Five games this morning that really didn't change the standings much.

FC Kingston and Kobelco United Football Club played to a 4-4 draw in Group G, ending Kingston's bid for Group Stage perfection. Kobelco's Rolfe Reinhard went beserk, scoring all four goals. The point gets Kobelco closer to the transfer spot but they still have work to do. The offensive output also lifts Reinhard into a Golden Toe leaders tie with 7 goals scored.

the cructhanators of soccer and Brighton AFC also played to a draw, this one a 3-3 score out of Group B. The young Finn Miika Moilanen salvaged the point for crutchanators with his header in the 62nd minute. Both teams were really in need of a win as they sit tied for third in the standings with 4 points apiece. The other Group B game saw FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk surprisingly crush traditional powerhouse Merchiston FC 6-2 on the road. Volodya Zablosky scored a hat trick as everything Krasnoyarsk threw at Merchiston was on target. Rarely do you see a stat sheet that reads 16 shots taken and 15 shots on goal, but that was the feat the Russian side pulled in front of a sold out crowd of 60,000. Both teams sit with 6 points.

Swamp City Dragons, another traditional powerhouse, finally got its tournament going with a 4-2 road win over two-time Champion Fighting Ants in Group F. Rollins Scherer scored a pair of goals for the visitors as they took all three points. With the Fianna AFC absence at the moment, it's hard to gauge the impact this result will have on the playoff scenario.

To round out the morning action, Metropolitan Screaming Eagles took another step towards the Knockout Rounds with a 3-2 win over Burnaby Hillbillies in Group C. Deontre Voss broke the 2-2 tie with a header that snuck underneath the crossbar in the 65th minute, capping off a flurry of goals in the middle of the 2nd half. The win puts the Metro Eagles right on the edge of clinching a spot and, at 3-0-1, are looking good. Burnaby, sitting at 1-1-1, is battling FC Trojans of SC for the other golden ticket.

A bunch more this evening...

So I finally got Fianna to accept a challenge - I sent over a slate. They took two, I thought we already had played on 6/28 so the second game we scheduled will just be for fun. July 4th showdown!!!

Posted by clememp on 7/2/2023 1:59:00 PM (view original):
So I finally got Fianna to accept a challenge - I sent over a slate. They took two, I thought we already had played on 6/28 so the second game we scheduled will just be for fun. July 4th showdown!!!

You guys did play Fianna AFC and won the game 2-1. It's been registered in the standings for several days. Those challenges you just made won't count.

The games that are missing are Fianna home games where he sends the challenge to you...

There was an early afternoon game out of Group H. My outmatched Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., an original team Cup I that has been dormant for literally years, played a shockingly competitive game before losing to Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi 3-2. Dutch defender Ariens Mathijssen scored what ended up as the game winner in the 59th minute. Cotopaxi is tied for the group lead, although only two games out of the 12 have been played. My boys look like they won't end up with some embarrassing goal differential as I had feared.

FC Not Very Athletic joins The Shield of the Cow in the Knockout rounds thanks to its 6-2 pounding of Southeast Indiana Football Club. The final group stage game will determine which of the two teams will take 1st place. Both are currently sitting at 11 points and The Cow holds the goal differential tiebreaker. If Athletic wins or ties in the final game, they take Group E. An Athletic loss hands the top spot to The Cow. Aurea Cruce Aquilonis was eliminated with tonight's result and can only play spoiler.

Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi kills hapless Der Kaiserlich-Österreichische Hodensack 5-0 in the Group G matchup tonight. The Austrian side could muster nothing, especially after midfielder Yale Guzman got sent off with a red card in the 36th minute. Cotopaxi's Nulpi Demont added two goals in the stress free win as they move to the top of the standings with 6 stage points with still a lot of games to play.

Joe's Team Of a Thousand Corpses moves from last to 2nd place by virtue of their 2-1 victory over Kobelco United Football Club. All three goals were scored in the first 17 minutes as Cédric Kumm got the game winner off a corner, although he hardly would have know it considering how much time was left on the clock. Kobelco lost what chance it had when Ring Klein was shown his 2nd yellow of the match in the 81st minute. Unfortunately for the Japanese club, the loss eliminated them from the competition as they needed to win to stay alive. The other transfer spot is now between DEAD and VB Hibernian, with DEAD having a game in hand.

The final two games of the evening were a pair of 2-2 draws. Metropolitan Screaming Eagles and FC Trojans of SC played to the first one in Group C, bringing Metro Eagles into no worse than a tiebreaker away from clinching a transfer spot. At 3-0-2, the chances of them advancing are almost 100%...almost. The Trojans are in good shape but are still in a dogfight with Burnaby Hillbillies for that other golden ticket. Finally, out of Group A, the defending Champs continue to get off to a sluggish start in defense of their title as they tie SwampDragons United 2-2 at home. Cannavaro Maccarone salvaged the point for Rushmore after Hunter Rogers was kicked out of the game for a stupid foul. Down 2-1 and down a man, the champs dug deep and found the equalizer. After two games, Rushmore sits with only 2 points, which is not going to be a winning formula. United scored its first point of the tournament and is still alive but in need of a win its next game out.

Eight more games tomorrow in the last big day of competition before the Group Stage starts to wrap up with contests trickling out to July 9th.

There were a couple of morning games, including yet another draw in Group A. The latest was a 1-1 tie between Space Olympics and kangaroo fc, the third draw out the group's six completed matches. Olympics forward Vincente Ontiveros gave the home side a 1-0 lead midway through the first half but Thorne Hartley weaved through the defense to regain equality for the roos a few minutes later. Both teams are in the transfer spots as we speak but Rushmore FC has two games in hand on Olympics and one on the Croatian club.

In Group C, Burnaby Hillbillies jumped into 2nd place when they defeated Arsenal F.C. 4-2. Canadian midfielder King Ikangu acted like royalty as he knocked home a couple of goals, including one off of a header just a couple of minutes into the game. Burnaby currently holds a tiebreaker lead over FC Trojans of SC for the 2nd transfer spot, as both teams sit with identical 2-1-1 records. Arsenal, playing yet another competitive game, fell to 0-5 and was defeated for the first time by more than one goal.

A half dozen games this afternoon and evening. See you then.

A bunch of afternoon games yielded another two playoff berths as both spots from Group D were decided. Bordeaux Fighting Bovines went into the match against Shoals Soccer Club needing a draw to claim the top spot, Shoals needing a win. Both teams would advance regardless of the result if Eton Rifles FC did not emerge victorious in its last game against North Polar Dragons. Bordeaux's veteran defender Muhammad King got the Cattle on the board first but, from that point forward, it was all Shoals, scoring three unanswered...including Jorge Withycombe's Golden Toe tying 8th of the tournament. Bordeaux advanced anyway since Eton was unable to post the positive result they needed and lost its final game 3-0 to North Polar. Eton did better on the stats sheet but couldn't figure out the Dragons defense as the loss eliminated the Rifles from the competition.

FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk won its third straight Group B game as it got another hat trick from Volodya Zablosky in the 4-2 win over Brighton AFC. All four teams are still mathematically alive in the group, though Krasnoyarsk is sitting at 3-0 and is virtually assured of advancing. Brighton, sitting at 4 points, still has a path to move forward but needs to rack up a W (or two) in order to do it. The Merchiston FC game against Brighton on July 5th may decide the fate of both clubs.

Group F is going to be sending a very good team home without advancing, as Swamp City Dragons and FC Cackalacky played to a 3-3 tie, showing just how evenly matched the top three teams in this grouping are. Both teams were led by their forwards, as Rollins Scherer scored twice, including the tying score in the 84th minute for Swamp City and Gabriele Abderhalden knocked two back in the first 10 minutes for Cackalacky. Fighting Ants still sit atop the group with 7 points. With the Fianna AFC home games yet unscheduled, this group could go a dozen different ways in the 6 matchups remaining. Even Fianna has chances to advance if they could find a way to get to the 7-9 point mark.

A couple of games tonight...

Posted by gomiami1972 on 7/2/2023 8:16:00 AM (view original):

Posted by gomiami1972 on 7/1/2023 9:07:00 PM (view original):

Unscheduled Games - 4

Group F

All three Fianna AFC home games (Fianna sends the challenges)

Group G

Joe's Team Of a Thousand Corpses home to VB Hibernian (DEAD sends the challenge)

With that prompting, now is a good time to make the official reminder. On page one of the tourney (right below the Golden Toe tracker) is the unscheduled games list. There are 6 days left to schedule if you include today. No worries yet but let's get those games on the calendar, if we can.

As swampdragons said, Fianna has all three home games outstanding. The Group G game requires Thousand Corpses to send the challenge but VB Hibernian and Fianna AFC are the same person.

So, if DEAD would please keep an open challenge out there in slot 4 or so, that would take us to the deadline of the Group Stage.

no challenge to SC Dragons

As what always happens at this point in the Group Stage, virtually every game has playoff implications. The biggest contest tonight was the Group C match between Burnaby Hillbillies/FC Trojans of SC as both teams were sitting at 7 points. Burnaby got first half goals from Alonzo Slesinger and Hernandez Corralero, then held on as the Trojans threw everything they had at them in the 2nd half. The Rashan Berwick goal cut the lead but came too late and Burnaby held on for a 2-1 win. The result sends Metropolitan Screaming Eagles into the Knockouts, as the only way they would have been denied would have been a draw in tonight's game. Burnaby now sits with 10 points and needs either a tie or better to advance (or a Trojans loss.) The Trojans need to win their last and hope for a Burnaby loss, plus make up a 7 goal differential.

FC Not Very Athletic takes the top spot in Group E by virtue of its 3-3 draw with Aurea Cruce Aquilonis. Aquilonis, in the role of spoiler, almost took all three points after Adilson Leite gave them a 3-2 lead in the 61st minute. Knowing a loss would have handed The Shield of the Cow the top spot in the group, drama in the 88th minute by Athletic midfielder Grayvesone Akeman tied the game and sent his side through as the Group E winners. Aquilonis finished the tournament with a 1-2-3 record, being just a hair off and, in a tournament like this, showing how thin the margin is between success and failure.

Joe's Team Of a Thousand Corpses played the Group G winners FC Kingston to their own 3-3 draw, giving them a temporary hold on the second transfer spot. Up 3-1 and at home, DEAD couldn't close the deal on all three points as Kingston's Quong Ikeda scored twice, including on the last play of the game when his header was not seen clearly by goalie Miska Kantola. With one game left, DEAD leads VB Hibernian 7 points to 6. That last game happens to match those two teams in a winner (or tie for Thousand Corpses) take all.

There are 7 games tomorrow, the lion's share coming out of Group H.

Three games on this Independence Day morning for Americans. Updating the standings will be delayed about 90 minutes. Gotta cook breakfast for the family.

FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk becomes the 7th team to clinch a spot in the playoffs after they dominate last Cup's Runner Up Merchiston FC 5-2 at home. Andrey Prerovsky and Volodya Zablosky both scored twice as the Russian club raced out to a 4-1 halftime lead, then cruised to the victory. The win keeps Krasnoyarsk perfect in Group B at 4-0 and wins them the group. Their final two games will be to see just how high a seed they can grab. Merchiston, on the other hand, is still in a fight with the crutchanators of soccer and Brighton AFC for that other transfer spot.

Two games in Group H solidify the two favorites as the teams that will likely advance. Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi hammered 2nd year team Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. on the road 4-0 and butterfiles united controlled the game and defeated Der Kaiserlich-Österreichische Hodensack 2-0. Cotopaxi currently sits at 9 points with butterfiles behind them at 6. The Germans and Austrians are now 0-2 and with big negative goal differentials. It is quite apparent that the only points these two clubs will take in the group stage will be against each other.

There is a late morning game but I will update it at the same time as the evening scores roll in. Happy 4th! and, for those of you who are not Americans, have a good day!

Oof our new Total Football style did not translate to cup play this year, my young guys struggled to find the net. But thanks for doing this as always gomiami1972!

Happy 4th!!! Thanks gomiami for organizing this!!

Posted by shoe3 on 7/4/2023 11:55:00 AM (view original):
Oof our new Total Football style did not translate to cup play this year, my young guys struggled to find the net. But thanks for doing this as always gomiami1972!

Despite finishing in last place in your group, you were this [---] close to advancing. If your home game against Bordeaux would have been a 2-1 win rather than a 2-1 loss, you'd be moving on and the French bœuf would be grazing in their pasture.

Posted by jmjtrain on 7/4/2023 1:06:00 PM (view original):
Happy 4th!!! Thanks gomiami for organizing this!!

Always welcome. Your team looks pretty stout this Cup.