Since it's world cup and Jeremy wrote about Arsenal, I will write about the ever growing love I have for the sport of football my team and - LEICESTER CITY! I grew up only following basketball but FIFA 14 changed all that, with Messi and Tim Cahill on the front! Back when crossing and heading was unstoppable. Spending too much time on gaming when I was younger, FIFA14 was one games I grinded all weekend long. I jammed FUT, Manager mode and a bit of MyCareer. I thoroughly enjoyed trading in FUT because I had no money to spend on FIFA points. Back to the point, of my favourite genres of game is simulation, specifically building and managing - Manager Mode. I am the kind of guy to pick one of the worst teams and building them from the ground up. In that game, Leicester City was one of the worst and the looked the coolest - so I picked them. I'm not really that good at FIFA so I normally would play on Professional and I built Leicester to be what Manchester City is today. From then on, I supported them.
I remember in Year 12 was when I started watching Leicester (staying up into the early mornings some weekends), just after they had the great escape. Watching prime Vardy on the counter under Ranieri.
- Beating Sunderland on matchday 1
- Vardy scoring from distance against Liverpool
- Huth double and Mahrez's run against City
- It's Eleven, It's Heaven for Jamie Vardy
- What a pass by Fuchs, what a guy
- Hazard vs Spurs!
Who knew, a random team that I started supporting a few months ago would eventually win the league. This team was built by great scouting, a bunch of cheap signings from non-league football, second-tier teams in France and half of the Manchester United rejects from the early 2010s.
After that season, the team went back into mediocrity and slowly lost their core of players. Only in 2019 when they hired Brendan Rodgers has Leicester finished well. Though, we could have had two seasons where we finished fourth to be only denied at the end of the season. This season season we had horrid start, but we are beginning to pick up steam. Let's sign a few players this January, keep Tielemans, Maddison and let's get a Europa league spot.
I think we have yet to recover from the losses of Kante, Mahrez and just having a core of players who had chips on their shoulders. We have relied too much on signing players who we think will answer the problem right away which has not always worked, as opposed to recruiting a young core of players and developing them. The city of Leicester is not like Manchester or London where the economy is booming and there is not a shortage of cash. The bittersweet reality is that money is a big part and Leicester has not spent wisely that consistently.
I have only ever watched on professional football game - All White versus the Socceroos earlier this year but I enjoy how the game is atmosphere and how up and down the game is. I enjoy watching someone needle-cutting passing and a cheeky little screamer from outside of the box. I hope that one day I could watch a few games in Europe (including a Sunday league match) and hopefully in World Cup 2026! Brazil will win this World Cup
Please note I was very addicted to Football Manager, on my Football 2020 save I am currently on 2032 (I still play every now and then). My second favourite team is Hashtag United, shoutout to SpencerFC #Don't go changing.