England - Road To Rio

The 2014 Brazil World Cup isn't far away. So I decided to try and replicate England's qualification and hopefully take them on to World Cup glory!




I will begin the updates later tonight. In this career, I will try to use all the players that played for England during the real life qualification for the World Cup. I will also use others that didn't feature.

Good luck pal!

Thanks!

Players used by England during qualification
Baines, Barkley, Bertrand
Cahill, Carrick, Carroll, Cleverley, Cole
Defoe
Gerrard
Hart
Jagielka, G.Johnson
Lambert, Lampard, Lennon, Lescott
Milner
Osman, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Parker
Rooney
Shelvey, Smalling, Sturridge
Terry, Townsend
Walcott, Walker, Welbeck, Wilshere
Young

All of the above will get at least 1 game. Surprisingly Phil Jones didn't play a single minute during qualifying. But remember, I will be using other players as well, so Jones will get game time.

Full squad
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Fraser Forster (Celtic) & John Ruddy (Norwich City)

Defenders: Kyle Walker (Spurs), Leighton Baines (Everton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), John Terry (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Tom Huddlestone (Spurs), Adam Johnson (Sunderland), Ashley Young (Manchester United)

Attackers: Jermain Defoe (Spurs), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Andy Carroll (West Ham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

Steven Gerrard was also in the squad, but he picked up an injury the day before the game.

Injury list: Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Jack Wilshere, Micah Richards, Jack Rodwell, Glen Johnson, Gareth Barry & Scott Parker.

Plenty of injuries to players that would've made my squad hasn't helped, but i've still got a good enough team to beat Norway.

Not a very eventful game, but we got the win and a clean sheet in a one sided match. 2 goals in a minute enough for the win, could've been 3-0 but Jagielka hit the post. Now we move on to start qualification for the World Cup with 2 easy games against San Marino and Moldova. I might rest a few of our best players as there is no need to risk them in matches we surely can't lose.

Forster, Ruddy, Cahill, Carroll & Cole were the only players in the squad not to play in the Norway game.

Yet another injury. Walcott has got a torn hamstring whilst playing for Arsenal. Not going to have any players left at this rate.

Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Birmingham City), Fraser Forster (Celtic), John Ruddy (Norwich City)

Defenders: Kyle Walker (Spurs), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Leighton Baines (Everton), Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich Town), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Steven Caulker (Spurs)

Midfielders: Michael Carrick (Manchester United), James Milner (Manchester City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Ross Barkley (Everton), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Jonjo Shelvey (Liverpool), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Andros Townsend (QPR - on loan from Spurs)

Attackers: Andy Carroll (West Ham), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Rickie Lambert (Southampton)

I decided to go with some younger players to give them experience of being in the England squad and to rest some of our best players. The last thing we need right now is more injuries!

Guess what? Thats right, more injured players. Downing and Ferdinand are out, Gerrard and Shawcross have come in.

A largely injury hit squad, but its only San Marino and Moldova coming up.

Easy as expected. Although Lescott scoring a hat-trick wasn't. Not much to report really, I wanted a minimum of 6 goals with 0 conceded. 4 up at half time so I took off Lampard, Gerrard and Baines for Carrick, Barkley and Cresswell, who scored on his debut. Next up, Moldova. Easy.

Wow injuries galore! least the two games in line are easier for you!

I know, its crazy. I've never had so many injuries before. Gerrard nearly missed the San Marino game because of concussion and there are so many more injured players in my national pool that I haven't mentioned. Luckily we started qualifying with 2 piss easy games, and a Lescott hat-trick!

Only 3-0 but oh well. Baines and Sturridge got taken off to avoid injury. Now we just need our injured players back before we take on Poland and Ukraine in October.

Also Huddlestone is now injured with a torn hamstring. Great, another one out.

Headlines from other games:
San Marino caused a shock by actually scoring against Montenegro in a 1-2 defeat.
France came from 3-0 down to draw away at Georgia.
Scotland won 2-0 away in Serbia.
Holland were held 1-1 at home by Turkey.

One of the few players that wasn't actually injured and was therefore greatly needed by us.

And just as one centre back retires, another one gets injured. Michael Dawson is out for a month and will miss the next qualifying games. This is actually getting stupid now.

Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Fraser Forster (Celtic), John Ruddy (Norwich City)

Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (Spurs), Leighton Baines (Everton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City)

Midfielders: Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), David Beckham (PSG), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Spurs), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Manchester United), Adam Johnson (Sunderland)

Attackers: Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Jermaine Defoe (Spurs), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

James Milner has been dropped because he isn't getting any game time for Manchester City at the moment. He's actually played more games for England this season. But as we still have a few injuries, I decided to bring Beckham back for another go in the team. Its unlikely he'll start any games, but he is a very useful backup player!

The first team we've played that could potentially cause us a problem with their Dortmund trio. But during the game, they actually had less shots than San Marino and Moldova did against us. They had 1 shot, which was off target, and that only came once Cole had been sent off. 1-0 isn't a convincing scoreline, but the performance was. The goals conceded stat stays at 0 for now. Now we move onto another potentially tricky game against Ukraine.

Glen Johnson just got injured in training. Micah Richards has been called up as a replacement.

Just yes!

so many injures mate! Unlucky with that very good start though! Fantastic to see Beckham in the squad ha ha