[FM10] Fabio Crouchello - Taking England to South Africa 2010

[crouchaldinho]

Fabio Crouchello Under Pressure:

[crouchaldinho]

My job status is insecure.

[Gizmo7]

Nice win there, i've got faith in the England boys to pull off a win

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - Faroe Islands 0 - 3 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

As expected, total domination here. We are going to the World Cup!

But the work starts here to be honest. Many places are still up for grabs.

I have two friendlies to play in 2013 and I intend to use both of them to try out some different players and to make my mind up about who will be on the plane to Brazil for World Cup 2014.

[crouchaldinho]

Nice win there, i've got faith in the England boys to pull off a win

Cheers!

Job status back to secure now. Phew!

Disaster averted.... for now!

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 Final Standings:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 1st   | Q     | England       |       | 10    | 7     | 1     | 2     | 26    | 7     | +19   | 22    | [/b]
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Slovenia      |       | 10    | 7     | 1     | 2     | 18    | 8     | +10   | 22    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Switzerland   |       | 10    | 6     | 1     | 3     | 22    | 12    | +10   | 19    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Wales         |       | 10    | 5     | 1     | 4     | 17    | 14    | +3    | 16    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Moldova       |       | 10    | 2     | 1     | 7     | 12    | 25    | -13   | 7     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Faroe Islands |       | 10    | 0     | 1     | 9     | 1     | 30    | -29   | 1     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Gizmo7]

New you'd do it

As for a future replacement for Gerrard; you might want to look at Jonjo Shelvey. He normally turns pretty good.

[crouchaldinho]

Cheers Gizmo. I have my eye on him.

[AcidBurn]

What about Jack Wilshere he performs better than his stats suggest for my England team and he was great for Real Madrid as well.

[crouchaldinho]

Acidburn - he is just not quite there yet. Still some way from making the grade. Definitely a possibility for the future though.

[Jenko_EFC]

Jack Rodwell perhaps? Turns into a key player when I won the league about 4 seasons in with Everton. Anyway, unlucky against Wales :o. At least you qualified and won the group, marginally however . Really enjoying this!

[crouchaldinho]

Cheers Jenko_EFC. Jack Rodwell is in the squad at the moment.

The loss at home to Wales is probably my most embarrassing moment on FM to be honest. I should really have walked that group for goodness sake!

Still, I guess it made it quite interesting. I think I actually enjoyed being under pressure there for a while and having to pull out the win against Slovenia.

[Jenko_EFC]

Was shocked to see you lose. You said the next result was embarrasing and I thought the draw with Moldova was bad . Good luck for the next World Cup!

[crouchaldinho]

Two friendly games coming up then and I have named my squad.

I've left out Lampard and brought in Mancienne, and two young regens called Jamie O'Sullivan and Richard McDonald. The former from Man City and the later from West Ham.

A chance in these two friendlies for me to have a look at some new players as well as some fringe players. I'll be using these matches to experiment a great deal.

[crouchaldinho]

Benitez withdrew Gerrard.

I called up Jack Wilshere. Gives me a chance to look at him at AM.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - South Africa 1 - 1 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

This was a very experimental team. I'm hoping that by giving the fringe players and the youngsters some playing time, I can increase team gelling.

Ultimately, it wasn't a great display but I wasn't expecting too much. There were debuts for Michael Mancienne, Fabian Delph, Jack Wilshere, Jamie O'Sullivan and Richard McDonald. To be honest, none of them did themselves any harm either.

There is still a long way until the World Cup so places are still up for grabs. I have my first XI in my head right now, so I'm really looking at the squad places to see who can add something to the team for Brazil 2014.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - England 1 - 1 Ukraine

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Dan Gosling got a debut a right-back in this game. I also gave Frazier Campbell his first game for England. We're really short of forward options and after Darren Bent pulled out of the squad with injury, I thought that I may as well give him a go. It didn't go particularly well for him to be honest.

The highlight of this game was a fine first international goal for Fabian Delph. Otherwise, there weren't really too many positives to take out of it, apart from that I am getting the feeling for a few players who may be on the plane to Brazil next summer.

This is the last fixture of 2013.

[crouchaldinho]

Both recently dropped from the squad so not unexpected.

Lampard played 117 games and scored 41 goals.

Ferdinand played 119 games and scored 7 goals.

Both were key members of the World Cup 2010 runners-up and the Euro 2012 runners-up sides.

[AcidBurn]

Does Campbell still play for Sunderland?

Things are not going to well form wise, good luck with the rest.

[crouchaldinho]

Yes, Campbell is still at Sunderland.

I don't believe it. I've just lost a week of progress due to a crash, which includes both friendlies.

This save has got really buggy lately. Starting to really get on my nerves!

I'll replay the games and just post up the results.

[crouchaldinho]

Played the same team in the South Africa friendly. Darren Bent scored but I lost 2-1 this time.

Going to replay the Ukraine friendly next. Won't bother putting up screenshots seeing as they are only friendlies that I'm having to replay.

[AcidBurn]

Has playing the strange formation gone hand in hand with your poor-ish form?

[crouchaldinho]

The asymmetric 4-2-3-1 you mean? It's the default formation that comes with the game, only I have reversed it. It took me to the Euro 2012 final, so no problem there. It actually plays out quite like a 4-2-3-1 shape and sometimes looks like 4-4-2 during play. I quite like it at the moment, as it allows me to field a DM alongside an MC and a hardworking wide player on the right, with a pure attacking winger or inside forward on the left.

The poor form has come along for a couple of reasons. Mainly due to me sticking with the older players when I should have been bringing in some fresh faces. The team gelling is poor as a result too. Also, Carrick was key to my tactic as DLP and he has really declined quite dramatically.

I could have won the South Africa friendly but I was putting in lots of new faces. I'll be doing the same in the Ukraine friendly. I'm not looking for wins just looking to get a few of the new players some playing time.

To be honest, I haven't managed the transition of players very well and that has been the main problem. The decline of Lampard and Ferdinand, for instance, hit me hard, and because they were in my team so much, I didn't have any experience backups to come in.

[AcidBurn]

So it's not the tactic at all then if it was successful in the past, I didn't realise you had been using it for so long. From what I have seen of the England team the years 2014-2016 are quite hard going, there seems to be a lack of world class players to replace the star players at the start of the game. Once the decent regens come in it gets easier. In 2018 I have lots of regens and a strong team that have only conceded one goal in 17 games. I think the transition of players like Lampard, Gerrard, Terry and Ferdinand to the new stars is the hardest part.

[crouchaldinho]

Drew 2-2 with Ukraine. Darren Bent & Theo Walcott scored the goals.

[crouchaldinho]

So it's not the tactic at all then if it was successful in the past, I didn't realise you had been using it for so long. From what I have seen of the England team the years 2014-2016 are quite hard going, there seems to be a lack of world class players to replace the star players at the start of the game. Once the decent regens come in it gets easier. In 2018 I have lots of regens and a strong team that have only conceded one goal in 17 games. I think the transition of players like Lampard, Gerrard, Terry and Ferdinand to the new stars is the hardest part.

Yes, that's what I'm finding. The worse thing is that I didn't plan it very well. I was sticking with my established players and then when I started bringing in new players they needed a bedding in period.

I can see a whole bunch of quality looking regens coming through now but it's going to be a bit thin on the ground for a couple of years, I think.

The squad is still pretty decent but not as good as my World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012 squad. Gerrard is 33 now. Showing no signs of decline but it can't be long.

[crouchaldinho]

We've been drawn in Group C for the World Cup alongside Iran, Denmark and the Ivory Coast.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Russia       |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | France       |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | South Africa |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Uruguay      |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Mexico   |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Germany  |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Scotland |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Senegal  |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |          |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Iran        |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 2nd   |       | England     |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | [/b]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Denmark     |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Ivory Coast |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Japan    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Peru     |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Spain    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Slovenia |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |          |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team       |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Italy      |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Ireland    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Costa Rica |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Tunisia    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |            |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Ukraine   |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Chile     |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Nigeria   |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Australia |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |           |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Brazil      |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Portugal    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Honduras    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | South Korea |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Argentina    |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | U.S.A.       |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Saudi Arabia |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Holland      |       | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

I think I just found a young regen who is going to be the answer to all of my worries about Steven Gerrard.

My assistant, Alan Shearer, tells me that he is going to be absolutely class. He is a left mid who can play AMC as well. Only 16 but might already do a job! Maybe he will be ready for the first-team by the time the World Cup comes around.

[crouchaldinho]

I feel a switch to a more orthodox 4-4-1-1 coming on now looking at my likely personnel for the World Cup. An old favourite for me.

I have another friendly next against Northern Ireland and I'll be looking at getting my starting XI together during that game.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - England 3 - 1 Northern Ireland

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

In the end, I took another opportunity to experiment.

We started out with 4-4-2, then switched to 4-5-1/4-3-3 in the second half, and then 4-2-3-1 towards the end of the game. I wanted to check out how flexible the squad was and I found that there was plenty of scope for formation changes as required.

In this game, Paul Reeves became the youngest player to play for England. He looks to have a very bright future ahead of him.

In the end, I have my idea now of the final 23 which I will have to announce soon. It will be done based on form and there will be a large number of changes from the Euro 2012 squad.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - England 4 - 1 Bulgaria

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

This was my chance to field what I feel will probably be my starting XI for the opening games of the World Cup.

I decided on a 4-2-3-1 shape with two DMs shielding the defence. This is the system which took us to the final four years ago.

As you can see from the screenshots, Steven Gerrard scored a marvellous hat-trick to win us the game. There was also a goal for Paul Reeves who became England's youngest ever scorer at 17 years and 8 days.

I'm happy with this 4-2-3-1 shape. I had wanted to try 4-4-1-1 but we don't have enough options to play a standard left-midfield role and we don't really have great options in central midfield. This 4-2-3-1 deep suits the players available. We'll defend with a solid six and attack with a four who will all roam and offer lots of creativity in attack.

Next up, I name my squad for the tournament.

[crouchaldinho]

For comparison purposes, this was the squad at World Cup 2010:

GK

Ben Foster

Paul Robinson

Robert Green

Def

Wes Brown

Glen Johnson

Wayne Bridge

Ashley Cole

Joleon Lescott

John Terry

Rio Ferdinand

Gary Cahill

Mid

Garreth Barry

Michael Carrick

Owen Hargreaves

David Beckham

Joe Cole

Steven Gerrard

Ashley Young

Theo Walcott

Frank Lampard

For

Wayne Rooney

Michael Owen

Peter Crouch

[crouchaldinho]

And this was the squad I took to Euro 2012:

[crouchaldinho]

So.... drum roll please.... who is on the plane to Brazil?

Well, this is my final World Cup 2014 squad:

[crouchaldinho]

There are 7 players remaining from World Cup 2010:

Ben Foster

Glen Johnson

John Terry

Gary Cahill

Garreth Barry

Steven Gerrard

Theo Walcott

Wayne Rooney

And there are 12 remaining from Euro 2012:

Ben Foster

Leighton Baines

Gary Cahill

Glen Johnson

Micah Richards

John Terry

Gareth Barry

Steven Gerrard

Aaron Lennon

James Milner

Wayne Rooney

Theo Walcott

[crouchaldinho]

This is probably my strongest starting XI:

The key players are going to be John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney.

As is typical, Wayne Rooney is by far the most important player. Steven Gerrard, on the other hand, has now started his decline. He played a full season with Liverpool, and had an excellent season, which should stand him in good stead, but the 34 year old is now looking like the weakest of the four players I mentioned above.

[Gizmo7]

Seems like a good team there Any chance you could post a screenshot of Paul Reeves, seems to be a good little talent you've got yourself there

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Group C - Iran 0 - 1 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

The first match of the World Cup and, other than the fact that we got a win, it couldn't have gone worse.

Everything that we didn't want to happen happened. Gerrard and Rodwell picked up knocks, Johnson got himself sent off, but that's not even the worst of it. The worst news is that Wayne Rooney picked up an injury which looks as though it will rule him out of the whole tournament.

The FA are expecting me to deliver the semi-finals but without Wayne Rooney we are scuppered. All I have in reserve is Darren Bent. There really aren't any other options in the forward positions at the moment. I'm waiting for a new generation of players to come through.

This could be my last tournament with England to be honest. An already difficult job has been made even tougher by losing our best player, and there is no plan B.

[crouchaldinho]

Seems like a good team there Any chance you could post a screenshot of Paul Reeves, seems to be a good little talent you've got yourself there

Thanks Gizmo.

This is Paul Reeves:

Obviously just a backup at this stage but looks promising. Alan Shearer seems to rate him as highly as Gerrard in terms of potential.

He has only played a handful of games for West Brom in the league but I thought it was worth the risk to take him as backup for the wide left position or attacking midfielder.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Group C - England 0 - 1 Denmark

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Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

To be honest, this is getting a bit like the last days of Sven now.

A really poor performance with individual errors costing us. We deserved more but Darren Bent couldn't deliver in the absence of Wayne Rooney. In addition to this, Steven Gerrard's decline has well and truly set in now. He can't make it through full games and he is a shadow of his former self.

This really is a transitional period for England as I await a new generation of players to start coming through to replace the Gerrards, Lampards and Ferdinands etc. I just need to ride it out and get through with my job still intact. Hopefully.......

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Group C - England 1 - 1 Ivory Coast

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Somehow we only needed a draw from this game to go through, due to our superior goal difference.

Gerrard opened the scoring with an absolute stunner but we were shocked when the Ivory Coast got back into it just before half-time after Gary Cahill brought down his man in the box. Things went from bad to worse for Cahill, as his game was error strewn, his confidence obviously hit badly, so I subbed him off in the end.

Ultimately, we did enough to get through the group stages but it was far from impressive!

[crouchaldinho]

Final Groups:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | France       |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 1     | +4    | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | South Africa |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 5     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Russia       |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 5     | -2    | 2     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Uruguay      |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 2     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Germany  |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 10    | 5     | +5    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Mexico   |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 4     | +2    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Senegal  |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 5     | -3    | 3     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Scotland |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 2     | 6     | -4    | 0     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |          |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Denmark     |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 2     | +2    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 2nd   | Q     | England     |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 2     | 0     | 4     | [/b]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Ivory Coast |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Iran        |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Spain    |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 2     | +3    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Peru     |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 3     | +2    | 6     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Slovenia |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 1     | 2     | -1    | 2     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Japan    |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 2     | 6     | -4    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |          |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team       |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Italy      |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 7     | 2     | +5    | 9     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Ireland    |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 6     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Costa Rica |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 5     | -2    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Tunisia    |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |            |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Chile     |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 3     | +1    | 6     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Ukraine   |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 6     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Australia |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Nigeria   |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 4     | -2    | 3     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |           |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Brazil      |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 5     | 2     | +3    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Portugal    |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | South Korea |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Honduras    |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 5     | -4    | 1     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Argentina    |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 1     | +4    | 7     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | U.S.A.       |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 5     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Holland      |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 5     | 4     | +1    | 4     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Saudi Arabia |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 1     | 7     | -6    | 0     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

We would play Spain in the second round, a team we had met in the last two major tournaments and had beaten both times.

Could we make it three in a row?

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Second Round - England 2 - 1 Spain (after extra time)

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

I didn't exactly fancy our chances to be honest, even though we always seem to play well against Spain. But without Wayne Rooney..... alas.....

Anyway, I decided to go with Theo Walcott up front with Gerrard playing off him. Hardly the best selection but what seemed like my best option at the time. Bent had a shocker versus Ivory Coast and so I dropped him.

When we went 1-0 down on 82 minutes to a Bojan goal, I honestly thought it was all over for Fabio Crouchello. I thought that surely the FA would sack me.

I have one man to thank for potentially keeping me in a job and that man's name is Darren Bent. Off the bench he came to transform this game, first by equalising in the 95th minute of the game! Then by scoring in extra-time to win us the match. Unbelievable!

Darren Bent probably single-handedly kept me in my job. For now at least.

We now play France in the quarter-finals. They are the World Cup holders and the team who beat us to clinch the World Cup in 2010. Can we get some revenge?

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Second Round Results:

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Quarter-final - France 2 - 0 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

France managed to beat us for the second time at the World Cup under my management. The first time was the final in 2010. The second time was this quarter-final match in 2014.

I never seem to get it right against France. They were well worth the 2-0 win today. I wonder if it would have been all different if we had had Wayne Rooney in the team?

Ultimately we weren't good enough. Steven Gerrard put in probably his worst performance in an England shirt. It'll be his last ever appearance for the Three Lions.

We are knocked out of the tournament and Fabio Crouchello is fearing for his job. Is this the end or will I get the chance to build a new England side to take to glory?

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Quarter-final Results:

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Semi-final Results:

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Third-place Play-off Result:

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 Final Result:

The team that beat us in the Euro 2012 final defeats the team who beat us in the 2010 World Cup final.

Italy are European and World Champions.