World Football Tournament

[MJ4H]

World Football Tournament

I have created a tournament with 56 out of the 57 national teams included in the game Pro Evolution Soccer 4. 56 teams will be randomly drawn into 14 groups of 4 teams each. Round one of the tournament will be group play and will widdle the field down to 28 teams.

Round two will again be group play, but a bit larger scale. 4 groups of 7 will be randomly drawn and the top 4 from each group will advance to round 3.

Round three will be a third group stage, 4 groups of 4. 8 teams will move on to the final super-group.

Round four will be a double-elimination tournament with the surviving eight teams.

Obviously this will be a monstrous tournament. I will be keeping track of the standing by hand. Cumulative individual statistics will therefore not be kept.

The twist, besides the above which is unusual itself, is that I will be playing every single game of this tournament. I will choose one of the teams to control and let the computer handle my opponent. I have assigned all 56 teams a personal popularity value. In each matchup of the tournament, I will control the team I have assigned a higher value (the value is my personal preference, no one else's).

I will reveal only my top 5 teams of Personal preference here. The others are nearly random anyway, since the rest are pretty close.

1. United States
2. England
3. Australia
4. Netherlands
5. Sweden

As an example, if a game were to pit Netherlands vs. Sweden, I would control Netherlands in the game, since they are ranked higher by me (remember, this is merely a ranking of my personal favorite teams).

Next up, drawing for the groups.

[MJ4H]

Drawing for Group Assignments

There will be 14 groups in round one, assigned the letters A-N. Each team name is written on a piece of paper and placed into a bowl. One team is drawn from the bowl at a time and placed into the next slot. We will begin with Group A and fill each of the four slots before moving on to Group B and so on.


Group A
Poland
Mexico
England
Latvia

Group B
Netherlands
Paraguay
Senegal
Slovakia

Group C
Portugal
Austria
Sweden
S. Africa

Group D
Turkey
Tunisia
Chile
Nigeria

My predictions for groups A-D:

Group A

A strong group here with Latvia being the weak link. A tight battle for the second through-spot, but Mexico should advance. (England, Mexico)

Group B

Some middle of the road talent in this group, with Netherlands being likely the most skillful. Slovakia will challenge for the second spot, but Paraguay should hold. (Netherlands, Paraguay)

Group C

An easy pick here in a group with two strong and two weak teams. The question should be who wins between Sweden and Portugal. My pick is Portugal in a close one. (Portugal, Sweden)

Group D

I don't know quite enough about Chile and Turkey to make an intelligent prediction here, but my guy feeling only tells me Turkey is probably a bit stronger. I will pick Nigeria to win group D. (Nigeria, Turkey)

[MJ4H]

Group E
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Morocco
Costa Rica

Group F
Switzerland
Greece
Finland
China

Group G
United States
Bulgaria
Ecuador
Egypt

Group H
Belgium
Romania
Colombia
Russia

Group E

Should be two clear contenders in this group as well. Spain should have little problem winning the group, with Costa Rica a fairly strong second. Saudi Arabia might have the potential for a surprise against Costa Rica, though. (Spain, Costa Rica)

Group F

I really have no idea how to pick this group. It will be guy feelings only. My gut feeling is that the Scandanavian teams are fairly strong in general, so I will pick Finland to win this group. Switzerland doesn't get a whole lot of recognition over here, but is likely at least decent. However, the same can be said about the other two squads. Based on sheer numbers, though, I will pick China to go through. I really don't know. (Finland, China)

Group G

United States gets a pretty good draw in this group. Maybe one of the best draws it could have gotten. Should be the clear winner here. The battle will be for second between Egypt and Bulgaria, with Egypt getting the nod from me. (United States, Egypt)

Group H

A fairly consistently strong group here. No real outstanding talent, but all four pretty strong teams. Very tough to pick, but Romania has the talent to win this group. Belgium and Colombia will probably battle for second, and I will go with Belgium on this one. (Romania, Belgium)

[MJ4H]

Group I
France
Cameroon
Norway
Iran

Group J
Wales
Slovenia
Italy
Korea

Group K
Czech Republic
Uruguay
Brazil
Jamaica

Group L
Serbia and Montenegro
Scotland
Ireland
Denmark

Group M
Hungary
Peru
Ukraine
Croatia

Group N
Germany
Japan
Argentina
Australia

Group I

Hopefully, one of the gimme groups for me to pick. (France, Norway)

Group J

Probably a challenge between Slovenia and Korea for second spot behind, Italy. (Italy, Slovenia)

Group K

Brazil shouldn't have much trouble going through even in this somehat solid group. Czech Republic might have some problems with Uruguay, but should still be solid. (Brazil, Czech Republic)

Group L

Denmark is another of those solid Scandanavian teams. Ireland has enough talent to join them going through. (Denmark, Ireland)

Group M

Definitely a mysterious group for me, knowing little about any of these teams. Just on the strength of the Europeans alone, I will pick two of them to go through. (Croatia, Hungary)

Group N

A bad draw for Australia, for sure. Germany and Argentina the clear class of the group. Australia will have to hope for a draw and a lot of goals against Japan to have a prayer here. (Germany, Argentina)

Since it will not be possible to predict any of the group stages in rounds 2 and 3 (they will be randomly stocked from the pool of advancing teams) the only other predictions I can make are te final 8 teams.

Germany
Brazil
Italy
France
United States
England
Portugal
Sweden

It would be a wonderful double-elimination tournament to watch if these were our final eight teams. But if even four of them made it this far, the other four would be replaced with cinderella stories that would be just as compelling to watch. However it turns out, it should be a very interesting, very long tournament. I hope you stay tuned.

[MJ4H]

Round one will begin today. Obviously, it will be slow going plowing through all of these games. I plan to post photos from each game I play, and video highlights of each game from my top 2 popularity teams (if the top one or two are eliminated, the top 2 will be replaced with other teams). I hope you enjoy following along and predicting who will win and where the big upsets will be!

Oh I forgot, the settings for each game will be:

Difficulty: 3 stars
Length of half: 15 minutes

[MJ4H]

Game #1: Poland vs. Mexico

Mexico had the better of the total game possession, but the crucial chances were about equal in oppurtunity. Some breakdowns at the back led to good chances for Poland, none of which could be finished. Mexico had several good build-ups culminating in excellent finishing chances, but some outstanding goaltending preserved the scoreless tie in the opening game of the World Football Tournament.

An early chance for Mexico goes just wide


The Mexican goalkeeper collects an easy save


A critical breakdown gives Poland a chance from in close


Another back-line disaster allows a prime oppurtunity to score for Poland


A late-game chance for Mexico finds the post


The World Football Tournament fails to see its first goal

 Standings for Group A*
 
	 W - D - T  P  (GF - GA)
 Poland	 0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
 Mexico	 0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 ) 
 England 0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
 Latvia	 0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 ) 
 
 *top 2 teams will advance to round 2 (tie-breaker is goal differential)
 

[MJ4H]

Game #2: England vs. Latvia

It seemed that the WFT would get its first ever goal very early on in this one, as England very much dominated play. Over the first 25 minutes of the game the possession was probably 85-15 England and all in the offensive end. Several near misses later and Latvia escaped the opening onslaught unscathed. Latvia mounted a push nearing halftime and nearly put one in themselves several times.

Despite this and the evening out of the statistics, the outcome was never in doubt, and when Michael Owen finally notched the first goal of the tournament in the 50th minute, it was the only needed nail in Latvia's coffin. Many more high quality chances were had by England in this match despite the evenness of the shots match statistic.

Sol Campbell rises above two Latvian defenders to put a cross just over the bar early in the match


Staying involved in the offense, Campbell one-touches a pass just to the right of goal


Rooney (I think) turns on the ball putting it just wide off the first touch


Michael Owen finally scores the first goal of the WFT, 50th minute


England goalkeeper James makes a leaping save late in the match against Latvia's best offensive chance.


England sits atop the group standings after defeating Latvia 1-0.

     Group A
     
     	   W - D - L  P  (GF - GA)
     Poland   0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
     Mexico   0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
     England  1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 1 - 0 )
     Latvia   0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 - 1 )
     
     Games
     Poland - Mexico (0 : 0)
     England - Latvia (1 : 0)
     
     Poland - England
     Mexico - Latvia
     
     Latvia - Poland
     England - Mexico
     

[MJ4H]

If anyone has any tips for getting better video quality out of a sub 5 meg video file with FRAPS and VDub, by all means let me know.

[MJ4H]

Game #3: Netherlands vs. Paraguay

Paraguay came out of the gate attacking right away, and it didn't take long to put this one away. Santa Cruz scored 2 goals inside of 5 minutes in the first half to put the Netherlands nearly hopelessly behind.

A third goal by Cardozo, shortly after halftime, came off a rebound. Cardozo had a wide open net, with only a helpless defender between him and the goal. Cardoz0's shot flew just underneath the defender's leg and into the goal, giving Paraguay an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Netherlands got on the board late off a nice header from a corner kick.

An early shot from the Netherlands is stopped


Paraguay's Santa Cruz slides the first goal of the match into the right corner


Santa Cruz adds a second goal 3 minutes later into the opposite corner


Cardozo's shot under the defender's leg gives Paraguay a three goal lead


A Tyutau header beats Paraguay's thick corner kick defense in the 85th minute


Parguay picks up the three points for the win

  Group B
  
  			W - D - L  P  (GF - GA)
  Netherlands 0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 1 - 3 )  
  Paraguay	1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 3 - 1 )	
  Senegal	 0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )	
  Slovakia	0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )	
  
  		
  Games
  Netherlands - Parguay (1 : 3)
  Senegal - Slovakia
  
  Netherlands - Senegal
  Paraguay - Slovakia
  
  Slovakia - Netherlands
  Senegal - Paraguay
  

[MJ4H]

Also, please, if this idea interests you, let me know! I will need encouragement to keep going in a project so huge! I enjoy this type of thing very much, but without knowing someone is following, this will seem like a huge waste of time.

[korme]

watching!

[illinifan999]

This is amazing, the pictures really add to it.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've been following along since the 1st post. The pictures are great, and I'm enjoying this dynasty.

[MJ4H]

Game #4: Senegal vs. Slovakia

A back and forth affair with the skill of Slovakia eventually winning out. Senegal showed little familiarity with basic tactics and Slovakia eventually overwhelmed them, scoring the winner early in the second half.

The deciding strike came via the diving head of Valzzak in the 58th minute. A free kick from the right side went to the far post and off the head of one Slovakian attacker to the superbly reacting Senegal keeper. He only got an arm on it, though and Valzzak was there with the diving header to clean up. No serious threats from Senegal and Slovakia get the three points.

The Slovakians pose for a pregame photograph. The starting line-up is overlayed


A strike from the Senegal penalty area sails just over the Senegal keepers outstretched arms and over the bar


Slovakia shows their superiority in the air, sending this header on goal in the first half


Valzzak cleans up a rebound and puts in the only goal of the game


Senegal's best oppurtunity is stopped late in the second half.


The match statistics show Senegal took many more shots, but don't show they had fewer quality chances overall

 Group B
 
 			W - D - L  P  (GF - GA)
 Netherlands 0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 1 - 3 )	
 Paraguay	1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 3 - 1 )	
 Senegal	 0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 - 1 )	
 Slovakia	3 - 0 - 0  3  ( 1 - 0 )	
 
 		
 Games
 Netherlands - Parguay (1 : 3)
 Senegal - Slovakia (0 : 1)
 
 Netherlands - Senegal
 Paraguay - Slovakia
 
 Slovakia - Netherlands
 Senegal - Paraguay
 

[MJ4H]

Game #5: Portugal vs. Austria (Group C)

Portugal dominated the run of play for much of the game despite having only a 51-49 advantage in possession time. Much of the 51% was spent attacking the Austrian defense, which proved to be very porous. However, the finishing by Portugal attackers was found to be just as lacking, and it was not until the 85th minute that Pauleta finally put one home to give Portugal a winning advantage. If the finishing had been passable instead of disastrous for Portugal, this game would have easily been 4-0 instead of 1-0.

If Portugal improves the finishing even slightly, they look strong enough to easily win Group C.

An early blown finish for Portugal sails harmlessly wide of the target


This shot is on target but a fine save by the Austrian goalie keeps Portugal off the board


Another Portugal thrust is parried easily by the Austrian keeper


Portugal's keeper isn't napping either and makes a fine save


Portugal #9 Pauleta bangs it into the net off the right post for the game winner


Portugal held a significant statistical advantage throughout and looks to be tough to knock off in Group C

 Group C
 
 		   W - D - L  P  (GF - GA)
 Portugal   1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 1 - 0 )
 Austria	0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 - 1 )
 Sweden	 0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
 S. Africa  0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
 
 Games
 Portugal-Austria (1 : 0)
 Sweden-S. Africa
 
 Portugal-Sweden
 Austria-S.Africa
 
 S.Africa-Portugal
 Sweden-Austria
 

[MJ4H]

Game #5: Sweden vs. South Africa (Group C)

A surprisingly even match. Sweden had the better oppurtunities early on, but it was South Africa getting on the board first in the 39th minute with Nomvethe scoring from a nice give and go play.

Sweden answered 6 minutes later with Ljungberg rocketing a shot into the right side of the net through traffic. The teams entered halftime tied at one goal each.

The second half began much the same as the first, but it was South Africa with the early chances. Sweden's skill eventually won the day, though, and Allback took a pass right in front of the net and lofted it over a sprawling goalie for the game-winner in the 83rd minute.

The Sweden goaltender leaps to make sure this shot goes well high


South Africa gets on the board first as this shot stays just out of the goalie's reach


The goalie can just watch as Ljungberg's strike heads for the corner of the net through heavy traffic to tie the game


Sweden pours on the skill in the second half and nearly breaks the tie as this rebound shot hits the woodwork


Allback lofts the ball over the sprawling keeper for the winner in the 83rd minute


Two goals is enough and Sweden collects their 3 points for the victory

  Group C
  
  		   W - D - L  P  (GF - GA)
  Portugal   1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 1 - 0 )
  Austria	0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 - 1 )
  Sweden	 1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 2 - 1 )
  S. Africa  0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 1 - 2 )
  
  Games
  Portugal-Austria (1 : 0)
  Sweden-S. Africa (2 : 1)
  
  Portugal-Sweden
  Austria-S.Africa
  
  S.Africa-Portugal
  Sweden-Austria
  

[MJ4H]

Game #7: Turkey - Tunisia (Group D)

As disappointing a scoreless draw as you will ever see, this one was totally one-sided. Turkey completely dominated possession, shots on goal, and just about any other statistical category you can find, but couldn't find the back of the net for any of it. Hakan Sukur was on a rampage, but could never quite put the ball in. Still easily one of the most dominant performances by a single player in the WFT yet (along with Cardozo of Paraguay who had 2 goals in their first round victory over Netherlands). Tunisia, though thoroughly outplayed, did well to earn the draw, making it just difficult enough on Turkey that they could not find the net despite a 12-1 shots on goal advantage.

A pretty through pass leads to a clear shot against only the goalie early, but the shot goes just wide


Sukur gets his head on a corner kick in the first half


Sukur's head connects with another corner in the second half. This shot hits the bar


Sukur breaks through traffic and unleashes a rocket headed for the corner, but the Tunisian goaltender pushes it just out of goal


Sukur displays more of his skill late in the second half, but this volley goes safely wide of the net


Lots of chances, no goals

  Group D
  
  Turkey	0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
  Tunisia   0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
  Chile	 0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
  Nigeria   0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
  
  Games
  Turky-Tunisia (0:0)
  Chile-Nigeria
  
  Turkey-Chile
  Tunisia-Nigeria
  
  Nigeria-Turkey
  Chile-Tunisia
  

[MJ4H]

Game #8: Chile - Nigeria (Group D)

What an improbable draw! Group D has proven to be the strangest one of the groups thus far, with two teams vastly out-performing their opponents and getting out with only a draw. In this one, Chile blasted Nigeria from the opening kick, even scoring a goal in the 7th minute. The pressure never really even let up throughout the entire 90 minutes.

The mistake came with an ill-advised sliding tackle as a Nigerian attacker entered the penalty area with the ball. The referee whistled the foul which was in the very corner of the penalty area and pointed to the penalty spot. Okocha buried the ball into the upper-right corner past a diving Chile goaltender for the equalizer.

Despite much more pressure from Chile, the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Chile's Pinilla blasts the ball into the corner of the goal in the 7th minute


A fantastic sprawling save keeps Nigeria within a goal


The disastrous sliding tackle. The referee points to the penalty spot


Okocha puts it away


The penalty from behind the taker


The improbable draw

  Group D
  
  Turkey	0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
  Tunisia   0 - 1 - 0  1  ( 0 - 0 )
  Chile	 0 - 1 - 0  0  ( 1 - 1 )
  Nigeria   0 - 1 - 0  0  ( 1 - 1 )
  
  Games
  Turky-Tunisia (0:0)
  Chile-Nigeria (1:1)
  
  Turkey-Chile
  Tunisia-Nigeria
  
  Nigeria-Turkey
  Chile-Tunisia
  

[SirFozzie]

Good stuff. Keep it up!

[MJ4H]

A complete chart for round 1 to this point (since formatting never works for me on this board)


EDIT: Nice to see I cut off a row of teams at the bottom. I'll fix that on the next update.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Good stuff. Keep it up!

It's interesting because I feel a lot of excitement when playing out these games. It is almost as interesting as the real World Cup in some ways, and I feel a bit of that type of drama. I have been thinking of doing something like this for quite awhile, and finally I just dove in and went for it. I wish I knew more about all of these teams, but part of the purpose for this is for me to learn some as well.

[MIJB#19]

You had to make the fake football players of the Netherlands look bad there, didn't ya...

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

You had to make the fake football players of the Netherlands look bad there, didn't ya...

I tried, I really did. They jumped on me pretty hard, though.

[MJ4H]

Game #9: Saudi Arabia vs. Spain (Group E)

A valiant effort by the over-matched Saudis got them within a few inches of a draw, but Spain proved too much. A scoreless, rather uneventful first half was over-shadowed by what was probably the most exciting 45 minutes of football in the WFT thus far. Spain scored early on off a Vicente strike in the 48th minute.

Agi Pakarani tied it only 3 minutes later off a beautiful pass across the box. Pakarani took the shot and then knocked in the rebound past a defenseless goalkeeper to equalize the match.

Raul, straining to break out all game long, finally did so in the 73rd minute off a nice pass into the box. Raul turned on it, first touch, and rocketed it into the right side of the goal to take a 2-1 lead, which held up.

Raul breaks into the open in the first half, but a fine save by the Saudi keeper preserves the scoreless tie.


Raul skies to head this cross over the bar


This early second half strike from Vincente opened the scoring


Agi Pakarani pounds home a rebound to tie the match at one


Raul turns on a nice pass into the box and drives it into the net


Spain claims the three points for the triumph

 Group E
 
 Saudi Arabia  0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 1 - 2 )
 Spain		 1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 2 - 1 )
 Morocco	   0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
 Costa Rica	0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 - 0 )
 
 Games
 Saudi Arabia-Spain (1:2)
 Morocco-Costa Rica
 
 Saudi Arabia-Morocco
 Spain-Costa Rica
 
 Costa Rica-Saudi Arabia
 Morocco-Spain
 

[MJ4H]

Game #10: Morocco vs. Costa Rica (Group E)

The favored team dominated in this one, and, for once, the scoreboard reflected it. Costa Rica scored five times, three in the first half, and demolished Morocco 5-0.

Ronny Gonez scored the last goal of each half, and Wil Lonez, Centena, and Wantose all added a single goal for the final tally. Morocco was never a serious threat in this match, and Costa Rica finished their opporunities well.

Lonez tallies the first goal with this shot into the opposite corner


Centena lofts a sliding shot over a diving goalie for the second goal


Ronny Gonez (out of frame to left) closes the scoring in the first half by lofting a header over the goalie who can't keep it from crossing the goal line


Wantose adds one beating the goalie on the long side with a header


Gonez closes the scoring in the game


Costa Rica lights up the scoreboard with five goals

 Group E
 
 Saudi Arabia  0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 1 - 2 )
 Spain		 1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 2 - 1 )
 Morocco	   0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 - 5 )
 Costa Rica	1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 5 - 0 )
 
 Games
 Saudi Arabia-Spain (1:2)
 Morocco-Costa Rica (0:5)
 
 Saudi Arabia-Morocco
 Spain-Costa Rica
 
 Costa Rica-Saudi Arabia
 Morocco-Spain
 

[marshall881]

keep it up. I am really enjoying this. Good Work!

[MJ4H]

Game #11: Switzerland vs. Greece

An exciting, even match between two solid teams. Greece had the better first half, Switzerland had the better second half. The second penalty-kick of the tournament was awarded in the 83rd minute to Switzerland, but this one was saved by the crossbar. Switzerland's pressure finally resulted in the game-winner, but not until the second minute of two of injury-time! The referee blew for full time on the restart.

Greece's #8 fires a shot in first half-action. The goalie gets his left hand on it to push it wide


Greece puts on more pressure in the first half with this header on goal


A nice through pass to the left wing leads to this Swiss player's shot off the post


The foul leading to the failed penalty shot (No action shot of the actual penalty shot)


An injury time corner kick leads to this save off a header


But the rebound is too juicy and Alexander Frei knocks it in to the net!


Switzerland beats the buzzer and scores the victory!

 Group F
 Switzerland  1 - 0 - 0  3  ( 1 : 0 )
 Greece	   0 - 0 - 1  0  ( 0 : 1 )
 Finland	  0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 : 0 )
 China		0 - 0 - 0  0  ( 0 : 0 )
 
 Games
 Switzerand-Greece
 Finland-China
 
 Switzerland-Finland
 Greece-China
 
 China-Switzerland
 Finland-Greece
 

[Northwood_DK]

Nice dynasty and great pictures. Not a small job in front of you but I hope you can complete it. I will be reading.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Northwood_DK

Nice dynasty and great pictures. Not a small job in front of you but I hope you can complete it. I will be reading.

I'll finish; it may just be a few months

[MJ4H]

Updated standings chart for round 1 up to this point. I finally got all the flags in, too, so that looks a little nicer, I think:

[MJ4H]

Game #12: Finland vs. China

Evenly played match with the deciding moment coming in the second half. Finland's striker, Litmanen, found himself with the ball and against the goal line just to the left of China's goal, when he was tackled from behind. The referre blew the whistle and, indeed, pointed to the penalty spot. Litmanen calmly struck the ball into the right of the net, while China goalie could only turn his head and watch. The tally held up, and Finland wins, 1-0.

An early breakaway is stopped by China's goaltender.


A cross finds the head of a Chinese attacker, and heads just over the corner of the goal


Finland can sky for headers as well


Litmanen scores from the penalty spot


China nearly equalizes late in the game




Updated standings:

[Eaglesfan27]

Very nice looking with the flags. Excellent read

[MJ4H]

Game #13: United States vs. Bulgaria - click for VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS!
used wmv format for this video - slightly better quality (not much); shouldnt be many codec problems this time.

A surprisingly strong Bulgaria kept control of this match from the outset, and barely gave the over-matched Americans any chances to score at all. Yaiyolic broke the scoreless tie midway through the second half with a diving header off a rebound. The winning strike seemed inevitable for much of the match, as the US was struggling mightily to just hold on for the scoreless tie.
A harmless shot from a Bulgarian attacker flies into the side-netting


The attacker heads a shot just to the right of goal


McBride squanders the USA's best chance early in the second half


Yaiyolic dives for the winning header


Bulgaria had the better of the chances and come out on top


Updated standings:

[MJ4H]

Game #14: Ecuador vs. Egypt

A heart-breaker for Ecuador. The two teams fought valiantly to a stand-still for 86 minutes of the match. In the 87th minute, a lapse in defense allowed a beautiful cross and header to find their way home for Egypt. The run of play for the rest of the match implied nothing short of a scoreless draw, so this one stung with the goal coming as late as it did. Egypt almost allowed an equalizer at the start of stoppage time, after giving up a free kick at the top of the penalty area, but the header sailed harmlessly over the bar.

A chance for Ecuador early in the second half


An aerial battle in front of the Egypt goal


Mido puts in the game winner off his head in the closing minutes


The Egypt wall (right of shot) watches as a desperation header off of the free kick sails harmlessly over the goal in stoppage time


Egypt is victorious

[MJ4H]

Game #15: Belgium vs. Romania

A hard fought battle, with Belgium owning the bulk of the chances and the run of play. A beautiful pass to the left side, cross to the center, and header off the bottom of the crossbar made for a spectacular opener for Belgium in the 35th minute by Sonck. Romania had a few decent chances in the first half, but it seemed the Belgian defense was always there to deflect a shot.

In the second half, it was more of the same, but Romania finally when a nice pass to Bratu on the left side allowed him a look at the goal from a sharp angle. With a gorgeously accurate shot, Bratu beat the goalie into the far corner of the net to equalize.

A nice volley from Romania sails high


A good chance for the Romanian attacker ends with an easy save


A beautiful play leads to the goal as the Sonck header grazes the bottom of the bar and goes in


Bratu beats the goalie from a sharp angle


Belgium nearly retakes the lead with this diving header, but it goes right to the goalie


A hard-fought draw

[MJ4H]

Game #16: Colombia vs. Russia

Colombia's superior skill and aggressiveness won out in this one. Two tallies in the first 20 minutes of the game were all it took, and Colombia hung on for the win in a tough, physical match.

An early counter-attack by Russia is thwarted by a solid save from the Colombian keeper


Anquel heads home the opener


Heunongas blasts one into the corner of the net


Another fine save for the Colombian keeper


A fine save by the Russian goalie


Lots of fouls and lots of shots adds up to a victory for Colombia in this one

[MJ4H]

Game #17: France vs. Cameroon

Looked to be a mis-match on paper, and looked to be a mis-match 20 minutes in. France jumped all over Cameroon 2-0 in the first 20 minutes of the game with what looked to be effortless scoring: one on as easy a centering pass as you'll ever see, the other at the tail of a beautiful solo run.

France bunkered down a little to make sure they got the 3 points following these two goals, but a defensive disaster changed the scope of the game a bit. A Cameroon attacker got loose along the goal line to the left of the goal and fired a shot into the net off of a French defender. France then were forced to look for counter-attacking oppurtunities more often as Cameroon went into all-out assault mode, nearly tying the game several times. 2-1 was good enough, though.

France's first easy goal off a wide-open centering pass


And second goal at the tail of a beautiful run


The own-goal brings Cameroon back into the match


A second-half free kick was Cameroon's best chance to equalize


But Barthez stops it from going into the corner of the net spectacularly


France's strategy works out in the end

[MJ4H]

Game #18: Norway vs. Iran (Group I)

The favored team came out strong again, but Iran showed a lot of heart and made this a very competetive game. Carew scored twice in the first half for Norway, making Iran's task seem near impossible, but they almost pulled it off. After a beautiful goal pulled them back within a goal, Iran kept up a high level of pressure for much of the rest of the match, but failed to equalize.

An early chance for Norway is deflected by both a sliding defender and the goalkeeper


Carew puts the first goal in the net with his head off a freekick


Carew takes a nice centering pass and blasts it into the goal for his second


Mahanahikia for Iran lofts the ball over a sliding goalkeeper to get on the board in the second half


Carew blows one of his two chances in the second half to get a hat-trick--both chances were at wide open nets


Still no WFT hat-trick

[MJ4H]

One of the things I thought might be interesting about this dynasty is that I would control one of the two teams in each game, but outside of those 5 teams I named, the reader would not know which team I was controlling (which I guessed would make the reader care more about which team would win, rather than whether MJ4H or the computer would win). I still am not going to reveal which teams I controlled, because I think that idea has some merit, but I do think it might be interesting to let you know my current personal record against the computer. Level 3 difficulty on PES4 is certainly no push-over as those of you that have played the game know.

So far, I have 10 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses. This is pretty good, but I have frequently controlled the more skilled team, too, so my record should be that good. I think the results I've gotten to this point have been fairly realistic. I don't know what the average goals scored in international play per game is, but in this tournament, so far, there have been 34 goals in 18 games (1.89 goals per game). Maybe I will check to see if that is close to realistic, or maybe someone else that is following along can check. I can always bump up the game length by 5 minutes.

Thanks for reading along, and don't be afraid to make comments about some games, or thoughts on what I could do better.

[MJ4H]

Game #19: Wales vs. Slovenia (Group J)

A fantastic game, this one was in doubt to the end. A rainstorm wasn't about to stop these two teams. Wales got a first half goal off a pass that got through the Slovenia defense due to a miscommunication. The pass settled right onto the foot of Harston in front of the goal, who pounded it home for a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, Slovenia scored two quick goals to retake the lead. With the crowd going crazy, Wales calmly forced the play for the next 20 minutes, trying mightily to equalize, but it was never to be.

Harston's blast opened the scoring


A Slovenian attacker gets his head on the ball over two defenders


A free-kick forces the Wales goalie to leap straight up for the save


A gorgeous lob pass lands on the foot of Zaoric who ties the match


Acimowic, who had gone up to head a cross, has the ball come down at his feet with a wide open shot--and capitalizes


Probably the save of the tournament so far, a wide-open net just wasn't enough for this Slovenian attacker


What a game!

[MJ4H]

I'm having a lot of fun with this, dynasty, but doing the screenshots and write-ups is wearing a little thin. I'm considering doing away with the detail until deeper in the tournament. I'll try to give updates and try to post some quality screenshots instead of feeling like i have to get 5 from every single game.

[MJ4H]

As you could probably guess, without having to do write-ups and pictures, I can fly through these games. I did several this afternoon in one sitting. I will get through round 1 this way, and once we get to round 2, I will TAKE REQUESTS for games to cover in-depth so that I won't have to do too many, but you can still get detailed reports of games that catch your eye.

That means, I will need participation once we get to round 2, though. Not a lot, just request a game here or there would be nice.

So here's a summary of the games that have occured to this point, not covered above.

Italy 1, Korea 0
Czech Republic 1, Uruguay 1
Brazil 2, Jamaica 1
Scotland 1, Serbia & Montenegro 0
Ireland 0, Denmark 0

So the standings currently look like this: