Sancho

A new game had to start since my computer is locked in a storage facility and I did not make copies of the previous game. I may take the Argentinian game in the future. Maybe.

Anyway - Armed with a laptop, very dangerous device for FM indeed... Don't remember much, since I didn't take notes during the games.

LEAGUES: Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico

Started with Lubeck (Regional Division North) in Germany. Halfway through the season though, things were not gelling between the team and me. We were doing fine, even managed to win here and there, but it just didn't feel right...

When a job offer came up with Veracruz (the Red Sharks), I applied and lo and behold - got it. Now, that's a challenge, being at the bottom of the relegation points table (the total number of points in three seasons divided by the number of games played)...

it makes it really hard to avoid relegation if you are at the bottom, and it makes it real easy if you are at the top... And we were at the bottom.

Season 1.2 - Tiburones. Clausura.
Best thing about the team - Pirate Stadium (and its rowdy fanbase - literally).

Managed to finish 6th, although still at the bottom of the relegation table. The defense was full of holes, and had three amazing goalies (on paper) who didn't really know how to play the game.

Season two - 9th. Not bad! We actually avoided relegation at the match date.

Season three. 11th. Now safe (the bad season was no longer used to quantify a relegation place), I started thinking about keeping the team up. We actually played quite nicely.

Season four. 5th. Did some major adjustments and managed to hire an amazing play maker - who has become the pillar of the team.

Special note: I am still learning how the league system works in this country. Even more intricate is the way the second and third teams are selected for the Libertadores Cup (don't even know how it works for the Sudamericana)... Anyway, there is a cup tournament to select the Libertadores teams. It lasts five days - one match a day, played in the U.S. where the top two teams gain a ticket. Not knowing we were going to be selected for such tournament, we bombed due to lack of fitness.

Season five. Currently ongoing - however we are playing like crap. Real crap - stay tuned....

Sancho

Forgot to add, last week, Veracruz got relegated in real life... a sad, sad story...

dwwindsor2003

You just have to love those no-notice tournements.

Nobby_McDonald

Aren't you from Mexico Sancho... and you don't know how the league structure works?

Klipdrift

I think Sancho is still trying to figure out how football works Nobby...

Sancho

Amen Klip... still working on that...
Just finished another season... Will post it soon; I will try and explain how it works.

Each division has 18 teams divided into three groups of six. Now, there are three different tables to keep track of:

1) The general table (who is on top and who isn't).

2) The relegation table (the ratio of points in the last three seasons to the number of games played).

3) The Groups table... (how the six teams in eahch group are doing).

This last one is important because at the end of each season, the top two teams of each group (six teams total)pass on to a playoff stage. The best four teams outside of the first six compete for the last two spots in the playoffs. This gives eight teams for the playoffs. The winer becomes the champion for the season. (so no, you don't have to be the best team to be the champ).

Now, there are two seasons per year. In January there is another tournament that is held in the U.S. (for money reasons) with eight teams divided into two groups. The top two teams become Mexico 2 and Mexico 3 for the Libertadores Cup.

And don't ask me how the teams for this tournament are selected because I know nothing of astrology...

Nobby_McDonald

Brain surgery seems simpler.

Quacky

Maybe it was this type of system that inspired the dutch playoff/relegation and European playoff mess that makes the whole season you just played seem entirely meaningless. It is possible for the team finishing dead last in eerste divisie to be promoted

Sancho

The question is, Nobby - why make things simple when you can make them complex?

It is a weird system - and it does bring discrepancies...

This year the third best team was about to be left out of the playoffs - because the top three were in the same group!!

Blocker11

Lost already!