That’s what I love about the English FA Cup. There are six qualifying rounds before the first round proper, with the top teams coming in in the third round proper - so that means that local clubs like Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association F.C. actually do get to play in the same competition as Manchester United et al.
I once managed to get Yeovil* to the FA Cup final in Championship Manager 3, where we were promptly eviscerated by Leeds. The final score was something like 9-nil, with four goals by penalty.
Then I got fired because I hadn’t finished in the top half of the Conference. Rough life.
*I was born there, so it was a bizarrely sentimental moment for me.
My last Champ Manager binge was many years ago, but I got to the Champions League final with Alloa Athletic*. We lost to Arsenal, and I didn’t get sacked until the next season when we got put out in the semis. As you say, tough crowd.
*I’ll confess to manipulating the initial conditions of the game with something daft like £100 billion in the bank, a significantly larger stadium, and, err, not quite the same roster of players that Alloa had that year.
… you can do that? Hex editing or something? I keep getting stuck when I try to run clubs below a certain size because their stadia just don’t generate enough income to be truly competitive in the Premiership.
Oddly enough, that problem was most obvious with (Glasgow) Rangers, because my players kept deciding they wanted to “move to a bigger club” and then going to Celtic - even though I’d won the domestic treble and CL that year.
Heh, just dug it out of a pile. Champ Manager 03/04 was the last version I played and it’s got a database editor on the install disk. You can change pretty much every variable in the game
OK, so predictions for the 3rd Place and Final? Here are mine
3rd Place - Brazil 2 Netherlands 0 - The Dutch have absolutely no motivation here and the Brasilians will want to save some face.
Final - Argentina 2 Germany 1 - This is more wishful thinking from me, but now that Brasil won’t win I’d like to see Messi get that elusive WC. If he truly is the best, now is his time to take over a game.
I genuinely believe what I said before about the final.
I was truly impressed by Argentina’s ability to defend against Holland, but they clearly don’t have enough non-Messi firepower to worry Germany (and if anyone is going to shut him down it will be the German midfield trio.) Unless Argentina works out some way to break that ridiculously high line the Germans play at the back they’re just going to be hammering ineffectually at them.
I honestly think the third place game could go either way, but even with Tiago Silva back I don’t think it’s likely that Brazil will defend well enough to win. So I’ll say Holland 3, Brazil 2.
Agree on result, the Dutch don’t care and probably just want to get a holiday in before starting back at the day job. Brazil obviously are motivated differently.
I don’t know how to call this, and to be honest I’d be happy enough either way. I’d like to see Messi pick up the WC winners medal his talent cries out for, but the German’s have been insert German cliche here over the whole piece, with only a few wobbles, and have participated in the most entertaining WC game in years. Eh, I hope someone scores early on, and the game opens up. We’ll see.
Well, most of my early predictions turned out to be total rubbish, albeit with some occasionally dead on and sometimes a kernel of truth when I was wrong.
But here goes:
Brazil defeat Netherlands. No side is defined entirely by a single match, not even when losing 7-1, and Brazil after the previous humiliation will come out guns blazing with something to prove. Thiago will be back, and one might suppose Brazil will straighten out some of the defending problems. Netherlands, on the other hand, have a manager who doesn’t believe in playing for third place. Edge to Brazil. BRZ 2-1 NED.
Germany defeat Argentina in PK shootout. I think Germany are overall the better side, but both sides will probably play a cautious, defensive game ending 0-0 after extra time. Second choice: GER 3-1 ARG, a late ARG goal from a brilliant but mostly contained Messi. Bottom line: I don’t think Argentina have sufficient attacking options to defeat Germany.
We shall see!
Javier Mascherano got a torn anus in the Netherlands match.
Fill in your own joke.
3rd place match. 3-2 Holland. The lack of Dutch interest is overcome by the lack of Brazilian defence.
Final: Hard to tell. Germany will not be able to run this defence ragged and Khadeira will not be able to come so forward with Messi.
OTH, I expect Messi to be mercilessly marked…and Muller too.
1-1 with Germany on penalties.
Like Mascherano’s bum-hole, I’m slightly torn. I generally favour Germany, and also think that this team merits a world championship, the nucleus of it having been knocking on the door for a while. But yes, on the other hand it would be good to see Messi getting a world champion medal.
Not sure if I’ll bother with the third place game. Maybe watch the highlights. It seems quite common for the hosts to end up in that slightly weird fixture, eh?
Germany 2
Argentina 1
If it’s true, I can’t imagine him being able to play. Presumably what movement caused it will cause it to occur again. That would be a huge loss because he’s played very well. I watched him play many times at Barcelona and always thought he was over-rated, but he’s really shown me something in this tournament.
:snort:
He’ll play, we are talking about Mascherano here, he’s become a memetic hero in Argentina with his performance on the last game.
A few tidbits:
“Mascherano walks into Mordor in slippers”
“Mascherano goes into a hardware store, asks for the thingy that goes into the thingamabob and gets what he needs”
“Mascherano gives blood to Wolverine once in a while because he thinks he looks wan and pale”
“Mascherano knows the whereabouts of Silvio Rodriguez’ blue unicorn”
“When Saul has trouble he calls Mascherano”
Is Argentina much changed from the last time they met Germany in the World Cup? Because that was a ridiculously entertaining (and shockingly one sided) match.
Yes, they have a coach this time.
And their keeper has gotten a lot better, as the Netherlands discovered.
Ok I didn’t understand a single one of those and I’m not in the mood to google… But I hope you’re right!