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Ana — FM 2011 : Veracruz, Season 18
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.
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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
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
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!