FIFA 14 | Good teams for career mode – CA Bastia


Introduction: How do these articles work?

Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 14’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:

  • Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
  • Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
  • Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
  • Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players

A couple of weeks ago we looked at how SC Bastia are a good team for career mode. Well, today I’m going to examine their local rivals, CA Bastia, who are perfect for a road to glory-style career mode.

CA Bastia

CA Bastia (Tier 4)

Contents

  1. Why choose CA Bastia?
  2. Lineups
    1. Strongest starting lineup
    2. Highest potential lineup
  3. Recommended purchases
  4. Suggested sales
  5. Future considerations
    1. Get a new right midfielder
    2. Get a new left midfielder

Starting transfer budget: £350,000
Starting wage budget: £3,000
Default formation: 4-3-3
Board expectations: Avoid a finish in the bottom end of the league, reach cup round of 32
Key player: Florent Rouamba
Best young prospect: Alassane N’Diaye

Why choose CA Bastia?

CA Bastia are pretty much the perfect team to use if you like your career modes tough. Sure, I’ve featured Plymouth before and they had more divisions to climb, but they were full of promising, talented players. By comparison, CA Bastia are the only team in Ligue 2 not to have a single player with potential 70 or higher. Yep, EA reckon their most promising player will reach 69 OVR. You’ll need to do an absolute ton of building for the future.

And there’s more. They don’t just lack potential, but quality starting players as well. Only two players start with OVR 65 or above, and you’ll need to avoid finishing in the bottom part of the league with these players. Even the board expectation is unhelpful, but as long as you finish relatively clear of the relegation zone you should keep your job. Easier said than done with this team.

CA Bastia’s key player is Florent Rouamba, one of those two players rated 65 or higher. He starts at 67 OVR but has some brilliant stats that should really give him a higher rating. He is so well-balanced, in fact, that he could pretty much play in any position on the pitch. Keeping him fit and performing well will therefore be very important.

The team’s best young prospect is Alassane N’Diaye, although that isn’t saying a whole lot. He’s got potential 66, which is actually one of the best potentials in the squad. He’s fast and has half decent dribbling, but the fact that that’s about all I can say underlines the scale of the task you’ll face. As I said, this is a team lacking in potential.

Strongest starting lineup

Below I’ve posted CA Bastia’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets. Note that Truchet is actually a right back, not a left back. I’ve put him at left back because CA Bastia don’t actually have a single left back in their squad.

CA Bastia's best ineup based on OVR

Suggested formation and starting lineup

This is CA Bastia’s highest potential lineup. In terms of numbers, there’s not much difference between this and the OVRs given on the previous lineup. Again, Truchet is actually a right back but is filling in at left back due to the team’s lack of depth in this position. Similarly, Mba is an attacking midfielder, but his dribbling means he’ll be useful on the wing, and it allows other players to come into the centre of midfield.

SC Bastia's best ineup based on potential

Recommended purchases

Key signings required: RB, LB, ST

The team needs a major overhaul, but with its limited budget that won’t be easy. In fact in this section I will largely (but not exclusively) be focusing on trying to patch up CA Bastia’s most glaring deficiencies. I’ll be trying to bring in one or two players with decent potential, but with so little funds and so many problems that’s a difficult task.

NOTE: I’m making these purchases without selling players so that you can see what it is possible to do with such a limited budget. It was also very tricky to get the following players for the amounts I did (lots of reloading was required), so just be aware that these prices are the best I was able to get, not necessarily the prices I paid at the first attempt.

Anyway, before you spend anything you’ll need to adjust your budget allocation. Change the ratio to 59:41 so that you have £298,540 in transfer funds and £3,989 in wages. Now let’s go ahead and improve this team.

Tar?k Çamdal

Tar?k Çamdal
Club: None (free agent)
Position: RB
OVR: 61
Potential: 69
Age: 22
Cost: £0
Wages: £2,700

Although CA Bastia have plenty of right backs, none of them have potential in the 60s, never mind 70s. Johann Truchet has already reached his potential of 59, while 20-year-old Jérôme Phojo is only supposed to gain three points from his 55 OVR (which is ridiculous). You’re going to need to improve here in order to move forward.

Tar?k Çamdal was my solution. He’s extremely fast and agile, with 92 acceleration, 86 sprint speed and 91 agility. He can attack and defend equally well and also has four star skills, so can make a nuisance of himself if you want to put him further up the pitch. With plenty of good performances, I’d expect to see him exceed his 69 potential. His stamina isn’t great (58), but the team has plenty of backups for him if he gets tired.

He’s a free agent so there’s no transfer fee involved. His default wages are £3,000, but I originally offered him £2,500 to see if I could save some money. He wanted more, so I compromised at £2,700 at five years with an “Important first team player” squad role (which won’t be a problem given his OVR). This small saving in wages is vital later on, so I’d recommend you try it as well.


Bogdan V?t?jelu

Bogdan V?t?jelu
Club: None (free agent)
Position: LB
OVR: 58
Potential: 65
Age: 20
Cost: £0
Wages: £1,250

Another, rather glaring defensive problem is at left back – CA Bastia don’t have a single player in this position. The team’s right backs aren’t particularly gifted with their left feet, so a dedicated left back is needed as soon as possible.

I decided to go for another free agent here in order to save money for a high potential striker. With that in mind, Bogdan V?t?jelu is a great addition to the squad, despite his potential. Like Çamdal, I’d expect V?t?jelu to surpass his potential because he is still young. He’s also extremely fast (88 acceleration, 89 sprint speed) and has good stamina, so should be able to hold down the number one spot without getting too exhausted.

He’s also free, and his wages are very affordable at £1,250.


Maxwel Cornet

Maxwel Cornet
Club: FC Metz
Position: ST
OVR: 58
Potential: 78
Age: 16
Cost: £260,000
Wages: £750

CA Bastia’s problem when it comes to strikers is age. Most of their attacking options are at or nearing 30, so will be declining soon. To finish in a decent league position you’re going to need a prolific goalscorer, but probably won’t find it in the current team.

Now, all that money saved earlier comes in useful here. I wanted a high potential striker because I knew I couldn’t afford many promising players, so one who would grow into a goal machine would be vital to achieving CA Bastia’s league goals. So, change your budget ratio to 87:13 (£261,522 and £751) and we’ll make our move.

I went for Cornet because he’s very cheap but has great potential. He’s got decent pace and good dribbling, and a promising strength stat that’s going to develop nicely alongside his speed. His 78 potential is fantastic and is going to see him growing very quickly during his time in your squad, and by the time he gets to 78 he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

FC Metz wanted £500,000 for him but I got his price down to a ridiculously low £260,000. His wages were £750 and because FC Metz are in the same league as CA Bastia, he had no qualms about moving.


So after those transfers we’re left with £1,522 in transfer funds and an immense £1 in wages! That’s why it was so important to save as much as possible on Çamdal’s wages, so in order to repeat this you may need to reload a few times to get all the players to accept your offers.

When putting in transfer offers, don’t immediately bid the price I’ve stated here. Instead, bid a little lower and edge your way up when the other team initially refuse. If you just bid my price straight away, they may outright reject your offer and you’ll end up having to pay more.

Anyway, there’s still plenty of room for improvement at CA Bastia, but I doubt any players are going to be willing to join on £1 a week wages. I’d therefore suggest you sell a couple of players to fund any future transfers or scouting trips you want to make.

Suggested sales

Romain Pastorelli

Romain Pastorelli can be sold for much needed cash

Given CA Bastia’s low OVR standard, it’s not surprising that you won’t make a huge amount of money from selling players. However, it is useful if you want to bring in free agents, as the money you do make from sales can be shifted into the wage fund. With no transfer fees to worry about, this is all you need to worry about when bringing in players whose contracts are expiring.

The first player I would sell is probably Romain Pastorelli. He may be a decent striker for the team, but he’s 30 and will be rapidly declining. Cornet will be your main attacker when he comes in, and Jean-Jacques Mandrichi and Vincent Le Mat will make decent backups for him. Selling Pastorelli will bring in just under £150,000, which is fair significant for a team like CA Bastia (it’s about half their starting budget).

You could also sell centre back Yoan Oswald. He’s CA Bastia’s lowest potential player (potential 55) but you could get £50,000, which is more than you’d make for some of the team’s higher potential players. It’s not loads, but funnel it into wages and it could help you get a very decent free agent or two. Speaking of which, let’s move on to the final section of this career guide – future considerations.

Future considerations – get a new right midfielder

Salif Dianda

Salif Dianda will easily be one of your best players when he arrives for free

The team have a fairly decent right winger in Salim Moizini and a promising-looking young winger in Alexandre Cropanese (despite FIFA only thinking he’ll grow four points), but they lack real, outstanding quality. You want a player who is going to be into the 70s (at least) in a couple of seasons, and these players may not manage that.

I therefore suggest you make a bid for Salif Dianda in January, when his contract will be expiring. I briefly mentioned him in the in-depth guide I wrote for Plymouth Argyle, but this time I’d outright recommend you get him. He plays for Terni in Serie B, has potential 74 and starts at 66 OVR at age 25. Thanks to his age, however, by the time he arrives at your team at the start of the second season he should be up into the early 70s.

He’s seriously pacey, with 87 acceleration and 88 sprint speed, and his five star weak foot makes him flexible enough to play on either wing. He’s also got stamina 85 and can play for days, so shouldn’t need much rest between games. His wages are only £1,000, so should be very affordable provided you sell one or two players beforehand.

Future considerations – get a new left midfielder

Xander Houtkoop

Xander Houtkoop brings real quality to the left wing

The situation on the left wing is even worse. Beyond Alassane N’Diaye, the next best player is Nicolas Di Fraya at 53 OVR, and with 59 potential he isn’t one for the future. Should N’Diaye get injured or tired you won’t have a decent player to fall back on.

My recommendation is Xander Houtkoop of Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Eredivisie. Like Dianda, he’s very fast and also has good stamian (though not quite as high as Dianda’s). His all-round attacking and passing stats are decent and he also has good strength, so shouldn’t get pushed off the ball too easily. He’s the type of impact player who can be so vital at lower leagues, and coming in for free makes this deal even better.

He starts at 66 OVR at age 24 and has potential 72. Like Dianda, he should arrive with his OVR in the low 70s, making the pair of them easily the best players on your team. Just make sure you make a bid in January and select the “sign on contract expiry” option to get him for free.


That wraps up my in-depth guide to a career with CA Bastia. They’re an incredibly tough challenge but one that is very rewarding as you fight to drive them up the table and up the leagues. If you want to give them a go, or if you’ve tried them out before, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.

I’d also like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?

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