Not at all worth its own thread but the rant thread is still locked, and I feel like sharing.
Before FM17, I had never tried a save in South America. I've toyed with the idea of managing in Brazil or Argentina but just never have. Reading some manager stories, I decided to give it a try and ended up at Envigado in Colombia. They are an interesting club in real life, as they are entirely focused on developing young players - they have produced the likes of James Rodriguez, Fredy Guarin, and Jhon Cordoba. So they have a really good youth set up. Not much money and not much history of success, but for a save of building around youth, its great. My first save with them went two years before it was sunk by a transfer bug. It was one of my favorite FM17 saves, though, so I thought I give it another try.
Now the league is 20 clubs, with a split season - Apertura and Closura. Each has the teams play each other once (20 matches total) and the top 8 on the table go into a playoff. The playoffs are two legs each round, so it can be six matches. Add in the Colombia cup which has a group stage and the possibility of continental competition, and it can end up being a lot of football if you are doing well. The players vacation between seasons at the end of 2017 was 5 days lol.
A bit of an aside, but I tend to use the Add Players to Active Teams options when setting up a new save, meaning you often get first day newgens. Envigado doesn't have a full youth squad to start, so they do. And they almost always get good ones. In my first Envigado save, I had 4 16 year old players with PA of 166 and above, then two more in the first youth intake in January. This time, I had a high PA 16 year old MC who is one of the more rounded newgens I've ever had. Good personality, good key attributes, decent size, decent physicals. He is now 19, has started 100 matches for the club, and his CA has gone from 90 to 145. He's got the Wonderkid label and plenty of interest abroad. Know I'll be losing him, but the offers haven't been high enough and while he's been unhappy and wanting to leave for the better part of a year, but trying to hold out for a real solid offer. Ironically, his unhappiness is over wanting to leave for a bigger club, set off by a rejected offer by a notably smaller club in a bigger league. Colombia produces plenty of talented youngsters, and I did manage to poach a few others. Combined with the good youngsters already in the squad and good youth intakes, the squad is loaded with potential but its already playing well.
Approaching the summer of 2018, I never thought to worry about the World Cup. Didn't have any current full internationals. Quite a number of players are youth internationals, and they called up where there isn't necessarily a break, which has been problematic a few times. But when I got a message than 8 players had been called up for the World Cup.... PANIC. The world Cup calls ups started in early June. The playoffs start in early June. Yup, timed out exactly how I didn't want it to. Thrilled that 8 players went from youth to full internationals but not the timing. First match of the Quarter Final was the day after the 8 players left. 8 players who are all first choice in a shallow squad. And to make it just that tiny bit more fun, my only starting caliber fullback still in the squad is suspended for the first playoff match. I can't even adjust my formation to try to accommodate - the call ups are a GK, 2 fullbacks, 2 central defenders, and 3 midfielders.
The earliest the 8 players could be back would be June 18, which means they miss 4 matches of the playoffs.... if we make it that far.
I'm more amused by the situation than anything. I thought the save was dead a year into it as I ran into a transfer bug (different one than what killed the first save). So I'm just happy I can continue on at all. And if the kids I won with before aren't available, I'll just have to see if the even younger kids can do it.
Before FM17, I had never tried a save in South America. I've toyed with the idea of managing in Brazil or Argentina but just never have. Reading some manager stories, I decided to give it a try and ended up at Envigado in Colombia. They are an interesting club in real life, as they are entirely focused on developing young players - they have produced the likes of James Rodriguez, Fredy Guarin, and Jhon Cordoba. So they have a really good youth set up. Not much money and not much history of success, but for a save of building around youth, its great. My first save with them went two years before it was sunk by a transfer bug. It was one of my favorite FM17 saves, though, so I thought I give it another try.
Now the league is 20 clubs, with a split season - Apertura and Closura. Each has the teams play each other once (20 matches total) and the top 8 on the table go into a playoff. The playoffs are two legs each round, so it can be six matches. Add in the Colombia cup which has a group stage and the possibility of continental competition, and it can end up being a lot of football if you are doing well. The players vacation between seasons at the end of 2017 was 5 days lol.
A bit of an aside, but I tend to use the Add Players to Active Teams options when setting up a new save, meaning you often get first day newgens. Envigado doesn't have a full youth squad to start, so they do. And they almost always get good ones. In my first Envigado save, I had 4 16 year old players with PA of 166 and above, then two more in the first youth intake in January. This time, I had a high PA 16 year old MC who is one of the more rounded newgens I've ever had. Good personality, good key attributes, decent size, decent physicals. He is now 19, has started 100 matches for the club, and his CA has gone from 90 to 145. He's got the Wonderkid label and plenty of interest abroad. Know I'll be losing him, but the offers haven't been high enough and while he's been unhappy and wanting to leave for the better part of a year, but trying to hold out for a real solid offer. Ironically, his unhappiness is over wanting to leave for a bigger club, set off by a rejected offer by a notably smaller club in a bigger league. Colombia produces plenty of talented youngsters, and I did manage to poach a few others. Combined with the good youngsters already in the squad and good youth intakes, the squad is loaded with potential but its already playing well.
Approaching the summer of 2018, I never thought to worry about the World Cup. Didn't have any current full internationals. Quite a number of players are youth internationals, and they called up where there isn't necessarily a break, which has been problematic a few times. But when I got a message than 8 players had been called up for the World Cup.... PANIC. The world Cup calls ups started in early June. The playoffs start in early June. Yup, timed out exactly how I didn't want it to. Thrilled that 8 players went from youth to full internationals but not the timing. First match of the Quarter Final was the day after the 8 players left. 8 players who are all first choice in a shallow squad. And to make it just that tiny bit more fun, my only starting caliber fullback still in the squad is suspended for the first playoff match. I can't even adjust my formation to try to accommodate - the call ups are a GK, 2 fullbacks, 2 central defenders, and 3 midfielders.
The earliest the 8 players could be back would be June 18, which means they miss 4 matches of the playoffs.... if we make it that far.
I'm more amused by the situation than anything. I thought the save was dead a year into it as I ran into a transfer bug (different one than what killed the first save). So I'm just happy I can continue on at all. And if the kids I won with before aren't available, I'll just have to see if the even younger kids can do it.