Thank **** The Wolly with the Brolly has Gone

[mark wilson27]

September 14th; Northern Ireland v England; Euro 2012 Qualifier (Windsor Park, Belfast)

With qualification wrapped up I told my players not to get complacent and to go for the win as usual.

However my players didn't seem bothered in the game and we did very little in the way of attacking in the first half and as we came off the pitch our travelling fans showed what they thought of the performance.

The second half wasn't much better as the Irish started to get into the game and on the 58th minute we came close to losing a goal but luckily for us the end shot was poor to say the least. Despite the Irish pressure we managed to hold on and we got a lucky point.

Northern Ireland 0

England 0

Man of Match: Robinson (England)

Booked: No English Player

Attendance: 20,219

Player Ratings:

GK; Robinson (7)

RB; Brown (7)

LB: Lescott (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB: Terry (7)

MR: Wright-Phillips (7)

ML: Welbeck (7)

MC: Walcott (7)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

FC: Owen (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (7)

I wasn't best impressed with the level of commitment and general performance from my players today and after the game I told them what I thought of it.

[mark wilson27]

October 15th: England v Scotland; Euro 2012 Qualifier (Wembley)

With top spot in the group now secured I played some of the fringe players and they for once did themselves proud as we controlled the Scottish team with considerable ease. On the 13th minute we had the first chance of the game as Brandy fired into the keepers arms when it was easier to score. On the 25th minute though the Scottish went a man down as Ferguson was sent off for an elbow on Dyer. Two minutes later we went into the lead as Rooney fired in a screamer after a poor clearance by the Scottish keeper was intercepted. We were all over the Scottish team yet we failed to add to our tally before the half time interval.

The second half was much the same with us dominating the visitors and on the hour we had the chance to go a further goal up as Brandy was fouled in the area, Rooney stepped up for the kick and fired in with ease. Rooney was running the show and on the 74th minute he added his third goal as he fired in from the edge of the area. Scotland’s day got even worse as they were reduced to nine men after McFadden was sent off for a second yellow card after a foul on Baxter.

England 3 Rooney 27, pen 60, 74

Scotland 0

Man of Match; Rooney (England)

Booked: Baxter

Attendance: 89,962

Player Ratings:

GK: Green (8)

RB: Bardsley (7)

LB: Lescott (7)

CB: Davies (7)

CB: King (8)

MR: Bentley (6) sub 45 A. Lennon (7)

ML: Welbeck (8)

MC: K.Dyer (7)

MC: Baxter (6) sub 45 J.Jenas (7)

FC: Brandy (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (9)

[mark wilson27]

October 19th: Greece v England; Euro 2012 Qualifier (Georgios Karaiskakis, Piraeus)

Again I fielded my fringe players and this time they were pretty poor as they struggled to get into the game and just after the half hour we went a goal down as Seitaridis fired past Green after some poor defending by the whole team. It didn't get much better as eight minutes later we went a further goal down with Katsouranis headed in to send the Greeks into the half time interval two goals up.

The second half wasn't much better as we were second best throughout the game yet on the 57th minute we managed to pull a goal back as Rooney fired in but apart from that I was disappointed with my teams performance. Luckily we were already qualified for the Euros

Greece 2 Seitaridis 31, Katsouranis 39

England 1 Rooney 57

Man of Match; Panagopoulos (Greece)

Booked; Baxter

Attendance; 33,284

Player Ratings;

GK: Green (7)

RB: Bardsley (7)

LB: Lescott (7)

CB: Davies (7)

CB: King (7)

MR: Bentley (7)

ML: Welbeck (7)

MC: Dyer (7)

MC: Baxter (5)

FC: Brandy (7) sub 45 Agbonlahor (6)

FC; Rooney (cap) (7)

[mark wilson27]

Position¦   Information    ¦     Team                    ¦Games ¦ Won¦ Drawn¦ Lost¦Goals¦ Goals ¦Points¦
       ¦                  ¦                             ¦Played¦    ¦      ¦     ¦ fOR ¦Against¦      ¦
--------¦------------------¦-----------------------------¦------¦----¦------¦-----¦-----¦-------¦------¦
[b] 1st   ¦   Qualified      ¦     ENGLAND                 ¦  12  ¦ 10 ¦   1  ¦  1  ¦ 26  ¦   4   ¦  31  ¦[/b]
 2nd   ¦   Qualified      ¦     Slovakia                ¦  12  ¦  9 ¦   1  ¦  2  ¦ 22  ¦  14   ¦  28  ¦
========¦==================¦=============================¦======¦====¦======¦=====¦=====¦=======¦======¦  
 3rd   ¦                  ¦     Greece                  ¦  12  ¦  6 ¦   3  ¦  3  ¦ 23  ¦  14   ¦  21  ¦ 
 4th   ¦                  ¦     Scotland                ¦  12  ¦  6 ¦   2  ¦  4  ¦ 24  ¦  17   ¦  20  ¦ 
 5th   ¦                  ¦     Northern Isl            ¦  12  ¦  4 ¦   2  ¦  6  ¦ 21  ¦  23   ¦  14  ¦
 6th   ¦                  ¦     Cyprus                  ¦  12  ¦  1 ¦   2  ¦  9  ¦  9  ¦  34   ¦   5  ¦
 7th   ¦                  ¦     Faroe Islands           ¦  12  ¦  0 ¦   1  ¦ 11  ¦ 10  ¦  29   ¦   1  ¦
--------¦------------------¦-----------------------------¦------¦----¦------¦-----¦-----¦-------¦------¦

[mark wilson27]

Qualifiers:

First Seeds:

Poland (58) Hosts

Ukraine (55) Hosts

ENGLAND (4) Holders

Italy (1)

Second Seeds:

France (6)

Portugal (5)

Holland (7)

Spain (3)

Third Seeds;

Romania (11)

Russia (15)

Slovakia (26)

Switzerland (34)

Fourth Seeds:

Bulgaria (21)

Germany (18)

Norway (22)

Slovenia (33)

[EvilDave]

Good luck with Euros Mark, any of Pot 2 + Russia and Germany would be a real 'Group of Death,' on the other hand drawing Slovakia and Slovenia could be comfortable. Keep up the great writing, look forward to the next installment.

[mark wilson27]

Cheers Evildave, gonna be a tough draw whoever I get.....

[ssestig]

good luck mark. kutgw mate.

[tenthreeleader]

Thought I'd give you view #2000... good luck, Mark!

[mark wilson27]

Cheers 10/3....hopefully I will get a good draw but it looks like whatever team I get its gonna be tough

[mark wilson27]

November 19th: Nigeria v England; Friendly (Abuja Stadium, Abuja)

My players struggled with the heat in the game and it showed as we couldn't get more than a couple of passes strung together. Nigeria however coped alot better as expected and on the 23rd minute they had the fist effort of the game but luckily for us it was pretty poor and didn't trouble Foster. We were poor and didn’t offer anything in the first half.

The second half wasn't much better as we again struggled with everything in the game and it was Nigeria who again had the best of the game but again we were saved from losing the game by some poor finishing by the Nigerian attack.

Nigeria 0

England 0

Man of Match; Enyeama (Nigeria)

Booked; Carrick

Attendance: 44,382

Player Ratings:

GK: Foster (7)

RB: Bardsley (7)

LB: Lescott (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB: King (7)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

MC: J.Cole (7)

MC: Carrick (7)

AMC: Bentley (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (7)

FC: Owen (7)

[salkster2102]

good luck with the euros mate

[mark wilson27]

cheers salkster... just waiting to see who I get in the group stage.

Anyone from pot 2 is going to be difficult, pot 3 isn't too bad but pot 4 isn't an easy one with the Germans in it..

and with my luck I'll probably end up getting them

[mark wilson27]

November 23rd: South Korea v England; Friendly (Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul)

We again struggled with the game and on the 15th minute we went a goal down as Ji-Sung fired in past Green with a rasping shot from 25 yards. Five minutes later they came close to adding another goal but Green managed to save well from a long range effort. The Koreans were all over us and just before the break they came close again but luckily for us Davies managed to block off the line.

The second half started better for us as we managed to get the equaliser on the 54th minute as Owen fired in. However the Koreans continued to get into our half with ease and it wasn't long till they had another chance to score but again Green managed to block the shot. Despite the continuing pressure from the Koreans they failed to add anymore goals and we got away with a draw.

South Korea 1 Ji-Sung 15

England 1 Owen 54

Man of Match: Dong-Hyun (South Korea)

Booked; Agbonlahor

Attendance: 48,871

Player Ratings;

GK: Green (7)

RB: Brown (7)

LB: Hibbert (7)

CB: Davies (7)

CB: King (7)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

MC: Welbeck (7)

MC: Jenas (7)

AMC: Walcott (7) sub 57 Wright-Phillips (7)

FC: Agbonlahor (6)

FC: Owen (cap) (7)

December 1st: It's that time of the year again where I have to decide who I think is the World Footballer of the Year. My vote is as follows:

1st: Sergio Aguero (Athletico Madrid/Argentina)

2nd: Philippe Mexes (Roma/France)

3rd: Andrea Pirlo (AC.Milan/Italy)

December 3rd: I have managed to persuade Jamie Carragher to come out of retirement as I think he will be able to shore up my team and give them abit of extra experience

[salkster2102]

Im surprised old jamie hasnt come out of retirement in real. I can remember a few years ago when he was labelled as one of the best centre backs in England and he still wasn't getting in the first team.

[mark wilson27]

December 8th: Finally we find out who we will have to face in the European Football Championship 2012 Group Stage: The draw is as follows:-

Group A; ENGLAND, Holland, Slovakia, Slovenia

Group B: Poland, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria

Group C; Ukraine, Spain, Russia, Germany

Group D: Italy, France, Switzerland, Norway

January 1st 2012: The World Footballer of the Year Award has been handed out and the winner is Sergio Aguero (Athletico Madrid/Argentina), Second place went to Michael Owen (Inter Milan/England) and Third place went to Andrea Pirlo (AC.Milan/Italy)

January 27th: The draw for the World Cup 2014 Qualifying Groups have been drawn. We were placed as first seeds. The group is as follows: Poland, Scotland, Hungary, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Yet again we face the Scottish and apart from them we should easily qualify from this group

[mark wilson27]

February 8th: Canada v England; Friendly (BMO Field, Toronto)

With two friendlies remaining before the Euros I put out a good side to see how they would performed and in truth I was slightly disappointed as on the 2nd minute we were a goal down as Ramsey fired in from inside the area after my defence backed off too much. We started to get back into the game and on the 17th minute we should of got back onto level terms but Owen fluffed his effort. On the 27th minute we got the equaliser as Rooney fired in from the ten yards after the Canadian defence copied mine and gave him too much space.

The second half was all us as we kept the ball away from the Canadians and on the 76th minute we went into the lead as Walcott fired in from 25 yards with a thunderous effort. We continued to pile forward and on the stroke of full time we added a third goal with Lampard doing the honours. Despite the win I was disappointed with the performance in general and told the players we had to perform better against the USA in our next game.

Canada 1 Ramsay 2

England 3 Rooney 27, Walcott 76, Lampard 90

Man of Match: Rooney (England)

Booked: Owen, Lampard

Attendance: 20,139

Player Ratings:

GK: Robinson (7)

RB; Bardsley (7)

LB: Carragher (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB: Terry (7)

MR: J.Cole (7)

ML: Barnes (7)

MC: Lampard (8)

MC; Walcott (8)

FC: Rooney (cap) (8)

FC: Owen (6)

[salkster2102]

quite a decent group there mate where it could have been so much worse. how on earth are germany in the fourth pot?

[mark wilson27]

Germany are pretty low in the rankings plus there form in the tournamnets I have played has been pretty awful

[mark wilson27]

March 28th: USA v England; Friendly (RFK Stadium, Washington)

Our final game before the Euro 2012 group games and damn what a way to sign off before them. On the 7th minute we went a goal behind as Adu fired in after Hargreaves fouled on the edge of the area. Three minutes later we went another goal down as Donovan headed past Foster. I was disgusted with my players and on the 13th minute we went another goal down as Walcott sliced a clearance past Foster from the Americans corner. The American fans were going mad with joy and on the 15th minute Adu made it 4-0 with a rasping effort from inside the area after a poor back pass by Terry let him free. Six minutes later it was 5-0 as Adu completed his hat trick with a simple tap in. I was ashamed of my team and on the 28th minute we were six goals down with Adu making it four for him in the game. I was already heading into the changing room when we pulled a goal back as Hargreaves fired in a penalty after Owen was fouled in the American area.

The second half was much better as we only conceded one goal as Johnson headed past Foster with ease to make it 7-1. There was one last goal in the game as on the 83rd minute we pulled another goal back as Defoe fired in but I didn't care about it as we had suffered our worst loss in years.

USA 7 Adu 7, 15, 21, 28, Donovan 10, Walcott og 13, Johnson 67

England 2 Hargreaves pen 45, Defoe 83

Man of Match: Adu (USA)

Booked: Rooney

Attendance; 44,989

Player Ratings:

GK: Foster (5)

RB: Bardsley (5)

LB: Carragher (5)

CB; Terry (4) sub 45 King (6)

CB: R.Ferdinand cap 45 (5)

MR: A. Lennon (4) sub 45 Gerrard (7)

ML: J.Cole (5) sub 45 J.Jenas (7)

MC: Hargreaves (5)

MC: Walcott (5) sub 45 Barnes (7)

FC: Owen (6) sub 45 Defoe (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (5) sub 45 Agbonlahor (7)

I couldn't believe how poorly my team performed, especially the more experience players like Terry and captain Rooney. I now had 75 days before my first game in Euro 2012

[gavrenwick]

MARK...you want to drop half your squad mate. Poor result it seems, any idea why Adu trounced your defence in the first half?

[mark wilson27]

Just p*ss poor play all together, Don't think I have ever suffered a more embaressing loss like that in any of the CM/FM games

We were rubbish

[gavrenwick]

Haha, good thing it was just a friendly then

[mark wilson27]

true... I'd be getting my P45 right now lol

[MarkTrevor]

No wonder you won an award for this Mark, this is a good story!

[mark wilson27]

Cheers Mark, Glad your enjoying it..

[Spav]

USA 7 Adu 7, 15, 21, 28, Donovan 10, Walcott og 13, Johnson 67

England 2 Hargreaves pen 45, Defoe 83

I've not seen anything like that before. You're lucky to still have your job - if that had been The Wolly With The Brolly, then the English fans would have lynched him and left him swinging from a tree.

[mark wilson27]

Very true Spav, I can't believe that scoreline....I was ready to throw my computer through the window when it happened

[mark wilson27]

May 16th: The odds for Euro 2012 have been released and the Italians are the favourites at 5-2, England are quoted at 7-1 with France 15-2, Germany 9-1, Spain 11-1 and Holland 12-1

Domestic and European Results:

Premiership Top Three:

1st: Arsenal 79pts

2nd: Tottenham Hotspurs 78pts

3rd: Sunderland 61pts

FA Cup; Arsenal 2-0 West Ham United

League Cup: Liverpool 5-0 Sheffield United

Community Shield: Manchester United 3-1 Blackburn Rovers

Champions League: Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United

UEFA Cup; Valencia 3-1 Inter Milan

European Super Cup: Palermo 2-1 Leverkusen (aet)

World Club Championship: Palermo 3-0 Suwon

[bluebirds4life]

Sorry Mark haven't posted for ages.

By the way that 7-2, I just won 6-2 as Barca vs Santander, ah well.

[mark wilson27]

Now I had to decide which players I was going to take to the European Championship.

My squad is as follows:

Position    ¦ Name                  ¦ Squad ¦ Age  ¦ Caps ¦ Goals ¦      Club         ¦ 
           ¦                       ¦ Number¦      ¦      ¦       ¦                   ¦
============¦=======================¦=======¦======¦======¦=======¦===================¦
   GK      ¦ Ben Foster            ¦    2  ¦  29  ¦  17  ¦   0   ¦ Villarreal        ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   GK      ¦ Paul Robinson         ¦    1  ¦  32  ¦  70  ¦   0   ¦ Tottenham Hotspur ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   GK      ¦ Ben Amos              ¦   13  ¦  22  ¦   0  ¦   0   ¦ Reading           ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DRC     ¦ Wes Brown             ¦    3  ¦  32  ¦  27  ¦   2   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DRLC    ¦ Jamie Carragher       ¦   14  ¦  34  ¦  36  ¦   0   ¦ Liverpool         ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DRC/WBR ¦ Gary Neville          ¦    2  ¦  37  ¦ 121  ¦   1   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DRL/DM  ¦ Micah Richards        ¦   23  ¦  23  ¦  17  ¦   0   ¦ Chelsea           ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DC      ¦ Curtis Davies         ¦   22  ¦  27  ¦   8  ¦   0   ¦ Aston Villa       ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DC      ¦ Rio Ferdinand         ¦    4  ¦  33  ¦ 105  ¦   3   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DC      ¦ Ledley King           ¦   21  ¦  31  ¦  27  ¦   1   ¦ Tottenham Hotspur ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DC      ¦ John Terry            ¦    5  ¦  31  ¦  82  ¦   4   ¦ Chelsea           ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   DM      ¦ Owen Hargreaves       ¦    6  ¦  31  ¦  69  ¦   8   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   MC      ¦ Michael Carrick       ¦   19  ¦  30  ¦  28  ¦   2   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMRLC   ¦ Giles Barnes          ¦   20  ¦  23  ¦  10  ¦   2   ¦ Fiorentina        ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMR     ¦ David Bentley         ¦   18  ¦  27  ¦   4  ¦   0   ¦ Portsmouth        ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMRLC   ¦ Joe Cole              ¦   11  ¦  30  ¦  79  ¦  15   ¦ Chelsea           ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMRC    ¦ Steven Gerrard        ¦    8  ¦  32  ¦  82  ¦  16   ¦ Liverpool         ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMR     ¦ Shaun Wright-Phillips ¦   16  ¦  30  ¦  44  ¦   5   ¦ Chelsea           ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   AMR/FC  ¦ Theo Walcott          ¦    7  ¦  23  ¦  44  ¦   8   ¦ Parma             ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   FC      ¦ Febian Brandy         ¦   17  ¦  23  ¦   7  ¦   2   ¦ Betis             ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   FC      ¦ Wayne Rooney          ¦   10  ¦  26  ¦  87  ¦  36   ¦ Manchester United ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   ST      ¦ Jermain Defoe         ¦   15  ¦  29  ¦  42  ¦  10   ¦ Zaragoza          ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦
   ST      ¦ Michael Owen          ¦    9  ¦  32  ¦ 135  ¦  75   ¦ Inter Milan       ¦
------------¦-----------------------¦-------¦------¦------¦-------¦-------------------¦

[MarkTrevor]

Sunderland 3rd in the Premier League?

[mark wilson27]

Yes Mark, dont die of shock lol......

I think Keano is still the manager but I'm not 100% sure

[salkster2102]

what happened to the mighty pool and the insignificant chelsea and united?

[mark wilson27]

Liverpool (not so mighty) finished 7th, Manchester Untied were 5th and Chelsea were 16th after getting nine/ten points for going into administration

[salkster2102]

administration? what happened to abromovich

[mark wilson27]

Don't know....Seems to happen alot in the games i've played...After about three or four season Chelsea start to slide down the table then go into administration

[jamiemerseyfan]

wow this story is really good, i will definately be checking back on this now.

sounds good that you've got carragher out of retirement. as a liverpool fan i think he should come back and play for capello instead of the overrated ferdinand

[mark wilson27]

Cheers jamie. Carragher should come back to the England fold

[mark wilson27]

June 9th; Portugal 2-2 Romania

June 10th; Poland 1-0 Bulgaria, France 2-0 Norway, Italy 1-0 Switzerland

June 11th: England v Holland: Euro 2012 Group Stage (Alejaunii, Lodz)

A slow start to our defence as my players struggled to get going and on the 7th minute we had Robinson to thank as he saved well from Holland’s first attack. Five minutes later he was there to save us again as Terry fluffed a clearance and left the Dutch attack one on one with Robinson. I was getting frustrated with the way my team were playing in general. However on t he 29th minute we managed to grab an undeserved lead as Carrick fired in from 20 yards. My joy was short lived as two minutes later Guzman wrapped his foot round the ball and fired a screamer past Robinson. A further two minutes later I was left fuming as a completed screw up in defence left Huntelaar free to fire past our keeper. Holland were all over us now as my players struggled with the game, the only player I was happy with was Robinson who was keeping us in the game.

The second half was much the same as Holland destroyed my team with some excellent play and if it wasn't for Robinson we would of lost by a cricket score. Lucky for us we only conceded the one extra goal as Van Persie rifled in a great free kick after Terry hacked down a the Dutch striker.

Not the start I wanted to the defence of our European Crown.

England 1 Carrick 29

Holland 3 Guzman 31, Huntelaar 33, Van Persie 77

Man of Match: Guzman (Holland)

Booked: J.Cole, Rooney

Attendance; 24965

Player Ratings;

GK: Robinson (8)

RB; G.Neville (6)

LB; Carragher (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB; Terry (6)

MR: Walcott (7) sub 58 Wright-Phillips (6)

ML: J.Cole (7)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

MC: Carrick (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (6)

FC: Owen (6) inj 44 sub Brandy (7)

Injury News: Owen will be out for the rest of the tournament after straining his knee

Other Results; Slovakia 1-0 Slovenia

June 12th; Spain 2-0 Ukraine, Russia 1-1 Germany

June 13th: Romania 1-0 Poland

June 14th: Portugal 1-0 Bulgaria

June 15th: Norway 2-1 Italy, Switzerland 0-0 France

[gavrenwick]

By the look of Robbo's rating, you seemed to be under the kosh alot. Not the result you wanted ey? Better luck in your next game.

[salkster2102]

sounds familiar from the last euros for you. we still have faith in you

[mark wilson27]

Wasn't impressed by ten of my players but like gav said Robinson saved the day for my team

Cheers Slakster someone has got too have faith in me lol

[mark wilson27]

June 16th: England v Slovakia; Euro 2012 Group Stage (Central Stadium Chornomorets, Odesa)

After the pure rubbish against the Dutch I told my players I wanted a much better performance. It was however Slovakia who had the first chance but luckily for us Carragher managed to block the effort off the line. On the 13th minute Slovakia came close again with a rasping effort from 25 yards but Robinson managed to tip the ball over the post. It wasn't looking good but on the 20th minute we went into a surprising lead as Rooney fired in a thunderous effort from 20 yards. After the goal we started to up the gears some more. On the 28th minute we had the next chance of the game as J.Cole fired in a free kick from 25 yards, unfortunalty the effort was well saved by the Slovakian keeper. Just before the break we doubled our lead as Brandy fired in from inside the area after a great ball by Rooney.

The second half was much the same as we controlled the final 45 minutes of the game. My players did me proud as we completely dominated the Slovakian team. On the 70th minute we added goal number three as J.Cole finally got the goal he deserved with a cracking effort from the edge of the area.

England 3 Rooney 20, Brandy 45, J.Cole 70

Slovakia 0

Man of Match: J.Cole (England)

Booking; Hargreaves

Attendance: 30,738

Player Ratings:

GK: Robinson (7)

RB: G.Neville (8)

LB: Carragher (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB: Terry (7)

MR: Walcott (8)

ML: J.Cole (8)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

MC: Carrick (7) sub 45 Bentley (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (8)

FC: Brandy (8)

Other results; Holland 2-0 Slovenia

June 17th: Ukraine 1-0 Russia, Spain 1-1 Germany

June 18th; Poland 1-0 Portugal, Romania 4-2 Bulgaria

[gavrenwick]

Good to see things back on track for getting out of the group. Good win!

[mark wilson27]

Just need a good result in the next game to guarentee prohression in the tournament

[salkster2102]

just a win against slovenia should do it regarding the dutch dont lose? should be ok mate but football is a funny game after all

[mark wilson27]

very true salkster. Hopefully my players will pull there fingers out and actually play

[ssestig]

much better result mark. kutgw and who knows what will happen mate.

[mark wilson27]

June 19th: England v Slovenia; Euro 2012 Group Stage (Stadion Slaski, Chorzon)

A terrible start saw us go a goal down on then 4th minute as Vrsic fired in for Slovenia. I couldn't believe my team started so poorly and it didn't improve as Slovenia controlled much of the early play. On the 21st minute they had the next chance of the game with an effort from 20 yards which went just over. My players were being out played all over the pitch. At the half time interval I ripped into my players and told them it was embarrassing for me to watch. I changed the formation to a 4-3-3.

The second half started alot better for us as on the 56th minute we grabbed the equaliser as Walcott rifled home from just inside the area. This was a false dawn though as my players just gave up and Slovenia kicked us all over the pitch. I was furious with how my team was doing and on the 71st minute Slovenia won the game with a cracking effort from Vrsic.

England 1 Walcott 56

Slovenia 2 Vrsic 4, 71

Man of Match: Vrsic (Slovenia)

Booked: No English Player

Attendance: 44,989

Player Ratings;

GK: Robinson (6)

RB: G.Neville (7)

LB; Carragher (7)

CB: R.Ferdinand (7)

CB: Terry (6)

MR: Walcott (7)

ML: J.Cole (6) sub 45 Barnes (7)

MC: Hargreaves (7)

MC: Carrick (7)

FC: Rooney (cap) (6)

FC; Brandy (6) sub 45 Defoe (6)

Other results; Holland 2-0 Slovakia

Despite our loss we managed to scrape through to the 1/4 finals.

June 20th: Germany 0-0 Ukraine, Spain 4-0 Russia, France 3-2 Italy, Norway 2-1 Switzerland