FIFA 06 - Austrian Qualifications

One of the smallest tournaments in the game, but with some big names! Austria Magna (Wien), Rapid Wien, Sturm Graz, Red Bull Salzburg..., all this guys mean something in the football world. And most defenetly one of them will play in the finals. Who will it be this time? The one that had the best man for the job in attack, thats for sure. I'm talking Roland Linz, Austria best forward in those days. This guy was the anwser in the qualifications, will he be the key in the finals? Checkout Austrian highlights.

FIFA 06 - Norway Qualifications

Rosenborg? Valerenga? Molde? NO! Not this time. Most suprising tournament so far as only one of this teams made it even to semi finals. Insted let's focus on Odd Grenland and Aalesunds. If you're not familiar with Norway league you probably did not even heard about that second team. Well you will remeber them after this one for sure as it was a beautiful campain for those guys. Not much to say more, just check out the highlights from Norway...

FIFA 06 - Swedish Qualifications

If you check the highlights you will see that this one started with a good old school goal rumble, finished with some nice series of pens. In Sweden you always look at IFK Goteborg specialy if you're a kid of the 90's. But the shift has changed a bit since then and now we have Djurgardens and Malmoe FF back in the game. Still in will be someone else to play in the big final and suprise or no, they sure deserved that place. Check out why...

FIFA 06 - Swiss Qualifications

Up next in Fifa 06 we lend in Switzerland. Rather small tournament in a small league but yes we have some names you might notice. I promise you a great game between FC Zurich and FC Basel, it's worth to watch the highlights just for that one. Comparing to Korea we had a much better tournament, more goals and emotions. So go further and check out all the goals and scores from Swiss competition.

FIFA 06 - Korean Qualifications

Ok, so we head on in Korea with 13 teams from what they call K-League as I suppose :) If you ask me do I know any korean league players I whould anwser - YES A LOT ACTUALLY. Any names? Just one - Kim :) Enough with the pefetic jokes. I have no idea who is who in this league, but still have a feeling that result of the tournament is a bit of a suprise. So check out the quick review of this one...

Black Managment Fifa 2001 Club Championship FINAL

Barcelona was a sure favorite before the last 8 and even the whole final tournament begin. They had their ups and downs in this tournament but in the final stage they got their groove on. Partrick Kluivert a fresh TOP SCORER of the International Cup, lead the way to the glory, with his great five goals in the final 8. Borussia Dortmund looked good and managed to advance to the final quite easy beating Molde and Strasborug but in the last game it was all about Barca. We can only think how the game whould look like if Dortmund had their Magic Duo in attack, but since Ikpeba gain indjury against Molde, Bobic had to struggle at his own. He did score a few goals, but Ikpeba was surely the missing spark in Dortmund attack. Barca did not take any prisoners in the final game and the score leaves no doubt who is the best team in this tournament. Check out the scores and highlights from the FINAL 8. Got your own memories connected with football games, any interesting managment carriers you want to share with others, comment or send Us your story with screen caps or YouTube links - michelblack.com@gmail.com

Adidas Power Soccer CUP

Fifa 2001 is behind us (last post about the FINAL 8, of Club Championship will appeal shortly), so it's time for next game. Fifa 2003 tournament is still on, but right now we want to play 2-3 smaller competitions before we get back to Fifa's.

First will be Adidas Power Soccer on PSX. The game is from 1996, Adidas is the main sponsor but there is lack of license on many things. The game itself did not made a huge difference on the market but it had it's climate. First of all great intros and inside movies made by Adidas. Those are basicly produts ads, but they are pretty cool and I remeber liking watching them before the game.

Second thing is the Arcade Mode where a lot of weird things happen. You get super sprints and super shoots called PREDATOR KICK (as part of the new Adidas shoes franchise). Game gets intresting, fast and brutal when you put on the Arcade mode. At this point I think I will play the competition on the arcade as simulation could be a bit boring, both to play and to watch on videos...

We got only club teams from Germany (24 teams), France (26 teams) and England (26 teams). Most teams without license, all players without license. We will play regional qualifications in each country and 3 teams will form the final. Final will containg 3 games in mini-group and 2 best teams will play in the big final.

See you in France for the first stage of regional qualifications...

Black Managment Fifa 2001 International Cup FINAL

 From final 8 to just one team holding the cup! Holland did a great job but it was all about emotions! Austria suprised us one more time, England got things even with Argentina and France put on a great show on their road to the final. All in all Hollan in deed was the best team and they fully deserve that trophy. Patrick Kluivert is the name that will be remebred after this competition - he scored like hell and only the end of the game stoped him from scoring even more. The final game was a clash of great players. Kluivert vs. Anelka, Zidane vs. Bergkamp, Petit vs. Overmars and Van der Sar vs. Barthez!!! Check out the scores and highlights from the quaters, semis and the final it self!

BM Fifa 2001 Club Championship - GROUP STAGE

Here we are. 16 teams divided into 4 groups, to fight for the last 8. Check out the great games and goals. Who will be the star of the tournament? Rivaldo? Ljuboja? Masinga? Nikolaidis? Kluivert? Kanchelskis? Who will play in the last 8? Were there any suprises in the group stage? How about the goals? Any epic strikes? Don't wait, click on the post to read more and find out, who will play in the final 8 of the Black Managment Fifa 2001 Club Championship!!!

BM Fifa 2001 Club Championship Play-offs

Now we know everything. 16 teams are selected for the final club tournament. Last 2 of them are winners from the playoffs between Danmark, Sweden, Turkey and Israel. IFK Gothenbourg had a very close game against the danish Midtjylland. After two legs there was a 4:4 draw and since a golden goal extra time did not give any anwsers, game went to the penalties. IFK won 8:7 after an killer shootout and they will play in the finals. Galastasaray had also an close game with Netanya. First game they won at home 1:0. In the second Netanya took an early lead, but in the second half Galatasaray striker Jardel managed to equalise and things did not look good for Netanya. They won 2:1 but Galatasaray scored an away goal wich has given them a place in the final. Unfortunetly there is a little bug in the game. Galatasaray is the only one team in the category "other" in the game and you can't pick that category when creating a CUSTOM CUP, so I decided they will be disqualificated from the competition and Netanya took a place in the final. If you click on READ MORE, you will see the highlights from the playoff games and results of a group stage draw...

Fifa 2001 Italian Serie A Qualifications

Last qualifying tournament, took us to Italy. Only Serie A teams this time, but what more do you need, when you got AC Milan, Inter, Lazio, Roma, Juventus, Parma and Fiorentina i one competition. We had a few classics in this one and a lot of great goals scored by the superstars. But suprisingly no one from the favourites took that place in the final competition. Roma was close, Fiorentina even closer, but the true heroes turn out to be Bari. One of the underdogs of the Serie A, had a time of their lives beating the rest. In the final they won agains Fiorentina after a beautyful goal from the free kick scored by they star striker Masinga. If you still can't belive how that happened, chec out highlights and all the scores from Italy...

Fifa 2001 English Premier League Qualifications

We are almost there. England, Italy and play-off's to go and the finals will start. Football is coming home? Home of the most popular league in the world, that's for sure. Zola, Carbone, Yorke, Beckham, Fowler, Owen, Shearer, Henry, Bergkamp and many, many other football superstars in this one. We got United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcasle looking for the place in the final, but do not forget about others, as anything is possible in this one. Charlton and Derby looked good, taking easy wins in the pre qualify round, but in the first round they had to face some stronger sides. Derby took a confident win against Everton and belive it or not Charlton knock out Manchester United! So will the underdogs took a beating in the final 8 or maybe Arsenal and Liverpool should be worried? Looking for anwsers plus some fine Premier League classics, just click and check out all the highlights from English competition and find out who will represent England in the final tournament...

Fifa 2001 International Cup Last 16

Only 16 teams left and after that were straight in the last 8. Soon we will find out who is the best national team in Fifa 2001. Sensation of the competiton, that is Austria of course, just can't stop suprising. After a great game against Spain, the team now faced Yugoslavia. Again austrians did their job well, this time the game was really close and it was a single goal from Andreas Herzog that made the difference. In other games there were no sensations. I guess the big firms know what they play for and got their groove on crushing their rivals. Thanks to that we got some great classics to come in the final eight, but for now let's see the highlights from the last 16. So check out how Brazil, France and Germany are smashing their rivals. What about Holland, England and Argentina, did they also made it look easy? Read more...

Fifa 2001 French Ligue 1 Qualifications

French league is very equal since a last two decades. We got the famous PSG, Monaco and Marsille, but almost every season some new team pops up. Nantes, Lyon, Lens, Auxerre, Bordeaux all those teams are also considered to be strong and probably aim for the final. So as you can supose the competition was very equal and tight. Guingamp looked good in their first two games winning both with four goals (against Lille and Lens), but in the Quater finals Lyon stopped them. PSG faced Monaco in their first game... and lost with a single goal from Giuly. Strasbourg, St. Etienne, Lyon and Nantes that was the final four. Strasbourg show a great potential lead by their star striker Daniel Ljuboja and a great form from Zitelli. Ljuboja scored hattrick in the semis against St. Etienne and in the final game Strasbourg had to face Lyon. Olympique was a sure favourite but this time Zitelli made the difference. Two heroes of this competition Zitelli and Ljuboja given Strasbourg a suprise but deserved place in the finals.

Fifa 2001 Spanish Primera Division Qualifications

With 4 leagues left, some big names start to show up. You don't need a lot of time to find them in Primera Division. We got Barcelona and Real Madrid the famous arch rivals, who will it be this time? Well, Barca looked good right from the begining, but Real seemed to struggle. Meanwhile there were other teams that also wanted that place in the finals. I'm talking Atletic Bilbao, Real Zaragoza, Sociedad and Espanyol. Real won in the first game but in the quater finals Urzaiz scored them two goals and it was Bilbao who put the famous firm out of the competition. So it was Barcelona vs. rest of the league since then. Catalonians also struggled against Sociedad, but when it came to the final four they shown real power putting seven goals in the rivals net. It was a derby game against Espanyol so you can double the pain it took to carry that kind a score difference. In the final Barcelona had an easy win with Real Zaragoza and you can't call it a suprise, that this team will represent Spain in the finals. Chcec out all the scores and highlights of the games...

Fifa 2001 Interntional Cup 3rd Round

The big firms join the competition. We got Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, England etc. This stage will separete man from the boys and let us know who of the so called underdogs can really pretend to the title. Russia, Switzerland and Austria defenetly looked good in their first games. When it came to play with Brazil and France though, first two had to admit rivals skills to score. Austria did not had an easy start against Spain, but in the second half they looked like a totaly different team. Thanks to Weissenberger's fenomenal hattrick they not only came back from the grave but also won in the last minutes of the game, putting Spain out of the competition. Fighting to the end pays off as always in football, chceck out the highlights to these and other games and a lot of great goals in this one.

Capcom's Soccer Shootout (SNES) CUP

A very good, fast, arcade soccer game for SNES, turned into an epic tournament with dozens of goals. We got 12 teams only, with no license so fake names, but with a little knowlage of 90's soccer you can have some clues who is who. Maybe even make a fun quiz out of it. Anyway first round is 8 teams with 4 potentialy stronger starting already in second round. Spain shown a great potential and Holland had an exciting game against Russia. Mexico and Cameroon give a little suprise beating France and Great Britain (no such team in the real life, only in Olympic games). In the second round Germany, Brazil, Italy and Argentina joined the competiton, but strangely only the germans were able to prove they are not only stronger on paper. Italy lost 1:5 against that Mexican thunder, Cameroon took advantage of Argentina and Brazil did not put on a fight against Holland. In the semi finals, Cameroon did the trick again, this time beating Holland and Germany were able to stop Mexico, wich was not easy as you can se on the scoreboard. All in all in the big final a solid and disciplined Germany meet unpredictable and improvising Cameroon. WHAT A GAME! Just look at the score. Cameroon did what they could but Germany was striking back with such a precision. A round of applause for both teams for a great game and all the respect for the German team as they collect another cup.

Fifa 2001 Germany Qualifications

Four best teams (Bayern, Bayer, Borussia D. and Schalke) joined the turnament in the late stage, but that did not mean that nothing happened till then, as those "so called" underdogs put on a nice show. So many suprises so far in Fifa 2001 regional club qualifications, that it whould not be another if someone from outside the top 4 managed to win this. At the begining Kaiserslautern looked strong along with FC Cologne, who's brilliant striker Donov put on a one man show everytime he step on the field. Scoring nine (!) goals in five games he grabbed the golden boot without even trying but did he put his team in the finals? Almost! Cologne was the black horse of this cup and it took Borussia Dortmund to stop them. Before they met Dortmund in the semi final they beat Frankfurt, Bochum, Werder and Schalke - how about that! But in the big final there was place for only two teams and those were Bayern and Borussia - a modern time Bundesliga classic. This time Dortmund was in a better shape so we will se them again in the finals...

Fifa 2001 MLS Qualifications

One of a few non-european leagues in the game so this is an important place in the final. Chicago Fire and DC United were I guess the major pretendents to that golden ticket and they did not dissapoint the fans. Only team that actually could bring a suprise was Miami Fusion, mainly thanks to their striker Lessiter who give the team a lot of confidence in their attacks and produce a key goals. But in the semi final Miami clashed with D.C. United and lost after a close game 1:2. In the final Fire was already waiting for their biggest rival but D.C. was stronger than they could possibly imagine. Chicago will remember this day for long, as D.C. provided them a lesson of counting, when goals kept coming one after another. It ended with four and that was far enough for D.C. to play in the finals.

Fifa 2001 Netherlands Qualifications

Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. These three teams are always the strong favourites when it comes to Dutch football. In this tournamnet fans were also looking at Arnhem and Alkmaar wich are looking good lately. The tournament seemed to be interesting but who whould ever know that so many suprises will took place. Ajax and PSV lost in their first games! Utrecht took a confident 2:0 win against Amsterdam and Breda managed to pull of a stoppage time goal that give them a suprise win in Eindhoven. Arnhem lost with Heerenveen and Alkmaar had to admint Feyenoord was the better team after 1:2 lost. So basicly in the semi finals Feyenoord was the last man standing when it comes to the favourites and they did not stand long. Heerenveen took their chances and met in the grande finale, check out the highlights and see how it all went...

Fifa 2001 Scotland Qualifications

In Scotland the game plan is simple. It's always a fight against Celtic and Rangers and it whould be a huge suprise if any other team managed to secure a place in the finals. So who will it be this time? Celtic or Rangers? Defenetly not Celtic as they got an shocking result in their first game against Kilmarnock and were out of the tournament before it even started for them. But Kilmarnock were really on form and if you look from a wider perspective they deserved that win. Meanwhile Rangers were on the highway to the final and only team that could stopped them form playing in the finals was Kilmarnock. They didn't. It was all about Rangers, they played like they were from another dimension and took that tournament without even trying. Chceck out the highlights...

Fifa 2001 International Cup 2 Round Qualifications

Four new teams began to fight for glory in this round. We got Colombia, Japan, Norway and Russia joining the race for the final. All of them won their games eaisly. Norway had a tough battle against their neighbours from Finland who did well in the first round. This time Norway was better and after 2:0 win stayed in the competition. Russia considered themselfs lucky as they drawn Lebanon in this round but you never know, specialy since Japan won only 1:0 against the brave Mauritius. Well russians took no prisoners and Lebanon regreted joinin the cup in the first place as they lost 0:6 and were heavily knockedout from the tournament. Slovenia and Switzerland again shown a lot potential winnig cofidently against South Africa and Ireland. But the real test will came in the next round were Slovenia will play England and Switzerland will clash with France. Check out the rest of the scores and all the goals from this stage...

Fifa 2001 Brazil Qualifications

It's easy to find some great teams and big names in brazilian league, so fans were on their feet when the battle for a place in final tournament started here. Brazilian style always focused on attacking and scoring goals, this time it was no different so the goals kept coming. Fluminense won in the qualifications against Internacional but in the next game they were victims of Corinthians shootout, 7:0 and it looked like we have a favourites. But in this crazy goalfest nothing was sure. Botafago and Santos also looked sharp thanks to their super strikers Aranda and Almeida. Ofcourse we can't forget about the favourites Atletico Paranaense and Vasco da Gama. So who won in Brazil? Read more, watch the highlights and found out for yourself...

Fifa 2001 Korea Qualifications

They say that Korean league is not equal. Well we had some high flying teams in this one. For example Pusan Icons. These guys were demolishing every one and looked pretty sharp. But when it came to the decicive games Icons just could not bring it on. On the other side we got Suwan Bluewing, who struggle a bit, but consecvently were building they way into the final stage. They were the ones who beat Pusan in the semi final. But all in all when Anyang Cheetahs join the tournament in the semi finals, it was clear that they want the place in the final and they won't let it go. They looked like they were not even on their best form, but still managed to won the tournement easy. Chceck out the highlights from Korea...

Fifa 2001 Austria Qualifications

Austria Memphis was pretty angry it was them who had to start the turnament from day one while Sturm and Rapid were already in the Semi Finals. They decided to prove everyone was wrong and did pretty good in fact. Austrian international Mayrleb was scoring like crazy and Austria Memphis was in the final before they even know. In the "Clash of Titans" Sturm had a vary close battle with Rapid. The game went to penalties and Rapid had more cold blood. The final itself was not a big show. Austria must have put all they had in the past round as they were looking pretty shady out there. Rapid managed to score the only goal of the game and ironcly that one goal was all they needed to get the place in the finals. Check out the highlights from the tournament...

Fifa 2001 International Cup Round 1

32 teams started they road to the final in first round of qualifications. We already had some suprises, for example Australia, who were knocked out on their home ground by Slovenia. Cyprus lost against Mauritius and Lebanon beat Estonia. But most disapointing performances came from Greece and Poland. These two were named among the favourites for at least last 16, meanwhile both of them lost against Qatar and Kuwait.  So who did their homework? Defenetly Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Finland. All these teams won their games eaisly and although the rivals were not the strongest sides out there, a solid performance is always welcomed. Teams from Great Britain are also looking good. Wales took an away win against Egypt and Ireland won with South Korea. Make sure to check out the highlights with all the goals from the 1st Round...

Fifa 2001 Danmark Qualifications

In Danmark we have quite the situation from Israel as 12 teams arrived in the game. Again we divide those in  8 and 4 team mini-cups and winners meet in the final. Fifa 2001 seems to be harsh for the favourites, as again the main team goes out in the first game. Brondby was not easy to beat but Silkeborg made that one goal difference. In Norway Molde gain a lot confidence after defiting Rosenborg and in Danmark the same happened to Silkeborg when they won with Brondby. Another team to watch out for was Lyngby who won 2 first round with easy 3:0 scores. At the point no one seemed to notice another winner wannabe - FC Midtjylland, but that was the team that sneeked to the final beating Herfolge and Haderslev on the way and meeting with Silkeborg who managed to stop Lyngby in the semi final. In the last game the monster was finally unleashed and Midtjylland eaisly beat Silkeborg who many was already seeing as a winner. But that is not the end as Danmark champion will play in play-off games with winner from Sweden.

Fifa 2001 Norway Clubs Qualifications

14 teams in Norway make things a bit difficult. First we take 4 worst theam and ramaning 10 go to the next round automaticly. In the second round we have 2 teams form the first round plus we 6 worst of the 10 that had an auto qualification, remaining 4 go to the next round automaticly. In the 3rd round we have 4 teams form 2nd round and 4 with auto qualification. Moss and Byrne made it to the second round and it seems that playing form the begining was not that bad ideas since in the second round both teams again knockout their opponents. Bodo/Glimdt and Viking also made it to the last 8 were Rosenborg, Molde, Lillestrom and Valerenga were alrady waiting. Clash between Molde and Rosenborg was exicitng fans as both teams looked strong on the paper. Rosenborg was given more odds, but it was Molde who won on the pitch and started their march for glory. Bodo/Glimdt in the semis and Moss in the final were not able to put a serious fight agains Molde, who must looked like they must had gain a lot confidence after match against Rosenborg.

Fifa 2001 Greek Clubs Qualifications

16 teams in Greece so no problem at all with designing a suitable competition. Still as only 8 teams can be conroled by user in the game we have to made it two 8 teams turnaments. The obvious favourites were Olympiakos and Panathinaikos or rather O.Pireaus and Leoforos as the authors called them due the lack of official license for this league in the game. Well, Leoforos seemd to keep the plan going as they took an early lead against Kalamata, but then who knows what happened. Kalamata started scoring and when the dust gone down it was 5:1 on the scoreboard. Pireaus shown a bit better form, as they looked like a better side troughout the game against P.Thessaloniki but unlucky they lost after an own goal. In the next round we had to look for a new favourites and when it came to the semi finals you might have thought that P.Thessaloniki and A.Thessaloniki are the teams to fight for the glory. Wrong again! The final was a clash of Cinderellas as Kianerithri and Philadelfia were the only one left on the battleground. Chances were even - literally. The game went to penalties and after 12 series no one made a mistake. Finally keepers started to do their job and Atmatsidis from Philadelfia given his team a place in the finals after dening two shoots in a row.

Fifa 12

Another great competition starts. We decided to play a few Fifa's cups at the same time not to get bored with playing one game too much. As always we will pick best team from each league and play a grand tournament and of course international team will also have their own cup.

In Fifa 12 we have 22 leagues plus the Rest of the world. The final tournament will contain 24 teams so Rest of the World will give us two places. As we have 4 Greek teams in "ROTW" category this country will have a mini-tournament and an inside competition for 1 place and other teams will compete for the other slot.

There are also 42 international teams so the tournament will be a bit complicated. For now let's just say it will start with 3 rounds of qualifications. In the 1 Qualificating Round there will be 16 potentialy weakest teams in the game. We made the choice by our own intuition, knowlage and teams performances in the years 2008-2011. In the first round you will see - Norway, Bulgaria, Scotland, Cameroon, Slovenia, Chile, South Africa,  Peru, New Zeland, Switzerland, Ecuador, N.Ireland, Egypt, Austria, Finland, Hungary.

The first club tournament will take place in Irish league, then we go to Switzerland, so stay tooned...

Fifa 2001 Israel Clubs Qualifications

In Israel we got 12 teams so we divide them into two turnaments containing 8 and 4 teams. In the 8 team cup H.Haifa and M.Haifa looked good right from the beginig, so no wonder these two met in a small final making it a derby game. H.Haifa won 2:0 and we had ourselfs first team in the final. Other 4 teams were Netanya, Y.Tel-Aviv, M.Tel-Aviv and Rishon. Although M.Tel-Aviv were the obvious favourites, it was Netanya who smashed and crushed their way to the final. Two easy 4:0 wins and some brilliant performances by Vilner and Zohar has given them right to stand against H.Haifa. In the final game things were pretty tight and both teams seemed serious. Fans waited for 2 hours and still no goals came, so a series of penalties were needed to shut the case. Netanya shown bit more concentration and won 4:3 securing place in the play-offs against Galatasary.

Fifa 2001 SWEDEN CLUBS QUALIFICATIONS

"IFK Half Way There"
This is one off the three tournaments in Fifa 2001, that will no put the winner straight in the final tournament. Winner from Sweden still has to play one more play-off game with winner from Danmark. 14 teams started for that one place and two of them were already put in the final four.

From the begining Hammarby and GAIS shown winning potential, not only playing good football, but also grabing confident results. Hammarby knockedout Helsingborg and GAIS had no trouble with Norrkoping. In the next round GAIS again took an easy win against Orebro but Hammarby did not able to beat Hacken, who were pretty defencive side right from the begining and not lost a goal second time in a row.

Fifa 2001 Belgium Qualifications

"Rock Solid Defence"
Here we go! First qualification tournament took place in Belgium. No license for this league in the game so you won't see any logos and only plain t-shirts, but it will get better. 18 teams and a similar system as in Fifa 2003. Two 8 team tournaments and 1 team selected from each one to join Anderlecht (Brussels is the name in this game) and Club Brugge (Brugge) in the final four.

Lokeren, Lierse and Mouscron show a good football in the first round and further stages proven that those teams are really in good form. Actually Lokeren and Mouscron met in the "little" final for a place in final four and what a close game it was! For 120 minutes both teams kicking their anckles in the middle of the field and then a devastating penalty shootout. Players were scoring like machines and it took ten series to choose a better side, Lokeren won thanks to their keeper and advanced to final four. Battle for second place was between Beveren and Charleroi. Beveren so far got a bit lucky, wining two rounds in the shootout but this time it took them only 90 minutes to secure a two goal lead and a place in the four.

90 Minutes European Prime Goal CUP -

"Time for Corrida!"
14 teams in this tournament, all from Europe title sugests. 6 strongest teams goes straight to the quater finals, and 8 have to fight for the remaning two places. From that point it will be straight knockout.

First game betwen Norway and Ireland was a even one, but again Irish luck turned on right when the green side needed it and a single goal made the difference. Romania was strong favourite in the game against Scotland and they did their job well, winning confidently with two goal margin. Football fans sharpen their teeth for the clash against Sweden and Bulgaria, but in the end Bulgarian team did not really put on much of a fight and an easy go trough for "Vikings". In the last game of the first leg Wales show a lot potential eaisly beating Belgium. Though Ireland looked good, they were not good enough for Romania who again show a lot of confidence and discipline on the field. Second team who secured place in the last 8 was suprisingly Wales, who managed to knock Sweden with just a one goal difference.

"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.

FIFA 2001 CLUB CUP

Time to start with Fifa 2001. We got 17 playable leagues in the game plus the "Other" category wich contains only turkish Galatasaray. So basicly we will have 18 teams after the qualifications and we want 16, so we decided that winner from Israel will play agains Galatasaray for place in the final and winners from Sweden and Danmark will play each other for another one. 

We will play this one on PS2 since the version is more stabile then the PC, that runs weird on current systems, plus it was one of the starting titles for the console so it looks really nice on it. 

"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?