Three additional playoff series had their opening game this evening. In the one match that was a no contest, #5 VB Hibernian easily beat #12 Brighton AFC 5-1 in their home leg of the series. Leonardo Sarmiento shot up the Golden Toe leaderboard with his hat trick, giving him 8 goals for the tournament and in a tie for 2nd place. Of course, 2nd place gets you nothing so Sarmiento should be motivated to score more and improve his position. Brighton was only able to erase the goose egg on the last play of the game, when Hardwin Rogers knuckled a ball off the side of his foot. With Hibs dominating opportunities 30-9, the Brighton coaching staff better come up with something quick.
The 8/9 series, which should be a close one, had an excellent game with #8 kangaroo fc hosting #9 Rushmore FC in Croatia. Word had it that Luka Modric showed up to root the home team on...and his presence did absolutely nothing in the 1st half as both teams went scoreless. The roos controlled that pace and the stats but continued to lack a finishing touch around the net midway through the 2nd half. Meanwhile, Rushmore couldn't muster anything and looked to be playing for the tie. That strategy, unfortunately, went up in smoke in the 79th minute when hometown hero Helge Buturajac took control of a corner cross and blasted a shot through traffic to account for the game's only goal. Rushmore will need to find some scoring punch but some English home cooking may be exactly what they need when they get their home game coming up.
The final game of the day was the somewhat rare encounter of Group Stage participants getting matched up in the knockout rounds. #3 Fighting Ants swept a pair of close games from fellow Group H member #14 FC Trojans of SC. The third game between the two clubs ended up in a 0-0 draw, the first scoreless tie in Cup XIII. The players of the game were goalies Nacho Moran and Jakobe Mullan, as neither blinked nor yielded an inch. The Trojans now gain home field advantage with the series going back to their home pitch tomorrow.
Four more games tomorrow and all but one First Round game has been scheduled. There's plenty of time, with the last game on December 5th.
11/25/2023 9:22 PM (edited)