Season 1 – 2007

Before I start the run through of the first season of my career I should probably point out that the outline I gave of Caxias appears to have been mistakenly assumed to be a club guide. That wasn’t the intention and it’s certainly my fault for not making it clear that the intention was to actually outline the position at each of the clubs that I’ll be managing throughout my career in FM07.

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The season begins, as it always does in Brazil, with the State Championships. With Internacional being the only Série A club drawn in our group I was reasonably confident of finishing second in the table and qualifying for the Play-Off group stage. Unfortunately, we slipped up in both our games against Novo Hamburgo (both 1-0 defeats) and this coupled with the expected defeats at the hands of Internacional meant we had to rely on being among the best third-placed teams in order to progress.

The Play-Off saw us drawn alongside Internacional again and our local rivals Grêmio. The team that finished top of this group would qualify for the final against the winner of a second Play-Off group. The fact that both Internacional and Grêmio play in Série A suggested that this group’s finalist wouldn’t be us, but with the fourth team in the group being fellow Série C side Esportivo, I felt we had a good chance of avoiding last place. Predictably the only points we gained in the group came against Esportivo, though we played well against Internacional in both games (as we had in the first group stage). Grêmio were a different story and outclassed us in our own stadium, running out 6-1 winners, a result their manager took great delight in. Internacional would go on to become Gaúcho State Champions.

Having performed reasonably well during the State Championships, we went into the Série C season full of confidence and expecting to fulfil the media prediction of promotion contenders. Our first fixture, a 7-0 thrashing of Cianorte, was followed by a one-sided 1-0 victory over Iraty and another win over Esportivo. From that point onwards the season became a battle as the goals dried up and defensive mistakes proved to be costly. Defeat away to ADAP appeared to have cost us second place and a place in the Second Round, but two good wins, combined with ADAP slipping up at home against top of the table Criciúma, saw us edge through.

The Second Round of Série C paired us with Vila Aurora who were brushed aside 7-1 on aggregate (4-0 at home and 3-1 away). Nacional would provide a much sterner test in the Third Round, and had they converted a late second-leg penalty they would surely have progress on the away goals rule, but a 1-0 win in the away leg and a 2-2 draw in the home leg was ultimately enough to see us progress to the Final Group Stage. From the very start it was obvious that four teams stood apart from the rest and that they would be the sides to gain promotion. Rio Branco were the only club with any serious chance of breaking into the top-four positions but poor results against teams near the top of the group late in the campaign ended their challenge.

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Season Overview.
Finances.

Despite promotion, a relatively successful State Championship campaign and being well under our wage budget, the club hemmorrhaged financially all season long. With no saleable assets (at least none that would cover even a month’s losses) it was left to the board to inject cash on a regular basis.

Team Performances.

The media, fans and board all expected the club to challenge for promotion, an expectation that was duly met. However, defensive frailties were all too apparent throughout the course of the season. Late in the campaign a 16 year old youth team player (Silva) was drafted in as striker due to injuries and suspensions, his 10 goals in 12 games were a big part of the reason promotion was achieved.

Transfers.

Various key positions required strengthening over the course of the season and as a result two full-backs (Henz & Mineiro), two attacking midfielders (Alison & Pernambucano) and a goalkeeper (Albérico) were drafted in and would play important roles in the promotion push.

In an attempt to reduce the club running costs a number of players were also allowed to leave the club.