“Germans play to the end” – Actua Soccer Cup FINAL

“Germans play to the end” – Final Summary

Well that old quote from Gary Lineker has proven to be right again. Germany didn’t really have much competition in this cup and no matter who they played always looked a lot better than the other team. The key to winning the final and the whole tournament was great defence, briliant midfield and superstar attack. The final it slef was a bit one-sided. Sure Italy tired their best but rivals barely give them any chances to even creat a threat. Meanwhile Klinsmann was completing his art of destruction scoring easy two goals and taking the lead in the race for golden boot award. In the second half Riedle once again show his style and with 3:0 on the scoreboard Germany just waited for the final whistle.

“Victoria!!!” – Actua Soccer Cup Semi Finals

“Victoria!!!” – Semi Finals Summary

Match betwen Germany and Holland may look like a clash between Klinsmann and Bergkamp but it was Stefan Effenberg who became the hero. Germany took control from the start and since Effenberg was really in the groove, it was not long before he scored two goals. Holland replied on the first one after a long shot from Witschge but still was behind after the first half. In second 45 minutes German was playing smart football, keeping the ball and defending high. As Holland must attack and uncover a bit, space was created for counter attacks. One of them made the final score 3:1.

Before semi finals Italy had trouble with scoring and ofen used to waste great chances. This time it was different. First of all I don’t know what they had for breakfeast but “azzuri’s” looked like they were on some serious power ups. English players were two steps behind all the time and we did not have to wait long for goals to came, as Zola shown great form. In the end he scored an hat-trick of amazing goals and the one that beat the keeper from over 30 meter whould probably become this tournament classic. Tough good bye for England.

 

“Tulip Thriller” – Actua Soccer Cup Quater Finals

“Tulip Thriller” – Quater Finals Summary

Irish luck is over, though you have to admit they put on quite a fight! Germany was one goal better but on the pitch it looked like a draw, so the “Green Island” should be proud of their boys. UK still has their team to cheer as England won another game. This time it was Bulgaria, who after beating France in last round became a true revelation of the tournamnet. England managed to keep it cool and after Ince and Cole goal they won 2:0

Another revelation of the competion – Colombia this time had to face Holland. It look like another great game by Asprilla and the boys as they were 2 goals in front on the half time. After they knock out Brazil and Argentina in the earlier games, the score made a lot of sense but Holland did not surrender till the end. “Oranje” started the second half well and came back to the game after Marc Overmars shown a bit of foxy skills in the penalty area. The thriller has rally started when Dennis Bergkamp made the score even after a great run and wonderful finish. With 15 minutes to go, Holland still had time to pull it off and they tried their best. Colombia looked tired and tried to defend draw, but Bergkamp again made the difference. Four European teams will meet in the semis and all of them look like winners.

 

 

“Cool as Colombia” – Actua Soccer Cup 2nd Round

Easy win for Germany, solid performance by England and some tough battles behind Holland and Italy. But it’s three other team that supprised everyone making it to the quater finals. First of all Colombia. Shown potential agains Ivory Coast in qualifications, shown style agains Argentina in last round but this time what they did with Brazil was absolutely amazing! ’94 World Cup winners did what they could to find a way to win but when they lost two goals in ten minutes they did not know what hit them and it was too late when they got back on the track with Zinho comeback goal.

France is not in the highest potential right know and Bulgaria has few great names on their side, so the score was not easy to predict in this one, but still what happened out ther was a total suprise. Emil Kostadinov had a game of his life and not only turned every chance into a goal but also all of them were outstandingly beautyful. Whole French team was somwhere else and they should be thankful it ended only on 5 goal difference.

Last but not least – Ireland. Doing another baby step to the final. First won with Switzerland after an own goal, then got lucky after a really strugle against Danmark and now they throw Spain out of the tournament. Team is not a pack of stars, but show as lot of heart on the field and that keeps paying off so far, will the Irish luck help them agains Germany?

“Clockwork Orange” – Actua Soccer Cup 1st Round

Some of those “so called” weaker teams really shown potential in the eliminations but when it came to the real deal only few of them were able to put on a fight. Ghana looked pretty solid agains Wales but was absolutely no competition to Holland. The Dutch were amazing scoring goal after goal and finaly ending on six. Colombia though made another good impression as they put on a serious fight against Argentina and managed to win by a single goal, next round will be a real test as they play Brazil. Another small step by Ireland who this time beaten Danmark also by a single goal. Germany, England, Brazil, Italy, Spain and France did their job and made no suprises advancing mostly easy.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ice Cold Iceland" – Acuta Soccer Cup Qualifications

“Ice Cold Iceland” – Eliminations Summary

There were few good games in the eliminations. Those teams will not have easy life in the next round as some top rivals are waiting for them but still, some of them shown potential. Take Iceland for example who crushed China in away game thanks to Ingolfsson hat-trick. In the next round they will face Bulgaria and maybe they suprise us again. Another solid performance came from Colombia who given no chance to Ivory Coast. 3 goals by Gomez made the difference and all of them looked pretty easy. Colombia now will play Argentina, so this time there will be no easy goals. One of the biggest suprises came from the African teams. Impresive wins by Egipt, Marocco, Ghana and Zambia made few squads from old continent look like amatours. Last but not least Czech Republic. It was not an easy decision to put them in the qualifications and they show that maybe not a good one too. Easy win against Urugway proven they are for real about this.

FIFA 2003 – Regional Cup Qualif. – BRAZIL

OMG it’s so weird in Brazil as we got 15 teams! How the hell should we devide them, here’s an idea. First we take 2 theoreticly worst teams and they play 2 leg round against eachother. We lose 1 team, 14 stays. In next round we take 8 posibly worst teams of those 14 and draw a 2 leg round. So another 4 teams are out we have 10 teams left. From this point we make it as we did in Austria so, we take 8 of them and play tournament and 2 strongest in the league play eachother for a place in a final where they meet winner 1 of those 8 teams. Oh Brazil why 15 teams?! Let’s do this.

FIFA 2003 – Regional Club Qual. – Belgium

In Belgium we got 18 teams in the league so here is what we gonna do. 16 teams will compete in two 8 tournaments and each of them will give us one winner. So we got 2 finalists. But what about 2 other teams. This teams will be Anderlecht and Club Brugge considered to be the strongest in the league (by game stats). This 2 teams will join those two turnament’s winners and a final tournament will contain 4 teams. Complicated? Maybe a bit, but seems fair.

Fifa 2003 – Regional Club Qual. AUSTRIA

10 playable clubs in Austrian League so we devide them into 2 groups. 2 best teams in the league Austria Vien and Sturm Graz will play each other and the rest competes in a 8 team knockout. Therefore we will get 2 team that will play in a final. Here are the scores and video highlights from Austria.

Championship Manager 00/01 – PART III

After being fired from Lechia Gdansk I get proposition from portugese UD Santarem. The team plays in Portugal Second Division B (3rd division). What is pretty shocking is the fact that there are no players in the team!

So I got a month to the start of the next season and not even one single player in the team. At first I’m seriously thinking about resigning from this club, but after giving it a thaught I decide – what the hell…

The budget is low so the only options are loans and free signings. I get 21 players without spending a dime. Certenly they are not the top shelf stars, because I pretty much have to sign everybody that agrees the terms, but at least I can participate in the season.