Previously on La Plata: Vice, Ángel Bastardo plotted towards war.

Intro

Make no mistake, I am loving this save. After a difficult 6 months in MLS (documented here), Inter Miami have finally accepted Ángel Bastardo as the Head Coach to steer them into the path of glory. Does this mean a first ever club trophy win? No sweat: a 2021 Supporters’ Shield for being absolutely the best side in the league. Most goals, most points and sexy football too. Inter Miami have been sensational in the final few months of the domestic regular season, I can’t wait to share it with you in this blog.

Today’s blog therefore brings readers up-to-speed on the happenings of the The MLS Network Save, which features fellow blogger Chris aka FM Eadster, as we look ahead to the climax of Season: the 2021 MLS playoffs. But firstly, I’m going to write about something that has been an enjoyable sideshow in the save so far: the league’s Trading system.

Vamos.

Trading Places

Think back to the 1990s school playground in the height of Merlin Premier League sticker season, you'd do anything to get that shiny Eric Tinkler sticker. If you're too young to remember those, or were yet to exist, think Pokémon or whatever it is nowadays…an NFT blockchain monkey John Terry dressed in a football kit?

In those times, we'd trade. We’d do anything to complete the set…money changed hands, favours…I even coaxed my dad into taking me to the McDonald's Fast Food chain to SitNSwap. My experiences in Football Manager 2022's Major League Soccer is a throwback to those times. 'Trading' is a unique way to build your side, a dynamic between MLS clubs that is similar to the 90s playground.

For trading to work well, not only can you use the league's dollars (from the pot known as 'General Allocation Money'), you can also trade ordered draft picks, player rights, international slots and also players themselves (read FM Eadster’s handy guide here for more info). In The MLS Save, I did a mix of some of these things in a busy September; as shown in the below graphic:

A critic (let’s call him Stan Fear) could say that giving away an International Slot for a DP of 4 months is desperate business, but I still feel I played the Trade System well having built up a surplus of International slots in the first place. I replaced a Right Back like-for-like. I swapped an unhappy squad player, and replaced him with a risk-free DP signing of Nani and ended up +1 International slots for next season (2022 year). To top all that, I have several early picks in the MLS Superdraft, meaning that I could possibly acquire a couple of promising youngsters to leave a little legacy at Miami. This system was really fun, well done Major League Soccer. Now how did those signings do?

Season 2021: Regular Season Climax

It’s often said that “a picture paints a thousand words”, so here is a quick high-level overview of the trophy laden drama of our first attempt at regular season in Major League Soccer. Obviously, we have the playoffs still to come…but this is a really impressive haul of success for Chris & I:

At the midpoint of the season, Orlando City were 15 points clear of Inter Miami. But the onset of their slide was caused by the Flordian Derby defeat to yours truly back in August. It obviously helped further when I took Nani from them via a trade. Weaken.A.Rival is probably the lesson learned here, as we traded places in MLS two weeks before the regular season ended.

13 wins (including one away at Chepiga’s Portland Timbers) in the final 19 games of the season saw us rise up to top both Eastern Conference, and also win the prestigious Supporters’ Shield. Inter Miami’s first ever trophy, built on entertaining soccer, is another footnote in the legend of Bastardo 😍

As for the incoming trades mentioned earlier, Graham Zusi played a lot more than I originally thought (8 starts/730 minutes). He has been solid and will probably feature in a few further playoff minutes (however a replacement Right Back is still a must for Season 2’s recruitment). Nani’s 4 month stay will probably be best remembered for his two goals Vs Atlanta, the first being linked below as a #GIFGoal. It’s one of the best strikes I’ve seen in FM22 so far, and you can read what Chris Eadie thought about it below. I’m hoping he can produce similar bits of magic during the playoffs, before we wave goodbye to him and use the DP slot on somebody a bit younger and more consistent.

442 - “Going into Lockdown”

I mentioned last time in the blog that I was cautiously optimistic about how we’d do in a 4-4-2. Early signs were suggesting we’d be a threat on the flanks and produce more entertaining soccer (a Club Vision), and it’s certainly been realised with the amount of goals we scored over the regular season. However, an overlooked quality is the ability to see out a game in this 4-4-2, something I was keen to do after that horrific 3-2 home defeat Vs Orlando City (as mentioned last time out). Chris (@FMEadster) and I often use the term "lockdown" during the streams to mean shutting out a game. But what is it? I explain in the below Loom video…

So far Lockdown in the 4-4-2 has been a rip-roaring success, having sacrificed a winning position from minutes 70 onwards on just one occasion (Vs Columbus Crew which finished 2-2). Is it time you entered lockdown too?

Playoffs, Next

I am really liking the MLS league system, having a knockout competition after a league campaign is a throwback to both my Colombian (Junior - FM21) and Uruguayan (Peñarol - FM20) saves. Alongside CONCACAF qualification, another reward for winning the Supporters’ Shield is a bye to the Semi Final of the Eastern Conference playoffs. These are single legged ties, which I will play at home (another reward for topping the Eastern Conference table). ‘IF’ I make it to the Final and win…I’ll enter the coveted MLS Cup where I will face the winner of the Western playoffs.

Could that final be a rematch with Ruslan Chepiga? Tune in to find out: 📺 twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays).

As always, thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper