A final note for the night, with four goals today for Swamp U, Jerrad Forko takes the first significant lead in the L'Orteil D'or as he sits atop with 11 goals, four clear of his competition.

World 71 entered three teams, all from Germany. The good news is that all three made it out of group play and into the knockouts. The bad news was finalized today as the #12 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. lost their series to #5 Wolfsburg Dynamit after being unable to overcome the 2 goal differential after the initial contest. Wolfsburg took a 3-1 lead from the first game but gifted the Billygoats a red card in the 20th minute after Isamu Fukuda intentionally tripped Cologne forward Stirling Carrillo. Playing at home and up a man, they immediately cashed in when Marcos Katz weaved his way through the depleted defense to score. The game was a 2-1 for the home side in the 2nd half, making the aggregate a slim 4-3 Dynamit advantage but shot after shot either was saved or went wide. Wolfsburg, hitting on a late counterattack, put the series away when Kei Ando beat the trap and ended the Billygoats hopes as the game ended a 2-2 draw and a 5-3 Wolfsburg series win.

The defending Champs looked like their Cup XV form as they began their series against #15 FC Gimli Vikings in Sweden. #2 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi controlled the game from the start and had a staggering 12-1 shots on goal edge on the stats sheet. The Vikings did manage to shut out the Champs in the fist half as their home fans made as much noise as possible but their defense tired from all the pressure and cracked midway through the 2nd half, as Cotopaxi dropped in three to take the 3-0 win. Three different players scored for the Ecuadorian side, all of them off corner kicks and all of them as headers when the Cotopaxi players showed their superior vertical leap inside the box. Weyland Watkins capped it off late to give his team a nice cushion heading into the return match tomorrow in Quito.

The Cotopaxi/Gimli game is the lone playoff game on the schedule for Tuesday.

Wow, the 2/15 return game ended up being quite the battle. #15 FC Gimli Vikings was down 3-0 going into their road game against #2 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi...and they pushed the Champs right to the limit. Connor McCarty scored twice before halftime to make the aggregate a narrow 3-2 and the 47,000 Ecuadorian fans, who started out raucous, sat silent. The Vikings then tied the series when Merek Podany hit a header past Cotopaxi goalie Rose Luyten as the underdogs started feeling as if they could win this thing. But the Champs regrouped and found the winning goal off the foot of José Valdés, who split the defenders and hit a rising shot that got past a lunging Marecek Palecek and off the underside of the crossbar to make the margin of victory 3-1 for Gimli and preserving Cotopaxi's bid to repeat as they won the series 4-3.

The 2/7 series in the Bums got underway when #7 Not Very United hosted #2 Bad News. In a rare stat line, Bad News had 0 shots on goal for the game...and needless to say, they failed to score. United wasn't doing much better but finally converted one their their chances in the 77th when Cony Reis took a shot from long distance that beat Gionatha Palombo for the 1-0 road win. The teams still need to play the return game in France to see which club will move on to the next round.

Everybody in the knockouts can enjoy some beach time as the First Round doesn't get back underway until the 9th. Meanwhile, several more Bums games will decide who will advance in the lower bracket.

Real life pulled me away this evening from making the update.

The sudden death game in the Bums between #4 FC Kingston and the namesake #5 Metropolitan Eagles featured one of the strangest minutes in Cup action history. After Kingston's Joel Anunciacion was red carded for pushing Metro Eagles forward Hayden Bryan and Kingston made a defensive substitution, Screaming Eagles central midfielder Mattias Aldercreutz received a crossing pass and unleashed a wicked shot that goalie Hilario Serpa had to save. The ball then went all the way down the pitch and a free kick was awarded for Denzel McBeth, who hit a ball that Eagles goalie Dusa Malis saved but left in play, allowing Andre Reis, after beating his marking defender, to score off the rebound to give Kingston the 1-0 lead. All of this happened in a single 38th minute, which lasted an eternity.. Kingston ended up building up a 2-1 lead in the 2nd half and iced the series on a stoppage time goal by Benoni Händzel to give the series victory to Kingston with the 3-1 sudden death game. A great series by both teams, despite that insane 60 second play.

We have a coupe of unscheduled Bums games that I'll list tomorrow in the Unscheduled Games section on the first page.

Definitely the craziest 1 minute of action I have ever seen. Great series Beachbums!

I missed an update last night as a third team in the Bums advances to the Semifinals. #2 Bad News was hosting #7 Not Very United, needing to make up a 1-goal deficit after dropping the opening game 1-0. After both teams traded goals in the first half or so of the game, United put the series away late when Tate Papia and Adan Sánchez scored minutes apart to win the game 3-1 and advance with a 4-1 aggregate.

We are still missing a single Bums game, the #8 Slough FC home game against #1 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds. I'll give it until the end of the knockout First Round to get scheduled. As it stands right now, the Bullet Birds hold a 5-1 advantage.

Tomorrow is a day off before the final First Round games are contested, then onto the Quarterfinals as well as the semis of the lower bracket.

With regards to the Bums Bracket, and to quote the great Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be "squeaky bum time" for Not Very Utd as their season rolls over and they lose some substantial players.....

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 7:50:00 AM (view original):
With regards to the Bums Bracket, and to quote the great Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be "squeaky bum time" for Not Very Utd as their season rolls over and they lose some substantial players.....

As a lifelong Crystal Palace fan, I cringe when I see a Man U reference.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 3/8/2025 12:04:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 7:50:00 AM (view original):
With regards to the Bums Bracket, and to quote the great Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be "squeaky bum time" for Not Very Utd as their season rolls over and they lose some substantial players.....

As a lifelong Crystal Palace fan, I cringe when I see a Man U reference.

As a lifelong Man Utd fan, I promise I won't mention the 2016 FA Cup Final.

Or the 1990 FA Cup Final.

;^)

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 8:20:00 PM (view original):

Posted by gomiami1972 on 3/8/2025 12:04:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 7:50:00 AM (view original):
With regards to the Bums Bracket, and to quote the great Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be "squeaky bum time" for Not Very Utd as their season rolls over and they lose some substantial players.....

As a lifelong Crystal Palace fan, I cringe when I see a Man U reference.

As a lifelong Man Utd fan, I promise I won't mention the 2016 FA Cup Final.

Or the 1990 FA Cup Final.

;^)

Bastards...

At least we are above you in the standings this season. Then again, almost everyone is above Man U in the standings this season :)

Today is EJP day, as Fianna AFC and VB Hibernian play both legs of the First Round, with the final Quarterfinal spot on the line. The games are at 1pm and 7pm, so I'll do a single update this evening.

If there is a decision, the Quarters and the Bums Semi can get underway tomorrow. If the series goes into sudden death, we'll wait until we have a winner before the next round begins.

See you tonight.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 3/9/2025 11:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 8:20:00 PM (view original):

Posted by gomiami1972 on 3/8/2025 12:04:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pubmonkey on 3/8/2025 7:50:00 AM (view original):
With regards to the Bums Bracket, and to quote the great Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be "squeaky bum time" for Not Very Utd as their season rolls over and they lose some substantial players.....

As a lifelong Crystal Palace fan, I cringe when I see a Man U reference.

As a lifelong Man Utd fan, I promise I won't mention the 2016 FA Cup Final.

Or the 1990 FA Cup Final.

;^)

Bastards...

At least we are above you in the standings this season. Then again, almost everyone is above Man U in the standings this season :)

Yeah, unfortunately being above us in the table isn't a unique claim to fame at the moment.... :)

Both of the opening rounds in the post-season concluded today in a somewhat anticlimactic fashion. #6 VB Hibernian and #11 Fianna AFC played both of their games this afternoon and neither one was very competitive. Hibs took control early and pitched a pair of shutouts over their sister club, winning the games by the same 4-0 score and easily advancing with an 8-0 aggregate. Godfredo Pinola scored a hat trick between the two games and teammates Tedric Frame and Hampton Kennyon each scored twice as the English side hammered the Irish. About the only category the Greens won was in red cards, taking that infamous accomplishment 1-0. Otherwise, it was all Hibs from start to finish as they become the final team to advance to the Quarterfinals.

In the Bums bracket, #1 seed FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds wins their series over #8 Slough FC in a forfeit since Slough did not schedule its home game. The Bullet Birds were already up 5-1 but a walkover is never how any team wants to move on in the tourney. Regardless, they become the final team in the Bums semis.

I'll set up the next round in the morning and scheduling can begin immediately thereafter.

What started out with 32 is now down to 8 as the knockout Quarterfinals are set and officially underway. The time frame to schedule games is Mar10th thru Mar 20th. If we have an aggregate tie after the home and away, we'll keep playing until we have a winner. Good luck, the trophy is being cast as we speak.
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The Bums Bracket Semis are also set and will follow the same time frame...sorry, there's no trophy for you guys at this time.

So, I do have a question for sd59 and colinhtucker. The Quarterfinals officially started on the 10th and runs through the 20th. It looks like a SwampDragons United home game was played on the 8th and a Merchiston FC home game was played on the 10th. Technically, the one on the 8th does not count since we were still in the First Round waiting for the 6/11 series to conclude. The 1-1 draw on the 10th, even though it was scheduled before the Quarterfinals began, can be counted. We can do one of three things:

1. Replay the Swamp U home game that was played while the First Round was still going on, making the series a 1-1 aggregate with the Swamp U home game still to be played.

2. Accept both game results, regardless of when they were played and I'll post both scores and do an update...I'll need both coaches to agree to that.

3. Scrap both games and start the series over.

Let me know. I did my initial sweep of Quarterfinal scheduling this morning and was surprised to see the results so quickly. I'll go with whatever you two want to do.