Hur - Win 2-1
27/7/2013 - Friendly (H) vs. Girondins Bordeaux - Lose 0-1
5/8/2013 - Friendly (H) vs. Villarreal - Lose 0-2

[sabotai]

I want this to go a bit faster than my last dynasty, so no long match reports and I won't be watching the games nearly as much.

Because I added two more DMs to my roster, I end the loan of Mauro Bellone.

It would seem that having friendlies with reserve quad teams isn't a thing in Argentina. I can't find any dates where I can set up friendlies with my Instituto reserve squad.

10/8/2013 - Second Division vs Ferro (A). Lose 0-1. Poor game all around. Played with my backup GK due to Chiarini being suspended (must have been for something last season). Most of my players are not at full condition nor are they fully familiar with the tactic yet so it could take some time.

17/8/2013 - Second Division vs. Independiente (H). Win 2-0. Much better this time.

[bbgunn]

Good luck!

[sabotai]

Thanks bbgunn!

Since there is no reserve squad action going on, I list everyone on the reserve available for loan, but the transfer deadline has passed so I don't know if that'll do any good.

24/8/2013 - Second Division vs. Patronato (A). 1-1 Draw

31/8/2013 - Second Division vs. Villa San Carlos (A). 0-1 Lose

Juan Martin is the striker that won the starting job, and he is the prototypical target man. High ratings in Heading and Strength (16 in both). So for my tactics, I've set the ST role to Target Man (his backup, Velázque, is also a pretty good target man, so there will be no need to change tactics on a substitution.)

Lucas Favalli has all of the right attributes to make a good Advanced Playmaker (and that's the role that's suggested for him), so AMC in my tactic is changed to Advanced Playmaker.

And the DM roles. I change them to Ball-Winning Midfielder (Support) - Zé Rodolpho - and Anchor Man (Defend) - Facundo Pérez Castro.

[sabotai]

7/9/2013 - Second Division vs. Defensa y Justicia (H). 1-1 Draw.

14/9/2013 - Second Division vs. Banfield (H). 2-2 Draw.

On thing I am seeing is that goalkeeping in South America is fucking terrible. The vast majority of goals I've seen have been shots over the GK or through the GK. One thing's for sure, if I'm going to use a counter tactic, I need a GK that can get some air.

The opposing GKs have been bad enough that I'm thinking that going with an attacking tactic.

Zé Rodolpho is out for 3 months with a hip injury.
Juan Martin will miss a few weeks due to a twisted knee.

Great. Martin had scored 4 goals in 6 games, 3 in the last 2 (since changing him to Target Man).

[sabotai]

21/9/2013 - Second Division (A) vs. Sportivo Belgrano. 0-0 Draw. We were thoroughly dominated but managed to keep the game scoreless.

28/9/2013 - Second Division (H) vs. Sarmiento (J). 4-1 Win. ST Javier Velazquez had 3 goals, AML Ballari had 1. A great win for us.



October 1st, 2013 Standings