Bavarian FIFA Works: Trophy #1 is Ours

So, I’ve never done a major post-match wrap-up or highlights for this blog once, despite the many opportunities I’ve had covering Bayern Munich. So, I’ll be doing my best describing the match and then giving out awards.

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Bayern vs. Dortmund - DFL Supercup

Well, it was a fun and dark day at Sanderson Park (our Allianz Arena) as Bayern took on BVB in the first Mickey Mouse trophy of the season. The quadruple was on as our Hernan Crespo/Jake Fenner manager brought his team out onto the field. The starting lineup for us was a 4-2-3-1 of

Lewandowski

Sané-Müller-Gnabry

Thiago-Kimmich

Alaba-Hernandez-Süle-Pavard

Neuer

This officially marked Leroy Sané ‘s debut for Bayern Munich.

Meanwhile, Dortmund lined up in some weird 3-4-1-2 combination, which featured their newest signings Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard, Nico Schulz and Gabriel Jesus.

Unlike previous editions of FIFA, I was forced to actually play the game instead of being able to simulate them while watching it (more on that later), which left me unprepared and brought in some shocking results.

5’ GOAL from Paco Alcacer (FCB 0:1 BVB)

Well, this one was just ugly on my part. Niklas “Chonky Boi” Süle took too heavy of a touch as he tried to take a run upfield. Jesus intercepted, slotted it over to Alcacer who scored and put Dortmund ahead early.

43’ Yellow Card to Benjamin Pavard (FCB 0:1 BVB)

It was an important Yellow Card, as it forced me to make some changes to the team on the fly. A Marco Reus free kick from the edge of the box didn’t scare Manuel Neuer, and a few minutes later, we hit half time.

45’ Sub: Leon Goretzka for Benjamin Pavard (FCB 0:1 BVB)

The switch pushed Kimmich back to the Right Back position and allowed a second natural defensive midfielder to join Thiago in distributing abilities.

74’ Sub: Timo Werner for Robert Lewandowski (FCB 0:1 BVB)

For those who listened into the livestream, you’ll remember this tangent. One of the few things I really dislike about FIFA is that they really rely on the abilities of pacy players while absolutely nuking the stats for strength. For example, Lewy, who has a strength rating of 82, was getting shoved off the ball by players like Zagadou and Hakimi, who are both not as strong. Even in my time playing FUT, I bought Adebayo Akinfenwa, the strongest player in the game, and he’d still get pushed off by a pacier player. This makes no sense to me. So, we were forced to have the #TimoTrain make its first stop.

83’ GOAL from Thomas Müller (FCB 1:1 BVB)

Just a wonderful strike from the Ramdeuter. Thiago’s passing skills have been amazing all game and it shows from a great ball to Werner. He slotted it over to Müller who hit a shot near post that Roman Bürki should have easily saved. No matter, we have a tie game.

90’ GOAL from Timo Werner (FCB 2:1 BVB)

TIMO TIME AT THE DEATH. Once again, Thiago has a great pass into the box for Müller, who sends a little dink of a pass to Werner, who calmly places it home and makes it 2-1 Bayern and ends the game there!

Match Awards

Jersey Swap - Marco Reus

I was thinking of giving it to Paco Alcacer, but outside of his goal, he really didn’t help Dortmund much in this game. If anything, Gabriel Jesus was a more threatening goalscorer and he had 3 shots off target. Meanwhile, Reus made his presence felt all over the pitch, making some smart defensive recovery runs and putting up some incisive passes.

Tip of the Cap - Joshua Kimmich

Whether he was in the midfield or at RB, Kimmich did a phenomenal job this game. He truly stood out for his passing ability and linkup play, as well as keeping his composure in having all of the BVB players stay out on the wings. Great overall performance from him

Golf Clap - Leroy Sané

A great debut for the 23-year old who wore Bayern red for the first time in his career. His work on the wings was amazing, and at times, he drifted toward the center to put up some key passes destined for Lewandowski goals. Unfortunately, Lewy was unable to make anything count, but Sané’s performance shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Standing Ovation - Thiago & Timo Werner

It was kinda hard for me to make a decision on this one. On the one hand, Werner came in at the 75’ and was able to add a goal and an assist in 15 minutes to help Bayern seal their first win of the season. On the other, Thiago contributed six key passes in an amazing display of technique and brilliance. It could be argued that if it wasn’t for his work, neither Bayern goal would have materialized. Maybe it’s a copout, but hey, it’ll have to do for now.

Meister of the Match - Thomas Müller

Both FIFA and the viewers choice for Meister of the Match, the Ramdeuter showed that his form in the 2018-19 season wouldn’t slow down. His tally of one goal and one assist was complemented by four key passes in a dominant midfield performance that truly showed he belongs in that Central Attacking Midfielder role.

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Shocking Development of the Day

This one is shocking for a good reason. Right after we finished the game, we received a loan offer from 1. FC Union Berlin, who were willing to bring Mickaël Cuisance to the capital for a whole year.

While the offer seemed great at first, we all needed to realize that Cuisance is a great depth piece who is rated at 72 overall in the game as of now. So, we countered with a short term deal and they accepted. So, Cuisance will get some good training time and playing time, and maybe he can come back to us in January with a 74 overall rating.

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Polls of the Day

So, back to before when I said I had to play this game:

In previous editions of FIFA, you had the ability in Manager Career mode to watch a neutral game being simmed before your eyes without actually playing it. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option anymore, and it presents us with two arguments

Playing the Games

• Pros: It would make the livestreams actually interesting. You would see the games being played out in front of you on Twitch, you’d get to laugh at my mistakes, PLUS: we’d actually get control over substitutions and lineup changes.
• Cons: Well, unlike if we simmed it, we wouldn’t be the most realistic simulation possible. By adding the human player element, we basically put a thumb on the scale and have a major impact on the table. We’d probably win more often, but it wouldn’t be what the games would look like in real life, which is what I tried to bring you in this series. Also, this series would go a lot longer. Also, we’d have to play out just one game per day. If we were able to simulate them, my hope was to get one months worth of games over with in each livestream. Seeing as the last episode took 50 minutes to make, I don’t know how feasible this is. Also, I’m not the best at this game, so I might embarrass myself.

Simulating the Games

• Pros: It’s the most accurate way to what a real life season looks like. In reality, Bayern wouldn’t win every game, the teams would play the way they should, and we get to suffer the consequences like we would in real life. Plus, we can get more games out of the way in one livestream. We can still control the lineups, transfers, training, and other aspects.
• Cons: We wouldn’t be able to see the games being played. Instead, we would see a graphic of both teams starting lineups, and then five seconds later, we would see the final score. We wouldn’t know what happened, we wouldn’t see the goals, we wouldn’t be able to control the substitutions. Overall, while we can get more games out of the way, it would just be in a less fun way.

So, I leave this decision up to The Nerds, which, I’m kinda liking as a nickname for you all in this series.

Regardless of the result, there will be another livestream of our first Bundesliga match against Hertha Berlin tomorrow at the same time of Noon Eastern Time. Thank you all for watching this last game! Drop your thoughts on the game and who you want to see in the next lineup in the comments below. Be sure to tell all of the Bayern Munich fans you know to follow us on Twitch here, and we will see you later!