Career chewkaiwen Attempts the Six-State Challenge

[chewkaiwen]

So I've gotten a bit bored of trashing teams with my legendary strike force in my FC United and Barcelona save, and I moved to attempt the computer version of Football Manager. Sounds like an idea. But I failed to save a team from relegation (To be fair to me, they only had 2 points with 8 games to spare and 12 adrift from safety, and had a non-existent defence and negligible finances), so scratch that idea.

So...why not take on a challenge?

And here it begins. My journey. A young prodigal Singaporean manager heading to the Land of the Free attempting to write his name together with the greats of the footballing world. I have never (and thats a fact!) played in the MLS before so this would be a totally new experience for me,  I'm learning new things even as I write this post out!

This challenge is the Six-State Challenge invented by the great @mcandrew003, link to the topic is here: 

And so begins Chapter 1...

 

State 1 - New York

Widely considered the 'Concrete Jungle', New York is the most populated state in America with 8,537,673 Million people living under it's fancy buildings, bright lights and really, really tall statues. We start off in familiar surroundings, and with that a fairly simple task that should take no longer than two seasons. 

State 1 Challenge: Take a player, either already in the team or brought in by yourself, and score 85 goals with them at a club based in New York. 

Well, this shouldn't be too hard, right? I had to choose between 2 clubs, New York Red Bulls, or New York City FC. After slowly looking through the history of both clubs, I decided to go with New York City FC!

New York City FC is a fairly new club.....ok who am I kidding. They are extremely new, a project started off by some rich sheiks who also own Manchester City and Melbourne City FC. As such, they have literally no history and that is where I step in. What better way to make my mark in the footballing world by taking on a club that has yet to see its glory and hoping it comes...QUICK! And thus starts my journey...

 

Stay tuned as I reveal who my chosen striker will be and my assessment of the squad, as well as my summary of the very first season!

 

 

 

[Seth Anacondas]

All the best!

[Titjes]

good luck with the challenge  

[mcandrew003]

Best of luck mate, great to see another person take on the great American adventure! I'm sure you'll smash it 

[GingerbreadPooches]

Good luck fellow traveller, will be interested to see how you get on with the second best franchise in New York 

[chewkaiwen]

So at this point I would normally load the screenshots of my fixtures played but a tired me after finishing up the first season at 2am totally forgot to take screenshots, so I'll work with what little screenshots I have to show you what happened in season 1...

 

Season 1: New York City Revolution

So as soon as I took over the squad, I noticed that aside from our really small transfer budget of 8.25m, and a huge squad with not many actual talent, there seemed to be a lot of work to do. We had some attacking talent in David Villa and Jo Inge Berget, but the rest, especially the defence, were...forgettable.  But first...my striker...I scoured the market looking for a striker that would fit my personality type, a fast, strong, clinical finisher. For the money I've got, there isn't much on offer, and I eventually settled on this lad:

He ain't the best, but he do have the key attributes that I am looking for, mainly shooting, pace, strength, teamwork, stamina and aerial skills. I can envision playing a tactic that uses defence splitting balls from midfield and him breaking away from the last man to set up a one-on one chance! At 6.5m spent for him from Mainz, it was never a cheap option and always a risk, but one I was willing to take. Given the dire state of my defence and the level of talent I attracted, I doubt I was ever going to repair my defence to a level I liked so hey, why not just outscore the opposition!

 

Transfers

Spoiler

 

 

A lack of transfer funds and the fact that nobody wanted my players due to their extremely high wage demands, I had to make do with what I could get. Managed to sneak in an ageing Nigel de Jong for 2.1m, a pretty decent price for a decent ball winning midfielder. Bocanegra was bought in to shore up my defence, he is a 5m sort of player but was transfer listed by his club for just 150k! (Which I managed to bring down thanks to him arguing with his club) Ederson is an experienced attacking midfielder who can also play in central mid and at 80k, I'll gladly take him over some of the other worthless players in my team! Must say that I was fortunate, as David Villa was willing to take a 50% wage cut halfway through the season, freeing up my wage budget and allowing me to transfer some into transfer funds to use!

 

 

League
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Well, in the league we had patches of good runs followed by periods where I was literally raging from the stands. we started the season off slowly winning only 2 of the first 5 matches, but drawing 3. At least we were unbeaten. This was followed by a good run till around mid season. That was when a really bad run started and we started losing and dropping silly points, and even matches that we were winning were being scrapped out, us winning only due to us being more clinical as we were totally over run. A tactics switch brought back some form but we did suffer a scare in the closing stages of the season, but luckily for us LA Galaxy were doing just as badly as us as we managed to hold on to win the Supporter's Shield!

 

 

Cup
 

Spoiler

 

The US Cup started on a good note and we were picking up wins on a regular basis till around the Semi Final. I honestly thought that we were going out being 3-0 down in the 75th minute, but then this happened:

 

We scored 2 goals in 4 minutes to make it 3-2 in their favour, before Badji scored 1 more to make it 4-2. By then I thought it was really over despite our efforts, but Ujah came to the rescue and a late late own goal by them in injury time made it 4-4 and brought the game to extra time! Ujah then scored deep in extra time to give us a 5-4 lead, heartbreak for Colorado fans and sends us to the finals!

 

Which we duly won...

 

 

It was much more dominant that it appears on paper. While the match stats and scores look even, we actually dominated the highlights that were shown, in fact, DC United only had 2 highlights in their favour which they scored from both of them! 

 

The MLS Cup was the other Cup tie we were in, a playoff between the best teams in the MLS that season.

We started the cup off with a derby match against New York Red Bulls...

 

The New York Red Bulls really gave me a run for my money but Ujah showed once again why I spent so much bringing him into this club with his hat trick vital to send me into the conference finals of the MLS Cup!

 

 

Yet again we were come back heroes, after going 2-0 down so early in the first leg that absolutely left me fuming. 2 goals in 3 minutes by 2 players that I've brought in completed the comeback and we easily won the second leg, continuing our fairytale run to the MLS Cup Final, where we faced the mighty LA Galaxy!

 

 

It was extremely nervy and little separated both teams, but eventually Galaxy could not find a way to score (I lucked out, they had 2 open goals but somehow missed) and we lift the MLS Cup, meaning that we have won every possible domestic silverware this season!

 

 

 

Player

Spoiler

 

So of course, everyone would be wondering how my star striker Ujah did. Here is how he did:

A stunning 57 goals from 44 league and cup matches just bring us ever so closer to the 85 goal mark that we need and means that we should start job hunting soon! It was definitely a joy when a player plays to the style you want him to, I enjoyed seeing the many times he scored while breaking away from the last man! Lets hope Orlando SC decides to sack their manager sometime late next season

He has definitely improved in some of the key attributes, except teamwork which seems to have gone down.  All set for Season 2 definitely! Lets hope I remember to take screenshots, this time...

 

 

[Titjes]

Good season to start the challenge with  

[mcandrew003]

A really good start to the challenge, keep up strong performances like this and you'll be finished in no time!

[Seth Anacondas]

Ujah looks great. Stage 1 should be done in no time.

[chewkaiwen]

Season 2: New York Success

So we start the second season having won all we needed to win, but just a mere 28 goals away from completing the challenge. It was never going to be easy, and with still a relatively small transfer budget, I needed to be tactical in the market. At the same time, I have to hope that Orlando sacks their manager after I have achieved my goal, if not I would not be able to move! So how did we do?

 

Transfers

Spoiler

 

Well, we knew that we definitely had to strengthen, and strengthen we did. 

 

Ravel Morrison was brought in to firm up our Midfield, the former West Ham player should be no stranger to most people. We did scour the transfer market for cheap bargains and bargains we did find, in Garcia, a decent defender whom while not the best, would prove a suitable option as compared to most of the trash I have for defenders! Rzatkowsi was a bargain buy, but he wasn't initially supposed to be bought. But injuries to Morrison, De Jong, and Ring meant I had no fit midfielder in the squad and hence he was brought in as a temporary replacement till the rest could recover. Foden came in from loan from Man City (since I'm linked to them, might as well...) to help me out in my AM area, while Miangue came in at left back to help my defence out. As for the transfers out, nothing much to note, just shifting out some of the deadwood in the squad so that I can free up my wage bill for better players.

 

League

Spoiler

 

Well the league didn't go as well as we would have liked this season. Early season woes in terms of injuries to key players cost us dearly and coupled with a couple of bad runs every now and then meant that we could not clinch the Supporter's Shield this season. We only have ourselves to blame, considering at one point (Vancouver game), we were just 1 point short of top of the League Toronto FC with a game in hand as well, only to lose to Vancouver, and then dropping points to Kansas City meaning that we could never quite catch up to them despite them dropping points as well.

 

 

 

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

The US Cup went fantastically well this season, we didn't have much of the scares which we experienced last season, apart from the penalty shootout against Atlanta United. We faced off Orlando City in the Finals, and we dominated them for the majority of the match, with an early lead from Medina being the only goal in the whole match an giving us a second consecutive US Cup.

 

The MLS Cup however went a bit differently. We had to survive scares of being behind after the first leg of both the conference semi finals and finals, but we recovered in both cases to get to the MLS Cup Final!

The final saw us face off against familiar foes in LA Galaxy, also vying for the title for the second season in a row! And they gave us a fight. They did well the equalise early on after going a goal down, and actually were outperforming us in the first half until Estrada was sent off in the 58th minute for 2 fouls in quick succession (can you believe their luck ). I then switched to attacking and unleashed hell on them, and while Ujah might have missed a penalty, a late David Villa goal for enough to give us the win and yet another MLS Cup!

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Player

Spoiler

 

So you all might be wondering, did I manage to get my 85 goals from Ujah? Well, yes, we did it, and sometime midway in the season! Ujah was 4 goals short before we entered into the FC Dallas match, and to be honest I was kinda worried at that point as he wasn't performing as well as I would like him to, in fact, he had only scored 1 goal in the past 3 matches. But he produced a stunning performance and scored 4 goals and that was just enough to hit the 85 goal mark!

And...he ended the season as such:

Not as good as last season but still around the same level, if it wasn't for his dry patches closer to the end of the season, he probably would have done a lot better than what he actually did here. 

Now...the tough part. We have to actually wait till Orlando City SC sacks their manager, and to be honest, it would seem a bit harder than I thought it would be. Apparently, Orlando performed horribly and were bottom of the league the whole season, and they sacked their manager quite early on. However, Ujah at that time had yet to score 28 goals, he would only have done so about 3 weeks later, and hence I could not shift jobs! So lets hope for an equally bad season for Orlando and maybe I can jump ship next season, if not, it could be a long wait considering they just changed managers...

 

 

Edited March 19, 2018 by chewkaiwen

[Titjes]

Stage 1 completed, well done  

[chewkaiwen]

Well the toughest part is actually getting the jobs you need in this challenge it seems... 

[mcandrew003]

Great job smashing stage one, hopefully the Orlando job pops up!

[chewkaiwen]

Seasons 3-4: The In-between Years

This post will basically compress the seasons whereby I waited for the Orlando job, it came much faster than I expected it to!

Transfers

Spoiler

 

Some good wheeling and dealing as well as increased finances from my NACL victory helped fund most of these transfers, some good deals as we look to make this club strong yet sustainable.

Interesting additions and I was massively pleased that out of it, I still managed to retain a profit from it! Of course the wage bill did increase by a lot but I feel that it was worth it and I had plenty of space for the wage bill to expand hence making these transfers possible. NYCFC should remain a powerhouse with these transfers for the years to come!

 

League

Spoiler

 

I never did finish Season 4 but we did pretty well in both seasons, not the dominant finish that I would have been hoping for but we still did pretty well in my opinion, winning the Supporters Shield in Season 3 as well! For Season 4, I ended my stint top of the table and having only considered an extremely low 19 goals from my matches so far!

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

The Cups didn't seem too much of a problem as we managed to perform surprisingly well in the US Cup, winning both seasons, as well as both seasons of the NACL. We also played in the Club World Cup Championships, where I parked the bus against Barcelona in the semi final, but failed to keep the goals out and lost in extra time. We did win Corinthians in the 3rd Placed Playoff to give us the 3rd placing and a decent reputation gain.

US Cup 

 

MLS Cup

NACL

Club World Cup Championship

Side note: I actually thought I had won that thing when Berget knocked in a goal in the 95th minute of extra time, only for it to be disallowed. Then Messi had a goal disallowed, before a late late Insigne goal knocked us out for real. But what an exciting match it must have been!

 

 

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Miscellaneous

Spoiler

 

And the part you all have been waiting for...did I get the Orlando City job? Well, I must admit at the start of the season, I had thought that it was not possible for me to get the job with Orlando doing extremely well. But then, they explicably suffered a horrible drop in form. From June till September, if I recall, they did not win a single match, and only managed to draw 1 match. The exception came in the cup where they managed to get 1 win but then went out in the next round. And it was of no surprise then that their manager would be sacked after such a dire performance, a few days after my US Cup win. So I went ahead and applied for the job. And offer me they did:

And so begins the second leg of my journey...this comes from a hindsight, I understand why they did so badly in the league, they have a bunch of useless players who are also unhappy! I'm surprised they even managed to start so well in the first place!

And just to recall the challenge...

State 2 Challenge: Revamp the entire team so that it includes at least 15 African and European first team players. With said team, lead your side to a North American Champions League title. 

To be continued...

 

 

[chewkaiwen]

Season 5: Upheaval in Florida

First season in my new club, and lets recap what is our goal over here:

State 2 Challenge: Revamp the entire team so that it includes at least 15 African and European first team players. With said team, lead your side to a North American Champions League title. 

For the fun of the challenge, I actually ensured that I got a squad of 15 African and European players in my first team in the first season, rather than win everything and then build the squad up. With a measly budget of only around 4.5m in the bank, I scoured far and wide for the cheapest bargains on offer that could add any value to the team...

Transfers+The Final 15

Spoiler

 

It wasn't easy I must admit, but a couple of smart moves on Bosman players and spending nearly and hour looking into every African team and getting scout reports on their players did play a huge part in managing to secure me decent players for the amount of money I had. Orlando doesn't have the glamour of the New York clubs and that only served to make my job harder as players didn't want to come here due to my club being too small/my wage bill is not high enough to satisfy them.

First, the outs...to make way for my new players I had to get rid of a couple of players, including Colman who arguably is one of the best players in the club. But with little room for improvement I decided to let him go and use the finance to secure a couple of better European players to take his place.

And the ins...I don't think every name here would be recognised, but as you can see a huge change in the club personnel as I looked through the free markets and transfer lists for players that would help the club, but can be sold on a cheap. Most of my transfer budget had to be converted into the wage budget so that I could secure much better players, if not no one would be willing to come over to sunny Orlando!

 

And with this, here would be chosen 15 first team players for this club:

Goalkeepers

Transferred from: Ajax (Free)

One of the hardest areas to look for a replacement was the GK position, and I was starting to lose hope when I noticed this gem being transfer listed by Ajax for Free! I couldn't believe my eyes and made a bid for him immediately. Scouts put his current potential at 2 stars but I as soon as I see his stats, I don't believe the report anymore. He will be my first team keeper.

Defenders

Transferred from: SC Austria Lustenau (650k)

Transferred from: Already in Club 

Transferred from: Union Douala (210k)

Transferred from: Valencia (Free)

Transferred from: Free Agent (Free)

Defence saw a mix of old and youth come in from a variety of places. Onguene looks pretty sick for the price that I managed to get him for and Keller forms a good backup option for me should any of the rest get injured. Dorn, my most expensive signing fits nicely as a wing back with his decent pace as well as stamina being a plus for him.

Midfielders

Transferred from: Already in club

Transferred from: Osnabrück (300k)

Transferred from: Real San Sebastien (Free)

Only really managed to get 2 actual midfielders in, the rest didn't seem up to the cut and had so little room to improve that it was not worth paying 10k or 12k salary for them to come at all. Rosell fits nicely into the DM position in my 4-1-2-2-1 formation while both Burchert and Veloso can enjoy the CM positions as deep playmakers or ball winning midfielders.

Attackers

Transferred from: Free Agent (Free)

Transferred from: Mainz (275k)

Transferred from: Diambars FC (Free)

Transferred from: Free Agent (Free)

Transferred from: Feyenoord (Free)

Transferred From: Séwé FC (Free)

Plenty of players here and to be honest I am quite happy with the players we had gotten, it was much better than I expected. Wasn't expecting McKay to become a free agent but he did, and he took my offer! Halimi was a good buy due to his versatility and he can field in at CM if needed as well. Bastien was a good steal, free and yet full of potential and already pretty decent to start of with. And of course, Boly. Lightning pace, decent schooting and not too shabby when it comes to strength and aerial ability, what I like in strikers.

 

League

Spoiler

Not totally the best of forms for us this season, we struggled a lot at the start of the season due to the fact that we completely overhauled the squad, and I couldn't seem to find a tactic that fits them at all! Eventually, I struck jackpot around the middle-late part of the season, ditching my favoured short passing for a direct style of play but the damage had already been done. However, the late surge did manage to clinch us a Wild Card spot for the MLS Cup!

 

Cup

Spoiler

First up, we had the US Cup. For all our struggles in the league, we managed to actually do pretty well in the cup and we faced off my old team NYCFC in the final! And this happened...

Yes we were second best most of the match, but some good defensive work and quick counterattacks managed to see us steal the win from my old team 3-2, and gives us my very first trophy with this new club!

MLS Cup

We found ourselves in a very unfamiliar position for the MLS Cup, requiring to play a Wild Card Match for the very first time in my MLS history. We had DC United which we duly dispatched...

...and that gives us a tasty semi final match up against high flying Toronto FC!

And after managing a first leg victory, I thought the second leg couldn't go too badly if I played a defensive and conservative game, but alas, it backfired. We never really found our footing in that match and we go out on away goals rule thanks to a single Toronto goal which we never could reply to

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

No surprises where I ditched my short passing in favour of a direct play, that April and May really killed me though

 

 

Targets

Spoiler

 

So a quick recap of what I have to achieve in this club:

• 15 European and African first team players
• NACL title
• League
• Cup

50% Done, bring on the next season!  

 

 

[chewkaiwen]

Season 6: Attempt at Glory

Now that the Vibe Olympics is over, I'm back at it for this challenge which I started some time back. The goal is still the same, to try and complete this! With the revamp done and 1 season over, I aim to try and complete what needs to be done this season!

Transfers

Spoiler

 

Even more new players entered in and plenty more left the club as I continued hunting for bargains and free agents. In the spirit of this challenge, I made a rule to bring in only European and African players, with only the occasional youth graduate the exception.

Some good players in the bunch, esp the mid season transfers in the form of Bahraoui, Maas and Toney. And for rather cheap prices too which I am pretty happy about!

 

League
 

Spoiler

 

Unfortunately for us, we dropped way too many points in needless draws and sloppy losses. We never did find the consistent run of form that we needed throughout this season and we payed the price, finishing 10 points behind eventual league winners NYCFC. Really disappointing for my point of view as given the number of games against lesser oppositions at home which we dropped points, we could have went all the way.

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

After winning in the first leg 5-2 away from home, we were pretty confident coming into this and while we did get a rather sloppy 2-2 draw, it was a rather assured victory going into the Semi Finals.

Where we faced off against Mexican side Pachuca. A 1-0 win at home in the first leg meant we had all to play for still in the second leg and we gave a dominant performance to win 2-0 and enter the final of the NACL!

We faced off Sporting Kansas City which was a dark horse in this competition. But they did knock out NYCFC in the semi finals for a reason. We drew the first leg 0-0 away, meaning that I went into the second leg confident that we can sneak out a win here. But an utterly horrible performance where we did nothing in the match, coupled with a red card, ended any hopes of winning the NACL.

US Cup

After having done so well to reach the finals, we tried our best to win. However, we might have celebrated a bit too soon when Boly scored the equaliser as Marlon scores a 90th minute goal to clinch them the crucial winner and break Orlando fans' hearts.

MLS Cup

Now this was absolutely crucial. We needed the win here to ensure qualification for the NACL next season, if not it will take another 2 seasons before we could stand a chance of completing the challenge! With that in mind, the team trained hard with only 1 goal in mind...

And we did manage to win it, rather convincingly in fact! Afraid that I forgot to take screenshots so you won't get any pictures, but from the semi finals to the grand final, we looked dominant and did not put a foot wrong all game, including a stunning 6-1 win against NYCFC in the MLS Cup Conference Final first leg! Before ending it spectacularly in a penalty shootout win in the final against Real Salt Lake!

 

Targets

Spoiler

 

So a quick recap of what I have to achieve in this club:

• 15 European and African first team players
• NACL title
• League
• Cup

Still only 50% Done, no progress made, hopefully next season would be a much better one!

 

 

Apologies for the lack of screenshots, have to warm up yet again to this and I got too excited that I forgot all the screenshot taking till I did the season reset! Hopefully I will remember and post more screenshots for the next season. Stay tuned for my US Journey...

[chewkaiwen]

Season 7: Pushing for Wins

Last season was a disappointment, and we go into this match in the hopes that we will be able to finish all the objectives listed down for us.

Transfers

Spoiler

 

 

 

Some good players that came in during the July window with the likes of Barison and Mache. Most of the rest were just there to boost squad depth as I need replacements while some of the first teamers left for international football (which is downright annoying)

 

League

Spoiler

 

Yet again, the inability to see off games and dropped points, especially away from home cost here dearly. This season was definitely much closer than the last and it will definitely be a real waste that I failed to finish off my opponents in this season as it became a season of what could have been for us.

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

After a 2-2 draw away to Toronto, we didn't play well at home but some extreme clinical finishing and shutting up shot against our competitors as we progress to the next round!

A 3-0 win against Pachuca away from home meant the pressure was off us as we returned to our home stadium. We finish it off with a 1-0 lead, would have been hoping for more but it was more than enough to see us into the next round...

Against NYCFC, it was definitely one matchup that I wanted to avoid. A 4-0 win away from home however saw us put one foot into the final. However, back at our home, we were second best in every department and I was left sweating as NYCFC managed to make it 4-2 on aggregate at one point and we were unable to respond. Halimi scored a stunning long range goal to seal our win and crush NYCFC's dream 20 minutes from time.

A rather even match in our first match at home meant that the spoils were shared at 1-1, and Chivas having the away goal advantage, meaning we had to be at our best form on the 2nd leg...

Which we totally did! Our team started the match with the end goal in mind and we played to our very best. Chivas did well to level the scores 1-1 just 4 minutes after San Miguel opened the scoring. At the 65th minute, Onguene scores from a corner and the floodgates open to seal us the win that we needed so badly!

 

US Cup

Atlanta gave us a real fight but after Andrew was sent off in the 52nd minute for his 2nd yellow card, they could no longer mount a strong defence against us and Kevin scores a stunning goal to give us yet another US Cup win!

MLS Cup

Our MLS Cup journey came to a rather abrupt end in the Semi Finals as Toronto managed to hang on to take the aggregate win by away goals. After losing the first leg 1-0, we had much to do and try as we did, we could not do enough in the 2nd leg in our own home and we go out in front of our own disappointed fans.

Club World Championship

Our Club World Championship journey started off against Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, and we dominated the game to win by a 2-1 scoreline, where we face...

We were just not good enough to match the quality of Chelsea as we never had a single real chance in the game, and our defence failing to hold Chelsea's attackers back just meant we will be going out in this stage yet again.

A 3rd placed playoff is nothing as glamorous as the other final taking place, but it will do for me! After falling behind shockingly in just under 15 minutes, we responded in style and ended it off with a 3rd placed position in the Club World Cup!

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

 

Targets

 

Spoiler

 

So a quick recap of what I have to achieve in this club:

• 15 European and African first team players
• NACL title
• League
• Cup

Even closer to finishing now! Just left the elusive league title to chase!

 

 

[chewkaiwen]

Season 8: Stage 2 Completed???

Still short of a league title from completing this stage, I desperately try and break the stronghold some of the top teams have on the title as well as challenge the monster of a team which I've created in NYCFC...

Transfers

Spoiler

 

Even more upheaval this season as I focus on getting in quality players while trying to profit from the offloading of some of the other players which was first brought into the club, not too bad a window I must say, some of the new players like Moar and Wendt looks quality!

 

League

Spoiler

 

The most important thing this season, will I do it right this time?

And yes! I've did it! Was a very close fight but with my rivals dropping vital points in their final few games, I managed to sneak a title win but just!

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

After a dull 0-0 draw at home, Wendt got his debut season at the club off to a flying start with a stunning goal in the 65th minute to give us the 1-0 win on aggregate against a difficult Toronto FC team and advancement to the 1/4 finals!

We managed to take a 1-0 win at home, but FC Dallas gave us a run for our money as they took a 2-0 lead in half time. We managed to comeback to make it 2-2 but Bobby Wood scored for them to give them a 3-2 lead. With time running out and my team leading only on away goals rule, Wendt comes off the bench to score in injury time to secure our win!

We took a 3-1 lead at home. That was followed by a rather dull affair in Chivas, as our defence held strong enough to prevent us conceding any goals and thus securing our place in the final for yet another season!

Against LA Galaxy, a top top team...we were dominant at home but could only get a 2-1 win from an 88th minute magic goal by McKay, which sets up the atmosphere for a tense second leg!

An early goal by us was not enough as LA Galaxy managed to come back in the dying moments of the game to level the tie! That brought the game into penalties, which we managed to win to win yet another NACL title and another shot at the Club World Cup Championship!

US Cup

Columbus was no match for us as we duly dispatched them in the US Cup Final and take the title!

MLS Cup

Chicago was our first hurdle, which we won without any hesitation, 2-0 at home, good momentum for us as we made our way to the Finals of the conference!

We faced off New York RB who managed to win NYCFC in their semi finals, and after a 1-1 draw in New York, we've dominated the return leg, despite only managing to score 1 goal. However, that was sufficient enough for us as we went to the finals to face off FC Dallas!

We were on top most of the match, but that didn't stop FC Dallas taking an early lead in the match. We equalised early on in the second half, but were not clinical enough to find the winner which we needed so badly. All square after 120 mins of action, it wen to penalties which we won without so much of sweating!

Club World Championship

Back at this trophy again, we started off our campaign against Kaizer Chiefs, whom we were disappointing in our finishing. A late goal by them punished us as we had to resort to penalties to get our win and scrape into the next round!

Where we faced off Bayern! We managed to match them in intensity surprisingly, but the scoreline flatters them a lot more than it should have been. However, football is about being clinical and unfortunately, while their strikers were lethal that day, ours couldn't hit anything and hence we lose yet again to an European team.

Which brought us to the 3rd placed playoff, where we managed to win yet again on penalties! Once again we were on top, but being not as clinical as we should have been meant that we were forced to wait a little longer before taking the 3rd placed position!

 

 

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Targets

Spoiler

 

So a quick recap of what I have to achieve in this club:

• 15 European and African first team players
• NACL title
• League
• Cup

We have done it! And now we have to await for the next part of the challenge to become available:

State 3 - Texas

Texas is the second most populated state in the nation that is the United States, being located in the south of the country near the border of Mexico. Despite the ongoing political debate between America and Mexico, it's time to forget about that for the love of football. 

State 3 Challenge: Sign a Mexican player, and have him become the first Mexican on both the all time Goal and Assist MLS charts. This requires 90 goals and 85 assists. 

Clubs Available: FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo

Diffiuclty: Hard

Lets hope the job comes soon...

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by chewkaiwen
Formatting

[Dave994]

Good work. KIU

[chewkaiwen]

Season 8-9: Transitional Seasons Part 2

The summarised version of the in between years where nothing too interesting occurs due to the lack of targets until I get my new job!

Transfers

Spoiler

 

 

League

Spoiler

 

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

Managed to get 2 NACLs out of the 2 that I played in. Got a small scare against NYCFC when we had to win by penalties after losing 1-0 in the second leg, and had to go into the 2nd leg against LA Galaxy 1-0 down, but we did it for both finals and came away victorious. 

US Cup

Our US Cup run in the 2nd season finished in the Semi-Finals after Philadelphia dealt us a shock 1-0 loss. 

MLS Cup

FC Dallas tried, but despite being a man up for the last 20 minutes, was not able to capitalise on their advantage and instead my boys managed to steal a 2-1 win in the dying moments of the game with a Traore screamer.

Club World Cup Championship

A perfect way to end my time in this club with a Club World Cup Championship win at last! Against Sevilla in the semi finals, we went down early 1-0 after the first half but the second half for a totally different performance. Ord, Pique and Boly all scored as we took a shock lead against the favourites and while they did get a consolation goal, we managed to hold on to the lead to go to the finals! SEP was no match for us as we took the win to win my first ever Club World Cup title!

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

Miscellaneous

Spoiler

 

So, if you actually did see all the pictures, you will realise that I did not finish playing the entire second season! Why you might ask? Did I manage to get the job that I required? Well, this is what happened...

A managerial merry-go round meant that the Houston job became available even though it never did seem likely with the team high flying in the league! I happily applied and then...

And accept it I did!

And so the rebuilding begins, in fact, I managed to somehow luck out a MLS Cup from this season, winning against my former club in Orlando City SC! I am not counting it though as I haven't technically started with this club with my chosen Mexican player yet to be brought into this club!

That win managed to secure we NACL qualification for next season, brilliant!

So before I go onto the next season, just a quick recap of our target for the upcoming season(s):

State 3 Challenge: Sign a Mexican player, and have him become the first Mexican on both the all time Goal and Assist MLS charts. This requires 90 goals and 85 assists. 

Stay tuned for more!

 

 

 

[chewkaiwen]

Season 10: Mexican Magician Incoming?

And after a short break, we finally embark on stage 3 of the Six-states challenge! To make things difficult for me, I had a measly budget of around 2m to start off with and no players that are worth selling at all. With a huge sigh, I scoured the market for a Mexican who would be cheap but yet likely able to deliver. After quite some time searching, I finally decided on this guy...

He has the attributes in mostly the right places! Good crossing ability and shooting makes him a good scorer and playmaker, and he has plenty of stamina to help him out as well so that he can play plenty of matches this season! At 26, he is at his prime which makes it an even greater bonus for us! So let's hope he does well! 

Transfers

Spoiler

 

In addition to Rojas, I did manage to do a bit of wheeling and dealing, as the squad badly needed strengthening. Managed to clinch a couple of decent looking players at low prices and got rid of a couple of deadweights taking up my wage budget so that should help to boost my squad a bit!

Speedy striker, perfect for that poacher position for us!

A good looking defender who can play in more than one position. Has plenty of potential to improve so should be good!

A rather decent backup defender who has some decent mental attributes. Dominant in the air as well which is what I need in a defender!

Yet another defender to help patch up my non-existent defence in this team. Another young good looking defender with loads of potential around him. 

Can play at right back, but I prefer using him in midfield as a ball winning midfielder. Looks like a rather good prospect!

Left back/winger who will do the team much more good than harm. He instantly gets the first team spot and he has potential to improve as well!

Yet another player brought in on a free transfer. He can easily slot into the first team striker duo, with both pace and strength on his side. I can count on him to be a poacher or a target man, depending on which is needed!

No intro needed for this lad, I've gotten him when I was at Orlando City SC and I break my usual protocol of never buying ex-players to get him. He works as a perfect backup, and with those insane physical attributes, will easily fit my description as a reliable backup option especially in the early seasons!

 

League

Spoiler

 

Forgot to take screenshots so apologies for this! 🙄

But I can tell you my results though, I did rather well to finish top of the Western Conference! However, that was still not enough for us to take the Supporter's Shield as my ex-club Orlando City SC ran away in the overall table, thus consigning us to 2nd in the Supporter's Shield! Not too bad a first season though!

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

So we got into the NACL thanks to a stunning shock MLS Cup victory last season and we came into this cup looking to perform well and not waste our opportunity here! 

However, we were shocked by underdogs Puerto Rico in the very first match, failing to register much and leaving us sweating for the 2nd leg back at home.

However, on familiar ground, we gave no chance to our opponents from Puerto Rico as Rojas lead the attack in what would end as a 5-1 win for us, thus allowing us to advance 6-3 on aggregate!

We then faced off Mexican club Toluca in the 1/4 Finals! Away from home, we went riot as 5 different scorers scored to give us a 5-0 lead after the first leg, Toluca never stood a chance throughout this match as we absolutely peppered them!

With the win almost all but secured, a mostly reserve lineup was named in the 2nd leg, who could only get a 1-1 draw despite dominating the match against 10 men Toluca. Unlucky from us with 2 disallowed goals but it was still sufficient for us to move into the Semis!

LA Galaxy should have posed a much sterner task for my boys but away from home, we showed them how football should be played as Rojas scored a brace to give us a 2-0 lead going into the 2nd leg back at home in Houston!

A boring first 60 mins or so followed by 30 mins of pure action. We never looked in danger of losing our lead which we held from the first leg as we ended it with a 4-2 win and a 6-2 aggregate win to qualify for the finals!

Pumas were our opponents in the Finals, and we didn't show them any mercy in the first leg! However, they managed to pull back 2 goals late on which gives them a slight life line in the form of away goals should they ever need to use it as a tie breaker...

\

Thankfully it never needed to come down to that for us as we absolutely destroyed them at their own home. 4-0 at half time sealed the game for us as we lift the NACL quite convincingly in my very first season in charge!

US Cup

FC Dallas knocked us out early on in our very first round after we lost to them on penalties. A very painful loss for us as I gambled on playing a couple of reserves and paid the price in a highly charged derby match against our fellow Texas opponents. 

MLS Cup

Unlike the heroics of last season, Seattle dealt us a humbling blow as their late goal by Filla gave them the vital away goal which they needed as we were shocked by them and knocked out by away goals rule!

Club World Cup Championship

Not the most convincing of performances but to be fair to us, we were playing with 10 men for most of the match! A late Bilic goal gave us the win and avoided us having to waste energy and time on a needless extra time and the lottery that is penalties!

Surprisingly we were drawn against the South American team in the Semis this time round and we took advantage of that. San Lorenzo did manage to take the lead very early on and we conceded a penalty which fortunately was saved, but we managed to calm our nerves down and stage a first half comeback to win the game 2-1 and reach the finals, which we faced...

Chelsea! It was a surprisingly even match and I even managed to dominate possession in the match! In fact, we managed to take a shock 2-1 lead at half time! However, Chelsea managed to find the equaliser in the 2nd half and while pushing for the winning goal, our defence was exposed and Chelsea scored a late goal courtesy of Harit! Defeated, but not shamed definitely!

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Player/Targets

Spoiler

 

Rojas had a revelation of a season playing as an Inside Forward in a 4-2-2-2 formation that I have personally mastered and honed to make it a rather powerful formation for me!

Improvements all around the board definitely is a good sign but the stats are what is important!

What a season! 35 goals and 23 assists from 48 games is nothing short of spectacular from my Mexican! However, given that we are trying to beat the MLS goals and assists charts, I would only use the league goals and assists to count in my calculations!

Targets

• 90 MLS Goals by Rojas (Current: 25)
• 85 MLS Assists by Rojas (Current: 19)
• League
• Cup

Slowly but surely getting there! Heres to hoping for an even better next season for Rojas and for Houston FC!

 

 

[Kanegan]

KUTGW mate.

Doing it nicely.

[chewkaiwen]

8 hours ago, Kanegan said:

KUTGW mate.

Doing it nicely.

Thanks! Pretty pleased with my progress so far, didn’t expect it to go this well so far! The waiting for the next club is always the worst part though! 😕

[Scratch]

Just getting on board this now (you started it while I was still stuck in FMM2017 land finishing a 1KC).

Great job it has to be said. Doing really well and interesting to watch! Never managed in the MLS, so learning lots about it too. Rojas looks good, but I'm just realising how hard this challenge actually is. This leg will take several years! Anyway, great job, keep it up mate!

[chewkaiwen]

30 minutes ago, scratch99 said:

Just getting on board this now (you started it while I was still stuck in FMM2017 land finishing a 1KC).

Great job it has to be said. Doing really well and interesting to watch! Never managed in the MLS, so learning lots about it too. Rojas looks good, but I'm just realising how hard this challenge actually is. This leg will take several years! Anyway, great job, keep it up mate!

You are right there, I projected 5 seasons to achieve the targets but that would only be if everything goes well! An injury or a drop in form and it will only make things harder to complete!

Playing in the MLS has been a real eye opener imo, when you start with a measly budget and squads with useless players, you are forced to have to approach the transfer market smartly, and even so its so difficult to find the truly talented for bargain prices and retain them in the club without them wanting to go to the bigger leagues!

Will be awaiting your attempt as well @scratch99

Edited August 29, 2018 by chewkaiwen

[Scratch]

8 minutes ago, chewkaiwen said:

Will be awaiting your attempt as well @scratch99

I would like to try out the MLS sometime soon, but not sure I can do this whole challenge! Gotta keep going on my 1KC and then have a few other things lined up. But who knows maybe one day!

[chewkaiwen]

Season 11: Rising with the Mexican Messi

After quite a decent first season performance by Rojas and the Houston team, we head into our 2nd season knowing that time is not on our side, and we have to try to score and assist as many shots as possible before time runs out!

Transfers

Spoiler

 

Some more wheeling and dealing, only that we are earning profits while strengthening the squad! Chezzi wanted out and we granted his request and reinvested the cash on much better players! Veloso also leaves, as did the likes of Fernandez and Pierra. 

Strong RD with loads of stamina, fits right perfectly in the squad

Plenty of potential in him. Would fit in as a backup CM/BWM for me and can move to first team as he improves

LD brought in on a cheap. Has quite a bit of potential and will serve as a rather reliable backup who has the ability to run quickly as well to contribute to attack. 

Young defender (only 16!) who already looks rather nice in his attributes especially at this age!

Gotten on a cheap, looks like a rather strong winger especially with those physical attributes. Will make a strong backup to Leko for my RW spot!

Was brought in to be my backup keeper when my main keepers go away for international duty. Unfortunately, Denmark decided that after he transferred to Houston, he should be given the international keeper spot and so, I wasted my money for him.

Got him on a Bosman transfer from Liverpool, looks like a rather good looking CM and will be looking forward to seeing him improve as the game progresses.

Another Bosman, this time from Man City. Not too shabby looking and extremely pacy, which will make him a real threat on the wings!

Backup BWM, brought in early in the season to act as a backup to my already stretched and limited team of midfielders.

 

League

Spoiler

 

Was that close to not winning the league! We were actually behind to Orlando with 2 games remaining, but while Orlando could only draw their second last game, we managed to win to regain the lead, and followed that up with yet another win on the final day to secure our Supporter's Shield and the league!

 

Cup

Spoiler

NACL

Dominated the first leg, Rojas managing a brace and new youth player Casiple quick off the mark to give us a 3-0 lead going into the second leg against 10 men Aguila.

Played a team of mostly reserves seeing that our win was rather secured. Dominated shots yet again but this time round, we failed to score a goal in the entire match. Clough thought he had gotten one in the 38th minute, but it was disallowed to the disappointment of the hosts. A rather sloppy performance by us.

FC Dallas in the first leg, a classic derby between the 2 Texas teams. Went riot at home with a 3-0 lead as we head to the second leg, a rather strong performance by my lads.

Once again, reserves dominated most of the team in the away leg. But despite being the better team for most of the match, Dallas took the early lead and only a 62nd minute equaliser by Clough saved us the blushes of losing today.

We then faced off Mexican side Cruz Azul, which was no match for us entirely as we swept them aside over the 2 legs which they will definitely be glad to forget. With that, we qualify for yet another NACL final, one more in my already excellent career so far!

We faced off Toronto FC in the final! The first leg swung badly in my favour as we ran out 5-1 winners, but Toronto to be fair looked the better team at times today, just not clinical enough!

\

We then had a horror show in Canada when we went 2-0 down in the end of the first half. Toronto played well until the red card in the 68th minute, and thankfully we managed to pull one back in the dying moments to defend our 1st leg lead and take the NACL!

US Cup

An easy 4th round draw saw my reserves manage a sharp 3-0 win to make it to the next round!

Yet another derby win and advancement to the latter stages of the US Cup!

Won the match courtesy of an own goal, but to be fair we were much better than them today and deserved to take this win.

And once again, our US Cup journey comes to an abrupt end as Orlando City was just to strong for us to overcome, as we lose to them in the Semi Finals. 

MLS Cup

FC Dallas took a shock lead against us as we head home knowing that we have to do much better when we meet again.

It was a much closer affair this time round as we scraped through into the finals on penalties 

No mercy given as we outclassed NYCFC (ironically my first club) to claim the MLS Cup as our own!

Club World Cup Championship

Chelsea is undoubtedly the most difficult of all teams that we face but we managed to be on par with them most of the day and a couple of solid goals by Bilic and Casiple secured us our Club World Cup Championship!
 

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Player/Targets

Spoiler

 

So the most important part...how did Rojas do? This is how he looks like now:

Some of the attributes have dropped off a bit but he still remains as strong as ever!

27 goals and 20 assists this season! A beautiful performance by Rojas, surpassing that of the 1st season and that will go a long way in helping to bring the tally even closer to the required amount!

Targets

• 90 MLS Goals by Rojas (Current: 52)
• 85 MLS Assists by Rojas (Current: 39)
• League
• Cup

Getting closer now! Another 2 good season with similar stats and that should be sufficient for us to complete this stage and move onto the next!

Do stay tuned to find out more!

 

 

Edited September 4, 2018 by chewkaiwen

[chewkaiwen]

Season 12: Strength to Strength

Transfers

Spoiler

 

We continue our trend of offloading fringe players for large sums of money and using that money to purchase younger, much higher potential talents to transform our team.

Already looking rather decent while being only 16 in age, has plenty of potential! Will start off as a sub, but as the game progresses and he improves, expect him to be part of the first team.

Surprised that I could even get him for just 1.9m. Looks like a fantastic prospect and he will likely start or play off the bench.

Decent striker that can fit into the backup role nicely. Has decent aerials and a very strong player generally which should help him play the target man role quite nicely.

Backup defender. Brought him in to cover due to a lack of defenders and he doesn't look too shabby as a backup either!

Brought in on a Bosman, a really good looking player who can play the entire defence. Young age means he has plenty of room to improve!

The sole purpose of bringing him in is because he looks rather decent, and he doesn't play international football. Will be a great help when half my team disappears for internationals.

Another GK you might ask. Yeap, well he is free, and he is young with potential to improve definitely. Looking rather good a prospect for the future!

Bosman player and I am rather happy with this lad. Slots in nicely as a backup defender and he has rather strong physical attributes and mental attributes to go with him as well!

 

League

Spoiler

 

Going in as defending champions, the onus for was us to do as well as we did last season, or even better! But Orlando still remains a powerhouse and so we need to be wary of that threat as well!

Well, we swept aside the league! Some turmoil in Orlando due to managerial changes did help us plenty but we won't care as we will be taking the Supporter's Shield for yet another season! Much more convincing a win this time!

 

 

 

Cup

Spoiler

 

NACL

We destroyed them at home, a stunning performance gave us a massive advantage going into the 2nd leg!

A much changed side in the 2nd leg unfortunately could not score despite dominating the match, but even so the first leg result was enough to send us into the next round!

Another convincing victory, 4-0 means rotation can take place for the 2nd leg!

No chances given as my much rotated team breezed into the Semis, local youth player Casiple managing a goal as well!

A much sterner test in Toronto FC awaited us in the Semis, but we gave them no mercy in the first leg as we took a 3-0 lead by the first 46 minutes into the game. Toronto managed to score a late away goal courtesy of Fink meaning nothing is certain yet!

But the 2nd leg did not go any better for them! 3-0 up in the 20th minute thanks to a Bilic brace and a Konate screamer, we could then afford to make a couple of rotation subs to rest our players. A late consolation goal for Toronto did not really take much shine off the 6-2 aggregate victory that we obtained.

The first leg away from home was tight, and only a Rojas goal separated us for them as we went into the 2nd leg...

...where we did not make any mistakes! Yet another NACL trophy, this is becoming my pet tournament already!

US Cup

Our reserve team made no mistakes against San Jose here, Casiple showing his potential and pace as he scores 2 goals on either side of the half time whistle to give us a 2-0 win and entry to the 5th round of the cup!

A derby 5th round of the US Cup, and we fail to qualify as home, shockingly to the dismay of the home fans! An early goal by Parra meant that things seemed to be going as per norm, but a red card by Victor for a rash challenge meant we were down to 10 men. Dallas then managed to equalise, before getting a late winner to knock us out! No US Cup for us this season sadly.

MLS Cup

FC Dallas yet again, we take a 3-2 lead away from home which is vital. Will be rather annoyed that we conceded 2 goals after going 3-0 up which only serves to make this tie more open than it should have been.

FC Dallas this time gets a man sent off! And while we dominated the match, we failed to find a way through to score a goal. Tobin made it 1-0 for them in this leg, but late goals by Rojas and De Sart gave us the 2-1 win and the overall win on aggregate!

The finals saw us dispatch San Jose in the first leg with a 3-0 lead, Casiple with a brace and Clough getting on the scoresheet as well.

The big win in the first leg allowed us to do a bit of rotation for the 2nd leg and we did well yet again. A 4-0 win at home sends us to the MLS Cup Final well rested!

Our old nemesis in Orlando City yet again in the final! It was a rather even match and they managed to cancel out our early goal by Bilic through Lukic. However we responded with more goals in kind. Sadly for Orlando, they could find no way back into the match until Lichnovsky scored in the 88th minute. What followed was a mad scramble by Orlando looking for an equaliser, but they could not find it and we hold on for the win and to lift the MLS Cup!

Club World Cup Championship

Faced off a familiar team in Tampines, a Singaporean club from my homeland! And while we dominated the match, we could only shake our head at our poor finishing today as we had to bring a match that we should have easily won into a needless extra time. Goals from Casiple and Maretti gave us the win and prevented the lottery that is penalties.

The semi finals went a lot better, with Gremio going 1 man down rather early in the match. However, we could only end the first half tied 1-1. The second half was an entirely different story though, as we took a 4-2 win and went into the finals!

We faced off against the Galaticos that is Real Madrid in the finals! We did well to equalise each time we went down and the full time score was 2-2. What followed afterwards was a moment of "what could have been" when Rojas missed a penalty in the 119th minute! As a result, we had to resort to penalties to decide who will win! Sadly, it would be Real Madrid who will take the win today, 6-5 on penalties!

 

Fixtures

Spoiler

 

 

Player/Targets

Spoiler

 

With such a successful season, how did Rojas get along?

Still looking good at 29 I must say! He did drop in the number of goals this season, but has increased in the number of assists which is always a welcome news to see! Inching even closer to the desired targets now! 

Targets

• 90 MLS Goals by Rojas (Current: 76)
• 85 MLS Assists by Rojas (Current: 62)
• League
• Cup

Still lacking just 14 MLS goals and 23 MLS assists! If all goes well next season, we could just finish it by the end of next season! If not, we will likely do it by the next season!

Do stay tuned to find out more!

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by chewkaiwen

[Seth Anacondas]

Fantastic season, took RM to the limit. Konate is probably J.M. Seri's regen; De Sart is probably Fellaini, even with 20 Technique.

[Scratch]

Yeah, doing nicely here! Hope you tick off the targets next season!