54 replies to this topic

[GoDawgs]

World Cup Qualifiers

Probably the toughest game in our group was a trip to Tripoli to play Libya.



Annoyed it took that long to take the lead but glad we won and got that out the way, next game is at home to Sudan.



Dispatched with ease, happy with this performance before we head to Brazil. We've been given a tough group of Brazil, Spain and the Soloman Islands. I'm really just hoping we'll be competitive and give Spain and Brazil a good game and possibly snatching a draw.

[GoDawgs]

Confederations Cup 2014

Named an experimental squad for this, looking to get some youngsters into the squad before the World Cup as there are several older players like Matthew Booth and Teko Modise that never perform for the national team. With an average age of just 23 I got a bit of a bettering in the press but I'll prove them wrong.

First up, Brazil.



Very happy with that, we were competitive in all areas of the pitch and Mokotjo scored a beauty. I'm hoping for a repeat performance against Spain.



Disappointed but not suprised, Spain were just too good. I'm hoping we can reclaim some pride with a big win over the Soloman Islands.



Mixed feelings about this. Less possession and could have scored more but all in all not a bad way to finish my first intercontinental tournament.

Leaves the group looking like this

[GoDawgs]

World Cup Qualifiers


The 2 final games of stage 2 of the World Cup qualification process. Firstly was Libya at home then Liberia away. Both should be relatively straight forward games and we only needed a point between these 2 games to confirm we had qualified for the 3rd stage.



Easy in the end, very happy with that. Confirmed we're one step closer to Brazil. The final game is in Liberia but there's merely a formality.



Disappointed to concede but a good win to make it 6 from 6 and top our group comfortably.



We will face Nigeria over 2 legs to earn a place in Brazil next summer. I'm feeling confident about that, Nigeria are not the powerhouses they used to be and I think we'll be too strong over 2 legs.

Edited by GoDawgs, 01 February 2012 - 02:45 PM.

[GoDawgs]

World Cup Qualifying Play Off

We just had one more obstacle to overcome on the road to Brazil and that was Nigeria. Confident we can beat them over 2 legs, now just a matter of achieving that.



Comfortable lead to take to Nigeria, all but qualified for the World Cup now.



Almost complete disaster, got cocky and we deserved that beating but ultimately just glad we qualified. Next is a testing friendly against Holland then our CAN 2015 qualifying campaign starts against Gabon.

[Tom.]

Close against Nigeria but that home win won it really

[GoDawgs]

Final games of 2013

In our final 2 games of 2013 we had a tough friendly away in Holland and then an away game in the first game of a CAN 2015 qualifying in Gabon.



About time we won a game like this!!! Holland named what I though was possibly their strongest team and we beat them fair and square!! Absolutely thrilled!!! Hopefully puts us in good shape before the Gabon game.



Not a great performance but we're underway with a win. A good way to end the year!

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Tom - Yeah it was a great home performance but I was disappointed with the away performance. We definitely need to improve on that for the World Cup next year. Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying!

Edited by GoDawgs, 01 February 2012 - 10:25 PM.

[Rootsey]

Cracking result in Holland there pal! hopefully that gives your team confidence for the finals!

[GoDawgs]

2013 round up

Not a bad year for South African football. 3rd place in the CAN wasn't bad but we could and should have gone onto the final as we are a far better team than Morocco. The Confederations Cup wasn't bad either, we achieved all we could realistically achieve as we were never going to be beat Brazil or Spain to get out of that group. Over the course of the past 18 months we've established ourselves in the top 15 in the world rankings which is a very very good sign, hopefully we can break into the top 10 on a regular basis in 2014.

Best XI





Our World Cup group looks like this -



It's a tough one, I think any of the 4 could go through though I am quietly confident we can sneak through.

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Rootsey -Yeah hopefully it'll give us a real boost going into the World Cup year. Hopefully you'll enjoy some similar success with Cameroon soon! Thanks for reading!

[GoDawgs]

World Cup 2014 build up

I used a CAN qualifier and 4 friendlies as preparation for the World Cup, experimenting with various combinations of players with some new players making the step up from the under 20's. First up, Mauritius in a CAN qualifier.



Simple enough, very happy with that. Had 4 young players making their débuts and all of them performed well. Next is a friendly against Internacional.



Again happy enough with that, these are encouraging signs going into the World Cup.



Not a brilliant display but they scored a wonder goal and we kept Hazard, Lukaku etc quiet all game. Now the real test as we play Brazil who are favourites for the World Cup.



Brilliant performance, result less so but I'm growing more confident that we may be able to get through our tough group. Now just one more morale boosting friendly against Madagascar.



Good routine win, we dominated and leaves us on a high before we start the group stage against Portugal.

[GoDawgs]

World Cup 2014 group stage

We had a tough group, probably the toughest in the tournament but after our warm up games I was reasonably confident we could sneak through in second. First game was Portugal.



Absolutely thrilled with that, a fantastic way to start the group. While they dominated possession they couldn't finish and we were excellent on the counter. Next was the toughest game of the group, European heavyweights France.



Glad it was only 1-0 to be honest. We were poor for the first 50-60 minutes but then we finally started to show some attacking potential but too little too late. Still goal difference could be crucial at the end of the group so only losing by 1 is a positive I guess. Final game is Paraguay.



Really, really disappointed. It was a fairly even game before Mokotjo was sent off (deservedly too, terrible 2 footed tackle.) Leaves the table looking like this....



Firstly shock then just relief. France beat Portugal while we were playing which is what sent us through in the end. Very happy, anything from here is a bonus. England await us in the next round so it looks like we'll crash out there.

[GoDawgs]

World Cup Second Round


This was going to be a tough game, England got the final of Euro 2012 before losing to Italy on penalties. I was just hoping we would be competitive and make them work a result but then this happened....



By far the best result of my career. Thrilled to be honest, fantastic open game, real end to end stuff. After Motau scored there was no doubt in my mind it would our day. This means we'll play Spain in the quarter final. Hopefully we can become the first African team in the semi finals of a World Cup. though right now anything else would be a bonus!!

[Rootsey]

Terrific result mate. Good luck against Spain!

[GoDawgs]

I'm sorry to say this but I had a power cut last night and it appears to have corrupted the save. With no rolling auto save I think this has come to an end. Apologies to everyone that was reading, I'm really disappointed that it's gone I was really enjoying it. I think I'm going to take a break from FM as this has really pissed me off. And for anyone who's interested I lost 2-1 to Spain, we could have won but our finishing was shockingly poor. Nothing I can do about it now though. May look to start a similar career with another nation sometime in the future.

[Pekazh]

Such a shame, it was a great story tho!

[GoDawgs]

Thank you for reading, I'm planning on starting a similar story sometime soon!