The first Semifinal game is this evening when #5 Holbæk Idrætsforening hits the road to take on #9 FC Kingston. All games, both main draw and Bums, have been scheduled. The main runs through March 4th and the consolation bracket through the 6th...not withstanding any tiebreakers.

See you tonight.

As would be expected at this stage of the tournament, the big boys brought their A game tonight as #9 FC Kingston hosted #5 Holbæk Idrætsforening to kick off the Semifinals. Holbæk went into the game with a ton of confidence, having not dropped a game in the knockouts and Kingston came in with a ton of experience, having made it this far in multiple previous Cups. It was the Danes who struck first off a perfect corner kick from Clement Gaard, which found the head of teammate Prescott Madrigal in the 15th to give Holbæk the 1-0 lead. Neither team generated a promising look for the rest of the half except for a missed opportunity by Trashawn High to equalize just before the halftime whistle when his shot sailed high (and wide) of the target, letting the visitors to hold the advantage through the break.

Kingston came out aggressive to open the 2nd half and created a corner kick in the 47th. While Spiro Guerra's shot missed, the Danish club couldn't get the ball out of their zone and the mounting pressure finally paid off. Alvaro Bownell, who was in a tie for the Golden Toe lead, placed himself in solo 1st and drew the game when his low, hard shot from downtown got past Idrætsforening goalie Tony Hari in the 52nd and almost won the game with seconds left after he pushed a ball just beyond the far post in extra time. When it was all said and done, the game ended as a very well played and very even 1-1 tie. Both teams fly to Zealand tonight for the return game tomorrow.

The opener for the #10 FC Trojans of SC/#11 Rushmore FC series also gets played on the 2nd as well as the initial Semifinal game out of the Bums.

All three games are this afternoon and evening so I'll just do them all at the same time. A spot in the Championship is on the line...

After 5 weeks of tournament action, we have our first Championship participant as the 5/9 series concluded this evening. #5 Holbæk Idrætsforening was hoping to continue the recent trend of first-time Cup entrants making the finals but #9 FC Kingston, winners of the FC Dynasty Cup XII tourney over 2 1/2 years ago, gets another shot at the ultimate glory after defeating Holbæk 2-0 and taking the series 3-1. Things went into today dead even after yesterday's 1-1 draw and the Danes had the home field but Kingston made their intentions known in the 6th minute when Benoni Händzel scored his 12th of the tourney, tying his teammate Alvaro Bownell for the scoring title in the process. Then 15 minutes later, Bownell scored his 13th to make the aggregate lead 3-1 and the Kingston defense went into lock down mode for the rest of the contest.

A few attempts by Holbæk came close, especially a shot by Jaquawn Cervantes that forced Kingston goalie Toshitsugu Nagata to make a diving save but they never could bury one into the back of the net as the Danish club will have to settle for the 3rd Place game and reset their sights on the Bronze medal. Meanwhile, Kingston will eagerly await to see who their Championship opponent will be as #10 FC Trojans of SC and #11 Rushmore FC played to a 0-0 draw to start their matchup, leaving everything on the line for Wednesday's game. Both teams had plenty of chances as the teams combined for 41 opportunities but the players of the game were goalies Dantrell Gonzalo and Rej Maria, who had an amazing 23 saves between them. While praising the level of their goalie's play, both coaches admitted in post-game interviews that they had to be better in the scoring third.

Finally, #1 seed Metropolitan Eagles opened the Bums Semifinal with a 2-1 win over #4 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. in Sweden. Lustrinelli Newquist gave the Metro Eagles a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd half before Cologne was able to net one in the 54th when Marcos Katz beat the trap to give the German side some momentum for the return game tomorrow, which is the only game on the schedule.

Congratulations to Kingston for advancing to the title series and also congrats to Holbæk on making the 3rd Place game in a great tourney run that isn't quite over.

The #1 Metropolitan Eagles defeated #4 Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. in Westphalia this afternoon to advance to the Bums Bracket Finals, which is fitting since the consolation bracket is named for the Screaming Eagles ownership group. The game wasn't really close as a 2-1 aggregate lead swelled to 7-2 by the 48 minute mark. Tomas Bezdek scored a hat trick, putting the Billygoats away before team Captain Mano Araña led a brief comeback that was far too late to make any substantive difference. With the 5-3 win, the Metro Eagles take the series 7-3 and will now wait to see who their opponent will be for the best of the rest.

The main Semifinals resume tomorrow with a Championship spot on the line.

After a couple of months since the start of signups, we have arrived at why we play the game - The Championship Round.

FC Kingston was watching the tube to see who their opponent would be as #10 FC Trojans of SC and #11 Rushmore FC took a 0-0 draw from their opening match into today's return contest in southern Cal. Rushmore finaly scored the first goal of the series when Nathan Wyard scored in the 20th minute off a corner kick cross to head the ball past Trojans goalie Dantrell Gonzalo. However, the Trojans tied it up again 8 minutes later when Ossan Turner went solo and scored off a muff from Rushmore netminder Rej Maria, who had played a flawless semifinals up till that point.

With the aggregate tied at 1-1 and neither team establishing control, it was looking like sudden death would be needed until disaster struck the Trojans. Turner, the goal scorer, reacted to a Rushmore player's choice words and pushed him down to the pitch, prompting the referee to issue a straight red card to the serious hostility of the home crowd. The man down situation suddenly created passing lanes that weren't there for the entire semis and Rushmore capitalized soon after with Jonte degollado's winning shot in the 64th. A late corner wasn't converted as Parker Digby's weak header was safely covered up by Maria, giving Rushmore the game and series 2-1 and sending them through to their first title game since winning it all in Cup XI.

That sets us up for a matchup between two past winners - the Cup XI champs playing the Cup XII champs in what should be an epic final. It also sends the Trojans into the 3rd Place game to meet Holbæk Idrætsforening for the last podium spot. Since there are coin flips that I have to do for possible tiebreaker games, I'll set up the final bracket this evening and post the coin flips when I get them done. Congrats to everybody on a great semis round.

The coin flips have been done and the results are posted below.
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Championship Extra Game Coin Flip (if necessary)
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FC Kingston was heads (the royal arms of Portugal) and Rushmore FC was tails (round stained glass window above 5 Escudos) based on F coming before R in the alphabet.
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You flipped 10 coins of type Portuguese 5 Escudos:
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Totals: 4 obverse, 6 reverse
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Timestamp: 2026-03-04 23:45:40 UTC
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Tails won 6-4 so Rushmore will host the first tiebreaker game, if necessary

...and for the 3rd Place game
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3rd Place Home Game Coin Flip
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FC Trojans of SC was heads (the tree with the French motto liberté égalité fraternité) and Holbæk Idrætsforening was tails (European map with 2 Euro) based on F coming before H in the alphabet.
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You flipped 10 coins of type French €2:
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Totals: 6 obverse, 4 reverse
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Timestamp: 2026-03-04 23:43:39 UTC
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Heads won 6-4 so the Trojans will host the 3rd Place game.

A couple of reminders. There is no time frame for scheduling the home and away for the Championship. The two teams may schedule whenever they like but they also may take as much time as they need in case one of the teams is nearing the end of season and needs to sign players. If the series goes to sudden death games, those also will be untimed.

The 3rd Place game is not a series but a single game hosted by FC Trojans of SC. If the game ends up as a draw, both teams will share the bronze medal.

Best of luck to everyone playing for their respective places in the Record Book. The guys with the white gloves have started to polish the trophies and medals so that they'll be nice and shiny for their presentations...and yes, it's real Internet gold, silver and bronze.
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The lone game today (and tomorrow) comes out of the Bums Bracket as #6 Swamp City Dragons hosted #2 Not Very United in the Semifinals and pasted them 5-2 in front of a Canadian crowd of over 33,000. Tate Papia got United off to a good start when he clubbed a shot that went across the entire length of the goal crease and snuck in just inside the far post for the early 1-0 lead. That was about the only positive note for United as Swamp City dominated the rest of the game and scored 5 unanswered, including a nifty touch shot by Arley Movsisyan off a corner cross. The series goes back to United's home pitch tomorrow where they'll need to figure out a better game plan...quickly.

The Bums Bracket Final now has its 2nd team as #6 Swamp City Dragons survived a serious challenge from #2 Not Very United and took the series 7-6 after today's 4-2 loss. The Dragons held a 5-2 lead going into the match but United held the home field advantage and used it to the fullest. Shon Borrell bent a shot around the arms of Dragons goalie Hameur Barbier in the 8th minute and the comeback was on. By the time Patricio Paloxi weaved his way through the Swamp City defense to score in the 57th, the series was level at 5-5 and the home crowd was rocking. A substitution by the Dragons coaching staff to change things up in the 63rd to bring in young striker Ame Lippert did indeed change the momentum and team Captain Arley Movsisyan got the Dragons back into the lead for good when his header in the 77th broke the tie as Not Very's bid to overcome their poor first game performance fell just short.

Swamp City will meet Metropolitan Eagles, for which I'll set up the series later on this evening and do a coin flip to determine which team will host the first tiebreaker, if necessary. Also of note, the Championship games as well as the 3rd Place game have been scheduled, with action beginning on Sunday.

The final coin flip for Cup XVIII. The rest will be decided on the pitch.

Bums Bracket Finals Extra Game Coin Flip (if necessary)
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Metropolitan Eagles was heads (Great Wall) and Swamp City Dragons was tails (Chinese Dragon) based on M coming before S in the alphabet.
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You flipped 10 coins of type Chinese 150 Yuan - Year of the Dragon:

Totals: 6 obverse, 4 reverse

Timestamp: 2026-03-06 21:27:02 UTC

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Heads won 6-4, so the Metro Eagles will host the first tiebreaker, if necessary.

The Championship Round got underway this morning as Rushmore FC hosted the first leg of the series against FC Kingston in front of an announced attendance of 24.454. Kingston came out firing as Spiro Guerra sent a shot rocketing towards the Rushmore net in the opening minute but his effort sailed over the crossbar. As the nerves settled down, the match turned into a defensive struggle with tough player marking but generally clean play. A Conner Hernández' booking in the 28th minute was the only time the referee reached into his back pocket to pull out any colors.

In the 37th, a free kick was awarded to Rushmore after Kingston defender Tatsuya Akagi mistimed his sliding tackle and the resulting play set up Nathan Wyard. Standing over the ball, Wyard scanned over the defense and lofted in a pass to himself as he ran around the wall and headed in his own pass to give Rushmore the 1-0 lead at the break. Both clubs got a handful of chances in the 2nd without converting and Kingston, with time running out, leaned on Golden Toe leader Alvaro Bownell, who clipped the crossbar in the 75th and then beat Rushmore goalie Rej Maria in the 82nd but his header sailed just past the goal mouth as the game went official at 1-0.

This sets up tomorrow, where the Championship heads to the home stadium of FC Kingston to determine the winner of the tournament and FC Dynasty's new Überteam. Bownell finds himself 1 goal clear for the Golden Toe with both teammate Benoni Händzel and Wyard sitting a single goal behind as the top scorer will come from one of these three elite scorers. The 3rd Place game will also be played on the 9th as all of the hardware could potentially be handed out within the next 24 hours.

Gentlemen, the Champion has been crowned. Rushmore FC, winners of Cups II and XI, have once again risen to the pinnacle of the FC Dynasty universe after narrowly defeating FC Kingston in the Cup XVIII title series by an aggregate of 3-2 after this morning's 2-2 draw. It certainly wasn't looking like a Championship run for Rushmore as they had to win their final Group B game just to qualify for the knockouts but, once in the playoffs, they started to show the form of a team that will not be denied their destiny.

Taking a 1-0 lead into today's game, Rushmore had to face a hostile crowd as the Kingston faithful of almost 45,000 started making noise and never let up the entire game. Nathan Wyard pulled his 2nd goal of the series in which he assisted himself in the 25th off a corner kick to stretch the Rushmore aggregate to 2-0 but Kingston struck right back, scoring their first of the Championship when Alvaro Bownell, who had just been tied by Wyard in the Golden Toe, deflected a crossing pass with expert precision and painted the far corner past a diving Rej Maria to level the game and close the aggregate to 2-1.

With no more goals through halftime, both teams came out recharged, the players occasionally glancing at the trophies that were on display just off the pitch near the center stripe. Jonte degollado found himself alone outside the penalty area and decided to give it a go from distance. Lifting the ball into the air, he drilled it right through his laces and hit a rising shot that Kingston goalie Toshitsugu Nagata couldn't reach to increase the advantage to 3-1 early in the 2nd half. The Cup XII Champions never stopped trying and got back within one when Conner Hernández knocked in a late score in the 82nd to close it to 3-2 but a desperation shot by Bownell as time ran out was covered up by Maria and the final whistle blew, with the entire Rushmore squad piling onto Maria in celebration.

Rushmore FC and bert_fischer out of World 59 have have shown the heart of a Champion by taking the FC Dynasty Cup XVIII title, making Rushmore only the 2nd team in tournament history to win three Championships. FC Kingston and jmjtrain out of World 80, who played fantastic throughout their playoff run...surviving the only sudden death game of this Cup in the process...had to settle for the Runner-up trophy. The L'Orteil D'or award was won by Kingston's Alvaro Bownell with 14 goals for the tournament scoring honor. Now, without further ado, the hardware will now be distributed to their rightful owners.
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Champion - Rushmore FC - (bert_fischer)

..... ...........Runner-up - FC Kingston - (jmjtrain)
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L'Orteil D'or - Alvaro Bownell (FC Kingston)
3rd Place - FC Trojans of SC (spdracer)

We still have the 3rd Place game this afternoon and both halves of the Bums Bracket Finals later on this week...so the tournament's not quite over.