World Cup 2018

          Fixtures

Group stage & knock-out round
It was my first ever international tournament on FM14 and I had mixed feelings about this. We met our expectations in the group stages, beating Serbia, Japan and Angola to grab top spot. Danny Welbeck got himself on the score sheet 4 times in total and many tipped him to win the golden boot. We drew Ireland in the next round and managed to squeeze ourselves through to the quarters with a narrow 2-1 victory. Germany awaited us in the quarters and we were the underdogs.

Germany


It was an epic game! We led until the last minute of extra time when Germany equalized. We were shattered and I thought it was going to be penalty heartbreak again at the end. It turned out to be a thrilling penalty shootout, with both teams scoring all their penalties until Germany's 11th penalty, where their keeper missed and we were through the the semis!

Spain


It couldn't get any tougher against the mighty Spain. Things got off to a great start when Welbeck scored in the third minute. However, we conceded 3 goals in quick succession and it was the manner we conceded these 3 goals that angered me. All three goals were scored through corner-kicks and we were supposed to be the superior side at set-pieces due to our size advantage. We played much better after half-time but failed to grab that all important equalizer and eventually lost 3-2 


3rd place play-off


We face Serbia again after the group stages and I did not know how we manage to lose this. We simply battered them but they scored the only goal of the game in a smash and grab victory.

All in all, there were both positives and negatives in my first ever World Cup but I ended up feeling more disappointed than happy