I'm pretty sure that's just what he used for calendar. Not doing a 12 one
Err, well... Yes I am using FIFA 12 indeed.
I needed to start this career with Keller still playing and FIFA 12 was the last FIFA game featuring him as far as I remember (and on a different note it's still my favourite FIFA ever).
I'll most likely be moving forward in the future though, I already have a FIFA 17 preorder (thanks to @VBASS86 and to my other friends that pre-ordered it for me as a birthday present) so I'll most likely use 17 (or 16 if 17 can't be modded enough) for a part of the career.
Nice creative update - you should do it using FIFA12.
Thanks guys!
Meanwhile... It's training day in Seattle.
As you grow older, trainig gets harder and harder. Especially the kind of training you do in the pre-season. I'm way past my prime, so you could easily imagine how destroyed I felt this morning after yet another training session.
Luckily enough I'm not the only one that almost died today: Rosales and Alonso were hardly able to breathe, they really gave everything but they're still nowhere near fit.
On the other hand, Zakuani never tried to run. Not even once... Well, he's been looking like he doesn't give a damn for a long time now.
That's why I'm heading to Sigi's office, this is what I wanted to discuss about.
On my way to the office, I meet Mauro Rosales who approaches me with a "Hey Kasey, thanks for bringing me home last night. I owe you one!"
At first I don't understand, then I tell him that it wasn't me.
"Well, if it wasn't you... Who was it?"
"Maybe the tooth fairy?" says Alonso laughing, right behind us. " It was me, cabrón! You were so much drunk that you could hardly stand up, let alone drive!"
"Oh thanks Osvaldo, my dear, much appreciated!" Mauro says with a funny voice, clearly mocking the teammate.
While they are still mocking each other, Sigi calls me and Rosales in. "So, I've been told that you two wanted to see me... What's up?"
It's Mauro speaking first: "Well gaffer, I just wanted to ask you... Yeah, I feel a bit off-colour. I wanted to know if I could have a couple of days off".
"I see you're off-colour: you're almost as green as your shirt! Is 'partying a little less from now on' an option perhaps? Go home, have a rest: I'll field Neagle for the LA match, be sure to be ready for the match against NY".
Rosales exits the office thanking the manager, and then Sigi looks at me.
"So KK, what did you want to discuss about?"
"Sigi, I'm worried about our midfield. Alonso and Rosales are struggling but they will soon get fit, I'm sure about it...
But Zakuani, I don't know. He looks like he couldn't care less, he doesn't run, he does everything with little-to-no concentration... I wonder what's happening to him".
"OK KK, you're not really supposed to know this, but he handed in a written transfer request".
I silently nod, and he keeps on: "We received a $10M offer from QPR at the end of January. He was set to leave then, but QPR couldn't get the paperwork done in time. They did offer him a contract though, and of course it was way better than anything we could ever offer him. We tried to raise his wage as much as we could, but you know... There's the salary cap here, we couldn't compete. QPR said they will get back to us in July..."
"...And now he doesn't want to play for the Sounders anymore", I add.
"That's it: he doesn't care about this club anymore. So I made up my mind: he won't play for the Sounders again".
It looks like Álvaro Fernández has just won a spot in the Starting XI. And if you ask me, it's much deserved.
So, the wait is finally over: we're in the locker room, getting ready for the first competitive match of the year. We'll be hosting LA Galaxy tonight at the Qwest Field. That's right, Beckham and Donovan's team. Fans really couldn't have asked for a better match to kick-off this season.
It's Sigi giving us the last directions for the match, as always. "So bear in mind, you in the middle: consider playing through balls to the right so Neagle can burst past his opponent, and give Fernández the ball on his feet if you're going to play it on the left flank, he'll know what to do with it. And..."
Sigi gets close to Tyson Wahl and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tyson, you're facing David Beckham tonight. I know it's the most difficult task of the season, but I also know you can do it".
Wahl nods, while some of us give him some encouragement.
And it's Sigi again, shouting: "Now go outside and show me what you've got, right?"
"RIGHT!"
This was the entire team answering as one.
Even before exiting the tunnel we hear the roar of the fans: the Qwest Field is almost sold out, surely this will give us a little advantage.
By the 30' mark we're still 0-0, but I must admit we're playing better than them. Alonso is almost everywhere, Neagle is driving Dunivant crazy. And it's Neagle again near the touch line, a body feint and he creates himself some space to play the ball in. Fucito receives it, goes as deep as he can towards the goal line, crosses a low ball to Montero who stretches his leg past De La Garza...
And it's in! FREDY MONTERO SCORED! 1-0 to the Sounders!
Shortly after, Mike Fucito powers it home for the 2-0, only to have it disallowed for offside. Difficult call for the linesman here, but he's probably right. Needless to say, Fucito doesn't agree.
Of our opponents, there's one who is giving us a lot of trouble and it's former Toronto striker Chad Barrett who is almost everywhere, assisted by his majesty David Beckham and Mike Magee. We manage to end the first half 1-0 ahead, but shortly after the teams returned to the pitch it's him who equalizes. LA scored, it's 1-1.
From there on, it's a lot of suffering for us, but we manage to hold on until minute 84 thanks to an immense Wahl and to a great display by Parke.
Beckham can't break free from Wahl's wonderful marking, but Magee already showed he can dispose of Riley pretty easily and it's indeed him who crosses a sweet ball from the left for Miguel López, who Alonso somehow forgot to mark.
López finds himself all alone right into the six-yard box, and volleys it home. Alonso raises his hand asking for forgiveness, I probably could've done a better job at closing too, but it doesn't matter. It's 2-1 to the Galaxy and the result won't change anymore.
After the match Sigi tries to see the silver lining in the defeat, praising Wahl's strenuous resistance and complimenting the two upfront for the teamwork display that led to the 1-0 goal, but he also makes clear what he expects from us against New York: "Now, gentlemen, I expect nothing less than a win against the Red Bulls, alright? Let's turn this bad luck around!"
I don't know why, but I believe it won't be that easy.
Not the best start to the season, but losing a close one to that Galaxy squad is certainly not the worst (although Sigi can't be too happy losing to Bruce). A win against the Red Bulls will give you wings.
made the right decision to take him out of the team
Yeah, probably. Fernández looks solid enough (although nowhere as quick as Zakuani), but I might need to sign a replacement in the July transfer market.
So, it looks like we lost again. We didn't play bad, not at all. We've got their defenders busy in several occasions, but we couldn't manage to get the ball past Rost: Fucito missed two easy chances as usual, and Rost pulled an incredible save on Montero to keep the 0-0 early in the match that... Well, I wouldn't have believed it even if I had seen it myself. Oh wait, I saw it myself indeed.
I've also been pretty busy today. Three decisive saves, one of which was a one-on-one against Rodgers with the fans already about to jump up and explode with joy... Not a bad display for a 41-year-old goalkeeper if you ask me:
But it's not been enough, we lost anyway.
On top of that, we've been in the locker room after the match for half an hour now and Sigi is nowhere to be seen.
We've been defeated by the best team in the Eastern Conference, arguably the best team in the whole MLS after all, I was sure he would understand.
Then he comes in, and he looks pretty relaxed despite the loss. He has a little shopping bag made of brown paper with him.
He calls Evans: "Brad, come closer please! You played a good match man, but..."
Evans is the author of the only goal of the match, the problem here is that he scored in the wrong goal: I saved a shot by Henry, the ball went loose and Evans was the first to reach it and tried to clear it, but...
He fumbled it and sent it in our goal after hitting it with a shin instead.
Sigi picks into the brown bag and says "I have a present for you, Brad" taking out a compass. "Hopefully this will show you where the right goal is, from now on".
We all laugh, so do Sigi and Brad.
"And... Mike!" Sigi takes out a wrench from the bag. Fucito instantly turns pale. "Mike, you surely have an eye for goal but you've most likely mounted your feet the other way round today. Take this wrench and mount them properly, for Heaven's sake!"
Once again, we all laugh. Sigi surely knows how to relieve us when things don't go as expected.
"And what about you, KK? Well done, you almost recorded a shutout tonight. I expect you to come up with ten of those by the end of the season. And listen everybody: either you play Houston off the park or I'll put you ALL on the transfer list!"
Well, while defeating Houston is definitely feasible, keeping 10 clean sheets sounds like a more tricky task to accomplish.
He's going to get injured before reaching 10 clean sheets haha
Well, it's Terry Boss who is supposed to always get injured...
But I'm going to play a park-the-bus Mourinho-style 4-5-1 formation for the next 10 matches in order to minimize our opponents' attempts at goal, just to be sure.
He's going to get injured before reaching 10 clean sheets haha
Well, it's Terry Boss who is supposed to always get injured...
But I'm going to play a park-the-bus Mourinho-style 4-5-1 formation for the next 10 matches in order to minimize our opponents' attempts at goal, just to be sure.
The TL;DR version of the answer is "also".
The details are in the spoiler if you're interested.
I've started a "manager" career, so I'm currently playing as the whole team.
I'm switching to our keeper though (with the "view" button on the XB1 controller) in key moments like set pieces, or in a situation in which my opponent manages to get past its defender (a situation which will usually result in him being one-on-one with our keeper).
Upon pressing the "view" button, the camera moves behind the back of the keeper and you could then control him (and only him) until you press "view" again.
It's a perfect feature for this career, as it gives me the chance to act as Keller and to see/feel what he sees/feels.
Unfortunately, that's also the reason I conceded a load of abysmal goals in the pre-season (matches which I played as "friendlies" before actually starting the save to at least get used with this method) and that's the reason I conceded the second goal to LA: the cross should've been mine, but I stayed on the goal line instead of rushing out and catching the ball so the opponent could volley it home undisturbed.
10 clean sheets may be a lofty goal for old man Keller, especially in the always tough Western Conference but certainly doable. A loss against the East? Boo! Keller needs to slap on some Ben-gay and get jiggy with it, not literally as that could burn.
Bad luck with the result and 10 clean sheets is achievable. With a tight defence and reasonable performances from Keller I think it can be done. If not it's a good target to play for anyway.
Shame about the 2-1. Think the goal of 10 cs's is doable.
Yeah, I also believe it's doable. As for the results, we played two good matches overall, we've been just a little unlucky to see them end with two defeats.
It's not James Lovell talking, but it's what Sigi Schmid must have said to its assistant manager when Álvaro Fernández, our left midfielder, asked for a substitution just 5 minutes into play.
Time to bring on the Zakua...Oh wait, we haven't brought Zakuani on the bench.
Michael Tetteh it is, then. This 22-year-old left back is about to make his all-time MLS debut tonight, in a role which isn't his preferred one. We'll soon see if he has what it takes to be a Sounders' player.
Having a player subbed off so early in the match isn't a pleasant situation, let alone if the player you're subbing off is your first-choice left midfielder who you don't really have a replacement for and who got injured for a harsh tackle.
On top of that, the author of the tackle got away with it, being given as little as a slap on the wrist.
We've been even better though: we didn't even need slaps of any kind by the referee. Our centre-back duo has been perfect till now, not giving away any foul, with Parke doing a couple of last-ditch tackles worthy of a standing ovation:
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pitch, Tetteh has been living up to the expectations perfectly: a pretty remarkable display considering he's a rookie.
The match is almost over: a penalty won and scored by Rosales and a wonder goal by our man Fredy Montero give us a comfortable two-goal margin. Maybe my first 'shutout' of the season is on the way.
And it's Montero again that carries the ball forward now, a pass for Fucito, Mike gets rid of a defender, unleashes a powerful strike with the upper arch of the right foot... And it's in again! 3-0 baby!
Fucito's shot going past the keeper. It's not been a good day for Tally Hall. Not at all.
No, I can't believe Mike is doing that bloody YMCA dance again. He doesn't have even a little self-respect.
Then, shortly after the 90th minute mark (I mean, how nasty should a referee be to give us five minutes of injury time? Come on! I want this shutout!) it's Montero scoring again and making it 4-0 to the Sounders.
Houston, apparently YOU have a problem now.
The match ends there with no more chances on either side, and this means that I've recorded my first (and hopefully not last) clean sheet of the season. Nine left!
10 clean sheets is never easy but great job getting that first one
Thanks guys!
I reckon Parke and Hurtado probably have to be credited more than Keller for this shutout though, they've been immense. Can't wait to play the next match against San Jose.
Rated E For Everyone.
Comments
VOTE HERE. https://goo.gl/q5SNMC
Thanks man! You'll get to know Sigi better in the future, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Thanks man!
Err, well... Yes I am using FIFA 12 indeed.
I needed to start this career with Keller still playing and FIFA 12 was the last FIFA game featuring him as far as I remember (and on a different note it's still my favourite FIFA ever).
p.s. nothing wrong with using an older version of FIFA.
Meanwhile... It's training day in Seattle.
As you grow older, trainig gets harder and harder. Especially the kind of training you do in the pre-season. I'm way past my prime, so you could easily imagine how destroyed I felt this morning after yet another training session.
Luckily enough I'm not the only one that almost died today: Rosales and Alonso were hardly able to breathe, they really gave everything but they're still nowhere near fit.
On the other hand, Zakuani never tried to run. Not even once... Well, he's been looking like he doesn't give a damn for a long time now.
That's why I'm heading to Sigi's office, this is what I wanted to discuss about.
On my way to the office, I meet Mauro Rosales who approaches me with a "Hey Kasey, thanks for bringing me home last night. I owe you one!"
At first I don't understand, then I tell him that it wasn't me.
"Well, if it wasn't you... Who was it?"
"Maybe the tooth fairy?" says Alonso laughing, right behind us.
" It was me, cabrón! You were so much drunk that you could hardly stand up, let alone drive!"
"Oh thanks Osvaldo, my dear, much appreciated!" Mauro says with a funny voice, clearly mocking the teammate.
While they are still mocking each other, Sigi calls me and Rosales in. "So, I've been told that you two wanted to see me... What's up?"
It's Mauro speaking first: "Well gaffer, I just wanted to ask you... Yeah, I feel a bit off-colour. I wanted to know if I could have a couple of days off".
"I see you're off-colour: you're almost as green as your shirt! Is 'partying a little less from now on' an option perhaps? Go home, have a rest: I'll field Neagle for the LA match, be sure to be ready for the match against NY".
Rosales exits the office thanking the manager, and then Sigi looks at me.
"So KK, what did you want to discuss about?"
"Sigi, I'm worried about our midfield. Alonso and Rosales are struggling but they will soon get fit, I'm sure about it...
But Zakuani, I don't know. He looks like he couldn't care less, he doesn't run, he does everything with little-to-no concentration... I wonder what's happening to him".
"OK KK, you're not really supposed to know this, but he handed in a written transfer request".
I silently nod, and he keeps on: "We received a $10M offer from QPR at the end of January. He was set to leave then, but QPR couldn't get the paperwork done in time. They did offer him a contract though, and of course it was way better than anything we could ever offer him. We tried to raise his wage as much as we could, but you know... There's the salary cap here, we couldn't compete. QPR said they will get back to us in July..."
"...And now he doesn't want to play for the Sounders anymore", I add.
"That's it: he doesn't care about this club anymore. So I made up my mind: he won't play for the Sounders again".
It looks like Álvaro Fernández has just won a spot in the Starting XI. And if you ask me, it's much deserved.
So, the wait is finally over: we're in the locker room, getting ready for the first competitive match of the year. We'll be hosting LA Galaxy tonight at the Qwest Field. That's right, Beckham and Donovan's team. Fans really couldn't have asked for a better match to kick-off this season.
It's Sigi giving us the last directions for the match, as always. "So bear in mind, you in the middle: consider playing through balls to the right so Neagle can burst past his opponent, and give Fernández the ball on his feet if you're going to play it on the left flank, he'll know what to do with it. And..."
Sigi gets close to Tyson Wahl and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tyson, you're facing David Beckham tonight. I know it's the most difficult task of the season, but I also know you can do it".
Wahl nods, while some of us give him some encouragement.
And it's Sigi again, shouting: "Now go outside and show me what you've got, right?"
"RIGHT!"
This was the entire team answering as one.
Even before exiting the tunnel we hear the roar of the fans: the Qwest Field is almost sold out, surely this will give us a little advantage.
By the 30' mark we're still 0-0, but I must admit we're playing better than them. Alonso is almost everywhere, Neagle is driving Dunivant crazy. And it's Neagle again near the touch line, a body feint and he creates himself some space to play the ball in. Fucito receives it, goes as deep as he can towards the goal line, crosses a low ball to Montero who stretches his leg past De La Garza...
And it's in! FREDY MONTERO SCORED! 1-0 to the Sounders!
Shortly after, Mike Fucito powers it home for the 2-0, only to have it disallowed for offside. Difficult call for the linesman here, but he's probably right. Needless to say, Fucito doesn't agree.
From there on, it's a lot of suffering for us, but we manage to hold on until minute 84 thanks to an immense Wahl and to a great display by Parke.
Beckham can't break free from Wahl's wonderful marking, but Magee already showed he can dispose of Riley pretty easily and it's indeed him who crosses a sweet ball from the left for Miguel López, who Alonso somehow forgot to mark.
López finds himself all alone right into the six-yard box, and volleys it home. Alonso raises his hand asking for forgiveness, I probably could've done a better job at closing too, but it doesn't matter. It's 2-1 to the Galaxy and the result won't change anymore.
I don't know why, but I believe it won't be that easy.
Yeah, that 2-1 goal could easily be avoided. Hopefully we'll bounce back.
Well Arena is probably the most successful American coach ever, so... Respect to him. Yes please, we need a left winger!
So, it looks like we lost again. We didn't play bad, not at all. We've got their defenders busy in several occasions, but we couldn't manage to get the ball past Rost: Fucito missed two easy chances as usual, and Rost pulled an incredible save on Montero to keep the 0-0 early in the match that... Well, I wouldn't have believed it even if I had seen it myself.
Oh wait, I saw it myself indeed.
On top of that, we've been in the locker room after the match for half an hour now and Sigi is nowhere to be seen.
We've been defeated by the best team in the Eastern Conference, arguably the best team in the whole MLS after all, I was sure he would understand.
Then he comes in, and he looks pretty relaxed despite the loss. He has a little shopping bag made of brown paper with him.
He calls Evans: "Brad, come closer please! You played a good match man, but..."
Evans is the author of the only goal of the match, the problem here is that he scored in the wrong goal: I saved a shot by Henry, the ball went loose and Evans was the first to reach it and tried to clear it, but...
He fumbled it and sent it in our goal after hitting it with a shin instead.
Sigi picks into the brown bag and says "I have a present for you, Brad" taking out a compass.
"Hopefully this will show you where the right goal is, from now on".
We all laugh, so do Sigi and Brad.
"And... Mike!" Sigi takes out a wrench from the bag. Fucito instantly turns pale.
"Mike, you surely have an eye for goal but you've most likely mounted your feet the other way round today. Take this wrench and mount them properly, for Heaven's sake!"
Once again, we all laugh. Sigi surely knows how to relieve us when things don't go as expected.
"And what about you, KK? Well done, you almost recorded a shutout tonight. I expect you to come up with ten of those by the end of the season. And listen everybody: either you play Houston off the park or I'll put you ALL on the transfer list!"
Well, while defeating Houston is definitely feasible, keeping 10 clean sheets sounds like a more tricky task to accomplish.
But I'm going to play a park-the-bus Mourinho-style 4-5-1 formation for the next 10 matches in order to minimize our opponents' attempts at goal, just to be sure.
Are you actually playing as goalkeeper?
The details are in the spoiler if you're interested.
I'm switching to our keeper though (with the "view" button on the XB1 controller) in key moments like set pieces, or in a situation in which my opponent manages to get past its defender (a situation which will usually result in him being one-on-one with our keeper).
Upon pressing the "view" button, the camera moves behind the back of the keeper and you could then control him (and only him) until you press "view" again.
It's a perfect feature for this career, as it gives me the chance to act as Keller and to see/feel what he sees/feels.
Unfortunately, that's also the reason I conceded a load of abysmal goals in the pre-season (matches which I played as "friendlies" before actually starting the save to at least get used with this method) and that's the reason I conceded the second goal to LA: the cross should've been mine, but I stayed on the goal line instead of rushing out and catching the ball so the opponent could volley it home undisturbed.
Interesting playing method btw. Personally I could never get a hang of controlling the keeper, very difficult.
I have always struggled trying to play as just a goalkeeper on the games so respect for trying
Yeah, I'm pretty positive about it too.
Sensible advice. The tiger balm is already on the way. I'll let you know if it works!
Yeah I believe it too. Our defence has been a little light-headed in the first two matches but I'm sure everything will fall into place soon.
"Houston, we've had a problem".
It's not James Lovell talking, but it's what Sigi Schmid must have said to its assistant manager when Álvaro Fernández, our left midfielder, asked for a substitution just 5 minutes into play.
Time to bring on the Zakua...Oh wait, we haven't brought Zakuani on the bench.
Michael Tetteh it is, then. This 22-year-old left back is about to make his all-time MLS debut tonight, in a role which isn't his preferred one. We'll soon see if he has what it takes to be a Sounders' player.
Having a player subbed off so early in the match isn't a pleasant situation, let alone if the player you're subbing off is your first-choice left midfielder who you don't really have a replacement for and who got injured for a harsh tackle.
On top of that, the author of the tackle got away with it, being given as little as a slap on the wrist.
We've been even better though: we didn't even need slaps of any kind by the referee. Our centre-back duo has been perfect till now, not giving away any foul, with Parke doing a couple of last-ditch tackles worthy of a standing ovation:
The match is almost over: a penalty won and scored by Rosales and a wonder goal by our man Fredy Montero give us a comfortable two-goal margin. Maybe my first 'shutout' of the season is on the way.
And it's Montero again that carries the ball forward now, a pass for Fucito, Mike gets rid of a defender, unleashes a powerful strike with the upper arch of the right foot... And it's in again! 3-0 baby!
No, I can't believe Mike is doing that bloody YMCA dance again. He doesn't have even a little self-respect.
Then, shortly after the 90th minute mark (I mean, how nasty should a referee be to give us five minutes of injury time? Come on! I want this shutout!) it's Montero scoring again and making it 4-0 to the Sounders.
Houston, apparently YOU have a problem now.
The match ends there with no more chances on either side, and this means that I've recorded my first (and hopefully not last) clean sheet of the season. Nine left!
Siegfried Schmid, I do NOT fear your challenge.
I reckon Parke and Hurtado probably have to be credited more than Keller for this shutout though, they've been immense. Can't wait to play the next match against San Jose.