The two lowest remaining seeds left in the tournament faced off in the first Quarterfinals match as #11 VB Hibernian and #14 Merchiston FC played in front of 29.764 at Easter Road Stadium. Both sides looked somewhat cautious as the feeling out process lasted the entire 1st half in a 0-0 tie. The breakthrough finally happened in the 62nd minute when Tedrick Frame headed a crossing pass past Merchiston goalie Jean-Martin Swerts to make the score 1-0 for Hibs. Merchiston answered right back after MacPherson MacLeay picked a great time to score his first goal of the tournament when he went unassisted from distance, hitting a strike from beyond the penalty area that beat a diving Sonny Miki to make the game 1-1. As the match wound down, Merchiston held possession for almost the rest of the game and peppered the Hibs defense with several quality chances but the English side made good use of its one good look in the 84th when Peirce Sulyard got Swerts leaning the wrong way and scored the game winner to give Hibernian the 2-1 home win.

The busiest day of the Quarterfinals, including the return game between Hibs and Merchiston, is tomorrow when three matches will be played.

One game was played in the wee hours of the morning in Quito, Ecuador as #5 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi hosted #4 Brighton AFC in their opening Quarterfinals match. Cotopaxi came out firing on all cylinders and blitzed the American club from the get-go. Gabe De Bruyn placed a beautiful header into the far corner in the 8th minute and the home team was able to get three more goals past Brighton goalie Terrence Pettit by the 22nd minute mark. Golden Toe leader Weyland Watkins contributed a pair of scores and now sits three clear of the pack with 13 for the tournament. Brighton was only able to avoid the shutout when Houston Dainichi scored off a corner kick in the 63rd off a shot that Cotopaxi goalie Rose Luyten should have stopped but muffed to make the score a 4-1 final. To be fair, the Brighton defense did do well to prevent Cotopaxi from adding to their lead and the Dainichi goal made the goal differential only a -3, after the start of the game had blowout written all over it.

The other two games are 7pm start times and I'll update those soon after.

We now have our first team to punch their ticket to the Semifinals as the 11/14 matchup completed this evening. VB Hibernian came into the game with a one goal lead after their 2-1 home win last night over Scotland's Merchiston FC and Hibs established control early when Argentine defender Enriqueta Montaner knocked one in in the 7th past a diving Jean-Martin Swerts. Peirce Sulyard added his 2nd goal of the series a few minutes later and Rogelio Montejo scored his first goal of the tournament in the 26th to break the match wide open, giving Hibs a 3-0 lead in the game and a 5-1 edge in the aggregate. Merchiston striker Blanco Amaro was able to get one back in the 2nd half but the Scots were outmatched and eventually yielded a fourth goal late to end the scoring as a 4-1 Hibs victory, seeing them through to the Semis with a 6-2 aggregate. The Hibernian victory guarantees a double digit seed will advance to the final four for the 2nd Cup in a row.

The other game featured the #1 seed Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. as they hit the road to take on the FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds in a stadium just a few miles down the road from the Merchiston/Hibernian contest as the entire nation of Scotland was drinking heavily and partying hard. This time, the Scottish fans had good reason to keep the taps flowing. Five different Bullet Birds scored and they quickly gained control of the game within the first 11 minutes after Ron Lochore and Montie Gyon scored in quick succession to make it 2-0. While the Germans were able to close the gap a couple of times, they were never able to get back to level. With the game sitting at 3-2 midway through the 2nd half, Edinburgh put it away when Evan Ashby knocked one off a defender's leg and in past goalie Hector Calvo. The final 5-2 score gives the Bullet Birds a comfortable lead going into the return game on the 15th and Cologne, who escaped the First Round with a big comeback, is begging for trouble if they keep expecting to come from behind series after series.

The Brighton/Cotopaxi return game is the lone contest tomorrow.

I'll be updating the Quarterfinals game tonight.

Also, Wolfsburg is back at full strength and has sent their challenge to The Champs...

Another team has qualified for the Semifinals as #5 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi hit the road and handily beat #4 Brighton AFC 5-1 to make the aggregate a 9-2 Cotopaxi victory. Already up by three goals after the first game, the Ecuadorians kept the pedal down and poured it on. Gabe De Bruyn scored a hat trick, getting his side on the board in the 7th minute and Golden Toe leader Weyland Watkins extended his lead to five over the nearest player still playing for an active team as he netted in the 27th to give Cotopaxi a commanding 6-1 lead at that point. Brighton's Houston Dainichi was the lone bright spot for the American club but his strike in the 29th was far to little to change the outcome. Brighton had a good tournament but they just ran into a juggernaut.

A possible third semifinalist will be decided tomorrow as the #1 seed is in jeopardy of going down.

Three out of the four semifinalists have now been determined after the #1 seed got dropped like bad habit. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. went home to Cologne needing to overcome a three-goal deficit to #9 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds, who was attempting to prove that seeding is just a number. They made their point in front of 39,000 Cologne fans as Die Gießböcke were unable to make it all the way back despite a brilliant individual performance from forward Jayvon Burch, who scored a hat trick to make the aggregate look respectable. However, the series belonged to the Bullet Birds, who controlled the stats line and did just enough to keep the Germans at bay. Evan Ashby scored twice, including the final nail in the 78th minute that ended any comeback hopes. Edinburgh literally ran out the clock and, after the referee blew the final whistle on the game, the Edinburgh players celebrated an 8-6 aggregate win despite dropping today's game 4-3.

Both games in the crutchanators/Wolfsburg Quarterfinals matchup have now been scheduled with the opening game being tomorrow...as they fight it out for the last Semifinal birth.

The last Quarterfinals matchup got underway this evening when #10 Wolfsburg Dynamit hosted #2 the crutchanators of soccer in Lower Saxony in front of 33,223 Dynamit fans. While no first game is a must win, Wolfsburg really needed to take advantage of the home field to post as many goals as possible against the defending Champs. For the most part, they played a very good game, taking the lead in the 22nd when Hernan Bordonaba bent a ball around the oustretched arms of crutchanators goalie Rueban Lazar with a shot nobody would have stopped. Bordonaba scored his 2nd of the game right before halftime to give the Germans a 3-1 advantage going into the break as everything was going to plan. But the Champs showed why they hoisted the Cup in the last tournament in the 2nd half. Jaquawn Cervantes knocked one in off the underside of the crossbar in the 49th and, by the time Finnish midfielder Sampo Jarvela scored his pair of goals, crutchanators had netted four unanswered to win the contest 5-3.

The series...and the Quarterfinals...will possibly conclude tomorrow as Wolfsburg has the overnight to figure out a Plan B.

We are down to the final four as the last Semifinal spot was claimed a few minutes ago. #2 the crutchanators of soccer hosted #10 Wolfsburg Dynamit, enjoying a two goal lead and the benefit of playing in their own stadium. Almost 48,000 were present to watch the Champs wrap up the Germans like a bow and the opening minutes heightened the party atmosphere. After both teams scored before the 8 minute mark, crutchanators gave themselves some breathing room when Raymon Benavídez placed one into the far corner to give them a 7-4 aggregate lead going into halftime. However, the Wolfsburg coaching staff made some adjustments and Dynamit came out firing away. Hernan Bordonaba made the crutchanators pay from a sloppy execution of the offside trap as his grass burner got underneath the frame of goalie Rueban Lazar before the 2nd half was 60 seconds old. Then, Teague Guildford uncorked a lazer from distance in the 62nd and the once comfortable lead was now down to one as the aggregate sat at 7-6. The crescendo finally hit in the 79th minute after three straight corners by Wolfsburg created their final opportunity. Veteran Japanese defender Mamoru Okimoto hit a header that beat Lazar clean but missed the post by inches. Having dodged the last bullet, the Champs advanced with the 3-2 Wolfsburg win to keep their repeat hopes alive.

I'll set up the Semifinals in the morning so that scheduling can begin

This team of champs trying to go for a repeat are doing it in the most nail biting fashion possible.

The Semifinals are set with a time frame of October 18th thru October 28th, so start scheduling any time you like.

Forward Weyland Watkins for Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi is a mile ahead in his bid to become the first player to win the L'Orteil D'or award twice (he led Cotopaxi to the Cup XIII Championship and shared the Golden Toe with Futbol Club Oviedo's Ewing Sequeira.) With six goals clear of the next active players, it's probably a coronation unless someone else goes on a scoring spree.

Since I'll have several days until the next game result, I'm going to try and finish updating the Record Book with the Cup XIV stats.

All four games of the semis have been scheduled and the live action starts this evening.

I didn't even come close to finishing the Record Book update but who cares? We have Semifinal action to talk about. #2 the crutchanators of soccer got the Semis underway when they hosted #11 VB Hibernian, the lowest seed left in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Cabbage, it was all crutchanators from the get-go. Miika Moilanen followed his own rebound up with a quick strike that Hibs goalie Sonny Miki, still on the ground from saving Moilanen's first shot, had no chance to get to. Iago Cristiani then painted the corner in the 24th and the Champs put it on cruise control. The lead bloated to 4-0 until very late when Hibs finally got on the scoreboard with Tedrick Frame's header to finish the game as a 4-1 crutchanators victory. The series will go back to England on the 23rd with Hibernian needing to reverse the tables in order to not fall to the 3rd Place game.

We have a day off before the other Semifinal series gets underway on the 22nd.

After a couple of days off, the semis resumed today in Scotland when #9 FC Edinburgh Bullet Birds hosted #5 Club de Fútbol Deportivo Cotopaxi in a wild match that produced no advantage. The Bullet Birds drew first blood with Sandro Huntelaar's bullet that rose away from Cotopaxi goalie Rose Luyten (puns intended) and into the netting in the 5th minute. The Ecuadorians answered almost immediately when Maeyken Bastin got one past Juaquine Saucedo, who muffed the save and let the shot dribble past the goal line. After Golden Toe leader Weyland Watkins scored his 15th of the tournament, Edinburgh tied it 30 seconds later on a side-footed shot by Walker Rowena that created enough english on the ball to scoot past Luyten.

The Bullet Birds would score twice more before halftime to take a 4-2 lead into the break but Cotopaxi answered the challenge with two goals of their own within the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half. The Scottish team once again grabbed the lead at 5-4 but couldn't hold it, when José Valdés scored his second goal of the game with 5 minutes left in regulation and a final push in extra time by Edinburgh created a quality look but Luyten held onto the save and fell to the ground clutching the ball as the referee blew the whistle in a well-deserved 5-5 draw.

Both semis play their return games tomorrow as the trophy rounds loom near.

Both games today are at 1pm...so I'll be making the tournament update between 1-2 this afternoon. Nothing much on the line other than which two teams go to the Championship.

Advance or play in the 3rd Place game, all four teams remaining have had a fantastic run.

Futbol gods are looking out