[FM24] World Cup Prospector

The 2062 FIFA World Cup reaches the Round of 16!

Cor blimey, guv'nor. England gave Javier Borgetti's Mexico, what we call in the business, an absolute violation. I mean, look at the stats man… 3.69 xG, 24 shots, 64% possession. I haven't been thumped like that on FM for quite some time. Sheesh!

Quite a few stories across the other Round of 16 ties. Scotland keep their fantastic run going by beating France on spot-kicks, while Peru knocked out Italy and Brazil beat Spain; they were fortunate to get out of their group, but the Brazilians are now ticking along nicely to be fair. South Africa and Nigeria are eliminated, so CAF's hopes are over at this World Cup.

In the quarter-finals, Scotland vs. Norway is a fascinating encounter as England, Brazil and the United States have favourable matches with Türkiye, Belgium and Peru. Let's see how it all goes down.

Peru are World Cup semi-finalists, how about that! What a 3-1 win that is over the United States. Scotland join them, as they defeated Norway 4-2. England and Brazil face no problems though, getting the better of Türkiye and Belgium.

The semi-finals are Scotland vs. Peru and England vs. Brazil, so an underdog is guaranteed to make the 2062 final. But which one?

Scotland vs. England it will be in the showpiece. Scotland won on penalties, which is a heartbreaking end for the Peruvians. England, meanwhile, narrowly beat Brazil 1-0. So it's an all-British final for the second time in the save after 2034 (when ENG beat Wales).

I'm English, but 'mon the Tartan Army!

It took extra time, but it's England who are World Cup winners once again. That's their fourth triumph in this competition. Nil poi for me yet again. Boo!

The end of the save has arrived. Mainly due to the FM26 beta releasing later today, but to be honest I think I've exhausted the save idea as much as I had originally anticipated; if not slightly more, to be honest. I didn't get that damn World Cup trophy, not that that's much of a surprise to me or anyone who has followed my saves down the years on Susie. Still, I did really enjoy playing the save - one that was strictly for fun, something I've never really done on FM so it was a pleasant change of pace.

Before I move on, I thought I'd do a recap of sorts to bookend this story post.

2026 - in United States/Canada/Mexico - managing England:

I underachieved in this one, no doubt about it. I led England to a round of 16 elimination at the hands of Japan, who were the less dominant side but took their chance and we did not. Argentina would end the tournament as winners.

2030 - in Türkiye - managing Belgium:

This turned out to be one or my two best campaigns in the save, both of which were in fact with the more underdog nations of the top seven in the world rankings. After leading The Red Devils out of the group (which I did with every nation managed - it would've been embarrassing had I hadn't, of course), I got some revenge on Japan as well as eliminating Switzerland and the United States. The star result was a semi-final triumph over France on penalties, thus gaining us a spot in the 2030 World Cup final. Sadly, Spain edged past us in the showpiece thanks to a Pedro Porro free-kick. Still, a great run.

2034 - in Japan - managing Brazil:

In 2034, I actually made a mistake with my team selection. Spain were the team I should've managed based on my rules of following the rankings and not re-managing a nation, but for some reason I thought I had already coached the Spanish - evidently, I hadn't. I didn't realise this mistake until post-tournament, so was too late to go back. Still, a tournament with Brazil was desirable. Unfortunately, the event didn't go overly well as my Brazilian bunch were knocked out in the quarter-finals - by England, who'd win the whole thing.

2038 - in South Africa - managing Argentina:

Another tournament where I should've done better, given I was coaching world no.2 Argentina. Like in 2026 with the English, it was to be a Round of 16 exit for me with La Albiceleste. Belgium, remember them, were the side to put us out. This was probably the biggest underachievement of the whole save. Belgium would, admittedly, reach the semi-finals, missing out on a spot in the final after losing to Wales; who'd be defeated by Germany in the Johannesburg final.

2042 - in Spain - managing the Netherlands:

This can be coupled with 2030's run with Belgium, as in 2042 I got the Netherlands into the final. Annoyingly, it was to be a second runner-up run of the save as former employers Brazil would dash my Dutch hopes with a 2-1 victory at Spotify Camp Nou. The United States and Sweden made for a kind start to the knockouts, prior to a quarter-final triumph over Belgium - who I got back for that aforementioned 2038 exit. In the semis, we got past surprise package Algeria. I'm still sorry, Les Verts.

Second place was as good as it got, as nothing improved happened across the subsequent five World Cups.

2046 - in Indonesia/Malaysia - managing Germany:

Round of 16 losers, again. Finals with Belgium and the Netherlands, but R16 exits with England, Argentina and Germany. Go figure! Those early eliminations came to Japan, Belgium and, in 2046, the United States. All three nations, esp. the USA around this point in the save, were all pretty good don't get me wrong, but how frustrating really. The States would go on to reach the quarters, but were sent packing by England. The English were denied the trophy in the final by France, who were triumphant at the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in Indonesia.

2050 - in Brazil - managing Spain:

Ah Spain, another disappointment (I'm sensing a theme). After knockout stage wins over Senegal and Italy, we met reigning champions France in the quarter-finals. There, we were extremely unfortunate. Admittedly the scoreline was bad (0-3), but based on the statistics a draw would've been the far fairer result. Alas, just like Japan in 2026, our opponents were clinicial and my boys simply were not. The French would not retain their title though, as the Netherlands beat them in the semi-finals. The Dutch, in another final after I got them there in 2042, would miss out again, as England won narrowly 1-0 at the Maracanã.

2054 - in England - managing France:

A quarter-final would be my limit again in 2054, despite managing third seed France. We would lose out in that round to Poland. Now, naturally, that sounds terrible on paper (and still is really). In reality, however, this was a World Cup of shocks. The Polish would end up reaching the tournament final, where they'd meet Belgium. It was also fine margins, given Poland netted a stoppage time equaliser to force extra time - where my squad were dead on their feet, given I went against rotation for once. Sadly for the Eagles, they wouldn't win their first-ever World Cup - that honour went to Belgium instead, as they won 3-1 at Wembley Stadium.

2058 - in Australia - managing Italy:

With this being World Cup no. 9, I was running out of nations to manage; given I set myself a limit of one run per (top 7) nation. Italy was one of two ‘top’ nations still available (the other being struggling Portugal). Italy weren't much better, but were still the most likely candidate in terms of finally claiming a World Cup. Obviously, that didn't happen. It was, in fact, the worst result of the entire save! Germany condemned Gli Azzurri to a second round exit; i.e. the first knockout stage. There was some solace in that the Germans would go on to win the tournament, at the expense of England. 2038 with Argentina was the biggest underachivement given Italy were #7 in the world, but this was still bad.

2062 - in Mexico - managing Mexico:

2062 was the The Last Dance (if The Last Dance was about no success). It did have some nice fitting though, as I managed Mexico (#10 in rankings; highest nation available) in a Mexican-hosted World Cup. It was arguably the most eventful period of the save, as there was some rare group stage drama that we narrowly advanced through and then we had a super knockout win over Argentina. Sadly, an exit was abruptly forthcoming as England smacked us (and I mean smacked us) 5-0 on our own turf. For the fifth time in the save, I was eliminated by the eventual victors; as Scotland lost to the English at the Estadio Azteca.

What I can take from this save is that I'm better at managing ‘smaller’ teams, which is something I pretty much knew already; my many journeymans always tend to showcase that. My tactics, team talks etc. are seemingly best suited to punching up rather than punching down. I don't mind that as it's arguably more realistic, to me anyway as I prefer the struggle over winning everything every season - not that I'd turn that down!😁

As enjoyable as this World Cup save was, I am very eager to jump back into a journeyman when FM26 fully releases. Lastly, thanks to anyone who has been following along!