READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS EURO 2012 ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. KEEP UPRIGHT. CONTENTS MAY HAVE SETTLED DURING TRANSIT. THANK YOU.
This was the hardest decision yet. You guys could have made my life easier by not going for such ballsy captains, giving me a nasty shock when I went through your final teams. You could have done the sensible thing and not hope for clean sheets from Greece and Sweden. You could have kept your hands off JKisthe1′s Danish one-night-stand. But no, you had to make life hard for me, and that’s why you have extreme valour. There isn’t even really space to include everyone in the honourable mentions without turning it into some kind of messy free-for-all. Special commiserations to those who grabbed unexpected clean sheets – it would have taken a captaincy to get into contention points-wise. So, here goes…
I judged the award by the rules posted here (http://uefaffs.weebly.com/7/post/2012/06/the-order-of-extreme-valour.html).
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:
* In Like Flynn believed Sweden could score against France, and this belief led him to Ibrahimovic (6 points) who triggered a serious upset against the fancied French.
* Mark chose Greek keeper Sifakis (7 points) against the might of Russia. Sifakis won, Greece made the quarter-finals, and the rest is history. (Hopefully not, I could only live through Euro 2004 once).
* Doosra and Roscola captained Rooney (C) (6 x 2 points) against Ukraine and despite every tabloid building him up, he didn’t fall, scoring a headed winner. While there was an element of expectation here, they were the only managers here to pick him (along with ENR who didn’t captain him). Giving him the last captaincy of the matchday counts for something too.
* Jiracek (8 points) was chosen by that guy again, Mark. With goals from the Czechs hard to predict, this punt against a well-matched Poland paid off in style.
* Ginkapo hit a bullseye against Germany with professional clean sheet destroyer Krohn-Dehli (8 points). For underdog value, overachievement and obscurity this punt takes some beating. The only box it didn’t tick was captaincy.
And now for the winner:
* ENR wins the award for captaining Jiracek (C) (8 x 2 points). While this was a close one, it was difficult to say no to this punt once I saw the captaincy on him. ENR’s punt yielded, after captaincy, 4 more points than the nearest differential, with a goal and clean sheet against the tournament hosts. He also resisted three chances to twist captaincy, although admittedly his points probably weren’t of concern to him.
I hope you appreciate how difficult it has been to select this award and join me in congratulating all concerned.
I am also pleased to announce that not only will we continue to award the Order of Extreme Valour for the knockout stages, but it will be issued to all managers whether they qualified or not. It’s the least we could do.
Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!
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!
So this is it. The final report of the group stage. The Order of Extreme Valour has seen blindingly obscure master-picks take fantasy football by storm. St Ledger. Kuba. Cabaye. Andersen. Torres. Krohn-Dehli. Krohn-Dehli. Krohn-Dehli. Sorry, I seem to have got stuck in a loop there…
Anyway, I’m looking forward to presenting the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 3 award tomorrow (would prefer tonight but life, as usual, intervenes…). With Ginkapo the leader with a goal from that man Krohn-Dehli, the onus was on the challengers to produce an even bigger shock. Still, it couldn’t be upsets all the way, and wins to nil from Italy and Spain meant all the points went to the usual suspects in defence. Or should I say, all but one. Doosra was shockingly unlucky to lose Chiellini to a hamstring injury on 57 minutes, just 3 minutes short of the 60 minutes required for a clean sheet. ENR also gets credit for getting 5 points out of Balzaretti, who had not played a single minute until now. With this being one of the quieter nights, Ginkapo stays in the lead.
Onto the last night of the group stage and the last chance to wrest the trophy from Ginkapo’s brave, valorous, strong, rugged, beautiful…. *AHEM* hands. Yes. England v Ukraine and France v Sweden. First, let me describe what it was like reading through your squads.
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Yes, with 14, 20 and 22 picks respectively, a lot of people seem fairly certain about those results! So who thought different tonight? First up we have two Swedish players: Jafalad has gone for J Olsson and In Like Flynn has interestingly picked Ibrahimovic to surprise the French. For France, in defence we have Lloris (Doosra, Drinky), uncertain starter Clichy (ENR’s Valour XV) and Mexes (In Like Flynn, Mark). Ribery is picked by surprisingly few players (The Light Knight, Roscola, Count of Monte Hristo). Out all alone like the shy (“fat”? Hmmm… I think I’d better stick with “shy”) kid at the school disco is ENR who has dropped a bombshell in going for Diarra.
In a surprisingly patriotic twist, only one person/traitor/cheese eating surrender monkey has gone for Ukraine and what a surprise, it is ex-French manager ENR who has backed keeper Pyatov to stop our brave, stupid boys! In a lovely end to the group stage campaign, English differentials abound. Hart is picked in goal by three (Ginkapo, Jafalad, Gaz Downright), while Count of Monte Hristo goes for Ashley Cole. Things really hot up though in attack, with supersub Walcott (ENR), Gerrard (Billy Ketsu, Count of Monte Hristo) and our cheeky chappy Welbeck (Ginkapo, Jafalad, China Mag). Last, but not least at all, we round up our differentials with Wayne Rooney, owned by ENR, Roscola and… fittingly, the ever brave Doosra.
Thank you all. This is the final report of Matchday 3. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 3 Order of Extreme Valour tomorrow!
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!
Europe waited with bated breath to see if Group B’s climax would produce a shock of Greek proportions. While I will cut the story short by saying it didn’t, Denmark left us with one last beautiful memory from a wonderful tournament. Lightning struck twice. With Germany a goal up, Michael Krohn-Dehli (8 points) pounced to grab his second Euro 2012 goal and return richly-deserved reward to one of our hardest-working differential machines, Ginkapo – with his partner Doosra consistently making similarly superhuman efforts. In the process, the Dehli also destroyed multitudes of German clean sheets that had been expectantly lined up, so you know who to send your hate mail to. The other two valorous successes on the night both belonged to the conspicuously brave Chrissy Waddle, with Joao Pereira (5 points) and Mr Unreliable Luis Nani (5 points) both returning assists. Chrissy may wonder if he could have been a contender, as Nani wasted a glorious one-on-one opportunity early in the first half. Maxing out on the underdog factor and the obscurity factor, Ginkapo catapults into the lead.
Could I also put it on the record that Rui Patricio is crap. Thank you.
Tomorrow brings two clashes of interest both in fantasy terms and qualification terms. Italy play eliminated Ireland with the knowledge that Spain and Croatia could both qualify with a 2-2 draw. The majority of our differentials are the lower-profile members of the Spanish team. In defence, we have Casillas (The Light Knight), Sergio Ramos (In Like Flynn) and Arbeloa (TW, ENR). Milanista plumps for Fabregas, no doubt in anticipation of a center-forward spot, while In Like Flynn is the only person to pick midfield metronome Xavi. Up front we have Silva (Doosra, Pratik, In Like Flynn) with his goal against Ireland fresh in the memory. Who knows where the Spanish goals will come from? Only one person thought Croatia would score though – step up ENR who chose Croatian midfielder Perisic in his ‘Valour XV’.
In the Italy – Ireland match the selections had a defensive flavour. TW punted on uncharacteristically hapless Ireland goalkeeper Given, while the Italian defenders chosen were Chiellini (Doosra) and Balzaretti (ENR again). Finally, Demented Flamingo showed romance wasn’t dead with his pick of Andrews. That boy might hit the target some day you know…
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!
With the FFS Friendly World Cup grabbing recent headlines for a spate of outrageous differentials, the Empire of FFS Euro 2012 has very much struck back. Counting up the differentials this Matchday, defined as a player owned by 3 or fewer managers, we have exactly the same number as those in the Friendly World Cup last Matchday – 58!
In last night’s action Greece shocked Russia 1-0, seemingly disappointing pretty much every manager except Mark who bagged a totally improbable clean sheet and a save point from Sifakis (7 points). With the only goal coming from midfielder Karagounis, everyone who backed the Russian and Greek attacks, as well as those who picked Russian defenders, drew a blank. The Czech Republic also overcame Poland 1-0 and this produced slightly more joy. The Light Knight picked up a clean sheet from Cech (7 points), which was a brave gamble for anyone who had actually watched him play. The biggest winners of the round were ironically the already-eliminated duo of ENR and Mark who correctly predicted the goalscorer Jiracek (8 points). Quite a bullseye in that midfield, and you’d have to say Jiracek and Sifakis are pretty neck and neck for the lead. Good going ENR and Mark.
Tonight in Day 2 the titans clash in the Group of Death. Germany v Denmark is first up, with a German whitewash predicted –perhaps even more expected than the Russian win, mind you. German differentials include non-starting Klose (ENR – presumably going absolutely mental with the differentials this round??), Hummels (Jafalad, Camzy), Muller (Count of Monte Hristo, The Light Knight) and my favourite midfield choice Schweinsteiger (Doosra, Super Dunny). Going forward or going back, that man is a machine, and with that ringing endorsement the worst match of his career is inevitable. Did anyone go for the Danes? We are in the presence of players of extreme valour. Of course they did! None other than Doosra went for the harebrained option of Jacobsen, while his comrade-in-craziness Ginkapo has gone for fantasy legend Krohn-Dehli. Finally, the insanity continues with. Ginkapo, ENR and Gaz Downright choosing Poulsen.
In the tricky Netherlands v Portugal game, a few have grimly stuck to their guns and embraced Dutch strikers, who now are in the surprise position of differentials. Van Persie has been backed by only two (Mark and Demented Flamingo), while Huntelaar was picked up by Tommy Tour and ENR. One-man am-dram Robben has been backed to fire his selfish way to glory by Demented Flamingo, In Like Flynn and Jonty. Portuguese defenders and midfielders have been punted upon by a select few. It’s slightly unnerving that goalkeeper Rui Patricio has been picked only by me and sacked French manager ENR. Joao Pereira has been endorsed by Chrissy Waddle, rampaging fullback Coentrao by The Light Knight and Roscola, and midfielder Joao Moutinho by that man Ginkapo. Finally, we have Luis Almeida da Cunha – also known as Nani – owned by our adventurous Chrissy Waddle.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 Report and preview of Day 3!
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