Introduction
Over the past several years of Football Manager saves I have time and time again found myself fascinated with running careers of real life new generation managers. As a matter of fact, these saves have completely changed my outlook on football. I have went from a passive fan to almost an obsession with the real world game but also the Football Manager series. Despite the release of Football Manager 20, I still find myself returning to Football Manager 19 over and over again. I feel like the latter version is just more polished and honestly simpler – a better fit for me for sure!
Who is Francisco Meneghini?
Meneghini is one of the younger managers in football, globally. In real life he took over at Union La Calera on November 9 of 2018. This was his first managerial role. He is most notably famous for being a “spy” and assistant under Marcelo Bielsa during his time as coach of the Chilean national team. He also worked under Jorge Sampaoli at La Roja and for the Argentine national team. And finally, he was also a coach for Universidad de Chile and an assistant to Sebastian Beccacece.
An impressive tree of managers to work under gives him a lot of hope to be a successful manager some day. Could he follow the footsteps of Bielsa, Sampaoli, Diego Simeone, Mauricio Pochettino, and Eduardo Berizzo among others to blossom in South America before moving to Europe? Only time will tell, but so far his career is off to a slow start. In real life he was sacked by Union La Calera prior to completing one season, while sitting 7th in the table. A bit harsh based on results. He quickly got another chance after signing with Audax Italiano a few months later, but COVID-19 has kept the season from starting on time.
Union La Calera
The Rojo (Reds) are a Chilean football club located in La Calera that was founded in 1954. They have been bouncing up and down from the Primera Divison and the Primera B for most of their 60+ years of existence, with more time spent in the Primera B. Their longest stretch of play in the Primera Division came from 1962 to 1975.
After simming the 2018 season, The Cementeros (Cement Men) find themselves once again relegated to the Primera B Division. In game, this is where the fictional version of Meneghini will begin. The Primera B Division features 16 teams, with the winner gaining automatic promotion and places 2-6 entering a promotion playoff for the second promotion place.
A look into the 2018 season, where Colo Colo won the league for the 23rd time. The 38-year old Esteban Paredes is likely a unanimous winner of the league’s player of the year after scoring 13 goals and assisting on 7 others. Colo Colo lead the league in scoring and least conceded, for a goal differential of 33 goals.
Looking at the squad that Meneghini has just inherited is not for the faint of heart. Fourteen players have either expiring contracts or loans, leaving just 16 players under contract entering the offseason with 3 of them on loans that expire in the middle of next season. Perhaps our best player is Neri Bandiera, but the attacker spent the season on loan at Curico Unido – the other relegated team from the Primera Division. He is a versatile attacker who should give us strong hope to get back to the Primera Division quickly.
Quite possibly our most exciting player, has to be Santiago Micolta. The 18-year old from Ecuador was outstanding for our U19s and will be looking to break through with the first team next year. Technically he is very talented!
A third promising attacker gives us plenty of options in attack moving forward. Why in the world did the previous regime insist on bringing in loans that were less talented? Josepablo Monreal brings a physical approach to our attack, he is not nearly as skilled technically but he can make a difference for us if we find a way to use him tactically.
Our midfield is lacking much depth and has to be a focus in the offseason, along with defense. Yonathan Andia is our only decent option in the midfield currently under contract for next season. I am bit concerned about his ability to meet the physical demands of the season but he his quick and talented technically.
Our defense was the worst in the league last season after allowing 55 goals. We have several contracts expiring, not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing! Arguably our best player, Pablo Alvarado has an expiring contract. He is a good player at the Primera Division, let alone the Primera B – hopefully whe will resign. Of players under contract at the moment, Matias Navarrete and Fernando Saavedra look to be quality enough to offer us something moving forward. Remarkably, they both were quite poor last season.
In goal, we have a 37-year old veteran in Lucas Giovini returning after a miserable year. He has been with the club for 10 years in total. Claudio Gonzalez is a respectable second option but he is also a bit undersized.
That is a quick look at what we have to start this career, a lot of work to do revamping this squad but also some interesting pieces to build upon.
My goal with this career is to really go with the flow, ideally Meneghini has some great success and moves on to bigger things in Europe some day before finishing out his career managing international football. It will be a hybrid of a journeyman save but also a pentagon challenge but no strict target in place to achieve.
The Roaming Playmaker 