Posted by gomiami1972 on 7/13/2025 9:00:00 PM (view original):
We are down to a single open spot in the quarters since #11 Kobelco United Football Club won their way to the next round after narrowly beating #6 North Polar Dragons FC on the road 1-0 to take the series 4-2 on aggregate. North Polar needed to win but, in a rare stat line that is almost never seen in Cup action, failed to register a single shot on goal for the entire match. Kobelco, by contrast, placed 10 on target but was kept out of the net by a very busy Dragons goalkeeper Bobbi Vinter until the 62nd when Nicanor Jaime buried one from distance. The 1-0 win sends Kobelco through and North Polar joins the other two Dragon clubs on the sidelines for the rest of the tourney.

The defending Champs and #1 seed got their knockouts going in the right direction when Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi played at home in Quito, Ecuador and won 3-2 over #16 Real TK in front of an almost sold-out crowd of over 57,000. The Frenchmen were big underdogs and didn't do themselves any favors when their young Mexican forward Xever Mariano Andrés went too aggressive into a free ball and got red-carded only 6 minutes into the game. Cotopaxi took full advantage by scoring three goals with the man advantage before halftime as Mr. Three Names Heraldo Paulo Canineu scored twice within 8 minutes to give the Cup holders a commanding 3-0 lead at the break. To their credit and possibly critical to the return game, TK managed to adjust to the situation and outplayed Cotopaxi in the 2nd half, actually getting back two of the goals short-handed narrow the differential to only one.

The return game has yet to be scheduled and today is technically the last day but I'm going to give TK a couple more days to send the challenge so that we don't have a forfeit situation. Also, I have set up the Semifinals for the Bums Bracket. Looks like pubmonkey has an excellent chance of advancing to the finals.

Not Very United v Not Very Athletic in the Bums Bracket.....

2 cheeks of the same arse....?

I am going to give kobegriffin until 7pm today (the 15th) to send the challenge to Cotopaxi in either slot 1 or 2. If not, we'll have to declare the series a forfeit and the Quarterfinals will begin on the 16th.

Not surprisingly, Not Very United and FC Not Very Athletic have quickly scheduled their Bums series games.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 7/15/2025 1:00:00 AM (view original):
I am going to give kobegriffin until 7pm today (the 15th) to send the challenge to Cotopaxi in either slot 1 or 2. If not, we'll have to declare the series a forfeit and the Quarterfinals will begin on the 16th.

Not surprisingly, Not Very United and FC Not Very Athletic have quickly scheduled their Bums series games.

Still no challenge.

Posted by indiansrck27 on 7/15/2025 6:58:00 PM (view original):

Posted by gomiami1972 on 7/15/2025 1:00:00 AM (view original):
I am going to give kobegriffin until 7pm today (the 15th) to send the challenge to Cotopaxi in either slot 1 or 2. If not, we'll have to declare the series a forfeit and the Quarterfinals will begin on the 16th.

Not surprisingly, Not Very United and FC Not Very Athletic have quickly scheduled their Bums series games.

Still no challenge.

Yeah, not sure what happened.

I am unfortunately going to need to declare #1 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi the winner of the First Round series against #16 Real TK by forfeit.

The Quarterfinal matchups will be up before the end of the evening.

The quarters are all set and the time frame for scheduling is July 16th thru July 26th.

Four of the eight are double-digit seeds and there's a strange-looking #11 versus #14 matchup, thanks to both the #3 and #6 falling in the First Round. It just happens that some of the longest team names have advanced, so I'm going to be doing a lot of cut/paste rather than typing out the club names during my write-ups.

L'Orteil D'or is headed by my own Mano Araña, who leads with 9 goals, being two clear of FC Stolpen Steamroller's Rey Jaime...meaning World 71 is scoring by the handful up to this point. There are a bunch of still active players sitting at 5 and 6 goals, so nothing has been decided for the Golden Toe.

Best of luck to the Quarterfinalists...time to get back to the action.

The first Quarterfinals game between #5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men and #13 FC Stolpen Steamroller will be recorded tonight as game play resumes. All but one quarters game and all of the Bums Semifinal matches have been scheduled.

See you this evening..

The opening match of the Cup XVII Quarterfinals literally went final just moments ago as the small Saxon village that's home to #13 FC Stolpen Steamroller hosted upstart #5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men, who is having a very successful run for a 1st time Cup participant. Based on the first 96% of this game, it was looking like the new kids were going to continue with their winning ways. An early corner led to a scoring chance for Stratford and Juaquine Alberto finally got control of the ball after it had bounced around the box for a time and blasted one past Steamroller goalie Sein Flórez to make the score 1-0 after only 5 minutes. Then, what should have been the icing came in the 84th when Clodoveo Michel caught Flórez leaning the wrong way to make the score 2-0 and clinch the win...

...or not. Thinking they had the game won, the Stratford players relaxed, with devastating results. With about 180 seconds of regulation game clock left, Diaz Amorebieta finally gave the home crowd something to talk about as he nutmegged the defender and sent a good ball into the upper corner to close the gap to 2-1 and, much to the dismay of the visiting coaching staff, the English side gave up the tying goal with only moments remaining as a very late corner was converted into the tying goal by Lenard Marheineke as he dove forward to score and then dove into the jubilant crowd to be showered by beer. The referee blew the final whistle and the game resulted in an unlikely 2-2 draw when it was looking like a Stratford win the entire game.

There is another solo game tomorrow and then multiple games on the 20th as the Bums swings back into gear.

The lone game this evening was held in Sweden as #10 Metropolitan Eagles tried to get off to a good start in their series against #2 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds. Fron the onset, it was clear that Edinburgh was the more talented team as they controlled possession and scored early to take a 1-0 lead after Tymen Zonneveld hit a grass-burner in traffic. The Screaming Eagles were able to absorb the pressure and keep the game level, twice tying the contest after a Zonneveld goal and Greguska Kokes' unassisted goal in the 56th looked as if the game would end with the same 2-2 tie as the first Quarterfinals game that was played yesterday. Unfortunately for the home side, Zonneveld had different plans and took the game on his shoulders in the closing minutes. Having scored only one goal in the tournament up to this point, the Dutch defender capped off the hat trick when he beat the offside trap and tipped one off Eagles goalie Dusa Malis to get the game winner in the 88th minute as the Bullet Birds won the game 3-2. The series will head back to Scotland on the 21st to decide who advances.

Several games on the docket tomorrow and I am happy to announce that all games are now scheduled (yay!)

#5 FC Stratford-Upon-Avon King's Men continues to make a mockery of Cup tournament experience as they become the first Semifinalist in Cup XVII after their 2-1 victory over #13 FC Stolpen Steamroller. Steamroller had made a series of it with their last second heroics yesterday but had no magic response to falling behind today on the road. With the game and series tied in the 2nd half, Clodoveo Michel found the winning stroke as he side-footed a shot that knuckled past Stolpen goalie Sein Flórez in the 75th and a substitution to bring on young German scoring phenom Lenard Marheineke failed to produce the equalizer as Stratford held on to take the aggregate 4-3 to the delight of the almost 33,000 fans at Shakespeare Stadium. Steamroller ends a good tournament and will be watching the rest of the games while eating schnitzel.

The Champs and top seed got their quarters underway when they hosted #8 FC Kingston in Quito, Ecuador. Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi, while getting another positive result, once again did not look dominant as they had to dig deep to avoid a home disaster. Kingston took it to the the Cup masters in the 1st half as they scored twice to grab the 2-0 halftime advantage and only the individual greatness of veteran Dutch player Tilbrand Verstraete allowed Cotopaxi to salvage a 2-2 draw as his 2nd goal just got past Kingston goalie Hilario Serpa in the 70th minute to close out the scoring. The home field advantage now shifts to Kingston as they get the chance to do at home what no team has been able to do since Cup XIV - knock Cotopaxi out of the tournament.

There is a Bums Semifinal this evening at 7pm CST.

The Bums Bracket saw one team move a step closer to the Finals as #4 FC Trojans of SC won on the road against the top seeded Wolfsburg Dynamit in Lower Saxony in front of a little more than 13,400 fans. Veteran Cup scorer Udayle Velázquez scored twice for the American club as they raced out to a 2-0 halftime lead and then held on as Wolfsburg made a very late push and was able to minimize the damage after Garet Bernard scored off a free kick to end the game as a 2-1 Trojans victory. The teams travel back to the US for the return match to see which team will have the honor of competing in the consolation finals.

Tomorrow, two of the Knockout quarters could be decided as the 1/8 and 2/10 matchups play their last game, barring sudden death.

For the first time in almost a calendar year, we will have a new FC Dynasty Cup Champion. Give it up for #1 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopax as their unprecedented and glorious run as a two-time defending Champion has come to an end. The Ecuadorians met their match at the hands of #8 FC Kingston, who broke a 2-2 aggregate tie in the 2nd half with three straight to close out the series. Alvaro Bownell accounted for all the scoring as he knocked in a hat trick in the span of 27 minutes to decisively put the game away. Cotopaxi goalie Rose Luyten did his best to keep his side close but Bownell was simply too good on this day. The American crowd appreciated the Cup excellence by the Champs and gave them a standing O at the end as the home side shook hands before celebrating. Selfishly, I hope this isn't the last time we see Cotopaxi grace the tournament as rumors fly about the club's future.

Joining Kingston in the Semifinals were #2 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds, who went on a scoring spree to knock out #10 Metropolitan Eagles by an aggregate of 10-6 as both teams blistered the netting and watched their goalies take the night off. The Scotsmen were up 3-2 when the game began and saw that advantage not only evaporate but turn into a deficit as the Metro Eagles scored the first two of the match to grab the 4-3 series lead. The clubs then traded a pair of goals each as a high-scoring 1st half ended with the Swedes up 6-5, thanks to Greguska Kokes receiving a nice cross and blasting one from way out right before the halftime whistle blew. After the break, however, was a completely different game. The Bullet Birds scored early and often and simply routed the visitors, scoring five times, including three in the last 10 minutes to take the series running away. Daylin Plunkett netted three to grab a tie for the Golden Toe at 9 goals and teammate Sandro Huntelaar, who is also still alive for the scoring title, scored twice. The Swedish side ended a great run as they ran into a superior team.

The final Quarterfinal matchup gets underway tomorrow and the Bums play as well. See you then.

The final piece of the Semifinal puzzle took a big step towards being solved as #14 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. hosted #11 Kobelco United Football Club alone the Rhine river in Cologne. The two remaining double-digit seeds got after it to see which Cinderella will advance to the final four. Donn Lander opened up the scoring in the 18th when he tipped a ball up off the ground and volleyed it side-footed past a diving Aritz García to give Kobelco the early 1-0 lead. However, the Cup host club, which has never advanced to the semis in their history, immediately responded when Mano Araña scored his 10th of Cup XVII to retake the Golden Toe lead and tie the contest at 1-1. After both sides traded goals, veteran central midfielder Ellery Weinberger gave the Billygoats the lead for good as he calmly directed a header towards the near post right before halftime and the German club's big free agent, Greg Eardensohn, scored another clutch goal to give Cologne a 4-2 win and get them within 90 minutes of advancing. Of course, Kobelco will have something to say about that as the return game is at their home stadium in Kobe, Japan tomorrow.

In the Bums, we have our first finalist as #4 FC Trojans of SC took a 2-1 aggregate lead into the return game against #1 seed Wolfsburg Dynamit and pounded the German club into submission after a 5-2 win gave them the series victory. The game was an even affair as both teams traded a pair of goals, each time the Trojans scoring to go up by two in the aggregate only to have Wolfsburg narrow the deficit back to one. With the aggregate sitting at 4-3, the boys from southern Cal finally took firm control midway through the 2nd half when Darius Minnick beat Dynamit goalie Gary Alford and got a little lucky as the ball went in off the underside of the crossbar. The Trojans added a couple more just to make sure before the referee blew the whistle to cap off a 7-3 series win. They'll now wait to see who they face as Not Very United and FC Not very Athletic play their home and away over the next couple of days.

Since we were eliminated, can we play our way back into the tournament from the back side by getting placed into the Bums Bracket?