Previously on La Plata: Vice, Gonzalo Higuaín kept Inter Miami’s CONCACAF dreams alive in spectacular fashion.
Intro
This is my final POV save update from The MLS Save™, and it feels like it has come round quick…despite these two seasons taking FIVE months IRL time! I’m so glad Chris (FM Eadster) and I could finally crack on and do this network save because it’s been an absolute blast. Two seasons of chaos, as we traipsed MLS rules and regulations towards a trophy-laden spell for both our clubs: Portland Timbers and Inter Miami. Every kick, every career season injury and every Higuaín touchdown captured live on Twitch.
But if you have not been tuning in, no sweat, today’s blog brings readers up-to-speed of the events of Season 2’s climax. For my Miami squad, that’s a chance to add to the growing collection of trophies we won from Season 1. Can we mix domestic successes alongside continental cups? That’s all answered below. I’ll also reflect on whether Chris and I realised the fabled ‘American Dream’. Are we good at the game? Is the AI terrible at it? A bit of both? Again, I’ll try to answer honestly.
I’ll conclude this post by offering out the save file, for anybody wishing to take on Portland or Miami for the 2023 season and onwards. Can you rebuild squads to match the same levels of success? We’d love to see The American Dream continue…
Season 2022: Climax
A bit like last season, I’ve tackled the competitions in chronological order. So, that begins by opening the new Miami Freedom Park’s doors to a bonus continental cup competition against some Mexicans. Tasty…
2022 Campeones Cup
I never encountered the Mexican Apertura and Clausura decider dubbed the ‘Campeón de Campeones’ when managing as Hugo Ojeda in FM20. If I had, I may have experienced the subsequent Campeones Cup, which sees the the winner of the Liga MX climax face-off against the MLS Cup Winners. Having won the 2021 MLS Cup it was a nice surprise to host this continental final in our brand new stadium against CF Monterrey, and for the first time compete against Mexican opposition.
There were a few sub-plots prior to kick-off, but none greater than $12m Esteban Andrada going up against his former team. Other than being well beaten by a Maxi Meza thunderbolt, the Argentine Goalkeeper held up well. As did Golzalo Higuaín, who showed he’s still putting a shift in an Inter Miami shirt despite an agreed move back to Serie A with Lazio for 2023…
A 1st continental trophy for Inter Miami.
CONCACAF Champions League
The colossal aggregate win Vs Portland Timbers set up another MLS opponent in Toronto for the huge semi. I was delighted to avoid any Mexican side…but not facing The Union was pleasing (after losing home and away to them earlier in the regular MLS season), but we still had to get through a nervy 1-0 home win and then win on Canadian soil. “We did it”™️, onto the Final…to face Santos Laguna…
Anybody in the stream that night would have seen how good Santos Laguna were. Their 4-2-3-1 had a good player in every position and they were also in hot form in Liga MX. Other than tackling harder on a few key players, we’d instead hope we were the ones turning up with our A-Game. After 7 minutes, there were signs we would get just that. Georgie Boy Acosta releasing Robbie Robinson with a fine lofted through ball, who dispatched with ease to make it 1-0. Two young American talents combining…FUCK YEAH!
We scrapped the barrels of our squad and had to dig deep in terms of fitness, and unsurprisingly the Mexcans came at us in the 2nd half. They went ahead on minute 71 with a fine strike from range by Alan Cervantes. We needed some Moneyball-infused-miracle, which we luckily had on the bench…
A 2nd continental trophy for Inter Miami.
Enter: “King Billy” Rivas 👑, a guy identified from the Colombian 2nd Division in FM Stag’s data-led scouting collaboration. Both Chris Eadie and I agreed during the Full Match mode that Miami needed something different upfront. Santos Laguna’s Dória was having a great game Vs Higuaín with his sheer physical presence. My GOAT clutch striker was unable to beat Dória in the air, nor have the pace to beat him in a ground race. So, Rivas was on in the 73rd minute. On reflection it was probably a good time to make the change, there’s not much in it in terms of Acceleration and Pace between Dória and Rivas (same Acceleration with Rivas +1 in Pace)…but more decisively: one had already played over an hour…and the other was entering the game with fresh legs. I think it made a difference, King Billy scored with his first touch to make it 2-2 and sometimes an injury time winner is just written in the stars. 3-2 Miami, cue pandemonium in the Sunshine State 🏆
Rivas getting in behind of Dória to make in 3-2 in injury time 🔥
MONEYBALL
📈💸⚽
MONEYBALL 📈💸⚽
Major League Soccer
15 consecutive home wins in a row allowed Inter Miami to defend their Eastern Conference 1st place with relative ease. However, we yielded our Supporters’ Shield to a vastly improved Portland Timbers side…who quite frankly made a mockery of Major League Soccer. To find out how it was done, see a tactical insight from FM Eadster in the near future (keep refreshing his coffeehousefm page just in case it gets posted).
Inter Miami can look positively on how the season went however, we have bettered goals scored (+7 goals), goals conceded (-10) and improved overall points (+14 points). I was not expecting a vast difference, seeing that we kept faith with the 4-4-2, but seeing marginal gains is pleasing and highlights our 2022 recruitment made us that little bit better…
2022 Supporters’ Shield
More green than yellows and red, I’ll take that!
MLS Playoffs
In the playoffs, I eventually had to face Philly Union again in the Eastern Conference playoff final. Luckily, I had home advantage and secured MLS Cup entry with a Rodolfo Pizarro late goal 5 minutes from time. 3-2 Miami.
But there was no perfect finish to the save. After all the trophies and wins, both Chris and I lost our final match of The MLS Save against Kansas Fucking City (KFC). They played liked wizards and we were deservedly beaten, no qualms here.
There would be no consecutive MLS Cup wins for Inter Miami. Boooo.
The American Dream
MLS clubs sign ‘Designated Players’ on lucrative deals, which are usually internationally recognisable players (e.g. Gonzalo Higuaín). Given the success of both Ángel Bastardo and Ruslan Chepiga, have we moved into a new MLS era of ‘Designated Head Coaches’? Just look at the trophy haul of 2021-2022:
Eleven trophies, two seasons.
Eleven trophies in two seasons, which include two CONCACAF Champions Leagues, Two Supporters’ Shields and an MLS Cup shows the levels of instant domination we’ve had on the continent. It’s remarkable (imo) considering we also played with the 2021 default squads, having disabled the transfer window. Are we really good at the game? Looks that way, however I still think we can come up short…and the Kansas City results show that.
Instead, what Chris and I have both found is that our recruitment and squad management is vastly superior to the AI’s. It’s why a two season MLS save feels long enough, especially given the unique trading and drafting systems that are alien to the rest of Football Manager’s out-of-the-box leagues. The AI just doesn’t seem wise enough to recruit and retain good players. To be clear, I’m not knocking the game; there’s been bits of AI intuition that has genuinely surprised us but I do feel humans (such as Chris and his MLS guides) can manage MLS better right now.
Divergence, CreativeFM and Rebuilds
We’re now breaking away with the save game file and doing something uNiQuE: blogging a forced divergence: Ángel Bastardo and Ruslan Chepiga leave MLS and will head to different leagues. Both Head Coaches share a blogging cinematic universe, but the narratives/stories that now play out are independent within our own saves. Expect some CreativeFM to move our stories forward post-MLS.
However, this does leave the Head Coach positions at both Inter Miami and Portland Timbers open for applications. Both clubs are in need of a rebuild of sorts, as is customary for an MLS side in the off-season. Can you continue the trend of success? If you’re in need for a new challenge in Football Manager, then feel free to download the file and let us know how you get on…
Think you can do better? Click on the image for the save file, and play soccerball…
Inter Miami in 2023 will be losing Designated Player Gonzalo Higuaín to Lazio on a Free Transfer, who has scored 43 MLS goals in two seasons. Other First Team names needing immediate contract talks are George Acosta, Leandro González Pírez and Joevin Jones. The General Manager, Herb Simon, also retires. Will you use Miami’s millions to invest in homegrown talent or sign the next Miami Galáctico?
Portland Timbers in 2023 wave goodbye to retiring Diego Chará and Carlos Tevez. First Team names soon-to-be-expiring are Steve Clark and Saad Abdul-Salaam, with Cristhian Paredes and Josecarlos Van Rankin departing. Can you keep the Samba football flowing, and build around the Brazilian trio of Golano, Paulinho and Nathan?
“Thank you” to lots of people, but notably:
All the guys that have been in the stream over the last few months. Wangballs/Gavballs, Miami Ultras, CJ Johnsons, Froms, Pressures, Rensies et al…
To FM Stag, for his help with the data-led scouting approach that brought continental success to Miami (and King Billy 👑).
To Arun, for his help behind the scenes…in keeping my creative writing on the straight and narrow with 1st class proofing.
To Ed Wilson for guesting on co-comms that one time.
To Dan Gear [paid mention].
And lastly, to Chris/FM Eadster for making America Fun Again.
I will be back shortly with a blog relating to a powerboat race…
FM Grasshopper / Tony