Downing's Champions League

[Downing11]

Since it looks like we won't be having a FIFA 15 league, I'm thinking of doing the same thing I did for the World Cup, obviously many more games here.

Does anyone know if all of the teams in the Champions League are currently in the FIFA 15 game?

[Downing11]

If what I did was correct, I think the game is missing 4 teams:

PFC Ludogrets Razgrad, Bulgaria
APOEL FC, Cyprus
NK Maribor, Slovenia
FC BATE Borisov, Belarusia

From looking at the real life standings, none of these teams look to be difference makers.

Any thoughts on the 4 teams I should replace them with? I was thinking maybe the reigning MLS champion Kansas City and runner up Real Salt Lake for 2 of the spots. They should be bad enough to not advance and then for the last 2 spots, do something similar with another bad league.

[Downing11]

Okay, after more research, here are the replacement teams:

PFC Ludogrets Razgrad, Bulgaria replaced with Salzburg, Austria
APOEL FC, Cyprus replaced with Aalborg, Denmark
NK Maribor, Slovenia replaced with Celtic, Scotland
FC BATE Borisov, Belarusia replaced with Legia Warsaw

The first 3 teams were teams that lost to the real team in the round to get into the round of 32. The last team was just another team from a country that didn't have a representative already, but made it fairly far in qualifying.

I'll probably get this rolling tonight.

If anyone is interested in playing some of the games, let me know and we can figure out a schedule.

[jsence2]

I might be down

[krgkmg]

Yes please!

[shel311]

I dont think this is a league for us to join.

[krgkmg]

I dont think this is a league for us to join.

Would have been nice but I think you might be right

[Downing11]

It isn't a league per se, just playing the champions league games as they are played in real life. Anyone can jump in and play some games either user vs user or just against the CPU.

I'll state the rules and logic to be used sometime tonight and determine a way to "claim" games to play so we are not duplicating efforts.

There are 96 group stage games, I highly doubt I'll be able to get to all of them myself.

I have a nice spreadsheet I downloaded that tracks everything, you just need to enter the scores of the games.

More to come tonight, just post if interested in helping out.

[Downing11]

I'll put this in the first post, but here are the settings we will use.

8 Minute Halves
I am using Professional difficulty, but I guess it doesn't really matter
For the stadium, just let it default to the home team stadium.
Time of day, weather, etc. just let it default.

Here is the hardest part, I want to use the real formations and lineups. I went here to get them for the first game: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague ... index.html

If you go into the actual game, then click on View Match Page, there is a PDF on the right side called Lineups under the Press Kits section. That will give you the starting lineups and the formation, I just get it as close as I can.

Unless you have 2 controllers (I think), you have to change the lineup of the first team then start the game and hit pause and change teams so you can change the lineup for the 2nd team. The bad part about this is it counts as the substitutions for the 2nd team, but whatever.

The team that you use is done by coin flip. We will have to track it as I want each team to be user controlled at least twice in the group stage. I did this in my World Cup tourney (just each team once) and it worked out well.

Since we are using the real lineups, we will not be tracking cards.

I'm going to play the first game Juventus / Malmo and will post results later tonight. I think the only thing we will track for stats is the goal scorers.

Anyone who is interested, please PM your email address so I can send you the spreadsheet with the schedule, etc.

[Downing11]

Game 1 in the books:

Group A

Juventus 3 vs. Malmo 0

Carlos Tevez scores twice and Llorente once as Juventus wins. The score was 0-0 at the half and Malmo hit the post early in the 2nd half which sparked Juventus who rolled from there on.

[Downing11]

Game 2:

Group A

Olympiakos 1 vs. Atletico Madrid 2

Atletico Madrid comes from behind with 2 second half goals from Mandzukic in the 70th and 80th minutes for the win. Atletico carried the play for the most part, but a poorly timed tackle led to a PK goal from Dominguez. Atletico got a PK of their own which Mandzukic converted and then scored again just 10 minutes later to take the lead for good.

[krgkmg]

I might help out if you want when I get a chance, if you want to let me know get the spreadsheet. email is krgkmg@cox.net

[Downing11]

I might help out if you want when I get a chance, if you want to let me know get the spreadsheet. email is krgkmg@cox.net

I'll send it tonight when I get home from work.

[jsence2]

What settings/sliders are you using?

I'm on World Class with some sliders that stop 60 rated players from dribbling like Messi for five min at a time, and stops the "eyes in the back of their head" passing, but also makes it a bit harder to score.

[Downing11]

What settings/sliders are you using?

I'm on World Class with some sliders that stop 60 rated players from dribbling like Messi for five min at a time, and stops the "eyes in the back of their head" passing, but also makes it a bit harder to score.

I just use the default setting on Professional difficulty, but feel free to use anything you like. I'm thinking of moving up to World Class level though.

[Downing11]

Game 3:

Group B

Liverpool 5 vs. RB Salzburg 0

RB Salzburg showed why they didn't belong in the real Champions League and were just a replacement team here. Liverpool dominates, Sterling nets a hat trick. This game was ugly.

[Downing11]

Game 4:

Group B

Real Madrid 4 vs. FC Basel 0

James Rodriguez nets 2, Ramos and Modric add one each as Madrid rolls.

[shel311]

What settings/sliders are you using?

I'm on World Class with some sliders that stop 60 rated players from dribbling like Messi for five min at a time, and stops the "eyes in the back of their head" passing, but also makes it a bit harder to score.

Post em up!

[Downing11]

Game 5:

Group C

SL Benfica 2 vs. FC Zenit 3

Zenit jumps out to a 3-0 lead at the half but Benfica scraps back and almost go the equalizer in extra time. Rondon tallied twice to lead Zenit.

[Downing11]

Game 6:

Group C

AS Monaco 1 vs. B. Leverkusen 2

Leverkusen outlasts Monaco 2-1 behind goals from Son and Calhanoglu. A wide open match with little midfield play let to a ton of chances by both teams.