(READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF THE 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 kick off to the tournament! We have been treated to some decent football and some brave selections that would make Doosra himself proud. While a few didn’t quite come off, there were enough successes to highlight the importance of being different. This award, however, is only deserved by the bravest of the brave, the noblest of the noble and, quite possibly, the craziest of the crazy.

I judged the award by the rules posted here earlier. 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:

-Wazzagoal, Teddy, Goldsternmr, and Catmac. took a gamble on Danish keeper Anderson and it paid off handsomely with a cleansheet, 6 saves and an 8 point haul
-ILA, Aatish and JKisthe1′s selections of Lescott in the face of an imposing French attack were courageous and also rewarded by his powerful header into the French net

And now for the winner:

Ladies and gentlemen, please offer your congratulations to JKisthe1. His truly valorous pick of Krohn-Dehli has been the frontrunner for this award since the Dane’s shot went through Stekelenberg’s legs and into the net on Saturday evening and nothing was able to overtake it, with a couple of JK’s other attemps being among the closest.

And now leaving Matchday 1 behind with mostly fond memories, Matchday 2 approaches with plenty of opportunities to make an unforgettable, unique and brave selection that could earn you an Order of Extreme Valour Award.

Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!

(READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS EURO 2012 ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM THE FRIENDLY WORLD CUP! THERE WILL BE A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.)

After 4 days and countless feats of valour it’s come down to this. Who made the bravest pick of Matchday 1? Let me start by applauding the great bravery of our Euro 2012 managers. The field was littered with mad picks, and to my delight a proper handful paid off. So successful were the picks that I could not consider many unfancied differentials who returned assists – these include McGeady, Konoplyanka and Yarmolenko. It’s a tricky task judging from so many genuine contenders, but I hope you’ll agree I made the fairest choice!

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

Since the award was very close, I will make honorary mentions to the following first:
* Mark and TommyTour for selecting Danish keeper Andersen (7 points, 4.9%) who in true underdog spirit kept a clean sheet and 5 saves against the heavily fancied Dutch.
* Mark & Doosra for selecting English defender Joleon Lescott (8 points, 9.5%). While he undoubtedly picked him in hope of a clean sheet and some recovered balls, what Joleon actually delivered was a firm header to give England the lead and a very tasty payoff.

And now for the winner…

* The winner is Ginkapo for selecting and captaining Irish defender Sean St Ledger (8 x 2 points, 1.1%) who headed Ireland’s equalizer against Croatia. Not only a huge differential, not only an underdog, but a 16 point captain.

Ginkapo, savour your moment of glory. Don’t switch off though – the race for the Matchday 2 award begins tomorrow!

Thank you all for your valiant efforts in making this a very special Matchday 1. May these shining heroes inspire you to feats of risky valour in Matchday 2! 

Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!

Note: This is the report for the FFS Friendly World Cup only; there is a separate report for the FFS Euro 2012

” You’ll never beat the Irish”, a phrase many of our courageous selectors seemed to have based their decisions on for yesterday’s match. However, the Boys in Green failed to deliver and their 3-1 defeat to the Croatians left the honourable owners of Andrews (Kostja, Mull, BonZ and Djerbil), Dunne (Catmac and Optimus) and Keane(Shipstontrev) with another disappointing 2 pointer. However, the unlikely goalscorer that is St.Ledger proved what is possible by showing guts with an 8 point haul that no doubt pleased Menly, Aatish and Wazzagoal. A mention must also go to Sleep Talk, whose distinctive choice of McGeady, while not a resounding success, would have given some feeling of satisfaction with an assist. We also salute those who, despite their admirable attempts, did not find success from outside the Irish team. Alonso had no penalty to reward Mull and Menly, Bonucci failed to deny the Spanish attack for Teddy and Eoin was frustrated by Vida’s no show . On a more positive note, Di Natale’s goal from the bench gave Menly his second success of the evening from 3 valorous attempts.

Looking ahead to tonight’s fixtures, the Ukrainian attack has been viewed as a good potential source of points against the Swedish backline on FFS. Initially, Yarmolenko was seen as the differential of choice, but his new found popularity coupled with an injury scare last week led some brave managers to find a differential to the original differential. Step forward Mr. Konoplyanka and your band of steely owners: Gargamel, Catmac, Mull, Snowy, Forca and JK. Elsewhere in the group, the England-France match yields 3 choices of interest. ILA has faith in the English rearguard, namely Lescott, to keep the French onslaught at bay while Snowy believes Young will have a major hand in any goals at the other end. Djerbil alone has gone with a surprising French player, Toon passmaster Cabaye .

This is the final report of Matchday 1. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Friendly World Cup Matchday 1 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes!

Catch the manager reactions here

Note: This is the report for the FFS Euro 2012 award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Friendly World Cup!

It is a shame to start a column with the word “sadly”, but sadly the failure of the Irish and Italians to keep clean sheets disappointed most of our brave managers on Day 3 – although of course the teams did so in rather different ways. While an Italian did score it was not Antonio Cassano, as another brave Doosra punt went unrewarded. However, as you doubtless will have heard there was a goal from a most unexpected Irishman – St Ledger tremendously bagged a header on his way to an 8 point haul. His owners were Isacki and Ginkapo – with the word on the street that Ginkapo captained him. I know I didn’t! If he did captain him then Ginkapo is the current frontrunner for this Matchday’s award. Credit also to Daniel and ENR who owned Aiden McGeady – he took 4 points from the match with the assist for St Ledger’s header.

So here comes Day 4 of Matchday 1 and the last chance to prove one’s valour. Ukraine and Sweden have provided the chance for a few differentials, mainly in attack. Ukrainian midfielder Yarmolenko (4.4%) was tipped by a few on FFS boards, though his subsequent bout of food poisoning and injury worries put many off. Gallantly undeterred, Jonty has stuck with him to spring a surprise against Sweden. Seen by many as the “cheaper Yarmolenko”, and owned by even fewer, Konoplyanka (0.9%) was an extremely late Ukrainian midfield tip on the FFS boards and has been taken up by Billy Ketsu, Isacki and The Light Knight. Looking to the Swedish, Drinky has taken up unfancied Swedish keeper Isaksson (4.5%), while China Mag and SuperDunny have made the valorous pick of midfielder-slash-tree Elm (2.6%), who is largely unheard of to FFScouters. Finally, The Light Knight produced a pick out of nowhere – bravely spurning the open arms of Zlatan to take Swedish forward Toivonen (1.2%)

We also take note of two picks that have flown under the FFS radar somewhat: Mark patriotically plumped for Lescott (8.5%) while Milanista, in keeping with an attitude more representative of the English people, went for Nasri (6.3%).

This is the final report of Matchday 1. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 1 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes!

Catch some reactions from managers here

Welcome, brave World Cup managers, to the report on how your courageous selections fared in the 2nd day of Euro 2012.

Yesterday’s choices of valour all hailed from the glorious nation of Denmark, a surprise package in both real and fantasy Uefa competitons. Only one man thought that Michael Krohn-Dehli would perform against the Dutch, and just in case you haven’t seen him mention it on FFS already, I will tell you that JK was the one. A flair pick of epic proportions, his display of valour is worthy of congratulations and certainly entitles him to a bit of gloating. The budget Danish shot stopper, Anderson, surprised many wih his clean sheet and must have delighted his 4 noble owners: Catmac, Wazzagoal, Teddy and Goldstonemr. We also tip our hats to BonZ and Teddy, for their plucky selection of Christian Eriksen, which unfortunately failed to come off.

As for tonight matches, the seemingly universal affection for the Irish has led to numerous valorous selections from their squad. With a few managers bravely choosing players such as Dunne(Catmac and Optimus), St. Ledger( Menly,Wazzagoal and Aatish) and Andrews( Kostja, Mull, Bonz and Djerbil), both Shipstontrev and Sleep Talk are on their own with their respective choices of McGeady and Keane. Elsewhere tonight, we find Mull and Menly praying for a Spanish penalty with Xabi Alonso in their squads, Teddy shows his nerves of steel by picking Italian defender Bonucci while Eoin has gone against the grain (and Forca’s predicted line-up) with the Croatian Vida.

Catch the manager reactions here

Day 2 provided a huge shock with the Dutch succumbing to the Danes 1-0. To their credit a few brave souls did invest in the Danish attack – Doosra going for Dennis Rommedahl (0.8%) and Sporting ABG going for Christian Eriksen (9.5%). The only attacking points of the game, though, went to king of the differentials Michael Krohn-Dehli (0.3%). There was reward, however, for those who picked the seemingly suicidal option of Andersen (2.9%) in goal. Mark and TommyTour were rewarded by an unexpected clean sheet and a 7 point payoff. Big kudos to them, and as the first big successful gamble so far, this puts them as frontrunners for now.

Tonight is perfectly written to be another underdog story. We have Spain v Italy first up followed by Croatia v Ireland, with the Italian and Irish defences the homes of the brave. Surely no-one could be crazy enough to go for their attack? Not when Doosra is in the house. Fresh from his Rommedahl punt, he’s chosen Italian bolt from the blue Antonio Cassano (1.5%) to score against Spain! Similarly in search of glory are Daniel and ENR who have both gone for Irish midfielder Aiden McGeady (4.4%) and Camzy who has gone for Andrews (12.9%). While ownership of these bargain basement picks looks relatively high, neither is particularly fancied on FFS, and recovered balls may have played a part in their thinking.

Onto the defences then, and we have an impressive list of players with the chutzpah to back the Italian and Irish backlines. Bonucci (1.7%) is backed by champion risk-taker Doosra and Childish Gambino, while Balzaretti (1%) is backed by SuperDunny and Mac. With continuing uncertainty over whether Italy will play 3-5-2, they also get the credit of having made a gamble on the starting lineups. Those who plumped for the boys in green picked three separate defenders, quite possibly distinguishing between them based on recovered balls. China Mag went for block machine Dunne (4.8%), Ginkapo and Isacki went for St Ledger (0.9%) and Mac and Jonty for FPL favourite Ward (1.2%). Finally, as the cheapest decent goalkeeper in the game, Shay Given (10.5%) was an extremely popular option in countless squads across FFS, and so won’t be considered as a differential for the Order of Extreme Valour.


Catch the manager reactions here

Having written the FFS Euro 2012 report last night, we now turn to the FFS Friendly World Cup to review who’s been brave so far and who’s being brave tonight!

In the first day’s action the highest scorers were Dzagoev (6.8%), Shirokov (13.5%) and Lewandowski (23%). With the latter two in widespread ownership, and the first an FFS bandwagon owned by a large number of participating managers, these three were too popular to be considered. The most valorous pick would have been the Polish substitute goalkeeper who saved the Greek penalty – Tyton – not that anyone had him of course. Credit does go to Evs who selected Russian striker Kerzhakov (2.7%) but his 5 point return didn’t quite come off. It should have been so much better given his chances of course.

So what valour awaits tonight? Tonight we have Netherlands v Denmark and Germany v Portugal, with the bravest picks almost exclusively Danish. First up is JKisthe1 who has incredibly gone for attacking midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli (0.3%) to get involved in the goals (if there are any) against Denmark. Is this a sign of genius or madness? Next up, we have Teddy and BonZ who have plumped for the highly-rated but similarly massively outgunned midfielder Christian Eriksen (9.5%). With a relatively high ownership, he is virtually absent on FFS boards – brave enough for us. Finally, a host of players have gone for seemingly doomed Danish keeper Andersen (2.9%), perhaps in an effort to balance their budgets. Wazzagoal, Teddy, Catmac and Goldstonemr – take a bow!

Finally, a report on Extreme Valour would not be complete without a mention of quite another type of valour. It takes valour to include a nobody. But it takes a completely different type of valour to exclude a somebody. A somebody up against vulnerable opposition who ends up scoring in a 4-1 thrashing. Yes, benching Shirokov. I’m afraid that won’t qualify for a prize, but consider this your reward. Ladies and Gentlemen, James_Fitz!

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!

Some reactions from managers here

So here’s our first progress review of Euro 2012! With every manager’s squad released following the Matchday 1 deadline, we’ve now peeked through the squads to spot contenders of valour!

First, let’s review today’s results. With no clean sheets, the big winners today in points order were Dzagoev (6.8%), Shirokov (13.5%) and Lewandowski (23%). With the latter two in widespread ownership, and the first an FFS bandwagon owned by a large number of participating managers, the valour was somewhat diminished. The most valorous pick today would have been the Polish substitute goalkeeper who saved the Greek penalty – Tyton, as everyone knows – but unsurprisingly, no-one was unhinged enough to choose him. I feel I should name Childish Gambino for plumping for the spectacularly unpopular Greek striker Gekas (0.8%). Unfortunately it didn’t come off.

So what feats of valour tantalize us tomorrow? Tomorrow brings us Netherlands v Denmark and Germany v Portugal. While Germany and Portugal is barren ground for surprises, the Danish offer potential for gloriously loopy picks, and inevitably, here it comes: Yes, Doosra has picked Danish striker Dennis Rommedahl (0.8%) to score against the Netherlands, and while the site won’t let us verify this yet, it is understood he is also on captaincy. Bloody hell, someone give that man a medal. What else do we have? Sporting ABG has sportingly gone for Christian Eriksen (9.5%)! While his ownership is relatively high, he is a non-starter on FFS boards and we have to say that is a gamble! A few brave or extremely stingy souls (Mark and TommyTour) have also gone for Danish keeper Andersen (2.9%). A clean sheet would be startling. If he saves a penalty, the phones will start ringing…

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!