Life in Football Manager

So I am back after my month long break from writing on this dear website. It is a good idea for us solo webmasters to take a break every now and again before writing become a chore in itself. So what do I come back to? This evening Football Manager 2009 news has finally been released after a few months of anticipation, Sports Interactive have put together for us a 15 minute documentary in two parts, I will look to review as Life in FM starts looking forward to November 13th, the release date of the new Football Management game.

Part One

The first 7 minutes of the new announcement was basically a clever bit of marketing for the game , even though it was mainly to advertise the Football Management series to new customers. It gave details of the history of the game, what Miles thinks of the series and a few Z list celebrities telling us how much they love the game themselves and something to show the awaiting ‘Gaming Press’. Although nothing was mentioned in this first video it was well put together and interesting from a marketing point of view really but other then that I think it is over to review Part Two for the best bits.

Part Two

Part Two is for the real Football Manager fan, the second part of the documentary is where Miles is going to take us through a selection of the new features, I am going to go through my inital thoughts on what Miles is presenting us.

Football Manager Handheld

FM:H is not a game I have played or know of anyone playing, it definitely has a market, but I don’t feel that these FM Lite games have much room in the PC addicts collection, unless to kick Chelsea’s arse on the tube. The news for those who are fans of the FM:H game is that now you will be able to play more then one league, just like you would do on the PC, you can have a career that will span over a few countries. You will be limited to about 3 other countries and will only be able to select the top leagues in those countries, after you have picked the main country you want to start in. Also because of the indecision of the SI team you will be treated with two skins in the game in contrast you will have a dark one and a light one.

The big news though for the FM:H users is that they will at last be able to play the game with the 2D match engine. An addition that transformed the game when it was introduced for the first time, will really help the FM Handheld users really get more involved with the matches they are witnessing, there may be an increase of cheers on the trains to work with this little addition added to the game.

Assistant Manager Feedback

So now onto the PC version the game that most of us will know in more depth. This first thing is Assistant Manager feedback. Being a Football Manager isn’t meant to be a lonely job, its not you against the world, it is important for any top manager to have a good backroom team with them and more importantly a top number 2. Where would Sir Alex Ferguson be without some of the famous fellas he had next to him? Most notably his last assistant Carlos Queiroz or Liverpool without Sammy Lee? These guys have a lot to add to the way a team is managed.

What I find interesting about the new feedback system is the tactical analysis the assistant is now going to give to the game where you are being exposed or how you could get at your opponent. This will help immensely for people like myself who are really struggling to get to grips with the more sophisticated Football Manager where tactics are more important. Knowing where you are going wrong or where you could be doing better could really prove useful in developing new tactics or just to get to grips with the new game. It has been a feature that I have wanted for a while, some way to help you with your tactics without giving the whole game away.

Press Conferences

The biggest argument about the media engine has been that is it so repetitive and it is something that just holds no value and is clicked away quickly as you play through the game. Something I fully agree with I begin to just ignore the media unless it is a big game where I think that the comments could really shape something out for me.

Now we will as many other managers abide by the FA laws and attend a press conference, there will be one at the start of a game and one after. The change from the previous editions is that the press conferences will allow us to build up relationships with the journalists themselves. What does this mean? I am not too sure yet, but the idea sounds a good one. Beating the repetitive and impersonal nature of the media a lot better if you have to strive towards getting the media on your side, or using the relationships to your own advantages. But now the media will have a memory and whatever answers you give at the start of the season may come back and haunt you later on in the game, so no longer should you just breeze through the replies without considering the consequences. It is definitely a push forward in the media interaction and should make a dull part of the game much more interesting.

Players Perferred Moves

PPM’s have been in the game for a few years, meant to give players more personality, doing tricks, diving in for tackles and hopefully having some sort of indvidual impact on a game. In 2009 you now get the chance to ask your young players to learn one of these perferred moves.

This is not really a new features, you have always be able to get your players to learn new PPM’s by learning them from other me

mbers of the team using the tutoring aspects of the game. But from that you were restricted from only learning PPM’s that players already had. This aspect now will allow you to add new PPM’s into your team.

I have never really took much notice of the PPM’s I don’t feel they make too much impact on a game, I think attributes are much more important part of the game and quite rightly. But I have never looked at the PPM’s when picking a player for my squad. That could be me making a big mistake and I can really see the value of the new aspect of training and it really can’t harm anything by putting it in, you never know I could set up my own Brazilan training scheme at the club, working the players to play with flair and trickery all over the pitch.

Playing as a Female Manager

Not ever been a problem for me, but I am sure there is plenty of ladies out there that feel that they should be able to put their own personality into Football Manager, lets hope it doesn’t tempt my own girlfriend into FM world. A useful way of showing the lady players out their that FM really do care or just for the fellas who want to be know by a different name at the weekends.

Board Confidence

A great feature that has been added to the game in the 2008 edition and just like many of the new features they start simple and develop over the editions. It was predictable that SI would be making improvements on this aspect of the game and we will all be glad that they will be doing. Miles says that they have tried to fix every bug that has been reported to them about the feature and hopefully it will work much smoother then before. My biggest problem of it was that sometimes the plan of the board was sometimes a bit unrealistic for the club, or failed to update after you had achieved their goal.

In 2009 to the board confidence will be added Squad Harmony, a decent feature to see how you squad is developing as a team and whether it is time to get them all down to the pub for a team bonding session. Club Stature will also be in their. Both these newly added confidences have also been visibale to see in the game in one way or the other, but putting them in with the confidence section of the game will mean they are much easier to read for the not so observant user.

Financial Modelling

I have found that the finances in 2008 were a little unrealistic and could really allow you to plot your team in the red way to easily and then what would happen in real life unintendedly. So it is good to hear that SI have spent alot of time in modelling the financial structure for each country. This will hopefully have a real impact on the economy of the game making it more realistic, keeping transfer prices at a reasonable price throughout the game.

Wide Screen Support

At last in the era that mostly everyone who buys a new PC now will buy it with a widescreen monitor. Even laptops come in widescreen now. I have had widescreen for a year now and I have never been able to play Football Manager full screen. At last I will now be able to do that and actually get lost in the game, I have found that playing it in windowed few just allowed me to get distracted easily meaning that I lose something from the whole Football Manager experience.

Transfer System

Apparently SI have actually rewrote this feature to help make transfers more realistic, making the shortlisting functions of managers alot better. I have never really had too much of a problem with the transfers that happen within game. It never has bothered me whether they are real or not, but I am a minority in this aspect and we do know how FM players love their realism. It will be a pity to not see the likes of Eddie Johnson go to Juventus for £50 million, but at least I can start using past transfers as a measure of how good a player is.

3D Match Engine

Probably the biggest change to the game and one that will get the scene’s big tongue wagging. The debate will now be on and the cries of it killing the game will emerge quickly. I have been around long enough to remember the last debate about the 2D match engine and now I don’t think many of us will do without it. If SI get it right and more often then not they do, the 3D match engine will be a huge installement into the game and could transform the way people play it, making it alot easier to view the way the football is played and how tactical analysis.

With the match engines foundations being tried and tested throughout the year on a mass scale with Football Manager Live I am pretty confident that the new match engine will probably be the best so far with the feedback that is coming out of the FM Live circles avoiding the problems that we seen when the 2D match engine first appeared in CM4.

But what I think is really cool along with the 3D view of the game is the introduction to the craze of web 2.0, Widgets. The new TV View will allow you watch the games in full screen and bring up these widgets to appear on the screen while watch the game. It will make it just alot more easier to view different aspects of the game w

hile not missing any of the action on the pitch. But for those who don’t like the sound of all this don’t worry nothing will be taken out from the current match engine and you can enjoy the good old panel view of the 2d match engine.

Overall

I think that this announcement was well worth the wait and I pretty pleased with what SI have told us, this only be a selection of what we should expect from the new game. all the features revealed should really make Football Manager 2009 the best SI games so far and I will look forward to what they have to offer in the future. But obviously most of the proof will be in the pudding and lets hope that these features will live up to the hype they will create.

View the Videos at http://www.youtube.com/sigames

After the first season of these players coming together how have they found life in St Helens, lets review the performances of The Saints.

The First Team

Goalkeeper:

Sebastian Saja - During a flurry of bids and last minute running around looking for someone to keep the sticks safe for the season, I came across Saja in Argentina playing for San Lorenzo, no need for a work permit as he holds a Spanish passport. I rashly stuck £7.25 million in a desperate attempt to get a keeper and thankfully I don’t regret a single penny of it. He was amazing between the sticks this season, strong and reliable everything you need in a keeper, Sebastian even made it onto the Best EPL Team of the year bench. At 29 he is hitting the peak years so I think that this guy will be good to hold this position until Edwards or somebody else wants to come in and take the gloves.

Defenders

Jeremy Mathieu - The young left back was pretty decent in his début season, he was moved around all over the shop to where he was needed and provided consistent result each time. He was decent down the wings and linked up well with the midfield and even venturing to help out the attack as requested. I have no complaints really, consistency was just key for a player who I am sure will grow and grow as the seasons go on.

Jay DeMerit - An American from Watford, who I really didn’t expect much from, Jay was brought in as a cheap player who looked decent enough to start, but when I got the chance I would be looking for his replacement. He was named as the club captain his wealth of experience over the other members of the team meant he was a popular choice amongst the rest of the players with good influencial skills. Jay infact impressed and was very solid at the centre back position and will be first choice for the next season and will wear the St Helens captains armband with pride. He was more or less ever present \for us last season he was another consistent player great at cutting out crosses and keeping players at bay.

Gonzalo Pineda - Pineda made his mark this season in the centre of the park, I would have rather had him on the left but due to the lack of players and the option of Mathieu I could afford him next to DeMerit. He didn’t play as well as I expected him to do so, although still solid and I think with time he will become an important part of the team as the seasons go on. He has already started getting some interest from teams across the Premiership and it will be a struggle to keep hold of the Mexian international next season.

Darjio Srna - Another ever present figure in our defence last season again because there was no one else to contest, Srna looks good but he does need a little more time to settle down and join up with the midfield a little better which I think he failed to do so this season. But he will have to keep a look over his shoulder come the new season as I look to bring in new players to compete with his new positon. But Srna has already stated that he wants to move to a bigger club and if I can find a decent replacement for him he will surely be shown the door.

Midfielders

Renato Augusto - The Brazilian playmaker would rather see himself behind the strikers, finding himself on goal and attacking defenders, but due to requirements over the season he spent most of his time playing on the left hand side. He didn’t do too badly their but I think that Renato is a little to young to expect anything big from just yet, he filled a hole and when Leto came in to relieve him from some pressure and let him go in the middle he had some decent games. I am expecting more from him in the coming season as hopefully the time of the field has made him a better player.

Arouca - Winner of the young player of the year, Another Brazilian but this one has a little more experience under his belt making him an ideal member to put in the centre of midfield and play most of the balls through. He did it expertly, scoring a few goals but mostly creating them, feeding through balls into Love, Stancu and Arshavin on a regular basis to keep them tallied up with goals. He is only 22 so still has many games in front of him, but the £6 million rated player is attracting alot of attention and it will be a fight to keep hold of the player who will surely want to go on to bigger things.

Andrey Arshavin - The Russian wizard just loves to play football, happy to play on the right hand side and most games he did but when called upon would move to striker to not only supply goals but to fire them in as well. You could tell what his motivations were as when he played on the right although he did well and caused problems for the opposition on numerous occasions, when he was put into the forward positions he made up for it by scoring 2 or 3 each time.

Forwards

Vagner Love - Fans player of the year The fans Love to Love, and he Love’s to score. 21 goals in this campigan his pace and deadly shooting proves lethal infront of goal and he has be an important part of the push for the top half of the league. With such good form I am sure that he will be attracting attentions himself, that has been the only problem to over achiveing is that now everyone wants my players. But Love seems settled at the club and pretty happy to stay on for next season and if he can repeat what he did this season we will be happy to keep him.

Bogdan Stancu - Having never bought this player before and hearing so many rumours about this Romanian striker who arrived at £2.5 million he was a great partner to Love and scoring 13 goals himself. Only 21 now he should be becoming more prolfic as the seasons go on. That is what I just love about this side is the amount of potential their is behind it, if I am able to keep these set of players together for a good few years I believe they could become one of the best teams in Europe, but that will be easier said then done.

Best of the Rest

Defender Simon Kjaer was forced into the limelight of first team action early on in the season due to their not being anyone else. He found it difficult at first to adjust to the pressure put upon his young shoulders, I quickly moved the side around so that he would have less pressure on him to perform which seemed to have great affect as he in the post season his attributes are increasing nicely and I think he could soon be a permanent fixture in the middle. Simon did do well enough in the 27 games he did play to earn himself a call up to the Danish first team and win his first cap. Loan signing Sebastian Leto as well gave the team that much needed balance down the left, someone natural to the position made a big difference if you believe what form says.

First Team Screenshot

So the first season in the Premiership for our newly founded team has drawn to an end, the season really didn’t have too much pressure put on us, I picked the players that I wanted certain these players will be good enough to do well this season and beyond.

After the fantastic début win in the League Cup it was back down to business, taking our form back into the Premiership we set ourselves apart from the relegation candidates beating Reading 4-1, Arshavin proving himself in front of goal scoring a second consecutive hatrick. But our away form was far from the success we were having at Knowsley Road. Not good when we went into three away games in a row losing to Newcastle and Arsenal. But the players were still putting in the performances. The League cup though continued in good form as we got past Crystal Palace to play Liverpool in the 5th round.

After the Palace game the team went into a home game to Aston Villa and seemed to be suffering a hangover from the cup success, quickly veteran Henrik Larsson sunk our side and Barry scoring a from the spot just before the break, put us 3-0 down, the side looked a little down and out. But on the 72nd minute the crowd were still singing our names, Vagner Love replied by getting on the end of a brilliant Arouca through ball. Then substitute Stancu finished a lovely one-two with Love to put us back in the game, a few minutes later he stole the point scoring from the corner in a brilliant game showing our muscle.

Form continued as normal after that, at home I was more or less certain a win everytime I went out as long as it wasn’t the big four, while I struggled to win away. My first away win only coming in Decemeber as relegation favourites went down 3-1 Love getting on the scoresheet twice while Kalouda grabbed himself a goal. But on the 1st of Janurary 2008 St Helens got an early christmas present coming up against strong rivals Liverpool. Love drawing first blood in the derby disposing Agger and running the ball to the net. But El Nino quickly made sure that Liverpool went in front at half time grabbing himself two goals. But at Knowsley Road I have learnt anything can happen, and in the 69th minute Pennant brought down Mathieu in the box to give him a chance from the spot to equalise, which he did. But ending off a truely magical night was Andrey Arshavin repeated what Vagner had done earlier on but this time to Carragher to give the Saint their most important win to date.

The games against Chelsea and United that followed didn’t end in the same way. Over the Janurary in need of players, although the squad was doing well their was still room for many more, Augusto was doing a great job down the left, but it wasn’t his natural position. So while Liverpool were at Anfield I spoke to Rafa about borrowing Sabestian Leto till the end of the season. But with no money left over from the start of the season I couldn’t bring in too many fresh faces.

After beating Liverpool it was eight games until I won again, the busy Christmas period had hit my young players hard and mental strength and physical stamina seem to be showing cracks. Losing 4-1 to Reading was the most humiliating defeat to date and Roman wasn’t happy, the success in the early season had raised aspirations of a European finish. We finally got back on track beating Bolton 3-0 and then going to Goodison Park in another Merseyside derby Love and Ropatan proppelling the side up the table again and morale sky high to end the season.

Come May the side put in a late push to finish in Europe as the side have now gelled and looking to enjoy playing on the pitch alongside each other. 3-0 at home to Fulham was followed by an away game to Middlesbrough who were brush aside easily 4-0. Arshavin finished a season of hatricks with his hatrick of the hatricks. As we beat Blackburn 4-1. This helped us go into the final game of the season against Birmingham with a chance of playing in the UEFA cup next season. All we had to do was win and hope Bolton would stick it to the Geordies at the Reebok. But the suspense of the final game was a little anti-climaxic as both games ended 0-0 ending those dreams.

Overall a fantastic season though as we finished 8th in the league above what anyone else expected. But it is always the tough second season now that we have to prepare for and not get to wrapped up in the success of the first. But this game has really fantastic one, I think because the side feels like my own, the whole squad of my creation means that I am looking for all my signings to prove themselves and the struggle to put this side together and I feel closer with the side I have put together, with the frustrations of a small Premiership club has just meant I wanted it more. To make any challenge next season an improvment to away form will be greatly needed.

Premiership Table

If you want a closer look at the fixtures all have been posted in my GK Current Thread

For the first time I am going to offer you guys some downloadable material for your Football Management games. In the true spirit of Life in Football Manager, it is in the shape of some databases, the first of the downloads is my own Football Leagues Team. Take charge of a side that consists of what 442 magazine think are the best players in the leagues underneath the Premiership. I have taken key players from each position to enter into the squad and popped the team in the Championship, now it is your job to make the Football League side a Premiership side.

The Squad:

GK:
Wayne Hennessey
Lee Camp
Adriano Basso

DR:
Anthony Gerrard
Dan Gosling* (I know he is at Everton now but he did spend half the season at Plymouth)

DL:
Paul Robinson
Joe Ledley*
Joe Mattock*

DC:
Mark Hudson
Danny Shittu
Jay DeMerit
Ryan Shawcross

MR:
Jonathan Greening
Robert Koran
Michael Kightly

ML:
Wes Hoolahan
Brian Howard

MC:
Zhi Zheng
Zoltan Gera
David Norris

Strikers
Dean Windass
Jermaine Beckford
James Beattie
Kevin Phillips
Michael Mifsud
Clinton Morrisons

*Not in the 442 list but put in to fill out numbers.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Next up for our readers is your very own chance to join in with our very own challenge of creating a squad from scratch. The database that I have been using for my St Helens game is now available to download. St Helens who start with no players in the team but with £80 million to spend in bringing in new players and staff will cause you frustration as you struggle to compete for players signatures. Replacing Derby County you will take up their reputation status.

DOWNLOAD HERE

OR

FROM MEDIAFIRE

And that’s not it! Courtesy of some of the guys at http://www.goal-kick.net you can make sure that your new St Helens side will fit in just nicely with a logo and some sexy kits.

FIND THEM HERE Credits: H for the Logo, Sean Og for the kits. Many thanks to them.

St Helens Logo Full Credit to H

The town of St Helens is situated between the major cities Liverpool and Manchester and has never been famous for it’s talents on a football field. Instead the town has been more popular due to their glass making skills, fat and loud comedian Johnny Vegas and hogging the sporting success has been St Helen Rugby League FC who in their history have proven the best in the world playing with the odd shaped ball.

But one man is here to change all that, Roman Abramovich the Russian with a short attention span recently left Chelsea leaving them with a massive debt, getting bored by the football they were constantly playing as the team started become scared of losing. Instead Roman has gone out in search of a new challenge, one that will see him with full control of a club having the opportunity to start a club from scratch and propelling them to greatness. This side that he has bought up will be St Helens Football Club, why the Billionaire choose this large town in Merseyside is anyone’s guess.

The first purchase that Roman made was to buy up Knowsley Road, a ground in a poor state considering it has one of the best rugby teams at home there. Bit of random trivia about Knowsley Road: Former Liverpool star Danny Murphy was the first footballer to ever score a goal at the ground. Buying up the ground gave St Helens RLFC to move on to a new better home while Roman knocked the stadium down rebuilding it into a state of the art 40,000 seater stadium ready for his new side.

Now we have a club and a ground for these guys to play, it is now time to get them in a league. Abramovich hasn’t got time to spend watching his new side rise through the leagues, instead he wants instant top level football. Using his Russian Mafia connections who were enforced to put pressure on the Premier League bosses, he was able to debunk Derby County back to the Championship allowing room for his newly formed side.

Now I have been given the job to put together a club from nothing, no players, no coaches, scouts or physios nothing. Roman has been cautious though in his venture and only laid down £80,000,000 to bring in a whole host of players. In the short term it will be about putting together a young squad that will be able to play together for years to come but ensure survival in the Premiership. Once the players are in and we have something to play football with on the pitch it will be about bringing in a team of coaches to take the club forward and forming links with other clubs across the world to ensure the long term safety of the newest club in England.

Finding the players for the club was a tough task, with such a lower reputation the majority of my targets all refused to talk about contracts. So it was a lot of frustrated bids going in to find out that the players really don’t want to arrive in our town. But with the transfer window is now over I am glad to say that I have been able to put a small squad of players together ready for the new Premiership season.

Goalkeepers

Asmir Begovic (20) - Nationality: Canadian - Transferred from: Portsmouth (£1.8 million)
Preston Edwards (17) - English - Millwall (£800k)
Sebastian Saja (28) - Argentinian - San Lorenzo (£7.25 million)

Defenders

Gonzalo Pineda (24) - Mexian - Chivas (£2.5 million)
Jay DeMerit (27) - American - Watford (£4.4 million)
Simon Kjaer (18) - Danish - FC Midtjylland (£1.2 million)
Jeremy Mathieu (23) - French - Toulouse FC (£7.5 million)
Darijo Srna (25) - Croatian - Shakhtar (£7.5 million)
Joe Mattock (17) - English - Leicester (£2.4 million)

Midfielders

Sebastian Larsson (22) - Swedish - Birmingham (£3.3 million)
Adrian Ropotan (21) - Romanian - Dinamo Bucharest (£750k)
Giles Barnes (19) - English - Derby County (£7 million)
Lubos Kalouda (20) - Czech Republican - Brno (£4 million)
Renato Augusto (19) - Brazilian - Flamengo (£9.5 million)
Arouca (21) - Brazilian - Fluminense (£7.75 million)
Diego Buonanotte (19) - Argentinan - River (£1.2 million)
Nikas Barkoth (15) - Swedish - IFK Goteborg (£350k compenstation)
Marko Marin (18) - German - Gladbach (£800k)

Forwards

Andrey Arshavin (26) - Russian - Zenit Petersburg (£9 million)
Bogdan Stancu (20) - Romanian - Unirea Urziceni (£2.5 million)
Vagner Love (23) - Brazilian - CSKA Moscow (£9 million)
Andrea Russotto (19) - Italian - Treviso (£2.2 million)
Billy Sharp (21) - English - Sheffield United (Loan)

Spending in total reached £93 million after messing around with the wage budget.

Average age of the squad is 21 and the wage bill comes to £306, 251 per week.

It looks a decent squad and one that should be able to see out a Premiership season, what is most needed though is more depth in the defence the only area of the field that really troubles me at the moment, it has plenty of youth and many of the players should see a long career at St Helens FC, in my first year it will be all about gelling these players together that won’t happen overnight, usually around 12 games before they are used to playing on the pitch together, so I am not expecting instant results with ever player new to each other. Alot of these players as well are young and inexperienced and not all ready for the big time, hopefully raw talent will show through ensuring Premiership saftey, the great thing of having such a low reputations means we also have low expectations.

The first few games of the season were played with Preston Edwards as the search for a decent goalkeeper to start of the season proved futile until I managed to capture Saja. Wigan were the first to arrive at Knowlsey Road and in a close game Vagnar Love proved the difference grabbing the winner in a 2-1 win. Arshavin becoming the first player to score at Knowsley Road’s new stadium. But in the freaky way that FM works, next up was Liverpool, Chelsea and United all grabbed large victories before the final game of the month which came at home to Sunderland in the League Cup. A game dominated by St Helens and most notably hatrick hero Andrey Arshavin who is quickly becoming a hero. Sebastian Larsson finished the game with a goal as St Helens reached the 3rd round 4-1.

England v Spain

So we reach the final, an unlikely pairing await us. Spain the favourite for the competition and now the favourites on the night take on England, what an alternative to Euro 2008 not only are we in the competition for us all to support but have at last got to the final of the Euro 2012. Benitez once again faces his countrymen in the final and England have another chance to upset a German.

The Line Up

England look to field a familiar side with the same formation that has got them here, the only difference is that their is no Danny Rose, instead Michael Johnson will start in the middle of the field with Steven Gerrard in front of him. Xabi Alonso returns for Spain and Iniesta returns to the right hand side as Alfaro misses out with an injury.

The game kicked off and it was England who started the brightest, Jenas hitting a long ball into the path of Wayne Rooney who used his strength and speed to get past Pablo and in on goal a brilliant chip by Rooney but Casillas done enough to put the ball behind. Again Jenas puts Rooney through with a counter attack catching Spain off guard, Rooney though probably hit the ball too early driving it and hit it over the bar. Michael Johnson then hit the ball inches wide of the net as England continue to pile on the pressure, and looking good. It was all England in the first half but they have yet to put the ball in the back of the net, Rafa will have to keep motivation up in the second half and hope they continue the same way.

The second half though was more about Spain, David Villa got the first goal of the game, but it was celebrated by the England fans when it was ruled offside and gave England another chance to get the first goal. Casillas continued his good form Gerrard this time playing Rooney in again, but he was denied once again as he put a bending effort toward the keeper. It wasn’t till the 66th minute though till the first goal hit the back of the net, but against the run of play it was Spain who hit first. Aquino came off the bench for Villa to score his first Spanish goal of his career and what a time to do so. It was scrappy as a shot came in from Reyes, Robinson couldn’t gather cleanly as Cole got in his way, Aquino gathered and put it into the back of the net. 10 minutes later Aquino became a hero and doubled Spain’s league, the young striker taking the ball from Onuoha out wide and then jinx in towards goal and hit a great shot across the goal and in the corner to end the game for England, Spain winning their third consecutive title and continue their domination of international football.

England 2-0 Spain

Awards

Golden Boot:

1st. Konstantinos Mitroglou Greece (3 goals in 2 games)
2nd. Lukas Piszczek Poland (3 goals in 4 games)
3rd. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Holland (3 goals in 4 games)

Best Players;

1st. Fernando Torres Spain (7.50 in 6 games)
2nd. Hatem Ben Arfa France (8.00 in 2 games)
3rd. Bakary Sagna France (8.33 in 3 games)

Dream Team

The Semi Final Draw

Sweden V Spain
England V Germany

An interesting set of draws, the first one being the curse of all England teams since 1966. Will it go to penalties? We sure hope not, it will also be a chance again to make those comparisons with the war. Also Sweden v Spain a repeat of the World Cup final, will Gus Hiddink get his revenge?

First up Spain and Sweden, Both fielding familiar sides as they go in search of the semi finals. The first half started just like the Holland game, with Sweden having to defend and once again Isaksson the hero, Kallstrom giving Fabregas a chance from a free kick which went close. Villa and Torres then linked up in a fantastic move which ended with a burying shot from Torres which yet again the Swedish keeper was in the way of. Once again Torres was on goal and looked certain to score one on one with Isaksson, but yet again the keeper kept the game level at half time. Sweden will have to come out stronger in the second half, Isaksson can’t be the hero all of the time when he has Villa and Torres running at him all the time.

The second half continued in very much the same fashion, Torres this time having two good chances to put the ball past Sweden and once again with his cape, was all super Andreas Isaksson. But it couldn’t last and on the hour mark David Villa who looked to be offside latched on to a square pass from Torres to open the scoring that was well deserved. After the goal Sweden found their fight, Rosenberg making Casillias work for the first time, as he broke through the defence and forced a save from the Spanish keeper. Zlatan got Sweden back into the game with 10 minutes to go controlling a cross well and moving the ball past Iker to have the open goal in front of him 1-1 in what looks like a frustrating evening for Spain, Spain believed it to be offside, it was more clear cut then the Spain goal, but two players were booked in the protest. Spain quickly got back down to work, a fine pass by Torres put Silva in front of goal, striking it from outside the box he hit the goal to send Spain back in front. Torres finally finished the game with the goal he so deserved and what a goal lopping Isaksson from 30 yards out to complete the goals and send Spain into their third consecutive final, Torres taking the match ball home.

Sweden 1-3 Spain

Next was the draw that all good finals should have Germany v England, a tradition that has produced some great games over the past couple of years and many English tears. Rafa stays with the formation that seen them past Czech Republic the only change is between the sticks Paul Robinson returning for this all important game.

The first chance of the game came to England, Bentley putting a freekick into the box which was forced goalwards by Micah Richards only for it to be saved by Metzelder. Terry nearly became the villain for the day a shot deflected off his shins changing the path of the ball, luckily Robinson was wise to it and smothered quickly. The ball was at both ends throughout the game. Rooney, should have done better and used his pace when he came up again the German defenders in a good move from England. Rooney was the one to break the deadlock, a goal for England really sent the stadium in rapture as it really looked like England could reach a final. Gerrard causing confusion for the German defence causing space for Rooney, the ball came in and Rooney advance well on goal striking it high into the net. On the 33rd minute with England still in front tragedy as Danny Rose went in with two feet on Busch he was quickly dismissed and will miss the final if England got through, memories of David Beckham quickly come to mind.

The Germans didn’t look to make things easy for England to go through and just after the hour mark, a Schipper cross found Schmidt free in the box to score the equaliser and not long after Germany found themselves in front and the England fans began to worry. Breitkpof hit the ball from just outside the box, across the goal and into the top corner, a great goal. England couldn’t get back into the game and for the last 15 really didn’t look like scoring until the final minute of the game, Metzelder the captain and goalkeeper threw the ball back out into play and it was no surprise when Shaun Wright Phillips was out jumped by Meyer, but the pressure was enough to force a rash decision, the headed ball was meant for centre back Breitkopf, but Rooney intercepted and was free of the last defender struck it hard with everything he had, the stadium watch the ball in slow motion, Rooney didn’t look until the crowd went wild 2-2 in the final minute with 10 men, the dream was still alive.

Extra time was a quieter affair, but no one wants to meet Germany on penalties, so England began to attack, Rooney being on the end of everything England had to offer. But Germany were able to see the game to penalties. First up Germany, Busch placed the ball on the spot and turned his back to goal. Turning round he ran and hit it straight down the middle, Robinson getting to the ball and saved the first shot. Right back Ryan Taylor next, hit it calmly into the bottom corner to open the score. Schikora next and finished nicely for the first mark for Germany. Michael Johnson stepped up for the second, but it was to close to the keeper and he was the first England player to miss. Goalscorer Breitkopf came forward for the fourth penalty, but he hit it badly and an easy save for Robinson, things were looking up for England. England man of the match Rooney next up placing it down and looking confident, and he placed it into the net. Schmidt the other scorer on the day put his penalty into the back of the net so did Ashley Cole so expertly. Truckenbrod then stepped up with the world on his shoulder, he needs to score to keep Germany in it looking nervous he put his ball down, beginning his run up he looked confident, the strike the ball good strong and heading toward goal, but Paul Robinson for the third time got to it and England go through to the final to play Spain. Take that Klinsmann, Take that Hitler, Take that Heidi Klum, Your boys got a whipping.

So already this competition has had everything the England fans could ever dream of a place in the final and beating Germany on penalties along the way, if nothing Rafa is already an English legend.

England 2-2 Germany (3-2 Pens)

For Skacel: Danny Rose

The draw for the Quarter finals:

Sweden v France
Poland v Germany
England v Czech Republic
Holland v Spain

So as it has worked out each of our 6 teams left, are to meet each other in the quarter finals to fight it out to be the best team in Europe and interestingly Poland and Germany are drawn together in a tie that will allow the commentators room to add in comparisons from the war, with many raised eyebrows, England look to have an easy draw against the Czech’s.

So the first game to kick off is two of the favourite of the competition Sweden and France, lining up with strong sides, Ben Arfa regains his place but has moved into midfield and Gourffran returns to the line-up, injuries have meant that the three players lost against Turkey are not able to return, but Toulalan makes it to the bench. Sweden make no changes to their side that has seen them through the group.

The first real action of the game came in the shape of an Sweden goal on the 16th minute. Farnerud joining the many great strikes that this competition has produced, striking from 25 yards to put France on the back foot. France tried to come back quickly Gouffran from the kick off running forward to put the ball in Ben Arfa’s path whose shot was saved by Isaksson. Gouffran again with pin point passing put Obertan, but yet again Isaksson was able to get a glove to the ball to keep France out as they began to pile on the pressure. Before half time Benzema bore down on goal and struck his shot wide, ending a frustrating first half with a fantastic shot by Ben Arfa from outside the box, the fingers tips from Andreas were good enough to allow Sweden to stay infront for the second half. The final 45 didn’t really produce anything spectacular Sweden having the best chance to double their lead when Ibrahimovic was free on goal, Frey did brilliantly to keep the ball out. Sad to see France leave the competition they were my favourites to win the competition and they really should have won this game, but on the day Isaksson was the difference.

Sweden 1-0 France

England lined up their side with a very narrow looking side, Rooney playing as a lone striker, Danny Rose playing behind him. England started the brighter against Czech Republic and Danny Rose gave Rooney the first chance of the game but he blazed it over the bar. It was Fenin who scored the first goal of the game, heading a Kalouda cross behind Ben Foster. Minutes later Gerrard should have equalised but Cech came out best in a one-on-one with the goal, not as easy as it seemed as Gerrard had a defender breathing down his neck. But England continued to pile on the pressure until they got a breakthrough, Carrick losing his marker and finding himself with space in the middle of the box as a Richards thrown in came for him, he struck it home for the equaliser.

England began the second half as they finished off the first, piling on the pressure and for the first time in the game were able to put themselves in front. Richards throw-ins causing problems, this time Gerrard was the target free in the box, but selflessly he cut it across to Danny Rose to apply the finish. At 2-1 with the clock ticking down each side was nervous, going into the final 15. So nervous that Jenas was caught with the ball and disposed easily by Polak who put the ball into the path of Fenin for his second of the game. Minutes later Rooney became a hero, picking up a Gerrards pass inside the box and firing it toward Cech to find the back of the net gave England win in a tough game that could have gone either way.

England 3-2 Czech Republic

In our final clash it was Paul Jewell’s Holland taking on Bernd Schuster’s Spain who now had to be favourites for the competition with France being kicked out. Holland would hope that their attacking advantage would see them through, Huntelaar currently at the top of the goal scoring charts. But the first goal came from Torres, who was at the end of a brilliant move from Iniesta and Villa down the middle of the park, the threw ball seen him into the box and to open the scoring. Then Robben should have done better when he found himself up on goal with two defender in front of him. Villa doubled Spain’s lead picking up on Torres’ rebounded shot and putting it behind Stekelenburg who was helpless to stop the shot and before the half was done Sergio Ramos made things safe for Spain, scoring from a corner. Holland continued the game having chance after chance but in true Holland style non of them real cutting edge chances which cost them the game.

Holland 0-3 Spain

Other result Germany 4-2 Poland to kick out the hosts.

The first of the round of games we bring to you is just for the decision of who will win the group giving the better draw as Germany and Sweden go head-to-head.  Schmitdt opened the scoring, 10 minutes in good position allowed him space, when the ball came in he fired it past Isaksson. A tough half finished 1-0, the second half began and Busch doubled Germany’s lead as he fired from outside the box, poor Swedish positioning once again letting the Germans in. But Sweden quickly got back into the game straight from the kick off Sweden attacked, Farnerud found Zlatan inside the box who headed Sweden back. Sweden changed to the familiar 4-2-4 and with 2 minute to go Zlatan was the goal maker this time who put Elmander on sight of goal and hit it home 2-2. But the Swedish comeback was deflated when Schmidts ended the scoring in a scrappy final goal.

Germany 3-2 Sweden

Scotland didn’t have anything now to play for but pride, and came out of the stocks quickly a fantastic goal from Ross Wallace who ran from deep into the box in time to meet a Hutton cross. It was Scotland’s first goal of the tournament and what a goal! But the lead only last half an hour, Andy Webster giving away a penalty, Rotan stepped up to the spot to miss, the rebound came back to him and once again Craig Gordon got to the ball, but he didnt get it far enough away and Oleg Husyev tapped the ball into the net. Just before half time Ukraine put themselves into the lead Husyev corner headed home by Chygrynski to take away the pride Scotland were playing for. Scotland had a better second half but just couldn’t find the back of the net.

Scotland 1-2 Ukraine

France who had already qualified took on Switzerland who still had a chance of going through if they won and the other game went their way. But it only took a minute for France to score, Ben Arfa who was getting his first chance of the tournament, picking up the ball in the box and expertly turning Djourou to score with his second touch. Ben Arfa didn’t waste any time getting his second and the architect was Nasri another player getting his first chance of the tournament in for the injured Toulanlan, curling the ball into Ben Arfa who struck it home in a match Switzerland didn’t even turn up to.

France 2-0 Switzerland

Other results in Group A Turkey 1-1 Poland, the hosts qualifying from the group

Group C went into the final games in an exciting mood, any team could qualify and all really had fate in their own hands. First up was Holland and Serbia. Sneijder opened the scoring when Boulahrouz put the ball into the middle finding space for Wesley who struck it into the top corner and by half time Holland thought they had wrapped the game up and qualification, Van Persie crossing the ball in from the byline Huntelaar jumping higher then three Serbian players to end the half 2-0. Holland had 22 chances throughout the game and the majority of the ball, but that made them complacent and leaving holes at the back which Rakic exploited with two goals but the result was enough to see Holland through.

Holland 2-2 Serbia

But all this meant that Italy had to beat the Czech Republic to go through, and Spalletti had to get a result from his home country to progress. Nervous times inside the stadium as neither knew how the teams would go at it. When Jiri Kladrubsky was ordered off the field after injuring Gilardino in a professional foul. But the knock didn’t stop Gilardino spurring him on to score the first goal of the game. From the corner Kalouda didn’t move out quick enough with the rest of the back four and when the ball came back in from deep Alberto was in a dream position for the goal. But Rosicky put the game level again from a wonderful strike from way out. In the second half Italy once again got themselves infront, Gilardino pulling the ball back to Rosina who slotted home and the game looked won, but with 85 minutes to go Kalouda who was to blame for the first goal repaid his team from another wonderful strike, this time the Italians were caught out of the position when the free kick came in and Kalouda curled the ball around the players and into the corner. The game ended a draw which was enough to knock out the Italians.

Czech Republic 2-2 Italy

Leaving only one thing to decide, will England be joining the eight sides in the quarter finals? England met once again the side that had kept us out of the 2008 competition, Croatia. England dominated the game but just couldn’t find the back of the net, I am thinking taking just four strikers is something that might haunt Rafa. The guys up front really weren’t on form today and both replaced by Crouch and Defoe and it was the latter who was to thank for striking England through, a wonderful strike from outside the box to rival the two Republic goals with 10 minutes to go this was enough for the win.

England 1-0 Croatia

Spain had nothing to play for now and could use this game as a run around ready for a push in the next round. The only action in the game was an early flurry of goals in the first 10 minutes. Torosidis lofting a brilliant ball from the back to Konstantinos who found himself behind the Spanish back line, there was plenty of protests for offside and they could have had a point. But Alfaro quickly replied with a goal scoring from an Alonso cross.

Spain 1-1 Greece

Scotland once again showed that they were out of their depth even with one of the best managers in British history, Gus Hiddink also showed he was a magician. Sweden played good football throughout the game, Scotland conceded their second consecutive goal in the first minute. Rosenberg opened the scoring and although they dominated the game, Sweden also left it late to score the winner Rosenberg again with 7 minutes to go struck the ball past Iain Turner and Sweden became the first team to qualify from the group stages.

Sweden 2-0 Scotland

Other Result in Group B Germany 3-0 Ukraine, Ukraine the first of the hosts to be knocked out and Germany qualified.

Rafa vs Spain next as England look for another victory to assure qualification. But it was two former players of Rafa’s that punished England. Xabi Alonso opened the scoring on the 35th minute, Rafa tried to beat his home country in this game, but the Spaniards showed why they were best team in the World. El Nino, Torres scored late to secure the victory for the Spain just after Casillas continued bad discipline record in the Spain camp being the second player to be sent off.

Spain 2-0 England

Other Result in Group D Croatia 1-2 Greece

Next up for Zidane was Turkey, it was surprisingly a tough game for France and Turkey gave a real fight, and look to push for qualification from the group. But the difference was in who could actually take their chances and Menez who was having a fantastic tournament and struck twice to give France the win in the first half. But the most worrying thing for the French is in this game they have three players stretched off, Sakho, Ribery and Toulalan. The former two will struggle to be back in time for the end of the tournament, but France have qualified for the next round.

France 2-0 Turkey

Other result in Group A Switzerland 0-1 Poland

Group C showed that it was the toughest of all the other groups, as we have Paul Jewell meeting Spalletti, one of our sides had to go from this group each not wanting it to be the team to do so. Daniel Pudil scored early to give the Czech’s the lead, bad defending from Ron Vlaar giving the ball away gave Pudil the chance on goal. But after the half hour mark, a flurry of action occurred to get the fans going, first off Huntelaar levelled the scoring to put Holland back into the game only for Grygera two minutes later put the advantage back with Czech Republic. Five minutes after that the Republic were to blame for their own downfall Simunek being to blame for a Huntelaar fall, Man of the Match Van Persie stepped up to slot the ball into the net to end the half and the game 2-2.

Holland 2-2 Czech Republic

Italy got themselves back on track and took advantage of the other game finishing deadlocked. Not an exciting game and infact Italy played like Italy and not the attacking football you may expect from Zola a guy who spent many years playing in an English system. Gilardino scored after 15 minutes getting on the end of a corner to get his first goal of the tournament. But then Rossi who was looking to contend for the golden boot scored just after half an hour to give Italy their first victory.

Serbia 0-2 Italy