[FM16] Ogier le danois: in your hour of darkest need I shall come

[Northwood_dk]

UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 11

There would be no walkover in the final games in group B as all four teams still had a chance to make the knockout stage.

SWEDEN vs. HOLLAND

And

SWITZERLAND vs. TURKEY

Sweden took the lead on the first shot of the game and suddenly they found themselves on top of group B.

According to plan, Turkey took the lead after 30 minutes of play in the other game. With Sweden up 1-0, Holland was suddenly in danger.

But then trouble started to mount up for Turkey. Early in the second half they gave up the equalizer after a free kick. Turkey was now tied with Holland on 4 points but behind in the standing due to the loss to the Dutch in the first round. Not great for the Turks but still with a good chance to slip thru as one of the four best 3rd place teams.

But it was going to get worse.

It all came crumbling down after 63 minutes when the Turkish defends scored an own goal and suddenly Turkey was last in the Group.

No more goals was scored in any of the games and Sweden finished on top of the group in front of Holland, with Switzerland awaiting their future and Turkey disappointingly going home.

[Northwood_dk]

This is definitely the year of the excellent international thread.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story.

More to come this evening

[Northwood_dk]

Match Day 6



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DENMARK vs. GERMANY

I decided to throw the game against Germany !!

Already qualified for the next round and with what I decided to be less than 15% chance to get a result against the Germans I saw no reason to tire out Christian Eriksen and Co even more than what they already were in a “meaningless” game. Instead I decided to rest my best players to get them back to full strength for the knockout game.

The danish pundits wanted me to try out a 3-5-2 formation and with Germany playing with just a single striker i went along.

It was not pretty. Only sobering fact was that the final result could have been a lot worse.

We got slabbed around all game.

We hardly held the ball for any period of time and were not even close to producing any chances the few times we got over midfield with control of the ball.

We held on for 73 minutes before finaly giving up the goal but when it was all over Germany had taken 21 shots compared to our 1 and they had controlled the ball for almost 60 of the 90 minutes the game lasted.

In other words, just as expected against a German team in need of a result and with a group of young and inexperienced players on the field in a brand new formation.

The good news was that we now had an injury free team well rested going forward in the tournament.

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POLAND vs. GREECE

In the other game Poland got their first win of the tournament, but with only 3 points their tournament is likely over.

[deltablue]

Controversial

[Northwood_dk]

Controversial

Not at all

But for some reason we are now obligated to play a friendly against Panama

[deltablue]

Not at all

But for some reason we are now obligated to play a friendly against Panama

Surely there would be some unrest from fans at giving up the opportunity to be top of the group and have a better draw in the next round. I understand your reasoning but it's not something I would do to that extent, an I'd only even drop players to save them for a specific game very rarely.

Not sure who was responsible for Panama but it seems mad

[Northwood_dk]

UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 12









ITALY vs. BELGIUM



And



SLOVENIA v SERBIA

Italy were already qualified but it didn't stop them from going all out against Belgium. Mario Balotelli impressed once again with both a goal and assist in the win.

Italy's only problem going forward is that Buffon is still out for 1-2 weeks with broken ribs.

Now Serbia had a chance and it looked good when they scored already after 3 minutes. But already before 25 minute mark Slovenia had equalized when Valter Birsa scored an early contender for “goal of the tournament” on a longshot curled into the top right corner.

In the second half when Serbia pressed to retake the lead, Slovenia counterattacked and scored the last goal of the game.

[Northwood_dk]

UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 12









PORTUGAL vs. ENGLAND



And



ROMANIA vs. WALES

England were already qualified for the knockout round but they still came guns blazing against Portugal. England took the lead already after 4 minutes and when they added a second after 30 minutes Portugal more or less gave up and concentrated on not giving up more goals. Romania's heavy loss (0-4) to England earlier in the tournament meant that they need a huge win against Wales to pass Portugal, and that was not happening.

Romania scored twice and Wales once in the span of 15 minutes in the second half. Wales had to go home with three losses and Romania had to wait and see if 4 points would be enough to take them thru to the final-16.

[Northwood_dk]

UEFA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 12









CROATIA vs. CZECH REP



And



UKRAINE vs. SPAIN

Spain was never really in trouble. They had to wait to just before the break for the goals. Before that they had completely dominated time of possession and didn't allow Ukraine a single shot on goal in the first half.

In the second half Spain just tried to waist time but got a real scare when Ukraine put a ball in the crossbar just minutes before full time.

Croatia needed a win and took control early with a goal from Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic. Just before the break Czech Rep made a silly penalty where the referee called obstruction and Croatia was up by two at the half.

In the second half Czech Rep knew that they would be thru with 4 points and played more freely. They got a goals by ACF Fiorentina striker Ladislav Krejci but never got close to a win.