Played 29, Scored 100
Posted by: Greg Downs in Guimaraes, goal replay, league table, team popularity, tags: goal replay, Guimaraes, league tableIt finally happened. A bit sooner than I thought it would, but it happened.
100 league goals. After just 29 games of a 38-game season.
I don’t really feel any sense of achievement. In every PES since PES came into being, 100 goals in a Master League season was almost the stuff of fantasy - for me it was, anyway. I’ll say it again: I’m just an average player. I’m not a PES wunderkind.

I remember getting close to 100 goals in PES6. I was on 92 goals or thereabouts towards the end of one particularly successful ML season. I psyched myself up to get to the magic 100 mark in the last three or four matches - only for two of them to be 0-0 draws, and the other two to be 0-1 defeats. On 92 goals I stayed. But that was PES6.
There was no danger of missing out on 100 goals this season in PES2008. In fact it might even be harder not to score 100 goals, once you get bedded down in a Master League with a squad of good players.
The only thing left to aim for now on the goalscoring front is to get a final goal difference of +100 or more. Now that would be even more ridiculous. The frightening thing is, I’ll almost certainly do it.
At least I had a couple of thrilling matches in among all the goalfests. One match in particular stood out. It was against Portsmouth, away. They’ve been regular whipping boys for a few seasons now. I went into the game anticipating a straightforward 0-5 victory, or better.
It did not go according to plan.
Portsmouth got the early goal to go 1-0 up. Then I had Marchisio sent off. Then Portsmouth went 2-0 up.
I was distraught. Despite being ‘only’ 5 points ahead of Man Utd in the table, I’ve played PES for long enough to know what can happen in a League when results start getting a bit ’screwy’.
Muntari got me one back in the 80th minute. I was 2-1 down, with ten minutes left. I would settle for a point from this game. Could I do it?
Of course I could. I got the equaliser with Shimizu in the 85th minute. Then I got two more with Shimizu in the 89th and 90th minutes. I’d come from 2-0 down with ten men to win 2-4. It felt good, but…
Once the dust had settled, I felt less good about it. There was no way I should have been able to come back like that, even with the players in my squad.
Next I beat Helsingborgs 6-2. Two of my goals came from Guimaraes, my skilful Brazilian right-back. Both were fine finishes after mazy runs through the entire Helsingborgs team. Here’s the better of the two:
(At the point where the clip starts, Guimaraes had already gone past two Helsingborgs players by the halfway line.)
I’m never surprised to score goals like this in PES2008. I’ve said a lot about the difficulty level of this game. I’ve criticised it, carped about it, mumbled and grumbled about it. I won’t say any more now.
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I’ve found out what comes after Team Popularity ‘A’ rank. I’ve gone up another level, to ‘S’.

That progress bar is still filling up after every game. Is there another level after this one? I wonder if I’ll have time to find out before this season and this Master League career both come to an end.



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