One of my favorite challenges in FM is to take a team from the bottom playable leagues in England (in this case, the 6th tier Vanarama National League North/South) and take them all the way to the top of the Premier League. For years, my go-to team for that sort of save has been the Concord Rangers.

Why Concord? Simply put, I've always thought the club nickname of “The Beach Boys” had a bit of fun novelty to it. I enjoy making custom kits for the club in the Hawaiian shirt style. I play surf/tropical music during home games on my stream (including a few Beach Boys tunes). Perhaps most importantly: I haven't seen any YouTube/Twitch FM players playing with the club, which makes the save feel unique every year.

This year I've also decided to take the Puerto Rican national team to glory. Why Puerto Rico? For starters, my grandfather was of Puerto Rican origin. Beyond that, I think I just like the idea of managing underdog teams, and Puerto Rico fits the bill!

So, with that: we'll begin our Career in the Vanarama South (6th tier) with Concord and in relative obscurity with Puerto Rico. Can we build these two underdogs into formidable squads? Only time will tell….

(I've actually already played multiple seasons of this save, but will be updating the story as I have time in the coming days/weeks to recap the action to this point. Moving forward, I'll be updating on a much more regular basis. To watch the career unfold live, feel free to drop into my stream at twitch.tv/spacexaddy )

Season One - 2022/2023

Concord

Vanarama National League South

To begin our save we took over the aforementioned “Beach Boys” of Concord Rangers in the English 6th Tier. Concord's initial roster was composed of several players I'd played with in previous FMs, including Danny Green, James Blanchfield, Nana Kyei, Tosan Popo, Aron Pollock, and Ben Search, as well as several useful players like Melvin Minter, Teddy Perkins, Louis Ramsay, Aaron Eyoma, and Alex Hernandez. Having this core of players in the squad helped set a tone of familiarity, and I set out to find additional players through Trials, etc. to fill out our areas of need. I signed up Jayden Smith at striker, Jarvis Edobor at CB, and several other players as stop-gap options either on loan (Max Hudson, Karoy Anderson) or on non-contract deals (James Whiting, Jack Davies).

Tactically we ran out a variation of my preferred 5-2-1-2 with a DLP-Defend replacing the Carrilero in the midfield (to generate some additional playmaking) and our CB trio being composed of all CDs on Defend rather than my preferred Libero setup (as we did not have a capable Libero). I also utilized a Pressing Forward on Support for my secondary striker, as we did not have anybody capable of playing False 9 or DLF at this level. We would also use a 4-1-3-2 pressing option when chasing games, as this tactic was very effective in FM22. 

After an undefeated preseason, we opened up our season 0-2-1 before finally getting our first win through a 6-3 goalfest away to Oxford City. This result seemed to get our offense firing, and The Beach Boys spent the next several games splitting results before we picked up the “Good Vibrations” and reeled off a 10-match unbeaten run from mid-September to late October.This unbeaten run saw us win 3 times in FA Cup Qualifying, beating Burgess Hill, Enfield Town, and Ebbsfleet in our qualifying run. 

After exiting the FA Cup in the first round through a narrow 2-3 loss vs League Two side Stockport, we had mixed results from November - Mid January. These mixed results saw our team win comfortably in the FA Trophy Second Round vs Didcot, but then fall out of the competition after a 0-1 defeat to Eastleigh.

Finally, things began to click with our team in late January as a 2-0 win over Oxford City started what would become a 15-match unbeaten streak! This unbeaten run was entirely composed of league results, and saw us register an impressive 4-0 win over Dover, a 6-1 win over Slough, and a 3-0 win over Dartford before fizzling out with 3 straight draws.

Our team stumbled into the Promotion Playoffs with an unimpressive 1-3-2 record in April, leading to some worry heading into the all-important playoff matches. In our first matchup (Taunton at home), Taunton jumped out to a quick lead after a 4th minute goal before we equalized through a Jarvis Edobor header (near post corner routine). Taunton had a man sent off in the 41st, allowing us to control the second half and finally get our winning goal through Alex Hernandez in the 89th minute.

We moved on to play Dulwich Hamlet in the Promotion Final at Wembley, and “Wouldn't it Be Nice” if we were to gain promotion? 

A raucous crowd of 9,884 filled the massive Wembley Stadium, setting a tone for what would be an epic battle. We jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes after goals from Jayden Smith and Aron Pollock. The Beach Boys were cruising until the 63rd minute, when Dulwich got one back through a silly penalty. This seemed to spur them onward, and they equalized in the 71st, sending the match to extra time. 

The Beach Boys would not be denied their glory, however, and Jayden Smith tucked one away in the 97th minute to send our club up to the National League!

For the season, Jayden Smith registered a club record 34 goals, with Danny Green pitching in 20 goals, Lewis Johnson scoring 16 goals, and both James Blanchfield and Alex Hernandez scoring 8 goals. Danny Green also had 18 assists to his name, which still (as of 2027) stands as a National League South record!

Puerto Rico

169th in the World Rankings

I took over Puerto Rico with the goal of raising their profile internationally and making them a force to be reckoned with in CONCACAF. Unfortunately, our NA Nations League Group had already played 4 times before I'd taken over, with El Huracån Azul going 2-1-1 in the group prior to my arrival. This limited my chances of success within the group, but we closed the group with a 4-3 win over St Martin and a shocking 5-0 win over Group Winners Guatemala before defeating Sent Maarten (not to be confused with St Martin???) 2-0 in a friendly. 

Tactically with Puerto Rico, I like to run my 5-2-1-2 in its most aggressive form: with both wingbacks on attack! Similar to Concord, we ran a Pressing forward on Support for our secondary striker, but utilized our best passing CB as as Libero to create as we prefer. Due to the level of competition we often face, I also have “shoot on sight” on to increase our goals against subpar goalkeeping.

As for roster composition, we do not feature many players playing in quality leagues. Our top players typically play in the US, with 1-2 in the MLS and most playing in the USL Championship (2nd tier) or lower. Notable standouts when I took over included Colby Quinones, Zarek Valentin, Hector Ramos, and Alec Diaz. 

2023 was a year entirely made up of Friendlies for Puerto Rico which featured:

• Wins over Antigua & Barbuda (3-0), Trinidad & Tobago (4-3), Haiti (3-2), St Lucia (4-1) and Cuba (2-1)
• Draws against St Kitts and Nevis (1-1) and the Dominican Republic (2-2)
• One loss against Honduras (2-4)

This run of results saw us jump to 156th by the end of 2023, an improvement of 13 spots from our starting point.

Looking Ahead:

For Concord: We are now in the Vanarama National League!!! The Beach Boys are picking up the Good Vibrations and I have high hopes that we will be able to stay up by adding some increased quality to our ranks.

For Puerto Rico: We'll continue to grind out results in friendlies until we run into World Cup qualifiers in 2024.

I'll be updating with additional seasons as I have time, but hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading, and feel free to drop into my stream on Twitch (twitch.tv/spacexaddy) at any time for the live results!

Season Two - 2023/2024

Concord

Vanarama National League

We've gone up a division, and our new division comes with new challenges. The Media has picked us to finish 23rd (out of 24) and our board has given us the goal of “Fight Bravely Against Relegation”. I feel as though both are grossly underestimating our team, and feel fairly confident we'll overachieve these expectations.

As such, I went into the season with these goals in mind:

• Avoid relegation and finish as close to mid table as possible. We will target a potential playoff/promotion campaign next season.
• Sign quality players on free transfers, specifically targeting Premier League and Championship academy players that have been released
• Consolidate your existing roster - keep the quality players you've got while cutting the “dead weight” - players from last year's team who we do not feel are capable of contributing at this higher level
• Over the course of the season try to sort out your long term roster pieces and begin to build your dream team around them

Our board threw a wrench in this plan early by agreeing to sell our record goalscorer from 22-23, Jayden Smith, for a paltry 10k. Needing to bolster our options, we signed the following players in the summer window:

Premier League/Championship Academy Players - all free after being released by their former clubs

• Josh Robinson (CB, CM) released by Arsenal
• Basilio Rieno- Socoliche (CAM), Cardo Siddik (CB) and Noah Watson (CB, LWB), released by Crystal Palace
• Jaden Williams (ST) released by Tottenham
• Alfie Marriott (GK) released by Watford

Other free transfers:

• Jamie Taylor (CM) formerly of Tonbridge
• Jem Hewlett (CB) formerly of Farnborough

On Loan:

• Aaron Powell (LWB) from Peterborough
• Dylan Gavin (ST) from Charlton

We also said goodbye to several of our players, including Tosan Popo and Aron Pollock.

And with that, we entered our new season refreshed! Josh Robinson quickly became one of our club leaders alongside Jaden Williams, with the other new additions filling in across the pitch.

Because of this massive turnover, however, our team took quite a while to fully come together and play cohesive football. Our opening to the campaign was dreadful, with our record entering November standing at 3-2-9. We did somehow manage to qualify for the FA Cup after a 2-0 win over Kingstonian, but were quickly humbled in a 5-0 defeat to Charlton.

November saw the club's fortunes start to change, however, as the new signings finally began to develop a bit of chemistry and a feel for our tactical setup. Similar to 2022-2023, we utilized a DLP-Defend in our Midfield in order to act as a playmaking hub, with our back 3 still being composed of all CD- Defenders without a passable option for our preferred Libero setup. Up top, we continued with the Pressing Forward as our secondary striker in the absence of a DLF,  F9, or TF. 

With the tactics and chemistry finally setting in, The Beach Boys rattled off a quick 11-match unbeaten run to bring our league record to 11-5-9 at the top of January. This run was highlighted by big wins over York (4-0) and Gateshead (4-1), and a 6-1 drubbing of Burgess Hill in the FA Trophy Third Round that would be a preview of later success in the competition.

Following a mixed January, we returned to our sterling form and finished both February and March unbeaten. This run included FA Trophy Wins over Fylde, Eastleigh, and Notts County (after a replay), which took us to the Semi Final of the competition!

April and May would see our league form return to a more mixed bag, leading to The Beach Boys finishing the season in 9th place in their first season in the National League. Our FA Trophy Success, however, would continue as we confidently dispatched Altrincham 6-1 over two legs to reach the final.

In the FA Trophy Final we would run into Yeovil, a team that we had drawn with twice on the season. Wembley would yet again open its doors to the Concord faithful as 19,357 fans piled into the stadium for what would be an epic Cup Final.

Yeovil struck first with a goal in the 8th minute before doubling their lead in the 27th. Changes were needed, and after a firm (but rousing, of course) halftime talk, we made some tactical tweaks and hit the second half with renewed purpose. Danny Green dispatched a penalty in the 47th minute to give us hope, before Basilio tucked away a goal in the 74th to bring us level. New signing Donnell McNeilly would get sent off in the 75th, however, forcing The Beach Boys to hold on for extra time.

In extra time, Basilio would score against the run of play to put the 10-man Concord Rangers up 3-2 on the evening. Yeovil would find an equalizer in the 116th, however, sending the game to penalties. 

In penalties, Melvin Minter would put in an epic performance to push The Beach Boys to a 4-2 penalty shootout victory. We'd done it! We lifted our first trophy and reveled in the Wembley glory!!!

Several of our heroes from 22-23 retained their spot in the yearly best 11, with Melvin Minter, Jarvis Edobor, Louis Ramsey, James Blanchfield, Danny Green, Aaron Eyoma, Alex Hernandez, and Nana Kyei helping us to our greatest heights yet. 

New signing Jaden Williams helped us forget our cheaply transferred star, Jayden Smith, as he scored a Club Record 41 goals in the campaign!!! This would lead to him being named Player of the Match 14 times, which still (as of 2027) stands as a Vanarama National record. 

Danny Green would continue his successful run with the club, scoring 18 goals and leading the team in assists for the second straight season. No other Beach Boy scored in the double-digits, however, with Dylan Gavin scoring 9 and Basilio Rieno-Socoliche scoring 8.

The club also set the dubious record for “Worst Team Discipline”, with 111 yellow cards and 3 red cards over the course of the season. 

Puerto Rico

156th in World Rankings

I, ahem, got a bit ahead of myself in my last post by discussing Puerto Rico's results in the Fall of 2023. To recap, those results included:

All friendly results:

• Wins over Trinidad & Tobago (4-3), Haiti (3-2), St Lucia (4-1) and Cuba (2-1)
• Draw against the Dominican Republic (2-2)
• One loss against Honduras (2-4)

We continued this strong run of form in the buildup to the upcoming World Cup qualifying with these Spring 2024 results:

• Wins over El Salvador (5-1), Montserrat (4-2), Curacao (5-2), and Bermuda (5-1)

And that about covers the notable results of El Huracån Azul for 2023-2024.

Looking Ahead:

For Concord: We will be looking to continue our success in the Vanarama National League and will hopefully push for a promotion playoff spot in 20242025.

For Puerto Rico: We begin our World Cup Qualifying campaign and expect to progress as far as we can in the qualifying process.

As always, I'll update additional seasons as I have time over the next couple of weeks. Hope this journey is somewhat entertaining, and I look forward to seeing where it might lead in future seasons.

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season Three - 2024/2025

Concord 

Vanarama National League

After a successful first season in the National League,  I wanted to push things even further. We went into 2024/2025 with these personal goals:

• Consolidate existing roster - keep quality players and filter out players who were not performing at the necessary levels
• Add young talent to our existing roster
• Push for a promotion playoff spot

Our board was. little less ambitious in asking us to “avoid getting into a relegation battle”. Simple enough given we just finished 9th!

We decided to get things going with roster consolidation and did not renew the contract for Alex Hernandez, our academy product and backup striker. Several other peripheral players were released, as well.

We then moved on with the following signings, all free after being released by their previous clubs:

• Donnell McNeilly, Striker (free from Chelsea)
• Harrison Dudziak, CM/CAM (free from Arsenal)
• Jemiah Umolu, Striker (free from West Ham)
• Cameron Gregory, Goalkeeper (free from Kettering)
• Junior Robinson, RWB (free from West Ham)
• Kaelan Casey, Libero (free from West Ham)
• Ryan Bartley, CB (free from Crystal Palace)
• Regan Clayton, LWB (free from West Ham)

Nearly all of those signings would immediately fit into our first team plans, with Casey in particular being an absolutely critical signing. Casey's ability to play the Libero role at an acceptable level allowed for me to switch my system to my preferred 5-2-1-2 Libero setup (which you can find linked here). This would single-handedly transform our already over-achieving team into a team with real ambition and ability, and we adjusted our preseason goal of “Pushing for a Promotion Playoff” to “Push for an Automatic Promotion Spot”.

We started with an unbeaten preseason that featured multiple results against much bigger sides (Draw vs Norwich, Draw vs Charlton, Win against Cambridge) and carried that positivity into the season, where we opened up with a 7-game unbeaten streak.

We ran into a run of mixed results from mid-September to December with highs including a 7-2 thrashing of South Shields and lows including a 1-3 defeat to Torquay. During this time we also qualified for the FA Cup through a 4-0 win over Welling, but were knocked out of the tournament by a much larger Peterborough side (managed by John Terry) 2-3. This would be the third straight season we'd been knocked out in the first round, something we'd very much want to improve in future seasons. 

December saw our team play only twice, as waterlogged pitches led to a ton of games being cancelled. We took advantage of this additional rest, however, and started what would become a 13 game unbeaten streak, with 12/13 results being wins.

Our form continued in mid-February where we began another 15-match unbeaten run across all competitions. This led our club to the top of the table, and saw us advance to the Final of the FA Trophy after a 8-4 thriller over Barnet in the semifinal. 

We finished the season on mixed form, but raised the National League Trophy as league winners! We would not, however, be able to repeat our FA Trophy win as we were given a solid whooping at the hands of Hartlepool that ended 1-5. 

That said, it was obvious a very successful campaign for the club! Several players retained their spot on the best 11 for the season (Basilio Rieno-Socoliche, Jamie Taylor, Louis Ramsay, Jarvis Edobor, Josh Robinson, Melvin Minter, James Blanchfield, Noah Watson, Jaden Williams) with several of the new signings (Donnell McNeilly, Jemiah Umolu, Harrison Dudziak, Regan Clayton, Kaelan Casey, Cameron Gregory, and Junior Robinson) marking their first season with success.

Kaelan Casey, in particular, would have a VERY successful season as he set a league record for average rating (7.50) and won the League Player of the Season award! We also set Club Records for League Goals in a season (95) and Most League Wins in a Season (27). New signing Umolu led the line with 28 goals, with McNeilly chipping in 19, Jaden Williams scoring 16, and Basilio Rieno-Socoliche scoring 14.

Perhaps most importantly, our success and promotion led to the club finally deciding to turn professional! This would prove to be a very useful change as we headed into League Two.

Puerto Rico

153rd in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul would begin their World Cup qualifying run, but first needed to dispatch the Solomon Islands (5-0) and New Caledonia (2-1) in warmup friendlies.

We opened our World Cup Qualification with a 3-0 win away to the Cayman Islands before wrapping up the tie with an impressive 9-2 win at home. A 12-2 aggregate win led us into a qualifying knockout tie against a heavily-favored Guatemala side.

After losing the home tie 1-2 (in which we suffered a 47th-minute red card), we bounced back with a decisive 6-2 win away to send ourselves through to the Group Stages of qualification. Hector Ramos, our nations all-time leading goalscorer, led the squad in the comeback with a hat trick in the second tie.

We then entered the Group Stage with three teams who were all favored to beat us: The Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Panama. Embracing the underdog role and feeling we had nothing to lose, we surprised both Panama and the DR in our opening games with our attacking intent. This led to two victories (2-1, 3-1) and led us to the top of the Group table!

We will enter the 25=26 season on top of our Qualifying Group with hopes of securing a World Cup spot!

As for rankings: we jumped up to 140th after these results!

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Entering first season in Sky Bet League Two

Puerto Rico: Finishing Group Qualifying for the World Cup

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season Four - 2025/2026

Concord

Sky Bet League Two

We're now a professional team! We can offer ACTUAL CONTRACTS!!! Now it's feeling like a real save…

Same goals as usual:

• Consolidate existing roster - keep exciting players and filter out those not performing at the necessary levels
• Add new young talent
• Finish our first season in a respectable position, then push for promotion next year

Our board…..well…..let's just say they had more modest ideas. We were told to “fight bravely against relegation”. We then received a 0k transfer budget and only a decent uptick in available wages. Guess we'll have to get creative!

Oh and for odds? We were considered 600-1 odds to win the League. Fortunately for us, we are now in Year 2 of running our Preferred Tactic - the 5-2-1-2 Libero - and have a squad that has already adapted well to this play style. Add some talent to this mix, and I feel we could greatly overachieve yet again.

Let's get started with consolidation: Donnell McNeilly (a standout signing from Chelsea) was sold to Middlesborough for 145k and Jarvis Edobor asked to leave for a free (he joined Solihull Moors). We also let Louis Ramsey leave for 15.5k, and saw Ryan Bartley, Melvin Minter, and James Blanchfield depart our squad. 

For new signings, we signed:

• Steve Allen, Defender (free from Arsenal)
• Delano McCoy-Splatt, Midfielder (free from Fulham)
• Pharrell Johnson, Defender (free from Nottingham Forest)
• Amadou Diallo, Striker (free from Brentford)
• Josh Okotcha, Defender (free from Walsall)
• Owen Bailey, Defender (free from Gateshead)
• Flynn Clarke, Striker (free from Norwich)

We also brought in David Aziaya (GK, Norwich), Seb Revan (Defender, QPR), Dubem Eze (CAM, Norwich), and Jack Moore (Defender, Blackpool) on loan to beef up our overall depth.

Several of these players would immediately slot into our starting lineups, with Allen, McCoy-Splatt, Johnson, Diallo, and Clarke all taking on key roles right away.

We opened up our campaign with an undefeated preseason before jumping into a mixed opening two months of the season. During this time we had impressive wins (6-0 over Colchester, 4-1 over Grimsby, and 3-0 over Stevenage), but were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup after a 2-0 loss to Portsmouth. 

From the start of October to the end of the season, however: utter dominance. 

Our October? 5-1-1 with notable victories over Grimsby (3-0) and Southend (5-0).

November? Undefeated (6-2-0) with victories over Doncaster, Gillingham, and Stockport. We also knocked League One Charlton out of the FA Cup.

December? 3-2-1 with a big 4-2 win over Tranmere, but being knocked out of the FA Cup on replay after a loss to Championship side Peterborough.

January? Began 5-0-0 with a standout win (5-0) over Rochdale. We would get knocked out of the Papa Johns Trophy in the Quarterfinal by West Ham's U21 side, but being a Hammer fan, I wasn't so upset.

We would then go on a 3 MONTH unbeaten run, with a record of 7-8-0 over that period. Notable wins include 2-0 over Crewe, 2-0 over Fleetwood, and 2-0 over Carlisle.

We'd end our season on mixed form, however, with only one win over our last 6 games. Despite the late slide, we finished in a very comfortable 1st place with a final record of 27 wins, 14 draws, and only 5 (!!!) losses. We finished on 95 points, 18 points clear of Crawley in second place (!!!). We also scored 95 goals, allowed only a meager 38 (less than a goal a game!). 

In every way, shape, and form we GREATLY overachieved all of our wildest goals and dreams and secured our Promotion to League One. 

Several of the key players from our National League triumph played key roles in our campaign, with Cameron Gregory (GK), Kaelan Casey (Libero), Regan Clayton (LWB), Josh Robinson (CM), Harrison Dudziak (CAM), and Jemiah Umolu (ST) all retaining their spots in our yearly Best Eleven. Jamie Taylor, Jaden Williams, and Junior Robinson also kept their spots in our regular rotation.

New signings Steve Allen, Pharrell Johnson, Delano McCoy-Splatt, Flynn Clarke, Josh Okotcha, and Amadou Diallo joined loanees Jack Moore, David Aziaya, and Dubem Eze in our Team of the Season. 

Kaelan Casey would have a second-consecutive spectacular season as our Libero, averaging an insane 7.66 match rating (still-standing league record rating) and picking up the League Two Player of the Season Award. We'd also set a League Two record for Worst Team Discipline, with the club battling to the tune of 137 yellow yards and 3 red cards, lol. “Get Stuck In”, am I right?

Jemiah Umolu would again lead us in goals with 23, but he was joined in the 20+ club by Flynn Clarke. Jaden Williams pitched in 19 goals, Dudziak and Diallo both contributed 11, and our CB/Set Piece signing Steve Allen added 9 - all from set pieces!!!

Puerto Rico

140th in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul would begin their 25-26 campaign atop their World Cup Qualifying group after shock wins over both Panama and the Dominican Republic. Looking to consolidate our position and see out our early lead, we drew our next two matches (1-1 away to Haiti and 1-1 away to Panama) before dispatching the DR (3-0 at home) and Haiti (4-1 at home) to qualify for the World Cup!!!!

(normally we'd have to undergo a much more difficult qualification, but the North American region had expanded qualification due to the expanded amount of World Cup participants in 2026.

We would close out 2025 with two dominant 5-1 wins over both Tahiti and Fiji, then open 2026 with wins over both Barbados (3-0) and Belize (4-0).

Our celebrations would be cut short, however, as the World Cup draw took place. We were given Germany (!!!) and Japan (!!!) as our opponents in the group stage, which would surely see us exit the tournament in the opening round.

Two easy wins (3-0 over Guam and the US Virgin Isles) led us into our World Cup Campaign. How would we do???

Not so great, it would turn out. Germany blasted us 5-0 in a game where we only registered a single shot on target. All-time leading goalscorer Hector Ramos earned a Red Card in the 45th minute, which all but sealed our fate against the footballing giants of Germany.

We would take pride, however, in earning a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Japan in the next game. Leandro Antonetti and Libero Emmanuel D'Andrea would grab the goals for El Huracån Azul, and we would exit the tournament having earned a solitary point in our brief stay.

All was not lost, however! Our season was by far our most successful….we'd taken an obscure island nation to an unexpected appearance in the World Cup, and in doing so rose in the World Rankings all the way to 113th!!!

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Entering first season in Sky Bet League One

Puerto Rico: World Rank of 113 entering a year of friendlies

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Awesome writeup! Love reading through all of this!

Thanks so much! I'm currently in year 2027-2028 of the save and have been trying to post here frequently enough to get us completely caught up. I'll likely stay with the season-by-season format until we get caught up with the save, and then I'll be updating after each stream. 

Thanks for the support though, and feel free to drop in the stream (Sunday evenings) if you'd like to watch it all live!

Season Five - 2026/2027

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet League One

Onward to League One! We've got a good core group of young, talented players who were academy products of big name teams and we dominated in our only season in League Two. We play patient, possessing football, and the core group of players have now played together for a couple of seasons and are gelling nicely.

No surprise, however, that our board gave us only a modest sum of 100k to work with in the transfer window. Our wage budget is also the lowest in League One, and we have been asked to “Avoid getting involved in a Relegation battle”. 

So as usual, we set out to do our business in the offseason intelligently: Focus on building our existing talent, sign free transfers who improve our squad, and aim for a solid first season in a new division. When I get promoted I generally try to just consolidate the squad and shoot for a mid-table finish, with a goal of pushing for higher goals in season 2 within the new division.

To consolidation:

• Several players (Basilio Rieno-Socoliche, Noah Watson, Jem Hewlett) are all sold off for a total of around 70k.
• Others are sold off for more notable fees, including Josh Okotcha (50k to Hartlepool), Owen Bailey (61k to Chesterfield), and Timmy Abraham (who we'd signed on a free near the end of last season as depth option) for 35k to Yeovil.
• Several players are loaned out, including multiple academy products. We also loan out first team players like Jaden Williams, Junior Robinson, and Harrison Dudziak

We then add several new signings, including:

• Charlie Sweeting, Forward (free from Liverpool)
• Jed Howles, Midfielder (free from Tottenham)
• Joel Shone, Defender (free from Chelsea)
• Ronald Noray, Defender (free from Tottenham)
• Jack Hinchy, Midfielder (free from Cheltenham)
• Caden Kelly, Midfielder (free from Sunderland
• Jack Moore, Defender (free from Blackpool, was with us on loan the previous season)
• Tony Weston, Forward (free from Burnley)
• Freddie Potts, Midfielder (free from West Ham)
• Rico Richards, Midfielder (free from West Brom)
• Alex Kpakpe, Defender (free from Stoke, was with us on loan the previous season)
• Benjamin Mensah, Defender (free from Peterborough)
• Martin Experience, Defender (free from Cholet, a French team. This player was scouted by our Puerto Rican scouts in the NA World Cup Qualifying)
• Ethan Ross, Goalkeeper (free from Stockport)
• Ryan Finnegan, Midfielder (loan from Southampton)

Not all of these signings were made with the current season in mind, so some of the more long-term prospects (Howles, Noray, Kelly, Potts) were loaned. out to various clubs in lower leagues.

Two of those signings, Moore and Kpakpe, brought experience within our system and fit into our first-team plans seamlessly. Shone, Experience, Rico Richards, Weston, Hinchy, Sweeting, and Finnegan would also go on to feature prominently with our first team.

We opened, as usual, with an undefeated preseason where we built form, match fitness, and cohesiveness. We would then open up with a good opening month record in August, going 4-0-2 with big wins over Swindon (3-0), and Bristol City (2-1), but falling to Plymouth (0-3) and Lincoln (0-1). We also produced a pair of upsets in the Carabao Cup, with our squad knocking out Championship sides Wigan (3-0) and Fulham (5-3). 

Our Carabao Cup run would come to a horrendous halt in September, however, as Premier League side Stoke blasted us 5-0 at home. Outside of that result, September was mostly mixed with a fun Papa John's Trophy win over Crystal Palace U21s (4-1) providing the highlight of the month that ended with a 3-1-2 record overall.

October was more of the same mixed results, with our overall record standing at 3-1-3. Wins over Colchester (3-1) and Wycombe (3-1) lifted the spirits, but losses to Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, and Bristol Rovers brought us back down to earth.

November? More of the same. 3-0-3 on the month with a fun win against Crawley (5-0) balanced out with close losses against Barnsley and Peterborough. We also crashed out of the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Tranmere.

December is where we finally began to play well together and achieve some consistent form. We finished 4-3-1 on the month, with the lone loss being to Sunderland (a much bigger club).

Our form would continue into January and February where a lone loss (1-5 to Wimbledon) ruined what was otherwise a fantastic run. We notched a 8-3-1 record over these months, taking us up the table and building confidence! This spell also saw us advance all the way to the Papa John's Semi Final after wins over Charlton (3-1) and Bristol Rovers (5-1).

March continued our sterling form, with an undefeated month being highlighted by a 2-1 win over Everton in the Papa John's Semi Final! 

We would end up losing the Final, however, to open our April as Ipswich claimed the trophy after a 4-2 victory at Wembley.

After a mixed April (2-1-2) and a win in may over Notts County, we finished our League season ranked 5th in the table - good enough for a spot in the promotion playoff. I was very wary of promotion, and mentioned several times during my playoff stream that I was concerned about our squads ability to compete at the Championship level had we been promoted. I felt strongly that although we'd had a good season, one more year in League One would do us a world of good in building our depth, facilities, etc. to a level necessary to survive in the higher divisions.

In the first playoff game we would run into manager John Terry and his Peterborough side. A back and forth affair would see Peterborough enter halftime of the first leg up 2-1, but goals from Flynn Clarke, Delano McCoy Splatt, and Rico Richards would save the day for us as we won 4-3 at home. 

In the second leg we would come out with an intent to add to our goal tally rather than park the bus, and our strategy paid off with a 43rd minute goal from Tony Weston. Peterborough would get a red card in the 63rd, and we would hold on to a 5-3 aggregate win to reach the promotion final. 

In a promotion final that saw a crowd of 61,788 fans enter Wembley (only 8,197 were Concord supporters), we would be the notable underdogs. A cagey affair would ensue, with neither side willing to concede many chances. 

We dominated the possession throughout the game and attempted to limit Sunderland chances through our possession an mid-block approaches. Tony Weston broke the tie open in the 19th minute, but Sunderland would equalize in the 22nd with a goal of their own. Weston would score again in the second half to take our lead to 2-1, and we fought to keep our lead until the dreaded 90th minute highlight began - ending with a Sunderland goal.

But wait! VAR had a look and ruled the goal offside! The FM Gods had smiled upon us!!! We left Wembley 2-1 winners, and despite our own desire to stay in League One, we'd been promoted to the Championship in what I viewed to be at least a season too early.

That said, we had to acknowledge that we'd built something special, something sustainable that seemed to produce consistent overachieving. We'd gained 83 points on the season to finish in 5th, scoring a nice 75 goals and only conceding 52. We had the best possession stats and shots-against stats in the league for the 3rd straight season, and we looked as though we were a team that could surprise anybody on our day. Oh and in classic Concord fashion, we'd led the league in yellow cards yet again with 140 (!!!) on the season. Strategic fouling at its best.

As usual, many of our returning stars played key roles yet again. Cameron Gregory (GK), Kaelan Casey (Libero), Jack Moore (RWB), Josh Robinson (CM), Delano McCoy-Splatt (CM), Jemiah Umolu (ST), Steve Allen (CB), Amadou Diallo (CAM/ST), Flynn Clarke (CAM/ST), and Regan Clayton (LWB) all retaining their spots in our yearly best 11. 

New signings Joel Shone, Martin Experience, Rico Richards, Tony Weston, Jack Hinchy, Ryan Finnegan, and Charlie Sweeting would all join in the team of the season after solid campaigns.

Casey, our Libero and focal point, was yet again the star of the show - averaging a 7.22 match rating to lead the team as he was shortlisted for the League One player of the season. Jemiah Umolu would again lead us in goals with 24, with Tony Weston scoring 21, Flynn Clarke scoring 16, Sweeting scoring 13, and Diallo scoring 10.

Puerto Rico

113th in World Rankings

Not much to report with El Huracån Azul, as the entire year consisted of Friendly Matches. Those results included:

• 5-5 draw with Anguilla
• 4-0 win over American Samoa
• 3-1 win over St Lucia
• 3-0 win over Turks and Caicos
• 3-3 draw with Trinidad and Tobago
• 3-3 draw with El Salvador
• 5-0 win over Equatorial Guinea
• 2-2 draw with Cape Verde
• 3-1 win over Haiti
• 2-1 win over Gabon

The 2026 dates served more as a Farewell Tour for our all-time leading scorer, Hector Ramos, who scored in every 2026 game except for the American Samoa game. We used 2027 games as more of a prep for upcoming North American Nations League games, and up-and-coming CAM/ST Jeremy de Leon led our squad in scoring for those matches. 

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Entering first season in Sky Bet Championship

Puerto Rico: World Rank of 109 entering the Nations League

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season Six - 2027/2028

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet Championship

We've moved up to the Championship! I have to say, however, I feel we did so a season early. Our squad is mostly made up of League One and high-level League Two talents, and I definitely thought we could've used another year in League One to build our depth and quality.

No time for that! Changes are inbound, and our board is (finally) being more ambitious than ever!

First order of business for the board was to announce a new stadium (finally!). “The Concord Stadium” has begun its construction and will be ready in June of 2029. This will expand our seating from the existing Aspect Arena (expanded to 5,750)  to the new stadium's capacity of 10,309! 

The board also provided us with our biggest transfer budget yet….1.2 million pounds! Maybe we can actually make some signings beyond our usual end-of-contract business.

An update on our facilities: we've been slowly increasing the quality across the board and now stand at Adequate Training Facilities, Below Average Youth facilities, and Average Youth Recruitment. Our Academy Coaching is considered exceptional, though, and the board has begun work on improved training facilities.

First order of business, as usual, is roster consolidation:

• Steve Allen (bought on a free) was sold by the board for a club-record 500k fee to Sheffield United
• Ronald Noray (bought on a free) was sold by the board for 450k to Bristol Rovers
• Harrison Dudziak (bought on a free) was sold to Stevenage for 350k
• Junior Robinson (bought on a free) was sold to Boston United for 100k
• Caden Kelly (bought on a free) joined Carlisle for 100k through a buy clause in his loan
• Jaden Williams (bought on a free) joined Boston United for 100k through a buy clause in his loan
• Pharrell Johnson (bought on a free) was sold to Yeovil for 250k
• Martin Experience (free) was sold to Wycombe for 250k
• Jack Moore (free) was sold to Yeovil for 325k
• Jemiah Umolu (free) was sold to Port Vale for 325k
• Amadou Diallo (free) was sold by the board to Southend for 400k
• Tony Weston (free) was sold by the board to Rochdale for 325k

As you can see, a decent bit of business! These signings, all bought on free transfers, raised almost 3.5m for our transfer business! 

Several other players left on frees/end of contract, including: Jed Howles, Benjamin Mensah, and several academy players who we did not resign.

All these sales, however, left our roster looking quite thin. We set out to do some business, beginning with:

• Adam Shelley, Striker (free from Liverpool)
• James Renshaw, Defender (free from Man City)
• Chris Kitoko, Midfielder (free from West Ham)
• Ben Jackson, Defender (free from Huddersfield)
• George Earthy, Midfielder (free from West Ham)
• Manny Monthe, Defender (free from Walsall)
• Daniele Quieto, Midfielder (free from Inter Milan)
• Josh Emmanuel, Defende (free from Lincoln)

Roughly half of these would be loaned out, with only Jackson (LWB), Earthy (BBM), Monthe (LCB), Quieto (SS), and Emmanuel (RWB) fitting into our first team plans. We'd then set out with some transfers in mind and bring in:

• Jacob Knightsbridge, Goalkeeper (210k from Yeovil)
• Regan Booty, Midfielder (150k from Chesterfield) - what can I say, I do love some Booty (I also make this signing every year regardless of whether it makes sense or not, so deal with it!)
• Nathaniel Ogbeta, LWB (170k from Huddersfield)
• Elkan Baggott, LCB (275k from Southend)
• Kion Etete, Striker (275k from Notts County)
• Darren Rye, Defender (club record fee of 425k from Rochdale) - Later loaned out
• Graham Dodds, Striker (350k from Birmingham) - Later loaned out

And finally, we'd bring in some loans in the form of our friend Steve Allen (just purchased by Sheffield United), Jamal Baptiste (CB, West Ham), and Maksym Derkach (ST, Southampton). This concluded our transfer business with a net profit of close to 1.6m, which greatly helped our club's efforts to stay financially solvent.

On to the season! An undefeated preseason was highlighted by a 4-2 win over Lincoln and a controlled 2-0 win over Oxford.

Our first month saw mixed results, with highlights being a 1-0 win over Leicester and a 3-1 win over Cardiff. We did, however, drop out of the Carabao Cup after a penalty shootout loss to Brentford.

September was rough for The Beach Boys, as we gained only a single point in a draw with Swansea. October would see a return to our form, however, with a 4-0-1 record highlighted by an impressive 5-1 thrashing of Rotherham.

November would see a return to mixed form, however, before we stabilized in December and January. This spell was highlighted by a 4-1 win over Wigan.

February and March would bring mixed form back into play, with the club crashing out of the FA Cup in a replay match against Ipswich. We would finish the campaign undefeated in April and May, however, leading to a hopeful feeling around the club as we finished 10th in the table. 

True to form, we ranked highly in possession and passing statistics while scoring 72 goals on our season. We would, however, have concerns about our defense which surrendered 60 goals on the year. 

Many of our club stalwarts retained their spots in our team of the season, with Kaelan Casey (Libero), Joel Shone (RWB), Josh Robinson (CM), Charlie Sweeting (F9), Delano McCoy-Splatt (CM), and Flynn Clarke (F9) all featuring. 

New signings Jacob Knightsbridge (GK), Elkan Baggott (LCB), Nathaniel Ogbeta (LWB), George Earthy (CM), Daniele Quieto (SS), Ben. Jackson (LWB), James Renshaw (RCB/RWB), Regan Booty (CM), Kion Etete (ST), and Josh Emmanuel (RWB) made our team of the season, alongside loanees Jamal Baptiste and Maksym Derkach.

Casey, our Libero for several seasons now, put in a very impressive 7.11 rating in his first year against higher competition. Derkach would lead us in goals with 20, followed by 11 from Sweeting, 10 from Etete, 9 from Quieto, and 7 from Earthy.

Puerto Rico

109th in World Rankings

It was a busy year for El Huracån Azul, with North American Nations League and Gold Cup Playoff matches dominating the schedule. 

We were able to win our Nations League Group, securing promotion from Division C to Division B!!! Those matches included

• 4-0 win over Montserrat
• 5-1 win over Sint Maarten
• 6-2 win over the Bahamas
• 3-1 win over Montserrat
• 2-0 win over Sint Maarten
• 5-0 win over the Bahamas

Kevin Hernandez (SS/AF) took home the Golden Boot and MVP awards for the competition with 9 goals, 2 assists.

We'd move on to Gold Cup Playoff games, where we would win 3-0 on aggregate over French Guiana and 2-0 on aggregate over Suriname to gain qualification for the next Gold Cup!

We would finish our campaign with a pair of friendly draws against Burkina Faso (1-1) and Uzbekistan (1-1).

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Second season in the Sky Bet Championship

Puerto Rico: World Rank of 102 entering 2028-2029 season

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season 7.1 - The Offseason and Season Preview

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet Championship

Now that we've more-or-less caught up with our save in the current year, I've decided I'll be breaking down the seasons in 3 updates per-season:

1. Offseason and Season Preview
2. First Half of the Season
3. Second Half of the Season

Doing this will hopefully allow for shorter posts, but also for more detail on each individual aspect of the season. 

We lead off with our Offseason, where our board. set a modest budget of 200k for our transfer business despite a record high finish the season before. We were also picked to finish 23rd and were given the objective to “Avoid Relegation”. Simple enough. 

As always, we start with our departures:

• Alex Kpakpke, who had been with us since League Two, was sold to Woking as they activated a 200k clause in his loan.
  • Alex had joined us on a free from Stoke.
  • Alex had his best season with us in League One, where he had 36 appearances, 2 goals, 1 assist and a 7.07 average match rating
• Rico Richards, who joined us in League One, was sold to Leyton Orient for 85k
  • Rico joined us on a free from West Brom and had been on loan at Oxford the previous season
  • Rico's best season with us was in League One, where he appeared 31 times, scoring 4 goals and assisting twice while averaging a 6.82 match rating
• Ben Jackson, who spent a lone season with us in the Championship having joined from Blackpool on. a free, was sold to Ayr for 200k
  • Ben featured 17 times for us, scoring one goal and chipping in two assists while averaging a 6.8 match rating in the Championship
• Freddie Potts, who joined us in League One, was sold for 175k to Bolton after they activated a clause in his loan
  • Freddie joined on a free from West Ham, but spent most of his time on loan (Yeovil, Bolton). He featured for us only twice, averaging a 6.6 match rating
• Josh Emmanuel, RWB, who spend a lone season with us in the Championship. Was only signed to a one-year deal, departed on a free.
• A bevy of academy products who didn't quite progress as we'd intended were let go on free transfers
  • none of those released had ever featured for our First Team
• Several other academy and u-21 prospects were loaned out to various clubs

With those departures, we'd raised an additional 660k, all of which was transferred over to our scouting budget rather than transfers. At this point, we'd rather focus on developing existing talent and seeking out new, cheap, young talent in the future.

To incomings:

• Maksym Derkach, (Advanced Forward/Shadow Striker), Southampton) our leading scorer from last season, had his loan extended for the season
  • Maksym is a top tier striker at this level and should easily have another successful campaign for us after bagging 20 goals last campaign
• Murilo Silva Costa, (RCB, West Ham) joined us on loan
  • Murilo is a 6'7" colossus at Center Back and should provide both depth and a set-piece threat
• Jamal Baptiste (Libero, West Ham), joined us on a free after spending last season on loan with us
  • Jamal spent most of his time providing depth at RCB in his first season, but should compete with Kaelan Casey for Libero duties this season as his skillset (14 passing, 13 vision, etc) fit well with the demands of the Libero role.
• Gareth Parrott (Advanced Forward) joined on a free from Melbourne City FC in Australia
  • Gareth is an exciting young talent, but should spend his first season or two on loan
• Styrmir Bjornsson (LCB) joined for 150k from Vikingur in Iceland
  • Styrmir is another colossus at 6'6" that should prove to be a solid depth option for us who can threaten on set-pieces. He's also left-footed, giving us a natural fit at LCB.
• Larson Ferati (Advanced Forward, Porto), joined us on a free
  • Larson will spend a season on loan before being ready for first-team football
• Michael Wright (Carrilero, Stoke) joined us on a free
  • Michael's skillset makes him a natural fit in our Carrilero role and provide depth
• Luka Klanac (Advanced Forward) joined us on a free from Genoa in Serie A
  • Luka, while exciting, will likely spend his first season on loan
• Christos Georgiadis (Shadow Striker) joined us on a free from Burnley
  • Christos will also likely spend his first season with us on loan

With that, we enter 2028/2029 with the following depth chart:

• Goalkeeper: Jacob Knightbridge (24), Cameron Gregory (28)
  • Jacob is definitely our #1 and should remain with the club as a cup keeper even if we gain promotion in the future
  • Cameron is a depth option who has been with us since the National League and will likely be soldl/released in the coming years. That said, he's perfectly capable of playing as our cup keeper for another season

• Right Center Back: Darren Rye* (21), Murilo Silva Costa (20)
  • Darren Rye enjoyed a very fruitful loan at Fleetwood (League Two) last year. He's got loads of quality, and with some development could be able to make the jump to the Premier League some day. Definitely a key member of our team going forward.
  • Murilo - see above
• Libero: Kaelan Casey (24), Jamal Baptiste (25)
  • Both players are very viable options for this role at this level, although I do have some doubts about their abilities to grow beyond where they are and produce at the Premier League level.
  • Since they are both around the same ability, I'd expect both to be used on a rotational basis. Casey is our Captain, though, and gets the nod for that reason.
• Left Center Back: Elkan Baggott (26), Styrmir Björnsson (21)
  • Baggott is another in the 6'5"+ mould, with a 17 jumping reach and 15 heading. He's a bona-fide set piece threat, although I doubt he'll progress much more as a player and should likely be considered a very low-end Championship player or high-end League One player.
    • Baggott is an Indonesian international, though, so his price remains decent and we should see a healthy profit if ever sold
  • Bjornsson - see above
• Right Wing Back: Joel Shone (20), James Renshaw (19)
  • Shone is a stud, capable of playing both RWB and RCB for us. He's a New Zealand international, and should be capable of growing quite a bit beyond his current abilities. He's definitely capable of making the Premier League jump down the road, and should be considered a key player going forward.
  • Renshaw is a bit of a project player. He's young and capable of playing RCB for us. We'd ideally like to retrain him as a RWB to take advantage of his athleticism and work rate (15). He's currently an awkward fit at RWB, but we feel he can grow in that role.
    • As for his long term capabilities, I suppose it depends on how well he adapts to the RWB role. His skillset and stature don't really line up with our long term aims at CB (tall, set piece threats), but he has the potential ability to be a very decent player if he develops quickly enough.

• Left Wing Back: Nathaniel Ogbeta* (27), Regan Clayton (24)
  • Ogbeta is a beast. He was likely the most productive LWB we'd ever had, chipping in 4 goals and 7 assists in his first season. While his age is a concern for long-term viability, we'd certainly love to have him around as long as we can keep him. He's a very, very good LWB at the Championship level, and could likely be a low-end Premier League option if the club were to be promoted. For this reason, he's a key player despite his age.
  • Clayton is a bit of a wild card- a player who joined us in the National League who performed very well in League Two before having a dip in form in League One. We loaned him out last season, and he continued mixed form at League One side Chesterfield.
    • Despite this, we sold off our backup LWB (Jackson),meaning Clayton was our best option as the new backup. He's still young and could grow, and he's got the physical attributes to be a solid player at this level. Whether the technical and mental sides of the game ever catch up remains to be seen.
• Carrilero: Michael Wright (22), Delano McCoy-Splatt (24), Regan Booty (30)
  • Wright is a player lacking pace, but who makes up for it in nearly every other necessary category. If we can grow his pace to a respectable level, he could be a rock-solid Championship CM. I'm unsure about his ability to make the leap to Premier League, but we'll see.
  • McCoy and Booty are similar players in that they are very versatile members of our team, capable of providing depth in key positions. They can both play either midfield role at a decent-enough level, and both offer cover at Wing back (Booty on the left, McCoy on the right). I don't think either will be part of our long-term plans, but both should suffice as solid depth options for this year.

• Box to Box: George Earthy* (24), Josh Robinson (24)
  • Earthy was easily our signing of the season last year, chipping in 6 goals and 9 assists. He's a very solid option at either BBM or SS, and would be a starter for most Championship sides. I'd expect him to be a big part of our future going forward, as he has the potential to grow to be a Premier League depth option at CM. Key player, for sure.
  • Robinson is a beast who has been with us since the National League. He's developed from a CB to a CM, He's our current Vice Captain who brings crunching tackles and a tireless work rate to the table. He's a decent option at the Championship level, and though I have some doubts about his ability to make the jump to the Premier League, I do think he's capable of continuing his growth and surprising me. Important player, easily.

• Shadow Striker: Daniele Quieto* (23), Ben Roberts (19)
  • Quieto was a diamond-in-the-rough found during a scouting trip to Venezuela. He had 10 goal contributions (8 goals, 2 assists) last year, and will be a very important player for us this campaign. His physical attributes + his ability to play both SS and AF for us make him very valuable, and I think he's capable of growing into a depth option for a Premier League side if given the right opportunities. Key player.
  • Ben Roberts is a name you likely haven't heard in this Career so far, but what a player! He's our first academy product to be remotely First-Team quality, and I look forward to seeing him grow. I don't feel he's fully ready for the Championship, but I also wasn't able to secure a League Two or higher loan for him….so here we go!
• False Nine: Charlie Sweeting (21), Flynn Clarke (26)
  • Two very similar players, albeit with diverging paths. Both bring a near identical skillset and attribute list to the table, but Sweeting has been producing just. a bit more and has the higher potential, earning him the nod. Both can play Shadow Striker, as well.
  • Sweeting has the potential to maybe develop into a fringe Premier League player in the future, but Clarke is near the end of his development and will likely be moved in the coming years.
• Advanced Forward: Maksym Derkach (23), Kion Etete (27)
  • Derkach is a loanee, but a stud. See above description.
  • Etete is a weird player, likely better suited as a Target Man on Support, but with a skillset that seems to produce better as an Advanced Forward. I'm going to say he's likely a low-end Championship player or a high-end League One Player, but should be around us for a while barring an unexpected promotion.

On average, our squad is still a low-end Championship side with some League One talents sprinkled throughout. That said, we've got familiarity within the squad and a system that seems to overachieve, so I like our chances to repeat a mid-table finish. 

How will we do? Find out next time…

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season 7.2 - First Half of the Season (2028/2029)

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet Championship

Let's begin with the Preseason:

We suffered our FIRST EVER LOSS in Preseason! Oxford (coached by Eddie Howe, for some reason) beat us convincingly 3-1 at our own ground to open up our Preseason training! The League One side would surely be happy with that result.

We'd then stumble to a 1-1 draw vs a League Two side in Southend before reeling off 5 straight wins vs League One/Two sides:

• 2-0 vs Wycombe
• 3-2 vs Charlton
• 3-1 vs Wigan
• 6-4 vs Portsmouth
• 3-1 vs Yeovil

Followed this decent, but uninspired preseason, we moved on to our Regular Season. Goals from Maksym Derkach and Daniele Quieto led us to a 2-1 win over Sheffield United on opening day before we limped to a penalty shootout win over League Two side Sutton. Our Cup GK, Cameron Gregory, was the hero, stopping two penalties to send us through to the Carabao Cup Second Round.

We'd triumph 3-0 over Reading (Sweeting x 2, Baggott 1) before dropping 4 straight, including:

• 1-4 loss to Brentford, despite winning the xG battle 1.58 - 1.08
• 1-1 penalty loss to Leicester in the Carabao Cup Second Round
• 0-2 loss to Hull in which we had 67% of possession, but failed to capitalize
• 0-3 loss to League-Leaders Middlesbrough, despite winning the xG battle again

So despite the run of poor results, I had faith. After all, we'd been arguably the better side in most of the games, just needed to be a bit more clinical to improve our results.

Improve we would, as we'd go on a 8-match unbeaten run that included:

• 1-0 win over Coventry (Quieto)
• 2-0 win over Fulham (Quieto, Derkach)
• 2-0 win over Leicester (Quieto, Derkach)
• 2-1 win over Ipswich (Etete x2)
• 2-0 win over Sunderland (Clarke, Derkach)
• 1-1 draw with Bolton (Derkach)
• 3-0 win over Luton (Earthy, Silva Costa, Roberts)
• 3-0 win over Peterborough (Casey, Sweeting, Etete)

Our run would come to a halt with a pair of losses (0-1 to Derby, 3-4 to Leeds), but we still felt confident as we were the better side vs Derby and simply faced a bigger and better team in Leeds.

We'd finish November on a 3-game win streak with:

• 1-0 win over QPR (Quieto)
• 1-0 win over Cardiff (Sweeting)
• 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest (Etete, Quieto)

This would leave us 2nd in the table, trailing only Middlesbrough!!!

December, however, would prove to be worrisome as we would have our poorest run of form yet. This included:

• 0-1 loss to Birmingham (simply outplayed)
• 2-0 win over Swansea (Derkach x 2)
• 2-3 loss to West Brom (Clayton, Clarke) in which we were thoroughly outplayed and fortunate to get two goals
• 0-0 draw to Huddersfield
• 1-1 draw to Blackburn (Clarke) in which we dominated xG and possession but were unfortunate
• 1-1 draw to Swansea (Roberts), dominated xG and possession but were unfortunate
• 0-3 loss to Leicester (thoroughly outplayed)

This run of form would drop us to 5th entering January, where leading man Maksym Derkach was recalled from his loan by Southampton. Regan Booty also asked to leave due to limited playing time, and despite my love for the Booty - he was sold to Fleetwood for 130k.

To counter this, we'd promote youngster Steve Goodman (CM/SS) from the academy/u21s and recall our Striker Luka Klanac from League One side Shrewsbury. With no budget to speak of, we'd have to turn our season around with our existing resources rather than the transfer market…

We would go on to lose our next game, as well, 1-2 to Ipswich (Quieto). Despite this, we took solace in dominating both xG and possession and felt we could turn things around in January.

We'd finish up our first half by drawing 2-2 in the FA Cup Third Round vs Luton (Etete, Roberts), earning a replay in two week's time.

For the year so far, our form players have been Rye, Casey, Robinson, and Ogbeta as expected, with Quieto leading our goalscorer.

Puerto Rico

102nd in World Rankings 

El Huracån Azul would enter 2028 with their highest-ever ranking (under my watch) of 102nd! We'd scheduled some ambitious friendlies against Canada, Panama, Syria, and Trinidad and Tobago that provided opportunity to rise in the World Rankings, and we'd also be facing off against the Bahamas in World Cup Qualification.

Let's get it started!

We'd open it up with a 1-3 loss (Alec Diaz) to a heavily-favored Canada side (45th ranked), but we felt solid leaving this game after out-possessing (57%) and nearly equaling Canada's xG output.

We'd respond with a 3-3 draw (Diaz x 2, Kevin Hernandez) vs 81st-ranked Panama, which led to our ranking dropping to 103rd. No worries.

We'd respond with a 6-0 aggregate win over the Bahamas in World Cup Qualification, highlighted by goals from 6 different players (Jesus Cabrera, Alec Diaz, Nicolas Cardona, Kevin Hernandez, Leandro Antonetti, and Matt James on his debut). 

This would lead us into a friendly vs 68th-ranked Syria, where we'd triumph 3-2 after goals from Alec Diaz and Kevin Hernandez (x2).

We'd carry that momentum in our final game of the year, a Caribbean showdown with 95th ranked Trinidad and Tobago. We'd comfortably beat the Soca Warriors (who featured a former Beach Boy in LB Ronald Noray) 6-1 in a game that featured three braces for Kevin Hernandez, Alec Diaz, and Matt James.

These results saw us jump into 100th place, our highest ever ranking under my watch! We'd begun to encorporate the next generation of El Huracån Azul, and felt as though the future was bright. 

Looking ahead:

Concord: 5th in the Championship in January

Puerto Rico: continuing World Cup Qualification vs Suriname

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season 7.3 - Second Half of the Season (2028/2029)

Concord Rangers

5th in Sky Bet Championship as of January

We pick up where we left off - 5th in the Championship as of January 10th. We're in the middle of a 3-in-a-row series vs Luton, where we played them in the FA Cup (2-2 draw), league, and FA Cup replay.

The league match would go well, with Kion Etete bagging a brace in the starting Striker role - a role he would be in for the remainder of the season after the departure of Derkach (recalled by Southampton). 

We'd then lose the third game against Luton 0-2 and crash out of the FA Cup in the third round as a result.

Our January would conclude on a positive note, as we'd draw Bolton 2-2 (Etete, Shone) and beat John Terry's Peterborough 4-1 away (Etete x 2, Earthy, Rye).

February would see mixed form, including:

• 3-1 win vs Derby (Wright, Clarke x 2)
• 0-2 loss to Hull where we had 70% possession and won the xG battle, but were unlucky
• 3-4 loss to Middlesbrough (Bjornsson, Roberts, Etete) in which we were simply outplayed
• 1-1 draw to Fulham (Roberts)
• 2-1 win over Sunderland (Etete, Quieto)
• 0-0 draw to Leeds in which we won both possession and xG battles, but could not find the back of the net

Unfortunately for us, the Leeds game would be the beginning of a 10-game stretch where we'd register only a single win. Results included:

• 1-3 loss to QPR (thoroughly outplayed)
• 1-1 draw to Cardiff
• 1-2 loss to Reading (70% possession, but couldn't score enough)
• 1-1 draw to Sheffield United (lucky to draw, they were much better)
• 3-0 win over Coventry
• 5-6 loss to Brentford (what a game, though!!!)
• 1-1 draw to Nottingham Forest
• 1-3 loss to West Brom (dominated this game and they managed to score 3 goals on .52 xG)
• 1-3 loss to Huddersfield (dominated this game and had over 4 xG, yet only scored once)

Our form would drop us out of playoff contention, but we'd find solace in our final two games:

• 2-1 win over Birmingham (Earthy, Robinson)
• 2-1 win over Blackburn (Earthy, Etete)

A 9th-place finish would await us, and we finished only two points out of the playoffs spots! 9th would represent a new record high for the club, and given our predicted finish of 23rd, I'm happy with it! We'd also kept our tradition of leading the league in fouls and possession, so there's that!

There's another graphic I'd like to share to show the disparity we're up against, and that's this wage graphic….

Lol, right? Look, I'm very, very happy given I'm producing results with a squad of fringe Championship and mid-to-high-level League One players on paltry wages. We're overachieving, and I'm proud of our finishes so far!

It was an interesting year for The Beach Boys, with several of our established names retaining their spots in our team of the season. Jacob Knightsbridge (GK), Kaelan Casey (Libero), Nathaniel Ogbeta (LWB), George Earthy (BBM), and Daniele Quieto (SS) all kept their spots in starting 11. Elkan Baggott, Joel Shone, Jamal Baptiste, Josh Robinson, Charlie Sweeting, and Kion Etete all impressed as well, with Ben Roberts, Darren Rye and James Renshaw impressing in expanded roles.

Two newcomers joined our team of the year in Styrmir Bjornsson (LCB) and Michael Wright (Carrilero).

Our Libero, Casey, continued to be a rock with a 7.08 rating. This was his lowest yet, however, and would be something we'd need to keep an eye on as we looked to advance our team into the future.

Kion Etete would take home our Player of the season award after scoring 22 goals to lead the team, with Darren Rye wining our Young Player of the season and Michael Wright being our Signing of the Season.  Daniele Quieto would chip in 9 goals, with Charlie Sweeting scoring 8 and Derkach scoring 7 before being recalled. Nathaniel Ogbeta would lead us in assists for a second straight season, registering 10 assists across all competitions.

Records would be broken, too! Etete's 4 goals in a game would be the most ever by a Concord player in any match! Paulo Goncalves, our 16-year-old academy product at LWB, would also break the club record for Youngest Player at 16 years, 204 days.

We'd move into 2029/30 with optimism and hopes that our next campaign would bring Playoff Football.

Puerto Rico

100th in World Rankings

The order of business for El Huracån Azul: World Cup Qualification for a second straight World Cup!

We would take care of business vs Suriname in our Qualification round matches, albeit in less-than-convincing fashion:

• 4-0 win at home (Leandro Antonetti, Kevin Hernandez x 2, Alejandro Rabell)
• 2-3 defeat away (Kevin Hernandez x 2)

We'd then get our draw for the group stage of our qualification…..USA (10th), Canada (47th), and El Salvador (87th). Absolutely brutal. I feel we can beat El Salvador with relative ease, but will need to overcome one of the other sides to go through and qualify. 

Our first match: USA

We would be thoroughly dominated in this game, with USA starting a very solid starting 11. We would only muster two shots on target all game, and gave up a  74th minute penalty to fall to a 1-0 defeat. Despite the friendly scoreline, we saw an xG disparity of over 2+, so I feel we were fortunate to even be in the game.

Our next match: Canada

True to our last game against Canada (a 1-3 friendly defeat), we came out and dominated possession rather easily as they looked to hit us on the counter. The game was mostly uneventful, with our side taking a number of speculative shots and Canada workin their chances well to dominate the xG in the first half.

In the second half we would adjust our strategy to minimize Canada's dangerous players (David and Davies), and would see their xG output drop dramatically as a result. We would finally find a break in the 73rd minute, with 32-year-old Ricardo Rivera scoring a headed goal after a short-throw routine was worked to perfection. 1-0 win to us!!!!

Despite the win, we would finish our campaign (for now) in 3rd place behind USA and Canada. Big games are ahead, though, and we've jumped up to 99th place after our hard-earned results!

Looking ahead:

Concord: Starting 3rd season in Sky Bet Championship

Puerto Rico: Gold Cup and World Cup Qualification, currently ranked 99th in the world

Feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings.

Season 8.1 - The Offseason and Season Preview

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet Championship - Third Season

We've survived two seasons in the Championship! What awaits us in our third season?

Change is coming, with our newly-constructed stadium “The Concord Stadium” doubling our capacity from 5,500-ish to 10,309! This will surely bring in some additional revenue via ticket sales and potential sponsorships, so hopefully we can actually spend some money for a change!

Our board seemingly feels the same way, as they have provided us with a healthy transfer budget of 4m! Oh and our facilities now stand at:

• Average Corporate Facilities
• Average Training Facilities
• Average Youth Facilities
• Youth Level: 3
• Exceptional Academy Coaching
• Average Youth Recruitment

As always, we start with departures:

• Long-standing cup keeper Cameron Gregory (who had been with us since the National League) left to join Cardiff as their cup keeper for 28k
• LWB Regan Clayton, who'd also been with us since the National League, left to join Livingston for 300k. He'd performed decently at the Championship level, but we felt he'd maxed out his potential and the time was right.
• Delano McCoy-Splatt, who'd been moved to a more reserve role in the last couple of seasons, was bought by Sheffield Wednesday for 525k.
• Flynn Clarke, who'd become a squad player over the last couple of seasons, was bought by newly-promoted Oxford for 600k
• Larson Ferati, who'd spent the last season out on loan, was bought by Portuguese side Feirense for 450k
• Christos Georgiadis, who'd also been out on loan, was bought by Sheffield Wednesday for 375k.
• Luka Klanac, who'd spent the last year partially on loan and was recalled to make 12 appearances in the Championship, was sold to French side AC Ajaccio for 575k
• we'd also let several academy and u21 players go out on loan, with the most notable being Ben Roberts (our academy product who played 21 times for us last season) being loaned to League One side Bristol Rovers.
• several other academy players were let go as their contracts expired

With those departures, we'd gained another 2.8m! And that figure is all NET PROFIT, given we brought every one of those players in on free transfers. Not bad, and plenty to use in our quest to rise up the tables.

To Incomings:

• We extended the loan of Murilo Silva Costa (West Ham) for another year, as he performed very well in our system as a RCB.
• We brought in Danai Missin (6'4" strong CB from Man Utd) on a free transfer
  • We plan to let Danai develop in our u21s and potentially spend time on loan
• Kashim Whiteman (striker, Liverpool) was brought in on a free transfer
  • Another loanee/u21 development project
• Jasmijn Resink (CM) was bought on a free from Feyenoord
  • Jasmijn can fill both the Box to Box and Carrilero roles for us, and will slot in our midfield as a replacement for Delano McCoy Splatt.
  • I'm very intrigued by his athleticism of 16 pace, 16 acceleration in our midfield
• Jack Caldwell (CB/RB), was brought in from Man City on a free.
  • Jack is a bit short to play CB for us, but we like his skillset as a potential RWB. He mirrors another Man City academy player we've got in our team already by the name of James Renshaw.
  • He'll spend time on loan or developing in our u21s
• Christopher Marzocchi (CM) on a free from Salernitana in Italy
  • another u21/loan prospect
• Sven Nijs (Shadow Striker) on a free from Belgian side KV Kortrijk
  • another u21/loan prospect
• Kian Awadh (GK) on a free from Southampton
  • Kian will immediately fill the void left by Cameron Gregory as our Cup GK

And the big-money signings (for us)….

• 500k for 19-year-old GK Eber Benavides from Tigres in Mexico
  • Eber is rock-solid, but will need to spend some time on loan to develop into our leading GK
• 650k for 18-year-old RWB Arne Gunnar Sylstad from Viking in Norway
  • Arne is also solid, could likely be a depth option on our existing roster. We'll likely loan him out for a year or two to develop, though.

• Daniel Paez (450k, Deportivo Tachira in Venezuela) continued our string of Venezuelan purchases and would join countryman Daniele Quieto in the attack.
  • Paez will definitely be part of our attack in the upcoming season, and looks to slot in as our starting False 9 right away.
  • At 19 years-old, he should be one for the future, too.

• Matteo Chirulli (600k from Juventus' academy) would represent our future at LWB, as he is only 18 years old.
  • Matteo is a stud and will definitely compete with Ogbeta for our starting LWB spot this season.

• Carlos Seco (825k from Malaga) represents our club-record signing! He made 35 appearances in La Liga last year, so should find no trouble adjusting to the Championship.
  • at 22, he's a bit older than we'd like. That said, he should be a vital part of our team for years to come.
  • He should immediately slot into our attack and can capably fill Shadow Striker, False 9,  or Advanced Forward roles

And finally, we'd recalled Graham Dodds to be our backup striker behind Kion Etete. Dodds had spent the last two seasons out on loan at League One sides Shrewsbury and Wrexham.

With that, our 2029/2030 depth chart:

• Goalkeeper: Jacob Knightbridge (25), Kian Awadh (22)
  • Two quality options capable of providing low-end Championship/high end League One quality
• Right Center Back: Darren Rye (22), Murilo Silva Costa (21)
  • Same depth as last year! Rye is a very solid CB who starts for most Championship sides. He's a big part of our future and capable of making the jump to the Premier League one day.
  • Murilo is a stud and we're lucky to have him on loan
• Libero: Kaelan Casey (24), Jamal Baptiste (25)
  • The former Hammers return as our Liberos! Both are low-end Championship quality, with Casey being our leader and captain for several seasons.
  • I'm still not sure about their long-term viability, but they should do just fine for another season in the Championship
• Left Center Back: Elkan Baggott (26), Styrmir Björnsson (21)
  • Both are giants in the mold of our ideal CBs (6'5" +). Both are high-end League One players at this time, but have performed well at the Championship level.
  • This is definitely one of our target areas for future improvement.
• Right Wing Back: Joel Shone (21), James Renshaw (20)
  • Very solid, very young options. Both will be part of our plans for the foreseeable future as rock-solid players in the defensive mold we like on the right side.
• Left Wing Back: Nathaniel Ogbeta (28), Matteo Chirulli (18)
  • Ogbeta retains the starting role for now, as he's very good at this level and has produced for us very well over the last two years.
  • Chirulli (see above) is definitely the LWB of the future, though.

• Carrilero: Michael Wright (22), Jasmijn Resink (23), Josh Robinson (24)
  • Wright developed very well in his first season, becoming one of our most consistent players. He's a bit slow for our liking, but plays the Carrilero role well and has room to grow. He's the unquestioned leader here.
  • Resink should be a very good backup option who brings pace and athleticism.
  • Robinson has been with us since the National League and seven as our Vice Captain. A defensive powerhouse, but maybe a player who has reached the end of his Concord run due to his limited capacity to grow beyond his current (low-end Championship) level.
• Box to Box: George Earthy (24), Jasmijn Resink (23), Josh. Robinson (24)
  • Resink and Robinson appear twice due to their flexibility to play either role very well
  • Earthy is the leader here and might be capable of being a low-end Premier League player one day. Definitely a key player for us.
• Shadow Striker: Carlos Seco (22), Daniele Quieto (23)
  • Two exciting, pacy, talented players. Seco takes the lead here due to his record fee and higher ceiling.
  • Quieto is very, very decent and could potentially make the jump as a low-end Premier League player. He's currently an average Championship player, but produces very well and can fill a variety of roles.
• False Nine: Daniel Paez (19), Charlie Sweeting (21)
  • Paez brings a lot of talent to the position and we're very excited for him.
  • Sweeting is a stalwart who has produced consistently for seasons. I do worry, though, that his time with us is coming to an end due to limited technical and athletic prowess. That said, his mental side of the game is very impressive, and I expect him to fight for his role this season.
• Advanced Forward: Kion Etete (27), Graham Dodds (23)
  • Similar players in that both are physical bruisers at the AF position. Etete scored 20+ for us a season ago, and although I consider him low-end Championship quality, he continues to impress and exceed expectations.
  • Dodds should be a quality depth option, and I feel the time is right to test him out and see if he can overachieve like Etete. He's likely a high-end League One quality, but I'm going to give him a chance.

On average, I'd say we're still mostly low-to-mid quality in the Championship….but our new additions could see us make up those missing points and push for a spot in the Playoffs.

Puerto Rico

99th in World Rankings, Playing the Gold Cup

El Huracån Azul would be feeling good about themselves after an impressive victory over Canada! We'd need that energy, as our Gold Cup group would include Guadeloupe, Jamaica (40th), and El Salvador (87th).

First up: Guadeloupe

We would dominate Guadeloupe, holding them to a paltry .26 xG in a comfortable 2-0 win. Alejandro Rabell and Isaac Anking would score the goals to put us top of the Group after one game.

Next up: Jamaica

Our toughest opponents in the group, Jamaica, would also be the most experienced. They fielded a team with former Hammer Reece Oxford and former Villa man Leon Bailey, and would present a very solid challenge for our team. 

We would dominate possession in the early goings, with Jamaica looking to hit us on the counter. Kevin Hernandez scored on the stroke of halftime to give us a 1-0 lead at the break, which we would double through Alec Diaz in the 66th.

All would come undone, however, as Niall Ennis scored twice in the 73rd and 75th (both reviewed by VAR for offside) to level the score. It would finish 2-2, with Jamaica seeing the better xG but El Huracån Azul holding 67% of the possession.

Final Group Opponents: El Salvador

We wanted to make a statement in this game, with El Salvador also appearing in our World Cup qualification group. We came out aggressively and dominated both possession and xG, holding them to only a single shot all game. Star man Kevin Hernandez would score in the 66th to break the tie open, and we'd go on to win by the same scoreline.

With that we were through to the Quarter Finals! We'd topped our group ahead of Jamaica and earned a game against…..Mexico (sigh)….for our efforts.

Quarter Final: Mexico (24th ranked)

This game….well, it went about how you'd expect. We actually somehow won the possession battle, but only mustered a single shot on target all game.

Mexico, meanwhile, racked up 37 total shots (12 on target) to constantly put us under heavy pressure. Our GK, Gilberto Martinez, made miraculous save after miraculous save (12 total) to keep us in the game.

In the 88th minute, Mexico would finally get their much-deserved goal and take a 1-0 win over El Huracån Azul. We would leave the tournament with our heads held high, though, as we rose in the World Rankings all the way to 91st!

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Beginning our third season in the Championship!

Puerto Rico: 91st ranked entering the remainder of our World Cup qualification

As always, feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings…..although I will be taking today off. Look for the stream next Sunday, 2/5, at the normal time!

Season 8.2 - First Half of the Season

Concord Rangers

Sky Bet Championship

An undefeated preseason led The Beach Boys into what we hoped would be a promotion fight to the death! Major highlights included a 2-0 over Swiss side Basel and a 6-0 beating of local rivals Canvey Island.

However, our success had raised interest in our starting RWB, Joel Shone, who was sold to SC Freiburg when they activated his released clause of 7 million pounds. This was obviously a MASSIVE fee for a player we bought on a free and absolutely shattered our previous record transfer fee received!

We would respond by loaning another wingback, Ivan Stefanov, from Marseille to replace Shone in our lineup and give James Renshaw competition. We'd also bring in Arne Gunnar Sylstad (18 y/o wingback from Viking) and Guillermo Escobedo (17 y/o center back from Atletico San Luis in Mexico) for a total of about 1m as exciting prospects for our future.

Onward to the season:

We would open up our season on an absolute tear, going unbeaten in League play all the way until November! Our new pieces, Carlos Seco and Daniel Paez, would lead the line as we shredded one Championship defense after another. Results included:

• 4-1 win over Leicester (Rye, Paez, Seco, Etete)
• 3-3 penalty loss at Swansea in the Carabao Cup (Etete, Seco, Casey)
• 3-1 win at Everton (Etete x 3)
• 2-0 win over Blackburn (Quieto, Etete)
• 5-2 win at Luton (Etete x 4, Quieto)
• 1-0 win over Barnsley (Sweeting)
• 3-0 win at Derby (Seco, Dodds x 2)
• 1-0 win over Reading (Seco)
• 1-1 draw to Preston (Paez)
• 3-0 win at Cardiff (Seco x 2)
• 1-1 draw at QPR (Seco)
• 3-0 win over Swansea (Seco x 2, Paez)
• 2-0 win over West Brom (Seco, Rye)
• 0-0 draw at Norwich

A little Set Piece Magic from Seco and Paez

At this point we were into November and feeling great! We were comfortable at the top of the table and felt great about our chances to continue our dominant run.

We'd soon come to realize, however, that our work was far from done. 

November would see us lose 3 straight games, including:

• 0-2 away to Southampton where we were thoroughly outplayed
• 1-2 away to Brentford (Paez) where we were perhaps unlucky in an even game
• 1-2 loss at home to Huddersfield (Etete) where we were outplayed again

We'd end the month with a 1-0 win over Sunderland (Etete), but would see a mixed December that included: 

• 4-2 win at Coventry (Etete x 3, Paez)
• 0-1 loss at Hull where we were simply outplayed
• 4-3 win over Fulham (Dodds, Quieto, Casey, Earthy)
• 1-3 loss at Ipswich (Seco) which was much worse than the scoreline would suggest
• 2-1 win over Oxford (Seco, Etete)
• 0-0 draw to Nottingham Forest
• 0-2 loss at Fulham where we were unlucky in a very even game

Despite our slide, we would enter January 2nd and were only 2 points back of the leaders, West Brom. Change was likely needed, though, and we'd need to make some tweaks (and possibly some new additions) as we entered January.

Puerto Rico

91st in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul would be anxious to continue their World Cup Qualification and would enter the Fall of 2029 with great momentum after their results in the Gold Cup! Could we finish the job and go to a second straight World Cup? Let's find out….

World Cup Qualification (Currently Second in our Group)

First Match: El Salvador

We would prevail 2-1 in a confident performance that saw goals from Alec Diaz and Alejandro Rabell. Our defense looked great and held El Salvador to a lone shot on target that, uh, also happened to be a goal.

Second Match: USA

USA would again throw a very strong lineup at us and would control the match as a result. We would happen to get 2 goals against the Yanks, but lost 2-4 at the end of the day.

Third Match: El Salvador

We'd draw our second match vs El Salvador in unlucky fashion, as we dominated proceedings (57% possessions, 2.6 xg to .0.4) but were unable to find the back of the net. 

This would lead us into our final Qualification match only a single point above….you guessed it, our next opponents……Canada. We'd need a win or draw in this critical game….

Final Match: Canada

We came out of tunnel in Toronto ready to ruin Drake's day, and oh. boy, would we ever.

Our national anthem of “Gasolina" spurred the boys on, and Ricardo Rivera opened the scoring after 5 minutes with a controlled finish from close range. Alec Diaz would double the lead in the 23rd minute with a cool finish after some nice possession play, and then triple the lead in the 44th with a cool chip to beat the keeper on a counter.

Canada was absolutely rattled, and we'd do everything we could to see the result out!

After a fine strike from Canada got the score to 3-1, we answered with a flawless short throw routine to score our 4th of the night through Jesus Cabrera. The party was on, an although Canada would score a second goal in the 90th, we'd leave the victors!

Our win over Canada!

This result saw us catapult up the World Rankings to 82nd and would see El Huracån Azul through to their second consecutive World Cup!

We'd see out our 2029 campaign with a 3-0 win over Curacao (Rabell x 2, Orlando Bezares) and a 0-0 draw to the Congo. Big things await us in 2030, and we can't wait!

As far as big news for Puerto Rico: Nicolas Cardona became our most-capped player ever…..until he was quickly surpassed by Alec Diaz, who is our current caps leader.

Looking Ahead:

Concord: continuing our push for promotion!

Puerto Rico: preparing for the summer World Cup!

As always, feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings…..although I will be taking today off. Look for the stream next Sunday, 2/5, at the normal time!

Season 8.3 - Second Half of the Season

Concord Rangers

2nd in Sky Bet Championship as of 1-1-2030

We pick up where we left off - two points adrift of leaders West Brom and firmly in the midst of a promotion battle in the Championship!

First….a bit of business:

• Our backup False 9, Charlie Sweeting, had grown restless with his lack of playing time and requested a transfer. Portsmouth snapped him up for a large fee of 2.2 million quid, which would be all profit (as he was a free transfer)
• Jamal Baptiste had also grown weary with limited playing time behind our Captain and preferred Libero, Kaelan Casey. The former Hammer was sold to Wigan for 1.5 million (again all profit as he was a free transfer)

With these increased funds, we'd bring in a future prospect:

• Max Luna (19 y/o) Peruvian Advanced Forward  from Club Sport Boys (Peru) - 700k
  • we'd include a loan-back clause so Luna could see out his season in Peru. He'd be rejoining us in January of 2031.

To the action!

We'd start our second half in scintillating form, going unbeaten in January with results that included:

• 6-1 thrashing of Preston (Paez x 2, Etete x 2, Seco, Resink)
• 3-1 win over Cardiff (Rye x2, Etete)
• 5-1 win over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup (Seco, Etete x 2, Casey, and a debut goal for academy product Billy Burns)
• 3-0 win away to Swansea (Rye x 2, Etete)
• 1-0 win over Jesse Marsch's  QPR (Etete)
• 2-2 draw with Norwich (Baggott, Ogbeta)

February would see a bit more mixed form, with results including:

• 2-1 win away to West Brom (Paez, Etete)
• 0-1 loss to the dirty Spuds of Tottenham in the FA Cup
• 0-0 draw to Luton where we dominated the match but could not find a goal
• 4-0 win away to Barnsley (Robinson, Quieto, Etete, Ogbeta)
• 2-1 win away to Reading (Etete, Earthy)
• 1-2 loss to Southampton (Robinson) where we were thoroughly outplayed at home

March would see us mark ourselves as true promotion contenders, however, as we would only register a lone loss from March - season's end….a 0-2 defeat away to Leicester. Highlights of this fantastic run included wins over:

• Brentford, 1-0 (Etete)
• Coventry,  8-2! (Quieto x 4, Etete, Earthy x2, Ogbeta) where Quieto tied Kion Etete for most goals in a game (Club Record)
• Ipswich, 4-1 (Etete, Seco x 2, Paez)
• Oxford away, 3-1 (Paez, Silva Costa x 2)
• Hull, 3-0 (Quieto, Paez, Seco)

For our efforts we would finish second behind only Leicester…..and would gain promotion to the Premier League!!! Let's GOOOOOO!!!!

A couple of things happened in the immediate aftermath of our promotion:

• Stadium Expansion plans were announced, taking our new Concord Stadium up another 5,154 seats! The downside….we'd be without a stadium for our first year in the Premier League, meaning we'd play our home games at…..Millwall. Trust me when I say the Hammer fan in me was not thrilled with this…….and in a twist of irony, we play West Ham in our first Premier League game (sigh)
• Our board announced a takeover bid….and the club was bought by a new group of owners. Why our board, who'd been with us from the beginning, would choose this right as we enter our most profitable stage ever….I will never know. I salute them for being fantastic and supportive throughout, though!

The season was, obviously, an amazing success. To awards:

Kion Etete was named the Championship player of the season after scoring 30 goals and contributing 5 assists. His 7.56 average match rating was also a Championship record! 

Etete was joined on the Championship team of the season by Nathaniel Ogbeta (LWB) and Darren Rye (CB). Carlos Seco was also named the division signing of the season after posting a 7.39 average rating with 16 goals and 8 assists. Josh Robinson broke the club record for League Appearances with 276! We even had an academy player, Nathan Newman, win a Player of the Season award while on loan in the National League!

Many of our squad retained their spots in our Team of the Year, with Jacob Knightbridge (GK), Kaelan Casey (Libero), Darren Rye (RCB), Nathaniel Ogbeta (LWB), Michael Wright (Carrilero), George Earthy (BBM), and Kion Etete (AF) remaining in our Best 11 of the season. 

Etete obviously led the scoring with 33 in all competitions, with Seco (18), Paez (12), and Quieto (10) also hitting double-digits. Ogbeta would chip in 16 assists to lead the team, and Kaelan Casey would continue his excellence at the Libero spot with a 7.29 average rating.

What will our first Premier League season hold? Will we receive a transfer budget to bring in additional firepower? Can we possibly stay up?

Puerto Rico

82nd in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul went into 2030 riding the waves of success from a second-consecutive World Cup Qualification and an impressive showing in the Gold Cup! Could we push on? What would our World Cup draw look like?

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. We were drawn against the exact same opposition for the second time in a row at the World Cup: Germany and Japan. A brutal draw, but we would see what we could make of it.

World Cup Prep included several friendlies, with results being:

• 5-2 win over Finland (Cristian Alvarez, Alec Diaz x 2, Kevin Hernandez, Michael Cruz)
• 1-1 draw with Albania (Alec Diaz)
• 3-2 win over Costa Rica (Kevin Hernandez x 2, Alec Diaz)
• 1-1 draw with North Macedonia (Orlando Bezares)
• 1-1 draw with Cape Verde (Orlando Bezares)

Which would lead us to the World Cup…..

First up: Japan

We would open our 2030 World Cup run with a rematch against Japan, who we'd drawn in 2026. 

We got off to a flying start, with Captain Jesus Cabrera earning a penalty after a shove during a set piece in the 5th minute. Alex Oikkonen would step up and dispatch the penalty sending Puerto. Ricans worldwide into wild celebrations!

Japan would respond quickly, putting several shots on target over the next ten minutes until they finally equalized in the 17th with a bundled goal. 

We would, however, gain a footing in the game at that time and settle into a confident possession style that we'd become known for. Alec Diaz would go close in the 70th in a 1v1, but the game would ultimately end in an 1-1 draw. We held 57% of the possession, but Japan had the better xG on the day and we felt fortunate to survive the tough encounter with a draw.

Second Game: Germany

Germany would come into the game the 10th ranked squad in World Football….and our fans surely expected a brutal showing similar to the 5-0 thrashing we'd received in the last World Cup.

There was some hope, however: Germany beat Japan 3-0, meaning we only needed to lose by 2 or less goals to go through! 

With that goal in mind, we'd come out in defensive setup designed to limit quality chances and hopefully minimize our conceded goals. A bold tactic change for a Nation used to playing a more possession-based style, but we felt it represented our best chance to go through.

How wrong we were, lol. Germany kept us under a barrage of shots in the early going before finally breaking through with a goal in the 23rd minute. They would double their lead in the 31st after a penalty, and then go up 3-0 in the 57th.

Things had to change and we adjusted our shape and tactics to be much more aggressive. We took the pressure to the Germans and were finally rewarded as Kevan Hernandez (who else?) grabbed one back for us in the 74th after catching the German back line asleep on a counter attack.

We would hold on for dear life and left with a 1-3 defeat…..a defeat good enough to see us through to the knockout rounds!!!

First Knockout Game: Ireland

Our reward for our troubles? A matchup against a solid Ireland team who'd topped their group with USA and Togo.

For this game, we felt comfortable returning to our usual 5-2-1-2 Libero setup to hopefully keep our possession up and break down the Irish. Things looked fantastic for us in the 13th minute as Alec Diaz finished with a header to put us up 1-0! We'd double our lead in the 21st after a howler by Irish Keeper Caoimhin Kelleher led to an open-net tap-in for Kevin Hernandez. The Puerto Rican fanbase was ecstatic and the belief was really beginning to flow!

Ireland would respond, however, and the game would start to take on a very, very open feel. They'd get one back in the 34th, and would put us under near constant pressure from then on. We came close in the 60th with a long shot from Jesus Cabrera that was well-saved, but Ireland would eventually get their equalizer in the 83rd through a magnificent long-range goal. 

Extra time would await us, and although both teams had golden opportunities, penalties eventually beckoned. We left extra time with the lead in possession, but Ireland had definitely created more chances. Perhaps penalties were the only fair way to decide such an even matchup….

The Irish would go first….and score.

We would answer with Alejandro Rabell, who scored!

Ireland would step up for the second….and it was saved! John Hernandez the hero!

Alec Diaz stepped up next…..and confidently dispatched his penalty.

Ireland would look to bounce back…..but it would be saved again! JOHN. HERNANDEZ!!!!

Could we extend our lead? Isaac Angking said….YES!

Ireland needed to score to stay alive…..and they did.

Rodolfo Sulia would step up to send us through…..and he delivered! We'd WON A KNOCKOUT GAME!!!!

Second Knockout Game: Denmark

We were thrilled to be moving on….and then were met with our matchup of Denmark. A tougher ask than we'd have liked, for sure.

With the Danes opting for a more defensive setup, we figured this was our chance to play bold, attacking football. After all, what did we have to lose? We'd already made it further than anybody could have predicted.

We set up in a high-pressing tactic, looking to put pressure on their defenders and force mistakes. Would it be enough?

After a quiet opening 15 minutes the game suddenly exploded…..in our favor! Leandro Antonetti would capitalize on a Danish mistake and scored a lovely 1v1 finish to open the scoring! The Danes would respond immediately from the ensuing kickoff, with a midfielder whipping a curling strike in from 20+ yards to equalize the game in the 17th minute. We'd make a mistake in the kickoff following the equalizer, and the Danes pounced on the opportunity to score a second, making it 2-1 in the 19th minute. What a start! for the neutral fans in the building!

Denmark would continue to try to press their advantages and succeeded in the 36th with a headed goal from a corner. We'd enter halftime down 3-1 and knowing we needed to change things up, to get more shots off while solidifying our weaknesses on the counter. A tough ask…

We'd be rewarded for our efforts in the 61st minute, where we took a spell of sustained possession and broke the Danish line. Kevin Hernandez scored a lovely lofted finish to make it 2-3 with 30 minutes to play!

Our efforts to equalize would be our undoing, however, as Denmark broke on the counter and scored a fourth in the 65th minute to make our task much, much more difficult. 

Captain Jesus Cabrera took matters into his own hands in the 81st minute, sensing we needed a spark. He made a series of crunching tackles in the midfield to win the ball back for us, then finished the counter attacking move with a slotted finish past the Danish keeper! This kept the belief alive, and we would push on for an equalizer in the final minutes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be for El Huracån Azul as our rushed efforts led to only wayward shots in the final 10 minutes. We'd given the Danes a run for their money, though, and left the World Cup with our heads held high!

(Denmark would go on to beat Brazil and finish in 3rd place for the tournament, btw. No shame in that loss!)

Italy would end up lifting the World Cup in 2030 with a 1-0 victory over France. Andrea Pinamonti was the goalscorer, with Mbappe missing an equalizing penalty in the 80th minute.

For our efforts in the World Cup, Puerto Rico would soar to 72nd in the World Rankings! Our highest ever rank!

Looking Ahead:

Concord Rangers: Beginning our FIRST SEASON IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE!!!!!

Puerto Rico: beginning a Year of Friendlies with our highest ever World Rank of 72!

As always, feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings. The next scheduled stream is 3/12/23, see you there!

Season 9.1 - Offseason and Season Preview

Concord Rangers

Premier League - First Season

We've done it! We've officially taken The Beach Boys from the English 6th tier all the way to the top! Can we stay up? Can we continue our success and become a Premier League contender one day? Let's find out….

As mentioned in my last update, we are currently adding 5k+ seats to our newly-constructed Concord Stadium. This will, unfortunately, lead to our home games needing to be played elsewhere…..and our Home Stadium for 2030/2031 will be Millwall's. Trust me when I say the Hammer fan in me was not very pleased with this news.

But a new stadium is coming! We've also got a new board after our takeover last season, and they've approved some improvements to facilities! Following the upgrades, our facilities look like:

• Good Corporate Facilities
• Excellent Training Facilities
• Good Youth Facilities
• Youth Level: 3
• Exceptional Academy Coaching
• Good Youth Recruitment

They also recognize the task that lays before us: Surviving the Premier League with a mid-level Championship squad. It won't be easy, and we've been given 29.75 MILLION POUNDS (unbelievable, really) to make our improvements.

You know the drill by now. Let's start with Departures:

• Wingback Jack Caldwell (who'd been brought in on a free from Man City) was sold to Rochdale for 375k. He'd spent his entire time with Concord on loan.
• Striker Graham Dodds, who'd scored 3 goals for us in the Championship, was sold to Oxford for 1.7m. We just felt as though he wasn't performing at the level necessary for the jump up a league, and cashed in while we could.
• Our Cup Keeper, Kian Awadh, was sold to Motherwell for 325k after a decent season as our backup GK.
• Striker Kashim Whiteman (brought in on a free from Liverpool) was sold to Maidstone after they activated a buy clause in his loan for 165k
• Starting Goalkeeper Jacob Knightbridge, who'd performed very well for us in the Championship, asked to be sold after not being interested in becoming our Cup Keeper. While this broke my heart a bit, we sold Jacob to Ipswich for 2.5m and would need a new Starting and Cup Keeper in the new league,
• Midfielder Josh Robinson, who'd been with us since the National League (and held our Club Appearances record), expressed his desire for more first team football. As he'd become a depth option for us, we allowed him to move on and he was bought by Charlton for 2.3m
• LCB Styrmir Bjornsson, who'd played decently for us in the Championship, was a sold to Fleetwood for 1.2m
• James Renshaw, who'd spent the last couple of seasons as a squad player with us at RWB, was sold to Chesterfield for 1.2m as well
• Elkan Baggott, whose towering presence had been a source of consistency for our back line at LCB, was sold to newly-promoted Peterborough for 3.7m. He'd grown into a fine CB, but we felt we needed a different level in the Premier League and cashed in on him.
• Jasmijn Resink, who'd excelled as a depth option BBM for us this season, was sold to Coventry for 850k
• Adam Shelley, who'd joined us on a free from Liverpool, was sold to Wycombe for 525k after spending his entire Concord career out on loan
• Michael Wright, who'd become a staple in our midfield in the Carrilero role, was sold to Stuttgart after they activated his 3.5m release clause
• We also sold a bevy of u21 talents for smaller fees, totaling 533k
• Several notable u21 players were sent out on loan, including RWB Arne Gunnar Sylstad, GK Eber Benavides, LWB Matteo Chirulli, CB Guillermo Escobedo, and CAM Ben Roberts
• Other academy players were let go as their contracts expired

With those departures we'd gained another 18.8m! Given that nearly all of these players were free transfers (end of contracts, etc) this would be nearly all PROFIT. Combined with our budget of 29.75, we now had 48.6m or so to play around with and improve our squad for our biggest season yet!

To Incomings:

We wanted to do two things with our incomings:

1. Build a squad that could compete at the Premier League level while sticking true to our ideals of (a) being young and (b) fitting our system
2. Find value deals for promising youngsters for the future

With that, our incomings included:

• Hector Leguizamon (BBM, Guairena FC in Paraguay) for 1m
  • Hector is a stud at 19 who already plays for the Paraguayan national team! He'd need a loan spell before being ready for first team football, so we loaned him to Reading in the Championship
• Carlos Gonzalez (BBM/SS, Caracas in Venezuela) for 400k
  • Carlos is the latest in our Venezuelan wondered factory. He looks like he'll be a fantastic BBM/SS, but he's 18 and needs a year or two of growth. We loaned him to Wigan in the Championship.
• Angel Van Der Heyden (CB, Man City) on a free
  • Solid left-footed CB who fits our mould (6'3", strong, good header) and will spend some time in the u21s and on loan. He's 19.
• Claudio Viera (BBM, Man City), Clive Richardson (RWB, Man United), and Trae Cass (RWB, Chelsea), all free transfers
  • All u21/loan projects as they're all 19 or younger
• Hector Garcia (BBM, Zamora FC in Venezuela) 300k
  • Another u21/loan project and Venezuelan talent. We loaned him out to Birmingham in League One
• Keyner Damiani (SS/False 9, Junior in Columbia) 1.6m
  • Our First Columbian! Keyner is very, very talented and likely could have played a bit part role for us if so desired. I figured it was better to get him consistent playing time, and we loaned him to Zaragoza in Spain.

And now, the one's to watch in our first team this season:

• Kai Thomas (RCB, PEC Zwolle) free transfer
  • Kai will give us some solid, veteran depth at RCB. He's a starter for the Jamaican national team and at 28, brings some much-needed leadership
• Davide Calabria (RWB, AC Milan) free transfer
  • Davide is aging quite a bit, but gives us a veteran option at RWB that can hopefully help our younger talent behind him grow into the role over the course of the season
• Seny Dieng (GK, Sheffield United) free transfer
  • Seny will be our Cup Keeper this season (and possibly beyond). He's a rock-solid veteran who deputizes for the Senegal national team, and we like the leadership he brings.

• Fabio Chiarodia (Libero, St Louis City) 3.1m 
  • Fabio will immediately slot in as a Libero option for us, and we like his versatility and ability to play the left side of our back 3 if needed
  • I wish his strength were higher, but everything else looks solid enough. He should be solid once he gets used to our system
• Oumar Bah (AF, Genoa) 2m
  • Oumar will give us a pacy option up top who can create for others. At 22, he still has room to grow, too.
• Faber Saiz (RWB, America de Cali in Columbia) 1.4m
  • at 18, he's definitely one for the future. His physical attributes are miles ahead of anything we have in wide areas, but his technical side still. needs some work.
• Helder Baessa (LWB, Rio Ave) 1.3m
  • Another 18y/o with loads of talent. He has a 16 passing attribute, as should be a useful player for us for many years

• Luca Podlech (GK, Schalke) 1.2m
  • Luca will most likely serve as our League GK this season.
  • At 25, he still has good days ahead of him at GK and might transition to our Cup Keeper role down the road.
• Virgil (LCB, Santos) 2.6m
  • Our first Brazilian! Virgil is bit older (28) than I would like, but he's got the physical profile we look for at Center Back and can play some passes, too.
• Frederik Marker (BBM/Carrilero, Midtjylland) 375k
  • A bit older than we'd like at 25, but he's going to be a solid depth option for us in the midfield.

• Jobe Bellingham (BBM, Blackpool) 525k
  • Well, well, well….what have we here??? Jobe has had a bit of journeyman career in England….he was purchased by Everton for 10m in 2025, later sold to Blackpool (in the Championship) for 10m, gained promotion with the Tangerines and then fell out of favor, appearing only 10 times in the Premier League. Blackpool has a wealth of options in the midfield and transferred Jobe by request….and we were able to sign him at an absolute bargain bin price of 525k.
  • He's still young enough to be a figure for us for years, although he hasn't quite progressed as you'd expect. Still, he represents an upgrade on our existing options and will be a key figure for us.

• Mate Ivkovic (Carrilero, Torino) 3.1m
  • Mate is a player with a lot of physical, mental, and technical skills that we love to see in the midfield. I also love his size (6'3") and what he offers as a late-arriving option for headers, etc.
  • At 24 he should be a viable option for us for many seasons in the midfield
• Alvaro Murillo (AF, Deportivo Cali in Columbia) 1.3m
  • Our third Columbian of the window! Alvaro is an absolute pace merchant (16 pace, 17 agility, 16 acceleration) and is only 18. He probably needs another year or so to grow, but will be part of our first team just on sheer talent alone.
• Rohit Tan (LCB, PSV) 4.5m
  • Rohit, much like Darren Rye, is a bit undersized for our liking at 6'1", but he still features a 16 jumping reach to make up for it.
  • He's 23, but has lots of room to grow and should be a defensive powerhouse in a year or two. He'll work with Virgil as our LCB options this season.

With that, our 2030/2031 depth chart:

• Goalkeeper: Luca Podlech (25), Seny Dieng (36)
  • Two options rated as high-level Championship, low-level Premier League options.
  • Podlech is obviously the one with a longer-term future with the Club, but Dieng is a rock solid backup option if form drops, etc.
• Right Center Back: Darren Rye (23), Kai Thomas (28)
  • Darren is now entering his third season with the Club, and he continues to grow every season. He's a low-end Premier League option, but I have faith he'll exceed expectations.
  • Kai should provide good depth behind Darren as he excels with Technical and Mental attributes
• Libero: Fabio Chiarodia (25), Kaplan Casey (26)
  • Fabio (as described above) should settle in nicely and be able to handle the demands of his role with his passing quality
  • Kaelan Casey has been our Captain and leader for 6 seasons now…..he's been with us since the National League! He's considered low-to-mid Championship quality, but until he shows me he's not capable of performing, he'll be an option for us.
• Left Center Back: Virgil (29), Rohit Tan (23)
  • both are considered high-end Championship players, but I have faith in them to exceed expectations.
• Right Wing Back: Davide Calabria (34), Faber Saiz (18)
  • This is definitely one of our weaker positions, but I have faith in the experience of Calabria and the physical excellence of Saiz
• Left Wing Back: Nathaniel Ogbeta. (29), Helder Baessa (19)
  • Ogbeta is coming off his best season yet for us, and like Casey, will continue to get my trust until proven otherwise. He's a well-rounded wingback who chips in loads of assists, and I look forward to seeing him play in the Premier League.
  • Baessa might not be quite ready for this, but I ultimately opted for him over last-season's depth option in Chirulli (19), who was sent out on loan. My bet is that Baessa's passing will help us a bit more in possession….a gamble I hope pays off.
• Carrilero: Mate Ivkovic (24), Frederik Marker (25)
  • Two new players in our system, but both are well-rounded players with a lot to offer.
• Box to Box: Jobe Bellingham (25), George Earthy (26)
  • Bellingham will get his chance to show he's capable of reaching his potential this season. We're going to put him in a starring role and let him get his opportunity to impress.
  • George Earthy has been with us for 3 seasons, and has always been one of our most consistent performers. Until that changes, he's got my vote of confidence.
• Shadow Striker: Carlos Seco (23), Daniele Quieto (25)
  • Seco hit the ground running in his first season with us and established himself as one of our best players. We'll continue to look to him to be a creative, goal scoring threat for us this season.
  • Quieto might be hitting the peak of what he can offer us, but I still have faith in him. He's been a remarkably consistent performer, and I love the flexible options he gives us as he can play BBM, SS, False 9, or AF.
• False 9/DLF/TF: Daniel Paez (20), Kion Etete (29)
  • Paez was a creative genius for us in the Championship. Here's to hoping that continues in the Premier League!
  • Etete has been our leading man as an Advanced Forward, where his physical and aerial prowess led to him being the Championship Player of the season. He'll still play that role, but I also like the idea of using him as a Target Man in a more supporting role. I feel as though his strengths are better suited for that, anyway, but we'll see!
• Advanced Forward: Oumar Bah (22), Alvaro Murillo (18)
  • Again, I'm sure we'll see Etete here, too. You can't ignore 30+ goals at the Championship level….so if times get hard, look for him back here.
  • Bah brings us maybe the most balanced Forward we've had. He can do a little bit of everything, and I'm excited to see what he brings us this season.
  • Murillo will be the late-game pacy option. He might be a little young for this, but I'd expect him to excel as a poacher type for us.

On average, most of our squad is now high-end Championship level. We've got a couple that could be considered Premier League ready, but this is what we have to work with! Unfortunately as an up-and-coming team with limited wages, transfer budget, etc., it can be hard to recruit better options to your club. We're compensating by building a team around (a) good players who have been with us for years and produce the goods and (b) solid young options that we can grow into players who fit A. So far so good…..

Btw, just a quick look at the wage disparity we're dealing with….

Can we survive? I'm not sure, but we'll give it everything we've got!

Puerto Rico

72nd in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul don't have any friendlies over this time, so we'll pick them back up in our next post.

Looking Ahead:

Concord: Beginning our first season in the Premier League!

Puerto Rico: Beginning a season of friendlies following our World Cup run

As always, feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings. The next scheduled stream is 3/12/23, see you there!

Season 9.2 - First Half of the Season

Concord Rangers

English Premier League

After a Dutch preseason tour where we had highs (3-1 win over Feyenoord) and lows (1-3 loss to PSV), we were prepared to fight for our survival in the Premier League. New signing Alvaro Murillo had scored in all 6 of our ties, but questions remained on just how well we could do in avoiding relegation. Could we do it? Could we survive a division where we were greatly outclassed? Can we possibly survive with a payroll budget equal to ⅓ of the 19th ranked team?

We opened our campaign against my beloved Hammers, led by former Hammer of the Year Scott Parker. Let's just say it was a rude introduction to the Premier League, as the loaded Hammers squad (Ramsdale, Kounde, Saliba, Gvardiol, Rice, Saka, Sesko) dominated us 3-0 at “home”. 

Btw, our Concord Stadium is being expanded so we are playing our home games at Millwall's stadium. Maybe West Ham was just taking out some rivalry aggression on us, now that I think of it.

We'd respond healthily, though, beating Southampton 3-1 away ( Casey, Quieto, Ogbeta) and Aston Villa 2-0 at home (Ogbeta, Paez). We gave the dirty Spuds of Tottenham a tough fight in a 0-1 loss, before dispatching Bournemouth 2-1 away (Seco, Murillo) and smacking Swansea around 7-0 (Murillo x 3, Casey, Earthy, Chiarodia, Etete) in the Carabao Cup.

September would begin slowly, with a 2-4 away loss to Stoke (Etete, Jobe Bellingham) followed by a 1-5 (Seco) thrashing at the hands of Chelsea away.

Interestingly though….we would play Chelsea again right away in the Carabao Cup, this time at “home”. Chelsea fielded a very weakened team, and we dominated the match for 90 minutes (2.52 xG to 0.61) with Murillo scoring in the 23rd. Unfortunately though, SuperSub Kai Havertz scored in the 91st to send it to penalties….

What would ensue can only be described as one of of the more epic penalty battles I've seen in FM. The first 9 (!!!!) takers from both teams converted their penalties, with Chelsea finally missing the 10th. Club Captain Kaelan Casey would step up as our 10th taker…..and bury his chance! We'd beaten Chelsea!!!

Our surprise victory would give us the momentum needed to beat Burnley 2-0 (Earthy, Marker), ending our September in 11th place!

October would see mixed form, including:

• 1-3 away loss to Leeds (Marker) where we were outplayed throughout
• 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace (Bah x2, Ogbeta)
• a SHOCKING 4-1 win over Manchester United AT OLD TRAFFORD
  • For reference, Man United have a very, very surprisingly mid-table sort of squad featuring many older stars. The year is 2030 and a 36 year old Bruno Fernandes is easily their best player. They haven't finished in a European spot since the first season, and are currently managed by former Red Devil Ruud van Nistelrooy
  • This was a fairly even game statistically, but we had a bit more luck in front of goal. Bah, Etete x2, and Quieto were the goalscorers
• 4-2 win over Ipswich in the Carabao Cup (Quieto x 2, Jobe Bellingham, Kai Thomas)

November and December would see us crash back to earth, with the squad struggling to keep out goals and not being able to score enough to get results. Form looked like:

• 1-1 draw with Arsenal (Quieto)
• 0-3 loss away to Wolves where we controlled possession and had a similar xG, but were a bit unlucky on the day
• 2-1 win vs Leicester (Rye, Paez) where were a little fortunate to come out winners. A draw would have been a fair results on the day.
• 1-2 loss vs Watford (Rye) where we were the better team but were unlucky
• A surprising 4-4 draw away at Anfield! 
  • we were very, very fortunate in this game. While we dominated possession, Liverpool were incredible on the counter. 
  • Oumar Bah scored twice, as did Kion Etete. Etete's equalizer in the 96th minute saved the day!
• A 0-2 loss to Blackpool that was. much more even than the scoreline suggests
• 1-3 away loss to Man City (Quieto) where we were dominated
• 1-2 loss vs Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Quarter Final (Bah). Unlike Chelsea, Liverpool threw their best lineup at us and despite a fairly even game, were the better squad on the day.
• 0-2 loss to Newcastle

At this point I felt as though we were struggling a bit. Although our performances in games looked solid, I felt some change was needed to manufacture more results. 

For an away trip to fellow relegation candidates Burnley, we decided to tweak our usual 5-2-1-2 formation for a more compact, patient 5-3-2. This allowed a fair amount of familiarity for our squad, as it simply changed our Shadow striker to a CM-AT. The result was a solid performance where we came out with a 1-1 draw, controlling possession (70%) and only giving up a goal on a set piece.

We'd enter our final game of 2030 (Chelsea at home) with a similar idea: how can we minimize Chelsea's opportunities while posing some threat of our own?

The formation was another tweak - a 5-2-2-1 that was cautious in defense, but aggressive in attack. With both WBs on attack and a midfield designed to overload Chelsea's 4-2-3-1 midfield, we controlled the game and left with a 1-0 victory after Oumar Bah scored in the 63rd! While the game was fairly even, we were the controlling team in terms of both xG and possession, which I was immensely proud of. 

Moving forward we'll likely be trying similar tweaks….ideas based on our core 5-2-1-2 setup that maximize our potential attacking output while remaining compact in defense. Expect plenty of creative variations as we go!

This would leave us in 14th at the midway point, 5 points clear of the drop zone. Can we do it? Can we defy the odds and stay up?

Find out next time!

Puerto Rico

72nd in World Rankings

El Huracån Azul enter the 2030-2031 season with our highest ever ranking of 72nd! Can we push on?

This year will be a year of Friendlies, so let's just recap them:

• 3-0 win over Honduras (Kevin Hernandez x 2, Leandro Antonetti)
• 3-1 win over Bolivia (Jeremy de Leon x 2, Isaac Espinal)
• 5-2 win over Guinea (Kevin Hernandez x 3, Cristian Alvarez, Orlando Bezares)
• 3-3 draw with Uzbekistan (Joan Contreras, Orlando Bezares, Eric Gehrig)
• 5-3 win over Iraq (Alec Diaz, Eric Gehrig, Kevin Hernandez x 3)
• 2-2 draw with Australia (Alec Diaz, Ricardo Rivera)

Not bad! This run of results saw us rise to 69th (nice) as we entered 2031!

A brief Puerto Rico overview, btw:

While we're mostly a team of low-level players, we've got a few players who have caught the attention of bigger leagues around the world! While most of our national team pool play in the Puerto Rican (or other Caribbean leagues), we do have a few that ply their trade in the USA (MLS and USL) and several that have gotten picked up by European and South American clubs after our international success. Those include:

• Colby Quinones (RWB) plays in Serie B in Italy for Foggia
• Kevin Hernandez (AF) plays in the Bolivian Premier League for The Strongest
• Leandro Antonetti (DLF) plays in La Liga 2 for Sporting Gijon
• Jeremy de Leon (SS) plays in La Liga 2 for Badalona Fut
• Isaac Espinal (RWB) plays in La Liga 2 for Cordoba
• Cristian Alvarez (CB) plays in La Liga 2 for Deportivo la Caruna
• Joan Contreras (CB) plays in La Liga 2 for Atletico Pamplona

While none of those players star for their teams, I still like to see our reach growing a bit and our success on the pitch leading to our players getting attention from bigger leagues around the world!

Our Captain these days is Jesus Cabrera, a Box-to-Box mid who brings some much-needed Mental and Physical traits to our team, despite lacking in the technical side. Jesus plays for San Diego Loyal in the USL Championship.

Looking Ahead:

Concord: 14th in the Premier League, looking to avoid a Relegation battle

Puerto Rico: 69th (nice) in the World Rankings, playing more friendlies

As always, feel free to drop in the stream (or throw me a follow) at https://www.twitch.tv/spacexaddy! I typically stream FM (this save, in particular) Sunday evenings. The next scheduled stream is 3/12/23, see you there!

Season 9.3 - Second Half of the Season

Concord Rangers

14th in the English Premier League

We sit 14th in the table on January 1…..can we survive? Can we find a way to improve our defense while cobbling together enough offense to threaten our opponents?

First, a bit of business:

• RWB Davide Calabria - bought in the summer to provide a veteran presence in defense - has been our poorest performer on the season and was sold to FC Nantes for 1.4m in the January window as a result
• We brought in Filippo Missori, RWB from RC Lens, for 1.5m as a replacement. Filippo is younger and a bit more pacy, so we're hoping he can work together with the youngster Faber Saiz to create a fruitful RWB depth chart.
• We also sold academy prospect Nathan Newman (who'd been named National League Player of the season last year) to Hull for a tidy 1.3m. While I would ideally like to keep our promising academy prospects, (a) the fee was significant enough to justify the sale and (b) Nathan only showed a potential League One player status. As such, we figured it might be best to maximize his profit potential and focus on other prospects who might one day crack our first team!

• With this money, we brought in Marcelo Araujo, a promising CM/DM from SPT in Brazil. While he'll likely need some time out on loan, he should definitely be a factor for us in future seasons.

Onward to the games:

There's no real easy way to say it….but our second half of the season was not very impressive. We struggled for large stretches, including January:

• 2-2 draw away to Crystal Palace (Ogbeta, Seco)
• 1-1 draw with Leeds (Kai Thomas)
• 2-3 loss away to Arsenal in the FA Cup (Bah, Etete)
• 1-2 loss away to Newcastle (Quieto) in which we were thoroughly outplayed
• 1-4 loss away to West Ham (Seco) in which we were thoroughly outplayed
• 1-1 draw with Southampton (Murillo)

3 points from the month was certainly less than ideal and left us on the verge of a relegation battle. We were scoring and possessing well, but couldn't keep a clean sheet to save our lives. 

February only featured two games (somehow?) including:

• 2-3 loss to Man City (Murillo x2) in which we were a bit unlucky to miss out on a draw
• 0-2 loss to Liverpool in which we dominated possession, but got exposed far too often at the back

Poor form continued in March with:

• 3-4 loss away to Blackpool (Quieto, Etete x 2) where we were unfortunate to lose in an even game
• 1-5 drubbing from Stoke (Seco) in which we won both the xG and possession battle but got destroyed at home, anyway

This left us in the drop zone and in need of a massive victory. Fortunately for us, that massive victory would arrive in the form of the dirty Spuds of Tottenham…..

4-2 was the scoreline away to Spuds (Etete x 2, Quieto x 2) in a game where we dominated the xG (3.2 to 0.8) and the possession battle (67-33). Could this result turn our season around and lead us to safety?

For one game, at least, it seemed like it might! We would travel to Leicester and leave 2-0 winners (Chiarodia, Ivkovic), taking us up to 15th in the table with an end-of-season stretch to determine our fate. Unfortunately for us, that stretch would open with another four straight losses, including:

• 0-1 loss to Manchester United where we were a bit unlucky
• 0-3 loss away to Arsenal where we mustered a single shot on target all game
• 0-1 loss to Bournemouth where we were very unlucky in an even game
• 0-3 loss to fellow relegation candidates Aston Villa where we were very thoroughly outplayed

This took us to our final two games of the year: Watford and Wolves, where we'd need at least a pair of draws to survive…..

First up: Watford and a 2-2 draw away (Rye, Seco). Halfway there!

The final game: Wolves at home…..where we'd win 1-0 (Seco) and secure our survival!

We'd done it! Somehow, despite having BY FAR the lowest budget in the league, we'd survived! 52 goals certainly helped us survive, but we did ship a league-high 77 in return….which would certainly be our main focus in the offseason to help us avoid another relegation battle.

Kion Etete was named our Player of the season after scoring 12 goals, with Alvaro Murillo earning votes for Young Player of the season for his efforts in the league. Oumar Bah was named our Signing of the Season after a solid first season.

Our Best 11 of the year featured several familiar faces, including Kaelan Casey, Darren Rye, Nathaniel Ogbeta, George Earthy, Daniele Quieto, and Kion Etete, with Carlos Seco, and Daniel Paez returning to the team of the season on the bench. New signings Podlech, Saiz, Virgil, Bellingham, and Bah joined the starting 11, with Ivkoviiv, Marker, Chiarodia, Thomas, and Murillo joining the bench. 

For our efforts we were named the Overachievers of the season….finishing 4 spots higher than our expected 20th finish. Erling Haaland bagged 50 league goals, btw……

Puerto Rico

69th (nice) in the World Rankings

Not too much to report here, with just two Friendlies played:

• 1-0 win over Jamaica (Bezares)
• 3-3 draw with Burkina Faso (Rivera, Antonetti, Diaz)

Looking Ahead:

• Concord Rangers: Entering second season in the Premier League
• Puerto Rico: A busy year of International football, with the Gold Cup, NA Nations League, and Friendlies

First, an update:

I've spent the last several months off-stream as work and life became busier. Things have settled down now, and I'll be looking at returning to stream next month!

That said, I have still played some FM in my free time, including this career. I've been a little less consistent with tracking it here, taking necessary screenshots, etc., so my next several story updates will be a bit shorter and less detailed than the full write-ups I've been doing. Moving forward, that will likely become the norm as I'm balancing several different things life-wise.

I'll also be breaking down each season into 3 parts: Offseason (transfers, etc.), Concord (entire season), and Puerto Rico (strictly National Team business).

If you're ever seeking additional detail about any of these updates, let me know in the comments! I'd be happy to go into further detail, but will mostly use this as a brief capstone tool for my Stream/FM Career moving forward.

Without further delay, Season 10:

Season 10.1

Offseason and Season Preview

First, departures:

Amongst our first team/notable players, we saw the following departures:

• Kai Thomas (CB) - Kai underperformed in the Premier League and we sold him to Championship side Wimbledon for 850k
• Virgil (CB) - Virgil performed fairly well in the Premier League, but we were able to find younger talent at his position and sold him for 3.5m to Nantes
• Rohit Tan (CB) - a third CB to depart after an underwhelming campaign, Tan was sold to Dusseldorf for 5.25m
• Fillipo Missori (RWB) - brought in during the January window, Missori failed to impress and was sold for 2.1m to Lugano
• Arne Gunnar Sylstad (RWB) - the young wingback had spent time on loan and didn't look to break into the first team anytime soon. He was sold to Midtjylland for 1.5m
• a variety of other U-21 players were sold off for marginal fees and/or loaned out for development

Next, arrivals:

We had our healthiest transfer budget ever, with a WHOPPING 68.5m (with additional funding provided by the above sales). 

We made the following signings for the future/u21s:

• Luis Robledo (CM) - 1.1m from Junior in Columbia
• Marcin Dziemidowicz (CB) - 1.7m from Hertha Berlin
• Amauri (GK) - 1.2m from VIT in Brazil
• Samuel Chillogallo (CB) - 1.1m from Emelec
• Harpreet Pradhan (CM/CAM) - 3.5m from Bodo/Glimt
• and other free signings following releases from Premier League Clubs

For the first team, we made the following signings:

• Alperen Emir Kafes (LWB) - 5m from Galatasaray, he'll compete for playing time at LWB with Ogbeta
• Hector Fort (RWB) - 12.5m from Celtic, he'll instantly become our best RWB option
• Alan Matturro (CB) - 12.5m from Middlesbrough, he's a solid all-around CB with great passing who can play as either our Libero or our LCB
• Celestino Mango (CB) - 9.5m from Sporting CP, he'll instantly become our starting RCB and compete with Darren Rye for playing time
• Matheus Nunes (Midfielder) - 4.5m from Wolves. He'd become surplus to requirements there and was transfer listed, so we picked up the 32 year old to be our new creative hub. His versatility will be invaluable for us
• Lincoln (Striker) - 14.75m from Corinthians, he will give us a pacy, skilled option up top to pair with Kion Etete
• Victor Hugo (CM/AM/ST) - 19m from Flamengo, he instantly becomes our best player and record transfer. Incredible all-round skill, able to play CM, CAM, or Striker in our setup.

With those additions we had secured our backline and strengthened our midfield and attack. We'd also switched to a 3-4-3 counter-attacking style to better protect our GK and hopefully cut down on the large amount of goals we allowed last season.

(you can find the 3-4-3 Libero Counter in my tactics here on sortitoutsi)

All of that said, we were still predicted to finish in the relegation spots. Could we over-achieve again? We'll find out next update!

Season 10.2

Concord Rangers, English Premier League

Let's get it to business, shall we?

Again, we're going to be picking up the pace a bit here to keep me from over-writing things. 

First Half of the Season:

Pretty mixed form, but not too bad. Impressive draws against Arsenal, Man U, and Tottenham, and a bit 2-1 win over Newcastle!

Second Half of the Season:

We made a couple of moves in January, notably signing a 36-year-old Kalvin Phillips from West Ham for 500k! We also signed a promising young RWB named Jerry Belward (17 y/o) from Portsmouth for 6.5m. We would sell our depth CM option, Frederik Marker, for 1.8m to Colorado Rapids after he requested a transfer.

Much better form in January, although we dipped at the end of the year due to some unfortunate injuries. Notable results included a 3-1 win away to West Ham (who finished 2nd), another draw with Arsenal, and a 3-2 win over Spuds!

Final Table:

Team of the Season:

Mama, it's that man again! Kion Etete with 12 goals to again lead our club….although new signings Victor Hugo and Lincoln also pitched in 12 a piece!

Several new signings (Mango, Maturro, Fort, Matheus Nunes, Victor Hugo, Emir Kafes, Lincoln) made our team of the season, with several of the old guard (Podlech, Rye, Ogbeta, Ivkovic, Seco, Etete, Casey, Chiarodia, Quieto, Earthy, and Paez), joining them.

Not bad! 

We live to fight another day in the Premier League, and now look to establish ourselves as a top-half side moving forward.

Season 10.3

Puerto Rico - 69th in the world

We opened up the summer of '31 with two friendlies:

• 2-1 win over Canada
• 1-1 draw with Guinea

This led us into the Gold Cup Group Stage, where our group consisted of Canada, Haiti, and Martinique. 

We'd breeze through our group, coming out on top with 9 points after 3 wins. This set up a quarterfinal with El Salvador (2-0 win) and a semi-final with Jamaica (1-0 win) on our path to the Final.

Unfortunately we just didn't have the squad quality to get by the USA, who beat us 2-0. Still, a Final appearance was something we could be proud of!

We took our momentum into the fall of '31 where our NA Nations League Group gave us matches against Dominica, Grenada, and the Dominican Republic. 

Yeah, we crushed them all, winning every game in our Nations League Group and gaining promotion to Division A, the highest in North America.

2032 consisted of all friendlies, including:

• 2-2 draw with Qatar
• 1-0 win over Ukraine
• 1-1 draw with Wales
• 2-2 draw with Mali

Our year took us up to 54th in the world rankings! Vamanos!