Paulo Souza: The Snake of Ponte Preta

Former Ponte Preta player Paulo Souza, whose football name was Snake due to his slippery nature and amazing ball skills on the pitch, has traded in his football shirt for a manager's suit as he has been named the new manager of Ponte Preta. They were able to avoid the drop in their first season in the Brazilian Serie A, but felt like they needed to make a change in order to climb the table.

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This will be a story based in the Brazilian Serie A. I thought it'd be interesting to develop Brazilian players in their native league as opposed to in Europe. My goals in this story:

- Win the Brazilian Serie A
- Win the Copa Libertadores
- Develop Brazilian players, and possibly sell them to enterprising Nathan Limiors for big bank.

FIRST! Good luck eb

Good Luck eb, the Brazilian Serie A should be a fun league to play in!

Good luck man!!

Love the name, and it'll be great having a Brazilian story for a change. Good luck!

Tactics

Here is the tactic I will be using, I think it works the best with my lineup. It's called the Amoeba because fluidity is emphasized (and also because I need something other than a generic 4-4-2 diamond to call it). Players should always have outlets to pass to, and the wing backs will help facilitate the attack by going up the pitch as the ball moves up the pitch. They will cover a lot of ground. However, the focus of the attack will be through the middle.

YES! A BRAZILIAN STORY! AND AN EB STORY!

I wish you the best of luck in Brazil and with the 'Macaca' and Fernando Bob (on loan from Fluminense).


I will follow super closely.

Nice update, and nice tactic as well :P.

Matches

January 9, 2013
Gremio Barueri 0 - 2 Ponte Preta

Gremio Barueri's goalkeeper was the man of the match, despite losing, because he has plenty of work to do. Ponte Preta kept challenging the net, but only scored two goals, both from the left wing backs. The first goal was scored when Chiquinho took a through ball from Elias as he was cutting inside and scored from close range. Uendel doubled the lead by volleying in a corner kick.
Player of the Match: Marcio (Gremio Barueri)

January 12, 2013
Tupi 0 - 4 Ponte Preta

Leonardo and Diogo Rincon both scored braces, topping off a magnificent game for Ponte Preta.
Player of the Match: Leonardo (Ponte Preta)

January 16, 2013
Ponte Preta 3 - 0 Aval

Ponte Preta had three goals in the second half, fueled by a great shooting performance as two of the goals came from outside of the penalty box.
Player of the Match: Fernando Bob (Ponte Preta)

Transfers

In

- AMC Diogo Rincon has been signed in order to be a rotational/backup option.

Out

= LWB Mailton on season-long loan to America (MG), it will help him get some playing time.

Looking to the Future

Brazilian teams have two league competitions a year, the state and the national competition. First is the state competition. Since Ponte Preta is in Sao Paulo state, they have lots of tough competition for the state championship.

Nice results

The state championship will be extremely tough, but with the way preseason went I am sure you can give teams like Sao Paulo, Palmeiras and Santos a run for their money. Looks like the tactic worked, even if you did face relatively easy opposition

Matches

January 20, 2013
Santos 1 - 1 Ponte Preta

A close-run affair, but the biggest story was in the 87th minute, when Ponte Preta goalkeeper Daniel Martins had to leave the field with an injury. Defender Betao had to put on the goalkeeper's shirt and thankfully he wasn't tested much as Santos hit woodwork or missed with all their shots after that point.
Player of the Match: Durval (Santos)

January 23, 2013
Ponte Preta 2 - 0 Botafogo (SP)

Adailton dominated this game with a brace. Even though Ponte Preta were clearly superior, they struggled to score and sometimes even let Botafogo have chances.
Player of the Match: Adailton (Ponte Preta)

January 27, 2013
Ponte Preta 4 - 1 Penapolense

Ponte Preta was full of class as excellent finishes poured from four different players, and two of them were video-worthy, and the video can tell you about them much better than I can.
Player of the Match: Diego Sacoman (Ponte Preta)

Sao Paulo State Championship

A great start so far, especially since we started off with Santos, and then eased in, to stay undefeated means a lot.

Transfers

In

- None

Out

= DM Alef to Trofense in Portugal's Liga Revolucao, in order to gain precious first team playing time.

A great starting month. The Campeonato Paulista is very exciting as there is lots of competition between not only the heavyweights but the mid table teams like yourself. Oeste seemed to have made a good start, too.

Matches

February 3, 2013
Paulista 1 - 1 Ponte Preta

This was just crap, we dominated the ball and assaulted Paulista's net all game but we could only get one goal and Alan Mineiro scored a free kick late to consign us to a draw.
Player of the Match: Alan Mineiro (Paulista)

February 10, 2013
Palmeiras 1 - 1 Ponte Preta

Another kick in the teeth as Ponte Preta thought they had a narrow win secured with Ferron's corner kick goal, but Leandro hit Ponte Preta on the counterattack in stoppage time for the equalizer.
Player of the Match: Ferron (Ponte Preta)
Injury Update: Leonardo suffered a fractured arm and will be out 4-5 weeks.

February 13, 2013
Ponte Preta 4 - 0 Comercial (SP)

Ponte Preta finally found the cure for what was ailing them, a poor Comercial team. Fortune smiled on us early when Luis Advincula scored a goal from a fluke cross. He assisted one of Chiquinho's goals as well, with another cross. Chiquinho had a brace, and Adailton piled on late. As the game wore on, it got more rainy and the players' white kits were brown by the end of the game.
Player of the Match: Chiquinho (Ponte Preta)

February 17, 2013
Ponte Preta 6 - 0 Linense (SP)

Ponte Preta were on point today, with both Rafinha and Adailton scoring excellent braces.
Player of the Match: Rafinha (Ponte Preta)

February 24, 2013
Rio Claro 0 - 6 Ponte Preta

Rio Claro have made a poor showing in the league so far and they showed why as they laid down and let Ponte Preta walk over them, with an amazing 42 shots fired this match.
Player of the Match: Adailton (Ponte Preta)

Sao Paulo State Championship

After a slow start to the month, we've kicked it in gear and we're almost at the top.

Transfers

In

- ST (C) Castro has been signed on a free transfer to a youth contract. He has above-average potential and decent physical attributes.
- D (C) Fabiano has been signed on a free transfer. He isn't as good as I thought he'd be but he has decent stats for a center back and his experience will help out.
- D (C) Gustavo Rambo has been signed on a free transfer. He just finished a trial with Vila Nova but wasn't signed. He's 20, he can play today but will be even better in the future.

Out

- DM Alef to Trofense in Portugal's Liga Revolucao, in order to gain precious first team playing time.

Nice 6-0 wins