In a pretty even game throughout, #11 FC Kingston won the opener of their Quarterfinal series when Maky Guerrero scored the second of his two goals in the 72nd minute for a 3-2 home win against #3 Space Olympics. Quong Ikeda also contributed a goal, giving him sole possession of the Golden Toe once again, raising his total now to 11.

Olympics gets their chance at home on the 17th...sending the series to sudden death with a one goal victory or punching their ticket to the Semifinals with a two goal margin. Kingston, of course, only needs a tie.

First, an order of business. I received a message from bc25 (Greatest of all TIME) that World 88 rolled over at 2am this morning and he doesn't have a full roster. The tiebreaker game with The Shield of the Cow was scheduled for 1pm today but wouldn't be a contest. Both jeffdrayer and bc25 were in communication before the game was scheduled and tried to get it in before the rollover but missed it by 12 hours.

Since there was communication between both coaches about the game scheduling, let's have the game at 1pm (Central...29 minutes after this edited post) today be voided and I will ask that jeff please send another challenge to GOAT for slot 5 or 6. That should give him a chance to sign a few players and fill some holes...and it won't hold up the round much since the La Daga/Rushmore return game is on the 23rd.

The Cow is still the home team.

In the game that DID count today, Kelton Landon set the tone with two goals as #4 La Daga Club de Fútbol controlled the match throughout and answered each time #12 Rushmore FC tried to build on any home pitch momentum. The 4-2 final gives La Daga control of the series as it heads back to Spain next week.

The Space Olympics/FC Kingston game tomorrow wraps up the weekend.

The Cow/GOAT tiebreaker has been successfully moved to the 21st.

#11 FC Kingston becomes the second team to secure their spot in the Semifinals. #3 Space Olympics needed a win to prolong the series but immediately ran into trouble when the fiery 37 year old Frenchman Silvestre Gragnic picked up a straight red card in the 12th minute, forcing Olympics to play a man down for the rest of the match. Despite the handicap, Giampiero Lucarelli scored off of a corner to give Olympics the margin they needed to survive Gragnic's error. However, in the waning moments, Kingston defender Simcha Bierger pressed forward and fired a rocket shot that proved to be the series winner as Kingston tied the game at 1-1 and advanced with a 4-3 aggregate.

We now have several days until the next Quarterfinal match (the 21st) so I'm going to start updating the FC Dynasty Cup Records thread where the best get their team names and IDs preserved for all history.

Rushmore and La Daga moved our second game up to this morning, and though Rushmore won, La Daga advances on aggregate goals.

Posted by bert_fischer on 7/17/2022 5:58:00 PM (view original):
Rushmore and La Daga moved our second game up to this morning, and though Rushmore won, La Daga advances on aggregate goals.

I saw the game but wasn't going to do anything until I heard from one of you to make it official.

#4 La Daga Club de Fútbol becomes the third semifinalist as they advance thanks to an 82nd minute goal by defender Curran Crawley off a free kick. #12 Rushmore FC still won the game 3-2 but Crawley's late goal gave the aggregate to La Daga 6-5.

The quarters now come down to the tiebreaker game on the 21st. If that game produces a winner, the Semis will start on the 23rd. Otherwise, the farm animals will play an additional game.

Nice win, jmjtrain, good luck in the Semis. Had to laugh at my guy getting a red card in the opening minutes. Unbelievable.

Defending champion #2 The Shield of the Cow grabs the last Semifinal spot with a 3-1 win in the tiebreaker game that was moved up from the 21st. Caldwell Francisco scored his 11th goal of the tournament to round out the scoring and The Cow eliminated #7 Greatest of all TIME, who actually dominated the stats despite being on the road with a reduced roster.

Francisco joins Quong Ikeda on top of the Golden Toe standings. These two have really separated themselves from the rest of the pack and the award may belong to which one lights up the semis the most.

The time frame for the Semifinals is the 21st through the 28th. Scheduling can start at any time.

Thanks DW! Sucks the match went down like that as it was a great matchup and basically a draw between us in those games.

good luck all

All four Semifinal games have been scheduled with one game on each day. #1 Fighting Ants start the semis off on the 24th with their home game against #4 La Daga Club de Fútbol, followed by La Daga's home match the next day.

The Champs #2 The Shield of the Cow hosts #11 FC Kingston on the 26th and then Kingston's return game is on the 27th. The Cow is having a season rollover two days after Kingston's home game, so that might be a factor if the series needs to go to extra time.

The Semis got underway today when #1 Fighting Ants benefitted from Tyesone Hainsworth's relative offensive explosion, considering he had only scored once in the tournament up to this point. His second goal of the game in the 84th minute broke a 2-2 tie and lifted the Ants to a 3-2 home win over #4 La Daga Club de Fútbol.

The match was even throughout until Hainsworth's late game heroics as La Daga twice took a one goal lead only to have the Ants respond immediately to level the score. La Daga now must get one of those leads at home and then hold it tomorrow evening or their tournament will come to an end.

Congratulations to Fighting Ants as they punched their ticket into the finals today with a 2-2 tie on the road against #4 La Daga Club de Fútbol, who was needing a win to stay alive. While the game was fairly even, the Ants controlled the pace thanks to La Daga shooting themselves in the foot when Carlin Buslingthorpe was red carded as the first half was drawing to a close. Jesus Guerón made things interesting in the closing minutes but, as it were, the Ants advanced with a 5-4 aggregate. Congrats also to La Daga. Making the Semifinals is always a good accomplishment in a tournament this deep in roster talent.

The other Semifinal gets going tomorrow at The Cow palace.

Quite the contest this afternoon involving the other two Semifinalists. #11 FC Kingston got off to an incredible start, striking early and often. After giving up a goal in the 2nd minute(!) Kingston scored five times in the next 45 minutes to take what they thought would be a devastating road win. That's when the defending Champs #2 The Shield of the Cow decided to put it in another gear, scoring four unanswered goals in the final 31 minutes to roar back for a 7-5 home win.

The game featured a whopping 24 shots on goal. It also saw the Golden Toe contest remain knotted as both Caldwell Francisco and Quong Ikeda scored twice, giving each player 13 goals apiece and a five goal margin over the third place player. Therefore, it is a near certainty that one of them will be the tournament's top scorer.

Kingston must win by two tomorrow to extend and by three or more to advance. Clearly, they have the firepower and the striker to make it happen. Unfortunately, The Cow has the firepower to match.