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Roy Crouchson - Taking England to Poland & Ukraine 2012


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Roy Crouchson - Taking England to Poland & Ukraine 2012

I'm back with a follow up to my FM2010 FM Career thread 'Fabio Crouchello - Taking England to South Africa 2010'!

'Roy Crouchson' is going to be my secondary save on FM12, for something fun and different (a quick fix!) away from my current career save in Italy. As I always tend to start my games at the bottom and work my way up, I don't normally get to manage a big team so there is a big attraction for me in being able to manage England from the start and to get the rare chance to work with some top players on FM straight from the beginning!

All of the playable leagues in England are loaded along with the top leagues of Italy, Spain and Germany. I'm using a large customised database (all players in England loaded with all current international players throughout the world retained). I'll be starting out with an 'automatic' reputation and holidaying through to May 2012 in order to take over at roughly the same time as Hodgson did in real life.

Below, in the next few posts, I'll be talking about Fabio Crouchello, Roy Crouchson and my plans for this save! :)

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Fabio Crouchello

Back on FM10, I had a lot of fun playing as my alter-ego, Don Fabio Crouchello, and taking England to World Cup 2010 and beyond. I managed England from 2009 to 2017 (before going on to manage various other countries such as Spain and Uruguay!) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable save!

I like to think that Don Fabio would be remembered fondly by virtual England fans on FM10! But ultimately, as I summed up on the original thread, my legacy as Crouchello could be remembered in various ways:

As the man who got the best out of the so-called 'golden generation' taking them on glorious runs to two successive finals? Or perhaps, instead, as the man who failed in two finals?

As the man who abandoned the traditional 4-4-2 favoured by England to install a 4-2-3-1 with two holders as his preferred formation? Or as a manager who was ultimately too cautious and not adventurous enough when it counted?

As the man who finally ended the long wait for a trophy by bringing home the Euro 2016 title? Or as the man who won a lucky trophy with one of England's worst performances in a tournament? Perhaps, even, as the man who could never quite take England that extra step onwards to win the World Cup?

And then there are the humiliations - the losses at Wembley to Wales and, more recently, Algeria. On top of this comes the hapless Confederations Cup campaign. :(

One thing is for sure though, Crouchello's record makes him one of the most successful England managers of all time, as shown below.

Fabio Crouchello's England Record:

P 	W 	D 	L 	F	A	Win % 		Competitions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
95	64	20	11	217	67	67%		World Cup 2010 Runners-up
							Euro 2012 Runners-up
							World Cup 2014 Quarter-finalists
							[b]Euro 2016 Winners[/b]
							Confederations Cup 2017 Group Stages

5 short of 100 games. :(

There were a lot of regrets for Fabio Crouchello but it was a truly addictive and fascinating adventure for me and I'm hoping for something similar this time around!

I do recommend going back to glance (however briefly) at my Fabio Crouchello thread as it was a very fun save. You can find it here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/185264-FM10-Fabio-Crouchello-Taking-England-to-South-Africa-2010

Anyway, on to something new. We now enter a parallel universe where Fabio Crouchello never existed! Instead, I have a new alter-ego, Roy Crouchson! In this universe, Roy Crouchson takes over from Stuart Pearce just in time to guide England through Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland. See my next post!

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Roy Crouchson

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Next, a quick word on my managerial character in this game. As I did with Fabio Crouchello, I'll be playing a kind of hybrid 'role play' alongside bringing in some of my own managerial characteristics. For example, whilst playing as Fabio in FM10, I brought in 4-2-3-1 (even though the real Fabio is now famous for playing a rigid 4-4-2 at the World Cup 2010) and managed with a cautious, disciplined and 'motivationally abrupt'(!) style typical of the real life manager). With Hodgson, I'll be building up a different kind of character, obviously!

Personally, I think the real Roy Hodgson is an absolute legend and you can't argue against his amazing achievements across Europe in his fascinating career. I'm a big fan of Roy mainly because he is an intelligent and articulate football man and one of the people in the game that it really is worth listening to in my opinion. I understand that he wasn't a particularly good player, and that he ended up playing several years in non-League football before embarking on his managerial career and I really like this fact about him. It makes the story of his career in management even more remarkable.

Of course, his managerial career has been quite outstanding, and he has worked in many countries across Europe and is a widely respected manager and tactician. He started his managerial apprenticeship in Sweden and, as I understand it, completely changed the tactical face of their game with his fellow English manager Bob Houghton (now manager of the Indian national team). Roy and Bob introduced the 4-4-2 to Sweden, bringing in zonal marking and playing a pressing game, thus transforming Swedish football.

Roy labels himself 'a 4-4-2 man' but has been known to play 4-4-1-1 and 4-2-3-1 also in certain games. However, his sides usually play 4-4-2, and we might perhaps describe him as an old fashioned English manager when it comes to football tactics. It seems to me that he prioritises good defensive organisation, likes to get the ball down to play decent football but also wants his team to 'mix it up a bit', and also encourages wing play and quick counter-attacking football.

Roy has been one of my favourite managers for a long time now and he is one of the managers that I like to emulate in FM in my style. While others want to be Mourinho or Guardiola, I want to be Hodgson. Perhaps my dreams are a little more modest than most! :p But seriously, there is much I like about Roy. I'd like to be cultured, speak multiple languages fluently, be extremely knowledgable about football, travel across Europe winning trophies and generally be awesome like Roy! :D

I'm backing Roy to be a success as England manager in real life and really hoping he does well and the media and fans give him a chance. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea but I'm very much a fan of Roy! I'm 100% backing Roy and expecting him to make England hard to beat. I actually think his style will suit international football.

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that I can easily, without any real challenge, bring in aspects of Roy's management to my manager's character in this save. Like Roy, I'm a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 man primarily and I like my sides to be well drilled and prefer a more rigid style. We'll see how this works out at with England at international level.

The target that I have, as always, is to try to win something with England. In particular, I would love to win a World Cup, although I suspect it will be very difficult with the current squad and I will have to hope for some good regens to come through. I have never won a World Cup on Football Manager (I was a runner-up as Fabio Crouchello) so I'm really hopeful of achieving that one day! Perhaps it could happen in this save but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves! First we have small matter of not being humiliated at the Euros. Wish me luck everyone. :)

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And here I was looking forward to Harry Crouchknapp! ;)

There were many expecting Crouchknapp and certainly it seems that the media were pushing for him to take charge. Instead we've got Crouchson as England manager and I hope that he'll have the backing of the fans on FMCU! ;)

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Roy Crouchson Impervious to Pressure!

A little sample of questions and answers from my first press conference as England manager!

Q. Are you confident of a good start as England manager?

A. We are working towards a positive start.

Q. The pressures of managing at International level are enormous and this is reflected by the huge media interest in the team and manager. It's a lot of pressure to handle, are you up to it?

A. I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't have complete confidence in my ability to handle the pressures.

Q. What would you say is your tactical approach to the game?

A. It all depends on the situation. There are so many variables in football that to have just one approach would be irresponsible.

Q. Will you be looking to name a new captain or will John Terry continue?

A. This is a fresh start and I have a new name in mind for the captaincy.

Q. Wayne Rooney is regarded as being key to any future success for England. Do you intend to build your team around Rooney's talents?

A. I think it would be inappropriate to discuss issues such as these at this stage.

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One thing I should really have said in the opening posts is that I'm going to avoid bringing my own opinions into player selection. I'll be picking the best squad based on what I see in the game rather than what my real life opinions are. First and foremost, I'll be looking to build a team, so there may be some surprises based on what I feel fits into my template both in terms of mentality and playing abilities.

There will be one exception: John Terry will not be selected for England whilst I am the manager of the national team. Sorry to any 'JT' fans. :D

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One of my early actions as England manager is to name my 30-man squad for Uefa European Championships.

Goalkeepers: Scott Carson, Robert Green, Joe Hart.

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, Ryan Shawcross, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Jack Rodwell, Jack Wilshere, Ashley Young.

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck.

The media has focused on the fact that I've left out Parker and recalled Defoe and Ferdinand to the squad. They also commented on the inclusion of Kyle Walker, Phil Jones and Ryan Shawcross, who all lack international experience.

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Good luck!

Thanks. :)

JT is overrated anyway! If you do win the Euro's, he'll probably turn up to lift the trophy anyway :D

Haha! Yeah, most likely! :D

One question, Is Roy Crouchson gonna be 64 ingame?

Looking forward to this :thup:

No, I've put in my own age actually, so I should be able to be in charge of England for some time to come if things go well! :

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This has made me go back and read the adventures of Fabio Crouchello. :)

Cool!

No JT :( hope that doesn't come back to haunt you

Didn't know you were a JT fan?

Well, we'll soon see if it comes back to haunt me as I kick off my England career with a friendly away to Norway.

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I should also have said that I've worked on my staff situation and brought in the following people to work with me:

U21s manager - Gareth Southgate

Assistant manager - Alan Shearer

Coach - Stuart Pearce

Coach - Bob Houghton

That's about it. The rest are as they were when I arrived as manager.

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Cool!Didn't know you were a JT fan? Well, we'll soon see if it comes back to haunt me as I kick off my England career with a friendly away to Norway.
Don't like him as a person (although I do think he gets a lot of hate he doesn't deserve just because he is John Terry as well as the hate he actually deserves) but as a footballer he is absolutely quality. I just hope your replacements can do as good a job if not better.
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International Friendly - Norway 2 England 3

Match Stats

Formation & Ratings

So my start as England manager was a pretty exciting one as we were involved in a thrilling match in Oslo.

The formation above really shows my plan A for England going into Euro 2012. I'm going with a 4-4-1-1 formation with Gerrard playing an advanced midfield role behind Rooney. Plan B will be a 4-4-2 with a more typical first striker and second striker combination.

We looked comfortable at 3-1 but I made a number of substitutes to look at some different options in the second-half and this disrupted the rhythm and made it a much closer match than it might have been.

Not terrible for a first match in charge and at least we got the three points. I still have a number of questions in my mind. In particular, I'm not convinced on the efficacy of a Lampard/Carrick midfield partnership.

It was at least good to see the Rooney and Gerrard combination working well.

I have another opportunity to experiment with the line-up and the tactics as we play Slovenia at home in our next match.

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Don't like him as a person (although I do think he gets a lot of hate he doesn't deserve just because he is John Terry as well as the hate he actually deserves) but as a footballer he is absolutely quality. I just hope your replacements can do as good a job if not better.

As it turns out, John Terry has been ruled out of the tournament anyway through injury.

I've also lost Jermaine Defoe and Joe Cole as possible options to call up for Euro 2012.

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Good start as England manager, especially as you are still working out the best players/positions.

As it turns out, John Terry has been ruled out of the tournament anyway through injury.
That's fortunate then because he will probably be too old/ past it to compete at another major international tournament anyway. So you have no reason to select him.
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International Friendly - England 3 Slovenia 0

Match Stats

Formation & Ratings

My first game at Wembley saw three goals scored and a clean sheet, which can't be too bad.

I got to look at my possible plan B, which is a 4-4-2 formation. I definitely think it should be the secondary plan as I believe the 4-4-1-1 plays to the strengths we have far more.

We were well in charge of this match. Frank Lampard scoring a couple of excellent goals. I'm a bit worried about his tiredness which seems to kick in later on in games, so I'm going to have to come up with a plan for that. One option is dropping Gerrard back and bringing on another striker later on in games. The other option is to look at just bringing in a like-for-like replacement and therefore not adjusting the formation. It's at least a plan I need to have in my mind.

I need to have a look at one or two final options in my last game, which is versus Belgium at Wembley. There are certain players like Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere that I need to make decisions on before naming my final squad for Euro 2012.

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ENGLAND STAR TO MISS OUT ON UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

England manager Roy Crouchson has announced his squad for the forthcoming Euro 2012 tournament.

The biggest surprise is that regular England star Rio Ferdinand has not made the 23-man squad.

Uncapped Man Utd youngster Phil Jones could be set to make his England debut at the finals after impressing Roy Crouchson in recent weeks.

Full squad is detailed below.

GK: Scott Carson, Joe Hart and Rob Green.

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, Ryan Shawcross, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Ashley Young.

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott.

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International Friendly - England 2 Belgium 0

Match Stats

Formation & Ratings

In this last match, we started with pretty much my first choice team for the Euros, except that I gave Phil Jones his first cap in defence. But then, in the second-half, I was able to switch things up to 4-4-2 and to look at options up front and in central midfield.

We performed very strongly versus Belgium and never looked like doing anything other than winning this game comfortably. A clean sheet was good along with two goals. A nice if not outstanding victory.

Now we turn our attentions to the Euros. The real business is about to begin. The honeymoon is over and the pressure is really on now!

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England's Group at Euro 2012:

In this reality, we have drawn Portugal, Ukraine and Turkey. A pretty tough group.

It will help us a little that our game versus Portugal doesn't come until the final match of the group stages. This means we'll have hopefully found some rhythm by then.

We still have a tough start playing Turkey first and then going up against the hosts, Ukraine.

The FA want me to guide the team to the quarter-finals, so I'll need to make sure that there are no slip ups in the group stages! Tough times ahead! Pressure is now firmly on!

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Euro 2012, Group A - Turkey 0 England 1

Match Stats

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It's tense stuff in our opening game but we get there in the end.

The performance was very good and we really ought to have made this more comfortable for ourselves.

The devastating news coming from this game is that we have lost Steven Gerrard to injury for the rest of the tournament. So my 'plan A' was in action for a total of 42 minutes of Euro 2012.

Darren Bent came off the bench to replace Gerrard as we switched to 4-4-2. He actually went on to score the winner.

I'm now looking at a situation where the nation's hopes may rest on a Bent and Rooney partnership.

Still this was an important first win and it will stand us in good stead for the rest of the group stages. It's great to get off to a winning start. Unfortunately, it means going to my 'plan B' for the next match.

I should also mention that most of the squad are not motivated to play for me. I hope that the real Roy doesn't have these problems with his real life England squad!

Other match in the group: Ukraine 2 Portugal 2

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Euro 2012, Group A - England 4 Ukraine 0

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An emphatic win against the hosts! Darren Bent in fine goal scoring form!

Couldn't ask for much more than this! And with this result, we've secured a place in the quarter-finals of the competition!

The fans were jubilant after the result, particularly praising the performances of Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill and Darren Bent.

We've got a meaningless group game against Portugal to finish things off and then we'll be going into the quarter-final stage of the competition!

Other match in the group: Portugal 0 Turkey 1

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Euro 2012, Group A - England 3 Portugal 2

Match Stats

Formation & Ratings

We did our bit to ensure that Portugal went home after the group stages! Also, as a bit of a bonus, our win also kept Ukraine, one of the host countries, in the competition, making us very popular with the Ukrainians!

I played a full strength side, hoping to keep the momentum going for us in this tournament.

We were just so strong in the first-half and we raced into a two goal lead. When the second-half came around though, Portugal were visibly on the up and there was almost a sense of inevitability about their equaliser. However, I looked to use the pace of Theo Walcott late on as I bought him on as a sub and, sure enough, he grabbed a victory for England with a goal on 84 minutes.

A satisfying win, which takes us into the quarters on a real high!

Other match in the group: Turkey 0 Ukraine 1

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Euro 2012, Group Stages, Final Standings:

Group A:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 1st   | Q     | England  |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 8     | 2     | +6    | 9     | [/b]
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Ukraine  |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 4     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Turkey   |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 2     | -1    | 3     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Portugal |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 4     | 6     | -2    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Group B:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | France    |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 8     | 2     | +6    | 7     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Poland    |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 6     | -1    | 6     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Italy     |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 4     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Lithuania |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 8     | -5    | 0     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Group C:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team             |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Netherlands      |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 7     | 1     | +6    | 7     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Croatia          |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 1     | +4    | 7     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Northern Ireland |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 6     | -5    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Greece           |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 0     | 5     | -5    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Group D:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Spain    |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 9     | 1     | +8    | 9     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Germany  |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 3     | +1    | 6     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Slovakia |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 5     | -3    | 3     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Norway   |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 0     | 6     | -6    | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

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So one of the big surprises early on has been Portugal and Italy going home early as both hosts qualified at their expenses.

We will play the other hosts, Poland, in our quarter-final match.

The full draw for the QF is:

England v Poland

Ukraine v France

Netherlands v Germany

Croatia v Spain

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Euro 2012, Quarter-final - England 3 Poland 0

Match Stats

Formation & Ratings

This was a dominant performance. We bossed the game and didn't look like having trouble in this tie.

I actually freshed things up by bringing in some fresh legs for this game. This rotation could have backfired on me and made me look pretty stupid had we lost. However, we had absolutely no problem overcoming Poland.

On to the semi-finals where we will play the winners of the Croatia v Spain match!

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Euro 2012 Quarter-final results:

England 3 Poland 0

Ukraine 1 France 3

Netherlands 2 Germany 5

Croatia 3 Spain 2

So the big shock of the round is that Spain go home at the QF stage after being knocked out by Croatia!

The semi-final draw is:

England v Croatia

France v Germany

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Wow, harsh.

I'm glad you didn't see Fabio Crouchello lose at Wembley to Wales then. :o

Wow that is bad I tried to infract myself for losing to Australia as manager of Brazil but I couldn't.

Decent-ish draw although Croatia can be awesome at times. England Germany final, I would love that.

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Euro 2012, Semi-final - England 2 Croatia 0

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A solid performance. We were much the better side and deserved the victory!

We went ahead early on through a Lampard penalty. Then Darren Bent got the second to make us comfortable.

We are now into the final and will play the winners of the France v Germany match! What's the odds of it being Germany? It's always Germany, isn't it? I bet you it's going to be Germany! :D

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Wow that is bad I tried to infract myself for losing to Australia as manager of Brazil but I couldn't.

Tried to infract yourself! :D

Although that is pretty embarrassing!

Decent-ish draw although Croatia can be awesome at times. England Germany final, I would love that.

I have to confess that I was pretty delighted to see us get Croatia instead of Spain, although I knew that they would still be dangerous!

You may well get what you want regarding the England v Germany final that you desire! We'll have to wait and see!

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PREDICTION TIME!

So, I'd like to hear some predictions from you guys!

What do you think will happen in the final?

Will Roy Crouchson taste immediate success by beating Germany and winning Euro 2012?

Or will his brave England side lose out to the Germans, as the England team have so often in the past?

Leave score predictions for fun and I'll put up the match details later this evening! :)

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