Massive Football Manager: The beginning

Major League Soccer soccer isn’t going to resume in the near future. The coronavirus has robbed us of the sport we love most. It will be back eventually but in the meantime, Columbus Crew SC and soccer fanatics have to find substitutes to keep us entertained and to keep a positive mindset during this difficult time. The popular substitutes people are creating while we don’t have weekly MLS games are watching classic games on YouTube, kicking the ball in the backyard or breaking out the soccer video games.

For myself and many others, video games are a great substitute to play through a full career of your favorite team, influence outcomes, have fun with your friends and just see what the future could hold in real life. Since Massive Report FIFA prediction series is on temporary hiatus, we’re starting something new. Introducing the Massive Report Football Manager League!

Football Manager is a soccer video game developed by Sports Interactive that lets you take over a club, change tactics, make trades, talk to players and much more. It’s basically like FIFA but without actually playing the games. You are the manager and I have recruited two other Massive Report writers to join me on an online MLS season.

Myself (Orri Benatar), Tyler Fisher and Thomas Babcock have taken over three teams in the Eastern Conference to see who is the best soccer mind. Thomas has been welcomed to Columbus as the new manager of the Crew. Tyler is suiting up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to be the new boss of Atlanta United. Orri will take the reigns in the Windy City as the boss of the Chicago Fire.

For this series, we will be creating a multitude of content around this game. We’ll be updating you on our progress throughout but also bringing you videos of us playing and interacting so you can see first-hand why we are making the decisions we are and experience the highs and lows while on this fun journey.

For Part 1, we have a video introducing ourselves and our goals for each of our teams. We also get into our first regular-season games. Orri’s Fire is hosting Carlos Vela and Los Angeles Football Club to kick off the season. Thomas makes his Crew debut in a Hell is Real opener while Tyler and Atlanta get to take on Tab Ramos and the Houston Dynamo. Watch our first episode to see what occurs in week one.

Enjoy, stay home, stay safe, and stay massive!