Previously on La Plata: Colombia, Hugo Ojeda paid homage to Uruguay and poisoned some Russian spies.

Intro

Today’s post is a reflection from the midpoint of Season 3 (2023) with Junior de Barranquilla. FM Misery is an in-game year old, and despite my side overcoming a lot of tactical hurdles in those 12 months, we’re still prone to the odd glitch (especially in Finals…more on this later). But I do think we’re over the worst of our problems, and we’ve encountered a newfound confidence in the Copa Libertadores (South America’s highest continental club competition) with goals/entertainment no longer in short supply.

Welcome to a new paradise (kind of), I hope you enjoy your stay…

Season 2023: Apertura

Ins and Outs

My previous post was Uruguayan heavy, and I suppose that’s where we should pick up. As mentioned previously, in came Ignacio Laquintana on a Free Transfer who would go on to light up the Apertura campaign from a mixture of Right Back and Right Midfield. However we said adiós to two of the Uruguayan heroes of this save so far: Striker Matías Arezo (€2.5m to New York FC) & Central Midfielder Manuel Ugarte (€2m to Jiangsu Suning FC). Both had their release clauses activated and I graciously accepted the modest payment, which helped take the Overall Balance of the club to €16.5m (a save high to date).

Not motivated to spend it needlessly (especially given that I was pretty well stocked in these positions), I instead went for two 12-month loan deals to eat up the wage bill: Inverted Left Winger Jorge Carrascal (from River Plate) and centre back Lautaro Giannetti (Vélez Sarsfield). Both occupy First XI squad numbers, which should immediately tell you how much I rate them. If they live up to the hype, the good news is that we have agreed deals lined up for a combined €6m. 2023 squad numbers:

It has been a while since I made a squad number graphic (the last occasion was two in-game seasons ago in 2021), but I figured it’s now merited seeing as I have moved from a 4-2-3-1 DM to a Misery 4-4-2 during this time (more on that here). The creator of the side is the more withdrawn playmaker at No.5 (Deep Lying Playmaker) and my No.10 is currently a Pressing Forward (an experienced workhorse in Santiago Tréllez). However, as time goes on, I do envisage my No.10 becoming more Technically proficient (more No.10-like I guess); and I will probably look at a Deep Lying Forward or Trequartista to get on the ball and create some magic that way. The other coveted shirt number (No.9), goes to Jhon Durán who inherits it from departing ‘Arezogol’. Despite this, the carefully constructed No.9 succession plan I had in mind has been changed by the recent events, which is a nice segue into how the 2023 Opening Stage unfolded…

Categoría Primera A - Apertura

Opening up with a Super Cup win, we then went on to smash the traditional league, bettering last year’s opening performance (that time where I scrapped 6th on the final day) by 15 points. There is not much point sharing how the table looked, because Colombia is all about the Semi Final groups (and Final) which decide the league winner. But I do want to pay particular attention to a crazy Saturday afternoon in Cali on the 18th March, where we witnessed TWELVE goals. Not only did new boys Laquintana & Carrascal score, but we witnessed a 5 minute hat-trick from Barranquilla local boy Ricardo Caraballo. Both sides were armed to the death with xG (both in excess of 3.0), and it was really hard to keep up with what was going on. For a split second I thought I was levitating in some kind of trance-like state of altered consciousness. I took a moment post-match to catch my breath before I left clicked on Continue once more.

We then drew our next match 0-0 away at Millonarios 🙃

We got back into the goals during the Semi Final Group Stage. But perhaps there was an underlying problem with 40-year-old Sebastián Viera conceding some awful goals? It’s not nice to pin it on one guy, but I have suspected last time out that the Goalkeeper was a problem area for us now. Something I have improved before the Closing Stage, with the €2.5m acquisition of Argentine (and ex-Valencia youth player) Joaquín Blázquez. Nevertheless, Sebastián Viera would go into the finals Vs Independiente Medellín as captain, club record appearance holder and legend for the last time.

What went wrong? Well, I guess you don’t usually win titles conceding the first leg 2 nil. We missed sitters, truly awful sitters…and then allowed Leonardo Castro two replica headers at our goal. Each time I felt we switched off and allowed Medellín’s 15 league goal hitman that extra yard to pick his spot. It doesn’t matter if that he is only 175cm (and with Jumping Reach 9), give a player space and you can get stung like that.

In the 2nd leg we’d target that player (a bit like how FM Tahiti does it), and it worked really well. Castro blanked by playing a 6.8…but then I forgot about the power of Player X Scoring Against His Former Club, as I saw ex-Junior player Christian Higuita score a long ranger against me. We came back, helped by Caraballo once again and a MOTM performance from Sherman Cárdenas who reminded me how glorious he can be with 5 clear cut chances created (if we can believe it). 4-4 on aggregate at Full Time, and with no away goals ruling in Colombia, it meant one thing: penalties.

I was therefore delighted that we had trained them the day before…

2023 Copa Libertadores

Who cares about a domestic title when you’ve won it all before anyway? It’s all about the Copa Libertadores, and we’ve done really well in the Group Stage this year by topping Group B and booking a Last 16 tie against Ted Redwood Gaming’s Sporting Cristal. Winning up in the clouds at Club Bolívar gives me real hope we can do the same in Peru, and I’m dreaming of a great run in this competition.

Caraballogol

In addition to being a bit pedantic with squad numbering…I absolutely love giving a player a nickname [in my head at least]. It’s always reserved for the Special Golden Boys like FM17’s Colidigol, FM18’s Golmero or FM19’s The Fons, perhaps FM21 is going to be about one man, and one man only: Ricardo Caraballo AKA Caraballogol. 31 goals in 25 starts (all comps) from a mixture of Advanced/Pressing Forward, he’s outscored all of the Strikers that have come before him: Miguel Borja, Matías Arezo…and even pushed recent injury plagued Jhon Durán to the bench. There is no doubt that when I come to do my squad graphic next time round, Caraballogol will be occupying that No.9 shirt.

Although the affiliate link (which I dedicated a blog post to) has been cruelly ended due to Barranquilla FC’s recent promotion to the top flight. I can at least be thankful for one last gift before it was severed, with Ricardo moving to Junior Club for free. Despite not being blown away with sheer individual brilliance that we’ve seen in predecessors like Borja or Arezo…there is a ruthlessness about Caraballo that I just love to watch. All kinds of goals, right foot/left foot/headers/deflections…you name it, he’ll score it.

Ricardo Caraballo has already beaten Arezo’s save high of 27 goals in a calendar year. With 31 goals already clocked, I wonder how far he can go in the 2nd part of 2023 (estimated at another 25-30 games). With that in mind, who wants a poll? No? Don’t care, here it is…

There’s a few places to find out if Ricardo Caraballo scores more than 50 goals in a calendar year. One place is here on the blog (when the time is right), but the other places are FM Twitter and also over on FM Slack. I can’t promise them as your next “Nuevo Paraíso”, but they certainly bring me a lot of fun.

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring,

FM Grasshopper