I still have a bit of formatting to do but the Quarterfinals are now underway. Because of the marathon First Round, I'm not going to set a time frame for games to be scheduled until the end of the week. I want to make sure everyone knows the quarters have begun before the clock starts ticking.

The Bums Bracket has its last scheduled game of their quarters tomorrow as #1 Not Very United and #8 Metropolitan Eagles play their return game with United holding a 1-0 advantage.

#1 Not Very United earned its way into the Bums Semifinals after they jumped out to a 3-1 aggregate against #8 Metropolitan Eagles and then held on in the closing minutes. Pasqual Enríquez had stretched the lead to two goals when his wicked strike in the 33rd minute sailed past Screaming Eagles goalie Dickie Grosskopf as United was in cruise control, dominating play and generally pushing the Swedish team around. All that changed in the 83rd minute when veteran Mexican defender Pancho Camaces tripped his mark, the referee deciding it was to prevent a scoring opportunity which meant a straight red card. The Metro Eagles scored off the ensuing free kick with a Greguska Kokes header but ran out of time to generate another quality scoring chance. The game ended up a 2-2 draw, giving United the series by a score of 3-2

I'll set up the semis by noon.

The Bums Semis are now set and scheduling can start at any time.

Thanks again! Challenge sent to Hardknoxs F. C.

Six of the main draw Quarterfinal games have been scheduled, with the opening match being tomorrow as #8 FC Stolpen Steamroller hosts #16 Club Deportivo Baile Brian. I'll set the time frame for this round to be through next week, so August 1st. If either #12 Bad News or #4 FC Gimli Vikings feels they need more time (the two games that have yet to be scheduled), let me know.

Also, half of the Bums semis are on the docket, starting on the 27th.

The opening Quarterfinals match has gone final with the #16 seed continuing to post positive results. Club Deportivo Baile Brian hit the road and traveled to Lower Saxony to take on #8 FC Stolpen Steamroller and got the job done as they won the opener 4-2. Garrin Schilling got the game off on the right foot for the Germans when his 11th tally of the tournament moved him into a tie for the Golden Toe lead. Steamroller generated plenty of chances. Their problem was finding the target, as 11 of their 17 shot missed the mark.

Baile Brian, on the other hand, placed 10 of their 11 on net, shoring the value of quality versus quantity. Rayquan Salazar scored his first goals of the tournament and club Captain Raymond Petke also added a pair for the Irish side in the victory. The series moves back to Ireland tomorrow for the return game where Stolpen needs to make the Baile Brian goalie work harder in order to survive.

The lone game on the 27th is the return match as well as the start of the Bums Semis.

Club Deportivo Baile Brian has become our first Semifinalist as they continue their great form after starting the Group Stage 0-2-1 and just barely sneaking into the knockouts as the #16 seed. Holding a 4-2 advantage over #8 FC Stolpen Steamroller, they never allowed the German squad to get any closer, stretching the aggregate to three on three different occasions during the return match in Ireland. Rayquan Salazar scored another two goals to give him four for the series and Raymond Petke added the third, as both players accounted for all 7 of the team's scoring output in the Quarterfinals. Steamroller was led by Garrin Schilling, who netted his tournament-leading 12 goal in the 20th but the Saxons were always playing catch-up and couldn't establish any control. Moments after Charro Capitan scored for Steamroller to salvage a 3-3 draw, the referee blew the final whistle to send Baile Brian through with a 7-5 series win.

In the Bums Bracket, #6 FC Cackalacky held serve by winning at home 4-1 over #2 Hardknoxs F.C., sending the series back to Hardknoxs' stadium with some work to do for the favorites. Danish midfielder Kurth Wiese scored twice in the 1st half to lead Cackalacky while Javaughn Galey was left running down the middle of the field alone after a badly timed offside trap and scored the lone Hardknoxs goal in the 18th. The return game in the series is tomorrow as Cackalacky tries to secure its first ever Finals of any kind in their Cup history.

#1 Not Very United and #5 Slough FC open their Bums semis this evening. The main draw will resume tomorrow with two games slated.

For some reason a 2nd Not Very Utd v Slough FC game has appeared on the schedule, scheduling glitch I guess, so, if it's OK with Slough, we'll use the 1st match as per usual?

"The return game in the series is tomorrow as Cackalacky tries to secure its first ever Finals of any kind in their Cup history." - brutal honesty... but at least we are making progress. (The progress - letting the Default lineup run out there instead of my 4:4:2 manual formations, LOL)...

Posted by pubmonkey on 7/27/2026 12:45:00 PM (view original):
For some reason a 2nd Not Very Utd v Slough FC game has appeared on the schedule, scheduling glitch I guess, so, if it's OK with Slough, we'll use the 1st match as per usual?

Yeah, the 6-5 game that went final a bit ago is the one that will count...the 2nd Slough FC home game will be skipped over.

We still need a Not Very United home game to be scheduled.

Posted by clememp on 7/27/2026 1:33:00 PM (view original):
"The return game in the series is tomorrow as Cackalacky tries to secure its first ever Finals of any kind in their Cup history." - brutal honesty... but at least we are making progress. (The progress - letting the Default lineup run out there instead of my 4:4:2 manual formations, LOL)...

I have never made the Finals of any kind either, so you're not alone.

Quite a shootout in the Bums Semifinals where #5 Slough FC survived against #1 Not Very United by a score of 6-5 in the series opener. Slough took about 60 seconds to open up the scoring when Richart Deutsch got one past United goalie David Silva to start a 1st half rout that saw Slough score 5 times before the break. Deutsch ended up bagging a hat trick, getting his 3rd right before the whistle to give his squad a commanding 5-1 lead. They ended up needing all of it as United made some serious adjustments, scoring four of the next five to close within one but could not find the equalizer before time expired. Sergio Oliver scored a pair in the 2nd half as United minimized the damage to the differential for the return game on United's home pitch in Canada.

So, there's no way that #2 Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. is going to have a repeat performance from the First Round of the knockouts, is there?

The Vegas home game in the quarters against #10 SwampDargons United seems to prove that history may repeat itself. After 5 draws and four Sudden Death games, the Scorpions decided to spice things up against their latest opponent. Jerrad Forko scored off an early corner to give Swamp U the 1-0 lead but the Scorpions grabbed the lead when Leif Bbjornstrand bent it like Beckham around the futile effort of Dragons goalie Treshawn Aznar to take a 2-1 lead, which they held the entire 2nd half... until the final play of the game when Christian Olimpa headed one in to draw the game 2-2. The Vegas sports books are seeing a lot of action on whether the return game tomorrow will draw as well.

There are two afternoon games, one in the main draw and one in the Bums, which I'll post this evening.

Oh no. Cackalacky has soiled themselves in a 5-1 loss to give up a 3 goal differential. Good luck Hardknoxs moving on...

#14 Swamp City Dragons hosted their home game in the Quarterfinals against #6 FC Not Very Athletic in Canada this afternoon and, after 90 minutes of play, neither team gave a hint as to who appears to be the stronger side. The teams combined for 33 fouls in a sloppy game where the referee awarded 43 free kicks. However, all of those set pieces and 18 shots on goal didn't prevent the goalies from keeping two clean sheets in a 0-0 draw. Renau Palombo was excellent for the Dragons between the posts, making several athletic saves to keep the game level and Derrick Richardson was equally as busy for Athletic, although most of his saves were more of a routine variety. The return game in England is tomorrow in what is now a best of 1 series.

In the Bums, the pressure of playing for 17th Place was too much for #6 FC Cackalacky as they blew a 4-1 aggregate lead to drop the series to #2 Hardknoxs F.C. after today's 5-1 win gave Hardknoxs the 6-5 victory. Things looked pretty solid for Cackalacky as they extended their advantage to 5-1 after Adriel Rowley buried a header in the 10th minute but a hard foul by veteran forward Javaughn Galey sent the right message to his teammates in the 19th and they immediately picked up their level of play. Fidel Mares started the comeback with a shot that deflected in off the crossbar and Hardknoxs rolled Cackalacky for the rest of the game. Windham Kent's score in the 87th was the series winner, capping five straight for the home side to earn their spot in the Bums Finals. They will await the winner of the Slough/United series that has one more game yet to play.

Two main draw Quarterfinal games are teed up for tomorrow, including the opening game between #4 FC Gimli Vikings and #12 Bad News.