First off, both games that were unscheduled are now scheduled, which makes my job easy. I really appreciate everyone getting all of those Group Stage games on the docket. There are 96 of them in a 32 team tournament. That is a lot of coordination between a lot of people. It's one of the things that makes this tournament so good is that we have this level of commitment from the participants. My hat's off to you all.

Now, to tonight's action.

Almost on cue, Merchiston FC's short bench has proven to be a liability as the entire roster got into the game (something that is otherwise impossible) but was unable to stem the tide, which flowed in Real TK's direction throughout the match. Cristiano Dolls scored the game winner in the 65th minute and TK never trailed. Merchiston got its goals from a defender (Ante Serioux) and a 19 year old substitute, which represented the entire bench. TK finishes its tournament on a positive note and a serious impact on the last transfer spot. This sets up a final game showdown in Group H where Merchiston and FC Trojans of SC, both teams tied at 6 points and the Trojans holding a 1 goal differential advantage, will get to play it out on the field to see who advances. The Trojans need a tie, Merchiston needs a win. From the looks of it, Merchiston may need a little bit of luck as well since the Trojans offense is pretty stout.

In Group A, Bad News played its best game of the tournament and also had a serious impact on playoff seeding. Picking up their first point, they managed to draw with the crutchanators of soccer 2-2. crutchanators were looking to place pressure on Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi for the top spot in the group but were unable to grab all three points. News won the stats sheet and had a 2-1 lead after Ignado Polo scored unassisted midway through the first half. crutchanators managed the equalizer in the 65 minute after Mikhail Stappelfeld hit the upper corner with a perfectly placed shot that dived just underneath the crossbar. The result allows Cotopaxi to win the group with a win or tie in its final game against News.

There are only four games left with the last scheduled game on the 21st. The First Round of the knockouts will start right before the Thanksgiving Holiday and considering how major of a holiday weekend it is, there will be an unusually long time frame for it.

Today is an off day, so enjoy your Saturday.

The titanic matchup between FC Trojans of SC and Merchiston FC in Group H to decide the final playoff spot is at noon. I'll update the standings a little after that.

The final playoff berth was earned just a few minutes ago as the remaining few games will impact seeding only. Group H determined its 2nd place team as Merchiston FC regained some semblance of a full bench. Merchiston, in a must win situation, immediately grabbed the 1-0 lead when Blanco Amaro scored off an off-balance shot that Trojans goalie Jakobe Mullan deflected but not enough to prevent it from crossing the goal line. Visiting FC Trojans of SC, however, quickly recovered and owned the rest of the 1st half as Rashan Berwick scored twice and the Trojans went into halftime with a 3-1 lead in a game they only needed a tie in order to advance.

Effectively down three goals, Merchiston did everything they could to get back into the game. Dutch midfielder Garret Janssen scored his first of the tournament in the 66th minute to cut the deficit down to 3-2 and Gideon Kuhlman just missed a goal a few minutes later but that was as close as Merchiston could get. The 3-2 final eliminated the Scottish club from the tournament and sends the Trojans through to the First Round.

In Group B, my GA should be 9 instead of 3.

Posted by KSBeachBums on 11/19/2023 5:04:00 PM (view original):
In Group B, my GA should be 9 instead of 3.

I think I need new glasses.

The penultimate day in the Group Stage had both games go final this morning. Defending Champions FC Kingston end their tournament on a high note as they win 3-1 at home over Bad News out of Group A. A 1-1 tie at halftime was broken by Quong Ikeda when his blast dipped underneath the crossbar in the 63rd minute. The home crowd of 39,056 gave the Kingston club a standing O in appreciation for last Cup's hardware, which proudly sits behind security glass in the team's Hall of Fame.

In Group F, VB Hibernian and SwampDragons United played to a 2-2 draw, which hurt Hibs seeding somewhat as they were going for a top seed. The game was as even as the finat result with the Swampsters being able to answer both Hibs leads with responses from Scottish forward Ninian Brooks. Hibernian will now have to wait for the last game in the Group Stage to find out their seed.

We have one more game, tomorrow News plays Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi. If Cotopaxi ties or wins, they win Group A and a win will give them the #2 seed. A Cotopaxi loss give the group to the crutchanators of soccer. Once that game goes final, I'll start working on verifying the standings and setting up the Knockout Rounds.

What is the first tie-breaker when seeding the teams into the first round if they have the same stage points after the group stage results?

Posted by KSBeachBums on 11/20/2023 1:21:00 PM (view original):
What is the first tie-breaker when seeding the teams into the first round if they have the same stage points after the group stage results?

I use the same tiebreakers to determine which teams advance out of the Group Stage for the playoff seeding. I'll update the tournament rules to say as such for Cup XIV. So, the current Group Stage rules copied from Page 1 are the following. The part is parenthesis is what I will be adding to the description next time.

Determination as to which teams will advance to (and which seed they will get in) the knockout rounds will be in the following order - stage points - goal differential - away goals - goals scored. If the teams are in an absolute tie after all tiebreakers, a coin flip using random.org's random number service will determine who advances and/or who gets what seed.

The Group Stage is now officially over as the 96th game went into the books early this morning. Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi earned the top spot in Group A when they won a hard-fought game against Bad News 2-1 to wrap up the opening segment of Cup XIII. Cotopaxi scored first when Weyland Watkins scored his 6th goal of the tourney in the 9th minute off a well-placed header that found the far corner. However, News made amends for the 11-2 thrashing they received in the opening game between these two clubs and equalized when veteran Italian defender Lino Cassano contributed his own header 30 minutes later. Right before halftime, Cotopaxi's Aescby Nix scored from distance and it held up for the entire 2nd half despite News pressuring the Ecuadorian defense. The win drops the crutchanators of soccer down to the Group A 2nd transfer spot.

Now that the round robin is over, I'm going to verify every result and certify the standings up to this point. As I do, I'll start to seed teams for the Knockout Rounds. It will probably take me the rest of the day to do that so please wait until all 16 teams have been seeded before you start to schedule your First Round opponent. The time frame for the First Round is going to be Nov 23rd thru Dec 4th and, considering the Thanksgiving weekend coming up, we'll add time if necessary.

The Knockout Round seeds are official and you may start to schedule at your leisure. The First Round is a home and away with aggregate goals being the only tiebreaker. If we have an aggregate tie, the higher seed will host the first tiebreaker game.

As the games start to be scheduled, I will post the game date on the Knockout Round page in [red brackets.] The time frame for scheduling games runs through the 4th. If a series is involved in sudden death overtimes, the deadline for that series will be extended. If you win your series, don't start scheduling Quarterfinal games even if you know your opponent. Let's let the other series catch up to you.

The playoff seeding ended up being the following

#1 - Swamp City Dragons (16 pts)
#2 - Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi (15 pts, +17 GD)
#3 - Fighting Ants (15 pts, +11 GD)
#4 - Futbol Club Oviedo (14 pts)
#5 - VB Hibernian (13 pts, +10 GD)
#6 - Arsenal F. C. (13 pts, +7 GD)
#7 - butterfiles united (11 pts, +11 GD)
#8 - kangaroo fc (11 pts, +4 GD)

#9 - Rushmore FC (2nd pl, 13 pts, +10 GD)
#10 - the crutchanators of soccer (2nd pl, 13 pts, +9 GD)
#11 - Metropolitan Screaming Eagles (2nd pl, 11 pts)
#12 - Brighton AFC (2nd pl, 10 pts)
#13 - Fianna AFC (2nd pl, 9 pts, +5 GD)
#14 - FC Trojans of SC (2nd pl, 9 pts, 0 GD, 13 Away)
#15 - Bordeaux Fighting Bovines (2nd pl, 9 pts, 0 GD, 9 Away)
#16 - Burnaby Hillbillies (2nd pl, 7 pts)

Best of luck, you are halfway to a Championship.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

The First Round opened this morning as the #1 seed Swamp City Dragons hit the road on this holiday to get the knockout round started in style. Host #16 Burnaby Hillbillies, familiar with their Canadian neighbors, brought their best game as 44,117 packed Hillbillies stadium. The playoff excitement wore off rather quickly as Swamp City showed why they are the top seed. De Vante Greer scored twice, once off a header and once breaking free in the middle of the Hillbillies defense on either side of halftime as the Dragons eventually built up a 4-0 lead midway through the 2nd half.

That's when the Burnaby coaching staff decided to change things up and substitute Ronaldo de Acevedo seemed to energize the home side. Victoro Garay finally got the Hillbillies on the board in the 68th minute on a one-timer to make it 4-1. After Hernandez Corralero scored in the 86th, Garay netted again late to cut the lead to 4-3 and the game ended with that score line. The Hillbillies minimized the damage by the initial Swamp City onslaught and are within striking distance when the return game is played this evening.

Quite a few of the games have been scheduled already with the 25 and 26 being very busy playoff dates.

It didn't take long for the #1 seed to advance to the Quarterfinals but it was by the slimmest of margins. Taking a 4-3 aggregate lead into the return match at home, Swamp City Dragons needed only a tie to secure their place in the next round of the playoffs...and that's exactly what they earned this evening over #16 Burnaby Hillbillies. The Hillbillies drew level in the 4th minute when Argentinian Fidele Herrera connected on a cross and headed it into the far corner. The aggregate became knotted again at 5-5 after both teams traded goals and the series went into halftime even. Midway through the 2nd half, Swamp City finally established some breathing room with two quick strikes, the last one by Derrik Ishihara proved to be the series winner. Hillbillies midfielder Aluino Belenguer made it close when he cut the lead down to 7-6 with his score in the 71st but that was the last shot on goal for the 16 seed as the game ended 3-3, allowing the top seed to move on.

The playoffs continue tomorrow before a big weekend where half the matchups play both legs of their series.

Tonight's game between #7 butterfiles united and #10 the crutchanators of soccer is at 6pm, so I'll update it around 7pm or so.