Hello dear friends, it’s time to go to Brazil for the most important competition of them all, the World Cup. It’s a dream for any football player or manager, the path to eternal glory and fame. I managed to bring the Uruguay team to the World Cup with relative ease although it’s always tough to survive the difficult South American qualifying group. Now I had to be very careful with the player selection for the World Cup, I had some difficult decisions to make.
After thinking it over for quite some time I decided to leave out of the squad a couple of very important players, Diego Lugano and Diego Forlan. They are valuable and experienced players but given their age (34 and 35) it seemed that they were no longer able to sustain the workload that I require the players to perform. We were going to be underdogs in the World Cup and you can only compensate the lack of value with hard work, that’s why I decided to bring in a few youngsters to replace the veterans.
The FA had no requirements from the team, they just asked us to play well and go out of the tournament without too much shame. The bookmakers also thought that we were one of the weakest teams in the competition.
I chose to arrange a friendly game one week before the start of the competition, I picked a medium difficulty opponent: Bosnia. I was extremely pleased with our attacking force, we created loads of chances and scored at will. I was a bit disappointed and concerned about the defense, it was looking quite shaky.
Despite that I believed that we had a good chance of getting through the group stage, our opponents were not that valuable: Iran, Czech Republic and Costa Rica. Our opening game was with Iran, a pretty weak side that had only one exceptional player, a 20 year old right winger contracted to Bordeaux. We got off to a great start as my two best players punished Iran in the first ten minutes: Cavani rifled one in from 30 yards out and then Albin took advantage of a defensive error and pushed the ball into the empty net. We could have scored at least one more goal before the break but Cavani‘s corner kick header hit the crossbar. The second half was less entertaining, we failed to create any pressure so Iran survived until the final whistle with relative ease. The other game in our group produced a surprise result, Czech Republic were held to a 1-1 draw by Costa Rica.
The next game was decisive for the final group table, we had to face Czech Republic. They had a pretty strong team, especially upfront with Tomas Necid from Everton and my former Notts County player Tomas Pekhart. They also had a fantastic goalkeeper, Chelsea‘s Petr Cech. We started the game well, we were dominating and we took the lead 14 minutes into the game when Abel Hernandez set up Cavani for an easy finish. We seemed to be in control of the game but we got punished nine minutes before the break, their first shot on goal went in! It was quite frustrating but the team reacted well and Cavani struck again two minutes later. The second half saw Czech Republic pushing forward, we were under pressure but we also had great chances on counter attacks. Unfortunately Petr Cech was in top form, he saved some impossible shots. We kept on missing chances until the last minute when a wild shot from 35 yards out beat our keeper and went in! We missed another good chance right before the final whistle, we should have won this game… The other game of the group produced another surprise result, Iran beat Costa Rica 3-0! That meant that we only needed a draw in the last game to qualify.
Costa Rica had a decent team, their biggest stars were midfielder Celso Borges (Koln) and striker Bryan Ruiz (Espanyol). We dominated the start of the game but their sturdy defense proved to be very hard to surpass. Cavani made the difference again though, he set up Hernandez for an easy goal. Costa Rica were launching pretty dangerous counter attacks though, one of those nearly went all the way but the ball hit the post. We doubled our lead just before the break when left back Alvaro Pereira scored with a fine shot from the edge of the area. We missed two good chances right after the break but then we had a bit of trouble in handling the opponents and they deservedly clawed one back. The team woke up and closed the game in a few minutes, first Hernandez finished a counter attack and then Martin Caceres scored with a fine corner kick header. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Sears
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:15
Very unlucky Johnny! Italy are a very strong team.. Yet a quarter final place for your team is a excellent achievment!you should be very proud of your team!Well done!
Lye
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:26
Hi mate,i think you did very well in reaching the quarter finals. Unlucky against Italy but i think there should be no weak teams in quarter finals, so well done.
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:28
Thanks for the comments, I see that you don’t want to take a guess about the Brazil or England job :)
@Lye
Thanks mate but I don’t think we were unlucky against Italy, despite missing quite a few chances we never looked capable of beating them.
@Sears
Thanks, I am proud by also a bit disappointed because I feel that I can’t achieve more with this team.
Calum
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:28
You shouldn’t get yourself too downhearted about that Johnny. You done really well.
Before the world cup I said you would reach the quarter-finals and you said you would be delighted at that so you have done very well with Uruguay. I enjoyed reading about your time there.
PS. I hope you got the Brazil job :D
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:30
@Calum
Thanks mate. As I said, I am satisfied but also a bit disappointed. I’ll keep the suspense about the job a bit longer… ;)
Calum
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:32
:D The young striker there looks very impressive, you could maybe buy him for Notts County if you have enough money.
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 14:56
He’s good indeed but my strikers are better. He’s quite expensive too.
Martin
21 февраля, 2010 at 15:33
Quarter Finals is A Good Achievement Considering How Bad The Bookies Thought You Were (Their Predictions Were A Bit Stupid)
Who Are Italy’s New Stars Now, I See That Balotelli And Paloschi Are There, Are Giovinco, Destro, Marchisio Etc In There?
I Hope You Got The Brazil Job Because Laxeyman Already Has The England Job So It’d Nice For A Different Team
I Signed Gillaume Hoarau For £16.75M And I Also Signed Leighton Baines For £13.75M, Carlos Marchena On A Free, A Guy Called Fernando Guerrero For £14.75M, Fernando Gago For £1.9M (Transfer Listed), Niko Kranjcar For £1M Plus Joseph Mills.
I Really Needed A Keeper But Failed To Get One, Next Season I’ll Need To Write Down What Positions I Need Players In Instead Of Just Buying!
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 15:50
@Martin
Italy’s team was quite strong, all those players were in there and a few more rising stars such as Santon or Criscito. Check out Silviu Lung jr. for the keeper role, he might be available for a reasonable transfer fee. Guillermo Ochoa or Sergio Romero are good too but they might be pretty expensive. Otherwise, you seem to have brought in quite a few quality players.
Martin
21 февраля, 2010 at 17:58
I Forgot To Include The Romanian Leagues At The Start Of The Game, So Lung Jr. Is Out Of The Picture.
I Tried Romero But I Didn’t Have Enough Money!
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 18:08
@Martin
You could also try to search for older goalkeepers that might be available on free transfers, you could be in for some nice surprises.
Martin
21 февраля, 2010 at 18:24
Thanks Johnny!
One Question, Do You Look At The Pre-Match Advice Meetings And Change Your Tactics To What Your Coaches Suggest?
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 18:35
@Martin
I look at those meetings and sometimes I use the suggestions regarding the opposition instructions but I never change my 4-4-2 to any of the other set ups they are suggesting.
EDIT: I forgot to say that I also have one of the scouts assigned to scout the next opposition, I get some useful advice from those reports too.
TheZiggy
21 февраля, 2010 at 19:01
You did well to reach the quarter finals, which is what I was expecting. Huge shocks with Germany and England finishing bottom of their groups. Germany in particular is astonishing, given the group they had.
Can understand why you decided to resign, as there seems little prospect of achieving any better if you stay.
The Brazil job would be one of the highest pressure jobs you could take on. Would be very interesting if you’ve got that job.
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 19:11
@TheZiggy
Thanks for the comment. I guess it’s OK to end the suspense now… Sadly Brazil didn’t give me the job but England did. It could be a nice challenge considering their awful World Cup campaign but I’m still thinking about it. I accepted the job and moved forward but I can always resign before the first games. What do you say?
Sears
21 февраля, 2010 at 19:14
Johnny, which is better,a self hosted wordpress ar a normal word press?Lye said he has a self-hosted wordpress.But does it cost money to have one?
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 19:21
@Sears
Self hosted means that you have to host it somewhere and pay for that and also for the domain name. You can have the free one though, pick something like domain.wordpress.com and it will be hosted for free. Self hosted means more freedom for you but it costs. It’s up to you.
Martin
21 февраля, 2010 at 19:38
Johnny, When’s The Transfer News Gonna Be Posted?
I’m Nearlu Peeing My Pants In Excitement!
Only Joking! Obviously.:P
Sears
21 февраля, 2010 at 20:03
johnny,i didn’t set up a self host blog.Just the one you recommended.Also just one more thing…how do i upload pictuir’s like my transfer’s,fixture list etc on to the post?
Kevin
21 февраля, 2010 at 20:10
Hi Johnny
I’ve ben out for hours and it’s only 1.10pm here and it looks like I’ve missed all the action on the site! Anyway, well done with Uruguay. I think that reaching the quarter finals is a remarkable achievment. I’m really pleased that you got the England job which would have been my guess. Interesting to see what players you will have for Euro 2016
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 20:24
@Kevin
Thanks for the comment, from what I’ve seen at a first glance England had an aging squad at the World Cup, so if I’ll stay in the job I’ll look to change that.
@Sears
There is an option to insert pictures when writing a post, just go to «add new post» and you’ll find it.
@Martin
It will probably be written and posted tomorrow, I don’t know if I’ll be still able to write after my favorite team’s game (Craiova in the Romanian League) will end tonight. We’re 2-1 down at half time right now :(
Mads Tønder (aka Mass Thunder)
21 февраля, 2010 at 20:34
You Got Brazil. You did a good job with uruguay, so the Brazil board knows you and therefore you were a god prospect for the job. Am I right?
Mads Tønder (aka Mass Thunder)
21 февраля, 2010 at 20:35
And Now I read you got England.. Forget what I said, Hope you wi the world cup with them. You can, they have a super squad, if there’s no injuries:-)
cory berman
21 февраля, 2010 at 21:16
i would have guessed brazil cos they’re always sacking their manager (i was one casualty!) but congrats on the england job. hopefully you can end our 50 odd years of hurt!!
Calum
21 февраля, 2010 at 21:22
The England job is a good challenge. Hopefully you can turn it around for them. I am looking forward to reading your transfers too.
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 21:28
@Calum
It is quite a tough challenge indeed.
@Cory Berman
Brazil did sack their manager but they didn’t pick me as their new boss, I guess I’m not good enough yet.
@Mass Thunder
I didn’t have the time to analyze England’s squad but as I said earlier they had lots of 30+ players at the World Cup in 2014.
Bilal Ahmad
21 февраля, 2010 at 21:28
Johnny You done very good! You had to play against Italy who are one of the favorites to win the World Cup! Your team was a underdog from the start and yet you were able to score a goal against a international team that is very defensive! Well Done
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 21:32
Thanks Bilal. The problem was that they scored 3 :)
Martin
21 февраля, 2010 at 22:37
Maybe You Could Get In Delph, Agbonlahor, Gosling, Rodwell, Walcott, Shelvey Etc. In If There Not Already There
Johnny Karp
21 февраля, 2010 at 23:21
Thanks for the suggestions Martin.
TheZiggy
22 февраля, 2010 at 00:11
Johnny, the England job will be a nice challenge, and there is quite a lot expected of the manager.
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 00:35
Johnny,what i don’t know what to do is how to get a pictuir from my game on to the site.. i clicked insert image but don’t know what to do after that?
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 08:09
@Sears
I don’t quite understand. Did you make the screen capture out of your game? Because that’s what you should do first. Then after clicking insert image you have to select the respective picture file and so on.
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 19:53
Johnny,how do i make the screen capture?And where’s the picture file?
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 19:59
@Sears
I use a program called PicPick to make the screen captures, you can make screen shots with it and then choose where to save the picture file and also the name for the file. I don’t have the link right now but you can search for it on Google, it’s a free program.
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 20:27
Ok thanks Johnny.I just downloaded it.Just one more thing..I’m still not to sure how to makeor do a screen save…
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 22:29
Sears, there is some help on the program website and also within the program if I remember correctly. You have to run the game as usual and have PicPick opened in the background, then when you want to make a capture just use the keys that are assigned in PicPick.
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 23:04
Johnny,thanks aa million for your help..nearly ready to start just need to fix a couple of things im not sure aabout..Thanks!
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 23:20
No problem Sears, I’m happy that I was able to help you.
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 23:30
Johnny,sadly i can’t set up my blog as im unable to take picture’s as when i try it wwon’t allow me to go into my fm game to capture what i want and need… ivtaken your advice + advice off the wordpress surport but i still don’t know what to do..im very disappointed that i wasn’t able to do one. thanks for your help!
Martin
23 февраля, 2010 at 00:22
Sears, You Should Try Putting Your FM Game Into Windowed Mode (Display And Sound In The Preferences Section)
Thats How I Got My Problem Solved When I Was Doing A Blog!
Lye
23 февраля, 2010 at 03:54
Hi Sears, Martin is right.Play the game in windowed mode and open picpick in background.You can use the option «Capture region» to choose the screen that you want to paste, then save it to whatever file you name it. Then upload the screenshot to your post while writing and i think you will be fine.
Sears
23 февраля, 2010 at 22:21
Martin + Lye,Thanks for the advice and I’m delighted to say it worked!my blog is up and running.
Johnny Karp
23 февраля, 2010 at 23:12
@Sears
Well, give us the link then, will you? :P I’m happy it finally worked.
Martin
23 февраля, 2010 at 23:43
It Was Johnny Who Told Me How To Do It Anyway!
Sears
24 февраля, 2010 at 00:32
Johnny,whats a link? + there’s one slight problem…anytime i make a post it goes stright to the top of the page instead of going to the bottom like your blog or like Lye’s blog so the first 3 post’s are rather mixed up.. i checked the surport page to fix this problem but couldn’t! do you know how to fix this?
Sears
24 февраля, 2010 at 00:42
Johnny,sorry i know what a link is.. what i meant to say is how do i make or get one?
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 08:23
@Sears
It’s that thing that you type into the address bar of you browser in order to get to the website. Just copy it from there and paste it in here so that we could see what you’re up to.
Sears
24 февраля, 2010 at 18:55
Johnny,I think its ‘Sears’s blog’.That’s what I type in to the adress bar anyway.
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 19:30
Sears, it should be something like sears.wordpress.com, just an example.
Sears
24 февраля, 2010 at 20:12
Johnny,its tuckersears.wordpress.com