dan-likes-trees Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 On the brink of early elimination because of two free kicks against the run of play. Urrrgghhhh BRAZIL.
Haden Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 Surprised at what an easy win it was today, another victory and we will be starting to dream.
The Peeps Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 One more win and goal difference should mean we'll go through even if we lose the next two
Zell Posted July 9, 2014 Author Posted July 9, 2014 err... you do know there are 4 games left right? @Zell - havent started my reports still, but i might do group A&B unless youve started otherwise? Haven't started yet, going to hopefully write something tonight! I can do Groups C and D. You were very unlucky against me. Brazil are clearly getting biased refs and scraping through matches without playing well. We will end up getting thrashed 7-1 by Bob in the semi-finals, I can see it now.
bob Posted July 11, 2014 Posted July 11, 2014 The Cameroon steamroller keeps on rolling! (Although playing with bruising and cheating is going to leave me with no players left at this rate...)
dan-likes-trees Posted July 11, 2014 Posted July 11, 2014 Completely devastated. Third game in a row to have created more chances and not picked up the three points. Need a favour from Haden and Roger and I could still, mathmatically, go through. But the dream is about over for us.
Haden Posted July 11, 2014 Posted July 11, 2014 Rooney scores twice and we are almost through time to expose Brazil, 7-1 here we come.
Haden Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 England 0-0 Brazil England and Brazil go through... I tried my best...
Zell Posted July 15, 2014 Author Posted July 15, 2014 I'm surprised you couldn't break down my awesome 4-2-4 formation Haden. Thought you were going to expose us? Got the point I needed to secure qualification from the group! Still got 1st place to play for though. Can't let England top the group.
dan-likes-trees Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 Devastated. You bastards. Had a conference call with Roger and his crew after the match today. He says the only game he remembered to set tactics in was when he beat me in game 2, despite having bought VIP especially for the tourney. Dark days for Croatia and Switzerland. Just when I was hitting my stride... totally, overwhelmingly gutted. Croatia deserved better.
Haden Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) Devastated. You bastards. Had a conference call with Roger and his crew after the match today. He says the only game he remembered to set tactics in was when he beat me in game 2, despite having bought VIP especially for the tourney. Dark days for Croatia and Switzerland. Just when I was hitting my stride... totally, overwhelmingly gutted. Croatia deserved better. European power? Surely you want England to win over those darn Brazilians? Edited July 16, 2014 by Haden
dan-likes-trees Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 European power? Surely you want England to win over those darn Brazilians? I wanted England to win over those darn Brazilians on Monday Haden. Tomorrow I'm going to take England apart as sweet revenge, irrecoverably destroy you and any form that your 'team' might have had along with it.
Blue Rogue Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 Well my team are out now. Even though we beat Greece 3-1 in my last game. That loss to Nigeria all but knocked us out last time. If I was less predictable in the match with Nigeria I might of made it through. Still my team scored the most goals in our group. Only Germany scored more than us in the whole tournament so far. I had fun might try out the main season at some point.
bob Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 Aah, I paid the price of playing cheating and bruising every match. Ran out of players!
The Peeps Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 Well my team are out now. Even though we beat Greece 3-1 in my last game. That loss to Nigeria all but knocked us out last time. If I was less predictable in the match with Nigeria I might of made it through. Still my team scored the most goals in our group. Only Germany scored more than us in the whole tournament so far. I had fun might try out the main season at some point. If you'd like to carry on playing you can apply to join an inactive team in our main league. Or if you'd prefer your own team from scratch you can wait until the next season (or join an inactive team at least until the current season ends) http://www.xperteleven.com/?lid=120161 there's the invite link if you're interested (you will have to resign from your current team first)
Zell Posted July 19, 2014 Author Posted July 19, 2014 Group Stage Reports Group A The most lopsided group of the cup, Group A saw both Russia and The Netherlands cruise through with two games to spare. Russia in particular have been pretty unstoppable at times and are one of only two teams to remain unbeaten so far. The key to their success has been their defence – commanded by Kozlov and Ignashevich – which has only let in 2 goals so far. Simply put, Russia have looked dominant and along with Germany they will be the favourites to lift the cup. The Netherlands have also looked very impressive, their only blemish being their close loss to Russia. The Dutch have looked more impressive than the Russians going forward, with van den Baan picking up top goal scorer and top point scorer accolades. The Peeps will hope that he can maintain that standard of attacking play as he prepares to take on a resolute and determined Brazilian side. Final Standings: 1. Russia 2. Netherlands -------------------- 3. Colombia 4. South Korea Group B Group B was a three horse race, with Mexico just stealing 2nd place from Cameroon during the final round of matches. Germany unexpectedly lost their opening match with Cameroon, but bounced back to take top spot fairly comfortably. At their best Germany have been ruthless, dominating play and scoring at will. Their victories include a 4-1 against Ghana, a 5-2 against Mexico and a 4-0 against Cameroon. Their 16 goals are the highest of any side in the competition. This pundit called Germany the favourites for the cup in his opening report and that is still the case going into the knockout phase, however Germany have not been perfect and have shown that they can be beaten. Mexico won their last two matches to grab the runners-up spot from Cameroon. Their reward for this is match with Germany in the quarter finals, one which manager Dedede will be dreading. Mexico were thumped 5-2 by the Germans in the group – a much better performance will be needed if Mexico are to have any chance of progressing further. Final Standings: 1. Germany 2. Mexico -------------------- 3. Cameroon 4. Ghana Group C Group C was another three horse race. Chile were unfortunately too weak to be able to realistically compete, their 3-skill keeper simply being not good enough and they ended up losing all of their games. That left Nigeria, Greece and Ecuador to fight it out with Ecuador coming up short by two points. Nigeria proved to be the most consistent team in the group with only the one loss to Greece. Perhaps more crucially, they held Ecuador to a draw in the second match, which ultimately determined the fate of the group. Greece were also very consistent – winning all of their home games and losing away to Nigeria and Ecuador. Nigeria and Ghana’s reward for qualifying for the quarter finals is a match against each other (Xpert can be really stupid at times). Being played at a neutral venue, this one will be tough to call, but Greece’s more impressive goal scoring and attacking play may see them edge out. Final Standings: 1. Nigeria 2. Greece -------------------- 3. Ecuador 4. Chile Group D This pundit feels rather silly after the two sides he predicted would go through both crashed out. Croatia unfortunately got off to a false start and by the time they hit their stride it was too little too late. Narrow defeats to England and Switzerland followed by two frustrating draws against a stonewall Brazil side left Croatia needing a miracle to qualify, a miracle which needless to say did not occur. Brazil topped the group unbeaten thanks to some stout defending and clinical goal scoring. England also unexpected impressed with two wins over Switzerland and one over Croatia in the opening match. They were however unable to beat Brazil and were thrashed in their final game by Croatia, albeit in a game that was a dead rubber. Haden has done a great job so far, but will need to raise the team’s performance levels if they are to stand a chance against Russia. Final Standings: 1. Brazil 2. England -------------------- 3. Croatia 4. Switzerland Quarter Finals England vs Russia Zell’s prediction: Russia Mexico vs Germany Zell’s prediction: Germany Greece vs Nigeria Zell’s prediction: Greece Netherlands vs Brazil Zell’s prediction: Netherlands
Tales Posted July 19, 2014 Posted July 19, 2014 I gave up in the end. Didn't even set tactics yesterday since it was all lost anyway. Wasn't given the best of starting teams. Two three skilled keepers, and I was given another two youth keepers, also three skills. And it's been while since I managed a team of this level. Thank the gods there's a new season in the N-E league already :p
dan-likes-trees Posted July 20, 2014 Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) I gave up in the end. Didn't even set tactics yesterday since it was all lost anyway. Wasn't given the best of starting teams. Two three skilled keepers, and I was given another two youth keepers, also three skills. And it's been while since I managed a team of this level. Thank the gods there's a new season in the N-E league already :p Another league for a Tales team to flop in. Great stuff organising this @Zell, apologies that my writeups never came to fruition, busier than I thought I'd be this month. I'd be up for doing half the knockout writeups though? I could do Eng Russia + Netherlands Brazil? Got wheelbarrows of money through for various league bonuses, total waste. Glad for the demolition job on England on the final day, painfully gutted that we couldn't do more in the early games. Statszone: Croatia created more chances than their oppontents in 5 / 6 of their matches and still didn't go through. Gutted. Edited July 20, 2014 by dan-likes-trees
Haden Posted July 20, 2014 Posted July 20, 2014 Great write up Zell, will predict early exit for my team but will try my best to make it to semis probably to end up facing Germany and go out on penalties. Germany are my personal pick to win, cannot believe Xpert put those teams together from knockout lol.
Zell Posted July 21, 2014 Author Posted July 21, 2014 Hang on, why are Mexico playing Germany? Because Xpert is dumb. I unfortunately cannot control the knockout draw, I think Xpert just randomly matches 1st place teams with 2nd place teams.
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