"A Thousand Eyes" - La Plata: Mexico #FM20

Previously on La Plata: Mexico, Hugo Ojeda drove into enemy territory. Unarmed.


 
 

As predicted, Hugo Ojeda and Sinaloan Cartel associate Kike ‘Fingers’ Garcia were arrested, as soon as their car pulled up into the Tijuana Central Plaza, on the stroke of midday. Quickly bound, searched and blindfolded, the two prisoners were bundled into the back of a mob car and taken to a warehouse. Hugo had counted to around 900 before they arrived and he concluded that they were still deep within Tijuana territory; perhaps a 15-minute drive away from the Central Plaza.

It was here, in the damp warehouse where Hugo and Kike would be repeatedly beaten. Some 6-7 hours later, every bone in Hugo’s body felt shattered, but it was nothing like the beating that Kike Garcia had received. Neither of them had given away the locations of their allies and Kike was indeed still alive. His laboured breathing pulsed across the echoing chamber that they found themselves in. The amateur interrogators had failed to notice his life-like fingers and it was to be their glorious undoing, moments later. When tortured by the Tijuana Cartel in the past, Kike Garcia had given away on his friends, and his index fingers, in order to stay alive. The prosthetic extensions from his knuckles up were constant reminders of the shame that he had to live with up with till now. But today, those lost fingers would finally come back to haunt Tijuana… it was Kike’s moment of redemption, and Hugo Ojeda’s master plan.

By now, the Americans had arrived, crossing the border from San Diego and had entered the Cartel Compound. Hugo couldn’t be sure whether it was the DEA, the CIA, or the FBI… but they were inexcusably American, meddling in Mexico’s issues. For only the second time that day, Hugo’s blindfold was removed as he slumped in front of the two American Agents and Don Alejandro, the Tijuana Cartel Boss of Baja California.

The gout ridden, fat old man turned to face the Americans: “I present you the Venezuelan Cabron, who has been messing with us all. Bastardo’s Heir: ‘The Snake of Sinaloa.’ Take him as an extension of our friendship”.

Hugo could not wait to plant bullets into this hypocrite Drug Lord. Don Alejandro’s over indulgence in this world needed to end and even now, with his Cartel boxed in on home soil, he afforded Hugo Ojeda a sarcastic smile.

Habla Inglés?” asked one of Americans, a broad man with designer tinted sunglasses and dressed in full kevlar.

The reply from Hugo Ojeda was nothing like they would have expected: “Murciélagos”. The puzzled faces couldn’t grasp the meaning of the word, but soon they would. “Murciélagos”, Hugo repeated.

You call them ‘bats’ in English. The name of this Snake’s former soccer team. He is delirious… probably taken one whack too many today. Take him and shoot the other one. He is a nobody”. Having seen enough, Don Alejandro headed for the door, up till when a high pitched noise emanated from Kike’s index finger. It flashed red and the noise reverberated.

What is that? A tracking device? Did you amateurs not notice this?!” asked the second American. They both unholstered their sidearm pistols.

Murciélagos” said Kike, defiant in his final words, before being executed by Don Alejandro, with a single shot to the head. The pot bellied Don screamed to his guns to man the windows and block the doors. But it was too late… a noise in the distance grew louder and louder. It was as if a jungle was sweeping through the city, or was it radio waves on a terrible frequency? It became unbearable. The noise gathered momentum until the windows on both sides of the warehouse smashed through. Bats. Lots of bats.

The natural reaction of the Tijuana soldiers was to try and shoot them down, but the cloud of winged rodents did not disperse, and if anything, friendly fire brought some of the Tijuana soldiers to the floor. The million dollar sonar device in the index finger of Kike Garcia was the bats’ calling, and they came in thousands. Hugo Ojeda’s backup was not far along either, the Sinaloans and Free Folk having made their way across the City, following the flight of the bats. With their entrance already cleared, they made quick work of Hugo’s captors.

By now, anybody with sense was lying prone on the ground, doing their best to avoid the fire and the bats themselves. Hugo was quickly cut free by an incoming Sinaloan and he immediately reached for Kike’s hand, ripping off the index finger and throwing it out the window. The possessed bats flew after their addiction once more, smashing any glass that remained, giving respite to those inside. Helped to his feet and given a pistol, Hugo Ojeda made his way to the fat Don Alejandro. The Cartel Boss had been shot in the arm, but his wincing was soon put to an end… as Hugo opened fire on his stomach, completely emptying the pistol’s rounds. The Head of the Tijuana Cartel’s body became a fractured mess.

Now it was on to the Americans, who had made the sensible choice in remaining neutral during the skirmish. They were huddled together like terrified refugees. Hugo Ojeda knew what it felt like. He advanced on them slowly, blood stained and with a terrible limp: should he kill them? Ángel Bastardo once said that killing an American wakes a thousand eyes. It was undoubtedly the Argentine’s biggest mistake. He knew it and he made sure Hugo Ojeda understood this too. Ordering the killing of a single American UN diplomat on that cold night in Russia started the unstoppable chain of events that ultimately led to The Fall. Ojeda would not make this same mistake. The Americans must be spared. They shouldn’t be here in Mexico, Hugo thought... but then, maybe, he shouldn’t be here either. After all, this was Mexico’s war; nobody else’s.

Hugo lowered his gun, “Return home, Gringos. And take this with you. You will need it if I ever see you here again”.

Hugo threw his crucifix necklace to the ground in front of them. He nodded to the Sinaloans looting the warehouse and they hoisted and pushed the Americans out of the door, their heavy handedness reaffirming Hugo’s message. Hugo sandwiched his gun between his shirt and torn trousers and turned to face his loyal men who had come to his aid. He afforded them a rare smile and nod, before heading to the exit.

This was a win for Sinaloa. With Don Alejandro dead, Sinaloa finally had the border rights and access to the biggest market for its product: The United States of America. However, Hugo Ojeda would make sure that this was his victory; His victory with the Sinaloa bosses, who were currently hiding away, back in home territory. With the crucifix off, not even God would be watching. A thousand eyes and one: oblivious as to what was going to happen next. It was time for Hugo Ojeda to assume command and complete Operation Isabella.

Sinaloa would be his.


Notes from the Editor - As an offshoot from my FM20 Peñarol save with Bastardo, Mexico has been really fun. We’ve had four years here in Sinaloa with some incredible highs and some laughably low moments. From Murciélagos FC to Dorados, we rose from Ascenso MX to Liga MX and stayed there. But this save, as previously mentioned, isn’t a fairytale; its primary purpose was to introduce you to Hugo Ojeda and his unfaltering ambition to reach the top of the drug game.

It’s why I am calling time on our story here, on the cusp of Hugo’s ascent to Sinaloan Drug Lord status. With border rights finally secured and Operation Isabella complete, it’s time for Hugo Ojeda to take a pause from Football Management and build his empire. You’ll just have to imagine the fire.

A huge thanks for the readership and comments with La Plata: Mexico. It came at a time of great upheaval for everybody and the escapism to write, and perhaps for those reading too, was a welcome distraction. I hope we all have a better second half of 2020.

The FM20 save in its entirety can be read from start-to-finish here: fmgrasshopper.com/fm20.

FM Grasshopper

"King of The Fall" - La Plata: Mexico #FM20

Previously on La Plata: Mexico, Hugo Ojeda trusted in youth.



Intro

There’s a number of loose ends to tie up in today’s blog. Not only is it the end of the 2026/27 Liga MX campaign, it’s also the last ‘save update’ that I’ll be doing for FM20. In today’s post I not only share my mood with Football Manager 2020 throughout this year’s cycle, but I also throw in a few #GIFGoals and conclude with some CreativeFM. I hope you enjoy all, or some parts, of today’s post…


Season 2026/27

Liga MX - Whilst taking a step back from this particular MX Stage, keeping Dorados de Sinaloa in Liga MX was always the aim. We’ve managed to do it on two separate occasions now and thus achieving the Board’s ambition to establish Dorados as a Liga MX team. However, I can’t help feeling disappointed at the sheer absurdity of our defence this year. We only kept one clean sheet in 21 games (all comps). As mentioned last time out on the blog, I trusted in youth and kept signings down to a minimum, maybe we were always likely to have a dip before we got better?

Offensively we were strong though, we ranked 4th in the league and outscored a number of big teams. We saw Carlo Limón become a 20-goal-a-season Striker and also bettered Conrado Verón’s return, who directly contributed towards 17 goals (10 goals and 7 assists all comps). Entertainment was certainly provided to the Estadio Banorte faithful and the Board equally satisfied with our Attacking Football club vision. B- is Hugo Ojeda’s final performance rating for the season and 15th is our Closing Stage finish:

A famous 4-3 win Vs Club América was almost on the cards until the Referee forgot to blow his whistle, ensuring América scored on 90+7.

Dorados’ next manager will have a slightly easier task than Hugo Ojeda, in that the club enter their third consecutive year of Liga MX with an average of 1.08 points over the three years:

Copa MX - Not much to say here. We had a great first leg draw away at Deportivo Toluca in the Last 16…only to choke in the home leg…totally out of character seeing as that we thumped them 5-1 later on in the season at home. No trophies for Hugo Ojeda in FM20.

The Curious Case Of Murciélagos FC Part II - Fellow Venezuelan and former Assistant Manager to Hugo Ojeda, Guillermo Ramírez, has done a stellar job at Sinaloa’s 2nd best team since taking over. But he incredibly falls at the final hurdle for the second year running since taking over from Ojeda. An amazing nine match winning run propelled Murciélagos FC into the Ascenso MX Playoff Final…who were cruelly stopped in their tracks by Potros UAEM. I feel for some of my virtual ex-players, particularly Enzo Cabrera who had his best season with 12 goals and 7 assists across the 2026/27 Ascenso MX campaigns. Seeing Murciélagos FC’s fortunes has been a great side-story in this save, 10/10 for narrative building:


My Mood with Football Manager 2020

A few months ago I told those in my FM Slack channel that I would put together a graph which tracked my mood with Football Manager 2020. Nobody probably remembers, but here I am with a graph to show my personal ups-and-downs with FM20:

September & October - at this point in time Football Manager 2020 was not yet released, but the hype was certainly building. I was in the process of finalising my South American guides, which have been awesome to put together, and I was also carefully in the process of framing the start of my FM20 adventure with Bastardo & Peñarol. I was optimistic and 5 on the scale of FMG happiness.

Release Day - For ****’s sake. My mood reached a record low of -8 on FM20 release date. I mean, it was a disaster. Most of the young players in my opening save’s Universe had Determination 1. To quote one of my early FM20 blog posts:

Football Manager 2020’s release day was a weird one. I didn’t expect to undertake so many house chores on my precious single day of annual leave without the wife and kids. This day is annually dedicated to Football Manager and only Football Manager. Yet I dusted [and then vacuumed] the house, ran the washing machine twice, made a fresh Arrabbiata dish [with crouton starter] and moisturised my face.

Source: https://fmgrasshopper.com/blog/2019/11/26/fighting-fatigue-training-tactics-and-familiarity-rio-de-la-plata-fm20

Still, my mood never reached -10. I was really pleased with my save introduction(s) and a release day patch from Sports Interactive at least rescued the evening.

November was also a big month content-wise for me due to the release of the inaugural edition of Latte Quarterly, a quarterly Football Manager publication. I’m really happy with how it’s been received and humbled to be one of its four Editors (along with accordingtofm, FM Adventure and FM Samo). It’s not all about us though, if you want to submit content and be part of it…contact us: lattequarterly@gmail.com.

December to March - I personally feel that your relationship with Football Manager is largely dependent on how good it’s going in-game. If you’re losing a lot, then it’s probably not going to be enjoyable. But winning makes you love the game. This is what I did at Peñarol and Uruguay: 4 straight league titles and an International trophy with La Celeste. The Copa America Final Vs Brazil helped me reach a glorious high of 9, I loved FM20 and it’s one of two monumental highs with this year’s edition. With the second arriving a few months later…

April to August - It’s hard to write about 2020 and not mention the global pandemic. It changed a lot about the way we live, work and how we connect with others. For me, I had to take a little time away from Football Manager; I was lucky enough to carry on working from home, but I had also gained a secondary job of home-schooling two kids. I was exhausted by the evening time and therefore had many early nights without FM 😴

Strangely though, the lockdown months were a time where I could reflect and switch up my save. We once again pushed the creative boundaries within my Bastardo Universe (who doesn’t love a Stadium shoot-out?) and I took the plunge of creating a new in-game Manager within the same save universe. Not something I’ve seen done often enough and something I explore in an upcoming edition of Latte Quarterly 🔌

La Plata: Mexico was born and with it came the most volatile few months of FM Grasshopper mood swings. Lows in the Murciélagos FC days (-2) to an FM20 high when Dorados de Sinaloa gained promotion to Liga MX via the Mexican play-off system (9). It’s truly been a great save, but it now feels right to call it a day; seeing Dorados established in Liga MX and making Hugo Ojeda the King from Bastardo’s fall.


GIFGoals of FM20

I have managed four teams in Football Manager 2020: Peñarol, Uruguay, Murciélagos FC and Dorados. So, I thought I would share my favourite goal from each of those teams, as a tribute to #GIFGoals…the hashtag myself and Ondrej (FM Rensie) frequently used during the FM20 cycle.

Peñarol - Cristian Rodríguez Vs Danubio - 24 February 2019

One of the main attractions to taking on Peñarol was some of the golden oldies they had in their squad. What I like about the goal above is that it’s a combination of three of the main players from my 1st season back in 2019. It’s finished with such ruthlessness too by Cristian Rodríguez aka ‘Cebolla’, who I managed to get the best out of with 14 goals that year from left wing.

Uruguay - Edinson Cavani Vs Brazil - 12 July 2020

2020 Copa América: the tournament that never happened in real-life, not at the time of writing anyway (it’s been rescheduled for 2021). But my God, this was a fun tournament to capture for the blog, and the accompanying Twitch stream I did for the final Vs Brazil. Here’s Cavani putting Uruguay 1 nil up after 4 mins, from a delicious ball by Nahitan Nández. Managing El Matador was an FM20 pleasure, Cavani was simply undroppable even in his advancing years as we entered the 2022 World Cup. Mancrush.

Murciélagos FC - Enzo Cabrera Vs Loros de la Universidad de Colima - 02 March 2024

It wasn’t hard to sift through the goals at Murciélagos FC. The above goal remains memorable to me as it was one of the brief moments of magic from Enzo Cabrera - a player signed on a free from Newell's Old Boys. If you read the above update regarding Murciélagos FC, you’ll see that the young Argentine eventually came good in Mexico and I am pleased to see him scoring more often (just not with me).

Dorados de Sinaloa - Edwuin Cetré Vs CF Atlante - 24 May 2025

I have spoken about this goal at length before (read here). It’s still my favourite Dorados goal and recent memory from FM20, not only did I have my mate FM Samo watching it with me live in a call…it also confirmed our promotion to Liga MX. The goal scorer, Edwuin Cetré, also holds a place in my heart…I inherited him when I took over and he always put a shift in for us.

DORADOS DORADOS DORADOS.


King of The Fall

24-year-old Hugo Ojeda stood in front of the Sinaloa Cartel council, a collection of their elder statesmen and most trusted advisers. Patriarchs of the times before cocaine and politicians, men who had overseen the 5 year war with Baja California from the comfort of their mountain retreats. But their unease at being so deep within enemy territory was now showing. Hugo had brought them out here to the frontier of urban Tijuana to discuss the moves to end this war. The instructions laid out in Operational Isabella, by the now imprisoned Ángel Bastardo, had long run out…Hugo Ojeda was running unscripted and guided by instinct. But Sinaloa was on the cusp of winning this war, their enemies penned in. His mixture of Venezuelan and Uruguayan soldiers positioned themselves around the city perimeter, only the Sinaloans would make attacks within the city itself. Ojeda's active pacifism had been noted by the Sinaloa Cartel…they wanted answers and sight of a plan to finish the job.

Hugo's plan came with its risks. A single Sinaloan plated car driven to Tijuana central plaza would be tracked as soon as it entered the city sights. If not shot at right away, the occupants would be captured, blindfolded and taken to a secure site. If they were deemed important enough, they would survive the first beating. Only a Cartel Boss would be luckily enough to be interrogated…but Hugo Ojeda…? It had to be him that went.

On the face of it Hugo Ojeda was nothing to Tijuana. But to the Americans, and to one Russian in particular, he was like gold dust. He held the key to the fragments of Bastardo's criminal empire and the links to the Colombian white powder imports into Mexico. Get Hugo Ojeda across the border from Tijuana to San Diego and you would starve Sinaloa of its money in the short-term, and secure the backing of America and Mexico City for much longer. The heads of the Tijuana Cartel would love nothing more than to look upon the downtrodden Venezuelan who had made their lives hell these last 5 years. That's how Hugo stays alive after the first beating…enough time for him to call for backup. Enough time for Sinaola to rally behind him and remove the Tijuana Cartel once and for all.

This is how Operational Isabella was to be concluded and with that the small council nodded and adjourned. Hugo headed for the car…for every battle is won before it's ever fought…right?

To be continued, fairly soon…

FM Grasshopper

"El Futuro" - La Plata: Mexico #FM20


I drew this babe in Dorados colours.


Intro

Last time out on the blog, I wrote about how two experienced players helped retain our status as a Liga MX club. Despite these two players (Javier Güemez & Joaquín Laso) being absolute bargain signings in their advancing years, they only ever amounted to a 6-12 month stop gap. If Dorados de Sinaloa were to remain in the Mexican Big Time for years to come…then we had to look to the future.

Despite the likelihood of this being my final season in Mexico, it’s not a time to throw away the realism and splash the cash…it’s about leaving Dorados de Sinaloa in a good place. Ensuring we’re fit for the future, embracing the Club Vision that existed before Ojeda’s arrival and mixing well against Mexico’s elite.

This is the topic of today’s discussion. Vamos Sinaloa!


Season 2026/27

Liga MX - I was feeling upbeat after the first 5 games of the season. Unbeaten and in the playoff places…until a fairly dismal run of one win in 14 leagues games. But it’s my job to find some positive spin on this, as nobody else will do this for me.

Firstly, we’ve integrated more younger players this year (more on this later). It’s a bold strategy, seeing that 1.21 average points going into the season isn’t exactly guaranteeing no relegation fight…but my justification is that I am banking on at least a couple of teams being worse than us.

Another positive is that we’re no longer getting hammered like in the previous year’s Opening Stage. Ok, we’re drawing a lot…but I do think I’ve been unlucky in some games and some of them should have been wins. No need to panic.

We sit 16th and 1.13 on Average Points. Survival is in our hands seeing that Loros have an abysmal 0.63 Average Points and we also better a number of other teams. But we really need an improved Closing Stage, to ensure we don’t fall into an unnecessary relegation dogfight 🤞🏻

Copa MX - Good news for Sinaloa though: Dorados top a Copa MX Group and progress to the Second Round (where we meet Deportivo Toluca over two legs). Despite contrary reports, here at FM Grasshopper HQ we love a cup run and knockout games; we’ll do what we can to win silverware as we look to wrap up FM20 in style 🤞🏻


El Futuro

I have not been at Dorados long enough to complete some kind of Homegrown XI Challenge, but what Mexico does is force you to field domestic players. I really like this extra challenge and it leads you to think about how you utilise FM’s Development Centre and player pathways, from youth team through to first team squad. Mexico’s domestic player restrictions are:

Liga MX

  • The match squad must have at least 9 players considered Mexican-born.

  • Under-21 domestic players must play a combined 1000 minutes of the 19 matches played (in each stage). Teams will be deducted 3 points if they don’t reach this threshold. Note - 50% of minutes played by Under-22 domestic players also get included in this count.

  • The registered squad must have no more than 12 players not considered Mexican-born before their 18th birthday.

Copa MX

  • The match squad must have at least 9 players considered Mexican-born.

  • The match squad must have at least 3 Mexican under-21 players.

  • There must be at least 2 under-21 Mexican players in the starting eleven.

The graphic below shows the youngest 2026/27 Dorados First Team player per position, these are players that have either been integrated during the last 18 months by myself or signed with 2026/27 in mind. With the exception of Right Back, (although 22-year-old JA Pérez can play here), we have a very young core pushing for starts:

Dorados 4-4-2 with youngest First Team player per position.

Despite not having the best Youth System, I’m happy that Dorados has introduced two Academy players during my time here: Carlo Limón (who needs no further introduction on this blog) and Carlos Fernández…a graceful and technically adept Centre Back, who can also fill in at DM. But we must pay homage to Club América, who have helped us maintain Mexican National & Youth quotas with 2-year loans for Miguel Ávila‎ (who readers may remember from my time with Murciélagos FC) & Pedro Gómez. The same thanks applies to JA Pérez who made his 6-month loan permanent this Summer, swapping Club América of Mexico City for Sinaloa. From what I have seen in-game, Club América have one of the best Academies here in Mexico and their Youth Squads are filled with immense talent. I am particularly excited by the creative and unpredictable qualities of 17-year-old Pedro Gómez, who can play DLP-S in our 4-1-4-1 or more advanced as a DLF-S in the 4-4-2.

Pedro Gómez - €220k for a two-year loan.

In keeping with the club’s vision of signing young players I have externally recruited some really bright prospects during my time here too. I have previously introduced Néicer Acosta & Nazareno Yomaha as my 1st signings here at Dorados back in 2025 and have written around the conundrum of Conrado Verón last season. But the big signing, and only transfer fee in 2026/27, is that of 20-year-old Juan Martín Costanzo from Defensor Sporting for €850k. Costanzo is already versatile, by being able to play four positions across my two formations (DM, WM-S, DLP-S and CM-A). He also possesses a varied skill set between Technical/Mental & Physical attributes and can probably be channelled into any Midfield role with the right tailored training. For us at Dorados though, he will train and play in the Central Midfield - Attack role and see how he progresses there. In order to lure him away from the interests of a couple of Argentine clubs, I promised him Star Player squad status. Basically: whenever he is fit, he features.

JMC - I am hoping he un-leans the ‘Comes Deep To Get Ball’ trait to be more effective as our CM-A.

After 23 possible games (all comps) in the opening half of the season, you can see that I’ve given game-time to each youngster (below). Some have played every second of our season (Limón & Yomaha), but others have had to accept a mixture of a few starts and substitutions.

I am hoping that Dorados will be better for this. Not just in the Closing Stage, but longer term into the future years. The minutes will hopefully increase our players’ consistency, and help them move closer to their overall potential. Virtual Dorados fans should be thanking Hugo Ojeda far into the future (providing we stay up this season)!


To Be Concluded…

So, I have written about the potentially bright future that I’ll probably never get to see. Perhaps it highlights the oddity of how I play the game: taking satisfaction in the things that are yet to come…or won’t ever come…(seeing that I won’t simulate into the future this time round). We’re perhaps diverting off into a tangent here, but the end of this FM20 story is almost upon us. Although ending something I have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, may seem like is a weird decision to take; I think it’s the right one.

Stick with us though: 6 more months of football for Ojeda’s Dorados…and a Cartel War to conclude. Strap yourselves in, this will get messy.

Thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

"Limon-aid" - La Plata: Mexico #FM20


Intro

A lot hung in the balance during the 6 month period that today’s blog post covers. Last time out the relegation battle was finely poised, with five teams, including Dorados battling it out to avoid the drop via Average Points. From the highs of Peñarol, Uruguay and the promotion chasing campaign of last season…getting utterly battered each week in Liga MX added a new experience for me in Football Manager 2020.

But I believe we’ve passed through the most difficult times here at Dorados de Sinaloa, and our Closing Stage was fairly comfortable. Today’s post discusses what we did, how we did it and who we mostly have to thank; before we end on the curious case of Murciélagos FC. A team Hugo Ojeda, aka The Snake Of Sinaloa, will forever be connected with.

Let’s begin…


Season 2025/26

I ended the previous blog entry with a conclusion that I needed to recruit some defensively sound players. This is exactly what we did, having spent €61k on Argentine Centre Back Joaquín Laso & Sinaloan Defensive Midfielder Javier Güemez. It should come as no surprise that these defensively focused players are ones that are mentally strong fibra warriors, seeing that the positions they play (CB and DM) benefit from having players with strong Mental attributes. It should also come as no surprise that I opted for the experienced heads when in the midst of a relegation scrap, over those heads of younger players (the benefits and reasoning listed out in my latest Byline piece for Football Manager). Another huge attraction towards these two players in particular were the 422 Liga MX appearances they shared between them, the kind of experience we immediately needed in our First XI.

Joaquín Laso, despite his advancing years, steadied the ship with his high score in Anticipation & Concentration (both 15)…it was noticeable in the FM20 match engine with the way he would step out and aggressively defend. He played every single second of the Closing Stage and was class. Javier Güemez is ex-Dorados, having come through the youth system here 15 years ago. He was the DM I felt we needed to act as a screen in front of the Centre Backs, I gave him the Defensive Midfielder role to make sure he held position and kept it simple, but also press a bit more than an Anchor Man would.

You can see their statistics, along with their ‘fibra’ attribute scores below:

The Away 4-1-4-1

The new signings slotted nicely into an away 4-1-4-1, which was recommended by FM Slackers Rensie, FM James and Samo back during my Opening Stage thumpings over in my FM Slack channel (#fmgrasshopper).

You may notice that I did not change much in the way we play between 4-4-2 and 4-1-4-1…the reason for this is that the team is setup and trained to play a direct counter-attacking style. It seems disadvantageous having one formation being completely different in terms of Team Instructions (e.g. shorter passing/low tempo football). By being similar in approach, it also helped us learn the new formation quickly too, as the familiarity in the way we press, pass etc. was already known to the players.

However, I did add ‘Distribute To Full-Backs’ early on, in order to retain the possession a bit more and build out from the Goalkeeper (whose Kicking leaves a lot to be desired anyway). Additionally, I don’t have a Deep Lying Forward upfront in a 4-1-4-1, this role who would often drop in order to keep hold of the possession from goal-kicks in the 4-4-2 and bring others into play.

Liga MX

So, by using the 4-1-4-1 in away games, or when in a comfortable position in home games, we were able to turn six defeats into draws and conceded 17 fewer goals when compared against our Opening Stage performance:

It’s only a small gain of 6 points but our Average points rose to 1.21 when combining both campaigns and it has helped established Dorados from a relegation battling side to a mid-table Liga MX outfit:

Opening Stage Past Positions [Orange] Vs Closing Stage Past Positions [Blue]. Liga MX 2025/26.


Limon-aid 🍋

I think I have to thank my friend From for the lovely titular pun work here. I also have to thank virtual Carlo Limón for being such a hero during 2025/26, because despite all of the defensive improvements made…Carlo was an ever present success story in Liga MX with 33 league starts, 17 goals + 5 assists. It’s a monumental effort from the Mexican teenager. Just like how the Firefighting 4-4-2 restored my love for counter attacking football…Carlo Limón has reaffirmed my devotion to the Advanced Forward role.

Not only is he now being dubbed as the new Luis Hernández, a cult hero from the 1998 World Cup, he also competed for the Liga MX Golden Boot (missing out by four goals in the end, finishing in 4th place). No matter the opposition this season, I was confident that Limón would always get a chance or two due to his suitability in the Advanced Forward role and the Team Instructions that generate the chances for him: Slightly More Direct Passing and Higher Tempo.

I best not GIF them all, and lots of goals are similar anyway, but below is the beauty of Carlo Limón in 3 GIFs. All taken from a golden patch where he scored 5 goals over three games in March/April, enjoy:

Carlo Limon Vs Club de Fútbol América 14.03.2026.gif

Anticipation 16

Vs Club de Fútbol América 14 March 2026

Carlo Limón vs Deportivo Guadalajara 21.03.2026.gif

Composure 15

Vs Deportivo Guadalajara 23 March 2026

Carlo Limón vs Deportivo Toluca FC 04.04.2026.gif

Finishing 15

Vs Deportivo Toluca FC 04 April 2026


The Curious Case Of Murciélagos FC

An underrated aspect within Football Manager is the interesting side plots that happen in the background of your save. Often they go unnoticed, but with Murciélagos FC an almost incredible fairy-tale was taking place right before my eyes. Hugo Ojeda’s former club were smashing Ascenso MX and were the form team in Mexico.

Readers are probably aware that Murciélagos FC were Ojeda’s first club in Mexico….in what was an 18 month roller-coaster of emotion. Ojeda’s successor in Los Mochis is fellow Venezuelan Guillermo Ramírez, who had been appointed by Ojeda as Assistant Manager. Ramírez has got the best out of the Sinaloan squad and they actually had the best record in Ascenso MX during the 2025/26 campaign (1st in Opening and 2nd in Closing). Ojeda’s signings of Enzo Cabrera and Fredy Vera in particular shining with 18 goals between them.

Murciélagos FC in 2025/26.

But this is where the injustice of the Mexican league promotion system can play out, which I personally like…but others may hate. Not only were Murciélagos FC the best team in the division (in terms of points), they bested Loros Colima in the Opening Stage playoff…only to fall apart against them during the Closing Stage Semi Final and then the resulting Ascenso MX Promotion Playoff in May 2026. 4-1 on aggregate in both two legged fixtures!

Murciélagos FC’s bogey team?


Closing Comments

So, sadly no reunion with my Sinaloan rivals on the pitch. But we’ve got our border battle to be getting on with against the Tijuana crew anyway. In a mirror image of last season, instead of spending an extra €100k per month on wages due to bonuses…we’re actually shaving around €100k per month off the wage bill due to players’ contracts ending. I’m therefore hopeful we can re-invest into the First Team and build on Dorados’ more than respectable 2025/26 campaign back in the big time. Vamos.

As always, thanks for reading/sharing & caring.

FM Grasshopper