retired_heidinoel21

hi, good start to the qualifiers its an very interesting to read!! cheers!

retired_sachin_g006

1st October: Premiership so Far:

1st - Chelsea -- 18pts (7)
2nd - Everton -- 16pts (6)
3rd - Arsenal -- 15pts (6)

Relegation:
18th - Watford -- 4pts (7)
19th - Middlesbrough -- 2pts (7)
20th - Fulham -- 2pts (7)

* (7) Number of Games played *

7th October: England (4) v FYR Macedonia (64); Euro Champs Qualifier

Starting Line Up: Same as Previous Match apart from G.Neville injured replaced by Carragher from bench, P.Neviile called up to replace Carragher on bench

Again we started well against Macedonia as after only 8 minutes Crouch headed home well to send the Old Trafford crowd wild, Macedonia came right back and nearly equalised but there was very poor. On the 19th minute we went 2-0 up as Defoe slotted home from 12 yards. We were starting to dominate the game and late in the half our dominance showed as we struck the post after a great run by Lampard. The second half was only 8 minutes old when we went 3-0 as Downing truck from 15 yards with a daisy cutter. It got worse for Macedonia as six minutes later Defoe was fouled in the area to eanr us a penalty, which Crouch wasted no time in firing in. Ten minutes later we completed the rout as Crouch sealed his hat trick to earn himself the match ball, Unfortunatly he celebrated with the famous robot dance

England 5 - 0 FYR Macedonia (Crouch 8, pen59, 69, Defoe 19, Downing 53)

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11th October: Croatia (32) v England (4): Euro Champs Qualifier

Starting Line Up: GK - P.Robinson, RB - J.Carragher, LB - A.Cole, CB - R.Ferdinanad, CB - J.Terry (capt), MR - J.Cole, ML - S.Downing, MC - S.Gerrard, MC - F.Lampard, FC - P.Crouch, FC - A.Smith
Subs: D.James, P.Neville, W.Bridge, M.Carrick, S.Wright-Phillips, K.Richardson, D.Bent

A difficult away game saw Croatia come out strong and within the first five minutes they nearly scored after some very poor defending by Ashley Cole, Two minutes later Robinson saved our bacon with a brilliant save. On the 14th minute Lampard dispossessed Croatia and sprinted from the halfway line, as he got to the edge of the area he unleashed a stunning effort that sent us into the lead against the run of play. The goal seemed to lift us and we started to press forard more, and on the 31st minute we doubled our lead as Downing fired home.. The second half didn't start well as Croatia started to dominate again and yet again they rattled the crossbar from long range. On the 60th minute I made a double substitution with S.Wright-Phillips and D.Bent coming on for J.Cole and P.Crouch.
Unfortuantly the substitution seemed to have an adverse affect on the team as five minutes later we conceded after what can only be described as comical defending. Croatia were having the better of the play and something had to change so I replaced Gerrard with P.Neville and changed the formation to a 4-4-1-1. It seemed to work as we managed to stifle Croatia for the rest of the game

Croatia 1 - 2 England (Lampard 14, Downing 31)

retired_sachin_g006

18th October: The latest World rankings have been released and we have moved up to 2nd in the world with our next opponents Italy staying top

1st November: Premiership so Far

1st - Chelsea -- 27pts (11)
2nd - Everton -- 23pts (10)
3rd - Man.Utd -- 22pts (11)

Relegation:
18th - Reading -- 6pts (10)
19th - Blackburn -- 6pts (10)
20th - Fulham -- 6pts (10)

retired_heidinoel21

Good installments !

retired_sachin_g006

Thanks John23 for your continuing support, hope you carry on enjoying the story
15th November: Italy (1) v England (2): Friendly

Starting Line Up:GK - Robert Green, RB - Wes Brown, LB - Jamie Carragher, CB - Anton Ferdinand, CB - John Terry (capt), MR - Theo Walcott, ML - Kieron Richardson, CM - Chris Eagles, CM - David Jones, FC - Peter Crouch, FC - Jermain Defoe

Subs: David James, Glen Johnson, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Darren Bent, Alan Smith, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard

My young starting line up did really well as they tried to keep a rampant Italy at bay in the early exchanges. We started to get back into the game and my players started to dominate the Italian midfield. Walcott had a great shot saved by the Italian keeper, this howeveer seemed to wake the Italians up and they started to string some good attacks together, luckily my defence and especially my keeper Green were playing really well.
At half time I made some changes with David James, Glen Johnson, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Wayne Rooney and Shaun Wright-Phillips replacing Robert Green, Wes Brown, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch and Kieron Richardson respectaly
the second half started brilliantly as the substitutions paid off with Richardson crossing in a beauty for Rooney to head in. Italy came staright back at us and rattled the crossbar within minutes of us scoring, James then saved from point blank range, the rest of the game was end to end stuff with both both defences performing brilliantly.

Italy 0 - 1 England (Rooney 52)

retired_heidinoel21

Another good win!! Im surprised tou beat them with such a young squad...will that move you up in the rankings or not?

retired_sachin_g006

Thanks again John23 for your support, I was more surprised than you that we won with a young squad, but it shows the future looks bright for England

16th November: The FIFA Rankings have been released and despite our win against the Italians we stay second with the Italians remaining top

1st December: Premiership so Far

1st - Chelsea -- 32pts (15)
2nd - Arsenal -- 30pts (15)
3rd - Everton -- 30pts (15)

Relegation
18th - Middlesbrough -- 12pts (14)
19th - Reading -- 9pts (13)
20th - Blackburn -- 7pts (14)

9th December: The Annual Global Awards have been handed out and Miroslav Klose wins the World Player of the Year with Steven Gerrard coming Second and Carlos Tevez coming third

13th December: The World Rankings have been released for the month of December and we remain second with Italy still keeping top spot

15th December: The European Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round has been drawn. The ties are as follows:

Lyon v ARSENAL
Bordeaux v Benfica
FC.Bayern v MAN.UTD
Sporting CP V AC.Milan
PSV.Eindhoven v Real Madrid
Werder Bremen v Inter Milan
CHELSEA v HSV
Osasuna v Fenerbache

17th December: European Champions Barcelona have won the Club World Championship beating Club de Futbol America 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw

retired_sachin_g006

1st January 2007: Premiership so Far;

1st - Everton -- 42pts (20)
2nd - Arsenal -- 41pts (20)
3rd - Chelsea -- 41pts (20)

Relegation:
18th - Fulham -- 19pts (19)
19th - Blackburn -- 16pts (20)
20th - Reading -- 12pts (20)

Also good news for the Premiership see's Thierry Henry winning the World Footballer of the Year with Carlos Tevez coming second and Steven Gerrard coming third meaning a clean sweep for the Premiership

17th January: We remain second in the World Rankings with Italy still top

1st February: Premiership so Far:

1st - Arsenal -- 52pts (24)
2nd - Man.Utd -- 50pts (25)
3rd - Everton -- 50pts (25)

Relegation:
18th - Middlesbrough -- 24pts (25)
19th - Blackburn -- 21pts (25)
20th - Reading -- 15pts (24)

With the upcoming friendly against the Danish I decided to give some of my younger and fringe players a chance to shine

retired_sachin_g006

Authors Notes: Just found out with me using the orignal patch of FM07 Wayne Rooney's International ban doesn't go away after the supposed 2 match suspension, and as I'm quite far into the story I will not be using him in this game. Thanks for reading