Building a better USMNT in ‘Football Manager 20’: We made the Olympics!

Welcome back to “Building a better USMNT together,” a series where I play Football Manager 20 to build the USMNT of our dreams with your help. If you’re new, start from the beginning here.

Last week, we rebuilt FC Dallas while also running into some of the game’s MLS-specific bugs. This week, we play some important competitions for the USMNT’s future, and also make a big decision about where the club side of this project is going.

Our next destination: The Eredivisie

I was really hoping that I could play with FC Dallas for a decade and develop a starting XI completely made up of USMNT squad players, but MLS really is unplayable on Football Manager 20. Look at this absolutely nonsense scheduling.

Additionally, we’re steamrolling the league. I assure you I am not particularly good at this year’s game. I have rage quit or been sacked in several different saves. But because the AI is so bad at salary cap management and trades, gifting us excellent players, we’re just a lot better than everyone else. My tactics don’t even need to be superb.

Last week, I asked y’all where in Europe you wanted me to go to develop young American players. I was leaning towards one of the second-tier teams in Portugal, but readers overwhelmingly voted for me to move to the Netherlands. So at the end of the season, we’ll be taking over at a Dutch club. I haven’t decided which one is best yet.

Full disclosure: I will be “cheating” and using the in-game editor to do this. I’m trying to tell an enjoyable story, not prove how great I am at FM, and I don’t want to wait around for a good job to become available. I understand that opens up all kinds of questions about whether I’ve done attribute editing or anything else in the back end. I haven’t, and I hope you’ll believe me.

OK, on to the USMNT.

Miss the Olympics, my ass! (I will not miss the Olympics)

In real life, the Olympic qualifying tournament falls outside of FIFA dates, and several clubs do not release players to compete in it. In FM, clubs are obligated to release players, and I can call in anyone who is under 23. So I called in all of my first-team players who are Olympics eligible and made a team that was much better than I needed to qualify for the Olympics.

We won our first two group games, meaning the final match of the group was meaningless. I rested the first unit against Mexico so that they could be fresh for the match that mattered for qualification. Our second-unit defense stunk in a 3-3 draw, but at least we got this stunner out of Matt Olosunde.

That result was annoying, but with the first team rested, we beat El Salvador, 5-0, to comfortably qualify for the Olympics. I played most of the stars in a rematch against Mexico in the final, and we absolutely whooped them.

I plan on taking a nearly first-choice USMNT lineup to the Olympics, so I don’t think it’s impossible to win a medal, depending on which three over-age players other countries bring to Japan.

George Bello is already a USMNT legend

A 2-1 win over Costa Rica in the Nations League semifinal set up a meeting with Mexico in the final. Our one big concern was at left back: Antonee Robinson was injured, while Chris Gloster was struggling for fitness. I had to turn to 18-year-old Atlanta United prospect Bello, who had a rollercoaster of a match.

Bello set up the opener with an absolutely beautiful ball that Christian Pulisic only had to touch in.

But he also gave away the equalizer in extremely controversial circumstances. And by controversial, I mean COMPLETE BULLSHIT, HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY THE REF, MEXICO?

This is the cleanest tackle I’ve ever seen. It is 100 percent ball, no contact, no dangerous play. I’m baffled.

But the boys battled back, and Bello was involved once again. After clearing a Mexican set piece, he picked out a perfect pass to Josh Sargent, who put us back on top with a spectacular run and finish.

In an attempt to hold onto our lead, I put Gloster on for Bello, because his tackling attribute is five points higher. So here’s Gloster whiffing a tackle as Mexico set up its late equalizer to force extra time.

The match went to penalties, which came down to Mexico midfielder Hector Herrera as the decisive taker …

Zack Steffen, legend.

Beating Mexico to win Nations League is a nice accomplishment, but we were far from convincing. Conceding late was disappointing, and El Tri finished the game with more shots. I want to get to a point where we’re consistently outplaying Mexico, because that’s a good benchmark for whether or not we can compete with top teams. I’m hoping for a much better performance in World Cup qualifying, or we’re going to have a bad time when we get to Qatar.

Previous: Episode 4 / Episode 3 / Episode 2 / Episode 1

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