Serbia went all the way to the Final of EURO 2068 under the leadership of veteran manager Trebor Mahtal, only to lose 3-2 to Switzerland. Mahtal’s exploits saw several big nations sack their managers, giving him a big decision.
The big opportunity came from number one team in the world Spain, who Mahtal’s Serbia had thrashed 4-1 in the EURO semi final. And, realistically, the two teams didn’t even compare in terms of quality, so 83-year-old Mahtal gave up on his mission to lead the underdog for one final shot at ultimate glory. And it helped that the Spanish FA offered him a contract worth £125k per week!
Unlike Serbia, Spain’s greatest real-life players have been surpassed with striker Carlos Álvarez, who came through at Villarreal in 2031 then signed for Chelsea in 2036 and became their all-time record goalscorer with 254 league goals, set a new record 106 goals in 183 caps.
Mahtal inherited a squad that absolutely should not have lost to his Serbia side, including 11 players considered elite and four more world-class players. However, there was a worrying lack of good young Spanish players coming through. The best Spanish player is Mahtal’s former Baník loanee Ramón Pereira, who now plays for Juventus and has 41 goals in 47 caps. Other key players include Man UFC midfielder Javier Rodríguez, Barcelona attackers José Manuel Segrelles and Jon Munoz, Spurs striker Jonatan Vidal, Barcelona defender Darlington Ugochukwu, Liverpool centre back Fermín, Real Madrid midfielder José Ramón Hernández and Atlético goalkeeper José Maria.
Mahtal decided to implement the 3-4-3 approach he’d created at Serbia, with a few tweaks to the instructions and player roles:
Mahtal’s Spanish reign began with a Nations League Division A quadruple header. That began by beating Finland 3-0 away with a Vidal brace, a rotated side beat Denmark 2-1 at home, then they eased to a 2-0 win at 10-man Italy through Vidal and Segrelles and Pereira scored twice on his 50th cap in a 4-3 win at Denmark to top the group with 2 games spare. Pereira bagged four as they thrashed Finland 5-1 and a rotated side beat Italy 3-1 led by Hernández’s first Spain goal.
That sent them into the semis, where Vidal and Pereira strikes early in both halves ensured a 2-0 win. Intriguingly, that set up a Final against Mahtal’s former nation Serbia. The Spanish side clearly had a point to prove for their EURO semi defeat as Vidal fired them in front after 5 minutes, midfielder Isidre Julve sent a wonderful curling shot into the top corner and Pereira made it 3-0 inside 19 minutes. Cvetkovic got one back but a late goal by striker Antoni Suárez confirmed Spain won their 7th Nations League title with a 4-1 win of their own.
World Cup Qualifying
More important was the World Cup qualifiers that began in March 2069 with a group alongside Bulgaria, Italy (again), Luxembourg and Poland. They kicked off with an easy 3-1 win at home to Poland and a disappointing 6-0 win at Luxembourg, considering they had 37 shots and 5.5 xG. Another lengthy holiday period gave Mahtal a chance to celebrate his 85th birthday ahead of another quadruple header, for which he didn’t name a single Real Madrid player – highlighting the lack of young Spanish talent in the game. Vidal and Pereira bagged braces in a 5-0 thrashing of Bulgaria before they failed to win for the first time under Mahtal with a 2-1 loss at Italy.
A fully rotated team beat Luxembourg 7-0 before a 3-1 win at Poland moved them top with a game in hand. A 5-2 win in Bulgaria, with Vidal and Pereira both bagging braces again, secured qualification before a rotated side drew 2-2 with Italy. Elsewhere, Austria and Ireland knocked out 2062 runners-up England, Iceland knocked out Netherlands and Wales knocked out Croatia.
World Cup 2070
Brazil got drawn in Group H of the 2070 World Cup, held in India, alongside China, Colombia and Guinea, ranked 61st, 21st and 42nd in the world. Mahtal would have loved Group A, which may be the worst World Cup group ever consisting of DR Congo, hosts India, Northern Ireland and Suriname, ranked 26th, 77th, 34th and 71st. And they warmed up by beating Chile 3-1 and Vietnam 6-1.
Mahtal named a strong 26-man World Cup squad of:
GK: Pep Franquesa (Sevilla), Mustapha Jawara (Chelsea), José María (Atlético)
DEF: Fermín (Liverpool), Marcos (Inter), Jesús Mora (Atlético), Adrián Pena (Barcelona), Israel Plaza (Milan), Federico Tello (Sevilla), Darlington Ugochukwu (Chelsea)
MID: Inigo Alonso (Osasuna), Mario Araya (Napoli), Marcal Francoli (Chelsea), Isidre Julve (Tottenham), Jorge Lasso (Villarreal), Jon Munoz (Barcelona) Javier Rodríguez (Man UFC), Julen Sola (Athletic Club), Andrés Yuste (Inter)
ATT: José Ramón Hernández (Al-Fateh), Ramón Pereira (Man UFC), José Manuel Segrelles (Barcelona), Antoni Suárez (Newcastle), Felipe Tomás (Benfica), Jonatan Vidal (Tottenham), Mario Yague (Liverpool)
Game 1 – China: Spain came out flying against China, having five shots in the first 10 minutes, and eventually scored through winger Julen Sola. Fermín headed his first international goal from a corner and they led 2-0 at half time after 18 shots to 2. They kept pushing and won 6-0 through Julve, Vidal’s penalty and Pereira’s 60th and 61st goals for Spain.
Game 2 – Guinea: Mahtal fully rotated to face Guinea and they were equally dominant, having 10 shots in the first 10 minutes and took one as Segrelles headed home. Winger Inigo Alonso scored his first Spain goal, Suárez made it three just before half time and, much to Mahtal’s dislike, they only won 3-0.
Game 3 – Colombia: Vidal gave Spain a good start with a wonderful 25-yard curled effort then a penalty won by Munoz 30 seconds after the kick off. Pereira scored an absolute screamer from 30 yards after 23 minutes, Vidal wrapped up his hat trick 7 minutes later and Pereira scored another superb goal on 35 minutes – but Mahtal was furious that they allowed Colombia to score their first two shots. Pereira completed his hat trick and Vidal went one better to secure a wild 7-2 victory.
The major shock of the group stage was Mahtal’s former nation Serbia finishing bottom of Group G to exit below Brazil, Ghana and New Zealand, massively justifying his decision to depart after the EUROs.
Round 2 – Morocco: The Colombia win saw Spain tie Brazil’s World Cup record of 11 successive victories. And Morocco offered no threat to that as Fermín headed home a corner and Hernández doubled the lead 2 minutes later then doubled his tally just after the break. Vidal scored yet again and Marcos headed home a fifth from a corner to break the record for most consecutive wins.
More surprises saw Ivory Coast thrash Germany 4-0, Saudi Arabia beat Denmark 5-2 and Mexico beat Turkey 1-0.
Round 3 – Saudi Arabia: Spain got a favourable draw but took on Saudi in 35C heat in Cuttack. But it didn’t take long for their hot form to continue as Pereira ran from the halfway line to tuck home the opener then curled home an outrageous 30-yard free kick. Not to be outdone, Vidal tucked home a third and had two goals disallowed before tapping home his second and playmaker Tomás wrapped up a 5-0 win.
The big ties of the round saw France beat 2062 winners and European champions Switzerland 2-1 after extra time and Portugal beat Brazil 2-0. Chile beat Hungary on penalties, Belgium beat Scotland 2-1 after extra time, Ivory Coast beat Australia 3-1, Argentina beat Ireland 3-2 and Mexico beat Colombia 2-1.
Quarter Final – Mexico: Mahtal made a few changes to face Mexico but there was a familiar story as Vidal headed home the opener inside 4 minutes but swiftly picked up a knock. Pereira stepped up to finish off a scintillating move, Vidal’s replacement Suárez made it three then laid on a fourth for Segrelles and MOTM Araya wrapped up a 5-0 win.
In the big game of the quarters, France beat Portugal on penalties after drawing 2-2, while Belgium beat Ivory Coast 2-1 and Argentina beat Chile 3-1.
Semi Final – Argentina: Over 103,000 people flocked to see Spain take on Argentina, who dominated the early stages and had a dubious penalty saved by José María. So Mahtal switched to a 4-2-4 and got an instant reward as Pereira headed the opener from Ugochukwu’s deep cross. Argentina had several more chances and Marcos’ header was brilliantly tipped over by their Argentina keeper. But the big centre back headed home Araya’s corner 10 minutes after half time before Fermín and Ugochukwu did likewise to seal a big win late on.
In the other semi, France had their left winger sent off after 12 minutes and got dominated 3-0 by Belgium, who didn’t even name Mahtal’s former superstar Hendrikus Van der Heyden, who’d just joined Real Madrid for £115m, in their squad.
World Cup Final
Holders Spain had blown away their competition to reach the World Cup Final in what was likely to be Mahtal’s final match in management. Spain took on 2046 winners Belgium with no injury concerns and Mahtal decided to stick with the 4-2-4 approach, so he lined up:
José María; Mora, Marcos, Fermín, Ugochukwu; Rodríguez, Julve; Araya, Munoz; Pereira, Vidal
Subs: Suárez, Jawara, Plaza, Yuste, Sola, Segrelles, Tomás, Hernández, Pena, Francoli, Tello, Alonso, Yague, Lasso, Franquesa
Spain started brightly as Vidal fired wide from the edge of the box. The striker turned creator as he smartly pulled the ball back for Rodríguez to smash into the top corner from 20 yards, then had his own thunderous goal disallowed just before half time. Belgium grew into the game and hit the post from a free kick but Spain doubled the lead with their own free kick, as Ugechukwu seized on a loose ball to volley in from six yards. Belgium eventually got a goal back in injury time but it wasn’t enough.
Spain won back-to-back World Cups!
Spain scored a new World Cup record 37 goals en route to becoming World Champions. Vidal and Pereira were joint top scorers with 9 goals each, Sola and Munoz got the joint-most assists with 4, José Maria kept the most clean sheets with 5, and Pereira was the best player with an outrageous 8.37 average rating. As a result, Pereira won Best Player, Vidal won the Golden Boot and Pereira’s wondergoal against Colombia came 2nd in the Goal of the Tournament. Spaion dominated the Dream Team with Ugochukwu, Fermín, Munoz and Vidal all making it, but the best player Pereira didn’t!
Standing Down On A High
Mahtal had tasted the ultimate glory, becoming Champion of the World with Spain two years on from EURO Final heartbreak with Serbia. His former loanee Pereira confirmed his status as a global superstar, moving onto 68 goals in 73 caps for Spain, while Spurs’ Vidal has 31 in 47. In 28 matches as Spain manager, Mahtal had won 26, drawn 1 and lost 1 and his teams scored 109 and conceded just 20.
That crowned a 47-year journey through European football that had seen Mahtal win oodles of trophies across the continent. To give you an idea of when this blog was written, we won the World Cup with Spain back in early September and scheduled it just in time for the pending launch of FM25… But, with the news that the game has been delayed by several months, I debated extending this save with a return to domestic football, only for it to run way too slowly on my laptop.
So instead, we will have two brand new saves kicking off next week, running every Monday and Friday! Thanks for reading this EuroTrip story and stay tuned for much more Football Manager content coming your way very soon.
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