Edit: I accidentally left the eliminated players out of the report up to now - my apologies! - I have now added them. The only difference so far is that Coentrao (7 points) was owned by Teddy as well as Forca Inter, and Pepe (7 points) was owned by The Giggs Boson as wel as JKisthe1.
Amid scenes of weeping as the coffin of the German clean sheet was wheeled into the crematorium, there were two attendees quietly smiling to themselves. Yes, Emperikal and Catmac hit gold with their pick of Sami Khedira who played in attacking midfield for the entire game and scored to return 8 points for his owners, who now share the lead for the award. The only other differential to start, Sifakis (Gargamel, Kostja, Teddy), was the victim of that goal and three more. Chalkias and Fortounis remained firmly on the bench and got a big fat 0. Commiserations to ILA for whom Podolski didn't even start.
Tonight Spain collide into France in a massive encounter for fantasy players both at the front and back. Did anyone have the bravery to pick French defenders? You betcha. Debuchy (BonZ, Terry) is the big defensive differential and according to the latest reports is set to start out of position in midfield! We have Cabaye (Djerbil, Kostja), Diarra (Snowy84) and Nasri (Canadian Football, Aatish, ILA) with the latter two not assured of a place in the starting eleven according to today’s latest rumours.
Riding the Spanish wave, we start from the back with Arbeloa (Mull) and Sergio Ramos (Teddy). Next up is James_Fitz's choice of penalty taker Xabi Alonso. Finally, game for the big gamble are Catmac and Teddy who has punted on Fabregas. Another center-forward spot could well put him in the hunt for the award.
Note: This is the report for the FFS Friendly World Cup award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Euro Cup!
The knockout rounds have changed everything. Price is king.
With people scrambling to grab top assets and the recognized bargains, differentials have thinned out. That’s not to say they’ve stopped, though. Or that they’re not paying off. Quite the opposite. In the first quarter-final last night, Portugal eliminated Czech Republic 1-0 in a match where the Czech attack posed little threat (cue weeping from yours truly) and the main question was when Portugal would finally finish a chance. As such, people who punted on the Czechs left empty-handed, or more specifically with 3 points, a score that the entire side seemed bloody determined to get. Archie left with 3 points for Cech, while Sleep Talk, Gargamel and Archie shared my sorrows with 3 point returns from Jiracek. So the only winners on the day were those with Portuguese defenders: JKisthe1 who owned Pepe, and Forca Inter who owned Coentrao, both claiming 7 points and the lead.
Needless to say, those who included Czech reserve keepers Drobny (James_Fitz) and Lastuvka (Catmac, 4vets) got nothing. I was wondering whether to leave reserve keepers out of the awards, but I am a romantic and I am keeping my fingers crossed for the match one comes on. Plus, you can tell loooooooooooooooads of things from who someone picks as a reserve keeper. For example, James_Fitz’s pick of Drobny tells me that he is a Leo and enjoys pipe smoking around 9pm every Friday. Have a good one in a few hours James!
The expected slaughter of Greece commences tonight with much expected of the Germans. I won’t go into detail about the massive rumours Germany will rotate some or all of their front three, but for the record I would like to say JOACHIM LÖW IS A BELL. Thank you, that feels a lot better.
Differentials lined up today start with the man of the moment, Greek keeper Sifakis (Gargamel). Someone had to try it, and Gargamel gets special credit for spending a precious 0.5 more on a man commonly thought to give the Titanic cause for optimism. Snowy84 went for injured backup Chalkias, and I wouldn’t like to think of the scenes if he started and kept a cleanie. Goldstonemr has gone for Greek midfielder Fortounis, clearly with his eyes on a few recovered balls if he starts. Will he? Bild? Bild, can you let us know? The only German player owned by 3 or fewer managers was Khedira (Emperikal, Catmac) – and as an unnerving aside, by my opponent in the cup. We’ll see, Sami.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!
READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS EURO 2012! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.What a way to finish the group stages. England progressing to the quarters and France throwing a massive wobbly against the already eliminated Swedes. It has been somewhat of a slow burner this Matchday for courageous picks, with every success being tinged with a failure. This hasn’t prevented though a truly spectacular performance from leaving the rest for dead. I judged the award by the rules posted here. To recap: A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria: - Underappreciation - Overachievement - Underdog team - Captaincy Honourable Mentions – A couple of decisions which were worthy of note if not the award: - Kostja toed the line between bravery and insanity by making the madcap choice of the benched Balotelli. He arose from the bench and secured his noble owner 5 points with a sweet overhead kick. - Sleep Talk was richly rewarded for taking a punt on Greek central defender Kyriakos Papadopoulous. Not only did he manage to pick the right Papadopoulous, he also correctly picked a defender who helped to shut out the fearsome Russian attack, accumulating 6 recovered balls en route. And now for the winner: France had been favourites to become group winners from the outset. Only 1 goal conceded in 2 matches and a 20+ unbeaten run made selecting French opposition players truly unappealing and a task only to be undertaken by the most valiant of managers. Step forward Messimerized. He bravely chose Seb Larsson whose vicious volley and deadly delivery earned him and his owner 11 points. And with that the group stages are over. Congratulations to Messimerized and commiserations to JKisthe1, who failed to make the Awards post for the first time. We have one day off now before the quarters so be sure to spend this time selecting the most obscure and talented players still in the tournament to see if you can win yourself an “Order of Extreme Valour” Award. Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am relieved to announce that we have had our first differential goalscorer of the week. In a role reversal of a couple of Matchdays ago, Menly’s Di Natale started last night for the first time in the tournament and failed to do anything of note except lose his supersub title to his replacement, Balotelli. “Super Mario” was only selected by one valorous manager, Slovenia’s Kostja. Unfortunately, one brave decision back fired when Andrews earned himself a red card for dissent, no doubt enraging his boss, Sleep Talk.
Tonight, the chants from the dugouts of our noble managers are a heady mixture of “Allez les Bleus” and “Come on Eng-er-land”. From the French team, Aatish and Gargamel have chosen Ribery over the more popular Nasri, while JK is the only one with central defender Rami. As far as the Euro 2012 winners-elect go, we see assist merchant Gerrard bravely picked by Catmac, Snowy and The Giggs Boson while Huth your Daddy and Catmac ( a true Anglophile) have gone for Welbeck. Elsewhere in the group, Messimerized has selected set piece specialist Larsson from the already eliminated Swedish team and Canadian Football has shown a lack of faith in the English backline by choosing Yarmolenko.
This is the final report of Matchday 3. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Friendly World Cup Matchday 3 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes!
Michael Krohn-Dehli opened the group stages with a goal and a FWC Valour Award for his manager, and it would have been safe to assume he stood a great chance of finishing the group stages with the same feat when he scored last night against the German’s. One thing stood in his way however, not a single FWC manager owned him. There was more disappointment for our brave competitors last night with no cleansheets for the 6th time in the tournament and every selected differential player failing to be one of the goalscorers. For us, fans of unique choices, there was some comfort to be taken from Epic Fail’s punt on Perreira. The Portuguese right back provided an assist for CR7 and gave his noble owner a nice 5 point haul.
Tonight, the Italians boast the largest number of valorous owners. 3 managers have taken a long shot on Marchisio; step forward JK, Mull and Gargamel. Kostja has thrown caution to the wind and gone with Citeh nutter….. I mean eccentric, Balotelli, while Menly keeps the faith with (until today) supersub Di Natale. Elsewhere, Catmac has selected tricky Spanish forward Silva and Sleep Talk has held onto Andrews, no doubt hoping that the overdue “luck of the Irish” will make an appearance tonight. While there is not as many differentials this evening compared to yesterday, it could well be a case of quality over quantity.
Stay tuned for our Day 3 Report and preview of Day 4!
Here we are at Matchday 3 and it is the final opportunity for half of the FWC managers to win an Order of Extreme Valour Award. Without further ado, let’s kick things off with a review of last night’s acts of bravery.
After a couple of shock 1-0′s, we have been left applauding 2 noble defensive choices. Sleep Talk chose a different path to the Greek defence, settling on Papadopoulous over the cheaper and more popular Maniatis. His courage was rewarded by an extra point and that warm fuzzy feeling one gets when mentioned in one of these posts. Forca Inter also distinguished himself from the crowd by choosing FFS nobody, Sivok. The unexpected shut out for the Czechs no doubt delighted our mild mannered Croatian. In an otherwise quiet night, Bal4tom’s selection of Salpingidis was certainly valiant in it’s intention if not in it’s delivery.
Looking forward to tonight’s games, there is far more scope for successful punts. Predictably the Germans and Dutch have the largest pool of selected differentials including: Sneijder (Porkie and Evs), Muller(Porkie), Huntelaar(Optimus), Badstuber(BonZ), Schweinsteiger(FC Borcelona) and Khedira(Shipstontrev and Snowy) As far as tonight’s underdogs go, we see a possibly inspired choice of Denmark’s Zimling by The Giggs Boson. Two truely courageous managers are standing on the brink of fame and glory by selecting players from the Danish and Portuguese defences, with BonZ choosing Jacobsen from the former and Epic Fail going with Perreira.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 Report and preview of Day 3!
READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS EURO 2012! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.
You can tell it’s a good week when you can’t even include in the honourable mentions highly credible punts which registered some success – players such as Krohn-Dehli, Obraniak, Gerrard, Larsson, Welbeck and Coentrao. Even picking Rami over Lescott… you know who you are. No, this week was a bumper week. An absolutely huge week. I almost didn’t want to create a winner because that meant creating losers… fortunately, I quickly snapped out of that and returned to being a cold-hearted, merciless tyrant. I judged the award by the rules posted here. To recap: A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria: - Underappreciation - Overachievement - Underdog team - Captaincy Honourable Mentions: - Teddy, James_Fitz for picking Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski (8 points) who smashed a sublime curling equaliser for Poland against Russia. A brave pick who flew under the radar relative to options such as Lewandowski and the Russian attack. - Djerbil for being the only person to pick a goal from a thoroughly unlikely source in the French midfield – Yohan Cabaye (9 points). Nominally the passer, Cabaye popped up a with a great finish to seal the win for the French – and while this is not considered in the award, he was a coat of paint away from grabbing a second goal which quite possibly would have won Djerbil the award. - Optimus, JKisthe1 picked a striker who was not nailed on, commonly regarded as mentally broken and in a team that could quite literally score from anywhere. Fernando Torres (10 points) grabbed two goals in the demolition of Ireland. The only major detracting factors were that Spain were the complete opposite of an underdog team, and captaincy would have helped of course. And now for the winner. Or should I say, winners? Yes, three people – three from thirty-two – made what I regard as the most successful gamble of the week. As such, they share the title of Matchday 2 winners. JKisthe1, Forca Inter and Eoin not only picked but captained Gomez (C) (10×2 points) who fired two beautifully-taken goals in the crunch match against Netherlands. With a limited competitive record for Germany thus far, and his striker starting spot only just won, all three of these managers captained him against one of the pre-tournament favourites in a match that was extremely difficult to call. Thank you for your incredible efforts on Matchday 2. I don’t know what the heck you guys are going to do on Matchday 3 – once you’ve been to the Dehli you wonder if you can go anywhere better – but I’m sure The Light Knight will enjoy finding out as he returns to write your reviews. Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2! Check out manager reactions here
Opening shot of a man walking past an old beggar on the street and throwing a coin into his hat“Thank you, young man.” Extreme close-up of the old beggar’s wrinkly face“Listen to what I have to say.” The man walks over tentatively“Gomez. Get Gomez. He’s gonna score twice.” “What?? Against the Netherlands? What’s his record like for Germany anyway??” “Take it or leave it. Michael Krohn-Dehli, too.” “You’re having a laugh. Lightning doesn’t strike twice!” Extreme close-up of the beggar’s eyes“Torres.” “You’re crazy!!!!!” “Only two people have listened to me today. Their names are JKisthe1 and Optimus. Blessed are they, for they shall inherit the points.” So with that exhaustive overview of Day 3′s action out of the way, we look ahead to tonight’s matches with France v Ukraine our appetiser and England v Sweden offering the hefty main course. You know what, you FFS Friendly World Cup guys are absolutely amazing. There is no other way to put it. Do you know how many differentials were selected tonight, on the final night of action? 17. Yes, 17 players were selected by 3 or fewer managers. FFS Euro 2012 eat your heart out. Long breath. Okay, Ukrainians first. We have dual wingers Konoplayanka (Eoin) and Yarmolenko (Canadian Football). For France we have Mexes (WazzaGoal), Rami (FC Borecelona, JKisthe1, Snowy84), pricey Evra (BonZ), interesting midfield choice Cabaye (Djerbil) and model of the year Ribery (Aatish, Gargamel). For Sweden it’s keeper Isaksson (Djerbil), defender Granqvist (Goldstonemr), winger Larsson (Djerbil, Messimerized) and everyone’s favourite striker Ibrahimovic (FC Borecelona, BonZ). And finally, those who picked English differentials went for rock-solid Hart (Archie, WazzaGoal, Shipstontrev). Ashley Cole (BonZ), card machine Parker (WazzaGoal), Gerrard (Giggs Boson, Catmac, Snowy84) and Welbeck (Catmac, Huth Your Daddy). Oh wait, there’s one more. Yes, none other than my favourite England player, the Ox himself. Kostja picked Oxlade-Chamberlain. Special thanks to those who just keep picking differentials. While the award will, as stated on the website, be given based on the best individual pick, you’re just giving yourself more chances to win. This is the final report of Matchday 2. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Friendly World Cup Matchday 2 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes! Meanwhile, catch some manager reactions here
Due to real life concerns shamefully intervening, this report has been delayed and is being written at the rate of knots with the Spain v Ireland slaughter/upset about to kick off (head straight to the bottom if you can’t be bothered to read the rest of the report – THERE IS A BIG SURPRISE).
A quick overview of Day 2 first. The long and the short of it is that the hits just keep coming. Krohn-Dehli struck gold yet again with 5 points for Teddy… and presumably a pang of disappointment from his now famous/infamous (delete as appropriate) ex-owner JKisthe1. In the same game, Portugal fullback Fabio Coentrao nicked an assist for the winner to return 5 points for his owners Forca Inter and a very much cheered up JKisthe1.But there were still more hits, and even bigger ones at that. All were big names neglected due to their monster Germany v Netherlands fixture. BonZ and Kostja were rewarded for keeping faith with Van Persie, as he scored to give them a long-overdue 6 point return. Wesley Sneijder finally got some deserved attacking points with 5 points for his owners Porkie, Djerbil and Evs, and the biggest hit of all was German striker Mario Gomez whose acclaimed double struck 10 point gold for JKisthe1, Forca Inter and Eoin. Considering the fixture and his somewhat underappreciated reputation, this puts his owners very much in the lead at this halfway point. It may come down to who captained him!
In tonight’s matches the Italy v Croatia fixture has already been played out – and unfortunately our brave punts have not seen reward. These were Di Natale (Menly), Thiago Motta (Mull) and Marchisio (JKisthe1, Gargamel).
Spain v Ireland kicks off minutes after I post this. Defensive picks on the Spanish side are Casillas (BonZ) and Pique (Snowy84). Astoundingly, someone has picked Shay Given – take a bow, FC Borecelona. Does he know something we don’t?
Wait… what’s this… breaking news is coming in… FERNANDO TORRES is starting! Against Ireland! … and what’s this… JKisthe1 and Optimus have selected him! Scenes! Madness! The stadium is rocking! Hang on the Croatian fans are letting off fireworks… stop throwing that, FORCA INTER!! We have to interrupt this report! I’ll get back to you later!!
Stay tuned for our Day 3 Report and preview of Day 4!
Note: This is the report for the FFS Friendly World Cup award only; there is a separate report for FFS Euro 2012! With a differential now clarified to be a player owned by 3 or fewer of the 32 managers, the field of contenders continued to be stunning. We've got off to another scorching start on Day 1 which has really laid down the gauntlet! Poland's 1 - 1 draw with Russia was the epicentre of the action. First up, Malafeev (Kostja) lost a clean sheet but made 6 saves to produce a respectable 4 point. Obraniak (FC Borecelona and Forca Inter) grabbed the assist for Poland's equalizer to return 5 points. The scorer, of course was no less than Blaszczykowski (James_Fitz, Teddy) whose awesome curling strike produced a smashing 8 point haul and put his owners at the head of the pack for the award. Czech Republic's 2 - 1 victory over Greece had Pilar scoring, but unfortunately he was an extremely popular cheap option with no less than 13 owners! Day 2 brings Portugal v Denmark and Netherlands v Germany. Those with the bravery to select Danish players went for Granqvist (Goldstonemr), Zimling (Giggs Boson), Rommedahl (Archie) and Krohn-Dehli (Teddy), the latter especially likely to raise a smile to a certain player's lips in this tournament... Also up was Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio (ILA) and fullback Coentrao (JKisthe1, Forca Inter). Netherlands v Germany was a dilemma for many managers - with clashes between heavyweights producing so few goals, most FFS managers chose to stay away from the premium options in their squads, reducing familiar players to relative differentials this Matchday. For Germany, these included Hummels (Teddy), Podolski (Kostja), Muller (Porkie, Djerbil, Messimerized) and Gomez (JKisthe1, Forca Inter, Eoin). Notable also is the pick of Khedira (Snowy84, Shipstontrev). For Netherlands, the chosen defenders were Vlaar (Djerbil) and Willems (Aatish) against what is thought to be one of the best attacks of the tournament. Attackers chosen were limited to Afellay (BonZ, Messimerized) and our old friend Van Persie (BonZ, Kostja). Who will be tonight's top Pila-yer? Who's getting Hummeled tonight? Stay tuned for our Day 2 Report and preview of Day 3!
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