Live action resumed last night in England after #6 FC Not Very Athletic hosted #11 the crutchanators of soccer.to open up the knockout phase of Cup XIX. The game was competitive and featured an odd scenario where all of the goal scorers had not previously netted in the tournament...as they picked a good time to get their first tally.

Danish defender Stanly Michelsen got crutchanators off on the right foot when he headed in a corner cross in the 24th to give the 11 seed a 1-0 lead. Conn Derrick leveled the game when his 30th minute shot was muffed by crutch goalie Rueban Lazar but Michelsen was, once again, up to the task, becoming his team's best offensive option while playing on the back line when he scored again right before halftime to give crutchanators the lead for good. Teammate Julien Krahenbuhl got the game winner early in the 2nd half and a late goal by Athletic left back Jason Goldwell made the aggregate close but wasn't enough to earn the draw. crutchanators will take that 3-2 lead into the return game on July 5th.

This will be the last update for a couple of days. I hope everyone in the States has a happy and safe Independence Day. I'll see you all on the 6th when I'll get caught back up on the results.

My defense all tournament be like... "maybe we show up... maybe were drinking pina coladas on a beach somewhere" GL everyone

Ok, I'm still without service but will make a brief update while I sit at the library. My apologies to the Bums Bracket. Until I have Internet service again, starting the Bums would be a mistake...so just hold tight.

Well...I got the scores updated and was halfway through writing a summary when the library Internet reset. I will try this again tomorrow. Three teams have advanced and the 1/16 series will be going to a sudden death game.

I'll post all of the details tomorrow. See you in the morning.

Going to update all of the past weekend games in one large post and in pieces...just in case the library Internet decides to reset again.

The first of the three teams that advanced to the Quarterfinals was #6 FC Not Very Athletic, who got past #11 the crutchanators of soccer by an aggregate of 7-4. crutchanators took the first game 3-2 and held the home field going into the return match. It wasn't nearly enough to hold off the squad from England. Athletic erased the 1-goal deficit and scored 5 straight, led by Kenderick Keriell's hat trick, before the crutch offense woke up to finally score long after the series was decided. Goalie Rueban Lazar did not have a good day, giving up more goals than he made saves, as the #6 moves on and crutchanators start to revamp for Cup XX.

Also advancing was #4 FC Gimli Vikings, who played two tough games against #13 Queen City FC and came out the victor 4-2. For the most part, Gimli controlled both games as Queen committed way too many fouls, giving the Swedish club plenty of set piece opportunities. However, their excellent defense kept the series close throughout. The first game was knotted at 2-2 until a fluke shot by Kubas Hlavin in the closing minute deflected off a defender and past Queen goalie Kory Taylor, who was leaning the other way. The return match in Queen's home pitch remained scoreless until Stearn Rentería got the insurance midway through the 2nd half to finally put the series away and send Gimli through. It was a good tournament for newcomer Queen City, who just needs to clean up their play in future Cups.

The third team to see its way through to th next round was #8 FC Stolpen Steamroller, who played in the tossup 8/9 pairing against #9 Godai Hiroshima, barely surviving to advance 5-4 in a match-up that could have gone either way. Steamroller won their home game with relative ease 3-1 and then traveled to Japan, where 21,212 screaming Godai fans made life miserable for the Germans, made even worse by the fact that Lichuen Farías put his club a man down by picking up two cheap yellows in the 1st half. By the time the halftime whistle blew, the aggregate was knotted up at 4-4 as Emerson Reina's goal moments before the break had erased what was left of the Stolpen advantage. The Saxon coaching staff made some adjustments and the game settled down into a gritty battle that saw Hiroshima have several good chances to take the lead. However, with 15 minutes remaining and sudden death looking likely, Alfred Dull decided he didn't want to play a third game and ended the Japanese team's hopes with an unassisted blast in the 75th that beat Godai goalie Hokusai Tokugawa and clipped in off the underside of the crossbar for the series winner. It was the kind of series one would expect from the 8/9 and this one didn't disappoint.

A third game will be necessary for #1 FC Winnipeg Royal Lions and #16 Club Deportivo Baile Brian as they played a pair of identical 1-1 draws. Despite the seeding gap, the 1/16 has seen upsets in past Cups so the fact that this one is going to an extra game...or games...shouldn't be much of a surprise. Neither team really ever established control. Orion High gave Winnipeg a brief 2-1 aggregate early in the 2nd game but Raymond Petke hit a low shot that slid along the grass to equalize and preserve the aggregate tie. As the higher seed, Winnipeg will send the challenge and host the first tiebreaker game.

Since that post was getting too long, this one will include games from the weekend as well as this morning.

A fourth team has joined the Quarterfinals as #12 Bad News wins a shootout series against #5 Merchiston FC by a total score of 11-7, as neither team was interested in playing defense and just decided to go bombs away. The French club took the opener on the road by a score of 5-3 after veteran striker Oumar Ribéry bagged three to set the tone for the high-scoring affair. In the return game, the French side continued its torrid scoring pace, as Mexican forward Xever Mariano Andrés just went off, scoring five times to put the series out of reach almost single-handedly. Merchiston didn't play badly (their defense not withstanding) but they simply couldn't keep pace. Super veteran Thomas-VanLuijk De Meyer got a goal in each game but the Americans dream of hoisting the trophy has dies long before they were hoping it would. Bad News advances in the knockouts for the first time in club history.

To wrap up the update and get us caught up to the present, #10 SwampDragons United secured their quarterfinal spot after a thrilling 6-5 comeback win to knock out #7 BC Timber Wolves, who also had a great inaugural Cup. Swamp U took the opener on the road by a score of 4-3 after Jerrad Forko scored his 2nd game of the day to break a 3-3 tie late in the 2nd half. After both teams traveled across Canada to the Dragons home pitch, BC came out swinging and went ahead in the series 5-4 when Tyron Herbert and Eric Kusonoki each knocked one into the back of the net to give the club from Western Canada the lead with 45 minutes to play. The score held until the 63rd when Christian Olimpa hit a ball from the edge of the penalty box that was misplayed by Timber Wolves goalie Rodrigo Bornstein and then the BC fanbase had their hearts broken when Jaquez Garcia nailed the game and series winner in the 78th to send the Dragons on to the final 8 and send the Timber Wolves home wondering what could have been.

That makes 5 teams in the quarters with three series still hanging in the balance, including the 1/16 that is now into sudden death. Other than the Golden Toe tracker, we are now back on track.

Because of the Internet issues, there is still time to enter the Bums Bracket. We have 9 teams currently in and it will get going the day my service gets restored.

The lone playoff game is tonight at 7pm, which is after our local library closes, so the update will be tomorrow.

AT&T says service will be restored on July 13th....once I get confirmation of that, we can start the Bums. That will also be when the Knockout Quarterfinals will begin unless we are still in a sudden death situation for one of our First Round match-ups. That is possible since #1 FC Winnipeg Royal Lions is at the end of their season and may need time to sign a new player or two. We always give extra time when a series goes to sudden death to account for this very thing.

A couple of more First Round games gave been recorded as both the 2/15 and 3/14 series got underway.

The lower seeds played host to each opener with #15 Swampdragons FC having the best showing as the underdog in their match-up against #2 Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. in Scotland. Charlie Bardon got the Scottish Dragons on the board first when he worked his way through the Vegas defense and knocked one through the hands of Scorpions goalie Duysek Cernik for the 1-0 lead. After Bromleah Rodríguez tied the game right before halftime, both teams traded goals in the 2nd stanza to make the score 2-2. The draw held, despite Vegas going down a man when Borivoj Fales was sent packing in the 80th with a reckless foul that earned him a straight red card. The Dragons were not able to capitalize on the extra player before the final whistle blew and the game ended level.

In the other game, #3 FC Trojans of SC won 3-2 against #14 Swamp City Dragons, grabbing the aggregate and home field edge for tomorrow's return game. What was looking like another 2-2 draw was decided in the Trojans favor when the referee awarded the club from So Cal a corner in what would be the last play of the game. Morrey Sumner placed the ball and delivered a perfect cross to teammate Macadam Gilfoyle, who hit the winning header from the top of the box past Swamp City goalie Renau Palombo to deny the lower seed the draw.

Both of these series will play tomorrow to either advance their winners to the quarters or set up another sudden death game to join the 1/16 pairing.

Both playoff games are at 1pm this afternoon. It is about 50/50 whether I will be able to run to the library this evening to post the results. If not, I'll record them tomorrow morning.

I got confirmation that my service will be restored early next week, so I will be setting up the Bums Bracket tomorrow as well. My teenage Dutch team is going to drop out, making the Bums have a clean Quarterfinals with 8 teams participating.

With the last minute drop of my Dutch team, we have a traditional 8-team quarterfinals for the Bums Bracket. Scheduling for the quarters can begin at any time. The same rules apply as with the main playoff rounds - each series is a home and away and an aggregate tie will result in the higher seed hosting the first sudden death game. The main difference between the Bums and the main draw is that there will be no time frame. If one team goes AWOL, it'll be obvious in time which club has gone on vacation.

Here's the seeding, with Not Very United...who would have been a knockout team in most tournaments, earning the top spot.

#1 - Not Very United - 10 pts
#2 - Hardknocks F. C. - 9 pts
#3 - FC Kingston - 6 pts, -3 GD
#4 - Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. - 6 pts. -11 GD
#5 - Slough FC - 4 pts, -6 GD
#6 - FC Cackalacky - 4 pts, -7 GD
#7 - Jonzo's Gongers - 3 pts
#8 - Metropolitan Eagles - 2 pts

Of the two series that contested things yesterday, one resulted in a 6th Quarterfinals spot secured and the other decided absolutely nothing as a 2nd series will be heading to sudden death.

#14 Swamp City Dragons made a dramatic comeback to get past #3 FC Trojans of SC by a 6-5 aggregate. The Trojans led 3-2 after the opener and was playing on a sun-washed field in their home stadium in front of 37,224 fans in California. After a scoreless first 45, the goals started posting as both teams traded a pair to make the aggregate 5-4 in favor of the Americans with time running out. The Canadian club started to dominate possession as the Trojans packed it inside and tried to hold on but a poorly executed offside trap left Stephen Gregorini 1-v-1 against goalie Dantrell Gonzalo to tie the series at 5-5. With the referee allowing for three minutes of extra time, disaster struck the So Cal squad when Layne Heçija capitalized off a 2nd straight failed trap as his shot flew past Gonzalo right before time expired. In the span of 9 minutes of play, Swamp City went from being eliminated to moving on to the next round and the Trojans stood around stunned at their change of fortune.

#2 Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. and #15 Swampdragons FC have joined the 1/16 series in going into an extra game as they were unable to break the 2-2 deadlock in Nevada, drawing the return game 1-1 for a 3-3 aggregate. Bromleah Rodríguez got the Scorpions into the lead almost immediately when Swamp FC goalie Issiar Fillel tried to catch a hard knuckler rather than punching it clear. The misplay went through his hands and across the line to make the score 2-1. However, the Scottish Dragons were able to level when Wingate Toal picked a great time to score his first of the tournament with his 70th minute header. The series will stay in Vegas as the #2 seed will host the first extra game.

We are now caught up with the knockouts as well as the Bums Bracket now officially underway with their Quarterfinals. The two series that are into extra games will have some time to schedule that first sudden death contest, although it would be nice to see it sometime this week. I'll be away tomorrow and will send a reminder to all four teams involved in the 1/16 and 2/15 match-ups to get that game on the docket.

The defending Bums Bracket Champion doesn't get any better treatment to defend their title than the 8th seed. Sheesh!!!

Posted by KSBeachBums on 7/12/2026 12:42:00 AM (view original):
The defending Bums Bracket Champion doesn't get any better treatment to defend their title than the 8th seed. Sheesh!!!

Don't worry, you'll be fine, you're only playing me...

#1 FC Winnipeg Royal Lions and #16 Club Deportivo Baile Brian play their (first) sudden death game tomorrow in Manitoba to try to settle the series and all of the Bums Bracket Quarterfinal games have been scheduled, with action also starting tomorrow and going through the 23rd.

That leaves only the extra game between #2 Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. and #15 Swampdragons FC still outstanding. The Vegas coach as told me he has several challenges sitting out there. We'll give the Scottish Dragons several more days to accept as I'll take the blame for slowing down the tourney for a bit.. I really appreciate all of you guys for staying with Cup XIX despite the technical delays. This is why this tournament has been successful, the coaches that enter are first class all the way.

See you all tomorrow when we see if the 1/16 can figure out who wants to advance.