FM21: Conclusão
I have to admit that prior to FM21 I had never managed an official Wonderkid. Despite being the most common meme in FM community, I had always managed at too low a level to ever have a player of that caliber. The “wonderkids” that came to play with me in Estonia last year were actually cast-offs from midtable Russian and Serbian teams. But this year I was managing in a top 10 league in Europe, and relaxing on the beach of a tropical island is surely more attractive to an up-and-coming footballer than freezing in a post-Soviet apartment block.
Still, finding a Wonderkid is not easy. And despite the gains we had made over the last two seasons, CS Maritimo was still far from football royalty in Portugal. So I went bargain hunting in one of my favorite countries to scout in FM: Cote D’Ivoire.
Mimosas?
Fans of the English Premier League (or the American Second Division) likely think of Didier Drogba when they think of Ivoirian football. While Drogba is certainly the best player from Cote D’Ivoire, for a relatively small nation (pop. 26 million) they have a strong presence throughout the top European leagues. Thanks to post-colonial migration, many of these players come through academies in France, but there is one football factory in Cote D’Ivoire itself that consistently churns out quality talent: the peculiarly named ASEC Mimosas.
Located in the capital Abidjan, ASEC Mimosas are the most successful club in Ivoirian football. This strength is faithfully represented in game, and is a must-scout club when looking for inexpensive talent. Inexpensive, because as they are located far from the wealth of Europe, they will accept much lower transfer fees for their young stars than more traditional talent factories like Ajax or Red Star.
It was from this obscure club that I found the two Wonderkids that propelled Maritimo to their greatest heights.
Georges Kone
Georges Kone was the first player I found from ASEC Mimosas. A blazingly fast and technically gifted attacking midfielder he fit right in as the forward tip of my midfield diamond. What caught my eye at first was the combination of his acceleration, technique and finishing, which made him absolutely lethal running on the counter. And all for a mere $225,000.
The match-engine improvements in FM21 made the midfield even more crucial to success, and having a game-changing player who could both score and assist the forwards in scoring turned many would-be draws into wins.
Mamadou Keïta
Central Defender Mamadou Keïta arrived at the club a year after Kone and quickly solidified our back line. With a great personality and strong mentals for a young player he was instrumental in reducing the number of goals conceded as we rose up the table. Particularly important for our pressing system was his Positioning, Concentration, and Tackling, which foiled many would be opposition breakouts.
He cost even less than Kone, making him another steal of a signing.
Results
With the two Wonderkids on hands, and a few burgeoning homegrown talents, the final seasons of the save saw Maritimo reach their greatest heights as a club. Finishes of 4th then 3rd in the league were club records. We were still a ways off from consistently competing with Os Tres Grandes, but we’d established ourselves in the next group down.
We also saw some success in European competition, making it to the Europa league knockouts in both seasons. Even more important was the money that rolled in from UEFA, as Portugal has no prize money from the league.
As a final flourish, our hated rivals CD Nacional, after beating us the first two years of the save, were relegated back to the second league, and Maritimo B won the third league. There was something satisfying about the idea of our cross-town rivals losing to our first team, then having to go and lose to our B team the next season. The Greatest of the Islands indeed.
The Right Time to End
With all that success, I felt that the conclusion of the sixth season was the time to end the save. This was earlier than I’d stopped saves in years past and FM22 was still months away, but it felt right. It wasn’t that I thought FM21 was bad (quite the opposite), but after three years of near constant play I needed to take a break from the game. FM21 was also the most difficult of the editions I’d played (in a good way!), and CS Maritimo was the most difficult team I had managed. To cap it off, the aforementioned Mamadou Keïta was also entering his final contract year and refusing to renew. I sincerely appreciate the increased realism this represents (a player like him shouldn’t re-sign with a small team in Portugal!), but it was going to hurt my heart to sell him.
With the club at its apex, I walked away. I’m happy how the save turned out (especially after nearly getting sacked earlier in the save), but I was burnt out. Managing Maritimo was not always the most fun I’ve had, but it pushed me to my limits as a player and certainly made me a better manager. Now with some time off, I’m set to embark into FM22, refreshed and ready.
In the next post, I’ll give my thoughts in FM21 as a game, and preview my saves (beta and main) planned for FM22. For smaller bits and pieces from the save, follow my twitter account at @FMBowser.
