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

[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]

Originally Posted by britrock88

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]

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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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!!