Millossobek's Master League Written Stories!

[rammeal]

You are making me want to come back to PES 17!

 

[millossobek]

Hey guys! Before I proceed with my Estrela Azul Paulista story
I've decided to play the 4th Edition of the 3-Stars Cup!
But this time, with a twist: Instead of home and away matches,
the entire Cup will have a shorter format:
All single matches played in Korea, with the final played in Seoul!!

Stay tuned, my friends!!

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[millossobek]

⭐⭐⭐Welcome to Korea and the 4th Edition of the 3-Stars Cup!!⭐⭐⭐
(PES 2017)- Starring: FC Seoul!!
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The stage is set. Our beloved 3-Stars Cup is back for its 4th edition, and spirits and emotions are sky-high! For the first time in its short but epic history, the Cup will be held in 1 Nation, (South Korea!) and will feature a different format from the past. While in the first 3 editions, the Cup's format was similar to the Champions League/Libertadores, where teams played home and away matches at their respective cities, the 4th Cup will feature SINGLE MATCHES, both at the group and knockout stages, following more of a "World Cup format!!"

The election of South Korea was an easy one. Even though traditionally, baseball and other sports had been at the forefront of the nation's sporting culture and consciousness, in the past 20 years (ever since the World Cup!), football has risen exponentially in the people's hearts, minds, and fandom. The K-League is growing at gigantic steps, as both the first AND the second divisions are boasting very good attendances, passionate fans, and ever-growing media interest! One very noteworthy aspect: Matches, even though rowdy and full of emotion, are peaceful and this healthy attitude towards football has permeated the AFC sporting culture, which I think is a great thing!

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As you guys know, the 3-Stars Cup features teams which have 2.5-3 Stars overall rating (with the exception of Valladolid, which has 3.5), and for this edition, it seemed quite right to play as a host team, FC Seoul! 6-time winners of the K-League, and twice runners up of the AFC Champions League (3 if you count Gunma United, but that came a few years after, hehe!), Seoul is a proud team with unquestionably one of the largest fanbases in the country, attracting not only many of the capital's locals, but a good dose of international fans as well!

The Cup's setup should be familiar to you guys by now: 16 European teams, 8 North and South American teams, 8 Asian teams! Last edition's defending Champion (in this case, Spain's Valladolid) is always present, heading group 1! For this edition, we featured teams from the following countries: Spain, England, Croatia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Sweden, Slovakia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, 2 USA teams, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, 3 Korean, 3 Chinese, and 2 Japanese teams! 26 countries represented!!

FC Seoul's draw was definitely not an easy one. Headed by favorites, Croatia's very own Dinamo Zagreb, the group also featured hungry USA upstarts DC United and Rapid Vienna! It was against these last ones that we started off, as Seoul Stadium was rockin' as we prepared to play all of our games at home!! (Our fans were sporting several cultural and folklore mystical and cool elements, for example, masks of Dokkaebi, friendly goblins who maraud the countryside!) Despite a great opening goal by our Montenegrian Striker, Long-standing Star Dejan Damjanovic (goal included above!), it was not enough, as Rapid Vienna equalized late in the game in a very tight, emotional game! Were opening nerves starting to show? First match, Seoul 1 - 1 Rapid Vienna, and our 3-Stars Cup was off to a somewhat concerning start (being that the group stage would last 3 matches instead of 6 this time!) We had played better and had fed off the intensity and love of our crowd, but it wasn't enough to give us the win!

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Yet the concern was short-lived. We routed DC United in our next match, in a brilliant Korea vs USA encounter where we featured a goal by Adriano, one of our rotation players from Brazil (so many Brazilians in the K-League!), and two goals by Jung-Won Seo (I decided to bring him in from World Cup 94-98 fame, maybe you guys remember the 90' goal against Spain that equalized!)! In anycase, this was a rout, a brilliant performance by our boys, and we finished the match in dominating fashion! Seoul 3 - 0 DC United, as the MLS side really had no chance at any point in the match.. What a way to rebound!!

Going into the last match, we had 4 points, Rapid Vienna had 4, DC United had 3, (yikes!!) and surprisingly, group favorites Dinamo Zagreb had 0! Nothing was set in stone save for the fact that Dinamo had no chances of qualifying! But someone forgot to tell this to the Croats, as they came out and showed their huge pride, understanding that every match is a war, shutting us down and scoring a second half goal themselves, not letting either Damjanovic or Seo create anything. The final score as Seoul 0 - 1 Dinamo Zagreb, and I was nervously awaiting whether our players would celebrate! But lo-and-behold, despite the result, DC United did us a huge favor by beating Vienna in their last game. If they had drawn, the story would've been much different! Fortunately though, we scraped through to the next round thanks to goal difference!!

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Following PES' unpredictable algorithm, guess who our next rival was! Once again, we would face DC United!! (haha, this is the second time this has happened to me in the 3-Stars Cup, as Millos faced Slavia Praha in group stage and in the second round as well!). We were coming off a loss to Dinamo, but given our big win against DC in the group stage, we came to the match brimming with confidence.... And we did not disappoint!! This was an absolutely LEGENDARY performance by our striker Damjanovic, as he scored ALL OF SEOUL'S 4 GOALS IN AN AMAZING POKER!! (including 2 GOALS IN 2 MINUTES TO END THE FIRST HALF!!) The whsitle blew, and we were through to the quarterfinals in an amazing turn of events!!!!! Seoul 4 - 2 DC United, as once again we dominated the North American side to give us yet another confidence boost!

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The quarterfinals awaited. If you guys remember correctly, I have had some kind of "quarterfinal curse" in the 3-Stars Cup, losing 2 out of my previous 3 editions in the quarterfinals!! (Millos against Peñarol, and Shimizu S-Pulse against Valladolid). I had never been beyond this stage in any one of the Cups, but this would soon change!! With yet another great performance by Damjanovic (a hat trick!!!!! an astounding 7 GOALS IN TWO MATCHES), we demolished Toulose as the French side never had a chance!! One extra goal by Kim Jin Ya, and the final score was impressive, not only because of the score but also because of the significance: it signaled an epic arrival of Asian Football at the Cup against a big European team, turning the tables around!! Seoul 4 - 2 Toulouse!!!!!

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The semifinals beckoned, the curse has been broken!! For the first time in any of my 3-Stars Cups, one of my teams advances to the Final Four of our dear competition!!!! A very interesting tidbit about these semifinals though.. As opposed to previous editions, European dominance was not the order of the day, as we would be facing Mexican giants América, and the other Semifinal would pit Portugal's Victoria Guimaraes (who beat defending champions Valladolid!) vs surprising Kazakhstan's FC Astana!! (even though Astana is in UEFA, Kazakhstan is considered an Asian country: It's complicated ) Who would emerge victorious??

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Unfortunately, México's America would prove to be too talented for our Korean side this time! Even though we made the game interesting (including a missed panenka-style penalty by one of our defenders that would've shortened the distance to a 1-goal difference), at the end of the day, the Mexican giants (and overall winningest team in their history) would prove to be better than us this day, as they scored 3 goals and made their presence felt on the road nonetheless! Despite the best efforts by our crowd and our team in our home stadium, it was Club América's day, and not even a goal by Seo would make it close. Final result: Seoul 1 - 3 América, and just like that, our title hopes were no longer.. A valiant effort by Seoul (finally a team of mine goes through to the semis)!

BUT! But............. Following our "World Cup" format, there is a significant difference in this edition of the 3-Stars Cup!! We might have been out of title contention, but we were not out of the Cup! Seoul still had to play a THIRD PLACE MATCH, against none other than Kazakhstan's Astana!!!!!! (Another surprise semifinalist!!) I gotta say, this was not a regular "third place match", where the stakes are low and there is less passion involved. Being as we were on our home soil, playing in front of our dokkaebi fans, and playing for not only a medal but most importantly.... for PRIDE, this match meant a lot to us!! We did not want to finish fourth, we wanted to finish our Cup with a win!!

And this match.... Man it did not disappoint.... I played, without a doubt, one of the MOST TENSE matches I've EVER played in any PES edition. The crowd was roaring, drums and gongs were blazin', the home crowd was on another level as we were facing not only the pressure of tens of thousands of fans, but the expectations of an entire nation!! This might not have been the final of the cup, but it felt like OUR final! This encounter had plenty of chances, with both teams NEARLY scoring on MULTIPLE occassions! (Damjanovic was really close several times, so was Seo!! There were several yellow cards!! Our goalkeeper had numerous saves!!) The game was there for the taking as Damjanovic missed a chance in minute 82 and Adriano had a powerful shot JUST saved by the Kazakh keeper at minute 88.... But at the end of 90 mnutes..................... The score was still 0-0! We would go to extra time!!

Extra time would be nail-biting as well, as Astana would look much fresher than us... We were tired!! Radakovic, Maks Ebong, Rukavina, all had clear chances, but our keeper Cho Hyun-Woo came up HUGE for us, with several VERY important saves (never was this term as appropriate as it was here... they literally saved the day for us).... I thought I was going to to to PK's for sure..................

Until finally, in minute 118, with TWO MINUTES left to go in extra time.........

Hwang Hyun Soo dispossses the Astana midfielder,, passes it to Seo who finds Adriano with a beautiful through pass, facing pressure from the defenders, turns around and finds a streaking player in the box.... who could this be?????

MAGIC!!!!! IT'S SEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUNG WON SEO WITH THE 118' WINNING GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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The crowd goes absolutely berserk! It's Jung Won Seo with the speed and the finish to win the match for the Korean side!!!!!!!! Only moments later, the whistle blows, and we have done it!! In a nail-biting, tense, intense match that LITERALLY had me SWEATING, once again I finish a story with a winning goal in the final minutes!! We say goodbye to the Fourth Edition of the 3-Stars Cup in style!! Even though we did not win the competition, and lost in the semifinals to the eventual Champion (Congratulations Club América, you are the first non-Euro team to win the Cup!), we leave with our heads held high, and with a very sweet finish that leaves a superlative feeling in not only my heart, but also the hearts of FC Seoul fans reveling in the joy of football, who were left singing and chanting, as the Korean skies turned from Orange in the Afternoon to Purple in the Dusk! This is why I love PES, this is why I love the 3-Stars Cup, and this is why I love writing and sharing my Cup and Master League Stories!!!! Thanks for reading, my friends, and stay tuned for more stories!!

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Dejan Damjanovic (who finished the Cup as the top goalscorer, with an astonishing 9 goals): "Of course we would've loved to have won the Three-Stars Cup. We faced a very tough team in America, who ended up winning it all. But overall, this was a great cup for us. Personally, I would've traded my Golden Boot for a title, but.. we brought joy to our fans.. I have found a second home here in Korea, as this where most of my footballing career has developed, and I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity that the country has given me. It was time to give back all that was inside of us every ounce of our footballing heart. We gave it our all!! Go Seoul!!"

Reporter: What will you take away from your 118' minute goal, one of the most historic in the history of Korean football?
Jung-Won Seo: "I will say this: I consider it a great honor to have done this in front of my home crowd, my city, and my country! The atmosphere was electric, it really felt like a final and I'm completely grateful and humbled to have been a part of this experience.. As this match was not for a 3rd place medal, but for our honor and pride! Thank you FC Seoul fans, thank you to my teammates and my country! 대한민국 파이팅!!!!"

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[Holland]

Nothing is impossible for one who is prepared to overcome all adversity. The fearful are the losers.

 

[Joga]

Jay Jay Okocha! So good, they named him twice!

Thanks for the 3-stars journey, & congrats to FC Seoul! It reminded me of the epic 3rd place match in WC 2002, South Korea vs Turkey.
It was good to see the Koreans get the W in front of their fans this time

This is what PES is all about. Every edition can provide drama & magic moments.
Cheers for keeping the spirit alive mate

 

[millossobek]

@Holland Thanks Sensei! Your encouraging words are always a great inspiration and motivation for my stories! And you are right: No matter the odds, our teams are up to the challenge!!

@Joga That 2002 WC game was the best 3rd place match ever! I was quite emotionally invested in it, being that I was supporting the Taeguk Warriors! I remember that match as if it were yesterday bro.. The fastest goal in World Cup history scored by Turkey, the late goal to give Korea hope, the embrace afterwards as the Turkish team was really well-liked in Korea as well. The two countries have a historic friendship!

I'm excited about my Four Musketeers story for sure! It's funny because I've started it twice before in other editions, but with my old hard drive crashing, those saves were lost.. 2012 seems like a really nice edition to revive the story, or rather restart it! The training is a little different from other editions, which I'm trying to figure out, but I'm really liking the gameplay! Go Jay-Jay!!

Really glad you guys are enjoying my 3-Star Cup Stories as well. Following my bro @Silverdome94's suggestion, I wanted to have this last Cup take place in one country, with a single-match format! It definitely gives it a different feeling for sure, more immediate, with each match having more weight! I was actually very happy to break the "quarterfinal curse" and finish third!!

Thanks for following bros!! Will post more soon!!

 

[millossobek]

Millosssobek finally tries a Classic!!
After much searching, I think I've found the perfect edition for my 4 Musketeers: PES 5!!
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The story is familiar to you guys by now. Crashed hard drive which included my PES 2010 and 2019 Bolton saves. A new SSD, reinstallation of all my PES editions. Tried several installments, including 2012, which was good, but finally, after much searching..

I've decided to re-launch my Bolton adventure in @Fabri55's PES 5, the original season!

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Why PES 5? Several reasons:
- First and foremost, I have never played a ML in this edition, and I've heard people whose opinion I highly value that PES 5 is a great, great game. The exhibitions I've played have been really fun. Tough, physical, an unforgiving yet brilliant representation of football!
- Okocha, Nakata, Donovan and Campbell were all still active in the 2004-05 season, although I have made all of them younger and edited their stats for the purposes of my story!
- If I'm going to play a retro story, I think it's appropriate to play it in a retro season!

For those of you who were following my PES 2019 Bolton adventure, get ready for a complete reboot. I am back in Division 2. Bolton is one of the weakest teams in Britain, but the rise of our new youngsters (aged 22, 23, 24, and 25) hopes to bring a huge injection of hope into the Wanderers. I will get into the details of the story in a future post, but suffice to say.. I think I have finally settled on a version to re-launch my dear (and familiar by now, though no less exciting) 4 Musketeers Story.

I have set up the leagues this way, very similar to the way I set up my PES 6 European leagues:

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British League Division 1: The top 15 English teams + Rangers
British League Division 2: The remaining 7 English teams (including Bolton) + Celtic.
Liga Ibérica: 13 Spanish teams plus the 3 Portuguese Giants (Benfica, Porto, Sporting).
Lega Mediterranea: 12 Italian teams + 2 Turkish (Galatasaray, Fenerbahce) + the 2 Greek Giants (Olympiakos, Panathinaikos).
Central Europe Federation: 8 Bundesliga teams + 4 French + 4 Dutch teams!

I'm looking forward to seriously playing PES 5 for the first time!! Go Wanderers!!!!!!

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[Fabri55]

Hello friend, I am very pleased to read this adventure based on my patch.
I like the composition of the leagues, and the choice of Bolton is very original because you have cult players like Okocha and Nakata.

Good luck, and keep this great topic alive

 

[millossobek]

TOUGH, TOUGH FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON!! (PES 2021)
Are Sócrates struggles with Estrela Azul Paulista taking an emotional toll?
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19 Matches Played (+2 Copa do Brasil matches)
5 wins, 4 draws, 10 losses.
19th in Brasileirao B

Hopes were high for Sócrates and Estrela Azul Paulista as the season started. Even though we were fielding one of the least talented squads in Brasileirao B, an injection of talent, with newly acquired Castolo, a recent promotion from third division, the emergence of young talented magician Leandro, and the incorporation of Sócrates-one of the most mercurial, beloved figures in Brazilian Football-were the talk of Brasileirao B just six months ago. But things have changed. After a somewhat promising start in the Copa do Brasil, Estrela Azul has floundered, scattering and stumbling their way to second to last place in the league, struggling to find their way in a very tough, competitive Brasileirao B, and perhaps testing the patience of the Paulista faithful, a small but passionate legion who follow the team wherever they go.

The beginning would be auspicious, as things started off convincingly for us in the Copa do Brasil. For those of you who aren't aware of the Brazilian system, teams play their Cup matches BEFORE the season starts, as the entire national Cup tournament is played and completed in that short window of time. Due to historical, as well as geographic circumstances, the Copa do Brasil can be seen as almost equally as important as Brasileirao (The League was only founded in 1959, while the Cup is much older and traditional). This was a tough and exciting test for us, given that we were poised to face first division teams that would definitely challenge our mettle and talent! Our first match was against a first division team, the beloved people's champions Chapecoense, and it was a scorcher! In Sao Paulo's stadium, we played a crazy, tit-for-tat encounter against them, going to extra time, where only a beautifully placed free kick by Kelvin gave us the advantage in a very heated encounter!! Final score, Estrela Azul 4-3 Chapecoense, and Sócrates first match with Estrela Azul was off to a convincing start, full of Jogo Bonito and Brazilian chaos and unpredictability!

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This would set up a very emotional match against none other than the team that gave Sócrates his beloved club fame: Corinthians!! The famous Timao, the legendary 2012 Club World Cup Champion and home to one of the largest fanbases in the world, Corinthians are a proud team backed up by tens of millions of fans, literally. But as expected, this match would have a completely different outcome, as the Timao would impose their historical hierarchy and the weight of their colors over little Estrela Azul, literally wiping the floor with us in a dominating 6-1 result. Although this would not be a humiliation, given the strength and historical acumen of Corinthians, and it was also hardly a surprising result, it was seen as a wakeup call for us, that we would have to face a tough and grinding road if we ever even wished to attempt to reach the heights of Brazilian giants, let alone first division! (We did have one bright spot in our match though, this beauty scored by Castolo!)

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After the Copa do Brasil (which was convincingly won by Corinthians over Bahía, 3-0), the Brasileirao B was underway. The tournament didn't start great for us at all, as we suffered two straight defeats (at home vs Goias, 0-1, and visiting Cruzeiro, losing 3-0). Hardly the take-off we wanted. We recovered nicely in our next match though, a good win against Brusque, with a last-minute goal by Castolo (2-1 in extra time, minute 92 in a dramatic show)! Unfortunately though, we couldn't continue the momentum, as we would lose our next 2 matches (against Confianca 2-0, and against Vitoria 0-2) before recovering against CSA, beating them 1-2 in their grounds. 2 wins, 4 losses, and our tournament was not off to the best start. Our highlight in these first 6 matches was undoubtedly Castolo's last second goal, included below, one of the few rays of hope in an otherwise underwhelming start:

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Nothing could prepare us for the onslaught of our next 5 matches: An unfortunate and painful 1 Draw and 4 losses! (0-2 vs Remo, 2-2 vs CRB, a humiliating 1-4 result against Brasil de Pelotas, a 2-0 loss vs Vila Nova, and 1-3 vs League Leaders Vasco de Gama). This was the lowest point of the season. After these matches, we absolutely hit rock-bottom as a team, sitting in 20th place, straight in relegation territory, and our hope of remaining in the division seemed to be slipping away. Sócrates was not inspiring the players with a winning style, even though he maintained the respect and emotional connection of his players, Castolo was scoring goals (albeit not meaningful ones), Leandro was showing flashes of magic and Jogo Bonito but these were not translating into results, and the team as a whole was hanging their head, frustrated as they KNEW that they were better than the results were showing. Would Brasileirao C beckon?

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A bright spot would emerge, however, like a timid sun above lingering mountains: We would somewhat right the ship in the next 3 matches.. Our next two fixtures against mighty and historical Botafogo would end 0-0, followed by another 2-2 draw against Operario. These two results stopped the rut, but the crude reality was that we were on a 7-game winless streak. An absolutely brutal and unrelenting stretch which not only showed our limitations, but would also expose our lack of execution. The imagination was there. We could SEE our plays.. but we couldn't execute them. A mix of bad luck, bad execution, lack of inspiration, and lack of quality were preventing us to win. But at least we had stopped the bleeding. The next match though would break the spell, as we defeated Sampaio 2-3 in their grounds, in a much needed result that finally gave us 3 points and would stop this awful stretch. Could this be seen as a glimpse, a glimmer of hope, perhaps in an otherwise dark and difficult season? Two losses and a win.. We would momentarily climb out of last place as we reached the transfer window, but would it be enough for us to avoid relegation to third division? (The last 3 teams are relegated)!!

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Our last 5 matches before the halfway mark of the season would be a mixed bag, but a mixed bag was much better than what he had achieved so far. 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses: A 2-3 loss against Nautico, a 1-2 win on the road vs Ponte Preta, a 0-0 result vs Coritiba, a 1-0 defeat against Guarani before rebounding with a 2-3 win against Avai. All in all, we were righting the ship somewhat, and although we are far from achieving consistency, there were enough bright spots in the last few matches to give us some hope to save ourselves from relegation. Could we call this a disappointment given our limited talent? Yes, for one simple reason: We are being directed by a legend, Sócrates is the captain of the ship, Leandro is still seen as a possible future star, despite everything, and Castolo HAS scored goals, perhaps just not at the right time, but he has scored..... It feels like we are on a two-sided cusp. We could be on the cusp of disaster, but also, somehow, hidden in the recesses of our footballing hearts and minds, just maybe, we are on the cusp of getting better. A breakthrough or a collapse. Welcome to Estrela Azul Paulista's first season.....

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A meeting with the Phil Collins-lookalike owner beckoned. Sócrates knew that he had underwhelmed, that his romantic vision of football, even though beautiful as an idea, was not bearing real fruits. But perhaps due to his historical standing, due to the fact that many fans were attending the games because of his charisma, perhaps due to his integrity and his uncompromising vision, he was still not sitting in the hot seat. A lifeline was extended: Save us from relegation. That is the tune we are playing now. When the season started, our expectations (unrealistic perhaps) were to finish mid table and maybe, just maybe have a hope for promotion. But the cold, hard, unfeeling reality of the amazingly tough Brasileirao B has struck us right in our hearts and in our pride. We are not fighting for promotion. We are not in midtable. Now, Sócrates job is much simpler, if much less idealistic: We are not looking to bring back romantic old-school football to modern Brazil YET. We first have to remain in Brasileirao B before aspiring to bring something else, anything else, a glimmer of beauty, an aspiration of changing the soul of Brazilian football. Stay in second division millossobek, stay in second division.

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Sócrates: "An idea can move mountains. It can create hope in the most hopeless eyes, make your heart sing, and move the spirits of an entire footballing nation. I am a firm believer of this, and will continue to believe this as long as I am wearing the colors of Estrela Azul Paulista. I know that the results will come. I understand the disappointment of the fans, the questioning of the media.. But what I want everyone to understand is this: we are not only fighting for results. We are fighting for an idea, for the soul of Brazilian Football. I hope I am given the chance to show this to not only Estrela Azul supporters, but to the entire nation. Please, do not give up hope."

Castolo: "Yeah, I've scored 6 goals so far, but I haven't had a good season. Decent maybe, but having a good season means inspiring my teammates, which I haven't done. We are a young team, and we have a leader who we still believe in in Sócrates. But my responsiblity, our responsibility is to trust each other, to stop doubting ourselves, to play the way we know we can play. The first half of the season has been terrible, I'm not gonna mince my words. But we as players take full responsibility, and being that I am part of this team, I can only promise this: We will leave blood, sweat, and tears on the pitch, fight for every single ball, and give the fans all they deserve. This I can promise. But we cannot dance Samba if we're not learning the steps."

Leandro: "My best football is still inside of me. I just have to let it out."

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[millossobek]

Estrela Azul Paulista's first 2-Game Winning Streak!
I am slowly climbing out of relegation zone (sitting at 15th at the moment)
Will we be able to continue the momentum?
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of Estrela Azul's first season in Brasileirao B!!​

 

[Holland]

Don't give up Bro............the leaderboard is short, you MUST do it!!!

 

[millossobek]

Hey bros! I've finished my first Brasileirao B season with my dear Estrela Azul Paulista and will be posting an update soon!
But in the meantime, I've decided to play a FIFA 2010 World Cup with Costa Rica in PES 2010!
For this Cup, I've decided to maintain all the same teams as the original WC, with the exception of Costa Rica as a new squad!
I've also re-shuffled the groups, and now their makeup is different. But 31 of the 32 original participants remain!
My Group Stage features: South Africa, Denmark, Uruguay, and Costa Rica!
Will "Los Ticos" be able to reach the second round in only their Fourth World Cup Appearance?
Stay tuned to find out in my next Millossobek Cup Story, all in one single post!!


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[Silverdome94]

Better get that vuvuzela sound effect loaded up for this save, bro! 😣

 

[millossobek]

Los Ticos go on a Historic Run! (PES 2010)
Costa Rica Have a Proud World Cup, Exceeding All Expectations!
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Welcome to the 2010 World Cup, the first ever to take place in the continent of Africa!! The South Africans are proud to present their venues as hosts to the most famous and celebrated event in the world! There is massive expectation as all nations are looking to make their people proud and showcase their best football under the sound of Vuvuzelas! The World's stars align and unite under a single footballing banner, as our team for this story, Costa Rica, looks to have a solid showing and represent Central America with dignity and passion! Our group would feature none other than 2 time WC Champions Uruguay, tournament hosts South Africa, and the always exciting Denmark! Would we be able to get out of our group? An undoubtedly tough proposition, but overall a challenge that we are looking forward to facing head-on! Bring it on, Group A!

Match 1: Costa Rica-Uruguay

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The 2010 World Cup kicked off for us with a nervy and somewhat bizarre, yet very exciting match against the Uruguayans! Always a tough opponent, the South Americans brought their mix of intensity, pride and quality to the match. But things started off on the right foot for us! An early goal by our side midfielder Herrón from a Bolaños cross gave us the early lead (minute 18), which we were able to maintain throughout the first half! However, in the second half, Uruguay started pressing forward more, as a costly defensive mistake by the Costa Rican defender led to a clinical finish by Luis Suárez (minute 55)! The score was level, this would only last a few minutes, as two minutes later, Nacho González was able to tap in a rebound to give them the lead! We had relinquished our lead in only 2 minutes! (min 57). Yet another twist of fate would beckon!! Only four minutes later, a corner kick by Bolaños would lead to a great header by our #10 Centeño (minute 61), and we would equalize! A super-intense 6 minutes which featured 3 goals!! Keylor Navas would have a couple of really nice saves to preserve the point, as the first match would finish 2-2! A crazy match (especially those 6 minutes), in which we had lost opportunities, but were actually glad to escape with the point against perhaps the group favorites and undoubtedly the most historic team!

Match 2: Costa Rica-Denmark

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Our second match, against an up-and-coming Denmark could not have started any better for us, as in one of the first possessions of the game, Bolaños scored with a super-aware rebound to give us the lead! (min 3). But in what seemed like a recurring theme, in the very next possession, Denmark kicked off and Tomasson scored a corner header off a lobbed cross from Jorgensen to give the equalizer to the Danes! (min 4) 1-1 was the score, but ten minutes later, Marshall would feed our #9 Saborio in the box for the beautiful angled finish! (min 14)! A flurry of goals to start the match! We would then add to our lead in minute 30, as Brenes scored a really nice header off a Bolaños cross (3 assists for our Side Back in the WC so far!) The rest of the match was a great defensive performance by the Costa Ricans, as we almost scored the fourth goal which hit the post! Final score, Costa Rica 3-1 Denmark in a huge win for us which set us up nicely for the final group fixture against hosts South Africa, who had won both of their matches!

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Things were looking very interesting for us going into the final group stage match! South Africa (in a reversal of history) had beaten Denmark and Uruguay 2-1 in both matches and had ensured qualification in front of a racuous and suddenly football-crazed country and would be fighting for first place going into their last match against us! Our qualification was not ensured, however, if Uruguay beat Denmark and we lost our last game, then anything could happen! We went into our last match wanting to leave nothing on the table, as qualification was far from guaranteed as you can see in the table above!!

Match 3: Costa Rica-South Africa

​

With everything to play for, we went out against the World Cup Hosts in their stadium and in front of their people and the eyes of an entire country, and we played an insanely topsy-turvy match, with a lot of goals and a lot of momentum shifts! Things would start very unfortunate for us, as the South Africans struck first in the opening minutes of the game! We were able to equalize moments later though, as our creative offensive midfielder/secondary striker and team star Bryan Ruiz fed Saborio for the goal to make it 1-1! (min 13). But then the South Africans would strike back with a second goal of their own, courtesy of Letsholonyane in minute 27! Things were looking a bit difficult for us but then, a very fortunate goal as Saborio scored again, simply walking the ball in the net as the South African keeper failed to stop our attack in a very unusual goal! (min 37). The score was 2-2, but then suddenly, in the last play of the half, Gaxa would score for the African side to give them the lead once more after an unfortunate scramble in the box after a dead ball! Going into halftime, it was an absolutely crazy scoreline of 2-3 as we were looking to come backl!

​

But the second half would be a completely different story, as we would come back all the way! Centeno equallized scoring off an assist from Saborio! (min 64) to make it 3-3, and only 5 minutes later, Bryan Ruiz had what was perhaps the goal of the tournament for us so far (min 69), giving us a definitive lead which we were able to hold on until the end! Final score: Costa Rica 4-3 South Africa, in a crazy comeback! A historic performance by the Costa Ricans in a goal festival and very emotional match: We not only won the game, but ended up winning the group, snatching the lead from South Africa, who finished second!! The Knockout stage was set, where we would be facing Slovakia in the Round of 16, who finished second in group B (While the Netherlands, winner of their group, would face South Africa!)

​

Round of 16: Costa Rica-Slovakia

​

In a very good performance for us, we were able to edge Slovakia in a match that never felt like we relinquished control! We had many more chances than the European side, and even though our only goal of the match (courtesy of a powerful one-time shot by Bryan Ruiz after a rookie-like mistake by the Slovakian defense in minute 34) would be the only goal of the match, this would be enough to put us through the next round, as the Slovakians never really seemed to threaten Keylor Navas! We ended up outshooting them 12-4 in a masterful performance by our defense, and the final 1-0 score saw us through to a historic ocassion. Interestingly, Costa Rica's first ever WC participation was in Italy 1990, where they lost 4-1 against Czechoslovakia! This could be seen as a Round of 16 rematch against the Slovakian element of the former republic!! When it was all said and done, we move on to the quarterfinals, where we would be facing none other than powerhouses (and one of the favorites): Spain!

Quarterfinals: Costa Rica-Spain

​

The start of the match began very evenly, much to the surprise of the footballing world and of Spain! We were playing the Spaniards tit-for-tat, and the elation of the Costa Rican faithful was incredible as we scored the first goal of the match! (min 21). Saborio once again, as our #9 scored his fourth goal of the tournament and was having a brilliant World Cup so far! The surprise and shock was amazing! Could this be a historic upset against one of the World Cup favorites, and perhaps Spain's most talented side in its storied history?? However it would not be meant to be, as Spain scored 3 goals in the remaining of the match (Cesc Fabregas in minute 34 after a brilliant run by Jesús Navas), and Liverpool star Fernando Torres with the brace (the first of his goals-a clinical finish-coming off a classic Spanish tiki-taka play in minute 42, and a very classy finish showing off his world-class in minute 49 just after the second half started! Even though we tried to come back and had good chances, the Spaniards outclassed us and calmly dismantled our offense to show their quality. The final score was Costa Rica 1-3 Spain, and our historic World Cup was over!

This has to be said though: Going through in a tough group stage (which featured the WC hosts as well as strong Uruguayan and Denmark sides) was no small feat, and even more impressively, going all the way to the quarterfinals could be seen as a MAJOR accomplishment for the Central American squad! The Costa Ricans made their own history in this save, undoubtedly, being the first Central American team to have ever reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup, and that is no small feat! In a footballing world dominated by UEFA and CONMEBOL sides, we can definitely say that we left the name of CONCACAF, and more specifically, of Costa Rican Football very high!

​

The World Cup was eventually won by Brazil, in their SIXTH championship, beating Spain in the final 2-0, while third place went to defending champions Italy, who defeated the Dutch in an emotional 3-2 third place match! Arjen Robben led the cup with 6 goals, and our very own Saborio finished among the top goalscorers as well! All in all, a very enjoyable experience for us, one where we participated with honor and pride, and cemented our name as the most storied Central American side! Personally, I really enjoyed this experience, playing it in PES 2010, which is an underrated title in my opinion, and will be looking forward to more future World Cup stories, the central stage of world sport!! Hope you enjoyed this story with our protagonists, "Los Ticos"!!

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Cup Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[Joga]

It was a good run bro, well played to you & Costa Rica.. & New Zealand what a journey!
And I gotta say, the graphics in this game still impress me everytime I see it.

 

[millossobek]

An Awesome First Half of the Season for Werder Bremen!!!! (PES 2009)
In a Tough Central Europe Federation, I'm Putting on the Pressure on Bayern!!
​

19 Matches Played (+2 Cup matches)
12 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses.
2nd in Central Europe Federation!

​

What a first half of the season! In our return to the Central Europe Federation, we have exceeded ALL expectations! When we left off, I had just achieved promotion from the 2nd Division, brought in some reinforcements, and was all primed to start my first First Division run in the place that Werder Bremen deserves to be! But who would've thought that things would turn out this positively?? To give you guys a recap, I set up Four Different European Leagues for this save, as follows:

- Liga Ibérica (Iberian League): 17 Spanish Teams + the 3 Portuguese Giants (Benfica, Sporting, Porto)
- British Premier League: 18 English Teams + the 2 Scottish Giants (Rangers and Celtic)
- Lega Mediterranea: 13 Italian Teams + 4 Greek Teams + 3 Turkish Teams (Panathinaikos, Olympiakos, AEK, PAOK, Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray).
- Central Europe Federation D1 and D2: A mix of Bundesliga, Ligue 1 France, Belgian, Denmark, Swiss, and Dutch teams! (with a heavier presence of German and French teams!) This is where I'm playing!

​

To refresh your memory: I ended up Winning Division 2 (2nd place Brugge and 3rd place Copenhagen) and earned the right to play in first division! Central Europe Federation D1 would feature a really tough mix of the following teams: Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Copenhagen, Club Brugge, Frankfurt, Girondins de Bordeaux, Hamburger, Hoffenheim, Olympique de Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais, Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, Schalke, Standard de Liege, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Wolfsburg, and our boys Werder Bremen! 10 German, 5 French, 2 Dutch, 2 Belgian and 1 Danish teams! This was going to be a difficult and well-fought league for sure, with so many teams from Central Europe fighting for glory!

We performed brilliantly! Winning ten games against: Brugge (A), PSG (H), Liege (A), Schalke (H), Frankfurt (A), PSV Eindhoven (H), Wolfsburg (H), Stuttgart (A), Levekusen (H), Copenhagen (A), Bordeaux (H), and Hoffenheim (A)! We drew five matches against: Hamburger (A), Dortmund (A), Marseille (H), Toulouse (A), and Ajax (H), and only losing two matches vs: Bayern (A, a very tough 3-2 loss decided in the last minutes), and Lyonnais (H, again 2-3)!

​

This has been a complete team effort, as everyone, from our retiring 39 year old Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón, and to every single one of our starting eleven and bench players, have performed really well! But I would be amiss if I ignored the super-important contributions of our leaders: A still young Mesut Ozil (21), Shinji Ono (23), Stephen Appiah (23), and Claudio Pizarro (31), our very own Peruvian #9 and Werder Bremen legend! Ozil is a young star, conducting the team and pulling the strings of the offense with precise passing and superb vision on the pitch (I've received offers for him, no way am I letting him go!), Ono and Appiah have brought intelligence, tenacity, and versatility to the midfield, and Pizarro has been lethal in front of goal, scoring 10 goals so far and in the Top 8 goalscorers in the league!

​

The first half of the season has been an absolutely unexpected, great ride for us! We are currently sitting 2nd in the League, chipping at Bayern's heels, and only trailing them by 1 point in the overall standings! I knew I had a talented team, but I had no idea that I would be making an immediate splash like this! I know we are only halfway through the season, and there are still 19 long matches awaiting me, but right now, I am sitting in Champions League territory, putting REALLY TOUGH pressure on the Goliath of the League Bayern Munich, and why not? Even with the aspiration of winning the Central Federation! I would've never imagined that the first half of the season would go this well, but right now, my Werder Bremen is clicking, everyone is understanding each other and there is great rapport between the players!

​

It really is amazing to think that, only two short seasons ago, we started off as a talented team but an unknown quantity in second division, and now here we are, standing at the midpoint of Division 1 and with a chance to win it all. I am leading third place Lyonnais by 6 points, only trailing mighty Bayern by 1 point, and our heads are FILLED WITH HUGE AMBITIONS! What will the second half of the season bring?? Will we be able to maintain this torrid pace or will the wheels fall off our dear Werder? One thing is for certain, I'm going to try my hardest to keep it going, and I'm aiming to play in my first Champions League! We will take it one match, one fixture at a time, not taking anything for granted. But hopes are high, the team is playing great (sometimes playing beautifully, sometimes playing with more grit than art, that's football), and the city's soul is green!! We are completely committed!! Auf geht's Werder Bremen!!

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[millossobek]

THE LYRICS AND THE BEAT!!
Relegation Fears Long Gone, Estrela Azul Paulista Finish the Season Strong!!
​

38 Matches Played (+2 Copa do Brasil matches)
12 wins, 13 draws, 13 losses (7-9-3 since the break!)
12th in Brasileirao B

The first half of the season for our dear Estrela Azul Paulista was, in fact, really a grind. It was a rude wakeup call that talent alone would not carry us through the incredibly tough Brasileirao B, undoubtedly the best second division in South America, equal in quality to some other first division federations in the continent! The legendary and much beloved Sócrates had flown in with very high hopes, a living legend with a footballing philosophy, had talked about beautiful football, Jogo Bonito all around, a Brazilian revolution on the pitch and off the pitch and a return to the country's soul. Yet, the beginning of his career with Estrela Azul was fraught with difficulty, as we only managed to win 5 games, drawing 4 and losing 10 before the break! We were sitting in 19th place, and staring down relegation to Brasileirao C. Definitely not the start we were looking for after so many positive vibes to start the season! Were ominous clouds on the horizon, or would we be able to rebound?

​

An important point to remember: Estrela Azul Paulista is not devoid of talent. Not at all, quite the contrary, we have a group of players who, in old-school Brazilian style, bring tons of distinct flair and personality to the team. Leandro is the youngster, still not out of his teenage years. With a precocious talent but a happy and humble personality, a kid from the Sao Paulo favelas with a heart of gold and an easy smile, with a positive personality which was not tempered by his poor upbringing. And we also have a 23 year old Castolo. Fiery. Passionate. Confident. A born leader. Incredibly charismatic but mercurial and still a bit inconsistent. Here's the question though: Would flair and personality be enough to maintain us in the division? All we knew is that there was no way we were going to be relegated to Brasileirao C, to the depths of obscurity once again. Despite our bleak start to the season, Sócrates, Castolo, Leandro, and all of our team were determined to not let our heads hang low.. As tough as this may sound, we still believe. We believe that our style of play would break us through, that something was going to click, that there was enough fantasía and footballing magic dust left in Estrela Azul to make it through the night.

The second half of the season started on a very uncertain tone. If you guys remember, we had closed out the last 5 games of the first half with a 2-1-2 record, 7 points out of a possible 15 (not the best result but at least better than the dismal showing that we had at the beginning of the season). However, as we kicked off the second half, we tied 4 matches in a row! 2-2 vs Goias (A), 2-2 vs Cruzeiro (H), 3-3 vs Brusque (A), and 2-2 vs Confianca (H). 9 goals in favor and 9 goals againist. Not the best of starts, in fact a bit discouraging, as we had only accumulated 4 points out of a possible 12! Incredibly though, this streak of mediocre results did not push us back to last place, but indeed kept us in the 17-19 rank range. (still relegation though!) We were scoring goals, which was definitely a plus, but we were conceding as well, as these high-scoring games yielded plenty of entertaining football but not enough defense to lead us outside of the danger zone!

​

Things would change, however, in the next two games, as we would break our four draws with two consecutive wins, our first 2-game winning streak of the season!! A gutsy 1-2 win against Vitoria (which featured a Castolo goal in extra time!), and a 2-0 win at home vs CSA and we were finally accumulating some points! These two matches were quite significant for different reasons: Castolo had scored a last-minute goal which propelled us to a win and showed a lot of mental toughness to along with his personality and fortitude, and Leandro was discovering that he was not only a playmaker, but could also move forward and score goals! (This had actually been an important point that Sócrates had talked over with him: "you are too talented to limit yourself to playmaking. Do not be timid, you have to look to score as well!") Maybe the old lion saw something of himself in the young prodigy? Memories of 1982? Definitely to early to tell, but an interesting parallel nonetheless....

​

Estrela Azul Paulista was starting to gel. Like I mentioned, it wasn't like we weren't scoring goals, it was just that we were conceding equally, and in these matches, it seemed like we finally started to defend better. Could this be a philosophical shift in our playing style? Well, let me see: Perhaps we were playing a bit too "idealistically" earlier in the season, playing too much to the crowd and trying to win with beautiful football every time. But now, we were discovering that we needed some balance as well, without abandoning our identity. We are still striving to play old-school, romantic Brazilian football, but we are also looking to solidify in the back. Every song needs a structure: the lyrics and the beat, the vocals and the bass line.

Our next four matches would be a mixed bag: 2 draws, a win, and a loss. 3-3 vs Remo (A), 2-2 vs CRB (H), a tough 3-1 loss against Brasil de Pelotas (A), and a nice rebounding 4-2 win against Vilanova at home! Even though we weren't finding the results we wanted on a consistent basis, we WERE playing better, which is always a good augury for the future.. And you see, the building blocks would pay off: These four games were followed by perhaps our biggest win of the season, an away win vs League Leaders Vasco Da Gama! The match that announced ourselves to the Brazilian footballing consciousness! Vasco was leading the world (they ended up winning the league by an incredible 19 points), but we went out and played inspired football (on both ends)! and stunned them with a Castolo brace (@Joga: "Castolo is inevitable!!") in their grounds while playing stifling and intelligent defense! We held the league leaders to 0 goals in their stadium! This was a momentous victory for us, one that really gave us a lot of spirit and showed the country that we were for real, that we weren't the pushovers that many had written us as! More importantly, these results elevated our team outside of relegation zone. Would we be able to maintain form?

​

Well, not so fast. The Brasileirao B would once again show its tough spirit and nature, a spiky carcass around a beating heart: A 2-0 loss vs Operario (A), a 1-1 draw vs Sampaio (H), another 1-1 draw against Náutico (A), and a very tough 3-4 loss at home vs Ponte Petra. The win against Vasco da Gama had been huge, but true to South American form, this tournament would just not let us relax. Even though Sócrates was quite concerned after these four games, the message was still a postiive one: He had a deep talk with the squad, our Captains and our Stars, our Starters and our Bench players and communicated that even though we were playing entertaining football, we also had to develop the mentality to go along with it. Joy cannot come without struggle. This is a long season, a 38 game marathon, and we couldn't let our guards down for one second.. In order to dance Samba, first you have to learn the steps, and you have to develop the stamina to go along with it. Yet.. I will say this: This is the nature of South American football. And if we were to learn the ropes and someday fight in higher echelons, we had to create a fighting mentality to go along with our fantasy and our imagination. Would this be a wakeup call for the last three games of the season?

​

Now.. With 3 games to go, we weren't mathematically outside of relegation zone (the bottom 4 teams are in the fire-zone), but we were sitting in 15th place and in a good position to stay in the division. Despite the recent inconsistency, we were able to pull through and win two out of our last three games to ensure us the division! A good and strong finish for Estrela Azul Paulista: A 1-3 win vs Coritiba (A), followed by another very important 2-0 win vs Guaraní (H)! These results not only saved us from relegation but also placed us squarely in midtable (look at how tightly bunched the teams are, only 10 points separating #5 and #16)! With nothing to play for except midtable league position (not that this is unimportant!) we ended up drawing our last match 2-2 against Avai. Alas, this was the curtain call of our season: we had written our story in our first chapter of Brasileirao B, in a tale which was filled with emotions, roller-coasters, and also long-spells of draws which brought a lot of suspense to our destiny. When it was all said and done, however, we had a very good second half of the season especially taking into account how we started, winning 7 games (with three 2-game winning streaks securing our position!), with 3 losses against tough opponents and 9 draws! Ultimately, we finished quite deservedly in midtable, with 12 wins, 13 draws and 13 losses, a more than respectable showing. After a dismal start, we recovered well, held our heads high, and found our identity under Sócrates (the lyrics and the beat, the vocals and the bassline) and are primed to face our second Brasileirao B season with renewed hope!!

​

Sócrates: "All in all, this was an interesting season. I'm not going to let myself be swayed by extreme emotions, and the pendulum of the heart strings, because I think that in the end, we have to look at the big picture. We started off with the left foot, finished with the right foot, but the important thing is: we keep walking. One foot in front of the other, with calmness, with hope. Yes I still want a revolution. A Brazilian spiritual revolution. But this is only the beginning of our story, and before we can spread our wings, we first have to find solid footing. I believe we did that in the second half of the season."

Leandro: "One thing I really liked about this season is how I felt my game evolve. Teacher Sócrates told me that I had to be more assertive and yes perhaps that is the case. I was maybe playing a bit too much looking for the pass first, looking to get everybody involved at the expense of my talent. I am still and will always remain a playmaker.. But one thing I did learn was that sometimes I need to assert myself a bit more, move forward, attack, and combine my creativity with a mindset to create goals. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really glad to be have such a great teacher who played my same position and teammates who trust me."

Castolo: "ESTRELA AZUL PAULISTA!!!!!!! WE WILL PLAY IN BRASILEIRAO A IN A YEAR, I GUARANTEE IT!! IT'S CASTOLO TIME."

(Understatement! ME? HA! I'M CASTOLO!)

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

 

[Holland]

the first Central American team to have ever reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup

This is your real feat bro, you've already made history!!!


You also made your mark with Werder by winning the championship, and now this last one.........................UNSTOPPABLE!!!!

 

[slamsoze]

View attachment 220523

THE LYRICS AND THE BEAT!!
Relegation Fears Long Gone, Estrela Azul Paulista Finish the Season Strong!!
​

38 Matches Played (+2 Copa do Brasil matches)
12 wins, 13 draws, 13 losses (7-9-3 since the break!)
12th in Brasileirao B

The first half of the season for our dear Estrela Azul Paulista was, in fact, really a grind. It was a rude wakeup call that talent alone would not carry us through the incredibly tough Brasileirao B, undoubtedly the best second division in South America, equal in quality to some other first division federations in the continent! The legendary and much beloved Sócrates had flown in with very high hopes, a living legend with a footballing philosophy, had talked about beautiful football, Jogo Bonito all around, a Brazilian revolution on the pitch and off the pitch and a return to the country's soul. Yet, the beginning of his career with Estrela Azul was fraught with difficulty, as we only managed to win 5 games, drawing 4 and losing 10 before the break! We were sitting in 19th place, and staring down relegation to Brasileirao C. Definitely not the start we were looking for after so many positive vibes to start the season! Were ominous clouds on the horizon, or would we be able to rebound?

View attachment 220524View attachment 220526​

An important point to remember: Estrela Azul Paulista is not devoid of talent. Not at all, quite the contrary, we have a group of players who, in old-school Brazilian style, bring tons of distinct flair and personality to the team. Leandro is the youngster, still not out of his teenage years. With a precocious talent but a happy and humble personality, a kid from the Sao Paulo favelas with a heart of gold and an easy smile, with a positive personality which was not tempered by his poor upbringing. And we also have a 23 year old Castolo. Fiery. Passionate. Confident. A born leader. Incredibly charismatic but mercurial and still a bit inconsistent. Here's the question though: Would flair and personality be enough to maintain us in the division? All we knew is that there was no way we were going to be relegated to Brasileirao C, to the depths of obscurity once again. Despite our bleak start to the season, Sócrates, Castolo, Leandro, and all of our team were determined to not let our heads hang low.. As tough as this may sound, we still believe. We believe that our style of play would break us through, that something was going to click, that there was enough fantasía and footballing magic dust left in Estrela Azul to make it through the night.

The second half of the season started on a very uncertain tone. If you guys remember, we had closed out the last 5 games of the first half with a 2-1-2 record, 7 points out of a possible 15 (not the best result but at least better than the dismal showing that we had at the beginning of the season). However, as we kicked off the second half, we tied 4 matches in a row! 2-2 vs Goias (A), 2-2 vs Cruzeiro (H), 3-3 vs Brusque (A), and 2-2 vs Confianca (H). 9 goals in favor and 9 goals againist. Not the best of starts, in fact a bit discouraging, as we had only accumulated 4 points out of a possible 12! Incredibly though, this streak of mediocre results did not push us back to last place, but indeed kept us in the 17-19 rank range. (still relegation though!) We were scoring goals, which was definitely a plus, but we were conceding as well, as these high-scoring games yielded plenty of entertaining football but not enough defense to lead us outside of the danger zone!

View attachment 220527View attachment 220528​

Things would change, however, in the next two games, as we would break our four draws with two consecutive wins, our first 2-game winning streak of the season!! A gutsy 1-2 win against Vitoria (which featured a Castolo goal in extra time!), and a 2-0 win at home vs CSA and we were finally accumulating some points! These two matches were quite significant for different reasons: Castolo had scored a last-minute goal which propelled us to a win and showed a lot of mental toughness to along with his personality and fortitude, and Leandro was discovering that he was not only a playmaker, but could also move forward and score goals! (This had actually been an important point that Sócrates had talked over with him: "you are too talented to limit yourself to playmaking. Do not be timid, you have to look to score as well!") Maybe the old lion saw something of himself in the young prodigy? Memories of 1982? Definitely to early to tell, but an interesting parallel nonetheless....

​

Estrela Azul Paulista was starting to gel. Like I mentioned, it wasn't like we weren't scoring goals, it was just that we were conceding equally, and in these matches, it seemed like we finally started to defend better. Could this be a philosophical shift in our playing style? Well, let me see: Perhaps we were playing a bit too "idealistically" earlier in the season, playing too much to the crowd and trying to win with beautiful football every time. But now, we were discovering that we needed some balance as well, without abandoning our identity. We are still striving to play old-school, romantic Brazilian football, but we are also looking to solidify in the back. Every song needs a structure: the lyrics and the beat, the vocals and the bass line.

Our next four matches would be a mixed bag: 2 draws, a win, and a loss. 3-3 vs Remo (A), 2-2 vs CRB (H), a tough 3-1 loss against Brasil de Pelotas (A), and a nice rebounding 4-2 win against Vilanova at home! Even though we weren't finding the results we wanted on a consistent basis, we WERE playing better, which is always a good augury for the future.. And you see, the building blocks would pay off: These four games were followed by perhaps our biggest win of the season, an away win vs League Leaders Vasco Da Gama! The match that announced ourselves to the Brazilian footballing consciousness! Vasco was leading the world (they ended up winning the league by an incredible 19 points), but we went out and played inspired football (on both ends)! and stunned them with a Castolo brace (@Joga: "Castolo is inevitable!!") in their grounds while playing stifling and intelligent defense! We held the league leaders to 0 goals in their stadium! This was a momentous victory for us, one that really gave us a lot of spirit and showed the country that we were for real, that we weren't the pushovers that many had written us as! More importantly, these results elevated our team outside of relegation zone. Would we be able to maintain form?

View attachment 220534View attachment 220530​

Well, not so fast. The Brasileirao B would once again show its tough spirit and nature, a spiky carcass around a beating heart: A 2-0 loss vs Operario (A), a 1-1 draw vs Sampaio (H), another 1-1 draw against Náutico (A), and a very tough 3-4 loss at home vs Ponte Petra. The win against Vasco da Gama had been huge, but true to South American form, this tournament would just not let us relax. Even though Sócrates was quite concerned after these four games, the message was still a postiive one: He had a deep talk with the squad, our Captains and our Stars, our Starters and our Bench players and communicated that even though we were playing entertaining football, we also had to develop the mentality to go along with it. Joy cannot come without struggle. This is a long season, a 38 game marathon, and we couldn't let our guards down for one second.. In order to dance Samba, first you have to learn the steps, and you have to develop the stamina to go along with it. Yet.. I will say this: This is the nature of South American football. And if we were to learn the ropes and someday fight in higher echelons, we had to create a fighting mentality to go along with our fantasy and our imagination. Would this be a wakeup call for the last three games of the season?

View attachment 220532View attachment 220536​

Now.. With 3 games to go, we weren't mathematically outside of relegation zone (the bottom 4 teams are in the fire-zone), but we were sitting in 15th place and in a good position to stay in the division. Despite the recent inconsistency, we were able to pull through and win two out of our last three games to ensure us the division! A good and strong finish for Estrela Azul Paulista: A 1-3 win vs Coritiba (A), followed by another very important 2-0 win vs Guaraní (H)! These results not only saved us from relegation but also placed us squarely in midtable (look at how tightly bunched the teams are, only 10 points separating #5 and #16)! With nothing to play for except midtable league position (not that this is unimportant!) we ended up drawing our last match 2-2 against Avai. Alas, this was the curtain call of our season: we had written our story in our first chapter of Brasileirao B, in a tale which was filled with emotions, roller-coasters, and also long-spells of draws which brought a lot of suspense to our destiny. When it was all said and done, however, we had a very good second half of the season especially taking into account how we started, winning 7 games (with three 2-game winning streaks securing our position!), with 3 losses against tough opponents and 9 draws! Ultimately, we finished quite deservedly in midtable, with 12 wins, 13 draws and 13 losses, a more than respectable showing. After a dismal start, we recovered well, held our heads high, and found our identity under Sócrates (the lyrics and the beat, the vocals and the bassline) and are primed to face our second Brasileirao B season with renewed hope!!

​

Sócrates: "All in all, this was an interesting season. I'm not going to let myself be swayed by extreme emotions, and the pendulum of the heart strings, because I think that in the end, we have to look at the big picture. We started off with the left foot, finished with the right foot, but the important thing is: we keep walking. One foot in front of the other, with calmness, with hope. Yes I still want a revolution. A Brazilian spiritual revolution. But this is only the beginning of our story, and before we can spread our wings, we first have to find solid footing. I believe we did that in the second half of the season."

Leandro: "One thing I really liked about this season is how I felt my game evolve. Teacher Sócrates told me that I had to be more assertive and yes perhaps that is the case. I was maybe playing a bit too much looking for the pass first, looking to get everybody involved at the expense of my talent. I am still and will always remain a playmaker.. But one thing I did learn was that sometimes I need to assert myself a bit more, move forward, attack, and combine my creativity with a mindset to create goals. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really glad to be have such a great teacher who played my same position and teammates who trust me."

Castolo: "ESTRELA AZUL PAULISTA!!!!!!! WE WILL PLAY IN BRASILEIRAO A IN A YEAR, I GUARANTEE IT!! IT'S CASTOLO TIME."

(Understatement! ME? HA! I'M CASTOLO!)

View attachment 220531

Stay tuned to the next edition of Millossobek's Master League Stories!
Comments are welcome!​

Team is great, fans are great, manager is great, Legends are great. But i think you should reconsider the Defense approach mate. 65 goals conceaded in 38 matches, it's almost 1,71 goals per game. Meaning that by default you are forced to score 2 goals per game, in order to be calm.

Of course i assume you are playing something like 20 minutes or more, but something needs to be done, in order to reduce the goals condeaded.

But it's great story either way. Can't wait to see Castolo in the Top Flight.

 

[millossobek]

@slamsoze Yeah man!! I think some of it has to do with the fact that I was switching between different gameplay mods and some were much more offensive than others, also that I am playing 20 minutes like you mentioned!! But you are 100% correct, I am conceding way too many goals. This is something that was concerning to Sócrates and so he pushed the management to get some reinforcements in the transfer window!!



In order to shore up the defense, I signed a Center Back (Laércio), a young Defensive Midfielder with good upside (Gabriel Furtado)! My starting DMF (Carlos Días) was getting too many minutes and I definitely needed a second player at the position! Looks Like Furtado and Días will be battling it out for the starting position. Finally, I also signed a new goalkeeper (Gouvea) who is young and has good overall skills. Might change his training from Defensive Goalkeeper to Offensive though!



I spent some money on acquiring a couple of wingers as well, as I felt that I needed a bit more speed on the wings to complement Castolo and Leandro, and I am very pleased with the two wingers I got! Arthur Gomes (wholooks like a future star!), and Vágner, from Cape Verde! I like the fact that the Vágner signing is a realistic one, because Cape Verdians speak Portuguese, and so Vágner should really have no problem adjusting to life in Brazil!

My priority in the next transfer window: Get another Center Back!! For now, it definitely looks like my team is set for the first half of my second season in Brasileirao B!!

 

[slamsoze]

@slamsoze Yeah man!! I think some of it has to do with the fact that I was switching between different gameplay mods and some were much more offensive than others, also that I am playing 20 minutes like you mentioned!! But you are 100% correct, I am conceding way too many goals. This is something that was concerning to Sócrates and so he pushed the management to get some reinforcements in the transfer window!!

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In order to shore up the defense, I signed a Center Back (Laércio), a young Defensive Midfielder with good upside (Gabriel Furtado)! My starting DMF (Carlos Días) was getting too many minutes and I definitely needed a second player at the position! Looks Like Furtado and Días will be battling it out for the starting position. Finally, I also signed a new goalkeeper (Gouvea) who is young and has good overall skills. Might change his training from Defensive Goalkeeper to Offensive though!

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I spent some money on acquiring a couple of wingers as well, as I felt that I needed a bit more speed on the wings to complement Castolo and Leandro, and I am very pleased with the two wingers I got! Arthur Gomes (wholooks like a future star!), and Vágner, from Cape Verde! I like the fact that the Vágner signing is a realistic one, because Cape Verdians speak Portuguese, and so Vágner should really have no problem adjusting to life in Brazil!

My priority in the next transfer window: Get another Center Back!! For now, it definitely looks like my team is set for the first half of my second season in Brasileirao B!!

Arthur Gomes is a very beloved wonderkid of mine!!! Really love him. Using him since PES 2018, and even when he doesn't develop too much in stats, he already plays awesome with his current ones. I am sure you will enjoy his game.

 

[millossobek]

@Holland Thanks for your encouraging words bro!! You're right!! I think the mere fact that I reached the WC quarterfinals and being the first Central American team to do it was a great feat!! No shame in bowing out to Spain, as they are a powerhouse, lol. I am also very excited about Werder's performance, we are really putting a lot of pressure on Bayern and my stars are definitely shining!! Let's hope we keep it up in a VERY tough Central Europe Federation.

@slamsoze I've also seen immediate results on the wings man!! Arthur Gomes, like you mentioned, is already much the finished product, even though he does have a bit more to improve, and Vágner has great upside!! I definitely felt like my attack needed more speed, as Leandro is clicking very well with Castolo, but I needed complements up front to help along with crossing, cutting inside and creating more variations on the wings!! Looking forward to seeing how this concoction turns out, but so far, so good!!

 

[pes5forever]

Man, you are really passionate about PES, this is really nice to watch and read the stories. I just read korea 3 stars and it is great. You added even a statement from player Jung-Won Seo, like how he is proud to play for his country, which is something we can all imagine and correlate as fans. You should apply for tv commentator, I am not kidding (that is, if you don't have that job already )

 

[millossobek]

@pes5forever Thanks a lot man! Yeah, I really like to get into my stories a lot, giving my players and managers personalities and backgrounds. As for commentator, haha, thanks! I think writing PES stories is my niche! I like to invent a lot of different scenarios and then play them out and give them a lot of color. Really glad you enjoyed my 3-Stars Cup FC Seoul story! Hope you keep reading! I loved that you noticed Jung-Won Seo, the 1994-98 South Korea hero!!

 

[millossobek]

@slamsoze @Madmac79 @The Moroccan @Silverdome94 @Holland @Joga @pes5forever @cb7 @etb10dmk @cleanslate

Guys, I left a poll up, wanted to ask you:
I'm thinking about playing a 100% European Club Competition! In an edition yet to be determined.

I will call it the "Europa Pride League", or "Europa Pride Cup", depending on what you guys choose!

The format is quite simple: It is going to be very similar to the 3-Stars format, with All-European teams which do not exceed 3 stars in rating!

Here is the format:
Option 1: Europa Pride League, a 20-team league which will be played for half a season or 1 season only, in European league format, everyone vs everyone!

Option 2: Europa Pride Cup, a 32 team competition, same as the 3-Stars Cup but with only Euro Teams, (group stage, knockout stage)!

Looking forward to your votes and responses! I really like both ideas, and I'm having a tough time deciding between the two! Been looking forward to playing an All-Euro competition for a while with medium rated teams, and I think now is the time!

 

[cleanslate]

@slamsoze @Madmac79 @The Moroccan @Silverdome94 @Holland @Joga @pes5forever @cb7 @cleanslate

Guys, I left a poll up, wanted to ask you:
I'm thinking about playing a 100% European Club Competition! In an edition yet to be determined.

I will call it the "Europa Pride League", or "Europa Pride Cup", depending on what you guys choose!

The format is quite simple: It is going to be very similar to the 3-Stars format, with All-European teams which do not exceed 3 stars in rating!

Here is the format:
Option 1: Europa Pride League, a 20-team league which will be played for half a season or 1 season only, in European league format, everyone vs everyone!

Option 2: Europa Pride Cup, a 32 team competition, same as the 3-Stars Cup but with only Euro Teams, (group stage, knockout stage)!

Looking forward to your votes and responses! I really like both ideas, and I'm having a tough time deciding between the two! Been looking forward to playing an All-Euro competition for a while with medium rated teams, and I think now is the time!

I like the idea of a League more than a Cup, with a League you'd be able to see the pure strength of all teams and perhaps depth too. A Cup would be a bit typical imo

 

[Madmac79]

@slamsoze @Madmac79 @The Moroccan @Silverdome94 @Holland @Joga @pes5forever @cb7 @etb10dmk @cleanslate

Guys, I left a poll up, wanted to ask you:
I'm thinking about playing a 100% European Club Competition! In an edition yet to be determined.

I will call it the "Europa Pride League", or "Europa Pride Cup", depending on what you guys choose!

The format is quite simple: It is going to be very similar to the 3-Stars format, with All-European teams which do not exceed 3 stars in rating!

Here is the format:
Option 1: Europa Pride League, a 20-team league which will be played for half a season or 1 season only, in European league format, everyone vs everyone!

Option 2: Europa Pride Cup, a 32 team competition, same as the 3-Stars Cup but with only Euro Teams, (group stage, knockout stage)!

Looking forward to your votes and responses! I really like both ideas, and I'm having a tough time deciding between the two! Been looking forward to playing an All-Euro competition for a while with medium rated teams, and I think now is the time!

I vote for the league as well mate! It will be nice to see a league of 3 stars team !

 

[The Moroccan]

+1 for the league, in my opinion a league gives a bigger challenge rather than a cup, teams are more competitive and you can take larger control of which players have enough form or will to play the fixtures.

 

[millossobek]

Ok guys! So after several of you voted and gave your much valued opinions through here and through PM..
I will play the EUROPA PRIDE LEAGUE next!!
I think this is a great idea, since I've already played several Cups, a single season League should be really fun.
Thanks a lot!!​

 

[millossobek]

..Coming Soon.. ​