andychar

The first International Window after a World Cup always feels like the first Raw after a Wrestlemania. The start of the next cycle all heading towards the same thing. In this case the next World Cup, but more immediate than that is the Nations League. 2 key cogs missing (I asked them both if they want to reconsider, going against what I said before, it was a hard pass from them both). So what would the next Squad look like? Hunter is a big gap as well. Liam Kelly still number 1. I imagine at 34 we will get one more World Cup cycle out of him before the unknown hits. Malky Semple, the World Cup probably came just that little bit too early for him. But he's certainly one to keep an eye on. Only 2 either 30 and over. Should get another good 4 years out of his Group. Not on the screenshot but here is Hardwick. I've decided to trim the old fat completely here. This lineup is looking as grim as it has done in a while but there are a good few here that are young and will only get better. Billy Gilmour is our next captain. I don't see any reason why we need more than 2 and I don't see any reason why it needs to be anything other than these's 2. Che Adams is on 97 caps but I don't think he will play for us again. A friendly and our last chance to tick off a Country in 2030 and then our "easier game" in the Nations League. We have a chance of a decent showing here. Lets not ruin it.

Update Time for the 2 yearly update of the state of play. We have made a tiny dent in Asia over the last 2 years. A good World Cup ticked a few off. 7/46 Africa also looking healthy with a few during the World Cup period. 14/54 Couple of bottom feeders done here. No offence to any Anguilians or Monterratians reading (sorry if I've butchered that as well). 6/35 Obviously always going to be the biggest yellow. Still not even half way yet however. 24/54 No movement in OFC. 1/11 Another ticked off with the next fixture being another chance. 3/10 No change here also. 3/16 Altogether it means we are currently sitting at 51/226. Not quite 1/4 of the way there yet but close. Roughly another 27 years if we can keep the current pace. But it will obviously die down as Europe becomes harder to find a Country we haven't beat.

Absolutely outstanding to have the chance of turning down Argentina over and over again. At the moment its 6 wins over Austria in a row 3 Argentina Roles turned down.

World Cup 2030 So lets round things off. Quarters is a good achievement. Our 4th in a row in Major Tournaments. 60 days till we play again. The holders continue their fine defence of the Trophy. Portugal beating Brazil has to be seen as a shock. 3-0 certainly! We haven't had back to back World Cup Winners since Brazil in 58 and 62. France are one game away from doing just that and making it 3 in the past 4. A true Golden Generation. It would give Jose Mourinho a World Cup Winners Medal as well! Italy shot themselves in the foot and it gives Belgium the chance to become only the 9th Country in the World to win the World Cup. Portugal win the most pointless game in World Football. We made it to 11th during the Tournament but lose a place to Belgium I assume moving into the Top 10. So it was France once again. Back to back wins. Hopefully see you again in 4 years. Robertson and McGregor have gone. Not a shock at all. We already knew Ryan Christie was retiring as well. Robertson - 134 Caps, 4 Goals McGregor - 117 Caps, 10 Goals including one during this World Cup Christie - 116 Caps, 38 Goals

World Cup 2030 Belgium (n) The stuff dreams are made of. The chance to reach the Semi Final of a World Cup and tick another big player off the list. We will have to do it the hard way with suspensions. The hope was maybe to leapfrog England in the rankings so maybe some players will start to choose us over them...can't see it now really. Its not a surprise that we are the underdogs. We have been all the way through this knockout. The winner will play either Italy....or England.... Well that came out the blue. Not interested but thank you. We open up the Quarter Final fixtures. I haven't got a clue what the Starting Line Up will look like. I bet Kelly starts in goal though. Its not as bad as I thought it was going to be to be honest. Patterson back from his suspension, thanks the guys for giving him the chance to play again. Welsh and Campbell have been alternating starts, this time they both start. Robertson, might be his last game for Scotland, same with McGregor. I have a feeling going to lose them both after this World Cup and I'm happy for them to sail into the sunset. Not like first time Robertson retired when he was only 32! Gilmour starts. Munro on the wing again to allow Hardwick to return to his natural side. There is some fatigue in this squad but its time to dig deep now. We have a chance at Scottish history here. Lets not blow it. I'll be honest I forgot to look at whose on a yellow heading into this game. Lets just not have any bookings yeah? Heartbreak just before the half. Belgium have been the better side. No arguements but can't argue it was coming. A little bolt out the blue and we have a climb in the second half. We really need to dig deep now. That could be that. We look dead on our feet. Nobody has turned up other than Munro on the wing. Its been disappointing. Wilkie puts the ball in the back of the net with 5 minutes to set up a grandstand finish but its ruled out for offside and that just sums up the day in a nut shell. Final twist of the knife and honestly not a single person can hold their head up high after this and say they did well. Just a terrible performance and another tournament ends with our tails between our legs.

World Cup 2030 It won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination but we will give it a bloody good go. A total of 4 players will be suspended. Hickey, Tierney, Buchan and O'Hare. With several more one yellow away I'm sure. But the Last 16 rumbled on with 4 more games. Brazil made to work against Norway while Italy didn't need to get out of first gear. Jamaica can be very proud of themselves. The next day was ripe and ready for shocks... And delivered none. We are the worst team left in the competition by far. According to World Rankings we have; Brazil 1st England 3rd Italy 4th France 5th Holland 7th Portugal 8th Scotland 11th Belgium 14th So technically could argue we aren't the worst...in fact...we play the worst!

World Cup 2030 Austria (n) Not a Country we can tick off the list. I think at this point we have played Austria 5 times and beaten them 5 times. (Annoyingly Past Meetings isn't working for me). We once again come into the game as underdogs and will probably have to make several changes down to fatigue after that game against Uruguay. The Last 16 got underway the day before we played. The hosts are out. The party is over. Holland have been strong in this save with back to back losing efforts in Finals and they claw their way into another Quarter Final. Belgium survive a scare and also find themselves a Penalty Shootout winner to escape into the Quarters. We, if we get through, will face Belgium. France and Argentina played before us... They are becoming tight and cagey affairs and this was another that went to the wire. France looking a different team than the one we relegated. Our turn. Hickey, Tierney and Buchan start this game on a yellow and could miss a potential Quarter Final game against Belgium. O'Hare is the only one on the bench who could miss as well. Hickey starts for the suspended Patterson. McGurk starts ahead of the fatigued duo of Welsh and Campbell (one of them). Munro goes out wide to replace the fatigued Hardwick giving Che Adams the chance to lead the line. Turnbull comes in for Lowry. We have several players who can make the difference off the bench. Hopefully they won't be needed. Che Adams with a looping header, takes it over the keeper and into the back of the net. Great start. Hickey will miss the Quarters if we can hold on. He wouldn't start either way but still, a good man to bring off the bench. He's featured in every game so far. Its been a good close game. We took a half chance that came our way and that's the difference. A very intriguing 45 minutes ahead. As cliche as it sounds, next goal is crucial. Alex Lowry, on as a sub drills one home. Great goal and what a time for it. A nice little cushion. It didn't last long however. Game back on. We held on! So many bookings. So many suspensions for the Quarters but the important thing is we are there! Boom!

World Cup 2030 So far out the 8 teams into the Last 16 only 1 is outside Europe. Argentina. Lets see if that can change. Brazil join their rivals in the Last 16. Both Italy and Norway survive scares to book their place. Jamaica are the feel good team this time around as they surprise the World with an AET win over Denmark. 3 teams outside of Europe now. 1 more day to add more (we are guarenteed at least 1 more). England relied on last minute heroics and a penalty shootout to get passed Nigeria! USA destroyed South Africa an ensure we only have 3 parts of the World represented in the Last 16 (Europe and Both Americas). Albania had to wait until the last kick of the game to get through to the Last 16. We are at the business end of the Tournament now. Spain v Holland, France v Argentina, Brazil v Norway. Some big teams are going to exit. We have the chance of a few giants killings. We also have a chance to get through to what would be our 4th straight Quarter Final. As of right now I've not clocked who we could possibly face but looking at it it won't be easy either way.

World Cup 2030 Uruguay (n) This is the reason I've mainly left South America off the Friendlies. Because there's a good chance of facing them in the World Cup. I don't know what to make of this game. Its one that I think could go either way. And we will go into it as the underdogs. The winner of this game faces the winner of the Egypt v Austria game. There was a full day of fixture before us as the knockouts started. How European. Holland Spain, slight scares but nothing major. Belgium were given a big scare by Canada. Bosnia and Herzogovina taken all the way by the plucky Africans. Hopefull we can continue this trend when we play. We are the first game of the day. 3 people start this game on a yellow. Patterson, Tierney and Buchan. O'Hare starts on the bench with a yellow. I am a Chelsea man so seeing Gus Poyet as my opposite man makes me smile. 2 changes. Campbell for the fatigued Welsh and McGregor comes back into the side with Turnbull relegated to the bench. This could go either way I think. Patterson gives away the penalty and my God what an awful start. We have done everything but score. Munro and Buchan are guilty of missing the biggest chances. We should be level. Hell we should be winning. We need to keep going, if we play in the second half as we did in the first we deserve to win. Patterson will miss the Last 16 if we get there and honestly I don't know why I bother calling him up, spends half the time suspended! Told them they have been unlucky. Lets keep positive! Buchan off Christie on. Munro off Adams on. You honestly couldn't script it. Buchan sets up Munro for the equaliser. Nothing short of what we have deserved. We have huffed and we have puffed, we deserve to win the game but we are going to Extra Time. There are some tired legs out there. Last World Cup we went out in Extra Time to a Spanish speaking Country. We will finish the game with 10 men. After all the subs have been used one of them is cartered off. We have 15 minutes to hold on for penalties. This game has suddenly flipped turned upside down. Half time in Extra Time. Huge 15 minutes coming up. Thats it. Game over. This one is going to penalties. Gilmour and Turnbull are the only players with Penalty rating over 10. This could be painful. Uruguay get us started. Valverde. He steps up, straight down the middle but the keeper didn't move! SAVED. Can Gilmour give Scotland the advantage? He's normally so cool, calm and collected when it comes to penalties. Straight down the middle but this time the keeper did move! GOAL 1-0 Scotland. This suddenly is a big penalty for Uruguay. Its Diaz. Straight down the middle but the keeper didn't move! Carbon copy of the first penalty. SAVED! Turnbull has a huge chance here to give Scotland a 2 goal lead in this shootout (before the crapbags start taking for us). He starts his run up. Straight down the middle and once again the keeper moved. GOAL! 2-0 Scotland. 3 penalties left. Uruguay already staring down the barrel of a gun. Rodriguez steps up. Its all on him, miss here and Scotland will have a penalty to win. He goes right corner but its a weak penalty and Kelly dives the right way! SAVED Hardwick steps up. If he scores Scotland are through with not a bit of drama in this shootout. He's ballooned it! Over the bar! MISSED Its still 2-0 Scotland so now its score or out for Uruguay. De Leon steps up. The fate of a Nation in his hands. He needs to score. No more room for error now. He smashes it right, keeper guesses the right way but can't get to it. Best penalty of the shootout so far. 2-1 Scotland Second chance for Scotland to win it, a bit more nervy than the last one, this time its Dylan Munro. His goal brought Scotland level, now he can send them through. He fires it right but gets too much on it! MISSED. Uruguay, amazingly are still in this! The 5th and final penalty and it looked like we wouldn't get close to this moment. Lopez needs to score or they are out. Straight down the middle, the keeper doesn't move but somehow it gets passed him. A bit of scripting maybe there? GOAL Suddenly its 2-2 but Scotland have a 3rd chance to wrap this up. Che Adams the Country's All Time Goalscorer has a chance to send his Nation into the Last 16 of the World Cup after a bizarre and nervy shreading shootout. He steps up right bottom right and gives the keeper absolutely zero chance GOAL!!!!! We deserve that. What a game. I need to lie in a dark room for a bit. The positives are that we are through. The negative is we will be without Patterson who is suspended and one of the Campbell's who picked up a Tournament ending injury. We certainly provided the drama of the day. FYI it counts as a win so Uruguay are now ticked off the list! An old foe appears.

World Cup 2030 Day 11 and 4 more Groups would be decided. Peru needed to not lose heavy. They lost heavy, it means Cameroon scrape through. Same can be said about South Korea. Bulgaria couldn't topple Brazil but they gave them a good go. New Zealand the only OFC team also out. Day 12 and it was the last of the Group Stage Games. We would have our 32. Colombia shocked England to top the Group. Albania faced Syria in a do or die match and absolutely destroyed them. USA and Sweden competed for placement. Portugal also had a do or die game and ended up topping the Group. It means the Last 32 looks like this. Mexico v Argentina, England v Nigeria and Sweden v Portugal are the picks of the Round in my eyes. Our game with Uruguay also up there. We got a pretty tricky tie but had we not won the Group it would have been France. So go figure!

World Cup 2030 Iran (n) Before we get into my game there was Day 9 and the start of the final round of games. It was a win that saw Spain and Belgium top the Groups but the losers also through. Australia go through winless with 2 draws being enough. Chile losing means Ghana get through. We have lost 2 Asians, 1 African and a South American so far. Now lets get into our 2nd game. Qualification isn't secured so we still have a job to do. We are once again favourites but that is too tight to call. 2 changes. Welsh comes in for Campbell who didn't impress. McGregor rested so Lowry goes CM and Turnbull comes in. A draw is enough to top this group, which is essential I think. Munro once again has missed some chances but he doesn't make a mistake this time. He was better moving to the wing against Angola. Munro puts the misses behind him and fires us into a nice 2-0 lead. Going to plan so far. We've deserved the lead so far. More of the same please. Chance to rest some players maybe? A route one goal from nothing. Game on. Munro hat trick. And calm. It has taken me bringing them all on at the same time to realise we have 3 Campbells! Dylan Munro is putting out a clinic out there. 4 goals. Campbell scores. I mean it was odds on. Couldn't tell you which one. We were brilliant here today. Job well and truly done. Well that's the easy bit out the way anyway. Well...its another chance to tick a South American side off but I have a feeling it could have been kinder to us. The last minute Uruguay goal meant nothing as they were already going through because they weren't spanked. Argentina top the Group while Mexico won the do or die match against Hungary. Hungary so far the only European side to have exited the competition.

World Cup 2030 We don't play for another 7 days so a nice break. Day 3 and another 4 games. Peru pulled off a late comeback with 10 men. No surprise with Brazil really. Norway relied on a late winner to squeeze a win out of South Korea. Good day all round really. Day 4 had some high expectations after Day 3. South Africa holding Portugal to a goalless draw can be seen as a shock in my eyes. Same maybe with Albania falling to Nigeria after their strong showing recently. Day 5 saw the 2nd round of games so some times will be making their first apperance and maybe some teams will be eliminated. Teams like Qatar. Over and out for them, and Iraq. Bad day for Asia. 2026 surprise package Morocco face a nervous wait to see if they go through on GD. While Ghana are looking good to go through despite the loss. Ecuador and Spain go through without kicking a ball and it will be fighting for placement in the final Group game. Day 6 and its the turn of our Group without us. We could be through without kicking a ball. But we aren't. Angola will join us if we beat Iran. Iran need to beat us by a few goals to go through on GD. Algeria powerless, Suriname bow out without being destroyed once. Mexico and Hungary will go head to head to see who will join Egypt in the knockouts. Day 7 and more Countries fates could be decided. Italy comfortably through to the next round. South Korea must wait to see if Costa Rica lose to Norway and by how many. Jamaica take a huge step into the knockouts and now just need Bulgaria not to beat Brazil. Senegal helped themselves with 2 late goals and the GD. Day 8 sees the last 4 Groups finish their second set of fixtures. England start strong against weaker opponents. Nigeria do enough to get through to the knockouts. USA start strong and eliminate Zambia. South Africa qualify with Japan playing Portugal to see who progresses with them.

World Cup 2030 Angola (n) We are Day 2 so I'll add Day 1 onto this post. We are favourites but not by as much as I expected if I'm being honest. I'm expecting a win here, and I had it down as the chance of a big win. But...the World Cup can produce some weird results and there should be no such thing as an easy game. Day 1 saw the first 4 Groups get underway. The hosts got off to a thundering start. Morocco are looking to repeat the heroics of 4 years ago but start with a disappoint point. South American beat Asia but lost to Africa. Some nice games. Some decisions to make. Campbell picked over Welsh, Hardwick on the Right so Buchan can start on the Left. McGregor at 36 still gets into this starting line up. Hunter beat out Gilmour. Its nice that we have options off the bench if need be. Hardwick! One tough decision paying off. What a start. Well. As you were! Explosive start to this game. Some poor performances so far. Munro has missed a few big chances. Buchan I swapped Hardwick to bring him in and he hasn't delivered either. Not going to panic with subs just yet but I have my finger on a few buttons. Hardwick heads up back into the lead following a free kick on the wing, Every goal he scores is a bonus. McGregor gives us a cushion. But it doesn't last long! 70th minute and Angola are down to 10. Chance here to hold on for the win. Che Adams on and surely he's put the game to bed now. This might be his last involvement in the Scottish team but he is showing he can still play a part. Che Adams adds the icing and helps the GD. Great super sub performance. The red card certainly helped us take control of the game. Brilliant 2nd half performance. Day 2 looked like this... Suriname did well not to be embarrased by Argentina. Wonder if they will want me again after this Tournament.

I don't know you have the weekend off FM and have to find your Thread on Page 2! Anyway Friendly Kyrgyzstan (h) Glad I don't have to spell that Country much. Last friendly before the World Cup so there will be changes galore so I don't want to risk burnout. Took longer than I wanted but not complaining. Wilkie with the goal. Its not been a classic. Hopefully we can kick on in the second half. Buchan gives us a nice cushion. Should be game over Wilkie with his 2nd. Oh I missed the fact Wilkie blew his chance at a hattrick. Shame. But job done. Another Country ticked off, a lot more straight forward than these Friendlies have been in the past. We move onto the World Cup.

Aye enjoyed going through that. Good luck with the rest of the adventure!

Friendly Tajikstan (h) Another friendly and another chance for fitness ahead of the World Cup. Decided to use this middle friendly as a chance to test out what I think will be the starting XI. Turnbull and Lowry swap positions as Lowry seems to be better further forward. Hardwick swaps wings so Buchan can start. Patterson still nursing an injury, as is Hickey so the defence might chop and change a wee bit. Munro starts the game 4 goals behind Adams... Alex Lowry proving my tactical genius. 5 shots on target from 22 is very worrying indeed! Munro. 3 behind... Hardwick puts the game beyond doubt. I was expecting more, not going to lie. But its a win and another Country ticked off.

Friendly Equatorial Guinea (h) The start of the World Cup journey and its a winnable friendly. Well...lets face it...they are all winnable! Not the strongest line up but one that should do the job here today. Mick Campbell had a goal chalked off just moments before. This one sticks. Good goal from Chris Wilkie who is going for a hattrick of hattricks. Solid half of football. Happy so far. Buchan was guilty of missing some chances in the first half. Good start to the second. Game back on? Sub Gilmour from the spot. Unspectacular but a win. I'll update progress at the end of the World Cup.

World Cup Squad Keepers unchanged. You don't need to see them. Patterson, Tierney, Welsh, Robertson. That will be the starting back 4 if I can. Hickey and Campbell will provide good back ups. Not pictured but there is Hardwick. My heart won out. Ryan Christie took the last spot on the plane. I couldn't not take him. McGregor, Hunter, Turnbull and Hardwick are pretty much guarenteed to be starters. The AMR place is up for grabs. It could even be Munro at this point. I saw no point taking more than 3. This could come bite me in the butt if I'm going to play 2 at a time with one on the wing.

Not just International Football but Football in general. Its like its purposefully tugging at my heartstrings!

Ooooft that's harsh. He probably wasn't a starter but he was a good back up. George Johnston replaces him. Unlikely to make the Final Squad.

World Cup 2030 Preliminary Squad I like this squad cos its 50+ players and you end us cutting more players than you keep. Saw no reason to take more than 3. These will be the 3 that make the World Cup. Malky Semple is somebody I think we will be seeing in the future but maybe this World Cup has just come too soon for him. Some familiar names here, I can't imagine there will be too many surprises come the final decision. Patterson will miss some friendlies but will be fit for the World Cup. Everybody except Aaron Hickey rejoices. My biggest decision here is going to be a head v heart decision regarding Ryan Christie. Do I give him one last Major Tournament? Again I can't see any surprises when its decision time. I think Che Adams is just going to keep hold of his spot here.

This could be a bitter blow, although with Hickey I feel it could have been worse.

As per usual I created a load of Friendlies expecting most, if not all to be cancelled when Nations League fixtures were created. 1 survived. I think its a tasty one.

Nations League Draw Before the World Cup we have the Draw for the Nations League. I want 3 teams I've yet to chalk off. No fan cares about the Nations League it seems. I got the complete opposite to what I wanted. All 3 of these teams have been ticked off. Meaning its the first time we hit a brick wall with progress in this save...luckily it comes at the end of a year where we have a chance of ticking 8 Countries at least off the list. So it could have been much much worse. In terms of the draw itself. I think we have a chance of at least surviving and securing Top Seed for Euros Draw.

Nice bit of news out the blue.