From Hattrick
This was the fourth and final cup in which the qualification was not group-based. This system allowed the cup to be held over
the span of one season, instead of two. The Qualification rounds were based on the top 40 teams in the rankings table. Of those
teams, the top eight in rankings qualified directly. The remaining thirty-two teams played for the final eight spots in the
cup.
In the pre-qualification round the biggest surprises were when #40 Malaysia flattened
#9 España 6-1 and #36 South Africa
held an early lead to beat #13 Oceania 1-0. Other memorable moments were #15 México's 2-1 win in a penalty shoot out that saw 10 missed penalties before the 6th shot taker
for México finally put home the goal, and when #20 Magyarország scored two
consecutive goals in the 81st and 87th minutes to win 4-3 over #29 Česká republika.
In the qualification round México won yet again in penalties. This time the 3rd
shooter for México put home the 2-1 goal to win over #33 Indonesia. Also #23 France held off a 2nd half comeback by Magyarország to win 2-1.
In Round II only thing separating #3 seed Scotland
and #1 seed England in Group 3 was their mutual match,
where Scotland was better by 1-0. Winner of the group was #4 seed Danmark leaving #2 seed
Nederland last.
Semi-finals saw a thriller when Norge beat România 2-1 with a 92nd minute goal. Sverige won their semi 2-0 as expected
putting the nail into Danmark's coffin just after halftime. This set up the grounds for
one of the most exciting matches in World Cup history. In the final Norge used two Offensive Central Defenders to boost their midfield.
They won the midfield and thus took the gold home. This was the first World Cup in which Sverige did not earn a gold medal.
Direct Qualification
Pre-Qualification
This round started on 2004-01-16 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Qualification
This round started on 2004-01-23 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Round II
This round started on 2004-01-30 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Group 1
| Team |
Pts |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Sverige |
7 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
2 |
+7 |
Norge |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
+7 |
Suomi |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
±0 |
France |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
14 |
-14 |
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Round III
This round started on 2004-02-16 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Group 1
Group 2
| Team |
Pts |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Sverige |
7 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
+5 |
Norge |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
+3 |
Canada |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
-2 |
USA |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
-6 |
Semi-Finals
This round started on 2004-02-27 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Final
This round started on 2004-02-29 20:00:00 and was played in USA.
Tactics and Ratings
| Sverige: |
3-5-2 Normal
|
| Midfield: |
magical (very low)
|
| Right Defence: |
outstanding (very low)
|
| Central Defence: |
titanic (very high)
|
| Left Defence: |
extra-terrestrial (very high)
|
| Right Attack: |
extra-terrestrial (low)
|
| Central Attack: |
magnificent (low)
|
| Left Attack: |
solid (low)
|
|
| Norge: |
3-5-2 Normal
|
| Midfield: |
divine (very high)
|
| Right Defence: |
passable (very low)
|
| Central Defence: |
inadequate (very high)
|
| Left Defence: |
inadequate (very high)
|
| Right Attack: |
supernatural (very low)
|
| Central Attack: |
outstanding (very high)
|
| Left Attack: |
passable (very high)
|
|
HT Annoucements
| 13.1.2004 World Cup! |
| This friday at 20.00
HT-time the kick-off for the World Cup takes place in the US. Will Sweden be thrown off the throne for the National Teams like
with the U20s? One of the main contenders will probably be the hosting US team.
Good luck to all managers and may the best team win!
|
| 17.1.2004 4 Giants gone already |
| The first qualification
round to the World Cup, played tonight, saw some spectacular results, as 4 of the 6 largest countries were knocked out already:
Indonesia beat Belgium with 50 times (!) as many users. The Swiss were beaten by (admittedly strong) Norway. In a classic meet
between arch-rivals, third largest HT nation Argentina was beaten by Brasil (which is only a tenth the size of Argentina in HT).
Finally, 4th largest nation España was demolished by Malaysia with amazing 6 - 1. |
| 30.1.2004 World Cup Kickoff! |
| Tonight the World Cup IV in
USA takes off with the first round of the league play. Sweden faces Norway, a classic rivalry between neighbors. Canada-Polska in
Group 2 and England-Denmark in Group 3 also promises to be interesting games tonight. Kickoff is at 20:00 HT-time. |
| 29.2.2004 Norway World Champions! |
| In spite of the Swedes
being in the lead with both 1 - 0 and 2 - 1, Norge managed to turn the game around, much thanks to Karsten Hammer who scored a Hattrick. Eventually Norge won with 4 - 2, having dominated both halves of
the game. National Coach of Norge is Snylte, who is bound to be a national hero in Norway after his masterful coaching in the
World Cup, that ended Sweden's dominance over the Hattrick World. Congrats from all of the HT-Team to an amazing victory! |