I guess the players had their minds already set on the next game, at home with Ecuador. A win would most probably have given us the official qualification to the World Cup, everybody was ready to celebrate. The game turned out to be much more complicated though… It started with a red card, one of my central midfielders got sent off in the 22nd minute. Ecuador felt that it was the time to push forward but Edinson Cavani punished them on counter attacks, he gave us an unbelievable two goal lead at the break. The game seemed already won but Ecuador got back on level terms in just 10 minutes after the break, the fans were shocked! The team found the strength to score once again though and it was over, Ecuador were brought to their knees by that goal.
And we were there, going to the World Cup!
The last three games were not important anymore, I tested a few younger players to see if they have what it takes to play at this level. As you can see from the results, most of them don’t…
We finished 2nd at the end of it, right behind Argentina. With a bit of luck and concentration in some key moments we could have finished 1st but I guess that isn’t so important.
The great thing was that the good qualifying results gave us a good status for the World Cup draw, we were seeded 1st! I can say the we were quite lucky with the draw, we’ll have a tough opponent in the Czech Republic but we should be able to surpass Costa Rica and Iran. We’ll have to be careful though, the World Cup games are always tricky, but I guess we should qualify for the first knockout round.
Now let’s see how our best eleven for the World Cup might look like…
Goalkeeper — Fernando Muslera (27 years old, playing in Italy for Lazio) — he’s a solid keeper that saved us from a lot of trouble so far, if he’ll get injured we’ll be in big trouble.
Right back — Jorge Fucile (29 years old, playing in Portugal for FC Porto) — he’s an experienced player that will reach the peak of his career during the World Cup.
Left back — Alvaro Pereira (28 years old, playing in Portugal for FC Porto) — talented and experienced, he has no rival for the place in the first team.
Centre backs — Diego Lugano (33 years old, playing in France for Lyon) — he’s a great centre back but I fear that his advancing age might get him out of the team. Martin Caceres, playing for my Notts County is the most likely replacement.
— Leandro Cabrera (22 years old, playing in Spain for Atletico Madrid) — he’s a great talent, already has lots of international games played, he’s the present and the future in the middle of our defense.
Right winger — Alvaro Gonzalez (29 years old, playing in Italy for Genoa) — he’s a reliable and talented player, he could be an important asset for our World Cup campaign
Left winger — Juan Angel Albin (27 years old, playing for Arsenal) — he’s one of my favorite players in the squad, has great pace and technical abilities, can be a match winner anytime
Central midfielders — Sebastian Eguren (32 years old, playing in Spain for Villareal) — has great experience and I hope that his advancing age won’t affect his abilities. Could be replaced with Nacho Gonzalez (31 years old Birmingham player)
— Diego Arismendi (25 years old, playing in Germany for Hamburg) — he’s our playmaker, I don’t know if we can sort things out without him.
Strikers — Edinson Cavani (26 years old, playing for Barcelona) — he is our star player, the leader of the team and the player that can win the games for us.
— Luis Suarez (26 years old, playing for Manchester City) — a great talent that is beginning to show his skills for the national team, I hope he’ll be a big hit at the World Cup. We also have two young strikers, Abel Hernandez and Gonzalo Barretto (21 years old Tottenham player) so I feel quite confident with our attack. Diego Forlan will be 35 years old at the start of the competition, so with all the respect and admiration that I have for him I guess I’ll leave him at home.
That’s about it folks, a new update of the Notts County story will be published tomorrow, or at least I hope so. Until then, please share your thoughts about the Uruguay qualifying campaign and maybe your predictions about the World Cup, how high do you think we can go? I’ll be satisfied just to qualify from the group stage and then see what happens, take it one game at a time…
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Lye
12 февраля, 2010 at 20:35
Good job there mate, you should be progressing to the second stage fairly easy. I bet you can at least progress to the quarter finals. Good luck.
Calum
12 февраля, 2010 at 20:36
Well done on qualifying for the World Cup Johnny!
I think your team will be able to get through the group stages but then it is just a matter of luck who you get drawn against. You have a strong team though that should do well.
My prediction: You shall progress through the group stage and first knock-out round but shall get beat in the quarter-final.
Good Luck and I am looking forward to reading your progress with Notts County!
Laxeyman
12 февраля, 2010 at 20:36
Well done Johnny, pretty decent qualifying campaign there. I feel you should pass through your World Cup group easily enough, with a bit of luck you could go along way in the tournament!
Kevin Mayo
12 февраля, 2010 at 21:06
Hi Johnny
Congratulations on reaching the finals in Brazil. I’d say you have a good chance of reaching the last 16 but try and win the group as the runners-up could face Germany. I’m sure you will do well and I’m looking forward to reading about your World Cup adventure. Is your Uruguay tactic much the same as Notts Co but with a slightly deeper defensive line?
Johnny Karp
12 февраля, 2010 at 21:15
Thanks for the comments folks!
@Kevin
The tactic is the same as the one I’m using with Notts County but I do use a deeper defensive line when playing with Lugano in the team, he’s a bit slow.
@Calum & Lye
Reaching the quarter finals would be great, I’d be happy with that.
@Laxeyman
I think we can qualify but I don’t know about Iran, they always were a dangerous counter attack team in real life.
Dan Monksfield
13 февраля, 2010 at 00:17
Things are looking good Johnny. International management is quite hard from what i have experienced on FM2010, even when I took on the Brazil job after 2010 world cup I scraped wins against poor opposition. Awesome win against Venezuela though keep it up :)
Johnny Karp
13 февраля, 2010 at 11:02
@Dan
Thanks for the comment. International management is quite tricky indeed, it’s more difficult than managing a club. The Venezuela game was entertaining, they didn’t park the bus although the goals kept on flowing into their net, I have to admire that.
TheZiggy
13 февраля, 2010 at 18:16
Well done on getting Uruguay into the World Cup. You seem to have a reasonable group in the finals. Quarter finals seems to be a reasonable target.
Johnny Karp
13 февраля, 2010 at 18:38
@TheZiggy
Thanks for the comment mate, I hope we won’t have any major injuries to first team players, that could cause lots of trouble as I don’t have too many worthy replacements.
badboy
6 июля, 2010 at 19:07
is it really true that the world cup begins wit uruguay and will end wit them just because of 2012?
Johnny Karp
6 июля, 2010 at 19:19
@badboy
Sorry, I can’t really understand the question. I know that the World Cup began with Uruguay but I hope it will never end :)
Javier
9 июля, 2010 at 23:14
Good work! I also enjoy playing the SAQ. It would be more realistic if they introduce the altitude factor (less stamina when playing in cities with altitude, I guess). Playing in La Paz (11,942 ft) is specially hard. Argentina lost 6-1 last time.
Johnny Karp
11 июля, 2010 at 18:39
Thanks Javier. The altitude factor would be a nice realistic touch indeed, all the teams have some problems when playing in La Paz or Quito.