AHC: Have England win the 2014 World Cup
- Thread starter SunDeep
- Start date
SunDeep
Banned
Now, come on. Why should this be any more ASB than Italy, Portugal or the USA winning? True, it's an extremely difficult challenge, but nothing's totally impossible, right? Certainly not when it comes to a knock-out sports tournament.
It's borderline ASB because with such a close POD you can't do anything positive to improve the England team's chances, all you can do is intervene with a consistently appalling string of bad circumstances (injuries say) and outcomes (match form) for every other team they face at every stage in the tournament, to the point where that string breaks the basic balance of credibility. True, every winning team rides on an element of luck, (Brazil and Argentina were lucky to get where they did) but that aforementioned string of repeated acts of god to produce an outcome which wouldn't otherwise be probable or even particularly likely, I'd call that borderline ASB. Not magical as such, but improbable intervention in support of a wildly improbable outcome.
SunDeep
Banned
Or change the squad roster, tactics and management prior to the World Cup. Just saying. For instance, have butterflies which lead to Theo Walcott going to the 2014 World Cup along with the rest of the squad, and the core Liverpudlian players in the squad- the England captain Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Glen Johnson- coming into the tournament on a high from winning the Premiership.
Break the power of the English clubs or at least place limits on them around the time the Premier league was set up. Adopt the mindset that while profits for club owners and trophies for club trophy cabinets are good things, they must still be subordinate to the FA and it's goal of World Cup domination.
Oh, and never, ever select Wayne Rooney for England. Not even once.
Oh, and never, ever select Wayne Rooney for England. Not even once.
You're not going to change the management. Hodgson was locked in from your POD until now, barring England not qualifying for the WC of course - which necessarily would void the purpose of the thread. As such the tactics and squad are also basically locked in.
The Liverpool players coming off a title-winning season is more likely to sate and knacker them than propel them to magnificent international form, and if Walcott is uninjured then I guess most likely Sterling would fall to the bench (Although possibly Welbeck, I'll grant you - though that's less likely to my mind as Hodgson seems to be one of the few people who rate Welbeck) - and Sterling was one of our better players of the tournament. I guess that might have also disrupted Hodgson's bizarre decision to play Rooney out wide in the Italy game but that's a bit tenuous as Hodgson had plenty of wide options for that game and didn't use them.
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SunDeep
Banned
Even with player pester power? Couldn't they get him ousted in a similar manner to David Moyes at Man Utd, or by England losing some games against poor opposition at the outset in the qualifying campaign, facing the threat of elimination, before getting their act together under a new manager and qualifying as runners up in their group (after all, if they manage to get through their playoff against France and qualify, they've arguably got the easiest group of all awaiting them at the 2014 World Cup). And the Liverpool players coming off a season when they actually managed to win the title instead of choking at the death and throwing it away might result in a mindset where, unlike IOTL's 2014 World Cup, England doesn't choke and throw away their games in exactly the same fashion that Liverpool did at the end of last season.
It may not be any more ASB than those three - but none of those teams was expected to contend. (Maybe Portugal if Cristiano Ronaldo had been fully healthy, but that's about it.)
SunDeep
Banned
Hmm. Perhaps Stuart Pearce, Steve Bruce or Mark Hughes? Or another foreign manager- Roberto Martinez, Manuel Pellegrini or Jose Mourinho, for instance?
SunDeep
Banned
Er- POD after September 2012. Unless he gets sacked by Holland before the World Cup, he's not going to make it. Sorry...
In the first game against Italy, a penalty is given when Gerrard goes down in the box, giving England a creditable draw. In the second, Godin picks up an early red card - a second yellow for a foul on Sturridge, and England go on to win through a Rooney brace. They edge past Costa Rica 1-0 (Sturridge) in the final group game, who go through in 2nd place.
In the second round, England face a Greece side who were lucky to get through their group, and win through a solitary Steven Gerrard goal 8 minutes from time. There is a shock in the Germany - Algeria game when an inspired goalkeeping performance from Rais M'Bohli and a deflected winner sends the Germans out. Joachim Low is sacked.
In the quarter finals, England draw 0-0 after extra time with the Netherlands, leading to a shootout between the worst two nations in the world at penalties. Somehow, England win.
In the semi finals Lionel Messi limps off early for Argentina, who's threat is somewhat muted as a result. A bad-tempered game sees Demichelis dismissed for an elbow, and Rooney score the winner despite TV replays showing that he controlled the ball with his hand first.
In the final they face home favourites Brazil, who edged past France but were without the injured Neymar. Brazil collapsed under the pressure and England win the game 3-0.
This is fairly implausible, but it's tournament football - it's no less likely than Germany beating the "unbeatable" Hungary in 1954 having lost 8-3 earlier in the tournament, or Greece in 2004, and more likely than Denmark winning Euro 92 despite not actually qualifying. Getting England into the quarter finals is easy - it only involved changing two refereeing decisions, both of which could easily have gone the other way in OTL. This in turn leads to them playing a full strength side against Costa Rica and topping the group, which gives them Greece, the weakest side in round 2.
The shootout win against the Dutch may stretch the realms of plausibility, but I could see England holding them, considering how the Dutch side only played particularly well in one game (Spain) and how Costa Rica managed it. The Dutch are almost as bad as England in shootouts anyway. This gets England to the semi finals, and from then they just need some luck (and to avoid the Germans, which I did in round 2 with a shock Algeria win - this very nearly happened anyway).
In the second round, England face a Greece side who were lucky to get through their group, and win through a solitary Steven Gerrard goal 8 minutes from time. There is a shock in the Germany - Algeria game when an inspired goalkeeping performance from Rais M'Bohli and a deflected winner sends the Germans out. Joachim Low is sacked.
In the quarter finals, England draw 0-0 after extra time with the Netherlands, leading to a shootout between the worst two nations in the world at penalties. Somehow, England win.
In the semi finals Lionel Messi limps off early for Argentina, who's threat is somewhat muted as a result. A bad-tempered game sees Demichelis dismissed for an elbow, and Rooney score the winner despite TV replays showing that he controlled the ball with his hand first.
In the final they face home favourites Brazil, who edged past France but were without the injured Neymar. Brazil collapsed under the pressure and England win the game 3-0.
This is fairly implausible, but it's tournament football - it's no less likely than Germany beating the "unbeatable" Hungary in 1954 having lost 8-3 earlier in the tournament, or Greece in 2004, and more likely than Denmark winning Euro 92 despite not actually qualifying. Getting England into the quarter finals is easy - it only involved changing two refereeing decisions, both of which could easily have gone the other way in OTL. This in turn leads to them playing a full strength side against Costa Rica and topping the group, which gives them Greece, the weakest side in round 2.
The shootout win against the Dutch may stretch the realms of plausibility, but I could see England holding them, considering how the Dutch side only played particularly well in one game (Spain) and how Costa Rica managed it. The Dutch are almost as bad as England in shootouts anyway. This gets England to the semi finals, and from then they just need some luck (and to avoid the Germans, which I did in round 2 with a shock Algeria win - this very nearly happened anyway).
They'd have to beat Costa Rica first. Given that Costa Rica turned out to be quite decent while England were an embarrassment in all three games that's not exactly a given.
Actually you're changing/adding a lot of things. You have 1) England converting the penalty against Italy (which is likely, but not certain); 2) Rooney - a guy who's scored once in three World Cup tournaments - scoring an extra goal; 3) Sturridge scoring out of the blue against Costa Rica; and 4) the English defense always holding up after these extra goals and never allowing any equalizers/winners (certainly no given from the way they played in this tournament).
Also, I don't think this Dutch team, with Van Gall at the helm, would lose the penalty shootout to England. They were certainly well-prepared in their shootout against Costa Rica.
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Er- POD after September 2012. Unless he gets sacked by Holland before the World Cup, he's not going to make it. Sorry...
I was about to say, have him get into a verbal fight with someone and get sacked because of it. But he's really mellowed out lately. Too bad.