Hello everyone!!
So welcome back to my challenge as I have just ended season 18 and with a brand new team. I would have posted an update on my Coruxo story but it wont load at the moment!
Am really hoping that my friend can fix it, but until then I will just carry on playing this story and writing it up.
My next stop was to my Dad’s home country that of Mexico, and a place he lived when he was younger well a place sort of close to Veracruz! He is however a supporter of Club América but they took too long to anwer my application after I had left Switzerland so their lose I guess!
Mexico is a fairly confusing place and I am probably the worst person to explain how things work, so please try to bear with me!
So I will do my best and here is the whole of season 18, as always it really long but with lots of pictures! :)
Career History :
— Cheonan (July 2010 – January 2013)
— South China (June 2013 – June 2016)
— F.C.A.K (December 2016 – November 2019)
— Moroko Swallows (November 2019 – January 2023)
— FC Seoul (February 2023 – February 2026)
— St Gallen (October 2026 – July 2027)
— Veracruz (July 2027 — Present)
International Teams :
— Morocco (Febraury 2015 – December 2016)
— Senegal (November 2021 – February 2023)
— Egypt (October 2025 – February 2027)
Honours :
Hong Kong League Title : 2014, 2015, 2016 (South China)
Senior Shield : 2013, 2016 (South China)
League Cup : 2014, 2015, 2016 (South China)
Asian Confederation Cup : 2014, 2016 (South China)
South African First Division : 2018, 2019 (FCAK)
South African First Divison Cup : 2019 (FCAK)
South African FA Cup : 2020, 2021 (Moroko Swallows)
South African Premier League : 2021, 2022 (Moroko Swallows)
South African Charity Cup : 2020 (Moroko Swallows)
South African Knockout Cup : 2021 (Moroko Swallows)
South African Super Eight : 2021 (Moroko Swallows)
African Champions League : 2022 (Moroko Swallows)
The K-League : 2023, 2024, 2025 (FC Seoul)
The Korean League Cup : 2023. 2024 (FC Seoul)
The Pan-Pacific Championship : 2024, 2025 (FC Seoul)
The Korean FA Cup : 2024 (FC Seoul)
The Asian Champions League : 2025 (FC Seoul)
International Honours :
African Cup Of Nations : 2023 (Senegal)
Nothing won last season except a promotion for my St Gallen side so my C.V remains the same.
——————————————————————-
So hola and welcome to Mexico! My team is Veracruz or to be exact Tiburones Rojas de Veracruz, Tiburones or Sharks and Rojas or Red meaning Red Sharks of Veracruz!
They are a mid table club in Mexico I could have maybe gotten a better job had I waited for Club America or Chivas but I didnt so Veracruz is it!
They have won a few things but the league setup in Mexico is pretty wierd!
So here I will try to explain how it works, the league is split into two stages an opening and a closing stage in both you play 17 games and are also seperated into three groups from which you have to qualify from.
If you do you go into the playoff’s to compete to win that stage, the winners qualifies for either the Copa America (South American champions league) or the North American champions league.
So here I have a chance to win both! But my aim is to win the North American CL with a team from Mexico.
Confused? Me too! But I will try to post what I mean later on but first I will post my three top players at Veracruz who have a fairly decent team in all honesty, so here they are :
Paolo Cesar Arellano
Alfredo Garcia
Oscar Rodriguez
My three best players Arellano is a very promising young defender who is already an established first teamer, Garcia is an experienced striker with a good eye for a goal and Rodriguez is a strong midfielder.
I was very pleased with the squad we had a bit of money to spend and a good wage budget to work with, I made a few transfers in with five non-Mexicans allowed to be registered so lets have a look at that activity and the three best I managed to buy :
Leo
Ricardo Gallegos
Evandro
So I spent a little money on signing some new players the other two were bought before I joined so I only bought the players with their profiles shown.
Two players plucked from Brazil with Leo being a very promising young central defender and Evandro a winger with an eye for a goal. Gallegos is a young talent bought from the USA so one for the future.
The Opening Stage
So thats how it works! All 18 teams are divided into three groups were the top teams all progress into the playoff’s to win the opening stage. It was a tough start in Mexico as all the teams are very well matched but we just drew too many games, and we didnt make the playoff’s despite finishing higher than Puebla and Atlas!
The reason was our group,we finished fourth and even though we had more points than Puebla and Atlas we didnt qualify, I think this league is going to be quite frustrating!
The Closing Stage
Playoff’s! The two stages are independant so once the opening stage has finished everything is started from scratch again sort of like the start of a new season. We are still drawing way too many games! But I guess its better than losing them.
Chivas are like the Barca of Mexico! The team you want to manage at but Mexico have some really great and finacially strong teams Atlas, Monterrey, Club America and Tigres and the powerhouses at least on my game, they have amazing squads facilities and wealth it will be a tall order to compete with them.
The Playoffs For The Closing Stage
OMG! Mexico is very annoying we were eliminated as away goals dont count and because Estudiantes Tecos finished higher than us in the league they progress to the semi finals!
So annoying and I again fell into the trap of assuming things, when I should have read the rules or asked my dad! Either way we are out so thats our season over.
Oh and also the manager of Estudiantes Tecos in no other than Javier Hernandez the Manchester United player! Monterrey are managed by Matias Fernandez once of Villarreal while Real Madrid player Angel Di Maria is the manger of Chivas!
So thats it!
I really hope that I have explained things well enough for you too understand, basically one league two seperate stages with all teams divided into three groups with the top teams progressing into the playoffs to win that respective stage.
So please any questions feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer them, also a big thanks to both Johnny and Darren for their work on the football manger handbook that I was emailed yesterday. I highly reccomend that you get a copy as its fantastic, and it will definatly help you to become a better manger on the game. I will be reading more of it tonight in my bed! :)
Also good luck to my team Barcelona this evening against Real Madrid am nervous and am fearing the worst! But hopefully I am wrong and I look forward to reading your comments and I will do my very best to recover my Coruxo save. So thanks and bye for now!
Laxeyman
27 апреля, 2011 at 17:09
Solid start in what seems to be a confusing league Ana. I’m sure you’ll be very close to promotion next season, a couple of new additions should see you challenging for top spot. Good luck!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:26
Thanks Laxeyman nice to see you back! :)
Promotion! We are already in the top division!
Its very confusing but am sure everyone will understand it better after a few posts! I plan on staying at Veracruz for while my aim is to work out how to get to either champions league!
vaibhavc
27 апреля, 2011 at 18:04
Hey Ana
I think Mexico wasn’t too bad for a beginner, I think you may win it next season. The only thing is that your team is a little inconsistent. Hopefully you can fix your Coruxo save.
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:28
Thanks!
Not sure about winning it some teams are very strong and we are sort of a mid table team, but I agree about being inconsistent but am sure we can turn some of them draws into wins!
Aguila
27 апреля, 2011 at 18:23
Hey,
well this league is quite hard and in the real life it is very corrupt, so good luck to you Ana. Hope though my team América does good :P
Vamos a beber en México!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:30
Hi Aguila!
It will be very difficult! Hopefully no corruption in game but who knows!
Darren Smith
27 апреля, 2011 at 19:20
Wow, Mexico is complicated!!! Ow well at least you have a better understanding and I certainly found the post interesting and educational. Thanks for the kind words on our guide Ana, and lets hope for a Barca win but I’m predicting 1-1. Sorry :(
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:32
Thanks Darren!
I agree very confusing! But a new challenge and like you said an educational experience for us all!
P.S. Am glad your prediction was wrong! :)
Johnny Karp
27 апреля, 2011 at 19:40
Talk about confusing… I don’t understand why they name those two parts opening stage and closing stage, they should just have them as separate seasons! Anyway, I’m sure that you will conquer Mexico very soon, with this team or another. And don’t worry, Barca will win! :)
Johnny Karp
27 апреля, 2011 at 21:46
Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 2! I told you! :P
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:36
Thanks Johnny!
I totally agree with you! I dont see why they just dont scrap the groups/stages and have a ‘normal’ league season over 34 games…..
Seems very strange but that how they do it so I will just have to accept it!
P.S. Yay! Messi!! I should have trusted you Johnny! :)
vikingmarius
27 апреля, 2011 at 19:41
Hi,
Mexico is extremely interesting and you were extremely unlucky to not qualify from the opening stage, but did well in the closing stage :) very good job here you should do well in season 2 with more signings xD
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:38
Hello!
Thanks! Am glad you understood most of it! The opening stage we were very unlucky but I guess we were unlucky in the closing stage aswell!
Just bad luck, it follows me everywhere!
:)
Sea
27 апреля, 2011 at 21:46
God that really confusing but you’ve just made me want to try the mexican league…it seems interesting
Unlucky in the play offs you should do well next season when you make the team your own
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:41
Thanks! :)
Its very interesting and very different from anywhere I have managed, you should try it!
Its really nice to sample different leagues and seeing how you can get on keeps the game exciting I think.
Yeah, I need to make this team my own and bring in the right players but at laast we have a decent starting team.
Sears
27 апреля, 2011 at 22:33
This is interesting, hopefully you’ll be able to conquer this complicated system next season!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:42
Thanks Sears,
Complicated is right! But in a strange way I am enjoying it!
:)
Alex
28 апреля, 2011 at 02:58
That’s weird, are those 3 groups drawn randomly? And only the bottom of group 1 gets relegated? I wonder who came up with that idea, why can’t they just be normal? Anyway, you did really well for your first season (or 2, too confusing!) and soon you’ll be finishing top of the table so those groups don’t matter :)
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:45
Hi Alex!
Yeah the groups are drawn at random at the start of every season. For South American teams I guess this way of doing it is ‘normal’ for them I like the league system better of 30+ games etc
Its one season of two parts which is the confusing bit! Am still getting to grips with it myself!
CsAtlantis
28 апреля, 2011 at 02:58
That’s a very interesting league system Ana, interesting to see some big players managing in Mexico with you
Looks like a great league to try and win two Champions League with one team, it will be tough though, looks like Tigres and Chivas are particularly strong
Good luck next season Ana, hopefully you can upgrade your facilities, they aren’t the best :P
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:49
Thanks!!
The league is a very good standard probably the best I have managed in so far I am hope to win both champions league here!
But I dont think a Mexican team has won the copa america but I could be totally wrong! My main aim is the North American one!
Indeed! We desperatly need improvement so fingers crossed!
Kevin
28 апреля, 2011 at 09:16
Hola Ana
Congrats on that nice 2-0 win over Madrid last night so its looking like we will meet in the final on May 28th :)
So people thought my MLS story was confusing. OMG this league is totally nuts!!!! Good for you for giving it a go and I look forward to seeing Veracruz as Champions of Mexico and all of the America’s!!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:51
Hola!
Thanks Kevin! I thought the your MLS story was confusing but I agree this is just plane wierd!
My dad tried to explain it to me which made things worse, but at least I know where I get my woeful explanations from!!
But am sure I will get the hang of it!
Yasser Rahman
28 апреля, 2011 at 10:10
HI Ana!
Congrats on your move to Mexico. I’ve played in Mexico before and even though I hate the rules, I think they are quite fun!
A few years ago, Mexico changed it’s league schedule to match FIFA’s international calender, So instead of a January to October calender , they moved to two sets of calenders i.e Opening ( August — Dec coinciding with the ‘Opening’ of the world football calender ) and Closing (Jan — May coinciding with the ‘closing’ of the world football calender)
There are 18 team, randomly divided into 3 groups. These groups remain the same through the opening and closing stages. Each team plays 17 games in each stage either Home or away. If Veracruz played America at home in the opening season, then they will play them away in the closing season. The top team in each group, every season qualify for a two legged championship play off and the winner is the Division Champion. So each year, the division has two Champions, one for the opening stage and one for the closing.
As far as relegation is concerned, the one team that has the lowest average points per game played over the last two years / four stages is relegated, regardless of position in the last stage. i.e Points in (Opening Stage 2011 + Closing Stage 2011 + Opening Stage 2010 + Closing Stage 2010 ) Divided by 68 ( 17 games per stage into four stages).
Hope this helps! As far as qualifying for the Continental competion, the Champion of the opening stage plays the Champion of the closing stage. If both stages have the same champion, then that team automatically qualifies. I might be wrong with this, but it’s correct if my memory serves me right!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:55
Hi Yasser!
Wow! Thank you for the explanation I may post this in my next update as you have explained it so much better than me! If you allow me that is! :)
It sort of makes alot more sense now and I am quite enjoying it! Thanks for clearing it up and it should help others to understand!
Yasser Rahman
7 мая, 2011 at 09:31
Oh absolutely, go ahead and share it. What’s the purpose of knowing something, if you can’t share it around :)
Ana Garcia
7 мая, 2011 at 15:17
LoL!
Thank you, I thought I would just ask as some people get mad if you post things without their permission.
I will post it on my next post to give people an even better understanding.
:)
hils
28 апреля, 2011 at 16:18
Hi Ana,good season there!!!!!!!! Very complicated!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!
Ana Garcia
28 апреля, 2011 at 21:55
LoL! Thanks Hils! :)