[FM13] Giuseppe Bergomi - The King of Calcio

1

Champions League Group Draw

Today, UEFA held its annual UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw to determine the groups for the world's most prestigious club tournament. A number of exciting groups were drawn, and the talk is centered around the 'Group of Death', Group A, which contains Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, Paris St. Germain, and H. Tel-Aviv.

Inter Milan was given a considerably easier group, and last year's runners ups will take on Valencia, Galatasaray, and APOEL Nicosia in Group G. They are expected to comfortably finish top of the group and go far in the tournament once more.

Champions of Europe Manchester City, who finished 5th in the Barclays Premier League but managed to qualify by winning the Champions League, also have a difficult group, taking on Porto, German giants Borussia Dortmund, and Kobenhaven in Group F. Many people doubt that Jose Mourinho's team can retain their trophy despite last season's success, expecting them to trail off much as Roberto Di Matteo's Chelsea did after defeating a much fancied Bayern in the final.

1

August

Chievo 0-2 Inter (Serie A)
Ademilson 14'
Ranocchia 21'
Ranocchia

Inter 2-1 Palermo (Supercoppa Italia)
Destro (pen) 18', 66'
Hernandez 51'
Destro

Inter 2-0 Lecce (Serie A)
Destro (pen) 16'
Coutinho 24'
Coutinho

Supercoppa Italia

At last, after last season's disappointment, I have won the Supercoppa Italia. We were dominant, though not as much as last season's Coppa Italia final against this very team, and we thoroughly deserved this title. Mattia Destro was on red hot form, scoring twice and controlling the game. It is a minor trophy, but a great start to the season.

Serie A

We have started well in Serie A, with two straight 2-0 wins. The league table means very little at this point, but a positive start is always good.

Player of the Month

Monthly Review

A good start to the season, we have won all of our games. The Supercoppa is a good way to kick things off and set the standard for a successful season, and two straight wins and clean sheets in Serie A is very good. Hopefully, we can continue in this vein of form and continue winning matches.

1

Denmark Squad Announced

Today, Denmark manager Giuseppe Bergomi announced his squad for the two matches they will play this international break. The first is a friendly in Denmark against Morocco, which will act as a warm up for Bergomi's first competitive game in charge of Denmark; home to Estonia in Euro 2016 Qualifying.

Denmark are favorites to win both matches with relative ease and put an important early 3 points on the board in qualifying. Despite a reasonably easy group, every team at this level has talent, and the Danes must not underestimate their opponents. Bergomi spoke about the upcoming matches, telling the press, "I would like to come away from these matches with two wins. Morocco is a good team that we will have to continue learning our style against, and from there we must implement this against Estonia and win three points."

Viktor Fischer, the talented Ajax winger on loan to Getafe this season, is in line to make is first cap for Denmark, and as is Michael Laudrup's son and left winger Andreas Laudrup. The full squad is as follows:

International Break Results

Denmark 4-2 Morocco (Friendly)

Starting Lineup: Schmeichel; Wass, Kjaer, Bjelland, Juelsgard; Poulsen, Zimling, Kvist; Eriksen, Jorgensen; Helenius; 4-3-2-1

Agger, Nielsen*, Anderson, Bendtner, Cornelius, Fischer
*Subbed back off later

Bjelland 27'
Anderson 53'
El Hamdaoui 71', 77'
Bendtner 81', 83'

Christian Eriksen

A good friendly win for us, we showed real spirit to win back our lead. Lasse Nielsen made two shocking errors after coming on to give up both goals, and he was subbed off immediately. Nicklas Bendtner brought the cutting edge we needed from the bench, and will definitely start against Estonia. Christian Eriksen was by far the man of the match, creating 3 goals and bossing the midfield.

Denmark 3-2 Estonia (Euro 2016 Qualifying)

Starting Lineups: Schmeichel; Wass, Kjaer, Bjelland, Juelsgard; Zimling, Kvist; Anderson, Eriksen, Fischer; Bendtner; 4-2-3-1

Agger, Jorgensen, Poulsen

Bendtner 28'
Post 37'
Bjelland 43', 86'
Susi 79'
Struzkin 90+3'

Andreas Bjelland

A bit worrying that we could not win by a larger margin, but for this I blame the post, which we managed to strike a mad 4 times. Defensively, we have more worries, having given up 4 goals in 2 games to "lower" opposition. I think that a tactical shift will be employed in the future to add a defensive midfielder to stabilize the defense. Offensively, Bjelland was fantastic on corner kicks, and Eriksen made it 5 assists in 2 games, a great record. A good start overall, 3 points on the board!


Nicklas Bendtner celebrating his goal against Estonia.

1

1

Denmark Reaches 6th in World Rankings

In a very surprising move by FIFA, Denmark has been moved up to 6th place in the FIFA International Rankings. World Cup winners Holland hold onto the top spot, while Argentina, Brazil, Germany, and Croatia round out the top 5.

Many people are shocked that the Danes rose 4 spots so high in the rankings after two relatively unconvincing wins over "lesser" opposition in Estonia and Morocco. However, Giuseppe Bergomi was very pleased.

"This shows the steps Denmark is taking in the football world. We did very well in the last World Cup with Olsen, and now we are continuing to grow and become a top footballing nation."

France sits 9th, with Spain in 11th, Italy in 14th, and England in dire but deserved 15th. None of the above teams have impressed recently, and it is perhaps for this reason that Bergomi opted for the "lower" nation of Denmark rather than these historically more powerful teams. Many England fans are quite upset, and have been for some time, with the management of Brendan Rodgers, who was hired despite leading Liverpool to relegation in his only season at the club.