Carlos' champions league challenge (The Pentagon Challenge)

[carloshcfc]

The pentagon challenge, for those of you who haven't heard of it, is the challenge where you have to start unemployed, with a sunday league reputation, and win all five champions' league competitions (N. America, S. America, Europe, Asia, Africa) and it can be found here: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/challenges-scenarios/86065-pentegon-challenge.htmlOkay, I'm pretty new to FM Base and I've got a couple of weeks off school because exams have finished so I thought, why not try this? So I did, I kinda forgot to put this up so I'll catch you up on what I've done so far:

Competitions won so far:
New England Revolution (USA) : MLS (2011), NACL (2013)
Ajax Cape Town (South Africa) : Super 8 (2014), SA FA Cup (2015), SA Premiership (2015,2016), African Champions League (2016)
Shandong Luneng (China) : Chinese Super Cup (2017), Asian Champions League (2017)
FC Porto (Portugal) : Supertaca (2018), Portuguese Premier League (2019), European Champions' League (2019)​

Season 1 (2011)​

I loaded the leagues from Mexico, USA and South Africa. The thinking there is I can conquer the N. American & African CL first, then move to Asia, S. America and Europe.So I applied for a job at New England Revolution (USA) and was immediately accepted and after a quick look at my team, I decided my strategy, first I was going to get rid of all my international players for Draft Picks and International Slots (The latter being more important IMO) So this was my transfers season 1:​

View attachment 248859
I was especially pleased with the signing of Hernan Crespo, who turned out to be quality scoring 24 goals as we won the MLS!
View attachment 248860
So season 1 was a huge success! Bring on season 2!

Season 2 (2012)
Season 2 started badly, with the loss of Hernan Crespo we never really had a striker, the best I could do was bring in a young lad called Nicolas Arancibia, who had bags of potential but was nowhere near good enough to lead the line in the MLS, but the defence was strengthened as I signed two quality players, Estaban Andrada (GK) and Oswaldo Vizcarrondo (CB).
View attachment 248861
In the MLS, things pretty much went from bad to worse, as a poor run of results meant we could not qualify outright for the semi-finals but had to go through the play-offs, which we won, but we then lost to LA Galaxy in the semi's. who then lost in the final to NY Red Bulls. There was one positive though, as we qualified from our CL group with ease, and the knockout rounds start next season!
Season 3 (2013) [Part 1]
It would be fair to say that I completely neglected the MLS to focus on winning the CL, and the season started strongly as I made some strong signings, including young striker Moises Leiva (Regen), who was very good but he immediately angered the fans when he said that New England was just a 'stepping stone' to stardom, so here's my transfers for season 3:
View attachment 248862
Anyway, the CL draw was kind as I got a quarter final versus Real Salt Lake, which I felt was winnable, as the mexican teams were stronger and had won the competition in every year of it's existence, anyway

Quarter final
RSL 1-1 NER
NER 2-0 RSL
New England won 3-1 on aggregate

So next up was the semi's, and again we got a nice draw against Vancouver

Semi final
NER 1-0 VWC
VWC 2-3 NER
New England won 4-2 on aggregate

So we had a two-legs final versus Chivas of Mexico, which I expected we would lose humiliatingly
First leg
View attachment 248863
So a home leg up first, and this was possibly the luckiest game I've ever seen, Chivas dominated us for 90 minutes and and early red card for our best defender didn't help but we got a flukey own-goal and somehow held a lead into the second leg
Second Leg
View attachment 248864
Well, somehow, I got even luckier, I was missing my best CB and my only senior RB but still, somehow, we won, even if it was on away goals!1 down, 4 to go!And then:
View attachment 248865
I resigned, also I added leagues from Australia, China, S. Korea but removed Mexico and USA,I'll keep you posted!​

 

[Zyvron]

Following.

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 3 (2013) [Part 2]
After resigning from New England I started the job hunt, the job I really wanted was Orlando Pirates (SA) but they rejected me, luckily I was the approached by Honduras, and I thought that this was the perfect chance to enhance my reputation and get the best jobs in the future, I took over after a terrible showing in the gold cup:
View attachment 248896View attachment 248897
I had a look at my team and decided that the best formation would be a narrow 4-3-3 with 1 DM, 2 CM's and 3 ST's
View attachment 248900
and this is how the games went:
World Cup Qualifying:
Honduras 5-0 Jamaica
Mexico 1-2 Honduras
Honduras 2-2 Costa Rica
Canada 2-4 Honduras
Honduras 2-0 USA
Lots of good results and qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Brazil here we come!
View attachment 248899

Friendlies:
Bahamas 1-3 Honduras
Honduras 2-1 DR Congo

World Cup Draw:
Well I was nervous about this draw, and seeing Argentina as a 3rd seed, and England as a 2nd seed definitely did not help. Anyway, here's the group I got:
1st seed - Spain
2nd seed - Bosnia & Herzogovina
3rd seed - South Africa
4th seed - Honduras​

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 4 (2014)
Well, I was preparing for the World Cup when suddenly a couple of South African teams offered me the job as manager, and I took the job at Ajax CT with only four games left in the season, giving me the perfect opportunity to get the second of five Champions League's in the challenge, so the plan is to resign from Honduras and concentrate on that, fingers crossed! Anyway,

World Cup 2014
Well I was nervous about this for sure, but since my team had been written off completely there was nothing to lose!

Game 1: South Africa
Well we opened up against the 2010 hosts South Africa in a game I expected we would lose.
View attachment 248983
Well I was proved wrong, a solid performance and a clean sheet gave me a solid platform for my next game.

Game 2: Spain
This was the game I was looking forward to when the groups were drawn, pitting my no-hopers against the world champions would be a real spectacle, and I expected goals left right and centre from the likes of Silva, Iniesta and Villa
View attachment 248984
Incredible. How we managed to draw I will never know but I was pleased that we put in a good performance and didn't let Spain dominate, another clean sheet and a chance of qualification with a positive result in the last group match

Game 3: Bosnia & Herzegovina
This was the game I thought we could win, and if we won and Spain beat S. Africa we would go through for a second round tie against Mexico.
View attachment 248985
Well the critics said we had no chance and when our CB was sent off early, and the absence of both LB's through suspension I thought so too, but a magnificent hat-trick from Anthony Lozano meant we won the game! Spain beat S. Africa 1-0 which means we qualified from our group!
View attachment 248986

Second Round: Mexico
I was chuffed to bits with this draw, we beat Mexico twice in the qualifiers, but they were a young side then and are much better now, so this was going to be tough, and if we get to the Quarters we would have to earn it.
View attachment 248987
Maynor Figueroa let us down again, playing most of the match with ten men was never going to be easy but when Wilson Palacios scored I honestly thought we could make it, unfortunately a late goal from Fierro took the game to extra time where the man advantage would really show, and Mexico finished us off, a devastating end to a great World Cup campaign, ah well.

Fingers crossed for next season with Ajax CT

​

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 5 (2014/15)
After the success of the World Cup with Honduras it was time to get on with the challenge, managing Ajax Cape Town in S. Africa, after a quick look through the team I decided to get rid of anyone who wasn't good enough to free up some space to bring in a whole new team, so here are my transfers:
View attachment 249378
After sorting my team, the first thing I looked at was the competitions I was entering, after only entering one cup competition in the MLS, I was surprised that I had three in S. Africa and to qualify for the African CL, I had to win the league, Africa looks difficult :/

South Africa Super 8
My first competition was the Super 8, the idea here is that the top 8 from the league last year compete to see who is best, but in reality no-one really cares about it at all, and since it held no CL qualification, neither did I, but it would be nice to get some silverware.
View attachment 249379
The final was pretty even, but in my opinion it was a well deserved win, so we hit the ground running, which is always good

South African Knockout Cup
Another one I didn't really care about, and after a easy 4-1 win over SuperSport United in the first round we went crashing out against the lowest ranked team in the competition, oops
View attachment 249388

South African FA Cup
They really like to put the name of their country in the competition name don't they? Anyway, I wanted to win this because the winners qualify for the African Confederations Cup, it's not the CL but it's close. We beat Swallows, Sivutsa Stars, FS Stars and Bloemfontein Celtic to eventually set up a final against Black Leopards, which we should win easy
View attachment 249389
Tresor Mputu ended a great season with a great performance and another trophy

South African Premiership
For most of the season we looked like we were going to win this by a comfortable margin. We won our first nine games and didn't lose in the 2014 part of the campaign, but due to a poor run of results at the business end of the season, it was close with Sundowns and Bloemfontein Celtic breathing down our necks
View attachment 249390
Well it was close but we ended up on top, even if it was only by a point, this means that next season we'll be competing in the CL, but as Orlando Pirates are the only South African team to win the competition in it's 50 years of existence, I'll have my work cut out :/


​

 

[JCMUtdfan1]

Looks good mate, I'm following

 

[carloshcfc]

Looks good mate, I'm following

Thanks bud, I was worried I was talking to myself xD

 

[carloshcfc]

Updates so far have been quite sparse, so I'll share some of the prospects from my side (there's some quality youngsters) and my key players currently.

Youngsters:
View attachment 249589View attachment 249590View attachment 249591
I found that with the low quality players in the S. African league, but the high quality facilities held by many of the top clubs, these players had real potential, here are the three best, Hlazo and Khoza were products of my youth system, but Gumede was signed on a free

Top Players:
View attachment 249592View attachment 249593View attachment 249594View attachment 249595View attachment 249596
These are the Players who were absolutely key in our title winning team last year (with the exception of Kouiado and Delarge) and the players that have contributed to another great start (you may have noticed the season is already six games in) the only real problem with the team is at left-back, so hopefully I can sort that out for the CL that starts in February

 

[harrmabb]

Good story mate, good luck with your challenge I'll be following your progress

 

[richjameslow]

Me following

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 6 (2015/16)
Well season 6 is here and my first shot at the African Champions League with Ajax CT, the season started and I had a good team, all I really needed was a defender and a striker, here's my transfers for the season
View attachment 249908

Super 8, SA KO Cup and SA FA Cup
I set the the cup bonus for the team as low, so I could put a high bonus for the team in the CL, hopefully the effect would be that the team performed well in the CL with no financial backfire, well, here's our cup results:
​

Super 8 QF - Ajax CT 0-1 Black Leopards
SA KO Cup 1st Round - Ajax CT 2-1 Supersport United (Mathebula, Allie)
SA KO Cup QF- Ajax CT 2-5 Sundowns (Delarge, Hlazo)
SA Cup 1st Round- Bloem Celtic 1-0 Ajax CT

​

So a poor season in the domestic cups

SA Premiership
I didn't expect to do well in the CL, I just hoped that my players would learn from the experience and come back stronger next year and hopefully mount a challenge for the CL next year. To do that I had to win the league and my players did exactly that
View attachment 249928

A strong showing in the league winning 23 out of 30 games and qualification for next year's CL

African Champions League
I was hoping that my team could advance as far as possible, I didn't expect to get to the latter stages but I could get a couple of wins if I avoid teams from the N. African countries (Egypt, Tunisia etc.)

Preliminary Round - Al-Ahly (Egypt)
Well my plan to avoid the big teams really didn't work, I drew the most successful team historically in the competition, with eight wins.
​

Preliminary Round 1st leg - Al-Ahly 0-5 Ajax CT (Ndouasel [2], Delarge [2], Khwela)
Preliminary Round 2nd leg - Ajax CT 1-2 Al-Ahly (Thwala)
​

Ajax CT win 6-2 on aggregate


Well a surprise result to say the least, we knocked out the holders and 8-time winners with an incredible result in Egypt and a solid performance in our native S. Africa, I hope the next round is an easier draw

First Round - Wydad Casablanca (Morocco)
After this draw I decided to look at the list of the most reputable clubs in Africa to see how the draw was, it was nicer than the preliminary round but the number 5 team in Africa is a very difficult prospect
View attachment 249929


​

First Round 1st leg - Wydad Casablanca 3-2 Ajax CT (Manyama, Delarge)
First Round 2nd leg - Ajax CT 7-2 Wydad Casablanca (Ndouasel [2], Delarge, Manyama [2], Efugh o.g. , Khwela)
​

Ajax CT win 9-5 on aggregate​

Another surprise result to say the least, a solid result away from home and a fantastic display of goalscoring at home means we're into the next round and I'm starting to think that it could be our year

Second Round - Coton Sport (Cameroon)
A much kinder draw than the two rounds preceding but I still had to deal with the threat of the leading goalscorer in the competition Jaques Haman

​

Second Round 1st leg - Ajax CT 3-1 Coton Sport (Delarge, Letlabika, Manyama)
Second Round 2nd leg - Coton Sport 0-1 Ajax CT (Manyama)
​

Ajax CT win 4-1 on aggregate

​

A much easier victory than the first two rounds and one that was expected this time, we're in the group stages and close to Champions League success!

Group Stage
Here's my group for the Group stage of the Champions' League
Petro Atletico (Angola), Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia), Primeiro de Agosto (Angola)

Player of the season
This is something new I'm going to try this season so you can get to know my key players better, and get a better idea of who is causing my successes, so this is the player of the year, in my opinion

Philani Khwela MR/AMR
Khwela isn't a player who tops the goalscoring charts and the assist charts but he puts in a great performance week in, week out. Here's some stats from this season
View attachment 249932View attachment 249933View attachment 249934View attachment 249935

He's a very valuable asset and will be key in our CL campaign, but with the loss of our left winger (Manyama) in the summer I need to find someone to play there so he can be fully utilised next year.

​Feel free to leave comments/suggestions, if you would like any screenshots posted just ask

​

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 7 (2016/17) [Part 1]
This is just a quick update to tell you how I did in the Champions League, but first, I had to find a replacement for Manyama and I found a young-ish Egyptian called Omoijuanfo
View attachment 250124

SA KO Cup and the Super 8
To make a long story short, I won neither, lost in the final of the Super 8 to Sundowns, and I was knocked out of the first round of the SA KO Cup to Bidvest Wits

Champions League
Well, I had already defeated the team I expected would win, and with no Egyptian teams left if the competition, I fancied my chances, but it wouldn't be easy
​

Group Stage: Petro Atletico 0-3 Ajax CT (Ndouasel, Mputu, Khwela)
Group Stage: Ajax CT 3-1 Etoile du Sahel (Delarge, Omoijuanfo, Abdul o.g.)
Group Stage: Ajax CT 3-2 Primeiro de Agosto (Delarge [2], Silva o.g.)
Group Stage: Ajax CT 2-1 Petro Atletico (Kouadio, Ndouasel)
Group Stage: Etoile du Sahel 3-1 Ajax CT (Hlazo)
Group Stage: Primeiro de Agosto 3-6 Ajax CT (Delarge [2], Kouadio, Khwela, Hlazo [2])
​

So qualification with ease from our group means we're in the semi-finals!

Semi Final - Kano Pillars (Nigeria)
I had a look at this team, nothing special, and should be no problem for my team, I was just hoping for a draw or a 1 goal defecit and then we could put them to the sword in Cape Town


​

First Leg: Kano Pillars 2-2 Ajax CT (Mputu, Ndouasel)
Second Leg: Ajax CT 3-1 Kano Pillars (Letlabika, Mputu, Ndouasel)
​

Ajax CT win 5-3 on aggregate

Final - ASEC (Ivory Coast)
Our defence was still causing me problems, but I hoped that our attack could shine in the final, as I couldn't see a clean sheet anytime soon. In the final we were at home first, so I wanted a win first time around and my team to defend it away.
​

View attachment 250127View attachment 250126
An incredible defensive performance came out of nowhere there and we lifted the trophy, and now I'm two down on my challenge, I'm going to Asia next so it's either China, South Korea or Australia, oh and here's a stat from the CL I want to show you.
View attachment 250128
not bad eh? Anyway, It's goodbye to South Africa and Ajax CT for now, which is just as well as I hate the football in this country, the fixture list is erratic, the quality of football is terrible, and continental qualification is sparse, ah well, I'll see where this challenge takes me next
View attachment 250129

​

​

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 7 (2017)
After a hugely successful start to my challenge, it is now time to conquer Asia, and after a short time outside of employment, I found the perfect team, Shandong (China) had already qualified for the next Champions' League and had already won the title in 2015, so I had to continue their fantastic success and claim the third Champions' League, easy right? No.
View attachment 250184

​

 

[carloshcfc]

Okay, it's been a while but I'm going to re-visit this thread, apologies if you've been following but I've been busy, exams and the cricket season take up lots of my time, and I also decided to watch all 231 episodes of South Park. Anyway, I did that so back to this, updates will follow...

 

[Seabear]

great to hear you're back. been a keen follower

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 7 (2017)
Okay the season's nearly done but before that update, is this update.

Just thought I'd show you my preparation for Asia, which, in comparison to N. America and Africa, was feeble. Asia is just a tick and I'm very excited to conquer S. America and Europe.

Transfers:
First thing I always do is check the team, sort out what I want my team to do tactically and strengthen from there, with Shangdong it's easy as they've won trophies in the not-too distant past, and if I can recruit a couple of quality players, it could be a relatively quick campaign.
View attachment 265159View attachment 265160
Well I spent money, but brought in quality players, Adoma Diomande was especially amazing because he is a class above the rest of the players in the league, could do well

Competitions:
Obviously there's only one that I'm interested in, but silverware is nice, and victory can become contagious.
Super Cup (Like the Community Shield)
Super League (The Chinese top flight)
FA Cup
Asian CL

Rivals:
Who's going to cause a threat? My teams have been known to cause an upset or two but it's nice to know who's going the be there at the business end.
I took over Shangdong after three consecutive second-place finishes, twice to:
Guangzhou Hengda (China)
A big threat to all competitions, the best team in China, not to mention more than five times richer than me, tough opposition
What about the rest of Asia? obviously I was worried about teams from South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia but I don't really have a fountain of Asian football knowledge, so it's worth having a look.
Persepolis Tehran (Iran)
Well, never heard of this team, and at a first glance I could see why, but the holders of the CL must have some quality and a quick look through the players shows it, they'll be out to defend their crown but I don't consider them a huge threat.
Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)
This is more what I expected: Saudi, Rich and flooded with quality from all corners of the world. Six Brazilians. Twenty-three foreign players. But with very strict rulings for foreign players in the CL, they shouldn't be much of a problem

Objectives:
Same as always really, go out to win, unless it's a cup match XD. Top-four finish would guarantee a qualification place for the CL, so that means I can fully focus my efforts on winning the continental competition, some domestic silverware wouldn't go amiss either.

Fingers crossed


​

 

[White army]

just read this well done in winning what you have...i would love to try this sort of thing,but i love the big leagues too much...but i may give it a go..keep on winning

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 7 (2017)
It's been a long time coming but here it is, first season in Asia and I'd like to say a successful one, my preparation is shown in my previous thread so I'll run through my results and who I consider as 'player of the season'

Super Cup
The season opener, and a nice game to test my team against the strongest, in my opinion, in China

​

Super Cup Final- Shangdong p2-2 Guangzhou (Zhen, Muzepper o.g.)

Silverware, and a signal of intent, my team's starting to come together so it looks promising for the CL

Super League
Top-four for CL qualification so that's all I really wanted
View attachment 265408
A nine-game unbeaten streak to finish the season ensures we are the second best team in China for the fourth season running.

Champions League
It's that time again, CL kicks off and everyone's dreaming of success, but I thought we had a realistic chance. On our day, we can beat anyone, but let's see.

Group Stage (Adelaide, Chunnam, Osaka)
It's not a bad draw, not a great draw. We should qualify but you never know.

​

Shandong 2-1 Chunnam (Diomande, Bian Jun)
Osaka 1-2 Shandong (Bian Jun, Diomande)
Adelaide 1-1 Shandong (Qu Xubin)
Chunnam 3-0 Shandong
Shandong 2-0 Osaka (**** Gang, Qu Xubin)
Shandong 2-0 Adelaide (Ke Shaohai, Jones o.g.)

An easy qualification, apart from our trip to S. Korea, and here's the table:
​

View attachment 265409

Second Round (Shizuoko )
​

Shandong 2-0 Shizuoko (Diomande, Qu Xubin)

Quarter Finals (Guangzhou)
Not a fan of playing against Guangzhou, they beat us twice in the league, just hoping for a good result
​

First Leg: Guangzhou 2-1 Shandong (**** Gang)
Second Leg: Shandong 1-0 Guangzhou (Liu Binbin)

A nice second round draw served up a juicy quarter-final against Guangzhou, which we won by away goals, but at least we're in the semis!

Semi Finals (Lekhwiya)
Two games away from a final, home leg up first so time to get a win then, and hold on away from home

​

First Leg: Shandong 1-0 Lekhwiya (Diomande)
Second Leg: Lekhwiya 2-1 Shandong (Liu Binbin)

A recurring theme developing here... one game away from the Champions League trophy now.

Final (Al-Gharrafa)
Frustratingly, an away game will decide the final.
View attachment 265410
A good result, and one that I expected. I had a strong team and they delivered.

Player of the season:
Lots of players put in great performances when they were needed, just look at the final where Centre-Back Feng Xiaotang scored a brace to win the title, but for me, the best player this season was Adama Diomande, he led the line fantastically. Scored goals when they were required and never seemed to give a poor performance.
View attachment 265411

And, of course...
View attachment 265412
German, Belgian, Portuguese and Czech league loaded, Europe next!


​

 

[carloshcfc]

Season 8 (2017/18)
Just a very quick update for you, I signed a contract with Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, looks like I'm in for the long haul on this one
View attachment 265419​

 

[White army]

great achievment here...i have started this and am in africa at platinum stars..looks like i won't be ther long as season nearly over and near relagation zone...but gd luck in europe