Two more teams advance out of the Group Stage after a pair of 1pm games went final. Bad News earned their way in after defeating Fortuna Düsseldorf to finish their Group D schedule, eliminating North Polar Dragons FC in the process, who was needing an F95 win in order to get in. After Arwyn Edwin put Fortuna up 1-0, the French squad scored three straight, led by Mexican forward Xever Mariano Andrés, who scored twice deep into the 2nd half to send his club through to the round of 16.

FC Winnipeg Royal Lions gave an assist to idle Swamp City Dragons by beating Southeast Indiana Football Club 3-0, ending Indiana's slim Group C hopes of making the knockouts and securing the perennial Cup participating Dragons to fight another day. Indiana won almost every stat line except the one that counted, as the Royal Lions' young goalie Hungarian Agoston Lázár was flawless and made 8 saves to preserve the shutout.

There are four games this evening which I'll post around 8pm or so.

Well...SwampDragons United had to win in order catch Hardknoxs F.C...and they left nothing to chance. Swamp U beat Jonzo's Gongers by a score of 10-0. That is not a misprint. The Gongers had been competitive in their Group F games and this was not exactly the way they wanted to end things. Pierre Jared set the tone in the 1st minute when he scored unassisted and Swamp U never let their foot off the gas pedal. Seven different players ended up scoring off of 20 shots on goal. Hardknoxs was eliminated as a hard luck case, who almost recovered from their 0-3 start.

the crutchanators of soccer also clinched their spot in the knockouts by a more normal 2-0 shutout of winless Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond to complete Group G. The game also wasn't very competitive, the main difference being Dutch goalie Gijsberts van den Ouweland kept The Orange artificially close by making some great saves. The result eliminates Not Very United, who had the misfortune of being the only team to reach double-digit stage points and not advance.

The other two games this evening were out of Group E, which is still up in the air for the 2nd transfer spot. The race is now between two teams as Slough FC was eliminated after their loss to group leader FC Gimli Vikings 6-2. The Swedes had way too much firepower as Rutger Bosse's goal in the 42nd made the score 3-0 before Slough was finally able to erase the goose egg off a Takeshi Takada 10 minutes later. Gimli went on to add three more to end any chance of a comeback. The other two teams in the group are still fighting for the spot as Club Deportivo Baile Brian leapfrogs FC Kingston after a 4-2 win in Ireland. The game was tied 1-1 before Wilson Rickworth bagged three to give Baile Brian all three points. Both teams still have one game left, as the Irish play Gimli and Kingston, who must win and hope for a Baile Brian loss, will meet Slough.

Tomorrow has four more games as we enter the final days of group play.

All four games on the 27th were overnight so this will be the lone update for the day. The matches were essentially seeding matches as teams that had already qualified were trying to improve their knockout seed against teams that had been previously eliminated. In all cases, the playoff-bound team won except in Group A, where the Champs went out on a positive note, as Rushmore FC beat Swampdragons FC 2-0 at home to finish with a 2-3-1 record. Amerigo Siviglia got the game winner in the 27th and the Scottish Dragons seemed to have focus issues as they played sloppily, as evident by Galtero Cristiani picking up two silly yellows and being sent off early in the 2nd half. Swamp FC is now locked into 2nd place, taking all the pressure off BC Timber Wolves, who can now rest their starters if they wish in their final game.

The other three games were playoff team victories. Kobelco United Football Club. closed the gap in Group H after smashing Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. on the road, eliminating the Germans and getting within a point of Queen City FC with a game in hand. Rafael Jasso and Orlan Calveche each scored twice in the rout. Not surprisingly, the lone Billygoat goal came from Mano Araña, who has been their only offensive threat the entire tournament. FC Trojans of SC wrapped up the Group D schedule with a 4-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf, as the other North Rhine-Westphalia club also loses in a poor showing for the German state. Blagden Simkins scored twice for the Trojans, who finish with 15 points, while F95 got their one goal when a badly executed offside trap allowed Klasse Mahieu to be wide open for a 1-on-1, which he buried.

Last but not least, FC Winnipeg Royal Lions finish with an impressive 16 points after their 3-1 win over Metropolitan Eagles to end Group C play. Ambrosius Runeberg painted the corner early for the Screaming Eagles but that was the lone Swedish highlight as Winnipeg scored the last three goals to win the match. Winnipeg can possibly be the #1 seed, depending on what FC Gimli Vikings do in their last two but Gimli controls their own fate.

Two games tomorrow followed by three games on the 29th ...then it is playoff time.

It is pretty amazing to see how 3 active folks in a world with other international players can't really keep up with other worlds.

Posted by clememp on 6/28/2026 9:31:00 AM (view original):
It is pretty amazing to see how 3 active folks in a world with other international players can't really keep up with other worlds.

Sometimes I wonder how equal recruit generation is between worlds.

Both games were in the morning so this will be today's update.

BC Timber Wolves improve their seeding after beating Wolfsburg Dynamit 2-1 on the road complete Group A play. The teams traded goals in the 1st half before Jeovânio Javier Pedro, who had scored the team's opening goal, put BC a man down for the entire 2nd half by getting a straight red card for a nasty ankle tackle. Despite the man down, the Timber Wolves were able to get the game winner late off an Eric Kusonoki header to improve the Canadian club to 13 points as they await their knockout matchup. Wolfsburg finishes with 4 points and played well defensively...they just couldn't score.

Club Deportivo Baile Brian had a chance to clinch 2nd place in Group E if they had won their game against the top spot club from Sweden, FC Gimli Vikings, but they couldn't get the victory. Raymond Petke bagged two for the Irish but his output was matched by Gimli as Stearn Rentería and Zlatan Benda denied Baile Brian from punching their ticket in the 2-2 draw. This opens the door for FC Kingston, who must win their home game against Gimli by 4 goals or more in order to advance. Any other result will send Baile Brian through.

The final two playoff spots will be decided tomorrow on the Group Stage final day. Meanwhile, we have only three teams signed up for the Bums Bracket. You have about a week decide if you want to enter your eliminated team into the consolations.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 6/28/2026 10:26:00 AM (view original):

Posted by clememp on 6/28/2026 9:31:00 AM (view original):
It is pretty amazing to see how 3 active folks in a world with other international players can't really keep up with other worlds.

Sometimes I wonder how equal recruit generation is between worlds.

The game wasn't really designed to do this kind of thing, is the main thing. It's fun and all, don't get me wrong. But we've got 5 good coaches just in our country (we've lost a couple in the last year or so, but always seem to attract new ones - just picked up 2 more on rollover a few days ago). 4 of us have been there over 30 seasons. I think there are a few more internationally (I don't check regularly, but I do occasionally lose youth signings to international teams).

In the Cup, when there's a team in our group that's coming from a world with only 1 or 2 other active coaches, I know I don't stand much chance. That's a huge difference in terms of distribution of talent. In a world like that, even when there's an occasional bidding war or poach attempt, there are obviously going to be years when you're the only team scouting for a certain thing, so picking up those guys you can cost control and hold on to long term is much easier than it is when 5+ stable teams are fighting over top players every season.

Just for example, I very rarely have a guy I am tempted to keep around past 40. And I've never *actually* done it, even though I know those old guys are still very effective even after their physical skills have tanked. The reason is we can't get anyone worthwhile for cheap enough, who we can cost control and have stick around long term at a price that doesn't hurt us. It's sad too, because I've had some great forwards with great careers, and I've always been curious to see how many goals I can get with them into their 60s or beyond. But we're always paying at a level where star players will end up near (or well over, in some cases) 1m per season, so we really can't do that.

**I actually do have a couple late-30s guys I'm considering holding onto right now. One I signed as a 19yo after another team released him, his starting attributes were apparently too low for my scouts the first time around, lol. He didn't start with great physicals in the first place, and hasn't tanked really, only losing about 10 in each from his prime. The other was with me from the start, but his low stamina kept him somewhat reasonable for me (he only gets ~22 matches per season, gets tired if I play him 3 in a row, lol). They're both sitting in the 650k-715k range. Right now I can afford to hold onto them, but at some point, doing so is going to impede my ability to improve other positions.**

Anyway, sorry for the rant, haha. I appreciate the Cup and all the work that goes into it! I wish the base game was maintained a little better, though. I like Football Manager, but sometimes I don't want to get *quite* that detailed, you know? This is a nice compromise.

First of all, read the post by shoe above. That is some fascinating stuff. As far as Cup XIX is concerned, the final two playoff spots have been clinched on the final day of the Group Stage.

In what was essentially a play-in game, Queen City FC hit the road with a 1 point lead and traveled to Japan to play Kobelco United Football Club in a winner take all contest. As Queen was only needing to keep the status quo, they packed in the defense and kept Kobelco in front of them. Nampo Oe almost got the Japanese club the goal they needed in the 7th when he hit one off the far post and out for a goal kick. Queen then got a break when Riordan Mullholan took a quick corner while the Kobelco defense was still getting in position and found Brendan Patel wide open in front of the goal for the only goal of the game. A few more chances for home team came to nothing as a Richard Prichard shot went just wide and Queen clinched the 2nd place spot in Group H with the 1-0 win, eliminating Kobelco in the process.

The 16th and final transfer spot was taken out of Group E where FC Kingston needed to win by at least 4 goals against group leader FC Gimli Vikings, who had not lost up to this point of the tournament. Stearn Rentería made things worse for Kingston by burying the ball into the net in the 6th minute to make the game 1-0 for Gimli and, despite recovering to make the game competitive, Kingston never established a lead, let alone pull away for a big victory. Benoni Händzel's header in the 88th leveled the game at 3-3 but the single point was not enough as Club Deportivo Baile Brian.advanced as the 2nd place team with 8 points. Kingston, who drew their third group game, was eliminated with 6 points.

The last game will be tonight and will affect the 2nd place seeds, so once it goes final, I'll start working on setting up the First Round of the knockouts, which will be ready to go sometime tomorrow. Congrats to the 16 teams that have earned the right to keep going and for the 16 that no longer can dream of hoisting the trophy, the Bums Bracket still beckons..

The Group Stage concluded this evening in a game that actually did not impact the playoff seeding. The two teams that were already eliminated in Group H played for pride and Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. decided they wanted the three points just a little bit more than Kobelco United Football Club as the Germans came away with the 2-1 win. Mano Araña, who is tied for the Golden Toe lead, got the game winning goal a few minutes into the 2nd half when he beat Kobelco goalie Carsten Zobel and pinballed it in off the underside of the crossbar. Both teams end up with 6 points and will look to Cup XX for redemption.

I'm taking tonight off and then I'll start setting up the match-ups tomorrow.

The Knockout Round seeds are official and you may start to schedule at your leisure. The First Round is a home and away. There are no tiebreakers and each series must have an outright winner. If we have an aggregate tie, the higher seed will host the first tiebreaker game.

#8 FC Stolpen Steamroller and #9 Godai Hiroshima clearly can not get enough of each other since they are one of those rare knockout round pairings where group mates square off again in the opening round of the playoffs. Also, teams in their first Cup did pretty well, grabbing four of the spots. Finally, only one team grabbed the same seed as they did in Cup XVIII...Club Deportivo Baile Brian is living dangerously as the #16 seed once again.

As the games start to be scheduled, I will post the game date on the Knockout Round page in [red brackets.] The time frame for scheduling games runs through July 11th. If a series is involved in tiebreakers, the deadline does not apply since there is no limit as to how many sudden death tiebreakers can be played. If you win your series, don't start scheduling Quarterfinal games even if you know your opponent. Let's let the other match-ups catch up to you.

Here is how the seeding ended up. I think this is the first time away goals were not needed as a tiebreaker.

#1 - FC Winnipeg Royal Lions (16 pts)
#2 - Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. (15 pts, +15 GD)
#3 - FC Trojans of SC (15 pts, +13 GD)
#4 - FC Gimli Vikings (14 pts)
#5 - Merchiston FC (13 pts, +16 GD)
#6 - FC Not Very Athletic (13 pts, +9 GD)
#7 - BC Timber Wolves (13 pts, +5 GD)
#8 - FC Stolpen Steamroller (12 pts)
#9 - Godai Hiroshima (2nd pl, 11 pts)
#10 - SwampDragons United (2nd pl, 10 pts, +11 GD)
#11 - the crutchanators of soccer (2nd pl, 10 pts, +1 GD)
#12 - Bad News (2nd pl, 10 pts, 0 GD)
#13 - Queen City FC (2nd pl, 10 pts, -1 GD)
#14 - Swamp City Dragons (2nd pl, 9 pts. +5 GD)
#15 - Swampdragons FC (2nd pl, 9 pts, +2 GD)
#16 - Club Deportivo Baile Brian (2nd pl, 8 pts)

We currently have 5 teams signed up for the Bums Bracket. Signups will run through this weekend to get past the July 4th holiday and then those match-ups will get paired for the beginning of next week.

Not Very United would be proud to assume their traditional position in the Bums Bracket.

Include me in the Bums Bracket

I'm a card carrying bum. Count us in for beatings until morale improves.

The playoffs start tonight when #6 FC Not Very Athletic hosts #11 the crutchanators of soccer.

Unfortunately, my Internet and phone is now completely out. Apparently, AT&T has a major outage in the KC area and they don't expect it to be resolved any time soon. July 6th was the date they gave me as tens of thousands of people are impacted. Way to go AT&T, right around a major holiday.

Anyway, I'm posting this at the library...which will be closed for the entire weekend...so, the posting of game results will be delayed. At best, I'll be able to do a normal update tomorrow at the library and then record scores until Internet service is restored. My cell phone is a tiny little two-inch flip phone screen. Can't do write-ups on that dinosaur. There are 8 games scheduled between tonight and when Ma Bell says they will restore service. I'll do what I can and then catch up when they feed the hamster again.