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

[Abe Sargent]

March

1st – Away vs Arouca
8th – Away vs Vit. Guimaraes
12th – Away vs Stuttgart, EURO
15th – Home vs Olhanense
19th – Hone vs Stuttgart, EURO
22nd – Away vs Maritimo
25th – Away vs Sporting, Taca Semi Final

Another busy month, with another 7 games. Crazy stuff, I know.

Good training? Marc, Moreira, Costa, bad training? Aurelio, Mariano


Alright, here we go. Skolnik will remain out for the Arouca match, but will return for the next one. We will begin countering. Keep up our run! Defederico scores a DFK in the 9th minute after a quiet beginning. But they equilibrate and score just a few minutes later. I pull things back and keep it quiet. Half. You can still win thing! I sub in Defederico gets an assist by Rondon for a score after Rondon is closed down and passes it over in the 59th. I pull out an underwhelming Cenk Tosun and a tired Candeais. We keep them from any attack, and Adriano,, subbed in for Cenk, gets a pass from Rondon and puts Arouca awa yin the 82nd, and we hold on to win. MOM is Defederico. We had a pretty quiet game from them, little offense from Arouca at all. Well done lads!

[Abe Sargent]

Now it’s a week until our next game, a bit of a break for us! Cenk did not have a good game, would he have gotten Adriano’s goal if I had left him in?

Jota asks if I can transfer him and I agree and list him.

Skolnik will be starting for us in today’s away game vs Vit Guimaraes. We lost to them earlier in the season when we hosted them. Pick up here you left off! We begin countering. We stop a major attack in the 4th. After a quiet first 30, they foul Marc with the ball just outside of the penalty area. And Defederico sinks the DFK for a score. Candeais almost doubles our score with a cross to him in the 38th that is blocked by the Gk. They slip a long shot juuuust inside the goal in the 43rd minute. Half time. Get revenge! They get a break away goal as soon as the half starts, but a corner kick by Skolnik to Freire is put down a few minutes later to tie things back up. I pull a tired Mexer for Costa. I move us to Control for a bit to give us some more opportunities. We struggle for a bit, but then a far away IFK by Defederico hits Rondon for a score in the 73rd minute. I have to pull Defedreico for Javi, but he did a lot before weariness forced him off. Back to counter. They have 3 yellows, we have none. Javi is injured and I put in Sequeira. Game, we win on the road 3-2. Defederico is MOM. Every goal was scored from a set piece.

[Abe Sargent]

I give everyone a day off in preparation for our match at Stuttgart. Porto are still in the Champions Cup. They won their first game away against Juventus and in two games they will host and try to win again and advance to the next round. Braga didn’t make it out of the Euro Group Stage. Benfica are still in the Champions too, they are against Schalke right now. They lost away 2-3, but that gives them a shot of winning today, March 11. Unfortunately they lost 2-3 again and are out of the Champions league.

And if Porto surprisingly loses against Juventus (not a big surprise, obviously) then we’ll be the last Portuguese team standing in European play.


Alright, time to see if we have any chance of progressing past Stuttgart. I pulled Tosun for Adriano in my starting squad. My team is superb morale, and playing well. We’ve won against a lot of good teams in the European Competition;. We will begin with a defensive strategy. If we can be as lethal in set pieces today as we were in the last game, we could have something. Their weakness was defending them, so I worked on attacking set pieces. They are cutting our longer passes too easily – our passing and speed aren’t good enough so I tell my folks to do shorter passing. Despite closing down an attack well, one guy shoots from range and makes it in in the 27th minute. Perhaps hassling them and tighter marking will help? Half time. Unlucky so far! Rondon had a great break away opportunity but just couldn’t find the net. They score again off a nice offensive movement in the 53rd. Daniel C had a good opportunity in the 75th and missed. We’ve found our groove it seems. An Adriano goal is called offside. If we can score here late, and get a nice away goal, it’ll help us massively at home – I order my folks to a very high tempo in the last 12 minutes of play. Then something happens. They made all of their subs, and in the 80th minute, we injiure one of their people, and they are down a person. I move to control, push the ball wide, and then it happens. A beautiful goal kick by Perrata finds Rondon, who feeds Candeais 1:1 With their GK. He drops it into the top right corner, and its 2-1 them. Nice. Now, if we can keep them from scoring (or score ourselves) that would be great. We have a couple of shots off a corner kick but can’t get the ball to sink. I pull back to defensive. But then they score deep in extra time to make it 3-1, and all of that energy is gone. They scored because someone (Aurlio) did not follow direction with a short pass or to keep possession risked a long pass from the back corner, which was obviously intercepted. ).

[Abe Sargent]

Porto thumps Maritimo in their place 5-1. That may be the sort of game that will come back to bite them. That opens a window. With a game behind, Sporting in 3rd and us in 4th can move ahead of Maritimo, in 2nd, with a win. I’m just hosting 11th place Olhanenese. Sporting has Aves, so we can both easily win today.

We have Stuttgart 4 days later, so I make a few modifications to the roster. Cenk Tosun is an experiment I am calling done, so Djaniny is back. In five appearances, Cenk has a 6.69 rating, 1 goal, no assists, and some of those were against low ranking teams. So this is DJ’s party again. I need my backup Striker to do better than that. I will be starting Miguel Rodrigues instead of Andrei Marc. Freire is out for Hernani Costa. Did you know that Costa isn’t even 17 yet? (he turns in a few days) I expect much better – begin controlling. Rondon launches a beautiful pass to Djaniny who sinks it in the 5th minute. Called offsides. Later on, Djaniny finds Defederico for a score to give us a lead at the 31st minute. We’ve been knocking on the door for a whil,e it was time to let us in. Keep it up in the 2nd half, there’s room for improvement! Quiet second half. We dominated the stats, but no more scores are had. So we won 1-0. I might have preferred a bigger win, but we’ll take it. MOM is Defederico. We got away with that one. They agree,

[Abe Sargent]

I order some more rests. Amazingly, Aves, on the road managed to tie Sporting, which pushes us to 2nd. We have 6 games to go with the season, and everyone has 24 games, and we’re 2nd place. That’s nice. But we have a knotted top of the standings:

1 – Porto, 61 points
2 – Nacional da Madeira, 50, +20 GD
3 – Sporting – 49, +32
4 – Maritimo, 49, +11
5 – Braga, 45, +24
6 – Benfica, 45, +21

7th is 12 points below Benfica. So basically, at this point, we are virtually guaranteed to make European competition of some sort. Will we finish top three and get a Champion’s invite, or stay in the Euro? Jota has been sold.

[Abe Sargent]

On tomorrow, the 18th, new players will arrive for our youth team. Will the football gods grant us another Hernani Costa? According to our scouts, we have a guy that is “possibly one of the best players of his generation” That’s what they said of Costa. Let’s look:

Joao Luis Rodrigues, 16, plays DR, DL and WB R. He looks nasty.

Physical - 14, 11, 13, 10, 17, 15, 13, 9 – that includes a 14/15 speed
Mental – 11, 7, 11, 8, 7, 8, 9, 19, 12, 11, 8, 7, 7, 14 – that includes a 19 determination
Technical - 5, 9, 14, 4, 11, 2, 11, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 15, 12 – that includes a 15 tackling, and a 9/8 cross/pass to work on.

Five star scouting. I sign the crap out of him. He’s from right here, Funchal, in Madeira, and is a huge fan of the club. His is a Model Professional. This guy is a bomb. He might be better than Costa. I will head to Aurelio and ask him to mentor Rodrigues immediately as soon as he signs.

I look over the other youth folks.

Woah! Hello Jorge Agra, ST. Dude had a great set of mentals (18 determination, 15 work rate, 14 flair, leadership, teamwork, etc), decent technical (11 drib, 10 first touch, 9 finish, 10 long shots) he is the unusual big guy (14 jump/11 head), but not super fast – 10/10 speed, 10 stamina, and such. He has some potential too.

I make a few offers to other folks too. I also offer jobs to a few youth coaches. We have such a large youth group that I need some specialized coaching for them.

[Abe Sargent]

The match against Stuttgart has arrived. If we have an apocalyptic win, we will make it to the Quarter Finals. We are all ready to go, right here at home. I start controlling to see if we can dominate the match early. We don’t and I pull back to counter in the 14th. I got a phone call and had to take it – quick summary. We won 3-2, and do not advance. Skolnik gave away a Penalty Kick, which was sunk. If we had not, this would have been 3-1 and OT would have happened. Freire scored on Skolnik corner kick, Defederico scored before I pulled him due to a yellow card, and Djaniny got a lovely pass from Rondon for a score.

We are out of the European Competition. We made 350k for getting that far. Porto lost yesterday against Juventus badly, so they are out too. Portugal bows out of the completion.

I begin countering in today’s match in Maritimo. They score early, and then its quiet for a bit befor ewe each get in some unanswered attacks. Djaniny to Rondon for our retort in the 38th. Then Defederico sinks a DKF and gets a yellow right before half time. The next half is underway. We have serious pressure as the next half opens up. I pull Matias for Javi, and then order us to mark and hassle more. Let’s keep them off the ball. Peratta stops two major attacks, and an on target DFK. Then they launch in a corner, it bounces a bit, and is finished and the score is 2-2. I pull Djaniny for Adriano. I pull Martins for Sequeira. Once again, Adriano’s shots are no where near target in a tight race. I pout him in because of his speed, but he often doesn’t do well. Game. We tied them 2-2. MOM is Defederico.

Ah well. That was a real opportunity to help finish in the Top 3. We fall from 2 to 3. If we had beaten Maritimo, then we would have made it really tough for them to have come back.

[Abe Sargent]

Our next game is the first leg in the Taca de Portugal Semi Finals against Sporting. The other semis are Maritimo vs Porto. Maritimo lost 1-2 on the road. Now its our turn. Get revenge! I order them to initiate the game defensively. Cadeais gets a lovely assist from Defederico in the 5th minute for a goal early on. Mexer picked up a knock. I swap in Rodrigues. They start pushing a lot so I tell my lads to retain possession, mark and tackle harder. Even before that words gets out, they score in the 11th minute. DFK by Skolnik is there in the 15th. They collect a yellow four minutes later. Defederico also sinks a DFK in the 32nd minute. Yay set pieces! They get another yellow. I pull off my hassling. I don’t want to get a bunch either. And then Defederico gets a Skolnik assist and scores on a break away. My midfielders are running this game. That was just a magical half. 4-1 with a defensive strategy. But we have allowed a team to come back 4-1 on the road (Maritimo) so no assumptions. Sporting can certainly do it. . Keep it going. Another great shot is stopped by them. Skolnik really seems to have increased his game in the latter half of the year. I put in Javi and Nuno Campos. Rondon with a great assist to Espinosa and he came that close to a hat trick today, the GK had a brilliant stop. We win 4-1, on the road, against Sporting, in the League Cup Semis. That’s a big win! MOM was Defederico


Really special lads!

[Abe Sargent]

That’s our last match in March, and we have a bit of a break until April. Whew!

I get into a tussle with the manager of a club who had loaned one of my youthers, didn’t play him in the first team as requested, and then I leaned on him twice, but he refused to budge. My scout finds some nice youth players in Nigeria. Both are 18 year old DCs with good stuff:

Femi Kalu, 17 heading, 12 jumping, 13 mark, 15 tackling, good stuff ot build a DC around.
Larry Enyeama – 15 head, 13 tack, 16 mark, 11 jump. Again, same thing, has some good potential

I’d be happy to bring in both of them, but I’m not sure I could play them as much as they need, since I’m building up Hernani Costa.

After one year with Costa, here is how he has changed:

This was him a year ago:

Physical: 9, 11, 10, 13, 6, 9, 11, 10
Mental: 3, 8, 10, 8, 11, 7, 10, 3, 4, 8, 5, 9, 14, 15
Technical: 6, 3, 6, 3, 11, 5, 11, 5, 2, 13, 10, 8, 12, 6


This is him today:

Physical – 10, 12, 10, 13, 7, 11, 12, 12
Mental – 3, 9, 10, 10, 12, 8, 11, 3, 5, 8, 6, 11, 14, 15
Technical – 6, 3, 7, 4, 12, 5, 12, 5, 2, 14, 11, 8, 12, 7

So as you can see, he’s gotten a lot better in just one year. He is my major squad rotation option right now. Costa will be a stud someday. Hopefully soon!

Kalu was just signed, so one African guy is already done.

[Abe Sargent]

April –

5th – Home vs Estoril
12th – Away vs Braga
15th – Home vs Sporting, Taca leg 2
19th – Home vs Rio Ave


Good training? Dj, Moreira, and Peratta. Bacd? Backup GK Ricardo Baptista

Matias Defederico was named Player of the Month. He also has the 3rd Goal of the Month

I sit down to talk about contract renewal. I ask for improved youth coaching and recruitment, but they disagree. Ah well. I reduce my contract by a year and by some money to keep things running smoothly. Porto crush Braga 4-1 in the league game. We need 15 points in the last 5 games to guarantee we make the Champions Cup. With a bunch of games to go, Aves has officially been relegated. They didn’t even win a game.


Our home match vs Estoril is here. Pick up where you left off! Let’s see what a controlling tactic will do to start things off. Djaniny runs up the left, finds Skolnik in the middle, who puts it away in the 5th minute. That’s a good start. Defederico finds Rondon for another score in the 23rd minute. Skolnik does the same to Rondon, but the lethal header is caught. In the 31st, Defederico is rushing at goal, hits it outside and finds Candeais for the score. We have a lot more lethal shots. Finally, Estoril comes off the board with a header off a nice corner in the 44th. Half time. After some slow play, I pull Djaniny for Javi Espinosa. Defederico sinks another DFK in the 64th. We injure one of their players and force them to make a sub. Next sub for us is Costa in for Aurelio. In desperation, they sink a long shot in the 82nd minute. I put in Rodrigues for Marc. Game. We win 4-2. Skolnik is MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

Skolnik is in the Team of the Week. Stuttgart was assigned to play against Tottenham, and lost the first leg 3-0. Sporting beat Maritimo here in Madeira and made it a lot harder for me to cross them and finish 2nd.

Our away match today against Braga is the last major test of the season. After this we had 8th place Rio Ave, 12th’s Vit Setunbal and 10th Academica. Braga is a tough opponent, and we have them on the road. Benfica won before our game. So we have a game in hand, and we dropped to 4th. Lose to Braga and we remain in 4th. Win and we keep pace with the others teams. Tie, and we’ll jump above Benfica to regain 3rd, but getting 2nd will become a lot harder. I begin defensive. Shoot, we just beat Sporting 4-1 in their place defensive. No reason not to think it won’t work here. Pick up where you left off! Freire gives away a PK in the first 5 minutes. They make it. That sucked. That needs to be the only goal they score tonight. Skolnik scores just before the half off a Defederico pass and its all tied up. Things are looking good for the second half, which is rather boring, until their offense begins to pick things up in the 80s. Then they manage to score at the 89th minute and win 2-1. That’s not good. Skolnik was MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

That was Aurelio’s 150th game for our club. I rest some folks for the Sporting match. Maritimo upends Porto at home on penalty kicks to win their Semi Final, setting up a League Cup Final with us, assuming with can convert our 4-1 victory away against Sporting into an aggregate win today in our place. I begin countering. Defederico sinks another DFK in the 7th minute. I put in Javi for Skolnik after he picks up a knock. Then Mexer decides hey, let’s help out our foes and donates an Own Goal at the 21st minute. They get a red card in the 38th minute. I move to control. Let’s burn this place! Sporting helps us out with an OG of their own after a corner kick bounces around a lot in the goal. I appreciate how, “sporting” that was. Anyone? Anyone?....I pull Mexer for Costa. I pill Aurelio for our new youth prospect, the other Rodrigues. We win in an odd game, 2-1. Congrats for making it to the finals! Defederico is MOM.

Stuttgart is out 4-0 aggregate. Braga comes in and ties Benfica. We dropped to 4th, but now a window is open again. Keep up your run! We start against Rio Ave standard-ing (it’s a verb now). Dj nails Rondon for a score in the 5th minute. They get a goal called off a few minutes later for offside. Candeais finds DJ for a score on a nice cross in the 42nd. Half time, we are up 2-0. I put in Mariano and Javi. We win 2-0 Good win folks! MOM is Djaniny.

[Abe Sargent]

May

3rd – Home vs Vit Setubal
9th – Away vs Academica
24th – vs Maritimo for Taca da Portugal


Good training? Skolnik, Martins and Moreira. Bad?? Mariano, Rodrigues

After the win against Rio Ave we move back into 3rd. We need 3 points to qualify for the Champions Cup in the next two matches.

Uh oh. Someone made an offer for 1.5 mill for Defederico. I wait until after the game. Keep up where you left off! Again I am hoping for some standard-ing. Rondon scores after a very quiet 1st half in the 42nd minute. Candeais had crossed to him, a defender intercepted, but he grabbed the interception and put it away. Half time. You did well, now keep it up! Rondon gets a nice cross from Candeais, leaps up to head it between two defenders from range, and puts it away. Beautiful vintage Rondon. They notch a yellow card a minute later. In goes Adriano for a quiet Djaniny. Freire gets a header off an Aurelio corner kick and we are up 3-0 at the 69th. I go ahead and toss in Costa for Mexer and Javi for Skolnik. Espinosa finds Rondon who shoots, GK blocks, Adriano finds it and puts it away. We dominated them today. MOM is Rondon.

[Abe Sargent]

Now, what to do with Defederico? It’s an offer from Corinthians. Matias will probably be displeased if I just say no. He has arguably been our bes t player on the pitch. In 28 apps for us in the league, he has 10 goals, 11 assists, and 6 MOM with a 7.26 rating in the league. That’s no someone you can easily replace. I increase it to 2.5 mill. They counter with 1.6 mill and 145k over a year. We get 1.9mill plus 200k over a year. That is a ton of money for a club like us. Peratta, Aurelio and Rondon are in Team of Week. He signs with the, For our final league game, I move Espinosa into his spot.

Diego Barcelos retired, and is now manager.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is the top of the table going into today’s away match vs Academica.

1 – Porto
2 Sporting – 60 points, +37GD
3 Us, 60 points, +27

Other teams below us have more than 3 points difference. So we will either be 2nd or 3rd. Obviously, we’ll probably be 3rd. We have Academica away. Sporting travels to Braga. So We have the easier away game, but they have the better team.

Alright, time to have some fun. Pick up where you left off! I begin with a counter instruction to my people. Candeais slides the ball to Espinosa who scores in the 1st minute (0:51). Rondon scores in the 36th. Yay scores! Half time – Keep it up lads! I pull Skolnik to give Carlos Mariano his last league match. They claw one back at the 73rd with a corner kick header combo. We win 2-1. Did Sproting win against Braga? Guess we’ll find out soon. Meantime, Candeais is MOM with his double assist love.

Braga and Sporting had a 0-0 tie, so we moved into 2nd in the last game of the season.

Whew!

[Abe Sargent]

The Final Table:

1 – Porto, 71 points, +54
2 – Nacional da Madeira, 63 points, +28
3 – Sporting, 61 points, +37
4 – Benfica, 57 points, +31
5 – Braga, 56, +27
6 – Maritimo – 53, +6
7 – P Ferreira – 48, +7
8 – Rio Ave, 39, +1
9 – Vit Guimaraes, 37, -4
10 – Vit. Setubal, 32, -20
11 – Academica, 31, -8
12 – Portimonense, 31, -28
13 – Arouca, 29, -25
14 – Olhanense, 27, -22
15 – Estoril, 25, -27
16 – Aves, 12, -57

Aves won their last game.

[Abe Sargent]

Stats!

Rondon was 2nd with 21 goals
Defederico was tied for 11th with 10.
Defederico and Candeais both had 11 assists tied for 3rd with three other folk. Skolnik and Rondon each had 9, and Djaniny rocked 8, and Aurelio 7.
Defederico led the league with 6 MOM. Freire was tied with one other for 2nd with 5
Candeais was 6th with most dribbles/game
Candeais led the league is most distance covered. Martins was 5th.
In distance per 90, leaders were Defederico, Skolnik, Candeais and Espinosa in 5th.
Peratta had 7 clean sheets, tied for 4th
Defederico was 4th in key passes, and Rondon was tied for 7th
Freire was 3rd in key tackles
And 5th in Key Headers, Mexer was tied for 12th
Freire was 2nd in interceptions, Mexer was 13th

We had the second most goals with 71, just 8 behind the juggernaut of Porto. We had the most DFK goals.

Our squad made 240k and we won 1.41 mill for our position. Plus we’ll start getting that sweet, sweet Champions cash. We’ve never gotten above 4th in the league, so hitting 2nd is a dream.

Defederico got 3rd in the league Player of the Year.

Freire, Defederico, and Rondon were in the League Team of the Year.

We won the league’s fair play award. I got 2nd place again in Manager of the Year.

[Abe Sargent]

Liverpool defeat Dynamo Kyiv in the Euro Cup to win it.

We are favorites for the derby against Maritimo tonight. This is the first time Nacional da Madeira have ever made the finals of the Taca da Portugal. Maritimo have made it this far twice, but never won the whole thing.

Can we upend our rivals and snatch our first Cup for us? If we beat Maritimo for this cup? It’ll be one of the greatest matches in our club’s history. Defederico is ready to go in the AMC spot. It’s Taca Time! Win this for the fans!!! I open up standarding. They open up some early pressure, so I move to countering. Dj takes a long shot and it’s nowhere near goal. A Candeais cross is eaten by up their Gk. Rondon shoots, but is way offside. We had a wasted opportunity in the 20s as a good chance by Candeais misses badly. They move into the attack a few minutes later. A good shot is turned aside for a corner that goes nowhere and we are back to square. Aurelio feeds Candeais a dangerously deep ball in the back of the box. He crosses it to Defederico, whe heads it to goal, but a defender interferes, so Defederico springs on the ball and finishes it. Goal in the 38th minute! They try to push back before the half. I tell my guys to begin marking more tightly. They injure Skolnik and his health decreased massively. Half time. Let’s see the trophy at the end of the match! I’ll keep a close eye on Skolnik. He’s not getting better quickly, so I toss out Javi Espinosa for him. We injure their left winger. Another offense by them was shunted aside. A Defederico attack is converted to a corner, which we can’t turn into gold. My 2nd sub is Miguel Rodrigues heading in for Andrei Marc. Mexer tries to clear the ball out but poorly, hits one of their attackers, without anyone nearby marking him, and he shoots and scores. Hassle opponents. Will someone score? Nope, extra time. WE CAN STILL WIN THIS! And Rondon scores at the 90:17 mark after Djaniny finds him. We have very exhausted folks. Half time in extra time. Shorter passes. Keep possession. I pull Aurelio for the other Rodrigues. Game. We win the Taca da Portugal!


Enjoy your Success!!!!!


We won the Cup!

[Abe Sargent]

We paid out 100k in bonuses, and won 300k.


Alright, time to focus on finding a few new players for our squad. Cenk Tosun did not work out. We are losing Defederico. Should I resign Skolnik? He came on in the second half of the season. I have a guy coming in for him. Should I bring him back for competition? Should I sell Adriano? If so, will I need another ST in addition to the one I’m hunting, or will my youth players of Jardel and Jorge Agra be enough?

So, we need answers. The first one is the Skolnik question. I cannot believe a player of his caliber has not gotten an offer from someone. No team is tracking him. I’m expecting to run Espinosa in the AMC role. He’s a natural at it, and now that’s he’s been her e a year, he’s even better. Maybe Skolnik is just back from his injury fully now…

We still have Lucas Castro coming in. And actually, he can play AMC too. I could slot him in for Defederico, sign Skolnik, and keep the band together.

We have a huge transfer remaining right now. 1.21 mill. I could go shopping to see what I can uncover. You know, the more I think about it, the more I like Castro as the AMC and Skolnik as the ML. I may make that happen, but let’s look around. I’m not happy with Mexer’s play this year. Too many mistakes, and M. Rodrigues is leaving. I might want to bring in a real DC to really be a threat back there. Or I could bring in a nasty DMC and drop Andrei Marc to DC. I offer Djaniny a better deal financially. He’s good, but he’s not amazing. But we already have the guy signed for a bajillion years. He’s outplayed his contract, and the second most expensive player on my team after Defederico. He’s also improved a bit here and there, and he’s just 24. We’re comfortable with him.

Alright, my plan is to use Jardel/Arga like I used Joaquim Sousa this past year. Cenk was supposed to be my Sousa replacement, that didn’t work out. He can head back to Turkey. So I need to sell Adriano, and bring in someone to be that 2nd/3rd person around Djaniny. The reliable sub off the bench or the occasional starter.

That’s my first need.

Second need – I wanted to sign a good FB backup, but we were just made one. Joao Luis Rodrigues will be on my first team as a primary backup for the DR and DL spots. That’s no longer a need.

GK – Jose Mereira is getting better and better. Assuming Peratta retires at the end of next season, will he be ready to go as a starter at the age of 19? That’s young to be a starter GK at this level. But he is sexy.

DC – Last year, Friere was the worse of the two, this year it was Mexer. Both of these guys are solid. Hernani Costa is my DC of the future. Perhaps I should consider a hot prospect DC to run alongside them, instead of a fully developed one? I could keep Mexer around another year, and see what develops. That’s a good idea.

We are losing – Carlos Mariano, Sequeira, David crespo, Nuno Campos, Miguel Rodrigues, and Diogo Coelho, in addition to the obvious Cenk Tosun, Dejan Skolnik and Defederico.

That’s a loss of quite a bit of midfield backups and rotation folks. I consider Sequeira for a one year extension as a squad rotation player. We’ll bump Sequeira’s salary up to 2k a year and a one year rotation extension. I think that’s a good answer to help our depth.

We also get back a ton of loanees.

So the first thing I want to do is search up a nice Striker. I have some cash, and I don’t need too much (although if I wind up with a massively good guy, I won’t turn him down – I can move Djaniny to backup again). If I bring in a ST too young with potential, he’ll compete with Jardel/Arga.

I find a guy and make an offer – Chilean Francisco Castro.

[Abe Sargent]

I transfer list Adriano. I start with 100k

End of the Season meeting!

I want to get Champions Cup again!


End of the Year Training Report – Luis Martins, Jose Moreira, H Costa, JL Rodrigues, and Jorge Agra looked good. Carlos Mariano disappointed.

Five weeks of mid-season fun!

Sequeira and Djaniny have signed their deals.

Alright, I’ve made an offer to a 2nd/3rd ST and offered Adriano to others. Who next?

A young hot prospect DC is my next target. Or if I can find a stud DMC or DC that’d be fine too. Who can I find?

Hold up, I may have found a guy from my neck of the woods up in Scandinavia that might be a very studly signing. Let me scout him, just to make sure. We both speak the same language – Norwegian. I want until a scout verifies his talent.

We get news that Jose Moreira delighted with the results of his link-up with Peratta. They both got on really well on and off the pitch, and Morieira gained a lot. You see what I’m saying. Could be GK of the future for us.

Yeah, our scouts love him as much and I thought they would. I make an offer to 24 year old Stefan Strandberg to come be a great D, DMC or MC for us. We finalize a deal for him. Alright!

If he signs, get ready for a fun time!

We sign ST Francisco Castro officially.

Strandberg signs as well. Awesome. These guys are two more quality additions to my club.

And we have one more. Dejan Skolnik re-ups for us.

[Abe Sargent]

Messi named as Player of the Year, Ronaldo won Top Goalscorer

We have quite a few staff contracts up. I take a gander to check in on them. I will let two coaches head off. I reup a few of my scouts and my fitness coach.

I’m considering bringing in a new Assistant Manager. I won Manager of the Month for May.

Messi also won the Golden Boot.

Do I need to sign anyone else? I’m bringing in a new midfielder and keeping Skolnik, a new ST and DC or DMC. I think we are good to go!

We have sold Adriano to Sport in the Brazilian League. Portugal got a Sporting draw for the Euro.

We have doubled our new kit sponsor. The old one was 532k a year, and the new one is 1.1 mill a year for four years. Our initial budget is set for 1.81 mill transfer and 115k wage. Our club’s value is now 17.5 mill.

Someone is chasing Daniel C, so I bump him to 2.5 mill asking price. I also have four people sniffing around GK Jose Moeirera. I bump up his value massively too.

We moved up massively in club rankings. We are now 72nd position. Portugal moved back up to 5th place in the Coefficients Table and edged out France again. I have agreed to get my guys to improve our youth recruitment efforts. Yay!


Football agent Alexandre Sousa has submitted a 200k offer to purchase 10% stake in Gk Jose Moreira. I like the cash. But I expect to, perhaps, keep Jose around, perhaps for a very, very, long time. I say no.

In what I consider to be a huge slap in the face of where I want to take this club, we have accepted to be a feeder for Dortmund.

Defederico and Adriano have left us.

I sign Jose Moreira to another, better hot prospect deal, in order to keep other teams away.

Mariano has officially retired.

[Abe Sargent]

One of our scouts retires too. I sign Jermaine Beckford, newly retired Jamaican international, as my new scout to replace him. We have increased our stature to 5th in the Portuguese football after winning the Taca and doing well in the league.

Alright, tomorrow, June 29, we have some staff leaving. We were the biggest overachvers in the first league this year. Mario Rondon was voted Player of the Year again by our supporters.

The 30th has arrived. I keep the Euro Cup challenge that is expected of me. We got 2.46M for Premier League TV Rights. 10 players and staff were released today by us.

Reginaldo who had asked to be transferred, wants to come back.

I hold up, staff time

I make an offer to a good Argentina scout named Diego, and Scottish Joe McLaughlin, as well as Swiss Maheta Molango and French Jonathan Tehoue. Apparently I’m allowed to sign more folks now!

I make an offer to Keith Andrews, Irish International star, to be my Director of Youth Development.

I make an offer to current player Dario Veron, Paraguayan international stud, to be my new Assistant Manager for one year, I really like him.

I make some more coach offers.

I find a studly coach for fitness training. A decent Welsh guy for tactics. And an adequate shooter and attacker.

What do I do with Reginaldo? I take a look to see if anyone I care about was just cut from their teams across Europe. There are some that would obviously never, ever sign with us, like Arjen Robben, Michael Essien or Kaka. Actually, hold up. Kaka is retiring. Could I sign him as a staff and then ask him to relent, and play for another year? That’d be crazy.

So what about some youth players? Any good prospects? There’s a pretty good GK out there, American Fabian Ruiz, unsigned, 21. He was scouted by my N. American scout. But I have my GK of the future ,maybe, already. There’s a nice Middle, Filipe Augusto, Brazilian 21, who is willing to do a rotation contract. He played for Rio Ave for two years, and then was purchased for 275k by a Brazilian club. Now he’s out of contract. I put him on my short list, but a lot of Portuguese folks like him.

[Abe Sargent]

Players in the last year of their contract include:

GK Peratta
Mexer
D Candeais
Sequeira
ST Lucas
Sergio Duarte
Edgar Abreu
Jose Pedro Cardoso
Moussa Siallo
Simao Cordeiro
Andrei Marc


What to do with Reginaldo? I reject it. He isn’t any better than my many younger players.

July has arrived. Our Castros get here, I’ll look at them later. I get a bunch of my staff in here. I have scouts in the Caribbean, North America, South America, North Africa, West Africa, Eastern, Central, South Europe.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s look at our Castros!

AM RL, ST Francisco Castro, 24, 4 star report, Chile, Balanced, speask Spanish, 3 caps. 8k/week, first team, through 2018, 350k


Physcial – 15, 14, 11, 6, 9, 14, 8, 6 – Fast and agile. That’s it.
Mental – 12, 14, 4, 3, 10, 10, 14, 10, 19, 15, 13, 4, 14, 12 – Pretty solid stuff.
Technical – 14, 13, 15, 14, 15, 13, 9, 13, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7, 15 – Also solid, but weak passing scares me.

Could easily be our #2 behind Rondon for long terms, or be the 3rd guy behind Djaniny.


Welcome to Madeira!

Where are we going Castro?



To the Top!

[Abe Sargent]

AMRLC, M RLC, ST Lucas Castro, 26, Argentina, speaks Spanish, Italian, basic Portuguese, Balanced, 9.25k/week, key player, until 2018, 4.4 mill


Physical – 14, 17, 14, 12, 12, 15, 14, 14 – Great stuff!
Mental – 17, 14, 12, 12, 11, 11, 12, 12, 16, 12, 15, 8, 13, 15 – And again!
Technical – 12, 12, 15, 12, 12, 10, 12, 11, 12, 11, 12, 8, 10, 13

So, this guy was signed to be Skolnik’s replacement, but instead will be Defederico’s at the AMC spot, but he’s a really good ML or MR too. He’s not even a bad ST, although his 12 finishing isn’t amazing. He’s a great addition. Arguably, he’s intantly the best player on our club, at least for a month until someone Norweigan joins us.

Welcome Castro!



These are the sorts of signings that will hopefully push us on more and more. Especially since they are free! It’s good have such great scouting in the Hispanic world.

[Abe Sargent]

I hold our pre-season meeting nad everything looks good.

Blast it! Someone actually made a 2.5 mill offer for Jose Mereira. I didn’t think that would actually happen. Leverkusen see him as a good target, apparently. Arsenal are also chasing him. So here is he question. I have been developing Jose for a while. For years. I have been grooming him to take over – is able to? Because if he’s not ready to take over next year, I might as well sell him now, because I’d need to find someone else anyway.

So, here is Jose Moreira, after being with us for two years, being tutored twice, and starting tons for the youth international squads.


GK JoseMoreira, 18, 800/week, hot prospect, through 2018, Portuguese, professional, 4.5 stars,

This was Moreira when I signed him fresh of the Trial Game:

Physical Stats: 9 Acc, 12 Agi, 11 Bal, 15 Jum, 12 Fitness, 8 Pace, 7 Stam, 13 Str, 7 Technique

GK Stats – 10 Aeriel, 8 Command, 7 Commun, 12 Eccen, 3 First Touch, 9 Free Kick, 10 Handling, 7 Kick, 10 1:1. 1 Penalty, 12 Reflexes, 17 Rushing Out, 14 Tend to Punch, 9 Throw

Mental Stats – 11 Agg, 6 Anti, 10 Brav, 10 Compos, 8 Concentration, 5 Creative, 9 Decision, 13 Deter, 2 Flair, 5 Leader, 2 OTB, 10 Position, 8 Teamwork, 14 Work Rate

Here is Jose today, two years later:

Physical – 11 Acc, 13 Agi, 13, Bal, 16 Jump, 12 Fitn, 10 Pace, 11 Stam, 16 Str, 8 technique

Some of these increased a lot. (Strength, Stamina).

GK Stats – 12 Aerial, 10 Command, 10 Communication, 12 Eccen, 5 First Touch, 9 Free Kick, 13 Handling, 11 Kick, 12 1:1s, 3 Penalty, 14 Reflexes, 17 rushi, 14 punch, 10 throw

As you can see, he’s gotten a lot better here too. In some cases (Communication, Handling), he’s really improved. You’ve seen the reports and how often he has been noted for training well.


Mental Stats – 11 Agg, 8 Anti, 10 Brave, 12 Composure, 10 Concentration, 4 Creative, 11 Decisions, 16 Determin, 2 Flair, 5 leader, 2 OTB, 13 Position, 11 Team, 15 Work Rate

And again, he has improved here in many ways.

So, here is the question. If he improves as much this next year as he already has, where does he end up? What’s the potential of #99. Currently training his kicking. Remembering that GKs continue to develop for years and years, is he the guy for us?

I compare Jose to Baptista, our backup GK. Currently, Moreira is slightly better at physical, better at speed, eccentricity (I don’t care), the same at aerial, communication, mental, and worse at distribution. So he’s already basically a better choice than Baptista.

If I decline the offer, will it piss him off? I guess we’ll find out.

[Abe Sargent]

No fall out. I start Jose for today’s friendly at Santana. 3-0 at the half. 5-0 at the end of the game, including goals by Jardel, Agra, and Freire. MOM is Aurelio, Good job

We sold Reginaldo to Olhanense. I doubled Jose Moreira’s asking price to 5 mil. You offer me 5, I’ll go get another GK.

I offer high for domestic cups, normal for the other stuff.

League Odds:

Porto – 1-2
Benfica – 4-5
Sporting – 5-4
Braga – 5-4
Us – 2-1
Maritimo – 33-1

Well, we’ve made closer on the list by far.

Wow. Leverkusen just made the 5 mill bid. I was, um, ummm…?

I don’t even know what to do at this point.

[Abe Sargent]

I sell him, and I make an offer to my American guy we liked.

We also force through a loan back for the season and a 35% sell on fee. I offer Fabian Ruiz a 1 year rotation deal.


We have a friendly hosting Uniao Madeira. It starts. I pulled Jose off as GK and Peratta is back. 3-0 at the half. We win 4-2. Luis Martins even scored, and was MOM.


GK Ruiz is here. We’ll have a year to work on him.

We win 1-0 on the road vs Freamunde.

We sold Moreira for 5 mill. He went in worth 3.2 mill now on their roster. But we have him for loan for a year, in case we need him.

I went the board asking for another Trial day. They initially turned me down – which is idiotic. Two years ago a Trial Day found a young GK talent who we just converted for 5 million Euros. I convince them to hold another.


Our new guy:

GK Fabian Ruiz, 21, American, Speaks English, Spanish, Farily Professional, 4.5 scout potential, played for Philadelphia for a bit, but never started, he’s not as developed as Moreira, and he’s 3 years older, 3.3k/rotation, 1 year contract.

Physical – 10, 12, 14, 13, 12, 7, 9, 14, (4 technique)

Mental – 9, 13, 9, 12, 12, 4, 13, 15, 1, 13, 1, 12, 11, 14

GK – 13, 12, 11, 8, 6, 9, 13, 13, 13, 1, 15, 8, 9, 11

So he’s not a bad recruit at all, and he has solid potential. Since they both speak Spanish, I offer to have Peratta tutor him, and they both agree.

[Abe Sargent]

Trial Day is tomorrow, I look at the 34 players expected to participate. Wow, there’s another, decent, guy, 16 year old DR Paulo Franco. He plays the DR and DL. 15 work rate, has unusual jumping and heading for his potion (15/12), and 11 mark, 9 pass, 8 cross, 9 tack, 9/11 speed, etc. I offer him a deal right now.

Who else? He’s the only one I sign. There are a few I’d pick up or consider if this was year 1, but we are passed them now.

We’ll have two friendless on the road against Mallorca and Tenarife. DR franco signs with us.

We have arrived on the beautiful area of Mallorca for our friendly today. We’ll be defensive. Luis Martins scores in the 13th minute off a Skolnik corner kick. We have a decently quiet 1st half for a while until both sides get pressure late. Our set piece goal remains the only score on the first half. Keep it up! I make subs early in the 2nd half. In goes F Castro for Dj and Espinosa for Skolnik. Aurelio out for Rodrigues. A Lucas Castro goal aided by Rondon is called off. But Francisco Castro fires one through the GK for a score in the 57th. H Costa heads in for Freire. F Castro gets another score of a Luis Martins IFK. We need to look up Martins as my new set piece guy. He’s gotten a header in off a corner, kicked a DFK in, and assisted on an IFK for a score. I put in Agra, Moussa Diallo, in order to give us some more youth/experience. They score off a cross and powered ball in the 76th minute. Diallo picks up a knock and I sub in Sequeira. Candeais finds Javi on the other side for a score in the 90th minute. We win 4-1. Nicely done. MOM is Francisco Castro.

I move Francisco to the starting spot. No changes to the size of the pitch.

I offer Ali on a transfer. I have a nice ML/AML Luis Carlos, I link him to Lucas Castro for tutoring.

We arrive at Tenerife. We lose 1-2/

[Abe Sargent]

August

3rd – Friendly at Freamunde
8th – Porto, Supertaca
16th – Away at Portimonense
23rd – Home vs Maritimo
29th – Away vs Olhanense


Who trained well? Costa, Cardoso, and Ali and Peratta were concerning.

Today brings our last major acquisition:

DC, DMC, MC Stefan Standberg, 25, Norwegian, speaks Norwegian, English, Swedish, Danish, Fairly Loyal, 12.25k/week, until 2018, 1.5 mill value, played very well for Rosenborg in Norway – three years at 7.62, 7.38 and 7.39 starting in the division.

Physical – 12, 14, 15, 15, 13,12, 15, 17

Mental – 13, 16, 15, 15, 14, 11, 14, 13, 6, 14, 11, 15, 15, 15

Technical – 2, 8, 8, 7, 12, 5, 16, 6, 2, 16, 13, 7, 16, 14

16 in each of the key three stats (head, mark, tack?) Very strong stats everywhere across the board? You can see why I think an argument can be made that he’s better than L. Castro.

He got a little bit better since I signed him. He wasn’t supposed to get better. But his heading increased 1.

Welcome to the defense!

[Abe Sargent]

Set pieces? All set up. I move in Stefan Strandberg to Mexer’s spot. I then swap their sides.

I look around. Is there anyone coming free in 6 months? A few leagues end then. Nothing that draws me in.

The tutoring of Costa is completed, and he learned a lot. Yay! We have scored three goals in the first 4 minutes. And then 4 in 5 minutes. 7-0 at the half. I make some subs. I pull back and we win 8-1.

Let’s get ready for the Supertaca.


Starting:

GK – Sebastian Peratta
DR – Joao Aurelio
DL – Luis Martins
DC – Freire, Stefan Strandberg
MR – Daniel Candeais
ML – Dejan Skolnik
AMC – Lucas Castro
DMC – Andrei Marc
ST – Marion Rondon, Francisco Castro

Subs:

Mexer
Joao Luis Rodrigues
Hernani Costa
Djaniny
Javi Espinosa
Sequeira
Douglas Jardel





The Supertaca is underway. We owe Porto! I begin countering. Everyone’s had great opportunities in the first 10. They score in the 13th minute of a corner kick. Then in the 21st, Lucas Castro is found by Francisco Castro for a score to tie it back up. Then they score again five minutes later. It frustrating, bu t late in the half, Rondon picks up a knock right before Candeais gets a Franny assist too for a score. 2-2 half. Once again, get vengeance! I sub inDj for the injured Rondon. On an IFK, our kicker finds Dj who passes to F Castro in the box who drives around and shoots, the ball falls to Freire, who puts it away and we are up 3-2 in the 57th minute. A break is led by Djaniny who is pushed back and slides the ball for Lucas C, who hits Fran C for another score in the 57th minute too. Hey, if the tactic is working, don’t bother it, but let’s keep possession. This is Porto, they’ll come on strong. We’ve been closing them down and keeping their shots long. Lots of minor pressure in the late 60s and early 70s. I sub in Javi for Skolnik, who is underperforming, and then I switch his position with Lucas Castro to move him to the ML spot. I’ll keep the final sub for injuries or extra time. I don’t know what’ll happen late, but our defense has been good for the last 10 minutes or so., We have a few of our own, usually quick break aways. Perrata gives a poor kick to the midfield rather than the back, and its intercepted easily, and our defense is largely out of position. They score in the 81st. Can we hold on? Djaniny had a beautiful long shot that was just off target. Hassle opponents. We hold off and win, 4-3. Proud of you lads!

[Abe Sargent]

I keep Perrata and Skolnik as Captain and Vice Captain.

We open the season on the road against Portimonense. We are the favorites here! I begin with a countering idea, just to give me a feel for the day. We give up a goal early and fight for some opportunities. They get a yellow, and bang around Skolnik, although he gets better after a few minutes. Retain possession – they are letting the ball get away too much. Half time. Show me something else! I move to Standard. Five minutes in, Skolnik is taking a corner kick and it bends into the net and we score, oddly, because he missed a corner. Then Lucas Castro feeds Rondon for a nice score. I pull back to defensive, make some subs, and finish things out despite some pressure late. We win 2-1. MOM is Candeais.

Season ticket sales are up massively from last year’s 1600 to more than 1900.

[Abe Sargent]

Time for today’s home match vs our rivals, Maritimo. I slide Djaniny into the starting role again. I think we’ll begin with a normal, standard set up, no changes or anything. I want to see what we can do with our normal skills and instructions. We’ve had some early pressure and good D, but have not been able to convert it to anything on the scoreboard. They have been hammering Aurelio, but I will keep him in through half time. Finally we manage to score, Rondon was given a nice pass in the box by Candeais and Lucas Castro is driving on a running attack to his left He hits Lucas who scores in the 29th. We get close again on a Skolnik cross to Rondon’s who’s header is just off target. Then they get a lazy score just before the half. Our Gk was in position, the ball was not hit with a lot of spice and from distance, but he couldn’t get to it in time. Not a good sign. Could age be catching up with Perrata? Half time. I’m far from pleased with you! Lucas Castro finds Djaniny on an attacking run as well and Dj scores in the 52nd to put us in the lead. Keep possession time. I sub in Javi for Candeais and swap him with Lucas Castro. They collect a yellow. My next sub is Mexer in for Andrei Marc, and then swapped with Strandberg. Rodrigues comes in for Martins, and I pull back to countering to help with increased pressure from Maritimo to score in the 80s. We’ve had a few chances to get that third goal. A header by Rondon, a shot by Dj, and a few others. They score, but its waived offside in the 90th minute. They get another yellow and its time. We win, 2-1, against our rival. 2-1 wins must be our new thing. Well done lads!


Sequeira comes to me upset at his lack of first team, I tell him, frankly, he’s only a backup, he can’t expect to be a starter, and surprisingly, he agrees. One of my favorite international players, El-Hadji Diouf, who was a rock for my Senegalese team back when I ran their national side, is available (age 34) on a free. He’s no longer my level of guy, but I throw him on my shortlist just to follow him.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, time to draw the Group Stage for the Champions League. We get 8.6 mill for making it to the Group stage. That’s right, the sweet, sweet smell of cash.

After winning in their place2-1, Sporting tied Napoli 0-0 on the road to make it through the club and qualified for the Champions Group as well.

Our group isn’t that bad, but it’s still not great.

Group H

FC Bayern
Valencia
Zenit
Nacional da Madeira

So we’ve taken out Zenit before last year in European play. They are a known quantity. Then we have the expected heavy hitter of Bayern. Valencia is tough, but we did surprisingly well last year. Do we have another strong campaign this year?

Sporting were drawn with Dortmund, Galatasaray and Barcelona. Porto have Man City, Basel, and Salzburg. In the Euro, Benfica has SK Strum Grazm Standard, and Lokomotiv Moscow – a very comfortable group to escape. The other clubs are already out.

We have a ton of international callus, including GK Fabian Ruiz to the senior squad and Skolnik, who is surprised and nervous to be called up (never had a cap or anything).

[Abe Sargent]

Our most expensive players:

Lucas Castro – 4.9 mill
Jose Moreira (on loan) – 3.3 mill
Dejan Skolnik – 2.6 mill
Javi Espinosa – 2 mill
Daniel Candeais – 1.8 mill
Stefan Strandberg – 1.4 mill
Marion Rondon – 1.1 mill
Joao Aurelio – 1.1 mill
Djaniny – 950k
Luis Martins – 650k
Freire – 550k
Mexer – 450k
Francisco Castro – 425k
Andrei Marc – 325k

Someone is chasing Candeais, and I had increased his value to 2.5 mill last year, but that looks closer. IF they made a play, I’m considering to lean for it and find someone else (or just start Espinosa in the MAC spot and Lucas Castro in the MR one).

[Abe Sargent]

Our away game vs Olhanense has arrived. I worked on attacking movement. I slide into our typical countering style of play. After banging on the goal for 20 minutes, Lucas Castro collects a Candeais pass, drives at goal for a bit, and scores. Oh yes, he’s definitely a suitable replacement for Matias Defederico. Work ball into box. Skolnik hits Strandberg for a corner kick score 6 minutes later. This guy has huge ups. He leapt higher than anyone on the pitch. We stop a huge counter play by them with a 1:1 Opportunity for a score by a nice Perrata move. Not all washed up yet! A Candeais cross to Dj is just wide of getting us a 3rd goal. We let another massively strong break away occur so I move to tighter marking. Half time. Pleased, keep it up! Retain possession in the 2nd half. Rondon sinks a great counter, but its waived offside. I pull Dj for Jardel. Next is Costa in for Marc, who subs with Strandberg. Finally javi replaces a tiring Castro. Game, we wi n2-0. MOM is Lucas Castro. A good win!


It’s nearing the end of August, so I take a quick look to see if our transfer kitty can be used to pick up something interesting out there. Whoa. Screw that American guy, that’s a GK of the future! I would sell my left tit to bring him in. Can I get him? I send Dynamo Kyiv an enquiry offer. I offered 6 mill, and nope it was rejected after they said nope to my enquiry. I agree with them. Okay, there’s another one from Argentina. I make an enquiry for Jeronimo Rulli. They reject it. I offer 3.5 mill just to see. They send back a negotiation. They accept 4.2 mill. I enter negotiations, and we can’t get close. I offer 16k on key player but he walked. (He’s currently making just 2.7k, and that’s a huge upgrade in price).

Ah well. Who else? Not really. All right, we’ll just develop Fabian Ruiz into my Jose Moreira.

[Abe Sargent]

Benfica made a laughable offer for Marc – 35k now, 250k over the next two years. Come on Benfica. You can do better! You have players making 40k a week. If you want to splash the cash, you can. I reject all offers to people in the same division. I increase his asking price to 1.2 mill. His agent comes by and wants to talk. I offer Marc a new deal. It was ending this year any way, and I really like him, he keeps improving.

Whoa! Later on the 31st, our scout unearths this young GK prospect from Bosnia & Herzegovina. I add him to my shortlist, he’s 19, and came back with a 4.5 star report. He has been called up to their senior squad. He might be my backup if Fabian doesn’t work out. Marc signed his deal, extending it by two years for 8k/week and a first team status.

[Abe Sargent]

September

13th – Home vs Academica
16th – Home vs Valencia, Champions
20th – Home vs Arouca
26th – Away vs Porto
29th – Away vs Zenit, Champions

Good training, Marc, Rodrigues, Paulo Franco. Bad? Rondon, Dj. That’;s not who you want to see.

Lucas Castro made Team of the Week – he had 2nd place in Goal of the Month.

I was 2nd in Manager of the Month, but the Benfica guy won it. We are the only two teams to go 3-0 in our first three matches. One of our youth guys loved learning from Rondon. Now I hand Rondon to tutor 16 year old Jorge Agra.

Skolnik picked up his first cap subbing in against Bulgaria in the 21st in the Euro Qualifications. Mexer was MOM and scored the team’s only goal vs Zambia. Andrei Marc picks up his first cap for Romania. I speak to both. Mexer’s goal was his first for his country, and I congratulate him too.

Joao Luis Rodrigues was MOM in Portugal’s 2-2 U21 game. He even scored!


I start Franny Castro in the ST spot. Pick up where you left off! We are at home. I start controlling. I don’t want to get too tired for the Valencia match though. Which is nice, since Aurelio’s corner kick smashes the head for Strandberg for a score in the 5th minute. I worked on attacking movement this week, so let’s see how that works out. In the 13th, Skolnik picks up a knock - I send in Sequeira. He wanted some 1st team play, and this is most of a game. At home, against Academica, when we are already up by a goal, that’s a safe time to throw him in. Marc hits a deadly ball deep for Lucas Castro in the box, and he slide sit to Francisco Castro for a goal in the 32nd minute. Half time. Played well, but room for improvement! Candeais gest a nice interception, drives a bit and passes back to Aurelio under pressure and moves ahead. Meanwhile, Aurelio moves the ball a ways, and then finds Lucas Castro, who immediately bounces it back to the attacking Candeais, who scores in the 51st minute. 2nd sub – Jorge Agra for Rondon. Aurelio swings out another corner and they give us an OG in the 75th. 3rd sub – Edgar Abreu for Marc. I slide to counter. We win, 4-0 MOM is Lucas Castro, who enabled a pair of goals with nice passing. A good win, well done.

[Abe Sargent]

In the media, they dub Jorge Agra the next Domingos Paciencia. Now I know. Domingos Paciência - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I hand out some rests. Aurelio, Strandberg, and Lucas Castro were in Team of Week. Freire is now Portugese!


Alright, today’s match vs Valencia is here. If we want to hang with the big boys, then we need to do well in a game like this. Keeping the same starters. Keep it up! I start defensive to see if I need to open up later. I started this game pissed off. We were down 0-3 at the half. I had lost interest. Then they scored again, and I really lost interest. Then something interesting happened. Aurelio hit Strandberg for a header off a CK. Great. Then it happened again just three minutes later in the 54th. Alright, I’m back in. I make a couple of subs – in went Javi at the ST position for a poorly performing Franny Castro and Mexer went in for Freire. We’ll probably lose 5-2 or something. And then in the 75th minute, Locus Csatro, right after picking up a yellow card, lofts the ball beautifully to Espinosa who gets free on a break away and puts it away and all of the sudden its 4-3. I have a tired Candeais. I slide up Aurelio to his spot and put in Rodrigues. I move to standard. Can we win late? Nope! We lose 4-3. Respectable after all. Unlucky folks! We were refused a PK and that perhaps might have pushed the game into a tie.


I was hoping we could get a tie, or even snatch a win. I can’t be surprised

[Abe Sargent]

Today’s home match vs Arouca arrives. I massage the roster. In goes Djaniny, Javi, Costa, and Rodrigues. I begin controlling, with the idea to keep up our relative dominance of the division thus far. After a weak early start to the game I pull back to standard. Javi has a deep IFK from almost midfield and it hits Candeais’s leg in a perfect position for a score. Half. Do even better! I pull DJ for Jardel. Castro is injured nad I pull him for Sequeira. Javi buries a DFK in the 73rd to give us a cushion. I put in Sergio Duarte for Marc. Game. MOM is Espinosa. Well done.


We will travel against Naval for the 3rd round of the Taca.

For today’s away game vs Porto we have our normal 11 in the place. I want to be defensive, and not tire them out overly much, I have my Zenit match in 3 days. Keep your form of run up! In the 5th minute, Aurelioa launches a corner, finds Strandberg, a defender interferes for an OG. They score back in the 8th. I tell my folks to hassle and mark tighter. We have injured three of their players, who are playing with knocks. They score just before half. Show me something else! I put in Javi. Then Mexer. Perrata has been a one man goal stopping show in the 2nd half so forth. Skolnik selfishly risked a loss. He intercepted the ball and ran it past the defenders in the box. He had Javi and Rondon on attacking runs, with a defender on him, and a tight shot, but he shot himself, rather than pass the ball. I immediately pull him for Sequeira. They finally score, like we knew they would, in the 83rd. We lose 1-3, and I express my displeasure.

[Abe Sargent]

Because of how selfish he was, I pull Skolnik for today’s away game vs Zenit here in Russia. I am starting Javi in the AMC spot and Lucas Castro out left. DJ is in my starting spot. We thumped them 3-1 last time we played them here. I begin defensively, obviously. Lucas Castro on a counter finds Rondon who shoots, its blocked, and Candeais finds the rebound and puts it away in the 4th minute. 2 minutes later, Rondon sinks the Castro cross. Unfortunately, they score back in the 23rd. But our nice options keep them away the rest of the half and its 2-1. Alright, let’s keep it up! Daniel is getting beat up badly so I pull him for Skolnik and switch sides with Castro. They’ve picked up a pair of bookings Then another. All in the 60s. Let’s start hassling folks, maybe we can get them to fight back. Francisco Castro head sin for Djaniny. Skolnik intercepts a ball deep, runs, finds Franny onsides who runs in for a lovely break away goal in the 81st. Friere gets a yellow so I through in Mexer. I pull off hassling. Just like our first game here last year, we come in and win 3-1 defending. MOM is Rondon. Special lads!

We win 1m for the victory. After two games, here is the Group:


FC Bayern – 6, +3 GD
Valencia – 3, 0
Nacional da Madeira - 3, +1
Zenit – 0, -4

That’s not too shabby. Assuming we lose again to Valencia away and win against Zenit in our place, we need to steal some points from FC Bayern and we might sneak out with 7 points.

[Abe Sargent]

October

5th – Away vs Gil Vicente
17th – Away vs Naval, Taca
20th – Away vs FC Bayern, Champions
25th – Home vs Sporting


Not that busy a month, really

Who was a good trainer? Freire, Skolnik, and Moussa Diallo. We did not like Marc.

We have 14 international call ups.


Our away game arrives. Gil Vicente is currently 11th. I start Jorge Agra today. Let’s see what the next Domingos Paciência can do. I use a counter strategy. Pick up where you left off! The first half begins quietly. Then we begin to pressure them, and we are unable to come up. Luckily, set pieces come to our aid again. Aurelio hits Freire, but he’s backed, so he heads to Candeais outside the scrum,who shots and scores. That’s t he half. Not bad, but you can do better! We come out all countering again. Rondon is playing poorly, but Agra is been u pfor it, so I swap their positions and lay in Franny Castro. I also put in new youth guy Luis Carlos I’ve been working on, followed by Joao Luis Rodrigues for Martins. Gil Vicente scored on us cheaply in the 88th minute when they got a lucky, and I mean lucky shot off that deflected off the crossbar and to a defender who sunk it. I will NOT GO DOWN LIKE THIS. I order my team to attack, highest level of tempo , hassle folks, mark tightly and get ready to go. And we are just pushing everything away. Then, in the 86th minute, Agra slips the ball out from a defender and beginsan attack on goal, only to be snuffed out, but his pass to Franny Castro gets a goal. I pull back to defensive, and we hold on to win 2-1. In his first start, Jorge Agra Is MOM. We got away with that one! They look all fired up!

Did you know that Luis Carlos has been labeled the next Paulo Futre? I don’t know who that is…

Paulo Futre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Abe Sargent]

I terminate Jose’s loan after the manager is concerned that I am not playing him enough.



I’m basically running my youth and sub team for today’s Taca match. I have starting – Fabian Ruiz, Jardel, Agra, Costa, Rodrigues, Sequeira, Mexer, Javi. It’ll be fun! Good luck!

Goal 1 – Javi Espinosa, 3rd minute
Goal 2 – Aurelio, from Espinosa, 32nd
Goal 3 – Aurelio, PK, 70th
Goal 4 – Agra, assist by Aurelio, 84th

And that’s game. Aurelio is MOM, obviously.

Our next round is against Camara Lobos.


Our game vs Bayern Munchen is my 100th game for the club. The away game is about to begin. I’d love to snitch a tie on the road. But I’m not stupid, I have a better chance of that when I host them. In the meantime, I want Valencia to lose to Zenit. If that could happen, that’d be great. Zenit is the host, so who knows? Carry on from where you left off last match! I begin hassling and marking more, hoping we can muscle our foe off the pitch and off balance. In the first 10, we’ve both had incredibly good attacks. They finally break through in the 34th off an IFK. Skolnik collects a yellow. They nab another goal just before the half. You’ve been unlucky! Crosses haven’t been working much, so I move to working it into the box. I pull Mr. Yellow Card Skolnik for Javi and switch him and Lucas Castro. They’ve gotten a pair of bookings too. They score a 3rd goal on a break. I pull Aurelio for Rodrigues. Candeais attacks the right side vigorously, crosses to Rondon who heads it for a score in the 68th. And we are on the scoreboard. Marc gets a yellow so I pull him for Mexer. They win 3-1. I can’t fault your effort.

Unfortunately Valencia won. That will make it a lot harder to sneak out.

[Abe Sargent]

I will start Dj in today’s match against Sporting. Can we upend one of the Big Three in our place? We have handled Sporting here before. Better performance than last time! We’ll begin with normal stuff against the might of Sporting. We suffer some crazy early pressure so I move to countering and hassling/marking. But they score just a few minutes later anyway in the 26th. We don’t even get close to scoring again. I am pissed off at the half time break talk. It seemed to piss them off, how will they react on the pitch. They seem a little more up for it, more attacking opportunities. Then Candeais gets a decent pass from Lucas Castro and runs in and scores. All tied up! After a few mote smintues and some subs, I push to control, and then attacking, trying desperately to get that final goal, but Sporting have locked up shop and thrown way the key. 1-1 tie.


Freire agrees to tutor Costa. Rondon agreed to tutor Agra.

[Abe Sargent]

November

1st – Away vs Rio Ave
4th – Home vs FC Bayern Munchen, Champions
7th – Away vs Camara Lobos, Taca da Portugal
21st – Away vs Braga
24th – Away vs Valencia, Champions
29th – Away vs P Ferreira

Lots of not playing in Madeira this month

Peratta disappointed in training, but Franny Castro, Fabian Ruiz and Paulo Franco all impressed


For today’s Rio Ave game, I start Agra again, Espinosa, Costa, and I make a few changes on the sub list. Show me what you can do when you counter! Not much early, but Costa sinks an Aurelio corner at the 27th. A few minutes later they shoot over the GK and land a shot in the goal behind him. Half time. Knock this off! Rondon does, in the 47th minute he gets a nice pass from Agra and sinks it. They foul Rondon in the box and he scores the ensuing PK to put us up 3-1 in the 66th. I put in midfielder Jose Goncalves into Javi’s spot. And then Rodrigues for Martins. Then Castro for my youther ML Luis Carlos. Game ,MOM is Rondon. Good win!

Aurelio and Costa were named in Team of Week

[Abe Sargent]

Today we’ll find out if we have any shot of making it out of the Group Stage of the Champions League. Valencia have Zenit in their place, and we have Bayern in ours. If we can steal three points, we still have a shot, especially if Zenit rise to the occasion and perhaps tie Valencia. I don’t think it would happen, but if we can’t take any points from today’s match, we have no chance of getting out – we are too far behind. We have Bayern here in Madeira, this is our last chance to steal something at home. We’re starting the full team, both Castros, Skolnik, Marc, etc. we begin and whoa! We just scored in the 2nd minute! Lucas Castro hits Franny Castro for a score on a break away opportunity. Nice start! But they level it just 11 minutes later in the 13th. Powerful cross. I move to hassle and mark more, hoping to push them off the ball. Candeais collects a yellow, but then Marc goes in to tackles and tears himself up, I pull him for Mexer. Half time, 1-1. I swap out Candeais early in the 2nd half and then I put in Javi for a tired Aurelio. They score in the 77th minute after I was trying to turtle up and keep us alive. I emerge from our shell. Then they give us a penalty after fouling Lucas Castro in the box. Rondon steps up and….sinks it in the 87th minute! We are tied. Can we keep them from scoring again? Can we score again? We just had another attack by Skolnik headed over for a corner. Corner is dispersed. We tied them 2-2. Great result folks!

Although we made 500k for the draw, Valencia won, so that ends any chance of that. Andrei Marc will be out for 3-4 weeks with a thigh strain from the game. I’ll start either Mexer or Costa, and then move Strangberg to the DMC Spot.

[Abe Sargent]

Once again I have a mostly young and back up team for today’s Taca da Portugal match against Camara Lobos. Luis Carlos the ML guy hits Agra for a score in the 6th minute. I slide to control after another ten minutes pass blandly. Another Agra goal is waived off. Aurelio to Costa on a corner for another goal in the 30th. Retain possession, now that we are up 2-0. Jardel scores also called offside. Espinosa slides the ball forward to Agra with enough space to notch his 2nd goal of the game in the 40th. They foul Luis Castro in the box. Agra sinks a penalty kick in the 43rd minute to net a hat-trick. Half time I’m pleased, keep it up! Aurelio scores in the 87th minute from a Luis Carlos cross. We win 5-0, MOM is Agra.

Agra has been looking good so far, but Jardel has been disappointing. I will be moving Agra into the 4th spot over Jardel in the next few weeks, just to see what’s to see.

WHOAH! Aves just took down Benfica away in the Taca’s 4th round. The team that couldn’t buy a win with a 10000 dollars just went on the road and scored 4-4 and won the penalty kick. I am a fan! But then we draw Maritimo away for round 5. I’m not a fan of that.

During a training session, Luis Martins injured his leg and will be out for two weeks, I’ll start Rodrigues in his spot.

Jose Goncalves gained a little from Aurelio.

[Abe Sargent]

Get us revenge today against Braga! Since we are at home, we’ll start out with a standard tactic, and work from there. Martins will be back for his first game since the injury. Have you ever had one of those games where nothing literally happens the entire game., and then all, of the sudden in the back 10 minutes it explodes? Well, that just happened for us. The entire game was 0-0. Then in the 80th minute I decided to just push it and go to attacking. I had made some changes, let’s go full throttle. Suddenly, we look like a real team. Lucas Castro finds Rondon for a score to break this annoying tie in the 84th. Then, in the 89thafter I’ve moved back to counter, Skolnik’s corner kick bounces around a bit, springs back to Candeais, who puts it away. Then Franny Castro is driving, fouled in the box, and Rondon sinks a PK in extra time. And a game that was 0-0 at the 83rd minutes turns into a 3-0 throttling of Braga. Mom was Rondon.


This game was Daniel Candeais’s 125th game. Strandberg in Team of the Week.


Get us revenge today too, against a certain Valencia, on the road against them with our defensive attempts. Again, a quiet game for us. They are up 3-0. We even gifted them with an OG by Peratta. Then in the 76th, Skolnik scores after shooting and following with a rebound. 2 minutes later, Hernani Costa lifts a nice through ball to Rondon who runs with it and scores. No more scores though. A close game at the end, 3-2. Can’t fault ya for effort.


We are officially out of the Cup. We have a game left though. Several players from Valencia came to the media complaining about how their manager treated them in the locker room post-match.

[Abe Sargent]

Athletic Club Bilbao, who fired their manager, have asked me to interview for the position. They are disappointed with their 10th place spot right now. It would be nice to upgrade from Portuguese Football to Spanish, especially since my original idea was to play Spanish ball.




I do like some of Bilbao’s history. If I were to jump to a non-island club in one of these leagues, the Basque one does have some things to offer. It’s got to be an easy team to scout for – are you Basque? Come play for us! If not, go away.

While looking over their club, I find a nice Basque youther they have and scout him out even more. He looks tantalizing…

I make an enquiry

I head to the interview. The owner sits me down to discuss things. I agree with European Qualification. 1-4 are in the Champions, 5-7 in Euro. We’re in 10th right now, out of20 clubs. We are a rich club, with a ton of money – 12.5 mill in transfer dollars. We’re only 3 points from 7th after 14 games.

I decide not to pursue the job. I am making a ton of progress in Portugal, and I don’t want to leave that behind. Right now, in the 1st 10 games (1/3 of the season over) I’m sitting in 1st, tied with Benfica with 25 each and a +2 GD over them.

I get back the enquiry over that nice Basque youth player, they say they are not interested. He looks a bit wonderkid-ish.

[Abe Sargent]

The final game in November arrives, an away match against P Ferreira, currently 6th in the league. I begin countering and ask for them to continue their good football. I am starting Franny Castro tonight instead of DJ. Not a lot of action early, but we are playing good D so I’ll stick with this for a bit longer. There have seen to be a few moments where either team is capable of putting the ball away for a score. That symmetry ends in th 31st when Rondon slides the ball to Candeais on the fall right for an attack run, who crosses to Lucas Castro and he finishes the play. Good stuff. Minutes later, Candeais’s cross finds Rondon’s head for another score off the right flank. They get a yellow just before half and its 2-0 us. Things are going well, keep it up! Lets start to retain possession. We’re ahead nicely, so I put in my first sub early, Sequeira for Skolnik, who’s not been playing too well today on the left. All of our attacks have come from the middle or the right. Sub #2 is Jorge Agra for Franny Castro They’ve gotten two more bookings, and we had a Lucas Castro DKF dead on rights but just blocked by the Gk. My final sub is Costa in for Marc. Peretta stops some very attractive attacks by Ferreira. I would not be surprised to see them score here in the 80s. I move to defensive. We hold off, and we 2-0. MOM is Danny C. Good win for us!

Actually, with Benfica’s loss to Sporting, we are now in front by 3 points.