Romanian FM 2012 Story: Unbelievable Roller Coaster

Hello folks and welcome back to my Football Manager 2012 story! Sorry for keeping you waiting a bit for this update but I’ve been quite busy with less exciting stuff lately. A quick recap of the situation before moving on to the actual update: we were 2nd at the end of March 2014 in Liga 1, 2 points behind leaders U Cluj with 10 games remaining but also with a pretty bad injury crisis to deal with. We also had the Romanian Cup semi final to look forward to in the last two months of the season.

The first game in April was the first leg of the Romanian Cup semi final tie against FC Brasov, a Liga 2 side. With that and our injury crisis in mind I decided to rest all the important players for that game. The result was a goalless draw, a decent one considering that we were going to play the second leg at home.

After that good rest I was hoping that the players were prepared for the upcoming tough match as we were travelling to face 4th placed Rapid Bucharest. It also was my 100th game in management so I was hoping for a good result to celebrate that landmark.

Rapid vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Ionut Putanu, Tshepo Tshabalala — Dejan Danicic, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Marius Albu, Denis Alibec

The crowd witnessed a lively start to the game with a few shots on both ends but it was Rapid who took the lead thanks to an unfortunate own goal. That mishap affected my lads and Rapid took control of the game but we came close to scoring against the run of play on 26 minutes when Dejan Danicic received the ball in a good position inside the penalty area but was denied by the goalkeeper. Nine minutes later I had to watch the physio in action again, Ionut Peteleu had to leave the field on a stretcher…

I switched to the attacking version of my tactic at half time in an attempt to turn things around but we were hit by bad luck again on 56 minutes when substitute left back Florin Krajcar put another one past our own keeper. The game was as good as over and Rapid made sure of that on a counter attack, it ended 3-0 as we couldn’t even score a consolation goal although Joabe did have a pretty good late chance. A poor performance overall and injured Peteleu was going to be out for three weeks…

Match highlights: click here to watch

The next game was another disappointment as we were held to a goalless draw at 15th placed Gloria Bistrita, the situation was quite worrying as we failed to score in three consecutive games and moved down in third place.

We had to turn things around but the next game wasn’t looking as a good opportunity as we were welcoming strong 5th placed Pandurii.

Viitorul vs Pandurii (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Alvaro Casanova, Timur Peniu, Ionut Putanu, Florin Krajcar — Corado Carstoiu, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Marius Albu, Denis Alibec

The lads seemed to be determined to change our fortunes though and we nearly broke the deadlock just 2 minutes into the game when a sensational shot by Mihai Onicas from way out rattled the crossbar. We were dominating quite clearly and the goal finally came on 13 minutes when Marius Albu somehow managed to push one into the back of the net. He could have added another one to his tally on 24 minutes but his volley bounced back off the crossbar. The first half ended without any more goals although the team played really well for a change.

Pandurii started the second half with a more positive approach and they could have levelled the score on 53 minutes when they wasted a pretty big chance. Then we managed to restore our domination but Joabe failed to score on a great chance on 62 minutes and then Alibec wasted another good opportunity. Luckily Pandurii were unable to punish us for the missed chances and we grabbed the three points. There was no celebration though because we had yet another injury to worry about after the game: Timur Peniu out for 3 weeks!

Match highlights: click here to watch

The second leg of the Romanian Cup match against FC Brasov was coming up and I was quite confident. The game seemed to go our way as we totally dominated it before Zarko Markovic finally scored the opening goal but then disaster struck when we least expected it: Brasov were awarded a rather dubious penalty kick and they scored to advance on away goals! You can imagine my frustration as our opponents had just one shot on target and that was a penalty kick! We blew a huge chance to reach the Romanian Cup final and that really was endangering our hopes of playing Europa League football next season…

Fortunately we had an easy league match coming up and we managed to bounce back by beating 15th placed Ceahlaul. The second goal was a beauty, click here to watch it.

The last match of the month was a crucial one as we were facing 5th placed FC Timisoara at home, we needed a win to remain in the top three.

Viitorul vs FC Timisoara (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Alvaro Casanova, Ionut Putanu, Zarko Markovic, Florin Krajcar — Corado Carstoiu, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Manoel, Marius Albu

We got off to a bright start this time, an excellent move on 8 minutes saw Brazilian striker Manoel playing a perfect through pass for Nenad Grumic who powered home. Our joy was short-lived though as Timisoara managed to make it all square after just seven minutes when my defenders failed to clear the ball after a good save from goalie Octavian Ormenisan. The lads played a pretty good first half but our defence was totally dormant and Timisoara could have scored again just before the break.

The second half saw a beautiful open game with both sides trying to attack but unfortunately only Timisoara succeeded in converting that into a goal. They were better than us overall so we had to admit defeat and worry about yet another bad injury: Zarko Markovic‘s season was over as he was going to be out for two months…

Match highlights: click here to watch

The poor run saw us moving further down in 4th place, the title race seemed over for us but now we were also fearing for the Europa League qualification… Three Romanian teams qualify for the Europa League, the winner of the Cup plus two more. CFR Cluj were going to play the Cup final against FC Brasov and if CFR were not going to win it then our 4th place wasn’t going to be good enough for Europe!

There were five more games to play and our situation was uncertain: in theory we still had a chance to win the title but we also had the unwanted chance to miss out on the Europa League qualification. The fixtures set was not too difficult as we were going to meet only teams from the lower half of the table except leaders U Cluj in the penultimate match of the season.

I guess you’re curious to see how it ended… Well, the answer is in the next page!

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Despite the inconsistent form I was quite confident at the start of May and that was because all the injured players except Markovic were back to full fitness. I was finally able to field my preferred eleven against Dinamo in the first match of the month and our strength was obvious as we dominated the game and won it quite convincingly thanks to another brace from Denis Alibec. Moreover, both CFR Cluj and Rapid had lost their matches so we were back up in 2nd spot!

Then we had a crazy match against Otelul… Manoel finally scored his first goal for the club, then Otelul bounced back and made it 2-1 but substitute Marius Albu came off the bench and handed us the three points with an amazing double! We retained our second spot after that game and we were just 2 points behind leaders U Cluj!

I was hoping for another three points from our home match against 9th placed Petrolul but that just wasn’t our day: we dominated the game quite clearly but Manoel was denied by the woodwork on two occasions (click here to watch) so we had to settle for a draw.

Luckily U Cluj had recorded a draw as well so the two-point gap was intact before…

…before the big clash! We needed the three points to leapfrog U Cluj at the top of the table, it was a historic moment for the club!

Viitorul vs U Cluj (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Ionut Putanu, Tshepo Tshabalala — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Manoel, Denis Alibec

The first eleven that I fielded was good enough in my view but we had problems on the bench as four of my usual substitutes were away on international duty with the under 19 teams! I just couldn’t believe that but it’s better to miss some substitutes than the important players I guess… Anyway, the game started well for us and we could have stuck in the 6th minute when a good move freed up Nenad Grumic inside the penalty area but his shot went well wide. Then things took a turn for the worse midway through the first half as the referee decided to award U Cluj a penalty kick for an alleged push on a corner kick. A defender stepped up to convert that spot kick, he fired a powerful shot… but it bounced back off the upright! That moment seemed to take the wind off the visitors’ sails and we took control of the game. Unfortunately another good chance went to waste on 43 minutes when Manoel found Joabe with a great pass but it was followed by a poor shot that was easily saved by the goalkeeper.

We continued the game with the same attitude after the break but unfortunately with the same wastefulness too: Alibec headed wide from six yards on 52 minutes. A few seconds later Manoel took things into his own hands, he made a tremendous run before entering the penalty area but he was denied by an unbelievable double save from the goalkeeper. The goal finally came moments later, a great long pass from Alvaro Casanova found Denis Alibec behind the defence, the striker continued with a great first touch before blasting into the back of the net! Get in! I switched to the counter tactic immediately after the goal to avoid any unnecessary risks and the decision paid off as my lads were keeping possession very well. The game was going our way but my Brazilians sealed the precious three points 15 minutes from time: Joabe fought like a lion inside the penalty area, his tackle sent the ball into the path of Manoel who fired it low into the bottom corner! We won and it was a massive victory!

Match highlights: click here to watch

So, we were in command with one game left but the situation wasn’t as simple as it seems. The bottom line is that the title was not in our hands and that is because the Romanian Liga 1 rules say that when two teams have equal points at the end of the season the difference is made by the results between those two teams. And since we had lost both home and away against Rapid that meant that we were going to lose the title if we finished tied on points with Rapid… I really wished that Football Manager was less realistic :)

However, we did have a slight advantage, at least in theory: we were going to face 13th placed Sportul in the last game of the season while Rapid were going to have a tough battle against arch rivals Steaua…

Sportul vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Ionut Putanu, Tshepo Tshabalala — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Manoel, Denis Alibec

We were perfectly capable of beating Sportul, I was quite sure of that. But my hopes suffered a big blow after just three minutes when midfielder Nenad Grumic cracked under the tremendous mental pressure and made a horrendous tackle that left the referee with no choice than to send him off. We were one man down but luckily that didn’t stop Denis Alibec, he took matters into his own hands and gave us the lead with a fantastic solo effort on 8 minutes! We were back in the driving seat but Sportul were not going to surrender and they made it all square with a fabulous shot from 20 yards out. The numerical disadvantage was not doing us any favours and Sportul nearly took the lead on 34 minutes. We were relying only on individual actions and that was the case just before the break when Alibec created another chance for himself but missed it… The first half ended 1-1 and we were down in 3rd place at half time as U Cluj were leading Ceahlaul 4-0 and Steaua vs Rapid was 0-0…

Despite the numerical disadvantage I decided to gamble and set up an attacking 4-2-3 tactic for the second half. That decision nearly paid off after just three minutes but substitute Corado Carstoiu was unable to beat the goalkeeper. We were pushing forward but Sportul were hanging in there… But not for long: two minutes after the hour mark a fine move brought the ball to Manoel and the Brazilian striker banged it home! I quickly checked the other results after that goal and the news were good: Steaua vs Rapid was 1-0! I changed the strategy to counter, we just had to hang in there and hope that Rapid were not going to fight back against Steaua… We were doing our part well, things were fairly quiet against Sportul but we had something to celebrate again on 70 minutes. It wasn’t a goal from my lads but a goal from Steaua, they were leading Rapid 2-0! There was no way back at that point, the situation was in our hands. We nearly made sure of the title five minutes from time when a good cross found substitute Dejan Danicic inside the penalty area but his header rattled the crossbar… Then Sportul tried a desperate final dash but we were hanging in there… Three minutes of added time were indicated, Steaua vs Rapid was still 2-0… Three minutes and 27 seconds of injury time were played before the referee finally blew that damned whistle! We are the Liga 1 champions!

Match highlights: click here to watch

We won the title against all odds and that will give us the chance to play Champions League football next season. However, that doesn’t mean that we’ll go straight into the group stage. Unfortunately we’ll have to go through no less than three preliminary rounds before the group stage!

The board and the fans were happy, they were saying nice words about me, but nothing mattered more for me than the words of Ionut Putanu, a player that I have promoted from the under 19s team! He had a wonderful season, scored no less than 11 goals and I guess we would never have won this title without him.

Joabe also played an important part as he provided the most assists in the whole league!

Strangely we had just one player in the team of the season and that was youngster Ionut Putanu!

I received an award too, manager of the year. Well, I guess I deserved it this time ;)

In my view three players carried the team on their shoulders this season: Denis Alibec, Ionut Putanu and Joabe. The other lads did well too but most of them had to deal with injuries and those surely affected their average ratings.

Last but not least I have to say that our financial deficit is under control, we should receive almost 2 million in TV rights so I guess we can hope for a green balance if we reach the Europa League or Champions League group stage.

That’s about it folks, I still can’t believe that we have won the title. I honestly wasn’t expecting that at the end of April as I was more concerned with securing a top three spot and Europa League qualification. But I was in for a nice surprise, the team really turned up for the last five games and clinched a massive success. Thanks a lot for reading ;)