Sve o MLS-u

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Gagi
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Sve o MLS-u

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Introduction

Hello! In this post, I am going to attempt to create an introduction to MLS within FM2015, while keeping the post readable. There are many guides out there, but few of good quality.

As a secondary objective, I'd like to highlight the successes and constraints of playing within MLS. I'm a huge fan of the development of this game and I firmly think that 2015 is the best iteration yet, barring a few (minor) balance issues. I've had success with bringing attention to issues in the past regarding MLS, such as one that was implemented in FM2015 being the ability to recall players from Loan in the MLS at any time during the year, which I'm incredibly happy that they've implemented.

About the League

For context, the MLS is relatively young league - existing since only 1996. It's the final iteration in a series of football investments in the United States, created initially from a World Cup bidding commitment. I'll make the bold statement that the MLS really became a respected organization around 2010 - since then, records have been set for attendance, investment, and growth nearly every year. As a resident of a bible belt state, I can tell you first hand that supporting MLS is no longer looked down upon, and even favorable by the working youth - which is a massive step for Americans.

Despite this, teams are still learning to create effective youth programs, and the league is struggling to overcome a stigma of the "retirement league" for world class players. Recent long term signings and re-acquisition of US national team players, as well as international TV exposure (Sky Sports signing, Brazilian signings) are examples of early progress to make the league a real powerhouse. In addition, the USMNT has a wealth of promising players coming off of a wonderful and creditable World Cup performance.

In FM2015, opportunity is at your doorstep. The game begins in January 2014, the MLS preseason. At the end of the year, three huge events will occur:

Orlando City will join the league, backed by a strong ownership group and the one and only Kaka.
New York City FC (NYCFC) will join the league, bringing over the likes of David Villa and Mix Diskerud.
Chivas USA will be disbanded, while Sporting KC and Houston Dynamo will move to the Western Conference.


The two newest teams promise incredible saves, bringing an absolutely brand new organization in to the world for a strong manager to build towards glory. The movement of teams between divisions is exciting, for reasons I'll touch on later.

Why You Should Consider an MLS Save


So, here's the real question: why should you start an MLS save?

As mentioned above, managers will find themselves with all of the world at their fingertips. Soccer fans in America are anxiously awaiting for the reputation to make that final step to be competitive with Europe, and a strong manager has the opportunity to have his name carved in stone.

One of my favorite parts of the league is that it's an extremely fast-paced game compared to other leagues. We'll talk about this later, but your reserves team can only have a maximum of six players, and your academy is typically a feeder organization. This means that as a coach, you can have one-hundred percent focus on the first team, the immediate backup players, and most importantly: the hottest youth prospects.

It's incredible how quickly a year can pass when management burden is reduced to thirty players. Everyone, bottom to top, suddenly becomes important - and you don't have to delegate to the AI coaches. The youth intake no longer seems light years away, and becomes an achievable goal for a fortnight of playtime.

Clubs

Eastern Conference:

Chicago Fire
- Chicago is a massive city, but has struggled in recent years. Plenty of opportunity to rally the midwest masses to your flag.

Columbus Crew - A regional team with a strong local fanbase - a fair challenge for management.

DC United - Located in the capitol, a perfect place to build an international reputation.

New England Revolution - Full of strong players but still without a league trophy. Core players Lee Nguyen and Jermaine Jones can show the ropes to some promising youngsters.

New York Red Bulls - The original MLS New York franchise, backed by a controversial ownership group. Fallen on hard times with the loss of superstars Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill

Montreal Impact - A small Canadian team with obvious French roots, and Ignacio Piatti who has the capability to destroy the league, with a little help in depth.

New York City FC - One of two additions this year, with the capability to take New York by storm. Also affiliated with Premier league owners Manchester City, who have provided David Villa and Mix Diskerud.

Orlando City SC - The revival of soccer in Florida, built behind Kaka. A true, fresh foundation ready for a strong leader.

Philadelphia Union - A team with a somewhat mediocre reputation for quality of signings, but with unseen and unrecognized potential. Ready to be built into an East-coast powerhouse, if the locals can be won over.

Toronto FC - Big spenders in Canada, and always contenders, but rarely victors. Coaches have traditionally been unable to turn talent into trophies. The go-to powerhouse Canadian team.

Western Conference

Colorado Rapids - A team with a recent downturn in confidence and supporters, ready for a comeback through several promising youth players.

FC Dallas - In good form with lots of promise, and one of the largest cities in America at it's fingertips. Has a reputation for teamwork and tenacity.

Houston Dynamo - The other half of Texas, also with promise for a strong, passionate comeback after a slump in annual form.

Los Angeles Galaxy - An international club, with a line of trophies built by club legends Bruce Arena and U.S. hero, Landon Donavan. Management will need to work hard to maintain expectations - a task made easier by Robbie Keane.

Portland Timbers - The eternal western underdog, fighting (and often succeeding) against the shadows of LA and Seattle. Extremely strong local support.

Real Salt Lake - An always-contender for the west, and an ambition for talented, quality soccer.

San Jose Earthquakes - Built around new arrival Innocent Emeghara and U.S. veteran Chris Wondowloski, the California market is wide open. Also, largest outdoor bar in North America.

Seattle Sounders FC - Competing with L.A. for the strongest team in the league, an active ownership group and screaming fans boast the strike partnership of Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, with several extremely strong players behind them.

Sporting Kansas City - A team known as an example of what MLS can become, taking a conservative, baseball-centric city and proselytizing the youth. Reputation for hard-fought physical play and strong fitness, but an uncertain future after moving from the weaker East.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC - The other Canadian team - a strong challenge for a Canadian coach to take on an underdog, who may not prefer the French.

Competitions

There are several disparate pieces of silverware to chase, and all of them are a little different. Let's start with the priority: the domestic league.

First, understand that the league is split into two conferences: Western and Eastern. The conference a team is located in will determine how many times it plays other teams in the same conference. Traditionally, the West is sturdier collection of clubs.

The annual race for the league is known as the Supporter's Shield. This trophy is awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the season. Simple. It also provides allocation money, a spot in the NACL (CONCACAF), and really pleases the supporters.

The second league competition is the MLS Cup. Consider this both more important but also additive to the Shield. This is a playoff competition amongst the best teams by points in each conference. If you aim to win the Supporter's Shield, you'll get a place - so no need to do anything special here. The one point I will make, is that the board is going to consider this very important. It also means that players that dread big matches are now worth slightly less to you.

The domestic cup is known as the US Open Cup. All teams in the United States can compete, including non-playable USL/NASL regional teams as well as U-23 and other academy squads. The rewards are merely allocation funds, and a spot in the NACL should you win - both things that can be acquired through the primary league competition. I recommend using this solely as a place to develop your youth players, because A - neither the board and the fans care about it, and B - it occurs in the middle of the season.

Internationally, strong MLS sides will qualify for the North American Champions League. There is one reason why you care about this competition: it provides access to the Club World Cup. Behind the scenes in FM, there are a series of hidden stats known as "Reputation". Even making it to the CWC will provide a huge boost to this stat, far more than any domestic competition. You need to perform well here if you want to become renowned. One catch on this; the competition spans two seasons, which is a pain in the ass.

Rules & Regulations

The number one question that comes up about the league: how do the rules work? If you don't want to know the details, go to Squad -> Players -> Registration in game. It will make things very, very simple.

Let's start off with a few absolute truths. There is no promotion or relegation. MLS is the domestic league, backed up by academy teams (we'll get to this in a moment) and NASL/USL teams which are both unplayable and good affiliate/poaching targets. We've covered the competitions already, and how you can make the most of them.

The Cap

The first and foremost complexity is all based around the Salary Cap. You must understand - the cap and the rules that follow it make the league what it is. There are no teams with exponential riches, and everyone is competitive. You will never have an "easy match", like you may find in European leagues against newly promoted organizations. It also means you must be clean and efficient with your trades and signings.

The cap is very simple - you have X amount of dollars per year (usually around 3.1 million) to be spent on payroll. Understand that all rules are complimentary to the cap; once this concept "clicks", it all becomes easy. The cap is love, the cap is life. When starting a new save, immediately go under the Squad screen, and click Registration underneath the Players tab. This tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about the cap. It is your best friend, and you need to see this screen before you read any further.

Breaking it down, you can have a maximum of 30 players registered. These do not include players on loan, players on season ending injuries, and a few other situations that aren't worth mentioning. In February of every year, you must register - any players not registered are immediately waived. This is a good thing, because you can offload anyone under performing after the pre-season without paying a fee. An incredible tool when used correctly.

Three Designated Players are allowed. These players make over $388,000 per year. One of them must be "young", meaning under 23 - these guys also cost less cap money. Any money over $388,000 is not counted towards the cap - you're just fighting the board.

Eight Internationals are allowed; meaning those who do not hold national citizenship. You can trade your international slots to other teams for whatever you like - I always sell mine for $300k in allocation money on one year deals to desperate teams.

Ten Off Budget Players are allowed. This is where things get a little trickier. Players who are Home-Grown can be considered off-budget, as well as players under Generation Adidas contracts (a training investment organization, these are rare and come through the superdraft). Additionally, players on Senior Minimum Salary ($49,000/y) contracts can be considered. Finally Reserve players ($36,500/y), whom you may have six of, are also candidates. Again, only ten are allowed total, and they do not contribute to the cap.

Speaking of reserve players, know this: you can still make as many players as you'd like available for reserve matches, and reserve players can participate unhindered in senior matches. The registration ONLY refers to the contract type.

I can't stress this enough - you don't need to remember all of this information. Look at the registration tab, and all becomes clear. After a season or two, the cap only becomes important in December to plan the offseason and February to register the team. If you must dig in to the specifics, check out the Rules section under MLS for more details.

Garberbucks

One last item as we talk about finances: Allocation Funds. These are strange, mythical currencies referred to as Garberbucks by supporters, and they are important to you. They can be used in one of two ways: to trade or transfer players, and to increase your salary cap for one year. The latter option is very simple - you adjust the slider in the board menu, and your cap increases! The former is where things get problematic.

Your Garberbucks are awarded yearly for your performance in competition. More commonly, you acquire them via trade with a shitty team. You will then use them to cover transfer fees - yes, this is the only way to pay for a transfer. This is why MLS teams must scout efficiently - you must poach players, or you must sign free transfers. It makes the game a challenge when you can't get a sugardaddy bankroll to buy whoever you want. Your allocation funds are also used as a component in trades - which can involve players, rights, draft picks, or international slots from other MLS teams. This is another reason why reputation is so goddamn important - you want to make sure you can attract any player you need, because your opportunities are limited, and player development is the number one priority. If you don't know how to make good players in FM2015, you'll learn very quickly because you must.

Youth

Let's switch gears a moment to talk about the Youth in MLS. Outside of your Senior team and your shell of a reserve team, you'll have a Youth Academy. This is where your intake feeds every year. Note: you cannot control this team in any way, other than to sign players, to whom you have unlimited rights. Your youths will leave you empty handed at 18 years of age if you have not signed them. I recommend signing promising youths immediately, rather than let them rot in a team with minimal games in the year. Players signed from the academy makes them home-grown, which is a big benefit when the commisioner comes in February for the yearly shakedown.

The academy is only one source of youth, however. The other comes in the form of the SuperDraft. Every year, the top collegiate players are scouted by all teams, who have an opportunity to sign them. This effectively means that not only do you get your yearly intake, you get a national intake that you may select from. This is another factor for why the MLS is truly a league about developing national talent, and you can't rely on prospects from overseas or down south; you must create your own players.

The draft itself is very simple - teams are assigned a number (#1-20) and then get to select one player when their number is reached. There are two rounds to the SuperDraft, meaning you get two selections. Higher picks are very valuable, of course, as all draft picks can be traded - meaning you can buy another teams first or second round selection as part of a trade. Players not selected are available for the Supplemental Draft, to which there are more rounds and picks are obviously much less valuable. A quick bit of advice - do not skip the draft. Ever. While the players are not home-grown, you can sign them to off-budget contracts and simply waive them during registration if they don't pan out. Also, regens of 140-150 PA can come through this system, and they are well worth your time.

There are a few other drafts, one of which is the Waiver Draft which occurs in December and March. Waived players can be selected by MLS teams. The Re-Entry Draft allows players who have left the team allocation process to be selected by new team. These are both less important, but occasionally a team will waive a players because they can't afford them in the current cap. If Montreal makes poor decisions, you may select Ignacio Piatti to beef up your team. A quick note - players who are drafted on waivers carry their current contract. So, you can't renegotiate with them immediately if they were being overpaid, but neither can anyone else.

The final form of draft is the Expansion Draft. Simply put, Orlando and NYCFC get to pick some players from other teams at the end of the 2014 season. You can protect a subset of your players, but everyone else is open for grabs. It can be painful, but it only happens once.

Constraints

While the MLS has matured greatly in FM2015, I won't pretend that the league is perfect, and there are a number of things I hope SI can pay more attention to in the future.

First and foremost, I have a short gripe about competitions. The way reputation is handled, the USOC is completely unimportant, which does not mirror real life. In addition, the Club World Cup is your only opportunity to really face non-continental teams, and it spans multiple seasons. While we're at it, there are a few remaining bugs about the distinction between the MLS Cup and Supporters shield; press conferences and team meetings are a little messy.

Additionally, a more realistic problem is international duty. The breaks don't line up with the proper competitions, and by 2019 I have eleven (!!) players spread across the globe at every opportunity. With only a 30 man squad and the cap to think about, depth becomes very important, and international players will need a forced rest by October. This also afflicts clubs in real life, and I hope is something MLS considers soon.

A couple of more minor thoughts fired off in rapid succession; rivalries per team are often not particularly accurate, and I edit mine within my own saves. Consortium takeovers run amok in 2016, and need to be adjusted. The AI, while better than previous, still has trouble planning around the cap - strong players are simply waived too often rather than having a team built around them. Finishing this list, the cap doesn't increase (that i've seen) in any way. This is manageable with allocation funds, but I've yet to run a 20+ year save to determine how it holds up, assuming the game inflates. I hope SI can study and adjust this further in the future.

My final gripe is something that took a lot of research to determine. After playing with the database editor and running 50+ tests, I've learned that the system plays halfsies with youth facilities and youth recruitment between the Academy and the MLS team. It takes both stats into account. The problem lies in the fact that you have no control over upgrading the youth team or speaking to the board - meaning you have to edit it yourself if you want to reflect an upgrade. It's not a huge deal, but it's a clear lacking feature, alongside the small amount of games played by the youth team and lack of qualified coaching control.

Recommendations

There are two goals I set in my saves: win the Club World Championship, and win the World Cup. These are both formidable challenges given the constraints of MLS team-building. In order to accomplish this, you'll need to perform well in the league to gain national reputation, and acquire a miniature home-grown challenge to feed both goals.

If you'd like to learn it all on your own (which I highly recommend), skip the section below. Otherwise, here are a few tricks I can recommend for success:

Do not sell players overseas. Either wave at the registration date, or trade them to other MLS teams. You cannot acquire Garberbucks because there are no overseas mints, so get them local.
Consider setting press conferences and friendles to be handled by your assistant. A big benefit of the save is that it's very fast paced, and less micromanagement is needed. This just adds to that line of thinking.
Learn to scout for free agents; the attribute-pick system and position requirement gives you just about all you need to find a good free signing, or a cheap transfer. You won't be getting your go-to wonderkids, which is a challenge all its own for some. Save your filters.
Plan for depth. You will need it; your internationals will leave you in Summer and Autumn, and you'll need to cover. Try and get the Shield locked down prior to October, and you'll save yourself a lot of worry.
December is season-end and rebuilding/scouting time; January is youth intake and superdraft; February is registration. Be prepared for all of these, and have a plan in a notepad or Word document going in.
It isn't a massive challenge to win the league and domestic competitions, so try and aim larger than that. My goal is to make the USA into a world-class powerhouse, for example.

Adding a few more as I remember...

Max out your "Level of Discipline" stat as a coach. You have less money, and the game isn't quite balanced for it. It will help retain players and stop the incessant whining of every idiot who thinks someone will buy him.
If you make it to the CWC, check your Staff Search a few days after the conclusion. The reputation bump may make some amazing coaches or scouts willing to join you, and may make the board recommend significantly more staff.
Certain MLS cities appear to have incorrect regional and local population statistics, which will affect quality of regens. I personally edit my DB to correct this, but just something to note. I've spent so much fucking time testing out MLS regen mechanics..
Players in the waiver draft who are being overpaid have a strong likelihood of not being picked. If they aren't picked you can immediately sign them as a free agent and renegotiate.
Near the end of a season, trade your number 1 superdraft pick for the upcoming year for the number 1 superdraft pick of the team with the least points. They'll always accept it and despite you finishing well(hopefully), you'll be able to get the best new regens, who are actually pretty good most of the time.

Final Thoughts

The MLS can truly make this game special for you, and has made supporters of the league for many. Take the time to give the rules five minutes of thought, and then looking at the registration tab will tell you all you need to know. Enjoy a fast paced, player development based save that doesn't require quite as much micromanagement!

As a final aside, I'd love to make this a sticky or contribution to the existing documentation. If you have questions, comments, or corrections, please let me know!

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https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/32b9z7/an_indepth_guide_to_mls_and_why_you_should_start/
Последње учитавање од Gagi дана 10 Авг 2015, 15:51, учитано 3 пута укупно.
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Orthodox
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Ovo bi bilo kul da se prevede. Zanimljivo je.
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Paul Scholes
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Nema promocije, nema ispadanja - Liga bez briga.
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Meni je još zanimljivija Južna Koreja gde ti jedan tim uzima igrače na dvogodišnje služenje vojnog roka. Australijska liga isto dobra.
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