England win the World Cup!
Back in May we announced the FS PMC World Cup event. Even then we knew this was going to be a biggy, as World Cup events have always had great responses. Combine that with the actual World Cup taking place in South Africa and it was sure to generate a lot of interest.
However, even we did not expect the level of response from the community. We received 495 team applications, with over a thousand players involved. From that rather epic response, we were faced with the rather daunting task of whittling it down resulting in us finishing with 39 valid teams and around 500 players.
June 30th - Group stage
The event kicked off on Wednesday June 30th, with the group stage. The groups were as follows:
Group A:
Ireland
USA
New Zealand
Egypt
Group B:
Poland
Estonia
France
Venezuela
Sweden
Group C:
South Africa
Korea DPR
Serbia
Argentina
Czech Republic
Group D:
Russia
Lithuania
Uruguay
Brazil
Group E:
Bulgaria
Hungary
Iran
Cameroon
Mexico
Group F:
Portugal
Spain
Netherlands
Greece
Australia
Group G:
Latvia
Romania
Turkey
Italy
Group H:
England
Ukraine
Germany
Cyprus
Kick off!
Things got off to a flying start in Group A with Ireland taking a storming 6-2 win over New Zealand, while the USA went one better to win 6-0 against Egypt. Then it was time for the swap and nothing much changed, with both Ireland and USA grabbing wins against Egypt and New Zealand respectively. This then meant that it was all down to the final match with USA facing off against Ireland. The Irish luck held out, with the green army putting four past the American keeper and receiving none in return, placing Ireland top of the group with USA second.
Meanwhile in Group B, Poland were out of the blocks with a 6-3 win over Sweden, and Estonia scraped a 3-2 over France. The Polish team struggled to keep up their momentum in their second match where they faced Estonia and both teams managed to grab a goal each. Despite this, the two teams continued to dominate their group, Estonia subsequently grabbing a 4-1 win over Sweden while Poland were relentless in winning a 9-2 result against France. The French team sought to regain their pride in the final match against Sweden, and while they bagged a 6-3 win, it wasn’t enough to see them qualify, meaning Poland finished top and Estonia came up second, with only goal difference separating the two.
Highs and Lows
Group C kicked off with a bitterly close game between South Africa and the Czech Republic, with South Africa just scraping through with a 1-0 win. Alas, the group was beset by troubles and the other teams were unable to play, meaning that after only one match, both South Africa and Czech Republic were able to progress through to the next stage.
Group D quickly established itself as the highest scoring group of the competition, with the first two games ending 8-3 in favour of Uruguay against Brazil, and then 5-3 for Russia against Lithuania. Lithuania were undaunted and followed up with a 6-4 win over Brazil while the Russians continue to steamroll their way through with an 8-2 win over Uruguay. The Lithuanians, now they had caught their stride, managed to pull out another win, with a 3-2 result against Uruguay while Russia, no longer content with a mere eight goals per match, put away nine in their final game against Brazil, who gamely fought back, but were only able to score two of their own. This resulted in Russia finishing top with a full nine points and a whopping sixteen goal difference, and Lithuania coming in second.
Bitter struggles
Group E was also beset by woes, with Iran and Cameroon both unable to complete their games. Nevertheless, Hungary put away a solid five goals against Mexico’s 3, but were subsequently hit by Bulgaria who went one better with a 6-3 against the Bulgarians and then followed it up with a 1-0 against Mexico, gaining them first place in the group and the Hungarians second.
Group F was probably the most bitterly fought of all the groups. The Iberian derby kicked off first with Portugal having to fight every step to gain a 3-2 win over Spain, while the Netherlands and Greece ended up in a stalemate, with both teams scoring three each. However, the Greek phalanx wasn’t strong enough to stop the Portuguese advance, with the Greeks losing 3-2. However, the Netherlands once again fought their opposition to a standstill, with a 2-2 draw against confident Portuguese. In the final rounds of the group, the Greek defence finally crumbled and Spain managed to sweep through with a 7-2 win before picking up the pace with a crushing 9-2 win against the Netherlands. This meant that both Iberian teams were top of the group, the Portuguese only snapping the top place by one point.
Clash of the Titans
In Group G, tournament favourites Latvia were up against some stiff opposition, facing former champions Romania and runners up Turkey. However they were undaunted and, despite firm resistance, managed to win in all their games with a brutally close 3-2 against Romania, 6-1 against Italy and 4-3 against Turkey. Meanwhile the Romanians proved they were still a force to be reckoned with by winning 7-0 against Turkey and 6-1 against Italy. The Italians fared better against Turkey, but were unable to prevent them from winning 3-2. This placed Latvia firmly in the lead, with Romania in second place.
Finally, in Group H England would be facing off against their old rivals Germany. The Germans were an intimidating prospect, reaching the semis in both previous WC events, but fate was not smiling on them that night. Held at bay with a 1-1 draw against England, they fell afoul of the Ukrainian team who nabbed a 2-1 win, knocking them out. And while Cyprus withdrew from the event, England stormed ahead with a 2-0 win over Ukraine placing them top of the group and the Ukrainians second by one point.
Part two of the FS World Cup story is coming very soon, in the meantime why not view the final sixteen?
