NOT Another San Marino Story

[kandersson]

National Team: Year 2015

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San Marino National Team starting to make some real progress in 2015 as we recorded the country's first competitive win ever beating Liechtenstein 3-2 in Vaduz, and also leaving them at the last place in a tough EURO Qualifying Group! Friendly win against 'traditional' enemy Myanmar was also a good way to close the year, as we reached 167th place in FIFA Ranking. Young players are progressing well, we have a very promising group of midfielders and attackers while defence could REALLY use a few upgrades. The Venerucci-Veronesi partnership upfront is showing great potential, you remember when Brazil had world class striker duo Ronaldo-Romario aka the Ro-Ro? Well we have the Ve-Ve, how about that...


Let's have a look at the progress of our best prospects:


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First of all they're now looking much more stylish than ever thanks to the amazing OLT regen hair pack (you can find it here [RELEASE] OLT Expanded Hair Pack v4.0 - The Complete Edition all credit to O'Leary's Trainee the guy is a genius!), seriously these little things make the SM challenge much more enjoyable for me! These four kids have all good/great Serie A potential and all are improving nicely, with Edoardo Staiti and Mirco Veronesi now listed amongst the country's most recognizable stars (Zafferani instead of Venerucci baffles me a bit though). As you can see Alexandro Patti is now touted as the next Massimo Bonini, which is great because Bonini used to be a good Serie A midfielder and first choice for a very successful Juventus team in the '80s (Serie A, Champions League and Intercontinental Cup winners). Also this is the first time ever that I've seen a SM player labelled the next 'anyone' (in FM12 the dual nationality prospects were often compared to Italian legends when they played for Italy U21, never saw a SM comparison though). Very cool indeed, not sure if I want the next Andy Selva now ​

 

[kandersson]

2016 Youth Intake

Improved junior coaching. Improved youth recruitment network. Improved youth facilities. Improved club reputation. A new, sexy Head of Youth Development in Liam Brady. High hopes and expectations for San Marino on March 17th...

...and indeed we got a potential superstar centre back and a good defensive midfielder, which would be great news if only they weren't FULLY Italian, while all SM prospects looked uninspiring and were rated 0.5 stars (still signed a couple of them)

A wasted year for SM development, can't really complain after last year class when we produced three excellent SM players plus another elite prospect from the Federazione Sammarinese academy. Maybe I should have sticked with the old HOYD, maybe it's just random but man I HATE when I waste a year like that...

In other news we are doing extremely well in Serie A, slowed down a a bit after a terrific first half of the season but still very much in contention for a spot for continental competitions (Europa Cup or even Champions League!) with 10 games to go.


Coming up next: full season update​

 

[flez85]

Does the HOYD really affect the youth intake that much? I figured it had more to do with the facilities and the HOYD was there to help with managing the youth (contracts, development, and such).

Sounds like you're off to a good start in Serie A, looking forward to the next update. This is making me itch to try my hand at the challenge again! Maybe I'll try the Vaduz/Liechtenstein one, that seems interesting as well and I don't want to do something that already has multiple stories (mainly because I know I can't compete with you!).

 

[kandersson]

Does the HOYD really affect the youth intake that much? I figured it had more to do with the facilities and the HOYD was there to help with managing the youth (contracts, development, and such).

Sounds like you're off to a good start in Serie A, looking forward to the next update. This is making me itch to try my hand at the challenge again! Maybe I'll try the Vaduz/Liechtenstein one, that seems interesting as well and I don't want to do something that already has multiple stories (mainly because I know I can't compete with you!).

Youth recruitment (PA) and junior coaching (CA) are most important factors, together with club and nation reputation (luckily for San Marino it's league-based, ie Italy in this case). HOYD still has to play some role, as there's an option to select which staff member is in charge for introducing new youth intakes (usually I let HOYD handle that as he has highest recruitment attributes). Probably a marginal role, but still...

Best saves/stories are the ones you truly enjoy playing so if you feel motivated to try SM again then go for it! You did very well last year and I'm sure with 'some' patience you can achieve what I did in FM12 and even more. Vaduz should be nice this year as now they have Liechtenstein cup fixtures (B team also enter the competition), unfortunately SI have not implemented the future rule of Europa league winners entering Champions league, which means no chance of CL football for Vaduz in FM14.

 

[kandersson]

Serie A 2015/2016

League & Cup Results


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First season ever in Serie A for San Marino and the Titani once again shock the whole country with an amazing 3rd place which incidentally means Champions League football next season! We had an amazing first half of season as we were comfortably leading the league until December then we hit some kind of rookie wall and our defence looked particularly awful until February (also due to injuries) so an Europa League spot was looking our best case scenario, when we eventually recovered our best form in the final two months (even beating Juventus, 5 years in a row winners of Serie A) and were able to conquer a well deserved CL spot!

We boasted the most powerful offence in the league with 88 goals scored and were chosen as Serie A Club of the Year (?), while we also had a good run in the Italian Cup as we reached semifinals often using our back up and young players - Sammarinese wonderkid Mirco Veronesi showed a lot of promise scoring at impressive rate in this competition.


Season Highlights & Top Performers


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Many of our players performed so well this season, Nam Tae-Hee won Serie A Player of the Year award while teenage sensation Tobia Maccioni was chosen as Italian Player of the Year. San Marino also boasted three players selected in the Serie A Team of the Year. I was very happy with the performances of virtually every player in the squad, however here are my honorable mentions for this season:

Nam Tae-Hee: the wizard from South Korea had a **** of a season scoring 21 goals (good for 3rd in Serie A) and winning Serie A POY. I was planning to use Nam mostly as a playmaker but injuries to designated strikers Vadala and Hongenda gave him ample playing time at the shadow striker position and he did a wonderful job there. His dribbling moves and skills on the ball were a joy to watch all season. #gangNAMstyle

Tobia Maccioni: 18 years old Tobia Maccioni continued to impress even at Serie A level as he led the league in assists also winning Italian POY in the process. Tobia had a sensational first half of the season then slowed down a bit as he became unhappy about his contract (it's not my fault if last year he signed an extension through 2019 at 79K per year...). Still an integral part of San Marino present and future, and a true pleasure to watch - even more with his new goatee a la Roberto Baggio - the comparison goes on... #Number10

Massadio Haidara: loan signing from Newcastle was automatic first choice at left wingback and impressed both defending and attacking as he was also able to contrubute with 8 goals and 12 assists in 31 matches. Joined Nam and Maccioni in Serie A Team of the Year. I couldn't extend his loan for next season but I'm still trying hard to bring him back in Serravalle for 2016/17. #LaGauche

Simone Benedetti: the undisputed leader and anchor of our back line, Simone had an excellent season at the key CB position often acting as a sweeper covering his teammates' mistakes. No surprise San Marino's defensive struggles coincided with his injury. The media used to compare Benedetti to legendary sweeper Franco Baresi and I can't really say I disagree after this season. #Libero


In other news:

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Youth and training facilities being upgraded PLUS a new stadium is now under construction! And I hadn't even asked! I guess the board was just embarrassed to host CL games at the 5,000 seats Olimpico... San Marino Stadium (I like that, sure it's not the Fab Arena of FM12 fame but it will do for now ) will be ready in the summer of 2018. Club progressing at amazing rate as we also improved Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment (now 'good' and 'above the average' respectively) and for the first time in my career I was also allowed to personally pick a feeder club - I went for the unconventional choice and picked Guarani (Paraguay)


Stay tuned for more San Marino action!

​

 

[BalarDoinksy]

hi kandersson, I just started this challenge and i'm having trouble finding some of the players you signed during your first season. such as Bobo Balde. What nations did you load at the start?
also any tips on how to sell some of the deadwood on the starting squad? no club wants to buy them.

 

[joseph2883]

so I've got this San Marino youngster, he is really a great player but he is a little small for the center back and while he plays great, I am just wondering if I should retrain him to a position like DM or something, any help would be great guys. BTW CB might be my deepest position(if the SM national team can ever have depth) so I have some room to move him around a bit, just want to get the most out of my gems. Thanks in advance for any help.

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[kandersson]

hi kandersson, I just started this challenge and i'm having trouble finding some of the players you signed during your first season. such as Bobo Balde. What nations did you load at the start?
also any tips on how to sell some of the deadwood on the starting squad? no club wants to buy them.

I started my save with first patch so some players might be playing in other leagues now or even retired since then (I suspect that's the case for Bobo Balde and Lorenzo Stovini).

Selling it's quite hard at serie C level, maybe try to offer players at 0 value or offer them on loan to get rid of their wages for the season. Also I'd terminate a few loans if they eat your budget and focus on players available on a free loan.

so I've got this San Marino youngster, he is really a great player but he is a little small for the center back and while he plays great, I am just wondering if I should retrain him to a position like DM or something, any help would be great guys. BTW CB might be my deepest position(if the SM national team can ever have depth) so I have some room to move him around a bit, just want to get the most out of my gems. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Looks like an amazing player. I think he will be an excellent CB, might lack a bit of size but his jumping should be ok. Personally I prefer having an excellent CB than an excellent DM, but if you feel you already have reliable defenders you might re-train him as a midfielder (DM or CM according to your formation) as he has decent attributes for position (passing, first touch, technique, teamwork, workrate) and at 17 he still has much room for improvement.


Also I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to continue this story as work commitments are leaving me very little time to play atm - haven't played FM since december! Hopefully other people can carry on the glorious SM tradition for this year! Feel free to ask questions or advice on the SM challenge, here or in the challenge thread. Forza Titani!

 

[kandersson]

National Team: Year 2016

NOT Another San Marino Story is officially back, ready to get back to business after a five months break! And we come back in style, with a sexy (...) recap of year 2016 for the NT


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A series of quite respectable losses in a tough WC qualifying group, including a 0-3 against arch-rivals Italy. Despite our good effort we couldn't win a single point this year so we slipped a bit in WR, currently standing at 174th place.


The most encouraging part of the year has been the development of our young SM stars. Here are the famous Fab Five:

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All of them progressing very nicely, and all making experience with the first team particularly in cup fixtures - which includes a fantastic run in the Italian Cup to reach the final! Amazing that they were all part of the same class (though Staiti came from the FA academy feeder club, which btw hasn't produced a single player since), well that was an incredibly lucky year for San Marino...


Latest youth intake brought a couple of decent prospects, none at the level of the Fab Five but still an improvement compared to last year.

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San Marino tradition of left-footed attackers continues with a couple of left wingers! This is starting to get weird, hopefully there are a few Leftorium shops in San Marino to address the needs of the population? HOYD Liam Brady still not impressing me...



​

 

[carrott24]

Currently doing this myself, but as a hands off challenge. Not taking control of the national team but journeying through Europe as a sammarinese manager and having sammarinese regens produced at every club, with the aim of providing San Marino with the players to get them to the world cup. So much fun

 

[kandersson]

Currently doing this myself, but as a hands off challenge. Not taking control of the national team but journeying through Europe as a sammarinese manager and having sammarinese regens produced at every club, with the aim of providing San Marino with the players to get them to the world cup. So much fun

that's a good idea, never really thought about that!

could be an interesting option especially after establishing San Marino as a top european club and having maxed out all the facilities/youth recruitment/junior coaching. Producing SM prospects at clubs all over Europe to expand the SM pool of players, sounds good!

 

[Dylan Campbell]

Watch out for my Valencia story please! Just search for FM 2014 Valencia story by me and you'll not regret it!

 

[kandersson]

Serie A 2016/2017

League & Cups Results


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Well this was quite unexpected: Serie A Champions in only our second year in the Italian top tier! San Marino played some hard working, attacking football based on team cohesion and full-court pressure (courtesy of TFF9 and his 'PURE INSANITY' concept that served as a base for my formation) which resulted in the best offence in the league - as well as 2nd best defence. We imposed our game pretty much against any opponent despite a lack of established goal scorers, playing efficient football and dominating ball possession.

Titani also had a good run in the cups despite playing back-ups and youngsters both in the Italian Cup and Champions League. We reached the Italian Cup final only to lose heavily to Fiorentina - curiously the only time I played my first choice team in this competition. A decent CL experience featured exciting results like the ones with Ajax and CSKA Moscow, as we eventually slid to Europa League KO rounds and were eliminated by Fenerbah?e


Season Highlights & Top Performers


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Another highly successful season for many of our players, as winger Rodrigo Gomez was chosen as Serie A Player Of The Year and wonderkid Tobia Maccioni won the Italian Player Of The Year. Within a team that performed admirably as a whole and valued teamwork and unselfishness more than anything else, here are my Honorable Mentions for this season:


Ruben Yttergard Jenssen: the Norwegian midfielder thrived in the key Deep Lying Playmaker role, playing intelligent passes and orchestrating the offence from the midfield. Performed consistently all season, also adding 13 assists in Serie A, tied for 4th best in the league #Regista

Tobia Maccioni: now described as a 'wonderkid', 19 years old Maccioni established himself as a key figure of this Serie A winning San Marino side. Donning the famous No.10 shirt for the first time in his career 'Toby' responded with a fantastic season, playing his trademark exciting football and also leading the Titani with 16 goals overall. Won Serie A Young POY and Italian POY, and was selected for Serie A Team Of The Year as well. And he's just getting started. #GoldenBoy

Rodrigo Gomez: the attacker from Argentina joined for only 3.2M and was a revelation at the right winger position, destroying every Serie A left back with his pace, dribbling and skills on the ball. Gomez led the league with 16 assists, also scoring 14 goals overall for San Marino, winning Serie A POY and Fans POY in the process. #SpeedyGonzales

Sime Vrsaljko: Croatian defender Vrsaljko had an excellent season as the undisputed first choice right back for San Marino. Not only Sime played rock solid defence against Serie A best wingers, he also formed a lethal partnership with Gomez on the right flank that was a key for the Titani's successful campaign. #CroatianSensation


In other news, Youth and Training Facilities are being upgraded again, while Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment also progressed to 'Excellent' and 'Established' respectively. With the new San Marino Stadium under construction - works should be completed in summer of 2018 - future looks brighter than ever for SM football!


Stay tuned for more San Marino action!​

 

[kandersson]

First Sammarinese Wonderkid!

San Marino is pleased to announce that young midfielder Edoardo Staiti is now widely regarded as a bonafide Wonderkid in the world of football, thus becoming the first Sammarinese ever to earn this honour!

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Since joining the club Staiti made a successful transition from 'Promising Midfielder', to 'Tireless Midfielder' and eventually became the Wonderkid he is today! Being tutored by the likes of Michael Bradley, Kara and Ruben Yttergard Jenssen, Staiti has progressed nicely and is already part of the rotation of an ambitious San Marino side, mostly as a back-up for Jenssen at the DLP position. He's obviously automatic first choice for the National Team, and actually I like to think of him as a Sammarinese version of Andrea Pirlo!

Curiously Staiti is a very unique case of a quality Sammarinese prospect not produced at the club, as he first appeared at the Federazione Sammarinese feeder club (an absolute fluke considering the rest of the players there are pure rubbish) before joining the Titani at just 16 years of age.

Still waiting for the first wonderkid produced by our youth setup then! Hopefully Mirco Veronesi can reach those heights soon...​

 

[kitchin75]

nice going what tac are you useing

 

[kandersson]

nice going what tac are you useing

Won serie A 2016/17 using the TFF9 tactic 'pure insanity' with some tweaks.

For season 2017/18 I've created my own tactic, an asymmetric 4-4-2.

 

[SwiftNG]

Nice story keep it coming!

 

[kandersson]

National Team: Year 2017

Another 'differently successful' year for the National Team:


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All losses, zero points and last place in a tough World Cup Qualifying Group. I thought the home game against Kazakhstan could be up for the grabs, unfortunately we missed some of our best players through minor injuries (including key attackers Veronesi and Cervellini) which basically ended our chances considering our limited alternatives. We were still able to achieve an all-time high 158th place in World Rankings thanks to a couple of decent wins in friendly matches.


Waiting for next youth intake, current young stars are progressing very well with two players impressing in particular:

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Famous wonderkid Edoardo Staiti (see previous post) keeps improving nicely and my coaches at the club are already pushing me to drop first choice midfielders in order to give first team action to Staiti! Striker Mirco Veronesi is also developing very well despite an annoying string of minor injuries which has affected his form for both club and country. Mirco is particularly struggling to find the net at the moment despite a decent number of chances and his obvious qualities. I'm confident he will soon become a reliable goal scorer for both club and country, and actually I'm planning of using him as my first choice striker next season! The truth is Veronesi looks better than the legendary Alessandro Paolone at the same age, so you can imagine the standard of my expectations for him... who is Alessandro Paolone you ask? http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...es/87029-not-another-san-marino-story-20.html​

 

[kandersson]

Wonderkid Alert!

Big news from latest youth intake. HOYD Liam Brady finally strikes gold with a quality class that features no less than three standout prospects. Needless to say, two of them are fully Italian (including a mouth watering striker, ****!) BUT the other one is a proud Sammarinese, and has been introduced by Brady as 'one of the best players to ever come up through the ranks'.

Meet Matteo Fabbri:

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A diminutive, ambidextrous attacking midfielder with very promising technical skills for a 15 years old, Fabbri comes in with tons of upside, a professional personality and a bag full of PPM's. He's rated as a 4.5 stars prospect (superstar winger Rodrigo Gomez is rated 4 stars...) and according to my staff has the potential to become a 'Star Serie A winger' in the years.

Fabbri is most likely set to break the National Team record for youngest player next month, looking forward to use him with Veronesi and Cervellini in a very promising attacking trio!​

 

[kandersson]

Serie A 2017/2018

League & Cups Results


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Back to back Serie A titles for San Marino as the Titani dominated the league from day one with a run of 30 games unbeaten. We sported the best offence and best defence in the league, with traditional Serie A powerhouses like Juventus and Inter struggling to maintain their status of league contenders

Champions League provided great excitement during the season as San Marino won every single game played at the Olimpico, often turning around unfavorable first leg's results in their amazing run to reach the Final. There we suffered a very unlucky defeat against Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo: we really dominated the match and had lots of chances to score, but star winger Rodrigo Gomez was particularly wasteful during the game. Also, strong left back Massadio Haidara got injured during the match and his replacement was the one who made the crucial mistake that allowed Ronaldo's winning goal.

Italian Cup was the only disappointment of the season with an unimpressive first round exit after penalty kicks. A victory in the pre-season Italian Super Cup was also the first cup triumph in the history of San Marino


Season Highlights & Top Performers


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In a very successful season for the club San Marino had three players selected in Serie A Team Of The Year - Ruffier, Jedvaj and Haidara - while Rodrigo Gomez won his second Serie A POY award. In January we decided to splash the cash and purchased Adnan Januzaj from Manchester United for a hefty 24M euros (most expensive transfer in the history of SM), as we needed a quality replacement for the often injured Rafinha. Still only 23 Januzaj will be a key player in next seasons, he fits perfectly in San Marino idea of football and can play in multiple positions upfront. Plus he seems to be very good for merchandising purposes, and btw I absolutely love to watch him play IRL

Honorable Mentions for 2017/2018


Rodrigo Gomez: another amazing season by Rodrigo who led San Marino's scoring charts with 19 goals overall including 15 in Serie A, winning another Serie A POY in the process. Unfortunately he had probably his first bad game in two years in the CL final vs Real Madrid. Los Blancos are still trying to buy him with 30M offers though... #WingCommander

Rafinha: the Brazilian playmaker bounced back from a devastating knee injury and had a very good season though he still struggled with minor injuries all year. Rafinha thrived in the False 9 role, creating chances for the other attackers as well as scoring 15 goals overall, also deciding a couple of games with his beautiful 'dry leaf' free kicks. He's entering the last year of his contract and demanding a huge deal to stay, not sure I can commit that kind of money to such an injury prone player though. #Swarovski

Khalil: wonderkid striker from Tunisia played very well in his second season with the club, his first as a first choice striker. He was at his best in Serie A play, where he scored 15 of his 16 seasonal goals. Khalil is an explosive striker blessed with excellent speed and natural goal scoring instincts; together with Maccioni, Autiero, Vadala and Veronesi he's part of an ultra-talented group of young attackers for San Marino, and definitely an important piece of the Titani's present and future. #KillerKhalil

Stephane Ruffier: French goalkeeper Ruffier was a key piece of Serie A's best defence, as he led the defensive line with authority and played with confidence between the sticks. The veteran shot stopper was selected in Serie A Team Of The year, also winning Serie A Goalkeeper Of the Year award in the process. Ruffier's consistent performances were eventually rewarded with a call-up for France for the incumbent World Cup. #LeGardien


Stay tuned for more San Marino action!
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