El Delfín - Part 1

Good morning/afternoon/evening, whatever time it is you’re reading this blog welcome. This is my first ever foray into blogging about my FM saves, having played the series for almost 20 years now, I felt it was time to burden you with my mediocreness. So, without any hesitation lets talk about where I will be heading to in FM23.

 

El Delfin

I find myself in Peru! Yes, I’ve made it to the South American country famous for Machu Pichu, Ceviche and the national delicacy Cuy (Guinea Pig). More specifically I’m in the city of Callao, the countries main seaport and Lima’s main airport. Callao is home to two clubs in the Peruvian Primera División Sport Boys and the team I will be taking over Academia Deportiva Cantolao.

 

Cantolao from a league standpoint aren’t the most successful, the only trophy of note won was the Segunda División in 2016 and, ever since that moment have been finishing towards the bottom or the middle of the Peruvian Primera División. But what they are more noted for is their fantastic youth academy setup, producing players such as Yoshimar Yotún, Carlos Zambrano and most notably Claudio Pizarro. This is the main reason for choosing the club, after a recommendation from Rocks End FM, and the reasons why shall be unveiled later in the post.

Primera División a mindf**k

South America has a cornucopia of ‘weird’ league setups, from a European mindset (apart from Belgium), and Peru is no different. The league is setup into Opening and Closing stages. Each team will play each other once in each stage and the winners of them will make it to the end of season playoffs. Once both stages have been completed an aggregated table is generated and the top two teams from this table will also make it to the playoffs. These playoffs will be played in semi finals and then a final whereby the winner of said final will be crowned champion of Peru. Phew.

 

Cantolao – A Vision

It wouldn’t be a proper FM save without a vision to base it all on and to produce longevity and consistent interest. As stated before, Cantolao are famous for their youth academy and it is this that I will be basing my main vision for the club, amongst other goals.

 

A Peruvian abroad – I want to continue developing talent for the club, nurture them and allow them to fly the nest, the main aim would be for these players to make it to Europe, whether this is directly from us or via a stop off at a larger South American nation does not matter to me, if it is the later, we would look to add a percentage sell on clause in the transfer. Producing a conveyor belt of talent we can continuously outsource will allow us to improve our financial stability which in turn can be invested into youth and training facilities.

 

Stepping up in the league – Also mentioned before was the club’s mediocre performances in the Primera División. I want to improve our performance on the pitch which should relate to a higher league position with a view to firstly winning either an opening or closing stage and finally winning a playoff final and thus becoming champions of Peru.

 

Making a mark in SA – Obviously with improved league standings comes opportunities on the continent. Peru has a very unexceptional run in South American competitions with a handful of final appearances and only one win, Cienciano winning the Sudamericana in 2003. I want this to change and the aim is for Cantolao to become a continental success with the aim to become the first Peruvian team to win the Copa Libertadores, although any success in South America will be considered a win.

 

The Power of the Dolphin

Cantolao’s nickname is a El Delfín, The Dolphin, alongside the picture of dolphin on the club’s logo it is clear there is a link to the club and the mammal. Dolphins are highly intelligent, social and considered apex predators due to their lack of taking any crap off sharks. I want to take some of these characteristics and apply them to my vision of the type of player I want at the club.

 

High levels of determination, teamwork and work rate from a mental perspective alongside great natural fitness and stamina in the physical side and first class passing, first touch and technique in terms of technical ability. These attributes will allow me to produce a high pressing style of football out of possession with a view to keeping as much possession of the ball as possible with a view to creating clear goalscoring opportunities. But more on my tactical ideas in the next post.

 

That’s all for this post, before I start rambling on more about the etymology of dolphins or confuse you more with the league setup. I hope you enjoyed this part and I look forward to brining you the second instalment.