PES PHOENIX 2013/14 GOALS SAVES AND MISC THREAD

So well, I started as Poland, with Italy, Norway and Scotland in elimination group. Thanks to Ragazzi's early fail in first game against Scotland I could grab first place in group. Norway got slammed twice (3:0, 2:0), Scotland barely got away (1:1, 2:1) and Italy bested me at first since Phoenix goalkeepers suck , but in the rematch I took my points back (1:2, 2:1).

So that's my elimination story. Since the very beginning I had a vision of my team, actually inspired a bit by...Italy. No one plays 3-5-2 nowadays, rite? Well I do, since now. Three CBs, 2x DMF, 2x SMF, AMF, SS and CF. Should've captured screen of my formation to show you

People-wise, well you might know a few of Polish footballers but mostly you probably have no idea, which is understandable. For sure you know Polish Dortmund Trio - and well, I dumped all three of them for good. It's more of a personal rather than game thing. All three of them don't give a crap about playing good in our NT, so why'd I care? Dumped all three, took some other guys (mostly from Legia Warsaw since it's in patch) and apparently it worked great.

Anyway I went to Mondiale to snatch World Cup for Poland. I rarely played International Challenge, I only recall winning as Mexico once two or three years ago. And so, the drawing begins.

Belgium, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Poland...ey yo, ey yo yo yo, you kiddin me muthafucka?

*PRESSES SQUARE TO DRAW GROUPS AGAIN*

Egypt, Argentina, Portugal, Poland...hell yeah!

Fixture I: Poland v Egypt (1:0)​

Damn now that I think of it, it was the hardest game I had in whole tournament! Egyptians actually pressed me quite hard, and I was close to conceeding a few times, luckily a devastating counter-attack brought me victoire in last fifteen minutes - Kucharczyk (one of guys from Polish league, replacement for Lewandowski) finishes it nicely and I have three points!

Portugal smashed Argentina 4:1 and hell that was crucial for me!

Fixture II: Poland v Argentina (0:0)​

I was a bit scared about robot-players with obnoxiously huge stats (Messi, Aguero), but apparently no-names like my main full back Glik (Torino) or DMF and captain, Wawrzyniak (Legia W.) just robbed'em blind. Argentina had two or three shots on my goal overall. I had many, but well, I'm playing after quite a long break and still have problems with shooting (especially that I try to avoid all kind of gimmicky lame tricks). Argentina lucked out a draw and chance to somehow advance further.

Portugal obviously won against Egypt and was sure to advance further.

Fixture III: Poland v Portugal (0:1)​

My main goal in testing 3-5-2 formation was to check its defensive capabilities - and it was doing great as you'll see later. This game wasn't different - I saw CR7 grabbing ball only once, and losing it instantly. However, once their cross went through my defence, Joao Moutinho reached the ball and my GK, Szczęsny (Arsenal) did literally NOTHING. GKs really suck On the other hand I had even more chances than earlier and failed horribly, so I guess that's what I get.

In the end I stayed at 2nd place since Argentina had more goals conceeded than me. And so, with one goal scored and one lost () I advanced to Last 16.

Last 16: Poland v Italy (0:0, p. 6-5)​

Again I had crap luck up front, and moreover Italy was doing really good in offensive. Little Poland was to rise above its Italian Master and bloody hell that was most intense game I had. It went down to penalties, Szczęsny stopped Montolivo, Wawrzyniak outplayed Buffon, we are in Quarterfinal!

Quarterfinal: Poland v Peru (3:0)​

I wasn't really relieved seeing that there's Peru waiting for me in Last 8. They gotta be good if they advanced so far. Their victim in Last 16 was poor Denmark, they torn it apart, like 3:0 or something.

But well, Peruvians were able to challenge my might only for 50 minutes or so. Kosecki (Legia W.) finished off two deadly counterattacks in '53 and '59, and in the end Captain Wawrzyniak unleashed the beast living inside him and scored from more or less 30 meters. We are in Final Four, yay!

Semifinal: Poland v Spain (0:0, penalties...16-15)​

Oh my lord, Spain...they pressed me super-hard for first ten minutes, and after that they turned into something like League Two team (with all due respect). I was dominating them hard, but still couldn't score because apparently I'm idiot Should've won this game like 4:0 at least. But no goal in sight. And extra time. And still no goal. And penalties.

I remember that so far my record in penalties was 13-12 or something. Here is an absolute cracker: it went for bloody seventeen series. In 11th Casillas missed the goal, but so I did with Szczęsny, and it continued. Busquets failed to score in 17th series, but I didn't, and oh boy we're in final!


I really hoped that Germany will advance to final - it would be awesome to face our eternal nemesis and defeat it there.

But damn, it's not going to be easy, seeing how I struggled with Spa...

Third minute and it's 1:0 after Lahm's failed pass - Kosecki shoots to empty goal.

No, no, it's just an accident, they'll come back shor...

2:0. Rapid counterattack, Kosecki to empty goal again.

So, that was it. Although Germans tried to chase me until the end of first half (Schurrle scored in '20 and it was 2:1), the second half was entirely mine. It should end 5:1, but ended only 3:1, as yet another Legia guy (Żyro) found himself one on one with Neuer and scored.

So, that really was it. They could not come back. Poland was truly the Weltmeister


Here are some screenshots:

Last 16:


Summary of my games:


I've lost only two goals in whole tournament (Joao Moutinho and Andre Schurrle), but should've been zero, or at least one. Still, my 3-5-2 tactics worked out in the back surprisingly well.

Top scorer was Miroslav Klose with 6 goals (Kosecki third with 4), and J. Vargas from Peru had most assists (4).

Now this brings me to an ultimate summary of my feelings about Phoenix 13/14 games. While AI is not able to completely stop me, even if I fully refrain from cheap goals (and I'm happy I succeeded at it), I still win a lot. So maybe Phoenix AI won't stop me from dominating (Master League), but hell it makes it somewhat harder and more rewarding when you win. I guess that, had I went old 4-4-2 in this tournament, it would be well over after Last 16 if not in group phase.

Except of testing my 3-5-2 I wanted to see how AI would fare against me in Master League, which is most important for me. I am considering recording new Master League run on YouTube (still looking for team and working on technical issues) and I just want to find out whether I won't end up accidentally winning league title and Champions League right after I get there.

My major complaint still are goalkeepers. I realize we are meant to focus on defense more now, but right now goalkeepers feel more like PES 2009 for me (which I played, well, forced myself to do it) - what could I do to make them stronger? Global increase of keeper skills and/or something else? I would prefer them to be much better, and it's not only about conceeding goals, let me tell you. Sometimes AI is really doing good, and then GK screws it over - but I've seen more of this stuff playing as Japan in league mode.

Sometimes AI gets closed in its own penalty box too easily, but that might not be fixable. Phoenix people did really great job in that regard nevertheless - sometimes you'll grab easy win (like I did vs Germany here), but it's quite rare now and games are much more demanding and intense. Damn I like dat!

The only thing that stops me from playing PES6 all day is also the thing that makes me love it - Master League. While I hated PES 09 gameplay to death, it just had bigger leagues and more ML options so I forced myself to play Volendam and L.A Galaxy for 3 seasons both two years ago or so. Now I've got PES 2010 with some Vietnamese patch for 13/14 season, and actually...I have only one complaint about it, the same I have about Phoenix...

Bloody goalkeepers...