Great goals and highlights- My favourites being Baggio proving a handful for a bunch of your players in the first game as he turns repeatedly before passing it, Huylens' equaliser in that match, Saha's goal for Fulham, and Ximilez in the last game...he was on fire! I see you went for the spectacular hat-trick in the first half but narrowly missed
. His second goal was one of the reasons I love PES so much, that this sort of thing can happen, though frankly I was shocked at the accuracy of his shot on the first goal (having missed in hundreds of such situations with him myself), and is he actually right footed in PES 3?!? Unless I am mistaken he scored both goals with his right foot, but he is a lefty in PES 5 and I've always thought of him as such. Anyway, great highlights (though personally I am not a fan of having music).
I finished off my first PES 5 season with Samp, and took the title by five points in the end though it went down to the last game. At the halfway point, I had edged clear of Anderlecht on goal difference only; they had only lost to me, drawn one and won the other five. In the second half of the season though, they lost FIVE out of their remaining seven matches, finishing fourth behind Benfica (who had a mare of a start to the season but came on strong later). Palermo came up with me in second place, while the other teams who failed to go up to the Italian top division were Lazio, Treviso, NAC Breda and Nancy Lorraine.
My second meeting with Anderlecht proved important- I won it, but only by a remarkable turn of events. You may recall I won the first meeting in an emphatic 5-1 victory. This time, I was under siege from the get-go and, feeling desperate, carelessly slid into the back of a striker as he went charging through my defence with the ball. Off went Ceciu, after just half an hour. I held out until the brink of half time when they scored two in quick succession. The Samp manager was fuming, cursing and biting his hand on the touchline, the other coaching staff studiously avoiding his gaze. Things didn't look like getting better in the second half, with me losing the ball far too often (I had not moved anyone back into defence, just telling Celnili, who I bought mid-season, to come backward when we had possession, so I had just two defenders against their wing based 4-3-3). Thankfully they failed to take advantage, and I somehow got a bit of clumsy attacking done- then I scored in the 69th minute. Ordaz received the ball and, with the keeper advancing rapidly, he poked the ball toward goal. It glanced off the keeper and bobbled in. Still a goal down, I put a ball into the box that was feebly headed out to Dodo, who netted for the third time in the season with his left foot, neatly in the bottom corner. This with about quarter of an hour left! I didn't feel like I really deserved it, but was very pleased. Players tired further, I felt it likely I would concede a third goal, but no. In the last minute, I won a penalty! Unbelievable! Up stepped Ordaz, and he...missed his second penalty of the season, the keeper saving it. Frustrated but still thankful that I would get a draw, I relaxed a bit and was able to focus on playing better. Surely though the whistle was about to go, it was already the 90th minute. Cleared, back forward again, cleared, back forward once more, into the box, the ball hits Dodos chest and...Tirinen, exhausted, mistimes a sliding tackle and brings the Italian down! Another penalty! This time Ordaz scores, and a very unlikely comeback is complete. I felt a bit of a fraud and sorry for Anderlecht, as I had been resigned to defeat and knew they were already on a bad run. Shame for them!
The cup was won by Lazio against Palermo (the latter having knocked me out in the semis, I didn't score against them in any of the four games of the season); small consolation for the biggest name in the division. Huylens was top scorer in the cup with 2 goals, while Ordaz ran away with the top scorer prize in the league with 9, despite not being a first choice striker. Huylens bagged 4 in the league, Hamsun 3 (all as a late sub) and Castolo just 2, though he made an assist or two as well and was useful to attacks. Minanda was top assister with 5.
I had already bought Celnili, Jol Peruma (in a swap with Macco going to Benfica) and a 26 year old sweeper named Di Tommaso halfway through the season. Before starting my second season, I filled out my squad with Ostwaut, Dulic and another winger to keep the slot well covered, a 20 year old German named Rottger. He seems to have good potential. I made a good start to the new campaign, and am currently in fourth having won 3, drawn 2. Di Tommaso is already a well developed player and my only true sweeper, so he took that first team spot as soon as he arrived, with Jaric and Valeny typically starting alongside him; all the rest of my purchases fill in when needed and to give them some experience.
My fellow promotees Palermo have really struggled and are near the bottom, though Parma are last (one point from six games). Juve just went top in the last game after beating Milan 1-0. I am expecting to do well this season though I think Milan and Juve, and probably Roma and Inter, will be too consistently good for me. Inter are my next opponents. They had a bad start but have won their last three games.
. I might even play long enough to buy a few regens of my current eldest squad members such as Minanda and Espimas, to revel in their young days and see what I can get out of them. Being Sampdoria, I may also snap up a few of their stars of yesteryear along the way if I can (Mancini, Vialli and Mijhalovic spring to mind! Now that I think about it, I don't think Lombardo is in the game, which is a shame because he would be an obvious choice, and a good fit for my style of play).
J/K I'm over it. No honestly, I am.
That "Desde ahí no puede hacer gol, hehe" cracked me up. Before that I heard something like "my friends, he controls the ball as if he was in his house" - but South American Spanish is so much harder to comprehend...fantastic commentary like this gives a new life to any game. Sometimes I play PS2 FIFA just because of it.
