Smurph Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 The final group game was against South Korea and we could just relax and take it lightly. We obviously wanted a win but there was no real pressure on us to win as comfortably as we were expected to. I certainly never thought so although the media were demanding a massive result. More changes, but more this time to avoid injuries to the bigger players and giving the other members of the squad the chance to impress for the latter stages of the tournament. Chiarucci and Moretto stay up top with their superb performance against Turkey. Russo makes a start in the AMC role and Vacca drops into midfield to replace Loreti. We're playing the second string defence this time round so the first string is fit for the second round. We got the win. Vacca with a nice finish and Moretti chipped the goalkeeper, but we never managed to slice the defence open and create many proper chances. A lot of them were from outside the box and I assume that's because South Korea were defending for their lives. A fairly solid if unspectacular win, but it shows that our other players are decent enough to come in if it matters, and thankfully we're injury free with only Antonioli needing to come back. Esposito is now fully fit but if Chia and Moretti keep impressing he may need to wait his turn. We finished first. And Turkey came in second. Head and shoulders above the rest it seems. The other result was Cameroon 3-4 Turkey which sounds like a cracking game, but it means that Jean-Paul Leonard's World Cup dream is over. Who dared face the Azzurri in the second round? Australia. They finished second in a group containing Germany (1st, L1-0), Argentina (3rd, W2-1) and U.S.A (4th, W2-0). A fairly strong group to overcome but I remain rather confident over beating the Socceroos. Any team who has played Adrian Madaschi (who I could have signed for Pro Vercelli way back at the start) in an international match, and even once considered letting Erik Paartalu play, is surely no match for my Italian side. The other Second Round fixtures look like this: A few tasty ties in that list. It would be nice for some of the lesser nations to do me a favour against the bigger sides, but where's the fun in that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xbl Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 This is going to be the last season, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lanarkshire Jag Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 This is going to be the last season, isn't it? He's doing it until the end of Italy's World Cup campaign. I propose 4 more years if he doesn't win it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lanarkshire Jag Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 There was an update there, and now it's gone. Have Italy been kicked out of the World Cup on hooligan grounds??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 My laptop overheated (why? I don't know) so I'm going to need to replay that Australia game (few people are witnesses to prove I won it initially). I'll play it just now, SAVE, and then update again tonight because I'm such a nice guy and don't want to disappoint you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Australia awaited us in the Second Round. I already gave a small insight to Australia in the previous post so now I'm struggling for something in this one. Ranked 40th in the world, Australia aren't the most dominant force in the world. Their main players are Vince Dobson, a centre back for Lens, Darren Jones, a goalkeeper for Deportivo and Andreas Griffiths who plays for Galatasaray. They all seem like fairly solid players and a decent backbone to a side, but that's it. "Decent". They're a nation who don't seem to have any star player. Not one regen who could be a world beater - and for that reason I expect us to trounce them on the path to world domination. The normal defence sans Antonioli returns and Pagnotta is in midfield for Russo, with Vacca going back into the trequartista role. Nothing else has changed but that's us almost back to our full stregnth squad. I doubt I'll be going for a weaker side again unless injuries and fatigue come into play, but every game from now on is very very important. Decent win if nothing else. A lot different to the other game. Both teams were fairly even and we never got the demolition I was wanting, but a win is a win and I'm happy to have qualified for the Quarter Finals. Palmieri got the winning goal and it was a 25-yarder. Got the ball and just blasted it in bottom corner. Was a cracker of a strike and a worthy winner of a scrappy game with far too many yellow cards. The other results in the Second Round were: The only real surprise was Mali beating Chile. All the others were what you'd probably expect. So who did we draw in the Quarter Final? Ukraine. They beat Japan 1-0 AET to qualify for the Quarter Final. Their group consisted of Spain (1st (current holders), L2-0), Honduras (3rd, W1-0) and Peru (4th, W1-0) and are currently ranked 10th in the world. It's not going to be an easy game. Not at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Brusch Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Hope you get England in the final ^^ doing that would have been nice. we all knew he won the Australia game before we read it because you didn't put your post in a spoiler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Troll Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I find changing the skin sometimes helps keep me going in long term games. Stupid but true Anyway good luck Smurph! Winning the World Cup would be tremendous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Brusch Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Eh? He wrote something that gave away the result if the Oz game without putting it in a spoiler, then deleted it Carry on chaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 Ukraine awaited us in the quarter final. Our toughest match yet. Ukraine are ranked 10th in the word rankings, which is still below us in 6th, but not my too much. They seem to have a really strong defence and seem to rarely concede, but scoring goals seems to be a problem for them. The games they've won so far this competition they've won by just the one goal, though they did lose to holders Spain 2-0. Their best player was undoubtedly this character: A player at Real Madrid for years now and he's fucking dynamite. Plays centrally in midfield and for us to be successful today we need to nullify his attacking threat and stop him getting forward. The main problem for us is that we don't have a defensive minded midfielder so we're going to try and have to find something different. The Ukraine side has a lot of talent, but Basov is their best player. Antonioli comes back from injury and replaced Trotta and Loreti comes in for Vacca who's one yellow card away from suspension. The whistle went for kick off. And the final whistle went to signal the end of the match. 0-0 and a penalty shoot-out. I'd like to have made it more dramatic but nothing clear happened. We had a lot of chances but a lot of them were blocked, a lot of them were from distance, and too many of them were off target. Ukraine were brilliant in defence and hard to break down, but never managed to really do anything up front - which is what I said in the introduction. It was a very stale game and a draw was probably fair overall since both defences did very well, and it would take a penalty shoot-out to separate the sides. As a rule of thumb, I never assign players for the penalty shoot-out. I let the computer decide who goes up. I've never assigned players in a Football Manager game to go up for the shoot-out. They can go up and be a hero if they want, or they can cower behind their team-mates if they so desire. It's completely up to them. On P&B there's an image restriction (10) so I can't take a photo of every penalty that was taken unless I make some sort of collage but then it would spoil it a little. Instead - you guessed it - I'm going to spoiler the f**k out of this post. Up first was Filatov for Ukraine. Scored! Bottom corner. Nothing Mazzon could do about it. Moretto was up for Italy. Missed! He hits it right down the middle and the Ukraine goalkeeper saves it with ease. 1-0 to Ukraine. Koryagin steps up for Ukraine. Missed! He hits it wide of the right-hand post. It was Pagnotta for Italy to make up for Moretto's mistake. Missed! He blazes it harmlessly over the bar and hits an unsuspecting Ukraine fan on the head. Still 1-0 Ukraine. Kryvtsov next up. Scored! Top right corner of the net and gives Ukraine a bit of breathing space in this tense shoot-out. It was Alessio Esposito next up for Italy. Missed. He tries to pass it into the bottom left corner and the Ukraine goalkeeper tips it wide. Surely that's it over for Italy? 2-0 Ukraine with three penalties gone per side. Makarov for Ukraine to send his team into the semi-final... Missed! What a wonderful save from Mazzon! The ball was going into the top left corner and he scoops it away. A lifeline perhaps for Italy... It was Salles to take this. If he misses Italy are out, if he scores, they're still in with a chance... Scored! Come on! Salles blasts it into the top left corner and the goalkeeper stood no chance. 2-1 to Ukraine, but a goal for Popov right now would send Italy out. Missed! No way. Popov hits it to the right and it hits the post and goes out. Mazzon diving the wrong way. Popov very unlucky there but Ukraine have messed up big time here. The right-back Antonioli was up next. The pressure was on him. He needed to score to keep Italy in with a chance and take it to sudden death. If he missed, Italy are out of the World Cup. He steps up confidently... And tucks it home! Bang down the middle. Scored. Ukraine 2-2 Italy after five penalties each. Ukraine have really choked here and Italy have made a superb comeback. It was sudden death now. Basov steps up for Ukraine. The midfield maestro had the weight of the world on his shoulders... Missed! Mazzon saves again! To the bottom left hand side of the goal. Great save by Mazzon and it was advantage Italy. Palmieri was the one to take it... GOOOOAAAALLLLLL! PALMIERI!!!!! Dispensed into the top left corner like a pro. No chance for the goalkeeper and Italy win the penalty shoot-out 3-2 on penalties. What a comeback! They looked out of it but managed to somehow get back into it and win and that sees us into the semi-final of the competition! Confirmation there of the penalty takers and who missed and whatnot. The other results in the quarter final were like so: Again, no real surprises there, and it's a very strong pack of four left in the competition. Who did we get in the semi-final? England. Fucking bring it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lanarkshire Jag Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Name ON the trophy!!!! Thought it was all over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big River Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Whoops, just realised my greenie might give away the result Definitely thought Ukraine had that won though. Choked it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 If you don't noise up the England manager in the run-up to the game, citing Bannockburn, Salmond, the Lake District (it's too pretty to be theirs, should be ours), 1967, Gordon Brown and Mel Gibson then I'll be sorely disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Think it might be a little tragic that I let out a "yuss" when you scored the winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoonsYouthTeam Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Just made me nearly miss my stop on the bus home reading that! What drama! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lanarkshire Jag Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 It makes me sad that this is nearly over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 If you don't noise up the England manager in the run-up to the game, citing Bannockburn, Salmond, the Lake District (it's too pretty to be theirs, should be ours), 1967, Gordon Brown and Mel Gibson then I'll be sorely disappointed. I didn't do anything of the sort, I'm a nice guy, but I was going to rub it in is face if we won. Stuart Pearce is still their assistant manager so if we win, I'll be running up to the England dug out and abusing him somewhat. Probably get banned for the final because of my actions, but a risk I'm willing to take. England were the opposition in the semi-final. Ranked 7th in the world, one place below Italy, this was going to be our toughest test yet. England had Egypt, Chile and Denmark in their group, and their respective results were W5-0, D0-0 and W3-1. Two very good wins and one draw which could have probably been better. The hosts Mexico took them to extra time but England triumphed on that occasion. A slender 1-0 win against Holland in the quarter final took them to this stage where they face us. The majority of England's best players are from Arsenal, to be honest. So a repeat of the Champions League final score would be very pleasing indeed. They also have ex-Pro Vercelli player Nathan Murray in their set-up, rated as their fourth best player. He now plays for Bayern Munich and I'm still disappointed he didn't want to come to us permanently. He was a cracking wee player. That's in the past, though, and I hope he gets absolutely gubbed this afternoon. Moretto comes off and Esposito gets his first start of the campaign. Felcie got injured in the game against Ukraine so Modesto comes back into the set-up. Palmieri is suspended for this game and is replaced by Russo. As for England, you should recognise Murray as alluded to before. A 34-year old Jack Wilshere still plays, as does Phil Jones. The whistle went for the semi-final. Penalties again. It was a much more attacking game this time, but absolutely nothing of any real note happened. England had one decent chance to put the game to bed, but that was it - most of the shots by either side were blocked or hopelessly off target. I'd like to provide some highlights but really there was nothing, and to get to the final, we had to beat England on penalties. England are famed for doing absurdly on penalty shoot-outs, but this is Football Manager we're talking about. We don't make things easy for ourselves. England start, and it's Cox who takes the first penalty. Scored. He hits it to the goalkeepers left and finds the bottom corner. Esposito walked up to take Italy's first. Scored. Rocketed into the bottom right hand corner and the 'keeper had no chance. 1-1. It was Egan for England. Scored. Dispatched straight down the middle. Imagine Frank Lampard hitting a penalty and the goalkeeper shat out of it - that happened. Moretto for Italy Scored. Passed into the bottom right hand corner again. 2-2 after two penalties each. Ismail for England. Saved! Right down the middle again but this time Mazzon stays put and parries the ball away. Vacca to make it advantage Italy... Saved! Right down the middle and it's almost a carbon copy of the England miss. Italy fail to take advantage and it remains 2-2. Nathan Murray to take England's fourth. Scored! Finished with aplomb into the top right hand corner. Great strike. It was Piovanelli for Italy. The centre-back. Scored. Expertly done. Rifled into the top left corner of the net, clipping the bar on the way in. Brilliant penalty, and that ties it at 3-3. Thompson for England/ SAVED! Giovanni dives to his right and pulls off an incredible save and tips the ball wide. It's all down to Antonio Antonioli now. He could make himself a hero just now. After winning the man of the match award for the game, he could win this game for Italy. This is the decisive penalty. If he scored, Italy are through to the final. If he missed, it's sudden death... GGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL ANTONIOLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE YOU GO. TAKE THAT STUART PEARCE YOU b*****d. What a fucking penalty. I thought Pio's was superb, but Anton's was even better. Very similar penalties, both to the same side, but Antoioli's was even more top corner. Fucking brilliant penalty and a fucking brilliant result. I can only apologise about how rubbish these updates are, but as I've said before, it's quite tough to put a penalty shoot-out up given I'm only allowed to use so many images and there's not an upload highlights option. I could have recorded a video of it I suppose but I'd have to re-downloaded the software and I can't remember what it was called and it was a pain in the arse anyway. That's us through to the final though, after two gruelling games and two penalty shoot-outs in which we both reigned supreme in. Delighted with both results but I wish we had made it a bit easier for ourselves. It matters not though, as ultimately we won, and it's us who progress to play either Spain or Brazil. Who did we get drawn against? The team ranked number one in the world. No biggie... The innovative guy that I am, I'm going to do something different for the final too. I'm not going to upload a video like I did for the Champions League, but I'm going to do it as-live. By that, I mean I'm going to update it over the space of 90 minutes on the thread. I'm going to post pictures and stuff of what happens during the final, so say a decisive corner in the 6th minute - at 6 minutes past whatever hour I decide on, I'll post what happens from the resulting corner. I understand it means there may be spaces of 20 minutes without anything going on, but that builds up suspense and tension, and that's what you want, right? It also means that you can comment on it like you would if it was a live-match thread. I'm free on most of Sunday, so if you can give suggestions on what time would be best (afternoon/evening) then I'll try and get the general consensus and update it at those times. If you're not free and will miss out, at least you don't need to wait a full 90 minutes for the whistle to blow. Oh, and obviously, if I get no feedback and people think that this is a shite idea, I'll just do a regular update, but I think the change sounds good for an epic finalé (hopefully). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan-bufc Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Sunday night please - sounds like a brilliant idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lanarkshire Jag Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Is this happening tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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