[FM09] Three Lions on the Shirt

Game: Football Manager 2009.

Database: 9.3.0

Database Size: Medium

Database Edits: Me + 2 flatmates in the game with 200PA. All strikers and English but I won’t be selecting/buying them, just there to follow there careers as they don’t start with too high a current ability, reputation or a club.

Leagues Running: England - down to Blue Square North/South, Holland - Eredivisie, Italy - Serie A, Scotland - Premier League and Spain - La Liga.

reserved post

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8th of July 2008 - Fabio Capello resigns as England manager amidst weeks of speculation over health fears. The same day England announce his successor, Me, an ex-professional footballer about to start my first management post. I am tasked with bringing pride back to the England team by Qualifying for the World Cup banishing the nightmares of the recent dismal European Championship Qualifying under Steve McClaren, a group of; Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra awaited. Some say I am too inexperienced, I however have faith in my own and the teams ability.

Results:

v Andorra; W 3-0 (A) & W 3-0 (H).

v Belarus; D 1-1 (A) & W 3-0 (H).

v Croatia; D 1-1 (A) & W 4-1 (H).

v Kazakhstan; W 3-0 (A) & W 3-0 (H).

v Ukraine; W 2-1 (A) & W 2-0 (H).

Table:

[center]


| Pos   | Inf   | Team       |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [b]1st   | Q     | England    |       | 10    | 8     | 2     | 0     | 25    | 4     | +21   | 26  [/b]  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Croatia    |       | 10    | 7     | 1     | 2     | 22    | 9     | +13   | 22    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Ukraine    |       | 10    | 7     | 0     | 3     | 21    | 7     | +14   | 21    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Belarus    |       | 10    | 4     | 1     | 5     | 19    | 22    | -3    | 13    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Kazakhstan |       | 10    | 2     | 0     | 8     | 7     | 29    | -22   | 6     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Andorra    |       | 10    | 0     | 0     | 10    | 6     | 29    | -23   | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[/center]

Goal Scorers:

5 - Wayne Rooney

5 - Frank Lampard

2 - Steven Gerrard

2 - Joe Cole

2 - Emile Heskey

2 - David Beckham

2 - Peter Crouch

1 - Gareth Barry

1 - Michael Carrick

1 - Steve Sidwell

1 - Ledley King

1 - Own Goal

Qualification Summery - In the end I was impressed with the ease at which we qualified, however things did not start off well. 2 wins and 2 draws from the first 4 games had people questioning me. A draw away to Croatia was a good result but Belarus' equaliser came out of nowhere late on and was disappointing. Fortunately everything clicked into place and 2 wins over Ukraine and a wonderful 4-1 win over Croatia saw us progress with ease. A solid defence gave us the platform to record these results and was the real strength of the team throughout qualifying, and an in-form Wayne Rooney up top with Lampard and Gerrard in midfield goals were always likely.

Squad Selected:

Goalkeepers - Paul Robinson, Chris Kirkland.

Fullbacks - Micah Richards, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge.

Centre-backs - John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Curtis Davies, Ledley King.

Wingers - Joe Cole, Leighton Baines, David Beckham, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young.

Centre-Mids - Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry.

Strikers - Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch.

Staying true to the players that got us there I selected the above 23-man squad, 2 players for each position plus the versatile Ashley Young. Quite a few players can play in more than one position so if we get unlucky and injuries strike we should be able to react.

Group Stages:

England 4 - 2 Saudi Arabia - Peter Crouch, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand & Frank Lampard.

You’d be excused for thinking this would be a comfortable game, but I can tell you it wasn’t. A 13th minute goal by Saudi Arabia from a corner gives them a shock lead. We press and press but there defence and goalkeeper stays strong until the 73rd minute when Substitute Peter Crouch equalisers. Goals are like buses in this game as in the 75th minute Gerrard gives us the lead. You’d be wrong to think it was over though as they score again in the 89th minute to make it a nervous ending. Fortunately a screamer in the 94th minute from Lampard secures the 3 points. Not the game I was expecting.

England 0 - 0 Sweden.

On paper this was the toughest game in the group, Sweden however were missing danger-man Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured for 3 weeks in there opening group game. How we didn’t score will remain a mystery. In complete control of the game we managed 26 shots to there 2, of which none were on target, yet Andreas Isaksson was just unbeatable. Wayne Rooney particularly wasteful in this game was injured late on and will be out for 9 days.

England 3 - 1 Morocco - Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen & Peter Crouch.

Again we fell behind to a team we were supposed to comfortably beat, this time in the 8th minute. Unlike the Saudi Arabia game however we hit back early with a 15th minute strike by Gerrard. I’d like to say we took control of the game after this but we didn’t, even a Michael Owen goal on 38 minutes didn’t change it from being an even game. In the 68th minute Peter Crouch broke the resistance to slot home and we coasted through to the final whistle. We topped the group on goals scored as both Sweden and us had 7 points and +4 goal difference.

Group A saw Germany and Paraguay progress but reigning World Champions Italy and Ghana go out.

Group B saw England and Sweden progress while Saudi Arabia and Morocco go out.

Group C saw France and Holland progress while Australia and Chile go out in one of the toughest groups.

Group D saw Spain and Cameroon progress while Scotland and Iran go out.

Group E saw Russia and Argentina progress while the U.S.A and hosts South Africa go out.

Group F saw Croatia and South Korea progress while Uruguay and Costa Rica go out.

Group G saw Nigeria and Mexico progress while the Czech Republic and Greece go out.

Group H saw Portugal and Brazil progress while the Ivory Coats and Japan go out.

Knock-out Round:

England 0 - 1 Paraguay.

I was happy with facing Paraguay, especially considering it could have been Italy however we didn’t deserve to win here. They took the lead in the 32nd minute and sure we came close to equalising but the performance was poor. We did have Owen come off injured and then his substitute Heskey come off injured but that isn’t a good enough excuse as to while we failed to meet the target of a place in the Quarter-Finals.

Germany 3 - 0 Sweden

England 0 - 1 Paraguay

France 4 - 1 Cameroon

Holland 0 - 2 Spain

South Korea 0 -2 Russia

Argentina p2 - 2 Croatia

Nigeria 1 - 2 Brazil

Mexico 1 - 3 Portugal

Quarter-Finals:

Paraguay 0 - 4 France

Germany 0 - 1 Spain

Argentina 1 - 2e Brazil

Russia 1 - 2 Portugal

Semi-Finals:

Spain 1 - 2e Brazil

France 3 - 2 Portugal

Third Place Playoff:

Spain 1 - 0 Portugal

Final:

Brazil p1 - 1 France

Michael Owen made the World Cup Dream Team bench.

11th of July 2008 - One year and three days since I took over the English FA organised a press conference to take place after the final. They had taken the decision to allow me to continue in my job as England manager despite the poor World Cup showing, stating the impressive qualification as a factor although they expect a vast improvement in the European Championship. I now face the task of qualifying in a group consisting of; Bosnia & Herz, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Moldova, N.Ireland and Russia. Russia went one step further than us in the World Cup and will be favourites alongside ourselves in taking the two qualifying spots.

Unlucky in the World Cup there, hopefully you can perform better in the Euro's in 2 years time.

Once again, i like your thread as i did with your West Ham thread. It's simple, clean and easy to follow

Raware - Thanks. Hopefully I will be able to presuming I qualify D= After all, if I progress from the groups there's no knock-out stage!