[Xulu]

With the Euros coming up shortly, now seems a good of a time as any to pick up a national side and start managing them. The International game and the Club game are completely different animals, and what works well for one may not work best for another. The following is a simple overview of how to organize your national side.


Build around the competition cycle
A good rule of thumb is to build a national side (especially one which will hopefully be playing for the WC) for a four year cycle. At the end of the World Cup, evaluate your entire national pool. Will that 32 year old fullback be fit enough to play in four years? Does that 20 year old striker have too much promise in three years to leave out of regular competition? Every four years you should ruthlessly clean out the side. What 23 players do you see as being the best over the next four years? Choose them, but keep tabs on the players you did not select. Then in the middle of the cycle (two years - for European nations this would be after the Euros), perform a mini-evaluation of your side. Are any players performing very poorly or close to retirement? You may want to drop them in favor of another promising prospect. Otherwise, cohesion will do your side best and you probably do not want to make major changes.


Understand the talent you have to work with
Use your coaches liberally to scout the players and see how they perform for their clubs. You want your coaches scouting as many of your national pool as possible to see who is performing well and who is not. What players have dual nationalities you can exploit? How many of your players play for the same club? If you have a number of players who play for the same club, it may behoove you to exploit that. Do you have a chronic lack of wingers? Perhaps you should consider playing to those strengths.The other factor in cohesion is your youth sides. Who is playing for your youth teams? While it may be difficult to get the same group through a youth team in FM, you can at least see who is performing well and looks primed for the future. Schedule as many friendlies as possible for your youth and senior teams, as you will certainly desire the extra matches to experiment and see what works.


Keep the system simple
Generally speaking you will want two systems as a national side manager; offensive and defensive. Some teams can play one and be just fine - the Spanish control system and the Chilean pressing system are two good examples - but most will want a pair. The other point is to play a fairly basic overall system. If you are going to be a major underdog in most matches you will be well served with a fairly simple philosophy: defensive play with a reliance on the counter and set pieces. It will not be pretty, but as Greece 04, Paraguay 11, and Zambia 12 showed, this is an effective way to play. Some teams will be in a difficult position in this regard; the United States and Mexico are two examples of teams that have to play positive in continental qualification but will probably want to play more defensively in the World/Confederations Cup. If you can stick to a single formation and use an Attacking/Control strategy and a Defensive/Counter strategy, you will have a good template to build around.


Have as many options as possible
This speaks more for versatility than anything else, but it also speaks for the types of players in your squad. You would love to have a first XI that can deal with most opposition, but you will need a few different types of players to give you different options. If your defense is small, you might want to bring a 4th choice centerback who is large to give you an answer to big opposition strikers. If you have trouble breaking an opponent down, you may want some different options in attack. Spain used Cesc Fabregas, Jesus Navas, and Fernando Llorente as Plan B options in their World Cup 2010 campaign; each offered something different to the normal Spanish play (midfield runs, natural width, aerial prowess). If you have the luxury of an attacking supersub - say a Spanish Fabregas or German Muller - you would get quite a lot out of him. Another simple option is to have a Target Man striker on the bench; such a player is often a simple way to keep your system and have an easy way to play if need be during congested schedules or when you need a change.


So there you have it. Happy trails on your national adventures!