The Championship Round has concluded and it is clear that the FC Dynasty world has a true dynasty within it.
won its 2nd straight Cup after taking a 4-1 lead into this morning's game and, not being intimidated by the noise of the Scottish home crowd, defeated
in the sweep as they take the return game 3-1 to secure back-to-back Championships with a 7-2 aggregate. In Cup XV, it was Cotopaxi who denied
Merchiston got off on the right foot when they won a 1st minute corner kick.
Bartleah Clavell lined up the cross and placed a beautiful pass right on the spot
Carlin Kiley was camping out in and, after a few moves to control the ball, hit a liner that
Rose Luyten couldn't touch as the aggregate was closed to 4-2. Unfortunately for Merchiston, that was high watermark on their comeback. From that point, Cotopaxi slowly established control and then smothered their opponent as the shots on goal would end up to be 19-5 in their favor.
The end began in the 26th when
Gabe De Bruyn hit a shot that deflected off a defender's leg and past a stranded
Jean-Martin Swerts, who was obviously leaning in the opposite direction to increase the series lead to 5-2.
Tilbrand Verstraete then netted one right before halftime as his shot clipped the crossbar and into the goal and halftime came with Cotopaxi ragaining the game lead at 2-1 and the series at 6-2. Any hopes the underdogs had after halftime adjustments went out the window after
Math Boyes, who was sitting on a yellow card after a silly tackle in the 10th, was booted from the game in the 53rd, making Merchiston's position unteneable. Cotopaxi essentially held the ball for the final 35 minutes of game play and, with the Championship effectively secured, started working the pitch to set up their team Captain,
Weyland Watkins, to get one more goal so that he could grab a share of the Golden Toe.
With time running out, Cotopaxi earned a corner kick in the 89th minute and
José Valdés, seeing the Merchiston defense was not properly set, took a quick corner to take advantage. As the ball came into the box, the defenders started finding their marks, creating a traffic jam in the middle. Watkins shot was not seen by Swerts through the forest of bodies in front of him and the ball rolled into the back of the net...causing the entire Cotopaxi team to jump on Watkins in celebration. That ended the Championship series and the Ecuadorians started to carry Watkins around the field on their shoulders but, in a show of sportsmanship, came back to shake the hands of the dejected Merchiston players right before the awards ceremony.
Club de FĂștbol Deportivo Cotopaxi and
indiansrck27 out of World 82 have have shown the heart of a Champion by taking the FC Dynasty Cup XVI title and makes history as the first team to successfully defend their title.
Merchiston FC and
colinhtucker out of World 90 played as well as they could but there was no stopping the juggernaut and will have to settle for the Runner-up spot. The
L'Orteil D'or award was shared by
Jerrad Forko and
Weiland Watkins, who becomes the first individual goal scorer to successfully defend his top scorer title, both netting 12 goals. Now, without further ado, the hardware will now be distributed to their rightful owners.
Champion - Club de FĂștbol Deportivo Cotopaxi - (indiansrck27)
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...........Runner-up - Merchiston FC - (colinhtucker)
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L'Orteil D'or - Weyland Watkins (Club de FĂștbol Deportivo Cotopaxi) and Jerrad Forko (SwampDragons United)
3rd Place - VB Hibernian