San Marino Calcio - Resurrecting the Titans

[DaddyTorgo]

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino /ˌsæn məˈriːnoʊ/ (help·info) (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino) is a country situated in the Apennine Mountains. It is a landlocked enclave, completely surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 60 km² with an estimated population of almost 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. One of the European microstates along with Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, and Malta, San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.


San Marino is the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, having been founded on 3 September C.E. 301 by stonecutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then a Roman colony, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates.^[1]


The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in effect.


History

The club was founded as Società Sportiva Serenissima in 1960 by the San Marino Football Federation,^[1] in order to have a professional team represent the Republic of San Marino in the Italian league. The club was later purchased by Sanmarinese and Italian entrepreneurs.^[1]


The foundation year is sometimes disputed, because the previous season another team with the same goal, called Libertas-Tre Penne (also sponsored by the San Marino Football Federation), took part to the Italian championship. The crest of Tre Penne is still visible on San Marino Calcio's one.^[1]


San Marino Calcio is the only professional football team in the Republic of San Marino allowed to play exclusively in the Italian football league system. Since the San Marino Football League is completely amateur, the club is also the only professional team in the Republic.^[1] Another team from San Marino, A.C. Juvenes/Dogana, competed in both the amateur levels of Italian football and in the Sanmarinese league in the past, but has since retired from the FIGC.


Colours and badge

The club's home kit consists of a light blue shirt with white and black inserts, black shorts, and black socks.^[7] Their away kit consists of a white shirt with dark blue inserts, white shorts, and black socks.^[7] San Marino Calcio released a third kit for merchandising, which consists of a red shirt with dark blue inserts, red shorts, and red socks.^[7]


The golden frame of their badge contains the team name and the phrase "Titanus aggressurus Olympum", which refers to the Titans in Greek mythology. Pictured in the center of the badge is a Titan. In Italian, the word "Titan" signifies both the race of mythological gods and Monte Titano, the highest point in San Marino. The left-hand circle represents the badge of Tre Penne, one of San Marino Calcio's two founding teams, and the right-hand circle represents the old San Marino Calcio badge.

[DaddyTorgo]

Note: I'm going to try to use LLM-rules to the best of my knowledge for this game, with one exception. Since I'm playing as San Marino and it's an incredibly small country (30,000) I will allow myself to use player-search in order to filter for all players with San Marinese as a nationality (I loaded all of them). I think this is an acceptable compromise and will help me to make the team more “San Marinese” which is one of my personal sub-goals.

[DaddyTorgo]

*****
San Marino Calcio
*****


So you're going to wonder how a lowly American who hadn't ever played a minute of football above high-school level was able to work my way up to be manager of a football team. I'll tell you this – it wasn't easy.


I was on a visit to San Marino, just checking out the typical tourist attractions when I ran into him in a bar – San Marino Calcio Chairman Claudio Petronici. It was over several Peroni's discussing football together that he confessed to me the state of his football club. The only non-Italian team authorized to play in the Italian leagues, the only professional club in all of San Marino – it was a heavy cross to bear. And the team had experienced some success in the past in the lower levels of Italian football. But how great would it be to bring them to the top – to make them a shining example for this historic microstate.


It didn't take him long to talk me into it, because frankly I had been itching for it. I had come to Italy hoping for just some opportunity, to work in the mail room, to start to work my way up. And here Petronici was saying that there was nothing to lose in his eyes by giving me a short stint at the reigns to see if I could make San Marino proud.


It didn't take me long to accept the two-year deal at $115,000/year to be the manager of the side that played their games in the Stadio Olimpico in San Marino. It also didn't take me long to move my belongings over to San Marino and install myself in an apartment.


I met the rest of the staff – nobody particularly impressed me, and the team needed several more scouts in my opinion, but there was nobody that I felt strongly negative enough about to replace, or to introduce specially to you. I was informed that I had 2 youth coaches, so I made a mental note to try to get them on full-coach contracts ASAP.


I heard from Petronici that I had budget for 2 more staff, and he informed me that the best I was likely to do was mid-level scouts, so I sent out several offers to mediocre scouts to round out my staff.


Petronici was also keen to inform me on July 14, 2009, my first day on the job, that this year was the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the club. He asked me to do everything possible to ensure I held up the proud traditions of this great club – something I have every intention of doing.


**
July 14^th, 2009,
**


I sat down with my backroom staff to listen to what they had to say. Massimo Rinaldi had several recommendations of players to take a look at, so I immediately dispatched my scout to check out those players – Jose Maria Belforti, Bruce Dombolo-Punga, Diego Ricardo, Esteban Trasancos, Federico Piazza, and Thierry Ekwalla.


I sat through the rest of the meeting where the coaches gave me their advice regarding which players they felt were best for which roles and duties without any intention of taking their advice. Part of the job of being head coach is to make those determinations on my own, and I frankly have more faith in myself than in the judgment of my staff at this point.
Maurizio Manzaroli came to see me after the meeting to say that despite having a strong squad our midfield was the weakest area, and he offered 3 potential signings for me to examine. I immediately dispatched the scout to report on them as well, and made a mental note to check for San Marinese players later that day.


Petronici stopped by at the end of the day to let me know that my transfer budget for the year was $160,000 and I had just about $1m worth of payroll room. I responded by asking him to take my proposal to seek out a new parent club to the board, and he promised that he would do so at the next board meeting.


I spent the night back in my apartment pouring over the list of San Marinese players in the national team's registry to see who might be available to help improve my team, and with it the fortunes of this proud nation.


Andy Selva is a San Marinese striker playing for Verona. He's 33 but seems to have maintained his physical stats and is potentially affordable so I make note to make an offer to Verona in the morning.


**
July 15^th, 2009
**


Very little surprise, as all 4 players I instructed my scouts to look at who they have returned with reports on would be vast improvements to my team. Now to see if I can secure some transfers in on-the-cheap.


I decide to go with a bog-standard 4-4-2 for the match against my reserve side, to try to get some better idea of my players before I start tweaking my formation to play to my relative strengths.


According to my coaches my striker Cesca is my best player, so unless I can find a second striker on the cheap (maybe an older poacher) to partner with him I may play a 4-5-1.


In a depressing result I draw with my reserve side 1-1.




I decide that unless I'm absolutely sure from what I scout I will try to bring in unemployed players for a month-long trial before deciding to sign them, in order to preserve my wage budget.


**
July 20, 2009
**


While sipping on my after-lunch espresso I receive a phone call that my offer of $20,000 to Alessandria for 28 y/o midfielder (left, center) Matteo Longhi has been accepted, and the contract terms are acceptable to him as well. He will be delighted to become a part of our squad, and although being 28 is a lot better than any of our existing midfielders.


I've made the decision to focus my acquisitions on midfield and defense – although if I can find a strong and cheap second striker to pair with Cesca I will do that as well, but a 4-5-1 should be good for possession and strong defense.


**
July 22^nd 2009
**


9:45 in the morning – sipping on my morning coffee, I got a call saying that my $35,000 transfer deal for Cerro Reyes' central defender Jose Maria Belforti was ready to be completed. I accepted without hesitation, as the 28 year-old Belforti will help to shore up my backline.


At 5:15 that afternoon I got the call that Benevento's 20 year-old French central midfielder Joseph Agyriba is set to join us for the bargin-price of $3,000. I haven't seen enough film of him to be entirely sure what I am getting, but from what I have seen he seems to have the potential to be a starting central midfielder for San Marino. Although he is not mentally or physically exceptional (league average I would say), his technical attributes are some of the best I have seen at this level.


The fans are certainly excited – delighted fans deluged team headquarters with calls of approval starting at 6pm and going all night long.




**
July 26, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Sambonifacese


I need to examine my current squad and devise a tactic, so I don't sleep the night before, pouring over squad reports and player evaluations. I decide on a 4-5-1, with one DMC, 2 MC's and 2 attacking wingers supporting a central forward.


Several of the guys I have in on trial are playing in this match – we'll see how they do.




2-0 victory for San Marino. Goals by striker Alessandro Cesca and trialist central midfielder Federico Piazza.




**
July 28, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Pro Vercelli


Another chance to see how some different trialists and new players do in my 4-5-1.


We come from behind for a 1-1 draw – a decent result.


**
August 1^st, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Cesena


We lose 1-0 to Cesena, and I'm starting to become concerned that my default tactic isn't producing enough chances on goal. I'll have to spend some time in the film room and see if I can't devise a way to get more chances up to the frontline striker. I had 2 shots in the loss against Cesena.


After the game I get some good news, as Mezzolara's Julio Cesar Capretta, a 34 year old Argentine striker agrees to join us for $2,500. He looks like he'll be a decent player for us.


Even better news as I'm sitting at home at 10:45 at night pondering how to increase the number of chances to my strikers as Brescia's Omar El Kaddouri, an 18 year-old Attacking Midfielder has agreed to join us on loan for the year. He's valued at $1.3 million, so I'll have to find a way to utilize him in my tactics – maybe bringing one of the central midfielders up to be an attacking midfielder.




**
August 3^rd, 2009
**


10:45pm – A time that could forever go down in the annals of the history of San Marino Calcio. I receive a phone call from Olimpic's 32 year-old Colombian striker Edwin Congo telling me that he is rejecting the contract from Lleida and is excited to be coming to ply his trade with San Marino. Although his yearly wages are at the top of what my board will allow, he immediately becomes hands-down the best player on my team and should make me a contender.


According to my assistant manager he is twice the player of our second-best striker.


**
August 4^th, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Catania Reserves


The debut of El Kaddouri and Congo for San Marino. I've moved to an unbalanced-formation with El Kaddouri pulling in to AMC instead of AMR. The papers predict Catania Reserves to come away with the victory – that's a bit humiliating.


49^th minute – Edwin Congo pounces on a deflected shot and finishes from 7 yards out! San Marino 1, Catania Reserves 0.


SAN MARINO WIN!!! SAN MARINO WIN!!!


**
August 6^th, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Pavia


Before the match I gave my guys the go-ahead to play an attacking strategy in this friendly, and it seems to have paid off, with a 3-1 victory the result and 11 shots created (8 on target)


Goals by Marco Testa, my right-side attacking midfielder, Christian Pennucci my captain and defensive midfielder, and Bruce Dombolo-Pungu, the 20 year-old French defender that I signed earlier. Bruce picked up the man-of-the-match award and shared joint 7.8 ratings from the newspaper the next day with Pennucci.


I sat in my office after the match pondering. Perhaps the solution to my problems offensively was to give my team more of an offensive edge. My personal philosophy hews towards not shipping easy goals, and being quite defensively stout, but since I have invested in some stronger defenders perhaps I do not need to maintain such a defensive-framework on the team.


I rang downstairs and got the number, and after a brief conversation in halting Spanish where (I think) I got my point across that it would be a positive meeting and not a negative one, I managed to get Edwin Congo to come down to my office.


He did show up around an hour later, bursting into my office talking a mile a minute excitedly. I calmed him down long enough to have my assistant, who also functions as my translator, join us. According to her, Edwin was very pleased to have joined us in San Marino, and even I could clearly see that when she mentioned to him my plans to allow the team to play more attacking football he was overjoyed.


I had one more friendly as well as the first 3 games of the Coppa Italia Lega Pro Group F to refine my attacking philosophy and ensure that the team wouldn’t be a sieve at the back.


**
August 9^th, 2009
**


Copps Italia di Lega Pro Group F – Match #1 against Bellaria


Location: Enrico Nanni, Bellaria-Igea Marina
Referee: Fabio Vicinanza
Weather – Dry, 87 degrees
San Marino News: Roberto Massaro and Guerrino Gasparello were out with minor injuries for the match.
Odds: Bellaria: 11-5, Draw: 11-5, San Marino: Pick’Em (Fav)
Attenance: 183

[DaddyTorgo]

One thing that continues to strike me about coaching at these lower levels is both the amount of misplayed balls by the team in possession, as well as the failure of players under pressure to clear the ball, and their tendency to hoof it out of bounds. I’d like for my team to be better in those areas, but I fear that that may not be realistic.


Our first chance comes in the 31^st minute as central midfielder Agyriba hit a very weak volley off of a Federico Furlan ball into the box that somehow managed to trickle past the keeper. 1-0 to San Marino! Heartbreak in the 75^th minute as a header off the bar is finished by Bellaria’s Crisci to draw them level. The match finishes in a 1-1 draw.


We also get the bad news after the match that Agyriba’s goal is actually being counted as an own-goal against the Bellaria keeper Michele Camillini, as apparently it bounced off his ass into the goal. Still, I am happy with the play of at least some of my players.

[DaddyTorgo]

**
August 10^th, 2009
**


This might be as important a day as the day we signed Edwin Congo. At least that’s what I tell myself when I get off the phone at 4:45 in the afternoon to hear that Mutilvera’s Oscar Murillo has agreed to a deal with San Marino. Murillo is a 27 year-old Spanish central attacking midfielder/striker. He agreed to join us for free, although his wages do come in at a hefty $150,000 a year. But he’s one of the best players we have at the club now.


He’s much better than Omar El Kaddouri, so perhaps I can play him “in the hole” in an unbalanced formation. At worst he is still fairly young and thus if he performs he may get snatched up and provide me with some transfer income.


I decide upon consideration to tell the board to leave my win bonuses at normal. I don’t want to motivate the players to succeed too much, as I would like to strengthen the squad a bit further before aggressively pushing for promotion.


**
August 14^th, 2009
**


Friendly vs. Gela


I’m experimenting with an unbalanced formation, pulling one of my support midfielders out to be a wing midfielder and maintaining one central and one wing attacking midfielder. This way I can have both Murillo and Congo on the pitch at the same time – although with Cesca also my best bet might be a traditional 4-4-2 with 2 strikers and an attacking midfielder.


Gela were still favored in the pregame odds, so this will be a good test for us in that sense. Gela score a late consolation goal in the 88^th minute, but a pair of first-half strikes, one a volley off a corner and one a clean break of the offside trap by Congo via Murilla propel us to a 2-1 lead. Belforti missed a penalty-kick in extra-time or it would have been a 2-goal win again.


My 3 forwards were given ratings of 7.3 (Guaita – AMR), 7.5 (Murilla), and 7.7 (Congo) for the match by the postgame reporters. All-in-all definitely a game we can build on I hope.




**
Sunday August 16, 2009
**


I awoke with butterflies in my stomach. Today was the day that the bigger-fish of Pescara were coming to San Marino. The media had been downplaying the match all week, trying to cushion the blow of what was sure to be a loss to the larger club.


I got to the stadium early and took several restless laps around the field and through the locker room as I waited for the team to arrive. My plan for this match was to play more defensively, hope to catch Pescara on the counter as they press forward hoping to exploit their talent. But I was realistic about our chances. For what it is worth, my advance scout Cristian Gasperoni agrees with my plan to try to exploit their defense through speed and crosses into the box.


Copps Italia di Lega Pro Group F – Match #2 against Pescara


Location: Olimpico, Serravalle
Referee: Andrea Chiocchi
Weather – Dry, 80 degrees
San Marino News: None
Odds: Pescara: 4-6 (Fav), Draw: 9-4, San Marino: 7-2
Attenance: 398

[DaddyTorgo]

I shout to my guys from the beginning of the match to Exploit the flanks, play the ball into space, and for god’s sake, get the ball forward. Despite that, Pescara strike first in the 28^th minute off a header to make it 1-0. I’m buoyed by the fact that we have at least had a couple chances though, it’s not as if the field is tilted horribly.


The half ends with us down 1-0. FOUL IN THE BOX!!! FOUL IN THE BOX!!! I’m leaping up and down as Congo is taken down in the box minutes into the second half. Ruggeri steps up for the penalty…AND BURIES IT! Cool as ice! 1-1 tie in the 50^th minute. Congo blows a wide-open chance in the 58^th minute as an interception and header by Pedruzzi had put him in clean on goal and he blazes the shot over the top.. Through on goal again in the 62^nd minute off a through ball played by Furlan, and Congo doesn’t miss this time around!! 2-1 San Marino!!!


69^th minute – Pescare clang one off the wookwork and my heart almost stops. We counterattack and manage to relieve a little of the pressure, for the moment at least.


82^nd minute – Congo gets a perfect cross from Furlan. His initial shot is blocked by the Pescara keeper, and his rebound goes off the post. “Damn!” I think. “Watch us lose this game now.”


But we don’t! The whistle blows and San Marino have shocked Pescara and taken a 2-1 victory!


There’s mayhem among the 398 in attendance.





Just a stellar all-around game by my squad, although I do make note of the fact that my keeper seems to be giving away possession far too frequently and I should have him throw it out rather than kick it long. I’m more than pleased with the passing and defensive stats compiled by the rest of the team as reported by my gameday staff.

[DaddyTorgo]

GOALKEEPERS

Scotti has played in every game so far. He appears to be the clear #1 at this point in time, for better or worse

[DaddyTorgo]

DEFENDERS

[DaddyTorgo]

MIDFIELDERS

[DaddyTorgo]

[DaddyTorgo]

In the 23^rd minute a beautiful ball played out to the wing afforded Furlan the opportunity to float a long cross to the back post, which was headed into the net easily by Davide Poletti to give us a 1-0 lead. We were quite successful during the first half in controlling the play, with the vast majority of the action occuring on the Sangiustese side of the field.

The second half was relatively uneventful, with both us and Sangiustese having several half-chances until the 92^nd minute when Edwin Congo latched onto a through ball from Agyriba and absolutely scorched the back of the net from just inside the 18. It was a marvelous strike – the Sangiustese striker was completely rooted to his spot as it blew past him into the back of the net to put the game out of doubt.






All in all definately not a match where I can find anything to find fault with the lads for. On the heels of these two victories I gave them leave to report a bit late for training the next morning, and send them all on their way before heading out of the stadium a couple hours later to do a little sightseeing and check out the Guaita fortress on Monte Titano ( Guaita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ).



Unfortunately I got a call at 4:45pm from Marco Benedettini my physio that Bruce Dombolo-Pungu pulled a hamstring during the match and would be out for around the next 4 weeks.



“Fortunately I thought ahead and realized that having depth to cover injury and fatigue issues at the lower levels would be an important consideration,” I thought to myself as I toured the beautiful mountaintop fortress overlooking the city and watched the sun setting. It was nice just to be able to get away from the team and the job for a little while and be a regular joe again, even if just briefly.

[DaddyTorgo]

Sunday August 23, 2009


San Marino versus Nocerina from the Olimpico in San Marino. The media pegged us going into this first match of the league season as slight favorites. To come out with a win and establish ourselves early in the league would be fantastic, and I told the guys as much before the game.


(prematch screenshot is messed-up and no way to go back and get it again)







Nocerina manage a goal in the 14^th minute on a back-post header that finds the back of the net, putting us down 1-0. Things went from bad to worse for our chances in the 35^th minute as Cristian Pennucci picked up a second yellow-card and was sent off by the referee, much to my (very) vocal displeasure.


A beautiful header by Edwin Congo in the 43^rd minute drew us back on level-terms at the break. My euphoria didn't last long into the second half though as Nocerina's Babatunga scored his second of the game to put Nocerina back up on top in the 52^nd minute. That man Edwin Congo popped up again in the 70^th minute after a lovely give-and-go with Agyriba beginning about 35 yards away from goal right in the centre of the field.


I buried my head in my hands in the 83^rd minute though as Congo missed a beautiful flashing header from in-close that would have completed his hat-trick, and the game finished all-square at 2-2. Congo and Ruggeri were the best players on my side, with Agyriba rounding out the top three in my estimation.

[whomario]

nice start to the dynasty

I´m afraid you severely overpaid for a guy like Murillo, maybe look more for specialists (a great Free Kick/Corner Kick guy f.e.) at this level ? But who am i to talk, starting at Serie B and thinking of it as starting low

Are you a feeder Club for Milan btw ? (seeing you got several on loan from there)

[bulletsponge]

i started up a san marino fm09 game cause your posts in the fm10 thread. will play it till i get fm10, once the next patch comes out

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

nice start to the dynasty

I´m afraid you severely overpaid for a guy like Murillo, maybe look more for specialists (a great Free Kick/Corner Kick guy f.e.) at this level ? But who am i to talk, starting at Serie B and thinking of it as starting low

Are you a feeder Club for Milan btw ? (seeing you got several on loan from there)

@whomario - i got Murillo on a free, so my only expense is his $155,000/yr wages (which is high, but i actually had like $1m in room in my wage budget). My hope with him honestly is that since he's 27 some team up the ladder a little may swoop in and give me a few bucks for him. I've actually still got 36k in wage room plus around 95k of my 160k transfer budget left.

i'm focusing a lot on physical attributes - trying to make sure i have guys with pace+stamina so that I can outwork my opponents, as well as looking at passing and decision-maknig to try to make sure that I don't give away possession or play too many horrible balls.

it's all a learning-curve for me though - i haven't ever really played more than a season with a club at this level and that was probly 5-6 versions ago so I'm not even really sure what benchmarks i should be looking at as far as prices/wages/etc.

I'm not a feeder team for Milan - I have deals to receive players in on loan from Cesena, Triestina, and Rimini. Triestina is my parent club. I'd love to have a more impressive parent club, but my board said no when I first approached them about it, so I'll have to wait and try again.