Hi everyone!
Welcome back to South Korea in my quest to obtain the Asian Champions league for the third champions league I require. Last season we fell in the first round knockout stage to eventual winners Guangzhou so I was hoping for a little better this time.
I managed to conquer my playoff woes also by beating my big rivals Ulsan to the K-league title but am sure they will back better this season so I needed to keep winning in order to hopefully win another K-league title.
So here we go on yet another up and down season at Seoul.
Managerial C.V
— Black Aces (June 2011 – June 2018)
African Premier League : 2016
Super 8′s Winner : 2015, 2016
First Division : 2012
South African Knockout Cup : 2016
The African Champions League : 2017
— New York Red Bulls (January 2019 –December 2021)
U.S. Cup : 2019
MLS : 2020, 2021
North American Champions League : 2020
— FC Seoul ( January 2022 – Present)
K-League : 2023
Korean FA Cup : 2022
International Career
— U.S.A (May 2017 – July 2021)
Nothing.
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So our club info remains almost the same as last season, our club value went up by £250k and Kim Jae-Hyung joined the favoured personal list he was our top scorer last season.
So after our board wasted massive amounts of money last season I tried to curb most of my spending. I didnt really want to sell anyone as I was very pleased with the squad I have so our finances did go up slightly from last season as we almost doubled our balance to over £3 million pounds.
I made no transfers as there wasnt really any decent players, seeing as I have my three foreign players I am just scouting South Korean players and none I felt would have added anything to my team.
The K-League Results 15 games In
So for the first time since I have been in Korea I suffered back to back defeats!
Away at Chunnam we were so poor it was embarrassing to be honest, we did improve slightly away at Ulsan but still lost but my team did react after a big shake up winning our next six games.
A Dream Come True!
I finally broke the Guardiola/Luis Enrique monopoly!!
If you remember from my last post they had pretty much managed the national side almost taking it in turns until Luis Enrique was sacked and I applied (just for fun really) and they offered it me!
So I am now the manager of Spain, the team I support and the place where I was born. :)
However it seems Guardiola and Luis Enrique havent fared too well as you will see in the next picture…..
17th!!
I couldn’t believe it, Spain have tumbled down the world rankings and guess who is the top ranked team in the world?
Thats right its Mexico! :)
I guess I didnt too bad at the USA seeing as Mexico are the current world cup winners and the best team in the world followed by the usual teams of Brazil, Argentina, France etc
My first task is to climb back up the rankings, usually at international management I am terrible! But now at Spain I cant afford to be as they may sack me like the USA did.
So according to the Spanish overview they have this guy as my best player, I must agree.
How Villarreal could do with someone like this in real life, he came through their youth system scoring lots of goals every season. Has a David Villa like international record also!
De Gea and Montoya are amongst some of the ‘real life’ players still involved in the Spain set-up along with a few others but are now in the twilight of their careers. :)
Milestone 600 Games
So 600 games and that game will be the final of the league cup against Gyeongnam so to see how I did just keep reading. :)
Transfer Window — Second Window
So pretty quite with one in and one out, our finances are declining so no big money transfers.
Cha Ji-Soo was just a back-up forward but he didnt really play that often.
Lee Kwang-Min
So I have a real obsession with central midfield players!!
If I see one I like I just buy them all the time so I payed £100k pounds for this player looks pretty promising for 21 so hopefully he can develop into a first team regular.
The K-League Final League Fixtures
So I can only compare us to last season as we finished top once again.
We were a point worse off than last year and we also scored thirteen less but we did also concede mine goals less so our goal difference from last season was only -4.
Twelve points clear of Ulsan but guess who we meet in the playoff finals, once again I meet my big rivals.
K-League Playoff Final — First Leg vs Ulsan
As expected it was close, very close we had our star defender Edison West after he struck twice.
28 minutes gone when he headed in from a corner, against the run of play I must say and Ulsan did get back into albeit from an own goal from the excellent Ham Sang-Woo (my defensive midfielder).
However West spared his blushes heading in from another set play, this time a free kick to give us a narrow advantage.
K-League Playoff Final — Second Leg vs Ulsan
Take that! :)
What can I say, but we finally found an excellent performance as Ulsan were totally out-classed. An early goal from Kwon settled any nerves before youth academy rising star Min Jae-Suk doubled our lead.
Kim Jae added a third whilst Warren Donald (our center back who keeps taking penalties even though I have selected about six players who all started ahead of him?) but he did score despite what must be a glitch or something.
But anyways the K-league title was ours again!
Cup Competitions
The Asian Champions League
So we made no progress from last season as we once again crashed out in the first knockout stage, however my big rivals Ulsan took some revenge for their playoff final defeat beating us by two goals to one. We didnt really deserve to lose but thats how it goes I guess. :)
The Korean FA Cup
So no FA cup this season as we were hopeless against Sangju, who manged to score four time against us!
I have no idea what happened we were just so poor, it seems we can fall into a very complacent mentality which led to another mini-shake up. :)
The Korean League Cup
The Final
So my 600th game was a trophy, which was very nice!
Although I was very pleased to win the league I was far more happier by beating Ulsan by six goals to one! :)
Final Player Ratings of the Season
So two players really stood out the same two that have been brilliant every season.
Kim Jae finally overtook the amazing Edison West but with 36 goals and 21 assists I cant really argue and with teams as big as Lyon interested in him I may struggle to keep a hold of him.
West was brilliant as usual scoring 14 times from center back, creating goals from midfield when I need him there and Toure had another brilliant season from wide left in both scoring and creating.
Kim Jae Woon also really impressed from the center of midfield creating 24 goals and scoring a couple also.
Star Man of the Season — Kim Jae-Hyung
End of Season Finances and Save Game Status
So not great but too bad either I guess, we are losing rather a lot of money each season so my spending will have to be low again for the upcoming season as well.
I hate debt and even though I can leave at anytime I always like to leave clubs in a better state than I joined, so no spending again it seems.
End of Season Round-Up
So a good season overall I think, we still havent really performed in the champions league as of yet and the amount of money we keep losing is also quite worrying.
But we did retain our K-league title and I won another playoff game! Which is always nice especially for me seeing how many I have lost on this game. The squad is thankfully very good so I wont need to spend too much next season but with our very poor youth facilities I cant rely on the younger players coming through.
Am very excited to manage Spain! My record at international level is well as you have probably read is very poor and my record at world cup’s is horrible having only ever won it three time (twice with Spain once with Brazil) during my time playing this game.
So hopefully that can change and I can take Spain back to the the number one side in the world also!
As always thanks for reading and happy valentines to you all!
I hope you all get to spend some time with the one you love and if you are single then have some free kisses from me. :)
xxxxxxxxx!!
LoL! Anyways thanks for reading and until next time bye bye!
Laxeyman
13 февраля, 2012 at 21:24
Good season Ana, congrats on another league title, and the Spain job! I have a feeling they will start to climb up the rankings again with you in charge :) Shame about the CL, hopefully next season will be 3rd time lucky!
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:32
Thanks Laxeyman! :)
I hope so! International management has always been a struggle for me but I cant believe Spain are 17th!
This CL was my third attempt! Maybe fourth time lucky! ;)
qwerty
13 февраля, 2012 at 21:31
very good hopefully you’ll nail the asian champions leagues soon. Any ideas on your next chalenge yet?
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:35
Hi and thanks. :)
I hope so to, it seems I am getting worse though in the champions league! Maybe if I can improve the team a little I honestly dont think we are too far away. Just need a bit of luck! :)
Well I need South America and Europe so probably will do South America first, I really want to try Argentina seeing as I managed in Brazil last time but depends if any jobs become available.
Frank
13 февраля, 2012 at 22:20
Hi Ana,
Another good season where you wont the league, league cup and landed the Spain job! Hopefully you’ll do better in the Champions League next season. Good luck :)
Also if you have time, could you check out my blog were I am managing the New York Red Bulls
thefootballmanagergaffer.blogspot.com
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:37
Hi Frank and thanks. :)
I hope so too! Winning the league was nice especially against Ulsan who are providing a real test for me at the moment.
I will do! I managed the New York Red Bulls also in my story! So I now understand the MLS and I will read it when I get some free time. :)
Dino Ozbolt
13 февраля, 2012 at 22:40
good season, too bad for that champions league loss! It’s funny to see how girls write in different style than guys… :D haha
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:40
Thanks Dino! :)
That loss was annoying as I felt we were the better side just not meant to be unfortunately.
Well I hope you like my style! I tend just to write of the top of my head and try and remember what happened in that season. :)
Dino Ozbolt
16 февраля, 2012 at 12:47
ah, I know the feeling, it’s the same with me.. play-offs and knockout phases.. the most annoying stuff! I like your style, it’s different! Funny stuff is that I tend to remeber better what I did on FM than what i have to do for school! haha
Ana Garcia
24 февраля, 2012 at 20:14
School! Your making me feel old now! ;)
saltwater
14 февраля, 2012 at 00:38
You have a very strong team at your disposal and I wouldn’t be surprised if you got further in the champions league next time out, and it must be very nice to win a cup on your 600th game, if it was me it would probably have been my 599th games with my luck. Edison West looks like one of the best Centre-Halfs in the buisness.
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:44
Thanks! :)
I agree we have a great squad its just at times we get very complacent and lose games we should really be winning.
Am thinking maybe my team talks are not demanding enough I tend to encourage but maybe as a bigger side I will have to be a more ruthless.
That’s just not me though! In all honesty most of my milestone games I went on to lose!
I agree I first saw him near the end of my reign at the Black Aces then signed in for New York and he was amazing, when I saw him for free I knew I had to sign him again! :)
hapoo
14 февраля, 2012 at 01:27
10 puntos cule HAHAHAHAHA
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:48
Disfrutar de ella, que no durará mucho tiempo! :P
CsAtlantis
14 февраля, 2012 at 02:11
Congratulations on landing the Spain job, hopefully you can get that coveted Asian Champions League trophy soon, if you are winning so many cups and titles why is your team losing some money each season?
Oh yeah Ana, is Asian Champions League knockout rounds just a single leg game?
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:55
Thanks!
In all honesty we dont earn that much from winning the trophies, and with the player bonus we actually can lose money for winning the domestic cups.
We have to rent our stadium which drains a lot of money but we also lose about £70K-£150k steadily every month and our main income is from season tickets so we tend to be down every season.
You are correct, the first knockout stage is just one leg then the quarter and semi finals are two legs it seems a little weird they would do that and not have it two legged.
vaibhavc
14 февраля, 2012 at 07:20
You finally managed to break the Guardiola and Enrique empire, thank god since they were losing Spains dominance. Unfortunate about the CL, hopefully next year you can do better.
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:56
Thanks!
Yeah I finally broke the Spanish repetition! I only applied more in hope in all honesty but if you dont try you just never know! :)
Agreed, next season hopefully we can do a little better.
Woody
14 февраля, 2012 at 08:16
Great league season a bit unlucky in all the other cups to go out in the quarter or semi
Well done on beating Ulsan twice in the play offs
Anyway well done and good luck
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 18:58
Thanks Woody. :)
I was pretty happy with the season and winning the playoffs is always nice for me.
We just need to improve in the champions league and then I can move on.
Johnny Karp
14 февраля, 2012 at 09:51
Big congratulations on the Spain job Ana, you really deserved it and I’m sure you will take the nation back where it belongs! You did well in the league as well and hopefully the Champions League curse will be broken next season. Good luck!
P.S.: Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:02
Thanks Johnny! :)
I hope so too! Spain is a huge opportunity but sadly they have declined over the past few years so fingers crossed I can get them back to a great side again.
Its feels like a curse! Knockout stage defeats after getting to the final in my first season we just need a little bit of luck.
LoL Thanks! We stayed in and he cooked me a lovely dinner which is surprising as he has never cooked for me before! I hope you had a good evening as well. :)
TheZiggy
14 февраля, 2012 at 10:09
That damned Ulsan again, this time ruining the Champions League run. At least you got revenge by winning the play-off final with some style. Hopefully next season the Champions League will be yours.
Well done on getting the Spain job, but those two have really seen the team drop down. In my game things have gone totally insane in the world, and I’m only in 2014. Switzerland are number 2 in the world behind Argentina, Spain 5th, Scotland 9th, England 12th, one spot ahead of Germany. This is quite insane already, but there’s much more to come. France have dropped down to 20th, with Wales in 26th, well ahead of Brazil in 33rd. How does this lunacy happen? Each time I check, Brazil seem to be dropping like a stone. Scotland and Wales being so high, must means my game is broken. ;)
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:08
Thanks Ziggy. :)
They are providing a really good test for my side its always nice to have a rival! Maybe not as bad as the Orlando Pirates at South Africa but they tend to beat me in the bigger games.
I know! My game is equally weird as you have seen Spain are 17th Mexico are number one and South Africa and Ghana are in the top 10.
Brazil at 33! That seems crazy to me I just cant imagine with the players they can produce they would be so low down.
Am sure its a glitch or something as when I was at the USA I dropped like 60 places and I dint play any games!
Then I won a few friendly games then went back up 60 places in the space of a few months.
Darren Smith
14 февраля, 2012 at 12:01
Unlucky in the CL Ana, but great work domestically and the Spain job is a massive bonus. You must be so happy about that and I can’t wait to see you lead your favorite team to glory. Should be great.
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:10
Thanks Darren. :)
I will try my best to lead them to glory, international management has never been my strength!
Kevin
14 февраля, 2012 at 12:55
Hola Chica Bonita :)
Another great season in South Korea though you must be livid at going out of the the CL to Ulsan, your big rivals? On a happier note you have to be ecstatic to have landed the Spain position and I can surely predict you bringing them back up in the FIFA rankings.
Happy Valentines!
Johnny Karp
14 февраля, 2012 at 19:21
Your Spanish is getting better and better :P
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:16
Thanks Kevin!
I love your Spanish too!, even if its a little muddled. :P
I was annoyed as I felt we deserved to beat Ulsan!
I am delighted to take the Spain job, now onto the tricky part and actually trying to win something! :)
Oh thanks! I hope you had a great Valentines day also!!
Martin - F.M.J.S
14 февраля, 2012 at 13:38
Unlucky Ana with the CL again but I hope next season you will be able to lift the trophy but a good season in the league. Also congrats on the Spain job I look forward to you bring them back up the FIFA rankings. :)
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:18
Thanks Martin! :)
I hope so too its starting to annoy me getting this champions league!
Me too and back to number one where they belong!! ;)
Steven
14 февраля, 2012 at 14:24
Another fun season with Seoul, and good luck reviving Spain!
Plus thanks for the xxs I think I’ll need them today haha :)
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:20
Thanks Steven! :)
I enjoyed it also! despite losing in the champions league and I will be doing my best to revive Spain!
Oh, your very welcome!! :)
Sears
14 февраля, 2012 at 14:50
Ugh, tough luck in the Asian CL Ana, shame you crashed out so early. Good luck with Spain! I’m managing them too in my Athletic Bilbao save (I’m in 2017 btw) … :) I’m sure you’ll do a better job with them than I am lol
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:22
Thanks Sears!
Agreed as we got through our group quite comfortably just not meant to be I guess!
Hopefully Spain are in a better shape then they are in my game! :)
Bhargav
15 февраля, 2012 at 10:59
Keep at it! You will definitely win it sooner than later, I know it. Your team is too good. Too bad you can’t hit them on the backside of the head to get serious :P
Also, good luck with Spain. The team definitely has lots of quality so you should be able to get their ranking up in no time.
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:25
Thanks!!
I will keep going until I win it, I am very tenacious! :)
I hope so too I still cant believe they have dropped to 17th in the world, will definalty try and get them back into the top ten at least!
Ivo
15 февраля, 2012 at 17:28
hey Ana , great story again ! such a domination … But Ulsan are improving very very fast which is a little worrying … personally i think your club is in a bad position because they spend a lot of money and you cant improve in the ch. league without better players as you can see…
good luck in the next season and with spain , ivo
Ana Garcia
15 февраля, 2012 at 19:30
Hi Ivo and thanks. :)
I agree with you, Ulsan have been selling players including a forward to Europe for like £12 million pounds so they can compete in buying a better squad and at times pricing us out of some talented South Korean players.
I am struggling to improve as I am only limited to South Korean players at the moment having had my three foreign players allocated so its a tricky situation.
Thanks for the luck I feel I will need it! :)
Ivo
16 февраля, 2012 at 17:15
happy valentines day btw. :)
Ana Garcia
24 февраля, 2012 at 20:14
LoL! Thanks, we had a great day. :)
Davy Doyle
21 февраля, 2012 at 15:25
Great to see another K-League title Ana. Unfortunate in the ACL but im sure with a couple of tweeks in the squad you’ll get further on next year.
Ana Garcia
24 февраля, 2012 at 20:18
Thanks Davy! :)
I was very pleased to win another K-League title especially against Ulsan but I do feel we need to be more clinical in the champions league to ever have a chance.
Tweaks will have to come from the squad I have as I am losing so much money every season now and I also have my allotted foreign player limit of three so I need to find some South Korean talent for any squad improvement! :)
Michael Vallance
22 февраля, 2012 at 22:21
really loving these updates, inspired me to start my own pentagon challenge
Ana Garcia
24 февраля, 2012 at 20:21
Thanks Michael! :)
That’s one of the nicest comments I can get to inspire another to take up this challenge so thank you so much for that.
I have another update coming soon, just need to find some time to write it up!
I wish you the best of luck on your journey so please let me know how you are getting on. :)