NOT Another San Marino Story

Serie A 2016/17: The Year of Scudetto

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Can you believe it, after only 6 years since my appointment in Serie C2 and in just our third year in the Italian top tier San Marino have won Serie A! And we actually dominated the league playing some great looking football despite having only the 17th total wages in the country. A very average Fiorentina side finished 2nd, while current top clubs Napoli and Inter were quite disappointing throughout the year despite boasting world class rosters and spending big money on the market (in all honesty Napoli struggled a lot without lethal striker Edinson Cavani, who missed first half of the season through injury).

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In typical San Marino fashion our team really started to fly after the Christmas break and enjoyed a fantastic form that lasted until the end of season. Once again we were simply unbeatable at home, where we were able to teach football lessons to ANY team in Italy (well not only in Italy...); Marco Verratti joined in January and soon became a key player for us acting as AML/playmaker, while poacher Darwin Quintero was our first choice striker for most of the year (before leaving the spotlight to Brazilian sensation Alex) and responded well scoring 20 league goals to finish Serie A Top Scorer runner-up behind Inter's Leandro Damiao.

Giuseppe Prestia, Joazhino Arroé (a very efficient back-up for us) and Eric were selected for Serie A Team of the Year. Centre back Prestia also won Serie A Defender of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Italian Player of the Year in a remarkable season for him. San Marino icon Eric had arguably the best season in his career scoring 15 league goals while displaying his usual, terrific playmaking skills. He also broke the record for league apps for San Marino, further cementing his legacy as a living legend for the club.
 
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looks like there's some kind of issue with screenshots atm as all the pics seem to be disappeared, so I'll wait and see if this problem is solved before posting new updates as my story would be simply useless without screenshots :p
 
Club Update 2016/17: Champions League Glory

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Think winning Serie A was the highlight of the season? How about an unlikely Champions League triumph for the mighty San Marino!?

I have to say this was absolutely shocking, after some solid performances in the group stage (2nd place behind Barcelona) I wasn't expecting to go far in this competition, and was simply glad to learn from the experience...

The key was always our traditional, amazing home form which basically kept our chances alive against pretty much anyone: a draw or even a close loss away were always enough for San Marino as the Titani proved to be simply devastating at the Stadio Olimpico.

Schalke in 1st knockout round weren't the most dangerous opponents, and actually only their world class keeper Marc-André ter Stegen kept them close with a number of amazing saves in both legs. This was also the only time we were able to win away from Serravalle in knockout rounds

Real Madrid in the quarter final and Manchester United in semifinal proved to be much tougher, but San Marino always managed to minimize damages away before dominating their opponents at the Olimpico. Goalkeeper Marco Amelia had an outstanding game at the Old Trafford as he single handedly managed a vital 0-0 in first leg. This was followed by an impressive 3-0 win in Serravalle that took San Marino straight to the Final.

There we faced German powerhouse Bayern Munich:

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Well this was even more surprising than last year's Europa League Final against Sevilla, and actually felt very much like a deja-vu: a shocking 5-0 thrashing, including four goals scored by Brazilian wonderkid Alex in his best Ailton impersonation. The striker was simply unplayable for Bayern as he destroyed their big, slow defenders with his pace and skills on the ball.


Yep San Marino have won the Treble: Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League! Honestly domestic success was in my plans this season, but to win Champions League in our FIRST year in the tournament is something crazy, especially with that performance in the Final.


Next update with a special recap of the treble season, then future entries will focus more on the NT and SM prospects as that is by far my favourite part of the challenge and right now success with club has become somewhat boring :p
 
Mate you are awesome! Looking forward to you winning the world cup now ;)
 
Scullybug said:
Mate you are awesome! Looking forward to you winning the world cup now ;)
Click to expand...

eh right now the NT would struggle in Serie B, but dual nationality prospects would make a world of difference when/if they decide to embrace SMNT and latest youth intake was very promising... Future looks bright for our country!

I would gladly skip the club part atm, unfortunately managing the club is absolutely vital for the development of NT and sammarinese players.
 
I know mate I understand the importance of the club side of things, and obviously the World cup isnt feasible right now but hopefully soon you could get close to qualifying for the WC or euros
 
Season 2016/17: The Heroes Of The Treble

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Celebrating a truly epic season for San Marino, as the Titani were able to lift a grand total of six trophies during 2016/17: Italian Super Cup, European Super Cup, Serie A, Italian Cup, Champions League and last but not least another U20 League which is always a good omen for the future of Sammarinese football. This basically meant San Marino were able to win every single competition they entered during the season!

Darwin Quintero was our best scorer in all competitions though eventually he lost the starting job to Brazilian wonderkid Alex, as Bayern noticed in the CL final. Alex was one of a few promising youngsters having a breakthrough year for San Marino: Salvatore Vender, Ezequiel Rossi and Fabio also played an important role during the season and look ready to become key players for a top club like us. Local prospect Niko Micheli was surprisingly selected for our club's Best Eleven after some solid performances mostly in cup matches, thus becoming the first Sammarinese player to receive this honour.


Meet the heroes of the legendary Treble:

My First Choice Eleven

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Important Rotation Players

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Summer Update 2017/18: Super Cups & New Signings

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Champions League & Serie A defending champions San Marino started new season bringing home more trophies, as the Titani easily won both Italian and European Super Cup. Europa League winners Arsenal and Serie A runner-up Fiorentina simply had no chance against the mighty Titani, as our team displayed commanding performances in 2-0 and 4-0 wins respectively.


With all the money coming from Serie A, sponsorships, CL and tv deals I was given a HUGE budget for both wages and transfers, and actually I did splash the cash like I had never done in my career signing several great players. Despite this, and despite setting new records for most expensive signing and money spent, at the end of the transfer session we still had 40M euros to invest while also being well under the wage budget...

Key signings this summer:

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Edwin Villavicencio (10M from As Monaco): a Peruvian centre-back blessed with élite athleticism, the Big V joins our group of young, ultra-talented defenders and could form an ideal partnership with fellow South American CB Ezequiel Rossi.

Mario (5.5M from Napoli): Brazilian volante Mario was mostly an unused back-up for Napoli but will likely get a healthy amount of playing time at the Olimpico, and has every chance of becoming a key player for San Marino.

Felipe Anderson (12M from Udinese): after a few years with mid-table side Udinese Felipe Anderson was thrilled to join a top class organization like San Marino. Felipe is an international class playmaker already capped for Brazil, which really says it all.

Diego Toranzo (28M from FC Twente): my last striker prospects Ailton and Alex had cost me 2M and 475K respectively, well seems like things have changed for San Marino... I was actually thinking of buying back Ailton, but his recent history of injuries scared me quite a bit so decided to splash the cash for Diego Toranzo, currently one of the best youngs strikers in the game. El Toro will compete with wonderkid Alex for the starting striker spot, should be an interesting battle...


The board expects our team to challenge for the title, which is actually San Marino's dimension right now. Napoli and Inter are still our most dangerous rivals, while the rest of the league seem to get weaker every year so I expect a three-horse race this season.


Projected first 11 at the start of the season, plus a CL anticipation...

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Next update with year 2017 of the National Team -finally :p


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National Team: Year 2017

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2017 marked another year living for tomorrow for San Marino: we were somewhat inconsistent in friendlies but did a good job in our World Cup qualifying group, with a string of solid yet unlucky performances against top level teams culminating in a spectacular 5-3 win in Latvia. I was very pleased that we were able to avoid last place in such a tough group (really the group of death in whole Europe), and actually could have stolen a few more points with a bit of luck.

Ugliest part of the year was always the same: virtually every prospect with dual nationality is still rejecting San Marino, including SIX Sammarinese starlets currently representing Italy at various youth levels.

Tricky forward Gianluca Macina and potential superstar striker Alessandro Paolone in particular would instantly take San Marino to a new level, but for now both are happy playing for Italy U19/U21. Paolone would probably win Serie A Top Scorer if given green light as our club's lead striker, and I'd really love to see that happen... BUT this would likely cause him to win a full cap for Italy and I'm not prepared to take such risk right now. This is why most of my dual nationality prospects are currently "enjoying" loan spells in Italian lower leagues or in foreign countries...


Several of our national team young stars have shown great progress this year, and a few of them likely have a future as legit Serie A players. Goalkeeper Carlo Vignoli, centre-back Luca Tagliani, anchor man Niko Micheli and lefty playmaker Fabio Scarano are all improving nicely and could very well become useful players for the club someday.

One player in particular really stole the spotlight this year: current first choice striker Manel Di Marco

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With performances like this one against Madagascar (not the best NT I reckon, still top 100 though) Manel made history for San Marino as he beat Andy Selva's record of international goals for the country (9), while also becoming the first Sammarinese to ever score a hat-trick at international level.

Di Marco currently boasts an excellent tally of 14 goals in 20 matches for SMNT, and is making huge improvements as a player especially since joining Spanish side Valladolid on loan. Manel probably lacks the upside of fellow SM prospects Paolone and Macina, and would be just a decent back-up if I could play all my dual nationality stars but right now he's clearly our best option upfront, and is doing a fantastic job for our country!


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San Marino confirmed their position as a Top 100 NT finishing the year at 91st place in FIFA Rankings, a decent result considering the ultra-tough group we hade to face last year. On the other hand our next EURO qualifying group looks VERY interesting, sure some good teams but no real powerhouses plus the likes of Azerbaijan and Estonia... I like to think that with our best squad (hello dual nationality!) and a bit of luck we could even compete for 2nd place, though in real world we'll do very well if we can fight for 4th place.

In other news the U19 manager was shockingly sacked by the FA! Poor guy never had much talent to work with as any half decent 16 years old would become instant first choice for the senior side... I just hope the FA doesn't become delusional about San Marino's goals and ambitions though, they always looked satisfied with my performances even when losing 0-7 every match and I wouldn't want this to change in the near future...




​
 
The attention to detail you pay is nuts, you are a beast.
 
FIFA Club World Cup 2017: Top Of The World, Ma'!

Quick club update: as winner of last Champions League San Marino entered FIFA Club World Cup in December, challenging the other champions of continental confederations for world supremacy at club level.

I have to say despite all the hype and money involved this was quite a joke of a tournament:

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Semifinal against weak arabian side Al-Ittihad was unsurprisingly easy as the Titani cruised to a 5-1 win thanks to a hat-trick of clinical striker Diego Toranzo. Argentine powerhouse Estudiantes didn't do much better in the final, suffering a heavy 4-0 as San Marino enjoyed total domination for all the 90 minutes. Toranzo was clearly the MVP of the tournament scoring five goals in two matches.


So... San Marino is now on top of the world! As I said this tournament was actually quite lame but it's always nice to add some silverware (and money) and increase club reputation.

Next updates will cover Champions League and Serie A campaign with San Marino chasing back to back titles in both competitions (actually I have already finished 2017/18 season ;))
 
Club Season 2017/18: Domestic & Continental Success...Again!

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It was another year of domination for San Marino: after winning the over hyped FIFA Club World Cup the Titani continued their road to glory as they managed to win back to back titles both in Serie A & Champions League. An early exit in the Italian Cup was the only let down of a highly successful season that also included a third consecutive win in U20 league - yep we have become the best football academy in Italy...

Striker Diego Toranzo won Serie A Player Of the Year and was Top Scorer of the league setting a new record for Serie A with 32 goals, while also breaking Enzo Scorza's record of total goals in a single season for San Marino. Marco Verratti was our Fans' Player Of The Year, breaking Sodinha's record of assists in the process.

Serie A was actually a breeze and honestly I can't see this changing in the near future, while Champions League provided the most excitement this season, especially in semifinal against archrivals Lyon and final vs Barcelona:

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I had waited for this day since the Ailtongate, so the 5-0 win in first leg was one of the finest moments in my SM career... Former San Marino idol Ailton didn't play against his old buddies as he struggled with serious injuries, which seems to happen quite often to him. Barça were without Messi and Alexis Sanchez (both injured as well) so the Final wasn't hard as expected; we dominated first half and got a deserved 1-0 lead then Barcelona started second half in attack mode but soon suffered a red card that basically ended their chances.


So this was another amazing season for the club, though in all honesty things are becoming a bit boring now. I can't even consistently use my best Sammarinese prospects in first team as this could lead to Italy calling them up for their senior NT (Italy U19/U21 already loaded with Sammarinese traitors...) and harm long term development of SMNT.

As anticipated from now on club updates will become less frequent (possibly an end of season recap) as this part of the challenge has become slightly boring for me, while NT and local talent development will now have more space here. If my many (...) readers would like to know/see other things in particular feel free to ask :p

Next update with a glorious year 2018 for NT!​
 
News Of The World 2018

Just a couple of news from World Cup 2018 before the NT update.

Congratulations to Belarus, fresh winner of World Cup 2018!

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HUGE upset here, hopefully this could be the start of a new era for international football where outsiders and smaller countries step up to challenge traditional football powerhouses...


Several San Marino players made it to tournament as they represented their countries, though there were two in particular that really made me proud:

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After succesful experiences with Italy U20/U21, talented defenders Ezequiel Rossi and Salvatore Vender deliberately snubbed the evil Azzuri to play for their native countries, Argentina and France respectively. I love it! The curse of San Marino strikes again... yet Italy keep poaching SM talent as currently their youth NT's are loaded with Sammarinese prospects with dual nationality :mad:​
 
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National Team Year 2018

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Epic year for the national team, as San Marino managed to go UNBEATEN for whole 2018! This included the usual friendlies against other sub-par teams (tipically the weakest countries ranked Top 100), but also three games of our EURO qualifying group!

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First a hard fought draw in Denmark, then a close yet deserved win against Ireland and finally the 6-0 thrashing of Azerbaijan (which is actually not that bad) to claim top spot of our group after first three games. I can't believe I'm actually saying this but we do have a decent chance of qualifying for 2020 Euro Championships! These results also pushed San Marino to 53rd place in FIFA World Rankings as of December 2018.


The curious thing is this is pretty much the same squad of last 2-3 years, with pretty much the very same players (still no luck with those dual nationality bastards :mad:). But those 16-17 years old projects have improved a lot during this period, and are now 19-21 years old players who can already hold their own at international level despite having room for further improvement.

Loan experiences have proved to be particularly effective, and almost all the NT players are currently on loan in various club across Europe showing consistent improvement thanks to first team action.

Here are the current stars of SMNT:

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- Carlo Vignoli (GK): promising keeper already getting decent playing time at the club, generally in cup matches and other less important games. Being first choice for NT since he was 16 he could very well set an unbeatable record for international caps in the next 15+ years. No doubt in my mind he's going to be first choice for the club at some point.

- Luca Tagliani (DC): classy centre back improved considerably in the years as he spent a few seasons on loan at various clubs (including a spell with Barcelona B). Has great international experience for a 21 years old, and also boasts a remarkable international tally for a defender being SM main threat in the air.

- Niko Micheli (DC/MC): another young veteran making amazing progress. Described as "commanding centre back", Niko is usually deployed as a defensive midfielder where I feel he's at his best. Might spend another season on loan before becoming a legit rotation player for the club.

- Fabio Scarano (AMC): gifted trequartista often used in our trademark AMR/left-footed playmaker role, think of Fabio as the Sammarinese Messi...

Lethal striker Manel Di Marco however was the most impressive of the pack:

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His loan spell at feeder club Hapoel Tel Aviv has been extremely productive: Hapoel are an ideal feeder club having good facilities and playing continental competitions, and Manel apparently has become their star player, scoring for fun and making fantastic improvements as a player. Di Marco was a beast for the NT in 2018 as he set a new record of goals in a single match (4) while bringing his international tally to an absurd 32 goals in 29 matches. Absolutely amazing.


Despite a great year for San Marino there are still same bad news: not a single dual nationality player has accepted a call-up for SM, even those not selected to play for Italy U19/U21. This is incredibly frustrating and really harms both club and NT development.

2018 youth intake finally brought me a top prospect 100% Sammarinese (amongst others with dual nationality), a fantastic midfielder destined to become a key player for the years to come. Too good to be true. And in fact...

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Blue chip prospect Manuel Conti suffered a "serious viral infection" and will be out for EIGHT months! Not only he won't be available for important international fixtures, this "infection" (?) could harm his development at this stage and actually ruin his whole career. I was very close to give up and retire at this point...​
 
but u then decided no i will complete this challange for the sake of my intrested readers lol
 
great thread ever tried specialised training schedules for the sammarinese internationals at your club to get the players trained in the areas you need to improve on for the NT.
 
@Iceman: yeah kind of ;) Trying to hold on until first wave of traitors finally opts in for SM. It is incredibly frustrating having built an elite youth setup and not being able to use MY players... and once I got ONE I can use boom he's out for the season... urgh

@golem: tend not to re-train players when they're too young (16-18) as I want them to improve their attributes first then I send them on loan (18-21) and that's when they improve the most. Sometimes I force players out of position with the NT (eg AMC Scarano doing well at AMR) anyway I don't have much to choose atm. I have a core of maybe 12-13 players I trust, so any decent new player is going to get the nod regardless of position.
 
yeah i know that would suck mate but you have managed brilliantly so far nd they shall soon see sense or you can implement the power of being a manager and get them to retire lol
 
Wow, getting San Marino to 53rd in world is a great achievement, good luck in qualifying for the Euros! :)
 
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