Five more games have gone final as the standings are really beginning to take shape.

the crutchanators of soccer got a critical win in Group A over a much improved Bad News, who played their best game of the tournament. Bad News got on the board first when Darnel Bridge whipped a header that pinballed off a defender's leg and into the goal. Then, the home side had to endure the quickest three goal span in the tournament up to this point when crutchanators netted (amazingly) in the 18th, 20th and 21st minutes, led by a pair of goals from Erik Adu. After recovering from that shock, the News tied the game in the 68th minute when Juaquine Alberto bent a ball like Beckham to make the score 3-3. But, the French side couldn't hold the line and conceded the winning goal late when Heinz Hagelin scored off of a corner and crutchanators grabbed three points on the road.

kangaroo fc shot another branding iron into the hopes of powerhouse team The Shield of the Cow as they took a 3-1 home victory in Group C. Halbert Labazares is, once again, a filet for The Cow but the rest of the team looks like hamburger. Three different roos scored, including Evgeny Fokine's goal in the 61st minute where he made some space and rifled a winner. The roos are now in a statistical tiebreaker for a playoff spot and The Cow needs to start praying.

Rushmore FC had no problems dispatching Der Kaiserlich-Österreichische Hodensack in Vienna, Austria in a Group E matchup. Rushmore scored three times in the first 8 minutes and the Austrian crowd of a little more than 10,000 started filing out of the stadium. Cannavaro Maccarone ended up getting two goals in the 5-1 win. Czech midfielder Gabek Dobek scored The Crown Jewels only goal when his long-distance shot was mishandled by Rushmore goalie Aldo Bucci. Rushmore goes back on top of the group standings and the Austrians are in serious trouble.

SwampDragons United travelled to France and shut out Bordeaux Fighting Bovines 4-0 for their first win in Group F. Today was not a good day for The Cattle as they only generated two shots on goal and two corners in the entire game. Meanwhile, the Swampsters scored three goals in the first half, including an early score by Ninian Brooks, who knocked one off the near post in the 6th minute. Both teams sit at 1-2 in the standings. Finally, butterfiles united lit up Aurea Cruce Aquilonis at home 5-1. Speedy Bell opened and closed the scoring for the butterfiles and Gomes Martínez added a pair of tallies in the 2nd half. Aquilonis still sits atop the Group G standings with 9 points but they are locked in, having played all 6 games and they'll just have to wait and see if it's good enough.

It looks like I forgot to capture one game from yesterday, a matchup between Southeast Indiana Football Club and Futbol Club Oviedo. 50,180 Indiana fans packed the stadium and didn't have much to cheer about in the 1st half. Oviedo's Ewing Sequeira scored twice to close the half and the Spanish club took a 2-0 lead into the break. Indiana, needing a positive result to keep in touch with the Group E leaders showed inspired play in the 2nd stanza, scoring the equalizer when Isai Maudit's shot deflected off an Oviedo back line player and past goalie Giandomenico Sammarco in the 68th minute. The 2-2 draw vaults Oviedo to the top of the standings and keeps Indiana's hopes alive, who need to win their final game and then get some help.

The replay of the Fighting Ants/Merchiston FC Group G game was early this morning. What was a 4-4 tie ended up being a 3-0 win for Fighting Ants. Vincente Ocampo scored twice and defender Andre Jorge added an early goal as the Ants raced out to a 3-0 halftime lead that held until the final whistle. The Ants clinch a playoff spot with the victory and Merchiston has to regroup, although they still have five more Group Stage games to play.

As far as the rest of the 11/14 morning games, I'm only going to be able to capture half of them right now. I'll grab the others in a couple of hours.

In Group H, FC Trojans of SC jump from last to second when they beat Real TK 5-3 to pick up their first win. Another high powered offensive effort was displayed by the Trojans, as both Dahal Corner and Gideon Kuhlman scored twice. TK was led by Spaniard Cristiano Dolls, who added a pair of goals of his own. Both teams now sit at 1-3 and are looking at their Merchiston FC matchups as the key to all three team's playoff hopes.

butterfiles united hammer North Polar Dragons FC 5-1 in Group G as the butterfiles get back into a transfer spot position. butterfiles had 16 shots on goal as Vance Lewis set the tone with his header that beat North Polar goalie Meinert Højgaard in the first minute. The top three teams are separated by only two points as Aurea Cruce Aquilonis sees thier chances of advancing dwindle...they were really needing a string of draws to help their cause.

To wrap up this update, VB Hibernian gets into a statistical tiebreaker for a playoff spot when they took a 3-0 road win over FC Not Very Athletic in Group F play. Manque Montaner scored a pair, including a ball that tipped of Athletic goalie Ormond Brodeway's hands in into the back of the net. Sitting at 12 points, Hibernian needs a single point to advance or a combination of ties/losses by other group members, so their transfer spot chances are excellent. Athletic still holds 2nd place for the moment.

More around 10:30 or so.

The remaining 11/14am games are now recorded as several teams inch closer to the Knockout Rounds. Swamp City Dragons takes a 5-3 win at home in Canada over Metropolitan Screaming Eagles, a result that makes it look pretty likely these will be the Group B pair that advance. Arley Movsisyan did it all for Swamp City, as he becomes the oldest player in history to score a hat trick at the age of 104. Juking defenders, beating the offside trap, Arley was unstoppable. Deontre Voss, 70 years younger, was able to score twice for the Metro Eagles. Kobelco United Football Club must win its last two games and make up the differential in order to catch the Dragons.

The Shield of the Cow saved their tournament with a 2-1 win over Group C leading kangaroo fc, preventing the roos from clinching a transfer spot. The Cow midfielder Niklas Mascherano broke the 1-1 tie when he side-footed a ball into the netting in the 56th minute. While still in a bad position, The Cow moved from last place to 2nd place in the standings. Burnaby Hillbillies control their own destiny with three games still to play and only a point behind.

A pair of games out of Group D round out the morning action. Space Olympics gets a much-needed three points on the road as they beat Arsenal F.C. 2-1, moving them over Arsenal into the 2nd position. Vincente Ontiveros scored the game winner in the 35th minute off a pretty entry pass from the wings and the French club made it stick for the rest of the game. Fianna AFC had a chance to punch their ticket but ended up falling just short when they tied Joe's Team Of a Thousand Corpses 2-2, giving DEAD their first points of the tournament. Up 2-0, Fianna couldn't maintain the lead as Danish forward Meir Jochumsen knocked in two goals in a three-minute span midway through the 2nd half. All four teams in the group are still mathematically alive.

Tonight's update will be after 7pm.

The top three teams are separated by only two points as Aurea Cruce Aquilonis sees thier chances of advancing dwindle...they were really needing a string of draws to help their cause.

With only two games left in Group G, the chances for Aquilonis to advance still look pretty healthy to me, though far from certain. I believe two draws in the final two games would be one of the ways Aquilonis ends up 3rd, so the Poles are not necessarily rooting for draws anymore. Zwyciestwo dla Polski!

Incidentally, while the page one differentials and results for Group G look correct, there does seem to be a typo in the NP Dragons loss column of the table. The dragons are already eliminated from advancement contention with a 1-3-1 record as of now, are they not?

Posted by scottml on 11/14/2023 1:25:00 PM (view original):

The top three teams are separated by only two points as Aurea Cruce Aquilonis sees thier chances of advancing dwindle...they were really needing a string of draws to help their cause.

With only two games left in Group G, the chances for Aquilonis to advance still look pretty healthy to me, though far from certain. I believe two draws in the final two games would be one of the ways Aquilonis ends up 3rd, so the Poles are not necessarily rooting for draws anymore. If I am not mistaken, as of now, winning the group with a 3-3 pool play record and very negative differential remains a possibility! Zwyciestwo dla Polski!

Incidentally, while the page one differentials and results for Group G look correct, there does seem to be a typo in the NP Dragons loss column of the table. The dragons are already eliminated from advancement contention with a 1-3-1 record as of now, are they not?

Yeah, I just changed that. When I moved their team down to 4th place, I forgot to move their loss column down with the rest of the stat line. For the record, North Polar Dragons FC have been eliminated since 7 points is their max and butterfiles is already sitting at 8.

The game between butterfiles and Brighton will go a long way to determining if Aquilonis advances.

Thanks Jay! In the meantime, I edited my optimistic assessment that 1st was still possible. Either Butterfiles or Brighton will inevitably pass my team. I'm just hoping it isn't both.

Posted by scottml on 11/14/2023 1:41:00 PM (view original):
Thanks Jay! In the meantime, I edited my optimistic assessment that 1st was still possible. Either Butterfiles or Brighton will inevitably pass my team. I'm just hoping it isn't both.

Yup. You really need North Polar to help you out.

To do a a little bit of maintenance, I have been in contact with the coach for Bad News out of Group A and those remaining games should be getting scheduled soon. I will contact EJP about VB Hibernian's final home game with SwampDragons United this evening.

If any of you see an error in the standings, feel free to point it out to me. I'm old school and all of this is being done by hand...not even an Excel spreadsheet...so, I occasionally fat finger or outright boo boo. I do double-check the standings every evening but I do not mind at all...as a matter of fact it helps to have extra eyes on the numbers...if you point out any error you see.

OK, tonight is the last big night and then the games start to thin out. So far, they stretch to the 19th.

I received a message from EJP that he has sent several requests to get the VB Hibernian home game against SwampDragons United match on the calendar. So, my apologies for assuming it was the other way around.

I'll be sending a message to the Swampsters tonight.

More teams have seen their eay to the Knockout Rounds.

A pair of games out of Group B has sent one team through and another team home. Kobelco United Football Club had to win both of its remaining games in order to stay alive. Against winless Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., they got the job done, although not without some difficulty. Köln played their best game and scored three goals at home, including a goal by Stirling Carrillo on the opening play. However, the Kobelco offense was led by veteran Japanese forward Yujiro Takahashi, who scored a few minutes later to answer back. After Hector Rico got red carded for the 2nd time in the tournament, the 5-3 Kobelco victory was assured. That set up drama for Kobelco's next game against Swamp City Dragons. Although it was a competitive match, Swamp City proved to be too formidable, grabbing the lead in the 29th minute and never giving it up. Two goals by Derrik Ishihara clinched the game 3-2 in favor of Swamp City, sending them through to the next round. Kobelco, with the loss, was eliminated.

Arsenal F.C. greatly helped its own cause with a 2-1 win over Group D leader Fianna AFC, handing Fianna their first loss of the tournament. Eric Alden scored what proved to be the game winner in added first half time when his shot riccocheted off the leg of a player right in front of Fianna goalie Deegan Colcroft. The win jumped arsenal ahead of Space Olympics and into 2nd place. Fianna, with 9 points, is till in the group lead.

Bordeaux Fighting Bovines kept their playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 road win against SwampDragons United in Group F. The game was tied 1-1 when heroics came off the head of Cattle forward Orlondo Rosario, whose 77th minute header gave them all three points. FC Not Very Athletic has the tiebreaker and a game in hand as both teams sit with 6 points. The bigger part of the story is that the result sends VB Hibernian into the playoffs since they now can not be caught by a 2nd place team.

Aurea Cruce Aquilonis was anxiously watching the results of the Brighton AFC home game against North Polar Dragons FC. Zakary Walls got North Polar on the board first in the 10th minute but Brighton answered back in short order when Nickolas Parker's diving header tied the game up at 1-1. The teams went back and forth and the game was still even at 3-3 when Lawrence Chapman grabbed the lead for good for Brighton as they won the game 4-3. The win vaulted Brighton over Aquilonis and clinched themselves a playoff spot. The Brighton match against butterfiles united will now decide the group. If Brighton wins, Aquilonis will be the 2nd place finisher out of Group G. If butterfiles wins or ties, they will be playoff bound and Aquilonis will be eliminated.

The last game was out of Group H, where Merchiston FC won 3-1 on the road against Real TK. A crowd of almost 57,000 turned out to root TK on but Merchiston dominated throughout, scoring in the 2nd minute and putting then game away in the second half when 54 year old Thomas-VanLuijk De Meyer scored midway through. Fighting Ants have run away with the group but the other three teams are locked at 3 points each...but realisticly, the 2nd transfer spot is between Merchiston and FC Trojans of SC, since it would be virtually impossible for TK to advance at this point

See you in the morning.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 11/14/2023 2:05:00 PM (view original):
To do a a little bit of maintenance, I have been in contact with the coach for Bad News out of Group A and those remaining games should be getting scheduled soon. I will contact EJP about VB Hibernian's final home game with SwampDragons United this evening.

If any of you see an error in the standings, feel free to point it out to me. I'm old school and all of this is being done by hand...not even an Excel spreadsheet...so, I occasionally fat finger or outright boo boo. I do double-check the standings every evening but I do not mind at all...as a matter of fact it helps to have extra eyes on the numbers...if you point out any error you see.

OK, tonight is the last big night and then the games start to thin out. So far, they stretch to the 19th.

My last challenge expired and I resent a new one to Bad News.

Posted by indiansrck27 on 11/15/2023 4:48:00 AM (view original):

Posted by gomiami1972 on 11/14/2023 2:05:00 PM (view original):
To do a a little bit of maintenance, I have been in contact with the coach for Bad News out of Group A and those remaining games should be getting scheduled soon. I will contact EJP about VB Hibernian's final home game with SwampDragons United this evening.

If any of you see an error in the standings, feel free to point it out to me. I'm old school and all of this is being done by hand...not even an Excel spreadsheet...so, I occasionally fat finger or outright boo boo. I do double-check the standings every evening but I do not mind at all...as a matter of fact it helps to have extra eyes on the numbers...if you point out any error you see.

OK, tonight is the last big night and then the games start to thin out. So far, they stretch to the 19th.

My last challenge expired and I resent a new one to Bad News.

Thanks. I'm trying to get him to accept. For those of you in Group A, just keep an active challenge out there through the 17th. Hopefully...

There was a game from the 14th that I had missed and it involved the defending Champs, who find themselves in a bit of trouble as the Group A schedule is past the halfway mark. FC Kingston played host to Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi and got overwhelmed by the relentless firepower that is the Cotopaxi squad this tournament. The Ecuadorian side put up 7 goals from 7 different players, a scary proposition for any team that gets matched up against them. Kingston did score first when Joel Anunciacion headed home a score in the 4th minute and Quong Ikeda added a couple of goals late to keep the differential damage down but Kingston, now 1-2, is in need of a couple of wins to stay alive.

That need was highlighted even more with this morning's result when the crutchanators of soccer travelled to Cotopaxi's home pitch and beat them 4-2...and they did it being a man down for the entire 2nd half after Raymond Vela picked up his second yellow of the game and was sent to the showers. Santiago Polanco scored twice for Cotopaxi but the crutchanators were able to score twice after Vela's boot, the winning goal coming from Alexzander Byam when he nutmegged a couple of defenders and scored in the 49th minute. The win jumps crutchanators over Kingston and into 2nd place. With Cotopaxi virtually assured of advancement, the battle for 2nd place will come down to the 11/17 matchup between Kingston and crutchanators...and the Bad News games if they get scheduled.

The other morning game saw FC Cackalacky jump from last to 2nd in a game they had to win to stay alive in Group C. Hitting the road to Burnaby Hillbillies' home turf, Cackalacky was able to overcome an early Hillbilly goal from Payne Tarley and grab all three points. The win locks Cackalacky into 7 points, which probably won't be enough, and puts them at the mercy of the other remaining games. Burnaby now finds itself in last place in the group with two more to play. It also makes the final game for The Shield of the Cow a must win for them. While those three teams are fretting, idle kangaroo fc was handed a golden ticket and some blue highlighting, as their 10 points are now good enough to advance to the playoffs.