FM13: Back to the future series part I. Fulfilling Iceland`s Euro dream

Klayyyyyy

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Welcome to part 1 of my FM13: Back to the future series. If you have seen my Indonesian story you might know that I only have FM13, and none of the more recent versions, so i`m stuck on this outdated game. More recently how-ether I continually seem to notice things in the game that make things that are happening in real life now, 3 years later, seem crazy and unbelievable, and so this series was born. The aim is to try and re-create real life achievements that seemed near impossible back in 2013, and I only have 3 years to do it.

So onto this challenge. As many of you might know by now England have once again failed on the big stage, losing to Iceland, a country of 300,000 people last night in Nice. As the media, public and the rest of Europe mock our depleted team everyone seems to be forgetting about Iceland and what they have achieved here. So there I am browsing around FM13 when I see Iceland, ranked 121st in the world at the time, take a beating from France, their real life QF opponents in a euro qualifier. This gives me the idea, I will try to re-create Iceland journey to euro 2016, then I will try and take them how-ether far they get in the real thing (currently quarter finals). This is made slightly more difficult by the fact that the old euro format is used in FM13, but where there`s a "sson", there`s a way!
 
Friendlies

Macedonia

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For my first game in charge I decided to pit my team against opposition I believe are around about/slightly below our level, I picked what on paper is the strongest squad possible so I can get an idea of how they perform and generally it went well. Vilhjalmsson gave us the lead just before half time and they only created one real chance after. In fact England`s new nemesis Sigþorsson should have doubled the score at the death but had his shot saved, if only Joe Hart was Macedonian...

Wales


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Now that I knew the squad could deal with the likes of Macedonia I decided to put us up against a better team, Wales (potential real life final?). I was expecting the likes of Bale and Ramsey to run my team into the ground, but they were dealt with surprisingly well. Both teams hit the post, Eider Gudjohnsen missed a header from 6 yards, so did Craig Bellamy at the other end, but ultimately my slightly rotated squad did enough to grab a deserved draw. On a less positive note Gylfi Sigurosson got himself injured, so he will miss the first 2 WC qualifiers next month, but overall these friendlies make me confident we can challenge for a WC place. Starting next month against Norway and Albania.


 
September qualifiers

Norway

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We spent most of this game on the back foot, they had several decent chances and generally dominated possession but were kept out by by Halldorsson in goal and our centre backs. When I changed to a 4-5-1 in the second half we slowly crept into the game until suddenly with 5 minutes left Gislason and Vilhjalmsson caught fire, each having a one on one saved in the space of 2 minutes before they combined down the right flank to give us a surprise win at the death!

Albania

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This was on paper one of the easier games in the group, but despite the comfortable scoreline they were no pushovers, if it wasn`t for their tendency to smash a long shot 10 yards wide every time they got near the penalty area we might have dropped points. In the end though swapping to a 4-5-1 at half time was again the difference maker, as we looked in control once we took the lead, LM Hallfreosson
was the star of this game with a goal and an assist.


Standings

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On to tough games vs Switzerland and Slovenia next
 
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October qualifiers

Switzerland

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What a result! We were largely dominated but yet again our opponents seemed more intent on smashing 30 yarders wide than trying to get a decent chance. In the end it was Bjarnason`s 40 yard strike into an open goal aborted by Benaglio as he cleared a through ball that gave us another win. This is my 5th game in charge and we are yet to concede, if we keep this up then we`ll be going to the world cup, and that wasn`t even my aim!

Slovenia

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Yet again we seemed to find a way to edge a game, Bjarnason scored a free kick early and although it was a close game in the first half towards the end we were parking the bus, which allowed Haris Vuckic to score the first goal against my team at the 6th attempt. Despite the disappointment of the late goal we still sit unbeaten and at the top of the group.

Standings

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Next up is a friendly in Uganda (don`t ask...)
 
Friendly

Uganda

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​A solid performance in a game we should be winning. We scored 2 quick goals, the second courtesy of the now famous Icelandic long throw, to put us in control. They controlled possession but couldn`t break us down as we had 2-3 more good chances to put the game away.

Up next we have a qualifier vs struggling Cyprus
 
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March qualifier

Cyprus

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Another solid performance, we took the lead through Sigurosson and after their LB got sent off we were in control. We got a second from a corner but seemed to run out of steam and we were lucky to hold on. But a win is a win.

Standings

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Next up we face Norway in a qualifier and Luxembourg in a friendly

 
June

Norway

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Although this may seem like a bad result, and performance (well it was a bad performance) i`m actually very happy with it. With 15 minutes left we were down 2-0 and Switzerland were 1-0 up vs Cyprus, in other words we were dropping down to 3rd in the group. But somehow the minnows scored twice to defeat the Swiss then in the last minute we pulled a goal back with our first real shot of the game, meaning we crucially stay ahead of Norway on goal difference while Switzerland stay 3 points back.

Luxembourg

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Despite this being a rather pointless friendly it was another pretty average performance, we dominated as expected but our finishing was poor, which is shown by the fact that it took us 77 minutes to find a breakthrough. Then again we were solid at the back and they never threatened, which will be important against big nations.

Standings

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In other news we`ve rocketed up the world rankings, we are now 40th after starting in the 120`s. Next up is a friendly vs Azerbaijan.

 
Friendly


Azerbaijan

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So a win against a similar side. We were out performed from the start, howether debutante Sigurjonsson managed to give us the lead from midfield before they equalised right on half time. They continued to be the better side in the second half yet with 5 minutes left we won a penalty which Sigurosson tucked away. A win`s a win, but we will need to be better in the important games. Such as the ones vs Albania and Switzerland next month...
 
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