The Quarterfinals have wrapped up this afternoon with the #14 seed moving on to the Semifinals for the first time in club history. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. has picked a great time to start playing great football as they went to Japan and handled the #11 seed Kobelco United Football Club, sweeping the series and taking the aggregate by a total of 8-3. Mano Araña added another two goals and is now three clear of his nearest competitor in the Golden Toe as he scored the opening and closing goal of the match and teammate Greg Eardensohn scored again as the forward line for the Billygoats is looking like they mean business. Kobelco, who was down 4-2 from the first game, only managed a Donn Lander tally in the 43rd minute...otherwise, the Japanese club had difficulty generating chances, ending the match with three shots on goal and a single corner. Regardless, it was a good tournament for veteran Cup participants and now they can address their weaknesses in preparation of a Cup XVIII run.

Tonight is a pubmonkey party in the Bums and I'll get the knockout Semifinal matchup posted sometime tomorrow morning.

In the Bums Bracket, pubmonkey defeated himself as #2 Not Very United held off cross-cheek rivals #3 FC Not Very Athletic by a score of 2-1 in the first game of the remaining Semifinal matchup. Senon Digao and Kardos Donko knocked in headers a couple of minutes apart in the 1st half to give the road monkeys the halftime lead and then held on as the home monkeys cut the advantage in half after Kenderick Keriell dove forward to hit a clean winner. United then had to play the final 17 minutes of the game a primate down after Jacobo Ciric was issued his 2nd yellow of the game, allowing for Athletic to hold the ball for the remainder of the contest, although they couldn't find the equalizer.

The return game is tomorrow to decide who will advance to the Bums Finals.

The Semifinals in the knockouts are now set and scheduling may begin at any time. The time frame for scheduling will be July 24th thru August 3rd. I know my world is in week 3 so I'll need a couple of days to sign players so no rush. Best of luck to the Final Four. The winners go on to the Championship and the losers play for the 3rd Place bronze medal.

The semis in the Bums conclude tonight at 7pm barring an aggregate tie.

#2 Not Very United has earned their way into the Bums Bracket Finals after their 1-1 draw against sister club #3 FC Not Very Athletic to take the series by a 3-2 aggregate. United needed a draw or better to advance and they controlled that match throughout despite the score. Tate Papia gave Canadians a 3-1 goal lead when he weaved his way through the defense and put one past Athletic goalie Derrick Richardson in the 34th minute. After that, the home side simply prevented the English club from getting quality looks and effectively ran out the clock. United got a bit lazy and allowed a very late goal in the 89th minute to even the game score but too little time remained for them to get the 2nd goal they needed to send the series to an extra game.

United will face FC Trojans of SC in the Bums Finals to see which team walks away with 17th Place. I need to do a coin flip to see which team will host the first sudden death game, if necessary. So, I'll officially set up the Bums Bracket Finals tomorrow but the two teams can start to schedule whenever you like.

The Bums Bracket Finals are officially set up and the coin toss for the first sudden death game has been done The results are as follows.

Bums Bracket Finals Extra Game Coin Flip (if necessary)
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You flipped 10 coins of type Swiss 1 Franc:

Totals: 6 obverse, 4 reverse

Timestamp: 2025-07-25 16:40:57 UTC

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FC Trojans of SC was heads (Helvetia standing and resting on a Swiss shield) and Not Very United was tails (1 Fr. 1899). The results were heads 6-4, so the Trojans will host the first sudden death game, if necessary.

First Knockout Semifinal match is tonight when #8 FC Kingston hosts #5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men . I'll report the results after 7pm.

Also, both games of the Bums Finals are scheduled, with the games being played on August 4th and 5th.

#5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men continues an impressive Cup run as they take the opener of their Semifinal matchup against #8 FC Kingston with a 2-0 victory on the road. Kingston, the Cup XII Champion, had a great opportunity to set the tone by giving a strong performance on their home pitch. Instead, it was Stratford who established themselves with a smothering defense and just enough offensive punch to take the game. After a scoreless half, Team Shakespeare finally broke into the scoring column when Romao Byington took a quick shot just after the ball was put in play and surprised Kingston goalie Hilario Serpa in the 46th minute. Then, what looked like a huge break for the home team after Byington received a straight red card in the 72nd for a rough tackle, turned into a liability as Stratford scored a short-handed goal off a corner cross by Juaquine Alberto to put the game away as Kingston couldn't generate much offense even with the extra body. The two teams take a day off and then travel to England to conclude the series, with The King's Men now a huge favorite.

Tomorrow is an off day so enjoy the mini break before the remaining three Semifinal games get played on the 29th and 30th.

After 6 weeks of competition, we have our first Championship qualifier. #5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men held a 2-0 advantage over #8 FC Kingston going into their home leg of the Semifinals and did just enough to hold off the former Champs. Kingston once again had difficulty generating chances as the stout Stratford defense limited their ability to create in the offensive third. However, a rare Kingston corner was converted into a goal late in the first half when young Israeli defender Makis Spierer was in the box for a corner kick and redirected the ball beautifully to give Stratford goalie Winfrith Craig no chance to make the save. With the aggregate sitting at 2-1, Kingston pushed as much as they could but only generated two 2nd half shots and none on goal. Desperation time created their best chance in the 83rd minute but the try by Santino Ching went wide of the far post and the game ended at 1-0, sending The King's Men to the title game and breaking Kingston's heart as they have to settle for the bronze medal match.

Neither team will have to wait long to find out their opponent as Cologne and Edinburgh rack up the frequent flier miles and play both games tomorrow.

Both halves of the Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V./FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds Semifinal are after 1pm...so I'll update both games at the same time this evening.

Well, I wasn't going to do an update until the 2nd game was played in a couple of hours but since it was my team in the Semis and I was logging in to do something else, I thought there was no harm in taking a peek at the 1pm results...

#14 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. got the last Semifinal series underway this afternoon when they hosted #2 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds at Müngersdorfer Stadium. The home fans were treated to quite the game which, when it finished, settled nothing as to who will advance. The Billygoats struck first blood when Ellery Weinberger hit in a header from point-blank range to open the scoring at the 30 minute mark. The Bullet Birds struck back before halftime after Daylin Plunkett scored his 10th of the tournament to send the game to the break tied at 1-1. After both team traded goals early in the 2nd, Edinburgh took the lead off the head of Sandro Huntelaar in the 68th but Cologne was able to salvage the tie when Greg Eardensohn hit a ball in the air that just got past a diving Paulo Hudson to end the scoring in a 3-3 draw.

That means it is winner take all this evening for a trip to the Cup XVII Championship Round.

Sometimes dreams come true...and then sometimes your team just gets the crap kicked out of them. #2 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds got of tired of pesky #14 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. and crushed the underdogs 6-1, stamping their ticket to the Championship by winning the aggregate 9-4 and sending the German squad to the bronze medal match. From the get-go, the Bullet Birds owned the contest, scoring six straight before Cologne could muster a lone tally by Marcos Katz to save a little face. Walker Rowena broke the 3-3 tie from the earlier game to give Edinburgh the lead for good and teammate Daylin Plunkett scored a pair of goals to tie Billygoats forward Mano Araña atop the Golden Toe leaderboard with 12 goals apiece. The Golden Toe is almost assuredly going to be won by an Edinburgh player as Plunkett with 12 and fellow Bullet Bird Sandro Huntelaar sitting at 10 are well clear of any player on the Stratford team.

I am going to take the rest of the evening off and then set both the Championship and the 3rd Place game (which needs a coin flip to determine which team will play at home) tomorrow morning. Congrats to Edinburgh for playing like a #2 seed should against a double-digit Semifinalist.

The tournament started the signup process in early June and seven weeks later we have arrived at why we play the game - The Championship Round.

The coin flips have been done and the results are posted below.
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Championship Extra Game Coin Flip (if necessary)
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Edinburgh was heads ("Head of the Republic" in Roman style with Brasil written in Latin) and Stratford was tails (1 Real written on top of Southern Cross constellation).
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You flipped 10 coins of type Brazilian 1 Real:

Totals: 6 obverse, 4 reverse

Timestamp: 2025-07-31 13:53:47 UTC

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Heads won 6-4 so Edinburgh will host the first sudden death game, if necessary.

...and for the 3rd Place game
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3rd Place Home Game Coin Flip
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Kingston was heads (Lincoln bust) and Cologne was tails (Lincoln Memorial)
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You flipped 10 coins of type US 1¢ Penny:

Totals: 6 obverse, 4 reverse

Timestamp: 2025-07-31 14:01:28 UTC

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Heads won 6-4 so Kingston will host the 3rd Place Game.

A couple of reminders. There is no time frame for scheduling the home and away for the Championship. The two teams may schedule whenever they like but they also may take as much time as they need in case one of the teams is nearing the end of season and needs to sign players. If the series goes to sudden death games, those also will be untimed.

The 3rd Place game is not a series but a single game at Kingston's home field. If the game ends up as a draw, both teams will share the bronze medal.

Best of luck and everyone playing for their respective places in the Record Book. The guys with the white gloves have started to polish the trophies and medals so that they'll be nice and shiny for their presentations.
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The 3rd Place game is at 7pm this evening so we'll be passing out some bronze before the night is done.

Also, both halves of the Championship are on August 4th.