FM14: Carrying the hope of a Nation. Quest for World Cup Glory

Plans and Expectations:

We have already qualified for the World Cup and I have taken over in August. Which means I have just friendlies in the 10 months I have until the World Cup.

We are scheduled to play: Canada (H), South Africa (H), Colombia (H), Algeria (H), Switzerland (A), Costa Rica (H) in friendlies that will take us to March.

The FFA haven't set expectations for the World Cup yet.

I will do a full squad analysis including best players and best youth players in the next update

Squad Analysis

September Friendlies

My first job was 2 friendlies vs Canada and South Africa

I named my first squad. A few players such as Rhys Williams and Brett Holman were out injured

I also had a decision to make regarding a leader I decided to make legend Tim Cahill captain and Mile Jedinak vice-captain

Against Canada I decided to start with a strikerless tactic but at half time I changed tactic. I handed the some debuts

The game didn't go well. We created a few chances but struggled to adapt to new tactics and different combination of players

Next up was South Africa I went with a 4-3-3 like in the 2nd half last time

We lost the possession battle and shot battle but I thought we played quite well and got a result

Hopefully next month against Colombia the players will be more used to playing with each other in new systems.

October Friendlies

I hired a new assistant manager as I wasn’t happy with Robbie Hooker. I hired Rado Vidosic .

I made a few changes for the friendlies against Colombia and Algeria. Ryan McGowan came in as an injury replacement for Wilkshere

I set up a counter-attacking tactic against a quality 9th placed Colombia side

We played quite well on the counter but my inexperienced defence struggled against Falcao, Muriel, Jackson Martinez and Quintero.

I played a strikerless formation again vs Algeria

We were disappointing at creating chances and while they didn’t threaten us for large periods we were again poor.

Next month we play away to Switzerland and I will focus on the centre of defence and chance creation.

November Friendly

Scheduled to play Switzerland, I picked a fairly strong squad with experimentation in the left back position and leaving out a few players like Cahill due to injury. I brought in Mark Schwarzer for the injured Adam Federici and Erik Paartalu came in for the injured Matt McKay.

I started with a new formation a 4-4-1-1

We played well in the first half and let 2-0. Mark Schwarzer was positioned poorly and missed a chance for an easy save for their first goal. Their other 2 came off poor marking on set pieces. I thought we played well and even deserved victory but it wasn't to be as frustratingly defending let us down again

Our next friendly is 4 months away in March. I have changed my set-up for defending set pieces and I will have another attempt playing 4-4-1-1

World Cup Draw

Its that time of year, the time of both excitement and dread. The World Cup Draw. We were seeded in pot 2 as pots 2-4 are according to confederation.

We were drawn in group A which first and foremost meant we would have to encounter a dreaded Brazil side on their home turf in the city of Salvador. We play them 3rd in the group. After we were drawn as seed 2, we got one of the easier African teams in Algeria. Its a lot better than a Cameroon or Ivory Coast but is still a difficult game. You might remember the we already faced them in a friendly and lost 1-0 in a close game, I'm sure we will be playing better as a team next time around. Finally there was a pot that had dreaded teams like Belgium, France and Portugal but luckily we got Ireland. Hopefully we can beat Ireland and Algeria so we can get to the next round. I am overall quite pleased with our group

You can take a look at the other groups. Group E will be very interesting

March Friendly

I picked quite a strong squad plus I picked 16 year old wonderkid Daniel De Silva and 19 year old defender Nicholas Ansell. This left me with criticism from Mariners coach Graham Arnold.

I persisted with my 4-4-1-1 I gave young players Ryan, Leckie, Herd and De Silva a chance in the starting XI. Daniel De Silva aged 1 day of 17 became our youngest ever player

Finally we played well and dominated besides our inexperienced lineup. We should have recorded the win but at least we didn't get another loss

League Reviews

A-League

It was a stunning and unexpected result in the A-League as Wellington Phoenix upset the odds (they were predicted last) to beat favourites Roar by a single point. Previous premiers the Wanderers ended up as wooden spooners. Overall it was a close comp.

In the finals Brisbane Roar played Phoenix off the park after both sides won their home semi final.

European Leagues

Of the active European leagues Celtic won the Scottish league with Tom Rogic playing 33 times. Juventus retained Serie A with AC Milan closely behind. Bayern won the Bundesliga. Feyenoord edged Ajax to the Eredivise. Real got it over Barca in La Liga and most shockingly of all West Brom as odds of 51/1 won the Premier League edging Man Utd on goal difference and heres proof.

Asian Leagues

Jiagsu won the Chinese League and Jeonbuk won the K-League

Preliminary Squad Announced

The big talking point was leaving out Mark Bresciano, I thought he was too old and have better players in his position

I will do a full squad analysis when I announce my final squad

Final Squad Announcement

I have named my final squad for the 2014 World Cup. I had to cut 7 unlucky players from my preliminary squad and it wasn't easy. Heres who I selected and why

Goalkeepers: 1. Mark Schwarzer, 12. Adam Federici, 16. Matt Ryan

I had 4 keepers truly vying for a spot on the plane to Brazil, these 3 + Langerak. In the end Langerak was the one with the least first team football and attribute wise he was slightly, slightly worse. This will be Mark Schwarzer's last tournament but expect Matt Ryan to start the first match after he performed best in the friendlies leading up to the Cup.

Defenders: 2. Ryan McGowan, 3. Michael Zullo, 4. Mark Milligan, 5. Rhys Williams, 14. Jason Davidson, 18. Alex Wilkinson, 21. Nicholas Ansell

I picked 2 in each of the standard defensive positions (including utility James Holland). McGowan and Zullo are my preferred full-backs which is far more youthful than Holger Osieck's preferred Wilkshere and McKay. Williams will start in the middle as he is our best defender. He will be partnered by either Wilkinson or Milligan. Teenager Ansell is brought in for his experience especially after a good season at Melbourne Victory.

Midfielders: 6. Chris Herd, 7. Robbie Kruse, 8. Adam Sarota, 10. Tom Rogic, 11. Tommy Oar, 13. James Holland, 15. Erik Paartalu, 17. Tim Cahill ©, 20. Daniel De Silva, 22. Matthew Leckie, 23. Brett Holman

The first thing to note is no Mile Jedinak, Mile was injured in one of the preparation games and was ruled out of the World Cup, I brought in previously left out Adam Sarota to replace him. I called up Chris Herd because of his Premier League experience which could be valuable when need be. Paartalu is our main midfield general and will be our likely holding midfielder. Holland and Sarota are the other deeper central midfielders. Kruse, Oar and Leckie are our wide men and their spot on the plane was undisputed as they are our 3 best wingers. My decision to name 4 central attacking mids was an adventurous one. Holman can also play on either wings and adds workrate. Cahill adds class and will likely play as a shadow striker or up front. Rogic is technically good and his dribbling, first touch and passing are his main assets. Daniel De Silva is the future and at 17 I thought he was good enough for a place to Brazil and his form in lead up games confirmed this.

Forwards: 9. Richard Porta, 19. Eli Babalj

There are 2 reasons I only took 2 strikers. Firstly I only play with one striker in every one of my tactics and secondly this really is a position of weakness talent wise. Besides these 2, I didn't think there are others currently good enough for a spot except perhaps Matt Simon who is too similar a player to Babalj in my opinion.

Preparation: Friendlies & Tactics

What started poorly, ended well. We were great in the first half against Holland before we defended atrociously in the 2nd. We had an all-round poor performance against Belarus. The 5-2 loss to Montenegro was a disaster. This saw us create a new tactic which brought a 3-2 win over Slovenia and a 2-0 win over Thailand in pleasing performances. The good thing is we scored a lot of goals, the bad thing is that our defence is very leaky.

When we face Brazil I will probably play a 4-5-1 this is our more defensive tactic and it worked quite well 1st half vs Holland.

After poor results I created a 3-6-1 variant which sees me able to use 2 attacking mids playing our strengths (Cahill and Rogic) while not abandoning too much defensively.

The other formation I have set is a 4-4-1-1.

FIFA World Cup 2014 Group Stage - Groups B-H

Before I go into my group I will review all the other groups

Group B favourites Uruguay were eliminated after 2 unlucky losses to Jamacia and Cameroon where they thoroughly dominated the games. Cameroon and Greece ended up getting through.

Group C was close and exciting with Chile, Croatia and Portugal all beating Iran but ending on 6 points. In the end an Alexis Sanchez goal saw Chile go through instead of Portugal on head-to-head

Group D saw Trinidad and Tobago get on the end of 3 thrashings, with Argentina through 1st in the group after they beat Ivory Coast 4-0 and drew with Turkey.

In the Group of death, Europe got it over the America's. With Germany and France both defeating Mexico and Paraguay and drawing with each other.

This group was interesting as I fully expected Belgium to go through alongside Holland. It was the case of not experienced enough yet as Japan edged through instead after they drew.

A strong Colombia side got through easily after smashing Italy 4-1 and getting a win and a draw in their other games. Italy won their other games to get through

In the last group the typically overpowered England came first after edging Spain in their last game. Spain's 7-0 win over Tunisia was their highlight. USA and Tunisia never looked like progressing

And finally I'll take a look at some of the key stats

World Cup 2014: My Group Review

Vs. Algeria

I lined up with my new tactic and rewarding Cahill, De Silva and Rogic for their pre-Cup form I started them all moving Babalj to the bench.

We started fantastically going 3-0 up and playing them off the park. Oar was starring the show. But just before half time we conceded a soft goal. I told them not to be complacent but evidently they didn't listen. A simple header back to the keeper from Williams was missed forcing me to sub my keeper Ryan. Late on they scored again. It was very disappointing considering how well we attacked

[video=youtube;jZAjkxAUNI4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZAjkxAUNI4

In the other game Brazil lost 1-0 to Ireland

Vs. Ireland

Next up we faced Ireland and again started with my 3-4-2-1. I made a number of changes, Federici replaced Ryan, Davidson for Wilkinson, a fit again Kruse for Sarota

We played decently in the first half but no teams scored. Shane Long scored early in the first half and for a long time we didn't look like scoring. With 15 minutes left I went overload after that we started to create chances. Rhys Williams scored the equaliser before deep into injury time Chris Herd bagged the winner. I was ecstatic even though Ireland was a game I should've wrapped up earlier.

[video=youtube;1lb9KOdC64A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lb9KOdC64A

In the other game Brazil beat Algeria 4-0

Vs. Brazil

I started with a more defensive 4-5-1. Babalj, Wilkinson and Zullo came in for Davidson, Rogic and Porta. Brazil's line-up is frightening for any team, my defensive would have their work cut out against a dynamic forward line and 2 world class attacking fullbacks.

We defended well for the first 69 minutes as they created a lot of chances but most were from long range. Before Brazil scored, they scored again later. We defended valiantly forcing them to shoot from range mostly in a difficult affair.

[video=youtube;G2_grjXp6KM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_grjXp6KM

In the other game Algeria beat Ireland 1-0

That left us through in second to face Cameroon in the next round

2nd Round Review

Most of the results were expected except Japan vs Germany

Vs. Cameroon

I went back to my 3-4-2-1. Rogic and Porta came in for Zullo and Babalj

They got an early penalty but Federici made a good save. Kruse opened the scoring with a composed finish. Federici then took a free kick but it went to Cameroon and they equalised. It went to extra time and it was fairly close before Super Captain Timmy Cahill scored the winner off a corner

[video=youtube;BHaVGaBGkUE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHaVGaBGkUE

This means we face Croatia (who I just realised poached Ivan Franjic who just missed out on a spot on the plane to Brazil)

In the other games:

Brazil vs Argentina

Japan vs England

Holland vs Spain

Quarter Finals

Brazil got it over their rivals and Holland got their revenge against Spain

Vs. Croatia

We lined up similarly but Sarota came in for Herd

We started very well with Oar scoring before they equalised off a corner before took a lead off a cross. Babalj equalised with a class finish before our defence fell apart in the second half

[video=youtube;Ta9DyZ0LzcM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9DyZ0LzcM

I'll do a squad review after the semi finals and final are complete

World Cup Semi Finals

Brazil dominated Holland to get the deserved win and Croatia edged England in a close game

Meaning its Brazil vs Croatia in the final which are the only 2 teams to have beaten us in the World Cup this time

World Cup 3rd Place Play-off and Final

Holland got it over England in the 3rd place play-off. Dirk Kuyt scored the winner but I don't know what hes still doing in the Dutch team. You can look at some of the match info here

In the final Croatia faced Brazil. It was a close game with neither creating many good chances. The goal came from a corner, Dante scored the winner. You can look at the match info here

Here is the goal:

[video=youtube;tOO4MoZhKwo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOO4MoZhKwo

World Cup Stats and Awards

Golden Ball: Mario Mandzukic, 8.29 rating

Silver Ball: Lucas Moura, 7.64 rating

Bronze Ball: Marcelo, 7.96 rating

Best Young Player: Lucas Moura, 7.64

Golden Shoe: Mario Mandzukic, 10 goals

Silver Shoe: Fernando Llorente, 5 goals

Bronze Shoe: Lucas Moura, 5 goals

Golden Glove: Jefferson, 7.21 rating

Goal of the Tournament:

1st

[video=youtube;BTEsrJrxqGM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTEsrJrxqGM

2nd

[video=youtube;F6Bnij2YvQk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Bnij2YvQk

3rd

[video=youtube;nvOhSP1nvQ0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvOhSP1nvQ0

Dream Team:

Most Goals Scored: Croatia, 17

Most Goals Conceded: Australia, 13

Performance Review

Firstly the board were very pleased with a massive overperformance.

I was impressed with how far we went but our defending was the vital aspect that let us down in 5 games we conceded 13 goals. Our attacking on the otherhand was quite pleasing especially since it was definitely not clicking a few months ago. We scored 9 goals which was the 2nd best in the competition.

We only used 2 tactics in the World Cup, our 3-4-2-1 and our 4-5-1. We scored most and conceded most with 3-4-2-1 but if you take the Croatia game out of the picture the tactic worked ok defensively.

We scored 5/9 of our goals in the first half of games and only conceded 4/13. The worst time for both attack and defence was the beginning of the second half, which shows I may need to use my half time team talk better to avoid complacency. We scored all 9 of our goals from placed shots and conceded 11/13, the other 2 conceded were from headers. We were particularly vulnerable from crosses and corners.

The average age of the squad is 25.78 which is quite good for an international side.

Our top goalscorer was Tommy Oar on 2 goals. The other scorers were Wilkinson, Rogic, Williams, Herd, Kruse, Cahill and Babalj

Our top assister was Tom Rogic with 2. The others were Oar, Wilkinson and Zullo

Our highest average rating was Tommy Oar with 7.29

My short-term goals are to:

- Win the Asian Cup at home in January

- Improve defence

Personnel Changes

Tim Cahill has retired as captain to focus on just playing. He'll still be in the national team

My new captain is Jedinak and vice-captain is Tom Rogic. The squad seem pleased with the decision.

Connor Pain has moved from Melbourne Victory to Guangzhou for $1.3M

Tommy Oar from Utrecht to Sampdoria for $3.1M

Alex Wilkinson signed for Ulsan on a free transfer

Mark Schwarzer signed for Sydney FC on a free transfer

Richard Porta signed for Melbourne Victory on a free transfer

Robbie Kruse rejected offers from Everton and Udinese to continue being a regular at Leverkusen

Mate Dugandzic signed for Central Coast Mariners on a free transfer

Chris Herd signed for Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer

Scott Jamieson signed for Dundee on a free transfer

Shane Lowry signed for Brighton for $2.1M

Ryan McGowan moved from Shangdong to Championship favourites Sunderland for $300K

Michael Zullo moved from Utrecht to Serie B club Verese for $190K

We've also moved from 51 to 43 in the World Rankings

September 2014 Friendlies

I picked a young and experimental squad

I turned my 4-4-1-1 into a 4-2-3-1 so I can incorporate both Pain and Troisi in the line-up. At the back it was experimental. Take a look

We started well but our defence was caught for pace allowing USA to lead 3-1. I dropped the line deeper and subbed the woeful Scott Neville (4.7) and the terrible Curtis Good (5.0) who will take a long, long time to get back into a national team shirt. We attacked better with Troisi and Irvine scoring to make it 3-3

Next out we played Iran, I picked a similar line-up but different central defensive pairing

We played fantastically and again Troisi scored twice. The goals we conceded both came from poor defending from Lowry so our defensive problems continue

Overall though the performances were fairly good especially since I was experimenting both tactically and personnel wise. I've got a few more players on my list who aren't ready for regular football and identified Troisi and Irvine as possible regulars. Still I need to fix my defensive problems and that will be the focus next month when we play Hungary and Denmark

October Friendlies

Again I experimented with my line-up this time against Hungary

We played well but found ourselves behind just before half time. Troisi grabbed the equaliser and set up the goal that gave us the lead but in typical fashion a late defensive mistake saw us draw.

Against Denmark I set up to counter seeing if I could make use of Taggart, Troisi and Kruse's pace.

We fell behind before I went to an attacking style. Tro-messi got a goal and an assist again even though he hasn't played a game in the league. That takes him to 6 goals and 2 assists in 3 and a half Socceroos games since the World Cup. They scored late again. Isn't this getting repititive

Next month we face Ukraine

November Friendly

I faced Ukraine. My squad was similar, a few players were missed due to injury with the only surprise pickings being Sainsbury and Behich

I started with an unexperienced defence plus picked Dugandzic to replace the injured Kruse in a 4-4-1-1

We started very poorly going 2-0 down. Our players struggled with the high tempo I set. At half time I made my wide mids out an out wingers, switched them to make them inside forwards, slowed the tempo and brought on 17 year old wonderkid Danny De Silva. De Silva scored the first (his 4th international goal in 9 games) and bagged an assist in an inspirational performance. Tim Cahill converted a penalty for us to win.

Also I applied for the Sydney FC job but wasn't given it due to them not agreeing with my philosophy regarding signing young players for the first team.