09 Experiment- How do the AI cope with a World Full of Regens.

What Im Doing

The plan is to find out what AI managers do when faced with the situation of alot of unknown regens who have very little talent at the start of the game. There will likely be no players above 110 CA and they will be relatively unknown in the footballing world. So will the AI manager be able to idetify these young talented players. At the same time I will be monitoring obscure(ish) nations whoms best club by reputation I have given perfect training and youth facilities including youth academies. I will also be monitoring the top teams in each of the top leagues obviously they still have great reputation so will they be able to hold onto their top talents and will they encourage the top talents to head to their clubs.

What has changed

Basically every player has been deleted so the footballing world will start a fresh. This will lead to many weird results, what dissapoints me is some teams will start with grey players based on reputation meaning they will be given decent players despite not being great teams but no doubt this will even itself out over the years.

Aswell as this the nations top team I have given great facilities to are: (chosen completely at random)

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Australia

Belarus

Cyprus

Estonia

Georgia

Hungary

Kazakhstan

Latvia

Lithuania

Malta

Montonegro

Northern Ireland

Norway

Saudi Arabia

Trinidad and Tobago

What I Report

I will be updating at the very start to report the initial intake of regens. This will include many things. I will then report at the end of every transfer window. This will include everything from competitions to international breaks, to reports on a clubs demise or success and also the rise and fall of the regens.

Whatever I report on is entirely up to you the readers and I would like advice on what more you want me to report around the world.

I will be running all major leagues with at least one from every continent and a couple of the nations that I have given great facilities to. I have also noted the clubs that I have given great facilities too, so we shall see if this means that they will see a rise of them.

Any reccomendations or questions just state them and I will consider them or answer them the best I can.

Leagues Running

South Africa (Premier League Only), China (Super League Only), Mexico (First Division Only), England (Blue Square South/North and Above), France (National and Above), Germany (Third Division and Above), Hungary (Division 1 Only), Italy (Serie C2 and Above), N.Ireland (First Division and Above), Norway (Premier Division only), Portugal (Liga Vitalis and Above), Spain (Second Division and Above), Australia (Hyndai A League), Brazil (First Division only)

I like your idea, it must take a lot of effort to make the database work like this

Rancer890 has already started an experiment practically the same that he is planning to do updates on again following exams so i don't think ill be posting updates. But look out for his and if he looses motivation to do it then I will be following up as I will still be doing the experiment. But in the meantime look out for his experiment in the coming weeks.

Thanks for the advertising mate!

Maybe you can set up different variables than my experiment? You can still post updates on your experiment. Both experiments can be different in a way.

Even if both experiments are set-up identical, doesn't mean that the result will be identical so it might be interesting to have both experiments running..

Great idea guys!

Already run the start of the game and ran up some interesting results already for example running the hungarian league and giving them just one team of which has perfect facilities has given them a very good future. I may write up the updates on here but i don't want to take (inadvertently) your idea while your still doing updates on yours. But cheers and if you really wouldn't mind I would write up my updates.

Fire away mate.

What leagues do you have? My experiment doesn't involve Asian or South American football so maybe you can venture into those continents..

I will put a detailed list of leagues and nations in a minute also lets just say potentially the best player is from a particularly strange place and just shows one thing immediately from football manager 09 if you want absolute quality regens from a nation load that nation as playable.

Rancer890 I have at least one nation from each continent, and cheers for the go ahead with the updates already compiled an extensive write up of game day one, and some pretty interesting results.

Should get that report up in the morning/afternoon

Cool. Looking forward to reading it after I finish my 2nd last exam.

Shouldn't a certain Canadian be worried about studying for his 2nd last exam, haha

Shouldn't a certain Canadian be worried about studying for his 2nd last exam, haha

I miss the forums too much! Yeah I'll get off these forums right now! (Or try to! )

haha, I know how you feel, I went through it a 5 weeks ago with my finals

At the start of the game world I evaluated what we had to start with. The world stars, the countries with potential, were the best nations given a good start or were they going to be beaten to the punch by the mediocre nations.

The CA range was between 11-120

The PA range was between 15-199

I was immediately suprised by the number of regens who started with a CA of over 100 especially considering they are all at most 17 and the number over 170 was suprising obviously it isn't all about current and potential ability but these numbers were still suprising.

Players with 100+ CA - 36

Players with 170+ CA - 0

Players with 170+ PA - 128

Players with 180+ PA - 27

This in my opinion immediately shows that the game world is trying to make up the numbers as usually in one intake you rarely see so many 170+ players and youngsters rarely begin with above 100 CA. So we could be in for a high number of world beaters around for a number of years and these numbers will probably only rise from here.

Now to which of these players and from where the best of these players come from.

 
Best Player CA                Jannik Jungherz Age 15 German        MR CA 120 PA 188 Rating 65.86 Werder Bremen
Best Player Rating            Rodrigo         Age 14 Brazilian     ST CA 112 PA 179 Rating 69.63 Gremio
Best Potential Player PA      Mnguni Tumelo   Age 16 South African MC CA 97  PA 199 Rating 72.05 Ajax CT
Best Potential Player Rating  Rodrigo         Age 14 Brailian      ST CA 112 Pa 179 Rating 81.85 Gremio

Unsuprisingly a key player for the future comes from Brazil, however more suprising is that by key stats in key areas for his postition at just 14 he is rated as the best player. However even more suprisingly the player with the best PA is not from England, Spain, Italy not even from South America but South Africa and with a healthy CA he looks like he could become a pretty decent player, hopefully he can get a move to reach his potential.

I am going to follow intently the 5 best players by CA in the world as this changes I will follow the 5 best and the players who have been knocked out of the top 5.

Top 5 Best Players by CA

 
Jannik Jungherz Age 15 German        MR CA 120 PA 188 BR 65.86 Werder Bremen
Vincent Laine   Age 15 France        MC CA 117 PA 176 BR 63.49 Bordeaux
Willian         Age 15 Brazilian     DC CA 116 PA 177 BR 65.45 Coritiba
Nuno Sampaio    Age 15 Portuguese    MR CA 115 PA 172 BR 65.24 Porto
Steve Coke      Age 16 English       MR CA 114 PA 177 BR 63.42 Aston Villa

Top 5 Best Players by PA

 
Mnguni Tumelo   Age 16 South African MC CA 97  PA 199 BPR 72.05 Ajax CT
Adrian Baker    Age 16 English       GK CA 78  PA 199 BPR 60.18 Southampton
Hongbin Yang    Age 16 Chinese       DC CA 80  PA 195 BPR 68.68 Dailian
Junaedi         Age 16 Spanish       DR CA 63  PA 193 BPR 62.85 Castellon
Dino Ferraro    Age 16 Italian       ML CA 91  PA 189 BPR 74.61 Catania

I will now go into the obscure nations I have given perfect facilities to to see if this has had an affect on their initial intake. I havn't loaded all these nations as playable but some have been others I have loaded all players from however this seems to have made no diference. So the first thing I have found for definate in the initial reaction is consistent quality regens come from loaded nations.

 
Obscure Nations Players
Afghan      0
Albania     0
Algeria     2   Maximillien GK Age 15 CA 98 PA 152 BPR 69.25 (France/Algeria), Kouider DC Age 15 CA 25 PA 32 BPR 43.12 
Andorra     0 
Australia   9   (all England/Australia) Ouliaris ST Age 16 CA 59 PA 154 BPR 63.49
Belarus     0
Cyrpus      1   Christoforou MC Age 15 CA 25 PA 36 BPR 41.69
Estonia     0
Georgia     0
Hungary     290 Kerekes ML Age 16 CA 102 PA 153 BPR 71.96, Farkas MC Age 16 CA 71 PA 186 BPR 66.91, FUzi DRL Age 15 CA 84 PA 167 BPR 74.04
Kazakhstan  0
Latvia      0
Lithuania   0
Malta       0
Montenegro  0
N.Ireland   528 McConkey DRL Age 16 CA 83 PA 175 BPR 67.06, Gordon ST Age 15 CA 66 PA 156 BPR 68.12
Norway      252 Andersen GK  Age 16 CA 100 PA 154 BPR 73.38, Dalhauk DC Age 16 CA 66 PA 179 BPR 63.82
Saudi Arabia  1 Al-Saqri ML  Age 16 CA 25 PA 59 BPR 57.08 (English/Saudi)
Trinidad    1   Thomas   MC  Age 16 CA 27 PA 94 BPR 50.85 (English/Trini)

I have taken the best player by CA and their best potential player by PA. The nations that seem to have benefited are Hungary, N.Ireland and Norway, all playable leagues. Also interesting is that despite loading the Australian leagues all Australian players are English/Australian and are based in England.

 
Obscure Nations Average CA/PA of top 11 CA and Top 11 PA players
Afghan      0
Albania     0
Algeria     61.5/92
Andorra     0
Australia   32/64.33
Belarus     0
Cyprus      25/36
Estonia     0
Geogia      0
Hungary     83.9/169
Kazakhstan  0
Latvia      0
Lituania    0
Malta       0
Montenegro  0
N.Ireland   55.7/141
Norway      69.7/162
Saudi Arabia25/59
Trinidad    27/94

Comparing this with what I would consider the biggest nations is quite suprising

 
Established Nations CA/Pa
Spain       95/180.1
England     84/178.6
Germany     100/176.1
France      102/179.8
Italy       99.9/181.1
Portugal    82.1/171.1
Argentina   43/ 112.3
Brazil      104/178.6

In summary it seems that loading a nation means it is likely to be talented. The suprise package has to be the hungarian team who have a CA average up their with Portugal and England and a pretty decent PA average which should prove well in terms of the length of their stay near the top. The best team in the world Brazil look set to stay on top for some time with their quality average PA. However watch out for the Italians as if their stars get game time we could see them set the world alight. England however have been dealt a cruel blow, and their only hope of immediate success is alot of playing time and magic from Capello.

As for individuals I immediately like the look of the German Right winger Jungherz being the best player in the world by CA and having a very healthy PA he looks like he could be on top for years to come, also with Brazilian Rodrigo who is only 15 and being the best rated player in the world and potentially the best rated player in the world. My prediction for World player of the year is definately Jungherz however if South African Mnguni Tumelo can get an early move then things could be very different.

As for individuals from the obscure nations Hungary look to have two fantastic prospects in Farkas and Fuzi. Fuzi came from the club I gave perfect facilities to Ujpest. Also Norway have highly rated goalkeeper Andersen already chased by a host of top clubs and is potentially going to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

The next update will be on the 1st of Febuary after the transfer update, this will include lots of news on the world. Any other information you want to know or I have left out just let me know

I just need some quick suggestions, I want to include a section on a club from each of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, I would like a range of clubs for example a top club in England and a relegation threatened Spanish team. The only stipulation is there must be a reason why I should look at them, for example I was thinking Man City to see if there financial muscle holds any weight or Lyon to see whether they can hold their domination and I would like your suggestions.

I was also wondering when updates would be best served, either all at the end of June/July or from June/July to 1st Feb then from 1st Feb to June/July. If it is preferred in two sections then analysis of regens will take place twice a year and will create quite a story, as I report the start of a league. However if only at the end of the year June/July this will only contain one analysis of regens.

The smaller sections in two parts would make it easier to read, and this is the way I would prefer to do it.

Leicester, to see if anything interesting happens as a consequence of their long chain of feeder clubs.

Hoffenheim.

Interesting to see how they do considering they nearly always get relegated in my games...

2 updates per season would be good, especially if you have one of Scandinavian leagues, Chinese Super League, or MLS loaded.

Cheers guys I was thinking two updates. So Hoffenheim from Germany, Leicester from England. From France Lyon to see whether they can hold their dominance due to their reputation. Catania from Serie A as they have the lowest reputation in Serie A, lets see if they can hold on to any of their star players I will highlight any stars to come out of their youth system and find out how long they last their and finally lower league team Ciudad de Santiago they are from Second Division B1 and they have a Youth Academy. I will put these teams into the opening post with reasons and I will finally get round to putting the leagues into the opening post.

February 2nd 2009

CA range 1-127

PA range 12-199

CA 100+ 56

CA 170+ 0

PA 170+ 147

PA 180+ 30

Best Player By CA         Slim Trabelsi Age 20 Tunisian      DM CA 127 PA 179 BR  67.41
Best Player By Rating     Rodrigo       Age 15 Brazilian     ST CA 116 PA 179 BR  71.10

Best Potential Player PA  Tumelo Mnguni Age 16 South African MC CA  99 PA 199 BPR 72.46
Best Potential Player BPR Rodrigo       age 15 Brazilian     ST CA 116 PA 179 BPR 82.02

Top 5 Players by CA

Slim Trabelsi    Age 20 Tunisian DM CA 127 PA 179 BR 67.41 Mainz         (New Entry)
Jannik Jungherz  Age 16 German   MR CA 123 PA 188 BR 67.93 Werder Bremen (CA +3)
Kennedy Usman    Age 17 Nigerian DC CA 122 PA 165 BR 65.98 Enyimba       (New Entry)
Alfonso Capparos Age 19 Chilean  DR CA 121 PA 171 BR 65.93 Guingamp      (New Entry)
Walid Barry      Age 20 Egyptian GK CA 121 PA 178 BR 62.55 Genoa         (New Entry)

Previous Entries

Vincent Laine             117/176 (No improvements)
Willian                   116/177 (No improvements)
Nuno Sampaio              115/172 (No improvements)
Steve Coke                119/177 (CA +5)

Top 5 Players by PA

Mnguni Tumelo   Age 16 South African MC CA 99  PA 199 BPR 72.05 Ajax CT     (CA +2)
Adrian Baker    Age 16 English       GK CA 79  PA 199 BPR 60.18 Southampton (CA +1)
Hongbin Yang    Age 16 Chinese       DC CA 83  PA 195 BPR 68.68 Dailian     (CA +3)
Junaedi         Age 16 Spanish       DR CA 67  PA 193 BPR 62.85 Castellon   (CA +4)
Dino Ferraro    Age 16 Italian       ML CA 97  PA 189 BPR 74.61 Catania     (CA +6)

Summary of the Seasons...... so far

The game world is immediately confused by the lack of quality older players and therefore most teams play with grey players leading to reputation being possibly more important than players or situations in the game.

The Hyundai A League was convincingly won by Queensland Roar staying in the top 2 from game 6 with Newcastle Jets finishing 2. Rather disappointingly and surprisingly Sydney FC finished bottom despite their perfect facilities fortunately there's no relegation meaning we will still see how they perform. There we no 'real' players to play in the Hyundai A League.

The Brazilian League was won in convincing fashion by the home of the best striker currently in the game Gremio they eventually won by 17 points though Rodrigo failed to get a single game. Cruzeiro finished second. However a different Rodrigo finished top scorer as Atletico Mineiro's Rodrigo (CA 80/PA 157). Four teams relegated were Figueirense, Ipatinga, Portuguesa, Goias only important thing to note is that Goias contain one of the best Brazilian players by CA so expect Tommaso Belini (105/157) to move soon.

Shandong won the Chinese Super League on goal difference from Beijing, Ban Ying finished top scorer though don't expect to see him move from Chinese football any time with his CA of 40 and PA of 51. With Liaoning, Chengdu getting relegated nothing interesting to note for the relegated clubs. Hongbin Yang was highly sought after however failed to secure a move away with Kaiserslautern now interested.

Midway through the English season sees Arsenal sitting top of the table with the usual top four just behind them purely down to reputation I believe. Chelsea sit just two points behind them Man U three and Liverpool four. Disappointingly a lack of youngsters have been played however Middlesborough seem keen on a youth policy with the top three scorers being from the Middlesbrough academy Dave ward (67/117), Dave Ellison (49/122) and Michael Henry (80/154), Henry looking the most impressive of the three. Including the top assister Kwong Hing Wah (65/104) and most man of the matches Dave Ward also coming from Middlesborough they find themselves in 8th battling for a European spot, which judging from real life results is amazing. The bottom three midway through the season are West Brom, Bolton and Hull. Ex 4th best player in the world Steve Coke featured four times for Aston Villa and played impressively scoring 3 goals 1 assist and averaging a 7.05 before securing a loan move to QPR where he started very impressively scoring 3 goals in one appearance also getting an assist man of the match and a 9.5 average in QPR's 5-1 demolition of Watford definitely one to watch for now and the future, QPR also secured the signing of highly rated youngster Alessio Lippi (69/169) from Italy for 900k from each of his co-owners totalling £1.8 million making him the most expensive player in England. QPR spent a total of £4.3 million in January becoming the team to spend the most cash in England. Arsenal also made the signing of highly rated goalkeeper Massimo Calabresse (85/158) for £1.6 million on the 11th of January he has notched up 3 league games conceding just one goal and notching up 2 clean sheets. Interestingly Sheffield United secured the signing of Hungarian international Kerekes on a free still (102/153) and Ross Mitchell (68/178), Kerekes has notched up 20 assists in his first 20 championship games to help Sheff Utd to 13th.

LEICESTER WATCH

Leicester find themselves in 2nd in Coca Cola League One having only brought in one player on loan Chris Davies (82/159) from Watford. Also striker Randall Elvin (40/124) being watched by Charlton in 8 appearances scoring 4 goals.

The French League sees no major changes with Lyon sitting comfortably at the top of the table having been there since games 3 and with 15 games remaining that seems unlikely to change. Bordeaux centre midfielder and ex second best in the world plays just one disappointing game. Toulouse, Nantes and Lorient find themselves in the bottom three. also with barely any 'real' players playing nothing exciting is seen to happen regarding performances. Capparos plays just 2 games as Guingamp sit 3rd in ligue 2.

Germany the home of two of the best players in the world Trabelsi and Jungherz, both going to become awesome players. Trabelsi joined for free from Club Africain surprising to see that none of the bigger clubs saw Trabelsi and snapped him up for free, yet second division Mainz snap him up, he is yet to play a game as Mainz find themselves in second and looking good for promotion. As for Jungherz he plays 8 games scoring once and grabbing an assist though is largely disappointing as Werder Bremen find themselves second having been mid table for most of the season so far. FC Bayern find themselves top having been there most the season so far. This is largely down to Stefano Marinelli's (64/117) a German Born Italian's 7 goals 2 assists and 4 man of the match's, he also tops the average ratings with 6.75. however it isn't all down to Marinelli's fantastic form as they FC Bayern are also home to the next two top scorers of the German game, Erhan Koseoglu (58/101) in 7 appearances he has notched an impressive 6 goals. Also Peter Haas (67/136) who in 13 appearances has 6 goals. True to Rancers word Hoffenheim are still struggling sitting just outside the drop zone level on points with Cottbus the other two in the drop zone are Bochum and Bielefeld. The German league sees only 8 players change teams permanently and one loan.

Having become one of the better footballing nations since the start of the new world, the Hungarian league was host to some great footballers. However Kerekes quickly made the switch to England and Farkas (74/186) made the switch to Valarenga for the sum of £100k. The Hungarian league also lost highly rated Istvan Lukacsi (89/172) for free to FC Metz making an impressive start there in 12 appearances scoring 5 goals. Seeing FC Metz rise to 1st in Ligue 2 in France. Debrecan lead the way with Kaposvar trailing in second and holders MTK in 3rd in the drop zone we see Fehervar and Kecskemet. Ujpest lie in 11th despite their perfect facilities and the best player in Hungary.

Italy is the place to go to see the cash being splashed as Inter make waves in the world spending £7.5 million in a co-own deal for arguably one of the best talents in the game

striker Bernardo Bartalesi (118/174) has made a frightening start to life in the big league for Udinese with 4 goals in 13 games however unimpressive this seems this is

soon contradicted by his 4 goals in 6 games continentally as he looks set to have a glorious career. Inter didn't stop there as they splashed out £5.75 million on their second co-own bid on midfielder Salvatore Martinelli (99/187). Inter manager Mourinho can certainly spot a talent. However Bartalesi has only helped Udinese to 10th while Martinelli sees Genoa in 5th following his 13 first team appearances. The league is looking tight with 3 points separating the top 6 of Roma, Lazio, Juventus, Inter, Genoa and AC Milan. Roma goalkeeper Miguel Nogueira (104/150) has helped Roma to top spot with 8 clean sheets in 14 games after his free transfer from Nacional Da Madeira. Can top scorers Genoa with 28 goals keep up their form to the end of the season. With Simone Bizarro (67/130) on 8 goals in 18 games and Marco Zingaro (61/153) on 7 goals in 16 top scorers in Serie A it will be largely up to these two to keep Genoa fighting for champions League football. Siena, Torino and Reggina hold the bottom three places.

CATANIA WATCH

Catania find themselves hovering just above the drop zone with no stand out performers. And their low reputation already showing as Dino Ferraro (97/189), potentially 5th best in the world, has already been co-owned by Udinese.

Mexican wonder Jorge Alberto Sanchez (116/177) starts off very well in Mexico in three appearances he has amassed a goals assist and man of the match helping America Mex to head the way in the opening stage. Stand out performer Tecos' striker Alejandro Velazguez (77/143) in 4 appearances scoring two goals and one assist helps Tecos to 10th in the closing stage.

Glentoran head the N.Ireland Premier Division with 14 games remaining with top scorer James Mulholland (41/113) on form with 9 in 16 however is unhappy at Glentoran. The unhappiness doesn't stop there as Michael McKnight (52/131) is praying for a move to a bigger team. Mark McCleery (35/51) for Linfield leads the scoring charts with 11. Shane Dickey (37/94) tops the average rating charts with a 7.11 after 7 goals in 18 appearances. Dungannon sit bottom with Crusaders just above them. The best player in N.Ireland Gareth McConkey (83/175) has helped Distillery to 3rd place and is now unsurprisingly after a move to another club.

With the Norwegian season over winners Stabaek will be going into the transfer market looking to build on their first ever title. Despite buying Farkas for £100k and spending the most in the Norwegian leagues Valarenga finished a disappointing 11th. While Lillestrom got relegated to the second tier of Norwegian football. Perfect facilities Fredrikstad finished a disapointing 12th and will look to improve drastically this season having unveiled fantastic youth product Preben Jacobsen (101/175) he will look to start most games and get an impressive first season under his belt. An extra two teams were added this year and an extra relegation spot which could open up a new load of possibilities. Interestingly the Norwegian league sees four goalkeepers leave three to the premiership and one to Spain.

Over to Portugal and we see a usual top three of Porto followed by Benfica then Sporting CP. 9th best player in the world Nuno Sampaio plays just 5 games for Porto scoring 2 goals. Midfielder Valentim Navarra (77/187) tops the scoring charts with 3 in 5. Early in the season saw two surprise moves as Jose Americo Martins (69/158) moves from Porto and Francisco Borges (60/147) move to QPR. E.Amadora and Trofense occupy the bottom two.

The South African Soccer Premier League sees the Kaizer Chiefs top having the best player in South Africa Francois Wareley (101/158) though playing just 6 games. Last years winners Supersport United sit in third. Tumelo Mnguni only plays two games getting 1 assist as Ajax CT sit a dissapointing 6th. When you have a talent like this its pretty simple he must play. Russel Mokoena (59/152) heads the scoring charts helping Supersport to 3rd with an extremely impressive 7 in 3 starts. FS stars and Maritzburg Utd sit in the drop spots.

The Spanish league sits pretty much how you'd expect it to at this stage with Real Madrid sitting top thanks to their star Norwegian goalkeeper Sverre Andersson (106/154) as he plays 20 league games keeping 11 clean sheets. Valencia sitting second and 'Messi'less' Barcelona sit 3rd. The signing of Sverre Andersson was the only signing of any real significance. Free scoring Madrid are helped to the top by there three 'prolific' (by the standards of the new world it must be said) Diogo Coutinho (66/141) with 6 in 13, Paco (53/137) with 5 in 9 and star Spanish striker Francisco Jimenez (91/170) with 5 in 12. However the stand out performer with 10 assists from the centre of midfield Spain U21 midfielder Xabier Bengoetxea (102/154) also adding a goal to his tally and 3 more in 5 in the cups. Top scorer in the league is Atletico Madrids Jose Luis (69/144) with 8 goals in 19 games. Bottom three contains Deportivo, Sporting and Malaga (on 4 points).

INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL

Taking a look at the obscure nations with players eligible to play and having played.

There was no impact on Algeria as they failed to play a single 'real' player. Same was seen with Australia and Cyprus.

Hungary started their qualification hopes with a home tie at Denmark, the match didn't start well as Denmark went 1-0 up going into half time then straight after the break scored a second. A third from Denmark pretty much ended Hungary's hopes of getting anything from the match. New FC Metz signing Istvan Lukacsi got his first goal on his first cap for Hungary however this barely even masked the damage as Denmark got a fourth on the 63rd minute. Match ended 4-1 the stand out performer was Lukacsi with a 7.5.

Their second match was away at Sweden the Swedish were favourite for this game and an early Swedish goal settled the Swedes nerves and hurt Hungary quite bad. A second just after half time meant that Hungary had a mountain to climb Mihaly Horvath got one back for Hungary with his first goal on his first cap, however two minutes later Sweden destroyed almost any hopes as they got a third almost certainly stopping Hungary from qualifying.

Their third match was at home to Albania in a match they were expected to win however a shock Albanian goal in the 53rd minute put things into perspective for Hungary. Mihaly Horvath came off the bench to get his second goal within a minute of coming on in two caps to equalise. But then on the 70th minute Fuzi gave away a penalty to gift Albania the win.

They then lost 3-1 away to Malta with Mihaly Horvath getting his 3rd in 3 caps.

They now need to pretty much win every game to qualify.

N.Ireland would start their campaign away against Slovakia in a tight game that would see Slovakia slight favourites. However this would also see N.Ireland get off to a terrible start 10 minutes in they went 2-0 down then came the 17th minute and the Linfield keeper Stephen Catney would concede his third goal on his 1st cap in a game he would quickly like to forget. The second half started slow however by the 72nd minute Slovakia went 4-0 up. The game fizzled out then as Slovakia slowed and N.Ireland never threatened however just to dent their chances of qualification if it came down to goal difference a goal in the 92nd minute. You'd have thought the ref would have some heart and finish the game on the 90th minute.

Next saw the visit of the Czech Republic in which N.Ireland needed to bounce back in style if they were to win, things were looking good as they went 1-0 up in the 2nd minute through Jimmy Johnston's first goal. However Czech Republic shifted through the gears and obliterated Stephen Catney's goal from there on. In the 25th minute the Czech's got their equaliser. Then came half time and a breather for N.Ireland. However Czech Republic came out all guns blazing once again and on the 60th minute got their goal to go 2-1 up then Ciaran McQuillan gave away a penalty for Czech Republic to finish the game off.

Next up came an away tie at Slovenia would this see their first point of the campaign things did not look well after 5 minutes when Slovenia got the opener N.Ireland didn't let their heads drop though as Gavin Upton put away one of only four shots they would have that match to level it up at 1-1. Despite Slovenia's 19 shots this is how it would stay giving the Northern Irish their first point of the campaign.

The intent was there to build on this as they faced the visit of San Marino often the whipping boys of any campaign N.Ireland once again didn't start well as they went 1-0 down after just three minutes. However they took heart from their last game and fought on as Jonathan Arkinson got a goal on the 17th minute thing would not end their as N.Ireland dominated the match with 20 shots to San Marinos three, Barry Davidson scored a lucky 22nd minute winner as they picked up there first 3 points of the campaign hopefully not the last.

Then came the friendly against Hungary which would see a tense match which was edged by Hungary however ending in a 1-1 draw with a goal from Glentoran striker James Mulholland and Hungarian Istvan Lukacsi.

Norway began their qualifying campaign against the mighty Iceland would they start of any better than the rest, it would turn out to be so as they grabbed three points with relative ease 19 shots saw them take the game to Iceland despite their lack of quality finishing. A first from young Fredrikstrad striker Jarle Mhyre and a second from Mounir Lunde would pretty much seal the deal a 75th minute Icelandic goal made things tense however Norway ran out comfortable winners.

Their next game would see a trip to Scotland to build upon their earlier victory. They played out an entertaining game which finished 3-2 but Scotland ran out deserved winners as they actually had shots. It was 14-3 shots for the Scots as Norway showed some good finishing coupled with poor defending.

They then had to entertain favourites Holland however the Norwegians showed just how tough they were going to be to beat on their own soil as they kept a compact game after a 7th minute strike by Kim Rune Olsen.

This left Norway sitting top of their group after just 3 games.

The Major Nations

Not going to do Brazil as they are still playing some 'grey' players.

England would start off with a match against Andorra the English or Andorran's never really got going with only a total of 14 shots altogether in the match and no goals would see England start of disappointingly in a 0-0 bore draw.

Next up would see England travel to Croatia in a tight game. Things did not get off to a good start for England as Arsenal left back and England captain put through his own net after just 6 minutes. Things went from bad to worse as in the 29th minute Croatia made it 2-0. England were disappointing again as they only managed three shots all game however two of these were clear cut one in which Paul Horton managed to put past the Croatian keeper who must have been surprised the ball was even near him. Croatia then completed the victory a few minutes later making it 3-1 and England's first loss after just two games.

They would need to bounce back quickly after this and what better than a home match against Kazakhstan. A 4-1 route of Kazakhstan would prove very nice indeed as Peter Hinds put England 1-0 up after 12 mins. Arsenal midfielder Ben Clarke then scored 3 mins later and by half time England were 3-0 up with a goal from Matt Logan. Man City striker Peter Hinds doubled his tally and completed the scoring for England on 55 mins. Kazakhstan pulled one back late on.

England would then travel to Belarus to try and carry on this form and two goals from promising Arsenal Striker Barry Kerr saw them run out 2-1 winners in Minsk.

This leaves England sitting 2nd after 4 games.

France are still playing 'grey' players therefore won't be tracking their performances for now. Germany the same.

The beginning of Italy's campaign would see them travel to sunny Cyprus in which they would be hoping to get off to a good start. However Cyprus proved tough at home and despite going 1-0 up after a Massimo Migliaccio goal after 30 mins the Cypriots got a late goal to equalise.

Their next game would see them host Georgia and they would be looking to improve their performance against Cyprus if they wanted to win, Rome striker Di Vito opened the scoring after 9 minutes then £7.5 million man Bartalesi got the second. Georgia soon pulled one back only for Giovanni Bianchi to wrap things up late on.

Next up were Bulgaria away in a tough game where one goal would settle things. It came from Bulgaria in the 20th minute.

However Italy would bounce back at home against Montenegro with a 5-1 thrashing which would see Bartalesi and Francesco Massa get two a piece and Genoa centre back Pintus to get one.

Italy sit second behind Bulgaria.

Spain fared very very well in the opening exchanges of their Campaign having amassed four wins from four.

They sit top of their group ahead of Turkey who they are yet to play.

Great first couple of updates Mocko, I like what you're doing here

Just a question (you may have already mentioned it so apologies in advance if you have) but are you running all the leagues on full detail? It makes a big difference to the development and stats imo of the players you're looking at. Just an idea, of course it'd be tough with this many leagues running.

Cheers

Yeah I'm running everything on full detail except a couple of early stages in obscure cups (especially if one nation has about 3 different cups) and some reserve leagues.

Quick couple of predictions

Who of the top four will win the Premiership?

Will Lyon hold their dominance?

Which of the nations will qualify? (of the ones mentioned) those that are only mentioned in name are doing what is expected due to reputation and playing 'grey' players.

Which regen will reach their potential and which won't?

And who will be the best player by CA in June/July?

Also I have already grown quite an affection to both Bartalesi £7.5 million man and Steve Coke especially due to his first performance for QPR.